Chapter 459： Movies deeply influenced by the social environment

Disney's business is not in a hurry. Although I don't know what Michael Eisner is waiting for, Ryan is also waiting for the most suitable conference. Watermark advertising testWatermark advertising test

Now that there is the common interest of Pixar Studios, Disney’s board of directors has shown rare unity, and even Roy Disney has started cooperation with Michael Eisner. A strong Walt Disney company without internal problems, absolutely Ryan can't shake it by himself.

But Ryan knows its crux. Because of the presidential incident in the mid-1990s, Michael Eisner actually left a huge hidden danger, and the key figure is the former Caa giant and his friend Michael Ovitz. , The contract and severance pay at the day's price, and appointments that do not comply with legal procedures, once broke out, this tyrant who is good at playing power will face no small trouble.

You know, this huge sum of close to 200 million U.S. dollars, even if it has not been paid up until now, any Disney shareholder has the right to bring related lawsuits to the court, so as to pursue the violation of the company system and personal will promote Michael The responsibility of the person appointed by Ovitz.

In this highly developed commercial society, managers who squander shareholders' money at will cannot be offset by a few words of justification.

Ryan has secretly contacted some of Disney's retail shareholders and small investors, just waiting for the right time.

Perhaps he once only wanted to live this life carefree, but whether his biggest interest is movies or he wants to suppress emotional backlash with his career, since he chose the most difficult path a few years ago, then He will go on unswervingly until the day it is realized.

What belongs to me is mine after all, and no one can **** it away, nor can it escape.

It's like self-hypnosis. After Ryan whispered this sentence, he lost his thoughts and placed it on the document in front of him again.

In late July, "The Mummy 2", a collaboration between Jenkins Pictures and Twentieth Century Fox, also landed in North America. This comedy adventure series was rejected by Disney management. Showcasing great charm, the North American box office received close to 69 million US dollars in the first week. It has only been in theaters for more than three weeks, and it has surpassed the US$170 million in the box office of the previous movie.

This film has achieved great commercial success and has become one of the few live-action films whose sequel can surpass the previous one. The film's director Stephen Somos relies on these two "Mummy". He became a leading commercial film director in Hollywood.

Perhaps it is the success of this magical series. Stephen Sommers signed a new director contract with Universal Pictures. Universal Pictures is ambitious and plans to build it at a production cost of 150 million US dollars. An unprecedented monster movie.

The name of this project has not yet been officially determined. Ryan speculates that it should be the "Van Helsing" that pitted the world.

He vaguely remembered. The production cost of this film in the previous life should have exceeded 150 million U.S. dollars. It seems that it only returned a little more than 300 million U.S. dollars in the global box office. The final result was even more miserable than "Pearl Harbor"...

Although the relationship with Universal is pretty good, Ryan won't say much. It is undoubtedly a very disgusting behavior to intervene in the normal operation of another company casually.

In addition to Stephen Sommers, the male and female protagonists are also the focus of Hollywood. Among them, Rachel Vichy became the English rose blooming in Hollywood in the mouth of the British media as early as the end of the first film.

Such a description is not excessive, but there are more English roses in Fleet Street's mouth. After the release of "Pearl Harbor" next year, Hollywood will definitely have one more English rose.

Rachel Vichy is lucky. Among all the actors in "The Mummy", she even surpassed the male lead and became the most popular one.

The success of this series also brought her huge benefits. Just after filming the sequel, this talented woman from Cambridge took over the filming of a film studio in Germany with a remuneration of up to 13 million U.S. dollars. The war masterpiece.

The production budget for this large-scale production was originally 68 million U.S. dollars. It brought together Jude Law, Russell Fiennes and Rachel Vichy, three major Hollywood movie stars. The additional investment amounted to 95 million U.S. dollars.

Because Paramount Pictures has acted as the distributor of the film, Ryan has heard some news. The French director, Jean Jacques Arnault, is about to make this movie called "A Soldier Under the City". The war epic of the former Soviet Union even claimed to overturn "Saving Private Ryan" at the box office.

French people shoot commercial masterpieces, besides Luc Besson, how many people have succeeded?

As for the Christmas file of "Arrived at the City", unless the film has a facelift, it is definitely one of the most failed large-scale films at the turn of the century.

But this possibility obviously does not exist. Ryan knows from the sporadic propaganda that the film is still a duel of two snipers from the former Soviet Union and Nazi Germany.

