America: Starting with the acquisition of MGM

Chapter 82 Making Game and Daniel Wu

It's early March, and "Whale Rider" has been released for half a month.

Facts have proved that even under the banner of environmental protection and animal protection, literary and artistic films are still literary and artistic films, and it is impossible to achieve high box office.

The group of animal rights and environmental activists usually shout loudly, but when it comes to contributing to the box office of the movie, they become silent.

It fully demonstrates what it means to push but not to do it, which is a bit similar to the keyboard warrior.

In half a month, the North American box office of "Whale Rider" has just reached 16 million U.S. dollars. Looking at this situation, it will be more than 20 million U.S. dollars in North America in the end.

However, this film should still make a fortune in Europe and Australia, especially New Zealand, where the film directly depicts the local ethnic groups.

It is expected that the global box office will collect more than 40 million U.S. dollars. Compared with the purchase cost of 7 million U.S. dollars and the publicity expenses, the loss will naturally not be lost, but it will not make much profit.

The good news is that the rating on IMDB is pretty good, currently reaching 8 points, and it should be able to maintain above 5 points if it drops some in the future.

Wait until the Cannes Film Festival in May and submit your film. If you are lucky enough to win an award, it will be very beneficial for subsequent sales of copyrights.

As for the filming of "Transformers", the scenes in Los Angeles have been completed. This was the most difficult scene to shoot. Under Eric's control, no major problems finally occurred.

After filming this part of the scene, Eric left the crew again. After all, in addition to filming, he was also busy with company affairs.

Patty Jenkins continued to lead the team to shoot family and other small scenes, and Neill Blomkamp led the team to Utah after filming at the Hoover Dam.

The terrain here is complex, with mountains, deep valleys, gravel, and rivers. The open and beautiful environment has always been Hollywood's favorite filming location.

After a month of shooting experience, the crew got along well, and Eric also got the hang of it.

For him, as the chief director, as long as he makes the script solid enough and finds one or two assistant directors who are strong enough, he can actually leave most of the scenes to them.

You only need to take time to shoot, check the progress of the shooting, find out the bad parts in time and correct them, and then a commercial movie will be ready.

When it is released, the director's position will naturally belong to my own name. Although I did not shoot some of the scenes, the people filming them were my puppets. Is that any different from the ones I shot myself?

There is no difference at all!

Of course, the premise is that commercial films that don’t pay much attention to details will be much more troublesome for artistic films that focus on details.

After getting in touch with him during this period, Eric discovered that Patty Jenkins has very good abilities and is fully qualified as an executor.

However, she also has shortcomings. She always likes to compete with details. This kind of person is more suitable for literary films.

Neill Blomkamp is also very talented, but needs at least two or three movies to develop.

When it comes to the next movie, I don’t know who to find as an assistant director.

In addition, Eric has been writing several scripts since he was filming at the Nevada military base. Now the outline has been completed, which are three thrillers and horror films: "Happy Death Day", "A Quiet Place" and "Hold Your Breath".

Arrangements have been made for the production department to find a screenwriter to fill in the script, and it is expected to be completed and started shooting in more than a month.

He originally wanted to make "The Return of the Clown", but when he started writing, he suddenly realized that the copyright was in the hands of Warner, so he had to give up.

At the MGM building, Eric and his father were talking in the office.

Dad's original secretary, Susan, officially accepted the new position and had already set off to the other side of the ocean, which was considered an outpost.

There was a new secretary, who turned out to be blond and wavy, and younger than Susan. Eric couldn't help but doubt the relationship between the two.

"Eric, regarding Double Star Entertainment, I have already asked someone to investigate."

"What's the result?" Eric sat up straight.

"In general, Double Star Entertainment's performance has declined in recent years. The company's valuation is about US$600 million, maybe slightly lower."

"The one with the largest shareholding is Robert Solny, who holds 45% of the company. The parents of the Olson sisters each hold 5%, and the two sisters each hold 5%."

"And Robert Solny's recent luck doesn't seem to be very good. He left the market sadly during the stock market crash last year. He must have lost a lot of money, but the specific amount cannot be found."

"After he suffered a big fall in the stock market, several companies actually wanted to acquire his shares in Double Star Entertainment."

"But Solny never sold it. The reason I found out was that the price he asked was too high."

"Based on the shares in his hand, the maximum value is US$700 million, but this guy has a big appetite. He seems to think that the Olsen sisters are still a hot commodity, so he offers a price of US$500 million."

"A stupid old guy, no wonder he can only work in the TV industry for the rest of his life."

