Chapter 819 How Is It Possible?
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After the nominations for best original song were announced, the nominations for best soundtrack were announced next.
"Titanic" had fallen short of the Best Original Song nomination, and Eric realized that if the Golden Globes jury were really going to go along with some people's wishes and deliberately suppress the film, it would probably only be in the Best Picture category. On the soundtrack, a nomination is given symbolically.
However, when Mira Sorvino read out the five nominated films in succession, Eric still did not hear the name of "Titanic".
Lightly tapping his fingers on the glass table, Eric's mouth twitched, and he murmured with an angry smile, "There's no need to do this."
Suddenly feeling a little sluggish, Eric handed Kevin in his arms to Virginia, reached out and took a blank New Year's card, and lowered his head to fill in the card.
In the living room, the sound from the TV continued, and the women realized that Eric was a little irritable at this time, and carefully kept quiet and did not disturb him.
On the TV, the host of nb and the two guests continued to announce the long list of nominations, and from time to time they said a few one-liners to liven up the atmosphere.
The two nominations that were supposed to be the easiest to get were unexpectedly lost. Eric felt that the Golden Globe Awards jury probably did not plan to give "Titanic" a nomination this time. He didn't have any expectations and held the pencil patiently He painted cursive English on the New Year's card, trying to calm down the irritable mood he had been in recently.
After the Best Foreign Language Film nominations were announced, the host made a gag about the nominated films. Mira Sorvino once again took out a list and read into the microphone: "Next, win the Golden Globe Award for Best Screenwriter nominations include Tom Stoppard, Mark Norman, "Shakespeare in Love"; Terrence Malick, "Red Alert"; Ethan Cohen, Joel Cohen, "Frozen" ”; Jim Sadie, “Shining” and … James Cameron, “Titanic.”
Feeling the deliberate pause that Mira Sorvino made on the TV, Eric had already raised his head.
Hearing the name of "Titanic", the little girl who was not far away immediately said excitedly: "Eric, we got the nomination."
Eric nodded slightly, but there was doubt in his expression. He didn't quite understand the intention of the Golden Globe Awards. Could it be that the two nominations just now were just an accident, the Golden Globe Awards jury was not affected, and "Titanic" continued Hoping to be nominated for core awards like Best Picture?
With a little expectation in his heart, Eric quietly listened to the entire nomination press conference, but the quietly raised expectations quickly fell through.
Next,
He didn't hear a word about "Titanic" again. "Titanic" ended up with a slightly embarrassing nomination for best screenplay and nothing else.
Usually, the Oscars and Golden Globes, which at least ostensibly try to maintain their credibility, are relatively fair in the nomination stage. In previous years, the quality of "Titanic" itself is there, even if the Golden Globes are in Under the influence of some people, if you want to suppress it deliberately, you also need to weigh the risk of loss of credibility caused by it.
However, after watching the nomination press conference, Eric generally understood that the situation this year was very different from the past.
According to the usual saying, this year will definitely be a big year for the Oscars, and it can be regarded as a super big year.
It can be seen from the Golden Globe nomination list alone that the four films "Shakespeare in Love", "Red Alert", "Frozen" and "Shining Style" received an average of more than five nominations, showing exceptionally strong performance. , other films such as "Mr. Sweetheart", "Master of Sex Books" and "Mrs. Veron" are also quite eye-catching.
In this case, the Golden Globe Awards jury can be said to be 'frightened', with so many excellent films in the front, even if "Titanic" is nominated, the Golden Globe Awards judges do not think such a purely commercial blockbuster. You can get the award under the gaze of the crowd. Since "Titanic" has no hope of winning the award at all, then if you don't nominate it at this time, there is no risk of losing credibility in the future.
Even Eric is aware of the tricks in this best screenwriter. If "Titanic" is nominated for best original song and best soundtrack, with the film's strength in this soundtrack, it can still be compared with other films. Competitive. These two nominations failed, and only one nomination for best screenplay was given, which was not at all dominant. This is obviously someone who wants to let "Titanic" return 100% empty-handed, and not give the film any hope of breaking through.
"Eric..."
Noticing that Eric's silence seemed a little long, Virginia next to him called out softly.
"I'm fine," Eric came back to his senses, looked at the woman's concerned eyes, smiled, paused for a moment, and suddenly whispered to himself: "I'm just reflecting, Hollywood movies Company, isn't it too much?"
Virginia did not notice the determination flashing in Eric's eyes, and asked, "How much do you think is appropriate?"
"The big four, or the big three," Eric shrugged slightly: "If it's less, or it's all from my own family, I won't always think about other people's bowls shattering, so I can eat more."
Virginia also felt some strong emotions in Eric's tone at this time, smiled, and said: "Then, how is it possible."
Just as he was about to say something, the phone on the glass table vibrated. Eric looked at the number. It was Katzenberg from Los Angeles.
Eric picked up the phone, motioned to the women, got up and said, "I'll go take a call."
Michael Eisner, who had just watched live TV in a mansion in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, was in a happy mood when Eric and Katzenberg discussed the possible impact of the Golden Globe nomination on the phone .
Hollywood is also a business industry, shopping malls are like battlefields, and the competition between several major film companies, although it will not produce a fierce confrontation of life and death, but the parties are also natural enemies, and they can be on the edge of the cliff. When you push each other, no one will be soft-hearted.
This time, Michael Eisner also participated in the operation of the "Titanic" Golden Globe nomination, but he will not make the same mistake a few years ago, no longer believe in loose temporary alliances, but hide Pushed behind the scenes. Others are involved, and everyone is tacit, no one is involved, and Michael Eisner doesn't care. However, this time, there are quite a few people who take the initiative to attack.
