Chapter 469： Small and big

In fact, Ryan cared more about "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," which was released on the same day on a large scale, than "The Scorpion King" produced by Universal Pictures.

This is a romantic comedy film with a budget of only $5 million, which is considered a low-budget film.

In fact, this film was released as an on-demand screening as early as February 22, but it was not released on a large scale until April 16, and the cumulative box office in North America has reached 4.53 million US dollars.

And the scale of the release is not very large, there are only 417 movie theaters, and the box office received 100,000 US dollars that day.

On the second day, the theater company increased the screening scale to more than 1,000 movie theaters, earning a box office of 280,000 US dollars in a single day.

On the third day, the theater company increased the scale of the screening again, earning a box office of 500,000 US dollars in a single day.

So far, the North American box office of the film has accumulated to 5.33 million US dollars.

At first glance, this is just a very ordinary film.

However, Ryan knew that this was only the beginning, even a miraculous beginning.

The box office results of the original version of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" created a miracle, a real box office miracle.

The film was released for 622 days in the previous life, and the box office in North America reached 241 million US dollars, breaking the box office record of a comedy film.

You read that right, the North American box office of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" is $241 million.

The overseas box office performance of this film is also good, reaching a box office of 127 million U.S. dollars and a global box office of 368 million U.S. dollars.

It is such a film with no big-name Hollywood stars, no famous directors, and a very ordinary plot, but it has created a miracle and won a global box office of 368 million US dollars.

The director of the film is Joel Zwick. This is the third film he directed. He is considered a third-rate Hollywood director, and he was only a TV director before.

The film stars Nia Vardalos, a Canadian actress and editor who is also unknown.

At the same time, she is also the editor of this film, isn't it very surprising.

An actress and editor is a rarity even in Hollywood.

Also, the production company of the film "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" is not a famous Hollywood film company, but an independent film company called IFC.

The studio is an independent film company under the umbrella of AMC Networks, which was originally an entertainment company created by four cable television networks.

Among them is Comcast, which Ryan is very familiar with.

However, now the company's major shareholder is not Comcast, but CBS.

"About Tom Hanks for me."

After seeing off Peter Jackson, Ryan said to Sofia Coppola who had just walked in: "I need to meet him as soon as possible."

The producer of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" is Tom Hanks, one of the Hollywood superstars.

To be precise, this is Tom Hanks' project.

I just don't know why he didn't choose to cooperate with DreamWorks, but chose IFC Independent Film Company.

It is very likely that DreamWorks does not have much interest in a project with an investment of only 5 million US dollars.

"OK."

Sofia Coppola wrote it down, and then said on "The Hobbit", "When do you plan to start the shooting plan of "The Hobbit?"

"It's waiting for Peter to come back from vacation!"

"The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" is about to be released, and as the last part of the trilogy, the curtain is about to come to an end.

However, when Orion Pictures got the copyright of the adaptation of "The Lord of the Rings", it also got the copyright of the adaptation of "The Hobbit" by the way.

It could have been turned into another trilogy, and Peter Jackson is the obvious choice to direct.

"It's not suitable to shoot "The Hobbit" for the time being." Ryan is very clear that now is not the time to shoot "The Hobbit".

"Don't you think that in the past few years, Hollywood has produced too many epic films!" He asked.

Not including The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, The Lord of the Rings: The Knight of the Two Towers, and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

Since 2000, there are still epic-themed films released in North America such as "The Mummy Returns 1", "The Mummy Returns 2", "The Scorpion King", "Gladiator", and "The Patriot".

There's also "Alexander the Great" in production, "Kingdom of Heaven" in the works at 20th Century Fox, and "Troy" at Warner Bros.

In recent years, Hollywood films of various epic themes have emerged one after another.

"It's a little more than before."

Sofia Coppola quickly understood what was going on, and said, "You think you will encounter audience fatigue!"

Epic-themed films are not mainstream films in the North American market.

However, right now Hollywood epic films are released or filmed one after another, and most of them require huge investments.

"It is impossible for an epic-themed film to become a mainstream commercial film in the North American market, and it will inevitably encounter the problem of audience fatigue."

