Hollywood Hunter

While "Bodyguard" is hot, the late stage of "Batman" is still steadily advancing.

The film has recently started the late soundtrack stage, Simon considered some of Hollywood's major soundtrackers, and finally decided to do it himself.After all, no one in Hollywood knows the effect he wants better than he does.Warner Studios has the top recording studio and other related equipment, so this part of the work is still carried out in Burbank.

After a busy morning, Simon left Warner Studios and rushed to the nearby Daenerys Entertainment Burbank branch.

Today is Friday, June 9.

Ella Deutschman returned from Europe yesterday, Simon came to the company branch, everyone chose a restaurant nearby for lunch, Deichman talked about the results of this trip to Europe.

"Universal has issued a $5 million down payment plus a post-sharing plan to grab "Paradise Cinema". This is just a North American distribution right, and I can only give up. Tonadore got the Golden Palm this time, There are also many people who want to invest in his next movie. I and he also have differences in the script of "The Journey of Heaven", and this matter has not been able to talk about it."

This matter was completely expected, Simon just asked, "What about the other?"

Ella Doichman said: "Considering the situation at the time, I selected 10 films from the main competition unit and each screening unit film, carefully communicated with each producer, and then gradually gave They sent a time-limited offer with only one night to consider the time. In the end, in the movie I watched, the jury award "The Too Hot" was not received, Jane Campion's "Sweet Sister" was handed out, North American All-channel copyright, the transaction price is 300,000 USD prepayment plus 50% of the box office net profit share. There is also a Swedish film called "The Woman on the Roof", with a 100,000 USD prepayment, the same 50% box office net profit Split into."

Simon noticed the smile on Ella Deichman's face when he talked about it, and probably imagined him fighting with other filmmakers who were staring at Daenerys Entertainment.

"The Woman on the Roof" is probably just the addition, the focus is still "Sweet Sister".

$300,000 plus 50% of the box office net profit share, this price is not worth mentioning for Hollywood commercial films, but according to Simon's judgment, the production cost of "Sweet Sister" will not exceed $500,000 in conversion.With the sale of copyright in North America, New Zealand filmmakers can basically recover most of the costs, not to mention the sharing clause.

Simon is actually more inclined to buy out, but he also understands that this idea is not realistic.Just as he had insisted on the original "Rola Run" in the beginning, the filmmakers expect a lot of miracles.Doichman's offer actually reduced the risk for Daenerys Entertainment.

Moreover, the share only involves the box office, and the later video tapes and TV broadcasting rights income are all Daenerys entertainment, which can also avoid long-term financial entanglements.

The cost of the down payment is 300,000 US dollars, and another 500,000 US dollars is invested in the announcement. The North American box office of "Sweet Sister" must reach more than 1.5 million US dollars in order to reach the breakeven.

Simon didn't expect much from the box office potential of "Sweet Sister", as long as he could get 3 million US dollars, he would be successful.

According to this figure, Gaomen Pictures can achieve a small profit at the box office. The later video tapes and TV broadcasts can also bring good income. New Zealand filmmakers can also receive a share of $300,000 to 400,000, and both parties are happy. .

Simon was about to ask about other things. He noticed Robert Rem's slightly frowned expression when he heard the two talking. He looked at him and said, "Bob, is there anything wrong?"

Robert Rem glanced at Deichman,

"It's not a small business, Bob, like "Rola Run" and "Pulp Fiction", both of these films are biased towards literary and artistic properties, but their box office is very amazing. Since I can do this, I believe other Filmmakers can also create such miracles. I don’t expect high-end film industry to dig out movies like "Lola Run" every year, but as long as two or three years can appear a big selling literary film, this is Success." Simon explained carefully, and said at the end: "And, for me, there has never been a concept of big business and small business. I hope I can do every job involved in the hand. For you, I am the same This is the expectation. This is a very important attitude issue. If a person cannot take the "small business" of $300,000 seriously, then if he is given $3 million or even $30 million, he can’t do well either."

