Chapter 231： Industry Bottom Line

On Tuesday, August 15th, the award-winning film "The Shifting Soul", which won the Palme d'Or at the 53rd Cannes Film Festival, was officially released in North America.

This is a typical literary film, and the release schedule is very awkward. Even if the producer hangs the name of "Dawn Walker", there is no possibility of any box office hits.

It is estimated that it will not really arouse the enthusiasm of American audiences until after February next year, when the awards season arrives and "The Girl Who Moves the Soul" becomes a frequent visitor to the major awards seasons.

As for the Palme d'Or...sorry, most of the American people don't even know where Cannes is.

Fortunately, the movie has Nicole Kidman and Natalie Portman starring, which can be considered to have some appeal, and the box office data is not too embarrassing.

Among all the films released, the attraction to the audience is second only to the four films of "Space Cowboy", "Transparent Man and Demon", "Shiquan Dabumen" and "Invasion of Brain Cells".

For such a literary film without any commercial flavor, the box office reached 1.76 million US dollars on the first day, whether it is Universal Pictures or Dunn Pictures, they are all satisfied.

After all, awards season is the best time for this type of film.

For the movie "The Girl Who Moved Soul", Dunn Pictures did not have high requirements, and it was satisfied that the global box office reached 50 million US dollars.

After all, this is a European Palme d’Or film, and it is reasonable to be nominated for next year’s Oscar. It will definitely drive the sales of surrounding copyrights, as long as the investment cost of 40 million US dollars is recovered.

But the media is obviously not used to this feeling.

When did Dunn's films...go with the box office market?

Since the first "My Great Greek Wedding", the films produced by Dunn Pictures have been leading the box office trend.

The obscurity of "Soul Shifting Girl" is too abnormal, isn't it?

Many media contacted the producer Tangen Pictures, but were told that they had no comment; they contacted the distributor Universal Pictures, but they were also confused by various excuses and did not give a positive explanation at all.

Abnormal fart!

Who stipulated that Dunn Pictures must produce movies that sell well at the box office?

Tang En Pictures not only has the ability of business, but also the pursuit of art!

Seeing that "Soul Shifting Girl" has been released for two days, the media have not dug enough material for hype from this new Dunn Films movie. They are both anxious and disappointed.

In the past, the films produced by Dunn Pictures were the key topics for them to gain popularity and sales, but "The Girl Who Shifted Souls" left them helpless.

Only from a professional point of view to comment on this film, the audience must like to read professional newspapers such as "The New Yorker", "New Republic", "Village Voice", "Film Review", who would be interested in gossip newspapers?

Be in a hurry!

...

"Everything is done, you can start."

On the phone, Michael Ovitz's voice was insipid, but in Dunn's ears, it was like a Divine Comedy of Xianyin!

Ella Fisher, who knew the inside story, watched Dunn hang up the phone with a blushing expression, and she couldn't hide her joy, "Don, can we deal with Disney?"

Tang En patted his thigh, gritted his teeth and said, "We've been angry for seven or eight days, now, it's time to show our courage!"

Ella Fisher said excitedly: "I will fax the prepared statement to the major brokerage companies."

"Don't hurry!"

Tang En waved his hand and interrupted her. He pondered a little, and the corner of his mouth twitched, "I've endured it for so many days, it's fine for one more day. I heard that there are a lot of media recently who want to interview me?"

Isla Fisher said: "The Girl Who Moved Souls didn't do well at the box office...they wanted to ask your opinion."

Tang En nodded and said: "Okay, contact an influential newspaper and ask them to send someone over. There will be an exclusive interview this afternoon, and there is an additional condition, it must appear in the newspaper tomorrow!"

...

That afternoon, Tang En was in his office and saw an interview team with more than a dozen people. Some people took pictures, some people took pictures, some people recorded, some people interviewed...

I don't know, I thought it was a TV station, but in fact, this is just the entertainment interview team of the "Los Angeles Times".

The main person in charge of the questions was a middle-aged reporter in his forties named Tony Duvall. He was a little bald and had interview experience at first glance.

Because there was an explanation before, a lot of nonsense at the beginning was omitted. Tony Duvall first congratulated Dunn, the global box office of "Spider-Man" exceeded 1.1 billion US dollars, and then asked the real question, "Director Walker, what are your thoughts on "Transfer Soul"? What do you think of the movie "Girl"?"

"This is an autobiographical novel adapted from Ms. Suzanne Kaysen. The whole story is full of human introspection and philosophical thinking. Director Mendes handled many details very well and won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes International Film Festival. Well deserved."

There is a clear framework for the interview questions, and Tang En has already obtained them, so he has already prepared the answers and followed the script.

