BXBX NOVEL Chapter 375: farewell
On December 1, "The Grinch" and "Charlie\'s Angels" will be released simultaneously.
Three days in the first weekend, together they scored 69 million box office.
Among them, Jim Carrey and Ron Howard\'s grotesque comedy earned 40 million.
Charlie\'s Angels, co-starred by American sweetheart Cameron Diaz, Steven Spielberg\'s goddaughter Drew Barrymore, and Chinese actress Lucy Liu, earned 29 million.
Although compared with Roland\'s performance in his previous life, the box office of these two movies has all dropped to varying degrees. Among them, "Charlie\'s Angels", which was originally in the first half of November, lost eleven million in the box office. "The Grinch", which should be exclusive to the Thanksgiving schedule, lost 15 million at the box office, but even so, this achievement has already satisfied the film studio.
Because of the movies released later, the box office was even worse.
Five days after the release of "The Grinch" and "Charlie\'s Angels", Disney\'s "Undead" and "102 Dalmatians" finally met with the public on the 6th, and a Wednesday with nowhere to go has proved that Cannon fodder for the two films, Bruce Willis could not save "Undead" which cost 40 million in five days, and "102 Dalmatians" was simply eaten alive, because the production method was similar to "The Grinch". That\'s why they collected 23 million box office in just five days.
With such a tragic result, Disney couldn\'t tell how hard it was, but when they released the animated film "Transformed King" on the 15th, "Eavesdropping on Women\'s Hearts", which was released on the same day, made them spit out even more. A mouthful of old blood.
The cartoon "Transformed King" with an investment of 100 million only received 9.81 million box office in the first weekend!
And the romance film co-created by Mel Gibson and Helen Hunter took away 33 million!
After such a huge gap appeared, no one would beep that their movie box office did not meet expectations.
"The Grinch" didn\'t make it to Thanksgiving?
"Charlie\'s Angels" lacks a screening blank period in early November?
You can do it!
Compared to the first weekend box office of "Transformed King" which has not yet reached one-tenth of the investment, they are already very good!
And what made Disney vomit blood even more was the release of "Cast Away" by Tom Hanks and Robert Zemeckis on the 22nd, on the eve of Christmas Eve. After the slogan of the team...
"The Transformation of the King", which has only been released for a week, has less film quota!
Even if it is shown for a long time, it is impossible for this movie to exceed 100 million in North America!
Of course, if you just look at the entire December, Disney is indeed miserable enough.
But if you take stock of the entire two thousand years, then...
All right…
The worst thing is Disney!
With the end of the millennium and the advent of the 21st century, the pattern of the global box office charts has become very clear:
Sony\'s "Spider-Man 3" successfully reached the top, Paramount\'s "Mission: Impossible 2" ranked second, DreamWorks\' "Gladiator" rushed to the third, Fox\'s "Cast Away" ranked fourth, Universal Universal\'s "The Grinch" and Paramount\'s "Eavesdropping on Women\'s Hearts" competed on the fifth and sixth, Universal\'s "Meet Your Father-in-Law" ranked seventh, Warner\'s "The Perfect Storm" ranked eighth, and the remaining ninth and third. Ten is occupied by Dreamworks\' "Dangerous" and Miramax\'s "Scream".
Just looking at the list, people who don’t know would think that the struggle between the top seven in Hollywood is quite fierce!
Ten quotas were divided among seven companies.
Among them, Paramount, DreamWorks and Universal only had two works qualify!
But people who know it will definitely call it a good guy after seeing it!
Because the old school kings MGM and Disney are gone!
However, the fall of MGM is really normal.
After all, when they were squeezed out of United International Films by Universal and Paramount, they lost their global publicity and distribution capabilities, and there was no possibility of turning around. When the gold master behind them fell, the media + production model When Fox, Disney, Warner, and Paramount become popular, they have no money to buy a cable network, and no media company is willing to merge with them, so they become dead ducks, leaving the membership of the Motion Picture Association of America. It\'s a hard-talking weapon, and under the situation of holding "007" to eat and wait to die, they can\'t produce many movies in a year. If they are supported by loans, if they enter the top ten in the global box office, that will be big news.
Can it be Disney...
Well, Disney\'s hip stretching is actually expected.
No way, who made most of their performance in the 1990s be done by Jewish gangs?
