The film that originally attracted the most attention during the Easter period was actually "Mission: Impossible."
During the few months that Simon spent with the two women on maternity leave, Canada's Seagram Group's acquisition of Paramount Communications was approved by the federal government despite opposition from many media, and the two parties officially completed the transaction in October.
Therefore, "Mission: Impossible" can be described as the first blockbuster film after Seagram Group entered Hollywood.
After accumulating blockbuster films such as "Moonlight" and "A Time to Kill", Nicolas Cage is already a new generation actor with great box office appeal. The heroine Demi Moore is not inferior in terms of popularity or celebrity status. Too much Cage.
In terms of cost, the production cost of the first "Mission: Impossible" ultimately reached US$65 million. Paramount and Daenerys generously allocated a publicity budget of US$35 million this time, making up US$100 million. With the total investment, it can be said that we are determined to win this Thanksgiving slot.
Unexpectedly, a "Lion King" turned out.
After a strong debut of US$70.31 million at the box office in its first week, "The Lion King" continued its momentum in the second week. Facing new films such as "Mission: Impossible" and "A Perfect World", it was released for the second time from November 26 to December 2. Zhou's box office dropped only 26%, and it once again took in US$52.06 million at the box office.
Within two weeks of its opening, the cumulative box office of "The Lion King" quickly reached a high of 122.37 million U.S. dollars, and it even clearly showed the potential to hit the annual championship position of the summer "Superman".
Faced with the strong performance of "The Lion King", "Mission: Impossible", which had excellent pre-release publicity and post-release reputation, ended up with a first-week box office revenue of US$46.35 million, far lower than the distribution team's initial expectation of US$60 million.
In its first week of $46.35 million, the box office data was comparable to the opening data of "Raiders of the Lost Ark" four years ago. However, with the change in Hollywood film distribution models, "Mission: Impossible" had the same opening scale. It is difficult to hit the local $200 million mark like "Raiders of the Lost Ark" did.
As for how far the final box office can reach, it still depends on the curve in the following weeks.
Of course, the first-week box office of 46.35 million US dollars is definitely not a failure. The total box office in North America is definitely over 100 million. Even if the local box office cannot allow the film company to recover the cost, the market popularity shown by the film and the data of the overseas box office at the same time According to feedback, it is not a big problem for "Mission: Impossible" to achieve profitability through theatrical distribution around the world.
Compared with the box office performance of "A Perfect World," another large-scale commercial film released during the same period, "Mission: Impossible" once again confirmed the development trend that blockbusters will become the mainstream of Hollywood studios.
"A Perfect World" directed by Clint Eastwood and starring Kevin Costner has a strong cast, and the production cost of US$30 million has reached A-level. The producer Warner Bros. Pictures also An opening of 1,964 screens has been arranged for this movie.
After its release, this crime drama about an escaped prison robber who accidentally 'kidnapped' a young boy and wandered around the world with him in the end achieved redemption, has gained a good reputation.
However, compared to the box office of "Mission: Impossible" which was US$46.35 million in its first week, "A Perfect World" only had a disappointing US$10.06 million in its first week.
With a strong creative lineup of Old Cowboy and Costner, the best Thanksgiving schedule, and nearly 2,000 opening screens, Warner originally expected this film to become another blockbuster hit in the billion-dollar club. Now, it has reached US$10.06 million in the first week. , the total North American box office of the film is difficult to exceed 30 million, and we can only look forward to the box office performance in overseas markets.
However, in the next few months, the attention of overseas film producers is destined to focus on films such as "The Lion King", "Mission: Impossible" and the new DC Cinematic Universe project "Cyborg" during the Christmas period.
Entering December, the North American film market fell into a short period of silence between the two major schedules.
From December 3rd to December 9th, "The Lion King" inevitably experienced a large box office drop. In the third week of its release, the drop reached 36%, and it collected another US$33.29 million. The cumulative box office in three weeks was 100 million. $55.66 million.
"Mission: Impossible" failed to threaten "The Lion King"'s box office championship in its first week. In the week of early December, box office data failed to escape the inevitable sharp drop during the off-season. The box office dropped by 37% in the second week after the film opened. , even more serious than "The Lion King", with its single-week box office volume also falling to less than 30 million US dollars, with only 29.34 million US dollars collected.
After two weeks of release, "Mission: Impossible" has a cumulative box office of $75.69 million.
With such a box office trend in the next week, there is definitely no problem if it exceeds 100 million. However, the total local box office data depends on the box office trend during the Christmas period.
