Bob White was not stunned by Simon's words, and his tone was a little more sour: "The problem is, Simon, most of your so-called 'tent poles' in recent years have come from Daenerys Entertainment. That’s unfair, isn’t it?”
"You are wrong, Bob. Compared with other fields, the competition in Hollywood is the fairest. As long as you can make a good enough movie, the audience will buy it. Daenerys Entertainment has only done better in recent years. That’s it, we’re not stopping other studios from making great films, that’s someone else’s problem.”
"Okay," Bob White said without any intention of continuing to argue or beating around the bush, "Simon, I came to Los Angeles this time because I hope Warner Bros. can develop more DC series in addition to the existing ones. Superhero movies.”
Simon calmed down his expression: "If I remember correctly, Bob, Terry should be in charge of Warner's film business."
"Yes, but it is obvious that Terry is not doing his job in this regard. At least in terms of the development of superhero movies, he has not unleashed the potential of the DC brand at all."
"So, what I want to know is..." Simon looked at Bob White: "Does Jack know about this?"
Bob White paused and said, "I haven't told him yet."
Simon raised his glass directly to White and said: "In that case, let's have a better time tonight. Moreover, I can make my attitude clear, I don't agree. If you plan to push forward, of course I can't stop it, but I will change the existing Development plans for DC Cinematic Universe projects.”
After saying this, Simon ignored Bob White and turned directly away.
When asked about Jack Welch, Simon just wanted to confirm whether this matter tonight came from Welch's instruction. However, Simon's tough attitude towards the DC movie universe will not change at all. Unknowingly, Simon has regarded Hollywood as his own territory. In order to avoid the proliferation of comic book movies too early and to maintain the diversity of Hollywood, Simon has been suppressing even his own Marvel. Of course, he will not allow DC to mess around.
If the conflict intensifies, even in the DC movie universe, Simon can stop it at will.
Just after they separated from Bob White, Jonathan Friedman came over and congratulated him again. Jonathan talked about another thing: "Simon, Daenerys Entertainment has recently approved two comet-hitting movies. When do you plan to start preparations for the movies, "Heaven and Earth" and "The End of the World"?"
"The End of the World" was an idea that came to Robert Poole, the screenwriter of "The Fright Zone", the blockbuster infectious disease film that Simon gave to MGM at that time. After the success of "The Fright Zone", Poole also became popular and became famous. The script of "The Greatest Catastrophe" was successfully picked up by Daenerys Entertainment.
"Heaven and Earth" was Simon's idea inspired by "The End of the World". Historically, the two films competed in the same year, which was very lively. The original version of "Crash" had been dropped by Butterfly, but Simon picked it up again and gave it to the original screenwriter Michael Tolkien to write.
The two projects have recently been added to Daenerys Entertainment's project list. Although preparations have not officially begun, the two super blockbusters focusing on special effects have quickly attracted the attention of major Hollywood agencies and stars of all sizes.
no way.
In today's Hollywood, films produced by Daenerys Entertainment are the easiest for actors to become famous. At the same time, if they want to stabilize their status and not be overtaken by latecomers, even big names must try their best to fight for these opportunities.
Jonathan Friedman was apparently snooping around for WMA stars at this time.
Of course, Simon will not hide anything about Jonathan, saying: "For the time being, it is just a project, but next year's schedule is already full. "Collision" will be placed in 1998, and "The End of the World", I hope Michael Bay As a director, this will have to wait until he completes "Jurassic Park 3", which will be released in 1999."
Hearing this, Jonathan nodded, basically as expected, so he did not rush to recommend candidates, but added: "Jin has finished filming the "Cable TV Repairman", and Daenerys Entertainment has not released any movies yet. News about a project, Simon, I can only ask you?”
"Cable TV Repairman" is a comedy tailor-made for Jim Carrey by Ben Stiller and Judd Apatow, members of the bad boy gang that Simon has been quietly supporting as the behind-the-scenes team.
Historically, Jim Carrey received Hollywood's first basic salary of US$20 million with this movie, starting the 20 million era.
Because of the original contract and Simon's suppression of Jim Carrey, of course there was no $20 million this time. Moreover, including this movie, it was also deliberately arranged by Simon. The original "Cable TV Repairman" in the original time and space had the worst box office performance since Jim Carrey became famous. It cost Sony nearly 50 million US dollars in budget at the time, and the global The box office barely exceeded 100 million.
