Hollywood Hunter

Los Angeles, Beverly Hills.

The time is Friday, December 23.

Tomorrow night is Christmas Eve, Michael Ovitz still has no rest today, and arrived at the C headquarters in Century City less than eight o'clock.

Just after the box office week passed, Ovitz entered the office and sat down, and the assistant immediately sent a box office data report for the past week.

Michael Ovitz is a man who is good at multitasking. While looking at the box office report, he asked his assistant about the distribution and delivery of Christmas gifts for C's customers.

Expressing C’s meticulous care for customers through regular gifting of various gifts has been a major magic weapon for Ovitz to run this talent agency over the years. Many people do not blame that they are universal, so the effect is remarkable. Many filmmakers have It was after receiving C inadvertently some small gifts that were not valuable but obviously spent their minds and agreed to sign.

C's veteran client Sidney Pollack also publicly ridiculed Ovitz as having gift-giving obsessive-compulsive disorder.

In order to obtain a wide variety of gifts in large quantities, C even signed long-term cooperation agreements with some food, toys, books, art and other suppliers.

Under the influence of Ovitz, the brokers of C will almost instinctively pay attention to the personal preferences of their clients and even their short-term interest in certain things, or a book, or the birthday of the client’s child, or a certain event. Tickets for NBA games, and then, customers will always receive a carefully prepared corresponding gift at the right time.

Intentionally versus unintentionally.

There is no shortage of other talent agencies to learn from, but because they can't imitate the essence of Ovitz's gift, they often fail to achieve the same effect as C.

For important holidays like Christmas, gift giving is even more important to C.

After spending half an hour discussing the gift with the assistant and dismissing the other party, Michael Ovitz once again looked at the box office report for the first week of the Christmas file from December 16th to December 22nd.

with no doubt.

Another blockbuster of the DC Cinematic Universe, "Suicide Squad", unstoppably won $91.78 million in the box office for seven days in the first week, easily occupying the top spot on the weekly box office list.

Suicide Squad is just a derivative of the DC superhero series. It is far less popular than the veteran Batman, Superman and other superheroes. The related comics were not published until 1987. Before the film was made, many fans may not know that there is such a series. .

Before the movie was released, the industry generally predicted that the box office data of "Suicide Squad" should be comparable to that of "The Flash."

The box office of the first "Flash" was only 72.86 million US dollars in the first week, and the total box office in North America was 253 million US dollars.

The popularity of Flash in DC comics is almost the same as that of Superman and Batman.

Now, riding on the east wind of the DC Cinematic Universe, a spin-off series like "Suicide Squad" won $91.87 million in the box office in the first week. Even if it did not achieve the first week of over 100 million, the box office results are definitely many people's expectations. The film's North American box office is expected to hit 3 100 million dollars mark.

Before the release of "Suicide Squad", Michael Ovitz had the same box office expectations as most people.

However, seeing the high box office of "Suicide Squad" of 91.87 million US dollars in the first week, he was not surprised.

"The Flash" was released at the end of 1991. At that time, the DC Cinematic Universe project had been made public, but the entire project only released two "Batman" and "The Flash" was only the third one. Moreover, because the "Flash" project is completely controlled by Warner, a young man who pioneered the DC movie universe was not very involved in that project, and the film quality inevitably cannot be compared with the two "Batman", and the box office is lower than the series. The average level is expected.

"Suicide Squad" is already the eighth major movie in the DC Movie Universe series.

Prior to this, superhero movies such as Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Steel Bones have all been released and formed a series, and the popularity of the DC movie universe project has been fermented. The most important point is that this "Suicide Squad" is exciting enough in both the plot and the special effects. It is also a popular schedule like Christmas. The first week is $91.87 million, which is natural.

Under the impact of "Suicide Squad", the second-ranked "Toy Story 2" dropped 27% in the box office this week, with a total of US$21.06 million and a cumulative box office of US$236.23 million.

According to the usual practice in previous years, after entering the popular Christmas stalls, as the number of movie viewers increased sharply, many old movies tended to have box office declines. This time, "Toy Story 2" went from the unpopular period to the popular Christmas, not only did not fall back, but continued to plummet by 27%, which shows the impact of "Suicide Squad".

