hunt hollywood

In this way, on Saturday night, it was finally the most important meeting of this trip to the UK.

The location is just west of the Royal Opera House in Kensington Park.

This is the first stop of the Guofeng Art Troupe's tour after New York. It started in March. Compared with the 3 performances in New York, London has signed a total of 9 performances, also every Wednesday and every Saturday. .

Because of the sensation caused during the performance in New York, it was also hard to find tickets in London.

Of course, these so-called hard-to-get votes certainly have nothing to do with people of certain classes.

The meeting was facilitated by Murdoch, and the old man recently came to London because of this. For the performance in the evening, he specially asked for a box, and there were only three people, Simon, Murdoch, and Labor Party leader and prime minister candidate Blair.

Historically, on a public level, Blair was the first Labor Party prime minister after the British Conservative Party was in power for 18 years, but in private, the British Prime Minister was largely promoted by Murdoch, so the two sides were implicated. very deep.However, this relationship also had twists and turns, mainly until the affair between a strange woman and Blair came to light.

When Simon talked with the two in the box while watching the performance, he still remembered this incident.

If he hadn't appeared, Murdoch might have met a certain strange woman, but this time, he might have to regret it again.Looking for a needle in a haystack, even if Simon wants to help Murdoch, um, add Blair, and continue a romance, it is unlikely to find someone.

Simon and Murdoch are very familiar, but it is the first time they have met Blair, so of course it is impossible to talk about too formal topics.

However, Simon also understands that compared to the Conservative Party, even though the Labor Party's political stance is somewhat similar to that of the Democratic Party in the United States, which leans towards the working class, in fact, Blair is still a standard establishment faction, which is easy to operate.

You must know that although the influence of the United Kingdom on the international political stage is getting weaker and weaker, this time, since the Westeros system has taken root in the United States, the United Kingdom is the natural ally of the Westeros system in Europe.

It even acts as a sort of bridgehead.

The operation of the Westeros system in the UK seems to be quiet in recent years, but it is also flourishing in all directions, with a very broad layout in entertainment, technology, fashion and other aspects.

Therefore, it is necessary to establish a good relationship with the authorities.

After nearly two hours of communication, Blair obviously hoped to have a good relationship with Simon, which was also the best result. In the end, he even took the initiative to bring up a serious matter, implying that he would help Simon settle the matter of Perkins Engine Company.

The Carlyle Group's acquisition of Perkins Engines is complete.

However, when the Carlyle Group recently revealed that it would close some factories in the UK and shift its production lines to Asia, it immediately aroused the attention of all parties.After all, the closure of factories means the unemployment of a large number of workers, and workers mean votes, and even trade unions are involved behind the scenes.

All in all, it's a mess.

The question now is whether the British authorities will intervene seriously. If it is serious, it will definitely be very troublesome. After all, it involves technology transfer. A ban in Downing Street can make it difficult for you to move forward. If it is not serious, turn a blind eye and close one eye. Things can be carried forward, and the workers can only make a fuss for a while at most, and they can't turn the world upside down.

Blair made such a promise, obviously implying that he would turn a blind eye to this matter after he took office.

Simon is also quite sympathetic to this.

The relationship between people is deepened step by step in this kind of coming and going.

So this meeting can be regarded as a happy event.

At the end of the performance, Blair took the initiative to leave very wittily, leaving some space for Simon and Murdoch to communicate in private.

After all, this meeting was also a favor from Murdoch.

Murdoch was also polite, and after Blair left, he talked about "The Mummy 2" again, hoping that this project could be developed as soon as possible, instead of procrastinating like Paramount's "Mission: Impossible 2".

Of course, Simon didn't make it difficult on purpose, and agreed casually.

After sending Murdoch away again, Simon did not leave just yet. Instead, after the performance was over, he quietly picked up a woman surnamed Liu and turned to another private house on the banks of the Thames.

It wasn't too late, and when I brought the woman back to the residence, a little girl named Miumiu didn't rest either, and she looked quite happy when she saw Simon appear.

Because of the tour, Ms. Liu has to follow the group all the way. Originally, it would be fine for Miumiu to stay in Long Island and continue her studies. There must be no shortage of people to take care of her. However, the girl told Simon that she wanted to stay with her mother, and Simon agreed. Ms. Liu did not object.

After greeting her, she came to sit on the sofa in the living room, Simon beckoned to the little girl, Miumiu sat down naturally, and was held in Simon's arms.

