Chapter 174 Director Li

"Tom Cruise is anxious."

Death Star Building - CAA Agency Headquarters, Michael Ovitz put down the phone and said.

"He is too competitive and cares too much about winning or losing. This mentality is not conducive to his long-term development."

Vice President Ron Meyer said calmly while smoking a cigarette.

"He is still young and has experienced a lot. He won't care too much about such a small matter of tens of millions."

Michael Ovitz laughed.

He is not only the founder of CAA agency, but also the general agent of CAA. Many big-name actors under his company were signed by him personally, including director Spielberg, Tom Cruise, Dustin Hoffman and so on.

Among them, Tom Cruise is a top star cultivated by him and is also one of CAA's signature brands.

Neither he nor CAA wanted any blemish on Tom Cruise's reputation.

"Another low-budget movie from Guess What is a big hit. I have to say, Link is really lucky."

Longmeyer said.

Ovitz shook his head. "The North American box office of The Wedding Banquet is about 10 or 20 million. It's not worth our attention. What we need to pay attention to is Final Destination. Although this bet is a small game, no one wants to lose."

"What are your plans?"

"Final Destination didn't get good reviews during its preview, but Link was very lucky. If he gets lucky again when Final Destination is released and the media reveals some big news, we might lose this bet. To be on the safe side, I suggest that we take the box office of Sugar Coated Trap to a higher level, preferably to over 200 million. With over 200 million, we have a greater chance of winning."

“It’s quite costly to do this.”

It is not difficult to inflate the box office, but it costs money. Randomly made-up numbers cannot fool the media and the IRS. Real money is required.

In addition, improper operations can easily provide competitors with targets for attack, leading to attacks from public opinion.

It also costs a lot of money to stage these things.

Ovitz said, "I will personally discuss with Shirley Lansing the plan to operate the box office of "Sugar Coat Trap" and try to get Paramount Pictures involved to reduce our investment. But if we win this bet, we can also earn back the money we spend."

"Okay, I agree with your suggestion."

With the joint operation of Paramount Pictures and CAA, "The Trap" bucked the trend and saw a box office increase of 10.91 million US dollars this week, an increase of 40% compared with last week.

The film's North American box office totaled $141 million.

However, what makes Tom Cruise and others unhappy is that "The Wedding Banquet" also had a good box office this week with $8.28 million, ranking third in the weekly box office, only below "In the Line of Fire" and "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows".

The film cost only $750,000 to produce, and its current cumulative box office in North America has reached $15.34 million, with a box office revenue ratio of 20 times, a result that many people envy.

"Director Li, what kind of movie will you shoot next? Do you have any plans?"

At the company, Link met director Ang Lee and congratulated him on the success of his new movie.

"The next play will still focus on urban men and women, and present the relationship between men and women through Chinese cuisine. The script has not been finalized yet. After it is finalized, I hope Director Lin can give me some advice."

Director Ang Lee said this rather reservedly.

“I don’t deserve it!”

Link waved his hand and said, "We are two different types of directors. I can't make your movie, nor can I give you any advice, but I believe in your ability. No matter what kind of movie you want to make, the company will support you. I heard that you have a good relationship with producer James Shams, and James will continue to be the producer of your movies in the future."

"Thank you Director Lin for your support."

Director Ang Lee said.

Lin Ke also talked to director Ang Lee about Chinese films, hoping that he would have the opportunity to make more films with Chinese themes.

The cost of making a movie in China is generally not high. If it is made well, it can not only make money in China, but also get good box office results in North America.

Director Ang Lee said that he also had ideas in this regard, but he didn't have any good ideas for the time being. After he finishes the movies he is currently working on, he will consider shooting a Chinese movie to try his hand.

Link supported his decision.

After seeing off Director Ang Lee, Lin Ke shook his head and smiled. Both he and Director Ang Lee were Chinese, with reserved personalities and spoke in a rather serious manner. If two men were to chat together without a third person to liven up the atmosphere, the conversation would be very awkward in the end.

Boom boom boom!

Before Link could start working, the new assistant came in with Joe Felmer.

Joe Fillemer was in charge of the distribution department of Guess What?. He came in and handed Link a document with some data on the inflated box office performance of "The Trap" last week.

According to the investigation, Paramount Pictures spent up to 2 million U.S. dollars on the promotion of "The Trap" last week. In addition, two films under Paramount Pictures had abnormal box office performance last week.

One is the erotic thriller "Voyeur," which has been released for more than three months and has seen an 80% drop in box office revenue compared to the previous two weeks.

The other is the comedy science fiction film "Pointy Alien", which was released on July 23. It had good box office performance in the first four weeks. After the release of "The Trap", the box office decline accelerated, earning only 530,000 US dollars last week, more than 2 million less than the previous two weeks, while the number of theaters showing the film remained unchanged.

Analyzing the box office data, the box office decline of these two films is very abnormal.

The staff in the distribution department who are responsible for investigating market data suspected that Paramount Pictures secretly transferred the box office revenue of the two films to "The Trap" to increase the box office data of this film.

There may be other movies besides these two, but there are too few staff in the data department to count too many changes in movie data.

After reading the information, Link felt that this matter was a bit tricky.

Although Paramount Pictures stole box office revenue, the film they stole was produced by the company itself. There is no victim in this kind of thing, and it is impossible to investigate through legal means.

In addition, the data changes for these two films are too small, and the data are not too outrageous. They are the kind of problems that look problematic and you know there are problems, but if you actually investigate, you won't find any problems.

Link could only ask Joe Fillemy to continue sending people to monitor the box office of "The Trap" and try to find more powerful evidence.

After Joe Fillemer left, Link called Jerome Preston, told him about the incident, and asked him if he had any suggestions on how to expose Paramount Pictures' tricks.

Jerome Preston believes that the box office issue is complicated. Even if evidence is found, Paramount Pictures and theaters have reasonable reasons to deny it. In this regard, don't doubt the accounting capabilities of accounting firms such as PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Jerome suggested that after obtaining solid evidence, he should use media exposure to attract public attention and let everyone keep an eye on the box office of "The Trap". Paramount Pictures should not ignore public opinion and pursue the box office recklessly.

“That sounds reasonable.”

Link accepted Jerome's advice.

In its fourth week of release, "The Wedding Banquet" earned $4.15 million, and its cumulative North American box office reached $19.5 million. However, there was a big drop this week, the movie attendance was not high, and many theaters began to reduce the number of screenings.

The film is expected to take about $25 million in North America, and perhaps $50 million including overseas box office revenue.

The box office revenue ratio is over 60 times.

However, the film's publicity and promotion costs amounted to more than 6 million US dollars.

Taking into account the costs of publicity and promotion, the return on investment is not high.

This week, the box office of "Trap" did not drop much, earning $12.96 million in 1,191 theaters, bringing the film's North American box office to $154 million.

At the same time, the media also broke the news that "Sugar Coated Trap" stole box office revenue.

It is said that the film's box office fell to 6.58 million US dollars in its fifth week. According to the normal decline in movie box office, the box office in the sixth week would be around 3 million US dollars, not 10.91 million, and the box office this week would not reach 12.96 million US dollars.

(End of this chapter)