Hollywood Hunter

After the first week, because the New Year's Day on January 1, 1990 is the same Monday as the previous Christmas, the US statutory holiday, the weekend of the second week of "Batman" is also four days.

In this week’s new film, "Rocket Expert" starring Tom Cruise and Meg Ryan, the production cost of 45 million US dollars, Paramount used a shameless means to get this project from Daenerys. , Can be said to be full of confidence, so it also invested 20 million US dollars in the publicity.

However, in the case of obvious public relations elements, the media rating of "Rocket Expert" is still barely passing, and many mainstream paper media platforms such as "The New York Times", "Entertainment Weekly" and "Washington Post" also give it mercilessly. There was a bad review.

According to Simon's understanding, in order to make room for "Rocket Expert", Paramount will also be starring Tom Cruise and directed by Oliver Stone's "Born on July 4th" to next year's Easter.

However, the total investment of 65 million US dollars, the most popular Christmas time, starring Tom Cruise and Meg Ryan, all these positive factors failed to make "Rocket Expert" gain market recognition, and the audience did not like it. This kind of nondescript retro science fiction style movie.

Coupled with the strong impact of "Batman: Hour of War", from December 29 to January 4, "Rocket Expert" only won $11.98 million in the box office for the first week and seven days. Although it ranked second on the weekly box office list, Be far away from "Batman: Hour of War".

Another new film, Steven Spielberg's "Forever", tells the story of a pilot who returned to his girlfriend in a ghostly state after a plane crash and started another life.

That's right, this idea is very similar to "Human Ghost Love Is Unexpected", of course, the plot is very different.

In the first week of its opening, this fantasy comedy only won $7.18 million in the box office under the same tepid reputation, ranking fourth on the weekly box office list.

The third place on the list is still occupied by "Flying Over Childhood" during the Easter period. The film fell another 11% this week, earning US$9.68 million, with a cumulative box office of US$135.77 million.

As for "Batman: Hour of War", the top weekly box office list, due to the record-breaking box office of $82.39 million in the first week and the film itself, which has a much wider audience than Simon’s previous two works, this film’s box office in the next week Not only did it not fall, but there was an 8% rise against the trend, again earning US$88.79 million.

In two weeks, "Batman: Hour of War" rushed to the box office of $171.18 million at an unprecedented rate.

Such bi-weekly box office results mean that "Batman: Hour of War" will easily break through the local box office mark of $400 million.

"Star Wars" and "ET Alien" have not undergone repeated re-screenings. Therefore, "Batman: Hour of War" is expected to be the first film in North American history with a local box office of over $400 million. .

Along with the exclamation of the media and the cheers of movie fans, the major Hollywood studios responded immediately and quickly turned their attention to the superhero comics that might be adapted for the movie.

Then, most people finally discovered that the two major American comic companies, Marvel and DC, had no room for them to intervene.

What is even more disappointing is that these two major manufacturers are almost controlled by Daenerys Entertainment.

Marvel has long become a wholly-owned subsidiary of Daenerys Entertainment. DC's core three giants Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman have also been bought by Simon Westeros, which is tantamount to blocking DC's throat.

Not to mention Marvel’s undeveloped gold mine. According to the box office results of "Batman: Hour of War", it’s just that Daenerys and Warner Bros’s recently announced plans for the DC movie universe are probably enough for Daenerys’ entertainment. Last ten years.

You know, not only the box office, but also the expected revenue from other channels such as video tapes and TV broadcasts, the derivative sales of "Batman: Hour of War" continued to sell for $150 million in the next week after the first week of $130 million.

The industry statistics agency predicts that, based on the sales data of the last two weeks, the sales of various derivatives of "Batman: Hour of War" may reach 2 billion US dollars in the next year.

Relying on the super high premium brought by the brand image, the terminal selling price of movie derivatives can usually reach about 10 times the production cost, and the gross profit is very high.

Even after multiple concessions from manufacturers, distributors, and retailers, the copyright owner can usually earn 10% to 20% of sales, depending on the derivatives.