When Deichman, Jennifer, and Danny Morris, the president of New World Pictures who were dining together, were refuted, although Simon's tone was very peaceful, Rem still couldn't hold it a bit, he was still a bit Adhering to his own opinion, but just barely smiled, nodded and said: "Okay."

Simon sighed secretly and turned to Deutschman again.

Before Simon asked, Deichman took the initiative and said: "According to your request, Simon, I then successfully signed a contract with Campion for two movies. She will next shoot a film called "Angel" I have seen the script of the biographical film at the same table with me, and it is also a good lottery movie. In addition, she also has an idea of ​​an original script to tell the story of an aphasia woman who marries a New Zealand with a piano, because The script has not been formed yet, and I can’t judge the merits at the moment. She said that she will draw up an outline in the near future."

The story about the piano and the dumb girl is obviously the "Piano Don't Love" that Simon likes very much.

Did not see the script, Simon did not comment too much, and continued to talk a few words. He looked at Danny Morris, the head of New World Pictures, and asked: "Danny, the child in the cornfield "How is the preparation for the sequel?"

Danny Morris was originally appointed as the director of High Gate Pictures, because he was not optimistic about the prospects of literary and artistic films, he was sent by Simon to be responsible for the new world of thriller horror movies.During the communication just now, I felt Simon's attention to Doiqiman and his opinion about'big business' small business'. Danny Morris somewhat regretted the initiative to abandon the president of Gaomen Pictures position.

New World Pictures is currently not responsible for many projects, mainly the sequel of "Scream" that has been sold last year, "Scream 2", the third sequel of "Ghost Hunting" 3 "Ghost Hunting 3" And the sequel "Children in Cornfield 2" that Simon asked about.

The three films and the previous films have achieved commercial success.

Therefore, the sequel is completed, unless it is a lot more than the previous work, otherwise the credit will not be too great, but if it is messed up, it will definitely seriously affect your future.

With this in mind, Danny Morris quickly said: "The script has been completed, and I am looking for a director recently. In addition, Simon, I plan to shoot this movie in Australia, which can save at least 10% of the budget."

The budget of "Children in Cornfields" is $3 million. Because it is a low-cost movie, it is definitely not possible to get the tax refund conditions like "Batman" when shooting in Australia.A 10% reduction in the budget actually saved only $300,000.

Going to Australia to shoot was originally an idea hesitated in Danny Morris, but he didn't hesitate to make a decision when he heard what Simon had just said.

At least, this attitude can win the boss a lot of favors.

Simon is really satisfied.

Although a company's profits are not saved, if it can be carefully calculated, it must be carefully calculated.

After talking a few words, Simon did not neglect Rem, and talked about "Bodyguard" again.

"Bodyguard" had a box office of $23.63 million in the first week. This figure was slightly lower than Simon's expectations, and it was even worse than the same period of "Raiders 3".Fortunately, the soundtrack album of "Bodyguard" was unexpectedly sold as much as the original time and space, which made Simon look forward to the movie's box office trend and overseas box office performance.

Moreover, compared to the original record, Simon actually still pays more attention to the box office.

If "Bodyguard" can achieve the original global box office of 400 million US dollars, Daenerys Entertainment can earn at least 100 million US dollars in net profit in the next one or two years.In comparison, the expected revenue of the original soundtrack is also amazing, but in memory, the sales of over 4,500 albums are the result of long-term accumulation over the next decade or two.

In addition, Simon has some concerns about the impact of "Ghostbusters 2" released this week on "Bodyguard".He does not have too specific "Ghostbusters 2" box office data in his memory, but the $37 million big production film here is obviously also the best-selling film in the annual list.Moreover, whether it is the scale of the release or the offensive, "Ghostbusters 2" is the same as "Battle Quest 3" and "Bodyguard".

After lunch, everyone just returned to the Burbank branch office building and heard another piece of explosive news.

At one o'clock in the afternoon, Paramount Communications Corporation suddenly held a press conference, saying that it would initiate an acquisition of Time Inc. and gave a high price of 10.6 billion US dollars.

