Hollywood Director 1992.

Chapter 365: Beauty's Tenderness, Harvey's Anger

In its third week of release, "The Sixth Sense" earned $2883 million in 5219 theaters in North America, with a cumulative box office of $2.1 million.

Although the box office fell by 30% this week, it also became the first film in North American film history to gross more than 5000 million US dollars for three consecutive weeks.

It is also the fastest movie in history to cross the $2 million mark.

The record is 19 days.

Jurassic Park took 23 days to complete.

The runner-up at the box office was the adventure film "Jumanji" starring Robin Williams, Kirsten Dunst and others.

The first week box office was $1824 million.

In third place was Warner Bros.' "Heat," which grossed $1107 million in its first week.

Fourth place was "Paris," starring Harry Fortson, with $769 million in its first week.

Due to the large number of blockbuster movies released this week and the overly strong performance of "The Sixth Sense" at the box office, the first-week box office of movies such as "Jumanji" and "Heat" were all lower than expected, resulting in a lot of mourning.

However, the worst movie of the week was undoubtedly Cutthroat Island.

The quality of this movie is average. After being suppressed by "The Sixth Sense" in the first week, it was then suppressed by eight other high-quality movies such as "Jumanji". This week it only earned 224 million US dollars, ranking 8th.

The cumulative box office is 1341 million US dollars.

Media forecasts for the film's North American box office have dropped to $2000 million.

Compared with the production cost of 1.5 million and the publicity cost of more than 1000 million, the film's loss is expected to be no less than 1 million US dollars.

The Los Angeles Times pointed out in its latest report that Carrock Pictures has performed mediocrely in the past two years and currently has a fiscal deficit of up to $3.8 million. Cutthroat Island is regarded as a lifeline by Carrock Pictures.

If the film only grosses $2000 million in North America, Carlock's financial deficit will reach $5 million.

Compared with its market value of US$3.6 million, Carlock Pictures has too high a debt ratio and is on the verge of bankruptcy.

When analyzing the reasons, the Los Angeles Times pointed out that Carrock Pictures' current predicament is the result of vicious competition between the Big Seven Pictures and Guess What Pictures. As long as the Big Seven Pictures and Guess What Pictures continue to compete, not only will Carrock Pictures be in trouble, but most of the Hollywood independent film companies will die and the Big Seven Pictures will also be in danger of bankruptcy.

The New York Times, The Washington Post and other media outlets have also analyzed the current situation of the American film industry from a neutral perspective, and are pessimistic about the prospects for independent films, saying that the North American film industry may return to the situation more than 50 years ago, when eight major film companies coexisted and monopolized the North American film market.

Several mainstream media outlets openly criticized the Big Seven and Guess What Pictures for excessively competing for box office revenue. The criticism of Guess What Pictures was more obvious, as they almost pointed at its logo and scolded it for being an industry troublemaker.

"Look at Link, there are a lot of people who are jealous of us making money again."

In the office, Liu Xiaoli pointed to several reports in the newspaper. She was wearing a women's professional suit with a thin sweater underneath. When she bent down, she looked like a drooping willow branch, revealing her white and smooth skin.

Because they often slept together, Link knew how smooth her skin was without touching it. He knew whether the shape under her clothes looked like twin grapefruits or a melon, and whether the melon tasted sweet with a hint of saltiness, or sweet first and then salty, without seeing the whole thing.

Snapped!
Liu Xiaoli slapped him with a red cheek, and pointed at the newspaper with her slender white index finger, "Rascal! I told you to read the newspaper, not anything else."

"It's better to read you than to read the newspaper."

"Let's talk about serious matters, no nonsense."

Liu Xiaoli grabbed his big hands that were messing with his buttocks, pressed his shoulders and asked him to read the newspaper first.

"All right!"

Link looked at the comments in the newspaper, but only read two representative articles and then put them aside.

The two reports were similar to what the Los Angeles Times wrote. They used the rumor that Carlock Pictures was on the verge of bankruptcy to throw dirty water on Guess What Pictures and once again put forward the "Guess What Pictures threat theory", saying that Guess What Pictures was about to dominate Hollywood and that the independent film industry was about to meet its doomsday.

Link didn't care about this argument.

This is America, where monopoly is prevalent. Every industry hopes to maximize profits through monopoly in the end, and the same is true for the film industry.

There were eight major film studios in Hollywood in the 1920s and 1930s, including the bankrupt RKO Pictures and the acquired United Artists Pictures.

A few years later, MGM went bankrupt, leaving only six major film studios. Then 21st Century Fox was acquired by Disney, and Columbia Pictures was merged into Sony Entertainment.

With the rise of the Internet, the market for the big movie industry is gradually shrinking, and the seven major film studios may eventually become one.