When Ms. Liu sees a man hugging her daughter, she can always feel a kind of... a feeling of playing around, but after getting used to it, she pretends not to know.

"So, have you been obedient recently?"

"Dad, your question is so naive."

"Heh, let's say something naive, doesn't it feel good to drop out of school?"

When Miumiu heard what Simon said, he immediately showed an embarrassed expression. After all, not going to school must be something that everyone likes, but after growing up, the child must know that it must be wrong.

Ms. Liu personally prepared coffee and came over. After hearing what Simon and her daughter had said, she interrupted: "I want to send Miumiu back to the United States now, and I arranged for her a tutor, but she didn't study hard at all, and she only knew how to play all day long. "

The girl immediately made a gesture of reluctance, put her arms around Simon's neck and acted like a baby: "Father, I don't want it."

Simon caressed the slender body in his arms, and said with a smile: "If you don't want it, then you don't want it. Isn't there an old saying in China that says 'a woman who has no talent is a virtue'. Miumiu will just learn to play the piano, sing and dance in the future."

The girl nodded quickly.

When Ms. Liu saw that the man had finished speaking, she lowered her head and whispered to her daughter. She paused, but she still didn't utter a rebuttal, which was her tacit consent.

Chapter 1124 Still have to do it myself

Simon left London the next day, with Helsinki next.

The official schedule of this trip to the UK is basically settled, but there are two other small things, none of which have been settled. It is the Spice Girls and Harry Potter that I remembered on the plane.

Let alone the Spice Girls.

Regarding "Harry Potter", Simon privately searched the Facebook social network and other platforms in the UK, but failed to find a lady named J? K? Rowling, and then remembered that Western women often take their husband's surname after marriage , once J? K? Rowling was a single mother, this time may not necessarily.

Then I changed the method and mainly searched with the prefix J?K, and even some online literature communities, but still found nothing.

Can only give up.

In the end, I decided to try it myself. On the next trip to Finland and Italy, Simon took the time to roughly list the outline of the first part of the "Harry Potter" series based on memory, and wrote a story outline, which was passed to Los Angeles. Let them find sought-after reps.

As for story inspiration.

Simon also took what he said before, and accidentally caught a glimpse of a wizard dressed as a little boy with black-rimmed glasses on the side of the road, and took a sketch of Harry Potter.

Of course, when the story is published in the future, Simon does not intend to sign it. Considering the layout of this IP, he does not intend to give the gunman the right to sign. Instead, he gave a random pen name, J?K.

Forget about Rowling in the back.

As for the future, that's all Simon can do, let nature take its course.

Los Angeles.

When Simon was tossing and turning in Europe, it was April 4, another Friday, before he knew it.

The Easter schedule has come to an end, and the previous films are still going on.

In the box office week that just passed, the new version of "Taken" starring Jeter Lee once again won the single-week box office championship. Counting from March 3, it has been released for the third week. This Chinese Kung Fu combined with Hollywood template action After a good start with US$28 million in the first week, the film fell slightly by 3137% in the second week, earning US$43 million, and narrowed the decline to 1788% in the third week, earning another US$26 million.

In three weeks, the cumulative box office of this medium and low-budget film with an investment of US$2500 million has reached US$6246 million. Even if the US$1000 million investment in publicity and distribution is included, the cost has basically been recovered.

Judging from the current trend, "Taken" still has a box office potential of 1500 million to 2000 million US dollars in the follow-up, and it is estimated that the total domestic box office is expected to reach 8000 million US dollars.

Although there is no hope of breaking 8000 million, even Simon did not expect too much for this new version of "Taken", the box office expectation of [-] million US dollars has exceeded everyone's expectations.Successive Jack Cheng and Jeter Lee have achieved great success in Hollywood, which not only triggered a wave of Chinese Kung Fu movies among the audience, but also various Hollywood studios have turned their attention to the other side of the ocean. Recently, many studios They all started to contact there.

Then I found out that it was still a step too late.

This is about another Chinese kung fu movie released last Friday by Daenerys Entertainment, "Once Upon a Time: The Iron Monkey".

Although the English name of this film has been unscrupulously translated as "Iron Monkey", the wonderful Chinese Kung Fu show in it has attracted a lot of attention under the upsurge caused by "Taken".

On April 4, "Young Huang Feihong: The Iron Monkey" opened in North America with a screen size of 11. In the first week of its release, it once again unexpectedly won a box office of 1514 million US dollars, almost breaking the 1036 million mark.

