Hollywood Hunter

On June 10th, three new films were released in the new week. They were Disney’s family comedy "Four Daughters and Two Moms", and Paramount’s thriller and mystery film "Psidi Base" starring Sean Connery. "And the sequel to MGM’s horror series "Ghost Haunted 3".

The strategy of questioning the fairness of "Pulp Fiction" at the Cannes Film Festival Palme d'Or has failed, and some media have pointed the finger at the excessive violence of this film and its reference to many films.

However, under the background that "Pulp Fiction" has once again formed a movie-watching craze just like last year's "Lola Run", these off-board tricks will actually only increase people's curiosity about the film.

In all fairness, for most of the audience, especially the mainstream youth viewing group of "Pulp Fiction," they are actually hardly aware of the goodness of this film when they are completely unaffected by external public opinion. However, when a large number of media around and many classmates and friends are discussing "Pulp Fiction", these people often have an understanding of the film and have their own expectations before entering the movie theater.

Thus, countless rich details such as the swing dance of Vincent and Mia, the foreshadowing of the "Deer Hunter" of the "Gold Watch" paragraph, Esmeralda and the "Taxi Driver" are very interesting, plus The novel circular closed structure in the plot of the film makes the whole film unknowingly labeled as'cool'.

Because of the popularity of "Pulp Fiction", the popularity of several celebrities who participated in the film has once again risen. Newcomers such as Samuel Jackson and Nicole Kidman have also begun to enter the public eye, even only appearing in the film. Minutes Janet became the subject of discussion in many media because of the wonderful performance of the female taxi driver Esmeralda. Jonathan Friedman also jokingly asked if Janet was interested in signing with WMA in private.

Under such unstoppable heat, in the second week of its release, "Pulp Fiction" continued to maintain its weekly box office champion position with only a 15% drop. In the seven days from 6th to 10th to June 17th, the film again earned 23.38 million US dollars.

Two weeks after the opening of the painting, the North American box office of Pulp Fiction exceeded the 50 million U.S. dollar mark and reached 50.91 million U.S. dollars.

It easily won US$50 million in the box office in two weeks. The major media and box office statistics agencies in North America generally predict that Pulp Fiction’s North American box office will reach about US$150 million, and the film is likely to achieve the North American box office within six weeks. Break 100 million.

Coincidentally, the release interval between "Pulp Fiction" and "Instinct" is exactly six weeks.

The second-ranked "Crocodile Dundee 2" after a sharp drop of 41% last week, this week's box office drop still reached 31%, and received 12.35 million US dollars, with a total box office of 65.15 million US dollars.

Although it has a release start of more than 30 million US dollars, according to the current decline trend of the film, the North American box office of "Crocodile Dundee 2" is likely to only barely achieve more than 100 million US dollars, which is far from the first film's 174 million US dollars.

After "Crocodile Dundee 2", "Flying the Future" starring Tom Hanks, unexpectedly fell by only 4.7% in the next week, almost the same as last week, and received another 12.01 million US dollars. The weekly box office totaled USD 24.6 million.

The North American box office of 24.6 million US dollars may not be compared with "Pulp Fiction" and "Grocery Dundee 2," but compared to "Funny Farm" which has completely fallen behind this week to the eighth place in the weekly box office rankings, you know "Flying over the Future" How gratifying this box office data is.

In the second week of its release, the box office of "Funny Farm", which is similar to "Flying the Future", dropped by 26% to only 6.01 million U.S. dollars. Counting the first week's 8.11 million U.S. dollars, the box office totaled 14.12 million U.S. dollars in two weeks.

According to the falling curve of "Funny Farm", the total North American box office of this film may be only about 25 million US dollars.

Moreover, if the box office decline in the next few weeks can be as weak as the first week, "Flying the Future" will obviously be able to hit the North American box office once again like the original time and space. Unexpectedly, Fox, who had never expected such a good thing, had already begun preparations for additional film arrangement.

