America: Starting with the acquisition of MGM

Chapter 228 227. The strongest Oscar host

There is no doubt that The Hangover was a huge success, as can be deduced from the laughter of the audience and the smiles on their faces when they left.

And everyone is happy that the movie is successful.

But to say who is the happiest person, apart from Eric who can make a lot of money, it is probably Adam Sandler.

When he took the initiative to lower his salary to participate in "The Hangover", he wanted to get another breakthrough in his career and truly enter the ranks of first-line comedians.

Facts have proved that his vision and choice are very correct. With the blessing of "The Hangover", the media and fans no longer need to hide and tuck him in, and can openly compare him with Ben Stiller, Jim Carrey, Robin William Shi and other first-line comedians are juxtaposed.

"Mr. Cooper, I have to thank you again for giving me the opportunity to star in The Hangover. It was definitely the best choice I've ever made."

Eric smiled: "The success of the movie is the result of your joint efforts. My contribution is very small."

"No, without your approval of this project, it wouldn't even be launched, so it's all thanks to your insight."

Sure enough, he can talk. There is nothing wrong with saying it this way. It makes people feel comfortable.

As a director, Todd Phillips is smiling from ear to ear. He is also a huge beneficiary, but the director is not exposed to the front desk like a star, so the media's attention will definitely not be on him.

Although Todd Phillips has made several successful movies before, his investment has always been in the tens of millions.

Once the box office of "The Hangover" soars this time, A-level productions from major companies will inevitably offer him an olive branch.

A soldier who doesn't want to be a general is not a good soldier, and a director who doesn't want to direct a blockbuster movie is not a good director.

"Todd, I heard that you turned down Warner Bros.' "Boy" for "The Hangover"?"

"Well, both scripts were placed in front of me at that time. After reading them, I decisively chose "The Hangover". Well, I still struggled for a while, but the plot of "The Hangover" attracted me more and it was more marketable. sex."

"Don't worry, your choice will never be wrong. "Two Heroes" will be released on March 5, let's wait and see."

As he spoke, he put his arm around the shoulders of several people: "Since the audience's response is so good, I should also put it on my agenda to watch "The Hangover 2."

Hearing this, several people's eyes tightened, and a thought came to their minds at the same time, whether it was too early.

After all, it's just a premiere. Whether the movie is really successful or just an illusion, we have to wait until the first week's box office is released before we can judge.

Most of the time, the movie opens with rave reviews, but then falters immediately afterwards.

"Everyone is watching what I do. Is it because I don't have confidence, or because I don't want to make a sequel?"

Xiao Jianjian immediately expressed his position: "I have no problem, just contact me after the project is launched."

Others nodded when they saw this. You, the big boss, are not worried, and us part-time workers are even less worried. On the contrary, you have to pay us a long film salary.

With Ryan Reynolds' current celebrity status, even if it is a friendly price, the salary will not be less than 3 million US dollars. When he filmed the first film, he only had 700,000 US dollars.

Adam Sandler is even higher. If he can win $7 million, he is lucky, and everyone else's salary will also rise accordingly.

This is why the sequel of the movie does not seem to have much improvement in production level, with no special effects or big scenes, but the production cost has increased so much. This is the reason.

In the following days, investigators from MGM cities in various cities gave the results. The attendance rate was quite good, the laughter was also intensive, and the film reviews and word-of-mouth were also lifted.

Rotten Tomatoes has a freshness score of 95%, and it has a first-class reputation among audiences, surpassing most comedy movies.

"Hahaha, I highly recommend watching "The Hangover." It's the funniest movie I've seen this year. It's full of all kinds of language gags. But I don't recommend taking children with you because some of the scenes are quite big. .”

"Drinking, taking drugs, running naked, and urinating in public. Do these elements make you think "The Hangover" is a dark drama? But let me tell you, it is a quite explosive comedy. Ryan Reynolds Really handsome, especially the part where he fucks the tiger, OMG!”

