I’m in Hollywood

The next day, Iron Man ushered in the premiere ceremony in North America.

Compared with the premieres in overseas cities such as Tokyo and London, the Los Angeles premiere of Iron Man is even more powerful.

Firefly Group spared no effort to prepare for this premiere, especially after the online gossip incident a few days ago, in order to deal with possible emergencies, the group specially added an extra security for this premiere. Budget.

Fortunately, the whole premiere went very smoothly.

As the word of mouth of Iron Man has been widely recognized, on the second day of the premiere, the media even paid more attention to the guest lineup comparable to large-scale movie awards ceremony, which also improved the Iron Man once again. The hot topic of Iron Man.

For most movie fans, the two days from the premiere on Wednesday to the midnight show on Thursday and even the large-scale release on Friday are almost fleeting, but Eric's work schedule is still full.

Culver City.

Inside an interior screening room at Columbia Studios.

Eric and Columbia Pictures CEO Bill Michanick are talking about company affairs while waiting for a representative from Gaumont.

Last year, Luc Besson once again directed another big production of his Joan of Arc, a war epic costing 390 million francs, which is equivalent to nearly 80 million US dollars. Another major production attempt after The Fifth Element.

After the success of Braveheart, although the number of epic films has increased significantly in recent years, there are not many successful cases. Major film companies have gradually realized the high risk of epic films, so they are enthusiastic about investing in such films. Great temperature drop.

Gladiator, which Ridley Scott has already started to produce, was abandoned by Spielberg's Amberlin Films under this background, and was transferred to Fox under the help of Eric.

Compared with Gladiator, which has achieved better results than Braveheart in terms of box office and awards in memory, Eric has no impression of Joan of Arc at all, and only vaguely remembers that this film once The heroine is Milla Jovovich.

However, due to changes in Hollywood history, Milla Jovovich, who is still unknown now, has not had any intersection with Luc Besson. Whether it is The Fifth Element or Joan of Arc, the heroine is replaced by other actresses.

Warner Bros. has signed Wu's The Wind Whisperer, but the attitude towards this film is also very cautious, Warner Bros. will only bear 30% of the investment, and the other 70% of the investment will be handled by a German film fund. .

Eric was somewhat disappointed to hear Bill Michanick say this.

The former MGM completely bet on Wind Whisperer and borne all the production and distribution costs of the film alone. Wind Whisperer failed miserably at the box office, and MGM was on the verge of bankruptcy.

However, this disappointment is only fleeting, and things can't always work exactly as they want.

What's more, even if it only occupies 30% of the investment, Warner Bros. will definitely still undertake the distribution of Windtalker, which will not only consume a lot of money again, but also occupy a high-quality schedule, which is completely time and money. multiple losses.

If Will Smith's other Men in Black parody of The Wind Up is similarly screwed, next year will be a disaster for Time Warner's film business.

Thinking of this, Eric asked again, What about Raiders?

The Stormtroopers is entirely produced by Warner, without any collaborators. Bill Michanick said, and added: Eric, I watched a sample of Joan of Arc ahead of time. , Seriously, I think the film sucks and doesn't have any selling point.

Eric also didn't have any expectations for Joan of Arc, saying: In this case, Luc Besson will definitely part ways with Gaumont Films after the failure of two consecutive big-production films.

He will come over later, all you have to do is to draw him over.

Bill Michanick is a little puzzled. Luc Besson screwed up two big productions in a row. Columbia Pictures still wants to win over each other?

Eric saw Bill Michanic's thoughts and explained: Luc Besson is a very talented director, but in fact, what I value more is his ability to write and produce action films. Although none of the films he directed are very good at the box office, the action films such as Nikita and Taxi Express that he participated in writing and producing are very successful, and the cost is not high. You can compare this with He collaborated and could even take these films of his and make them into American remakes.”

Just as she was speaking, the door of the screening hall was pushed open, and Anne Hathaway timidly looked into the hall for a while. When she saw Eric, she immediately smiled and walked in with a restrained expression.

Anne showed off her figure in a knee-length white corset dress today.

When approached, Annie whispered hello: Eric, and Mr. Michanic.

Eric looked at the girl's delicate and tender appearance, smiled and patted his knee, and said, Come on, I heard that the cast of Girls of Souls was filming in the studio, I think you should be here.

Annie glanced at Bill Michanic, and sat on Eric's lap with a shy expression, but hugged the man's neck affectionately: Eric, I thought you forgot me.

Since they met at the Midnight Bell celebration party last year, Annie has not been able to see Eric a few times in the following half a year, although sometimes she occasionally feels that she accepted Eric's card. It's not very appropriate, but more often, girls are worried that Eric will forget himself.

Of course not, but you know, I'm very busy. I heard that you received another romance film called, um, The Other Side of Heaven, and you're going to shoot in the Bahamas?

Annie didn't expect that Eric would know everything about her, and was a little surprised, but she was relieved immediately, this man controls most of Hollywood.

Nodding her head, Annie said, Carl thinks this role is very suitable for me, Karl Franco, my agent, Eric, do you remember?

Remember, Eric smiled and said, Then let's shoot well. In addition, if you need help with the movie in the future, you can go to Bill directly instead of calling my assistant's office. They are not very good at it. deal with that.

Annie was a little embarrassed, she got the heroine of The Other Side of Heaven. Although this is only a low-cost film from an independent production company, if she wants to get this role, she is a rookie, and it is impossible without some external assistance, so I contacted him through the phone number that Eric gave her at the beginning. assistant's office.

Eric's assistant office, of course, can't be bad at unclogging a movie character's problems.

But Annie called over there, which also meant that both Caroline and Mayer knew about it, and then they couldn't help but have a small look of resentment.

