Scheming

Monday, April 13.

With the close attention of countless people, the three-day box office data for the past weekend was officially released.

"Butterfly Effect" withstood a one-sided bad media review, still a strong harvest of 14.31 million US dollars in the first weekend three days, won the North American box office championship position without any suspense.

With the popular blessing of "Lola Run", many people had expected that "Butterfly Effect" would not be too bad at the box office of the first weekend, but under the bombardment of the media, the film's box office of 14.31 million US dollars in the first weekend of three days remained unchanged. People are eye-catching.

With a little comparison, it is not difficult to see how amazing this box office figure is.

During the same period, Michael Fox's new work "The Road to Development", whether it is marketing offensive or the scale of the film, is clearly ahead of the "Butterfly Effect". Although the media evaluation is not high, it is far better than the "Butterfly Effect".

However, the three-day box office of "Road to Development" was only $7.76 million in the first weekend, which is only half of the "Butterfly Effect".

After "Road to Development", although the box office decline expanded again under the influence of the two new films, the box office of "Run Lola", which was released into the ninth week, still reached 7.19 million in the three days weekend, and the cumulative box office officially exceeded 150 million US dollars.

Looking at the unstoppable crazy data of this phenomenon-level 'event movie', many people instantly understood why the box office of "Butterfly Effect" doubled the second place in the first weekend.

A "Lola Run", from the plot to the props, from the dialogue to the camera, countless details are tirelessly instilling the concept of the "butterfly effect" into the audience, even the director Simon Westeros in the original NBC "Late Night Show" "I personally admitted that the purpose of his filming "Lola Run" is to comment and pave the way for "Butterfly Effect".

"Lola Run" achieved an unexpected and great success. Tens of millions of viewers who have watched this film are naturally more curious about "Butterfly Effect". Therefore, the box office of "Butterfly Effect" in the first weekend is obviously still a shrinking data after the strong negative reviews.

But even so, according to the box office trend of the first weekend for three days, Fox still only needs one week to recover all the production costs. The question now is how the subsequent box office curve of "Butterfly Effect" will go.

You know, the box office of 14.31 million US dollars in the first weekend, in this era, is definitely a North American box office seed film of over 100 million.

If this goal can be achieved, Fox, whose performance has been sluggish for several years, will finally be able to obtain another North American movie with a box office of over 100 million. However, under the current media reputation, if the subsequent box office trend drops sharply and you want to exceed 100 million US dollars, there is naturally no possibility.

As a result, Fox Pictures President Ronald Goldberg, who was originally worried that the "Butterfly Effect" would lose out at the box office under the strong negative reviews, saw the box office data for the first weekend three days, not only did not relax, but even more troubled.

The other side.

In the new week, the news of the breakup of talented Hollywood director Simon Westero and the daughter of Australian mining tycoon Janet Johnston has also been quickly posted on important media pages.

Although Simon's public relations manager Pat Kingsley made a statement immediately, stating that the two were separated for a while because of some emotional confusion, but the media apparently dismissed such 'official rhetoric'.

In just a few days, various speculations flooded the news.

"According to insider sources, Simon Westero and Janet Johnston broke up because of the uneven distribution of the benefits of "Lola Run". Rough statistics, "Lola Run" is expected to bring $110 million to the producer. Janet Johnston's net income, 61.5% of which is exclusive, is approximately US$67 million, which is far more than Simon Westero's share."

"Simon Westero moved out of the Palisades mansion on Monday morning."

"It is rumored that Simon Westero will transfer the proceeds of "Lola Run" to Westeros, or start a lawsuit with his ex-girlfriend."

"Janet Johnston was unaffected by the breakup and met with a well-known art dealer in Los Angeles."

"Westero's unnamed new film is officially approved. Daenerys Pictures President Amy Pascal declined to comment on the breakup incident."

"Sister and Brother Love lovers, Simon Westero is dating "Blade Runner" heroine Sean Young, the two are nine years apart."

"John Travolta confirmed to join Westeros' new film."

"Janet Johnston had lunch with Catherine Bigelow, and the two women had a close relationship. It broke the rumor that Catherine's involvement had caused the relationship to change."

"..."

"..."

Compared to those Hollywood couples who make news in two days, Simon and Janet were too low-key before.

Therefore, when the rumors of the two breaking up were confirmed, it may also involve hundreds of millions of dollars in disputes over interests, and the entire North American media instantly became excited. For a time, the two were again surrounded by a large number of paparazzi between the time they went in and out, and their every move would be misunderstood.

Simon anticipated this situation in advance, leaving Palisades's rather private cliff mansion to Janet, and then he himself moved to the Century Building next to Fox Studios.

