I’m in Hollywood

Chapter 181: All kinds of thoughts

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After the sad funeral, life continues. Shelby's son Jackson Jr. grows up day by day under the love of everyone, and the pregnant Annel expresses to Shelby's mother Maureen that she hopes that after the birth of her child, Both men and women are called 'Shelby', in memory of the resolute but unlucky little woman who passed away, and Maureen agreed with tears.

Another year of Easter, in the vibrant suburbs in spring, at a joyful picnic, An Nai, who had a big belly, suddenly felt severe abdominal pain. Everyone hurriedly helped An Nai onto the off-road vehicle, and the off-road vehicle passed by. The crowd, passing through the market, crossing the bridge, amidst the melodious sound of the harmonica, the picture freezes on a river shaded by green trees.

The subtitles slowly rise...

"Tomorrow-is-another-day," Elizabeth Murdoch, sitting next to Julia in the back row, couldn't help but say the closing words in "Gone with the Wind", although the life experiences of several women in "Steel Magnolia" are far from It is far inferior to Scarlett Scarlett's life-stirring, joyful and ups and downs in "Gone With the Wind" for decades. Even the women in "Steel Magnolias" have never had a violent emotional outburst, and the strongest emotions are contained in the overflow of silence. In the tears, but the emotions contained in these plain and trivial things are no less indifferent than the vicissitudes of life experienced by Scarlett Scarlett in the magnificent and chaotic background. The jeep that is gradually going away is a symbol of hope, the hope of the future.

The lights came on, and without anyone taking the lead, everyone in the projection room clapped spontaneously.

"Julia, this movie is really great. I think Shelby's character is even more plump and brilliant than Vivienne in "Pretty Woman." Elizabeth clapped her hands and leaned into Julia's ear. Side said sincerely.

"Thank you, Miss..." Julia patted her palms lightly, and looked at the beautiful girl beside her again in the light.

Only then did Elizabeth remember that she hadn't introduced herself until now, and quickly stretched out a small hand: "Sorry, Julia, my name is Elizabeth Murdoch, but you can call me Liz."

"Hello, Liz," Julia politely shook hands with the other party without much change in expression. Obviously, Julia didn't know what the surname Murdoch meant.

Elizabeth didn't mind either, and continued to whisper: "Julia, why did you say Eric Williams was an asshole just now?"

"Ah! I... what I said just now was not aimed at Mr. A... Williams, it was just a coincidence. Mr. Williams is a very good person. Without him, I would still be an unknown little actor." Zhu Liya tried her best to keep herself calm, but the flickering eyes betrayed the girl deeply.

There was a faint playful smile on the corner of Elizabeth's mouth, and she didn't continue to ask this embarrassing topic for the girl: "Julia, can you tell me about Eric Williams, I plan to use his The reason for the success of the film is the subject of my graduation thesis."

"Liz, maybe you should ask him about this kind of thing yourself. I don't know much about it." Although Julia didn't realize the girl's family background from the girl's surname, she understood it from the other person's few words. Not too familiar with Eric, coupled with Elizabeth's familiar and cheerful personality, Julia gradually let go of her guard against Elizabeth.

"It's okay, just tell me what you know..." Elizabeth sensed Julia's subtle change in her emotions, so she started to make persistent efforts and asked about topics she was interested in.

At the same time, the executives of the seven major film companies after watching "Steel Magnolia" also have their own concerns.

Although Michael Eisner expressed his appreciation to Eric immediately after the movie was broadcast, it was more of a polite way of saying it, but he actually felt a little disapproving in his heart.

"Steel Magnolia" is really too ordinary. Although there are many bright spots, there are almost no climaxes and ups and downs in the plot, which does not meet his taste at all. As the former right-hand man of Barry Diller who put forward the theory of "high-concept movies", Michael Eisner saw the rise of Paramount under the guidance of this theory step by step under the hands of Barry Diller. Naturally, he became a loyal supporter of the "high-concept film" theory. The reason why Disney rose rapidly under the control of Michael Eisner has a lot to do with this set of film theories he insisted on.

However, "Steel Magnolia" has nothing to do with high-concept movies. If you compare it with the type of article, the subject matter of high-concept movies is like an interesting novel, while "Steel Magnolia" is a timeless prose. Director Herbert Ross, who has more than 20 years of experience in film production, is undoubtedly a master of 'prose', but this subject is also destined to not have a big market.

