"This year's Golden Globe Awards, don't you plan to participate again?" Looking at the analysis of "Hollywood Reporter" nominated works for the 50th Golden Globe Awards, Elizabeth sat at the dining table with her long legs crossed, gloating asked.
There are no technical awards at the Golden Globe Awards, but Eric's "Tornado" last year only had the ability to win awards in terms of sound and special effects.
"It depends on your mood," Eric pushed aside the newspaper he had finished reading, picked up the milk in front of him and drank it slowly.
Although "Tornado" did not receive any nominations, Eric still sent an invitation letter to the Golden Globe Awards dinner, but Eric has not yet decided whether to go. He has to abide by the rules of the award ceremony, and with his current influence, he must be "taken care of" by the camera very frequently, and it is actually very tiring to fake smiles following the atmosphere of the scene for two hours.
Elizabeth also knew that Eric was not too enthusiastic about the Golden Globes and Oscars, so she put down the "Hollywood Reporter" and casually took another copy from Eric's newspaper, while reading the headlines of the entertainment section , while asking: "Then you really don't plan to fight for an Oscar in the future?"
≯,
"Spielberg has become a first-line director since "Jaws" in 1975, but until now, with so many nominations, those old men refused to give him a statuette for best director. It must be pasted on purpose."
"Speaking of which, this time "Schindler's List", Spielberg will definitely be able to get the statuette?"
"Of course. His biggest competitor this year is Clint Eastwood's "Unforgiven." But "Unforgiven" is a western. And "Schindler's List" is a biographical film, not to mention it is about the time. The history of the Holocaust against the Jews, and the influence of the Jews in Hollywood, "Unforgiven" is no match for "Schindler's List". Or is it just because it is praising the Jews," Eric said, and suddenly stopped talking: "Hey, Liz, is your family Jewish?"
Elizabeth bent her mouth, shook her head and joked, "No, so you can say whatever you want, I won't expose your racism."
Eric breathed a sigh of relief, and secretly reflected for a moment. After all, he still has not fully integrated into this world, and the topic of race is a bit too casual. Americans are very sensitive to racial discrimination, and have even made legislation specifically for this purpose, but now it's just a private occasion between two people. If you are in a public place, or just doing a Jew in front of yourself. Some of his words just now will definitely arouse the suspicion and resentment of the other party.
Although Americans like to laugh at themselves very much, ridicule related to race is a minefield that can explode if you don’t pay attention. Compared with disadvantaged blacks, Jews will react more violently when encountering racial discrimination. The original time and space Mel Gibson's unfortunate experience can illustrate this point.
Seeing Eric suddenly quiet down, Elizabeth no longer mentioned what happened just now. Compared to Eric, Elizabeth, who has lived in the United States for many years, is the same as ordinary Americans, and rarely takes the initiative to mention the topic of race.
Americans have always been silent about racism.
After a leisurely breakfast, Elizabeth saw that Eric was not in a hurry to go to work, so she mentioned another piece of news she had just read in the newspaper: "The directional sale signed by Paramount and Viacom The contract was declared null and void by the Los Angeles Superior Court, and qvc also made its first offer, 7.8 billion US dollars, which is so much higher than your acquisition of Disney last year, it is estimated that this deal will end soon, right?"
"No. Last year, the global box office of Hollywood movies rose by a full 15%, and it will definitely maintain a similar high growth rate in the next few years. If I didn't win Disney with a high premium last year, this year's $6.5 billion will definitely be the same. It can't be taken down. Although Martin Davis is not very good at running a film company, as a shrewd businessman, he can definitely see that since Paramount can't be kept, the longer the deal is delayed, the better it will be for him more beneficial."
Listening to Eric talking about this, Elizabeth suddenly remembered what happened last year, and said: "Didn't Martin Davis go to Kauai when you filmed "Jurassic Park" last year? Why didn't you go to Kauai? Let’s get involved in this matter, didn’t Redstone cause you a lot of trouble when you bought Disney?”
"It's a very interesting topic," Eric laughed. "For example, you are racing on a track with a group of other people. If you are already ahead, you will stop to set some points for the opponent who is behind." What about obstacles, or continue to run wildly and throw your opponent farther?"
"Of course I keep running," Elizabeth said without hesitation. "But I feel that these are two different things. You will definitely not benefit from stopping to set up obstacles for your opponent, but it is definitely different to cooperate with Paramount."
"In the Japanese acquisition of Columbia and Universal, the reason why Firefly cooperated with them was because in that case, both Columbia and Universal would give a higher share ratio, but Firefly itself was not strong enough at that time. But now if I have a good idea, I can use Firefly's own channels to digest all the benefits. There is no need to share part of the benefits with Paramount just to set up a little obstacle for Viacom. And there is another point , the Japanese are outsiders and are not very familiar with the operating mechanism of Hollywood. Seeing that the film company's film sales have boosted the stock price, they can only pay honestly. Viacom is different. I have been involved in Hollywood before, and I am very familiar with the rules of the game.”
After Eric finished speaking, seeing Elizabeth's pensive look, he smiled, got up and cleaned up the tableware briefly, and asked, "I'm going to Playa Vista later, how about you?"
Elizabeth came back to her senses and said, "I'll go back to Beverly Hills first."
…
The Digital Realm Special Effects Center at Firefly Studios.
Although a large number of model special effects were used in the filming of "Jurassic Park", the special effects artists in the digital field have never given up the research and development of computer cg special effects technology. After nearly a year of technical research. The dinosaur shots that need to be produced with digital special effects have reached the level of being difficult to distinguish between real and fake.
