Hollywood Hunter

Universal Studios in Burbank.

Tomorrow will be Halloween, and there will be a week of Halloween events in the cinema. Therefore, even though it is Monday and daytime, the 200-hectare comprehensive film and television entertainment base still looks very lively.

In an office building in the northern administrative district of the studios, Lu Vasalman, chairman of Universal's parent company MCA, and company CEO Sid Simberg are sitting next to the window of the office on the fifth floor.

Lou Vasalman is 75 years old this year, with a thin face and a pair of brown reading glasses with a large frame. This old man who was ridiculed by the media as an alien ET prototype has been in charge of MCA for thirty years. Time, and step by step from the original talent agency company to the current comprehensive media group. Sid Singberg was only in his early fifties. It was he who discovered Spielberg that year and belonged to the Hollywood evergreen tree that MCA has been in power for more than a decade.

Occasionally looking at the shadowy crowds in the tourist area, the topic of the two Hollywood bigwigs is Daenerys Entertainment's "Scream" currently being released.

Sid Simberg handed a document that he had read several times carefully to Lou Vasalman, and said: "This is the report that the marketing department just made this morning. Daenerys Entertainment targeted the " The operation of "Scream" can be used as a textbook-style distribution case. The accurate market positioning for young people, the accurate advertising of public TV network youth TV programs, MTV cable TV stations and youth magazines, etc., two groups of people spread all over The front-end carpet marketing in first- and second-tier cities across the country. The most important thing is the efficient execution of the Daenerys Entertainment distribution team, which contributed to the box office success of "Scream"."

Lou Vasalman picked up the file and opened it, and asked, "Can John Carpenter's "Extreme Space" work like this?"

"Extreme Space" is a science fiction thriller that Universal will launch this Friday, directed by the horror master John Carpenter who created the "Moonlight Panic" series.

Sid Simberg shook his head regretfully and said: "Carpenter's new film is of mediocre quality, and the production cost is only 4 million US dollars. It is not worthy of large-scale promotion."

Lou Vasalman glanced at Syed Simberg and said, "The production cost of "Screaming Scream" does not seem to be too high?"

Sid Simberg had to laugh dryly.

According to the report in the hands of Vasalman, Daenerys Entertainment’s distribution budget for "Screaming Scream" requires only 1.3 million US dollars for the copy cost of 1,755 screens. In addition, there are a large number of advertising on various platforms and main creatives. The team’s roadshow investment, etc., is conservatively estimated to be more than 7 million US dollars.

With the success of the film’s box office, Daenerys Entertainment will definitely continue to increase the budget for the announcement, which may even exceed the film’s $10 million production cost.

Does Universal dare to do this?

Maybe dare.

But first there must be a movie of the same quality as "Screaming".

Take the road show as an example. A group of handsome men and beautiful women starring in "Screaming Scream" can naturally blend in with young audiences. John Carpenter's "Extreme Space" is a brother movie with black and white protagonists. Both protagonists are three. He is more than ten years old, and he is not well-known. It's okay to watch it on the big screen. Interacting face to face can not attract the interest of many viewers.

Seeing that Vasalman remained calm, Sid Simberg was silent for a moment, and still asked: "Lu, why was there no result at the MPAA last time?"

Lou Vasalman paused when he wanted to turn the page. He simply recounted what MPAA Chairman Jack Valenti told him that day, and finally shook his head and added: "It's crazy in the bones. A young man who is willing to abide by the rules, but disdains the rules, knows how to restrain, but has no shortage of skills. More importantly, he is only 20 years old this year, which is an advantage that none of us have. West Germany, if next If I can sell the MCA in a few years, I will probably retire, and I don't want to cause such a trouble that prevents me from spending my old age."

Sid Simberg was still somewhat unwilling, and said: "Lu, shall we let Daenerys Entertainment continue to grow and develop?"

Lou Vasalman looked at Sid Simberg shrewdly, noncommittal: "If you want to do something, you can try it."

