Chapter 29: Final box office

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In the following days, Duke had more exchanges with Zach Schneider. The latter took advantage of the off-duty time and took out some of his commercials and scenery clips, as well as his work in several advertising teams. Duke also recognized him to a certain extent in his work diary.
After attending a dinner hosted by the Lauder Group with his mother, Duke returned to Los Angeles. He first registered as a member of the Screenwriting Association, and at the same time filed the script in his hand, and then negotiated with Nancy Josephson. After careful consideration, he did not sign his name on the icm brokerage contract until the time entered June.
At the same time, the second script he completed was also handed over to Nancy. That's what the agent did.
"Life and Death" also came to the eighth week of its release in North America. In the intense summer season, the film's potential was almost exhausted. The single-day box office dropped below 300,000 US dollars, and the number of theaters screened was reduced to below. There are less than 400, and most of them are remote theaters. The mainstream commercial theaters have more choices in the summer. In the seventh week of the film’s one-week box office decline, almost all of them are down.
However, the film’s North American box office has reached $124.78 million!
This is the second North American film with a box office of over 100 million yuan this year, except for "Do". More importantly, after half of 1992, "Life and Death" temporarily became the highest grossing film in North America this year!
"In the past period of time!"
As the controller of caa, Michael Ovitz coldly glanced at the people sitting on both sides of the conference table, "We have made a major mistake in our work, and we have not only made "Speed ​​of Life and Death" a classic of caa packaging services. The movie of the case slipped away from the hands and also encountered a failure on "Alien 3"!"
His raging anger ignited directly at Lovett sitting at the end of the conference table, "Why did Duke Rosenberg signed Nancy Josephson instead of you? You know that a director of a billion-dollar box office club is right What does caa mean?"
"Also, your idiot, Rick Solomon, stop giving him an important role!" Michael Ovitz seemed to be even more angry. "Look at his funny performance on "Alien 3". There is no difference between clowns in the circus!"
Lovett shrank his head, dare not say a word.
During this period of time, Lovett has felt that his position in the company has quietly changed. In the past, he was the most dazzling one of the company’s newcomers, and even known for his precise vision. Now... he feels that he may be sent back to send and receive at any time. room.
Thinking of this, Lovett regrets a bit, regretting that he has not used the resources in his hands and the resources that caa can use to attack "Life and Death Hour".
However, this is just to think about it. Lovett knows very well that the company will not risk the risk of tearing its face with Fox and move the works produced by Lucasfilm. What is the relationship between caa and George Lucas and the Star Wars series? More important to Fox, this is a question that does not need to be answered at all.
Originally, Lovett wanted to become one of Mel Gibson's co-management agents, but now it seems hopeless.
"Martin..." Michael Ovitz over there said again, "Are the theaters still reluctant to extend the screening period of "Alien 3"?"
"Yes."
As the project director of "Alien 3", Martin Bob's tone was uncontrollable loss, "Four weeks after the film was released, the North American box office was less than 35 million U.S. dollars. The Emperor Cinemas and AMG Cinemas have already sent Fox Ultimatum, the film can stay in their theaters for up to two weeks."
Caa’s packaging strategy is not unsuccessful, but in the "Alien" series with a high reputation and audience base, it has encountered such a failure, which will inevitably affect their further promotion of packaging business.
It was also during this period that Fox in the 20th century ushered in a new round of personnel changes. With the super sales of "Life and Death" and the persuasive George Lucas to restart the Star Wars series, Townsend Rothman was in a fierce After the internal competition, he got his wish and sat in the position of the CEO of 20th Century Fox.
In the newly renovated office of Townsend Rosman, Duke's new agent, Nancy Rosenberg, is giving a generous statement.
"Townsend, do you think the script is not good enough? Or is Duke's performance on "Life and Death" not convincing?"
Sitting on the chair at the desk, Nancy leaned forward, showing a slight sense of oppression. "The final North American box office of "Life and Death" is likely to reach 130 million U.S. dollars. This result can definitely be ranked this year. The top ten or even the top five! And Duke’s new script completely continues the thrilling, hot, exciting, and even more profound of "Speed ​​of Life and Death". This is the type that Duke is best at. "Speed ​​of Life and Death" also proves this. For one thing, there is no reason why it will not succeed!"
Looking at the script on the desk, Townsend Rothman admitted that it is indeed better than the script of "Life and Death", but a good script may not turn into a big-selling movie, let alone according to Duke's predictions after the script, The cost of this film is much higher than "Speed ​​of Life and Death".
In the face of tens of millions or even millions of dollars of investment, any company will be cautious.
"Nancy..."
