Hollywood Drawing

The short rest time passed in a flash, and Wayne had to end the leisurely days of accompanying his daughter every day, and packed up and returned to Los Angeles.

With an unpleasant "squeak" brake sound, the Rolls-Royce Phantom stopped outside the main building of Greenberg Manor, and Wayne sat in the passenger seat, grinning exaggeratedly. For him who was used to riding Sergey's smooth cars, he felt that Bella Grant's driving skills were really rotten in his eyes.

"Crack" "Crack" "Crack"

The sparse applause sounded, and Wayne clapped his hands exaggeratedly while staring at the beautiful editor-in-chief of the Los Angeles Times, and said with a happy tone: "You know what? Passengers will always applaud the captain sincerely after the plane landed smoothly."

Facing the woman's indignant eyes, he continued with the expression of the aftermath of the disaster, and continued unceremoniously: "Damn, don't you usually drive to get off work by yourself? Bella, to be honest, you are taking a driving test. At that time, did you bribe the examiner with a lot of money?"

Hearing his unceremonious sarcasm, Bella Grant slapped the steering wheel hard and made a muffled sound. "Shut up, Wayne, who knew that this kind of extended commercial vehicle would be so difficult to drive. If I had time to get used to it, my performance would definitely be much better than it is now."

"You shouldn't be allowed to try this kind of car."

Shrugging, Wayne murmured softly to increase the seat belt. He now regrets it very much and agreed to let this woman drive the extended car. That is to say, there were no cars on the way back to Los Angeles from Ventura County. If it were placed in the imperial capital where he lived in his previous life, this kind of driving skills would definitely lead to a series of tragic car accidents.

A few people got out of the car. Sergey and Nina, who were sitting in the back, looked at the beauty editor-in-chief with lingering fears and happiness in their eyes.

If it weren't for the safety of this car, the Russian bear would definitely propose to change the driver as early as halfway through the road. The journey from Ventura County to Beverly, Los Angeles, reminds him of what it's like to drive on a battlefield, which is not a good feeling.

"Which young man do you see driving this kind of car? Wayne."

Bella Grant was carrying her handbag. Seeing that the three people looked at her in the wrong way, she insisted and complained: "This kind of car is designed to be sold to old men. In the whole of Hollywood, you are the only one under the age of 30. of young people like this.

Look at Tom Cruise, look at Julia Roberts, even Stephen Sommers and George Lucas, they drive either sports cars or muscle cars. Only an old man like you would like a car like this..."

Feeling that she finally saved a little face, she found enough excuses for her thrilling driving trip. Bella Grant didn't wait for the others to react, she turned around dashingly, and walked towards her red Chevrolet.

"I'll call you when I'm on vacation. I've finished my two-month vacation this time. I have to go back to work, bye."

Seeing that the beauty editor had gotten into the car, Wayne shook his head with a smile and said, "Would you like to stay for lunch?"

"No." The Chevrolet window rolled down, and Bella Grant reached out and waved. "I'll go straight to the agency, next time."

After speaking, it was like deliberately refuting Wayne's ridicule just now. The red Chevrolet turned its head smartly. Under the suspicious gazes of the three and the housekeeper Hela, it drove out of the manor at high speed.

After leaving Los Angeles for a whole week, Wayne came back on the last day of August. "The Matrix" has just passed its second weekend in the North American theatrical market.

Following the first weekend of three days, it hit a box office of 79.38 million US dollars in the North American theater market. After the arrival of "The Matrix" on the working day, due to the influence of the objective existence of its R-rated film, the box office inevitably ushered in a large amount of money. fell.

With $5.58 million on Monday, $6.2 million on Tuesday, $4.9 million on Wednesday, and $4.65 million on Thursday, "The Matrix" has accumulated a total of $21.33 million in the past four working days.

The total North American box office just exceeded the 100 million yuan mark after a full week of release, and the total box office accumulated 100 million US dollars.

