Hollywood Hunter

The second box office week in the summer season passed unconsciously.

The week from May 20 to May 26, the new film "Life and Death Speed", which was drawn last Friday, successfully topped the single-week box office list champion with a strong main lineup and excellent media reputation. The first week of the day received $32.17 million. Although it lost to the $36.61 million in the first week of "Gate of the Stars", it also reached the high sales level of $11,000 per pavilion, and the market performance basically met MGM's expectations.

Moreover, the box office of "Life and Death Speed" is not as good as "Star Gate" in the first week, obviously because of the intensified competition in the theater market this week.

Released at the same time as "Life and Death", the "Gambler Ma Huali" with a production budget of US$75 million, did not even get the second place in this week's list.

The "Gate of the Stars" directed by Michael Bay, the box office of the second week dropped by 31%, and the box office of the next week was 25.26 million US dollars. The ranking of the list was closely followed by "Speed ​​of Life and Death", two weeks, this wormhole concept The cumulative box office of science fiction adventure movies has reached 61.87 million US dollars, even if "Batman: The Rise of the Dark Knight" on June 3 is still eyeing, the film's local box office has exceeded 100 million.

Richard Donner Gamel Gibson's "Gambler Ma Huali" failed to replicate the success of the "Fatal Weapon" series. A $75 million production budget and a $30 million announcement were made only for Warner Bros. The film industry brought in $20.72 million for the first week of the box office, and the museums barely exceeded $8,000. The single-week box office list only took the third place.

In Simon's view, Hollywood Westerns in the blockbuster era of big investment and special effects, just like the martial arts movies after the new century on the other side of the ocean, are destined to be a type that is hard to attract the interest of the core young audience.

After the top three, the fourth-ranked Meg Ryan's main love film "When Men Fall in Love with Women" directly began to fall behind. The box office fell by 32% the following week. The box office receipts were only 7.67 million US dollars, and the cumulative amount of two weeks was 18.96 million US dollars. Less than any of the first three results of the first three parts of the list.

The fifth place on the list is not the new film Spike Lee's "Ethnic Love", which was drawn in the first week of the summer file on May 13th, but the seventh week of "Detective Aircraft Head". The film has lost 25% at the box office in the past week. , Received another 4.51 million US dollars, the cumulative box office reached 87.73 million US dollars.

This week, there were 16 mainstream cinema films released in North America during the same period, but the cumulative total of the top five films in a single week reached 90.33 million US dollars. Although the remaining 11 films have a total weekly box office of less than 5 million US dollars, the cumulative box office also has 22.79 million US dollars, and the week from May 20 to May 26 became the first box office week in 1994 with a total of more than 100 million yuan. The total weekly box office reached 113 million US dollars.

On May 27, the week before the release of "Batman: The Rise of the Dark Knight", they were reluctant to be shunned by this phenomenal super blockbuster bombing next week, which made this week only a few paintings. Only a few hundred dozens of non-mainstream films were released.

Highgate Pictures released a "Blue Cowgirl" directed by famous independent director Gus Van Sant this week, starring Uma Thurman, telling the wandering story of a road girl, and opening the screen for 327 yuan.

This is already the second movie that Gaomen Pictures has collaborated with Gus Van Sant, who originally caught the attention of the industry with "Psychedelic Cowboy".

Gus Van Sant’s last equally well-received "Uninhibited Sky" was invested by Gaomen Pictures, starring Keanu Reeves and Ruifan Phoenix, as a low-cost literary film, several The main initiative took the initiative to cut the salary, with a budget of only 3 million US dollars, but North America earned a total of 7.28 million US dollars at the box office. Relying on the Venice film emperor of Ruifan Phoenix and the literary theme of the film itself, Europe has to sell better. It is a small one. Success.

The budget of the "Blue Cowgirl" has therefore increased to 8 million US dollars.

The film was completed last year, and the feedback from several test festivals was very general, so I chose the May 27th.

