Chapter 460 Annual Box Office Ranking
After arranging the tasks, Link brought the crew to the small town of Seaside, Florida for filming.
The reason for choosing the small town of Seaside in Florida to shoot is that the environment here is similar to the Seaview City described in "The Truman Show".
In The Truman Show, the protagonist lives in a huge studio built by a TV station. All the buildings are carefully designed, like a utopian city.
The town of Seaside was established in 1980 and is a resort community famous for its new urbanism design style.
There are more than 300 houses of the same style in the community. You can walk to the post office, art gallery, antique shop, fashion store, bookstore and restaurant from any location, and every street leads to the sea.
The town's unique seaside scenery and architectural style perfectly match the film's setting of "man-made utopia".
This place has also become the most suitable location in the world for filming "The Truman Show".
The starring cast of this film is almost the same as the original, including Jim Carrey, Jennifer Aniston, Noah Emmerich, Ed Harris and others, and the production cost is 60 million US dollars.
"Scene 1, shot 2, start!"
"Good morning!"
Truman, played by Jim Carrey, stood at the door and greeted his neighbors with a smile on his face.
"Good morning!"
The neighbor couple and the little girl also waved at him.
"Oh, maybe we won't see each other later, so I'd like to wish you a good afternoon and good evening."
“Cut!”
As soon as the first shot featuring Jim Carrey started, Link called a pause because Jim Carrey's performance did not meet the requirements.
In recent years, Jim Carrey has become a world-famous comedy star with films such as "Ace Ventura", "The Mask", "Dumb and Dumber", and "Batman Forever". When performing, he likes to use exaggerated expressions and body movements to make the audience laugh.
This kind of performance can be used in other movies, but it is not suitable for "The Truman Show".
The Truman Show is an art film. Under the guise of a comedy, the core of the story is tragic, very depressing and terrifying.
Too exaggerated performances can easily distract the audience and make them regard it as a vulgar, shallow and nonsensical movie like "Ace Ventura: Pet Detective".
This kind of thing needs to be avoided when shooting.
He asked Jim Carrey to use less exaggerated expressions and actions, and that the performance could be interesting but not ridiculous. He also prohibited crew members from discussing the nonsensical movies that Jim Carrey had starred in in the past to prevent them from confusing "The Truman Show" with other movies.
"Jim, Truman appears optimistic and cheerful on the surface, but he is actually depressed and repressed. This is similar to your personality. You don't need to suppress your inner emotions or try to please the audience during filming. You just need to show your truest side, and you can play this role perfectly."
Link said.
Jim Carrey frowned and thought for a moment, "We are now shooting the opening story, do we have to act depressed here too?"
"Yes, Truman lost his father when he was young. Everyone around him is an actor. His wife, mother, and friends are all insincere to him. He lives in a world of lies and falsehood. There is no one he can confide in. People who live in such an environment are usually very lonely and depressed. This loneliness and depression are the basic color of his character and accompany him from beginning to end, so you need to try your best to show it when acting."
"Okay, I understand."
Jim Carrey nodded.
After a short break, the crew continued filming.
Truman went to work in the morning and greeted his neighbors. When he was about to get in the car, a lamp fell from the sky. He picked it up carefully. This was one of the origins of his doubts about his living environment.
Later, he saw his dead father reappear on the street. This suspicion reached its peak, and Truman began to overcome his inner fear and prepared to escape from Seaview City by boat.
“Cut!”
“This one’s passed.”
After shooting the first set of shots, the crew took a short break and continued shooting the next one.
While Link was filming in the small town of Seaside, The Hollywood Reporter announced the 1997 North American box office rankings and the total box office revenue of Hollywood film companies.
According to the newspaper's statistics, a total of 344 films were released in the North American film market last year, 8 more than in 1996. Although the increase was not large, the total box office revenue was $400 million more than last year, reaching $6.03 billion.
Among them, 13 films had a North American box office of more than 100 million U.S. dollars, 3 fewer than last year, and 38 films had a North American box office of 50 million U.S. dollars, 4 more than last year.
Last year, the North American box office champion was "Titanic". As of the end of February, the North American box office had reached $415 million and the global box office had reached $1.34 billion, setting a new world box office record.
The runner-up was the war film "Saving Private Ryan" directed by Link. As of the end of February, it had grossed $403 million in North America and $917 million worldwide.
The third place is the action movie "The Rock" directed by Link, with a North American box office of 262 million US dollars and a global box office of 625 million US dollars.
Fourth place is the science fiction comedy "Men in Black" released by Columbia Pictures, with a North American box office of 247 million US dollars.
Fifth place: "Jurassic Park 2" released by Universal Pictures, with a North American box office of 213 million US dollars.
The sixth place is the disaster film "Twister" released by Warner Bros. Pictures, with a North American box office of 192 million US dollars.
No. 7: "Liar Liar", a comedy film released by Guess What Pictures, which grossed 183 million U.S. dollars in North America.
No. 8: "Primal Fear", a thriller released by Guess What Pictures, which grossed $174 million in North America.
Ninth place is the action movie "Air Force One" released by Columbia Pictures, with a North American box office of 168 million US dollars.
Tenth place: "Star Wars 4: A New Hope" directed by George Lucas, with a North American box office of 132 million US dollars.
Eleventh place is the comedy film "My Best Friend's Wedding" released by Guess What Pictures, with $127 million.
The twelfth place is the action movie "Face/Off" produced by Paramount Pictures, with a North American box office of 102 million US dollars.
Thirteenth place is the comedy film "Tarzan" released by Disney Pictures, with a North American box office of 100.9 million US dollars.
Although there are fewer movies that have grossed over $100 million in North America this year than last year, there are as many as five movies that have grossed over $200 million, a record high.
