Vol 2 Chapter 699: Market appeal

Duke was on vacation throughout July. For most of August, he did not consider work matters. Since the beginning of the new century, he will release a new movie every year, and except for "Hurricane Rescue", the rest All are commercial masterpieces that cost more than 100 million US dollars.
Although making movies is Duke's greatest interest, it is not so boring and boring when the interests and work coincide, but after a few years, I still feel tired.
This exhaustion does not come from the body, but from the spiritual level.
The director is the coordinator of a film, and there are too many aspects that need to be considered. From the pre-production to the post-production, it is almost impossible to leave the crew. The mental pressure brought by this long process can be imagined.
Stress is not something you think it would not exist without it.
In the initial stage, Duke used the usual methods of people in this circle to vent and dredge stress. Women, especially beautiful and women, are undoubtedly an excellent channel for venting stress.
Only in recent years, he has said goodbye to his original way of life, and as his experience grows, he is also used to working under pressure. Even with some pressure, he can adjust his state in time by taking vacations or going out to sea for fun. .
Therefore, when Duke felt a little tired, he immediately gave himself this long vacation.
However, taking a long vacation does not mean completely leaving your work.
He has finalized the key acquisition projects of his film fund in Los Angeles and went to London to settle the troubles encountered by the Harry Potter crew.
The latter was resolved before he returned to Los Angeles. The former also had results after he attended Spielberg's charity party.
Nowadays, the economic situation is bad, and Wall Street companies with a long history like Lehman Brothers have to go bankrupt. The situation of small funds like Relativity and Dune Capital is not much better. What they need most is undoubtedly a large amount of cash to stabilize investor sentiment.
It's just that all Hollywood is suffering from a money shortage. Almost all film companies are shrinking money. Companies like Paramount and DreamWorks still need to ask for help. The theory of relativity and Dune Capital can find very few candidates.
David Ellison’s Sky Studio took over four projects. The two companies breathed a sigh of relief, but it was not enough to solve the problem. In the past few years, they have invested too much in Hollywood, and there is no second director in Hollywood who has a fast production speed like Duke. Few films they have invested in can be shown.
As we all know, the film industry is not a short-term profitable project. Under normal circumstances, a large-scale production with an investment of about 100 million US dollars will take 2 to 3 years or even longer production time...
Even films like "The Shawshank's Redemption" have been in theaters for more than a decade, and they have just recovered their investment costs.
Of course, this type of film Duke will not even touch it.
What he wants to win is a film that can remember the general situation. The theory of relativity and Dune Capital's investment shares in it will inevitably generate large profits.
What's more, the theory of relativity and Dune Capital are not selling these shares at the original investment price. It is a discount transfer.
Duke’s bid is only 30% of their original investment, while Relativity and Dune Capital insist on the bottom line of 50%. The price can be said to be the biggest difference between the two parties.
However, in early August, when the two companies received a subpoena from the court and a cooperating investigation letter, they were finally relieved.
The two sides also reached an agreement in the negotiation. Duke’s film fund purchased The Theory of Relativity and Dune Capital’s Twentieth Century Fox’s "Avatar" and "Men: First Class" at a 40% investment price, and "How to Tame" from DreamWorks Animation Studios' "Crazy Primitive" Corresponding shares in the six projects of "Your Dragon", Walt Disney's "Alice in Wonderland" and "Pirates of the Caribbean 4".
Although all payments must be paid in one go, Duke was already prepared. Within three days after Tina Fei signed a formal agreement on his behalf, the payment would be received.
Compared to the four super big projects that David Ellison bought, these are what Duke really wants to get.
As for the four projects of "Genesis", "Robin Hood", "Alien Battlefield" and "Super Warship", there may be miracles...
"I got a message recently."
On the terrace connected to the living room, Nancy Josephson just rushed over, took a sip from the water glass, and said, "Walt Disney intends to invite Andrew Stanton to direct "Alien Battlefield."
Tina Fei frowned. "Is Michael Eisner planning to dig the wall?"
"He may not be able to dig the corner of the Pixar studio." Duke retracted his eyes from the sea, shook his head, and said, "Andrew Stanton is not stupid. He should know that Disney cannot give him Pixar studio creations. free."
Nancy Josephson put down the water cup and reminded, "The news I got, Andrew Stanton is very excited, and is also considering the feasibility of directing."
