Chapter Seven Hundred and Fiftieth IX Accidental Necessity

Thanksgiving in 1995 happened to be November 23, a week after Eric returned to Los Angeles, the end of the year officially entered Thanksgiving Week.

On November 17th, in addition to the still-showing Jim Carrey comedy, Firefly's "Jedi Men" and MGM's "Scream" were officially released. In addition, this week's new films are Warner's "Good Thing Comes in Twos" and Sony's "The White House," two romantic comedies just in time for the holiday season.

Near the end of the year, various conferences such as summary planning and outlook of Firefly Group emerge in an endless stream. As a media group whose business scope covers various fields such as film, television, amusement park, music and consumer goods, although the film department is the one with the highest exposure rate, The share of the operating income of the entire group has dropped to about 20%. After Eric returned to Los Angeles, he was busy with the complicated company affairs accumulated in the past few months, so he did not pay too much attention to the release of these two low-cost films. , but after the first day of its release, I casually looked at the box office data of the next two films and put this matter aside.

However, unlike Eric's confident and bland reaction, the media's attention to the two films exceeded everyone's expectations.

With the popularity brought by directing the second Victoria's Secret show, and with the full support of the Firefly Group, Michael Bay's film debut "Jedi Men" exceeded everyone's expectations. The action-crime film, which had a budget of just $19 million, grossed $26.6 million in its first three days, knocking out the Jim Carrey comedy in its second week.

Crime action movies with two male protagonists and partners have almost been filmed in recent years. Not to mention popular series such as "Beverly Hills Detective" and "Lethal Weapon", there are countless similar movies that are unknown. The ideas that can be used in this type of film have basically been exhausted, and it is difficult to shoot anything new.

However, while achieving excellent box office, "Jedi Men" has been abnormally praised by many media. Although the plot of the two male protagonists with distinctly contrasting personalities swapping identities in this film is considered a small innovation, the media and film critics have concentrated on Michael Bay's shooting style.

"Dazzling car chase scenes, sharp editing style, and hot action scenes, Michael Bay is worthy of the visual impact of the MTV director who made a $19 million low-budget crime action movie with a $50 million visual impact. Although the plot does not break away from the stereotype of genre films, it is still a popcorn film that can satisfy the audience’s visual enjoyment.”

"With just the right slow motion, wide-angle scenes full of visual shock, and special aesthetics everywhere, as a director's work, Michael Bay has no doubt delivered a satisfaction to the producers and the audience. answer sheet."

"..."

I have to say that Michael Bay's control of the visual sense of the camera is excellent, but Eric couldn't help laughing when he saw these comments in the media.

As a 'come here', Eric remembers the 'three-axes' shooting method repeatedly criticized by film critics in his previous life Michael Bay.

At this time, the media praised most of Michael Bay's views, which is precisely what they repeatedly used to criticize Michael Bay. Most directors have a strong personal style. For film critics, they often like or hate the shooting methods of many directors from the beginning.

Rarely has Michael Bay gone from liking to hating to utterly hating.

However, as long as it can bring huge profits to the producers, then, the critics' point of view, oh, who cares.

Because one of the protagonists of "Jedi Boys" is no longer Will Smith, but replaced by another black rap singer, so this time there will be no "Jedi Boys", because Will Smith With the fame of other films, he was caught in the embarrassing situation that the sequel could not start.

After the three-day box office release of "Bad Boys" in its first weekend, Firefly's production department began discussing development plans with Michael Bay for the sequel.

On the other hand, "Scream", produced by Flower Pictures and distributed by MGM, had a three-day box office of $12.15 million in the first weekend due to the fully integrated MGM's unremitting publicity support. However, This figure only occupied third place on the weekly box office chart, trailing Jim Carrey's comedy at $21.35 million by nearly $8 million. As Gasser's thriller in the Thanksgiving holiday schedule, this score is already very high. Nice, but it doesn't look anything special either.

The critics' comments on "Scream" are also polarized. Some people think that the film is very fascinating in terms of the setting of the suspenseful atmosphere, but there are also many people who think that the film is a hodgepodge of many old horror movies. .

While Eric privately hinted that Drew could let go of Scream's release, he wasn't quite sure exactly why the film was a success.

Following the three-day box office of $12.15 million in the first weekend, "Scream" once again earned more than $6 million at the box office in the following working days, with a total box office of 18.63 million in the first week.

Therefore, after the first week of screening, combined with the box office data of the first week and the word-of-mouth data of the film, the film company roughly made a total box office estimate for several new films released.

Because after all, it is just a popcorn movie and a black comedy. Although the director of the second Victoria's Secret show made Michael Bay famous, most agencies gave $100 million to "Jedi Men" North American gross box office forecast. Compared with the production and distribution cost of about 30 million US dollars, there is no doubt that Firefly will be very profitable at the North American box office alone.

As for "Scream", according to the film's first week box office and polarized word of mouth, the total box office data given by the agency predicts only 50 million US dollars, and it is expected that the box office drop in the next week will be between 30% and 50%. , the total box office figures are far lower than Eric's memory of more than $100 million at the box office.

Just when Eric wondered if it was because of the butterfly effect brought about by his rebirth, the time came to the next week.

Jim Carrey's comedy, Firefly's "Jedi Boys" and even the two romantic comedies released by Sony and Warner that did not stir up any waves, all experienced a corresponding drop in the box office according to the predicted normal box office trend, but " Scream's three-day box office next weekend was a big surprise.

