Hollywood New Century

Simon Pike and Blake Lively hugged impatiently as soon as they returned to their villa in Beverly Hills.

Rolling onto the bed with Blake Lively in his arms, Simon looked at the girl's face, nodded and smiled: "It's really beautiful tonight!"

"Really!" Blake Lively smiled, raised his head and kissed Simon Parker's lips, while unbuttoning Simon's clothes.

The expensive evening dresses were thrown on the carpet beside the bed one by one, and the two people on the bed had already started the most primitive movement!

Blake Lively is a minor actor, and Simon Pike is not a star, so there won't be any reporter coverage.

However, to be on the safe side, Blake Lively went back to where he lived and started taking acting lessons in earnest.

Simon Pike didn't say much. After all, he still has a different relationship with Emily Blunt. Blake Lively also understands some things. The most important thing is the development of his own career.

After all, this is Hollywood, and the relationship between boyfriend and girlfriend is basically nothing.

Burbank, Xinghai Pictures, Simon has found the original novel of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, from the 1922 collection of short stories of the same name by renowned author Scott Fitzgerald, Stories of the Jazz Age .

Scott Fitzgerald was a famous American writer and screenwriter in the 1920s. He wrote the most famous novel "The Great Gatsby".

"Sonia, get someone to go to the publishing house to buy the rights to the story 'The Curious Case of Benjamin Button' in Scott Fitzgerald's collection of short stories, which I want to make into a screenplay," Simon said. Said and handed her a document that had just been printed, which was a short story about "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button".

"It's easy! The publishing house won't charge too much, and then I'll register the idea with the Screenwriters Guild, right?" Sonia asked with a smile, after all, it's been almost 90 years since the novel was published, and the author has died It has been 66 years. Because it is a work from 1922, it will enter the public ownership period 70 years after the author's death.

After 1923, it will not work, because the United States amended the Act in 1998 to extend the term of copyright protection, and works published in or after 1923 will not enter the public domain until 2019.

"Smart, that's it!" Simon nodded.

Sonia Roman looked at the document in her hand and asked in surprise, "Has the script outline been written yet?"

"Yeah, don't forget, I'm the best screenwriter at the Oscars. The original story is cold and gloomy, of course not, I will adapt this story myself!" Simon likes "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" very much. Good movie.

"Okay, I'll get this done as soon as possible!" Sonia Roman felt that Simon had written the script himself, and the chances of success should be better.

"And the movie adaptation rights of the "Mouse" series of novels, it must be as soon as possible, the sooner the cheaper!" Simon reminded.

After Sonia Roman went out, Simon had another call with the marketing department at Twentieth Century Fox, and the promotion of "The Devil Wears Prada" was about to intensify.

"Boss, our "The Devil Wears Prada" release date is Friday night on 6.30, and on Wednesday 6.28 Warner Bros. blockbuster "Superman Returns" will also be released, and on 7.7 next week, Disney's "Pirates of the Caribbean: Death Man" will also be released. It's going to be released," the assistant explained as he handed Simon a copy of the movie release schedule.

"Sure enough, it's the summer season, and they are all fierce blockbusters!" Although Simon has been paying attention to the released movies, he felt an itch when he thought of the terrifying box office figures of "Pirates of the Caribbean: Gathering Soul".

As for the just-released Universal Pictures series "Speed ​​​​and Passion 3: Tokyo Drift", I don't feel much. The story that happened in Tokyo, without a starring one, can't make a big wave!

Until the fourth installment brings Vin Diesel and Paul Walker back into the timeline of the second installment, the series is about to start taking the box office by storm.

"By the way, are there any features or disputes about the direction of our "The Queen Wears Prada"?" Simon asked. After all, there is no CP hype or scandal hype.

"Our storyline was meant to insinuate Anna Wintour, the editor-in-chief of American Vogue, so the propagandist posted some bad words from Anna Wintour to Meryl Streep's innuendo about herself. , plus some tabloids follow suit, there should be some people who believe this rumor and create a disagreement between the film and Anna Wintour!" Assistant Martha Cosby responded.

"It's okay, at least it's a little controversial, and it will attract more people," Simon Pike leaned back in his chair and asked again:

"We invited Anna Wintour to the New York premiere, should that be okay?"

20th Century Fox is an asset of News Corp. A small editor-in-chief of "Vogue" will not lose face!

"It's been promised, 20th Century Fox has arranged it!" Martha Cosby quickly nodded in response.

