I’m in Hollywood

Eric, do you mean that we want to use the distribution contracts of these films as a bargaining chip in exchange for the early settlement of the box office of Titanic by Southeast Asian filmmakers? asked knowingly. Shocking Fragrance Mansion =

Eric nodded, but quickly shook his head: You can do this, but it's not limited to this. I mean, we need to plan for the worst in the Southeast Asian economy, and we are trying to recover the share of Titanic as soon as possible. At the same time, the distribution rights of the films will be directly pre-sold to distributors in Southeast Asia at the buyout price for a period of time in the future.”

The phenomenon of pre-sale distribution rights for Hollywood movies is very common, especially those second- and third-tier film companies with limited distribution capabilities, even in the United States, often resort to pre-sale distribution rights in order to return funds as soon as possible.

However, after years of expansion of distribution channels, due to the strong film distribution network in the world, even some low-cost films under Firefly Group have rarely adopted this low-yield pre-sale distribution strategy. , after all, the principle is the same as farming, the same piece of land, primitive slash-and-burn cultivation and complicated intensive cultivation, the harvested grain must be different.

Sure enough, as soon as Eric's voice fell, he immediately attracted a voice of opposition.

Robert Thompson said: Eric, the box office of 'Titanic' is almost certain, we managed to recover the share early, and there is no loss. But if we sell off the distribution rights of the film that has not yet been released, we will not only It is difficult to get too high a price, and, in case some films explode at the box office, the decision we make at this time to avoid the economic crisis that may not happen may bring us even greater losses. The whole of Southeast Asia is 30% of the overseas box office total, which I strongly advise against.”

Eric recalled the box office data of Titanic that he saw last Friday night. The whole of Southeast Asia did account for about 30 of the total overseas box office of the film, but Japan accounted for almost 20 of them. In my memory, Japan's currency depreciation rate during the Southeast Asian economic crisis was only about 20, which was far lower than that of other Southeast Asian countries whose currency systems were generally cut in half.

Moreover, compared with other Southeast Asian countries, Japan's economic recovery will obviously be faster. In this case, the firefly can still bear the currency depreciation rate of 20.

As for other Southeast Asian ticket positions, there is absolutely no need to insist. [Jian 3] Brother Hua’s photosynthesis can be imagined. When the economic crisis breaks out, the small ticket warehouses in Southeast Asia, which have only had an overseas share in their early 10s, will definitely fall to an insignificant 5 under the impact of currency devaluation. around, and there is no possibility of recovery in the short term.

Perhaps, in the next few years, Hong Kong films, which were already in decline, will be completely silent, which should be related to the sharp shrinking of the Southeast Asian market.

After thinking for a moment,

Eric said: Well, in Southeast Asia, Japan will maintain its original distribution strategy, and other ticket positions such as Xinmatai will be settled according to the plan I just said.

If you go to the Japanese market, the remaining small ticket warehouses in Southeast Asia together are not as good as Latin America, and a group of high-level executives will no longer insist, discuss some detailed implementation details, and start the next topic.

The morning of the meeting, Eric had lunch at the Burbank headquarters and began to rush back to the Sharphorn Manor.

While still in New York, Madonna made several phone calls to visit when Eric returned to Los Angeles.

At this time, Madonna has already started a lawsuit with Warner Records over the issue of digital distribution rights. Although the result is not yet certain, this incident will obviously attract more musicians' attention to online music sales as a fuse. , coupled with the close cooperation between the two parties in the Yahoo Music Store, Eric would not hesitate to set aside half a day to meet with each other, so he made an appointment this afternoon.

Of course, Eric also knew that Madonna's visit might still have the intention of urging him to write a song for himself, which Eric had promised him more than a month ago.

Tomorrow is the celebration party for Titanic's box office breakthrough of 1.8 billion US dollars. Katzenberg will also rush from Burbank headquarters to Playa Vista Studios in the afternoon, so he took the opportunity to ride Eric's ride, by the way. Discuss some official business in a timely manner.

Eric's intention to return to Pointy Manor brought up the matter, Katzenberg said: Speaking of Yahoo Music Store, although Warner Music and Universal Music are not involved in this lawsuit, but Barry Weiss from Firefly Records Called a few days ago, and Warner Records privately deliberately poached the Backstreet Boys from us.

Eric asked: If I remember correctly, their contracts should be five years?

Yeah, around 2000, Barry said a few of them were a little excited, but Warner Records might not be willing to pay their liquidated damages in full, so it didn't happen, but if the contract expired, Carson Berg paused, glanced at Eric, and then said again: I'm afraid they won't stay on Firefly Records anymore. Swordsman: Frozen Love

Eric knows that the close cooperation between Firefly Records and Yahoo Music Store will definitely cause some scruples to its artists.

Due to the hype of other record companies, most singers subconsciously feel that the cooperation between Firefly Records and Yahoo Music Store is carried out on the basis of sacrificing their interests. Under the manipulation of several major record giants, the American Music Association is not even willing to admit it. The sales of digital music albums will undoubtedly cause the record sales of artists under Firefly Records to be much lower than the actual number.

Eric doesn't think so. Under the impact of the Internet, the decline of the physical record industry is almost inevitable.

Firefly Records cooperated with Yahoo Music Store to open up the online music sales market in advance, which can greatly reduce the damage of online music piracy to the artists under Firefly Records. Media promotion resources.

Eric believes that with the further promotion of fireflyer, this advantage will be revealed very quickly in the next few years.

What Universal Warners want to do, we can just see the tricks.

Eric said, looking out of the car window. At this time, the car was shuttled on Venice Avenue, and Eric happened to see a huge movie poster of Godzilla flashing past him.

