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Even though the first-week box office data of "Fire Lover" is very good relative to the cost input, the film's position on the box office list for the week is not conspicuous.

5月22日到5月28日一周，《致命武器3》以3231万美元的票房继续领跑周票房榜单，相比首周票房跌幅只有24%。

Disney's "Crazy Nuns" unexpectedly achieved a counterattack in the face of obvious downbeat circumstances. With 1430 screens, it achieved a box office of 1676 million US dollars in the first week, with an average of more than 11000 US dollars.

Although Disney, which had a high-level wrangling about this project before its release, was greatly surprised, it responded quickly and increased the screen size of the film to 1742 in the second week of its release.

At the same time, on May 5, North American theaters finally ushered in the first real high-budget blockbuster in the summer of 29. Columbia Pictures, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation, produced "Ambition for the Earth" with a production cost of up to 1992 million US dollars.

This film about the struggle of Irish immigrants in North America at the end of the 19th century is starring Tom Cruise, and the director is also Ron Howard, who has made his mark in Hollywood by relying on films such as "Mermaid" and "Home Sweet Home".

In the original timeline, "Ambition for the Earth" was still a "husband and wife" movie, and the heroine was Cruise's wife at the time, Nicole Kidman.

This time is clearly different.

However, the heroine of the new version of "Ambition for the Earth" is still an "acquaintance" of Simon, Catherine Zeta Jones.

A certain old man killer has parted ways with Columbia Pictures president Jon Peters, but he has also managed a good network in Hollywood.

In order to ensure its own interests, Tom Cruise's projects rarely cooperate with other big-name actors, especially the heroines, who are usually played by second- and third-tier actresses, and Catherine Zeta-Jones is just right.

Columbia Pictures not only invested 6000 million US dollars in the production cost of "Ambition for the Earth" this time, but also spared no effort in the release of the film. The publicity budget reached 3000 million US dollars, and the total investment of the entire project was 9000 million US dollars.

Tom Cruise also pulled out all the stops to ensure the box office success of "Great Earth".

Because of the change of the timeline, Cruise only divorced his first wife Mimi Rogers a year ago. In order to create more topics for "Ambition for the Earth", these days, various media are hyping Cruise and The romance between the two protagonists, Zeta-Jones.

This kind of media propaganda has almost been used badly in Hollywood.

However, since it is a trick that is used repeatedly, it must have its merits.

The "romance" between Tom Cruise and Catherine Zeta Jones has really attracted the attention of many movie fans, and even the attention of "Ambition for the Earth" has also increased.

However, no matter how much investment in production, no amount of publicity budget, no matter how hot the rumored romance is, after all, it cannot save a film that is destined to be only tepid.

After the large-scale opening of 2791 screens was launched in theaters, the media reputation of "Ambition for the Earth" can only be regarded as barely passing. Tom Cruise's popularity has gradually declined in the past two years and the audience's lack of interest in the whole story has led to The box office of the film's first three days of painting only earned a mere US$1019 million, which was less than one-third of Columbia Pictures' expectations.

It's like pouring a basin of cold water on the head.

After the next four working days, the seven-day box office of "Ambition for the Earth" in the first week was only US$1562 million, ranking No.3 on the weekly box office list.

Warner Bros. Pictures' "Lethal Weapon 3" is still the week's box office champion due to the failure of "Ambition for Earth" at the box office.

In the third week of its release, "Lethal Weapon 3" continued to earn 2002 million US dollars, and the cumulative box office reached 9528 million US dollars, breaking [-] million soon.

The opening week of Disney's "Crazy Nuns" showed the potential of a box-office surprise.

Although it was only the runner-up in the box office of the week, after increasing the number of screenings, the box office of "The Nun is Crazy" reached 1629 million US dollars in the second week of its opening, a drop of only a negligible 3% compared with the first week's box office.In two weeks, the cumulative box office of the film has exceeded the production cost of 3100 million US dollars, reaching 3305 million US dollars.

If "Wonder Woman" hadn't been crushed aggressively, "The Nun is Crazy" would definitely have a very good long line at the box office.

Like last year's "The Flash", the final production cost and announcement budget of "Wonder Woman" are also 8000 million US dollars, and the total investment in the early stage of the project reached 1.6 million US dollars.

According to the comprehensive 55% share of North American theaters, if the producer wants to recover the full budget, the local box office needs to reach 2.9 million US dollars.

Of course, although the projects of the DC movie universe are still very optimistic about the box office performance in North America, they do not rely too much on the box office in terms of income.

