Hollywood Director 1992.

Chapter 382 The Devil's Advocate

The 'threatening email' controversy gradually subsided after four or five days in the media, without affecting the film crew's shooting schedule.

In late April, filming for "The Rock" officially wrapped up, and Link took the crew back to Los Angeles for editing and post-production.

As April arrives and the summer movie season approaches, competition in the North American film market is intensifying.

Guess the Movies had six films in theaters in April, including those released in the first three months: The Anatomy of Grey, Casino Rush, Trainspotting, Hachi: A Dog's Tale, Give Me a Dad, and Dangerous Games.

The first two films still didn't gross much, accumulating $34.3 and $41.5 respectively.

Trainspotting grossed $1545 million in North America, a 5-to-1 profit ratio, classifying it as a blockbuster film.

"Hachi: A Dog's Tale" grossed $7205 million in its first seven weeks in North America and over $3500 million in its month-long run in overseas markets, bringing its total box office to over $4 million. The box office return was more than four times, making it a box office success.

"Give Me a Dad" is a Czech film that James Schamus bought at the Berlin Film Festival. It was released in early April and grossed $472 million in North America over three weeks.

The film's North American rights cost $150 million and it has already started generating profits for the company. In addition, the film has received positive reviews, which has also added some positive publicity to the films distributed by GuessSee Pictures.

The sixth film, Dangerous Games, is a movie in which Michelle Pfeiffer starred and produced.

The film, also known as "The Extraordinary Teacher," is based on a true story.

The story revolves around Luan, a female protagonist who retires from the Marine Corps after nine years of service and becomes a high school teacher. Her class consists of a group of troubled students with various social and family problems. Luan helps her students overcome their difficulties through her own methods.

With a production cost of $4200 million, the film grossed $2193 million in its opening week in 1348 theaters, becoming the top-grossing film of the week. It also received relatively good reviews and is expected to be another blockbuster.

After April, Guess What Films will have three more films entering the promotional period: The Internet, Rush Hour, and Final Destination 2, as well as two films co-promoted with Columbia Pictures: The Mask of Zorro and The Fifth Element, and Link's new film, Batman Forever, which he needs to promote.

These films will all be released during the summer holiday season, along with other blockbuster films from other film companies.

This includes the 20th Century Fox science fiction film "Independence Day".

Mission: Impossible was co-produced by Paramount Pictures and Tom Cruise.

Universal Pictures' "The Fat Professor" and "Dragonheart," and MGM's comedy films "The Birdcage" and "The King's Bowl."

Warner Bros.' "A Time to Kill" and "Evaporate," Disney's "Basic Instinct" and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame," Columbia Pictures' "The King's Man," and so on.

Due to the increase in costs in recent years, such as labor costs, salaries, and post-production special effects, the production and marketing costs of Hollywood films have also increased significantly.

Between 1985 and 1990, the average production cost of a film released in North America was approximately $1509 million, while in the last three years, the average production cost has increased to $1857 million.

Under these circumstances, the number of high-budget films with a production cost exceeding $5000 million has increased in the Hollywood film market.

The consequence is more intense competition at the box office. In order to recoup costs, film companies will promote the film vigorously during its release to increase its popularity.

At the same time, high investment means high risk; if the production company fails to recoup its costs, it is highly likely to lose money.

"Link, here's the first quarter's film production situation, along with four additional films and their budgets. What do you think?"

In the office, Daniel DeVito walked in with a folder and plopped down in the chair opposite the desk.

How's the filming of "Fight Club" going? Is it progressing smoothly?

Link took the folder and flipped through it.

"Not bad. David Fincher is a good director. We're more than halfway through filming, and it should be finished in about a month."

"very nice."

Originally, Link was going to direct "Fight Club" himself, but due to time constraints, the production team had to reselect a director and finally chose the original director, David Fincher. The male lead was Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Angelina Jolie, Casey Affleck, and others.

The production cost was $5500 million, with Guess Movies and Miramax each contributing half.

Daniel DeVito's three new film projects are the thriller "The Devil's Advocate", the crime comedy "Nothing to Lose", Steven Soderbergh's new film "Mastermind", and Thomas Anderson's new film "Boogie Nights".

"The Devil's Advocate" is a script tailor-made for Keanu Reeves by WMA talent agency. They submitted it to Guessing Movies seeking collaboration, hoping that Link would direct it himself.

Link glanced at the script; the story was alright, but it wasn't to his taste.

He won't direct either.

"Nothing to Lose" is Tim Robbins' new film, a low-budget comedy that was approved by the production department after review.

