Across America, Starting with the Boxing Champion

Chapter 404 President

 On the surface, the film "Revenge of the Father" produced by Weinstein Pictures has a stronger creative lineup.

Paolo Sorrentino is a famous Italian director. His film works have won many David Awards in Italy and Cannes Film Festival awards in France. He is a very powerful director.

The leading actors and actresses, Sean Penn and Frances McDormand, are top-notch actors in the United States. They have also won the Academy Award for Best Actor and Actor, as well as multiple Oscar nominations, and their box office appeal is extremely high.

More important is the content of this movie, which tells the story of a retired pop rock singer who goes through many difficulties to find the Nazi officer who once persecuted his father.

 A Jewish story, consistent with the main theme.

 As for "Bridesmaids" produced by Palm Beach Pictures, it can be seen from the trailer that it is a comedy movie about marriage.

 Similar to The Hangover.

Except for Emma Stone who plays a supporting role and Link who plays a supporting role, there are almost no big-name stars, and the film director Paul Feig is only a second-tier Hollywood director.

In addition, at the same time as "Bridesmaids", there are three wedding-themed comedy movies, "Wedding Fight", "Wedding Day" and "Wedding Friends", which were also released in late April and early May.

At the same time, there are too many new themes of the same type, which can even be called flooding. It is very difficult for "Bridesmaids" to achieve a good result.

According to the available information, more than 70% of professional media and film critics are more optimistic about Weinstein Pictures' "Avenging My Father", while the rest are watching the excitement.

We want to see how much better "Avenge the Father" will be. Will Palm Beach Pictures suffer huge losses on this film project?

This feeling is similar to that of boxing fans guessing which boxer will win before a match.

Also because of the media's publicity and hype, the two films have become two of the most anticipated films in May without spending much money on publicity.

However, May is the summer season, and there are three movies that have received more attention during the same period.

 The first one is "Fast and Furious 5", which was announced to be released on April 29.

 The second is the Marvel movie "Thor", which was released on May 8, and "Pirates of the Caribbean 4" which was released on May 20.

These three movies are all large-scale projects with an investment of more than 100 million US dollars. It is even more difficult for "Bridesmaids" to stand out among many blockbusters and achieve good results.

 “With so much competitive pressure, is it appropriate to release it at this time?”

 At the dinner table, Link asked while flipping through a movie magazine.

"It doesn't matter. There are many blockbusters in the summer, but there are also many people watching movies. As long as the quality of the movie is good and the publicity is in place, the box office performance will not be bad. Last month, "Bridesmaids" held an internal preview, and representatives from major theater chains gave With an average B- rating, it’s a good review, and it’s expected to have a box office of 40 to 50 million.”

Catherine said as she stirred the pasta sauce.

 “Only 40 to 50 million?”

“I’m talking about the North American box office. The global box office is estimated to be 70 to 80 million. The production and promotion cost of this film is 32.5 million. If it can sell 80 million at the global box office, it will not lose money.”

Catherine said.

Link raised his eyebrows when he heard this. In his memory, "Bridesmaids" had a global box office of more than 300 million. It crushed many blockbusters in the same period and became a dark horse in the summer of 2012. It is considered to be the most successful among the "The Hangover"-themed movies. One piece.

 The current prediction given by the distribution department during the preview screening is only 80 million, which is too far off.

 Is it related to myself?

 He has never seen this version of "Bridesmaids" and doesn't know if it is much different from the original version.

Just thinking about several big productions and three movies of the same type at the same time, it is really difficult for "Bridesmaids" to break out and get hundreds of millions in box office.

He can only lower his expectations for the box office of "Bridesmaids" to avoid a bad box office performance after the movie is released.

 “Is breakfast ready? I’m hungry.”

Yawned with a small round face, he came out of the bedroom, barefoot, wearing a loose nightgown, with disheveled hair, and the pulp from the blueberry cake he ate last night was still in the corner of his mouth.

 Too sloppy.

Just when Link was about to speak, Selena quickly covered her ears and pouted her mouth and said:

"You're not allowed to talk, and you're not allowed to nag me for getting up too late. Some time ago, I was reading and doing questions every day. I got up early and stayed late, almost dying of exhaustion. Now that I've finally finished the exam, it's normal to sleep in. Otherwise, you'd think it would be easy to get a score of 1,400 on the SAT." ?"

Link shook his head helplessly. This girl took the SAT test some time ago and risked her life to get a score of 1,400, which was 40 points higher than he did back then. Then she went crazy with joy and spread the news about her SAT score of 1,400 everywhere, even on the news. .