"It's okay." Duke didn't care much.
This kind of problem, presumably Steve Jobs is more concerned than him, and it’s no secret that Pixar’s Five Tigers will want to develop into live-action movies. Brad Bird has already determined that he will direct Tom Cruise and his investment "Mission Impossible 4", even if Andrew Stanton signs a director contract with Disney, it does not mean that he wants to leave Pixar.
Indeed, in this commercial society, as long as you pay a sufficient price, you can always dig many people, but the question is, will Michael Eisner pay an unimaginable price for an Andrew Stanton?
Movies have never been a product of personal heroism. Pixar Studios can have today’s success. The famous five tigers such as John Last, Brad Bird, Peter Dougert, Andrew Stanton, and Ang Leek have played an important role. Role, but Duke has never overlooked the hundreds of technicians and production staff, their existence is the foundation of Pixar's success.
Pixar Studio can be described as a model of team success. Just poaching away a few important people, it is impossible to copy Pixar's success or let Pixar Studio fail.
After saying a few things about the Pixar studio, the topic gradually turned to Scarlett Johansson.
"Scarlett is still very satisfied with the eight million dollar salary."
There are some things that Scarlett is not good at telling Duke directly, but Nancy does not need to hide it, "I just visited class in New Mexico a few days ago. Although she has some opinions, Duke, Scarlett is still grateful to you for being her Everything done."
Duke smiled, but didn't say much, he just made a phone call.
The salary of 8 million US dollars is indeed a bit high for today's Scarlett Johansson, but "Iron Man 2" is already the third Marvel movie she has participated in. The high price for participating in the sequel is originally Hollywood. Convention.
And under Duke's intervention, Natasha Normanoff played a heavier and more effective role than before. Marvel Pictures may not have long to make compromises in terms of box office and peripheral share.
Those who are familiar with the previous Marvel series can see that as the series deepens, the role of Black Widow continues to increase, and Scarlett Johansson has received $20 million from "Avengers 2: Age of Ultron". The later period is divided into.
This is also the second income of the six core members of the Avengers, second only to Robert Downey Jr.
Although Duke at the time did not know what kind of remuneration agreement reached between Marvel Studios and the core actors of the Avengers, in his opinion, Scarlett Johansson was absolutely worthy of the $20 million post-partition.
There are two main reasons for this.
First of all, in this superhero universe composed mainly of white men, there is indeed the problem of lack of female characters. Black Widow can be said to be the only female superhero in the Marvel universe who is reloaded, which makes her extremely valuable. High, and irreplaceable in the short term.
Even under this circumstance, as a member of the Avengers, her value is far greater than the possible existence of female superhero movies with the dominant role. Purely from the perspective of fans or the media, replacing Black Widow will inevitably lead to fans. And the media caused an uproar, just like Duke treated the Harry Potter crew, this can only be the last choice.
On the other hand, Scarlett’s ability to become an actor whose pay is second only to Robert Downey Jr. is not unrelated to her performance in other films. Robert Downey Jr. left Iron Man and there are endless works on the street, but there are also "The Detective Sherlock Holmes is such a popular series, while Scarlett’s "Lucy", which is the only leader, has collected nearly 500 million US dollars from the world. This is capital.
On the other hand, Jeremy Renner, Chris Evans and other people, after leaving the Marvel series, have never really provoked the box office of a movie.
The former has been nominated for Oscar for Best Actor, but everyone knows that Oscars and market appeal are basically two different things. The commercial masterpiece that he really starred in "The Bournemouth 4" ended in failure, and the "Mission Impossible 4" starred in was not at all. protagonist……
The same is true for the latter. The film that left Marvel with a bit of fame is "Snow Country Train", but no matter how public opinion touts this film, it is an indisputable fact that it finally hit the street.
As for Chris Hemsworth and Mark Farruger, how many people know what movies they have starred in apart from the Marvel series?
Market appeal has been scorned by critics. It seems to be very vulgar when it comes to mentioning it, but it is the truest embodiment of an actor's status in Hollywood and a crew.
Even if you get the Oscar winner, if you haven't proven yourself in the market, don't even think that the next film will be able to enter the 20 million club.
Hollywood has always been very realistic. (To be continued)
ps: Ask for monthly and recommended tickets!