Except for "Pulp Fiction", "Crocodile Dundee 2" and "Leap to the Future", the performances of other films this week are all lackluster. Among the three new films, the box office number of "Four Daughters and Two Moms" is only 9.11 million US dollars.

After the North American box office broke 100 million yuan last week, the list of "When Harry Meets Sally", which has slipped to No. 10, quietly collected another 2.15 million US dollars, with a cumulative box office of 102.36 million US dollars.

Not surprisingly, the box office numbers of "When Harry Meets Sally" next week will fall to less than one million dollars, and Disney has cut the film's screen size to 635. It is expected that when it goes down in August, the total North American box office of "When Harry Meets Sally" will finally be fixed at about 110 million US dollars.

The North American film summer archives are in full swing, and the strike of Hollywood screenwriters continues.

On June 13, the Film and Television Producers Union proposed a new contract again after another round of sawing. Although this plan made some concessions, it still failed to meet the original expectations of the screenwriters union.

The strike lasted for more than three months, and the TV autumn show was destined to be severely affected, but the life of the screenwriters who had no income for the entire quarter was getting worse. Therefore, the screenwriters union finally decided to give the choice to the screenwriters themselves, and once again voted to decide whether to accept the new contract provided by the producer alliance.

Simon does not feel that this butterfly has reached the point where it can affect the overall situation. The trial broadcast of "Who Will Be a Millionaire", which may have some impact on the situation, is on June 20th. By then, most screenwriters have already sent votes. .

Therefore, the result of the vote is obvious, and the strike must continue for another two months.

After several contacts, General Electric, which owns New World Entertainment’s $220 million debt, responded positively to Simon’s debt-to-equity swap plan. GE’s CEO Jack Welch also personally talked with Simon. Phone calls.

However, during the communication process, General Electric put forward a similar plan to Warner Chairman Steve Rose. They wanted to use New World Entertainment as a bargaining chip to participate in Daenerys Pictures.

Just like a person who earns enough money and often begins to pursue fame, many large companies in the world like to enter the entertainment media industry. Among the current seven major Hollywood companies, Columbia Pictures owns half of the shares in Coca-Cola. Paramount’s parent company is Gulf Western Industries.

General Electric bought the NBC television network two years ago, also for similar motivations.

Although Daenerys Pictures has just started for less than two years, the continuous success of Duobu films obviously aroused the interest of General Electric. It is definitely a very cost-effective transaction to exchange a creditor's rights that might have been lost in exchange for a stock in a rising Hollywood star.

Simon naturally chose to refuse as decisively as when he contacted Steve Rose last time.

General Electric proposed to use the shares of New World Entertainment after the debt-to-equity swap in exchange for 49% of the shares of the new company in the future. Although the other party did not demand absolute control, the price of US$220 million is even the current Daenerys Pictures in Simon’s view. Half of the equity is not available, let alone half of the equity of the new company after the merger in the future.

The wealthy General Electric refused to give up in the communication process, and there is no need to continue talking about this matter for the time being. Simon can only expect "Who Will Be a Millionaire" to achieve the expected success.

Los Angeles.

At the headquarters of Daenerys Films in Santa Monica, Simon rushed to the crew of "Screaming Scream" in the small town of Bakersfield in the north of Los Angeles this morning, and just returned at this time.

In the large conference room, Simon sits at the top. On both sides of the oval conference table, besides Amy, there are ten other white men aged between 25 and 30. These are the final rounds of the heroes in "Batman" Ten candidates for audition.

In the plan, after confirming the actor, Simon also hopes to train the actor in all aspects for about half a year. Therefore, he plans to finalize this matter before the end of the month.

After simply turning over the resumes of ten people around him, Simon raised his head and said to everyone: "Everyone should see, you are the last ten. Bruce Wayne will be born among you. This meeting is not Audition, just want to talk to everyone."

