How China Entertainment was developed

Chapter 335: Warner’s Miscalculation, Columbia’s Chaos

"Harry Potter 9200", which grossed over US$3 million at the box office in the first three days, completely shocked the upcoming movies.

In addition, Columbia Pictures has also begun to promote the release of "Spider-Man 2" on June 6.

There was [Harry Potter 3] wreaking havoc before, and [Spider-Man 2] took over later.

The only one who was a little bit stubborn and wanted to try [Eighty Days Around the World] during this period was also persuaded to leave by Zhang Nan.

Therefore, June of the 2004 North American summer vacation can be said to be completely wrapped up by [Harry Potter 3].

However, the box office results of [Harry Potter 3] dissatisfied Warner Pictures.

It’s not that [Harry Potter 3] did not do well at the box office.

The box office in North America exceeded US$9200 million in the first week, and the box office in the second week exceeded US$6300 million.

In the past two weeks alone, the cumulative North American box office of [Harry Potter 3] has exceeded 1.5 million, which is the same as the production fee.

Such results cannot be said to be bad in any case.

However, the box office performance of "Harry Potter 3" overseas, especially in European movie markets, has declined significantly.

"I miscalculated. The summer season is good, but it's just that the summer season in North America is more popular. The Christmas season is more lively in Europe, and themes like [Harry Potter] are indeed more suitable for the winter atmosphere."

David Morris, the president of Warner Pictures, is not a fool. Through some data changes and some intelligence gathering, he quickly came up with the main reason for the decline in the box office performance of "Harry Potter 3" in Europe.

"Let me inform the distribution department that [Harry Potter 4] cannot be released in the summer holiday season and will be changed back to the Christmas season." David Morris thought of "Lord of the Rings 3" which was released in the Christmas season and then broke the global box office. An example of a billion dollars, he ordered to his subordinates.

But after saying this, David Morris felt a little guilty.

Because the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy has ended, the filming of "The Lord of the Rings - The Legend of Sauron", a collaboration between New Line Cinema and Zhang Nan, is basically almost over.

This can be clearly seen from the fact that Zhang Nan, the protagonist of "The Lord of the Rings - The Legend of Sauron", has gone to the crew of Universal Pictures' "Jurassic World".

So if we calculate it according to this time.

The release time of [Lord of the Rings - Legend of Sauron] is closely related to the speed of post-production.

If the post-production process is a little faster, [The Lord of the Rings - The Legend of Sauron] will almost be released in the Christmas season at the end of this year.

If the post-production speed is slower, it is estimated that according to New Line Cinema's emphasis on the "Lord of the Rings-The Legend of Sauron" derivative film, it will be released in the Christmas period at the end of next year in accordance with the release habits of the "Lord of the Rings" series. .

The former David Morris is not worried at all, because Warner Pictures has no blockbusters to be released in the Christmas period at the end of this year.

But if it's the latter...

[Harry Potter 4] meets the first spin-off film after the end of the [Lord of the Rings] trilogy [The Lord of the Rings - The Legend of Sauron], which can also be said to be [Lord of the Rings 4].

If it were just [Lord of the Rings 4], David Morris wouldn't worry about [Harry Potter 4].

After all, the two series have already faced off twice in the summer season.

In terms of box office performance, the [Harry Potter] series is tied with the [Lord of the Rings] series.

But now—

In [Harry Potter 4], Zhang Nan's role has increased, but she is still a supporting role.

But in "The Lord of the Rings - The Legend of Sauron", Zhang Nan suddenly became the male lead.David Morris has a very complicated attitude towards Zhang Nan.

The complexity is that when I asked Zhang Nan to star in my own film, I was particularly distressed about the high salary that I would have to pay; but when I saw Zhang Nan starring in my competitor's film, I was particularly flustered.

"Go talk to New Line Cinema..."

Halfway through his words, David Morris swallowed the rest of his words.

Because his original idea was to invite New Line Cinema's president Alan Tobey to come over and discuss whether the schedule of "The Lord of the Rings - The Legend of Sauron" could be placed at the end of this year.

But considering that every time New Line Cinema president Alan Tobina saw him, he looked like an enemy who wanted to annex his company. David Morris had no choice but to face his subordinates and change his words: "Go to the parent company." We will work hard and secretly help New Line Cinema speed up the post-production of [Lord of the Rings - Legend of Sauron] so that it can be completed before the end of this year."

The subordinates understood the tortuous relationship after hearing this, nodded, and went out.

……

6 month 30 day.

[Spider-Man 2] is released.

Zhang Nan once again took a leave of absence from the "Jurassic World" crew.

But this time Zhang Nan took a longer leave, up to ten days.

Because after Zhang Nan attended the premiere of "Spider-Man 2", she had to fly back to the mainland to attend the premiere of "House of Flying Daggers".

Fortunately, in the movie "Jurassic World", Zhang Nan is named the male lead, but the actual male lead is a dinosaur. The role is really good, and it is not too important. His presence or absence on the set has little impact.

At the premiere of [Spider-Man 2].

Zhang Nan was once again entangled by Columbia President Clive Sander over the cooperation content of the [Spider-Man] spin-off film.

And this time the will was so strong that Zhang Nan was a little overwhelmed.

But Zhang Nan really didn’t want to wear a tight-fitting leather suit similar to Spider-Man and wander around in front of the big screen, so he asked Old Luke to inquire about the news.

After a while, Old Luke came back with the news he had learned.

"The news I heard is this. There was a dispute over the script creation of [Spider-Man 3]. The producer in charge of [Spider-Man 3] at Columbia rejected director Sam Raimi's idea, causing Columbia to The studio's current attitude towards the Spider-Man series is very confusing.

Then there is Tobey Maguire and Columbia Pictures, which have only signed three movies in the "Spider-Man" series. "Spider-Man 2" has been released, and "Spider-Man 3" is naturally not far away, so Columbia The film industry negotiated with Tobey Maguire about the salary and treatment of "Spider-Man 4.5".

As a result, Tobey Maguire was offered a fixed salary of US$5000 million, plus a considerable share of the film's profits.

Columbia Pictures feels that Tobey Maguire’s asking price is too high, so... they want to end the [Spider-Man] series with the trilogy, and then follow New Line Cinema’s lead on [Lord of the Rings] I will cooperate with you to create a spin-off of the [Spider-Man] series. "

Old Luke summarized the information he had learned and slowly told Zhang Nan.

After Zhang Nan heard this, everyone was stunned.

"Do you think Tobey Maguire's fixed salary of US$5000 million is expensive? Then wouldn't the fixed salary of the leading actor starting at US$2.2 million be even more expensive? What is Columbia Pictures thinking?"

"Maybe, this is the brand effect!"

(End of this chapter)