The summer season is very friendly to commercial films. As for the literary and artistic films, especially the niche literary and artistic films with no big-name leading actors and good reputation, there is basically no blessing.Gaomen Pictures chose this schedule, just looking forward to it. In the past, word-of-mouth generally created unknown films. It is not a precedent for unsuccessful. Maybe the audience likes it?

Simon did not have any expectations for "Blue Cowgirl". It was a small loss before "Batman: The Rise of the Dark Knight". When it was burned to make a confession, after all, it can't always be earned, and occasionally, good for health.

At the same time as "Blue Cowgirl", there is also a "Princess and Goblin", an animated film invested and released by the British independent film maker Hemdale.

Hermdale is very new to most people, but the film company invested in a famous science fiction film in the 1980s, James Cameron's "Terminator."

The North American theater release of the first "Terminator" was handled by Orion Pictures, but the investment was produced by Hermdale, and the original copyright was also in the hands of the other party.When producing "Terminator 2", Fox spent $3 million plus 5% of the box office net profit share before he obtained the copyright from Hermdale.

According to the original agreement, after "Terminator 2", the copyright of this science fiction series is shared by Fox and Daenerys."Terminator 2" has a global box office of more than 500 million US dollars, and the potential value of this IP copyright has also risen directly to the tens of millions. Of course, neither Fox nor Daenerys have plans to sell the copyright in hand.

This time, "Princess and Goblin" does not have any "Terminator" sales. It is produced and sold by Hermdale, and the number of open screens is only 769.

In addition to the two new films with hundreds of screens, there are three other niche films with only a few dozens of openings, which are not worth mentioning. In short, this week can basically be regarded as the tranquility before the storm. At the same time, it also gave the market enough room to play in the last week of the new film released in the previous half month.

Simon returned to Los Angeles with Janet on Friday, May 27. The family spent the weekend together and did not leave the West Coast for the new week.

Mainly to participate in the premiere of "Batman: The Rise of the Dark Knight", the date is scheduled for June 1, Wednesday.

Last week, Janet personally rushed to Washington to communicate with Congress about the merger and acquisition of State Street’s asset management department. Unfortunately, there was still no progress. However, some people also offered a "price" in private, wanting Congress to release the transaction, Weiss The Tello system must first renounce interference in this midterm election.

Obviously, many people were under pressure during the political offensive of the Westeros system during this period of time. There have even been rumors that Congress will investigate the Westeros system’s illegal interference in political campaigns.

Simon is not actually worried about the investigation.

Simon is young enough to have enough time to lay out the political forces of the Westeros system, and there is no imminent crisis at the moment. He has no reason to deliberately use violations to interfere in the election.

Moreover, the political lobbying of the Westeros system has a dedicated compliance team to monitor it at all times. Perhaps many small actions are suspected of edging, but this is just like the various tax avoidance methods in this country. It may be illegal, but it is not illegal. Basically It's a gray area within everyone's default game rules.

The biggest reason why many people in Congress feel the threat is that the capital strength of the Westeros system is too strong.

In a time when many top riches have only billions of dollars, Simon’s total personal assets have reached a horrible $200 billion, and the entire Westeros system is even larger.As a result, the other top political funders have already spent tens of millions of dollars each year to support the campaign. The Westeros system can easily mobilize hundreds of millions of dollars.

Aware of the fundamental obstacles to this matter, the couple finally decided to give up using prosecution to resolve the matter after discussion.

Involving tens of billions of dollars of assets and mergers and acquisitions, and really launching a lawsuit, the result will definitely be more protracted. There is no one or two years to get results from Washington, so it is better to wait patiently for half a year.After the mid-term elections in November, think about the time when the 1994 mid-term elections in the United States and the entire political world were silent on the National Rifle Association. As long as the Westero system's "sniping plan" can be completed, many people in Congress should reconsider The consequences of the Stello system.

