Chapter 284 (1/2)
Beverly Hills.
Simon is having lunch with Joe Ross, President of fox pictures, in a restaurant near Fox Studios.
It's Friday, August 11.
Denise entertainment signed a settlement agreement with WGA yesterday, and Simon invited Joe Ross to discuss the first of the 10 foreign film plans today.
Simon has been interested in more than one project. The reason why he started from fox is because of Murdoch. These days, Rupert Murdoch called Simon more than once in person, talking about the 10 films. Even when talking to Janet, the woman mentioned that Murdoch had said something to her old man.
Two years ago, fox worked with Simon on three films, butterfly effect, death and instinct, all of which were successful.
In addition, ”Butterfly Effect” and ”death is coming” also developed sequels last year, but because the success of the first song is due to the external factors of the public's curiosity about Simon, the box office of the second two series was far lower than that of the first one last year.
”Butterfly Effect 2” only took back more than 56 million US dollars at the box office, and ”death comes 2” only took more than 38 million US dollars at the box office. In fact, such achievements are very profitable. However, fox has become cautious in developing the third film because of the deep decline compared with the first one.
This year, without the sequels of these two ace horror films, fox's performance immediately fell.
So far, the box office of fox's ”boss on holiday” in July is only more than 22 million, without any splash. Last Friday's release of James Cameron's new work ”the abyss” is a big hole. The budget of the film finally reached a staggering $69.5 million due to Cameron's repeated overspending.
Hollywood movies usually take an integer budget, such as 10 million and 20 million. Of course, the actual situation is not so coincident. Most of them are just an overall estimate.
Fox didn't round it up to $70 million on the abyss as usual, because studio executives didn't dare to do it again.
After all, although there are many Hollywood movies with a budget of US $50 million to US $60 million in recent years, the only one with a production cost of US $70 million is Who Framed Roger the rabbit. Even for this movie, Disney often pretends that the budget is not that high, but it is actually $45 million.
If you can burn money for a blockbuster like who framed roger rabbit, the result will be good. However, compared with the high production cost, ”abyss” is really a box office dumbbell.
According to the statistics released this morning, the box office of the first seven days of ”abyss” was only $17.53 million. In contrast, the box office of ”the sixth sense of the supernatural” in the sixth week is still as high as US $20.37 million, ranking the top of the box office list.
According to the comprehensive media evaluation and audience feedback, fox's North American box office estimate for ”abyss” is only $50 million, and this project is almost doomed to a loss. However, it is still Fox's best box office result of seven films released so far this year. For other films, the highest box office was last month's ”boss on holiday” which had $22 million so far. The other six films did not break the box office threshold of $20 million.
In fact, Murdoch has always been less enthusiastic about the film business. He prefers newspapers and television. However, since we have bought fox pictures, we can't be so lukewarm. Therefore, we are eager to get a share of the 10 foreign film cooperation plans of danielis entertainment.
Since he has decided to run Australian capital as his backing, Simon naturally has no reason to refuse Murdoch's request. Moreover, News Corporation's huge global media network is of great benefit to Simon's personal business expansion in the world.
The Murdoch family is good, but not bad.
”Sleeping with the enemy”? Well I remember the story of the wife who couldn't stand her husband's abuse and feigned death. ”In the dining room, Joe rose opened Simon's script folder and said,” Simon, this story seems to have no selling point. It can only be made into a low-cost thriller. I think the death mark is better. Have you seen it? ”
Sleeping with the enemy is actually a movie starring Julia Roberts in the original time and space. It tells the story of a wife trapped by a mentally disordered husband who pretends to drown because she can't bear to be tortured.
The story as a whole seems to have no bright spot, but it is a work that Simon remembers that the box office in North America exceeded 100 million.
Simon has just seen the film.
The success of sleeping with the enemy is not only due to Julia Roberts' participation in the film, but also to the tension of the audience's heart from the beginning to the end.
Therefore, compared with the script that really can't see too many highlights, the rhythm control, suspense setting, atmosphere building and theme music and other details of the film in the production process are very important.
At noon, Simon didn't have much free time to argue with Joe rose. He put down the tableware and looked up and said, ”Joe, I'm not interested in death mark. If you like it, you can focus on this project yourself. Let's talk about sleeping with the enemy.”Joe Ross laughed awkwardly and said, ”so, Simon, what's next?”
Simon simply said, ”I've had people evaluate it according to my vision, and the budget for this project is about $15 million. Now start the preparation. If everything goes well, it will be launched in October and released next summer. You can start looking for the right director and producer this afternoon, and I'll get people to contact the actors
Joe Ross thought about it and said, ”it's a movie with a woman in charge. Simon, who are you going to make the heroine?”
”I saw a preview review on Hollywood Reporter. You're going to release a new film in October called Beck brothers?”
Joe Roth knew Fox's films like the back of his hand and blurted out: ”Michelle Pfeiffer?”
Beck brothers is a musical and dance film co starred by the Briggs brothers and Michelle Pfeiffer. It has also been translated into a love affair. You can tell by the name that it is a very artistic film, and the story is really artistic. It's warm and evocative. It even has the feeling of an old Hong Kong film such as in the mood for love.
Simon nodded and said, ”Michelle's acting skills have become more and more proficient in recent years. She is sure to support this film. In addition, if you can, have someone send me a copy. I want to see her performance in this film in advance. The film review said that Michelle's performance this time is enough to get the Oscar nomination, if it is true, it will be more helpful for our film. ”
”The beauty of the wind and the moon” is in the process of shooting. Although it can be finished before October, Simon doesn't plan to let Julia continue to play ”sleeping with the enemy”. Cinderella in the romantic love movie jumps directly to the poor wife who is surrounded by her husband. The image contrast is a little big. Simon is not sure whether the audience can accept it.
Michelle Pfeiffer has just turned 30 this year, and her acting skills are beginning to reach their peak. If she can win the Oscar nomination with Beck brothers next year, her fame will be even higher, and her role in sleeping with the enemy is just right.
If someone else asks for a copy, even if he won't refuse, at least he has to pinch it. However, he readily agreed: ”I'll have the copy sent to Denise entertainment headquarters in the afternoon.”
Simon nodded with satisfaction and said, ”one more thing, about James Cameron, I heard that he has finished the script of Terminator 2. Fox can buy the copyright of terminator and shoot the film, which can be used as the second project of danielis entertainment and fox.”
When Joe Ross heard this, his face became bitter and he said, ”Simon, because of the abyss, even if I'm willing to continue working with James, the board of directors of the company won't approve it.”
”I've just said that this is the second project that danielis entertainment is working with Fox,” Simon said, adding, ”besides, you just need to take the copyright of terminator and Cameron's script. We don't have to let him be the director.”
Joe rose immediately understood, but he was a little confused.