Hollywood Domination: The third domineering president

Obviously, Harvey, Jenny, and Cesare are not the only ones paying attention to the box office of "Monroe". The box office website is looking forward to the midnight show data of "Monroe", the first-day box office and the total box office forecast that will become more credible because of these real data. The figure of 17 million surprised Harvey Weinstein. , and made many people almost smash the cups in their hands. While Jenny was tossing and turning, unable to fall asleep for a long time, these troubled brothers and sisters also accompanied her all over the world and spent a sleepless night...

"Has today's box office come out?" In the resort island of Koh Samui in Thailand, Brad Gray, CEO of Paramount, realized that he had overslept as soon as he opened his eyes. Sitting up from the mattress with difficulty, before he had time to deal with the physical needs of cleaning and excretion, he didn't even put the mattress back on his body to slowly wake up, he walked out of the bedroom anxiously, stood by the door and raised his voice asked.

"Hi, Brad, good morning." In the corner of the spacious living room, a pretty girl with bright eyes, bright teeth, blond hair and blue eyes was having breakfast in the morning light. She greeted Brad leisurely, looking It seemed that she didn't hear his question, until Brad showed a warning expression, and then she smiled mischievously, put down the knife and fork, walked forward to Brad, and fluently introduced the whole Christmas box office situation.

"The full-day box office was 130 million, "The Little Old Man with Special Effects" opened in 3,900 locations, the box office on the first day was less than 10 million, and it started with 8.7 million, losing to "Dog and the Ex-Wife", the first-day box office of Good Dog was 14 million, The 4,000 openings proved that the Christmas file is still more suitable for family fun. "Adam **** and Another "Friends" Actress' Fantasy and Funny Film" performed well, with 9 million openings and 2,900 openings. Both are higher than Brad. However, Brad is not the only frustrated person. Another star of "Interview with the Vampire", Tom Cruise, is also not lucky. Only got a start of 6 million." Although her good figure and revealing clothes, including her intimate interaction with Brad, all suggest that this girl seems to be just a gold digger next to Brad, but from her fluent retelling Judging from the memory and eloquence shown by the box office market, as well as the sense of humor shown by those nicknames, she is obviously well-educated, her IQ is definitely not low, and she is even favored by Brad—her behavior of tantalizing This high-ranking film tycoon was already itchy, but he didn't turn his back on and scold the blonde girl. He just put on a helpless face, opened his arms angrily and amusedly, and let the other party take off his pajamas for him. , and led him out of the room, and sat in the jacuzzi.

"As far as you're concerned about "Blonde and Her Minions"—" the pretty blonde drew out her voice until Gray said, "Anita—" and she giggled Laughed, "Of course she became the blockbuster of Christmas this year, with 49 million on the first day, and the adjusted figure at midnight is 16.8 million, slightly ahead of "Revenge of the Sith", ranking second in the history of midnight shows, Among the movies that premiered on Christmas Day, it ranked first at the box office, and it broke the record by a large margin-it's a pity that "Marley and I" collided with her, otherwise it would have become the new champion. Can become the second place in the record."

49 million!

Although after knowing the figure of 17 million, Brad was already mentally prepared for the first-day box office of "Monroe", but this figure still made his heart beat, and he even felt a little out of breath... ...

—49 million! 49 million at Christmas!

Whether it is the beautiful scenery of Koh Samui, or the caring company of Anita, the senior **** girl whom he loves recently, Gray's mood can't be stopped. He can't even enjoy the comfort of the hot tub. There was a familiar throbbing pain in his temple, as if a tendon was being pulled back and forth—this was also his old problem. Gray was prone to migraines when he lost sleep, but he knew the midnight box office figures last night Afterwards, he didn't sleep well all night, until he took two sleeping pills in the second half of the night, and then barely slept for a few hours, and the migraine that had been a symptom since he woke up just now, was finally catalyzed by this number, and broke out completely , let him cover his head, the pain was so painful that he couldn't even speak.

