Hollywood Hunter

Simon returned to Los Angeles. Because of the time difference, the East Coast of the United States was still on February 13th.

The Valentine’s Day schedule for 2000 has already started on February 11th. For Daenerys, except for Lena Kane and Annika Settle, who Simon paid special attention to, they are in charge of the new version of I’m Crazy for Mary. , On the same day, there was another romance film Hugging the Dawn starring American sweet sister Meg Ryan. And, on February 4th the previous week, there was also a crime action film produced by New Line Films starring the veteran Hollywood action man Jean-Claude Van Damme.

Among them, the production cost of the latecomer was 25 million U.S. dollars. The tough guys and beauties in Hollywood have a drag racing shootout, but their word of mouth is very good. And because of this, it got off to a good start and successfully entered the competition for the Valentine's Day schedule.

Besides, Embracing the Dawn, compared to the vulgar comedy type that I am crazy about Mary, which is only covered with a love skin, Meg Ryan's new work is a very orthodox romance film, telling about a pair of Manhattanites who also suffer from insomnia because of their respective pasts. A romantic story in which a man and a woman meet unexpectedly and then get to know each other, love each other and heal each other. Daenerys is released on the main part, with a production cost of 30 million US dollars. The premiere was held in advance. The word-of-mouth is average, and the comprehensive media score is 7.3 points.

However, because an episode in the film with the same title as Embracing the Dawn was unexpectedly very popular, the film also showed a good market prospect.

The last is I'm Crazy for Mary, the production cost is only 16 million US dollars, Daenerys has the lowest budget among the three films in the same period, and the word-of-mouth ban was lifted after the premiere, and the comprehensive media score of 6.3 is also the lowest word-of-mouth one department.

This made the publicity team of New World Pictures a little worried. After all, because of Simon's special attention, the distribution of this movie is also the strongest. Compared with the other two brother labels, it may be a bit ugly.

The subsequent facts once again proved Daenerys' current dominance in Hollywood, the kind of strength that even her own team is often not suitable for.

With the three-day weekend and the four-day popularity on Monday, February 14th, and a box office week from February 11th to February 17th, the weekly box office volume of the North American film market hit a small new high since the beginning of 2000. to $160 million.

Among them, the three films of Daenerys Entertainment directly occupied the top three.

At the top of the list is the most worrisome I'm Mad for Mary. This vulgar spoof comedy is not as good as Daenerys's other two films in terms of cost and word-of-mouth. American Pie, which claims to be an adult during the promotion stage, finally won the first prize after seven days of filming. It grossed $39.12 million at the box office.

A surprise is a real surprise.

Even if there is Jennifer Aniston, who also belongs to the American sweet sister who came out of Friends, but this obvious Saturday Night Live joke style, well, for many viewers who don’t like it, why can they get close to 4000 in a week? Ten thousand dollars at the box office is simply unreasonable.

Still, to some familiar with the current Hollywood landscape, it makes sense.

Because of the current Hollywood, the advantages of Daenerys Entertainment are all-round.

For example, in the production process, Daenerys can more easily attract the best filmmakers to join at a relatively lower cost, just like Jennifer Aniston this time, even though Friends is over, the appeal of 'Rachel' is normal. Under the circumstances, it is not a small-cost production of 16 million US dollars that can absorb it. However, because of Daenerys, 'Rachel' just joined.

Besides, publicity, with the media resources currently controlled by Daenerys and the entire Westeros system, the promotional cost of 1 million yuan for the films under the company's own company, as long as it is operated properly, the effect can be enlarged to 5 million or even 10 million yuan, which is easy.

In comparison, even if it is also a big Hollywood studio, such as Paramount or Disney, which is currently weak, and spends 10 million on announcements, the best result is only 10 million. Once they face off against Daenerys, With a little manipulation here, 10 million will shrink to 5 million or even lower in a blink of an eye.

Finally, with regard to distribution, even though most theaters in the United States are operating independently at this stage, unless they don’t want to get more copies of popular movies from Daenerys, otherwise, for all of Daenerys Entertainment’s Movies, all major theaters must provide the highest quality screening halls and the most golden time for film scheduling, and even more posters of Daenerys' films must be posted in the theater halls.

All the results, very simple, are still ebb and flow.

This time I am crazy about Mary, which is another proof of the result. Then, maybe in other studios, even if it accidentally fits the audience's taste, the box office volume in the first week is probably only 20 to 30 million. Under Daenerys' all-round strong announcement, it directly soared to nearly 4,000. million box office.