After his father finished speaking, Eric asked: "So this guy definitely won't sell it?"

"It will be sold unless we offer $500 million."

"Ha ha ha ha"

Father and son laughed at the same time, taking reality as a fool from One Thousand and One Nights.

"After understanding this, I didn't find an intermediary to test him. If I knew it was an acquisition by MGM, I think he would dare to raise the price to 600 million."

Eric shook his head: "That's not necessary. He has suffered heavy losses in the stock market. I don't believe he is not short of money. Since this guy still has illusions, let's give him a game."

"What do you want?"

"The company's development momentum has been very good recently. How about using financing to make a fuss?"

Some things can be understood in just one sentence. Dad smiled slightly and said, "Can't we use AK Video?"

"No, AK Film and Television has only released one hit movie, "Sharknado," and the others are copycat films that don't go to theaters. Their appeal is too weak."

"And since you want to eat it, then even if you can't eat all of Solney's shares, at least you have to eat most of it. Only MGM has this attraction."

Dad nodded: "Okay, I'll find the specific person. To be honest, I haven't done this kind of thing for a long time. We also gave some timely exposure to the recent media interviews.

After tentatively finalizing the plan for Robert Solny, Dad briefly talked about the revenue of the recently released movies.

The box office splits for "Red Dragon" and "Barbershop" are already in place, the splits for "Die Another Day" are coming soon, and "Saw" will be even later.

The rights to these films have also been sold very well, and "Red Dragon" still performs well on DVD. This is the consistent style of the Hannibal series.

Although "Saw" has not yet been released, high-scoring R-rated movies have always been the most popular product in the DVD market.

As of now, the total revenue of various movies from several movies is almost 7.5 billion US dollars, and this revenue will continue to increase, and it is expected to reach 300 million US dollars by the end of the year.

In addition, there are various incomes from selling copyright peripherals in the fourth quarter of 2002, totaling US$3.3 billion.

Movies are a long-term business. The box office revenue is always a small part, and the big part is always the subsequent copyrights and peripherals.

"Eric, besides the Transformers, there is something else you need to pay attention to."

"What?"

"We don't have much time left if Darabont is filming a zombie TV show that wants to win an Emmy."

"Yeah, I'll remember it. Take some time to go and watch it. At least make a pilot episode first."

"Which TV station are you planning to sell to?"

"I haven't thought about it yet, let me think about it."

In the United States, the production of TV series is different from that of movies. The pilot episodes that Eric mentioned are the characteristics of American TV series.

Unlike movies, which are usually produced by major film and television companies, TV series are more often funded by television stations.

This situation is very prominent in this year, but in 20 years, the situation will change drastically.

At that time, major film and television companies also began to get involved in the production of TV series.

After all, a dozen-hour TV series can often attract more ratings and clicks than a two-hour movie. Ratings and clicks are traffic, and traffic is dollars.

Looking at now, the general American drama production process is like this.

First, major TV stations will purchase scripts from the market, usually several hundred, and then review them internally. More than 80% of them will be screened out in the first round.

This is followed by the second round of screening, where more than 80% are screened out again. At this time, there are generally only a dozen or twenty scripts left.

Then it was time to recruit a team to produce the pilot episode, which is Season 0 Episode 0 that we sometimes see.

After the pilot episodes are produced, we listen to the audience's opinions through internal test screenings and radio broadcasts. Finally, about 5 episodes are selected to be retained, and the others are screened out again.

The whole process takes about one and a half to two years, and more than 97% of the scripts were rejected during the whole process. The competition is under great pressure and the competition rules are also cruel.

But that is compared to ordinary American dramas. "The Walking Dead" is a completely different model. It is produced directly by the film and television company, and there is no need to look at the TV station's face.

If you are not sure, you can also shoot a pilot episode. If you are sure like Eric, you can just shoot a season and sell it.

The model is somewhat similar to that in China, and it is also somewhat similar to the streaming media model in the United States 20 years later.

The bottom line is that the money is in whose hands, you can invest whatever you want, but you have to listen to others when investing in TV stations.

On the set of "The Walking Dead", Eric got out of the car and walked into the studio.

After finishing his work on "Transformers," Bordeaux joined the show as a producer.

Seeing Eric coming, he immediately walked up quickly.

"I'll go get Frank."

"Wait a minute, let him finish filming this scene. How is the progress now?"

"It's not bad. At least it's progressing according to the shooting schedule. It just requires a little more overtime pay."

"So the crew often has to rush to schedule?"

