I’m in Hollywood

20 million US dollars in salary and 15% of the North American box office share, oh, Firefly can't make such an offer, Eric shook his head with a smile, and said to Roland Emmerich, who was sitting on the other side.

The time was July 7, and the two were having breakfast at a breakfast restaurant in Beverly Hills when Roland Emmerich told him unreservedly the conditions that Sony offered to let him direct Godzilla. Eric. Howard Stringer is also a smart man. He wanted to dig Roland Emmerich to Sony Pictures to direct Godzilla. He made an offer that he had a hard time rejecting, and gave him the job of getting Firefly's forgiveness.

If Godzilla's future box office level can match the current Solitary Day at about $300 million in North America, then Roland Emmerich will be able to get $65 million from the project. Even with a fiasco at the box office, Roland Emmerich's revenue was able to remain above $20 million, no matter what. Under such conditions, fireflies will definitely not come out.

Of course, Firefly is not stingy either. The box office of Day of Solitude is a big hit. In addition to the original fixed salary of 8 million US dollars, according to the corresponding sharing agreement, Roland Emmerich can also successively get the follow-up income of Day of Solitude. More than 20 million US dollars, after all, a Day of Alone can also bring him 30 million US dollars. The entire Hollywood can count on one hand the directors who can earn $30 million in a single film.

This is also the way of cooperation that Eric has always advocated, suppressing fixed remuneration, bundling the main creator's interests with box office revenue through appropriate sharing methods, and sharing risks. Like Sony, the movie has a sky-high price of 20 million US dollars before it even has a clue, and it also adds a high box office share.

Roland Emmerich saw that Eric was not angry after hearing that he was going to make a film for Sony. He still had a faint smile on his face, and he was a little relieved.

Although he had never seen this young man angry. But he wouldn't naively think that Eric is a temperless person. Roland Emmerich and Firefly were both very happy in The Clash of the Earth and The Day of Alone, and he knew that it was these two films that pushed him to where he is now. He's not the ungrateful type, and normally, he'd be more than willing to continue working with Firefly even without a contract, but this time. The offer from Sony really made it hard for him to refuse.

Anyway, I'm sorry, Eric, I'm afraid I can't direct The Day After Tomorrow, said Roland Emmerich, although his heart was relieved, but he still had a regretful expression on the surface. Hollywood's influence is still increasing, and Roland Emmerich definitely doesn't want to anger Eric unless he has to. After thinking about it, Roland Emmerich said: Eric, everyone is looking forward to your new work. Perhaps, it is also a good choice for you to direct The Day After Tomorrow.

Let's talk about the situation,

Eric smiled and said noncommittally.

Sony is so ambitious that Godzilla will be at least a trilogy, and in theory, Roland Emmerich won't be able to return to direct Firefly for a few years.

Eric was still a little uncomfortable about this, and Roland Emmerich gave up directing The Day After Tomorrow. Firefly's movie shooting plan will be adjusted accordingly.

But when Roland Emmerich was invited to direct Clash of the Earth, Roland Emmerich only signed two film contracts with Firefly. After the completion of Solitary Day, the contract between the two parties has been fulfilled. Although Firefly has the priority to renew the contract. But it is absolutely impossible to offer even a sky-high salary similar to Sony's. Blocking people's wealth is like killing their parents. In this case, it is difficult for Firefly to force Roland Emmerich to stay.

Of course, the reason why Eric let Roland Emmerich leave so easily was to make arrangements for the plan in a few years.

Now a representative of Credit Lyon has arrived in Los Angeles. It is in acquisition negotiations with Amy Pascal, who is in charge of Flower Pictures. Once the MGM distribution platform is won, Flower Pictures will expand rapidly.

On the other hand, although it has the strong financial support of Sony, it is absolutely impossible for Sony to continue operating Columbia-Samsung at a loss when it has suffered huge losses due to Peter Cooper's operation. Once Sony's ambitious Godzilla series fails again, the confidence in Sony's continued film business will be devastating. At that time, Flower Pictures can take advantage of the situation to eat Colombia and complete Eric's further expansion of Hollywood layout plan.

Roland Emmerich didn't know Eric's thoughts, but he felt a little ashamed when he saw him letting him go so easily.

Therefore, the atmosphere of breakfast inevitably became awkward. The two chatted casually and hurriedly finished breakfast. Roland Emmerich took the initiative to settle the bill and left the restaurant.

