Hollywood Hunter

On October 28, the same day Simon returned to Los Angeles, the 1994 Halloween file was officially opened.

Daenerys Entertainment's second "Hunting in the Movie Universe" series "The Haunted Morgue" was released on this day. Relying on the good start of the summer file "Call of Souls", the number of screens of "The Haunted Morgue" has reached 2,361, and the production cost of the film is 15 million US dollars. Although the gimmick of the "Call of Souls" has accumulated considerable popularity, New World Film The industry distribution team still invested the equivalent of $15 million in the publicity budget.

Film announcements are as important as film quality. This is the deepest feeling of more and more film companies after the rise of the full-scale distribution model in recent years.

Although less than the exaggerated ratio of the US$15 million budget and US$25 million announcement for the summer file "The Conspiracy", the capital investment in the production and announcement of "The Haunted Morgue" is in the face of the Hollywood budget rule that the investment in the general announcement is only half the production cost. , Is still quite rare.

Moreover, as long as the box office of the film reaches expectations, the New World Pictures team will continue to invest more in the future.

The budget for two consecutive films was announced in large proportions, even at the expense of reducing profit margins. Simon's goal is to make the brand of ‘Call of Souls Cinematic Universe’ as deeply rooted as possible.

As long as this can be achieved, the follow-up series of the "Call of Souls Movie Universe" will get twice the result with half the effort, and the peripheral income of the series' video tapes and TV broadcasts will also increase significantly.

In the early internal screening, the word-of-mouth of "The Mortuary Haunted Incident" was roughly 7 points, which was obviously inferior to "Calling the Soul".

However, through the operation of Daenerys Entertainment's publicity team, on the first day of the large-scale filming of the film, the public comprehensive media score still reached a close to excellent score of 7.8 points. Coupled with the extensive publicity of the film, many viewers were Choose to buy tickets for the first time.

As the second-tier schedule that Hollywood studios are paying more and more attention to, "The Mortuary Haunted Incident" has opened more than 1,000 screens during the same period, as well as Sony's "Frankenstein", Warner Bros' "Silent Trap" and Disney "Ultimate Warrior" produced.

In the last two years, Sony stopped following some of its original promises and began to gradually abandon the Columbia label and use the Sony Pictures logo to produce and distribute movies. The film "Frankenstein" aimed at this year’s Halloween schedule cost 45 million US dollars. Robert De Niro, Kenneth Branagh and Helena Bonham Carter joined three first-line movie stars, and the number of screens opened reached 2,177.

However, after the large-scale opening of "Frankenstein", the media's overall reputation was only 3.9 points, which inevitably cast a haze on the film's box office prospects.

"The Trap of Silence" produced by Warner Bros. Pictures tells the story of a down-and-out psychiatrist accidentally under investigation into a strange murder. The film is composed of veteran Hollywood actor Richard Dreyfus and "Terminator" series actress Lin Da Hamilton and Hollywood newcomer actress Liv Taylor starred, the production cost was 30 million US dollars, and the number of screens opened was 1251.

Compared with "Frankenstein"'s comprehensive media rating of 3.9 points, "The Silent Trap" can only be described as collapse.

On the first day of the painting, the media was almost overwhelmed with bad reviews, and the comprehensive media score was only a poor 2.2.

In fact, despite the poor reputation, "Frankenstein" relies on a strong lineup of creators, and it is still very promising to harvest a wave of box office, and even the chance of counterattack into a dark horse is not without, because the horror type of thriller is similar to the vulgar spoof comedy. Media evaluation is not the decisive factor, the key is to see whether the audience likes it.

However, media word-of-mouth is of course not optional, and public opinion evaluations like "The Silent Trap" have direct contact with the bottom, and it is almost impossible to become a dark horse.

The veteran actor Richard Dreyfus, who once starred in Spielberg's "Jaws", "The Third Kind of Contact" and "Forever", has also passed away in recent years, and his box office appeal is not satisfactory. The two actresses Linda Hamilton and Liv Tyler did not have the strength to carry the box office alone, so the box office prospects of "Silent Trap" can be imagined.

Finally, Disney tells the story of an Indian adventure, "Ultimate Warrior", with a production budget of 20 million U.S. dollars and a total of 1,022 screens.

