Chapter 1084 (1/2)
”Now I have a phone call with Cameron at least once a day, and the later stage of Titanic can basically be completed by the end of May. Simon, now the negative news of this film is constantly spreading in the media. I think the longer the delay is, the worse it will be for us. It's better to release the film on time in summer
”Even if it's summer vacation, time is too tight. In case of another accident, many plans will be disrupted. In addition, tell Jim to stay in Australia and don't come back until Titanic is finished
Malibu, daenerys studios.
It was Wednesday, January 8, 1997.
From Christmas a few days ago, under Simon's insistence, Amy Pascal, who entered the due date, began to take maternity leave for one month. In business management, it is always said that if you want to know whether a company is developing healthily, just look at whether the company can operate normally after the leader leaves for a period of time.
Simon wants to see it, too.
However, as the chairman of the board of directors, since he returned to Los Angeles, Simon could not get involved in many professional and complicated financial, personnel, legal and other affairs. As the core content field of danielis entertainment, at least in the general direction, he could still afford it.
The ongoing meeting is to discuss with the directors of the three brands and several other senior executives the production and publicity arrangements for a series of key projects in 1997, mainly the schedule.
As the three brands start to go hand in hand, many times, if Simon or Amy doesn't make the decision in person, the fight for the schedule and all kinds of discord will be inevitable. Once this kind of dispute is too fierce, internal friction will be formed, which is likely to hurt the film business.
Simon just talked to Tom Pollack, the president of Denise pictures, about Titanic, which was finally released before Christmas last year.
The news that the Titanic project was seriously out of control began to spread frequently in the second half of last year. It can be seen that Simon westero also lost his way. For this film, Tom Pollack, as the president of danielis pictures, went to Australia to follow up for more than a month, and finally finished the film before the end of 1996.
Now the schedule is a problem.
Indeed, as Pollack said, if you want to break the rumors of the outside world, it is safest to release the film in this summer according to the initially determined plan. However, not to mention whether Cameron can complete the later stage on time, even if the time is too short, there will be no other changes. It is safer to put it at the end of the year.
In the conference room.
When you hear Simon's last sentence, you finally feel that someone is still a little angry about it, saying that he won't let someone come back from Australia. Perhaps the subtext is that once the box office of this project fails completely, you won't want to go back to Hollywood in the future.
Now danielis entertainment absolutely has the power to block a director.
As for the boss, people who often contact with him can't help feeling that the young tycoon's calm and easygoing style, which seems to have never been frivolous during the Spring Festival, makes people feel close to each other. However, if you stand a little farther away, you will feel another feeling immediately.
Cruel man!
Tom Pollack saw Simon make a decision, had to say: ”at the end of the year, the Thanksgiving schedule has been determined,” bug agents ”and MGM's” super time contact ”, and” Titanic ”can only be Christmas. However, the Christmas file has ”flash 2”, the box office of the first ”flash” is average, but after the cross preheating of ”wonder woman 2”, the box office of ”flash 2” may go up to a higher level. If we want to be safe, Simon, maybe we should swap the schedule of ”beyond time contact” and ”Titanic.”
As soon as Tom Pollack's voice was over, mark Belford, vice president of global operations of danielis entertainment, reminded: ”Tom, no accident, Disney will put Terminator 3 in the Thanksgiving section in order to avoid flash 2, and maybe the star wars, which Sony invested in Paul van Hoven, is said to cost $100 million It's still unwise for Nick to be in the Thanksgiving section
Tom Pollack retorted: ”I've seen Paul van Hoven's” Star Wars ”script. It's a mediocre script. It's not likely to sell well. ”Titanic” turned to the Thanksgiving file, the theme does not conflict with ”insect agents”, the rest of the ”Terminator 3”, the volume will not be higher than ”flash 2.”
”I also think” Titanic ”is still on the Christmas file,” new world film's president, Denny Morris, interjected. ”In addition to” the entomologists ”and” beyond time and space contact ”, don't forget that there's also Adam Sandler's” wedding singer ”on my side of the Thanksgiving file, which can't be added any more.”
The president of gaomen pictures, Ella doechman, also expressed her own opinion: ”why don't we move” flash 2 ”to the Thanksgiving file like” wonder woman 2 ”, and we should be able to make Warner compromise?”
”It can't be like this,” said Nancy Brill, who had been on the sidelines. ”The entomologist team has to make sure that it runs through the two schedules. This project is the most important film in our end of the year.”
Ella doechman reacts to the words and knows that she has lost her word.Pixar's 3D animated films are not only related to the box office itself, but also related to the billion dollar level sales of peripheral products, as well as the large amount of business of Denise entertainment in family entertainment, theme park, game development and so on. Even if Titanic is completely destroyed, the schedule of the animated film ”insect agents” must be ensured.
With this in mind, Ella doichman feels more and more that a super blockbuster bomb that is expected to burn 200 million US dollars will probably end up similar to ”future water world” or ”cut throat island” two years ago.