Although there are several new films such as "Money Train" and "Club" that are not outstanding at the box office but still occupy a lot of market share, "Scream" has exceeded everyone's expectations. Not only did the box office not drop, but There was a rebound, and although the drop was only a meager 7%, the three-day box office still reached $13.1 million. And this unexpected downward trend chart indicates that the film's total box office will far exceed the $50 million figure originally predicted by the media, and may even be comparable to "Jedi Men".

Whether it's the media or Hollywood studios, the response to box office dark horses is always surprisingly quick. After all, the media wants news, and the studios want the market.

Therefore, in the following days, the reason for the magical box office trend of "Scream" was quickly discovered.

The reason seems to be surprisingly simple.

"The teenage viewers who were interviewed said that their classmates and friends around them were discussing this movie, and they found this thrilling and bloody horror movie very exciting. At the same time, the setting of the film's story in a group of high school students also made them full of A boy who was interviewed even said that they were tired of the performances of Bruce Willis and Mel Gibson, and they wanted to see a movie that was more in line with their lives, even if it was a movie. horror movie."

"Hollywood often classifies the 18- to 34-year-old audience as a unified young audience, and through the movie-going boom triggered by "Scream," we should find that this age division may be changing. A professor said that the deeper reason why "Scream" was so popular should be that it was affected by the echo period of the baby boom. After the Second World War, the United States started the first baby boom. More than 10 million children are born every year, and these babies grew up in the 1960s and 1970s and started a family. After the 1970s, it brought a baby boom to the United States again. It was affected by the first baby boom, so it is called the baby boom echo period. According to estimates, the total number of babies born in the 1970s reached 60 million, and these were between the ages of 16 and 25. Teenagers will undoubtedly become a group of independent movie consumers. The success of "Scream" is undoubtedly largely due to the fact that it unintentionally catered to the viewing needs of these youths who are in the rebellious period."

At the top of Beverly Hills, Elizabeth, wrapped in a white bathrobe, sat on the patio in the early morning. After reading the Los Angeles Times, which analyzed the reasons for the success of "Scream" at the box office, she looked up at Eric, who was sitting opposite: "Hey, I suddenly regret it."

Eric didn't lift his head, drank the coffee in his hand, and asked while reading the newspaper, "What's the matter?"

""Death is Coming" should be regarded as a teen movie. I suddenly regret that I changed that "Ace Power Spy" with you. To be honest, the more I read this script, the worse it is."

Eric smiled and said, "Yeah, I think it sucks too, so I changed it with you."

"You bastard," Elizabeth glared at him and said tentatively, "Then you have started making it?"

"The new line is going to be released in the summer of next year. The casting has already started. Now it's too late for you to change it back." Eric raised his head and smiled: "So, you should honestly make this bad movie. , However, no one said that bad movies don't make money."

"Hey, you know that with her help, any low-cost horror film can get such a high box office, and you don't want to help me pick a few scripts."

Eric shook his head and said, "It really has nothing to do with me this time. Drew picked the script himself, and I didn't interfere at all."

"She... hum..." Elizabeth looked obviously disbelieving.

Eric shrugged: "That's the truth, you can find out just by inquiring. The girl is smarter than you. For $500,000, he bought out five scripts from the screenwriter at one time. I regret that screenwriter, if not Coveted the $500,000 and signed a package contract. After this movie, he could buy a nice mansion in Beverly Hills with just one script. Now, he can only buy a small house at the foot of the mountain with the $500,000. apartment."

With a sly little expression on Elizabeth's face, she said, "Eric, are you implying that I dig that screenwriter over, the contract of $500,000, and the liquidated damages would not be too much."

Eric was just joking just now. "Scream" was a great success, and Kevin Williamson will naturally receive dividends from MGM's private distribution, and the final income must still be far more than $500,000. Moreover, it is impossible for any screenwriter to guarantee that his script will be successful all the time, and the probability of a horror film being a big box office hit is even more pitiful, even if a film company is willing to pay a liquidated damage to help Kevin Williamson terminate the contract, As long as the other party is a little smarter, it is impossible to agree.

Glancing at Elizabeth, Eric said, "You can try it out. As long as you're not angry, you can dig over and count your skills."

After all, having been in the film industry for several years, Elizabeth also understood the rules, sighed after hearing this, and added: "It seems that I have to pick some teen movie scripts recently, um, Eric, you recently What are you busy with?"

"Have a meeting to discuss the company's departmental budget and development plan for next year."

Elizabeth blinked, knowing that it was inconvenient for her to inquire about this, she just asked curiously, "What is the estimated revenue of Firefly this year?"

"About 24 billion, a little better than originally expected."

"Wow, it's...a little bit better. It's twice as big as my family's. The tone of your words is really irritating," Elizabeth said after a few words, and couldn't help but asked, "According to the previous 11% The net profit margin of Firefly this year is almost 2.6 billion US dollars.”

"Well, though, there's the remainder of last year's sale of the animation division and print assets, which is about $1.25 billion."

"Tsk tsk," Elizabeth smacked her mouth enviously, grabbed the silver knife on the breakfast plate next to it, and waved it: "Hey, don't move, robbery."

Eric turned the page of the newspaper in front of him, smiled and shook his right hand on the table: "I surrender, Madam Queen, but it is too easy to be caught in broad daylight, or go to the bedroom, I will give you tens of billions ?"

"Ah bah," Elizabeth was stunned for a while, then took a sip with a blushing face, got up and simply cleaned up the tableware for the two of them on the round table, held it in her hands and walked towards the villa, saying, "I'll call Julia. Get up, alas, you are used to it, you are too lazy to become a cat."

Eric looked at Elizabeth's leaving figure and said, "She obviously lives with you, how can I get used to it."

Elizabeth didn't look back, and said in a savage tone, "It's all your fault anyway."

"Uh, okay."