Chapter 382 The Devil's Advocate

The 'threatening email' incident lasted for four or five days in the media before gradually dying down and did not affect the filming of the crew.

In late April, "The Rock" was officially completed, and Link brought the crew back to Los Angeles to do film editing and post-production.

It is April now and the summer vacation is approaching, and competition in the North American film market is becoming fierce.

In April, Guess What Pictures has six films in the release period, including "Grey's Anatomy", "Casino Raiders", "Trainspotting", "Hachiko: A Dog's Story", "Give Me a Dad" and "Dangerous Game" which were released in the first three months.

The box office revenue of the first two films was still not high, reaching 343,000 US dollars and 415,000 US dollars respectively.

"Trainspotting" has grossed $15.45 million in North America, with a 5 to 1 revenue ratio, making it a hit movie.

"Hachiko: A Dog's Story" was released in North America for seven weeks, with a cumulative box office of 72.05 million US dollars. It was released in overseas regions for a month, earning more than 35 million US dollars, with a total box office of over 100 million US dollars, and a box office revenue ratio of more than 4 times, which was also a hit.

"Give Me a Dad" is a Czech film that James Schamus bought at the Berlin Film Festival. It was released in early April and was released for three weeks, with a North American box office of 4.72 million US dollars.

The North American copyright fee for this film is $1.5 million and has already started to make a profit for the company. In addition, the film has a good reputation and has also added some positive publicity to the films released by Guess What Pictures.

The sixth film, Dangerous Game, is a film in which Michelle Pfeiffer serves as both the lead actor and producer.

The movie is also called "The Extraordinary Teacher" and is based on a true story.

It tells the story of the heroine Luan who retired after serving in the Marine Corps for nine years and joined a high school as a teacher. There was a group of bad students in her class with various social and family problems. Later, Luan helped the students out of their difficulties through her own methods.

The film cost $42 million to produce and grossed $21.93 million in 1,348 theaters in its first week, ranking first at the weekly box office. It also had relatively good reputation and is expected to be a box office hit.

After April, there are three more films under Guess What Pictures entering the promotion period, including "The Network", "Rush Hour" and "Final Destination 2", as well as two films co-promoted with Columbia Pictures, "The Mask of Zorro" and "The Fifth Element", as well as the new movie "Batman Forever" that Link needs to participate in the promotion.

These films will be released during the summer vacation, along with other commercial blockbusters from other film companies.

Including 20th Century Fox's science fiction film "Independence Day".

Mission: Impossible, produced by Paramount Pictures and Tom Cruise.

Universal Pictures' "The Nutty Professor" and "Heart of the Dragon", and MGM Pictures' comedy films "The Birdcage" and "Ace Bowling".

Warner Bros.' "A Time to Kill" and "Evaporator", Disney's "Different Instincts" and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", Columbia Pictures' "Ace Operator", etc.

Due to the increase in Hollywood labor costs, film pay, post-production special effects and other costs in recent years, the production costs and publicity and promotion costs of Hollywood films have also increased significantly.

Between 1985 and 1990, the average production cost of films released in North America was approximately $15.09 million, while in the past three years the average production cost has increased to $18.57 million.

Under this premise, there is an increase in high-budget films with a cost of more than 50 million US dollars in the Hollywood film market.

The consequence is that competition at the movie box office has become more intense. In order to recover their costs, film companies will promote their films vigorously during release to increase their popularity.

At the same time, high investment means high risk. Once the cost is not recovered, the production company is likely to lose money.

"Link, this is the production status of movies in the first quarter. There are four more movies and their budgets. What do you think?"

In the office, Daniel DeVito walked in with a folder and sat down in a chair across from the desk.

"How's the filming of Fight Club going? Is it going smoothly?"

Link took the folder and flipped through it.

"Not bad, director David Fincher is pretty good, and the film is more than halfway done, and it will probably be finished in a month."

"very nice."

Originally, Link was going to direct "Fight Club" himself, but due to time constraints, the production team re-selected the director and finally chose the original director David Fincher. The leading actors are Brad Pitt, Edward Norton, Angelina Jolie, Casey Affleck and others.

The production cost was $55 million, with Guess Pictures and Miramax Films each paying half.

The three new film projects brought by Daniel DeVito are the thriller "The Devil's Advocate", the crime comedy "Nothing to Lose", the new film "Out of Sight" directed by Steven Soderbergh, and the new film "Boogie Nights" directed by Thomas Anderson.

"The Devil's Advocate" is a script tailored for Keanu Reeves by WMA Agency, which was submitted to Guess Pictures seeking cooperation, hoping that Link himself would direct it.

Link looked through the script. The story was good, but not to his taste.

He also can’t direct.

