Chapter 87

While Duke was relaxing on vacation, Nancy Josephson frequently contacted the senior executives of many companies such as Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century Fox to promote the progress of new film projects, the success of "Break into Death Island" and its future performance. The share of revenue received gave her infinite motivation.

Although he is far away in New Zealand, Duke will communicate with Nancy every few days, and officially named the sci-fi script that closely revolves around July 4 as "Independence Day"!

"The project is tentatively named "Independence Day". The Independence Day holiday will be the most suitable premiere date for the film."

In the face of many senior Warner Bros. seniors, Nancy Josephson is more confident and stronger than before. She held the conference table with both hands and said in an oppressive tone, "Time is already very tight. If Warner Bros. After reviewing and approving the project, Director Rosenberg will choose other companies as partners. You must know Twentieth Century Fox..."

The meeting room is full of Nancy's endless voices. According to her description, "Independence Day" is simply the most sought-after project in Hollywood.

The Warner Bros. executives are not stupid, and the information is well-informed. It is clear that 20th Century Fox has indeed contacted Nancy and Duke, and is still in the initial review stage. There is no clear plan for the project; Walter Disney has also contacted Nancy Josephson some time ago, but the content of the conversation is unknown.

However, Jeff Robinoff and others are very sure that any company will carefully investigate whether it is a cooperative investment or public financing on a project whose production cost may reach 100 million US dollars.

"Nancy, this is an investment of 100 million dollars."

When the female agent's voice fell slightly, Jeff Robinoff, who represented Warner, said, "If the cost of the announcement is included, the total investment is likely to be more than 130 million US dollars. These Warners need enough time to investigate and review. !"

"Jeff, let's not talk about the surroundings of the film." Nancy Josephson's words are still strong. "On the box office alone, "Life and Death" has only a production cost of 15 million US dollars, but Duke used it in exchange for a total of 3 The box office of 50.74 million U.S. dollars! Although the cost of "Break into Death Island" has risen to 50 million U.S. dollars, don't forget that the North American box office of the film is now 144.88 million U.S. dollars! The overseas box office also exceeds 130 million U.S. dollars. The final box office can even hit 400 million US dollars!"

"Let's watch "Independence Day" again!" Her words are like a cascade, "I admit that the quality of the script is average, and it is definitely a collection of all the vulgar elements in the summer file, but you can't deny that mainstream audiences like to watch these! Moreover, Duke has also proved that he has the ability to turn ordinary scripts into big-selling movies. Isn't he the best at the explosion scenes in "Independence Day"?"

If it's a new director, Jeff Robinoff will definitely throw this script into the script library and stop looking at it, but the problem is that Duke Rosenberg is already on a similar film of this type. Successfully succeeded twice, who dares to say that he cannot succeed the third time?

He didn't want to be the fools of 20th Century Fox, pushing out the possible achievements.

In fact, Warner Bros. is still hesitating and has not yet started a formal review process. The main reason is the high risk that is inevitably brought about by high production costs.

As a senior agent, Nancy Josephson naturally understands Warner Bros.'s concerns.

"I have a suggestion!" She spoke suddenly, "Since Warner believes that investment and risks are too high, why not seek cooperation from outside? I understand that even after the preliminary review, financing and pre-sales will take time. If the 20th century How about Fox joining in? Even, we can get other film companies to invest together!"

Cooperation between large companies is the norm, and this is also one of the most conventional ways to avoid investment risks.

After the negotiation, Nancy left Burbank and headed to the Fox Tower in Century City. Although Warner Bros. did not make a clear statement, she believes that as the box office numbers of "Death Island" continue to increase, the project will progress. Getting smoother!

Throughout the June period, the North American film market was basically dominated by "Jurassic Park", such as "Breakdown", "Night Interview with Vampires" and "Courage to Death Island", which have been quite gratifying at the box office. All have to stand back.

Eight weeks after its release, the North American box office of "Break in Death Island" finally broke the 150 million U.S. dollar mark, slowly reaching the 152.24 million U.S. dollar figure, and the number of movie theaters has fallen to the point. 500 stores, and the single-library box office in a single week has fallen below US$1,500. Although it has not broken the threshold of forced downgrade of theaters, the potential is basically consumed.

