The time has entered March, and the 61st Academy Awards ceremony is getting closer and closer. With the increasing influence of Hollywood movies around the world, the Oscars have also attracted more people's attention.
Although this year's Oscar awards are destined to have little to do with Eric, no one can ignore this eighteen-year-old boy who has risen for less than half a year.
Among several movies related to him, "Return to Seventeen" and "Home Alone" have entered the 15th week of release since November 18 last year. "The Head of the House" has a strong momentum, but after four months of screenings, the box office has reached 107 million, becoming the sixth film in 1988 to break the 100 million box office.
If you don't compare it with "Home Alone", this statistic is pretty impressive. So far, the box office potential of "Returning to Seventeen" has been completely exhausted. It can only earn two to three hundred thousand box office on a screen of less than three hundred yuan a week, and it may drop at any time.
"Home Alone", which was released at the same time as "Return to Seventeen", has a box office of nearly 240 million, and "Home Alone" is still able to harvest about 5 million box office every week on more than 1,200 screens in North America.
The domestic box office of Hollywood movies in this era, 200 million US dollars is a super big watershed, only George Lucas's "Star Wars" series can easily reach, even Spielberg's "Raiders of the Lost Ark" series does not have the confidence .
And the domestic box office of 300 million US dollars can only be a legend. The last time and the only time this legend was realized was Spielberg's "Alien et" in 1982. "Home Alone" has the potential to touch the legendary threshold again.
Under such circumstances, Columbia, which has started acquisition negotiations with Sony, no longer considers the question of how much share it can get because of the gambling contract, but is thinking about how to send "Home Alone" to the North American box office. billion dollar mark. Everyone knows that once the box office of "Home Alone" exceeds 300 million, it will be the beginning of another round of skyrocketing Columbia stock prices.
"What? Let me be the award presenter for Best Supporting Actress?" Eric looked in surprise at Amy Pascal who came to visit suddenly: "Can Columbia decide on this matter?"
"We have already communicated with Alan Carr, the producer of this year's Oscars ceremony. With your current influence, you are fully qualified. Eric, as long as you nod, you will receive an invitation soon."
Eric was a little hesitant. His exposure rate was already high enough, so his private life was harassed by reporters and paparazzi every day. But he can also understand Columbia's intentions, whether it's "Home Alone", which is still in theaters, or "Dark Wars" in the summer, so that he can show his face at an awards ceremony with 40 to 50 million viewers It's all very beneficial.
Although since Brant Cohen resigned and started acquisition negotiations with Sony, Columbia has made a 180-degree turn in its attitude towards Eric, actively promoting "Home Alone".
But by then, "Home Alone" had already missed out on the most actionable Golden Globes, and Oscar nominations had been announced. "Home Alone" only got a very weak best soundtrack nomination. Everyone knew that this was a consolation nomination given by the Academy in order to attract the public's attention and because of the outstanding box office results of "Home Alone".
If Columbia has been active in public relations from the beginning, "Home Alone" can get a few more nominations, and maybe even win a little gold medal in the end.
But it is too late to say these things now, not to mention that it is less than two weeks before the Oscar judges vote, and there is not much point in public relations. With only the soundtrack of "Home Alone", if it can beat "Rain Man", "The Fog", "Dangerous Liaisons" and other excellent films to win the Golden Award, it will test the IQ of the audience.
In the final analysis, "Home Alone" is just a comedy for young children without any artistic connotation.
After thinking about it for a while, Eric nodded and agreed.
Although Columbia did this for their own consideration, Eric can also benefit a lot from it. As long as he cooperates with Columbia as much as possible, there is great hope that "Home Alone" will exceed 300 million US dollars at the box office. Once this goal is achieved, Eric's share will reach 120 million US dollars.
Amy also conveyed to Eric the promise of Columbia's high-level executives. After "Home Alone" is released, Columbia will pay Eric in full within one month. This can alleviate Eric's economic situation to the greatest extent. You know, Eric borrowed another 5,000 yuan from the bank not long ago for the smooth filming of "Scent of a Woman" and "Small Island", as well as the construction of the Malibu mansion. Millions of dollars. He now has a total debt of 100 million US dollars, and he is undoubtedly the most indebted individual in Hollywood.
"Since you agreed, I will notify Alan Carr to send you an invitation letter as soon as possible." Amy took a sip of coffee with satisfaction and asked again: "Eric, I heard that you and Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks negotiations are at an impasse, do you need Colombia to come forward?"
Eric shook his head and refused. This kind of stalemate was something he expected, and he was sure that this kind of stalemate would not last more than a month.
Because during Easter, Richard Gere gave up the leading role in "The Wind and Moon" and participated in the action drama "Dragon Killing" in United Artists. He has no memory of this movie in his mind. I deliberately asked some people, and the news I got was that even within United Artists, the most optimistic box office expectation for this movie was only around 30 million US dollars.
With the example of Richard Gere, even if Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks are Hollywood A-list superstars, it is impossible to do the same stupid thing of refusing to participate in Eric's new film.
The more top superstars, the more cautious they are when choosing movies. If they accidentally step on a bad movie, the damage to their reputation will be immeasurable.
Al Pacino four years ago because Warner invested 30 million US dollars in the box office disastrously, and under the pressure of huge public opinion, he had to stop acting for four years. You know, before that, Al was nominated for five Oscars Winner, the undoubted Hollywood A-class superstar.
The films that Eric participated in have experienced three consecutive great successes, and are undoubtedly the most guaranteed box office and word-of-mouth in Hollywood. What's more, after reading the script, Cruise and Hanks also unanimously recognized the box office prospects of "Dark War".
The reason why the two of them allowed CAA's agent to continue the stalemate with Firefly was not only to save face for Michael Ovitz, the 'most powerful man in Hollywood', but also to obtain higher salary and share.
Eric believes that once CAA deliberately causes the negotiation to break down, the two will definitely come forward to stop it immediately. From the script discussion that day, Eric knew that the two had made up their minds to star in this movie, otherwise they would not have discussed the script with themselves for four hours.
"No need, Amy, within a month, caa will let go," Eric didn't want to owe Colombia a favor: "I can just use this time to complete the preparations for the film. Compared with the first two The production cycle of the film is less than one month, and "Dark War" has plenty of time, and there are still more than four months before its release in July."