Although the relationship with Eric has eased in the past few years, he will never forget the past when he was expelled from Disney. With the growth of Firefly in recent years, Michael Eisner has become more He felt that if he had not been forced to leave Disney back then, all the status and glory of Firefly in the Hollywood industry might have been his.
After all, in the past two years, Universal's development in the film business can be said to be second only to Firefly. This summer, Universal's box office total even surpassed it. He felt that this was enough to prove his strength.
However, Michael Eisner also realized that the development of Universal Pictures has entered a bottleneck stage.
In recent years, with the rapid expansion of the global film market, Hollywood has gradually realized the powerful advantages and huge profits of large-scale special effects films in global distribution. In addition to the background, the other six, if there is no special effects technical support in the digital field of Firefly, unless the requirements for the quality of special effects in the film are greatly reduced, it is impossible to complete these.
Whether it is Warner, Universal, or Paramount, with all the resources, they can only produce one or two 'blockbuster' films with special effects every year. The restrictions are not much related to funding, mainly g special effects technology.
The digital field has developed to this day. In addition to the headquarters in Los Angeles, it has also established two subsidiaries in Florida and Australia. The total number of employees has exceeded 00. Moreover, the talent aspect is second. As long as they are willing to spend a lot of money, the top special effects artists can also can dig in.
However, compared with other special effects studios in Hollywood, the biggest advantage in the digital field is the technical accumulation of g special effects. Eric Williams was ahead of other peers for a few years and invested heavily in the research and development of computer g special effects technology. At this time, the scale of large-scale rendering farms in special effects software, rendering technology and even hardware in the digital field is two to three years ahead of other peers.
Even though he was very reluctant to cooperate with Firefly in his heart, Universal had to hand over a large number of difficult special effects shots to the digital field when making "The Mummy 2". Several other major film companies also have more or less dependence on the digital field. It is this kind of dependence that instead provides more opportunities for technology research and development and accumulation in the digital field, prompting it to leave its industry peers farther away.
At this time, several other big film companies have actually discovered a cruel fact: if Firefly cuts off external cooperation in the digital field, there is no doubt that in the next few years, it will be difficult for them to produce special effects that are sufficient to match the Firefly rival film work.
For Firefly Group, which has an annual turnover of more than 20 billion US dollars, even if "Titanic" loses completely, it will not have any substantial impact on the company in terms of economy. But many things are not simply measured by money.
The total investment in the production and distribution of "Titanic" reached 265 million US dollars, which is unprecedented in the history of Hollywood films. Once such a large-scale film project fails, the confidence of the Firefly Group in film production will be inestimable. .
This is what Michael Eisner expected.
Although Eric has absolute control over Firefly, it is impossible for him to ignore the wishes of management and other shareholders. When mega-projects like "Titanic" fail, Firefly shareholders and executives will inevitably rethink their filmmaking and distribution strategies in recent years, and the result of this reflection must be long into the future. , Firefly will tend to be conservative when it comes to filmmaking.
With 00 employees in Firefly's digital field, it is enough to support the production of four to six special effects films at the same time. Once the production scale of Firefly's film tends to be conservative due to the box office failure of "Titanic", the digital field must rely on accepting external orders. It can guarantee that its more than 2,000 employees will not have nothing to do. Then, at least in the next few years, the possibility of Firefly cutting off external cooperation in the digital field will not exist, and the development of Firefly’s film business will slow down. Other film companies have enough time to catch up with Firefly in terms of film production and special effects technology accumulation. When Firefly Group recovers from the failure of "Titanic", perhaps everyone's starting line will not be so far apart.
He secretly pushed Firefly at the Golden Globes. Michael Eisner does not intend to continue to do superfluous things. Now almost the entire industry is singling "Titanic", and even the Firefly Group is against this. If the film does not report too much expectations, the failure of "Titanic" is almost inevitable. At this time, he has already begun to consider the development plan of Universal next year.
The production of "The Mummy 3" is a bit difficult. The success of the first two films has led to a sharp increase in the remuneration from the producer to the protagonist of the film. The production starts immediately, whether it is to change the angle to reduce the budget, or to increase the budget to invite the original team. Universal will take very big risks, so Michael Eisner decided to start the Scorpion King movie derived from the "Mummy" series, which was inspired when he saw this project a long time ago.
Sorting through the various ideas in my mind, before I knew it, it was approaching ten o'clock. Michael Eisner's wife Jane Breckenridge began to urge her husband to rest. Michael Eisner had a near miss two years ago. After the quadruple heart bypass operation, although the recovery is good, people with bad hearts are also the most taboo to stay up late. In this regard, Jane is very careful about her husband.
Hearing his wife's urging, Michael Eisner got up from the sofa in the living room and walked towards the bedroom, but he was thinking about having dinner with George Lucas tomorrow to talk about the cooperation between Universal Pictures and ILM.
Although with the strong support of Microsoft, Michael Eisner is not optimistic about the Amberlin Films that Spielberg and several others cooperated with. Therefore, Universal is not too active in competing for the distribution rights of Amberlin Films. However, Michael Eisner attaches great importance to the development prospects of Industrial Light and Magic. Although this special effects company is a little far behind the digital field, as a veteran special effects giant, Industrial Light and Magic is also the last company that may catch up with the same industry in the digital field. Michael · Eisner is very clear that only when Industrial Light and Magic develops and keeps pace with the digital field can everyone avoid being suddenly caught in the neck by fireflies. (To be continued.)