Chapter 131： put pressure on

In the reception room, Paul Greengrass looked serious, staring at the oil painting on the opposite wall without saying a word. The first week's box office of 4.1 million US dollars was compared to the US$25 million publicly announced by producer Shahai Pictures. In terms of production costs, it was absolutely a complete failure.

Even if the actual production cost does not reach US$25 million, judging from the current situation of "Ace Agent", it is a failure.

The first Hollywood film directed was a disastrous failure, do you want to go back to the UK?

Going back now, it will be difficult to enter Hollywood again.

It may never come back.

There is no longer an action movie with more than 10 million investment that can be directed, and it can only be mixed in the British independent film circle.

Paul Greengrass swallowed. Although he expected that the film would not hit the box office, this number broke his illusion.

The bullet-like rhythm, sharp editing, brand-new action scene design, and the unrelenting support of producer Ronan Anderson have made a special agent movie different from traditional action movies. Paul Greengrass thought it would bring freshness to the audience. The stimulus, but he thought too much.

Is innovation so difficult? Is it so difficult for Hollywood to accept innovation? Moreover, this is not a subversive innovation, it only incorporates some personal style on the basis of the original action movie.

Paul Greengrass is a relatively pure director, and he is a bit ashamed at this moment: I can't help Ronan Anderson for his support.

Hollywood is a producer-centric system. Most directors are directors in charge of filming. However, the producer Ronan Anderson has almost given him the greatest power as a director, and the post-editing only made a few small comments. The film was completed according to his ideas.

Not to mention Hollywood, it is difficult to find such a producer who believes in the director in the UK.

Dean glanced at the silent Paul Greengrass and said softly, "Paul, it's okay, believe me, there is still a chance."

Paul Greengrass smiled at Dean, but there was a little bitterness in his artistic style.

He didn't enter Hollywood until he was almost fifty, and Paul Greengrass cherished the opportunity very much.

"Actually blame me." Dean showed off the professionalism of an excellent producer, and took the initiative: "At that time, I should persuade you to reject the Ronan-Anderson project. The Arab actor is not reliable at all, it's me too. I was anxious, my eyes were covered by the opportunity before me."

Paul Greengrass shook his head and said, "Dean, it has nothing to do with you." He sighed and said, "It has nothing to do with Ronan Anderson. I didn't do a good job."

"I told you that the crew, Ronan Anderson, and the Shahai Entertainment behind him gave me the greatest support. I almost have the power of Hollywood first-line directors in the crew. This kind of creative freedom, let alone It’s in Hollywood, and it’s very rare in the UK."

Paul Greengrass patted his thigh: "But I messed up."

Dean didn't know what to say for a while, because he saw clearly that Ronan Anderson's support for Paul Greengrass could not be faulted by anyone.

He also watched the film, and Paul Greengrass did a pretty good job, but there are 10,000 reasons. In the eyes of the producer and distributor, it can't compare to the box office failure.

Ronan Anderson was very optimistic about Paul Greengrass before, but this failure will change everything? In Dean's inherent impression, on the production company's side, the director who lost the box office was not as good as the pheasant in the mountains.

Where is the business that is not profitable?

He is only William Morris's little agent, and he only has Paul Greengrass, a high-quality director client, and he doesn't want to give up easily.

The door of the reception room was opened from the outside, Dean and Paul Greengrass turned to look, Ronan walked in.

"Good morning." Ronan greeted the two of them: "We were in a meeting just now, so you have been waiting for a long time."

Dean watched Ronan specially. He couldn't see the dissatisfaction and anger from the young man's face, and he quickly said with a smile: "It's okay, you manage two companies and you are busy."

Ronan sat on a sofa and said, "The statistics of "Ace Agent" have just been compiled and need to be processed. The delay has been a little longer."

Paul Greengrass couldn't help but jump his eyelids. This film failed at the box office, and he thought he was the main responsibility.

Dean tentatively asked: "This film..."

"I have stopped all the plans related to "Ace Agent"." Ronan's words are the truth: "The company will no longer invest in publicity and distribution. The most important thing is to stop losses."

Dean didn't want to give up on the line, and said: "There is something I can help, just speak up."

Ronan "exposed" a slightly disappointed smile: "I can handle it here." He "rubbed" his temples: "It's not easy to explain to the investors. It is estimated that it will be difficult to raise funds from Abu Dhabi. It's huge."

Dean and Paul Greengrass didn't know the inside story. Seeing Ronan's appearance, they thought he was under tremendous pressure.

The investment of more than 20 million US dollars has failed, and how much investment can be recovered in the end is still unknown, and no one will feel comfortable changing it.