This was Simon's deliberate suppression of Jim Carrey, and by the way, he asked Bad Boy to help him train.
At this time, listening to Jonathan's obviously pleading tone, Simon did not insist and said: "I will take the time to have someone send him the script."
Jim Carrey originally signed a 5-film contract with Daenerys Entertainment. After the two films "Phantom", "The Man in Disguise" and "The Cable Fixer" which have been filmed but have not been released yet, he is the only one left. The last one.
In fact, the script has already been prepared.
"Truman".
This is also a script that has been circulated in Hollywood for a long time and has not been swatted away by Simon's big butterfly. The screenwriter of the story came up with the idea in the 1980s, and it was only noticed by Hollywood in 1991. The script went through many times but failed to be successfully put into production. It fell into the hands of Daenerys Entertainment and was quietly taken down by Simon.
If Jim Carrey hadn't tried to break the contract and made trouble with Daenerys Entertainment, Simon might have taken it out long ago and even pushed him at the Oscars.
Speaking of which, there are actually quite a few scripts that have been quietly suppressed by Simon in recent years.
Just like this year-end schedule in 1996, the top-grossing film should have been "Mr. Sugar" starring Tom Cruise. Cruise has been reduced to the second or third tier due to the constant pressure from Daenerys Entertainment. "Mr. Sugar" Although the script of "The Movie" was not scrapped, it was sealed by Simon to make way for other films.
Seeing Simon relent, Jonathan was relieved.
In fact, I can understand Simon’s approach.
At the beginning, Daenerys Entertainment signed multiple long-term contracts in succession, including a series of key DC movie universe actor contracts. If Jim Carrey, who tried to break the contract, was not taught a lesson, other actors would definitely start to make trouble. It is very likely that it will not end, and it is even hard to say whether the DC Cinematic Universe can achieve the glory of last year's Superman War.
Jim Carrey took the initiative to surrender and switched to WMA. With Jonathan's advice, he got rid of the situation of being hidden. However, the bad feeling among Daenerys Entertainment has already formed. If not, with the box office momentum the comedy star had shown in his first two films, his current achievements would definitely be more than that.
Fortunately, there is finally only one last film left.
Jonathan can imagine that after the final film is completed, there will never be any intersection between the two parties. However, Daenerys Entertainment, which is at its peak, obviously does not care too much about the intersection.
Even times have changed.
Today's Hollywood is obviously an era of super blockbuster movies, and is no longer the era when big directors and stars were praised by stars from major studios. Just like the DC movie universe, there are no big directors and stars. It can create box office miracles, and even bring out a new batch of great directors and stars in recent years.
Jonathan just asked about two films about comets hitting the earth, and some big names under WMA also took the initiative to ask. Otherwise, if Daenerys Entertainment gives these opportunities to newcomers, many big names whose positions have been in jeopardy in recent years may really be shot dead on the beach.
After all, a certain young man who emerged ten years ago has completely changed the landscape of Hollywood.
On the second day of the premiere, the reputation of "Wonder Woman 2" was immediately lifted. The comprehensive score from various media reached 8.7 points, which is close to a classic.
Moreover, the reputation of this latest DC masterpiece is no longer even relevant. When major theaters put up the last poster of the three superheroes including Wonder Woman, The Flash, and Cyborg on the second day of the premiere, people were already worried. The expectations of a large number of fans who had not previously known that The Flash would participate in the film have reached a new level.
Immediately afterwards, on November 22, after the popular midnight screening, the much-anticipated "Wonder Woman 2" was officially launched on a large scale on 4,017 screens in North America.
At the same time, the first week of the Thanksgiving season from November 15th to November 21st has also come to an end.
In fact, after the three-day box office results for the weekend from November 15th to November 17th were released, the two producers of "Space Jam" and "Star Trek 8" already felt bad. For a whole week, due to November 18th After the TV broadcast of the fifth Victoria's Secret Show and the subsequent two consecutive episodes of "American Idol" on Tuesday and Thursday with an average audience of more than 30 million, the final box office results of the second season of "American Idol" were released. The producers were completely heartbroken.
