Thanksgiving this year is November 28th.
As "Scream 3" ends its third week of screenings, on November 15th, the week before Thanksgiving, the first heavyweight film to be launched in North American theaters is "The Last of Us" produced by Warner Bros. Pictures Boy Scouts".
Directed by Tony Scott and starring Bruce Willis, this action comedy tells the story of a hapless private eye who gets involved in a football gambling case.
Bruce Willis's summer production of "Condor" with a budget of US$65 million failed miserably at the box office. The current "The Last Boy Scout" is similar to "Lethal Weapon", a black and white two-male brother movie model, with a budget of It also reaches the mid-to-upper level of US$30 million, so it is crucial for Willis to maintain his status.
However, after "The Last Boy Scout" opened on 1,823 screens, the media's film reviews were unsatisfactory, with an overall score of only 4.6, not even a passing grade.
From November 15th to November 21st, it basically occupies a week's blank time. "The Last Boy Scout"'s cumulative box office in the first seven days was only 10.72 million US dollars.
In the original timeline, after Bruce Willis became famous with the "Die Hard" series, he suffered a series of bad luck, starring in a series of movies that failed at the box office, and his career gradually fell to its lowest point.
The turning point of things came in 1994, when "Pulp Fiction" came out, and Bruce Willis relied on the role of the unlucky boxer to once again squeeze into the ranks of films with box office sales exceeding 100 million.
After "Pulp Fiction", Bruce Willis' acting career seemed to be re-boosted. In the following years, he starred in blockbusters such as "The Sixth Sense" and "Armageddon" and returned to the ranks of first-line stars.
Simon has already filmed "Pulp Fiction" and "The Sixth Sense" in advance. This time, I wonder if there will be any projects coming out to save Willis.
Speaking of which, the couple of Bruce Willis and Demi Moore have completely different box office situations with the two summer movies "The Last Condor" and "A Few Good Men", coupled with the popularity of "The Last Boy Scout" It failed at the box office, and the celebrity status was completely reversed.
Of course, many things next are uncertain.
After fulfilling the two film contracts she signed with Daenerys Entertainment, she gave up the film "Peach Deal" which was also expected to be a box office hit due to salary issues, and also rejected the invitation to be the spokesperson of Van Cleef & Arpels. Demi Moore is completely different from Daenerys Entertainment has cut ties.
There has always been a surplus of A-list female stars in Hollywood compared to male stars of the same stature. The two parties parted ways. Simon will definitely not give the actress many resources. It is difficult to say whether Demi Moore will go her way. The old path of online decline to the end.
On November 22nd, the Thanksgiving holiday officially arrives.
In addition to three other independent films that have very small-scale openings, there are two heavyweight new films this week. Paramount Pictures' film "The Addams Family" adapted from comics and TV series has an opening screen size of 2,411, Dan "Toy Story", which Nelis Entertainment has been preparing for a long time, has a screen size of 2,686.
The "Addams Family" comic strip has been serialized in the "New York Times" since 1932. It has been popular since it was made into a TV series in the 1960s, so it has a very deep foundation of popularity.
Although the reputation of the film in the media can only be regarded as barely passing, due to the widespread popularity of this IP, many people have chosen to buy tickets to watch the movie.
In comparison, the disadvantages of "Toy Story" are somewhat obvious.
The first big-screen 3D animated film, this gimmick may attract many people. However, in the traditional concept of most people, animated movies are for children after all.
Disney's traditional 2D animated movies are positioned in this way.
After Daenerys Entertainment's internal executives watched "Toy Story," most people gave the 3D animated film a very positive evaluation. However, they were concerned about Simon's promotion of "Toy Story" as a traditional blockbuster movie. Fa is very disapproving.
The opening scale of 2,686 screens is regarded as a waste.
Traditional 2D animated movies generally follow a long-term screening strategy and are aimed at children and derived family groups. The usual opening screen size is around 1,000.
As "Toy Story" started filming, things developed obviously beyond the expectations of Hollywood as a whole.
The first is word-of-mouth from film critics.
Compared to "The Addams Family," which barely passed, "Toy Story" received overwhelmingly positive reviews. None of the dozens of mainstream media counted by Daenerys Entertainment's distribution department gave it a negative review. In other words, this 3D animated film, which was very unusual in this era, almost achieved a perfect score of 10 points.
"The Hollywood Reporter" commented without hesitation that "Toy Story" is a "visually stunning and creative epoch-making masterpiece."
