Ed and Lorraine Warren were born in the 1920s. The couple began engaging in paranormal investigation and exorcism in the 1950s.
In the 1970s, influenced by the popularity of "The Exorcist", supernatural incidents across North America began to receive frequent media attention. It was from that era that the Warrens began to become famous.
The two horror film materials this time, "The Conjuring" and "The Haunting of the Morgue," were adapted from the Warrens' personal experiences, and both stories took place in Connecticut, upstate New York.
However, the sources of copyright for the two projects are different.
After becoming famous, the Warrens accepted various interviews and authorized some writers to write books. As a result, many true and false supernatural stories appeared.
In addition, those who have experienced the supernatural events themselves will also be interviewed by the media.
Of the two projects this time, the former comes from the personal narration of the Warrens and his wife, and the latter is adapted from a novel based on interviews with the Snedeker family, who experienced the event.
After lunch, Simon brought Danny Morris to his office, and the two continued their discussion.
"As for the creation of the script, I will take the time to draw up an idea for you," Simon said as the two sat opposite each other at the desk: "The most important issue now is copyright. The Warrens should have accepted many interviews and interviews over the years. Licensing, next, I need you to investigate in detail all the external licensing status of this couple. Danny, I don’t want someone to suddenly jump out and sue us for copyright infringement and demand $100 million in compensation after the film is released.”
In the original timeline, after "The Conjuring" was released and achieved great success at the box office, the Warrens authorized an author who wrote about their paranormal investigation experiences to sue Warner for US$900 million.
There are countless similar lawsuits in Hollywood every year. Of course, $900 million is just a joke.
However, because of his greater ambitions for this series, Simon did not want to encounter these bad things that could have been avoided repeatedly.
Danny Morris is naturally aware of the frequent copyright disputes in Hollywood, but he affirmed: "Simon, there should be no problem with copyright. For the idea of "The Conjuring", we have retained the Warrens' recordings and signed a licensing agreement. "The Haunting of the Morgue" is also related to the Warrens, but it is a novel written by horror novelist Ray Caton after interviewing the Snedeker family, and we have also signed an agreement with Caton."
Simon nodded, shook his head, and said: "Actually, Danny, I think the Warrens' experience far exceeds the value of just this "The Conjuring". The materials you gave me here show that Warren The couple has been engaged in paranormal investigation for thirty years and has saved a large number of items that have been cursed or haunted by supernatural beings. Have you ever thought about turning these experiences of the couple into a long-term series?"
The story of "The Conjuring" is just a snapshot of the Warrens' long career as paranormal investigators. Danny Morris didn't think too far into the future, but when Simon said this, he suddenly understood: "This is indeed a good story. Idea, Simon, I will immediately ask someone to investigate the Warrens’ possible authorization later.”
"Actually, you still don't quite understand," Simon said with a smile on his lips: "I mean, now that we have successfully created a DC movie universe, then, based on the Warrens' thirty-year career as paranormal investigators, Using life as material, we may also be able to create an interlocking horror movie universe."
The DC movie universe is definitely one of the biggest initiatives since the birth of Hollywood.
For most Hollywood filmmakers, the only thing that can compete with the DC Cinematic Universe is probably the Marvel Cinematic Universe that is waiting to be developed by Daenerys Entertainment.
Danny Morris didn't expect that Simon would take the Warrens so seriously that he would create a dedicated movie universe.
This is the 'movie universe'.
Although it is clear that due to the market capacity limitations of horror films, this movie universe will definitely not be comparable to the DC movie universe, but if it can succeed, it will definitely become a classic business case in Hollywood.
What's more, compared to the current investment of 70 to 80 million US dollars in the DC movie universe, the biggest advantage of horror movies is their low cost, so the risks are lower.
His thoughts were whirling for a moment, and Danny Morris couldn't help but make a swallowing movement subconsciously. Realizing his situation, he laughed self-deprecatingly, but then quickly said seriously: "It seems that I will next There’s a lot to do.”