"What about the box office?" Tony Duvall smiled, "It's been two days since The Girl Who Moved Souls, but as far as we know, the movie's attendance is not ideal, which is in contrast to Dunn's past movies. Small."

Tang En calmly said: "It's a working day after all, and the attendance rate is lower, which is normal. "The Girl Who Moves Soul" is a literary film, which is not the same type as the commercial films produced by Tang En Films in the past few years."

Tony Duvall said half-jokingly: "It turns out that director Walker also follows the laws of the market, and the movies you participate in production are not destined to sell well at the box office."

"Of course, the law of the market is the general trend, and no one can change it."

Dunn paused and glanced at Tony Duvall.

The questions and answers above are all based on the settings. Next, Tang En will put forward the key points, "For example, some film companies think that with decades of influence, they can make their movies sell well at the box office. Obviously ridiculous."

Tony Duvall frowned and gave Dunn a deep look, "Can you be specific?"

Dunn said with a smile: "Well, I'll just give an example, such as Disney. You know, Disney released an action blockbuster "Sixty Seconds" this summer, but unfortunately it ran into my "Spider-Man", The box office results were dismal."

Tony Duvall nodded in cooperation, "Yes, I heard that the global box office of "Sixty Seconds" has not exceeded 100 million. It is conservatively estimated that this film will bring a loss of 30 million US dollars to Disney."

Dunn said: "Yeah, this is the power of the market rules. Disney is a decades-old studio, but what about Dunn Pictures? It's only been established for 3 years. It's because "Spider-Man" is more in line with the market trend, even if it is Disney will also be ravaged, crushed, and crushed, and "Sixty Seconds of Speed" has become cannon fodder, which is reasonable."

Tony Duvall is not stupid, of course he can see that Dunn is very keen on this topic.

And this topic, Dunn Pictures did not inform in advance.

As a well-known reporter on the entertainment page of the Los Angeles Times, Tony Duvall certainly knows some of the feud between Dunn and Disney.

Dunn is now making a public statement, satirizing Disney, which is definitely a hot gimmick for hype!

Tony Duvall saw the potential for big sales at a glance, so he naturally wanted to follow Dunn's topic and continue.

The reporter industry, especially entertainment reporters, is afraid that the world will not be in chaos!

"I remember that it's not just "Sixty Seconds". This summer, Disney seems to have released several movies?" Tony Duvall looked at the excited Dunn, and knew that he had asked the right question again.

Tang En said: "Yes, in addition to "Sixty Seconds", there are "Scream", "Girls Club", oh yes, there is also a movie called "Return My Childhood". Before that, I didn't know Disney released such a movie, but I found out that the star of this movie is Bruce Willis, hehe."

"Ah, "Return My Childhood", I know that movie is a comedy. It's a pity that when it was released, it was suddenly rumored that he cheated in marriage, resulting in an extremely dismal attendance of the movie. I heard that now It's been forced down." Tony Duvall looked at him with a smile.

Everyone in the industry is very clear about who Bruce Willis has provoked Dunn pretended to be pitiful and sighed, "I heard that the movie "Return My Innocent" had an investment of 65 million US dollars, the box office is less than 10 million US dollars, Disney is estimated to lose 40 to 50 million US dollars, ah! What a pity!”

Tony Duvall almost didn't hold back. Dunn's hypocritical appearance was so shameless.

"Director Walker, what do you think is the reason why an established studio like Disney has repeatedly failed at the box office for its films, while Dunn Pictures has repeatedly been a success?"

Tang En pondered slowly, "It's hard to say, maybe it's a conceptual issue, I heard... Disney's management is dictatorial? I'm not very clear, Disney is a listed company, and more than 70% of its shares are in the hands of retail investors. How does a general meeting allow authoritarian management? Maybe I got it wrong.”

"I heard that Michael Eisner, chairman of Disney, has a very bad popularity in Hollywood, and especially often uses Disney's influence to suppress DreamWorks' cartoons, right?"

Tony Duvall's question made Dunn frown.

Don't talk nonsense on this topic!

Dunn's previous topics have always revolved around Disney, and his words unabashedly expressed ridicule and belittling of Disney. Anyway, Dunn Pictures and Disney have completely fallen out, so they simply confront each other generously!

But now Tony Duvall has brought the topic to the whole of Hollywood, and even directly exposed the vices within the industry, which has crossed the bottom line.

Hollywood is a big circle. Even if the industry is stinking, it must create a beautiful and bright appearance, so as to attract more people's attention and love to this circle.

This is not only about the interests of Hollywood, but also about the long-term stability of the industry.

Internal scandals must not be exposed!

(Sanqi Chinese)