Movie Master

The reason why the box office of 300 million in North America is so important, and the reason why it can become a chance to break the stalemate, lies in the difficulty of achieving this goal. So far, in the long history of North American films for a century, only 21 works have reached the milestone. After passing the threshold of 300 million, even after ten years, 300 million is still the benchmark for measuring the huge success of a work at the box office, which shows how difficult it is.

One of the most intuitive examples is that in 2005, only one Star Wars Episode 2 had a North American box office of 300 million. This year's current box office runner-up World War only had a North American box office of 230 million.

More importantly, Star Wars Prequel is not only a sequel, but also a work of a major film company! Among the 21 works with a box office of 300 million in the long history of film so far, only five works are produced by independent film companies, DreamWorks' Shrek 2, New Line Pictures' Lord of the Rings If you leave aside the chain effect caused by the sequel movies, there are only two works, The Lord of the Rings 1 and The Passion of the Christ.

All the facts show one thing: 300 million in North America is difficult for Chaos Pictures.

Creating a work with a box office of 300 million is only the first problem; for Chaos Pictures, the bigger problem lies in the stretched liquidity.

How much does it cost to shoot a 300 million film in North America? According to the summary of historical experience, 100 million to 150 million is the highest success rate. Except for Alien E.T and Star Wars 1 filmed in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the other ten Fifteen of the nine works have investment costs within this range. For works like The Passion of the Christ that only relied on an investment of 30 million yuan, it has won 370 million works in North America, which is probably unprecedented.

This is determined by the development of the market. Especially after entering the 21st century, computer special effects have matured, audience aesthetics have also evolved, and genre movies have been developed and perfected. If you want to tap enough market potential, the requirements will naturally increase. higher.

Therefore, if Chaos Pictures wants to shoot a work that breaks through the natural barrier, an investment of 100 million to 150 million is the most reliable. Moreover, this is only the production cost, the investment in the publicity stage is still immeasurable, and it is not surprising that the final investment exceeds 200 million.

Here is the problem, Chaos Films does not have 200 million dollars now! As a medium-sized film company, they can't easily come up with 100 million local tyrants. Even if they invest in the production of a 40 million Sin City, they are carefully planned. Although the great success of the two works Borrowing a Knife and Sin City has completed the rapid original accumulation for Chaos Pictures, and the copyright income of Chaos Music has achieved a substantial increase this year, but don't forget that Ian has already started If it is launched, real estate short sellers will hold back most of Chaos Films' liquidity. Before the second quarter of 2007, this money will be locked up, and that is still eighteen months away.

From the perspective of history, 18 months is only a blink of an eye. At that time, Chaos Films will complete its original accumulation, which is enough to hold a part of the voice in Hollywood, but the current situation of Chaos Films simply cannot wait ten years. eight months.

Therefore, this is the current situation of Chaos Films. They have no funds, but they want to challenge the natural moat; That glimmer of vitality is more like an extravagant hope that is too vague to reach, and it is difficult to reach the sky.

Do you have a plan?

No, of course not.

Lance's upright answer caused Theo and the three of them to look at each other, feeling a little embarrassed. Lance shrugged, I mean, I have an idea, but I don't have a plan, and I don't know if it will work. I need to sort out my thinking. As a reborn person, Lance's biggest advantage is It lies in the prediction of the future, which will also become the biggest advantage of Chaos Films.

Maybe they're underfunded, maybe they're facing challenges, but Lance will be the most important and pivotal link in the whole plan, not only to reverse their disadvantage, but to turn that disadvantage into a potential advantage! What he wants is not to break through the tight siege, nor to turn salty fish over, but to soar into the sky!

Since I chose to give it a go, why not have a big one? Perhaps Chaos Pictures will not have the ability to overthrow those giant crocodiles in the near future. After all, the opponent this time is not Diorama Pictures, but if these large film companies headed by Warner Bros. and Sony A somersault, Lance will never let go of the opportunity easily.

