Chapter 386: "Network Shock" Released

In the fourth week of the summer vacation, Guess Films' first summer movie "Net" was released. It earned $48.14 million in 2,447 theaters in its first week, ranking first in the weekly box office, $8 million more than the second place "Mission Impossible". This week, "Mission Impossible" earned $40.23 million at the box office.

The third place is "Batman Forever", with a box office of 26.08 million US dollars this week and a cumulative box office of 191 million US dollars. It will become the first movie in North America this year to have a box office of over 200 million US dollars.

Fourth place was Universal Pictures' "Dragonheart," with a first-week box office of 15.02 million U.S. dollars.

After the release of "Net", competition in the North American film market intensified. The eight major film companies began to vigorously promote their films and compete for the box office in all aspects. This also led to a sharp decline in the box office revenue of films under independent film companies and a significant reduction in their exposure in the media.

The media has once again reported that "the eight major film studios are fighting each other and small film companies are going bankrupt." The Complete Film magazine predicts that mergers in the film industry will become more serious in the next five years, and more than 80% of small film companies will go bankrupt.

Influenced by these remarks, Guess Pictures has been criticized and accused a lot, and some people believe that Guess Pictures should not be so strong in the film market and should not release so many films.

Guess What Pictures ignored such remarks and continued to promote the movie, using various methods to increase the popularity of "The Internet".

Thanks to the efforts of the publicity and promotion departments, "The Internet" has become more popular and its box office growth is also very good. It has a chance to become the third movie in the summer vacation to break the 100 million box office.

“Damn it!”

In the Miramax Films office, Harvey Weinstein angrily threw a document to the ground. The information in the folder scattered like snowflakes and swayed to the ground. The information recorded the box office performance of Miramax Films' new movies this week.

After Miramax Films was acquired by Disney, with the support of its parent company, Miramax Films began to increase its film production starting from 1994. At the end of last year and the beginning of this year, the production department completed the production of 12 films. Among independent film companies, its output is second only to Guess What? Pictures.

If these 12 movies sell well, Miramax Films will be able to take advantage of the opportunity to rise and gain a foothold in Hollywood, and the Weinstein brothers will also be able to earn a lot of producer shares.

However, of the six films released by the company this year, except for the two films at the beginning of the year which had decent box office performance, "Snatch" currently has a box office of more than 18 million and "From Dusk Till Dawn" has a box office of more than 23 million, the other films have all failed.

The romantic film "Jane Eyre" released in March only had a box office of 5.6 million, and the New Zealand film "Drunk" only had a box office of 14,000.

"A Funeral", which was released in April, only grossed over 3.3 million in six weeks. In addition, two other films he was very optimistic about, "Beauty of Love" and "The Last Airbender", had mediocre box office performance and lackluster reputation after their release.

Guess What Pictures released seven films in the first half of the year. Although the first three films did not perform well at the box office, starting with "Trainspotting", each Guess What Pictures film has been better than the last.

"Hachiko: A Dog's Story" has grossed over 70 million in North America and over 150 million dollars worldwide; "Dangerous Game" has grossed over 80 million dollars in North America and is expected to be no less than 90 million. "Net," which was released this week, sold over 40 million dollars in its first week and has steadily exceeded 100 million dollars at the North American box office.

The combined North American box office of all the films released by Miramax in the first half of the year is not as good as either "Hachiko: A Dog's Story" or "Dangerous Game".

This feeling of frustration made Harvey extremely angry. He walked back and forth in the office with his hands behind his back, picked up the phone and called Ovitz, Langmeyer and Barry Diller, inviting the three of them to a secret meeting at the weekend, saying that he was ready to take real action against Link and hoped that they could help.

"Almost a month has passed, and you still haven't found a chance to take action against Link?"

Michael Ovitz asked in amazement.

"Mike, this is a matter for all of us, and of course it's up to us to decide together."

"No, no, Harvey, this is not my business. You should know that I am just the co-president of Disney Studios, a hired manager. Even if Disney goes bankrupt and turns into a pile of garbage, it has nothing to do with me. I don't have much to lose. Why should I risk going to jail to do such a thing?" Ovitz said.

Harvey frowned and said, "You promised last time and swore an oath in front of the statue."

"No, I just listened to you and swore you to secrecy. I never said you wanted to join forces with you to deal with Link. I won't do that. It won't do me any good at all."

Ovitz denied it.

Harvey gnashed his teeth in anger, and the fat on his face wrinkled with oil. "Michael, last time we said that for the sake of the tribe, we must eliminate Link and destroy Guess What? Pictures. How can you say that it is not good for us?"

"I never said that. I'm not a racist, and I don't have such extreme ideas. You'd better not look for me. In addition, I advise you to give up doing this. Disney plans to establish a deeper cooperative relationship with Guess What Pictures, and Link has also agreed to direct Disney's sci-fi blockbuster "Collision Impossible."

In the future, we will have a partnership with Link. Without him, it will be of no benefit to us. Think about it carefully. Finally, I will say one more thing. This matter has nothing to do with me. Don’t call me about this matter in the future. "

Beep~Ovitz hung up the phone.

"Fuck!"

Harvey had a gloomy face and cursed loudly. He took a deep breath and picked up the phone again to call Lang Meier and Barry Diller. He originally thought that Ovitz was not a racist, so he would not participate in the action against Link.

Unexpectedly, Ronmeyer, like Barry Diller, said that they were only company managers, and even if Universal Pictures and Fox Films went bankrupt, it had nothing to do with them. Their term of office was only three or four years, and they would not take risks for the film company's affairs. They also advised him not to be too extreme, not to do illegal things, and to take it slow in dealing with Guess What Pictures.

Harvey hung up the phone angrily. He was deceived by the three men. They did not oppose his proposal at the party before. They were just perfunctory to him and treated him as a tool to kill Link. They did not take any responsibility afterwards.

When they heard that he asked for help, the three of them quickly changed their tune and said they would not get involved.

If he had immediately hired someone to kill Link after the last party, the three of them would probably have completely shirked responsibility afterwards, or even used him as a scapegoat.

"You three damn bastards, how dare you lie to me."

Harvey picked up the ashtray on the table and smashed it hard into the corner.

"Harvey, what happened?"

Bob Weinstein pushed open the door and walked in, glancing at the smashed ashtray, the second one Harvey had smashed this year.

"fine!"

Harvey sat down and took a deep breath. He pulled out a cigar and cut off the top with a cigar tongs. "I received news that Michael Ovitz wants to kill Link. Do you think we should participate?"

"Kill Link?"

Bob showed a shocked expression and shook his head. "This kind of thing is too risky. It's better not to participate. But if they really kill Link, it will be very beneficial to us." Bob suddenly became excited. "Are Ovitz and his men really going to kill Link?"

Harvey narrowed his eyes and said, "Whether it is true or not, I will make it happen. They want to cooperate with Link, but I won't let them do so."

(End of this chapter)