With the departure of Jeffrey Katzenberg, Disney\'s animations collapsed across the board, and because of the rise of DreamWorks, the money-making projects organized by Jewish gangs such as "Brave of the Deadly Island" and "Peerless Heroism" also collapsed. Gradually began to shift to DreamWorks.
With the live-action movie business not getting up, they can only rely on Pixar now, and when Pixar has a gap in its works, watching others make money has become the most embarrassing thing for Disney.
As for Miramax being a subsidiary of Disney, so their achievements can actually be attributed to Disney?
If you think so, you are very wrong.
Because whether it is the previous "Scream" or the current "Scream", they are all projects that were banned by Disney\'s native Michael Eisner but were forcibly promoted by Harvey Weinstein.
Everyone in the circle knows that when Disney and Miramax are in dire straits, even if Miramax is willing to blame its parent company, Disney, the Disney Group will not accept such humiliation!
Given the chance, they\'ll even yell—
"Even if I, Disney, starved to death, I wouldn\'t eat a little of your food if I jumped from here!"
"There is no real fragrance!"
Of course, some people may be curious.
Since Disney can face up to its own shortcomings, why can\'t they face up to the entire market?
Knowing that December is the **** schedule, why can’t they continue to skip tickets and move back the big-invested works such as "Undead", "102 Dalmatians", and "The Transformation King"?
This question is actually very simple.
Because the competition behind is even more terrifying!
In 2001, the works that can be named include "Harry Potter", "Lord of the Rings", "Shrek", "Monsters Inc", "Rush Hour 2", "The Mummy Returns", "Pearl Harbor ", "Ocean\'s Eleven", "Jurassic Park 3", "Rise of the Planet of the Apes", "X-Men"...
Under this situation, where can works such as "Undead", "102 Dalmatians", and "The Transformation of the King" escape?
Not to mention, changing the file once is okay, but changing the file twice or three times, the cost of publicity and distribution will exceed the cost of production.
The longer it takes, the less likely it will be profitable.
So, strategic abandonment also appeared.
No way, who let the ultimate goal of capital is to make greater profits?
Right now, the bigger profits are clearly The Princess Diaries, Mean Girls and Lord of the Rings.
...
It\'s a pity that Roland doesn\'t know Disney\'s ardent expectations, and he doesn\'t have time to care about them now.
Because when the global box office of "Spider-Man 3" exceeded one billion, Sony, who had made a lot of money, waved his hand and booked a hotel in Fox City, holding a large celebration banquet for the project team.
All crew members have received the invitation, not to mention, even those who are related to them can come.
Not only that, if there are other colleagues who want to play, as long as they can talk to Sony, they can get admission tickets.
Of course, with such a huge momentum, at its root, I want to celebrate Roland Allen\'s smooth resignation as he wished. At the same time, he is also expressing in disguise that he has finally ended his contract with Roland Allen and sent him away successfully. The plague god!
In the summer of 1993, they couldn\'t wait to cooperate with Roland Allen.
In the summer of 1998, they wanted to send Roland Allen away quickly.
In just five years, they have seen the horror of Roland Allen, and in the past two years, they have even become frightened and cautious because of the expansion of Roland Allen\'s strength, for fear of accidents.
Now, they\'re finally out!
When I think that I will finally not have to serve this little ancestor in the future, and after "Black Hawk Down" is released on time, the cooperation between the two parties will officially end. Sony, let alone how happy it is!
Because of this, in order to celebrate my tomorrow will be better, the speech at the celebration banquet was made by Sony (USA) Chairman and CEO Howard Stringer himself—
“Today is a day that makes us very happy but also very sad…
...We are happy because the global box office of "Spider-Man 3" has exceeded one billion, and the "Spider-Man" series has also become the first series in the world with a cumulative box office of more than three billion...
...We are sad to leave because Roland Allen announced his retirement...
…In the past two thousand days of cooperation, we have jointly dealt with many complicated situations, overcome many unexpected difficulties, and solved many difficult problems. The harmonious atmosphere of mutual understanding, mutual respect and mutual support at work has made us A very deep friendship has been established, and although we may not be able to produce projects starring Roland Allen in the future, I hope that we can maintain this hard-won friendship..."
The words that were spoken more beautifully than sung almost moved Roland in the audience to tears.
Obviously wishing to get out of here quickly, but because of his lack of strength, he could only laugh and brag about himself.
This kind of professionalism really made Roland admire him.
Of course, youdao is not to hit the smiling face with your hand. Sony will give face, and Roland will of course give it.