The method of film promotion is so shameless. First, it creates a disagreement with you, and then invites you to break the disagreement in a high-profile manner, so that the film will have a topic during this period, and only when there is a topic will it be exposed, right?

As for Anna Wintour, of course she didn't say anything, the newspaper reports are gossip anyway, break the gossip, come on, come to our movie premiere!

"Okay, get busy!" Simon needs to think about that "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button".

After Martha Cosby left, Simon leaned on the chair and knocked on the table. The Chinese translation of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" was "Rejuvenation"!

Directed by famous director David Fincher, the original actor is Brad Pitt and the heroine is Cate Blanchett.

The heroine is simple, Cate Blanchett does a good job, and the pay is not high, but Brad Pitt is different, the pay is high, but his acting is good, and he has worked with David Fincher in several movies .

Fortunately, this time it was his own Xinghai Films who led the film, not David Fincher himself.

Now David Fincher is filming Warner Bros. and Paramount's thriller, The Zodiac.

David Fincher costs money to make movies, and Brad Pitt isn't doing well at the box office, so that's something to consider.

After a while, Simon's other assistant, Laura Collins, knocked on the door and came in and reported to Simon a news that he had been concerned about before:

"Lianmei Pictures, a subsidiary of MGM, is looking for someone to take over!"

"Lianmei's label has a deep background, and there are some silent film treasures in the film library, which are still worth a little money," Simon seemed to be talking to himself. If Xinghai Pictures acquired Lianmei, it would be easier to rebuild the distribution network after sufficient funds.

It’s not just the Simon family who have the idea of ​​Lianmei, but another location in Los Angeles, the office of Cruise-Wagner Productions, Tom Cruise and his partner Paula Wagner are also discussing.

"What contract renewal conditions did Paramount Pictures give?" Tom Cruise's face was very ugly. "Mission Impossible 3" only made 130 million US dollars at the North American box office and 240 million US dollars overseas. It is estimated that it will not increase much. .

"The studio operating fee of $2.5 million per year in the future, and the movie you star in will receive a lot less in the future!" Paula Wagner said helplessly.

"How about other film companies?" Tom Cruise felt that he had such a strong appeal, how could no major producers take over.

Paula Wagner shook her head and said, "Paramount has the right to distribute the "Mission Impossible" series, and we don't have this chip in our hands!"

The "Mission: Impossible" series is produced by Cruise Wagner Pictures, but distributed by Paramount. Basically, this series is tied to Paramount.

Similar to MGM's 007 series, Dancho Pictures has the production rights, and the distribution rights are in the hands of Lianmei Pictures, but they are transferred to MGM.

Of course, what Paula Wagner did not say is that other film companies are unwilling to give such high conditions, the annual operating fee of 13 million to Cruise-Wagner Films, and in the cooperative film (starring Tom Cruise ) Cruise Wagner Pictures gets 30% of the box office and home entertainment market revenue.

Tom Cruise frowned. He had been troubled in the past two years, but now Paramount's almost humiliating contract renewal conditions clearly do not want to continue to cooperate.

"Mr. Summer Redstone personally asked about it, and is not satisfied with this "Mission Impossible 3"," Paula Wagner sat on the sofa with her head propped up.

"Forget it, let's end the negotiation, haven't you been in contact with investors on Wall Street, are they willing to support us?" Tom Cruise asked Paula Wagner with piercing eyes.

Yes, Cruise-Wagner Films also has an idea for Lianmei, joining Lianmei, pulling in investment from Wall Street, and truly managing a film company.

"They agreed in principle that Merrill Lynch needs you to persuade the investment fund, you understand!" Paula Wagner meant that they needed proof from your Tom Cruise.

"Yes, I will try my best to persuade investors to support me in joining Lianmei. We will also discuss the details with the major shareholders of MGM Holdings as soon as possible," Tom Cruise certainly knew that MGM, composed of the four major shareholders The CEO of May Holdings is a Sony man.

MGM Studios has no overseas distribution, and all overseas distribution of the films produced is handed over to Sony Columbia.

MGM Holdings is actually independent from Sony, and Sony Columbia controls the home entertainment market and overseas markets for MGM films.

"By the way, it seems that Xinghai Pictures has also inquired about Lianmei," Paula Wagner reminded.

"That young man, Simon Parker, is he interested in Lianmei?" Tom Cruise was stunned for a while, then smiled indifferently: "What financing does Xinghai Film rely on, Simon Parker's name?"