"This is just an idea of mine," Simon said, slightly cooling down Danny Morris: "The key still depends on whether these two projects can succeed. If the box office of "The Conjuring" and "The Haunting of the Morgue" If the performance is too mediocre, then the idea of a movie universe will be out of the question, so you'd better not talk to other people about it until at least two movies are released."
Danny Morris nodded again, as he would have done even if Simon hadn't reminded him.
Not only to avoid becoming a joke after failure, if the outside world learns that Daenerys Entertainment plans to create a new movie universe, it will definitely cause a lot of troubles such as copycats who are waiting for a price and want to share the pie. .
Danny Morris is already thinking quickly about how to sign an exclusive agreement with the Warrens.
Seeing that Danny Morris was deep in thought, Simon did not interrupt him for a while. He opened a document and read it for a while. When the time was almost up, he raised his head again and said: "There is also the matter of "The Detective". I think the man named Jim Carrey's actor has his own performance characteristics, and you can give each other as much space as possible during the production process. Well, by the way, how was the contract signed?"
Danny Morris temporarily retracted his thoughts when he heard Simon change the topic.
"The Conjuring" and "The Haunting of Morgue" are scheduled for next summer at the earliest, but "The Conjuring" is a scheduled movie for next Easter.
Regarding Jim Carrey, Danny Morris doesn't quite understand why Simon took a fancy to the performance of this unknown young actor.
Jim Carrey is 30 years old this year. He has been playing small roles in various movies before. The more famous one is a supporting role in the 1986 "Peggy Sue Getting Married" directed by Coppola.
Until two years ago, Jim Carrey's popularity barely reached the second tier thanks to a TV comedy "In Living Color" with relatively good ratings.
Now that Simon has appointed him to star in "Plane", Danny Morris will not be polite to this inexplicably lucky little actor, saying: "According to the original contract with Julia Roberts, there will be a total of five films. "Plane" The salary for "The Head" is US$200,000, and for the subsequent four films, the cap is up to US$5 million, and the contract period is 15 years."
If he could predict the future, Simon is sure that Jim Carrey would never sign such a contract to his death.
In the original timeline, 1994 was not only a year of great Hollywood movies, but also the most glorious year for Jim Carrey. The comedy star released three movies in one go that year, "Phantom", Not only were the three movies "Dumb and Dumber" and "Dumb and Dumber" hits at the box office, but "Dumb and Dumber" and "Dumb and Dumber" were also among the top ten in the annual box office list.
Ordinary people are always talking about which star in Hollywood has joined the 20 million salary club. What many people don’t know is that the first Hollywood star whose fixed salary alone reached 20 million US dollars without relying on profit sharing was none other than Kim. ·Kerry.
If the film he participates in continues to be a hit at the box office, the maximum salary can only be US$5 million. Although this is already the salary standard for a first-tier superstar, based on Simon's understanding of Jim Carrey, the star will definitely not be willing to accept it.
However, there is obviously no regret medicine in this world.
Of course, there is another point. Simon will also control it a little this time and will not give Jim Carrey the opportunity to make three blockbuster movies a year.
I remember Jim Carrey's three movies in 1994. The script of "Planet" was already in the hands of Daenerys Entertainment, and "The Man in Disguise" adapted from a comic work by Dark Horse Comics has also been acquired. Finally, A "Dumb and Dumber" has some troubles.
In the original version of "Dumb and Dumber," the director and screenwriter on the creative list were both the Ferrari brothers.
This is not the case.
The script for "Dumb and Dumber" was originally written by John Hughes.
However, because the script was not complete and was only similar to a story outline, and was not taken seriously by John Hughes, after New Line Cinema paid for the story, the two parties negotiated and John Hughes voluntarily gave up his signature. , the film also became the work of the Ferrari brothers who took over the task of perfecting the script.
After the success of the "Home Alone" series, John Hughes has completely given up directing work in recent years, focusing on running his own Hughes Entertainment Company as a screenwriter and producer, while also once again increasing the requirements for creating films. In terms of profit sharing, for the recent collaboration with Warner Bros. Pictures on "The Kid Next Door," Hughes directly offered a 10% increase in gross revenue sharing from all channels.
Gross income and net profit are two completely different concepts.
