After Simon came up with the "Basic Instinct" script, Jonathan and Amy have been busy working on the project in the past week.

The original "Basic Instinct" was produced in 1992 with a production cost of US$49 million and grossed more than US$350 million at the global box office. The film's success was mainly due to the strong controversy caused by the film's subject matter and its almost NC-

The 17-level super-large scale, the shot of Sharon Stone with her legs raised and her bottom exposed is still deeply remembered by many viewers many years later.

In fact, the box office success of "Basic Instinct" led to the trend of thriller pornographic films in the 1990s that used femme fatales as a gimmick.

The original director of "Basic Instinct" was Dutch director Paul Verhoeven, who had directed films such as "Total Recall" and "Starship Troopers". However, after Simon completed the script outline, he directly passed the story to Brian de

Parma.

Compared to Paul Verhoeven, Brian De Palma, who prefers voyeuristic themes, is obviously more suitable to direct this film.

Although Simon made it clear during the communication with Brian De Palma that this movie will be like "The Butterfly Effect", the media reputation in the future will still not be very good, and it may also cause great controversy. Brian De Palma

Erma quickly nodded in agreement.

For the next leading actor, Simon still prefers Michael Douglas.

Michael Douglas happens to be a client of WMA. The unexpected success of "Fatal Attraction" has taken the career of this middle-aged actor from a film family to a higher level. After several contacts, the other party quickly agreed to participate.

After securing the two main creators, Jonathan and Amy officially started negotiations with Fox Pictures. Now that they have accumulated enough capital and the business prospects of "Basic Instinct" are also very secure, Simon decisively chose to participate in the investment this time.

Simon originally hoped to have Daenerys Films finance the film entirely, then hand it over to Fox for distribution, and at the same time close the contract for the first three scripts.

However, after the success of the three films "Run Lola Run", "Butterfly Effect" and "Death Comes Out", although the story presented by Simon still deviates from the mainstream, it has Simon, De Palma and Douglas.

With big box office stars involved, Fox is naturally unwilling to let go.

After a week of negotiations, Fox and Daenerys Pictures officially reached an agreement on the production plan.

After "The Butterfly Effect" and "Fatal Attraction", the salary quotations of Brian De Palma and Michael Douglas rose to US$6 million. Simon's script was still priced at a symbolic US$1, and the film's budget was initially determined to be

$20 million.

With a production budget of US$20 million, Fox Pictures and Daenerys Pictures will each bear US$10 million. Daenerys Pictures will be solely responsible for the production of the film, and Fox will ensure distribution and directly determine the schedule for July 15 next year.

The guaranteed number of screens has been increased to 1,500.

In terms of benefit distribution.

After several rounds of tug-of-war, it was finally determined that the film’s income from all channels would be settled according to a 50-50 investment ratio. Simply put, the publicity budget invested by Fox will no longer participate in the profit distribution as the film’s investment cost, which also makes Danielle

Silk Screen has avoided the most watery area of ​​​​the Hollywood ledger.

The publicity and distribution costs of Hollywood movies usually amount to about half of the production costs.

The production budget of "Basic Instinct" is US$20 million, and the theoretical publicity budget will reach US$10 million. According to the investment ratio, it will be split 50-50 with Daenerys Pictures. It seems that Fox Pictures suffered a big loss, but in fact

But not so.

Daenerys Pictures did not invest a penny in the "Death Is Coming" project, and the revenue is expected to reach 10 million US dollars.

This time, if Simon does not participate in investment, Simon will at least be able to get a share of the "Basic Instinct" project that is equivalent to "Death Comes". Now, Daenerys Pictures has given up this part of the additional income. At the same time, Fox

The film industry also gave up the profits it deserved from the publicity and distribution budget, and the investment from both parties was still equal.

Moreover, the contract between the two parties contains a series of clauses that are as detailed as stipulating how long the TV trailer needs to be played, which can also ensure that Fox invests sufficient publicity resources.

Fox Studios.

The time is already Tuesday, November 10th.

In a conference room in the studio's executive building, Ronald Goldberg, Amy Pascal, Jonathan Friedman and other executives from Fox Pictures, Daenerys Pictures and WMA,

A group of celebrities, agents and others officially signed several investment and actor contracts related to the "Basic Instinct" project.

However, Simon was not present today.

After the formal press conference, at the dinner arranged by Fox Films, although he had received an explanation call from Simon in advance, Ronald Goldberg still found Amy Pascal and asked Simon about his recent behavior.

trend.

Since the middle of last month, many people around Simon have noticed that he is obviously absent-minded during this period. Orion Pictures President Norman Broca can't help complaining about the slow post-production progress of "Pulp Fiction", which has already been completed for a month.

For many months, the rough cut of the film has not been completed.