Immediately afterwards, Hugging the Dawn, which ranked second on the list, did the same.

Since Sleepless in Seattle, Meg Ryan has been somewhat tepid in the past few years. In addition, the rise of super blockbusters has squeezed the living space of other types of films, and the trend of falling coffee positions is obvious. The re-cooperation with Daenerys this time is also to maintain her precarious position in the film industry. Therefore, Meg Ryan is very concerned about it from the early preparations to the recent announcement.

The performance of the film did not disappoint Mei Tian.

In the first week of painting, Embracing the Dawn earned $36.45 million at the box office, second only to I'm Crazy for Mary, surpassing its own production cost of $30 million in one fell swoop.

Moreover, considering that the genre of the film is likely to last longer than the popcorn attribute, I'm Mad for Mary, and it will last until the resumption

Before the Easter Festival, there will be no strong competitors. It is not impossible for Embrace Liming to achieve a counterattack and enter the 100 million box office club.

Then, the third place on the list is New Line Cinema's latecomer.

In the second week of release, due to the schedule of Valentine’s Day, even though it is also a genre action movie with strong popcorn attributes, the latecomer still reaped a very good 29% drop, continuing to earn 18.93 million US dollars, and the cumulative box office reached 45.76 million. US dollars, the production cost of 25 million US dollars has basically been recovered.

The local box office is expected to be around US$70 million, which will enable New Line to recover all its investment and enter a profit cycle just through distribution in local theaters.

Going on, the fourth place on the list is in stark contrast.

It is also a romantic comedy produced by Paramount, Bride in Paris. The heroine is Julia Roberts, who just passed my best friend's wedding a year ago and once again proved her appeal in romantic movies. After taking good care of yourself and controlling your figure, you will definitely be the handsome 'Dude' Jeff Bridges. Back then, in the Baker Brothers movie, men were all staring at Michelle Pfeiffer, and women would definitely not forget Bridges. Moreover, just looking at the title of the film, the story also takes place in the romantic capital of Paris, which obviously has a natural attraction for lovers on Valentine's Day.

In addition, the production cost of 35 million US dollars is higher than Daenerys's three films, and the word-of-mouth is not bad, with a comprehensive media score of 7.6. As a result, in the first week of filming, The Parisian Bride only won a box office of 16.53 million US dollars, which was not even as good as Jean-Claude Van Damme's action film in the second week of the new line's release.

why?

Just looking at the comparison of screens, the No. 1 I am Mary Mania has 3,265 screens, while Paramount, which only released this film during the same period, only got 2,127 screens, so it can be seen.

Los Angeles, Point Dume Estate.

After the warm Valentine's Day, for Simon, it is his 32nd birthday on February 22.

The simple arrangements were determined in advance, and only close relatives and friends were invited. After the list was finalized, it still reached the level of hundreds of people. Therefore, the night at the Shell Villa was still lively.

Inside the lobby of Shell Villa.

Simon patiently entertained all the way, and came to a sofa by the glass curtain wall facing the sea. Several women were sitting around teasing the little one in Nancy Brill's arms. In a blink of an eye, Alex West, who was half a year old, Luo grew up very quickly, no longer the "little mouse" that Janet teased at the beginning, chubby like a doll, the kind that anyone who saw it wanted to pinch.

What makes Nancy a little bit regretful is that, after spending a lot of time, the small executive still failed to discover the genius attributes of his son who may be similar to Seattle. He has been born for six months, and he still only knows how to pronounce it. , is normal for children.

After greeting several women, there was no vacant seat here, and no one intended to give way to him. Simon casually sat down on the armrest of the sofa next to Catherine Bigelow, and handed the red wine in his hand to the other side. Sophia Fisher, who came to North America because of the ongoing New York Fashion Week on the sofa, leaned on the back of the sofa and leaned slightly towards the woman who was obviously a little moved by the little guy in Nancy's arms. She smiled and lowered her head. He asked softly, "Are you envious?"

"Yeah," Catherine, who is used to sitting upright, just turned her head slightly, looked at Simon, responded softly, and said directly: "However, I already have two godsons, Moore and Nick, who are my godsons. child, so don't think about anything."

Simon just smiled, looking at Catherine's exquisite face that has hardly changed over the years, feeling the faint feminine fragrance, and continued softly: "What am I thinking?"