In the polite response in the conference room, Simon quickly continued: "First of all, I must remind everyone again that the conditions set by Daenerys Pictures will not make any concessions. If you want to get this role, you must Signed a 15-year contract for five films. I can also tell you very clearly that as long as everything goes well, this contract can be completed in at most ten years. The reason for requiring 15 years is to prevent you from defaulting. Once you do this, according to the contract, you will not be able to receive any other films within the remaining time limit unless you actually can’t afford to pay the penalty. That’s right, like record companies who are not very obedient. Like the singers, you will be refrigerated."

After a moment of silence, someone finally asked, "Mr. Westeros, what about Daenerys Pictures' breach of contract?"

"We will not breach the contract," Simon shook his head and said, "If the project does not go well, we can take the initiative to terminate the contract with you."

"It doesn't seem fair."

"Unfortunately, there are not many fair things in the world," Simon glanced at each other, then swept around, and said: "Of the ten of you, most of you have only appeared in some movies. Supporting roles, maybe you can only maintain this state in the future. "Batman" gives you a chance to reach the sky one step at a time. As long as this film succeeds, you will immediately become Tom Cruise, Eddie Murphy, A-line superstar like Michael Fox. I would like to remind you again that acting Bruce Wayne will not bring you too high a salary. This will also be written into the contract, but you can endorse through advertising and star in other The film earns a lot of income. So if anyone feels that this contract is not worth the price I just said, they can leave now."

After Simon finished speaking, he waited patiently for a moment, and no one came out of the office before he continued: "OK, then, let's say business. First of all, congratulations everyone, you have entered the final round of auditions. But then, Daenerys The film industry will conduct a certain background check on you to ensure that you have no black history of racial discrimination, sexual assault, robbery, etc. that may cause great trouble to your upcoming role. We have reminded this at the beginning of the audition. Now, if you have any past that you don’t want us to know about in this regard, please take the initiative to withdraw so that both of us can avoid unnecessary trouble."

There was a moment of silence again, but still no one left.

Simon nodded with satisfaction and said: "Secondly, once the role is obtained, Daenerys Pictures will arrange for six months of training in all aspects, including physical training and performance courses. Of course, we know everyone’s The financial situation, therefore, the bill is paid by Daenerys Pictures. But this process will never be easy. If anyone thinks they cannot afford it, please leave now."

Ten people are still sitting neatly in the conference room.

Simon continued to say some requirements and answered some questions from everyone. After more than ten minutes, he said with a serious face: "Then, I don't think everyone has any questions. The last level is also before the audition. I was reminded that if you want to get this role, you must not have any drug addiction or drug addiction. Now, the team of doctors we invited is right next door. Among you, those who confirm that you can pass the test can go to the next door and ask the doctor to take a blood sample , Otherwise, you can leave directly."

After saying this, I no longer pay attention to the obvious changes in the faces of these people. Simon Chao has been helping him in the casting work since "Lola Run", the casting director Linda Vargas nodded. After he stopped, he took Jennifer straight up and walked out of the conference room.

Back on the floor where his office was located, Simon came to the outside door and saw a curly girl in the secretary's room wearing a cropped T-shirt and skinny jeans sitting on the sofa. The girl's name was Valerie Galino. The heroine of "People".

Under Simon's interference, the "Rain Man", which was still in the final filming stage, also chose Valerie Galino to play Tom Cruise's girlfriend. However, her role was completed last month.

Seeing Simon appearing, Valerie Galino quickly got up and took the initiative to walk over to Simon and stretched out his hand: "Hello, Mr. Westeros."

Simon looked up and down at the girl in front of him, showing a satisfied expression, and shook hands with her, "Isn't your agent here?"

Valerie Galino shook her head and said, "My agent has gone to New York. I talked to Mr. Friedman and he said I can come by myself."

Simon did not ask too much, and ordered Susan to send two cups of coffee, and said to Valerie Galino: "Come in with me."

Valerie Galino nodded, holding her satchel in both hands, and followed Simon behind him into his office somewhat restrained.

Walking to the desk and sitting down, before Simon could talk to Valerie Galino, Susan's voice came from the phone on the desk: "Mr. Westeros, Mr. Friedman's call."