Under Anita's massage and the comfort of the hot tub, Gray finally managed to get over the outburst, but he still had no interest in speaking, and simply waved his hands at the medicine Anita sent After hearing that this very considerate professional **** had left quietly, he completely sank his face and became fascinated by the sunny scenery in front of him.

49 million, 49 million at Christmas... Although there is no computer at hand, Gray is also very clear about what this number means. After all, he also relied on his own efforts to climb to this position step by step. Under the leadership of him and the former CEO Shelley Lansing, Paramount has produced countless blockbusters and box office blockbusters. Gray knows the movie industry better than anyone—maybe Anita In other words, "Monroe" simply broke a record. The figure of 49 million is still comparable to the first-day box office of "Pirates of the Caribbean", "Transformers", "Harry Potter" and other blockbusters. It's not as good as it is, but for Gray, he started to have a headache as soon as he heard the words of 130 million box office for the whole day. For people who know how to do it, this number really means too much...

What is the concept of 130 million? Generally speaking, the box office on Christmas day will not exceed 100 million, and it is very good to have more than 90 million. Of course, these box offices are almost all divided up by the top ten movies. Simply divide , Probably the top ten movies have a box office of 9 million or 10 million, which is also an average level.

"Marley and Me" has a box office of more than 10 million yuan on its premiere day, which is basically not high or low. It doesn't seem very conspicuous in the summer file, but it performed very well on Christmas , although if there is no "Monroe", it can get the first box office in the history of the Christmas premiere day, but this data alone will not surprise Gray, even if "Monroe" took 46 million, but the single-day market is still Around 100 million, he wouldn't be that surprised. But the fact is that because of "Monroe", the single-day box office was directly increased by 30 million, reaching a high of 130 million, while "Marley and Me", which competed with "Monroe" in the same schedule, did not receive any hit at the box office. Too much influence, but still get 14 million, which means that the audience corresponding to the 30 million box office does not belong to the Christmas schedule. No matter what the reason is, they don’t plan to leave on Christmas day. They went to the movie theater, and because of "Monroe", they made an exception and changed their habits. They went to the movie theater and watched a movie on this festival that was originally a family reunion...

The midnight show can be regarded as a show for fans and movie fans. As far as the cast of "Monroe" is concerned, almost all of the 17 million fans are fans of Jennifer Jefferson. There is no doubt about this. This statistic is already scary enough, but compared to the full-day market stats, Jennifer Jefferson's box office ability is even more frightening. Based on an estimate of 10 yuan per movie ticket, the box office of 30 million is estimated to be 3 million people. Gray does not want to count all the 3 million people on Jefferson's head, but compared with her last Christmas film, the box office on the first day has climbed significantly There are probably as many as 30 million...

What does this mean? That means a lot! First of all, this means that this girl has opened up a new type of money-making—as long as she is beautiful enough and the quality of the film is high enough, even if it is a literary film, she can pull out a box office similar to a commercial film alone, and this road It is still impossible for others to imitate. It is clear that in the current Hollywood a-list, those who are similar to her do not have her beauty, and those b-r and c-r who are as beautiful as her or prettier than her do not have her beauty. Acting skills and fame... just the first domestic box office, which can basically cover the production budget of this film. If you just want money, the original crew will make some biopics of famous beauties, even if the income is not so much Well, in the next ten or twenty years, Dameng will definitely not worry about the source of money.

Secondly, this also means that "Monroe" is not only a money-making movie, but also a successful movie. Its box office is destined to be talked about by the mass media for a long time. A social phenomenon, like "The Lord of the Rings" and "Titanic", will form a fan circle, and even drive fashion, technology, and cultural upsurge in many fields. Of course, this also means that Jennifer Jefferson has never been The popular star has taken another step towards the symbol of the times, just like Michael Jackson and Madonna represent one era, and the Beatles and Elvis Presley represent another era. After Vivien Leigh and Greta Garbo, Hollywood has spent A time when female stars were barren, and the female stars of the 70s and 80s are still rarely remembered by people today. Many people even think that with the advancement of technology, there will never be James Dean and Malone in the film industry. .Brando is such a superstar, but after "Monroe", even the pickiest people can't help but admit that Jennifer Jefferson is such a character, this monster has dominated the big screen for seven years , and not only did she not show any sign of decline, but she also became more and more courageous as she fought, and now she is unceremoniously extending her tentacles to areas other than movies...

