hollywood draw

In the past three weeks, "The Matrix" not only achieved a box office of nearly US$170 million in North America, but also successfully held the position of weekly box office champion twice in a row.

The film also performed well in the overseas theater market. In the region led by five English friends, fans have given this action science fiction blockbuster with a strong cyberpunk style.

Of course, this is an R-level film after all, and the audience problem does exist objectively, and the reputation of the film is not as good as that of North America.

The main controversy is actually the Internet. The concept of network that appears in movies is not difficult for North American audiences to understand. The land has a very high acceptance of computers and networks, but after expanding this range to the whole world, things are not that simple.

In the mid-to-late 1990s, the Internet was considered a relatively unfamiliar word in many parts of the world. In many smaller European countries, movie fans did not understand what the Internet was.

The reason why more movie fans are willing to go to the theater is entirely because of the novel fighting scenes in the film, the alternative special effects, the handsome men and beautiful women under the rich cyberpunk style, and the pleasure brought to them by the movie.

"The overseas box office is conservatively estimated to be around 150 million US dollars, plus the 170 million US dollars in North America, the performance of "The Matrix" completely exceeded our expectations." Jeff Robinoff did not talk about Paramount and Mission Impossible, but instead brought the topic to "The Matrix".

"The predictions made within the company are relatively close to the results given by third-party forecast companies. They all believe that the global box office of "The Matrix" will be around $400 million."

“Box office numbers are far from the most important ones!”

Bruce Rosenblum lit his cigar and swung his hands to the blowtorch from the coffee table to Wayne. He first closed his eyes and enjoyed a large scent of fragrance. When the smoke came out of his nose, he continued:

"For this "The Matrix", the main revenue is the peripherals, and the offline channels after the downstream operation. The box office share of the theaters, which end up in our hands, accounts for less than 10% of the total profit. Wayne, you are going to make a big profit this time, how about it, when will you prepare to treat you?"

“How is Saturday?”

Wayne's happy promise came out, and when he closed his eyes after lighting the cigar with a blowtorch like Bruce Rosenblum, the director of distribution and CEO were stunned.

Everyone could hear that Bruce Rosenblum's words just made fun of each other's relationship, but unexpectedly they received a positive response.

At this time, Nina, who had been silent, opened her leather briefcase and took out three formal invitations from it. With the surprised eyes of the two, she put them on the coffee table in front of them.

"Wow, a celebration party for our little princess!" Jeff Robinoff picked it up and understood what was going on. "You came here today to give this item?"

"There are reasons for this." Wayne opened his eyes comfortably and savored the aroma of fruit in his mouth. Until now, he slowly adapted to enjoying cigars.

"Bruce, I'll give you the extra copy to John. The party will not be too large. It's only us, you see, will you come to treat you like?"

"Huh, it seems that I'm going to have a headache these two days. What kind of gift should I choose for our little princess..." Bruce Rosenblum deliberately elongated his voice. Everyone present understood in his heart that it was he deliberately pulling into the relationship between the two parties.

"Just don't give money." Wayne shrugged, his face full of pride, "I have made a lot of money for Fendi. Okay, let's talk about the serious business. What do you think about the second and third part of the Matrix?"

This is his main purpose today. A few days ago, the repeated temptations between Steven Spielberg and Townsend Rossman made him feel alarmed. Wayne had reason to believe that there were more people staring at Zach Schneider.

The main creative team of "The Matrix" ended its overseas publicity journey yesterday and all returned to Los Angeles and disbanded.

Jeff Robinoff put away his smile, tightened the muscles on his face, and said, "We must continue shooting. There is no doubt that we can't let this series that can create profits of billions of dollars, and drag it on indefinitely. My opinion is that it's best to start the preparations for the second part as soon as possible!"

"What do you think of the second and third sets?" Wayne had long thought of getting support, so he simply expressed his thoughts.

Bruce Rosenblum squinted and said, "I think you can consider that there are many benefits of shooting in sets. It can save a lot of production funds and reduce the pay of the main creators of the crew. However, the greater risks caused by shooting in sets are not ignored."

As he said, filming is a common method in Hollywood, and there are definitely many benefits. For example, a stable crew creator is conducive to maintaining a consistent production level of the film. Continuous shooting can save some of the capital investment. When the two films discuss contracts with the creator together, it is also conducive to price reduction.

