American fame and fortune

The Thanksgiving holiday is coming soon. "Beauty and the Beast", co-invested by Disney Pictures and Davis Studio, will be released in North America a week before Thanksgiving.

The production cost of this live-action fairy tale movie is as high as 150 million US dollars.

The premiere of the film was held in Disneyland in California.

Once such a film is successful, the box office and DVD revenue are secondary, and various peripheral products are the main source of profit.

The profit of Elsa's skirt can make countless top productions with an investment of 200 million US dollars cry until there are no tears.

Martin and Alan Horn attended the premiere of the movie together.

However, neither of them walked the red carpet.

Standing at the entrance of the Disney Theater, Alan Horn said: "Pirates of the Caribbean premiered here."

Martin smiled: "From the pre-sale point of view, Beauty and the Beast is much stronger than Pirates in terms of business."

Alan Horn said: "Disney has prepared millions of Belle's skirts."

The film and the peripherals are selling well, and both sides can make profits. Martin said: "From the feedback data from all aspects, this film will be a strong contender for the global box office champion this year."

The market response of Beauty and the Beast, just as Martin and Alan Horn said, was a big hit when it was released.

On the first day of its release in North America, it set a single-day box office record in November - 67.77 million US dollars!

The corresponding weekend opening record in November in North American film history was also won by Beauty and the Beast, with a box office figure of 178 million US dollars!

The audience reputation of the film is also very good.

"After being poisoned by dark fairy tale movies for more than a decade, I finally saw a real live-action fairy tale movie. Beauty and the Beast is what a fairy tale movie should be."

"This is the fairy tale in my memory!"

Beauty and the Beast has become the most successful live-action fairy tale movie in Hollywood. By Christmas, its North American box office exceeded $450 million and its global box office was close to $1 billion.

According to the prediction of authoritative market institutions, the North American box office of the film will be more than $500 million, and the global box office may be as high as $1.3 billion.

Even more amazing than the box office is that the film's peripheral products are killing it in the global market.

In just one month, Belle's skirts sold more than 5 million, with sales of $180 million.

As for other peripheral products, the sales are also amazing.

This is the power of Disney.

The huge success of Beauty and the Beast also strengthened the determination of Disney Pictures.

Anya Taylor-Joy, recommended by Martin, won the role of Cinderella after an audition.

At the same time, the real animal version of The Lion King, in which Davis Studio participated in the investment, and the live-action version of The Jungle Book were all pushed into preparation by Disney Pictures.

Saoirse Ronan became famous and firmly entered the Hollywood front line.

…………

After the Christmas holiday, Martin returned to Los Angeles from Atlanta, and Hollywood was still in turmoil.

On Vihill Street in Beverly Hills, near the main entrance of the Academy's office building, hundreds of black people and LGBTQ people sat in protest for several consecutive days, urging the Academy to implement the promised diversity reform as soon as possible.

This wave is bound to affect the voting for this year's Oscars.

In the office of the chairman of the executive committee, Tom Sherak stood in front of the window, looking at the protest signs on the road, feeling a little headache, and said to the person next to him: "They are really noisy, just like the most bad students in the school, who will make a big fuss if they are not satisfied."

Katherine Kennedy's eyes were on the reporters who were constantly filming around, and said: "This is not entirely a bad thing. The mainstream media in North America have been reporting in recent days. The award season has returned to its previous excitement. This year's Oscars will definitely attract much attention."

Tom Sherak could certainly think of the impact in this regard: "What's going on with the Koreans?"

Katherine Kennedy simply said: "Three crews have invested Tens of millions of dollars are being spent to promote the film in Los Angeles, and activities are being held to lobby judges. "

Tom Sherak nodded slightly: "It seems that internationalization and diversity are the answers to restore the glory of the Oscars."

"For now, yes." As the CEO of Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy sees some things more clearly: "Internationalization is easy to say, but who knows how long diversity can last. It may be backfired in a few years."

She smiled: "The mainstream social groups are actually very resistant to these things."

Tom Sherak can't care about it for so long: "It's useful for the time being, so we'll use it first."