Why don't viewers get tired of Jennifer Jefferson? Why doesn't she lose popularity? Why is her box office appeal so strong that it is even unreal? Gray can tell some truths, such as Jefferson's team's excellent public relations ability, public opinion control, strong rhythm of film marketing, as well as Jefferson's acting skills, personal image, and her self-disciplined personality, but he There are also things that I can't figure out-why can she choose a good movie every time? Why has she never encountered a crew that didn't work well together? Why does what she wants to do always get done? Why has she never tasted failure?

Anyone will miss, only Jefferson will never, this has become the consensus of almost all filmmakers in Beverly Hills, especially this year, this point of view has received more attention and recognition— ——The "Unlucky God of Love" and "Old Friends Are Rich" invested and produced by Da Meng before can only be said to have no losses and small profits, so most people just think that "anyone will miss, only Jefferson Films of the show won't', but now, the sentence has been amended, 'Anyone but Jefferson's pick won't,' and after tonight, Marley & Me and Marilyn Monroe must also become the best argument for this point of view, especially "Marley and Me", which teamed up with "Twilight", almost swollen the faces of all Hollywood box office forecasters...

Thinking of "The Twilight Saga", even though it was already November, Gray still couldn't help but feel a tightness in his chest: he had been exposed to this project very early, after all, this novel was a bestseller in the "New York Times" Books, and finding adaptation materials from these best-selling series of novels has always been a very important job for Paramount-Paramount has not had many best-selling series, this is indeed their weakness-"Twilight" is famous for its brain damage The plot, poor writing, and flat characters left a deep impression on Gray, so he was not optimistic about the prospect of adapting this novel at the beginning, and he did not participate in the bidding at that time.

Because of his deep confidence in the poor quality of the novel, when the newly established Dameng won the film copyright of "Twilight" at a relatively high price, Gray at the time regarded it as Jenny One of the evidences of F. Jefferson's childish impulsiveness. In his opinion at the time, Jennifer was nothing more than another lucky one. Like all celebrities, she didn't know the limit of her abilities when she became popular. want to get into the production business, and the only outcome waiting for them is to burn out their savings in the production industry, and then have to be more active in filming-if they are smart, they usually stop there, of course, it does not rule out Some people are very stupid. After being scammed countless times, they still want to invest money in it.

Of course, after that, Dameng used several co-productions and two qualified films independently produced by himself to make Gray somewhat change Jefferson's opinion. The two main films are still very pessimistic, especially "Twilight". From the casting stage, every decision is simply outrageous in his opinion-always with a gloomy face, obviously because of the relationship Bella, who is in the top household, does not know the heights of the sky and the earth, not to mention her bad acting skills, and Edward is not very handsome... and the feedback from the movie preview meeting has more or less proved his idea: almost every film critic has a positive opinion of the movie. Many people described it as "the most brainless film among brainless youth films", "Once Dameng leaves Jefferson, it will be useless", and movie box office forecasting experts did not give too optimistic judgments. They all thought it was a blockbuster movie scheduled for this year, and even Dameng's relatively low-profile and low-profile promotion was regarded as strong evidence-Dameng must have known that this movie was a mess, so he was so stingy in publicity.

Okay, what happened next, there is no need to say much, from the pre-sale of the midnight show, the data forecasting experts began to shut up, and waited until the first day of the "Twilight" box office came out From now on, let alone those experts, even Gray, who has never expressed his views on "Twilight" in public, but only has private thoughts, feels like his face is swollen...

