Chapter 453: Overseas box office results released, regrets
"God willing, Titanic doesn't become a big hit."
Harvey made a new wish.
Unfortunately, God couldn't help him. "Titanic" earned $72.09 million in 2,711 theaters in its second week. The box office performance and attendance were even better than the first week, which many movies could not do.
At the same time, "Titanic" was also released in more than 50 countries and regions overseas, and the distributor was Guess Pictures.
In its first week, it earned $255 million in Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Australia, Japan, China and other places, setting a record for the first-week box office of North American films in overseas regions.
"$255 million in the first week? More than the domestic box office?"
“Guess the movie industry is going to make a lot of money.”
"I really envy Link, that bastard has never failed in his movie investments."
"Haha, the people at Fox Films must be regretting this. They could have made a lot of money back by investing another $100 million, but they couldn't stick with it."
After the first week box office results of "Titanic" were released, it caused a huge sensation in Hollywood.
In 1995, Guess What Pictures invested $100 million to buy the overseas distribution rights of "Titanic".
At first, many people were not optimistic about this deal, believing that the investment in Guess Pictures would be wasted and the development of Guess Pictures would suffer a severe blow.
But now, The Big Ship has grossed 255 million U.S. dollars in just one week of release in overseas regions. Guess what, it took the film studio a week to recoup its investment, and the rest was all profit.
Based on the film's overseas reputation and box office growth, Total Cinema magazine estimates that Titanic's overseas box office will be no less than $1 billion.
If this is true, guess what, the film industry will earn more than 10 times the profit for a $100 million investment.
This deal is such a steal.
"Damn! How did this movie make so much money?"
In the office of Fox Film President, Barry Diller angrily threw down the newspaper and his face turned very sour.
As an investor in "Titanic", before the film was released, he hoped that the film would be a hit and would not cause the company to suffer losses.
After the opening weekend box office of Big Ship came in, he breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that Big Ship would recoup its costs and that he did not need to be criticized by the board of directors for the matter.
In its second week, Big Ship's box office rose instead of falling, earning $124 million.
Judging from this data, Big Ship has great box office potential. There is a great chance that the North American box office will exceed $400 million or even more, and Fox Film will also make a lot of money.
Barry Diller was very happy about this and he couldn't stop smiling when accepting congratulations from his friends.
But he didn't have long to be happy because the overseas box office results of "Titanic" were released.
The film grossed $255 million in its first week overseas.
This result is too exaggerated, better than the box office performance in the United States. Guess what, the film studio may become the biggest winner of the "Titanic" project.
After receiving the news, Barry Diller was filled with remorse and infinite regret.
When investing in "Titanic", he and the management of Fox Film Corporation saw the huge losses of the ocean-themed films "Cutthroat Island" and "Waterworld", and lost confidence in the "Titanic" project, so they decided to reduce investment in the film.
They originally wanted to use this method to force director Cameron to modify the script and save costs.
But director Cameron was also a stubborn person. He firmly disagreed and even approached Guess Pictures for investment.
Guess Pictures also took this opportunity to intervene in the film project.
If Fox Film had not interrupted its investment in the big ship and sold the overseas distribution rights to Guess What Pictures for $100 million.
After the release of "Titanic", Fox Film Corporation will be able to make huge profits in the global film market with this movie, and even become the most profitable film company in Hollywood.
As the CEO of Fox Film Corporation and the leader of the "Titanic" project, he has also received countless praises and envious eyes.
But because he sold the overseas copyright of "Titanic" to Guess Pictures at a low price, Guess Pictures got a big bargain and made more than $1 billion.
Now his peers regard him as a fool, a sucker, a CEO with no vision and very stingy, and a negative example among film company management.
Link, on the other hand, was seen as a discerning film investor, an enviable guy.
“Damn it!”
Barry Diller waved his fist angrily. He was very regretful at this moment. He regretted not continuing to invest in "Titanic" and letting Guess Pictures get a big bargain.
If he could go back to two years ago, he would definitely try his best to convince the board of directors to continue investing in the "Titanic" project, and no matter how much money James Cameron spent on the movie, he would continue to support him in filming.
He would never give Link a chance to get involved in this project.
Unfortunately, time cannot be turned back, and he cannot recover the company's losses and the loss of his personal reputation.