Looking at Ronan, Dean felt that this film might affect the future cooperation, but the comforting words and the scenes are not easy to speak, and the beautiful language can't match the loss of tens of millions of dollars.

Ronan sighed lightly, with a heavy tone: "Don't worry, you two, Shahai Entertainment and Embassy Pictures can survive this difficulty."

Hearing this, Paul Greengrass opened his mouth and swallowed it to his lips. Finally he couldn't help saying: "Sorry, Mr. Anderson, it's because I didn't do my job well."

Ronan shook his head: "It's that all of us did not do the job well." His eyes quickly drifted from the faces of Dean and Paul Greengrass, looked down at the watch, stood up and said, "Sorry, two , I’m going to talk to Abu Dhabi on the phone in ten minutes. We have time to talk again."

As soon as Dean heard this, he understood that this was about to face investors’ troubles, and said: "We won't bother." He still said very sincerely: "Ronan, just call me if you need it."

How much money "Blair the Witch" can make, William Morris has roughly estimated that the failure of this "Ace Agent" is far from putting Shahai Entertainment and Embassy Pictures into trouble, and there is also a media and theater behind. As Fang is optimistic about "Reaper is Coming", Ronan Anderson has enough room to turn.

The producer is not the director. As long as the funds can be raised, planning a new film project is not a problem at all.

Dean didn't want to break the line.

Paul Greengrass and Dean shook hands with Ronan to bid farewell. Before Dean left the Embassy Pictures, he looked back and Ronan Anderson walked out of the reception room with a sad face.

After leaving the Embassy Pictures, Dean said to Paul Greengrass: "Don't accept media interviews recently. Take a break."

In the embassy film industry, Ronan walked into Robert's office.

"It's done?" Robert asked.

Ronan pulled back his chair and sat down and said, "Send Dean and Paul Greengrass away."

Robert asked curiously: "Why don't you just talk about cooperation? It is estimated that Dean and Paul Greengrass will not refuse."

"It's not the time now." Ronan explained simply: "As soon as the film lost its box office, we hurriedly lowered the price, which might make Dean see the problem and cause an accident in the negotiation. The agents are all keen-smelling guys. Let them cool down for a while. With the box office of "Ace Agent", Paul Greengrass can't find a suitable job in a short time. It's good for us to delay the time."

He smiled: "I want to sign a contract for the director of the trilogy with Paul Greengrass once, and I must first suppress them. The failure of this film lies here, and the pressure will increase day by day.

Robert understood, and said: "As long as we can sign the trilogy director contract, even if the first film is successful in the future, the director must be paid a raise, but the initiative is on our side."

"That's right." Ronan could imagine, waiting for the continuous success of "The Bourne", how much will Paul Greengrass be paid later? It will even involve later splitting.

As long as this contract can be used to reduce it by 10%, it may be several million dollars.

Apart from admiration, Robert didn't know what to say.

"You can find a way to make a profit for a failed movie." Robert said with emotion: "Ronan, you should be in this business by nature."

Ronan raised his eyebrows, "Why don't I hear that sound right?"

Robert laughed: "This is a good word of praise, really."

Ronan sighed: "Who will fail if it succeeds? I also think "Ace Agent" has a big box office. But the day we got the investment from the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, it was destined for today's result."

When dealing with an official institution like the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, Ronan still fulfilled the contract very seriously, saying that Arabs should be the protagonists, so let the Arabs be the protagonists.

It is not only his money that is losing money, but also a reasonable deduction from the film's revenue. UU reading

"Abu Dhabi is okay, right?" Robert asked concerned.

Ronan said: "It's okay. I communicated with Saleh yesterday. Movies are also a kind of investment. There are times when they succeed, and there are times when they fail. And they received the samples we mailed in the past, Mansour and others. The senior officials of the Investment Bureau are very satisfied with the plot and effect of the film."

As long as these Arab tycoons with huge amounts of money and power in their hands think the film is good, it doesn't matter if they lose money.

After all, the film has created a very positive Arab protagonist.

Moreover, Comrade Saleh, the lead party, has always believed that Ronan is an "Arab brother" and he said good things in the middle.

Ronan turned to ask: "How is the preparation for the premiere?"

"It's almost done." Robert said: "All materials are ready, and the media has been contacted, and the venue will be set up after the theater becomes vacant."

Ronan asked again: "Where are the guests?"

"According to your plan, we sent invitation letters to many celebrities and brokerage companies, but basically there was no response." Robert replied.

This answer is not beyond Ronan's expectation, how can big-name stars be so good please.

"Reaper is coming" will be released in two weeks, and the pre-screening publicity has reached the most critical stage.