Katzenberg was personally responsible for the negotiations between Firefly and Columbia on the development of the sequels of "Men in Black" and other films. With Katzenberg's tough character, Eric was not worried that Firefly would suffer in the negotiations. As for Columbia's so-called The threat of prosecution is even more trivial in the eyes of Firefly. Once Colombia files a lawsuit, the lawsuit will not come to fruition in a year or two. Firefly can afford it, but Colombia dare not waste it.
However, Columbia was interested in Huahua Pictures, but Eric had to come forward in person. Therefore, Eric returned to Los Angeles just after spending the New Year in New York.
Although Huahua Films has no equity relationship with Firefly on the surface, it is a very important move in Eric's Hollywood expansion plan. The whole Hollywood is actually clear about the inside story of Huahua Films. After all, in the seven With film companies basically monopolizing distribution channels, without the support of the Big Seven, any new Hollywood player would not dare to make a film with an investment of more than 50 million US dollars, otherwise they will definitely be rejected by the Big Seven during the distribution process. Card lost everything.
But the seemingly inconspicuous Huahua Films did so. It not only produced two super-big productions with an investment of about 80 million in a row, but also obtained a film from Columbia that many second- and third-tier film companies envy and hate. The sharing terms are absolutely inseparable from the strong support of the Firefly Group.
The biggest confidence that Huahua Pictures dares to do is that if the big-investment film it produces cannot get a reasonable distribution contract from the other six majors, Firefly can take over at any time.
Columbia chose to launch an attack on Huahua Pictures at this juncture after the New Year, and this is also what it is fancy about. Flower Pictures currently has two films to be released, "Night at the Museum" and "Forrest Gump". Columbia's original schedule for the two films was the summer of 1995. And now it is the beginning of 1995. The film release plans for the summer releases of the seven major film companies have basically been determined, especially Firefly. This year's summer releases of "Jurassic Park 2", "Independence Day" and "Toy Story 2" all require a lot of publicity and distribution resources heavyweight films.
Once the negotiations between Columbia and Huahua Films on the sharing contract collapse, although Firefly can take over the two films of Huahua Films, it is impossible to free up enough~style_txt;resources to release these two movies, and several other major movies The company may have this ability, but Huahua Pictures will definitely not take advantage of the sharing agreement. Then, in the end, these two films are likely to be postponed.
The production cost of "Night at the Museum" was 80 million. The production cost of "Forrest Gump" also reached 50 million US dollars. The film cannot be released on time, and the total investment of 130 million US dollars cannot be realized in time, and the follow-up plan of Huahua Films will not be launched. This kind of impact similar to the domino effect will hit Huahua Films very hard.
In Los Angeles, Venice Beach not far from Firefly Studios, in the office of Flower Films headquarters, Amy Pascal worriedly told Eric about recent events: "The reason given by Columbia is that "The Brave" The box office of "The Game" did not meet expectations, and the film style of "Night at the Museum" is very similar to that of "Jumanji". If the original sharing agreement is followed, Columbia will not only be unable to make profits, but will face losses. Therefore, they requested to change the established Contract. Increased Columbia's North American distribution share from 15% to 20%, and they also asked to participate in the distribution of videotape and television rights."
Thinking about it carefully, the story styles of "Game of the Brave" and "Night at the Museum" are indeed very similar. There are a lot of scenes of animals, giant beasts, exotic flowers and plants in both films. Even the special effects of the two films were completely completed by the same team under Digital Domain.
However, the box office of "Game of the Brave" did not meet expectations, not because of the quality of the film. Although the reputation of the film was not good, as a commercial giant that mainly focuses on CG special effects, the impact of word of mouth on the film's box office is very small. The main reason why the box office of "Game of the Brave" did not meet expectations is that the schedule competition is too fierce.
Compared with the potential tacit agreement of the seven major studios in the summer to avoid internal friction to arrange a major production to be released on average a week, the competition in the 1994 Christmas schedule can only be described as fierce. On December 23, except for "The Brave" "The Game", there are actually six films with more than 1,500 yuan in screens, including "Street Fighter", "Little Women" and "Love", which were released at the same time. Three parts.
A large number of new films opened at the same time, pushing the total box office of the week from the 23rd to the 29th to 188 million US dollars, reaching the highest point of the total weekly box office at the end of 1994. But in this week, there were eight films with a single-week box office of more than 10 million U.S. dollars. Under this fierce competition, "Game of the Brave" still managed to get a box office of 36 million U.S. dollars a week, and the next week it was in the Christmas file. With the box office of new films plummeting one after another, the box office only saw a slight drop of 26%. The box office performance can be said to be very good. If "Game of the Brave" is placed in the summer file where the competition is relatively loose, it definitely has the potential to hit the box office of 200 million US dollars. The reason why it has failed to meet the box office expectations can only be said to be untimely.