The total box office for the first seven days of the Thanksgiving period was US$95.46 million, of which US$79.23 million was accounted for in the three weekend days, while the box office on the four-day weekdays was only US$16.22 million, accounting for only a pitiful 17% of the weekly box office, compared with normal Under normal circumstances, this ratio is often around 30%.
In other words, this week's three popular dramas are equivalent to more than 12 million US dollars in box office receipts in North American theaters.
It’s just that the films produced by Daenerys Entertainment in recent years have increasingly left other studios unable to fight back. Now even Daenerys Entertainment’s TV shows are competing with everyone for market share. It’s really exciting. Cry without tears.
In the end, in the first week of the Thanksgiving season, the box office champion was not the US$80 million live-action animation movie "Space Jam" starring Bugs Bunny and Jordan, but "Star Trek Episode 8," the sequel to Paramount's classic long-running science fiction series. 》.
In its first week of release, "Star Trek Episode 8" earned $34.67 million in its first seven days.
This result is not a failure, but it is significantly lower than Paramount's first-week box office expectations of $40 million.
Moreover, the $5 million forecast gap is exactly the same as the box office share eaten up by several popular TV series. Without "Wonder Woman 2", which opened with US$34.67 million, "Star Trek 8" is expected to hit the local box office of US$80 million to US$100 million. The production cost of the film is US$45 million, and the production cost can be recovered just by relying on local distribution.
Now, "Wonder Woman 2" is so powerful that it was even axed by a TV show produced by Daenerys Entertainment in its first week. The possibility of a domestic box office of 70 million is extremely slim, so we can only look forward to overseas. However, the popularity of the "Star Trek" series overseas is far less than that of the mainland. It is lucky to get half the box office in the country.
After calculation, the Star Trek series should have been a sure profit for Paramount. For this sequel, even if it does not lose money through all channels, it will definitely become the one with the worst commercial performance in recent years.
However, "Star Trek 8" is actually quite lucky.
"Space Jam," which ranked second on the box office list, was the real failure.
Warner imitated the model of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" and spent US$80 million to produce this combination of live-action and animation film. It also invited the familiar Bugs Bunny and Michael Jordan. As a result, the film's reputation immediately hit the street after it was released. The average media rating was only 4.3, not even a passing grade, far from the level of praise that "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" received back then.
Even though the North American market is very mature, there is actually no shortage of bad movies selling well.
It just depends on the timing.
In the past, "Space Jam", despite the lack of strong opponents, earned more than 90 million U.S. dollars at the domestic box office and 230 million worldwide, which was considered a blockbuster.
This time, just talking about the first week of production, it will not only compete with "Star Trek 8", but also last week's Barbra Streisand's "Two-Way Mirror" and "Annabelle" which has still been released in the Halloween schedule. , the ending is conceivable.
In the first seven days, relying on 2,650 opening screens, the box office revenue of "Slam Dunk" was only US$25.14 million, and the average box office did not even reach the box office level of US$10,000.
It started with US$25.14 million, and next week is "Wonder Woman 2", which is enough to easily halve the box office figures of films in the same period. Warners can't even imagine what this US$80 million blockbuster will face next.
In addition to the two new films, "Annabelle", which successfully exceeded 100 million last week, suffered a box office decline of 43% this week due to the impact of two new films, but still earned a box office of 15.56 million U.S. dollars, with a total box office of 100 million in four weeks of release. $24.76 million.
With a total investment of only US$30 million in production and promotion, this new film from the Conjuring Cinematic Universe is firmly established in Diaoyutai.
The fourth place is Barbra Streisand's "Two-Way Mirror". The box office dropped 29% in the next week, taking in US$11.4 million. The cumulative box office in two weeks is US$27.49. Through subsequent releases, it is expected to reach the expected domestic 40 million. , which can be regarded as the best result of this project produced by Sony.
The fifth place is "Boogie Nights", which is still a film produced by Daenerys Entertainment.
Compared with the US$11.4 million of "Two-Way Mirror" in fourth place, the box office of "Boogie Nights" in its fifth week of release dropped directly to US$4.31 million. It is conceivable that the box office situation of other old films in the same period was even more dismal, including "Boogie Nights" ”, apart from the top four, the last 9 films among the 13 films included in the box office statistics report this week only received a total box office of less than 9 million US dollars.
However, all these movies, no matter whether they are good or bad, have been reduced to nothing in the face of the smashing "Wonder Woman 2".