The Best Entertainment Era

? Halloween belongs to the home of horror and thrillers, but compared to sports inspirational movies, the audience of horror movies is smaller, and two big stars join, so it is not as attractive as a horror movie?

Moreover, according to Spielberg, it is still a low-budget horror film, that is, without famous directors and popular stars.

Jeff Katzenberg is a bit strange. Although he has conflicts with Spielberg, he also recognizes Spielberg's ability in live-action film production. What's wrong with this recently? DreamWorks frequently misses out on live-action film projects ?

Is Spielberg old? Out of date?

Seeing the doubt in Katzenberg's eyes, Spielberg didn't say much, just took a newspaper and put it on Katzenberg's side.

Katzenberg glanced at it and immediately noticed a row of striking numbers on the newspaper.

The first thing that came into view was the familiar name, Return to Glory, the box office in the three days of the opening weekend was only 10.5 million US dollars!

I remember reading the internal documents of DreamWorks. The production cost of this film was 80 million U.S. dollars, and Will Smith alone took away 15 million U.S. dollars in salary.

Didn't everyone say that Will Smith is a panacea for the box office, and every movie he starred in can have a box office of over 100 million in North America? If the North American box office of this film can exceed the production cost, he will eat this newspaper!

Moving his gaze upwards, Katzenberg saw the name of the box office champion - The Purge 2.

And the box office numbers that follow: $36.2 million!

Katzenberg couldn't help asking: How much did the Purge 2 cost?

Spielberg said softly: The production cost disclosed by Sand Sea Production Company, a subsidiary of Relativity Entertainment, is US$6 million. According to the past style of producer Ronan Anderson, it will only be less and not more.

Katzenberg touched his bald forehead: A $6 million movie made $36.2 million in its first week?

This is another typical example of a small story with a big story!

Spielberg nodded slightly heavily, and said, This is not the first movie released by Embassy Pictures with a small but big story.

Not the first one? Katzenberg wondered, Embassy Pictures?

Spielberg simply explained: Embassy Pictures is the distribution company of Relativity Entertainment.

The Blair Witch, Death Comes and The Purge 2 have been released so far, and these three films can all be included in the success stories of small and big.

Katzenberg paid more attention: It turned out to be the company that released The Blair Witch. He then asked, Embassy Pictures released The Blair Witch with great success. Why did our sequel fail?

Uh... Spielberg suddenly didn't know how to answer, he quickly changed the subject: Jerry Fu, what do you think of the Embassy Pictures?

Katzenberg replied casually: It's not bad. It can release multiple films in a row, especially to make these low-budget films big with a small amount. This distribution company is very powerful.

He suddenly realized the problem, and asked back, Steven, what do you mean?

Spielberg said slowly, I have an idea.

Katzenberg looked at him, didn't understand what Spielberg meant, and didn't answer.

Spielberg thought about it and said: You and I both know that the actual situation of DreamWorks is not as good as it seems. We are facing many difficulties and we must find a way to get out of the predicament.

As one of the founding Big Three of DreamWorks, Jeff Katzenberg certainly knew the situation of DreamWorks, and asked with a frown: You mean...

Embassy Pictures and Relativity Entertainment behind it, Spielberg said. What do you think about DreamWorks acquiring this very dynamic company?

Jeff Katzenberg didn't answer Spielberg's question, but instead asked, Why?

He subconsciously felt that this was not normal.

According to what Spielberg said just now, Embassy Pictures and its parent company Relativity Entertainment are engaged in the live-action film business, and there will not be much intersection with DreamWorks Animation Studios. The merger of such a company will only expand DreamWorks live-action films. business, and the person in charge of the live-action division happens to be Spielberg.

This has to make Katzenberg doubt Spielberg's intentions. Is this going to expand the right to speak in DreamWorks?

For critical distribution channels, Spielberg said.

Katzenberg suddenly smiled and said, Steven, DreamWorks can do it by distributing films in North America. What we lack is overseas distribution channels. Does Embassy Pictures have an overseas distribution network?

Spielberg's words were completely beyond Katzenberg's expectations: Embassy Pictures has an independent overseas distribution network, and the overseas distribution of Purge 2 is done by Embassy Pictures.

What... Katzenberg couldn't believe it: What?

This statement shocked him more than the $36.2 million box office of the $6 million film in its first week: How is this possible? Steven, are you kidding?