Eric believes that Columbia will never fail to see this. Using the excuse that the box office of "Game of the Brave" did not meet expectations to try to renegotiate the sharing terms with Huahua Pictures is a bit of a rogue.
After thinking for a while, Eric raised his head and asked, "What about "Forrest Gump", what is their excuse?"
"Colombia feels that "Forrest Gump" is more suitable as an Olympic film, and the box office potential is limited. For the release of this film, Colombia has been somewhat lacking in interest from the beginning," Amy Pascal finished, watching Eric, said: "Actually, Eric, I think so too. "Forrest Gump" is a very good film, there is no doubt about it, but its inspirational and nostalgic film style seems to be more suitable At the end of the year, the main moviegoers in summer are still young people. Therefore, the latest thing we should ensure is the release of "Night at the Museum". If "Forrest Gump" is delayed until the end of the year, it will impact next year's Oscars. Maybe it’s a good thing, the American culture of this film is too strong, if there is no Oscar halo, the income from overseas distribution will definitely be very limited.”
Eric patiently listened to Amy Pascal's analysis. As a strong woman who was able to be the head of a major Hollywood film company in her previous life, Amy Pascal's personal ability is absolutely outstanding. For the business of "Forrest Gump" The positioning analysis is also very precise, but it is just like the chocolate quote in "Forrest Gump". A movie has not been released, and no one knows what kind of box office potential it will show. Fortunately, Eric just knows it, so he just nodded slightly to Amy Pascal's analysis, and did not express agree.
Looking at the little girl who was sitting quietly beside her and listening to the conversation between the two patiently and earnestly, Eric asked, "Drew, what do you think we should do?"
Drew heard Eric ask himself, thought for a while and said: "It depends on what you think, Columbia made these gestures. It is nothing more than trying to force Firefly to pass through "Men in Black" and "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" It’s nothing more than the sequel development plan, oh. Now there must be a sequel to “James of the Brave”. If Firefly doesn’t get stuck on this matter, Columbia will definitely not be entangled with Huahua Pictures on the sharing contract. After all, without these two films, Columbia will never find a suitable film to fill the schedule, and it will also miss this year's summer, which is a lose-lose thing."
Eric smiled and said: "Actually, Sony looks like an upstart with a lot of money but wants to be arty in Hollywood. This kind of character who is willing to spend money but can't have too much influence on the rules of the game in the circle is good for us. If the players behind Columbia are replaced by other people, it may not be something we can do arbitrarily. So I don’t intend to be too tight on the copyright of those films to force Sony out of Hollywood.”
Amy Pascal showed a relaxed smile, and Xiao Nizi also spread her hands: "Then we have nothing to worry about, it's business as usual."
Eric looked at the reaction of the two, shook his head with a smile, and said, "You guys are not pursuing too much. From this incident, we can see that even our closest allies are sometimes unreliable. The reason why Columbia dares to do this is that even if Firefly wants to take over for Huahua Pictures, it will be unable to do so in a short period of time. Therefore, Huahua Pictures will ultimately have to rely on itself."
Amy Pascal was a little surprised: "Eric, you mean let us release these two movies ourselves?"
"Of course not. You can only take it slowly. The most important thing is that Columbia should learn a lesson, and the other major Hollywood film companies should also understand that if you don't have enough confidence, don't turn against your partners casually." .”
Drew shook his head: "Eric, we are all a little confused about what you said."
Eric looked at his watch, then turned to look at the TV in the office: "It should be almost time, do you have n here?"
Amy Pascal nodded, found the remote control and turned on the TV to find the n news station.
The screen happened to be cut from a news about the auction of mobile communication operating licenses. The host held a press release in his hand and said to the camera: "The latest news, at 10:15, Firefly Group CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg and Sony Howard Stringer, the president of the American branch, jointly held a press conference at the Columbia headquarters in Culver City, announcing that the two parties will start the production of the sequels of "Men in Black" and "Jumanji" at the same time this year, please see below Live report from our Los Angeles correspondent... ”
All three of them stared at the TV screen. After a while, Drew said: "Eric, it was so sudden. If I had known this, Amy and I wouldn't have to worry about "Night at the Museum" and "Ah "The Story of Gan Zheng" was released."
Xiao Nizi's voice pulled Eric out of some thoughts. Instead of responding to Drew's words immediately, he picked up his mobile phone and dialed a number. After connecting, he said to the other end of the phone: "Kelly , I just saw a piece of news about the auction of mobile operating licenses on n, check what's going on, I'll see the detailed information tomorrow."