Compared with "Frankenstein" and "The Silent Trap", the media reputation of "Ultimate Warrior" is also quite good, reaching a passing 6-point level. However, compared with the media popularity of "The Mortuary Haunted Incident", "Frankenstein" or even "Silent Cash", this biographical part-themed film does not attract much attention at all.

Disney’s production of "Ultimate Warrior" obviously wanted to replicate the success of "Dancing with Wolves" or "The Last Mohican", but unfortunately, in recent years, many similar themes have become cannon fodder, because of this. After all, such movies are too far from the mainstream.

Moreover, "Dancing with Wolves" and "The Last Mohican" have two celebrities, Kevin Costner and Daniel Day Lewis, respectively. Disney's "Ultimate Warriors", two starring Gu Both MacDonald and Don Camodi are unknown, and the film’s reputation did not explode. The ending can be imagined.

In any case, the four mainstream films with more than 1,000 screens opened, plus some luck-taking films from other small studios, the beginning of this Halloween schedule can be described as very lively.

Back in Los Angeles, Simon spent four consecutive days with the women and children at the Dome Point Manor.

It was not until November 2nd, after Halloween, that the work started again.

In the four days of rest, I was not completely idle.

Because of the inspiration from chatting with Grace, Simon personally conceived a new version of the script of "This Man From Earth" in his spare time. On the first day of work, he handed the script to Ella Doe, the head of Highgate Pictures. Qiman, asked him to convene some university professors to discuss and remedy the scientific loopholes. At the same time, he went directly to the process of project selection and casting. He plans to complete it in two months at the end of the year in order to participate in the Sundance Film Festival early next year.

After careful consideration, Simon decided to write the script himself.

Such a story about immortality is destined to inevitably trigger associations. Simon has already leaked rumors of ‘psychic’ and ‘alien’, and adding a label of ‘immortal’ is nothing.

However, as a result of his own name, it was impossible for Simon to shoot this movie at an ultra-low cost of $100,000.

In the budget proposal submitted by Ella Deutschman two days later, only Simon’s script was valued at $250,000, plus a 10% share of global box office net profit.

The script created by Simon Westero himself, let alone $250,000, plus a zero will not lack buyers.

The reason for such a low valuation is mainly due to the positioning of the low-cost film "This Man From Earth". If it is a commercial film, Simon's current value can indeed be directly added to zero, and the profit share will be only a lot more.

Although Simon is the owner of Daenerys Entertainment Group, the various projects he participates in actually have various clear contracts. These things are still handled by Jonathan Friedman to this day.

Just like the DC movie universe.

Even if Daenerys Entertainment did not participate in the single-player projects of "The Flash" and "Steel Bones", because of Simon's producer status, he can still get a share of the revenue from the two films, and the revenue is very significant huge. "The Flash" originally had a local box office of US$253 million. According to the contract, Simon’s personal share of 10% of the local box office was drawn directly to US$25.3 million. According to the commercial miracles of the DC Cinematic Universe in recent years, no one felt that Simon should not take it. so much.

Simon's personal wealth now reaches hundreds of billions of dollars, and he certainly doesn't care about these benefits.

However, the rules are the rules, and you should gain something if you put in the labor. This is the rules of Hollywood, and Simon is a person who is willing to abide by the rules.

Including the entire Daenerys Entertainment.

Among the contracts re-established before the listing, apart from Simon personally finalizing the symbolic base salary of $1, the other annual 5% group net profit sharing and additional option award contracts are not many.

Now, for "This Man Comes From Earth", it’s just that the script is valued at US$250,000, and the total project budget can’t be US$100,000 anyway. After all, this money has to be paid to Simon. After careful evaluation, the film team made a budget plan of 1.5 million US dollars.

No matter how little it is, it is impossible to get it.

Although the entire circle has been paying close attention to Daenerys Entertainment's latest external cooperation plan recently, with the news that Simon Westero personally created a new script, this incident immediately became the focus of Hollywood.

The content of the script is still confidential for the time being, but the major agencies have begun to operate for their artists.

Participating in Simon Westero's film, even if it is a non-paid starring, will only benefit a lot.

The projects of many directors in Hollywood are often not popular. The most typical one is Steven Spielberg, the legendary Hollywood director. In recent years, whether it is a director or a producer, if you just catch a fan He said who Spielberg became popular. It is estimated that eight out of ten can't say it.

Because there really is not.

In contrast, in recent years, Simon-led films, whether they are screenwriters, directors, or producers, have really gained a lot of popularity.

From Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock in the first "Run Lola", to "Pulp Fiction" brought a group of male stars' careers to life and became popular with Australian actress Nicole Kidman, Then in these years, Adam Baldwin, Valerie Galino, Brad Pitt, Will Smith, etc., who came out of the DC movie universe series, can be described as starry.

Therefore, when the news came out from Gaomen Films that Simon’s new film would not invite famous actors, but would choose roles from second- and third-tier actors with excellent acting skills, the whole Hollywood was even more boiling.

In this kind of close attention, with Simon’s instruction, Qusi Gove, who has begun to make the final preparations for the third Victoria's Secret Show on November 12, released photos of performing classes on her Facebook and Instagram pages at the same time. , Marked as'Small Vase in Simon Westero's New Movies', this baby-faced model who has gained popularity in the past six months has seen a steep rise in attention.

Whether it's Hollywood or the fashion circle, you can only sigh the good luck of Qusi Gaofu.

Among the disturbances, the only thing missing was Simon's personal dynamics.

At this stage, Simon has gradually realized a state where legends are everywhere but no real people are seen.

The whole Hollywood is paying attention to Simon's new film. After Halloween, Simon's work is not focused on a small project such as "This Man Comes From Earth", but on Daenerys Entertainment's ten-film foreign cooperation plan. .

Of the ten projects, MGM has already made two debuts, namely "Charlie Leak" and "The Bourne Shadow". As for the deeper "Secret Agent Cinematic Universe" project, just like the original "Conspiracy Cinematic Universe", the project did not succeed. Before, MGM did not promote this concept in advance.

Compared with previous foreign cooperation, the biggest change this time is probably that ordinary low-cost projects can no longer meet the needs of other Hollywood studios.

Simon couldn't take it either.

Therefore, after "Charlie Boy" and "The Bournemouth", after Terry Semel personally called Simon twice in three days, Warner Bros. quickly got a place, which was determined to be Daenerys Entertainment. "Game of the Brave" with the copyright in hand.

Warner Bros. got the project, and Fox, who has been cooperating with each other for the past few years, can't fall behind.

Speaking of it, Rupert Murdoch has always been not too cold about movies. This media tycoon from Australia has always been fond of newspapers and television. However, since there is a chance, Murdoch certainly hopes to cooperate with Daenerys Entertainment.

The project finalized by both parties is "The Mummy".

This is a remake of an old film of Universal Pictures in the 1930s. In the past, after the success of the "Mummy" and "Scorpion King" series around the millennium, Universal Pictures once relaunched with ambition, hoping to build The Mummy Cinematic Universe, as a result, the Cinematic Universe planned to die after Tom made the "Mummy Movie" into the "Cruise Movie".

After four cooperation projects were finalized, the other Simons were no longer eager.

The four projects that have been finalized are basically series in nature, and one film is enough to hold up a schedule when placed in some movie years. If all ten projects are finalized at one time, the internal friction in the next few years will be very tragic.

In the process of negotiating these projects, Simon had another unexpected gain.

James Cameron’s new film: "Titanic".

Although Simon basically selected this cooperation project based on memory, the outside world did not know. During this time, a large number of script ideas were sent to Simon's hands, including James Cameron's Big Ship script, or, to be precise, just a summary of the story.

After filming "True Lies", James Cameron began a period of vacation as usual. During this period, he went to the Atlantic Ocean to explore the Titanic, the ship that sank for some reason on its first sailing in 1912. During the period, the "Titanic" was produced. The story idea of ​​"Nick".

Although the previous several films were cooperating with Fox, the relationship between Cameron and Fox was not good because of always overspending and there were failures such as "The Abyss" during the period.

So, after the initial conception of the story was completed, James Cameron’s agent first transferred the script to Daenerys Entertainment.

Due to the legendary nature of the Titanic, for more than half a century, the film and television works on this ship have been unknown. The Diorama Films, which was recently established by Francis Coppola, happened to be preparing for the same project. Simon still has an impression of this. , Because the heroine of this film of the same name is named Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Daenerys Entertainment executives were not optimistic about this shipwreck type disaster film.

Budget is one aspect. In addition, the story about the shipwreck is difficult to play with too many tricks, and the business prospects are very unstable.

In the end, it was Simon himself.

As for Fox, it is a pity that Simon does not have the good habit of humility when he should not be humbly.