Why do you sell it like this? How can such a **** film sell 200 million in North America? This is completely a great satire on the aesthetics of the American people. Gray even has a feeling of being very disappointed with the next generation: Is this the movie you like? Sorry, but I really don't understand!

How much did Dameng make on this movie? The announced budget of this film is only 40 million US dollars, North America alone can fully recoup and make money, overseas is completely net profit, and at least up to now, "Twilight" has performed equally well overseas, It's sure to top $300 million at the global box office, and there's a sequel to The Twilight Saga - it's a franchise!

Why is The Twilight Saga so popular? Because a new generation of movie audiences has grown up, and with the development of the Internet, more and more precocious children have turned their interest to love between men and women very early, but their mental maturity is not enough for them to understand those complicated things. The plot and selling points of "Twilight" just fit their needs: mysterious, evil vampires, unpredictable fate and a special heroine. What they want is not an interesting story, the simpler the story, the better. , the less brain-burning the better, they just want to watch handsome men and beautiful women fall in love and play cool in a mysterious background, and then have some tragic scenes as stimulation.

Why is Dameng so low-key in publicity? Because this is a fan-type movie, and the age group of fans is extremely young, this also means that they are very receptive to the Internet, and will actively obtain movie information from the Internet instead of waiting for the movie to reach their doorstep. Judging from the box office trend of "Light", it has a strong first day and strong reservations, but the decline is high, which shows that the people who should watch it are paying close attention to the schedule, and they will watch the movie as soon as it is released. Very small... which also means that as long as there are no major mistakes in the "Twilight" sequel, the box office cannot drop very badly. The kind of fan group that manufacturers dream of...

In front of the brilliant box office of "Twilight", if Gray still can't analyze one, two, three, four, five, then he might as well not be the CEO. It is not so easy to follow the trend. After all, the success of "Twilight" is because it comes from a very high-quality IP. At least among similar novels, it has been on the best-seller list for the longest time. To find a A best-selling IP like it is not easy, but if you want to develop a new series by yourself, the risk you take is high...

After "Twilight", Gray really began to face up to the big dream, and put away his contempt for "Marley and Me". Although this movie is the most difficult pet theme, and the original ip story It is weak and difficult to adapt, but the critics' scores are quite good. It will be released during Christmas, and the prospects are relatively promising. However, he did not expect that "Marley and Me" and "Monroe" were released at the same time, and they still got such a bright box office - this shows that Dameng is not a fool, It was a random decision. They should have done preliminary research and concluded that "Monroe" would not squeeze the market of "Marley and Me", so they made such a decision.

So, Big Dream not only has a talented film selector named Jennifer Jefferson, but also has established an internal system that seems to be working well and has some capabilities. From the performance point of view, their progress in this area is quite astonishing... Coupled with the shocking 46 million of "Monroe", it is indeed difficult for Gray not to have a headache.

Even if you leave the company aside, let’s just talk about Jennifer Jefferson’s recent films. 2", the global figure is 1.18 billion, "Iron Man" is 400 million domestically, 450 million overseas, and 850 million globally, which has not reached the 1 billion club, but given its shabby status, this figure is already impressive. Eye-popping - at that time, Gray was still humming songs all day because of this data. This is a movie co-produced by Paramount and Marvel, so he knows the box office well. The internal view of Paramount is that although Jennifer Jefferson doesn't have many roles, but she is at least responsible for the 450 million overseas box office, and at least 100 million domestic box office is driven by her. After all, Iron Man and Robert Downey Jr. are both overseas. There is no popularity, but Jennifer is a strong person who can bring a literary film to the 200 million mark.

"Monroe" reached 46 million on the first day. Judging from Jennifer's overseas appeal, the overseas and North American figures are at least the same. According to this momentum, the global 600 million is a conservative estimate... Even if It's a commercial film that a-r participated in, and it can exceed 300 million in the world, and the film studio also has a celebration party, but what about Jennifer? In the past, her literary films could exceed 100 million worldwide, now? 300 million in the world is probably too low for her literary film...

