Hollywood Domination Chapter 324: “Fast and Furious” + “Mission: Impossible”

"Fast and Furious?" In his latest Malibu seaside mansion, Georgia Lansing walked to the table with three glasses of cocktails in his hand, and handed them to Cesare and Jenny respectively, "You Yes, Chesa, and your special flavor, j.j, exclusive to celebrities, sugar-free and alcohol-free, but absolutely delicious-my private collection, you will fall in love with it after a taste.”

"Thank you, dear."

"Thank you brother."

After a short exchange of pleasantries, Georgia also sat down in the cool corner of the living room—although Cesare and Jennifer Bell, who is also his wife, had a not-so-pleasant past, but you You can't see this from Georgia's face. After Cesare took a sip of the cocktail and nodded his approval politely, he then kissed Cesare affectionately, expressing his gratitude in a quack-like manner, and then continued. Said, "Do you think this B-level series has A-level potential? Chesa, j.j?"

"This should be a series that Universal has the potential to become a global hit in the past few years," Cesare said before Jenny, who was sitting lazily by the side, said, "It's like Pyra Meng's "Transformers", Marvel's "Iron Man", this kind of mechanical visual spectacle film has a promising future in recent years, so we are indeed interested in participating in the production of the "Fast and Furious" series-of course, The premise is that Universal is willing to cooperate with us in joint development.”

"It's like Warner is making "" with you, and Paramount is doing "Mission: Impossible" with you?" Georgia scratched her thick black curly hair, grinned, and asked herself the news Concealed in a flattering smile, "Speaking of which, j.j, should I say that women are fickle, or should I say something else? I mean, you and Paramount's Brad The story between you is even more exciting than your love story—are you really reconciled? Are you really going to redevelop "Mission: Impossible"? To be honest, this sounds too much like a rumor , I simply refused to believe it when I first heard it.”

"The contract is already being prepared." Jenny knew that Georgia might still want to hear her explain herself, but she really talked too much this week, and there were many occasions where it was inconvenient for Cesare to be the main attacker. At most, let him take care of it on the sidelines. Now it was finally the turn of the old acquaintances Lansing and his wife. She really couldn't think of eloquent thoughts, so she simply responded and signaled Cesare to take over the topic—whether it was The potential of "Fast and Furious", or whether Dameng and Paramount have settled their suspicions and intend to work together, are topics that she and Cesare have discussed many times. In fact, it is not too big for her and Cesare. Anyway, the core content is the same, what should be said, will be said without asking, and what should not be said, they can't confide in Georgia's routine. "But I really didn't know that Brad and I had an affair—let me tell you about it, Chesa—"

"Mission: Impossible" and "Fast and Furious" are actually two very similar series," Cesare did not make any intimate gestures towards Susan like he did at Susan's house, but Officially picked up Jenny's words, "They all had a good start, but their subsequent development was not so strong, and now they are all on hold. Of course, "Fast and Furious 4" will be held this year, but... "

Compared with Brad, Georgia Lansing is indeed much more likable, at least he has always been polite and measured in front of Jenny, just like now, although in his smiling eyes, Jenny can It was felt that Georgia did not fully believe in Cesare and her scandal and marriage contract, or even did not believe it at all, but he did not intend to continue to dig deeper on this topic, but chose to keep his mouth shut, including The same is true for Dameng’s frequent contact with other companies now. Georgia may have shouldered the task. She must find out what Jenny and Cesare really think in today’s party: They are going to break up with Disney and give themselves Do you want to stay behind? Or is it just normal business activities? ——Universal's top management must have wanted to know to death, but after finding out that Jenny was not interested in this topic, he immediately gave up the idea of ​​inquiring, and instead listened intently to Cesare's explanation. This kind of sense of restraint is quite rare among the top executives in Hollywood, which is why Jenny chose him to be the messenger of Universal. At least in these years of social interaction, Georgia left her with a good impression, and Jenny F. Bell—of course, it will not be an obstacle or a problem at all now.

"It sounds like you are very confident about "Fast and Furious 4" this year." Although he was a little surprised at the choice of Dameng, Georgia has now fully invested in the rhythm of the discussion, "I think it will be Universal's visual A masterpiece of spectacle films—but, you see, the problem lies in this. In fact, the ff series cannot be said to be strict special effects films. On the contrary, we have always been proud of real shots. It's nothing to do with the film, it's completely a branch of racing movies, with some gangster elements added at most. — Between us, I can tell the truth, I'm not so optimistic about this film, because of the success of "Fast and Furious 1" It seems more like a coincidence. After that, we continued the same model for 2 and 3, but none of them were successful at the box office, and we could only barely make a loss. In this regard, Universal’s thinking has never been open. This 4 is also based on the idea of ​​1, and we don't know if it will be successful. We have added some cool racing scenes-of course, this is already 2009, and the racing cars in 2001 are outdated, but Everything else is very similar. The problem is that Universal has never figured out which point of 1 touched the audience and made them like it. We actually don’t know the market capacity of this theme. Will the global 200 million be the highest point? You know, it's really hard to say."