Although Howard Stringer also hoped that he could communicate with Eric about entrusting the digital domain to be responsible for the special effects of Godzilla, Roland Emmerich was already quite ashamed, and this kind of thing is even more difficult to say. , I made up my mind to leave this incomparable headache to Sony to deal with.

After Roland Emmerich left, Eric did not rush to the company. Instructed the waiter to remove the cutlery, ordered a cup of coffee, and leisurely read today's newspaper.

In the weekly box office report of the Los Angeles Times entertainment edition, the first place is Solitary Day with $85 million, followed by Universal Pictures' new film, the famous Apollo 13, although the male lead It's no longer Tom Hanks, but with the film's excellent quality and reputation, it still earned more than $43 million at the box office in its first week, ranking second.

To sum it up, despite the acquisition turmoil at the beginning of the year, Universal Pictures still maintained good box office results in the summer. The cost of the two films in the end of May, Ghosts and Horses and Apollo 13, is not the same. It is too high, although the results are far from comparable to Firefly, but it is enough to make Universal's summer box office results very good. Although Michael Eisner's strong and fickle character is not pleasing, but after entering Universal and starting over, he seems to have been inspired by the spirit of running Disney in the 1980s. Eric remembers that in the next ten years, Universal Pictures will Continuing turbulence in the process of changing hands repeatedly, I just don't know that he can withstand several major changes in the world.

Apollo 13 was followed by Batman Forever in its second week of release, with $42 million at the third place. Next, Forrest Gump is still a very stable box office of more than 28 million US dollars, with a slight 20% box office drop, ranking fourth, with a total box office of 150 million US dollars in four weeks. Toy Story 2 has just reached $28.02 million at the box office, ranking fifth, with a total box office of $130 million. It has also started a long line, but it is definitely not as strong as Forrest Gump. The total box office is expected to be in Around $200 million.

In addition, after the cumulative box office of Jurassic Park 2 reached 280 million US dollars in four weeks, the box office in the fifth week was only more than 14 million. It is expected that the cumulative box office will exceed 300 million US dollars next week, but at the same time, the weekly box office will also fall to the million level. , enter the tail-sweeping stage.

In just one month, the weekly box office has dropped from 140 million to 14 million US dollars, and it is inevitable that there will be a mistake in Firefly's distribution strategy in newspapers. It is believed that Firefly released 3,500 screens in the first week of its opening, which has excessively consumed Jurassic Park 2. The box office potential, if Firefly's film arrangement strategy can be conservative, the box office curve will definitely look better.

Eric just laughed at this kind of comment. Anyone with a discerning eye can see that in recent years, Firefly has almost occupied the entire June schedule. In order to avoid confrontation with the film released by Firefly, several other major film companies have taken advance or The delayed release strategy, if it weren't for Firefly's need to make Independence Day cater to the American Independence Day on July 4th, the film would definitely be a week earlier, and that's why Warners dared to release Batman Forever In June, this should belong to the last 'box-office bomb' of Firefly's summer.

It is precisely because of Firefly's behavior of occupying the June schedule that other film companies have put their flagship films in July, starting with Universal's Apollo 13 and Independence Day on June 30, and throughout July. , there are two major new films released almost every week, such as Big Talk starring Fox Kim Carrey on July 7 and Time Warner's Future Water World, and Wonderful Night at the Museum on July 14. Evaporation Order, GoldenEye of 007 and Pirates of Fire on July 21. Under the bombardment of this dense new film, if Firefly does not try to tap the box office of Jurassic Park 2 in June as much as possible, entering July, it will still be quickly crowded out by a large number of new films.

Eric swept through several of today's major newspapers and noticed that Kevin Costner's Future Waterworld would be released today, so he picked up his phone and dialed Amy Pascal, reminding him The other party pays attention to the trend of Future Water World and chooses the right time to start the remuneration negotiation of Mission Impossible 2 with Kevin Costner. Although I didn't see the film, Warner's $175 million Water Wasteland movie ticket was destined to end bleak. Counting last summer's more aggressive western movie Titans of Law, Kevin Costner has already failed two major productions. Remuneration negotiation will have a very large initiative.

Although there is strong support from Eric, in the process of acquiring MGM, Huahua Pictures will definitely have to solve some financing by itself, and finalizing the contract for the sequel of Mission Impossible will undoubtedly increase more financing for Huahua Pictures. chips. (To be continued.) Enable new URL