Even though Hollywood is a place that never lacks miracles and geniuses, Jennifer's great achievements still make Gray a little dizzy. This girl seems to live in a world that is not at all like others. It’s too exaggerated in movies, it’s really hard for you to believe that this person is really living by your side, really creating those great achievements, and it seems that they will continue to create—no matter how good you are , Work harder, you can only admit defeat in front of such a person, just like Jobs successively changed the world with Apple computers, ipods and ... As an ordinary outstanding elite, you will really have a kindness in front of this kind of person Powerlessness, not to mention whether it can be done, the problem is that you don't even have an idea of ​​how to catch up with them, and you don't even understand how they do it all...

Of course, if Jennifer is just an actress, then no matter how outstanding her achievements are, Gray will not feel threatened or dangerous. Even if she has a close relationship with Disney, he will not care at all, to put it bluntly Now, after the box office of "Iron Man", even if Jennifer slaps him in the face, he will smile and offer her the right cheek to let her slap again: as long as she can act in Paramount's film, any sacrifice is worth it Yes, it's like Time Warner, who used Warner's entire independent film library as a meeting gift in exchange for the opportunity to invest in Jefferson's new movie, but everyone is still envious of it-everyone knows that the big dream must be watching In a Warner independent movie, and in Jennifer's eyes, it will definitely make a lot of money, but even after "Twilight", no one laughed at Warner's money, because Warner got a big dream Cooperation, the opportunity to cooperate with Jennifer, it can be said that in today's Hollywood, the only thing that can surpass "Jennifer's choice of film" is the film that Jennifer herself starred in...

However, Jennifer is not only an actress, she is also the boss of a production company - and what is even more annoying is that she is not only a talented actor, but also seems to be a talented boss. The three films produced, even if "Iron Man" is not counted, the North American box office can account for at least 700-800 million. According to the total annual box office of 9 billion in North America, it is close to 10% of the box office. This figure can even catch up with The last of the six majors... In some particularly unlucky years, the market share of the last few in the six majors hovered around 10%. As far as the box office is concerned, the total profit can't even match Compared with big dreams.

In Hollywood, no film producer can say that they can sit back and relax. This is a highly gamble industry, and the box office profit margin is small, and the payment is slow, but the investment is huge, and it is concentrated in the early stage of production. Film companies can easily fall into the brink of bankruptcy due to several consecutive bad lucks, and have to invest in the arms of giant media groups to seek protection in the late stage of industry development. Therefore, Hollywood film companies have changed from the eighth to the seventh, and finally to the sixth. And no one can guarantee that the current Sixth National Congress will not become the Fifth or Big Four at a certain moment. Perhaps outsiders may see the Sixth National Congress as superior and unattainable, but only the top executives inside the Sixth National Congress know how much they are. Difficult to move forward——Since 2004, Paramount's road has been particularly difficult, and there is a feeling of disorientation. The effort to acquire DreamWorks does not seem to be so effective, and the same is true of Marvel, and it is almost the same. After the negotiation, the shareholders suddenly changed their minds, and now they are still in the process of difficult negotiations. Gray even has a feeling that this matter is doomed to fail—for now, this is just his intuition, and he has not received any concrete evidence yet. But if Marvel really got rid of Paramount's "love network", he has a feeling that this matter must have something to do with Jennifer Jefferson. The behavior of wooing, even refusing to star in "Iron Man 2" is very suspicious... Anyway, he now has a feeling that the road is difficult: Paramount's market share this year is not bad, but in the long run, Only one series of "Transformers" is far from enough. Without Jennifer, it is doubtful whether "Iron Man" can gain a firm foothold, and Paramount's annual output has never been able to increase. The output of 9 movies is really too low. Dameng has made 3 blockbuster movies this year, and also developed "Iron Man" with himself. If they continue to go on like this, who knows what will happen in a few years? Will try to squeeze into the ranks of the Big Six, replace Paramount or Sony that lost "Spider-Man" to become the new Big Six, or bring Hollywood back to the era of the Big Seven, and truly complete the transition from independent film companies to mainstream film companies Metamorphosis, becoming a competitor that Paramount cannot underestimate...

