Christina Aguilera obediently followed Simon's instructions, kicked off her flat shoes and climbed up to the desk. She changed a few positions as if searching, and finally lay down facing Simon, with her upper body slightly raised, her arms raised, and her hands supporting each other. Looking over, a pair of calves behind him were raised up, and a pair of small feet covered with white thin socks were dangling. There was a hint of enchantment in the innocence, like a little wild cat.
Seeing Simon looking over with satisfaction, the little goblin blinked seductively: "Simon, do you want me to take off my clothes?"
Simon glanced at the little girl on the table, who was only about 1.5 meters tall but had an excellent figure. She was wearing a pink T-shirt on her upper body, which now revealed a small waist, and tight washed jeans underneath. A pair of small white socks gave her a loli-next-door feel. She smiled and said, "No, be good, or I'll kick you out."
Seeing that the man finished speaking, Christina started to look through the documents in front of her again. She stuck out her tongue, looked around, took out a pencil from the pen holder next to her, then tentatively extended her little paw towards the man's hand, and easily got a page of A4 paper. , just lying on the table and writing and drawing.
After a while, when Simon finished marking a document, Christina accurately seized the gap and spoke again: "Simon, will "High School Musical" be a big hit? Can it sell 100 million at the box office?"
Simon changed a draft of the plan for the upcoming acquisition of Blockbuster and said casually: "It depends on whether the audience likes you or not."
Christina tried her best to sound coquettish: "I definitely like it. Simon likes me. How could they not like me? By the way, Simon, the three songs you gave me, two of them that have been released are very popular. Simon, you must Do you know?"
Simon nodded: "You did a great job."
After Britney's account was deleted, Simon came up with the idea of making Christina into a combination of Britney, Christina and Avril in his memory, so he threw out three famous songs of the three singers, and Britney "Baby One More Time", which was actually originally given to Britney last year, but was transferred to Christina after that mess, and then there is "Genie In A Bottle" that originally belonged to Christina, plus Avril Lavigne's rock song style of "Girlfriend".
Two of the three songs have been released, the first being "Genie In A Bottle" at the beginning of the year, which made Christina famous and earned her the nickname "Genie in the Bottle".
Then there is "Baby One More Time" some time ago. The campus elements of this song fit in with "High School Musical", so it can also be regarded as a pre-promotional single for "High School Musical". Finally, "Girlfriend" will be released in the second half of the year. The rock girl's style is more outgoing. This song can expand Christina's image of a good girl formed by her previous singles and movies.
As for next year's single, Simon doesn't care anymore.
The girl was given a set of golden keys at the beginning. If the subsequent development is not good, she can only blame herself.
Seeing that Simon's attention was once again devoted to a document in front of her, Christina obediently closed her mouth again.
From an ignorant little girl who was taken everywhere by her mother to participate in singing competitions in search of opportunities to now only one step away from success, Christina knew very well that everything she had was given by the man in front of her, and this was her God.
After obediently staying with Simon like this, Christina didn't mention it again until after get off work, to test whether Simon had time tonight.
Simon has been recharging his energy recently. A week has passed since last time and it is still going on. He feels a little addicted. Of course he has no time. However, in the face of the little goblin's ardent expectations, he mentioned again that tonight " There is a party after the premiere of "Rush Hour 2". If Nizi is interested, you can come and play.
Christina happily agreed.
Last Friday, May 15th, Daenerys Entertainment's first major film of this summer season, "L.A. Confidential," started filming. This week, "Rush Hour 2" followed closely, and it became more and more like beating yourself up. Feel.
Speaking of which, the biggest difference between this summer's 10 featured films and previous years is that they are all released by Daenerys Entertainment's three labels. One of the collaborative films, "Saving Private Ryan," is inevitably different from previous years. There are several blockbuster collaborative projects that other studios are responsible for distribution, and this time the leadership is entirely on the side of Daenerys Entertainment.
This is actually a reflection of Daenerys becoming more and more powerful.
The foundation has been completely stabilized, and Simon no longer needs to proactively cooperate and share profits to relieve potential pressure from other studios.
After returning home from get off work, Simon had dinner with the woman and the children, and then waited until the premiere of "Rush Hour 2" which started at 6 p.m. was almost over before going out again and rushing to Beverly where the after-party for the premiere was planned. Hilton Hotel.
