Chapter 189： never sink

"Titanic" box office 1.88 billion, "My Great Greek Wedding" box office 420 million, "Wedding Cracker" box office 310 million, "Star Wars Episode 1" box office 1.18 billion...

Before the release of "Spider-Man", Dunn won a total of 3.79 billion US dollars at the global box office with these four films, successfully surpassing Steven Spielberg and becoming the highest grossing director in Hollywood history.

After the first week, the box office of "Spider-Man" reached 263 million US dollars, and the total box office successfully exceeded the 4 billion US dollar mark. The sunglasses system was opened again, and he got the 5th "mirror possession" opportunity. (The novice gift package was given once)

Although Tang En is already experienced, his current personal ability is not enough to direct a movie. Basic ability attributes: 44 for cameraman, 53 for plot design, 49 for image thinking, 61 for direction, 25 for camera...

Not at all.

So if you want to shoot "Beautiful Mind", you must use the "mirror possession" function.

As for which director's ability to choose, Dunn has not yet thought about it.

If it is a commercial blockbuster, choose Cameron or Spielberg directly.

But "A Beautiful Mind" is such a direct-grabbing character drama, not to mention Cameron, not even Spielberg.

Dunn needs a period of thinking to find candidates, but fortunately there is plenty of time.

"A Beautiful Mind" will be released after 9/11, and there is still more than a year left, too much time, just to give Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman more time to figure out the characters.

Now Dunn's main focus is on three aspects: the finalization of the "Mrs. Smith" project, the promotion of Cameron's new film, and the continued marketing of "Spider-Man".

Even the move to Disney has to be postponed.

Don't worry, let's take it slow!

Now, "Spider-Man" is hot, and Dunn only needs to keep making headlines to boost the momentum of "Spider-Man".

Just like now, Dunn came to a farm between Los Angeles and Burbank.

Here, celebrities swarm.

Dunn will hold the groundbreaking ceremony for Dunn Williams Walker Building, the headquarters of Dunn Films here!

The drawing design of Dunn Building lasted for two months, and after several revisions, it finally won Dunn's approval.

In terms of appearance, this is a "revolved fourth-order Rubik's cube", which has a surreal magic feel overall.

The main building has 4 floors with a square structure, each floor has 80,000 square feet (about 20,000 square meters), and can provide a total of 800-1000 office seats.

Tang En's office area is on the 4th floor, occupying 50% of the entire floor area. The other areas are high-level office areas such as the document library, confidential conference room, president's office, and chief financial officer's office.

The future of Tang En Pictures will be very grand. This four-story office building may not be able to meet the future development scale and job needs.

How to do?

Dunn has a lesson from the past.

Apple and Amazon, because of the irrational construction of the main office building, later each spent $5 billion to build new office buildings, which is shocking.

In contrast, Microsoft's headquarters structure is much more reasonable and smart.

Microsoft adopted a completely different approach from Apple, Amazon and other companies building headquarters buildings. Bill Gates built a large Microsoft headquarters campus.

In addition to the main building, there are 11 subsidiary office buildings in the current Microsoft headquarters campus, which jointly maintain the work requirements of Microsoft headquarters.

If it needs to be expanded in the future, there is no need to rebuild the headquarters building like Amazon. It only needs to set aside a part of the land in the headquarters park and build a few subsidiary buildings.

Such a horizontal headquarters structure is of course not as efficient as Apple's vertical approach, but it is better in that it is flexible and flexible, and can better adapt to the rapid development of the company.

Dunn can foresee that his company will develop rapidly, and it is impossible for him to rebuild a new building in a few years. Therefore, the construction model of the Microsoft headquarters campus is the right choice.

At present, two buildings will be built at the same time in the headquarters park of Tang En Pictures. In addition to the main building "Tang En Building", a three-story "Marvel Building" will be built next to it.

After the construction is completed, both Marvel Entertainment and Marvel Studios will move to the Marvel Building to work.

The first phase of the Dunn Films Headquarters Park is expected to cost US$320 million, of which the Dunn Building will cost US$230 million, the Marvel Building will cost US$70 million, and the remaining US$20 million will be used for the construction of nearby transportation infrastructure. and green space improvements.

Tang En Pictures has invested in so many movies and TV series in a row, and it is naturally Tang En Capital who can't come up with the money.

In fact, there is no difference. When Dunn Capital injected 1 billion US dollars into Dunn Pictures, Dunn made the delivery and "sold" most of the Dunn Pictures shares under his name to Dunn Capital.

This will be more convenient for Dunn Capital's major acquisitions and asset restructuring in the future.

...

After a whole morning of exchanges with celebrities and dignitaries such as the mayor of Hollywood and the mayor of Burbank, Dunn finally left this wasteland.

Cameron just chased over and got into Dunn's car.

"Well, bulletproof glass!"

Cameron knocked on the car window with a look of admiration.

