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The original production budget of this film was as high as 2500 million US dollars. Daenerys Entertainment spent another 500 million US dollars in order to buy back the distribution rights of various channels in North America from MGM. During the recent publicity process, Daenerys The entertainment budget has also exceeded $500 million.

Counting other expenses such as the next film copy, the total investment of "Rain Man" will reach 4000 million US dollars.

With a total investment of 4000 million U.S. dollars, Daenerys Entertainment wants to recover the cost at the box office. Even with a 55% split, "Rain Man" needs to get more than 7000 million U.S. dollars at the box office to achieve this goal.

Even though Daenerys Entertainment has created one box office miracle after another, there are not many people who think that "Rain Man" can continue the success of "Scream" and "Steel Magnolia" and other films.

The company's Christmas show "Dead Poets Society" will start screening tomorrow. Although the audience groups of "Dead Poets Society" and "Rain Man" for young audiences will not overlap too much, in order to avoid the distraction of publicity, "Rain Man" is not scheduled to be screened this time, and the film will be released directly on December 12.

The distribution strategy adopted by Daenerys Entertainment on "Rain Man" was naturally regarded by the media as an expression of guilt.

Simon frowned slightly thinking about these things, and looked at Ella Deutschmann again.

Ella Deutschmann took the initiative: "Robert Neumeier called me this afternoon, and they are not going to sell the distribution rights of "Sex, Lies and Videotapes."

Simon just froze for a moment, then smiled wryly, and wasn't surprised at all.

The main investor of "Sex, Lies and Videotape" is MCA/Columbia Home Entertainment, a joint venture company owned by Universal and Columbia. Affected by Daenerys Entertainment's series of box office miracles, Gaomen Pictures, a subsidiary of the company, suddenly took control of the film in their hands. Interested, if Universal and Columbia don't respond, it's too abnormal.

Simon wants to get his hands on Sex, Lies, and Videotape, primarily to intercept the rise of Humiramax.

A film with a box office of more than 2000 million US dollars in North America can promote the rapid development of a small independent film company, but it cannot have much impact on a large film company.And, if not done right, Sex, Lies and Videotape is unlikely to be as successful as it was in the original.

Since there was no hope, Simon didn't struggle too much, and asked, "Has Robert Altman's "Intersection of Life" been signed?"

"I've already signed an agreement with Altman to write and direct the film," Ella Deutschman nodded, and added: "Also, Simon, Tony Safford, chairman of the Sundance Film Festival, told me that the company Only one of the three films "Sisters", "Metropolitan" and "Sisters of Sid" can be selected for the main competition of the film festival, and he asked us to make a decision as soon as possible."

Simon picked up a pencil from the table and played with it in his hand.

The success of Daenerys Entertainment's series of movies has not met with strong reactions from traditional Hollywood forces, but Simon has also felt obvious pressure from the recent series of events.

There are only [-] films in the main competition section of the Sundance Film Festival, and Simon never thought of cramming all three films into it from the beginning.The original idea, if he can get "Sex, Lies and Videotape", he intends to let this film directly bypass Sundance and participate in the Cannes Film Festival in May next year.Of the remaining three films, Simon only expects to be selected for two.

Now, Sundance directly stated that there is only one place for Daenerys Entertainment, which is probably due to the personal friendship between Simon and Sundance founder Robert Redford.Without this network, Daenerys Entertainment may not be selected this year.

"So, which one do you think is suitable?"

""Metropolitan,"" Ella Deutschmann said: ""Sisters" will adopt the promotional model of youth sex comedy, and you don't need to participate in the film festival. The teenage suicide problem shown in "The Sid Sisters" should not It would be too popular at the festival. By comparison, Whit Stillman's "Metropolitan" is the most suitable for Sundance and the media's taste."

The next day was Friday, and another week passed.

12月2日到12月8日，派拉蒙影业的新片《白头神探》终于将《钢木兰花》从票房榜冠军位置上挤了下去。首周七天，《白头神探》的北美票房达到1221万美元。

In the third week of the large-scale opening, the number of screening screens of "Steel Magnolias" increased again, reaching 1215 yuan, and the box office this week was 968 million US dollars.Compared with last week, the box office fell by only 15%, and the cumulative box office reached 3660 million US dollars.

"Scream" has also been squeezed to No.4 by Warner Bros.'s new film "Tequila Sunrise", starring Mel Gibson and Michelle Pfeiffer, and its first week of painting $823 million at the box office.

In the sixth week of its release, "Scream" narrowed its decline to 11% compared to last week, and received another US$779 million, with a cumulative box office of US$8116 million.

There are three new films that started drawing on December 12. Among them, only "Dragon Brothers and Mice" starring Arnold Schwarzenegger is released on a large scale, and the other two films are scheduled to be screened in advance. Wire Entertainment's Dead Poets Society and Orion Pictures' Mississippi Burning.

