Over the three weekend days, the ratings of "Who Will Be a Millionaire" dropped somewhat, but for the complete week's pilot episode, the show's seven-day average viewership was still as high as 15.6 million, making it the highest-rated TV show in North America this summer. .
However, ABC found it difficult to accept Daenerys Pictures' insistence on a $2 million offer per issue.
After several negotiations failed, the negotiation team led by ABC President Daniel Burke simply returned to New York, seemingly intending to continue the stalemate with Daenerys Pictures.
Daenerys Pictures acted more calmly and began cooperation negotiations with several other television networks for the remaining three reality shows.
On the other hand, after the Producers Alliance issued a ban on production companies that signed contracts with the Writers Guild in advance, the WGA filed an antitrust lawsuit with the Federal Supreme Court on the following Monday in response to the Producers Alliance's move, requesting to stop the producers. The alliance is suspected of monopolistic unfair competition.
Both within the entertainment industry and the media who are watching, it is clear that the WGA's lawsuit will definitely win. But at the same time, everyone also understands that it is absolutely impossible for the Producers Alliance to fulfill its judgment honestly in the future, and those production companies that signed contracts with the WGA in advance cannot avoid the fate of being overstepped.
After more than three months of strikes, signs of instability began to appear within the WGA.
There was no income for a whole quarter, and some writers who couldn't stand it began to ask the WGA to relax the strike regulations.
On June 27, 16 writers union members jointly submitted a plan to the WGA, proposing temporary terms that writers could sign contracts with production companies during the strike but not perform them temporarily.
By being able to sign a contract with a production company, the screenwriter will be able to get part of the advance payment to make ends meet. As for temporarily not performing the contract, this is completely deceiving the public. The relevant proposals were, not surprisingly, rejected by the WGA.
However, this incident completely exposed the weak state of the WGA.
Many media have begun to predict that if this situation continues, the strike organized by the Writers Guild of America is likely to have catastrophic consequences. In the most serious case, a large number of unsustainable writers will announce their withdrawal from the union, and the WGA will face collapse.
This is not without precedent. In American history, strikes organized by the textile industry, the automobile industry, or the newspaper industry have all failed because the party being struck refused to compromise, leading to the disintegration of the union organization.
However, this has not happened in Hollywood yet.
Things have progressed to this point, and the Producers Alliance has begun to become stronger.
The new contract plan was voted down by the WGA, and the Producers Alliance took the initiative to propose that the next negotiation will be held in August. Until then, Producers Alliance representatives will have no further contact with the WGA.
At the same time, the Producers Alliance also confidently stated that major TV networks will use the successful experience of "Who Will Be a Millionaire" to develop more reality shows that do not require the participation of screenwriters to fill the upcoming autumn schedule of TV series? .
The issuance of such an announcement almost destined the 1988 strike to become the longest general strike in Hollywood history.
The WGA is in a bleak situation, but Daenerys Pictures seems to be thriving. Not only has it been exposed by the media that it is expected to earn hundreds of millions of dollars in profits from each season of "Who Will Be a Millionaire?", but it also continues to provide television networks with so-called 'reality shows' that can cost writers their jobs.
As a result, the writers who were in the most anxious state quickly pointed the finger at Daenerys Pictures.
In the last few days of June, many people holding placards to express their dissatisfaction appeared outside the headquarters of Daenerys Films, which immediately attracted media attention and reports. Dealing with this situation cautiously, the internal work of Daenerys Films has not been affected much.
The contracts of the male and female protagonists of "Batman" were finalized in the last week of June.
Adam Baldwin, who will play Bruce Wayne, has signed a 15-year five-film deal with Daenerys Pictures.
Among the most core salary terms, Adam Baldwin's first film salary is US$300,000.
This is a high number for a small actor who has only played supporting roles in some movies and TV series. However, considering the difficulty of filming "Batman", Simon generously gave this salary. Daenerys Films will also bear Adam Baldwin's physical training and other expenses for the next six months.
However, after the first film, Adam Baldwin's salary will increase by a maximum of $3 million.
To put it simply, Adam Baldwin can only get a maximum salary of $3 million for the second part of the sequel, a maximum of $6 million for the third part, a maximum of $9 million for the fourth part, and a maximum of $12 million for the fifth part.