Among other films released at the same time as the two giants "The Lion King" and "Mission: Impossible", "A Perfect World" saw a 32% box office drop in the second week, which seems to be better than both "The Lion King" and "Mission: Impossible". The box office revenue in the second week of release was only 6.86 million US dollars, basically out of the competition for the year-end schedule.
On the other hand, "Meet Me", which was released at the same time as "The Lion King", after taking in US$21.08 million at the box office in the first week, the box office dropped by 26% the next week, taking in US$15.6 million. In the third week of release, the box office dropped only 29%, continuing. Harvest $11.31 million.
In three weeks, the cumulative box office of "My Fair Daddy", which was caught between the two giants, unknowingly reached 47.99 million US dollars.
With the family-friendly atmosphere of this film, it is not a big problem to achieve a box office rebound during the Christmas period, so it is still a seed player to hit the MP box office club.
Moreover, the production cost of "My Fair Daddy" was only US$25 million, and the box office revenue of US$47.99 million in three weeks has basically allowed the producer Fox to recover all the production costs. It will be easy to realize considerable profits through the local box office in the future.
Fox is very satisfied with the box office performance of "My Fair Daddy". The media also feels that it is very good to achieve such box office results under the attack of "The Lion King" and "Mission: Impossible". Only Simon knows that due to the impact of "The Lion King" and "Mission: Impossible" Due to the impact of the two blockbusters "Mission: Impossible", the box office of "My Fair Daddy" has shrunk by half from its original domestic performance of US$200 million.
Phenomenal box office bombs like "The Lion King" have significantly increased the box office capacity for the year-end period. However, the audience base in the North American market is ultimately limited.
In the face of "The Lion King", which has a domestic box office of 300 million U.S. dollars, even "Mission: Impossible" has suffered accidental injuries, let alone family comedies like "My Girlfriend".
After all, comedy movies have elements of making fun of themselves.
When the audience has no other choice and it happens to be a holiday suitable for watching movies, it will become the priority.
However, in the face of absolute strength, comedy movies are like a clown performing a comedy facing a world-class boxing champion and KOing with one punch. This time "Slim Daddy" faces two powerful "strong men" from "The Lion King" and "Mission: Impossible".
December 10th is a new box office week.
High Gate Pictures, a subsidiary of Daenerys Entertainment, quietly launched "Schindler's List," Steven Spielberg's film about the Holocaust during World War II, with only 25 screens in the initial stage.
Despite the tense relationship with the Westeros system, major North American print media have shown a very respectful and cautious attitude towards the film, including theaters showing the film, which have issued special notices to remind viewers that this is not a film. It is a movie suitable for watching with popcorn in hand. It is hoped that the audience entering the theater will maintain a certain degree of solemnity and silence to show respect for the unbearable history.
This is the greatest political correctness.
There are certainly no objections.
Film critics who dare to criticize this movie basically have one attribute: Jews. A Jewish film critic in the New York Times publicly stated that the most correct response to the Holocaust should be to remain silent, rather than to put it on the screen for everyone to enjoy.
Perhaps the historical picture in his memory is too long and too repetitive, and Simon's attitude towards the past is somewhat numb.
Just like his deep-rooted pessimism about the future of mankind.
The media with ulterior motives really hoped that Simon would express his opinion on "Schindler's List", but it was a pity that the relevant inquiries failed to receive any reply.
As Simon Westeros becomes more and more ubiquitous, his public appearances become increasingly rare.
Because the list of the 400 richest people in the United States in September stimulated the continued rise of Westeros concept stocks, in November "Forbes" increased Simon's personal assets by US$10 billion when calculating the world's richest list.
Simon continues to purchase properties around the world, especially the 50 hectares of land surrounding the Dume Point Manor in Malibu, which is almost the same size as Malibu Daenerys Studios. Extravagant criticism.
The confrontation between Igrit and traditional paper media caused by the 58list platform has also made many industries in the Westeros system become the target of criticism by the paper media. In the end, the blame will inevitably be turned on Simon himself.
The second Victoria's Secret Show was successfully held in November. The TV ratings were on par with the first season. The rise of the Angel Legion caused many gossip tabloids to cover various scandals between the Victoria's Secret Angels and Westeros. .
Daenerys Entertainment is about to go public next year. The success of "The Lion King" has once again increased Wall Street's valuation of this entertainment giant. After Daenerys Entertainment goes public, it will once again bring benefits to Westeros. How much wealth he has has also become a hot topic in the media.