The holiday comedy "Santa Claus" produced by Disney ranked third, earning $16.39 million in seven days in the first week.

This is a film that Michael Ovitz pays more attention to, because it is a package project recommended by C to Disney. The film does not have the participation of big directors and stars, so the budget is only 22 million US dollars. The first week was $16.39 million. Considering that the next two weeks are still in the middle of the festival, it means that the total box office of this project in North America is expected to hit the $50 million mark.

Michael Ovitz regrets this.

If there is no strong "Toy Story 2" and "Suicide Squad", "Santa Claus" that fits the festive atmosphere and has a very good reputation among the audience is likely to be a 100 million box office club work.

Of course, this assumption has no meaning.

What's more, the local box office of 50 million US dollars is enough to bring good profits to Disney.

The fourth place on the list falls on the adaptation of the famous novel "Little Women". In the first week of its large-scale painting, relying on 1,503 screens, this well-recognized female film won 11.39 million US dollars in box office, and the museum averaged about 7,500 US dollars. Although it has not reached the $10,000 sales level, it is commendable that such a partial literary drama aimed at female audiences can achieve such box office results under the weight of "Suicide Squad".

Counting the screenings in the previous two weeks, the cumulative box office of "Little Women" reached 12.07 million US dollars.

If it can get out of the box office curve of "Steel Magnolia" that year, coupled with the help of the awards season, the local box office of "Little Women" is expected to be comparable to "Santa Claus", reaching the $50 million level. Considering that the production cost of the film is only 15 million US dollars, and the investment in advertising is less than that of commercial films such as "Santa Claus", the expected box office is quite high. The return on investment of "Little Women" is much higher than that of "Santa Claus".

"Interview with the Vampire" released by Warner Bros. Pictures ranked fifth this week, with a box office drop of 33% and another $5.53 million. It unexpectedly overtook the Kim Carrey comedy "Ghost in Disguise" released during the same period. The film was local The total box office reached 92.43 million US dollars, one step closer to the 100 million yuan box office club.

Daenerys Entertainment’s New World Pictures’ "Ghost in Disguise" fell to the sixth place on the list, with a box office drop of 45% this week and a $4.5 million in revenue. However, the total local box office of the film successfully broke 100 million, reaching 101.79 million US dollars, and officially entered the ranks of 100 million box office clubs.

Inside the office of C headquarters.

Michael Ovitz looked at the box office data in his hand with mixed feelings.

In the top six on the list, Daenerys Entertainment actually accounted for three. What's more, a heavyweight killer such as "Suicide Squad" directly took 68% of the total box office for a week. Other movies are just a little profit. The presence of soup.

What worries Ovitz even more is that the number of film creators on this list is very small. The packaged project model created by C in the 1980s is only "Santa Claus".

Because of the discord at the time, the cooperation between C and Daenerys Entertainment is indeed not close, but Ovitz can also feel that, in addition to Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise, the encounter with Simon Westeros banned the filmmakers, Daenerys Entertainment did not deliberately target C.

However, it is obvious that C's right to speak in Hollywood has declined in recent years. To some extent, all of this was caused by the young man born in Hollywood.

Not to mention 3D animation movies, the rise of blockbuster movies that focus on special effects, especially the rise of the DC movie universe, has minimized the studio's dependence on stars and increased the right to speak.

Therefore, for those blockbusters that are destined to become the core of the box office, let alone taking over the entire project as in the past, the brokerage company now has to put down its body and even actively reduce the salary to fight for the important role of those projects.

Because you don't fight for it, the role is taken away by others, and the popularity will fall on others.

WMA, which was almost in slack, has risen again in recent years relying on a large number of roles provided by Simon Westeros. Now it has stabilized its C level and regained its position as the most powerful talent agency in Hollywood.

Michael Ovitz is very clear that he is unable to change the current situation. What he has been thinking about in recent years is the issue of leaving.

In fact, since C was on the right track at the end of the 1980s, Ovitz gradually became bored with the talent agency business, so he ran to help Sony acquire Columbia Pictures to match, and also created C's advertising business and sports stars. Agency business, cooperate with companies such as Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, Magic Johnson and other stars or outside stars.