Even as the scope of film review media expands, although some different voices will inevitably appear, it is conceivable that the comprehensive media score of "Toy Story" is destined to remain above 9.5 points.
Even "Batman Begins" two years ago has never received such one-sided media praise.
Unlike the original "Toy Story" which was only produced by Pixar and is not Disney's 'own son' after all, the current "Toy Story" is completely a work of Daenerys Entertainment.
Therefore, in terms of marketing efforts and opening scale, the new version of "Toy Story" must exceed the original version.
Coupled with the phenomenal media reputation and driven by curiosity, audiences of all ages bought tickets one after another. This also allowed "Toy Story" to quickly break through the restriction that animated movies are only for children.
In just three days since its opening, "Toy Story" easily earned a box office of US$31.06 million on 2,686 screens, successfully achieving a box office average of over 10,000 US dollars.
This time, the three-day opening weekend has exceeded 10,000, which is obviously very different from the previous Halloween "Scream 3", which had more than 10,000 in the first three days.
"Scream 3" was able to exceed 10,000 in the first three days of its opening, mainly due to the accumulation of popularity of the first two films and the continued viewing inertia of the audience. The film's box office dropped by more than 50% the next week.
Now, "Toy Story" has grossed US$31.06 million at the box office in the first three days of its first weekend. Relying on the film's almost perfect reviews and rising popularity, this 3D animated film will definitely not have "Scream" the week after its release. 3》Such a drop.
With the entire Hollywood paying close attention, the seven days from November 22nd to November 28th flew by.
On the second day of Thanksgiving, the first-week box office results for "Toy Story" were officially released. With a box office figure of US$46.73 million, it easily topped the box office in a single week.
In comparison, the equally popular "The Addams Family" only had a box office of $31.17 million in its first seven days.
Of course, compared to the production cost of US$30 million, "The Addams Family" still appeared to be very successful with a box office of US$31.17 million in its first week.
The third-placed Bruce Willis action comedy "The Last Boy Scout" suffered a box office drop of 37% in the second week, taking in only $6.75 million, under the impact of two strong new films, "Toy Story" and "The Addams Family."
According to this box office curve, the total North American box office of "The Last Boy Scout" is likely to stop at less than 25 million U.S. dollars. It will not even reach the production budget of 30 million U.S. dollars, and its defeat is certain.
On November 29, three important new films were released in North American theaters again.
Daenerys Entertainment has acquired the crime thriller "Cape Fear" from Universal Pictures, last year's "Home Alone" star Macaulay Culkin's new film "Little Miss" starring Macaulay Culkin and MGM's new 007 series film "007: 007" GoldenEye".
"Cape Fear" is directed by Martin Scorsese and stars Robert De Niro as the male lead.
In my memory, "Cape Fear" was also a movie that gained both reputation and box office. Simon once heard about this project and had the idea of snatching it from Universal. He only gave up because the plan to acquire MCA was completed.
"Baby Lover" was invested and produced by Columbia Pictures. In addition to Macaulay Culkin, the film also stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Dan Aykroyd. The budget cost reached US$30 million, of which Macaulay Culkin alone took away $5 million.
Speaking of which, even though he signed a perfect contract in advance, Macaulay Culkin's salary for "Home Alone 2", which will start filming later this year, is also US$5 million. This makes the 11-year-old actor He has become one of the highest paid child stars in Hollywood.
With two films making approximately $10 million, some things are inevitable.
For example, Macaulay Culkin’s weird parents. In order to prevent the couple’s various twists and turns from affecting “Home Alone 2”, Daenerys Entertainment even sent a lawyer’s letter to the two of them to warn the couple. Don't put too much negativity into the media.
As for the person involved, this is destined to be a tragedy.
Even the parents don't care, no one can be the savior. Perhaps, the person who wants to save will be regarded as an enemy by the profit-seeking couple.
Simon personally attended the Los Angeles premiere of "GoldenEye" on the Wednesday before filming began.
The Johnston family bought a stake in MGM and became the largest shareholder holding 30% of the old film company's shares. This incident certainly caused a lot of splash at the beginning.
Many people know that the Johnston family's investment in MGM is actually equivalent to Simon Westeros taking control of the company.
This year, many facts have proved this.