Bordeaux smiled bitterly and said: "There is no way, time is still a bit tight, and you also know Frank, he is not a person who gives up quality for speed, so the only way is to work overtime."

Eric nodded: "This is the right thing to do. The quality of the show must be the first priority. By the way, how much of the budget has been spent?"

Knowing in advance that Eric was coming, Bordeaux prepared all the accounts and walked to the box next to him to take them out.

"I summarized it. This is a simple account. So far, 68% of the budget has been used, totaling $28.96 million."

Eric took the ledger and looked through it, but even an insider would still be confused by the various bills in it.

He also knows that there must be something fishy inside, and this kind of thing is unavoidable. If you don't let the people below get some benefits, how can they work hard?

So as long as the results are good enough, just be greedy.

After browsing for a while, Eric said: "Overtime pay will be paid as needed, but you have to stick to a bottom line for me. The maximum budget is 45 million US dollars, and it must not exceed this amount."

"Don't worry, I will keep an eye on the crew and try my best to keep the budget within 40 million US dollars." Bordeaux assured, patting his chest.

Eric turned his attention to the filming site again, and he didn't care about the casting.

Looking around, I thought I didn't know anyone except Barle Farley, but I didn't expect to find many acquaintances.

The male protagonist Rick is still played by Andrew Lincoln. After all, the show was filmed six years in advance. Eric originally thought that he would be replaced because the age was not suitable.

Rick's setting is that of a police sergeant, and the young actor's face was unconvincing as soon as he came out.

But after looking at his resume, I discovered that Andrew Lincoln was actually 31 years old. His face was not much different from the original time and space. He was neither old nor young.

Norman Reedus also plays the role of Brother Nu. This guy is 34 years old this year and his age is right. This charming role still fell on him.

Melissa McBride is still playing Kama. She is 38 years old this year and is Darabont’s old teammate. The bald man naturally contacted her immediately. Melissa also played in the movie "The Mist". Appeared.

In addition to these acquaintances, Eric also discovered an actor who surprised him a bit.

Green was originally played by Korean Steven Yeun, but this time he was replaced by Daniel Wu, a young actor from Hong Kong.

In fact, it doesn't matter that he is young. His resume shows that Daniel Wu is 29 years old this year, but his Asian appearance is more youthful.

After a scene was done, Frank Darabont came over.

"Eric, this is your first time on the set. I thought you had forgotten about the show."

Eric laughed: "How is that possible! This is a drama carefully created by MGM, and I was the main force to launch it. I just believe in you, Frank."

Darabont suddenly felt comfortable.

He took a big sip from the water glass handed by his assistant and said, "I know your purpose. You want to know the progress of the shooting, right? Don't worry, you will never miss the Emmy Awards."

"In a month and a half at most, I can produce at least the first six episodes. As for the next six episodes, we can just shoot and broadcast them."

"By the way, I kept forgetting to ask, you always said you can't miss the Emmy Awards. On which day do you plan to broadcast it specifically?"

Eric spread his hands: "This is what I'm here for, Frank. I need you to cut out the first episode as soon as possible so that I can sell the film."

Frank Darabont touched his ears, thinking he had heard wrong.

"Eric, hasn't MGM reached an agreement with the network yet?"

"No, but I am very confident in "The Walking Dead". It will definitely start a boom in the zombie genre. Whoever buys it will make money."

After being stunned for a moment, Darabont thought to himself that rich people still play the game and don't follow the rules at all.

But looking back on his filming during this period, he knew that MGM was indeed sure of this.

When these zombies run and bite on the TV screen, many people will go crazy for them.

"Well, you're in luck. I've almost finished editing the first episode and it will be released in two days, okay?"

"Of course, I have always trusted your ability."

Eric said and looked towards Daniel Wu: "This Chinese actor is good, his appearance is great, and his face is suitable for appearing on the big screen."

Darabont nodded in agreement: "Daniel Wu knows kung fu and is very strong. He can do many action scenes in one go. He is a great young man. Maybe he will become the next Jack Chen or Jet Lee."

"Well, remember to change your nationality to Chinese. People from several countries on the other side of the Taiwan Strait can clearly distinguish each other. Don't make a joke."

"Really? I feel like people from China, South Korea, RB and other countries all look similar."

"Then can you tell the difference between a German, a Norwegian and a Swede?"

Darabont shook his head: "I can only tell the difference between Canadians, Americans and Mexicans."

"Yes, it seems you understand this."

Nicole Kidman will appear after Chapter 5, so stay tuned.