This proposition alone is the cause of the movie’s failure. In the movie, except for the Soviets, there are Germans. Even the three leading actors are British, and none of the Americans can see it. Although the audience in North America is becoming more and more open, This kind of'foreign' film full of French romanticism certainly cannot arouse too many people's interest.

Even today, liberalism and isolationism in the United States are still prevalent. In the eyes of these people, the Soviets and Germans have nothing to do with them.

Movies are deeply affected by the social environment in which they are located. Ryan knows this well. Movies like "Arrived at the City" fail not only in the content of the movie.

"The Mummy 2" was a great success. Stephen Sommers became a first-line commercial film director from the original small director. Because of the investment decision made at the beginning, Ryan became the object of lobbying by many screenwriters and directors. After all, he chose to enter this People at Vanity Fair don't want to be famous for both fame and fortune.

Whenever encountering such a person, as long as there is not a particularly urgent matter, Ryan will choose to listen to the other person's words. He has always been very enthusiastic about things that may bring benefits.

This has nothing to do with the support of emerging directors and the excavation of screenwriter talents from the outside world. It is only the interests that determine all of this.

What Ryan didn't expect was that Ridley Scott became one of the lobbying crowd.

In the afternoon, he went to the editing room to check the post-production progress of "Gladiator" and the dubbing of some clips for the film. When he was busy with these breaks, Ridley Scott asked him to chat alone. .

"what do you mean……"

In the lounge, Ryan put down his coffee cup and looked at Ridley Scott opposite, "Want to adapt Mr. Mark Bowden's documentary report "Black Hawk Project" into a movie?"

"Yes, it's the Somali incident." Ridley Sko nodded and said seriously, "Before shooting "Gladiator", I had a preliminary plan. I have already reached an agreement with Jerry Bruckheimer. Agreement, he is getting people to start adapting the script. Bruckheimer Pictures cannot afford such a huge investment, so we need to find a suitable partner."

"Ridley, how much do you expect to invest?" Ryan asked after thinking about it.

"It is estimated to be around US$80 million." For most directors, this is an unattainable figure, but compared to the nearly US$100 million production cost of "Gladiator", Ridley Scott obviously doesn't think this is a big number, "Ryan, I believe you must have heard of this incident, I think it has a very market..."

During the filming of "Gladiator", Ridley Scott clearly grasped Ryan's views on the film. He did not mention any artistic and practical significance, but directly talked about the market value of the film.

Ryan naturally saw this masterpiece by Ridley Scott in his previous life, and he was extremely impressed. This movie does not have the sensational memories of "Saving Private Ryan" or the painful reflections of "Apocalypse Now". It's just war, a real and cruel war.

And Ridley Scott himself, with this movie, once again won the Oscar nomination for best director.

Even now, Ryan still vaguely remembers the classic line-only soldiers who are sorry for the country, and soldiers who are not sorry for the country. We swear allegiance to the beloved country, not the damned politician.

To some extent, this movie has the potential to sell well, but it was born out of time.

The film is deeply influenced by the social environment, and it has been very appropriately interpreted in "Black Hawk Down".

If the film is released in the first two years, or this year, or even next summer, as long as the war film is not made into a literary film, the cost recovery will not be a problem at all.

But the problem is that now the movie will definitely not be released before next summer.

"Black Hawk Down" is still in the planning stage War films often require extremely long preparations. It would be nice to be able to boot before the end of the year, and Ridley Scott was released in "Gladiator" Before, it’s impossible to throw away post-production and run to shoot another movie.

In this case, film shooting plus post-production, even at the fastest speed, working overtime like "Gladiator", will be released until next year's Thanksgiving Christmas file.

At that time, North American audiences, how many people would still like to see movies where their country failed and their compatriots were slaughtered?

Of course, the movie can be postponed. The problem is that next year’s event will have a huge impact, and it won’t even change significantly in two to three years. The results of this movie’s release can be imagined...

This is an investment of up to 80 million U.S. dollars, even if Bruckheimer Pictures can share part of it, there is also the later promotion and marketing.

Is it necessary to rely on the long disc market and TV broadcasting rights to recoup the investment?

After Ryan's euphemistic "need to consider" remarks, Ridley Scott could not help but walked out of the lounge a little disappointed. ()