Of course, after waiting for half a year, it is difficult to ensure that there will be no changes.

The result of the discussion between the Simons and Cersei Capital team is to start cooperation with State Street as early as possible, to avoid the acquisition of the purchase case within half a year to the greatest extent, which is regarded as preheating for the merger of both parties in advance.

Although not satisfactory, this is undoubtedly the best solution for the whole thing.

For the Hearst Group, for more than a week, the Hearst family took the initiative to contact Simon again, trying to negotiate down the conditions that Simon had previously issued.

Simon simply ignored it.

Facing the pressure of public opinion, the French government finally issued a deportation order to William Hirst III who had evaded Paris, demanding that the other party leave France before May 31. This recently lost control of the family business and almost all of his personal assets. The former head of the Hirst family had to hide in Morocco when other major European countries were unwilling to accept it.

The public is still forgetful.

After a month of hot speculation, the storm caused by the murder of Doris Fitcher gradually cooled down.

If this is the case, it may be like the news group in Simon’s memory that has gone through the eavesdropping scandal without losing a newspaper.However, a series of official investigations, claims litigation, partner abandonment, etc. against the Hearst Group have not been terminated, which is the fundamental reason for damage to the Hearst Group.

On the other hand, two reporters from the "News Times" in Danbury, Connecticut, who were very interested in the bombing of the Woodfield Estate, quietly left Pittsburgh in disgrace after the newspaper management was under some strong pressure. The media that had originally focused on the explosion also gradually gave up following up.

The cooling of the media's popularity is not only the result of the quiet operation of the Westeros system, but also the scene that the official wants to see.

Many of the original clues were unsustainable. This bombing was forcibly investigated. It is really difficult to have any results. Washington generally knows that a vague federal senior executive, even if he wants to make trouble with the Westeros system, does not. Dare to open the lid without any solid evidence.

After all, this accusation is really too serious.

If you poke out in abrupt fashion, the Westeros system may be disgraced, and for some people who can't produce evidence, the political career may be completely ruined.

It is impossible to reveal the truth in the form of conspiracy theory through some tabloids indirectly.

After all, the tabloid is for money.

The fundamental reason for exposing various conspiracy theories is to create gimmicks and promote newspaper sales.

However, under normal circumstances, all kinds of conspiracy theories are directed at the federal government, the president or the Congress, and even various other departments. This kind of gossip is concocted. The public is happy to hear that Washington is usually not true to them.

However, if it is aimed at a big chaebol with an asset volume of hundreds of billions of dollars, it is not to seek wealth, but to thoroughly play with fire.

After stabbing such a thing, the Westeros system was chased down, and it was definitely not a matter of closing a newspaper. A bunch of people must follow the bad luck.As for the behind-the-scenes manipulating the exposure, don't even think about getting away easily.Many of the hidden truths are only for the general public who lack information channels. It is not so difficult for the powerful Westero system to find one thing, and it does not need evidence at all.

Think of a series of fierce revenge caused by an assassination that did not even splash.

Exposure to this matter may only be a touch of gray on Westeros's face. The guy behind the tricks may lose his life.People who know the inside story of the Woodfield Manor explosion probably don’t think that Simon Westero can do this kind of thing. Everyone is a big business and there is no need to go up and send Westeros. Human head.

After the weekend, the time soon entered June.

On June 1, International Children's Day, the highly anticipated premiere of "Batman: The Rise of the Dark Knight" will be held at the Chinese Theater in Los Angeles at 6 pm West Coast time.

However, this morning, former record industry tycoon David Geffen, Hollywood legendary director Steven Spielberg, and former Disney production director Jeffrey Kasenberg advanced in the morning on the East Coast Created a big news.

The three entertainment giants who were also important supporters of the Democratic Party had previously been guests at the White House this weekend. At ten o'clock in the morning on the east coast, they suddenly held a press conference in Washington, announcing that they would work together to establish a new Hollywood film company. , DreamWorks.