"Interview with the Vampire", which was released at the same time, had a miserable fate than "Brave to Death Island". The North American box office of the film has reached 97.78 million US dollars, which is about to exceed the 100 million US dollar mark. The price of 500 US dollars has long exceeded the psychological bottom line of the theaters' 1,000 US dollars. If it weren't for caa's public relations efforts, the film would be forced down a few days ago.

Even so, in the few remaining screening time and theaters, the more than 2 million US dollars required to break through the 100 million mark is simply impossible to complete normally.

However, there is always someone who will push the North American box office of "Interview with the Vampire" over 100 million US dollars. This is not only a difference of several million dollars. For Hollywood, the box office of the movie starring and produced is tens of millions or billions. As a measurement, it is completely two concepts, and the lower part of the film may also enjoy a huge difference in treatment.

"The $2.3 million is not enough, Pat!"

In the mansion in Beverly Hills, Tom Cruise is showing his agent the ultimate hair dryer, "If the film just exceeds 100 million dollars at the end, everyone knows that we are fraudulent, I want this number to increase to 4 million dollars. !"

"Tom, your salary for this film is only 15 million U.S. dollars." Pat Kingsley was very calm. "Taxes and necessary expenses are deducted, plus the $3 million invested in the first week. "Vampire" invested $7 million at the box office? This means that your income on this film may be negative, and your work in the last year has been useless!"

"Money can be earned again, but I want my film to have a North American box office of over 100 million!" Tom Cruise shouted hoarsely.

Nicole Kidman, who has never had a say, sits quietly in the corner of the reception room. Only she knows how arrogant Tom Cruise is. Recently the two have quarreled several times. Sleeping in a split room, every time she sees a husband who is arrogant and does not know how to constrain, she feels that she had made a wrong decision to marry him.

He is short-sighted and narrow-minded. If there is no one around him to raise a point, he will always do something mindless, simply...

And what about Cruise's opponent Duke Rosenberg? Although she did not have in-depth contacts, according to observations and some words of Naomi Watts, she faintly felt that this was a deep-minded and independent person, as can be seen from the black incident between him and Cruise. As long as the opponent seized the opportunity, he would never let it go. After the opportunity passed, he took the initiative to retreat, like a harmless poisonous snake.

Psychologically mature, well-founded...

Thinking of this, Nicole Kidman suddenly felt that, apart from being more famous and richer, Tom Cruise seemed to be inferior to the young director in other respects.

Money and fame can accumulate over time. The only thing young Duke Rosenberg does not lack is time?

Time can always change too much. In the ninth week of "Interview with the Vampire", the box office suddenly surged. The box office accumulation of less than 100,000 US dollars a day suddenly rose to about 600,000 US dollars. Although the data can deceive the public, The supporters of Mr. Cruise were cheered, but couldn't hide it from the theaters. After this weekend passed, "Interview with the Vampire" was forced down by the North American Theater League, and the North American box office stopped at $13.26 million.

Duke also ended his vacation and returned to Los Angeles. Under the coordination of Nancy, he met with the senior officials of Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century Fox. The "Independence Day" project has made initial progress.

At the same time, the North American screening of "Brave to Death Island" also came to the end. It only lasted ten days longer than "Interview with the Vampire". After the Independence Day holiday, it was also due to the box office of the single library for several consecutive days. Poor performance, completely exhausted potential, and was forced out of the theater.

In the end, the North American box office of "Break in Death Island" was fixed at US$157.52 million. Duke successfully broke the North American box office record created by "Life and Death", and the film's overseas box office performed well. Now the global box office is stable. Moving towards the US$300 million mark, according to the predictions of several professional organizations, the global box office will eventually inevitably exceed "Speed ​​of Life". .

After two consecutive films sold well, Duke was also noticed by many media and production companies, and even swallowed MGM from United States. He also tried Nancy and wanted to invite Duke to direct the latest episode of 007.

If it were before "Life and Death", Duke would definitely follow, but now he did not hesitate to push it away. Few directors who have opened up the situation in Hollywood will direct the "007" series, and the film has a huge reputation and box office. Big sales, for directors like Duke, it can only be considered icing on the cake at best. After all, few people will credit the director for their work, and will only consider the power of the series.

If it fails... a movie with such a broad fan base will fail. It is almost a self-destructive business.

Besides, Duke has already made a plan for himself!

After the release of "Break into Death Island", the work of the film in North America has also entered the final stage. When the theaters divide the film into the accounts of the distributor, Warner Bros., the new spoils-sharing conference will also be held. The curtain opens.