Don't know whether to laugh or cry: "James, isn't this afternoon the audition for the supporting role? I won't go. I'll participate in the audition for the protagonist."

Cameron said: "You are a producer, and you don't even participate in such an important job as an audition? Besides, this afternoon is not an ordinary supporting role, there is a male second!"

"Male No. 2?" Dunn was slightly startled, "Didn't you agree that Brad Pitt is the No. 2 male?"

The title of the new film, "Unsinkable," was licensed by Cameron and copyrighted with the Motion Picture Association. In the movie, in addition to the male No. 1 and rescue captain Bernie Webb, there is also male No. 2, the temporary captain of the tanker, Ray Hibbert.

Ray Hibbert, an assistant engineer on a tanker, was usually taciturn and respected for his knowledge.

After the tanker encountered a storm, Ray Hibbert, as the highest-ranking staff member on the ship at that time, was ordered in danger and became the backbone of everyone. He gathered people's hearts and launched a series of self-rescue at sea, securing enough for the arrival of the rescue team. time.

Nominally the second male lead, but his role is no worse than that of the male lead. He needs a big-name actor with rich acting skills and market appeal.

Originally Cameron's idea was Brad Pitt, and Dunn agreed.

The role of "Ray Hibbert" is very playful and requires strong acting skills. Although Brad Pitt has starred in movies in recent years, the box office has been bleak, but his acting skills are up to the mark.

Cameron said with a smile: "That was because the budget was tight in the past. I really couldn't get a higher salary to invite more appealing actors. Now... I have sent an invitation to Tom Hanks."

Dunn frowned, "Tom Hanks? He is in charge of "Band of Brothers" in Europe. I'm afraid there is no schedule. "

"I know, so I've extended invitations to Johnny Depp, Robert De Niro, Harrison Ford, Sylvester Stallone, Mel Gibson, Will Smith and others."

Tang En looked at him dumbfounded, "Is this age span too big?"

Cameron said with a smile: "Ray Hibbert is the second male lead, and he doesn't show life scenes and emotional scenes. Age is not a big problem."

Dunn pondered for a while, "Johnny Depp can't do it!"

"why?"

"Because... I have other arrangements and told him that the audition in the afternoon will not be used." Dunn glanced at Cameron with a serious face, "Also, Mel Gibson has already taken over the project of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", don't you? Know?"

Cameron said: "Of course I know, but... this is Mel's personal wish. He even called me specifically, looking forward to working with me."

"Isn't it?" Tang En was stunned, "Does he want to make two blockbusters at the same time? Is he crazy?"

Cameron shrugged, "He is a lunatic in terms of work. You should know that 4 movies starring him will be released this year!"

Dunn suddenly fell silent.

If Mel Gibson wanted to take part in this movie, Dunn really could not find a reason to refuse. In terms of market appeal, he can crush all competitors, not to mention his friendship with Dunn?

"I have communicated with Bill, and the conflict of schedules is not a big problem." Cameron saw Dunn's thinking and said slowly, "Mel has this kind of experience, and he can handle it calmly. "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" is a An action movie, he's good at it, and our movie...he's just a supporting role, and a 45-day or so shooting period is enough."

"Unsinkable" and "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" are both commercial films, and it doesn't take too long to adjust and brew to understand the characters in the play.

This and "A Beautiful Mind" are two completely different performance concepts The former only needs to use the expressionist method to complete the basic character setting; the latter requires a combination of various performance skills, Go deep into life and experience characters to express more character levels.

Dunn nodded, "If Mel really passed the audition, I would agree. But the question is, if Mel becomes Ray Hibbert, then with Matthew McConaughey's strength, he can carry it Is it the responsibility of the number one male?"

The candidate for the male lead has been determined, and James Cameron intends to use Matthew McConaughey, who was abandoned by him in "Titanic".

Mel Gibson is the No. 1 superstar today. If he plays Ray Hibbert, for the sake of the market box office, he must show more of Mel Gibson's personal charm.

As a result, the male No. 2 gas field will overwhelm the male No. 1.

"I believe in Matthew!" Cameron has obviously considered this issue for a long time. "In the past few years, he has cooperated with big-name directors such as Steven Spielberg and Robert Zemeckis. It's actors like Jodie Foster, Morgan Freeman, Anthony Hopkins who can handle that."

Tang En didn't care, "Anyway, you are the director. If something goes wrong, you are the one with the headache."

Cameron laughed, "I have a headache? I screwed up the project, you are the one who has the most headache? 200 million US dollars investment!"

Dunn pouted, "What about $200 million? In my opinion, a filmmaker's fame and influence are far more important than funds!"

"That's because you are too rich!" Cameron muttered, then shook his head, "Actually, compared with the two male actors, the choice of actresses is the most troublesome, especially the second female lead!"

"actress?"

Tang En's eyes lit up slightly, and he said with a smile: "Don't worry, wrap it on me!"