However, before the transaction, MGM was already an asset of Australian capital, and the investigation that someone in Washington tried to provoke was suppressed under the operation of the Westeros system. Many of MGM's creditors were also happy to hear this. , and even secretly added fuel to the flames.
Letting Simon Westero control this company will definitely bring a lot of benefits to MGM, and the interests of all creditors can also be protected to the greatest extent.
As long as it does not harm its own interests, or even benefits its own interests, capital does not care about monopoly.
The other major Hollywood studios that are most likely to raise objections were originally not very optimistic about Simon taking over the mess of MGM. In addition, the other major studios have formed close ties with Daenerys Entertainment, even if they have some dissatisfaction. Paramount also reached a settlement during the merger of Daenerys Entertainment and MCA.
Therefore, MGM almost naturally fell into Simon's control.
In the past year, in addition to the summer blockbuster "A Few Good Men," MGM has also reached a number of cooperation with Daenerys Entertainment in accordance with the original plan for IP image licensing and classic film video release.
In addition, with the support of Daenerys Entertainment, MGM re-signed an agreement with Turner Broadcasting Company, which had originally taken a large portion of the company's film and television broadcast rights.
The method used by Turner Broadcasting Company to take away the TV broadcast rights of a large number of MGM's classic films was originally controversial. After negotiations between the two parties, although the broadcast rights were not taken back, the original authorization period will still be fulfilled until 2003, but Turner Broadcasters also increased the prices they paid and relaxed the terms under which MGM could simultaneously sell broadcast rights to other networks.
This also means that TV stations owned by Daenerys Entertainment can also play MGM films in the future.
All in all, in just this year, the entire Hollywood can feel signs of improvement in MGM's business conditions.
Whether it is "Cape Fear" created by Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro, Macaulay Culkin's "Little Darlings" or "007: GoldenEye" which was born four years in advance, none of them can cover up " The light of Toy Story.
As the Thanksgiving schedule continues, more information is being revealed.
Not only did it gross $46.73 million at the box office in the first week, but according to the Los Angeles Times, with the screening of "Toy Story", the peripheral toys of this 3D animated film also sold out at a rapid rate.
"Toy Story" is just the name of this 3D animated film, and you can see how valuable the development surrounding the film is.
Moreover, after watching the movie, the audience found that retail stores such as Toys R Us had already put many toys related to "Toy Story" on the shelves in advance. Americans have always been very willing to spend money on movie peripherals. Similarly, when it comes to children, He is also very willing to spend money.
Therefore, in just one week, according to rough statistics, the toy sales of "Toy Story" reached 230 million US dollars.
The best initial expectations of various retailers who originally completed the sales of US$200 million ahead of schedule also meant that these toys could be sold within a month. However, in less than a week, retailers had to start restocking their stocks.
Brand partners such as McDonald's who signed an agreement of intent in advance also responded quickly to the popularity of "Toy Story" and launched corresponding peripheral products.
Taking into account that there will be an even more popular Christmas season, the industry predicts that in the next two months, the peripheral sales of "Toy Story" will steadily exceed 1 billion US dollars.
Based on the calculation that Daenerys Entertainment can obtain about 15% of the net profit ratio from the sales of peripheral products, USD 1 billion in peripheral sales is expected to bring USD 150 million in net income to Daenerys Entertainment.
Obviously, this is just the beginning.
According to the data in Simon's memory, the average sales of peripheral products for each of the two "Toy Story" films was US$4.5 billion.
When the media paid attention to the amazing profits brought by "Toy Story", their attention inevitably fell on Pixar Studio.
Of course, the media has paid attention to this animation studio before. Pixar, which won the Oscar for Best Short Film for "Tin Soldiers", is not unknown.
However, most people initially felt that it was very unwise for Simon Westeros to continue throwing money at an emerging animation genre that had no proven future.
Now, surely no one would have such thoughts.
With the success of "Toy Story," Business Week directly increased the valuation of Daenerys Entertainment by $5 billion, which includes the value of Pixar itself and the value of 3D animated movies to Daenerys Entertainment's consumer products division. and theme park business.
In addition, "Business Weekly" also extended the topic to the strong synergy between various business departments within the integrated media group.
The success of "Toy Story" has driven the performance growth of Daenerys Entertainment's other major business departments, which is undoubtedly the most vivid manifestation of this synergy effect.
"Business Weekly" predicts that as the various business units of Daenerys Entertainment demonstrate increasingly strong synergies, the horizontal integration of the U.S. media industry will further accelerate.