Hearing Eric say this, Bill Michanick took the initiative to hand over a business card and smiled: Miss Hathaway, if you have anything in the future, you can call me.

Although he is the head of a major film company with the weakest strength in the Firefly system, he is also one of the seven heads, and no one can ignore the energy of such an executive in Hollywood.

Annie took the business card, put it away carefully, and said, Thank you, Mr. Michanick.

After explaining the matter, Eric patted the girl's waist and said, Then, I still have some things to do, so go ahead and do it first.

Annie was reluctant to leave. She rubbed against Eric without caring too much. She leaned over and said, Eric, are you free tonight?

Well, Eric nodded, I'll have someone pick you up after get off work.

After sending away Anne, several representatives of Gaumont's company also arrived soon, and Luc Besson also came to Los Angeles on purpose.

Everyone chatted and started watching the demo of Joan of Arc.

Then, although Eric didn't have any expectations for Joan of Arc, but after watching it, he found that this film was worse than his lowest expectations. Luc Besson has absolutely any talent for making epic films.

Although the film does not lack large scenes, the feeling to Eric is almost one word, chaos.

The bigger the scene, the more chaotic it is, and people can't fully appreciate the beauty of the composition of the shot.

The new heroine, Alice Taglioni, is equally beautiful, but her acting skills are beyond compliments. The film has never shown the deafening cultural connotation of the phrase freedom in Braveheart from beginning to end.

An epic film that can neither make people feel passionate nor think, except for the word failure, Eric really can't think of a more appropriate adjective.

If it weren't for politeness and the intention to win over Luc Besson, Eric would probably get up and leave when he saw half of it.

Joan of Arc has been confirmed to be released in various European countries in October, and the schedule of popular movies in Europe is basically similar to that in North America. Therefore, just from the schedule, Eric can probably realize that the Gaumont film company does not have any expectations for this film. Make it easy to feel.

After watching the film, Eric did not discuss the film too much, but only communicated with Luc Besson about his intention to develop in Hollywood.

Luc Besson is also clearly aware of the impending failure of Joan of Arc, screwing up two big-budget films in a row, and his life in the French film circle in the next few years will certainly not be very good. Facing Eric's personal solicitation, he was naturally quite moved, and he agreed on the spot.

After a day of get off work, I took Annie to a restaurant in Venice Beach after work, and then returned to Malibu.

However, Eric was somewhat absent-minded tonight.

Tomorrow, Iron Man will be released on a large scale, and tonight's midnight show is also a very critical data for the film.

It was already night on the east coast, and on the west coast, around ten o'clock in the evening, emails related to Iron Man were successively sent to Eric's newly replaced BlackBerry.

The specific midnight box office information of the film will be released one after another after the early hours of the West Coast.

Although relative to his current net worth, Eric really doesn't need to care too much about the gains and losses of a film. But when things came to an end, I realized that because of the habit formed for a long time, it was not easy to be relieved.

And, obviously, many of Firefly's executives have a hard time resting tonight.

Eric's plan for the Marvel Cinematic Universe project is too huge. Once successful, the Firefly Group will be able to maintain a considerable advantage in the movie business in the next 20 or even 30 years.

The bigger the cake is, the more likely it is to worry about gains and losses. Coupled with the expectations brought by the great success of the MGM film universe, it is difficult for everyone to confirm the box office data information of Iron Man at the first time. clam down.

Women's minds are always the most sensitive, and Annie obviously felt Eric's absent-mindedness, so she became more and more docile and submissive, as if she was carefully trying her best to please.

Before I knew it, it was past twelve o'clock in the morning.

The girl on the big bed had already fallen asleep, Eric took a shower, but went downstairs.

I made myself a pot of coffee, sat on the sofa by the glass curtain wall and flipped through a document to kill time, and occasionally looked at the dark night outside the curtain wall.

After one o'clock in the morning, the BlackBerry beside him and the e-mail alert on his laptop rang at the same time.

Eric took his laptop, opened the unread email he just accepted, and directly looked for the specific midnight box office numbers.

$7.6 million.

Thoughts were suddenly confused.

$7.6 million at the midnight box office, compared to most films, is absolutely outstanding.

However, Eric just happened to be flipping through the midnight box office information of the big-budget movies in recent years.

Compared to Iron Man's $7.6 million midnight box office, Mission Impossible 3's midnight box office was $9.2 million, The Matrix 2 was $9.95 million, and Charlie's Angels 3 was $9.95 million. Midnight box office was $12.5 million, while Star Wars: The Phantom Menace hit $16.5 million at midnight.

Of course, Eric also knows that films such as Mission Impossible 3 have accumulated a very large group of die-hard fans, and the Star Wars series has formed an American cultural phenomenon, and fans of these series can't wait It is very important to watch the movie as soon as it is released, so it will create a series of high midnight box office.

In comparison, Iron Man can only be regarded as a second-tier superhero of Marvel, and his popularity among Marvel superheroes is far lower than that of Spider-Man, Hulk, X-Men and other characters. What's more, this is only the opening work of Iron Man, or even the opening work of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Although the popularity of Iron Man has reached the national level under the large-scale publicity offensive of the Firefly Group, after all, there is still no core group of fans who will watch the film at the first time.

As for the factor that Eric himself participated in, although it can bring wider popularity to the film. But Eric is also clear that since his personal works have never had a unified and distinctive style, nor have he formed a large group of die-hard movie fans, this factor will not have much effect on the box office at midnight.

However, even if these are the realities that have to be faced, it is still difficult for Eric to be satisfied with the midnight box office data of Iron Man at this time only 7.6 million US dollars.

It is conceivable that if this data is leaked, some media will hype it tomorrow, and it may even have an impact on the subsequent box office trend of Iron Man.