As the only remaining six film companies, the relationship between the Big Six is ​​indeed rather delicate. It can be said that they are both enemies and friends. There is often only one reason for their cooperation, and that is to attack those small film companies that have the potential to threaten the status of the Big Six. , This is also their tacit understanding: in Beverly Hills, the six big companies are already a bit crowded, if there is nothing special, it is better not to add another one...

——Gray can be sure that if it weren't for the fact that Dameng has a Disney background, and the rumors that Jennifer Jefferson and Robert Iger have an ambiguous relationship, after the rise of "Twilight", Disney would be the first The company that took the lead in contacting this matter, but with Disney, everything is completely different. Now Warner and Dameng are jointly developing a new project, and they are working hard to earn back the upfront cost. Dream shot, and Gray originally had a glimmer of hope, wanting Jennifer to return to the embrace of "Iron Man 2", and he was not so optimistic about the future of Dream, so he didn't plan to come forward for the time being. , I still plan to wait and see what happens, waiting for the day when Dameng falls headlong and cannot get up.

But now, he couldn't wait any longer. Jennifer's box office appeal and film selection made him feel deeply threatened, especially the good results of "Twilight" and "Marley". It gave him an ominous feeling: the schedule of "Marley" and the number of opening theaters proved that Dameng has a precise vision and is very confident in his own judgment. He has entered a mature distribution department, while "Twilight" The success of "Light" and the remarkable points in the marketing process made him feel his own age... He is already in his 50s this year, and his grasp of the tastes of the new generation is destined to be inferior to that of the 20th generation Jennifer, even though he knew the reason for the success of "Twilight", he still didn't have the confidence to choose the second "Twilight"...

Yes, although I really don’t want to admit it, Gray has to face the reality: in front of the newborn calf, Dameng, he, the tiger, actually felt a bit weak...

What if you give Dameng another five years? What about ten years? Will Big Dream really become Hollywood's seventh biggest? Would you really even want to buy Paramount? Don't say that Jennifer Jefferson can't do it, you have to admit that there are people in this world who are born to create miracles, that is, there are people who can break through your imagination time and time again, leaving you stunned. Jobs was like this, and so was Jennifer Jefferson...

Yes, after knowing the first-day box office of the miracle of "Monroe", Gray has unconsciously equated Jennifer and Jobs, and he has already applied some phenomena of Jobs to Jennifer Let’s reason: Jobs himself is the best spokesperson and the best signboard for Apple products. Many people in the younger generation don’t even care about whether Apple’s products are cost-effective. As long as they are produced by Jobs, they will rush to buy them immediately. And those audiences don't seem to care about the subject matter of Jennifer Jefferson's movie at all. As long as it is her movie, they will go out of the house and enter the movie theater at a time when they usually don't even think about it. Jennifer Jefferson's Movie Tickets... Just as Jobs and Apple have become one, Jennifer Jefferson and her movies, and her company, seem to be becoming one , Now she just managed to let the audience go out to watch her movie. Five years later, ten years later, will the audience just go out of the house to watch Dameng's movie regardless of the time period and subject matter?

Who can guarantee that she can't?

Although the water temperature in the jacuzzi has been kept constant, people are not aquatic animals after all. Gray's fingers quickly wrinkled, and his heart began to feel a little stuffy after soaking in the water for a long time. Meng's 'overbearing president' didn't mean to get up to enjoy breakfast. He sat cross-legged in the jacuzzi for a long time like Zen, and then slowly opened his eyes, and slapped the water surface with his hands, arousing a layer of shock. Shallow spray.

"...I have to **** her." He said to himself, "Yes, I have to **** her..."