Ding-a-ling~
The red landline on the table rang. Barry Diller took a deep breath and picked up the phone. The voice of Murdoch, chairman of Fox Film's parent company, came from the receiver.
Murdoch asked him if there was any chance of getting back the overseas film rights to Titanic?
Barry Diller said no, after the filming of "Titanic" was completed, the movie master tape was divided into two copies, which were given to Fox Film and Guess Films respectively. It is said that the version given to Guess Films was edited by Link himself, and there were slight differences between it and the American version, so they could not use the master tape to control the film.
Murdoch asked whether there was any problem with the contract signed by both parties and whether it was possible to regain the copyright by exploiting loopholes in the contract?
Barry Diller said no.
When signing the cooperation contract, Guess the Film Company was very careful and arranged more than a dozen professional lawyers to draft the contract. They also added many supplementary clauses to the contract to prevent loopholes in the contract.
They also cannot use the contract to reclaim the film rights.
Murdoch didn't say anything after hearing this. He just nodded and hung up the phone.
Barry Diller knew Murdoch was angry.
He could understand that, too.
If the overseas rights to "Titanic" had not been sold to Link at a low price, Fox Films could have made more than $1 billion, and Murdoch himself and shareholders could have made a lot of money.
But now this money has been taken away by Guess What Pictures.
No one can help but get angry when encountering such a thing.
Ding-a-ling!
The phone on the table rang again. This time it was Ron Mayer calling. Ron Mayer's question was similar to Murdoch's. He asked if there was any way for them to take back the overseas distribution rights of Big Ship.
Barry Diller said no, firstly, there were no loopholes in the contract signed by both parties;
Second, Guess What Pictures is also a big company with no shortage of money or people. They will not succeed if they want to bully others by taking advantage of their power.
“What a pity!”
Ron Mayer sighed regretfully, saying it was a pity that Fox Films could not get back the overseas rights.
After Longmeyer, several more acquaintances called and asked the same question, hoping that Fox Film could take back the overseas screening rights of "Titanic" and not let Guess Pictures make money.
After hearing that the film could not be taken back, everyone felt sorry for him. Fox Film spent more than four years and worked hard to make a good movie, but after the film was released, Guess What Pictures became the biggest winner. This was too outrageous.
Barry Diller put down the phone with a gloomy face. Originally, he only had some regrets about the huge sales of "Titanic" overseas, but after hearing everyone's sighs, the regret in his heart turned into anger.
If Guess Pictures had not intervened when "Titanic" was short of money, Fox Film would definitely have continued to invest, and in the end all the box office revenue of the movie would belong to Fox Film, and all the honors would belong to him.
Now, due to the intervention of Guess What Pictures, he and his company not only lost a lot of money, but also became a laughing stock in the circle.
He will not easily settle this account with Guess Pictures. As long as there is a chance in the future, he will definitely take revenge.
——
"Titanic" was released in the United States for three weeks and has accumulated a total box office revenue of 169 million US dollars, with a good box office growth trend.
However, box office growth in overseas regions was even better.
The Big Ship was released overseas for two weeks and has earned a total of US$513 million in 76 countries and regions.
As the film is released in more overseas regions, the box office growth will be even greater in the coming months.
At the same time, "Saving Private Ryan", which was released in November, also achieved great success in the global film market.
The film was released in North America for nine weeks and has grossed a total of $284 million. It has also grossed $635 million worldwide and is expected to gross over $1 billion worldwide.
"Titanic" and "Saving Private Ryan" performed very strongly at the box office, almost dividing up all the box office markets in North America and overseas.
As the distribution company of big ships and big soldiers, Guess Pictures has once again become the object of envy and hatred of countless peers.
When the senior executives of the seven major film studios talked about Guess What Pictures, they were all envious and gnashed their teeth. They wished they could destroy this company as soon as possible and take over all the box office revenue of Guess What Pictures.
After the two Guess What movies sold well, the shareholders of Guess What Pictures called Link one after another, praising his good leadership and keen investment vision, saying that he was an excellent business manager and a very trustworthy partner. The shareholders used almost all the words they used to praise people to describe him.
The media also expressed admiration for Guess Pictures' performance this year.
Link remained calm about this and was not carried away by the flattery.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
