hollywood draw

"I heard that the script of the project "King Kong" was specially changed by Wayne for you?"

"Yes, the cause can actually be traced back to a few years ago. At that time, we were filming "Batman: The Moment of War". When the crew transferred to New York, we took advantage of the rare holiday, Wayne and we visited the entire Big Apple City like ordinary tourists.

When we climbed the Empire State Building together and sat in the rotating restaurant to eat, Wayne suddenly had a whim. Ha, you know, no one knows what Wayne was thinking in his mind. He was just curious at the time and wanted to try to get a gorilla to climb the Empire State Building.

After that, after filming "Batman: The Moment of War", he returned to Los Angeles. He adapted the script from the old movie "King Kong" decades ago..."

On the TV, Naomi Watts talked about the audience and the live broadcast camera, especially when the topic was tacitly involved in "King Kong" by the host, Naomi Watts even told a ridiculous story according to the prepared rhetoric.

It was just in this chat-style question-and-answer session that the audience's attention was inevitably transferred to "King Kong". Moreover, the performance of the program was even better than expected. At least many families who were used to watching "Tonight Show" were full of curiosity about this remake of "King Kong".

To a certain extent, local science fiction films like "King Kong" are the mainstream in the North American commercial market. This is also the factor that "King Kong" can be remade by various directors over the past few decades.

"Bruce Rosenblum's style has not changed at all. As long as it can market Warner Bros. movies, he is willing to use any means."

It was already completely dark. In a office with lights on, several executives in suits and ties and big belly were also watching the live broadcast of the TV.

The current 20th Century Fox Ceo Townsend Rossman leaned against the sofa with his legs crossed, holding a thick cigar in his hand and said casually:

"Bruce Rosenblum really didn't waste resources at all. He first consumed Wayne, and now he continued to consume Naomi Watts. This old guy has always been so skilled in attracting the public's attention."

"People only saw Wayne Greenberg's gossip news, but ignored the streets, theaters, videotape rental stores, TV stations, newspapers, radio stations, as long as the channels that can appear around the public are already full of information posters about "Wonder Woman".

The distribution manager of 20th Century Fox nodded, his expression was also full of randomness, and said, "It's unbelievable! Even in the stores around major mainstream movies, the various movies of "Wonder Woman" have been put on the shelves in advance. Look, within a week, the intensive publicity craze about "Wonder Woman" will definitely come as violent as a rainstorm."

Judging from the situation in Hollywood in the past two years, Twentieth Century Fox is one of the only six majors with good relationships with Warner Bros. Although the six majors are constantly circulating in cooperation and competition, objectively speaking, in the past two years, Twentieth Century Fox has had far more cooperation with Warner Bros.

Of course, the small frictions that should exist between the two companies have always existed. However, the cooperation in the general direction has indeed concealed some inconspicuous conflicts.

“Boss.”

The office door was knocked, and then Terry, who was already an executive of the distribution department, pushed the door and walked in. He glanced at the program on the TV and sat directly opposite Townsend Rossman, and reported:

"We have just communicated with the finance department, so we can only delay until May at the latest. According to the contract we signed at that time, before May, it will be the North American box office share deadline for Wayne Greenberg."

Hearing his words, the few people present frowned unconsciously. Obviously, no one, including Townsend Rossman, was willing to hand over the "huge sum" with pleasure.

It’s not the 20th Century Fox, they have never thought about it in terms of the share. After all, Wayne is not an outsider, and there is no chance of realization. What troubles Fox is actually the company’s insufficient working capital.

At this point in time, of course, they are not willing to easily release more than tens of millions of dollars.

"Townsen, you have always had a good relationship with that child." Fez Kriman, the shareholder representative sitting at the end of the sofa, looked at the head of Fox tentatively and said: "I heard that the child respects you privately. Can you talk to him and deliver the share a few months later?"

“It’s hard.”

Without waiting for Townsend Rossman to speak, Terry, who is the current CEA number one horseman, shook his head and retorted: "There has been news in the circle that Wayne Greenberg urgently needs a large amount of cash flow in order to start a large number of commercial projects in his studio as soon as possible. Some time ago, he rarely accepted some movie investments.

