Hollywood Director 1992

Since "Dumb and Dumber" was a Guess Who's movie, and "Pulp Fiction" was ostensibly a Miramax project.

Some media outlets claimed that the dispute was a battle between Guess Who's and Miramax.

Other media outlets said that Quentin and Link had fallen out, turning from friends into rivals.

Affected by these controversies, "Dumb and Dumber" and "Pulp Fiction" received increased exposure, and their attendance rates showed a significant increase.

"Pulp Fiction" earned $10.05 million in its fifth week, a 23% increase from the previous week, with a cumulative box office of $51.4 million.

"Dumb and Dumber" grossed $25.74 million this week, with a cumulative box office of $67.46 million. It is projected to exceed $100 million in North America, and will also be the first film in North America in 1994 to break the $100 million mark.

By the second week, Guess Who's and Miramax were preparing to continue hyping the two films, but spoilers appeared in newspapers and magazines such as the "Los Angeles Times," "USA Today," and "Variety."

Several newspapers claimed that "Pulp Fiction" and "Dumb and Dumber" were both films invested in by Guess Who's.

The mutual accusations between Quentin, Jim Carrey, and Guess Who's last week were a self-directed and self-acted drama by Guess Who's, with the aim of creating hype and increasing the exposure of the two films. Don't be fooled.

After the spoilers appeared, continuing the hype would be a waste of effort, and Miramax and Guess Who's had no choice but to put the hype plan on hold.

"Haha, Sherry, I heard your new movie is facing losses. I'm sorry to hear that."

In the CAA president's office, Michael Ovitz put down the newspaper and picked up the phone to call Sherry Lansing, president of Paramount Pictures.

"Michael, get to the point. I'm busy."

Sherry Lansing looked at the report on her desk, feeling very unhappy.

In April, Paramount Pictures also released a film, "Sudden Turn on the Road to Stardom," a crime comedy about a person who wants to become famous and deliberately creates a robbery to attract media attention.

The film had a production cost of $30 million, but only grossed $3.52 million in four weeks. Due to the low attendance rate and high distribution costs, the film had to be taken down early after only four weeks of release.

Paramount Pictures suffered a loss of up to $30 million on this project.

The box office loss caused dissatisfaction among the board of directors, and as the president of the film company, she faced great pressure.

"Sherry, can't you see? Link is retaliating against Paramount. He knew you had a key project coming out soon, so he deliberately scheduled the release of 'Pulp Fiction' and 'Dumb and Dumber' around 'Sudden Turn on the Road to Stardom' to rob this movie's box office. If it weren't for 'Pulp Fiction' and 'Dumb and Dumber,' 'Sudden Turn on the Road to Stardom' would never have performed so poorly at the box office."

Michael Ovitz said.

Sherry Lansing tapped her fingers on the desk, not entirely agreeing with Michael Ovitz. The box office failure of "Sudden Turn on the Road to Stardom" was mainly due to the film's plot not being exciting enough, the jokes not being frequent enough, and the audience not liking it, rather than being robbed by other films.

However, without "Pulp Fiction" and "Dumb and Dumber," "Stardom" could indeed have earned more at the box office.

"Michael, what are you getting at? I remember your bet is over."

"Yes, but don't you think Link is a bastard? He's like an alien species. After he entered Hollywood, the established order in the industry was broken. The Big Seven studios are no longer the most profitable film companies, big-name stars have become less important, good movies can't get the box office results they deserve, and bad movies are selling like crazy one after another. Hollywood is now a mess. Have you ever thought about driving out Link and Guess Who's, so that the Big Seven can regain control of Hollywood?"

"Never thought about it. I'm the chairman of Paramount Pictures, and my main task is to make money with movies, to earn more profits to satisfy the shareholders. Driving out Link and Guess Who's is not my job."

"That's not contradictory. Before '92, the Big Seven studios firmly controlled Hollywood. In '93, Guess Who's, a film company that had only been established for two years, snatched away the market share that originally belonged to the Big Seven with a few trashy movies, and forcefully entered the top seven.

Although Guess Who's total box office ranked sixth last year, Paramount ranked fourth.

Judging from the current momentum, Guess Who's film performance this year is better than last year, and it will eat up more market share that originally belonged to the Big Seven, and will also surpass Paramount and 20th Century Fox, entering the top four, or even top three, in the film industry.