As for the box office trend of "The Matrix", Wayne and Warner Bros. have expected it, after all, the box office trend of the first two films is also the same. The objective situation is here, no matter how popular the film is, it cannot change the essence of this 18-ban film.

During this special schedule, family audiences who chose to enter the cinema for entertainment on weekends naturally excluded "The Matrix" from their selection. Even if Wayne directed it himself, there was no way to change it.

But fortunately, in the same period, there are no decent competitors. Especially when "The Matrix" entered its second weekend, the main competitor was "X-Men", which had basically exhausted its popularity in North America.

In this case, after "The Matrix" entered the rest day, the ticket rebounded to a certain extent again, and it received $7.43 million on Friday. The box office trend in North America climbed further on Saturday, collecting another $11.64 million that day, and it fell back on Sunday, with the North American box office reporting $9.73 million.

The film received $28.8 million at the box office in North America over the next three weekends, winning the second weekend box office champion. By this time, "The Matrix" has been released in North America for ten days, and the cumulative box office has reached 100 million US dollars.

The day after Wayne returned to Los Angeles, after officially entering September, the North American summer season began to end gradually. Whether it's "The Matrix" or "X-Men," the box-office performance is steadily advancing. The two companies, 20th Century Fox and Warner Bros., are also sparing no effort to invest more publicity resources to seize the last shred of summer heat.

Since its release, the North American box office of "X-Men" has successfully exceeded 200 million US dollars. There is no doubt that as the beginning of a series of films, the North American box office of 100 million US dollars is fully qualified.

Although the film's overseas box office was not as popular as in North America due to factors such as popularity, it still achieved good results. After two weeks of overseas screening, "X-Men" has also received a box office of 140 million US dollars in nearly 70 countries and regions around the world. The film's total global box office has reached 100 million US dollars and is moving steadily towards 400 million US dollars.

Compared with the box office, the movies that 20th Century Fox and the entire industry are staring at are more profitable. On the movie derivatives, the performance of "X-Men" made everyone look at it.

Even if "X-Men" from the very beginning, the related products of the film could not be compared with the DC series, but that is also because of the difference in popularity. Most of the fans who go into the theater to watch superheroes are because they have read comics, and the bonus of emotional attributes still affects the sales of movie peripherals.

Twentieth Century Fox has never released relevant sales data in this regard, but most film companies in the circle can analyze a rough figure through their own experience, and ensure that the sales figures they analyze are consistent with the actual situation. There won't be much deviation.

Since its release in early August, "X-Men" has only been in North America, and the sales of various types of movies are conservatively estimated to be no less than 50 million US dollars, which has almost become the consensus of many film companies.

Superhero movies have once again proved their profitability, completely surpassing ordinary live-action movies. Aside from the fact that Warner Bros. is holding DC movies and making huge profits in recent years, Wayne has once again proved that even if you don’t need to invest in large, long-term, and high-risk animated feature films, you can still achieve long-term animation. The film is similar to terrifying offline revenue.

Faced with such a situation, basically all Hollywood film companies, more or less, have begun to pay attention to superheroes. Through the performance of "X-Men", they have proved a lot of things one after another. The two most important points are that superhero movies other than DC series can also be successful, and superhero movies other than DC can also burst out like a long animation. The same offline revenue as the film.

It is precisely in such a special situation in the circle that among the six Hollywood giants, the person who is most criticized and feels the most pressure is Michael Eisner, chairman of Walt Disney.

Everyone knows that although Walt Disney has a very clear gap with media giants such as Time Warner, Comscat, Viacom and News Corporation, they are only in the Hollywood circle. On the top of derivatives, the most capable film company.

In recent years, Michael Eisner's main energy has been almost all devoted to the internal war, and the reason why Walt Disney can still maintain good revenue every year is the huge animation copyright library, as well as the producer Jay. Ray Bruckheimer's high success rate.

This year in particular, the pressure on Michael Eisner has suddenly increased, and the number of shareholders who do not trust him has surged on the board, mainly for two reasons. The first is Disney's strongest field, the decline of animated feature films. Since The Lion King, Disney has achieved good results without any hand-drawn animation.

