Universal Studios in Burbank.

Tomorrow is Halloween, and there will be a week of Halloween activities held in the cinema. Therefore, even though it is Monday during the day, this comprehensive film and television entertainment base covering an area of ​​200 hectares is still very lively.

In an office building in the northern administrative area of ​​​​the studio, Lou Vassalman, chairman of Universal parent company MCA, and company CEO Sid Sheinberg were sitting together near the window of the fifth-floor office.

Lou Vassalman is 75 years old this year. He has a thin face and wears a pair of large-framed brown reading glasses. This old man who was ridiculed by the media as the prototype of ET in the past few years has been in charge of MCA for thirty years.

Time, and gradually developed the original talent agency into the current comprehensive media group. Sid Sheinberg was only in his early fifties. It was he who discovered Spielberg and also belonged to MCA for a long time.

A Hollywood evergreen for more than ten years.

Occasionally looking at the shadowy crowds in the tourist area, the topic the two Hollywood tycoons were talking about was Daenerys Entertainment's "Scream" which was currently being screened.

Sid Sheinberg handed a document that he had read carefully several times to Lou Vassalman and said: "This is the report just made by the marketing department this morning. Daenerys Entertainment this time targets "

The operation of "Scream" can be used as a textbook distribution case. Accurate market positioning for young people, precise advertising on public television network youth TV programs, MTV cable TV stations and youth magazines, two groups of people are everywhere

Front-end carpet marketing in first- and second-tier cities across the country. The most important thing is the efficient execution of Daenerys Entertainment's distribution team, which all contributed to the box office success of "Scream."

Lou Vassalman picked up the file, opened it, and asked: "Can John Carpenter's "Extreme Space" be operated in this way?"

"Extreme Space" is a science fiction thriller to be released by Universal this Friday. It is directed by the horror film master John Carpenter who created the "Moonlight" series.

Sid Sheinberg shook his head regretfully and said: "The quality of Carpenter's new film is very mediocre, and the production cost is only US$4 million. It is not worthy of large-scale promotion."

Lou Vassalman glanced at Sid Sheinberg and said: "The production cost of "Scream" doesn't seem to be too high?"

Sid Sheinberg could only laugh.

According to the report in Vassalman's hand, the distribution budget invested by Daenerys Entertainment for "Scream" only costs 1.3 million US dollars for the copying of 1,755 screens. In addition, there is a large amount of advertising on various platforms. The main creator

The team's road show investment, etc., is conservatively estimated to be over US$7 million.

With the success of the film at the box office, Daenerys Entertainment will definitely continue to increase its promotional budget in the future, and may even exceed the film's production cost of US$10 million.

How dare Universal do this?

Maybe I dare.

But first there has to be a movie of comparable quality to "Scream."

Take the road show as an example. The handsome male and female leading actors of "Scream" can naturally mingle with young audiences, but John Carpenter's "Extreme Space" is a buddy movie with black and white protagonists. Both protagonists are three-dimensional.

He is more than ten years old and not well-known. It is okay to watch on the big screen, but the interaction in person will not arouse the interest of many audiences at all.

Seeing that Vassalman remained calm, Sid Sheinberg was silent for a moment, and then asked: "Lou, why was there no result from the MPAA last time?"

Lou Vassalman paused when he wanted to turn the page, but briefly recounted what MPAA Chairman Jack Valenti told him that day, and finally shook his head and added: "That's a crazy guy at heart.

He is a young man who is willing to abide by the rules, but he disdains them. He knows how to exercise restraint, but he is also skillful. More importantly, he is only 20 years old this year. This is an advantage that none of us have. West Germany, if next

I will be able to sell the MCA in a few years, and I will probably retire, and I don’t want to get into such trouble that I won’t be able to spend my old age peacefully.”

Sid Sheinberg was still a little unwilling and said: "Lou, are we just going to let Daenerys Entertainment continue to grow and develop?"

Lou Vassalman looked at Sid Sheinberg shrewdly and said noncommittally: "If you want to do something, you can give it a try."

