In the following week, the North American media was discussing the Michael Ovitz and 'Infantry Soldiers' incident.
The embarrassed Ovitz had to quickly issue a public reply, firmly denying that he had any intention to threaten Joe Ezettehas during the dispute, saying that Ezettehas can leave CAA at any time and he will never do so. will block.
Joe Ezettehas did not buy Ovitz's account. In an interview with a reporter from the Los Angeles Times, he once again accused Ovitz of verbal violence against him and claimed that he had suffered severe psychological trauma and had completely lost his mind. Feeling safe, because Ovitz threatened to destroy his career, Ezettehas also said he had to sell the property he had just purchased with his family to avoid something bad happening.
Immediately afterwards, I don’t know whether it was Ovitz’s promotion, but many CAA clients began to publicly support Ovitz. Sean Connery, Sidney Pollack and other big names expressed their disbelief. Ovitz, who was polite and rarely gaffe-like, would say that to Joe Ezettehas, suggesting that Ezettehas might have been embellishing the situation to gain sympathy.
This possibility certainly exists.
However, Joe Ezettehas did not defend himself, cleverly continued to play the tragedy card, and suggested that the voices of many celebrities were Ovitz putting pressure on him to shut up.
The media, which does not take it too seriously to watch the excitement, continues to fan the flames.
In such excitement, on August 23, Japan's Sony Corporation suddenly interrupted the media's heated discussion on the "Infantry Soldiers" incident and issued an announcement saying that it had reached an agreement with Columbia Pictures and would acquire Columbia Pictures at a cost of US$3.4 billion in cash. business, while assuming the $1.6 billion debt of this veteran film company.
On August 25, Columbia’s board of directors voted to approve Sony’s acquisition plan.
At this point, after a year-long tug-of-war, Sony has officially acquired Columbia Pictures, one of the seven major Hollywood studios.
The deal, worth a total of US$5 billion, brought Sony Columbia Pictures assets, including two major labels, Columbia and TriStar, a huge library of more than 4,000 film and television program rights, the Loews theater chain with 820 screens, and some TV station assets.
In the late 1980s, the television field in the United States was not yet open to overseas investors. Therefore, in the announcement of the agreement, Sony also stated that it would divest Columbia Pictures' television assets after the transaction was completed.
Then, Monday, August 28th.
Sony has not yet finalized the person in charge of Columbia Pictures, but it jointly held its fourth recent press conference with Daenerys Entertainment to announce "Pink", the fourth of Daenerys Entertainment's 10-film plan.
Like "Sleeping with the Enemy", "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" and "The Fugitive", "Pink" is also a work by a new screenwriter. It is adapted from real events during the Second World War in the United States and tells the story of a washed-up baseball player. The story of a star trying to create a women's baseball team after the men have gone off to war.
This North American sports-themed movie has little international success, but it is also one of the top ten movies in Simon's memory with a box office of over 100 million.
After "Pink", at the fifth press conference on August 30, Universal Pictures and Daenerys Entertainment jointly announced the fifth of the 10-film plan, adapted from Stephen King's novel "Danger" Ten days". "Ten Days in Danger" tells the story of a crazy book fan who accidentally rescues his favorite author, discovers that the author has written a character he values to death, and then kidnaps him and imprisons him to force him to rewrite the plot.
After Stephen King became famous, his novels were adapted into movies very frequently due to his high productivity. Over the years, his works have been adapted to the big screen every year. Daenerys Entertainment owns the rights to Stephen King's "Children of the Corn," and there is also a "Pet Sematary" adapted from Stephen King's novel of the same name for the Easter schedule in the first half of the year.
However, except for "Pet Sematary", which was released on Easter this year, which took in more than 57 million US dollars at the box office, most of the other movies adapted from Stephen King's novels only made 10 to 20 million at the box office. Will the producers pay too much? If you make more money, you won’t be able to earn much.
A novel like "Ten Days in Danger" without supernatural elements was not initially favored. It wasn't until Simon took a liking to it that Universal Pictures, which had acquired the copyright in advance, worked up the energy to take it seriously.
Five consecutive projects and five press conferences were also intentional by Simon. He hopes that these 10 film projects can create an influence similar to a 'brand effect'. Judging from the recent media response, the effect has been achieved. These films will not lack the attention of the media on various platforms from casting, shooting, post-production to release. This alone is enough to offset the millions of dollars in publicity and distribution expenses.
Five projects were announced, and Hollywood stars were even more ready to take action.
Century City.
More than a week has passed, and the media's criticism, ridicule and attacks on Michael Ovitz have not stopped. Sometimes Ovitz even wonders if someone is deliberately targeting him. However, the root cause of this incident is that Ovitz was too low-key in the past. The media was full of curiosity about him but lacked understanding of him. When some relevant information came out, everyone naturally swarmed him.