This time, it’s not just to join in the fun, it’s business.
Last Saturday, after "Hero" premiered in Cannes, it was determined that there was no chance of winning the award. Zhang Guoshi left France early and did not return to China. Instead, he came to North America, in the name of studying and inspecting, to make contributions to the "Chu and Han" trilogy. Prepare.
Now that I’m in Los Angeles, I definitely want to visit the pier.
Simon will definitely let go of the film and television entertainment industry in China, but he will not declare his attitude in a big way. After all, many people are already tied to the chariot of the Westeros system. If he openly gives up his hand here, it will inevitably lead to more losses. Many people are in an embarrassing situation.
So I just do it without saying it.
The same considerations were taken into arranging this amateur party time for the meeting with Zhang Guoshi.
Although he let go, Simon generally knew that because the Jinshu Department gave up its leadership and gave up the series to China Film as a facade project, many variables have emerged. It is not impossible that the project will eventually be aborted.
Because it's too big.
The plan is to invest 500 million yuan and shoot the trilogy continuously. If Jinshu does it and messes up, he will only lose money. On the China Film Group side, if something goes wrong, it may affect the official reputation of a series of people in charge, so there is no room for error. The problem is, how can an investment field like movies, which is almost gambling, be foolproof
On the other hand, if it is filmed well, it will definitely be a very dazzling political achievement, and there is no room for people who are interested in not trying to play a role in it.
This resulted in a rather tangled attitude on the part of China Film.
Can we shoot one first
Or, can we reduce costs and only make two films
Furthermore, if Daenerys and Jinshu jointly invest 50%, they will take away all the overseas copyrights. Isn’t that too much? If the "Chu and Han" trilogy can have the performance of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" in the future, overseas talents will It should be the big one, and the division of interests still needs to be considered.
Barabara.
Simon doesn't care.
In fact, although it is a brand new project that is completely different from the original time and space, Jinshu's meticulous early work, whether it is the script or various details in the plan, can ensure that this is an epic blockbuster series, not only involving It has a very grand history of the Chu-Han conflict, and also has martial arts elements that are very popular at home and abroad at the moment, and both commercial and artistic qualities are guaranteed.
What's more, the planned cost of 500 million yuan is only 60 million US dollars.
For Simon, not much.
While the kung fu craze continues, as long as the three blockbusters are shot seriously and reach a quality similar to "Heroes", they will definitely make a lot of money globally.
Beverly Hills, in the banquet hall of the Hilton Hotel.
When Zhang Guoshi faced Simon, who easily captured Laura Harring, the heroine of "Rush Hour 2", while holding Christina Aguilera in his arms, he was inevitably envious in his heart. On the surface, he had to pretend to be serious, let alone Someone obviously didn't pay much attention to "Chu and Han" and expressed dissatisfaction. What he mentioned in his words was that he hoped Simon could take back the dominance of the "Chu and Han" trilogy.
Simon is no stranger to Chinese-style entertainment, but he just said that he has made a promise and cannot change it rashly.
Unless China Film voluntarily withdraws.
Zhang Guoshi was helpless and asked if Simon could have his name on the trilogy, whether it was an executive producer from the West or a producer from the East, or even a special thank you.
Simon didn't agree either.
Now, in the films produced directly by his own company, even if Simon himself proposes ideas or scripts, he no longer takes his name and pursues a state of invisibility. In China, there will be no such limelight.
It was obviously impossible for Zhang Guoshi to understand Simon's letting go gesture. After some discussion, he felt that not only did this young super tycoon seem to have lost interest in "Chu and Han" for some reason, but he also inevitably gave up.
Everyone can see the potential in this series.
After this "Hero", if the "Chu and Han" trilogy can be done well again, Zhang Guoshi will really be able to reach the level of a national master in advance, which will be enough to leave a mark in the history of Chinese films.
However, from filming to now, Zhang Guoshi understands that such a huge investment film project, if many disputes are not sorted out at the beginning, it may become a disaster in the future if it is really promoted. In the history of film, there are too many cases where projects have failed miserably due to various complications during the production stage. If you don’t want to lose your reputation, it’s best to avoid them.
Doesn’t China Film also want other directors to get involved
Then let them all go out.
Anyway, after "Hero", Zhang Guoshi believes that he will no longer be short of funds. You know, although it has not yet been released in China and the United States, after the premiere in Cannes, the feedback from both the media and the audience was quite positive.