Because of this, when it was his turn to speak, he on the stage had tears in his mouth.
When I think of meeting again in nine months, Sony will be as familiar as a frog.
Roland was so hungry.
...
However, just as Roland was leaving the celebration banquet as a formality, and after finishing the business exchange, he was about to say hello to people he knew well, and then went back to each house to find his own mother, Li An, who was wearing formal attire and held champagne, suddenly squeezed in front of him.
"Roland, congratulations!"
In the vicissitudes of life, there is a bit of flattery.
There was a bit of reserve on the smiling face.
When Roland saw that the guy he hadn\'t seen in two years turned gray, he felt astonished, spontaneously.
"Thank you, thank you!" While responding briefly, Roland also said casually: "Congratulations too! The movie is a big hit!
Now, you already have two works with a box office of over 100 million, right?
And all of them are small investments of less than 20 million!
This rate of return has already made many big manufacturers greedy!
Trust me, people will soon forget about Ride With the Devil.
In the future, there will definitely be more and more people looking for you to film! "
Although Roland made a big fuss about the drama "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and broke their inherent publicity plan, for Roland, this was an active attack for his own benefit. I don\'t have any opinion. If you add his wife\'s admiration for Li An and the happy cooperation in "Spider-Man 1", Roland still has a good impression of Li An.
If the situation permits, he is also willing to continue his status as a friend.
Of course, the premise is that Li An does not mention that he wants to make "Hulk".
That\'s right, in Roland\'s opinion, the fact that Li An approached him with a worried face was undoubtedly because he wanted to find a way out in the film project.
And after he finished filming "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", didn\'t he only have "Hulk"!
And that stuff, I really can\'t let Li An shoot it.
However, when Roland said all this in a joking tone, Li An\'s face showed embarrassment, and he shook his head and said, "Thank you for your blessing, but before the matter in hand is over, I don\'t have the time to think about it." A work."
"Huh? Are you in trouble? Is there anything I can do to help? Just say it." Roland smiled and raised his hand, wrapped his arms around his shoulders, and at the same time took him away from the noisy center, his mouth did not stop, "Before When you asked me to vote for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", I couldn\'t help you because of the situation, and I\'m sorry for that, because I once said that you can come to me directly if you have trouble."
"No, No, No, you\'ve helped me a lot before." Hearing what Roland said, Li An, who was already organizing his words, shook his head like a rattle, but while refusing, he didn\'t say anything for a long time. The estrangement that I saw also dissipated, "Yes, I have encountered a little trouble now, and that trouble is related to "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".
Before, when I was discussing with Sony, I planned to make this movie as an Olympic film.
But because of some accidents, it finally met the audience in the form of a commercial film.
Because the release time is very embarrassing, and it has nothing to do with the public relations of the awards season, so the current promotion of the awards is not easy to carry out, and in this situation, Sony Classics directly stated that it can only do it by looking for you The hope of going down..."
Yes!
Li An finally accepted Sony Classics\' suggestion and came to Roland for the award.
And he also recalled "The Wedding Banquet" in 1994.
Back then, it was because of Roland\'s help that he won the life-changing trophy.
The ability of what I think is what I get, can make him remember his whole life.
When Roland learned that what Li An wanted was the Golden Globe and the Oscar, he felt relieved, which made him feel more relaxed.
He greeted the guys who came to Sony Classics casually, and after asking them about the current situation, Roland, who didn\'t take it as a difficult task, was confident, "That is to say, in next month\'s Golden Globe nominated film, "Sicily" "Beautiful Legend" was promoted by Miramax, "Love Is a Bitches" and "Lover in the Snow" were promoted by Lionsgate, and "The Italian Godfather" was self-declared?"
"Yes, yes, yes." The guy from Sony Classics nodded again and again.
"In this year\'s Oscar contenders, Miramax promoted "Smell of Others" and "Everybody Becomes Famous", Lionsgate promoted "Love Is a Bitches", "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Parting Ways" You guys pushed "Don\'t Go Away"?"
"Yes yes yes yes." The Sony Classics guy was already pecking at the rice.
"Self-declaration and Lionsgate shouldn\'t be a threat to you, right?"
Roland asked, "Your biggest enemy right now should be Miramax?"
"Yes, yes, yes." The Sony Classics guy felt like his neck was about to break.
"Alright then, you can contact Miramax directly and tell Harvey that I want the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film and the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. If he has any objections, let him come to me directly." Roland waved his hand , to settle the matter.