Amy Pascal heard Ronald Goldberg's inquiry and recalled Simon's recent uncertainty. She could only shake her head in her heart, but on the surface she still wanted to speak for her boss and said: "Ron

De, you know, Simon has been busy for a whole year since last year, and it shouldn't be a problem to relax a little now."

Ronald Goldberg didn't believe Amy's excuse. He held the red wine with one hand in his pocket and hesitated for a moment. He lowered his voice slightly and said: "Amy, tell me the truth. Did Simon bring him back?"

The money earned in "Run Lola Run" was invested in the stock market and then lost?"

Amy immediately thought of Simon not coming to the company for a week after the North American stock market crashed last month.

During this period, although the North American stock market has stabilized, the Dow Jones Index is still hovering around 2,000 points, far lower than the highest point of 2,700 points in August. Simon has successively made more than 100 million US dollars in revenue with "Lola Run" in the past six months.

When the stock market was still booming, there was no guarantee that you wouldn't want to make another fortune.

"This, Ronald, I really don't know." Although she had already guessed, Amy shook her head again, thought for a while and added: "But, Ronald, you can rest assured, no matter what, this is all

It will not affect Daenerys Films’ investment in Basic Instinct.”

Ronald Goldberg continued to ask a few more questions, but failed to get anything out of Amy and had to turn around and leave.

Amy Pascal watched Ronald Goldberg walk away, but her brows furrowed. She couldn't help but think of the discussion between Simon and herself about investing in "Basic Instinct" some time ago.

Although she didn't think it was a good choice to invest her own money in movies, Amy originally thought that Simon would use the money she earned from "Run Lola Run" to participate in this investment. Simon's decision

But it deviated from Amy's prediction. He hoped that Amy would take the contract of "Death is Coming" to the bank as collateral and use the loan to invest in "Instinct".

A large part of the production funds for Hollywood movies comes from bank loans.

During the original financing process of "When Harry Met Sally", Daenerys Pictures did not have enough foundation to obtain production funds from banks. Now, Simon has successfully made three movies in a row, and "Basic Instinct" is another

With the script written by Simon himself, it is no longer too difficult to obtain a loan from the bank.

However, in connection with this matter, and the fact that Simon suddenly rushed to New York again yesterday morning without any explanation after the end of October, and even missed today's signing ceremony. When these series of clues are connected slightly, it is obvious that his

The young boss, and certainly his girlfriend, probably really lost a lot of money in the stock market crash.

It's more than 100 million US dollars, and I don't know how much it has lost.

Thinking about the tragedy of the stock market crash on October 19, Amy couldn't help but shake her head. After all, she was still a young person.

only.

I wonder if Little Boss will encounter such a waterloo in the next movie.

You know, if you calculate carefully, she should still have 5% of the income of "Death Comes". For "Basic Instinct", or most films produced with loans in Hollywood, usually the pre-sale contract of the film should be obtained

They applied for a loan from the bank, but neither Fox nor Simon agreed to pre-sales. The film production funds would definitely need to be mortgaged, so Daenerys Pictures could only use the revenue contract from "Death Comes" as a bargaining chip.

If "Basic Instinct" fails.

What if "When Harry Met Sally" failed too.

Even, if "Pulp Fiction" fails.

Then I will have been busy for more than a year in vain, and may have to find a new job.

These thoughts flashed through Amy Pascal's mind, and the more she thought about it, the more worried she became. After the dinner, as soon as she returned to her residence in Palisades, Amy couldn't help but pick up the phone, thinking that it was already early morning on the East Coast.

, so he didn’t call rashly.

I drank wine last night, fell asleep with worries, and had a nightmare about myself pitifully begging Ronald Goldberg to let me return to Fox after Daenerys Pictures went bankrupt, when I received a harsh phone call.

Awakened by the ringing of the bell, Amy Pascal looked at her watch and saw that it was just past four o'clock in the morning.

Oh my god.

It's four o'clock. What's the emergency now?

Have aliens attacked Earth?

Is everyone going to flee?

After complaining like this, Amy still touched the phone.

The call came from Jonathan Friedman. The agent didn't waste any more words and asked Amy to receive the fax.

After a while.

Pulling out a page of newspaper clippings from the fax machine, Amy Pascal just glanced at it, her eyes widened immediately, and the sleepiness just now was completely swept away.

"Simon Westeros creates another miracle, Hollywood boy makes $1.6 billion"

this.

It must be a joke, right?

It's better to say that aliens have arrived in Los Angeles, and I can drive to Mexico to hide. I also want to take a rest recently.

The fax machine did not stop after receiving one page of newspaper clippings, and then several more clippings were sent over.

"From US$75 million to US$1.62 billion, the youngest billionaire is born"

"Westeros is being questioned by the Federal Commodity Futures Trading Commission on suspicion of insider trading"

"Quantum Fund sues Lehman Brothers, Simon Westeros is involved"

"Simon Westeros invests $1.1 billion in tech stocks"
To be continued...