Hollywood legendary director

February 3, overcast.

Fox President Jim Ganopoulos came to his reception room with a smile on his face.

"Hi, long time no see. I hope you have not brought bad news."

After several rounds of talks with the negotiators at hand, Joseph and Jim finally sat down together.

Next to him, the CAA senior manager Brian Lord, who was waiting to see him, stood up, hugged him, and greeted him eagerly.

In the face of the first-line project that Lehman is looking at, they are naturally very willing to promote the establishment of the group and provide behind-the-scenes and front-stage packaging services.

Many people say that CAA charges are expensive, which increases the production budget and profit risk in disguise, but that is because the director's position is not high enough. If you are at the level of Lehman or Spielberg, CAA is still very worry-free. , Because they know that they can't make people satisfied, but their colleagues around are eager to try to dig a corner. Who doesn't want their own agency to have a big-name director?

With them, from the props to the scenes, to the sub-director's group shooting, they are all well-staffed. Pick and choose at will. They form a rich talent pool directly with the labor union, and they don't need to spend money to support the production company.

After all, the production staff of Firefly are all the backbones, and the number is relatively small, and most of them are art, photography, and film production.

“I’m here to sign the contract today, isn’t it?” Jim smiled: “Fox will ensure that it is fair and responsible with Blue Butterfly Pictures in the release. We are responsible for contacting the theaters to provide the schedule, which has been negotiated."

"Yes." Joseph smiled and praised at this moment. "Our two families have always been close. This is a win-win situation."

"Of course. And after our internal review and reporting, News Corporation's TV, media, and radio will give us priority support for the co-production project in publicity." Jim looked at Brian, "Your CAA will also become a service platform for this project. ."

Brian responded easily, "Don't worry, I will draw up a list of production staff suitable for this theme after I go back."

Well, CAA is a typical brokerage company that eats both ends-in-house employment sharing and external agency fees.

So even if the box office profit of the project is not required, in essence, the more opportunities to provide jobs, the greater the chance of success, they will definitely be happy, and the intermediary fee Firefly still has to give, not much, 8 million.

"Happy cooperation."

"Happy cooperation."

......

When Firefly and Fox confirmed the agreement for the remake of "Planet of the Apes", they had a good night's sleep, but Lehman, who rushed to the company early in the morning, went to the Warner Pictures Building.

Under the guidance of the front desk, as soon as he walked into the production department, there was a hearty laughter behind him, "Hi, Lehman."

Kevin Tsujihara walked over and took Lehman's hand, "Long time no see, I heard that you went to Japan some time ago."

"It is for the follow-up development of "Pacific Rim"." Lehman pretended to be distressed. "That movie is not very popular in the European and American markets and can only be supported by the Asian market. So...it is of course important to please the Japanese people. , Or you will lose money."

Kevin smiled and didn't care, he was looking for a topic to break into it.

Compared with the value of "Reunion" and Marvel, whether it is "Pacific Rim" or "Godzilla", Warner does not pay attention to it. After all, its value lies there, and the industry knows that in this transaction, Firefly can’t make much money—"Pacific Rim" has a global cost of 480 million, and its expenditure alone is 200 million. If you remove the theater account, remove the regional account, and deduct the shares of other investors, from the box office, the Firefly has not only made no money. When it comes to a penny, more than 20 million are posted instead. If it is not for the Chinese region, the accounting standard after co-production is 43%, enjoy the treatment of domestic films, and the cost recovery is even less.

Moreover, the profits made by China are basically divided by China Film, Bona, and Huayi. Although the offline market and licensing market of "Pacific Rim" are also profitable, this way of repaying money by time is fundamental to Hollywood. No one praised it.

In other words, many people think that this is some sacrifice made by Firefly to expand overseas channels, but only Lehman knows that the well-formed monster universe will have a bright future.

Back to business.

Of course, what Warner wants to talk to Lehman about is "Batman 3."

Just before he went to Japan, Warner released the news of the upcoming project, which attracted the attention of many movie fans.

Even in the spring of 2011, there was no more sensational shooting news.

Nothing else, "The Dark Knight" is still at the forefront of the ratings of movie sites such as IMAD. The home entertainment market of the film has brought Warner 530 million gross so far, and it has continued to sell Batman's merchandise and clothing. .

The three words Batman are just money.

In the words of some forecasting agencies, as long as the third part can be sold, with the popularity accumulated before, it can basically be summarized into the ranks of the most powerful competitors for the annual crown of that year, and its profit is definitely higher than nine. The annual film business profits of the studios are higher.

This is basically true. After all, which studios can guarantee a profit of more than 1 billion a year and an output value of 5 billion upwards.

The one who can match this goal is not the Big Six, or Mann Media or the Lions Gate.

The so-called ace projects are supposed to be so attractive. The craziness of yielding profits is a market weapon that can easily make financial reports beautiful.

Just take a look at Paramount, who has been a leader in the Hollywood movie market in recent years. They don't rely on "Transformers" and "Special Forces" to support the big head.

Therefore, when the determined Warner broke out with unparalleled execution ability, he hoped to advance the project as soon as possible. In addition to maintaining daily contact with Mann Media, the senior management of the DC Universe Project also quickly got the Nolan Brothers.

No way, they give too much.

The share of 15 million + 20 in the world is already the top salary in the director industry. As for Lehman, it is omnichannel 10, with Firefly still the first investor.

Of course, Warner’s atmosphere is completely driven by the situation. Anyway, in this life Nolan is tied to Firefly, and the two parties raise prices each other-also because the output benefit of "The Dark Knight" is too high. There is no fear.

Let's put it this way, for the benefit of the visible, Warner cuts the meat first, which is nothing.

Anyway, in the Batman project, if Warner, which holds the copyright, works well, it will definitely make much more money than the production, and it will be a long-term, stable cash flow.It is conceivable that even if a new generation of audiences grow up in 2020, classics such as the Batman trilogy can still bring benefits to Warner.

In the meeting room.

When the shooting agreement is actually signed, not only Kevin Tsujihara, but also the high-level distribution department around him will relax.

They are extremely confident about the amount of energy that the market hype at the end of the project can generate.

Just refer to "Spider-Man 3"-the story is not strong, word-of-mouth is the most popular among the three, all in 2007 the North American film market swept 336 million, and got 60% of the total box office two weeks ago The flow effect can be imagined.

For project fans, do they particularly care about quality?No, that’s what the passers-by care about. Iron fans are all looking forward to buying tickets to watch as soon as possible after the release. The key is Batman, DC Hilltop, and Nolan is in charge of shooting. It is still the last part of the trilogy. Get up-"How to lose the flying dragon riding face" Okay, fast forward directly to the early stage of the screening. It is hard to find a ticket.