I’m in Hollywood

The negotiations between Firefly and Columbia on the sequels of films such as Men in Black were personally in charge of Katzenberg. With Katzenberg's tough character, Eric was not worried that Firefly would suffer in the negotiation. As for Colombia's so-called The threat of prosecution is even less worth mentioning in Firefly’s view. Once Colombia files a lawsuit, the lawsuit will not come to fruition for a year or two. Firefly can afford it, but Colombia dare not spend it. `

However, Columbia was interested in Flower Pictures, but Eric had to come forward in person. Therefore, Eric returned to Los Angeles just after New Year's in New York.

Although Huahua Pictures has no equity relationship with Firefly on the surface, it is a very important step in Eric's Hollywood expansion plan. In fact, the entire Hollywood is also clear about the inside story of Huahua Pictures. After all, in the seven major Under the circumstance that film companies basically monopolize the channel, if they don’t get the support of the Big Seven, any new Hollywood player will not dare to make a film with an investment of more than 10,000 US dollars, otherwise they will definitely be caught by the Big Seven in the course of the film. of blood.

But the seemingly inconspicuous Flower Films did so. It not only produced two large-scale productions with an investment of about 10,000 yuan in a row, but also received a share from Colombia that made many second- and third-tier film companies envy and hate. terms, which is absolutely inseparable from the full support of Firefly Group.

The biggest confidence that Huahua Films dares to do is that if the big investment films it produces cannot get a reasonable contract from the other six majors, Firefly can take over at any time.

After Colombia chooses the new year, it is difficult for the flower film industry at this juncture, and this is also what I like. Flower Pictures currently has two pending films, Night at the Museum and Forrest Gump. Columbia originally set the schedule for the two films in the summer of 1995, and now it is the beginning of 1995. The film company's summer film line plan has basically been determined, especially Firefly. This summer's Jurassic Park 2, Solitary Day and Toy Story 2 are all heavyweights that require a lot of publicity resources. Film.

Once Columbia and Flower Pictures broke down on the contract negotiation, although Firefly could take over the two films of Flower Pictures, it was impossible to free up enough resources for these two films. Several other major film companies may have this ability, but Huahua Films will definitely not take advantage of the sharing agreement. In the end, then, the two films are likely to be delayed.

The production cost of Night at the Museum was 10,000, and the production cost of Forrest Gump also reached 10,000. Movies can't be released on time. The total investment of 1.3 billion US dollars cannot be realized in time, and the follow-up plan of Huahua Pictures cannot be launched. This kind of impact similar to the domino effect will hit Huahua Pictures very hard.

Los Angeles, Venice Beach, not far from Firefly Studios, in the office of the headquarters of Flower Pictures. Amy Pascal worriedly told Eric about her recent life: The reason given by Columbia is that Jumanji did not meet expectations at the box office, and the film style of Night at the Museum is similar to that of Jumanji. game is very similar,

According to the original sharing agreement, Colombia will not only not be able to make a profit, but will face a loss, so they asked to change the established contract and increase the share of Columbia's North American branch from 15% to %. Row. `

Thinking about it carefully, the story styles of Jumanji and Night at the Museum are indeed very similar. There are a lot of scenes of animals, giant beasts, exotic flowers and plants in both films. Even the special effects of the two films are completely done by the same team under the digital realm.

but. The box office of Jumanji did not meet expectations. It is not a problem of film quality. Although the film critics have a poor reputation, as a commercial giant with CG special effects, the film critics' reputation has little impact on the film's box office. The main reason why the box office of Jumanji did not meet expectations is that the competition for the schedule is too fierce.

Compared with the potential tacit understanding of the seven major studios in the summer season, in order to avoid internal friction, they arranged for a big production to be released a week on average, but the competition in the 1994 Christmas season can only be described as fierce. On December 23, except for The Brave The Game, and even Street Fighter, Little Women, Love and other six films that have crossed the screen at the same time. Relatively speaking, there were only three films that started at the same time as Face Change in the previous week.

The simultaneous opening of a large number of new films pushed the total box office total for the week from the 23rd to the 29th to 18.8 billion US dollars, reaching the highest point of the total weekly box office total at the end of 1994. But in this week, eight films grossed more than $10,000 in a single week. Under such fierce competition, Jumanji can still get a box office of 10,000 US dollars a week. In the next week, when the box office of new Christmas films plummeted, the box office only dropped by a weak 26%. The box office performance can be said to be is very good. If Jumanji is placed in the summer season with relatively loose competition, it definitely has the potential to hit the box office of 200 million US dollars. The reason why it has failed to meet the box office expectations now. It can only be said that it was not at the right time.

