Hollywood Tycoon [US Entertainment + Business War]

No one in Hollywood dares to deny that James Cameron is an excellent director. Many film critics believe that he and Spielberg can be listed as "Tarzan Beidou" master directors in the contemporary American film industry.But in Hollywood's generally accepted evaluation, Spielberg is the first, and Cameron is "the second child of ten thousand years".

First of all, Cameron’s works are not as many as Spielberg’s; secondly, most of Spielberg’s works are thoughtful, while Cameron’s works are too commercial; The reason is that Cameron pays too much attention to film technology, while Spielberg is a relatively traditional director.Perhaps in the eyes of many filmmakers, Cameron is like the crazy "Zhang Sanfeng" in the world of Chinese martial arts novels.He is a master, he is powerful, but he is still not the ultimate leader of martial arts.

When Cameron was selling the filming plan of "Titanic" in Hollywood, everyone thought Cameron was crazy.The production cost of 20 million US dollars can be called a masterpiece in the history of Hollywood. If the inflation factor is included, perhaps only the "Cleopatra", which almost killed the [-]th Century Fox Film Company, can compare with it.So when the filming plan was handed over to Fox Films' desk, Fox Films immediately rejected it.Then Warner Bros. and Universal Pictures rejected it, and in the end only MGM, Paramount, and Columbia Pictures, which was still in the restructuring period, were interested.

Although MGM has a lot of interest, it has no choice but to be shy; Columbia Pictures has more than enough energy but not enough; in the end, only Paramount Pictures is left.It's a pity that Lei Shidong was not brave enough at the time, so he approached Jed for cooperation.Finally, the result of everyone's discussion is that Jade personally invested 50% to become the distributor of "Titanic"; Galaxy Film Company, which invested 25%, and Paramount Film Company, who invested 23%, became the production company of "Titanic" At the same time, Galaxy Films also served as the distribution company of the film; in the end, Cameron contributed 2% of the capital with his own director's salary as collateral.

In this way, the crew of "Titanic" was finally set up. Originally, Paramount and Galaxy Films wanted the producers to go to the crew to control the cost budget, but it was later denied by Jed.That's why Cameron was able to shoot the movie without any restrictions at all, but it was because Cameron was allowed to shoot by himself, so he still controlled the cost.The last [-] million US dollars were spent, and the film was just finished shooting, but there was no question of asking everyone to continue to invest more.

After Cameron finished editing the film, he naturally notified Jed, Paramount executives, and Galaxy Film executives to review the film as soon as possible.Cameron must also listen to the opinions of the producer and the production company on what the final film edit will look like.Cameron's first edited version was 200 minutes long, nearly 10 minutes longer than the released version in Jade's impression, and it was almost close to the "director's cut version" published later.

Because this movie is known as the most costly shipwreck movie in history, senior executives from the production department and distribution department of the two film companies were all present, and they wanted to evaluate the market value of the movie.

The first half of the whole movie is just a male version of "The Sparrow Turns into a Phoenix". This kind of clichéd love story makes everyone a little uninterested, except for the highly simulated Titanic that makes everyone a little interested. , everyone labeled this movie as "vulgar" in their hearts.However, with the occurrence of the shipwreck, the whole story has undergone a major reversal, and all kinds of dramatic conflicts broke out at this moment after the preliminary foreshadowing, and the plot became tense and exciting.

After the 200-minute screening time was over, everyone was still immersed in the story and couldn't extricate themselves.Cameron's greatest ability is that he is so good at telling stories. He can turn some extremely vulgar stories into a classic Shakespeare play.After Cameron coughed gently, everyone came to their senses, and suddenly there was grand applause in the small screening hall.

"This must be a movie that can make box office history," shouted the distribution manager of Paramount Pictures. "Even ten or twenty years later, this movie can be released again! Crazy treasure!"

These few words are almost the voices of everyone, and no one analyzes it from the perspective of art or market.A really good movie doesn't need any analysis because it's just good.However, Cameron still sought Jed's opinion. After all, if Jed hadn't advocated and provided half of the funding, there would be no chance of making this movie.He picked up a glass of champagne and walked to Jed, "Mr. Sherman, I want to hear your opinion."

"Mr. Cameron, you made a history-making work!" Jed raised his glass, "but I hope that the final part of the movie can be edited again. Since it is a classic, we don't want It's going to have flaws, isn't it?"

Cameron frowned slightly. After all, no director likes to be accused of not being perfect.But the person in front of him is not only the producer of his own film, but also a well-known producer, director and screenwriter in Hollywood, and the works he directed are not inferior to him.So Cameron asked quite calmly: "What does Mr. Sherman mean?"