"Call now, I happen to be there."
"Okay ok ok!" The guy from Sony Classics nodded his head.
It was almost time to show respect in front of Roland.
Seeing how simple things are, Li An was even more excited and burst into tears, "Roland! Thank you so much!"
"Oh, don\'t be like this, don\'t be like this." Roland waved his hands again and again, saying: "Small things, small things, they are all small things."
That\'s right!
Golden Globe Awards for Best Foreign Language Film and Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film are really trivial things for Roland!
Especially after discovering that the biggest enemy is not the judges, but Miramax, things are even simpler!
because…
This is what Miramax owes them!
After "Shakespeare in Love" took away the best picture, Miramax made a series of show operations:
First of all, it invested 100 million yuan in "Gangs of New York";
Secondly, it was a frantic burning of dollars and invested in "Captain Corelli\'s Mandolin".
These two movies may seem to have nothing to do with each other, but in fact, they are all the works of Jewish gangs.
And they were all movies that the Jewish gang wanted to make, but were killed because the profit did not meet the expectations of the Green Light Committee of major companies.
In 1970, Martin Scorsese wanted to adapt the novel "Gangs of New York" published in 1928 to the screen. The producers had lingering fears about historical works, so the "Gangs of New York" project was shelved until "Shakespeare in Love" won the Oscar, and Miramax decided to shoot.
And "Captain Corelli\'s Mandolin", published in 1994, was bought out in 1995, but because it was about the sentencing of the Confederate Army, the producer was delayed. Reluctant to invest, the project was put on hold for a long time, but when "Shakespeare in Love" won the Oscar and "Captain Corelli\'s Mandolin" announced that the protagonist was Nicolas Cage, Miramax made a decisive investment , On this sensitive issue, he was once a panchaer.
If the appearance of Martin Scorsese and Nicolas Cage was an accident, then after the appearance of the two films starring Christian Bale, "The End of Fire" and "The End of the Torn", everything , it becomes clear.
Christian Bale is the younger brother of Steven Spielberg\'s ex-wife Amy Irving and the older brother of Steven Spielberg\'s eldest son. As he seeks a way out, Miramax kindly Offered help...
All right!
This is actually bullshit!
These four movies are actually the price paid by Miramax!
The price after winning the Oscar!
Do you really think Steven Spielberg\'s peaches are so easy to pick?
Because of the situation, he couldn\'t avenge himself!
But this doesn\'t mean that Miramax will be safe!
He can take the award, but Li must spit it out!
And "Gangs of New York", "Captain Corelli\'s Mandolin", "Fire Doom" and "Tearing Doom", these four projects with a total investment of 200 million yuan were spit out by Harvey Weinstein profit!
This is also why the dead fat man is very resistant to the court\'s accusation of Gwyneth Paltrow\'s unspoken rules!
He dares to go to others, but he really dare not to this guy who can be publicly complained by Steven Spielberg but has no choice!
In the case of debt repayment as a matter of course, Sony Classics just contacted Miramax, and before he finished speaking, the guy on the other side who had understood had already made a statement-"Our main promotion this year is "Chocolate Love" "."
Such a result made Roland very satisfied.
Although many times, people will lose a lot of fun when they become aware of the fun.
But this kind of rationality can also make many things easier!
Note: ①The box office of "Transformed King" in the first weekend was indeed less than 10 million, and the total income of 100 million investment was less than 170 million. But at the same time, it was the best-selling DVD in 2001, because many people Listen to it as a song. Yes, listen to movies like songs. ②Both "Scream" and "Scream" were projects promoted by Bob Weinstein, but they were blocked by Disney from the very beginning on the grounds that horror films and **** and farts did not conform to the fairy tale kingdom Image, unfortunately, these are crazy-earning projects. The point is that even though these two projects can bring a lot of profits to Disney, Disney still does not want these two IPs. All copyrights are bought. In the face of maintaining the brand image, Disney is very stubborn. This kind of R-rated series is making money, but they don\'t do it. ③The situation of "Gangs of New York", "Captain Corelli\'s Mandolin", "Fire Doom" and "Tearing Doom" are all true. - Weinstein took over. Especially "Gangs of New York", that movie can actually not lose money, many scenes can be completed with special effects, but Martin Scorsese used real scenes (in order to raise the cost). And this, George Lucas broke the news, four guys teamed up and spat a lot of money from Harvey Weinstein.
(end of this chapter)