Sid Sheinberg looked a little hesitant and said: "Gene from the distribution department told me something this morning. Ron MacMillan, the producer of "Scream", he and the actors in the film

An actress was having some trouble, and Macmillan promised her a very important role but failed to deliver."

Lifting up one's pants and refusing to admit it is not a big deal in Hollywood.

Lou Vassalman frowned slightly and said, "Sid, how old is that girl?"

Sid Sheinberg was not sure: "Must be in his twenties?"

"If you don't give a young person in her twenties a sufficiently generous bargaining chip, do you think she would be willing to ruin her career and fight against Daenerys Entertainment?" Lou Vassalman looked at Sid.

Sheinberg continued to ask: "Or, once Daenerys Entertainment discovers that you are instigating it, do you think they will not be able to find the same reason to attack Universal?"

The previous rating incident of "Scream" was just a whim of a few old men who wanted to give newcomers a blow, but it almost turned into a big storm.

Lou Vassalman still feels a little scared when he thinks about what the young man told Jack Valenti. People tend to be conservative and stable when they get old. He doesn't want to cause a war between the old and new forces in Hollywood.

Strong confrontation.

As for Sid Sheinberg's suggestion at this time, it was simply the worst possible idea.

There are not many people in Hollywood who dare to say that they are truly clean when it comes to matters between men and women. If you attack someone with a sex scandal, it is almost inevitable that you will be counterattacked. Most importantly, Universal will not gain anything by doing this.

In the final analysis, interests are the fundamental factor driving competition and confrontation.

The aftermath of the Hollywood writers' strike left the Halloween schedule almost empty. "Scream" took advantage of the situation. Although its popularity at the box office was eye-catching, it did not form a strong competition with the Big Seven.

If there is not enough profit motivation, playing with these unfashionable tricks is simply not worth the gain.

Sid Sheinberg had been paying attention to Lou Vassalman's expression, and he quickly gave up his previous thoughts.

Although he has been the second-in-command of MCA for more than ten years, he is very clear that the power of this company has always been firmly controlled by Vassalman. If he does this, once a conflict arises, Vassalman does not want the entire MCA to be involved.

Salman will definitely push him out as a scapegoat.

Lou Vassalman and Sid Sheinberg discuss Scream at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, where Paramount Pictures president Sidney Ganis has just hosted Wes Craven

Had lunch.

Compared with Sid Sheinberg's secretly manipulative thoughts, Sidney Ganis is much more practical.

With the summer release of "Coming 2 America" ​​and "Crocodile Dundee 2," two $100-million-breaking films, Paramount's film business is in good shape this year. Sidney Ganis is very much looking forward to making this situation continue.

Therefore, there is no thought of confronting Daenerys Entertainment.

The "A Nightmare on Elm Street" series written and directed by Wes Craven a few years ago led to the rapid rise of the originally unpopular New Line Cinema. In the past two years, it has successively produced "Dead Man" and "Scream".

"Called" are two blockbuster horror films. Although Simon Westeros has a great potential influence on them, Craven has definitely become one of the major Hollywood directors worthy of attracting attention.

Although no agreement was reached at lunch, Sidney Ganis also noticed that Wes Craven had not yet reached an agreement with Daenerys Entertainment on the sequel issue, which meant that Paramount had a huge

Opportunity.

After seeing Wes Craven off, Sidney Ganis turned around and asked the assistant standing behind him: "Have you contacted the screenwriter of "Scream", Bruce Joy Robin?"

The assistant nodded and said, "I have arranged a meeting for you at ten o'clock tomorrow morning."

Sidney Ganis nodded and was about to rush to his office. After thinking about it, he said: "The main creators of Daenerys Entertainment's several films at the end of the year have all compiled a piece of information for me."

Similar to Warner and Paramount, many people in Los Angeles today are discussing issues related to Daenerys entertainment.

Prior to this, films produced by Daenerys Entertainment had always relied on the distribution networks of other film companies. The blockbuster success of "Scream" completely confirmed that Daenerys Entertainment is a top second-tier film company after the Seven.

status.