Eric believes that Columbia will never fail to see this. Using the excuse that the box office of Jumanji did not meet expectations to try to renegotiate the sharing terms with Flower Pictures is a bit of a rogue.

After thinking for a moment, Eric looked up and asked, What about Forrest Gump, what's their excuse?

Colombia feels that Forrest Gump is more suitable as an Olympic film, with limited box office potential, and Colombia has lacked interest in this film from the beginning, Amy Pascal finished, watching Eric, said: Actually, Eric, I think so too. Forrest Gump is a very good film, there is no doubt about it, but its inspirational and nostalgic film style seems more suitable At the end of the year, the main audience for summer movies is still young people. Therefore, the latest thing we should ensure now is the Wonderful Night at the Museum. If Forrest Gump is delayed until the end of the year, it will impact next year's Oscars. Maybe it’s a good thing, the American culture of this film is too strong, if there is no Oscar halo, the income of overseas trips will definitely be very limited.”

Eric patiently listened to the analysis of Amy Pascal, a strong woman who could be the head of a major Hollywood studio in her previous life. 'Amy Pascal's personal ability is absolutely outstanding, and the analysis of the commercial positioning of Forrest Gump is also very precise, but like the famous chocolate quote in Forrest Gump, a movie is not released. No one knows what kind of box office potential it will show. Fortunately, Eric just knows, so he just nodded slightly and did not agree with Amy Pascal's analysis.

I glanced at the little girl who sat quietly beside her, and listened patiently and patiently to the conversation between the two. Eric asked without question: Drew, what do you think we should do?

Drew heard Eric ask himself, thought for a moment and said, It depends on what you think, Columbia made these gestures just to force Firefly to pass Men in Black and Mrs. Smith The sequel is planned, oh, and now there must be a sequel to Jumanji. If Firefly doesn't get stuck on this, Columbia will definitely not be entangled with Flower Pictures on the sharing contract. After all, without these two films, Columbia would never be able to find a suitable film to fill the schedule. It will also miss this summer's schedule, which is a lose-lose thing.

Eric smiled and said: Actually, Sony looks like a wealthy tycoon in Hollywood who wants to be arty. This kind of character who is willing to spend money but can't have too much influence on the rules of the game in the circle stays, it is very important to us. There are only benefits. If the player behind Colombia is replaced by someone else, it may not be something we can arbitrarily handle. So I don’t plan to be too tight on the rights of those few films to force Sony out of Hollywood.”

Amy Pascal showed a relaxed smile, and the little girl spread her hands: Then we have nothing to worry about, it's business as usual.

Eric looked at the reaction of the two and shook his head with a smile. Said: You are too unchasing. From this incident, you can see that even your closest allies are sometimes unreliable. The reason why Colombia dares to do this is to see that Firefly is now even I want to take over the business for Huahua Pictures, but I will be unable to do so in a short period of time. Therefore, Huahua Pictures ultimately has to rely on itself.

Amy Pascal was a little surprised: Eric, you mean let's make these two movies ourselves?

Of course not, you can only take it slowly. The main thing is that Colombia should learn a lesson, and several other major Hollywood studios should also understand that if you don't have enough confidence, don't turn your face with your partner casually. .

Drew shook his head: Eric, we are a little confused by what you said.

Eric looked at his watch and turned to look at the TV in the office: It should be almost time, you have bsp here; Amy Pascal nodded, found the remote control to turn on the TV and found the bsp; the picture happened to be from A piece of news about the auction of mobile communication operating licenses was cut out, and the host held a press release in his hand and said to the camera: Latest news, at 15:00, Jeffrey Katzenberg of Firefly Group and Howard, President of Sony America. Stringer jointly held a press conference at the Columbia headquarters in Culver City, announcing that the two sides will start the production of the sequels of Men in Black and Jumanji at the same time this year. Please see our reporter in Los Angeles below. Live coverage of…”

The three of them all stared at the TV screen, and after a while, Drew said, Eric, it's so sudden, if we knew this, Amy and I wouldn't have to worry about Wonderful Night at the Museum and Amy these days. Gan Zhengzhuan will do.

Xiao Nizi's voice pulled Eric out of some thoughts. He didn't immediately respond to Drew's words, but picked up his mobile phone and dialed a number, and then said to the other end of the phone: Kelly , I just saw a news about the auction of mobile operating licenses, I will check what is going on, and I will see the detailed information tomorrow.

After saying a few words, Eric hung up the phone and didn't explain anything about his actions just now. He continued on the topic just now: The reason why I asked Katzenberg to fix this matter as soon as possible is to let Katzenberg settle this matter as soon as possible. Some people understand that the next action of Huahua Pictures has nothing to do with the copyright disputes of films such as Men in Black.