Sid Simberg looked a little hesitant, and said, "Gene from the distribution department told me something this morning. The producer of "Scream", Ron Macmillan, he and the movie An actress had some entanglements. Macmillan promised her a very important role, but failed to keep her promise."

It doesn't matter in Hollywood to mention that pants are not accepted.

Lou Vasalman frowned slightly and said, "West Germany, how old is that girl?"

Sid Simberg is not sure: "Should be in his twenties?"

"A young man in her twenties, if you can't give a generous bargaining chip, do you think she would be willing to ruin her career and fight against Daenerys Entertainment?" Lou Vasalman looked at West Germany. Simberg continued to ask: "Or, once Daenerys Entertainment finds out that you are instructing, do you think they can't find the same reason to attack Universal?"

The previous "Screaming and Screaming" rating incident was just a whim of a few old men who wanted to give the latecomers a start, but it almost caused a big storm.

Lou Vasalman now thinks of what the young man told Jack Valenti to tell him that he still feels a bit scared. He always tends to be conservative and stable when he grows old. He does not want to cause a new and old Hollywood power. Strong confrontation.

As for Sid Simberg's suggestion at this time, it was a terrible idea.

Few people in Hollywood dare to say that they are truly complete in terms of men and women. If you attack each other with a **** scandal, it is almost inevitable that you will be countered. Most importantly, by doing so, Universal will not get any benefits.

In the final analysis, interest is the fundamental factor that promotes competition and confrontation.

The aftermath caused by the Hollywood screenwriter's strike has caused this Halloween schedule to be almost blank. "Scream" took advantage of the trend. Although the box office was eye-catching, it did not form a strong competition with the Seven.

Without sufficient profit-driven, playing with these small and influential means, it is simply not worth the loss.

Sid Simberg has been paying attention to Lou Vasalman's expression, and he quickly dispelled the idea in his heart.

Although he has been the second-in-command of MCA for more than ten years, he is very clear that the power of this company has been firmly controlled by Vasalman. Doing that by himself, once a conflict arises, Vasalman, who does not want the entire MCA to be involved, will definitely push him out as a scapegoat.

When Lou Vasalman and Sid Simberg discussed "Scream and Scream", Hollywood Paramount Studios, Paramount Pictures President Sidney Garnis just hosted Wes Craven Had lunch.

Sidney Garnis is much more practical than Sid Simberg's secret tricks.

With two summer-breaking films, "A Journey to America" ​​and "Crocodile Dundee 2", Paramount’s film business is very good this year, and Sidney Garnis is very hopeful that this state can continue. Therefore, there is no idea of ​​confronting Daenerys Entertainment.

Wes Craven’s self-edited and directed series of "Mammoth Street" a few years ago allowed the originally influential new line of film industry to rise rapidly. In the last two years, he has successively produced "Reaper Is Coming" and "Shocking Point". Called "Two big selling horror films. Although Simon Westero has a great potential influence, Craven has definitely become one of the major Hollywood directors worthy of focus.

Although no agreement was reached at lunch, Sidney Garnis also noticed that Wes Craven had not reached an agreement with Daenerys Entertainment on the sequel, which means that Paramount has a lot of Opportunity.

Sending away Wes Craven, Sidney Garnis turned and asked the assistant standing behind him: "The screenwriter of "Scream", Bruce Joy Robin, have you contacted?"

The assistant nodded and said, "I have arranged for you to meet at ten o'clock tomorrow morning."

Sidney Garnis nodded, was about to rush to his office, think about it and then said: "Daenerys Entertainment, the main creators of several films at the end of the year, all sorted out a copy for me."

Similar to Warner and Paramount, many people in Los Angeles today are discussing issues related to Daenerys Entertainment.

Prior to this, the films produced by Daenerys Entertainment have always been attached to the distribution networks of other film companies. The blockbuster of "Scream" completely confirmed the status of Daenerys Entertainment as the top second-tier film company after the top seven.

Therefore, some people try to win over, some people want to make a stumbling block, some plan to dig the wall, and some can only express envy.