Although Georgia has also directed blockbuster films like "Van Helsing", there is no doubt about his professional quality to be able to make progress in the world. "Fast and Furious" is not the film he directed, but he can also Say 1234, and analyze the situation clearly. Of course, this kind of active and frank approach is even more generous and attractive-I have already revealed the bottom line, and you Cesare and Jenny don’t do anything. Dry goods, the person who is not interesting is not Georgia Lansing.

Of course, if Cesare will be able to use this kind of aggressive method, he is probably still a junior partner of CAA. Facing Georgia's candid tone and faint questioning intention, his expression is quite calm, The response was also watertight, "Yes, we also found Universal's confusion in thinking, to be honest, Universal and Paramount are indeed not companies that are good at developing series, and in this regard, Dream may be able to work with you Exploration. In fact, we are not very optimistic about the box office of "Fast and Furious 4", but we have great confidence in the market capacity, just like "Mission Impossible". If we operate it for us, Dameng has the confidence to do them well-there must be a market, but whether it can make this money is the unique skill of each company, isn't it?"

In response to his frank response, Georgia could only respond with a somewhat embarrassed smile-of course, such struggles are also expected, after all, this is not to develop new series, but to find old series from the copyright library Developed together, if Jenny is the starring role and brings money into the game, maybe Paramount and Universal will be more generous with the share, because after all, there is a queen privilege, but now based on the premise that Jenny herself does not star, for the original copyright company It’s very aggrieved—since Dameng will propose joint development, then this theme must be valuable, and it still belongs to me, just like a piece of land at home. The production has been reduced, so it is temporarily abandoned, maybe in the future He will come to cultivate again, but now that Dameng is here, he basically does nothing except pay money and talk, but he insists on distributing a large part of the food he grows. Moreover, since the company does not lack tens of millions of dollars, in fact, Dameng is tantamount to making money by relying on its own ideas, and it may even be a matter of a few words to take away most of the profits. It will definitely make the original company feel at a disadvantage.

However, if the big dream is kicked out, with the confidence they gave, and with 120,000 points of attention to intensive cultivation of this series, will Paramount or Universal have the confidence to do it well? They really don't have this confidence. Just like Georgia said, in many cases, the studio is actually not sure which point of the movie touched the audience-take "Fast and Furious" as an example, the first movie It is more hard-core, and the racing plot in it can indeed stand the test. Although there are some surreal parts, it is like a parkour movie, which is exaggerated, but 99% of it can be manipulated by real-life masters. Cool action.

This kind of racing style that is close to reality, the combination of two leading actors, one handsome and one man, and the excitement brought by the theme of gangsters and underground racing, made this racing movie with a simple plot a good one at a small cost. It is an ideal box office. Although the global box office is only over 200 million, but with a budget of 380 million and a domestic box office of 140 million, "Fast and Furious 1" is an excellent small-production film, and its profit prospects are quite promising. , so in the second part, the theme of gangsters, underground racing, two handsome guys, wild beauties are used as usual, and some humor is added at the same time, but the box office is not as expected - at this time At the beginning, Universal was a little confused. In order to pursue gimmicks, the third part moved the stage to Tokyo, but the box office was poor. In the fourth time, they returned to the original starring lineup, and invited back Paul Walker and Vin Diesel. , It is equivalent to blindly bumping into the pain points of the audience, trying to hit a train of thought-if the response of 4 is still mediocre, then the launch of the fifth part may have to wait a long time later. In fact, based on the box office of 2 and 3, Universal is still willing to shoot 4, all because of the sponsorship and implantation of car companies, otherwise, it will at least have to be left out for three to five years before starting to restart this series... ...

Now that the schedule for 4 has been set, the entire film has been completed, and several rounds of internal screenings have been held, it is no longer realistic to make any changes to 4. If it is true as Jenny said, 4 If the box office is not too ideal, it is really hard to say whether Universal still has the courage to spend a lot of money to take risks on 5. From this point of view, even if Big Dream is willing to not participate in the stock and just give free advice, I am afraid Universal will not dare Trust - If there is money to be made, why don't you invest in it together? So this matter is actually unsolvable, either you choose not to trust Dameng’s vision, or you have to accept the fact that Dameng uses its own strategic vision to divide the money, so Jenny said that Universal’s situation is very similar to that of Paramount , because Paramount's "Mission: Impossible" is now in a predicament - after the tragedy of "Mission: Impossible 3", the breakup between Paramount and Tom Cruise is more or less because of this series I feel rather confused, can't see the future clearly, and the possibility of continuing to hit the street with 4 is extremely high, so I kicked Cruise out of nowhere. If the box office of "Disc 3" is mediocre, but let Paramount see this New ideas on the subject matter, so even if a movie doesn't make money, they won't say goodbye to Tom Cruise.