Therefore, some people are trying to win over, some are trying to stumbling, some are planning to poach, and some can only express envy.

The entire Hollywood has unknowingly formed an undercurrent surrounding Daenerys Entertainment. As for the final result of this undercurrent, no one knows.

Halloween follows the weekend, and the box office on weekdays is stimulated by the festive atmosphere, with the figures for the same period being much higher than before.

As a result, after its first week of screening, the final box office of "Scream" reached US$20.71 million.

Stimulated by "Scream", the North American box office between October 28 and November 3 jumped from 32.67 million US dollars the previous week to 47.36 million US dollars. However, the obvious fact is that only "Scream"

"Scream" alone accounts for 43% of the entire market share, and the other 16 theater movies this week can only share the remaining 57%.

On the single-week box office list, compared to "Scream"'s $20.71 million, "Moonlight 4" ranked second, with a box office figure of only $5.23 million.

Although "Pear Blossom" starring Jodie Foster has a good reputation and a very strong box office curve, due to its subject matter and market capacity, the box office number in its third week of release also fell to US$3.69 million, ranking third.

After two consecutive weeks of sharp box office declines, Fox's "Alien" has a box office of only US$2.92 million this week, ranking fourth.

The biopic "The Fog" starring Sigourney Weaver and the romantic comedy "The Fog" starring Tom Hanks ranked fifth and sixth respectively.

Warner Bros.'s "The Secret Agent" ranked seventh at the box office on its first day. It only took in a measly US$1.63 million at the box office in its first week. With the release of several new films in the new week, this film will completely withdraw from the media and film industry.

Audience view.

November 4th, another Friday.

Compared with last week's deserted scene, a total of four new films were released this week.

However, except for "Steel Magnolias", which Daenerys Entertainment has launched a small-scale screening on 22 screens in North America, the other three films cannot be regarded as key films of major movie companies.

Among them, "Up" released by Paramount is completely just a music documentary about the U2 band. John Carpenter's "Extreme Space" and "The Good Mother" starring Diane Keaton are also obviously not included in the distribution of Universal and

What expectations does Disney have?

Simon and Janet went to New York to spend Halloween together and returned on Friday morning.

Santa Monica.

It was Friday afternoon in a large conference room at Daenerys Entertainment Headquarters.

Simon and Amy Pascal, Robert Iger, Robert Rehm and several other company executives were listening to Nancy Brill, Amy's recently hired head of the consumer products division, introduce her plans for the consumer products division.

Nancy Brill comes from the famous American toy company Hasbro. She looks to be in her thirties, with a relatively soft and delicate face of a French woman. Her blond hair is pulled up, and she is wearing a black business suit. She looks very capable.

Daenerys Entertainment currently does not have many projects that can develop movie derivatives. The peripheral copyrights of several early films, such as "Run Lola Run", were sold very extensively, and the related copyrights of several films such as "Pulp Fiction" were sold out.

In the hands of companies like Orion.

Now, the peripheral projects that Daenerys Entertainment can develop are mainly its several popular reality shows, the "Scream" series that have just become popular recently, and a little further away, next year's most valuable "Batman"

》.

Daenerys Entertainment has made huge profits from the box office and broadcast of the film and television projects themselves. In order to avoid over-exploitation of copyrights, Simon is very cautious about the consumer products department. Nancy Brill’s future prospects in the next one to two years

The main job is to build a team, train the team and expand channels.

"Finally, there are video games. The Great Depression in the video game industry caused by the Atari incident has passed. In recent years, with the rise of Japanese video game manufacturers, the video game industry is recovering rapidly. Daenerys Entertainment's early "Lola Quick"

"Run" and more recently "Scream" are very suitable for developing related video games, and I believe we will have more similar copyrights in the future. Learning from the lessons of Atari's collapse, I think Daenerys Entertainment should

Mainly outsourcing, outsourcing the corresponding copyrights like movie projects, and handing them over to professional development teams for design. Daenerys Entertainment can invest in the corresponding game studios, but should avoid too much interference with game development."
Chapter completed!