Even worse, in the West, with last year's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" as a reference, Zhang Guoshi believes that recovering the cost of US$30 million is not a big problem. In China, with the popularity of the project that has continued to ferment from the beginning to now, it is not a problem to make 200 million yuan.
Since Simon showed little interest in the "Chu and Han" trilogy, Zhang Guoshi simply turned to "Hero" and mentioned that Jinshu was negotiating with major domestic theaters to increase the share, hoping to increase the domestic average share of 35%. Speaking of more than 40%, **** has also noticed this matter and has begun to participate in coordination. Things will soon take shape.
Speaking of this, Simon also remembered something and asked: "The media feedback in Cannes, has the domestic side started promoting it?"
Zhang Guoshi listened to Simon's question, paused for a moment, and then said: "Shan Lin and I have discussed that it is unlikely that "Hero" will win an award this time. Therefore, although there is promotion, the scale will not be large."
Simon shook his head directly: "Spread out the publicity as soon as possible, mainly the comments from Western mainstream media. Oh, of course they are positive comments. We must first finalize the reputation. By the way, we must also explain clearly to the public that "Heroes" will not win awards. It’s not because it’s not good enough, but the three major film festivals all favor art films, and “Heroes” focuses on commercial films. We need to do these two things as quickly as possible.”
"Heroes" once had a very good reputation overseas, both from professional media and ordinary audiences. The Rotten Tomatoes freshness score is still as high as 94% even many years later, and the popcorn index of the audience score has also reached 87%, so it can be seen that popularity overseas.
The global box office of 170 million U.S. dollars is not much worse than the 210 million U.S. dollars of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon."
In comparison, domestic public opinion trends are simply hard to describe.
It was not until many years later, after experiencing one low limit after another, that many people realized how excellent and peak the "Hero" that was biased by public opinion was when looking back.
Zhang Guoshi didn't understand why Simon suddenly said this, but since it was Simon who said it, of course he would implement it as soon as possible.
After all, he is the big boss.
After chatting for a while, Jack Cheng, Chris Tucker and others came over to say hello, and Simon also ended the discussion with Zhang Guoshi.
The next day is May 22nd.
Friday.
At the same time as the large-scale production began, the reputation of "Rush Hour 2" was simultaneously lifted. Compared with the better reputation of the first part, even though it was quietly operated in private, film critics from all walks of life only gave this sequel a score of 6.2 points, barely Passed.
Fried rice, lack of innovation.
And so on.
This is actually why the film premiered on Thursday instead of Wednesday, which was last week's "L.A. Confidential."
The premiere still has to be held. This movie is more important than "L.A. Confidential". However, in order to avoid mediocre media reputation affecting the box office, of course, the sooner the rating ban is lifted, the better. The situation may be different one day later.
On the other hand, the box office week from March 15th to March 21st also ended successfully.
"L.A. Confidential", rated as Brian De Palma's best film of the past ten years, lived up to expectations, grossing US$38.76 million in the first seven days, easily winning the box office championship of the past week, with an average of nearly US$13,000 in the first week. , the results are quite outstanding.
Referring to past memories, Simon's initial domestic box office expectations for "L.A. Confidential" were between 50 million and 100 million U.S. dollars. In the first week, the revenue reached 38.76 million U.S. dollars. With the reputation of this film as a classic, even if it is followed by With the impact of "Rush Hour 2", the box office next week will not be too bad. The total local box office is expected to approach the 100 million threshold, or even exceed the 100 million mark.
Let’s talk about the new box office week starting on May 22.
In addition to "Rush Hour 2", which opened on a large scale on 3,413 screens, there were two other films released simultaneously, namely Warner Bros.'s US$50 million crime thriller "The Perfect Murder" and Fox's US$40 million black comedy. "Casino Scenery Painting".
In addition, due to Simon's insistence on cost control and giving each of the two protagonists a 10% share of the global box office gross profit, the production budget of "Rush Hour 2" was finally well controlled at US$55 million.
The average cost of the three films is close to 50 million, which is almost equivalent to three blockbusters.
This is considered the first climax of the summer season.
In fact, it is also to rush to the beach in advance to avoid "Jurassic Park 3" on June 5, including Daenerys Entertainment's own "Rush Hour 2".