The entire Hollywood, unknowingly, has formed an undercurrent around Daenerys Entertainment. As for the outcome of this undercurrent, no one knows.

After the weekend is Halloween, the box office on weekdays is stimulated by the festive atmosphere, and the data during the same period is much higher than before.

As a result, after the first week of screening, "Screaming Scream" reached a final box office of 20.71 million US dollars.

Stimulated by "Scream", the North American box office between October 28 and November 3 jumped from 32.67 million US dollars the previous week to 47.36 million US dollars. However, the obvious fact is that just one movie "Scream and Scream" accounted for 43% of the entire market share, and the other 16 cinema movies this week could only share the remaining 57%.

On the single-week box office list, compared with the US$20.71 million of "Scream and Scream", the second-ranked "Moonlight Panic 4" has a box office number of only US$5.23 million.

Judy Foster starred in "Big Robbery Pear Flower". Although it has a good reputation and a strong box office curve, due to the subject matter and market capacity, the box office number in the third week of the release also fell to 3.69 million US dollars, ranking third.

Fox's "Alien Empire", after two consecutive weeks of box office declines, only $2.92 million left this week, ranking fourth.

Sigourney Weaver starred in the biopic "Fog Locked Love" and Tom Hanks's romantic comedy "Headline Joke" starred fifth and sixth respectively.

"Oolong Detective" produced by Warner Bros. ranked seventh just like the first day at the box office. The box office only received a pitiful $1.63 million in the first week of the painting. With the release of several new films in the new week, this film will completely withdraw from the media and View of the audience.

November 4, another Friday.

Compared to last week's deserted, four new films were released this Monday.

However, apart from Daenerys Entertainment's "Steel Magnolia", which was launched on a small scale on 22 screens in North America, the other three are not the key films of major film companies.

Among them, Paramount’s "Glorious" is only a U2 music documentary. John Carpenter’s "Extreme Space" and Diane Keaton’s "Good Mother" are obviously not released. How much does Disney look forward to.

Simon and Janet rushed to New York for Halloween together, and returned on Friday morning.

Santa Monica.

A large conference room at Daenerys Entertainment Headquarters, the time is Friday afternoon.

Simon and Amy Pascal, Robert Iger, Robert Rem and several other executives of the company are listening to Nancy Brill, the head of the consumer goods department that Amy recently hired, to introduce their plans for the consumer goods department.

Nancy Brill comes from the famous American toy company Hasbro. She looks like her in her thirties. She has the relatively soft and delicate face of a French woman. She looks very capable with her blond hair rolled up and wearing a black professional suit.

Daenerys Entertainment currently does not have many projects that can develop movie derivatives. The copyrights of several early movies, "Lola Run" have been very extensively sold, and the copyrights of several movies such as "Pulp Fiction" In the hands of companies such as Orion.

Now, Daenerys Entertainment itself can develop peripheral projects mainly due to its several popular reality shows, the "Scream" series that has just become popular recently. A little further away, it can be counted as the most valuable "Batman" next year. ".

Daenerys Entertainment has already made huge profits in the box office and broadcast of the film and television project itself. In order to avoid excessive copyright development, Simon is very cautious about the consumer goods department. Nancy Brill’s next one to two years The main work is to build a team, train a team and expand channels.

"The last is video games. The Great Depression of the video game industry caused by the Atari incident has passed. In recent years, with the rise of Japanese video game manufacturers, the video game industry is recovering rapidly. Daenerys Entertainment's early "Lola Express" "Run" and the recent "Scream" are very suitable for the development of related video games. I believe we will have more similar copyrights in the future. Learning the lessons of the Atari crash, I think Daenerys Entertainment should use Mainly outsourcing, the corresponding copyright is outsourced like a movie project and handed over to a professional development team for design. Daenerys Entertainment can invest in the corresponding game studio, but it should avoid excessive interference with game development."

In front of the projection screen in the conference room, Nancy Brill finished explaining his ideas and introduced several cases through PPT, then stopped speaking, looked at Simon, and waited for questions from the boss.