In Simon's memory, "Mississippi is Burning", a film about racial issues in the United States, is also a popular Oscar this year.

Although "Dragon Brother and Mouse Brother" won the box office on the first day that surprised the producer just like "The White Headed Detective", but on the second day, "Dead Poets Society" was the most talked about by the media.

Robert De Niro lives up to his name as an actor who can play any type of role. The mainstream media such as "Hollywood Reporter", "Variety Show" and "Los Angeles Times" are all full of praise for De Niro in "Dead Poets Society". The enthusiastic teacher figure expressed his appreciation, thinking that this movie will bring De Niro another Oscar nomination.

Compared with the media's affirmation of De Niro's performance, the views expressed by "Dead Poets Society" have caused some controversy.

"Chicago Reader" believes that the strictness of Wilton School in the film is certainly a kind of confinement to the students' thinking, but Mr. Keating's behavior of asking students to tear up other people's poems is also forcibly instilling other ideas into students. a thought.

However, the fundamental idea of ​​"Dead Poets Society" is still the yearning for freedom, which is simply the most positive "political correctness" in the United States. Therefore, although there are some controversies, the overall media reputation of the film is still very strong. The score is already close to the 8.6 points of the classic level.

Monday, October 12.

After the weekend, apart from the box office data of the past three days, the most watched thing in Hollywood this week is the announcement of the nominations for the Golden Globe Awards.

According to the previously discussed strategy, Daenerys Entertainment has declared a total of two Golden Globe nominations for its films, namely "Steel Magnolia" and "Dead Poets Society". , "Dead Poets Society" is oriented towards the best picture in the drama category.

However, just like what happened at Sundance, "Steel Magnolia" only got one Julia Roberts nomination for Best Supporting Actress. This is obviously due to the additional operation of ICM. Nominations for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actress all fell through.

On the contrary, "Dead Poets Society" successfully won four nominations for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Screenplay in the Drama category.

In order to concentrate public relations resources, Daenerys Entertainment gave up "When Harry Met Sally" at the beginning of the year, and did not apply for the nomination for "Rain Man", which has not been favored by everyone.However, the failure of "Steel Magnolia" made Simon very depressed.

Among the five best picture nominations in the musical comedy category, "Future of the Future", "A Fish Named Wanda" and "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" deserved their names, but the other "Working Girl" won The nomination is completely ironic in the face of what happened to "Steel Magnolia".

The most important reason why "Working Girl" was nominated for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Actress in a Musical Comedy is probably because the director of this film is named Mike Nichols. Director of "The Graduate" and "Spiritual Desire".

"The Graduate" and "Spiritual Desire" are naturally classics, but the "Working Girl" starring Harrison Ford and Melanie Griffith can only be described as mediocre. There is no comparison between the old-fashioned plot of "Working Girl" and Oliver Stone's classic "Wall Street" last year.

Simon's summer file "Pulp Fiction" also only received two nominations for John Travolta's best actor and symbolic best screenplay. The copyright of "Pulp Fiction" is in the hands of Orion, and the award operation is also run by Orion Responsible.

For some reason, Orion has focused its public relations this year on "Mississippi is Burning". This film, which was screened at the same time as "Dead Poets Society", successfully won four awards including the best film in the drama category. nominate.

Faced with this result, Simon realized that it would be difficult for Daenerys Entertainment to make a difference in the awards this year.

Traditional Hollywood forces may not be able to control whether the audience likes a film, but their influence on awards such as the Golden Globes and Oscars is far beyond that of Daenerys Entertainment.

In a blink of an eye, time soon came to December 12.

On the new Friday, "Rain Man", which has been burdened with too many controversies and doubts, was finally officially released in major theaters in North America, with 1136 opening screens.

Chapter 221 Reverse Fall (Revised)

chicago.

At nine o'clock in the evening central time, after watching the latest "Rain Man", the famous North American film critic Roger Ebert and his friend Gene Siskel came out of the theater together.Since 1975, Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel have co-hosted the film review talk show Siskel and Albert on local Chicago television.

Thinking of the recent undercurrents in the circle, Roger Albert asked his friend with a wry smile on his face, "Jin, what should we do?"

Gene Siskel also had some hesitation on his expression.

A few days ago, some people secretly tried to attack "Dead Poets Society", but the attitude of this force was not too firm, and the quality of "Dead Poets Society" itself was beyond doubt. Strong public relations, after a week of screenings, "Dead Poets Society" has still accumulated a very strong reputation.

But this time, C President Michael Ovitz personally called and asked them if they would be interested in doing an exclusive interview with Robert Redford on their TV show. The topic is Saint Dan in January next year. Sri Lanka Film Festival.

If a big star like Robert Redford could be a guest in "Siskel and Albert", the two would naturally wish for it.