I mean it, Spielberg said.

Katzenberg, sure that Spielberg couldn't possibly be joking about it, asked, Is The Purge 2 released overseas? How did it fare?

It has been released in many overseas markets. Spielberg replied: I asked someone to check the overseas box office, and the specific data will be available soon.

Katzenberg was silent for a while. The biggest problem for DreamWorks is overseas distribution. Regardless of live-action movies, animated movies, or music departments, there is almost no way to distribute overseas.

They are also planning to establish an overseas distribution network, but DreamWorks has been under tremendous pressure in recent years, and funds and manpower cannot be concentrated on this work, and the establishment of an overseas distribution network will take time, even if everything goes well from scratch , and may take more than five years.

Not to mention that the six major Hollywood companies are still watching DreamWorks covetously, and may pounce on them at any time.

In the past few years, the overseas distribution of animated films and live-action films produced by DreamWorks can only be handed over to the six major companies, and the bulk of overseas income has also fallen into the hands of the six major companies.

For DreamWorks Animation Studios alone, there are four animated feature films, Ant Brother, The Prince of Egypt, Rush to the Golden City and Chicken Run, which are distributed overseas by other companies.

Katzenberg reconfirmed: Steven, the relativity entertainment and embassy pictures you mentioned are worth our shot?

DreamWorks has distribution channels in North America, and the Embassy Pictures is no worse than us. Overseas distribution... We will talk about it later when we get the data. Spielberg is a director and even a businessman: Let's look at another project under the Embassy Pictures. A company——Sand Sea Entertainment! That is, the producer of Human Purge Project.

His voice is low, but very powerful: This company controlled by Ronan Anderson has amazing vitality and production capabilities in horror thrillers. In fact, my proposal is not only for these companies, but also for Ronan Anderson. Nan Anderson!

Katzenberg made Spielberg a little confused. One moment was for overseas distribution channels, and the other moment was for people?

Spielberg explained: The films operated by Sandsea Entertainment and Embassy Pictures were either initiated by Ronan Anderson himself, or purchased by Ronan Anderson from an outside company. His judgment is extremely strong, and this person is very young, once he comes to DreamWorks, he can make up for the vitality that DreamWorks lacks most!

Katzenberg knew what Spielberg meant. DreamWorks was founded only a few years ago. It is said to be a young company, but the entire company was stagnant and lacked the vitality of a new company.

He did not comment on this. Overseas distribution channels are the most important. As for Ronan Anderson, it is not easy to be so respected by Spielberg, but it is not as important as Shanghai's overseas distribution network.

There was a knock on the door, and after Spielberg said please come in, an assistant hurried in and said, Part of the overseas box office statistics for Purge 2 have come out.

Before Spielberg could speak, Katzenberg grabbed the report first. The assistant looked at Spielberg helplessly, saw Spielberg wave his hand, and hurried out of the office.

How? Spielberg asked concerned.

Katzenberg looked at it and said, It seems pretty good. For a horror movie, it should be considered pretty good, right?

Spielberg stared at Katzenberg, and Katzenberg hurriedly said: U.K. $2.87 million in the first week, Germany $2.35 million in the first week, France $1.98 million, Spain $1.15 million, Mexico $1.85 million, $2.1 million in Brazil, $650,000 in Argentina, $950,000 in Russia, $1.2 million in Australia...

He handed the statistics to Spielberg, and said: The 29 countries and regions counted above received a total of 18.98 million US dollars.

Spielberg took a deep breath and said: This is an R-rated horror film. The production cost is only 6 million U.S. dollars. In just three days on the weekend, it can get such a high box office overseas. Possess overseas distribution capabilities.

Katzenberg nodded slowly: That's true. He wondered: How can the Embassy Pictures suddenly release films overseas? How did this overseas distribution network be established.

Spielberg was speechless again, after all, this was his work mistake.

Bad employment!

Jerry, what do you think? Spielberg changed the subject again: Is this company valuable?

Katzenberg coughed and said, The value of the overseas distribution network alone is worthy of our attention. His mentality has changed: Steven, when do you plan to do it?

Spielberg said: Before this case goes to the board, we first contacted Ronan Anderson and tried to get him to cooperate with us.

Katzenberg said, When are you going to see him? I'll go with you.