Link had no recollection of the film, but he noticed that it had a low budget and was approved by the production department.

At the beginning of the year, he said that he would delegate more authority to the production department in the future. The company's film projects would shift from his personal responsibility to a producer-led system.

Those who perform well will receive a share of the box office revenue as a bonus, while those who perform poorly will have their bonuses deducted.

He only reviews medium- to high-budget film projects, freeing up more time to make movies.

The remaining books, "Mastermind" and "Boogie Nights," were also quite good, and Link signed them as well.

With these four films, plus Final Destination 3, Julia Roberts' Best Friend's Wedding, Ang Lee's new film Ice Storm, Madonna's film project Evita submitted at the end of the year, and Tornatore's The Legend of 1900.

This year, Guess What Films produced 22 films independently or in co-production, a number that represents the limit of the company's current production capabilities.

"Link, the new millennium is approaching. The marketing department has made predictions based on their research, and they believe that science fiction and disaster movies will be quite popular in the next few years. They've suggested that we make these kinds of movies. There are a few stories in your novel 'Interstellar' that would be great to adapt. Do you have any plans?"

Daniel DeVito adjusted his glasses and asked.

“科幻灾难电影？”

"Yes, it's not just our company that's making this prediction. The seven major film studios have already started preparing to produce this kind of film. For example, Universal Pictures' 'Cataclysm' stars Pierce Brosnans and is said to have a production cost of over $100 million. There are also Columbia Pictures' 'Starship Troopers' and 'Men in Black,' and Paramount Pictures and Fox are also making similar moves."

Link nodded. This year is 1996, less than four years away from 2000. 2000 was the last year of the 20th century, and also a rather significant year.

At such important junctures, interesting rumors tend to emerge in the media and public discourse, including doomsday scenarios and alien invasions, and movies and TV series based on these themes become popular.

"Adapting science fiction movies is also a good idea. The production department can first collect scripts and stories of this genre. We can even look at stories from 'Interstellar.' After the adaptation is completed, we can give the script to you for review. In addition, special effects technology is developing very rapidly now, so we can also consider adapting comic book characters from Marvel Entertainment. In terms of adaptation methods, we can refer to Warner Bros.' 'Batman'."

Link said.

Daniel DeVito nodded in agreement.

After seeing Daniel off, Link called Joe Ferrer, the head of the company's development planning, to inquire about the progress of the acquisition of Carlock Pictures.

Since its release last year, Cutthroat Island has only grossed $2400 million worldwide. With production and marketing costs combined, Carlock Pictures has lost more than $1 million.

Adding to its existing debts, Carlock Pictures declared bankruptcy in February.

Warner Bros., MGM, Fox, and others are planning to acquire Carlock, and Guess what? Studio Ghibli is also interested, with several companies currently bidding against each other.

Because Guessing Game was already quite powerful, the seven major film studios were reluctant to see Guessing Game Studios continue to expand. When it came to acquiring Carlock, the seven major film studios were quite proactive and determined to succeed.

After hearing this, Link said that they could continue to raise prices and be more assertive, as the company had plenty of money.

Joe Ferrer said he understood.

After hanging up the phone, Link called directors Quentin Tarantino, Robert Pattinson, Richard Linklater, and others to inquire about the progress of their new films and to urge them to be more diligent and spend more time on their movies.

Quentin was grumbling on the phone, saying he had recently written several scripts but felt they were all bad, and that his next film was "Kill Bill".

"Kill Bill? Not bad. Have you done a budget? If you need investment, you can contact Guess Movies."

Link said, fiddling with his pen.

"Are you sure you want to invest? Lawrence and I have done a preliminary budget. If we film it according to the script, the production cost will be at least 40 million US dollars, which is a huge investment."

"It's not much. As long as the filming is good, it doesn't matter if it costs a little more."

Link said calmly.

"My last film cost $12 million, but only grossed a little over $4 million in North America, causing Miramax to lose tens of millions of dollars. This time, with an investment of $40 to $50 million, aren't you worried that I'll botch this project?"

Quentin chuckled.

"It's okay, go ahead and shoot. It's a small project worth tens of millions. Guess what, the film company doesn't lack that kind of money."

"."

Quentin, upon hearing his 'bold words,' was speechless, unable to utter a word.

"You should prepare the film shooting plan first, and then bring it over for approval. It's best to act quickly and not put off until next year."

Without waiting for Quentin to say anything more, Link hung up the phone, got up and went to the studio to continue editing the movie "The Rock". He spent three weeks editing the movie and handed it over to the special effects department for post-production.

(End of this chapter)