Once surpassed by Guess Who's, Paramount Pictures' profitability will definitely decline again. How will you explain that to Chairman Redstone and those shareholders then?"

Michael Ovitz sneered.

Sherry Lansing couldn't refute his words.

Among the forty-odd films released in the first quarter of this year, only two films had a chance to break $100 million at the North American box office, "Pulp Fiction" and "Dumb and Dumber," and both of these films were produced by Guess Who's.

Among Hollywood film companies in the first quarter, Guess Who's had the best box office revenue and earned the most.

And the annual profit of the film industry is limited, more than five billion US dollars, originally 90% belonged to the Big Seven studios, and after the rise of Guess Who's, this ratio has dropped significantly.

Now, for every dollar more that Guess Who's films earn, the Big Seven will earn one dollar less.

Guess Who's is robbing the Big Seven.

Sherry Lansing also hated Guess Who's very much, and wanted to see the company go bankrupt, reducing the workload of these executives, but Link himself was a very capable director, worth more than a billion dollars, and she couldn't do it alone or with one company.

"What do you want to do?"

"We join forces to drive out Link and divide up Guess Who's."

"We join forces?"

Sherry Lansing shook her head.

Although Michael Ovitz is the president, founder, and major shareholder of CAA, with a net worth of four to five hundred million US dollars, and has deep connections in the entertainment industry.

But his opponent Link is also a formidable character.

To suppress such an opponent, unless three or more of the Big Seven studios join forces to suppress Guess Who's film box office and drive Link out of Hollywood.

If she only joins forces with Michael Ovitz, it will be difficult to succeed.

Without a single mistake, a first song, a first hair, an inner appearance, seeing at a glance!

"It's not just our two companies. I've talked to the presidents of the Big Seven film companies and several independent film companies. Warner Bros., 20th Century Fox, Universal Pictures, Carolco Pictures, and Castle Rock Entertainment are willing to join forces to deal with Guess Who's.

MGM, Disney, and Columbia Pictures have agreed to remain neutral. With multiple companies joining forces, Link and Guess Who's will undoubtedly be defeated."

Michael Ovitz said confidently.

Sherry Lansing thought for a moment, "Vanguard Capital and Morgan Investment won't watch us short Guess Who's."

Hearing Sherry Lansing say 'we,' Michael Ovitz laughed, "Don't worry, Vanguard and Morgan won't interfere in our competition. They are not only shareholders of Guess Who's, but also shareholders of several other companies. Even if Guess Who's goes bankrupt, it won't have a big impact on them.

But speaking of which, Link is really stupid. If he had sold most of his shares to Vanguard and Morgan in the first round of financing, with the protection of two investment companies, no company in Hollywood would target him, but he was too greedy."

Sherry Lansing remained noncommittal, "Michael, there's one thing I don't understand. We, the Big Seven, are dealing with Link because he stole the box office that originally belonged to us. Why are you dealing with him? I heard that Guess Who's doesn't object to working with CAA's artists."

Michael Ovitz snorted, "I naturally have my reasons."

He had many reasons. In last year's bet, he lost more than twenty million, including principal and interest. Counting his connections, resources and lost work fees, the losses amounted to tens of millions.

In addition to losing money, the CAA agency also lost people.

After the bet ended, Richard Gere, Robert Downey Jr., Dustin Hoffman, and others had accidents one after another.

These people were originally cash cows for CAA, but Link ruined their reputations, which also led to a decline in CAA's reputation and influence, and WMA and UTA jointly poached several important clients.

These things also seriously affected CAA's revenue situation last year. Last year, CAA's commission share was $240 million, down 8% from '92, which was also the first decline in the past five years.

According to the company report, the decline in profits is greatly related to Michael Ovitz's participation in the bet.

This incident also made the board of directors very dissatisfied with him. At the board meeting at the beginning of the year, Michael Ovitz was questioned by members of the board of directors, which made him lose face.

If it weren't for the fact that he, as president, held enough shares in his hands, he might have been replaced by the board of directors.

And all of this was caused by Link.

This is a personal feud.

In addition, he also received promises from several film companies that they would pay him a large commission after bringing down Guess Who's.

That is the key.

Sherry Lansing heard that so many companies were joining forces, and also agreed to join the 'alliance,' to jointly encircle and suppress Link and Guess Who's, and strive to bring down the company and restore the original order to Hollywood.