Catherine rolled her eyes at the little man beside her, but when she looked at the sample face close at hand that seemed to have changed little over the years, she suddenly felt so inexplicably touched that he leaned over and kissed her on the forehead without dodging , just blamed again, glanced at Janet who was still socializing with Amy Pascal in the crowd not far away, her voice became softer, with nostalgia, in fact, she wanted to raise her hand to touch the little man's face, in the end restraint, Said: "I really didn't expect that the little boy who rode the car all the way back then would become today's Simon Westeros."

Simon also had some nostalgia, but he raised his head slightly pretending to be complacent: "Do you really admire me?"

Catherine just rolled her eyes again: "Big capitalist."

Simon pushed his body towards Catherine, wanting her to squeeze him out of a seat, but was rejected, so he could only continue to sit on the armrest and said with a smile: "Actually, as a radical leftist, I have always been worried that you would regard me as a The class enemy is coming."

"I'm a leftist. Although I tend to be anarchist, I'm not a radical leftist," Catherine retorted, then paused, glanced at Jennifer and Nancy next to her, retracted her gaze, and said, "Also, you, these years , and made me think a lot.”

"Um?"

"About our generation," Catherine said, but she didn't want to continue, because deep down, she didn't want the little man around her to have the idea that he and she should be counted as two generations, so in the end it was just A soft sentence: "Did you know that the year I was born, The Catcher in the Rye also happened to be published."

Simon nodded, probably understanding what Catherine wanted to say, or, he could also understand a little bit, what Catherine felt from himself.

Catherine is a typical baby boomer in the United States. In 1951, The Catcher in the Rye was published, so she grew up in the 1950s and 1960s when the economy exploded in the United States but the spirit was confused. The doomsday clock could reset anytime

Fear, madness, indulgence, and even more confusion.

Then, the Soviet Union disintegrated, and a new era seemed to come. The previous generation also entered the age of forty, and most of them went back to life. Looking back, I realized that I probably gave up, lost, and missed too much. .

Unfortunately, life cannot be repeated.

At least for everyone else in this world besides Simon, that's probably the case.

Bowing again and getting closer, Simon put his arms around the woman on the other side, and said with a smile: "Then let's make a movie, take a picture of what you were thinking just now."

Following the strength of the little man beside her, Catherine leaned forward slightly, and subconsciously shook her head when she heard this: "I don't want to spend your money, in case it doesn't sell at the box office."

Simon is considerate: "I will help you attract investment and cheat other people's money."

So dissatisfied, Catherine raised her head and stared at it: "Are you sure I won't be able to sell at the box office?"

Simon raised his empty hand as a gesture of surrender: "Okay, my fault."

Catherine curled her lips, thinking of recent events: "During this time, during the Valentine's Day schedule, Daenerys' movie has squeezed out other movies enough, and I've heard complaints."

"Slowly, they get used to it."

""

Catherine felt the natural contemptuous tone of the little man, thought for a while, and still curled her mouth: "Then, you help me write the script, and I will shoot it, about, um, our era."

Simon didn't refuse either: "What kind of thinking do you want?"

Catherine also thought about it again, and said, "That's right, like the catcher in the rye."

"This has already been filmed," Simon said, "There is no need to repeat it."

"No." Catherine wasn't sure if she remembered correctly, "It seems that Salinger refused to make his film into a movie, and he is still alive."

"I mean," Simon said deliberately, before continuing: "The taxi driver is actually the catcher in the rye. The atmosphere and mood in the film are the same. Why don't we arrange it tomorrow night?" A private movie viewing, reviewing the classics?"

Catherine thought for a while, and suddenly realized that it was true.

Jewels come first.

Immediately feeling even less confident, he could only look at someone.

Simon thought about it for a while and said: "Actually, if you want to do it, you can try to make a documentary. There must be enough material about that era. The name, um, is called our era. It just so happens that this year is the millennium. If you make it in time, we can release it at the end of the year and win an Oscar next year."

Catherine was originally moved, but at the end, she couldn't help but give someone a blank look.

Big capitalist.

However, he quickly nodded.

At least, it doesn't cost him too much money. Moreover, compared to movies with a lot of restrictions, after all, two hours and a story can't tell much after all. Documentary, the same two hours, but can add more elements, this is undoubtedly the best choice.

Thinking of this, looking up at a certain little man, inexplicably gave birth to some women's insatiable advances in front of the man they love: "You help me do it together."

Simon was easy to speak and nodded readily: "No problem."