But there are also considerable risks. The conventional practice of Hollywood production companies is to summarize the success factors and commercial selling points of a movie after it is successful, and then continue shooting with the same routine.

If the video fails, then naturally all subsequent plans will be sent to the cold palace because they need to stop the loss in time.

The biggest risk of set-up shooting is here, and production companies have no chance of trial and error. If the second part of the theater market of "The Matrix" is cold or encounters a box office dark horse, strong competitors in the same period will not be without the possibility of failing.

Every movie seems to be gambling before it is released, and no one can guarantee what will happen. Perhaps just a little bit of social factors can make the box office of the film very different.

For example, the year before 9/11, countless Hollywood film companies produced war films, horror films, plasma films, etc. with violent and war scenes will be left unattended because of the collapse of the Twin Towers and the North American people fell into anti-war sentiment.

This kind of accident happens all the time. Who can guarantee that all the flopped videos are shoddy things?

However, Sony Columbia was lucky and successfully created Spider-Man to save the world in the summer of 9/11. At that time, the North American people were extremely disgusted with war and blood, and wished that everyone would be anti-war.

So this superhero who saved the world received cheers from countless ordinary movie fans. Other Hollywood companies also realized that people needed superheroes, and then countless comic characters were successfully brought to the big screen and all achieved remarkable box office results.

"Wayne, come back and talk to Zach first."

Jeff Robinoff thought a lot and understood that if the filming of "The Matrix" is to ensure success as much as possible, it mainly depends on the reaction of Zach Schneider.

Now the first movie directed in North America has a box office of over 100 million yuan. No one knows what Zach Schneider, who is so popular in the circle, thinks. Whether he will expand and change his mind because of sudden great success is possible.

"I will talk to him. I hope Zach is not boasted by the media, praises, and is confused." Wayne shook his head. This was just one aspect of his concern. He believed that there were countless temptations when getting off the plane from Los Angeles International Airport, and it was placed in front of Zach Schneider.

"The project review and investment of the last two films of "The Matrix" is not a problem for the company. As long as you handle Zach Schneider, I promise to promote all the preliminary work as soon as possible." Jeff Robinoff looked at Wayne beside him, and didn't say something, so he winked at Bruce Rosenblum as soon as possible.

Regarding the issue of "The Matrix", the two Warner Bros. executives reached a tacit understanding early in the morning, so Bruce Rosenblum asked directly without any hesitation: "Wayne, should the investment model of the last two movies be used in the first movie?

If possible, Greenberg Studio and Warner Bros. each spend half of the money, and the film distribution work will be handed over to the company's distribution department. Of course, the copyright must also belong to Warner Bros. Just like when the first film was released, Warner Bros. and Greenberg Studio each account for 50% of all the profits generated after the movie was released..."

When it comes to business, the Warner Bros. executive changed into another expression, without the enthusiasm he had just now.

The last two plots of this series are destined to be much more successful than the first one, which is something that everyone in the circle can see. The first part of "The Matrix" mainly weaves a world background and lays a solid foundation for the subsequent sequels.

The investment ratio and returns involved, each additional percentage point or less, represents a huge benefit that ordinary people cannot make in their entire lives.

When it comes to business, Bruce Rosenblum and Jeff Robinoff will only completely consider Warner Bros. They will not relax because of their personal relationship with Wayne, nor will they regard him as a major shareholder of their company.

"Ha, it seems you are really afraid of Jimmy!" Wayne's teasing voice sounded, and the smile on his face temporarily broke the solemn atmosphere just now. "Don't worry, I will explain to Jimmy. No matter how successful the first part is, the cooperation model of the last two parts will not change. Greenberg Studio only gets the investment ratio he deserves and the subsequent short-term income will be enough."

It is obvious that these two executives of Warner Bros. represent the concerns of most shareholders, fearing that Wayne would once again speak out because of the huge profits of the first part, asking for more investment ratios.

Seeing that he didn't want more, the two executives breathed a sigh of relief at the same time. Yes, Wayne was still as greedy as ever, but he still maintained the bottom line of equal benefits, which was one of the reasons why he quickly achieved great success.