However, I need the company to come up with... Lance thought about it seriously, and after some consideration, 150 million is used for this project. In the worst case, I also need 100 million. He raised his head , Lance saw Gao Wen's surprised expression, he looked at Ian, curled his lips, I mean, you can pay in installments, not all at once, the shooting process may be quite long, you can... …It is barely acceptable to give me six installments, or eight installments. You know, I am a person who is very good at compromise. But, if there is only 100 million, the publicity fee will be calculated separately!

Ian was amused by Lance's tone, chuckled, was taken aback for a while, then laughed heartily, and shook his head helplessly, Lancelot, if you are here for the last time at the Napa Valley villa If things retaliate against me, I must admit that you won this time.

Napa Valley, it's not you... Gawain was stunned for a moment, as if he didn't understand what happened. He remembered that in Napa Valley, it was Lance who tricked Ian into embarrassing him. Why did things turn upside down now, Wait, what happened to Ian, what happened to him? Why don't I know? Gawain said curiously, shaking Lance's shoulder.

Lance also gave up resisting and let Gawain shake, but he still ignored him and just looked at Ian with a smile.

Ian turned his head to look at Theo, Although I am a madman, I am not an alchemist. I can't turn a stone into gold. If we need to support Lance's crazy idea, I need your help. Said After finishing, Ian couldn't help but shook his head again, no matter how he thought about it, he felt that they were too crazy, Now, we finally look a bit like Wall Street.

The corner of Theo's mouth hooked invisibly, Have you reached this point yet? Ian nodded in affirmation of this endless inquiry, and then Theo turned to look at Lance and Gawain, We want to borrow money in the name of the company. Prior to this, Chaos Films had been avoiding debts, but the reality is that those big listed companies, those bigwigs who play Wall Street, are more or less burdened with debts, So once they go bankrupt, these debts will have a terrible domino effect, and even countries work that way.

Now that we have decided, we will increase our investment. Theo continued, looking deeply at Lance, and said lightly but with a deep tone, If we lose, we will really go bankrupt.

Lance understood what Theo meant. Now that they decided to take out a loan, they decided to challenge the limit. At present, the four brothers have real estate under their names, and the bank credit of the four is very good, and the current market value of Chaos Films is also booming. They can definitely borrow a large amount of funds, not only to support Lance's project, but also to continue to increase short-term investment in real estate. This is the real gamble! Either win the world, or have nothing at all.

Even though Lance III was a human being, it was inevitable that his palms would feel a little slippery at this time. The extreme tension, excitement, and trembling sensation continued to accelerate in the blood, and then accelerated again. The excitement reached the extreme, and the muscles began to tremble slightly. Believe me, I'm not ready to lose everything.

He has confidence, absolute confidence!

In fact, what Lance didn't say was that Chaos Films wanted to fight a bloody road. In addition to the 300 million natural moat and financial difficulties, it also faced the biggest problem: no script.

In the next few years, 300 million works will be produced in North America, and almost 90% of the scripts are in the hands of the six major film companies. Weakness, the merger of New Line Pictures into Warner Bros. and other market concentration processes showed an upward attitude.

In other words, even if Lance knows the projects that can exceed 300 million box office in the next few years, it is very likely that these projects will be in the hands of the six major film companies. Judging from the current blockade of Warner Bros. and Sony Pictures, it is almost impossible for Lance to seize food. This is the real skillful woman who can't cook without rice.

Script, script, no script means no project, all ideas are fantasy, all counterattacks are castles in the air, and there is no room to display all the strength.

However, Lance didn't mention it, not because he was scared, nor because he didn't want Theo and the others to worry, but because he had other ideas. If there is no way to solve this problem, then he is in vain as a reborn. He just needs a little time to reorganize his thoughts, and then start to wash the sand, to find a way that can truly realize that glimmer of life.

At present, Lance has an important bargaining chip in his hands, the blacklist!

The value of this list goes far beyond digging out awards season's much-loved titles, and the fact that many of them are box office successes once the Blacklist has grown. What Lance needs to do now is to slowly dig out from the blacklist, and then diverge thinking, in the chaos, find another way to achieve this great reversal of the Jedi!

So, in the next ten years, in the long and distant ten years, which work can be the starting point of this miracle? It's an interesting issue, and things are starting to get interesting before we get out of the woods.