Hollywood New Century

3.7, produced by Warner Bros. and directed by disaster film director Roland Emmerich, the sci-fi blockbuster "10,000 Years Before History" held its premiere in New York.

Simon took the time to go to the premiere. After all, the film "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" produced by Xinghai Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures is also one of the distributors and has a cooperative relationship;

But, more importantly, Simon is keeping an eye on Roland Emmerich, the director of "Independence Day," "Godzilla," "Patriot," and "The Day After Tomorrow," who is recently pitching a script , The Last Atlantis.

Of course, Simon knows another name for this script, "2012"!

After directing the disaster film "The Day After Tomorrow" in 2004, Roland Emmerich took several years to complete the sci-fi blockbuster "10,000 Years Before History", and the script for "2012" was conceived before. .

Roland Emmerich's box office ability is very good, and selling the script is also an auction model, but because Roland Emmerich's budget for "2012" is very high, no issuer is willing to invest yet.

Moreover, the film "10,000 Years Before History" also took up too much of Roland Emmerich's time, and the progress of "2012" was very slow.

A renovated theater near Times Square that served as the venue for the North American premiere of "10,000 Years Before History."

The theater hall is dressed up like a primitive, and Simon sits with Alan Horn, the chairman of Warner Bros. Pictures.

"This old-fashioned theater has been abandoned for a long time. Last year, the company renovated it and added the theater function to re-operate," said Alan Horn, 65, with a smile.

"Alas, the era of stage plays has long passed. Now the United States has a lot of old-fashioned theaters that are abandoned. Paramount has three abandoned theaters on Broadway. Movies have become mainstream," Simon didn't feel much, more than theaters Abandoned, drive-in theaters, and small independent theaters have a hard time.

"There used to be a lot of people who shouted that the theater won't die, and the theater won't fall, but," Alan Horn gave a wry smile,

"Movies are too entertaining. Now, if most theaters do not join cinemas, it will be difficult to survive. High-end theaters are not bad and have many uses, such as chambers of commerce, receptions, movie premieres and exhibitions."

Simon nodded, it was true, but he was not born in the drama age.

"Warner Bros. has a lot of propaganda before "10,000 Years Prehistory," Simon said. "10,000 Years Prehistoric Years" is still a large-scale publicity two weeks before its release. High-concept movies pursue big productions. Big marketing, big box office!

"Simon, now your Xinghai Entertainment is threatening!" Alan Horn smiled. Warner Bros. merged New Line Pictures and closed two independent film companies, Warner Independent Pictures and Movie House Pictures. 450 of the 600 employees on the line were laid off, and 40 of the remaining 150 were transferred to Warner Bros.; 70 of Warner Indie and Movie House were also laid off, and 43 of Movie House Pictures were all laid off.

However, Xinghai Entertainment, which acquired Summit Entertainment and United Cinemas not long ago, quickly began to absorb those who were suitable for them among the laid-off employees.

"Our Xinghai Entertainment is too small. I have never dared to underestimate the scale of Warner Bros. in film and television." Simon also knew that the previous screenwriter's strike had hit Warner Bros. TV production company hard, after all, Warner Bros. TV production company is the largest TV producer.

Movies are different from TV. Whether big companies or small companies like to hoard movie scripts, the impact of this strike on movies is far less than the TV industry.

"Xinghai Pictures is not simple. "Spartan 300" box office is 210 million US dollars in North America and 245 million US dollars overseas!" Alan Horn is very sorry, if Zack Snyder's alternative movie is not Xinghai Investment , Warner Bros. also planned to invest, but it was preempted by Simon Pike.

"However, the "Dark Knight" you will be releasing this summer is also aggressive. Heath Ledger's role should be over!" Of course, Simon pays attention to the heavyweight movies that Warner Bros. has already closed, the Batman series. The second "Dark Knight", actor Heath Ledger who played the Joker passed away in January, is a crisis, not an opportunity.

"This is a tragedy, but the movie is only doing the final post-production now. The Dark Knight will meet the audience in the summer, and everything is almost ready," said Alan Horn with a normal look.

Simon nodded, and as "10,000 Years Before History" began to play, of course he knew that this was a film by Roland Emmerich with a double-low box office, so he didn't have much thought.

"You guys have another blockbuster movie on the horizon this year. "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" is the sixth installment in the series, which is highly anticipated," Simon said of Warner Bros. Harry Potter.

Alan Horn smiled. This is the most successful series of Warner Bros. "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" is scheduled to be released in November this year.

However, Simon certainly knows that "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" will be announced in August to be postponed to next summer, because at that time the financial tsunami broke out, Time Warner was not only affected, and did not want to invest so much money in publicity, At the same time, it is also worried that the box office will not meet expectations.

"Marvel's action this year is not small. Universal released "The Incredible Hulk", "Iron Man" released by yourself, it seems that you will develop "Thor" next, 20th Century Fox will produce "Wolverine", last year But there are also three movies adapted from Marvel!" Alan Horn is a very pure follower of high-concept commercial films, and the budgets of superhero-based movies are not very small, focusing on special effects. Warner Bros owns DC Comics, but now Simon's Xinghai Entertainment has Marvel, and the competition between the two will not be small in the future.

"Oh, no way, the three Marvel adaptations released last year, "Spider-Man 3" and "Ghost Rider" were released by Sony, and the "Fantastic Four 2" was released by Twentieth Century Fox, " The Spider-Man series is our Marvel’s trump card, but it’s in the hands of Sony, and the popular characters “X-Men” and “Fantastic Four” series are in the hands of Twentieth Century Fox, so I can only watch and eat, "Simon is really helpless, Marvel's hero, can be compared with Batman and Superman, only Spiderman.

"Hehe, is that so!" Alan Horn looked at Simon, and the production of "Thor" started before "Iron Man" was released. Are you so confident that Marvel's adaptation of the movie will be successful in your hands? Then he laughed again: "I'm really looking forward to what Marvel will do in your hands!"

Simon nodded. Alan Horn had already looked at the screen. Simon also had some thoughts on the director of Warner Bros. Pictures. He was indeed a very discerning commercial film manager!

When "10,000 Years Before History" was released in March, it can already be seen that he was not very satisfied with the film. After all, "Confused Detective" starring Anne Hathaway was released in June this year.