Just a year ago, Michael Ovitz also negotiated with Bill Gates, the software king. As a result, because C’s plate was too small, Damen students simply didn’t like it. In a flash, he invested in the dream created by Spielberg. factory.

Maybe it's really time to leave.

This idea is not without reason.

The French Vivendi Group's acquisition of Disney Company has been completed and has been looking for a person in charge during this period.

Vivendi’s first target was the executives under Daenerys Entertainment. However, the previous notion of being the head of the chicken didn’t work this time. Several Daenerys Entertainment executives he contacted clearly expressed their rejection. .

After going round and round, Ovitz, who was almost invited by Eisner to join Disney as the president, once again became the company's top candidate.

Ovitz and Eisner have been good friends for many years, and the two are still neighbors.

If it was a few months ago, Ovitz might refuse to take care of the friendship of friends. Now, Eisner has completely left Disney. After a serious illness, he is somewhat optimistic about many things. If he chooses to join, the problem will be Not big. What's more, with such a rare opportunity, Ovitz felt that if Eisner still couldn't let go of trying to stop him, the friendship might not be so solid.

After a busy morning with all my heart, I scheduled a meeting with Jean-Marie Mérieux, president of the Vivendi Group company in charge of telecommunications and media business at noon. Ovitz rushed to Morton's restaurant on time.

Speaking of it, Ovitz doesn't really like this famous steakhouse in Hollywood.

Some time ago, Eisner’s wife suddenly called Ovitz, who was still working, and said that Eisner was angry at home because he wanted to book a place in Morton’s restaurant to entertain friends. Morton's restaurant, which is responsive to Hollywood tycoons, said bluntly that there is no place.

How could it be out of position.

The reason is simple, Eisner is no longer the chairman and CEO of Disney.

In fact, whether it is Los Angeles or New York, many well-known restaurants are so snobbish. This is probably a way for them to maintain their so-called ‘style’.

I just had a heart operation and haven’t fully recovered. I was angry and hurt myself. After receiving a call from Eisner’s wife, Ovitz quickly contacted him. Not only did he help his old friend book a place, he also strongly demanded that the service refused Eisner’s service. Sheng must call to apologize. Ovitz has a very wide network of contacts in Hollywood, not to mention the fact that he still has a lot of big-name C heads, Morton Restaurant dare not offend, obediently follow.

The meeting at noon was not pleasant either.

This is not the first contact between the two parties. Ovitz’s request is that he must obtain absolute control of Disney. However, with the lessons learned from Columbia Pictures, the Vivendi Group simply disagrees with this. The two sides have been seeing this until now. . As the lunch came to an end, Jean-Marie Mérieux simply put forward the final conditions that Vivendi could give.

At the end of lunch, Ovitz knew that he had no room for bargaining.

Either accept or refuse.

Absent-mindedly continuing the work for the whole afternoon, returning home from work and having dinner, Ovitz took the initiative to come to the old friend's house next door and proposed a drink.

Eisner can drink some red wine now.

The two people who had known each other for many years sat down by the specially lit fireplace in Eisner’s mansion and watched Eisner’s wife took another blanket to cover her husband. Ovitz was a little bit sighed, inevitably thinking about his future. , Will it be so heroic?

In fact, apart from losing Disney’s position, Eisner has no problem in other aspects. After serving as the top leader of Disney for ten years, Eisner has accumulated tens of millions with the original salary agreement and the rapid development of Disney in the 1980s. For the dollar’s ​​net worth, even if it’s this resignation, Disney shareholders and the board of directors have given him a very generous compensation contract in order to avoid his troubles. The money is enough for Eisner to enjoy his very rich retirement life without any worries.

Just think about the Morton restaurant incident.

For a slightly ambitious man, losing power is obviously more unacceptable than losing money.

Ovitz wants to join Disney, in the final analysis, to gain more power.

C seems to be still beautiful, but in fact it doesn't have much foundation. Except for the headquarters building in Century City, he doesn't even have much fixed assets, and his income is not as rich as being the head of a large studio.

When the two met for a while, Michael Eisner took the initiative to bring up Ovitz’s concerns: "Mike, I heard that Vivendi is in contact with you?"