Spielberg thought for a while, and said: Wait a minute, I want to confirm the overseas situation of Human Purge 2.

This is not a trivial matter, but an important decision related to the future of DreamWorks, so we have to be cautious.

In just three days, Human Purge 2 earned 55.18 million US dollars worldwide, which was a great success.

In the meeting room of the embassy film industry, emotions such as excitement and excitement were shrouded again, but compared to when they got the box office data of The Blair Witch, everyone was much calmer.

After all, success is not once or twice. Although everyone likes the taste of success, but the number of successes is too many, and it is impossible to have the excitement for the first time every time.

For the first time, the experience may not be the best, but it is the most exciting and rare.

The meeting was chaired by García Rodriguez. Since many people were busy with their work in other places, only six or seven people participated in the meeting.

As of today. Garcia glanced at Ronan, saw that he had no intention of speaking, and said, The actual investment in North American publicity and distribution of Human Purge 2 is 5.2 million US dollars, and the overseas publicity and distribution investment is 7.2 million US dollars.

The rest of the people did not speak, but they all realized one thing through these several large-scale announcements. Success is not a fluke, but the result of a large amount of capital investment.

Shooting and producing a movie, throwing it into the theater casually, the result will only be that no one cares about it, and the box office will be pitifully small in the end.

Thomas, director of theatrical distribution, asked: Does the $7.2 million include all overseas copies?

In the overseas market where we directly distribute, we are responsible for printing and delivering the copies. At present, all these copies are in place, including some markets that have not yet been released. The agency distribution company is responsible for printing and delivery, and they are also responsible for the expenses in this area, which will be deducted from the box office share later.”

Ronan said: The Overseas Publishing Department has done a good job this time.

It's a pity that people from the overseas distribution department are scattered all over the world to run the distribution business of Human Purge 2, and only one left-behind deputy director participated in the meeting.

Publicity director David Villa was quite emotional: I didn't expect that Embassy Pictures could release films overseas.

The elders of several other embassy film companies also talked about it. The company plans to build an overseas distribution network, which is far less impactful than the excellent box office results of the released films in overseas markets.

Ronan was also very excited, clenched his fist with his right hand, but as the owner of the company, he must maintain a calm and calm image at this time, and the excitement can only be vented in this way.

This is an overseas distribution network that can successfully distribute movies! How can it not be exciting!

Thinking about the previous life, DreamWorks did not establish an overseas distribution network until it fell apart. It took Lionsgate ten years to distribute films overseas. The Relativity Entertainment used to wave a check from Wall Street and could not buy overseas distribution channels!

And he has been here for less than three years, and he has already allowed the company to independently distribute movies overseas!

Ronan never denied that there was a lot of luck involved, such as the acquisition of Polygram by Universal Pictures. Polygram also has a production and distribution company in addition to its main business of records.

Cliques have become increasingly successful.

Garcia clapped his palms, and the meeting room quickly fell silent. He continued: Everyone, this is just the beginning. Purge 2 will be released in more than 30 other overseas markets, and it will be released offline. Negotiations are also in progress, the British BBC Television has bought the first round of TV broadcast rights in the UK for Human Purge 2 for US$1 million.

There was warm applause in the meeting room.

Terry, director of offline distribution, said at this time: HBO under Warner Bros. intends to purchase the first round of TV rights in North America, and has already contacted us. I plan to wait for the North American box office trend to be roughly determined before discussing with them in detail.

Ronan nodded: Yes.

It is no exaggeration to say that the box office in this era is the basis of film business. The higher the box office, the higher the offline income.

A movie with a poor box office cannot be sold with a high authorization.

A company that mainly produces and distributes theatrical movies, if it doesn't focus on the box office, it will soon be over.

Offline distribution has just begun, not only TV station authorization, but work such as DVD and video tape production and distribution will also be carried out one after another.

Although video tapes are about to retire from the stage of history, in the hands of many older North American audiences, VCRs are still irreplaceable home entertainment tools and will continue to be used for a long time.

Currently Sony and Toshiba are engaged in a DVD format standard-setting battle, and Hollywood studios are the target they are trying to win over.

However, Relativity Entertainment and its two affiliated companies do not have film library resources, so they have no right to speak in this regard, and Ronan will not take pains to participate in it.

The current Relativity Entertainment is still in its infancy, and if you want to make your own voice, you need to continue to accumulate.