In recent times, Colin Howard, the accountant of Wayne Greenberg, who is like a vampire, wishes he would come to the company every two or three days to urge the share. I am afraid that even if the boss can ask Wayne Greenberg to have a private conversation, it will be difficult to get the other party to agree."

The box office of "X-Men" in North America was as high as $213 million. Putting aside the rest, just according to the producer's contract, 20% of it will be distributed to Wayne. This is by no means a small amount of money, especially for the current Twentieth Century Fox.

Due to the successful start of the series "X-Men", the second part of "X-Men" has been prepared by a team led by Bourne Singer.

The choice of Twentieth Century Fox is exactly the same as Warner Bros. This kind of sequel film with a success rate far higher than the failure. In order to avoid various disputes, they did not consider accepting external financing at all.

The investment amount of the second part of "X-Men" is as high as 110 million US dollars, which directly drained most of the working capital of 20th Century Fox. In fact, the second part is not bad, at least it can successfully start the project preparation work. The third part in the plan is what makes Fox executives extremely troubled.

If the second part is as popular as expected, by the time the third part is prepared, the actors will not be as good as they are now. Large-scale salary increases will definitely not be avoided, especially those with relatively high popularity.

In fact, the single "X-Men 2" will not make Fox's liquidity short, so I have to mention another key project "The Rest of the Desert Island".

To watch the type, such a drama with simple scenes should be the category of a low-cost movie. However, in order to ensure success rate, none of them can save money for Fox, from the director of the film to the main cast.

Director Robert Zemikis, the main actors include Oscar winner Tom Hanks, Oscar winner Helen Hunter and others. It can be said that the project has just entered the preparation period and its personnel salary has almost drained the blood of 20th Century Fox.

"Townsen, if we do it, we will be owed about three months..."

Boss Ive, an executive of the film and television production department, frowned and whispered: "Wayne Greenberg, you will definitely not have a quarrel with us easily. It only takes about three months before the company will receive payments from surrounding channels."

Townsend Rossman shook his head. "Boss, have you ever thought that if you delay for a while, the global share of the deadline will also be..."

Boss-Ive shrugged and complained: "Shit, let's just go and sell your butt together!"

This feeling is very bad. There are not many projects released this year in Twentieth Century Fox, but all the big projects that are being paid for are put into next year. Even at a certain moment, several executives recalled the embarrassment of the "Titanic" period.

"This is put in advance, and I will talk to Wayne on the phone in person."

He raised his wrist and looked at the time. It was already nine o'clock in the evening. Townsend Rossman waved his hand and ended the topic. He looked at everyone and said, "All the focus of our year is this "Star Wars". If we want to maximize our interests, then there must be a family between Disney or Warner Bros. who have completely gone to the abyss..."

That's right, seeing May is coming, it means that the summer war is about to begin. Twentieth Century Fox and Warner Bros. have actually reached a tacit understanding in private. At this time, some actions can be started.

To be honest, every weekend in the summer season is a period of extremely fierce competition. If you want to successfully break through, you will inevitably get a bayonet after the release of videos in the same period. Not to mention the others, just talk about the beginning of the summer season, Disney is the only one that has released a large number of videos.

The people present knew very well that Wayne Greenberg and DC comic-adapted superheroes are equivalent to George Lucas and Star Wars ten years ago. It is obvious that if the new Star Wars and Wonder Woman collided head-on, the result is likely to be a loss-win situation.

What's more, Star Wars is not a project invested by 20th Century Fox itself. They are just publishers. Even if they want to use the world's number one IP and touch the DC comic-adapted superhero, the father of Star Wars will not nod.

So, the only solution was left. After a Fox executive met with Warner Bros. Bruce Rosenblum, Disney became a fat pig on the eucalyptus board.

"I have communicated with both Imperial Cinemas and AMC."

Speaking of the matter, Terry stood up and turned off the TV, and said to several executives: "The attitudes of both companies are very clear. When necessary, both of them are willing to reduce the scale of other movies in order to set aside the maximum theater and screen for the North American release of Star Wars."

