After Simon returns from China, the 1996 summer season in North America will also start on May 10.
Because of the Atlanta Olympics, major studios have deliberately avoided the 17-day period from July 19 to August 4 this summer. As a result, many movies have been released early or delayed.
For Daenerys Entertainment, this summer season will also be a potential watershed.
Simon wants to control Hollywood to the greatest extent. Just a packaged project cooperation plan to guide the direction of capital is obviously not enough. The most direct way is to make the capital that wants to get involved in Hollywood feel unprofitable to the greatest extent.
The method is very simple.
Hollywood's resources are limited.
Whether it’s movie schedules, theater canvases or promotional resources, etc., therefore, the more Westeros system occupies, the less it will leave for other studios.
Simon has actually been quietly executing this strategy in the past, including on films with other studios.
However, before that, Simon had been restrained in order to avoid triggering an overall backlash from other Hollywood competitors. With the completion of the annexation of Metropolis ABC Group last year, and the current situation in which most other Hollywood studios are controlled by foreign capital, Simon no longer needs to worry too much.
Therefore, this summer, Daenerys Entertainment, or the entire Westeros system, will truly be advancing on multiple fronts in Hollywood.
Especially the three labels owned by Daenerys Entertainment.
Compared with previous summer releases, which were dominated by blockbusters from Daenerys Pictures or big-budget projects in collaboration with other studios, Highgate Pictures and New World Pictures will not make too big a move in the summer release. , this time, the three brands will work together.
In addition, the actual control of Australian Capital Holdings is actually held by Simon's MGM Pictures.
Taken together, during this summer season, which lasted for nearly four months from the beginning of May to the end of August, there were a total of 14 projects related to Daenerys Entertainment, which was far more than other studios, ranging from four to five to two or three. The number of summer movies released.
Of the 14 films, nine were entirely independently produced and distributed by Daenerys Entertainment's labels, two were external cooperation projects, and three were produced by MGM.
Moreover, the nine self-owned projects this time, in terms of quantity, will be dominated by Gaomen Pictures and New World Pictures. Daenerys Pictures has only one film independently produced and distributed by Tim Bo. Dayton's blockbuster movie "Sleepy Hollow." Of course, if you include the two blockbuster movies "The Mummy" and "Mission: Impossible 2" that have cooperated with other countries, Daenerys Pictures' weight is not light at all.
MGM's three movies are centered on the 18th 007 movie "Spectre", which is also the beginning of the MGM Agent movie universe planned by Simon.
Malibu, Daenerys Studios.
May 6th.
Simon returned to Los Angeles, and his first day at work in the new week was to discuss the upcoming summer movie releases with the heads of Daenerys Entertainment’s three labels.
In chronological order, on May 10, the first project of Daenerys Entertainment's summer season will be the modern version of "Romeo" directed by Baz Luhrmann and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes With Juliet".
In the past, the North American release of "Romeo and Juliet" actually made a big mistake.
Because it is just a low-cost movie with a production cost of more than 10 million U.S. dollars, even though Baz Luhrmann's last film "Heroes" did well at the box office in North America, the producer, 20th Century Fox Pictures The film was still released in an unpopular time slot in early November, and the promotional resources and number of screens provided were not satisfactory.
Under such an unfavorable environment, this modern version of "Romeo and Juliet" still earned more than 46 million US dollars at the local box office.
Realizing the potential of the film, 20th Century Fox adjusted its strategy during the overseas distribution process. As a result, the film's overseas box office easily exceeded the 100 million yuan mark.
As for the reason.
This is Romeo and Juliet.
If the Westerner does not know this story, it is the same as the Chinese not knowing "Dream of Red Mansions".
To use a popular term in the entertainment industry later, "Romeo and Juliet" is a national-level super IP. Once this project is completed, it can directly save tens of millions of dollars in publicity and distribution costs, because there is no need to publicize and distribute it at all. Everybody knows, oh, Romeo and Juliet.
There is a popular joke that has been circulating in Hollywood.
When Leonardo DiCaprio auditioned for "Titanic," a whole building of women rushed to watch, and director James Cameron decided to cast Leonardo DiCaprio as the leading actor.
Why does this happen
Chinese movie fans probably haven’t studied it in depth.
Actually, it's because of "Romeo and Juliet." Before this project, Li Zizi's most famous role was Johnny Depp's demented brother in "Different Skies". This image is obviously unlikely to attract much attention.
In fact, it also indirectly explains the success of Baz Luhrmann's modern version of "Romeo and Juliet".
Simon certainly won't make Fox's mistake again.
May 10th may not be the most prime time of the summer season, but it is far better than the early November period in the original time and space. Moreover, based on the production cost of 15 million U.S. dollars, the announcement of "Romeo and Juliet" also directly reached 15 million US dollars, opening number of screens is 2107.
It must also be mentioned that on May 10th, the super blockbuster "The Order" starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and costing $100 million was released on the same day as Warner Bros.
From the average person's perspective, the two projects are simply incomparable.