Because its own IP is a well-known "first-line celebrity", although there are no heavyweight stars starring, "Wonder Woman" is still the most watched movie this summer.The amazing special effects scenes in the previous consecutive trailers of the film and the high appearance of Diana Prince played by Famke Janssen have made countless movie fans and comic fans look forward to it.

In addition, the publicity team of Daenerys Entertainment also properly played the feminist card.

In recent years, there have been quite a few successful female films in Hollywood, which made Daenerys Entertainment's executives basically no longer worried about whether a female superhero movie could be comparable to male superheroes before the project started shooting.At this year's Oscars, three female directors were nominated for Best Director at the same time and the first female Oscar for Best Director appeared, which was also mentioned again during the promotion process.

Diana Prince's Batman: The Dark Knight debut, DC Cinematic Universe crossover plans, Batman Begins, Batman: The Dark Knight and The Flash's back-to-back success , These factors have provided the success of "Wonder Woman" with a popularity foundation far exceeding that of many other non-sequel films.

Out of confidence in the quality of the film, the premiere of "Wonder Woman" was also chosen on Wednesday, June 6, and the media word of mouth was lifted the day after the premiere.

According to statistics, the comprehensive media score of "Wonder Woman" reached 9.3 points. The film has been unanimously praised by the media in terms of plot, special effects, shots, and soundtrack.

The evaluation of "Hollywood Reporter" can be described as a typical view of mainstream media: "Wonder Woman" is officially launched with a wonderful plot in one go, full of innovative grand special effects, vivid and plump characters, and ingenious and seamless foreshadowing interspersed. Opening the curtain of the DC movie universe".

"Variety" praised Famke Janssen even more: "A superhero who was easy to be a vase role, under the superb interpretation of this Nordic girl, has successfully created a resolute, courageous and full of sense of justice. The image of a female superhero with a sense of strength".

Simon's custom soundtrack for Diana Prince, modeled after the original "Is she with you," also garnered press attention.

Just after the premiere of the film, a well-known film critic of "Rolling Stone" stated in a column that the original soundtrack of "Wonder Woman" will become one of the most collectible records in 1992, and at the same time, it is not without irony. Congratulations to Simon Westero, a super Hollywood director who is likely to get another Oscar nomination for original soundtrack outside of his directorial duties.

Chapter 487 Going Further (Revised)

A movie theater in downtown Beverly, Los Angeles.

At around ten o'clock in the middle of the night, Michael Eisner and Michael Ovitz each left a VIP hall in the theater with their families.

Limousines were already waiting on the street at the back entrance of the theater.

Listening to the excited discussions of their wives and children beside them, the two Hollywood bigwigs got into a car together, and when the car started, they looked at each other with a bit of a blank face.

What the two families watched together before was naturally "Wonder Woman", which was just released today.

Unlike the wives and children who just watched a good movie, the two Michaels were a little worried at this time.

Three years ago, "Batman: Beginning of War" opened up the situation of the DC movie universe in one fell swoop by relying on the hot action design and advanced CG special effects. This time, "Wonder Woman" compared with the previous two "Batman" The big movie and "The Flash" have obviously gone one step further.

It is often difficult for ordinary audiences to understand the technical background contained in a film. The two Michaels who hold high positions in Hollywood are naturally different.

This "Wonder Woman", following the action design of "Batman: Beginning of War", is still wonderful.In addition, the film seems to be full of a large number of real scenes, but the proportion of CG special effects is significantly higher than that of the previous DC superhero films.

For example, the Lasso of Mantra, one of the key weapons of Wonder Woman in the film, is completely generated by CG in many shots.

Although it is just a rope, in the eyes of the two Michaels who are familiar with the Hollywood film production process, this seemingly "inconspicuous" technical detail is simply impossible for other special effects companies in Hollywood other than Daenerys special effects. of.

At the end of the film, the decisive battle between Wonder Woman and Ares, the god of war, and the use of all CG battle scenes are even more amazing.

There have been many big-budget movie trends in Hollywood, but in the past few times, the ending has basically returned to rationality.

Jeffrey Katzenberg, the head of Disney's film business, also publicly published a memo two years ago, calling on Hollywood to return to the production of low-budget films. Michael Eisner originally agreed with this view.

Even the DC movie universe series that has emerged in recent years can only be regarded as a special case in the eyes of many people.

On the other hand, the high-budget action blockbusters represented by Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger have failed repeatedly in recent years.

On the contrary, even if it is Daenerys Entertainment, in addition to the DC movie universe project, a series of super blockbuster projects in the past few years, "Human Ghosts", "The Sixth Sense of Spirituality", "Pretty Woman", "Bodyguard" ", "Home Alone" and so on, are basically mid- to low-budget movies, and few of them have a production budget of more than $3000 million.