In April, such a stand-alone, Chinese-language movie theme, 4 yuan is not a lot of screen size, and the first week was 1514 million US dollars, which can be called a small miracle.

With this small miracle, "Young Huang Feihong: The Iron Monkey" even gained the No.2 position on the weekly box office list.

In the same box office week, the leading roles of the top two films in the North American film market are both Chinese, which is also a spectacle that has not been seen for many years.

With such a small start, the North American box office of "Once Upon a Time: The Iron Monkey" is expected to reach 2500 million U.S. dollars, which does not seem to be much. However, this old film produced in Hong Kong in 1993 is actually Danielle Bought from Si Entertainment in a package.

Even if last year's "Rush Hour" made Chinese Kung Fu attract the attention of many people again, most people are accustomed to looking forward after all, and they will not change old movies from the past.

Daenerys Entertainment is doing the opposite.

On the other hand, the collapse of Hong Kong films since last year has made many film companies desperate for funds, even if they want to sell them for a price, it is impossible.Therefore, Daenerys Entertainment released videotapes in the name, including the North American omni-channel copyrights of nearly 20 films, including "The Iron Monkey" and so on. Daenerys Entertainment only spent less than 1000 million U.S. dollars in total. , with an average of less than $50 each.

Of course, converted into Hong Kong dollars, the average price of nearly 400 million Hong Kong dollars per unit is still quite impressive.

Now, "Young Huang Feihong: Iron Monkey" has earned more than 1000 million U.S. dollars in a week. The producers of the film, such as Golden Harvest and Media Asia, are suddenly not so "remarkable". One of the producers is even worse.

If more than 20 films were sold... not all of them, even if only half had such market potential, it would be a blood loss.

I thought that by strictly guarding against new projects like "Police Story 4", Hollywood would never make too much money. Unexpectedly, an old film that has been released for so many years can still sell well in Hollywood.

However, apart from worrying, Hong Kong filmmakers who were originally worried about the future due to the collapse of the Hong Kong film market, after successive Hong Kong films were successful in Hollywood, they inevitably saw a way out. .

After all, it is the unpopular period between Easter and summer. After "Taken" and "Once Upon a Time: Iron Monkey", the No.3 "Ghost of Horror" fell back to the range of tens of millions of dollars at the box office this week.

It was also the third week of its release. After the 51% loss of US$1451 million in the following week, the box office narrowed its decline by 32% in three weeks, and it earned another US$986 million, with a cumulative box office of US$5391 million.

Given the movie's box office curve, the movie is expected to gross between $6000 million and $7000 million domestically, not as good as Taken's likely $8000 million estimate, but relative to its $3000 million production cost, it was once too much. It's satisfying.

No.4 on the list is "Alien 2".

In the fourth week of its release, this sci-fi film with the theme of alien shapes earned another $816 million, with a cumulative box office of $7155 million, which has easily surpassed the first predecessor.Not only that, but with the film’s box office at this time, it is not a big problem to break through 8000 million domestically. Therefore, it will also become the highest-grossing film in the Easter schedule, and of course it is the highest-grossing film among the four films related to Daenerys Entertainment. part of

No.5 on the list is "Cable TV Repairman".

However, it is also the fourth week of release, and the single-week box office of Jim Carrey's comedy has dropped to 451 million US dollars, barely surpassing the 2 million US dollars of No.9 "BJ's Single Diary" in the 419th week of release, with a cumulative box office of 5250 million It is expected that it will be difficult to break through 6000 million US dollars in the local market.

Considering the US$3500 million production and US$1500 million publicity investment, Daenerys Entertainment obviously cannot recover the cost from local distribution and can only look overseas.

In addition to the top five, it is worth mentioning No.6 "BJ's Single Diary".

In the 9th week of its release, with a box office of 419 million US dollars, the cumulative box office of this love movie has reached 1 million US dollars.Although the single-week box office is much lower than that of "The Cable Repairman", the box office curve of "BJ's Single Diary" is very stable, and it may not be impossible to hit 3826 million.

Daenerys Entertainment's executives looked back on the entire Easter schedule and regretted it.

Except for "BJ's Diary", which is counted in the Valentine's Day schedule, none of the four main movies in the Easter schedule has exceeded [-] million in the local area.However, the four films were released at the same time, and this result is not surprising at all.

As for "Alien 2", which performed beyond expectations, if it hadn't received the joint impact of "Taken" and "Phantom" during the Easter week, there would be no problem breaking the [-] million mark in China.However, the cake in the film market is so big, if you get more, others will definitely get less.