Second, of course, because of Michael Eisner's childhood friend Michael Ovitz. It was Michael Eisner who personally invited a friend to serve as Disney's CEO. However, in less than a year, he personally drove away his friend, and because of the CEO's dismissal, Disney paid a very high liquidated damages.

Now, in addition to DC superheroes, there are other series that can rival the revenue capacity of animated feature films again, and all the pressure suddenly hit Michael Eisner together. It's very simple, because such a movie revenue project used to be exclusive to Disney!

One of the most important issues facing the Disney Emperor now is that voices questioning his ability have begun to appear on a large scale among the board of directors and company executives. More and more people began to doubt whether he, the meritorious chairman who led Disney to become a media group, could continue to lead the fairy tale giant forward.

"The days of hand-drawn animation are over, Michael."

At the Disney headquarters in Burbank, the media capital, in the chairman's office, Jerry Bruckheimer, the most famous Hollywood producer today, looked up from the box office bulletin in the newspaper, raised his head and said directly to Michael Eisner:

"I have a hunch that Wayne Greenberg will bring Hollywood into the era of superheroes within a few years! He has already proved the revenue-generating ability of this kind of film on DC and Marvel, and I have to say, This guy is a genius."

Michael Eisner, sitting behind his desk, also looked at this morning's newspaper without looking up. Of course, he understands what the other party said. The unique revenue generation capability of Disney animated feature films has appeared more and more, and it has become unique to other companies.

Compared with animated feature films whose production cycle is often a few years, the shooting speed of live-action movies is undoubtedly faster. Even with the expensive cost of special effects, the advantages of live-action movies are obvious enough. The characteristics of short production cycle and low risk are completely unmatched by animated feature films.

"Jerry." Putting down the newspaper in his hand, Michael Eisner raised his hand, rubbed the sides of his forehead, and said casually, "You're right, the era of hand-drawn animation has indeed passed, but Disney still There's Pixar."

Speaking of this, his voice could not help but bring unquestionable pride. The huge success of the first "Toy Story" made him see the profit prospects of computer animation, and also let the whole Hollywood see that electric animation is the future trend.

You must know that with the explosion of the first "Toy Story", Disney's perfect peripheral revenue channel blessing, so that the super high profits created by this computer animation feature film completely replaced the traditional hand-painted animation.

It is precisely at the strong request of Michael Eisner that Pixar Animation Studios has almost produced the second part of "Toy Story", which is Disney's key project for next year, but it is not enough.

To end Disney’s internal chaos as soon as possible, and to dispel more and more doubts about his ability, the most direct way is undoubtedly to produce more successful projects, so that more people can benefit from the success of the projects, shareholders’ demands It's always been that simple, whoever can make money for them is on whose side they are.

And that's why he asked Jerry Bruckheimer. It's important that this gold-medal producer has a terrifyingly high rate of project success and a lot of energy.

"Okay, let's talk business."

Turning his eyes to the Disney Gold Producer, Michael Eisner folded his hands on the table and said without hesitation: "I will push forward the review process as soon as possible for the "Sixth Sense" you submitted, Jerry, except for this project , do you have any other ideas?"

In recent years, one of the thighs that has made Disney chaotic and still maintains a good revenue is undoubtedly the project of Jerry Bruckheimer. He is as important to Disney today as Wayne was to Warner Bros.

Not to mention, this year's "Peerless Catastrophe" has a North American box office of 100 million US dollars and a global box office of 550 million US dollars. The media gave all the flashing lights to the film director Michael Bay, but if Wayne were to judge from the perspective of God, he would tell everyone that all the success of Exploding Bay was inseparable from this gold medal producer.

Michael Bay, who left Jerry Bruckheimer, is like Peter Jackson who left the Lord of the Rings series, which shows the benefits of having a reliable producer who checks the direction of the film. If it hadn't left him, Bombshell wouldn't have made a Waterloo like "Escape from Clone Island".