After thinking about it roughly, Townsend Rothman said,
I am very optimistic about this script, but you know that 20th Century Fox has a strict project review. I will push the script into the review stage as soon as possible. In the end, you and Duke still needs to wait."
Hearing these words, Nancy leaned forward and leaned against the back of the chair. In fact, this was the result she wanted.
As a senior agent, she certainly knows that establishing a project for any film company is not a simple matter. The larger the company, the stricter the review will be. A script written by a well-known Hollywood screenwriter is sent to the top six or second-tier production companies. It is normal that no review results can be obtained for several months.
The reason why she said so much to Tom Rothman was that she wanted the other party to speed up the process and enter the actual project negotiation stage.
Of course, Duke and Nancy will not hang themselves on a tree in Fox.
Leaving the Fox Building, in just a week, Nancy used himself and icm to make appointments to meet with the heads of Paramount, Touchstone, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. and other companies, and sent the script into these In the hands of the giants, with "Speed ​​of Life and Death" as the bottom line, Duke's new works will not pile up on the desk waiting for moldy even if they do not attract attention.
Although many of them are interested, none of the companies give promises lightly. Without risk assessment, preliminary market research and other measures, no company will make a decision without taking the forehead, not to mention that Hollywood's prevailing project review system does not allow it, even if the ceo does it. Promises are of little use.
Because of the complex composition of the shares of Hollywood companies, whether it is the six major companies or the second-tier companies, the CEO may not have to work too hard to veto a script, but he does not have the power to decide the film project alone.
The most typical one is Warner Bros. They have an eight-person project review committee. The script or project that can enter the review stage must be cross-reviewed by seven of them. After a majority of votes are passed, the eighth person will review it. , If it can pass at this time, it will be submitted to the company’s senior management, who will make a decision after discussion.
If there is a CEO or other high-level executives who jump out of the review committee to make a separate decision, the board of directors of the group company or film company can immediately activate the accountability system and ask him to leave.
Even if it is an independent film, if you want a single independent item, its cumbersome degree will not be much better than a commercial film.
Of course, if an investor is willing to be taken advantage of and undertake two-thirds or more of the investment in projects that are already favored by some film companies, this process will inevitably be greatly reduced, such as Duke’s mother Leah Rowe. Senberg on "Life and Death".
Even so, Mrs. Leah first signed a guaranteed share of US$ 2 million with Lucasfilm. No matter if "Life and Death" is successful or not, Lucasfilm will not lose money, so that "Life and Death" can The project was established.
People who knew of Mrs. Leah’s investment, such as Anne Spielberg, laughed at her for being faint, but no one said that anymore, especially since Duke heard rumors that her mother returned from New York to Los Angeles several times. I met Anne Spielberg at the party, and the other side not only detoured, but all of them left early.
Fortunately, the only people who knew this little dispute were Duke and the three of them, and neither he nor his mother liked to talk too much, otherwise Annie Spielberg would definitely lose face in the circle.
Time slowly shifted into late June, and the box office of "Alien 3" did not improve. After only six weeks of its release, it was forced to downgrade by the North American Theater Alliance. In the end, it only won the North American box office of more than 45 million US dollars, and even produced the film The cost has not been recovered. The impact of this film not only caused 20th Century Fox to suffer losses, but also caused them to temporarily shelve another packaged project of caa, "Interview with the Vampire".
Compared with "Alien 3", which was screened four weeks in the morning, "Life and Death", instead of staying in theaters for a week, the North American box office of the film will exceed 130 million US dollars, and ultimately stay at 130.02 million US dollars. The "Nuns Are Crazy" released last month is catching up quickly, but the film still holds the honor of No. 1 box office in North America in 1992.
With the downgrade of the film and the strong request of Lucasfilm, the production, investment, distribution and other aspects of "Life and Death" are preparing to carve up their own piece of cake.
According to relevant regulations in North America, if a film is shown for a long period of time, the theater will pay the distributor the first share after it is released twenty-eight days. The subsequent share will vary with the agreement and the release time. Most films are in the next stage. Within a week, the issuer can get all the box office share.
However, when this money is in the hands of the distributor, it is unknown when he will pay it to the producer and other investors.
Especially those individual producers, distributors who dragged on for half a year and a year are not called procrastination at all. Even the six most reputable companies have problems with debts and delays in payment. The cases in the Delaware Commercial Court of Justice are even more frequent. It is countless.
In other words, never overestimate the moral standards of Hollywood companies.
This is why Duke is looking for a production company or a well-known producer. Just like when Fox faced Lucasfilm in the 20th century, they would never lose tens of millions of dollars for small and big.