Of course, there are no split clauses.
In this era, except for stars who unexpectedly receive tens of millions of dollars in salary through profit sharing, there are no superstars in Hollywood who can earn a basic salary of tens of millions of dollars. Therefore, neither the WMA nor Adam Baldwin himself has any opinion on this contract.
Simon knows, however, that in the next few years, as the European market and the videotape market continue to expand rapidly, the salaries of Hollywood stars will increase significantly.
Even if calculated based on the global box office performance of the first "Batman" in the original time and space of US$500 million, by then, Adam Baldwin may no longer be satisfied with the sequel's salary of only US$3 million.
However, dissatisfaction remains dissatisfaction, and Simon is not worried that Adam Baldwin will repeat himself.
Not only the 15-year contract period and the predetermined remuneration package, but also many other restrictive clauses were stipulated in the contract.
In order to avoid a genre conflict with "Batman" if other film roles Adam Baldwin takes during his contract period, any film contract Adam Baldwin takes outside of "Batman" needs to be approved by Daenerys Films.
This means that if Daenerys Films does not nod, Adam Baldwin will not be able to play any role other than Batman during the next 15 years of his long contract.
If Adam Baldwin wants to terminate his contract early, it's not impossible, but he would have to compensate Daenerys Films three times the amount of all revenue he made during the contract period and three years after the contract is terminated. This harsh and expensive break clause is enough to completely knock Adam Baldwin back to his original shape.
As for Valerie Golino, who plays Catwoman, Daenerys Pictures has signed a three-film contract with her.
Considering that the 'Black Widow' played by Scarlett Johansson in the original Marvel Cinematic Universe can receive a top salary of US$20 million second only to Robert Downey Jr., and even exceeds all other superhero actors, Dany Lise Films has also signed a rainy day clause with Valerie Golino.
Although she is the youngest winner of the Venice Film Festival, the value of European actresses in Hollywood has never been high. Good quality and low price, this is actually one of the important reasons why Simon chose her to play Catwoman.
Valerie Golino's first film salary was $200,000, which was slightly lower than Adam Baldwin. For the subsequent two film contracts, Daenerys Pictures gave an incremental base salary of US$2.5 million, with the second film receiving a maximum of US$2.5 million and the third film receiving a maximum of US$5 million.
Simon did not intend for Valerie Golino to play the lead female lead in all three episodes.
If the actress performs well enough in her first film, Simon plans to take one of the three-picture deals she has signed and make a solo Catwoman movie.
certainly.
All of these plans will depend on the market performance of the first "Batman" film.
The casting of "Batman" is a major entertainment event that the entire North American media is paying close attention to, so it is unlikely to hide the news.
Although Daenerys Films issued a gag order, the details of Adam Baldwin and Valerie Golino and their upcoming roles had already been exposed by the media before the contract was finalized due to pervasive media prying. .
Just like every Batman casting in the original time and space, when the news was confirmed, many comic book fans jumped out to express their dissatisfaction, thinking that Adam Baldwin was not their ideal choice for Batman. Daenerys Pictures in the following days I receive a lot of similar letters almost every day.
Valerie Golino did not escape similar doubts.
Daenerys Films is ignoring the controversy. Now that the news has been exposed and the contract signing has been completed, the company held a media conference to officially introduce the two protagonists to the public.
However, after the press conference, Simon sent them to Australia, where he also arranged the first phase of training for the two of them.
The reason for doing this is on the one hand to avoid being chased by the media. There is still a year and a half before the film is released, and overexposure is not a good thing. On the other hand, it is also to allow the two of them to familiarize themselves with the future shooting environment in advance.
That's right.
The first "Batman" film will be filmed in Australia.
In the comic setting, the prototype of Gotham City is more inclined to Chicago. However, the reason why the original "Batman" author created a virtual city was to express the concept that "Gotham" can become any city in the world.
Simon originally preferred filming in Chicago.
However, given The Batman's start date, that's clearly not going to work.
"Batman" is expected to start filming early next year, when Chicago is experiencing its coldest winter. Not only can the temperature easily reach minus ten or twenty degrees, but you can also be hit by a snowstorm at any time. In such a climate environment, it is impossible for the crew to start work normally.