 When she was at home, she was even more proud, always talking about her scores, as if scoring 1,400 on the SAT was more worthy of showing off than winning the Nobel Prize.

“What are you so proud of? If I hadn’t sent you 100 sets of mock test questions, would you have been able to get these scores?”

Link took a sip of milk and said.

“Hmph, what are you saying? Your hundred sets of mock test questions almost exhausted me to death. Now I feel like vomiting when I see the test paper.”

Selena puffed up her round face and said angrily.

The test questions that Link brought back were too many and too difficult. She was forced to do them for more than three months in a row. She didn't finish them until the eve of the SAT exam. She felt that those who could do all the questions well would have an easy time taking the SAT exam. Full marks.

"Don't move. Look at what you look like now. You look like a homeless girl. Why don't you wash your face and comb your hair?"

 Catherine slapped off her paws that were trying to steal food and put her into the bathroom to wash herself.

Little Annie also got up. She was half a hand taller than last year. She was wearing a cartoon dress and had a palm-sized face. She said good morning to Link and Catherine in a waxy voice. She was then put into the bathroom by Catherine and asked her and Celine to leave. Wash together.

 While eating, everyone talked about music. Selena took the opportunity to ask him if he had any new songs. She passed the SAT exam and he should write a song and give it to her as a reward.

Link said "Wedon't Talk Anymore" means that she has cashed in early and will not want to get the song he wrote next time unless she graduates from college.

Selena heard what he said, piercing the fruit pie with a fork, rolling her **** and white eyes, and smiled slyly, "Foolish brother, do you want to know about Taylor? Write a song for me and I can tell you About Taylor."

Link smiled softly, "No, continuing to help you write songs will make you dependent, which is not good for your development. And Taylor is your friend. If you tell me about her, it will make you a different person." Loyal friends, so this deal is not necessary.”

"snort!"

Selena puffed up her round face and ate her breakfast sullenly.

 “Has Taylor been in Los Angeles lately?”

  Catherine asked.

"Here, she has to release a new album and go on tour. She has a lot of work. I have only met her once."

Selena stuffed bread into her mouth and said.

 “How is she recovering?”

“Very good, like she had never been pregnant at the beginning of last year. Taylor said this was the result of her unremitting training in the past two months.”

Selena said.

 “How is she feeling?”

“It’s also very good. We talked and laughed as before when we met.”

After Selena finished speaking, she realized that it was Link who was asking. She hummed softly and stuffed an egg into her mouth, her round face bulging.

Catherine glanced at Link and wanted to say something, but seeing that he was in a good mood, she took back her words.

  —

 After breakfast, Link came to Lions Gate Pictures to sit down.

His current daily work is mainly to check the company's information, familiarize himself with the responsibilities and operating modes of each department of the company, understand the progress of film and television projects, and review each project by the way.

There is a lot of work to do, and it is complicated, but it is also relatively important. He can only learn to do it patiently.    Dong dong dong!

 “Chairman, Mr. Feremey is here.”

 The secretary brought from New York said at the door.

 “Okay, please come in Mr. Feremey.”

Link put down the document, stood up and came to the door to greet Jon Feremey, the former chairman and major shareholder of Lions Gate, who came in from the outside.

 58-year-old, a famous Hollywood producer. In 2005, he spent US$85 million to buy a large stake from Lionsgate founder Franco Gusta and became the chairman of Lionsgate Pictures.

 Under his management, Lionsgate Pictures successively acquired a number of distribution companies and TV series production companies, gradually reaching its current scale.

 The "Hollywood Reporter" evaluated him as a film company manager with a pioneering spirit and a second-rate producer.

When Link acquired his shares some time ago, he made an agreement with him that after taking control of Lionsgate Pictures, he would hire him to continue to be a senior executive of Lionsgate Pictures. At that time, Jon Feremei did not agree and said that he would Think about it.

After two weeks and no reply from him, Link thought that he was not interested in the position he promised, but he did not expect that the other party would come to visit in person today.

“Jon, how does it feel to be at Lions Gate again?”

Link shook hands with the other party and invited him to sit down in the small reception room.

 “Not bad, nothing has changed.”

 Jon Felleme was wearing a shirt, with short gray hair and stubble, looked at the small living room and smiled.

“Yes, your office is still reserved for you. If you are willing to return to work at Lions Gate, you can continue to work there.”

Link said directly.

He knew that since the other party came to the company in person, he must have this idea, so he did not beat around the bush.

Jon Femele pondered for a moment and said: "Link, I have been at Lions Gate for more than six years. I know this place very well, and I have many unfinished goals that I want to continue to do. But I want to know, if I come back, what will happen if I come back?" How much autonomy can Lionsgate have?”