Then Ovitz brought up "Rain Man."

All are smart people.

Michael Ovitz didn't make certain things clear on the phone, and it's unlikely he'd say I hope you'll give Rain Man a bad review or something, but Roger Ebert And how could Gene Siskel not understand.

However, through watching the movie just now, both of them realized that "Rain Man" is definitely a rare and excellent movie, far from being as bad as some media have rendered it during this period.

Both Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel are feeling a bit of a dilemma right now.

Although Michael Ovitz only promised benefits on the phone, they didn't think that if they ignored the wishes of the other party, the two would just lose a chance to interview Redford.

As C has accumulated more and more first-line superstars in recent years, the influence of this talent agency company in Hollywood has even surpassed that of any of the Big Seven.

If the two of them give "Rain Man" a positive evaluation, then the two of them may lose many opportunities to participate in the first trial screenings of C's stars in the next period of time.

However, if "Rain Man" is given a negative review regardless of the facts, once the overall film review trend of the film tends to be positive, the credibility of the two will be hit.Film critics rely on word of mouth, and there is no shortage of competitors. Such an obvious reversal of right and wrong will definitely usher in criticism from competitors.

The two discussed as they walked, and finally found a coffee shop. After careful consideration, Roger Ebert finally made a decision to postpone the release of the film review of "Rain Man".If the next film's reputation is one-sided, he will not be able to buck the trend.If the response is mediocre, although he thinks this possibility is unlikely, he can also be a "favorite" at that time.

In many cases, people's behavior patterns always have striking similarities.

When Roger Ebert made the decision to suspend the publication of the film review of "Rain Man", many media outlets across North America who encountered C's management cleverly made the same idea. They neither wanted to oppose C nor did they want to Offend Daenerys Entertainment.

As a result, early Saturday morning, many mainstream newspapers in North America kept silent about "Rain Man".

malibu.

After Simon got up early, he saw the first-day box office data of "Rain Man".

210 million US dollars.

Although it is a preliminary estimate, the detailed figures should not be much different.

However, this number is less than half of the first day of "Scream". The schedule of "Scream" was relatively deserted, but it still got a first-day box office of 450 million US dollars, while the first day of "Rain Man" was only 210 million US dollars.

Although the film suffered a lot of criticism in the early stage, Daenerys Entertainment also invested enough marketing resources.

Simon previously estimated that the first-day box office of "Rain Man" should be at least around US$250 million, so as to ensure that the box office of the film's first week is not less than US$1000 million.In this era, a film's box office in the first week is less than 1000 million US dollars. The starting point is too low, and the follow-up box office will not be able to do much.

Now, with a $210 million opening day, Rain Man will likely only make around $800 million in its opening week.

With a start of $800 million, even if Simon has more confidence in "Rain Man", he doesn't think this movie can still achieve a North American box office of more than $1.7 million in the original time and space.

Did it still fail?

After breakfast, I rushed to the company as usual, because most of the working day was spent on "Batman", and Simon wanted to take advantage of the weekend to deal with some company affairs as much as possible.

Sitting in the office, Burbank also quickly passed on the media feedback report of "Rain Man" and the news that many mainstream media collectively misfired today.Simon dismissed the female secretary Susan Landis who had been graciously dangling in front of him these days, and then opened the media feedback report.

When Jennifer opened the door and came in, Simon had just finished reading the report.

Although newspapers such as "Variety Show" and "Hollywood Reporter" did not publish film reviews in the first place, but in North America, where there are more than [-] newspapers, it is naturally impossible for the news of "Rain Man" to be completely blocked.

Overall, the media evaluation of "Rain Man" is stronger than that of the previous "Dead Poets Society". The "Los Angeles Times", which has a good relationship with Daenerys Entertainment, praised this movie as "a touching and tender story." masterpiece'.

Putting down the file, Simon noticed the way Jennifer carefully placed a stack of scripts in front of him, relaxed his expression and joked: "Why are you so careful? Worried that I will suddenly transform and eat you?"

Jennifer pushed the stack of scripts towards Simon, looked at Simon earnestly from across the desk, and said, "I went to the cinema to watch "Rain Man" last night, and the audience all liked it."

Simon didn't answer Jennifer's topic. He noticed that the female assistant's white hand was still on the script, and reached out to press it, but Jennifer quickly ran away, looking at the big hand that had failed, with a reddish face, and said: :"this is not good."

Simon turned his palm over and said with a smile, "I'm about to lose a lot of money, please comfort me."

"It shouldn't be that much." As Jennifer said, she hesitated a little, but she still reached out and patted Simon's big hand with her small hand.Originally, she thought she would be caught and kneaded by Simon, but the man didn't do that, so she withdrew her hand as if nothing had happened, looked at the stack of scripts she had just sent and said, "For the project "Rocket Scientist", you seem to be It was rejected a long time ago, and there are several other scripts that were eliminated by you. What do you need these materials for now?"

