Rebirth of the Tech Madman

Slightly different from Hugh Hefner who relatively focused on his Playboy kingdom, Bob Guccione expanded his business tentacles horizontally into other fields after obtaining the original accumulation through Penthouse. ￥℉. ￥℉

For example, he participated in and invested in several Hollywood films in the 1970s: Chinaton, Chinatown, The Longest Yard, The Longest Yard, The DayotheLoust and Day of the Locust.

Because of these successes, Bob Guccione decided to play for himself and let Penthouse invest in making a movie that fit his style, thus resulting in the epic banned film Penthouse with a budget of more than 20 million US dollars and a public release in 1979. Caligula, Roman Empire Erotic_Love_History.

The so-called epic level is naturally on a grand scale. Based on this point alone, the commercial performance of the film on a global scale has no rivals among films of the same type.

However, its box office in the United States is only more than 1 million US dollars, which reflects that it is not so easy to make a profit by risking the world.

Bob Guccione's other, larger venture, a casino and hotel project in Atlantic City, New Jersey, ran into trouble, struggling with financial and legal woes and no license in sight. Hopes, if not resolved, the estimated damage could be as high as $160 million.

As for the reason, it is very upright. Apart from encountering a nail shop, the federal government finally got the key. The FBI suspected that the Sicilian porn tycoon was related to the Mafia.

You must know that at this stage, the U.S. government successively promulgated the Anti-Criminal Organizations Erosion of Legal Organizations Act and similar laws, formulated a witness protection plan, launched the most thorough crackdown on the mafia in history, and successfully removed it from the labor union. forces in the organization

In addition, in the process of applying for a casino license. Bob Guccione was also involved in the huge scandal caused by the FBI undercover operation code-named AbsCAM, allegedly bribing $300,000 to licensing officials.

Under such circumstances, Tang Huan's offer to Bob Guccione to attend the Pebble Beach Golf Club event was a direct hit. After all, this event is exclusively organized for the $1 million top membership, and maybe Bob Guccione will hit the jackpot and find a deep-pocketed new financing partner to continue the stranded casino and hotel project. Life.

Seeing Bob Guccione's delay in making a statement, Tang Huan said with an emphasis: You have to understand. I will not allow Madonna to become the second Vanessa Lynn Williams.

Vanessa Lynn Williams became the first Miss America of African descent in the United States in 1983, but because of her photo shoot as a model in 1982,

After being betrayed by the photographer to Playboy and rejected, she voted for Penthouse and logged out. She, who was already under the pressure of racial discrimination, had to give up the title of Miss America amidst the turmoil.

Bob Guccione laughed smugly, Don, do you know how much the Penthouse that published Vanessa Lynn Williams's photo sold in total?

Before Tang Huan could answer, Bob Guccione gave the answer directly. $14 million.

The implication behind his words was very obvious that he didn't quite meet the conditions Tang Huan set out.

You have to know that your business model is wandering between the margins, and the conservative Reagan administration has been tightening restrictions on this field. Tang Huan sneered, Business success does not depend on focusing on immediate interests. I can get it!

After savoring the threatening meaning in Tang Huan's words, Bob Guccione finally said, Okay, Tang, I'll give you face, you send someone to get the photo. By the way, send the invitation letter.

...

A little bit of a setback, but luckily the Madonna photo issue has finally been resolved.

Although Play_boy is not absolutely unavailable, but it must be carefully planned, rather than the current unlicensed photos flying all over the sky and uncontrolled.

Seeing this trouble disappear in smoke. Madonna breathed a sigh of relief and thanked her with a smile.

When you get married, what gift do you want, so I can prepare it. Tang Huan asked casually.

As long as it is from you, I like it. Madonna replied obediently.

Tang Huan nodded slightly, Then I'll save my time. Choose a set of jewelry. I guess the itinerary will not be staggered at that time, so I can only be so polite that no one will be there.

Just as he was talking, the private detective entrusted by Tang Huan also dealt with the unnamed director Stephen Jon Levich of Yeluzi, sent a copy of the film and legal documents, and described the process.

That non-mainstream guy just needed to be beaten. He didn't take hard and soft at first, but after a little lesson, he gratefully accepted 40,000 US dollars and reported to the arranged crew with a letter of recommendation.

Tang Huan nodded approvingly, waved his hand to signal the other party to back off, and then casually pushed everything to Madonna, Okay, you can continue to concentrate on your goal of being the 'Queen of Pop'.

Madonna slid her finger across the copy, and tentatively asked: Don, I plan to finish this year's North American tour and prepare for the following world tour. Can I have a cameo role in a movie with worldwide influence?

This idea looks good. Are you interested? Tang Huan asked back.

For example, the next installment of the 007 series. Madonna quickly replied, it seems that she has already planned in her heart.

However, the performance of this year's Aviate to a Kill and Thunder Kill of 007 is not satisfactory; according to the plan, the specific situation of the one released in 1987 is not easy to say. Tang Huan's tone revealed uncertain.

007, which has made more than 10 films, seems to be showing signs of fatigue. Although the global box office of Thunderbolt with a budget of 30 million US dollars exceeded 150 million US dollars, it did not lose the sign of attracting money, but it encountered Waterloo in the United States this year. That's less than $60 million, let alone topping the weekend box office in the U.S. like it used to.

In fact, according to Tang Huan's opinion, the plot of Murder by Thunder is still remarkable. The big villain tried to use the big bang to trigger earthquakes and floods to destroy Silicon Valley, the cradle of high-tech that is now gaining fame. The big boss's No. 1 business complements each other.