The projects initiated by Jerry Bruckheimer this year, as well as the North American box office 160 million US dollars "Stay Forward", the North American box office 100 million US dollars, the global box office 200 million US dollars "Public Enemy", said he is Disney's live-action film aspect The only thigh, no exaggeration at all.

"I have an idea..."

After thinking for a while, Jerry Bruckheimer thoughtfully said: "Michael, I don't know if you have noticed, the global box office of "Saving Private Ryan" has reached 450 million US dollars! This is a complete R Class film!"

"What are you trying to say?" Michael Eisner asked.

"War film! Realistic epic war film!" Leaning on the chair, Jerry Bruckheimer said with a smile: "The emergence of "Saving Private Ryan" has undoubtedly opened up the market potential of epic war films. Coincidentally , Michael Bay, the other day, mentioned to me an idea he had about World War II."

"Make a plan as soon as possible and submit it to the film and television production department."

The producer sitting in front of him has the best market insight in Hollywood, Michael Eisner said without any hesitation: "I will promote The Sixth Sense and this epic war project together as soon as possible. through relevant audits.”

"Ok, I'll ask Michael Bay to chat when I go back. In a week at most, the project plan will be placed on your desk."

A project proposal with high feasibility and detailed market research is a stepping stone for all Hollywood producers. Of course, many things can be appropriately omitted for producers to achieve the status of Jerry Bruckheimer.

The film company will not pursue the script he wants to perfect, nor will he strictly investigate the market prospects of the card project. His brilliant past successes are the greatest guarantee for a commercial project.

Not to mention the script, a producer like Jerry Bruckheimer can still get a lot of investment from Disney even with a simple movie idea. For example, this year's hit film "Peerless Catastrophe", he initially gave Disney the idea of ​​an oil worker drilling a meteorite, and the name of director Michael Bay...

The importance of a Hollywood gold producer to a film company is far higher than that of a star or a director. They are the initiators of a steady stream of successful projects.

When the conversation between the two was over, Jerry Bruckheimer left the chairman's office. Michael Eisner picked up the newspaper on the table again, glanced sharply, got up and walked to the window, looking towards the Warner Bros. Building, which is also in Burbank, not far away.

"Superheroes, DC Comics, Wayne Greenberg..."

With the murmur, he gently shook his head, with the usual confidence and strength on his face. Everyone knows that Warner Bros. is now producing more than a year of movies. Not only the traditional sequel films with a high success rate continue, but the DC series of films are also slowly occupying more positions.

Moreover, UU reading www. uukanshu.com As the collaboration between Greenberg Studios and Warner Bros. matured, more and more Greenberg production projects began to appear.

There is no doubt that no matter which company wants to make a difference in the summer season, it will inevitably encounter a project that is intensively distributed by Warner Bros. The same is true for Disney. With Michael Eisner's character, there is absolutely no way other companies can avoid Warner Bros. movies.

"The era of superheroes? Wayne Greenberg, as long as you fail once, there can be no superhero era like shit! e

on, e

on, e

on..."

At this time, the Disney Emperor was muttering while looking at the Warner Bros. Building. In the ceo's office on the seventh floor, Jeff Robinoff and others happened to be talking about Wayne.

"Just at noon today, he has returned from the farm to the manor." Putting down the coffee cup in his hand, Bruce Rosenblum looked at his old boss and said: "The large-scale audition for "The Lord of the Rings" is about to start, and our most Let's talk to him as soon as possible."

Although Warner Bros. also owns half of the investment in The Lord of the Rings, in comparison, all top executives of Warner Bros. pay more attention to the DC project, which is the default by everyone.

For a project like "The Lord of the Rings", which was prepared for the trilogy from the beginning, the audition work for the actors must be cumbersome and huge. Fortunately, in the early stage, Wayne could not and did not have the energy to participate in the first few rounds of audition, but after extensive screening, He was bound to dive headfirst into the audition for the final candidate.

"Well, in a day or two, make an appointment with Zach Snyder and ask him to talk as soon as possible..."

​​