However, after watching "Wonder Woman" tonight, Michael Eisner found that his previous beliefs were once again shaken.

Blockbuster-level big-budget movies may really be the future of Hollywood.

Given Disney's tenuous track record in making blockbuster films, it's hard not to worry about Michael Eisner.

The technical details displayed by Daenerys Entertainment on the "Wonder Woman" project are beyond Disney's reach in the short term.

Through the production of several DC movie universe films, Daenerys Entertainment has formed a very strong behind-the-scenes technical team, which involves all aspects of motion design and CG production.

Especially CG technology, just watched "Wonder Woman", Michael Eisner felt that the accumulation of Daenerys special effects in CG technology is obviously three to five years ahead of other film special effects teams in the same industry. Lucasfilm's industrial light and magic studio of the "Star Wars" series has obviously been left far behind by Daenerys special effects.

Although Daenerys special effects has always maintained an attitude of external cooperation, Disney's summer sci-fi family comedy "Honey, I Made the Child Big", many of the special effects shots are in charge of Daenerys special effects.

However, it is conceivable that small-scale cooperation is definitely no problem, but if Disney wants to compete with Daenerys Entertainment in larger-scale special effects movies, it is simply impossible to rely on the technical resources of the other party.

However, apart from Daenerys special effects, Hollywood at this stage, whether it is Industrial Light & Magic or some other lower-level special effects companies, wants to catch up with Daenerys special effects because of the lack of professional software and insufficient technical background. , likely to take at least three years.

It's just that during the chase, Daenerys' special effects will definitely not stand still.

Three years later, the gap still exists.

Therefore, the most convenient way for a Hollywood studio to produce top-notch CG special effects scenes is to cooperate with Daenerys Entertainment.

As long as it is a studio executive with a little brain, it can realize that this kind of cooperation is full of potential threats that may be stuck by Daenerys Entertainment at any time.

If you want to get rid of this threat, you must either not set foot in the field of special effects movies, or you can only start from scratch.

The limousine shuttled through the late-night streets of Los Angeles. Michael Eisner was thinking about the studio's breakthrough in the field of special effects movies. Michael Ovitz's inner worries were deeper than his.

The production budget of "Wonder Woman" this time is as high as 8000 million U.S. dollars. However, the salary of several core creators of the film, including the director, screenwriter, leading actor and actress, and several core supporting roles, is the "online cost" of a film. , adding up to less than 1000 million US dollars.

Daenerys Entertainment invested about 90% of the production budget in the filming and post-production of "Wonder Woman".

After C creatively proposed the project packaging mechanism, throughout the 80s, the "online fee" of Hollywood movies often reached 50% or even higher of a movie.

This is actually the most intuitive reflection of the importance of a movie by traditional big-name filmmakers.

Now, DC movie universe projects like "Wonder Woman" may still have the blessing of their own superhero IP, so there is no need to invite top stars.However, once this trend appears in other blockbuster projects, it is likely to have a subversive impact on the traditional salary system of Hollywood stars.

If a blockbuster with special effects as its selling point can sell well without a big star, probably no studio will be willing to invite a star, endure all kinds of demands from a big star, and even the high salary that comes with it in addition to the basic salary. Amount of profit sharing.

When this trend is formed, the current first-line stars can only take the initiative to lower their status if they want to avoid being gradually marginalized.

Michael Ovitz couldn't help but think of "Forrest Gump", which Daenerys Entertainment had recently negotiated with two filmmakers under C, Robert Zemeckis and Tom Hanks.

Because of the large number of special effects that need to be used, the budget of "Forrest Gump" will reach about 5000 million US dollars, which is obviously already a blockbuster level.Because of the high budget required for film production, neither Zemeckis nor Hanks can ask for too high a salary.

Daenerys Entertainment also took the initiative to offer a salary reduction plan, but with a production budget of 5000 million US dollars, plus the promotional expenses that may reach half of the production cost, "Forrest Gump" wants to recover it through the local box office The cost, about 1.5 million US dollars at the box office.

Such a feature film about a "fool" rampaging in modern American history, let alone 1.5 million, even if it is 5000 million US dollars at the box office, makes people worry about whether it can get it.

Give up voluntarily?

This is also a way.

With the current coffee positions of Robert Zemeckis and Tom Hanks, they do have enough confidence to give up this project, and neither of them lacks film contracts.

However, considering that "Forrest Gump" is a project written by Simon Westero himself, both of them have some scruples.

It's not that they are worried about Westeros' wrath for refusing the project, but that once the two of them give up and the project becomes a big success in the future, then Hollywood is likely to have two competitors competing for resources with them.