If you don't consider the information in your memory at all, the upcoming summer season still looks heavy.

In addition to Finding Nemo, The Lion King 2 and Ice Age three animated movies, there are also three super live-action masterpieces this summer.

Eric himself directed Casino Royale, Batman and Robin produced by Warner Bros., and Godzilla by Sony Pictures.

The three live-action blockbuster films all cost more than $100 million. The production cost of 007: Casino Royale eventually reached $110 million, which is still the lowest of the three films. Batman and Robin spent 120 million, and the production cost of Godzilla eventually even reached 150 million.

At the same time, as the only blockbuster featuring CG special effects this summer, perhaps stimulated by the just-successful Titanic, Sony also appears confident in Godzilla, although the production cost has reached 1.5 100 million, but Sony did not hesitate to invest a $70 million publicity budget, raising the total cost of Godzilla to 220 million, so that this monster blockbuster needs to recoup $600 million worldwide , in order to recover the cost at the box office.

Eric can't remember the global box office of Godzilla in his previous life, but according to the bad word of mouth that has been scolded for more than ten years, it must be far less than 600 million US dollars.

Although the production of Godzilla is Sony, it is very easy for Eric to see the material of the film because the special effects are completely in the digital domain. It's just that this version of Godzilla is almost the same as the Tyrannosaurus Rex in the previous life, Eric doesn't think that this film has much possibility of success.

As for Batman and Robin, not to mention.

However, Warner and Sony are obviously confident, perhaps because they noticed that Firefly does not have any special effects blockbusters released this summer, so they learned from Universal's strategy last year, and also set the release date in Firefly's usual June, and obviously The mind is not simple.

This can be seen from the specific schedules of the two blockbusters.

Firefly's summer program is still a 'trilogy' strategy. However, unlike before, due to the absence of Jurassic Park 3, Firefly has only two films released in June, namely Prison in the Air starring Cage and Pixar. The latest animated film Finding Nemo, and the other is Tarzan Forest produced by Disney Pictures, however, this medium-cost animated adaptation of the live-action film will not directly compete with 007 Casino Royale at the end of June. Determined in mid-July.

The other two films, Prison in the Air are scheduled for May 30, and Finding Nemo is scheduled for June 13.

Perhaps, Sony and Warner still have some scruples about Prison in the Air produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and starring Nicolas Cage, so they wisely set the schedule of Godzilla on June 6, Bat The schedule of Xia and Robin is set for June 20, which is the week before and after Finding Nemo. Obviously, Sony and Warner are trying to 'sweep the box office' with their blockbusters, and rely on the momentum The size of the bully by the way Finding Nemo.

The first time Eric saw the detailed schedule for this summer's vacation, he almost had the urge to mourn for the two colleagues.

Two big hits set off a billion-dollar box office seed.

Then maybe who will bully whom.

In addition to several major studios in this department, New Line Cinema will also release two films this summer, namely Jedi Men 2 on July 4 and Death Comes 2 on July 18. This also increased the total number of films in the Firefly Group's summer program to 5.

In previous years, in order to concentrate publicity and distribution resources as much as possible, the new line usually does not make too much fanfare to join in the excitement of the summer stalls. But after the outbreak last year, the new line has also begun to officially exert its strength. Obviously, from the schedule of the two films, it can be seen that the new line will focus on the summer program in July in the future to achieve seamless connection with the headquarters in June.

The fact that Firefly is the dominant family at this time has been thoroughly challenged since the term oligarch was used by Forbes magazine at the beginning of the year.

Therefore, Eric no longer minds making Fireflies appear more sharp-edged.

At this time, Firefly's movie business has steadily occupied a box office share of about 30 per year, but if this ratio can be increased to 40, Eric will definitely not leave any spare capacity.

Chatting some trivial matters with Katzenberg along the way, Eric sent him to Firefly Studios and then returned to Malibu.

It was two o'clock in the afternoon when we returned to the Sharp Point Manor.

Madonna had arrived ahead of time and was chatting with Drew on the sofa by the glass curtain wall. This was specially arranged by Eric. He didn't really want to be alone with this unrestrained singer.

Seeing Eric walk in, Madonna and the girl got up at the same time to greet him.

Eric hugged the two women before asking with a smile, What are you talking about?

The girl hugged Eric's arm and sat down on the sofa, leaned her body softly, and said, Just now when it comes to Scream 2, Maggie is curious who will be at the beginning of the movie this time. was killed.

Scream 2 will also be released this summer. Although it is not as grand as a few blockbusters, it also attracts a lot of attention.

In the first part, the girl played the role of the girl who was killed at the beginning. Because of her completely different level of influence from her previous life, this has also become a topic that many fans are talking about. As usual, MGM will certainly not let this hype stunt, and it is very likely that other powerful stars will be invited to play similar roles in the sequel.

Eric reached out and took the coffee cup that Natasha handed over, and said curiously, Oh, I don't know yet, who is it?

Just take a guess.

Eric glanced at Madonna and shook his head with a smile: I can't guess this, wouldn't you be alive in the film and then killed again?

Hehe, how could I be so boring, the girl coquettishly shook Eric's arm and said, It's Rachel.

Before Eric could react, Madonna said in surprise, Rachel Weisz?

The girl nodded.

Titanic is a big hit at the box office. As the hero and heroine, Xiao Lizi and Rachel can also be said to be skyrocketing. Even Julia and Nicole have not been able to compare with Rachel's strong popularity recently. .

One can imagine how shocking it would be if fans knew that 'Rose' was suddenly 'killed' in a horror movie.

Eric was really curious, and asked the girl, How did you coax her over? (To be continued.) la

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