"Nothing to Lose" is Tim Robbins' new film, a low-budget comedy, which was approved by the production department after review.

Link didn't have much impression of the film, but seeing that the cost was not high and the approval of the production department, he gave it a go.

At a meeting at the beginning of the year, he said that in the future, he would delegate production authority to the production department.

The company's film projects shifted from being his personal responsibility to being a producer-led system.

Those who perform well will be rewarded with a share of the box office revenue, while those who perform poorly will have their bonus deducted.

He only reviews medium- and high-budget film projects, freeing up more time to make films.

The remaining "Strategist" and "Boogie Nights" are both pretty good, and Link also signed them.

With these four films, plus "Final Destination 3", Julia Roberts' "My Best Friend's Wedding", Ang Lee's new film "The Ice Storm", Madonna's film project "Evita" submitted at the end of the year, and "The Legend of 1900" directed by Tornatore.

This year, the number of films independently produced and co-produced by Guess What Pictures has reached 22, a number that is also the limit of the company's current production capacity.

"Link, the millennium is almost here. The marketing department has predicted through research that science fiction and disaster movies will be more popular in the next few years. They suggest that we make such movies. There are several chapters in your novel Interstellar that are very suitable for adaptation. Do you have any plans?"

Daniel DeVito asked, adjusting the arm of his glasses.

"A science fiction disaster movie?"

"Yes, it's not just our company that has made this prediction. The seven major film studios have already started planning to shoot this kind of movie. For example, Universal Pictures' Skyfall, with Pierce Brunans as the leading actor, is said to cost more than 100 million. There are also Columbia Pictures' Starship Troopers and Men in Black. Paramount Pictures and Fox Pictures are also moving in this direction."

Link nodded. This year is 1996, which is less than four years away from 2000. 2000 is the last year of the 20th century and also a relatively meaningful year.

At such an important time point, there will be more interesting rumors in the media and public opinion, including the coming of the doomsday, alien invasion, etc., and corresponding movies and TV series of this type will be popular.

"Adapting science fiction movies is also a good idea. The production department can first collect scripts and stories of this type. If they like the story in Interstellar, they can also give it to me to read after the adaptation is completed. In addition, special effects technology is developing very fast now, and Marvel Entertainment's comic characters can also be considered for adaptation. The adaptation method can refer to Warner Bros. Pictures' Batman."

Link said.

Daniel DeVito nodded and agreed.

After seeing Daniel off, Link called Joe Fillem, who was in charge of the company's development planning, to ask about the progress of his acquisition of Carlock Pictures.

After the release of "Cutthroat Island" last year, the current global box office is only 24 million US dollars. The production cost plus the publicity and promotion cost have caused Carlock Pictures to lose more than 100 million US dollars.

Combined with its original debts, Carlock Pictures declared bankruptcy in February.

Warner Bros. Pictures, MGM, Fox Films and others are planning to acquire Carlock, and Guess What Pictures also has this idea, and several companies are currently bidding.

Since Guess the One itself is powerful enough, the Major Seven Pictures do not want Guess the One to continue to expand. When acquiring Carlock, the Major Seven Pictures appear to be more active and determined to acquire it.

After listening to this, Link said that they could continue to raise prices and show more strength, as the company was not short of money.

Joe Fillemey said he understood.

After hanging up the phone, Link called Quentin, Robert, Richard Linklater and other directors to ask about the preparations for their new films and asked them to be more diligent and spend more time on the films.

Quentin was cursing on the phone, saying that he had written several scripts recently, but he didn't feel good about any of them. His next movie is going to be "Kill Bill".

"Kill Bill? Not bad, do you have a budget? If you need investment, you can contact Guess What Films."

Link said as he played with the signing pen.

"Are you sure you want to invest? Lawrence and I have done a preliminary budget. If we shoot according to the script, the production cost will be at least 40 million US dollars, which is a huge investment."

"It's not that much. As long as the photos are good, it doesn't matter if it costs a little more."

Link said calmly.

"I invested 12 million US dollars in my last movie, but the North American box office was only over 4 million, causing Miramax to lose tens of millions of dollars. This time I'm investing 40 to 50 million. Aren't you worried that I'll mess up this project?"

Quentin chuckled.

"It's okay, just go ahead and shoot it. It's a small project worth tens of millions. I guess the film industry doesn't lack this little money."

“.”

When Quentin heard his "big words", he was choked up by the words that came to his lips.

"Prepare the filming plan first, and bring it to us for approval after it's done. It's best to act quickly and don't put off this year's work until next year."

Without waiting for Quentin to say anything more, Link hung up the phone, got up and went to the studio to continue editing the movie "The Rock". It took him three weeks to complete the editing of the movie and handed it over to the special effects department for post-production.

(End of this chapter)