Especially Hanks, a late blooming first-line star, absolutely does not want another male star of the same type to compete with him in Hollywood.

This is an example of Hollywood's obvious "surplus" first-line actresses in recent years.

The birth of Simon Westeros really made a large number of Hollywood newcomers popular.

In terms of actresses, in just a few years, there are different generations of Sandra Bullock, Meg Ryan, Valerie Golino, Julia Roberts, Nicole Kidman, Demi A large number of actresses such as Moore have risen rapidly and promoted to the top line by relying on a series of blockbuster movies.

The just-released "Wonder Woman" will apparently launch another Famke Janssen.

However, although there are many opportunities that Hollywood can give these women, there are not many high-quality resources after all.

If there are too many monks and too few porridges, the relative worth of first-line actresses will naturally decrease.

After relying on "Pretty Woman" to become famous in one fell swoop, it is reasonable to say that Julia Roberts should be able to call a high price of 500 million US dollars for a movie. However, last year's "Captain Hawk" played Tinkerbell Julia Roberts, actually only got $200 million.

$200 million isn't much, but if Julia Roberts doesn't play, then maybe there's Nicole Kidman, there's Valerie Golino, or maybe Meg Ryan wants to try.

If these 'first-line' are not willing, there are more 'second-line' waiting for the upper ranks.

It is conceivable that if Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, who initially cooperated with Simon Westeros, could firmly 'monopoly' the blockbuster projects under Daenerys Entertainment, then, at all There will not be so many 'latecomers'.

This is the situation facing Tom Hanks at this time.

Simon Westero likes to use different female stars on different projects. However, in terms of male stars, Daenerys Entertainment is relatively focused.

Not to mention the male protagonists of the DC movie universe project, in recent years, Robert De Niro, Tom Hanks, Keanu Reeves and others have almost become the reserved male stars of Daenerys Entertainment.In addition, Ovitz also found out that Westeros is deliberately cultivating Coppola's nephew Nicolas Cage, who will obviously become the direct descendant of Daenerys Entertainment in the future.

However, based on Michael Ovitz's understanding of that young man, he knows very well that if De Niro and Hanks and others are too demanding in some projects, Westeros will not hesitate to replace them.

Daenerys Entertainment has done this more than once.

"Flying Beyond Childhood" three years ago, with a budget of US$1500, sold more than US$1.6 million in North America alone.

Such a movie, logically speaking, should definitely develop a sequel.However, Daenerys Entertainment directly cut off the sequel's development plan because of the high salary of the actor Mel Gibson.

Because of these lessons learned, after several contacts, the relatively conservative Robert Zemeckis finally decided to accept Daenerys Entertainment's $600 million one-time director's remuneration, and has produced the "Back to the Future" series and "Who Framed Roger Rabbit". " and other blockbusters at the top of the annual box office list, the director's salary of 600 million US dollars is by no means high for Robert Zemeckis.

Tom Hanks chose a contract with a base salary plus a share, a base salary of $300 million, plus a 5% share of the North American box office.

Last year's "Captain Hawk", Sony gave Steven Spielberg, Dustin Hoffman and Robin Williams a total of 40% of the omni-channel net profit share, of which Spielberg 20%, Hoffman and Williams each 10%.

Because of the huge cost of "Captain Hawk" and the tepid box office, Spielberg's total 40% net profit sharing plan is actually a pile of waste paper.

Although the public often hears that a certain star has received a huge salary of tens of millions of dollars because of a movie sharing contract, in fact, Hollywood stars are not as willing to accept the sharing plan as the outside world imagines.

Inside the circle, everyone prefers to refer to the follow-up sharing scheme as 'back-pay sharing', because this model is often used by studios when they want to lower the project budget and reduce risk.Hollywood has four or five hundred films that only enter the theaters every year, and the box office hits are often only a dozen or twenty.

Therefore, Daenerys Entertainment's model of directly giving box office share is actually kind.

Even if "Forrest Gump" failed disastrously at the box office and only recovered US$2000 million in the North American box office, Hanks could still extract a share from it.

Because of previous blockbuster projects such as "Flying Over the Future" and "A Few Good Men", Hanks' current salary can already be called 800 million to 1000 million US dollars.

The film "Sleepless in Seattle" before "Forrest Gump" will be filmed in the second half of the year, because it relies on a project that largely relies on actors to support it, Hanks received a salary of 800 million US dollars.

Now, with $300 million plus 5% of the North American box office share, Hanks is also considered a self-decreased salary.

Calculated, the domestic box office of "Forrest Gump" needs to reach 1 million US dollars, and Hanks' income can be considered to reach his current net worth.