This data shows that the box office appeal of high-level commercial films is increasing, the head concentration characteristics of the film industry are becoming more and more prominent, and competition in the entire film industry is becoming fierce.
The Hollywood Reporter also calculated the total box office revenue of the eight major Hollywood film studios.
Guess What Pictures is still the number one in the North American film industry.
The total box office revenue in North America was 1.65 billion U.S. dollars, and the global box office revenue, including "Titanic", reached 3.17 billion U.S. dollars. It was also the first time in the history of world cinema that a film company's annual total box office exceeded 3 billion U.S. dollars.
The newspaper predicted that the total box office revenue of the global film market last year was approximately US$13.5 billion, and Guess What Pictures alone accounted for an astonishing 22% of the total revenue.
In addition, last year Guess What Pictures also collaborated with other film companies to shoot films, including "L.A. Confidential" and "12 Monkeys" with Columbia Pictures, and "Austin Powers" and "Crazy Alien" with New Line Cinema.
The combined North American box office of these four films was approximately $287 million, of which Guess What Pictures received approximately 30% of the box office share.
Including this part of the box office revenue, Guess the Movies had higher box office revenue last year.
In second place is 20th Century Fox.
Last year, Fox Film Corporation released a total of 16 films, including "Titanic" and "Star Wars 4".
The total North American box office was $1.041 billion, and the global box office was $1.525 billion.
Columbia Pictures, which ranked third, released 13 films last year, including "Men in Black," "Air Force One," "Anaconda," "L.A. Confidential," etc., with a total box office revenue of $736 million in North America.
The fourth to eighth places are Disney Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, Universal Pictures, Paramount Pictures, and MGM Pictures. The total North American box office revenue of these five film companies was only 2.07 billion US dollars, only 400 million more than Guess What Pictures.
In terms of global box office revenue, the gap between the Big Seven and Guess What Pictures is even greater.
After the release of the 1997 box office rankings, the film industry has ushered in a new wave of envy and jealousy of the film industry.
At the same time, the acquisition of MGM by Guess What Pictures was also exposed by the media.
According to the Los Angeles Times, after more than a month of negotiations, the two companies reached an agreement, with Guess What Pictures investing $4.2 billion to acquire all of MGM's properties and huge debts.
If the acquisition is completed, although Guess Pictures will be burdened with nearly US$4 billion in foreign debt, the company's overall strength will be further enhanced, and its total assets will exceed US$10 billion, making it a new giant in the film industry.
After the news came out, people working in the film industry were talking about it.
Jay Maloney, Nobuyuki Idei, Robert Shea and others called to congratulate Link and expressed their hope for more cooperation between the two sides in the future.
Quentin Tarantino, Nicolas Cage, Bruce Willis and others called him to ask if it was true or not, and congratulated him on Guess What Pictures becoming stronger and stronger and will surely become even stronger in the future.
When the women in the family heard that Guess What Pictures was going to acquire MGM, they also seemed very proud. When he was filming, they would often come to visit him on set in groups of three or five, and help him relax in the most gentle way.
Only the management of several major Hollywood film companies looked worried after seeing the news.
"This is really not good news. Guess What Pictures is already very powerful. After integrating MGM's production studio and distribution channels, it will probably be even more powerful. In the future, there will be no rival for Guess What Pictures in the Hollywood film industry."
Warner Bros. President Miguel Goss exclaimed after reading the news.
"It's unbelievable that Guess What, a small film company that was established less than ten years ago, can now swallow up MGM. The growth rate is too fast. If they are given another ten years, there will probably only be one film company in Hollywood, Guess What."
Universal Pictures President Ron Meyer said with a worried look on his face.
"Lang, Guess What Studios is going to take over MGM Studios, don't you want to stop it?"
After receiving the news, Harvey Weinstein called Barry Diller, Michael Ovitz, Ron Meyer and others, telling them the dangers of Guess Pictures' acquisition of MGM, hoping that they could find a way to stop the merger.
But no one accepted his proposal.
"Guess the movie industry has plenty of money, and MGM is very willing to sell. No one can stop this acquisition."
Barry Diller sighed.
"You can persuade Wall Street capital to put up more money to prevent the takeover."
Harvey suggested.
"This is difficult. $4.2 billion is not a small number. It would take several investment companies to come together to raise the money. But after the acquisition, no one is confident that MGM can make a profit. The possibility of losses is very high. Investment companies will not take such risks."
Michael Ovitz said.
"Are we just going to watch Guess What Pictures successfully swallow up MGM and become a giant in the film industry, and all of us live under Link's shadow?"
Harvey yelled hysterically.
"Guess What Pictures has won the box office championship for four consecutive years and has become a giant in the film industry. Even if we prevent it from acquiring MGM Pictures, it will not change the facts."
Langmeyer said.
"That's right. We can't stop it, and we won't stop it. The situation inside MGM is very bad. The huge debt of nearly 4 billion is not easy to digest. Guess What Pictures' blind acquisition of MGM may be a wrong decision. What we should do now is to wait and see. Maybe the situation of Guess What Pictures will get worse after the acquisition of MGM. That will be our chance."
Barry Diller said.
Harvey snorted, disagreeing with the opinions of several people.
Guess What Pictures is swallowing up MGM and will become even stronger. At this time, as peers, the Big Seven studios should rush forward to stop it, but they didn't. They just pinned their hopes on unknown luck.
This approach is too negative.
“What if Guess Pictures wasn’t crushed by debt?”
"No way, Harvey, do you have any good ideas?"
"I"
The fat on Harvey's face trembled. What could a boss of a small film company do? He just wanted to urge Ovitz's teammates to work harder, but unfortunately, they were all pigs and too incompetent.
(End of this chapter)
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