"Batman: Hour of War" is expected to generate US$2 billion in derivative sales in the next year, based on a compromise percentage, which will bring Daenerys Entertainment and Time Warner about US$300 million in revenue. Moreover, because this part of the income does not require much upfront investment, it basically belongs to the net income before tax.

Because of the huge benefits expected in all aspects of "Batman: Hour of War", Time Warner's management quickly began to regret after experiencing a brief excitement after the film's box office explosion.

Even if it is understood that it was Simon Westero's personal control that created the box office miracle of "Batman: Hour of War", Warner still had the opportunity to participate in the film investment at the beginning.

Now, according to the original contract, Warner Bros. Pictures can only take a 15% commission from the distribution of the film through various channels. With huge derivative revenues, Time Warner, which has already been merged, can only get a 10% profit share in the name of its subsidiary DC Comics.

Although only these two parts of revenue may bring Time Warner's revenue of no less than 200 million US dollars in the next few years, however, Time Warner simply dare not calculate how much Daenerys Entertainment will make from this project. .

The more you count, the more sad!

Moreover, if it is other Hollywood second- and third-tier film companies, Warner Bros. Pictures, which holds the omni-channel distribution rights, can also squeeze the partners’ due share of profits as much as possible through the usual Hollywood financial means, more extreme, or even directly tear up The contract reclaimed the copyright of "Batman" and others.

However, for Daenerys Entertainment, Warner could not do that.

Since the launch of the release of "Batman: Hour of War", Daenerys Entertainment has dispatched a dedicated accounting team to follow up the entire project, which made it difficult for Warner to manipulate finances.

Of course, it may not be impossible, but Warner dared not do this.

Daenerys Entertainment's handling of the "Bodyguard" original record division disputes made the entire Hollywood memory deep.

Alistar Records tried to swallow Daenerys Entertainment's deserved record sales share. Simon Westeros completely ignored the huge losses that might be caused by a phenomenal record out of stock and directly stopped the sales of this record.

In the end, Alista Records not only failed, but instead paid a fine of twice the engulfed amount, and the president of Alista Records lost his job.

If Warner Bros. Pictures did the same, Terry Semel felt that Simon Westero might also stop the subsequent development of the entire DC movie universe without hesitation, until Warner spit out everything he swallowed.

Perhaps, in the end, someone will take responsibility. He, the CEO of Warner Bros. Pictures, is obviously a suitable scapegoat.

Now that it has become an established fact, Time Warner's current goal is to promote the subsequent development of the DC Cinema Universe as soon as possible.

Santa Monica.

The meeting room of Daenerys Entertainment Headquarters was already on Friday, January 5, 1990.

For the entire day of the meeting, the two company teams headed by Amy Pascal and Terry Semel were discussing the follow-up cooperation between the two parties and the DC Cinema Universe plan.

The initial contract terms determined that the two parties could renegotiate many details after the first episode of "Batman", such as the distribution commission ratio for the follow-up film Warner.

The 15% commission for all channels is actually very high.

Because the entire DC Cinema Universe project involves too many interests, for a whole day, except for a list of ten movies in the next five to seven years, the two parties only initially determined the subsequent distribution commission ratio.

Terry Semel did not make too many concessions in this regard, but made certain concessions after subdividing the local, overseas, video and TV broadcasting platforms.

After negotiation, the follow-up film jointly released by Warner Bros. Pictures will be reduced to 12.5% ​​for local distribution and 10% for overseas distribution. The commission for video tapes and TV broadcasting platforms is also 12.5%.

Of course, the advertising costs of each channel must be included in the cost and deducted separately. However, because of Daenerys Entertainment's strict financial supervision in this regard, it is difficult for Warner to make tricks.

In addition, some projects that Daenerys Entertainment will undertake the distribution work in the future will also be drawn according to this distribution ratio.

At five o'clock in the afternoon, the meeting ended.