What is the necessary situation if necessary? The few people present knew that this necessary situation had little to do with Fox, the key was to look at Warner Bros.

Of course, neither the promotion nor the means of tacit understanding between the two companies cannot play a decisive role. Everything must be watched "Wonder Woman" released in May. Only when this film is as firm as expected can all subsequent plans proceed as scheduled.

There are quite a few voices that sing to "Wonder Woman". Since the end of the Super Bowl, there have been many similar voices. After all, no matter which aspect is analyzed, it cannot be changed. This is a movie where a woman plays the protagonist.

Even if "Charlie's Angels" had just achieved unexpected success the year before, it could not change the view of some professionals. How much is the production cost of "Charlie's Angels"? "Wonder Woman" alone, the production cost is as high as 200 million US dollars!

According to the roughest algorithm, "Wonder Woman", which costs 200 million US dollars, will be able to guarantee that she will not lose money.

Don’t think that $600 million is very simple. Hollywood can’t release a few movies with a box office size in a whole year. What’s more, before any movie is released, it is equivalent to a gambling, and no one can accurately predict whether it succeeds or fails. This is the experience summarized by Hollywood over the past few decades.

After the discussion on some sensitive topics ended, the shareholder representative who had been silent looked at everyone and joked: "You think, will that director called Blast Bay make Wayne Greenberg's gutter capsized?"

"It's possible, but this possibility is negligible."

Townsend Rossman shook his head first. "Maybe Michael Bay is the most popular director among movie fans in the past two years and the fastest-growing appeal, but you have to know that the path he is now walking is something Wayne has walked five or six years ago."

Terry nodded and sighed: "Yes, it's amazing not to mention Wayne Greenberg's personal fans, just the number of fans of DC comic-adapted movies."

Townsend Rossman looked at the night sky outside the window, his mouth twitched a few times, and said: "A cruel fact is here. Putting aside the quality of "Wonder Woman", even if this movie is as bad as a pool of shit, there will still be a lot of fans who don't believe in evil. Whoever ignores the brand effect of Greenberg's production is the real stupid one."

Why did Townsend Roseman equate "Wonder Woman" and Wayne with "Star Wars" ten years ago with George Lucas? This is the reason, because the attributes of these two series of films are too similar to those of these two directors.

Even Townsend Rossman suspected that even if "Wonder Woman" was so bad, those hardcore fans Wayne had accumulated over the years and the DC movie fans would buy tickets to watch the movie after the movie was released. At that time, it is hard to say whether "Pearl Harbor" can withstand this first wave of offensives.

Faced with such a situation, assuming that "Wonder Woman" is really bad, it will only affect the subsequent box office trend. At least the first two weeks of its release, it will never be affected too much.

Your first wave of fan economy offensive can't stand it. Even if the subsequent results of "Wonder Woman" fell sharply, it probably has nothing to do with "Pearl Harbor".

And don't forget that Warner Bros. will watch its revenue pillar series with his own eyes, and others will get cheap because of the influence of the reputation of fans. At that time, Warner Bros. will be forced to play the ace in advance, "Justice League".

So, with Townsend Rossman, "Wonder Woman" certainly has the possibility of failure, but the probability is so low that it is completely negligible.

The brief meeting ended, and only Terry and Townsend Rossman were left in the office. It was getting late. Terry waited until everyone left, but did not go around in circles and reported directly to Townsend Rossman:

"Boss, it has been confirmed that the project Avi Adella is busy with is the superhero of Marvel Comics. The reason why it has not been launched yet is probably because Wayne has not had much cash flow, but it can be foreseen that in the future, superheroes will no longer be priceless in the market.

I even suspect that Warner Brothers may not understand Wayne's approach. Once the Marvel Superhero in his studio is successful, the first one to receive the impact will probably be the market that DC has dominated..."

"There's no reason." Townsend Rossman frowned. He was very sure that Wayne and Warner Brothers were tied to a boat. Who would believe that someone would dig holes in the board under his feet?

"Wayne, what the hell is your mind..."