If the Oscars don't pull it up again, the ratings will be unbearable.

Against this background, "Moonlight Boy" has become the darling of Hollywood, and the media has praised it. People in the industry say that it has captured the soul.

The limelight of "Spotlight" has gradually been suppressed by this special film.

In the current social environment, the shabby things of church priests cannot compare to the troubles of LGBTQ people.

The influence of "Split" is also great.

Martin spent tens of millions of dollars on publicity, marketing and public relations. A large professional public relations team not only lobbied North American judges, but also overseas actor judges.

Having money may not necessarily win an Oscar, but it can solve most of the obstacles in the process of winning the award.

In addition, among all the films involved in the heavyweight award, "Split" also has the largest audience.

Martin's new film has been released in North America for two and a half months, with a cumulative North American box office of 237 million US dollars and overseas box office exceeding 200 million US dollars.

The film is still being released overseas, and the global box office is expected to hit 500 million US dollars.

During this period, the reputation of "Split" has declined, and the most intuitive is that the IMDB score has dropped to 8.3 points.

However, Martin's role is getting more and more popular, from the Hollywood industry to the North American media to ordinary audiences, all are praise.

All prediction agencies believe that Martin is the first favorite candidate for this year's Oscar for Best Actor.

Even the gambling agencies in Las Vegas have suspended betting on Martin's winning.

Although the New Year of 2016 has arrived, the situation of the awards season has become clearer. Among the candidates for Best Actor, the only ones who can really compete with Martin are Tom Hanks in "Bridge of Spies", Eddie Redmayne in "The Danish Girl", and Michael Fassbender in "Steve Jobs".

The male lead of "Moonlight" did not apply for this award at all.

Martin's philosophy has always been simple and direct. If he wants to win an award at the award ceremony, he must do all the work in advance.

If he can't even apply for an award and is not eligible for nomination, what can he use to compete?

After Martin got the Oscar ballot, because Leonardo was still filming in Canada, he did not conduct fair voting. Except for his own and Aniston's films, most of the other eligible awards he chose were familiar people or movie names.

There was no way, he hadn't seen most of the candidate films, so he could only use this simple and convenient method.

This is also the ultimate goal of Oscar publicity, because statistics over the years show that more than 60% of Oscar judges will not watch the candidate films at all.

In this way, if they choose to vote, familiarity is very important.

Throwing millions of dollars for publicity, the goal is to be familiar in the eyes of most judges.

As the award season progressed, Martin almost swept all the best actor awards for the outpost.

Independent awards such as the Film Critics Association Award and the People's Choice Award, led by Los Angeles and New York, awarded Martin the best actor.

At the TV and Movie Golden Globe Awards held in mid-January, Martin successfully won the Best Actor in a Drama.

The Screen Actors Guild Awards, the real vane of the Oscars for acting, also announced the results of the awards, and Martin won the Best Acting Award again.

All these indicate that Martin is getting closer and closer to his second Oscar for Best Actor in his life.

The prerequisite is to get the ticket, which is the Oscar nomination.

In the Davis studio, people gathered in the large conference room.

Martin's agent Thomas, manager Bruce, two directors of the studio Jessica and Emily, plus producer Louise, all stared at the TV.

The screen had already turned to ABC TV, and the president of the Academy Tom Sherak and Emily Blunt announced the list of nominees for this year.

The list soon reached the Best Actor.

"Bridge of Spies, Tom Hanks; Steve Jobs, Michael Fassbender; Split, Martin Davis..."

There was applause and cheers in the conference room.

Thomas and Martin bumped fists.

Louise hugged Martin and asked, "Hold a party tonight?"

Martin immediately rejected it: "The party will be held when we win the award."

Bruce whispered, "Martin doesn't like to open champagne at halftime."

"That's easy to fail." Martin said casually, "Before you get the Best Actor Oscar, anything is possible."

Louise nodded slightly: "When you win the Best Actor Award, I will hold a big celebration party for you."