“Vice Chairman and Chief Strategy Officer, I am responsible for the company’s next development plan and optimizing the company’s structure. My goal is to make Lionsgate a production company comparable to the six major film studios, and at least comparable to DreamWorks.

I am lacking in this area and need someone who can provide suggestions and guidance in the development process of Lions Gate. You have made great contributions to the development of Lions Gate in the past few years and are very suitable for this position. I hope you can Think about it carefully. "

Link said.

ˆ Jon Felleme frowned and thought for a moment, "It's okay to make suggestions and plans, but I'm not interested in the chief strategy officer. There's too much work in this area and it's very detailed. I'm old and don't have that much energy to do it.

 My original job is a producer, and I hope to stay in the film production department. The salary does not require much. With those Twitter shares, I am not short of money now. "

Link was a little surprised. He had originally planned to use the position of vice chairman, a relatively generous annual salary and even stock dividends to keep Feremei and ask him to make suggestions in the development process of Lionsgate Pictures, but Feremei now only wants to work as a producer. Department positions.

Thinking of the "Hollywood Reporter"'s evaluation of him as a second-rate producer, it is not appropriate for him to work in the production department.

Link hesitated for a moment, but agreed.

At the same time, he also reserves the position of deputy director for the other party, who can participate in Lionsgate high-level meetings and decision-making. It is equivalent to a consultant of Lionsgate Pictures. The annual salary is tentatively set at 1 million, and there are also dividends for participating in production projects.

 “Haha, Mr. Baker, please take good care of me in the future.”

 Jon Feremey stood up and smiled.

 “Jon, I also hope to get your advice.”

Link reached out and shook his hand.

After seeing off Feremei, Link returned to the office and added Jon Feremei's name to the list of Lionsgate Pictures executives.

In addition to the original six senior executives including Feremey and President Bix, there are also four management talents that Ivaca poached from other companies through headhunting companies.

 After these four people take office, they will form a new Lionsgate Pictures management team with the original executives.

What Iwaka means is that if the original company structure remains unchanged, it will cause the original management to form cliques, jointly resist his orders, and even do other more egregious things.

 Therefore, it is necessary to introduce new executives so that both parties can supervise and compete with each other to improve the company's operating efficiency.

After two years, he will be familiar with the operating model of Lionsgate Pictures, and then based on the work of the management, he will eliminate unqualified executives and take full control of Lionsgate Pictures.

Link thinks Ivaca is right.

 Because when he was looking through the company's senior management information, he found that five of the employees above the supervisory level had worked at Miramax Pictures.

 For example, international business operations officer Andrew Kramer served as head of international distribution at Miramax Pictures.

Although this does not mean that they are Harvey's people, if they are really Harvey's confidants, they should be working at Weinstein Films at this time.

 But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t people among these executives who are close friends with Harvey.

 So you need to pay some attention when employing people.

Be vigilant at all times so as not to fall into the enemy's trap.

Thinking of these problems, Link pinched his forehead, feeling that he had found himself in a big trouble.

Although spending 700 million to acquire Lionsgate Pictures is a good investment, he is just a boxer. He used to rely on Ivaca to run a record company, and now he manages a film company.

 Sit in the office and read documents every day. If this continues, your body's functions will gradually deteriorate.

 He stood up and walked around, pondered for a while, then called Ivaca and asked her what she was doing.

Ivaca said she was doing beauty treatments and would go shopping with Georgina later.

Link asked her if she was busy at Link Music Company?

 Evaka said she is not busy for the time being.

Link asked her if she was interested in becoming the chairman of Lionsgate Pictures?

“Are you kidding me? I don’t understand how movies work. How can I control Lionsgate?”

Evaka said.

“You didn’t know how to manage a record company before, but you’ve done a great job in the past few years. How about you take on more responsibility and serve as the chairman of Lionsgate Pictures?”

“No, I already have a lot of work and I don’t want to do anything else.”

Evaka said.

“Try it, you are very good at managing people, you don’t need to do anything here, just sign in every day, and leave other things to a few executives.”

Link persuaded.

“.If I were to be the chairman, what would you do? Have more time to pick up girls?”

"Of course not. I will be your assistant, mainly responsible for developing and investing in film projects. We will work together to make Lionsgate Pictures bigger and stronger. In the future, we can also merge with Link Music to become a large entertainment company comparable to Warner and Sony. Then you will He is at the helm of this company.”

Link said seriously.

Ivaca hesitated for a moment and said she would think carefully before replying.

 (End of this chapter)