However, Simon is more optimistic about "Romeo and Juliet" than "The Vapor".
The "Evaporation Order" in the original time and space is a standard for Schwarzenegger's personal career from prosperity to decline. Later, Schwarzenegger could only maintain his popularity with the continuous remakes and failed "Terminator" sequels, but in "The End" Outside of the "The Killer" series, Schwarzenegger has no masterpiece after "The Vaporizing Order".
A skinny camel is bigger than a horse.
In any case, in front of the behemoth "The Order of Evaporation", "Romeo and Juliet" appears to be too weak. It seems unwise to directly pit the two against each other.
But if you want to hit the summer season, this is inevitable.
Wanting a better schedule but not competing against blockbusters is a good thing that doesn't exist in the summer.
Compared with "The Mummy", "Mission: Impossible 2", "Spectre" and so on, "The Vapor" is actually the 'weakest' one, because Simon is very clear about the box office potential of this project. In the original time and space, "Evaporation Secret Order" barely exceeded 100 million, just because there were no strong competitors at the same time. This time, although it also cost 100 million, due to the ebb and flow of various projects in the same period, "Evaporation Secret Order" wants to exceed 100 million. I hope Slim.
On the contrary, "Romeo and Juliet" is very hopeful to become the first dark horse of the summer to break 100 million.
Because this romance film, which has handsome men and beautiful women and is backed by a national-level IP, happens to be facing the main consumers of summer movies, young students. Think of the girls who ran all over the building in time and space to watch Xiao Lizi’s beauty. They simply didn't run away.
After the opening "Romeo and Juliet", on May 17th, "The Mummy" will follow.
Putting this project on May 17 is also based on the premise that "The Evaporation Order" may be a soft persimmon. "The Mummy" and "The Evaporation Order" are the most direct competitors, and at the same time they will not be too crowded. Squeeze the living space of "Romeo and Juliet".
After several consecutive internal test screenings, the new version of "The Mummy" starring Val Kilmer and Rachel Weisz, at least in Simon's opinion, is no less quality than the Brendan Fraser version. Fox, which is responsible for distribution, also regards this project as As the focus of the summer season, a promotional budget of US$35 million was spent. At the same time, with the support of Daenerys Entertainment, the film opened on 2,986 screens.
Then, on May 24th, there was another movie worth talking about: "The Black Man".
That's right.
It's the "Dark Man" starring Jett Lee.
In recent years, Simon has been quietly pushing New World Pictures to introduce excellent Hong Kong films for distribution in North America. "Red Zone" is a very successful one. "Rush Hour", which was released on Valentine's Day at the beginning of the year, can be regarded as an entry for Hong Kong stars into Hollywood. peak. And this "Dark Man" was finalized before "Rush Hour" was released.
The production cost of the film is as high as 60 million Hong Kong dollars, which is definitely a super blockbuster level on the other side of the ocean, and the project planning originally planned to enter Hollywood.
Compared to Jack Cheng's funny kung fu, Simon prefers Jet Lee, probably due to sentimental reasons. Therefore, under the personal promotion of his big boss, the two parties hit it off. However, the 60 million Hong Kong dollars on the other side of the ocean is actually just over 7 million U.S. dollars when converted into U.S. dollars, which is suddenly reduced to a small cost in Hollywood.
As a co-producer, New World Pictures invested US$2 million to obtain the European and American omni-channel distribution rights of "Dark Man". This is actually because the Hong Kong side mainly wants to test the waters. After all, during the discussion of the project, Jack Cheng After trying so many times to hit Hollywood, only one "Red Zone" can succeed. Therefore, the most important thing there is is Hong Kong Island and the Southeast Asian market, which are the bulk of Hong Kong films.
Simon knew, however, that "Dark Man" meant as much to Jet Lee as "Red Zone" did to Jack Cheng.
Jack Cheng filmed "Red Zone" and came to the United States to film in order to break into the Western market. Jet Lee attracted the attention of Hollywood with his own charm.
In the original time and space, "Dark Man" successfully achieved a box office of more than 12 million U.S. dollars after its release in North America, far exceeding the production cost of 7 million U.S. dollars. Not only that, the box office is still small. This kung fu movie from Hong Kong Island has The videotape market achieved even greater success, with cumulative revenue from videotape rentals and sales exceeding $50 million.
Because of the success of "Dark Man", Jet Lee was also able to get a villain role in Mel Gibson's "Lethal Weapon 4", which allowed him to successfully enter Hollywood, and further triggered a widely circulated "wait for it" Two hours of jokes.
This time, as long as "Dark Man" can be successful, Simon also plans to make plans for Jet Lee.
In the past, Jet Lee successfully opened up the Hollywood scene, but he starred in a series of B-level movies, which were actually a bit unsatisfactory. As for the minor villain in "Lethal Weapon 4", just don't get involved this time.
In fact, I had a good opportunity recently.
"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon".
In the original time and space, the number one male lead under consideration for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was Jet Lee. Due to various reasons, he was unable to reach a cooperation and was eventually taken over by Fa Ge.