Terry Semel walked out of the meeting room with Amy Pascal and asked the question he cared most: "When will Simon be back?"

Amy handed the folder in her hand to assistant Vanessa, and said: "I don't know. I called him after the box office was released in the first week of the film. He said that he would take Jenny to the South Pole.

Terry Semel raised his eyebrows: "Antarctica?"

Amy smiled and said: "Yeah, Antarctica. Melbourne is relatively close to Antarctica, I don't know. However, it is summer in the southern hemisphere, and Antarctica is the warmest time of the year, oh, it seems Extreme day, very suitable for traveling in the past."

"and then?"

Amy shrugged: "I haven't been able to contact him in the last few days. He hasn't said when he will be back, probably until the end of the month."

Terry Semel smiled bitterly and said, "Then, he will definitely not attend the weekend celebration party."

"Well," Amy nodded and said, "There is another thing. "The Hour of War" has a very good box office. Simon asked me to draw up a reward plan. About $3 million each for the two protagonists and several supporting roles. It’s 1 million U.S. dollars, and the rest of the crew also have their own rewards. The total expenditure is about 20 million U.S. dollars. I still have to tell you about this. Warner does not need to share this part of the expenditure this time, but subsequent projects will be rewarded. It's going to be included in the general ledger."

Terry Semel nodded and said: "20 million, compared to Daenerys's income this time, it's not much at all."

Amy smiled, knowing that Terry Semel must be entangled these days, so she stopped mentioning it.

After leaving Warner away, Amy came to her office.

Nancy Brill has arrived early and is sitting on the sofa in the reception area of ​​Amy's office looking through a document.

Seeing Amy coming in, Nancy got up and hugged her, and asked, "How was the meeting with Warner?"

"It's definitely going to be seen for a while, there are too many things to discuss," Amy said, and then asked: "What about you, are things done in Rhode Island?"

Nancy just returned from Rhode Island in the afternoon for Daenerys Entertainment's toy factory over there.

In this "Batman: Hour of War" derivative development, Daenerys Entertainment has undertaken the most lucrative batch of production work for the protagonists at the toy factory in Rhode Island. After all, because of lack of experience in this area, several toys produced by the factory in Rhode Island were all sold out in the first week of the show.

Nancy went this time to re-coordinate the toy production of the factory, and at the same time contact her old relationship with Hasbro and entrust some toy orders that cannot be fulfilled by her own factory.

Hasbro is also headquartered in Rhode Island.

"It's done," Nancy said: "Actually, I think the last time the stock was sold out was a good result. After the restocking, the sales of those toys have become even more popular. Simon has told us several times before, Hunger marketing is really useful. By the way, I brought some limited edition toys back. Would you like to give it to someone?"

"Of course, leave me a few. My nephew asked me for Christmas, but I couldn't get it out, and my parents were scolded."

The two talked and laughed, and Amy motioned to Nancy to continue to sit down. She turned to her desk and opened the safe, took out an envelope and walked over again, handed it to Nancy, and said, "Simon asked me to pass it to you."

Nancy opened the envelope, and inside it was a check for $5 million: "This is?"

"Bonus," Amy sat down next to Nancy. Vanessa brought the coffee in at this time. Amy took the coffee and held it in her hand, and continued to say to Nancy: "You know Simon's temper, your contract is short-term. There is no way to change it inside, this is considered as an additional compensation.

Nancy unceremoniously put the check in her bag and asked Amy, "He offered it, or did you ask for it for me?"

"I mentioned it, and it can be regarded as his initiative," Amy said: "He actually cares about you."

Nancy knew that there was no other meaning to Amy's ‘care’, and still pretended to be dissatisfied: "This sentence is really ambiguous."

"Well, I forgot that you are single," Amy smiled: "Actually, you don't have to be in a hurry to amend the contract. When the three-year period expires, the company will probably be listed, and you will be able to get one by then. A new contract with options."

Nancy became interested and asked, "Did Simon talk to you about the listing plan?"