Take the box office as an example. The gross revenue is equivalent to the studio's share of the movie's box office. Without deducting production and publicity costs, John Hughes directly takes 10% from it.
Compared to Daenerys Entertainment, which only gets 10% of the local box office share, John Hughes's 10% this time is only equivalent to half of Daenerys Entertainment's share of the local box office, but it includes global box office, video All channels including sales, TV broadcast revenue and even movie peripheral sales.
Under such conditions, if the box office of the movie is not good enough, the studio may lose money if it is not careful. However, Hughes is guaranteed to make a profit without taking any risks.
Simon generally knows that the "Home Alone" series is basically the peak of John Hughes. After the 1990s, with the rise of blockbusters, Hughes' film style was quickly eliminated by Hollywood.
Therefore, "Home Alone 2" can be regarded as the last project between Daenerys Entertainment and John Hughes.
In the original time and space, New Line could spend a lot of money to just buy a script idea from Hughes, who was still hot after making two consecutive "Home Alone" movies, and finally succeeded in picking it up. Daenerys Entertainment obviously cannot do this now.
Moreover, Simon is now not interested in risking a creative collision with "Dumb and Dumber".
Not surprisingly, this low-brow comedy is likely to be completely rejected.
After continuing to discuss with Danny Morris for half an hour, it was basically finalized that the two projects "Phantom" and "The Man in Disguise" will be produced consecutively, and the protagonists will naturally be Jim Carrey.
"The Detective" will be produced in the second half of the year and will be scheduled for Easter next year. "The Man in Disguise" will start filming early next year and will be scheduled for the end of next year. By doing this, at least a lot of money can be saved. "Planet" has not been released, and Jim Carrey's salary for participating in "The Transformers" can still be controlled at the level of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
After Danny Morris left, the female assistant came over to remind him that next was a regular meeting of Daenerys Entertainment regarding the recent annual financial review.
The 1992 financial report will not be released until February, and this time it is only a weekly periodic report.
According to the plan, Daenerys Entertainment will start preparing for an IPO at the end of this year. As expected, it will be officially listed in the summer of 1994.
Therefore, the 1992 financial data is crucial to promoting the IPO process of Daenerys Entertainment.
In 1992, the most important business of Daenerys Entertainment was still movies.
The top ten movies in the North American box office rankings in 1992, calculated based on the deadline of December 31, 1992, the data are roughly:
No. 1: “Wonder Woman,” $371 million
No. 2: “Aladdin,” $176 million
Third place: "Jurassic Park", $163 million (currently in theaters)
Fourth place: "Lethal Weapon 3", $143 million
Fifth place: "Home Alone 2", $142 million (currently in theaters)
Sixth place: "The Ring", $131 million (currently in theaters)
No. 7: "A Time to Kill," $114 million
No. 8: "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", $113 million
No. 9: "Sisters Are Crazy", $108 million
No. 10: "Peach Deal", $93.11 million
It is not difficult to find in this list that, except for "Aladdin", "Lethal Weapon 3" and "Sisters Are Crazy", the other seven movies are related to Daenerys Entertainment.
This ratio is basically the same as last year.
However, compared with 1991, after Daenerys Entertainment merged with MCA, the distribution strength of the three film labels increased significantly in 1992, thus bringing more market share to this rapidly rising Hollywood giant.
Throughout 1992, the total box office of the North American film market reached US$5.36 billion.
Among them, there are 41 movies directly distributed by Daenerys Entertainment, calculated from the period from January 1 to December 31, 1992 (including the 1992 box office portion of the movies released in 1991, and not counting the 1992 movies). (the 1993 box office part), the total box office figure reached 2.13 billion US dollars, and the market share reached 39.7%.
If you include the US$294 million in box office revenue from the three foreign co-productions "A Time to Kill", "Peach Deal" and "The Last of the Mohicans", the proportion will further increase to 45.1%.
Other major studios' annual box office market share can exceed 20%, which is enough to open champagne and celebrate. In a fiercely competitive market like Hollywood, where seven major companies coexist and a large number of second- and third-tier film companies compete for each other, a giant suddenly appeared with a market share of nearly 40%. This is already an oligarch level that people look up to.