After saying a few words, Eric hung up the phone without explaining what he had just done. Continuing with the topic just now, he said: "The reason why I asked Katzenberg to finalize this matter as soon as possible is to let some people understand. Huahua Pictures' next actions have nothing to do with the copyright disputes of "Men in Black" and other films. "
Amy Pascal asked, "Eric, are you saying you're not going to let us work with Columbia?"
Eric nodded and said: "Now that the dispute between Firefly and Columbia has been resolved, Huahua Pictures will no longer be affected by the copyright dispute between Firefly and Columbia, and you will not be affected by the copyright dispute between Firefly and Columbia. Risk of looting. My plan is to transfer the distribution of "Night at the Museum" to MGM. I personally communicated with Frank Macasso on this point. The sharing terms are consistent with Columbia. MGM has only one summer file. Part 007, temporarily added a "Night at the Museum", without any pressure on distribution at all. The overseas and peripheral operations of "Forrest Gump" are represented by Firefly, and you do the local distribution yourself, which is a kind of exercise. "Forrest Gump" "Biography" is more inclined to be an Olympic art film, so the release pressure is not too great, and the box office trend is more likely to be a long line, as long as you can get more than 1,500 premiere canvases. "
Amy Pascal listened to Eric. He frowned slightly, but he hesitated.
Hollywood movies are released to put it bluntly. In fact, there are only a few steps.
First of all, you need to contact the theaters that are willing to show your movie. This is undoubtedly the innate advantage of the seven major film companies. Signed a distribution contract with the theater chain, and even got a lot of advance payment from the theater chain dealer. At the same time, this is also an important threshold that blocks most new players trying to enter Hollywood.
For the seven major distribution films, the theater chain merchants will take the initiative to come to seek cooperation, but if it is a brand new film company that wants to distribute the film, don’t even think about paying in advance or signing the distribution contract in advance. Often there is not much enthusiasm to distribute the film for you, and in the end there is no chance of even showing it, because this involves the second critical step of film distribution, marketing.
For movies of the same quality, the same release scale, and the same schedule, the box office obtained by the seven major distribution companies is often much higher than that of second- and third-tier film companies. The main difference is marketing. The seven major film companies already have a mature film marketing system, and the further integration of the media industry in recent years has made the seven major film companies far surpass the second- and third-tier film companies in their overall media strength. Because the marketing of movies is done by the movie distributors, when the media resources are gradually concentrated on the seven giants, movie theaters will even prefer to release the mediocre films produced by the seven giants, and they are not willing to work for small film companies. The distribution of excellent films by the seven majors is often able to make a film of mediocre quality far exceed the excellent films of small film companies in terms of box office.
However, although Blossom Pictures is a Hollywood novice on the surface, the key problems that these novices may face are not problems on Blossom Pictures.
Amy Pascal started as a small employee of an independent production company more than ten years ago, and finally reached the position of vice president of Columbia. With the contacts in my hands, I can get enough theaters for "Forrest Gump". At this time, with the support of Firefly, the largest media group in the United States, the marketing problem of the film is also easily solved. Therefore, just operating the North American release of "Forrest Gump", in Amy Pascal's opinion, there is no difficulty at all.
But at this moment, she just felt that this matter seemed completely unnecessary... right
Wouldn’t it be better to let Sony or MGM release the issue? As Eric said just now, MGM only has one 007 in their summer file, and it’s not difficult to add a release task of “Night at the Museum”. Then Adding another "Forrest Gump" with a completely different style is also nothing. Even if MGM really can't even eat two movies, isn't there a few other big ones
Don't worry about distribution, the time saved by Huahua Pictures is enough to prepare another new film.
Of course, Eric is also aware of Amy Pascal's thoughts at this time. In addition to teaching Sony a lesson, he also has another idea, which is to keep the profits of the film "Forrest Gump" as much as possible. Give yourself people. The North American box office of "Forrest Gump" in the original time and space is 330 million U.S. dollars. If it is handed over to any company for distribution, at least 15% of the distribution fee must be allocated. This amount is almost 50 million U.S. dollars, and more than 90% of Hollywood A movie that sucks out the last bit of profit may not necessarily bring the producer $50 million in revenue.
Seeing Amy's expression, Eric smiled and said: "Actually, this is just my personal suggestion. You and Drew think about it for yourself. If you really don't want to be so troublesome, forget it and transfer the distribution contract to Mi Gao May will do."
Eric said so, but Amy Pascal made up his mind and said, "Eric, I'd better listen to you, I believe you must be thinking about Flower Pictures."
The two agreed, and Xiao Nizi came over to hold Eric's arm with a smile. Although she would never have any objection to Eric's decision in her heart, the girl also knew that if she was right about everything Eric's obedience has no assertiveness at all, and it will definitely hurt Amy Pascal's feelings. Flower Pictures cannot do without this manager now. (To be continued.)