Amy Pascal asked, Eric, you mean, you're not going to let us work with Columbia?

Eric nodded and said: Now that the dispute between Firefly and Colombia has been resolved, Flower Pictures and Colombia will terminate the cooperation. It will no longer be affected by the copyright dispute between Firefly and Colombia, and you will not be robbed when you look for a business again. The risk. My plan is that the line of Night at the Museum is transferred to MGM, which I personally communicate with Frank Marcaso. The sharing terms are the same as Columbia, and there is only one part of the MGM summer program. , temporarily add a Wonderful Night at the Museum, there is no pressure at all. The overseas and surrounding operations of Forrest Gump are represented by Firefly, and you can do it yourself. It is a kind of exercise. Forrest Gump It is more inclined to go to the Austrian art film, so the pressure is not too big, and the box office trend is more likely to be a long line, as long as you can get a screen above your home.”

Amy Pascal frowned slightly while listening to Eric's words, but hesitant.

Hollywood movie line to put it bluntly, in fact, there are only a few steps.

First of all, you need to contact the theater chain that is willing to show your movie. This is the innate advantage of the seven major film companies for the undoubtedly owners. For the seven majors. Some movies with promising prospects are often just set up, and they have already signed contracts with many theater chains, and they can even get a lot of advance payments from theater chain dealers. At the same time, it is also an important threshold that blocks most of the new players trying to enter Hollywood.

The Chamber of Commerce of Cinema Chain will take the initiative to seek cooperation with the seven major film companies, but if a brand-new film company wants to publish the film, it is not necessary to pay the advance payment and sign the contract in advance, even if you complete the film production, the theater chain dealers Often there is not much enthusiasm to make a film for you, and in the end there is not even a chance to release it. Because this involves the second key step of the film industry, marketing.

Films of the same quality, the same release scale, and the same schedule. The box-offices earned by the Big Seven tend to be much higher than the second- and third-tier film companies, and the main difference is marketing. The seven major film companies have already mastered a mature film marketing system. The further integration of the media industry in recent years has made the overall media strength of the seven major film companies far greater than that of second- and third-tier film companies. Because the marketing of the movie is completed by the movie industry, so, in the case that the media resources are gradually concentrating on the seven giants. The cinema chain would even prefer to make mediocre films produced by the seven major film companies, rather than for the excellent films of small film companies, because the strong marketing strength of the seven major film companies can often make a mediocre film far outperform at the box office. Excellent film from a small studio.

However, although Huahua Pictures is a Hollywood novice on the surface, the key problems that these newbies may face are not problems for Huahua Pictures.

Amy Pascal started out as a clerk in an independent production company more than ten years ago, and eventually reached the position of vice president of Columbia, knowing all the joints of the film industry, even without the help of Firefly, she Through the personal connections in his hands, he can get enough theaters for Forrest Gump. At this time, with the support of Firefly, the largest media group in the United States, the marketing problem of the film is also easily solved. Therefore, just operating the North American tour of Forrest Gump, in Amy Pascal's view, there is no difficulty at all.

But at this time, she just felt that this matter seemed completely unnecessary... right?

Wouldn’t it be better to leave the tasks to Sony or MGM, as Eric just said, there is only one MGM summer program, and there is no difficulty in adding another task of “Wonderful Night at the Museum”. Adding a Forrest Gump with a completely different style is also nothing. Even if MGM really can't eat two movies, isn't there a few other big ones?

Don't worry, the time saved by Huahua Pictures is enough to prepare a new film.

Of course, Eric also knew what Amy Pascal was thinking at this time. In addition to teaching Sony a lesson, he also had another idea, which was to keep the profits of the film Forrest Gump as much as possible. to your own people. The North American box office of Forrest Gump in the original time and space is 3.3 billion US dollars. If it is handed over to any company, at least 15% of the travel expenses will be distributed. This money is almost 10,000 US dollars, which is more than % of Hollywood movies Squeezing out the last bit of profit won't necessarily bring the producer $10,000 in revenue.

Looking at Amy's expression, Eric smiled and said: Actually, this is just my personal suggestion, you and Drew think about it for yourself, if you really don't want to be so troublesome, then forget it, and transfer the contract to Michael. May will do.

Eric said this, but Amy Pascal made up his mind and said, Eric, let's listen to you, I believe you must be thinking about Flower Pictures.

The two agreed, and the little girl smiled and came over to hold Eric's arm. Although she would never have any objection to Eric's decision, the girl also knew that if she was right in everything Eric never has any opinion at all, and it will definitely hurt Amy Pascal's feelings. Flower Pictures can't do without this manager now. (To be continued.)

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