Simon, who was sitting at the top of the table, listened to the public's comments and looked down at a list of box office week in 1997. After a moment, he interrupted the public's argument and said, ”don't quarrel. Titanic is on the Christmas file, and flash 2 is the most golden December 19. This has been confirmed. We put it on December 12 a week in advance.”
Everyone immediately looked at each other, and then looked at their boss.
Tom Pollack hesitated a little and said, ”Simon, I think maybe it's better to postpone it for a week?”
The release of ”flash 2” a week ahead of schedule is almost equivalent to lying down and letting ”flash 2” crush. Just like those movies in the past week before a Thanksgiving show ”wonder woman 2”, if the public praise doesn't reach the expectation, ”Titanic” may have a thorough break in a week.
By contrast, if the delay is a week, the momentum of flash 2 will slow down, and maybe Titanic will survive.
Simon felt people's eyes and probably understood their thoughts, which was no surprise.
If you just want ”Titanic” to survive, it's a good choice to take the initiative to avoid the Christmas where ”flash 2” is located to catch up with the end of the new year's day. However, in this way, after the new year's day week, you can directly enter the unpopular period. Once Titanic has won the popularity, the counter attack and rebound momentum will not be as good as the popular period, and the local box office will be lower One level down.
In addition, a week ahead of ”flash 2”, if it can withstand the pressure of this super blockbuster and create a miracle, and has the space to play in the hot schedule at the end of last week, Titanic is expected to create a box office miracle.
In the final analysis, the executives on the scene are thinking about how to make the performance of Titanic not too bad, while Simon is looking forward to another box office miracle.
In fact, if you don't consider other things, it's the best choice to put Titanic on Thanksgiving Day. Once the big ship breaks out, it's not impossible for the local box office to exceed 700 million. It's just that if you do that, other movies won't survive.
After all, it's still because the plate is so big, one goes and the other goes.
On balance, December 12 is undoubtedly the most suitable schedule.
In addition to Simon's confidence in Titanic, flash 2 will not be as terrible as most people think.
According to the original agreement, Warner completely retains the copyright of the two superheroes, and denies danielis entertainment from participating in the investment. The condition is that the big three and the big cross movies can freely use the images of ”steel bone” and ”flash”, while ”steel bone” and ”flash” can only ”fight alone” unless danielis entertainment agrees.
The popularity of fighting alone, after all, can not be such as ”wonder woman 2” three heroes cross assembly.
”It's settled,” Simon said, ”Titanic will be released on December 12. Next, eh, ”Crouching Tiger, hidden dragon”, Ella, your plan is to participate in the Cannes Film Festival. This one is cancelled. The positioning of ”Crouching Tiger, hidden dragon” should not be a literary film. Whether you can win the award or not, it is not good for the distribution of this film. However, the film could premiere in Cannes. In addition, the schedule is a little bit later. The box office momentum of various blockbusters is still in mid July, and it will be in late July. ”
Ella doechman thought about it a little, but she didn't object. She just said, ”Simon, we'll give up this year's Oscar to the British patient, and we can fight for it next year?”
Simon's expression is a little bit dull. He can't say in advance that crouching tiger, hidden dragon and Titanic are the focus of this year's awards. For those executives who don't have Simon's advantage as a prophet, in terms of appearance, if these two films don't completely fail, they will succeed. How can they think of Oscar?
After a moment's consideration, Simon said, ”you are following up on several projects we invested in Europe last year. The British film” the six heroes of the light pig ”, and two Italian films,” the pianist at sea ”by Tony Torre and” the beautiful life ”by Roberto benini should all have the potential to make award-winning films.”
Ella doechman nodded and shook her head: ”but it's not mainstream, and the box office volume will not be too high. Boss, I want to do” Shakespeare's love story ”. This project has been pressed for two years. Now it's started, and it can be put at the end of the year.”
Not to mention ”the pianist at sea” and ”the beautiful life”, the former ”six heroes of the light pig” cost only 2 million pounds, and the global box office exceeded 250 million US dollars, which is not high?
But you can't be a god stick.Simon could only hold back and turn to Shakespeare's love story, which was once a controversial Oscar best picture in history.
Shakespeare's love story is a well-known play that has been popular in Hollywood for a long time. The idea of the story was born in the late 1980s. In the past, Julia Roberts, as a popular elder sister in Hollywood in the 1990s, personally worked for the project. For various reasons, she failed to shoot it. After ten years, she was finally produced by Miramax.
And then it was a big success.
Of course, the quality of this film is excellent, but in 1998, it beat the more excellent films such as Saving Private Ryan, thin red line and beautiful life to the top of the Oscars, which made it look a little ugly and gave birth to one of Hollywood's most famous film queens.
Danielis entertainment won the script a few years ago, and Simon has been waiting for the right time. At this time, when Ella doechman looks at herself expectantly, Simon is also helpless. Starting from ”a room with a view” in those years, Ella doechman has always been fond of films with classical literary themes. Naturally, Shakespeare's love story has become a good one.