Simon withdrew his hand and said, "Send it away."

Jennifer was puzzled: "Give it away, who is it?"

"Give it to whoever wants it," Simon didn't hide too much, and said, "Maybe I'm a little suspicious, but just try it and you'll know."

Jennifer understood, and said, "You mean, a commercial spy?"

Simon nodded and said, "Okay, don't worry about these things, just concentrate on doing your job well."

Hearing what Simon said, Jennifer knew that he just didn't want to get in touch with the dark side of business, and didn't mean to distrust her, and said, "I can help you."

"Of course," Simon said firmly, "but there are some things that you don't need to do. Now, go back to your office obediently."

This kind of coaxing tone made Jennifer feel a little sweet and dissatisfied. When she obediently turned and walked out, she still couldn't help saying, "I'm not a little girl."

Simon waited for Jennifer to leave, took the stack of scripts, picked them, and chose two.

One is "Rocket Scientist", which Simon planned to take down last year as a 'sand', and the other is a military-themed film "Firebird Attack", which imitates "Top Gun".

For as long as I can remember, both films were high-budget flops.

The original "Rocket Scientist" was produced by Disney, which burned more than 6000 million US dollars in production and publicity budgets, but the North American box office was only more than 4000 million US dollars. Although it is not an absolute failure, such a film occupies a lot of money and the best quality The box office of the scheduled project did not meet expectations, which is definitely a serious blow to Disney.

The other "Firebird Attack" tells the story of the Apache helicopter team. Simon only remembered it because this film wanted to continue the glory of "Top Gun". Although I don't remember the detailed budget and box office figures of the film, but this one He remembered clearly the result of the box office failure of the project.

If someone is really trying to play tricks on him, if these two projects are sent out, if they all fail, it will at least allow a big film company to replace a few high-level executives.

Simon seriously added some misleading annotations to the two scripts. Half an hour later, Amy knocked on the door and came in. Simon casually put the two scripts away and put them in the filing cabinet at his feet, and then talked with Amy Mi left the company headquarters together.

After a period of operation, Daenerys Entertainment has successfully obtained the mountainside land in Malibu. Simon and Amy made an appointment today to check it out in person.

When the two came to the parking lot, Amy didn't drive her own car, but sat in Simon's Land Rover.

After the car started, I inevitably chatted a few words about "Rain Man", maybe because I felt that this project was doomed to fail, Amy didn't talk too much, and quickly changed the subject: "Yesterday is the final deadline of the contract, Orion didn't send us a cut of Pulp Fiction."

For considerations such as tax avoidance, the cooperation between Simon and Orion on "Pulp Fiction" is completely through the company channel of Daenerys Entertainment, not his personal cooperation.

According to the original contract, Orion needs to settle the share due to Daenerys Entertainment within one month of "Pulp Fiction". "Pulp Fiction" is released on November 11th, and yesterday was December 17th, which is also the last day of the working day. Under normal circumstances, Orion must pay 12% of the box office share to Danielle before this day wire entertainment.

Starting from "Run Lola Run", several subsequent projects such as "Death Comes" and "When Harry Met Sally" are obviously for the consideration of good cooperation in the future. Pay the share of Daenerys Entertainment.

Simon is very aware of the fact that Hollywood film companies are habitually in arrears with independent film producers. Sometimes big film companies even deliberately use this method to block the neck of independent film producers, but he did not expect his own company to suddenly face this situation.

However, he was not surprised.

Counting the "Stealer of the Heart" which was released at the same time as "Rain Man" yesterday, Orion has released a total of 17 films this year.

According to the data seen in the morning, the first-day box office of "Stealer" was only 120 million US dollars, which is obviously another failure.Prior to this, apart from "Pulp Fiction", the best-grossing film among other films was only the baseball star biopic "Million Golden Arm" starring Kevin Costner, with a North American box office of 5088 million US dollars.

Moreover, among all Orion's projects this year, there are only 2000 films with a North American box office of more than 5 million US dollars.

According to the rapidly rising average film production cost in recent years, if the North American box office exceeds 2000 million US dollars, Orion can ensure the full cost recovery through subsequent omni-channel operations. Even if the cost is less than 2000 million US dollars, it will take a long time to operate.

Based on a comprehensive calculation, of the 17 Orion films this year, only 5 can guarantee a return on capital, and the other 12 films are basically loss-making in the short term.

After fulfilling the "Pulp Fiction" contract, Daenerys Entertainment's chances of cooperating with Orion in the future are slim, and most projects lose money throughout the year. At this time, Orion can only choose to default on Daenerys Entertainment's share payment to avoid the company's suffering Cash flow shortage dilemma.

Thinking of this, Simon asked Amy, "Did Mike Medova call you?"