Although not optimistic, this does not hinder Michael Eisner's determination to win the distribution rights of this film, otherwise, he would not come here in person today. Because he valued one thing: Eric Williams is optimistic about this movie, and Eric's amazing performance in his previous movies is enough for this reason.

Paramount President Nader Thane, who was sitting on the other side of Eric, had a similar evaluation of the movie to Michael Eisner, but during the break after the movie was finished, the old guy kept stalking Eric. In other words, I hope to hear from Eric the specific box office expectations for this movie, so that Paramount can make a more accurate share quotation.

After five years of Barry Diller's departure, Paramount's performance this year has begun to decline significantly. Although "Raiders of the Lost Ark" won a box office of 200 million in North America and over 400 million in the global box office, but because Lucas Due to the strength of the industry and Steven Spielberg, Paramount's profit share from it is not even as good as the bonus Columbia got from "Home Alone" after being cheated by the gambling contract. Therefore, Paramount attaches great importance to Eric's two films. If Frank Mancuso, the current CEO of Paramount, hadn't been able to spare time, he must be present today, not the second-in-command Nader Thane.

Although I am not optimistic about "Steel Magnolias", this is Eric Williams' favorite movie after all. Among the films that Eric is currently involved in, none of the films has a box office of less than 100 million US dollars.

After watching the movie, Nader Thann, based on his professional experience, combined the box office appeal and schedule issues of Julia, Sally Field, and Shirley MacLean, and quickly estimated the movie. With a box office of 30-50 million US dollars, although Julia has now accumulated a strong box office appeal worldwide with "Pretty Woman", Nader Thane has not much overseas box office for this film Looking forward to it, this movie has too much Native American flavor, and it would be a small miracle for the global box office to get 30 million.

If it is as I estimated, the film will only have a profit of about 10 million US dollars after excluding the cost of production and distribution, which is completely insignificant compared with the profits of Eric's other films.

Nader Thane believed that Eric would not go to great lengths just for the mere profit of 10 million US dollars. But no matter how Nader Thane inquired about Eric, the young man in front of him would give a plausible panacea answer, as if you judged it yourself.

In fact, the reason why Eric did not disclose his judgment was mainly out of caution. Although he was very optimistic about this movie, Eric was not 100% sure how much box office he could get. He estimated in his heart that the box office in North America was about 100 million US dollars. After all, in his previous life, this movie had a box office of more than 80 million US dollars, and that was before Julia filmed "The Wind and Moon". Now, no matter what, the girl can pull 20 million US dollars. box office gains.

But this estimate must not be stated clearly. Once it is stated, if the box office in the future cannot meet expectations like in the previous life, then Eric will ruin his own reputation. If you don’t say anything, there’s nothing wrong with it. Even if this movie doesn’t become a big hit like in the previous life, it won’t have much to do with Eric. After all, Firefly is just an investor. Eric can’t do anything other than stuff a Julia into it. None of them interfered.

Amy Pascal, who is separated from Eric by a position, can be said to be the one who likes this movie the most among the seven people present. Amy Pascal is a typical feminist, so she likes female-themed movies very much. In her previous life, she supported a series of female films, the most famous of which is the "Charlie's Angels" series. Coupled with the sensibility of the woman's character, she is completely attracted by the joys and sorrows of several women in the movie, and even has the urge to take a vacation immediately and live a peaceful and trivial life in a small southern town.

But Amy Pascal also knows that he and Fox’s representative Karta Hunter are destined to just go through the motions today. Fox already owns the distribution rights of Eric’s two films at the end of the year. In consideration of marketing resources, Firefly will definitely They will no longer give Fox movies, and Columbia is about to sign the final contract with the Japanese. It is difficult to predict the Japanese business strategy in the future. In order to avoid risks, Firefly will definitely not let Columbia distribute.

Among the representatives of the seven major film companies, Warner's representative is the most calm, because Warner's performance this year is very good, although Warner will not think that it is too much money to make money, but it will only offer a share price that it thinks is appropriate. That's luck, and if you can't get it, you won't feel too sorry.

Universal Pictures is in turmoil, the two helmsmen come and go, and have no intention of fighting for distribution rights, while MGM has been completely disabled by the casino tycoon Kirk Kirkrien, Kirk will only When you want to sell MGM for cash again, you will pay attention to the operating performance of this giant in order to sell it at a good price. Therefore, MGM's top executives were also determined to kill the thief and were unable to recover. The MGM representative sitting in the front row had a lively chat with Warner's executives, and his words seemed to be ready to quit.