Prior to this, the merger negotiations between Time Company and Warner Bros. had been underway for three months, and the negotiations had come to an end.Paramount Communications' sudden shot made the Time and Warner Bros. executives in full glory.Time Company issued an announcement for the first time, saying it did not welcome the malicious acquisition of Paramount Communications.Warner Bros. also followed up quickly, expressing its solidarity with Time Company's announcement.

Many ordinary people do not really understand the inside story of this acquisition, but the whole Hollywood is paying close attention to this matter.

The dispute between the three companies is actually very interesting.

Between Time and Warner, the previous transaction was actually Time Corporation’s acquisition of Warner Bros. Time Corporation was the acquirer.Now, Paramount Communications initiates an acquisition with Time Company, and Time Company immediately becomes the acquired party.

The reason why the senior management of Time Company reflects so strongly is mainly because of this host-guest translocation.

Time and Warner's acquisition transaction, as the acquirer, after the completion of the merger of a senior executive of Time Company, it will still be the controller of this new large media group. Moreover, according to the news that Simon heard, a senior company of Time Company has even made its own Prepared a ten-year generous remuneration contract, even if some people have to leave after the company's merger is completed, they will continue to receive compensation benefits for ten years.

However, if Time Inc. is acquired by Paramount Communications, after the merger is completed, the management of Time Inc. is likely to be kicked out of the company. As for the ten-year compensation contract, it is impossible to talk about it.

After the announcement of Paramount Communications, the two sides have been in the media for a few days. Paramount Communications soon publicly stated that for the benefit of shareholders, Paramount will file a lawsuit in the Delaware Federal Court to stop it. The transaction between Time Company and Warner Bros.

In the negotiations between Time Company and Warner, the two sides adopted a stock swap model, and Time Company's price was only 7 billion US dollars.Paramount Communications opened a $10.6 billion cash acquisition, which is obviously because Time and Warner's transaction plan is superior.

However, pure numbers are actually just representations.

According to the capital gains tax rate of up to 28% in the United States at this time, if the cash acquisition of Paramount Communications is accepted, the cashed-in shareholder's proceeds will be roughly equivalent to the quotation of the merger of Time Company and Warner Bros.Because stock swaps do not need to pay capital gains tax.

Therefore, Paramount’s claims about protecting the interests of shareholders are actually not so tenable.

As a bystander, Simon knew the final result of the acquisition.

Moreover, Simon was actually envious of this deal.

Not to mention Warner, Time Inc. owns HBO, the most profitable cable TV network in North America, and Simon’s eyebrows are just that.Moreover, the paper media business of Time Company, which owns platforms such as Time magazine, is now equally profitable.

However, involving large-scale acquisitions with a volume of tens of billions of dollars, Daenerys Entertainment does not yet have the strength to participate.

Simon is now concerned about this acquisition, just want to accumulate experience for Daenerys Entertainment's future layout.In fact, this day will not be too far away, even, only need to wait until next year.

On the other hand, after the original bodyguard of "Bodyguard" was released for a week, the sales volume in the first week was gradually released.

For later marketing considerations, Alistar Records and Daenerys Entertainment originally made up their minds that even if the first week sales of this record cannot exceed 1 million copies, both parties will privately push this number to exceed 1 million.Fortunately, the final sales statistics of the "Bouncer" soundtrack record was 1.02 million copies, so you don't have to take risks to falsify. The two companies quickly launched a large-scale follow-up promotion of this sales data.

Stimulated by the popularity of the original sound recording, "Bodyguard" eventually lost only 15% at the box office in the next week, and then collected another 20.06 million US dollars. The cumulative box office in two weeks was 43.69 million US dollars.

Although this box office data still failed to surpass the $46.01 million box office in the first full week of "Avatar 3", it is also very good, especially in "Avatar 3" and the "Ghostbusters" released in the first week. 2" Under the blow.

In the first week of the painting, the box office of "Ghostbusters 2" also received $44.91 million, and won the first place in the box office list without suspense.Opening the painting and entering the fourth week of "Avatar 3", the single-week box office also reached 23.88 million US dollars, ranking second.

Therefore, it can be seen that the 15% drop in "Bodyguard" the following week is actually very rare.