At the end of the meeting, Ronan emphasized: The follow-up release of The Purge 2 is enough for special personnel to watch, and more resources will be transferred to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. We have full rights to buy this film. If the copyright is broken, all the proceeds in North America will belong to us.”

Thomas, director of theatrical distribution, said: I'm already in contact with the theatrical company.

Ronan reminded: Prioritizing theaters close to the Chinese community is the key to distribution.

I understand. Thomas nodded and wrote it down.

Ronan said to David Villa again: After Thanksgiving, the relevant publicity has been stepped up, and you are responsible for communicating with the public relations company.

David Villa is full of confidence: No problem.

This is the first time that Embassy Pictures is preparing to hit the awards season. The company has both substantial material rewards and the spiritual stimulation of Oscar honors. Everyone is very motivated.

When the meeting was over, Ronan was still thinking, should a certain heroine sleep with as many Oscar judges as possible? Maybe you can get a few more tickets.

And with the way the other party behaves, as long as they can show off, they should not refuse.

But in the end, Ronan still kept this unreliable plan at the conceived stage, certain things should be done in moderation, Oscar in this era is not as crazy as later.

Although the current Oscar awards are quite unreliable, compared with the future, it is still more reliable.

Of course, if the heroine took the initiative to attack, Ronan would not interfere.

Speaking of the previous life, Ronan had seen some beach photos. He couldn't remember the man's name, but he vaguely remembered that he was a Hollywood investor or a shareholder of some big movie companies.

In fact, the entertainment circles on both sides of the ocean are similar and chaotic enough.

As far as tax evasion is concerned, Hollywood stars also have it, such as the sad Uncle Cage.

Uncle Cage, who went bankrupt and repaid his debts, was the same as Keanu Reeves who was in self-imposed exile. He once won the praise of countless fans across the Pacific.

Oh, by the way, never mess with Keanu Reeves' dog.

Ronan thought about this, and planned to wait a few years for Keanu Reeves to shoot too many bad movies and his salary dropped, and then go talk to him.

As for now? Keanu Reeves, whose film salary reaches 20 million US dollars every minute, is really few people who can afford it except the six major companies.

Human Purge 2 continued to be shown in North America, and after the start of the working day, it maintained a relatively stable trend. Although the decline was not small, it was healthier than most horror films.

In the four days including Halloween, Human Purge 2 took another $11.23 million, and the North American box office is approaching the $50 million mark.

With the arrival of a new weekend, the dominance of Purge 2 no longer exists, and the dance action movie Charlie's Angels starring Drew Barrymore, Cameron Diaz and Lucy Liu is released strongly.

Produced by Drew Barrymore's Blossom Pictures and distributed by Sony Columbia, the film grossed $40.12 million in North America in its first week.

Female action films have also officially entered Hollywood's field of vision.

Coupled with the Tomb Raider that Angelina Jolie is currently participating in, the North American film market will even usher in a climax of female action films in recent years.

Charlie's Angels airborne North American box office champion, Human Purge 2 can only retreat to second place, but the box office of 16.2 million US dollars made the film's North American box office reach 63.63 million US dollars in one fell swoop.

If the follow-up trend is optimistic, this film is expected to hit the box office of 100 million US dollars in North America.

However, there will be medium and large-scale productions released one after another, and The Purge 2 is bound to continue to be impacted.

At the same time, this film appeared in more overseas markets. Due to the sufficient preparation in the early stage and the knock-on effect brought about by the film's huge box office explosion in North America, the overseas box office has also been rising all the way.

South Korea in East Asia, the Philippines, Malaysia, and Indonesia in Southeast Asia, most countries in Latin America, some enlightened countries in the Middle East including the United Arab Emirates, and North African countries with stable economic governments in Africa, etc., Human Purge 2 quickly seized the market in theaters share.

After the second weekend overseas, the cumulative overseas box office of Human Purge 2 reached 32.5 million US dollars.

Breaking through $100 million at the global box office is just around the corner.

The film was a huge success in both North American and global markets.

The first overseas release of Embassy Pictures can also officially declare a basic success.

When Ronan was immersed in excitement, Tom Cruise suddenly came to Ronan's office to visit and conveyed Spielberg's invitation.

Steven Spielberg and Jeff Katzenberg wanted to talk to him.

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