"I'm all about shitty movies. They can bring me a different kind of happiness. Recently, they're all blockbusters or award-winning art films, otherwise they're just horror movies. I'm tired of them. "The Hangover" brings something new to me and my friends. It feels like this is the kind of comedy movie we want to see.”

"An unparalleled good movie. It is completely different from Jim Carrey's comedy, but it can still make you addicted and hilarious. Everyone in the cinema went crazy with joy. These bad guys brought me happiness."

"If you want to laugh, go see 'The Hangover,' and if you want to be scared, go see 'Saw 2.'"

The moment the Rotten Tomatoes score came out, everyone knew the movie was going to be a hit, and MGM had created a new franchise, a cash cow.

However, unlike the good reputation from the audience, the film critics received mixed reviews.

After all, they are film critics, and some of them consider themselves noble. They consider a movie from the perspective of appreciating works of art.

Not to mention shitty movies like "The Hangover", even "The Lord of the Rings", "Transformers", "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "The Matrix" will not be judged by others as long as they have a strong commercial atmosphere.

Only literary films such as "The Life of Adele" and "Girl with a Pearl Earring" are the favorites of this type of film critics.

For example, the Chicago Tribune published an article: "The Hangover" contributed a good trailer, but that's all.

The Independent: "The Hangover" is a vulgar, boring, and full of bad taste. You can hardly find interesting comedy elements in it. The whole movie is full of shit. If you want to laugh, then Better not to buy a ticket for it, it's just a waste of two hours of your life.

Pravda: A cheesy movie with no highlights and no new ideas, "The Hangover" is a complete waste of Adam Sandler's comedy talents and only brings a bunch of boring and vulgar side effects.

Nothing in the world can satisfy everyone, not even money.

However, amid the controversy, MGM's stock price rose by nearly 3 points again, one step closer to 20th Century Fox.

At the same time, some movie fans on the Internet summarized the movies and TV dramas produced by MGM in the past year and found that almost all of them were profitable, and they were not just small profits, but at least tens of millions of dollars in profits. There are works that are losing money.

If "Barbershop", "Red Dragon" and "007" are the high-quality legacies of the previous generation, then starting from "Sharknado", this lion has started running mode.

"Saw", "Get Out", "Hold Your Breath", "Happy Death Day", "The Purge" and "Transformers".

Even an extremely niche literary film like "The Life of Adele" has grossed more than 200 million worldwide, which is really exaggerated.

Coupled with "The Walking Dead" that countless audiences are looking forward to, it can be said that movies and TV series have blossomed.

If there are a few movies that didn't make money, they are probably "Whale Rider" and "The Devil Wears Prada", but both of them have good reputations.

It's just that it didn't make money at the box office, but the subsequent copyright income will definitely still be profitable.

Some fans are already calculating how long it will take for MGM to surpass Disney and become the first of the seven major companies.

The top answer for this topic is two years.

The premise is that MGM can continue to develop smoothly, and Disney cannot always produce hit movies. For example, "Finding Nemo" raised Disney's stock price by nearly 10%.

Some netizens also provided insights, hoping that when MGM becomes stronger, it will acquire Warner, so that many lost copyrights can be recovered.

Eric very much agrees with the netizen's proposal. He really wants the copyright of DC and "Tom and Jerry".

If DC and Marvel were all concentrated in their own hands, it would not be a dream to make a Justice League vs. Avengers movie to overturn "Titanic".

Loved by the audience, "The Hangover" undoubtedly won the box office championship this week.

2,555 movie theaters achieved a box office of US$57 million, reaching the top of the list.

February 27, Los Angeles, Dolby Theater.

The place is crowded today, with big-name stars from all over the world gathered here to attend the 76th Academy Awards ceremony.

Unlike the Golden Globes and Emmys, the Oscars do not have a round table for food and drinks. Everyone sits in rows in formal suits.

On Eric's left is the crew of "Adele's Life", on his right is the crew of "Transformers", and behind him are the crews of "Get Out" and "The Devil Wears Prada".

With veteran actor Sean Connery's opening remarks, the awards ceremony entered a tribute segment.