By comparison, it happens to be summer in the Southern Hemisphere.
Simon chose between Sydney and Melbourne, the two most prosperous cities in Australia, and finally confirmed the filming location in Melbourne under Janet's influence. Janet's home is in Melbourne, and the river-crisscrossed pattern of Melbourne's urban area is somewhat similar to Gotham City in the setting.
The most important thing is that as the foundation of the Johnston family is chosen to shoot in Melbourne, the "Batman" crew can also receive maximum administrative support.
Making movies also requires connections, no one can deny this.
Simon is not so pretentious as to leave such deep resources and connections unused.
certainly.
Over the course of several months of filming, Simon will certainly come into frequent contact with everyone else in the Johnston family, which is probably what Janet wants.
Amid the turmoil and busyness, June 1988 passed quietly.
July 1st happens to be another Friday.
From June 3rd to June 30th, 28 days, "Pulp Fiction" will be released for exactly four weeks.
Following US$27.53 million in the first week and US$23.38 million in the second week, "Pulp Fiction" collected another US$17.3 million and US$15.03 million respectively in its third and fourth weeks of release. As a result, throughout June, the cumulative North American box office of "Pulp Fiction" finally reached 83.26 million US dollars, leaving less than 20 million US dollars away from breaking 100 million US dollars.
Taking into account the strong box office trend of this film, "Pulp Fiction" will successfully achieve a box office of over 100 million in the next two weeks, and complete another 'relay' with "Basic Instinct", which will be released on July 15.
In the half month since its test screening, although various major events have been happening in Hollywood, under the joint guidance of Fox and Daenerys Pictures, the controversy and discussion caused by "Basic Instinct" has continued. The two companies Various news are constantly released to maintain the media popularity of the film.
While "Pulp Fiction" was being released, Disney's "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" also opened as scheduled on June 24.
This combination of animation and live-action, which cost a huge investment of US$70 million, finally had a box office of US$21.56 million in its first week. Although compared to the previous "Crocodile Dundee 2", "Rambo 3" and "Pulp Fiction", this box office It didn't start well, but "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" has aroused unanimous praise from the media and audiences, and is expected to have a very good long-term data.
"A Fish Called Wanda", in which Sandra Bullock took a cut of her salary and participated on a profit-sharing basis, was also released on July 1. As the second film of the heroine who won the box office championship last year, due to Sandra's participation, the distributor MGM paid full attention to this film, not only investing a lot of publicity resources, but also giving 1,129 yuan. Open the screen.
In the test screenings before its release, "A Fish Named Wanda" also received widespread praise from the media. Now we only need to look forward to the film's subsequent box office performance.
In addition to all these things, "Rain Man", which Daenerys Pictures invested US$25 million in, was successfully completed at the end of June. The two male protagonists finally did not delay the filming cycle of the film until July.
However, the US$25 million filming budget for "Rain Man" was depleted after filming was completed.
In the budget of the entire project, Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise were both paid $6 million, and director Barry Levinson also took home $3 million, again because of Daenerys Films This is because we signed a directorial contract with him before "Good Morning Vietnam" was released at the end of last year.
"Good Morning Vietnam", which grossed over 100 million at the box office last year, not only made leading actor Robin Williams famous, but also successfully launched Barry Levinson into the ranks of first-line directors. If the contract is signed after "Good Morning Vietnam" is released, Daenerys Pictures is likely to have to pay a salary comparable to the two male protagonists, or offer a share clause.
The three main creators took away 15 million US dollars, the remaining 10 million US dollars, and spent more than 7 million US dollars on three months of filming.
Now, less than $3 million is left for post-production.
Fortunately, a feature film like "Rain Man" does not require too much post-production investment. The main post-production work of the film is editing and soundtrack. Therefore, the final funds, with a little lag, should be enough, and even if you overspend, it won't be too much.
However, there is another very important issue.
"Rain Man" is not a high-concept movie with a clear main line. As an anti-genre road movie with a gentle plot, if the film wants to achieve the same success as in its original time and space, editing and soundtrack are crucial. Because if you are not careful, this movie, which is composed of a lot of trivial plots, may become completely different from the original version.