For Universal and Paramount, if they want to move their leading series, such as Paramount's "Transformers" and Universal's "Bourne Shadow", it is tantamount to provoking the majesty of these two companies, but Of these two series, one is high, but now it is in disarray, and it is at a low ebb, and it seems that it cannot continue at all. This month’s shop, but there are not many optimistic voices within Universal, and the film critics do not think that "ff4" has any major breakthroughs in quality, and it is still a second-tier, B-level production. If the addition of Big Dream can make They come back to life and produce rich cakes. Even if the company is reluctant to give up, they still know how to make a decision rationally. After all, the current big dream is the guarantee of the box office. If you cooperate with him, you will make money. If you don’t cooperate with him, big dream will find competition. The opponent, you don't make money, and the opponent makes money, but you are thrown away. This is a double loss. ——Especially when Big Dream and Disney seemed to be at odds, and turned around and went directly to the original rival Paramount to reconcile. Now, is Universal refusing to cooperate for the possible profit of a second-tier series, or should they make the cake bigger and share together? Profit, by the way, is there a chance to bring the core characters of the big dream over? As long as you have a little heart, you will know what to choose. ——To be honest, the big dream has exploded, and the idea has come out. Whether or not to continue playing with them in the sequel is a matter of the future...

As for the direction of this conversation, Jenny actually knows the direction of the conversation. Georgia’s questions and surprises are basically routine reactions. It's just information. Business negotiations are often nonsense versus nonsense. The two sides are fighting for patience, and it depends on who will show the flaw first. However, in this matter, there is no rush at all for the big dream that already has several big projects in hand, but for Universal, after the end of "Bourne Shadow 3", the director, actors and screenwriters are not willing to continue. Continuing with an A-level series to fill the vacancy, the supply and demand relationship between the two parties is clear at a glance, and there is nothing to write about, so Georgia did not pretend for too long, so she showed a strong interest and invited Cesare to come to Universal to discuss the cooperation details.

Universal and Dameng agree with each other, just like Paramount and Dameng. Brad, who was eager to consolidate his position, was touched by Disney's internal strife-the CEO of any film company is a successful producer And management personnel, at this level, talents are very scarce. Maybe the board of directors has not launched an offensive yet. Let Brad stay, it is just a helpless choice when no replacement can be found, and if Dick is forced to leave Well, the directors who have already been dissatisfied with Brad may set off a chain reaction and let Dick come to Paramount, which is naturally not what Brad likes to see, so he needs to join forces with Dick to ensure that the positions of both of them are as stable as Mount Tai , but Jenny’s phone call gave him a second choice: he can get back together with Dameng, and by the way, cooperate with another project that is destined to explode at the box office (at this moment, any company that cooperates with Dameng is willing to do so from the bottom of his heart) I believe that the box office myth of the big dream will last forever), this is much more proactive than desperately preventing the board of directors from changing their minds, the two sides hit it off, and it can even be said that Brad’s attitude is completely surprising and cooperative—and now As a vice president, Georgia, who wants to accumulate qualifications and make an impact on the position of CEO, why doesn't he yearn for a blockbuster series that can be reborn in his hands?

"Honey, honey," said Georgia, leading the two guests out of the house after less than an hour of talking in the cool living room. He walked to the pool and woke up his dozing wife. Say goodbye to them - they have to go, there is a meeting in the company this afternoon."

Because the due date is approaching, Jennifer Bell became a little lethargic. When the two parties came in, they said hello, and she went to sunbathe, and now she wiped her eyes and came to say goodbye, "Hey, you really should come out and talk , the sun and wind are really nice today—but if that's the case, my snoring might wake you up..."

"When is the due date? Are all the things ready for the baby?" Jenny was very kind to Bell today. In addition to the demeanor she should have for pregnant women, it is also because the Lansing family is now an ally of Dameng.

"It's next weekend, we're going to hold a babywer, can you come over..." Although her eyes were sleepy, Bell obviously didn't lose her sharpness, and her smile suddenly became sincere. Covered with butterfly spots, but still eager to inquire, "Did the conversation go well today? Babes, I heard that you have taken a fancy to a project from Universal."

"It's The Fast and the Furious," Georgia said to his wife, "so I'm afraid there's nothing for you here, honey, but maybe we can find you a role on a Sony-Dream project ——"

"Oh, Georgia, Sony hasn't called us yet." Jenny quickly clarified, and she couldn't help laughing, "Actually, if you want to know, you can ask directly."

"Maybe not now," Georgia blinked at Jenny seemingly unintentionally, and seemed to be tacit, "but I think, when Sony finds out that they have become the only company in the six majors that did not cooperate with Dameng , they will definitely call..."

Amid Bell’s unresponsive questions, he and Jenny laughed at the same time, but Jenny quickly sullenly, waved her hands, and humbly said, “Actually, this has nothing to do with us. It’s too big a relationship, you know, Hollywood always likes to follow the trend, Dameng is just lucky to be a member of the trend.”

"Yeah, a trend," Georgia winked at Jenny again, lowered her voice, and said in a somewhat mysterious manner, "I like this trend, and I'm sure Brad likes this trend too—Fox's Jim, Jeff at Warner loves this trend, and I can guess that some people don't like this trend."

Maybe thinking of "Fast and Furious" and his own bright future, Georgia's interest was particularly high, and he laughed out loud at this point, "Hahaha, I know who will definitely not like this trend !”

...