But movie quotes often just don’t know which cloud will rain. Death by Thunder is not well received in the United States, and the reviews are also very poor. It is almost the worst one in the 007 series so far.

According to the summary report submitted by United Artists. It seems to have something to do with the conservative attitude of the production team in casting. Roger Moore, who plays James Bond, is almost 60 years old, so he can't help but look a little old. But the problem is that Tanya Roberts, who played the Bond girl, also got bad reviews.

Of course. The failure of Death by Thunder in the United States is only a small problem. Tang Huan's Hollywood company is still the big winner at the box office this year, sharing the summer slot with Warner.

Originally, there was another eater Paramount in previous years, but last year it experienced a major management change. Barry Diller, Michael Eisner and others left successively, showing signs of sleepwalking. Unsurprisingly left behind.

As for Universal Pictures, which seems to be cursed, it is still in the doldrums as always. Disney, which previously focused on theme parks, is still adjusting, and Columbia Pictures is not salty. And it's as distracted as its Hollywood peers to aggressively expand its TV business.

This year's summer season started with the sequel of Orion Pictures' First Blood, which became the box office champion for four consecutive weeks. Sylvester Stallone's position in Hollywood has been completely stabilized.

Next came 20th Century Fox's $15 million sci-fi film Cooon and Magic Cocoon. Although it only occupied the box office championship once, it earned more than $70 million.

Followed by Warner's Pale Rider and Pale Rider with a smaller investment of less than 7 million U.S. dollars, which also only occupied the box office champion once, but earned more than 40 million U.S. dollars.

More importantly, the theme of Pale Knight belongs to the genre of western films, and the same type of work Heaven's Gate released by United Artists in 1980, suffered from a poor performance that almost caused the company to go bankrupt. A very stark contrast was formed.

Then the main event came. United Artists and Amblin Entertainment invested 19 million US dollars in Back to the Future. As a reborn, Tang Huan will definitely not forget this movie.

To elaborate, Back to the Future has had the same underwhelming experience as most other blockbusters.

After the first draft of the script is completed. Columbia Pictures thought it was good, but not sexually exciting enough, and suggested showing the script to Disney.

At this stage, popular youth-themed film and television works are often too mature, with some discordant elements, and this is the reason why Back to the Future was coldly received. Studios feel it's sun-kissed.

As a result, Disney didn't wait to see Back to the Future either, thinking that sons and mothers who are in love should not appear in family movies.

The next drama is simple. Tang Huan took the script and handed it over to United Artists and Amblin Entertainment, and the latter's directors Spielberg, Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, and Lin Qingxia were in charge of the production. I went through the production mode of E.T. Aliens.

Even so, the box office of Back to the Future is still not optimistic, especially because the lead actor Michael Fox cannot cooperate with the film promotion due to the schedule.

Fortunately, the facts are encouraging. Although Back to the Future has only been released for more than a week, it has become an instant hit and directly topped the box office with a score of 12 million US dollars.

The audience was taken aback by the joke that appeared not long after the movie started, but they were also deeply impressed by it, and spread the word of mouth with relish.

After the actor Marty McFly arrived in 1955 from 1985, he went to find Dr. Emer Brown at the time. Of course, the other party would not believe that he came from 1985, so he asked questions for a test.

The first question is, who was the President of the United States in 1985?

Marty McFly replied without thinking, Ronald Reagan.

How could it be that actor? Dr. Emer Brown continued to ask with a face full of disbelief, Who was the richest in 1985?

Tang Huan. Marty McFly said with some yearning: I just don't know if he is born now, maybe I should be friends with him earlier.

My God, what do you mean, the future richest man is a young man who may not even be 30 years old. Dr. Emer Brown couldn't believe this answer.

...

This is the first time for American audiences to accept the spoof of the time-traveling drama, and they lean forward and backward.

It's entirely predictable that, given its current popularity, Back to the Future is likely to dominate the box office for four weeks like the First Blood sequel.

And this pattern of splitting up the summer box office also illustrates the current power distribution in Hollywood.

The four Hollywood companies acquired by Tang Huan, which originally belonged to the second echelon, have climbed to the top of the food chain;

Warner, who got rid of the entanglement with Tang Huan, followed behind;

If Paramount does not get out of the confusion caused by the company's turmoil as soon as possible, it is likely to fall out of the first echelon;

Due to the previous copyright lawsuit of the video game Donkey Kong, Universal Pictures offended Tang Huan a lot, and the living space was squeezed more and more narrow;

Columbia Pictures formed an indirect relationship with Tang Huan through the parent company Coca-Cola, so it did not suffer much negative impact;

Disney is trying to return to the main business of film and make a comeback, but Tang Huan has almost reserved resources such as hardware, software, art, and talents in computer animation. It is still unknown whether his dream of recasting glory can be realized.

The audience was taken aback by the joke that appeared not long after the movie started, but they were also deeply impressed by it, and spread the word of mouth with relish.

After the actor Marty McFly arrived in 1955 from 1985, he went to find Dr. Emer Brown at the time. Of course, the other party would not believe that he came from 1985, so he asked questions for a test.

The first question is, who was the President of the United States in 1985?

Marty McFly replied without thinking, Ronald Reagan.

How could it be that actor? Dr. Emer Brown continued to ask with a face full of disbelief, Who was the richest in 1985?

Tang Huan. Marty McFly said with some yearning: I just don't know if he is born now, maybe I should be friends with him earlier. (To be continued.)