Simon doesn't plan to change this time.
Because fundamentally, "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is more of a literary martial arts film, rather than a kung fu martial arts film that truly pursues visual effects. Moreover, in the film, the male protagonist Li Mubai does not have many fighting scenes, and the story focuses more on Yu Xiulian and Yu Xiulian. Jiaolong and Two Women, according to Ang Lee, is a martial arts version of "Sense and Sensibility", with the core still being the story of two women.
So Fa Ge is just right.
Forcibly putting Jet Lee into this project may even be counterproductive. After all, in the future, when the audience looks at it, hey, who wants to see you and Yu Xiulian talking about the realm of martial arts? We have to look at kung fu.
On the other hand, Simon also instinctively hopes to introduce more outstanding Chinese actors to Hollywood.
The original version of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was given to Fa Ge out of this consideration.
As long as everything goes well, there will be three well-known Chinese actors in Hollywood in the next few years, Jack Cheng, Jet Lee and Fa Ge.
In fact, there are two Chinese directors.
Ang Lee, as well as Bai Ge Wu, who directed "Mission: Impossible 2", which will be released on May 31, immediately after "Dark Man". In fact, as long as you don't talk about filming war epics such as "Wind Talker" and "Red Cliff", Baige Wu will definitely be able to stay in Hollywood for a longer time. Of course, Simon will definitely not let Ang Lee shoot "The Incredible Hulk" again. "Pi" is so good.
The original "Mission: Impossible 2" was directed by Bai Ge Wu, and this time it is consistent with history.
May 31, Paramount’s “Mission: Impossible 2.”
On June 7, New World Pictures released its third summer project, Adam Sandler's "The Overage Transfer." This is Simon's consideration for cultivating a new generation of comedians, including Ben Stiller, who has already passed the audition to join "Scary".
On June 14, MGM’s “Spectre” opened the secret agent movie universe. There is no financial involvement from Daenerys Entertainment in this project, but that will change as the Agents movie universe begins to cross over.
June 21, "Police Empire".
The crime film, written and directed by James Mangold and starring Sylvester Stallone, was initially considered for last year's awards season. After the film was completed, there were several internal test screenings. Although the quality was pretty good, neither the senior executives of Gaomen Pictures nor the film critics who participated in the test screenings believed that the film would win Oscar favor. In addition, last year's Oscar The competition was so fierce that we simply adjusted it to this summer.
It is intended to be released as a commercial film.
Of course, I don’t actually have high expectations, so I placed it between “Spectre” on June 14 and “Sleepy Hollow” on June 28. However, the production cost of the film was only US$10 million, so even if it failed, it would not matter. What's more, with Stallone's appeal, it is a summer release after all, so with a little publicity, it can still attract a lot of attention.
June 28, "Sleepy Hollow", needless to say.
July 4th is the Independence Day holiday. This is actually a Thursday, one day ahead of the normal box office Monday. Another important project of MGM, "The Birdcage", will be released.
"The Birdcage" is a very alternative project, starring Robin Williams. The original budget was US$30 million, but the budget was slightly exceeded during the production process, reaching US$31 million. The film tells the story of a gay club.
Yes.
Gay men.
This project is very unusual in Hollywood, so when the project was initially proposed, MGM was quite concerned.
It was Simon who intervened slightly.
Because in Simon's memory, "The Birdcage" ranked seventh at the box office in 1996 in the original time and space. It only received 120 million U.S. dollars at the local box office, and it happened to be produced by MGM. Although Simon is still not too cold after reading the script and the finished film, to be honest, he prefers lesbians, and the beautiful Lily is king.
But as long as the audience likes it.
Who would have trouble with money
From May 10th to July 4th, 9 consecutive weeks, 9 movies, and the important projects of the Westeros system have basically been launched.
Then, there are five movies including "A Different Instinct", "Fargo", "The Grange", "Emma", and "Dawn of the Day" scattered throughout the subsequent summer vacation period that spans the Olympic Games. None of the five films are considered unknowns.
"A Different Instinct" starring John Travolta, produced by MGM, scheduled for July 19
"Fargo" is the new work of the Coen brothers, produced by Gomen Pictures and released on July 26.
"The Grange" and "Emma" are both movies adapted from classics. The heroines of the two movies are Kate Beckinsale and Gwyneth Paltrow respectively. They are also produced by High Gate Pictures. The schedule is They are August 2 and August 16 respectively.
It seems that they are all changes to British novels, but in fact the two projects are obviously different.
"The Grange" was just a distribution rights purchased from the UK, mainly to gain some exposure for Kate Beckinsale, who starred in "Charlie's Angels".
"Emma" is produced by Gaomen Pictures, which has a well-established reputation, with a budget of US$6 million.
It seems that "The Grange" will be released earlier, but the Olympics are not over yet on August 2, so "Emma" is more important.
The last one is "Until Dawn," a new film co-produced by Quentin Tarantino and George Clooney. It is produced by New World Pictures and will be released on August 23 at the end of the summer season.