Ryan knew that this was unavoidable, "The shooting plan of "The Hobbit" can wait for a few years."

If he remembers correctly, the epic-themed films released in the next few years will encounter difficulties.

Including "Alexander the Great" and "Kingdom of Heaven", two films with an investment of over 100 million US dollars, both hit the box office.

Even the box office results of "Troy" can't be called ideal.

Of course, it does not mean that epic-themed films cannot be filmed, but that it will take a few years.

On this point, Peter Jackson has the same idea as Ryan.

Even if "The Hobbit" is a prequel to "The Lord of the Rings", it still has to abide by market laws, otherwise Orion Pictures will face very big risks.

Sofia Coppola nodded, then changed the subject, "They've come back from Asia."

"The crew is planning to go to New Zealand someday!"

The filming location of "Spider-Man 3", Ryan put it in New Zealand.

The studio built by Orion Films in New Zealand was officially completed last month.

The crew can go to the new studio to shoot.

"Wait for the first weekend box office of "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King." Ryan said after thinking for a while.

Although he knew that the original "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" was not only a success, but also surpassed the previous two at the global box office.

But he still wants to see "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" box office in its opening weekend, so that he can travel to New Zealand to film with peace of mind.

Anything can happen before the film hits the box office in its opening weekend.

"Okay, I will inform them to join us in New Zealand in the second week of May."

"Before that, they can have a short vacation." Sofia Coppola shrugged.

It's late April, and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King is set to hit theaters on May 3.

In other words, all the crew members have at least ten days of vacation.

You can take the opportunity to take a break.

Otherwise, for a long time to come, they will need to devote themselves to the busy filming, and after the filming of "Spider-Man 3", they will have to devote themselves to the promotion of "Spider-Man 2".

Therefore, shooting three films together is by no means an easy task.

Even shooting similar to the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy is a test for actors.

"By the way, this is the invitation to the premiere from Cage."

Sofia Coppola handed a very delicate invitation to Ryan and said, "Invitation to the premiere of "Windtalker" in June."

"However, I don't think you should be interested."

This film was originally a project of MGM, but later MGM was acquired by Orion Films, and Ryan stopped the investment in this project and sold it to Disney at a low price.

In this regard, the film director and producer Wu Baige has some complaints.

"You can take part for me."

"I think Cage will be very happy to meet you." Ryan made a small joke.

Faced with Nicolas Cage's invitation, as long as Ryan's work arrangement allows, he will definitely find time to go there.

After all, Nicholas Cage helped a lot when filming "Saw".

Then there's the Sofia Coppola factor.

"I will tell him the truth." Sofia Coppola said without showing any weakness: "I believe Cage will be very disappointed."

Ryan spread his hands and said, "Okay, remember to remind me then."

While talking, Ryan took the invitation letter, put it in the desk drawer, then took out a script, and watched Sofia Coppola ponder for a while.

"I've read your script carefully. Generally speaking, it's pretty good."

"Of course I mean the commercial side."

Speaking of this, he felt a bit of a headache, "It seems that I need to find a new assistant."

From the moment Sofia Coppola planned to direct the film himself, he knew that such a day would come.

I just didn't expect it to come so soon.

"When will you start preparing for the crew!" Ryan asked.

"Before September, go to Japan to shoot first." Sofia Coppola has already made plans.

The shooting location of this film was not in North America or New Zealand, but in Japan, which is very rare.

The reason is very simple. The name of this film is "Lost in Translation".

This film in the previous life was Sofia Coppola's famous work She spent a budget of 4 million dollars in exchange for a global box office of 100 million dollars.

Moreover, she also won an Oscar statuette, the 2004 Oscar for Best Original Screenplay.

She wrote and directed the film herself.

However, unlike the original version, the investor of this film is not Focus Pictures, but invested and distributed by Orion Pictures.

With Ryan and Orion Pictures, Sofia Coppola naturally didn't have to find any Focus Features, and Ryan agreed to increase the filming budget.

Focus Features is not a small film company, it is still very famous.

Focus Pictures is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures, known as the "New Miramax", which is also a film distribution and production company.

The reputation in the independent film circle is very large.