This year's host is Billy Crystal. He comes from a Hollywood acting family. He is an all-round writer and director. His hosting skills are even better, and he can crush many professional hosts and talk show actors.

This year, since "The Lord of the Rings" is likely to make history, its importance is self-evident, so ABC specially invited him over.

I was invited here, rather than competing for the position, because this eldest brother's resume is too rich.

He started hosting the Oscars in 1990. Due to the good effect, the subsequent Oscars almost became his personal show.

1991, 1992, 1993, 1997, 1998, 2000. Among them, 1998 was the year when "Titanic" swept the show, and it was also the year when Christo dominated the show, so it is not surprising that ABC hired him.

Eric still remembers that at the 82nd Oscars, due to the temporary resignation of the original host Eddie Murphy, this old man had to be brought in to put out the fire. He is so trustworthy.

In the short film, Christo first ate popcorn in the cinema, and ended up eating a golden Lord of the Rings. After putting it on, he was instantly sucked into the big screen, stripped of his clothes and squatting on the ground, half-crouching with "Terminator" same.

Then he sailed on the sea with Captain Jack Sparrow, received the Sword of the King from the Elf King, raced horses with Tobey Maguire in the last century, traveled in the ocean with Nemo, and contributed a famous Hollywood meme.

Christo transformed into Gollum and talked to himself in the lake.

"I can't host this one."

"No, you must go, they are counting on you."

"I haven't hosted one since the Oscars were taken over by the Evil Wizard."

"You mean orcs?"

"No, it's the Weinstein brothers!"

Ha ha ha ha

At this point in the short film, the audience burst into laughter, and many people were really laughing.

Everyone knows that Peter Jackson deliberately used him as a template for an orc commander in "Lord of the Rings 3" in order to mock Harvey Weinstein.

And Harvey Weinstein's behavior of using various despicable means to attack his opponents and win the grand prize has made many people despise him.

After seeing this scene, everyone naturally felt happy.

Even Harvey Weinstein himself, who was sitting at the scene, could only smile and applaud. He had to look generous, but he must have hated the screenwriter and director in his heart.

Finally, under the guidance of Jack Nicholson's disguised Gandalf, Crystal stepped onto the awards stage.

"Dear guests, let us welcome the host-Billy Crystal!"

Amid thunderous applause, Christo smiled and greeted the audience.

“We’re giving out a lot of trophies tonight, and a lot of them are first-time nominees.”

“Just a reminder to all first-time nominees, remember to tip the host if you win.”

“First-time finalist Charlize Theron!”

The camera showed Theron. She was wearing a beautiful white evening dress today and immediately showed a shy smile.

But my heart is screaming: "Little Golden Man, Little Golden Man, I must get the Little Golden Man! Give it to me!"

"Theron, you look stunning tonight, but you scare the crap out of people in the movie."

"And Ashley and Mary, this is your first time being shortlisted, so I wish you good luck."

For this kind of troublesome scene, the audience naturally applauded without taking it too seriously.

The two sisters also wore red and blue evening gowns, waving to the camera and smiling.

They were also roaring in their hearts: "Damn it, if you don't give us the best actress, everyone will die!"

“There’s a really interesting movie this year called Lost in Translation, and the director, Sofia Coppola, is the first woman to be nominated for best director.”

"Sofia said it would be great to be shortlisted and she had no hope of winning, but I don't think that's the case."

"Because early this morning, a lot of the judges said they found a horse head next to their pillow."

Ha ha ha ha

Sofia Coppola is the daughter of Francis Coppola, and the horse head is a famous scene in Francis's classic "The Godfather".

What follows is a medley of operatic arias, which fully demonstrates Christo’s talent.

In front of the TV, tens of millions of viewers saw this scene, and they all had to admit that he was indeed the strongest, even the most popular talk show hosts, whether it was Alan, Conan, Jimmy, etc. Everyone must be willing to accept the defeat.

After a big show, Crystal announced loudly: "Let us welcome our first award guest, last year's Oscar winner for Best Supporting Actress, Katharine Jones!"