Various changes in the campaign funds of the Westeros system during the New York mayoral election also caused the media to speculate whether Simon Westeros would break with the Democratic Party. At the same time, they also called for the revision of the Federal Campaign Law to prevent capital from influencing federal elections. excessive intervention.
All kinds of things.
Because he was powerful enough, all of this actually had little impact on Simon's life.
After several months of vacation time, Simon returned to work and soon became busy non-stop.
"The key to the plot of "Suicide Squad" is how to guide a group of evil villains to complete their missions. Moreover, in this process, the villains cannot become good people just because of some small stimulation such as drinking and talking. Doing so will appear It's too old-fashioned and difficult to convince the audience logically. More importantly, it has lost the essence of the 'Suicide Squad' itself. If you want the story to be exciting, from beginning to end, they should be a group of people who do no evil and have no stance, even death. Bad guy who doesn’t even care.”
"So, Suicide Squad leader Rick Flag is the key?"
"Yes, according to the script, Rick Flag killed the criminals pursued by the special team in order to avenge the sacrifice of his teammates. Therefore, he was kicked out of the army and was recruited by Amanda Waller as the captain of the suicide squad. Very They like their teammates, who are upright enough but not pedantic, and good at coordination and teamwork. These special features made a group of unruly criminals during the mission unknowingly change from ridiculing and ignoring Rick Flag to approving and following him, and finally We completed the mission together.”
Inside the office loft on the second floor of Daenerys Studios.
Terry Semel has been here all afternoon, watching with Simon the final installment of the Batman trilogy, "The Dark Knight Rises," which is currently in its later stages, and then turned to the upcoming January next year. Filming of "Suicide Squad" begins.
In fact, it's next month.
In order to prepare for this project, many members of "Suicide Squad" have rushed to Australia in advance, and the project will still be filmed in Australia.
After listening to the storyboard presentation of "Suicide Squad" by the staff, Simon and Semel came to a rest area together and continued the conversation about the movie.
"Actually, I also studied the script carefully," Terry Semel took the coffee sent by Girl A, thanked her, and then said to Simon: "But, is it right for Val Kilmer to take on this role?" Weaker?"
Simon smiled and shook his head: "I know what you are thinking, Terry. But if Mel plays this role, do you think we can afford the salary?"
Terry Semel was also a little helpless and said: "We can always talk."
When selecting actors, Warner proposed that the role of Rick Flag, leader of the Suicide Squad, be played by Mel Gibson.
Frankly speaking, Mel Gibson is very suitable for this role in terms of personality, image and temperament. If possible, Simon would definitely welcome him to participate in this series.
The key is still the issue of remuneration.
With Mel Gibson's current salary, if the asking price is less than $10 million, there is no need to continue negotiating.
If Suicide Squad is only going to be one, maybe it could be a collaboration.
The point is this is a three-part series.
In the previous "Lethal Weapon" trilogy, starting from the second part, Mel Gibson continuously took away most of the profits of the project, while Warner Bros. just made hard money and was reduced to working for a group of main creators.
Moreover, if it is just a matter of remuneration, discuss it in advance. As long as it is not too outrageous, Simon will probably be able to accept it.
There is also the issue of project leadership.
Mel Gibson is a very strong and controlling filmmaker. If he participates in this series, he will definitely strive for control of the project, and then guide the plot to a side that is more beneficial to his character, and even become a movie. Standard 'Mel Gibson movie'.
"Suicide Squad" is an ensemble drama. The male protagonist is the team leader Rick Flag, but the villains such as Deadshot and Crocodile Man are equally important. The female characters will be more outstanding. Poison Ivy played by Nicole Kidman and Catwoman played by Valerie Golino will appear in this movie. Simon also took away the role of Harley Quinn for this reason.
Deadshot, Crocodile Man, Poison Ivy, Catwoman and the villain Enchantress all determine that the film cannot be a one-man show for any one actor. Forcing a big actor like Mel Gibson to use may eventually lead to the ending of "The Incredible Hulk" in the original time and space.
In comparison, Simon's choice of Val Kilmer was just right.
Val Kilmer, 33, rose to prominence in "Top Gun" and later appeared in films such as "The Gathering" and "The Gate." Until "Suicide Squad", the other party has two outstanding works, "Tombstone" in the Christmas period and next year's "The Wire". These are enough to ensure this man's popularity and balance with other actors in the film.