Therefore, in this Easter schedule, the internal friction between the four films is obvious.

Of course, it's totally worth it, considering that the four films are going to be stimulated at the same time because many audiences are attracted to go to the cinema to increase the box office.If there are no four films from Daenerys Entertainment, not to mention that the extra share will definitely be eaten by other studio films, and the Easter schedule will not necessarily break the 1.3 million box office every week for two consecutive weeks. , and even reached a high of $[-] million during the Easter week, which was comparable to the summer vacation and the end of the year.

All in all, the pros outweigh the cons.

Daenerys Studios.

Near the end of the week's work, Amy Pascal had a meeting with the heads of several studios under her, returned to her office again, and began to ask her assistant Vanessa Lind some work matters.

It is mainly something that my boss recently explained.

Such as the idea of ​​a romance film called "My Best Friend's Wedding", the negotiation between Sony and Japan's Toho for the copyright of "Godzilla", and a film called "Harry Potter" just obtained yesterday. and the Sorcerer's Stone" fantasy novel idea.

"Ronald Bass has already accepted the screenwriting job. In addition, I transferred the idea of ​​the story to Julia. ICM has not responded yet. As for "Godzilla", Toho's attitude is a bit vague .”

"I don't want to hear that ambiguity."

"I'm sorry, Ms. Pascal, but obviously, according to the information we have received, Sony has already negotiated with Toho. Now, we step in, and with the appeal of Daenerys Entertainment in Hollywood, the Japanese only need to If you are not stupid, you will know who is more beneficial to cooperate with. However, they should be waiting for our quotation now."

Amy thought about it for a while, and finally understood: "Dongbao wants to participate in the investment?"

"Yes," said Vanessa Lind, who has been working diligently by Amy's side all these years: "According to the information we have received, the cooperation between Dongbao and Sony originally did not intend to invest, but only enjoy a certain profit share. But, now Daenerys Entertainment wants to take over, in the eyes of the Japanese, the box office will be quite guaranteed, so naturally they will not miss investment opportunities."

"In this case..." Amy thought again for a moment, and then said: "Let our copyright team keep in touch with Dongbao, but let's wait for the conditions to be offered."

Vanessa nodded. She also thought the same way. Now that the Japanese have made up their minds, there is no need to lose more initiative and let Daenerys Entertainment make better bargains. Something, Vanessa handed over a folder: "Also, here are a few writers who are good at children's fantasy novels."

Amy took the file, opened it, and said, "You can get off work first, I'll leave after reading these."

Vanessa agreed, then smiled and said, "Actually, Ms. Pascal, you don't have to be so tired. It doesn't matter if you get off work early."

——————

Amy just smiled, knowing that Vanessa cared about herself, but didn't explain too much.

Generally speaking, there are two types of heads of major Hollywood studios, one is good at creativity, and the other is good at management.

Michael Eisner at the beginning was very creative. He even added an additional title of chief creative officer to himself while he was in charge of Disney, and he also personally served as the host of a program on the Disney Channel.

As for those who are good at management, they are often lawyers or accountants. Take Disney as an example. Eisner’s deputy Frank Wells was a lawyer. While Eisner was in charge of Disney’s general direction, Wells helped manage In various administrative matters, the two cooperated tacitly in the 80s, quickly bringing Disney back to life.

If it weren't for the appearance of Simon, the big butterfly, Disney would still shine in the 90s.

Although she started as an assistant at the beginning, but later transferred to a producer, Amy Pascal thought that she should also belong to a creative executive.It's a pity, um, of course it's not a pity here, but, with the rapid development of Daenerys Entertainment, and with a boss who can be said to be full of inspiration, Amy can only focus on management work now.

Frankly speaking, with the current scale of Daenerys Entertainment, she is actually a little bit powerless, so she is concerned that her boss will distribute her power to Nancy Brill, Robert Iger and even the heads of the three studios. Amy has no complaints about the flat architecture design.

After all, she has been with her boss all the way, and Amy is very clear that she can still stay in this position at this time, mainly because of the friendship accumulated over the years, not because of her ability, so she also adjusted her position well. position, do what you can.

One of the keys is to make things that someone has told you as easy as possible.

Just like the script of "My Best Friend's Wedding", the copyright of "Godzilla", and the idea of ​​novels about "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", based on Amy's accumulated experience over the years, it seems that it is not very eye-catching , but in the end, if you continue to do it, you will often find that there are too many things involved.