The Oscar nomination list was announced, and the people in the conference room congratulated Martin and then dispersed one after another.

Louise followed Martin into his office, came to the reception area and sat on the sofa chair, saying: "This year's Oscars are much more lively than last year. Black people are making trouble, LGBTQ groups are demanding reforms from the Academy, and Koreans are spending money like crazy in Los Angeles to win awards. I feel that there is a hand behind the scenes pushing it."

Martin said: "Your feeling is right. The hand behind the scenes is from the Academy Executive Committee."

Louise said: "I don't know what the Oscars will look like in the end."

The intercom on the desk rang, Martin went to answer it, and the assistant's voice rang: "Miss Saoirse Ronan is here."

Martin said: "Let her in."

Louise looked at her watch: "I'm leaving first. Remember to come to Sherman Oakes to find me these two days."

Martin waved his hand: "Got it."

Louise went out and turned the corridor, and happened to meet Saoirse Ronan.

With "Beauty and the Beast" becoming the annual box office champion in North America and the world, Saoirse is currently very popular.

But when she saw Louise coming over, she immediately smiled and took the initiative to greet her: "Good afternoon, Ms. Mel."

"Long time no see, Saoirse." Louise stopped, looked at Saoirse for a moment, and said directly: "I have a project here, a lesbian theme, and I need two actresses, one middle-aged and one young. Kate Winslet has agreed to play one of the heroines..."

Saoirse quickly said: "Ma'am, please inform my agent directly about the role script and the specific audition process."

Although she knows that she is in Louise's sight because she is currently very popular, she will not be stupid enough to refuse such a top female producer in the industry: "I can audition for the crew at any time."

Louise nodded with satisfaction: "You have done well recently, keep it up, and wish you good luck."

"Thank you." Saoirse watched Louise enter the elevator, then gently pressed her chest to calm down a little, and went to Martin's office.

Martin asked: "Why do you have time to come here today?"

Saoirse smiled: "Congratulations on your Oscar nomination for Best Actor."

Martin said casually: "This is not the first time I have been nominated, so there is nothing to congratulate."

"I'm going to Sacramento to film "Lady Bird" tomorrow." Saoirse looked at Martin: "I won't see the teacher for a long time."

Before Martin invested in "Lady Bird," he communicated with Greta Gerwig several times about the filming of the film and said: "Your director friend has great ideas, and long-term cooperation with her will be of great help to your career. "

Saoirse responded: "I have always been good friends with her."

She pondered for a moment and then added: "Greta revealed to me that when "Lady Bird" is completed, she wants to reshoot "Little Women."

This novel has been made into movies and TV series countless times. Martin was somewhat impressed and asked: "Is there a copyright issue involved?"

Saoirse has learned: "'Little Women' has already entered public copyright, and Greta plans to shoot a new version. How should I put it? Basically, she wants to show the independence of women."

"Let's do this. When "Lady Bird" is finished, you ask Greta to come to me to talk about new projects." Martin felt that if the investment in this film is controlled, the probability of profit is relatively high: "That director friend of yours , a lot of ideas.”

Saoirse smiled: "I know, without you, teacher, my relationship with her would not be as good as it is now."

When it was time to get off work, Martin and Saoirse left the studio together and went directly to the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.

Before arriving at the hotel, Anya Taylor-Joy called again and wanted to have a good discussion with Martin.

Saoirse was very considerate of the teacher and asked in a low voice: "Your little lover?"

Martin covered the phone: "Anya."

Saoirse knew who it was: "If she doesn't mind, you can let her come over, I don't mind."

Martin said a few words on the phone and Anya responded immediately.

When the two arrived at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Anya was already waiting inside the hotel.

The three of them entered the suite on the top floor together.

In the time leading up to the Oscars, each seeded contestant is still doing public relations promotions.

This time, because of black people and diversity, the academy seems to have relaxed its standards.

Movies are art, but the film industry is an industry.

Without market acceptance, the flower of art will wither.

How can the flower of art bloom more brilliantly?

In fact, there is a generally accepted answer in the film industry: use money to irrigate.