Due to recent negative news, or the ban on Daenerys Entertainment and the announcement of five films in the 10-film plan, CAA has continued to lose customers recently.
After Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn, Geena Davis, who just won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress last year, was also poached by WMA. WMA also poached a man named Michael Clayton. A writer client, Ovitz remembers that this client did not have a well-known blockbuster work, but the idea of a dinosaur novel that he discussed with him a few days ago was very interesting.
But now I don't care about this.
If these two people are not too important, WMA reaching out to Tom Hanks, who has gradually become popular in the past two years, makes it difficult for Ovitz to maintain his composure.
Last year's "Future" by Tom Hanks not only exceeded 100 million at the North American box office, but also received an Oscar nomination for Best Actor. This summer's "The Lucky Star" also did very well at the local box office and is now firmly in the top tier. Goldie Hawn and Kurt Russell, those veteran A-listers who have started to decline, have to leave. If a rising star like Tom Hanks leaves, it will be a kind of damage to CAA's reputation. A very serious blow.
With the continued loss of customers, it’s hard to guarantee that other stars will have the illusion that CAA has begun to decline and is no longer worth staying.
Once a domino effect occurs, the results can be catastrophic.
Moreover, when Columbia Pictures suddenly announced on August 31 that Geena Davis, who had just quit CAA, would serve as the heroine of the 10-film plan "Pink", Michael Ovitz knew that he had to hurry up Make some kind of decision.
Friday, September 1st.
In the new week, only a low-cost B-level thriller from New Line Cinema was quietly released, indicating that this year's summer season has come to a complete end.
Judging from the existing data, this summer, the confirmed films with a box office of over 100 million include "Raiders of the Lost Ark", "Ghostbusters 2", "Honey, I Shrunk the Children", "Lethal Weapon" 2", "The Bodyguard" and "The Sixth Sense" six, of which Daenerys Entertainment accounted for two.
Taking into account that Daenerys Entertainment and Warner's "Batman" and "One Flew Over the Wings" will be released at the end of the year, as well as Universal Pictures' "Back to the Future 2", if one or two dark horses appear, the box office for the whole year will be It is still very likely that more than 10 films will exceed 100 million yuan.
Ticket prices in North America have not increased significantly in recent years. In the past few years, Hollywood only had four or five or even fewer films with a box office of over 100 million each year to the current level of 10. Hollywood's rapid rise after experiencing silence in the 1970s and 1980s can be called Unstoppable.
In my memory, in 1990, the emergence of a series of blockbusters such as "Home Alone", "Pretty Woman" and "The Last Day", as well as the further expansion of the global film market, heralded the re-emergence of Hollywood. Every year, films with a box office of over 100 million yuan will basically fill the top ten of the list.
In this time and space, later people sorted out the development trajectory of Hollywood, and it was probably as early as 1988. For the first time, Hollywood had more than 1 billion-dollar blockbuster movies in a year.
The emergence of Simon, the big butterfly, can be said to have brought Hollywood's recovery two years ahead of schedule.
Around eight o'clock in the evening.
At the Four Seasons Hotel in Beverly Hills, a cocktail party for Sony, the latecomer, to entertain Hollywood locals is underway.
Simon is accompanied by Famke Janssen, who is chatting with Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis. Goldblum and Davis are lovers, and both of them are currently at the quasi-first-line level.
"Batman" is nearing completion. As long as the box office at the end of the year reaches expectations, "Wonder Woman" will probably start the early planning, and Simon has also accelerated the process of making Famke Janssen "familiar". The other two candidates, Helena Christensen and Erica Anderson, have given up trying to compete with Famke, and Simon is no longer doing useless work.
Over the past year, Famke has played several small roles in some film and television dramas. This time Simon arranged for her to star in Robert Altman's ensemble drama "The Intersection of Life" and the company cooperated with Columbia Pictures He starred in two small roles in "Pink Alliance".
Both films will attract more attention, and Famke Janssen's body and appearance are enough to bring her to the attention of the audience.
While everyone was chatting about "Red League", Michael Ovitz appeared nearby, found Simon's figure, and walked straight over.
Those who could appear in the banquet hall tonight were all well-informed people. When they saw Ovitz walking towards Simon Westeros, they all looked over curiously, while not forgetting to whisper a few words.
When Michael Ovitz came to Simon, he didn't hide it and said straight to the point: "Simon, can we talk alone?"
Simon said cheerfully: "Okay."
Nodding to Geena Davis, Simon and Ovitz walked to a sofa in the corner of the hall and sat down together. Famke Janssen wisely did not follow them.