The Century Building in Century City is two 28-storey high-end apartments standing side by side. It is closed management. Many celebrities including Michael Douglas live here, so it can also isolate the media from harassment.

The paparazzi in Los Angeles may not be as crazy as the legendary London, but they are definitely the most numerous. Looking forward to Simon and Janet's "lawsuit battle", for a whole week afterwards, the two of them looked very lively.

Simon has an almost indifferent attitude towards paparazzi, and the work of media response and image maintenance has been safely handed over to Pat Kingsley. Therefore, regardless of the number of paparazzi around him, this incident did not cause him any trouble.

In comparison, the sudden separation from Janet made Simon's life a little messy.

For more than half a year, perhaps since the first time he helped Simon rent a villa in the Montana area, Janet has taken over Simon's daily life without knowing it. A woman would help him take care of the appliances and furniture as large as the residence, as small as Simon's towel and toothbrush.

Now, suddenly returning to singleness, Simon found that his life ability had deteriorated a lot.

Scheming.

It must be intentional.

When Simon called Janet to ask what brand of coffee he had been accustomed to for more than half a year, he 'questioned' by the way, and the woman confessed very proudly, looking like a little witch who succeeded in the conspiracy.

Except for these small details, Simon's work has not been affected at all.

The downtown area of ​​Santa Monica is near the 4th Street not far from the beach, where Daenerys Pictures' new headquarters is located.

Compared with the original three simple offices, the company completely rented a two-story white building at this time. Everyone's office, screening room, audition room and even the film post-production studio are all available.

The schedule of "Reaper Is Coming" is set for October 23, and the company is currently making every effort to promote casting work.

As a teenage horror film, "Reaper is Coming" does not have high requirements for roles. In order to save budget, Simon does not intend to use young actors who are too famous. In addition, there are many characters in the film. So, these days, Daenerys Pictures headquarters is definitely full of handsome men and beautiful girls.

Right now is the penultimate round of auditions.

Although Simon prefers to make his own decision in the last round, he still participates in the casting process as much as possible to prevent Fox from doubting whether his payment is worth the price.

"Thank you for coming over today, Miss Clark. We will notify you of the audition results as soon as possible."

Audition room.

Another tall girl with short blond hair finished the performance. The casting director Linda Vargas, whom Simon had worked with in "Run Lola" last time, formulaically sent the other party away, and was about to call the next one. The company hired Susan Landis, who was already the secretary of Simon's office at this time, pushed the door in, and said something softly in Simon's ear.

"I'm going over."

After hearing this, Simon nodded and greeted Wes Craven and Ron Macmillan, and got up and left the audition room.

Wes Craven and others all know that Simon's mind is more on his own "Pulp Fiction", and in recent days he has also been looking for a role for this movie, so he was not surprised by Simon's temporary departure.

Simon left the audition room, and the outside lounge extended to the corridor. At this time, more than a dozen beautiful girls with absolutely first-class figures were waiting.

Seeing Simon's appearance, all the girls' eyes lit up instantly, and they stood up and greeted enthusiastically like'Simon' and'Mr. Westeros', and the girls dared to come over and secretly stuff the note into Simon's pocket. in.

The girls obviously knew that Simon had just entered a single state recently, and this audition was even directed at Simon.

If you can catch such a boyfriend, even if you don't say that the other party can bring help to your acting career, it's just that Simon Westero's current wealth is already the golden turtle son-in-law that many girls dream of.

You know, Steven Spielberg, Hollywood's hottest director, has actually accumulated more than $200 million in net worth over the years. Simon Westero made more than 40 million US dollars in just one movie of "Lola Run".

Multi-millionaires under the age of 20 are very rare in the world.

Simon just smiled and walked through the crowd in silence. If he doesn't enjoy the feeling of being chased by a group of beautiful women, it is fake. However, Simon didn't feel that he had broken up with Janet at all. As a human being in two lives, he does not lack the disposition to resist this simple temptation.

Throwing a few cards in his pocket into the trash can in the corridor, Simon went outside his office, waiting for a man and a woman in the secretary room to get up at the same time.

"Mr. Lieberman, Miss Ryan, hello," Simon smiled and shook hands with the two of them separately, and said: "Come with me."

With that said, he ordered Susan to make coffee, and Simon pushed the door into his office. Turning to the reception area, the three sat down together, and Simon looked at the girl across the sofa seriously.

Meg Ryan.

One of the most famous American sweethearts, the original heroine of "When Harry Meets Sally".

Now Meg Ryan is just an unknown actress who has starred in several movies, and the most famous role is just a small role as a pilot's wife in "High Aspirations" last year.

Simon originally thought that Meg Ryan's image in "High Aspirations" was probably the result of offending the makeup artist. But at this time, seeing the real person, he couldn't help being more disappointed.