"At the end of the film, when old Ruth walked to the stern, when she threw the heart of the ocean into the Atlantic Ocean. The bridge where you asked her granddaughter and other expedition members to come out to persuade and forgive actually didn't make any sense. Could it be that old Ruth and the audience Don’t you know the value of the Heart of the Ocean? Don’t old Ruth and the audience know the meaning of throwing the Heart of the Ocean to the Atlantic Ocean? Oriental aesthetics pays attention to “leaving blank space”, that is, you have to leave appropriate room for the audience to appreciate. Rather than you imposing it on the audience. In the end, from the audience's point of view, Ruth's memorial service to Jack is a very personal event, why do so many people participate? And most importantly, you let Ruth say "every woman Everyone has their own little secret', but in the end, it is too cruel for people to expose her last 'little secret'? Mr. Cameron, "Titanic" is not only a shipwreck movie, but also more It's not just a simple love movie, it's a woman's memory after falling in love vigorously."

Jed's words hit Cameron's heart like a heavy hammer. He didn't expect Jed to know his movies so well.Seeing Cameron looking at him almost adoringly, Jed felt secretly refreshed in his heart. After reading so many movie reviews, still can't fool you?However, because of Jed's reminder, Cameron took the film back and edited it again, which almost made the distribution departments of Paramount and Galaxy Films almost vomit blood.It takes at least a week to edit a 90-minute film, and Cameron's film is twice the length of a regular film, God knows when.And since the big director has to squat in the editing room, who will bring the publicity?The two leading actors are basically newcomers. Which show should invite such actors?

"Arrange for Celine Dion's new song to hit the charts!" Jed quickly gave a suggestion, "Just edit the music video footage from the movie, and arrange a good editor to go to Cameron to cut some shots and come over." The standard is to let the audience see the production level of the movie, but not let the audience see the plot of the movie."

The speed of editing a MV is naturally very fast. In less than three days, Celine Dion's "My Heart Is Still" began to be broadcast on major cable and satellite stations in North America.Especially because the other production company of "Titanic" is Paramount, so Paramount's parent company Viacom is naturally a heavy recommendation for "My Heart Is Still".Although Viacom's influence on the news station and movie theater station is average, its influence on the music station is the number one in the world.

Viacom owns three major music television networks: MTV Network (for the Americas and Asian markets), BET Network (for the North American market) and VIVA Network (for the European market). The MV of "My Heart Is Still" is to arrange an interview with Celine Dion or a special feature of "My Heart Is Still" in key programs.Lei Shidong's idea is probably to make the global audience get bored of hearing "My Heart Is Still" in the future, but such a strong broadcast effect not only sent "My Heart Is Still" to the top of the world's major singles charts, It also kept the "Titanic" in the world.

However, the topic that made "Titanic" even more popular was MGM's announcement that the "007 series" "Tomorrow's Empire" will be released on December 12, although there is no colliding schedule with "Titanic".But the two films had to compete for the weekend box office title in the same week.With the addition of 16, the classic spy movie, the major newspapers in North America naturally devoted 007% of their energy to tracking and reporting the details of the two masterpieces.For one thing, there was a conflict between the director of "Titanic" and the producer, and the film editing work has not yet been completed;True and false news like this makes movie fans feel as uncomfortable as a cat's paw scratching their hearts. You must know that the production cost of "Tomorrow Empire" is not lower than that of "Titanic". In the movie alone, MGM reimbursed 100 BMW 15 sedan, plus the loss of other means of transportation, MGM's expenditure is not necessarily lower than that of "Titanic".It's no wonder that MGM couldn't eat "Titanic" at the beginning. It was because his own son spent so much money that his father could only watch "Titanic" and drool.

The fight between "Tomorrow's Empire" and "Titanic" is something that everyone loves to see. The distribution company hopes to use this to stir up the topic, while the media hopes to use this to attract the attention of the audience.And some film critics pointed out that before the decisive battle between "Tomorrow's Empire" and "Titanic" on the top of the Forbidden City, there will be a "Scream 2" released. The first "Scream" made an excellent box office in the United States, and horror movies have always been a favorite subject of Americans, so "Scream", a low-cost movie, is very likely to "overturn the small sampan". Great Warship".

Dimens Films, the distribution company of "Scream 2", immediately announced that the "Scream" series of movies and the 007 series and the Titanic are different themes, and have no intention of participating in the competition.The people at Dimension Films are not stupid. You reporters want to drag us into the water, but we will not.If the three production companies behind these two movies are really angered, should I still mess with Dimen Movies?

On December 12, MGM's "16: Tomorrow Never Dies" will be released first!