Because of sufficient time. Eric did not urge the digital field to speed up the production progress. This meticulous attitude has made the post-production work of "Jurassic Park" only 70% complete, and it will take at least two months to complete. Time to fully complete the film.
Eric and Stan Winston checked the work progress some time ago, and watched a scene of Tyrannosaurus rex roaring up to the sky several times. Stan Winston was full of excitement and pride, even if it was two years ago , He couldn't even imagine that one day he would have the opportunity to make such realistic shots of ancient behemoths.
"Eric, you're really not going to drop the Jurassic Park trailer at this year's Super Bowl. I think it would surprise the world if this behemoth made it to the Super Bowl live." ?” Stan Winston skillfully operated the computer in front of him, turned his head and asked Eric who was sitting next to him.
Eric was discussing some lens details with a special effects artist, and when he heard Stan Winston ask, he said: "It's because of this that I don't want to release the trailer so early, and let the dinosaur image be revealed in advance , the movie will be officially released in the future, and the degree of surprise will definitely be discounted."
"But, even if there's no trailer for the Super Bowl, there's always a trailer for a movie before it's released, right?"
Eric replied confidently: "The publicity department has already made a corresponding plan. When making a trailer in the future, it will mainly focus on Professor Hardmond's explanation. Using appropriate suspenseful techniques, the figure of the dinosaur will appear, but There won't be a full picture."
"This is indeed a good method. By the way, the later stage of "Clash of Heaven and Earth" has been completed. Do you want to go and see it first?"
"Okay," Eric agreed, and the two walked to another work area in the digital field.
After the script of "Clash of Heaven and Earth" has been revised repeatedly, the scandalous plot has been removed, and the depiction of human nature at the moment of disaster has been added. At the same time, with the strong technical support in the digital field, Roland Emmerich boldly added special effects scenes , This series of changes not only makes the plot of the film more compact, but also the special effects scenes that have been produced are more shocking than the original version in Eric's memory.
"After this summer, Hollywood will completely enter the era of special effects movies," Stan Winston couldn't help but sigh after finding a vacant seat in the rest area of the studio.
If "Terminator 2" and "Tornado" in the past two years are just for people to see the huge potential of special effects movies, as long as the two consecutive "Jurassic Park" and "Clash of Heaven and Earth" can be sold at the box office this summer If it is a big success, then Hollywood will fully realize the huge commercial prospects of special effects movies.
Eric and Roland Emmerich sat down on the other two sides, and Eric said with a smile: "In this case, the digital field will definitely expand again."
"Then the studio can't hold it now," Stan Winston pointed to the completed Firefly Studios outside the glass window.
Roland Emmerich said to Eric: "I heard that there are still some unplanned idle land nearby that have been bought by Firefly. Why not build a company park in the digital field?"
At the beginning, Firefly bought a full 100 hectares of land in Playa Vista, and it took only one third of the time to build Firefly Studios. With the development of Firefly Studios and the surrounding environment, in order to support the work Thousands of employees and their families provide a stable living environment, another third will be used to build the Playa Vista community, which is specially rented and sold to these people, and the remaining third will be temporarily used by Firefly Reserve for later use.
However, although the digital field will definitely expand the company's scale again, Eric is a little hesitant to build a corporate campus dedicated to the digital field in Los Angeles. Because the tax rates of states in the United States are different, the labor costs are also different. As one of the states with the strongest economy in the United States, the tax rate and labor costs in California are undoubtedly very high. Although currently the top special effects company in Hollywood One, the profitability of the digital field is very strong, but Eric has to think about the future era when special effects companies will rise together. Ten years later, the biggest magic weapon for special effects companies to survive is to move to other states with low tax rates or even abroad go.
Eric briefly told Stan Winston about his concerns. Stan Winston thought for a moment and said, "If this is the case, we'd better plan ahead and choose suitable ones in other states." Establishing branch offices in different locations, and recruiting employees from the local area to participate in training in Los Angeles, this measure of increasing local employment can win us more tax incentives.”
Eric thought for a while and said, "Don't worry too much. Let's see how the two movies react after this year's summer vacation."
Roland Emmerich smiled and said: "Eric, don't you have confidence in your own "Jurassic Park"? I have seen some scenes, and it can be described as shocking."
"Of course not. I'm just worried that I won't meet my original psychological expectations."
Stan Winston was also interested, and asked curiously, "What do you think the box office of "Jurassic Park" should be?"
Eric raised his hands on the table at the same time, and opened his ten fingers towards the two of them.
"A billion dollars?" Stan Winston subconsciously lowered his voice and asked cautiously. Roland Emmerich also showed a surprised expression.
Eric explained: "Yes, but I mean the total box office worldwide."
"Even on a global scale," Stan Winston stared at Eric, as if he wanted to make sure he was crazy: "The current highest box office record does not exceed 800 million."
"The Extra-Terrestrial, $790 million," echoed Roland Emmerich.
"Since "et Alien" was able to get nearly 800 million U.S. dollars in the global box office ten years ago, why is it impossible for the world to make a billion dollars ten years later?" Eric said, looking at the expression still a little dull The two of them laughed and said, "Why don't we make a bet?"
For some reason, when they heard that Eric was about to make a bet, Stan Winston and Roland Emmerich immediately remembered the bet that the eighteen-year-old boy had made with Columbia Pictures about the blockbuster "Home Alone" a few years ago. In the end, Columbia lost in a mess, and Columbia's then CEO Brant Cohen also lost control of Columbia.
After a while, Stan Winston and Roland Emmerich shook their heads almost in unison: "No betting."
Eric laughed out loud: "Don't be like this, I haven't bet with others for a long time, and this time I really don't have 100% confidence." (To be continued...)