Faced with a fiercely competitive environment, Guess What Pictures must remain vigilant and highly competitive in order to continue to survive.

If you slack off even a little, your colleagues will eat you up as food.

Carlock Films is the best example.

The company was founded in 1988 and has produced films with good box office performance, such as "Terminator 2", "Clarks of the Mountain", "Total Recall" and "Basic Instinct".

At one point it became the eighth largest film company in Hollywood.

It was only after the rise of Guess What Pictures that things started to go wrong for Carlock Pictures.

Since 93, a number of films have been losing money and the fiscal deficit has increased year by year.

In 94, MGM and Columbia Pictures launched an acquisition attempt for Carlock Pictures, but the offer was rejected by Mario Casal.

President Casal places his hopes on turning around the company on "Cutthroat Island". As long as the movie sells well, there will be a chance for revival.

Unfortunately, putting all your eggs in one basket often does not produce good results.

In its first week of release, "The Sixth Sense" performed very well. In its second week, it encountered the Christmas box office battle. "Cutthroat Island" became cannon fodder, and Carlock Pictures also suffered a fatal blow.

There was also last year's Castle Rock Pictures, and the future MGM Pictures. The reason these companies went bankrupt was never because of the box office performance of a movie, but because they were heavily in debt and unable to recover. In addition, the seven major film studios were eyeing them covetously and gave them a push at the critical moment. Their final outcome could only be bankruptcy.

If the Guess Film industry's debt exceeds 30 billion and faces a bankruptcy crisis, the seven major film studios will not hesitate to stab it in the back and then divide the meat.

Faced with this environment, Guess What Pictures has no choice but to move forward courageously.

"What do you think? Do these reports mean that the seven major studios are planning to join forces to deal with us again?"

Liu Xiaoli gently squeezed his shoulders.

"Whether it's true or not, don't worry. Didn't Jin Yong write about it in his novels? No matter how strong he is, the breeze will blow over the hills. As long as there are no problems with the internal management of the film industry and every movie is shot and released according to the plan, the seven major film companies will not be able to defeat us even if they join forces."

Link said as he held her soft fingers.

"But we can't be too arrogant and underestimate the enemy. Underestimating the enemy will easily lead to a surprise attack and defeat."

"Got it. I'll let everyone pay attention."

Link put his arm around her slender waist and said with a smile, "Enough of the small talk, can we get down to business now?"

"What serious business? You are making trouble again."

Liu Xiaoli gave him a coquettish look, sat in his arms reluctantly, and pressed her big butt against his thigh as if in a fit of anger.

Link smiled gently, hugged the woman and kissed her snow-white and smooth cheek. The woman was 171 cm tall and had a plump figure, the type of big watermelon on a grape vine. Her measurements were getting better and better, getting closer and closer to European and American women. However, she did not feel heavy in his arms, but rather like a cotton ball.

"We are planning to travel at the end of the year. Is there any place you want to go?"

"No, I'll follow your arrangements, but I'm going to take Xixi back to China to celebrate the Spring Festival in February. I haven't celebrated the Spring Festival in my hometown for three years, so I should go back to see my parents."

Liu Xiaoli leaned in his arms, her palms touching his strong and broad chest through his shirt.

"It would be nice to go back for the New Year. I'll arrange a plane to take you and Xixi back, and bring some gifts back for your uncle and aunt."

"No, there's no need to go through so much trouble."

"We are a family, how can you say it's troublesome? You must be punished."

Link kissed the rosy lips of the woman in his arms. Just as he was about to kiss her from top to bottom, from the outside to the inside, the phone on the table rang at an inopportune time.

"Haha, is Link busy?"

Harvey Weinstein greeted enthusiastically on the phone. "Yes, there's some important work going on. What's up?"

Link hugged Liu Xiaoli and asked her to wait a moment, as the call wouldn't delay her for too long. Liu Xiaoli rolled her eyes at him and slid her palm down from his firm abdominal muscles.

"Haha, okay, I'll make it short."

Harvey Weinstein asked him what he thought of the three scripts and which one he was going to invest in?
The last time they made love at Cindy Crawford's house, he and Harvey talked about cooperation. Afterwards, Harvey sent someone to deliver the information of three projects, "Wings of Desire", "Police Empire" and "Crazy for You", including scripts and project shooting plans.

After Link looked at them, he didn't like any of them.

He asked Harvey if he had any film projects with higher production costs, preferably more than $6000 million, as film projects with less than $2000 million would not have a high return on investment.

"More than $6000 million?"

When Harvey heard his words, the corners of his eyes twitched violently. Miramax Films is a medium-sized film company. There are two types of films released by it: one is self-invested production, and the other is acquired from other companies for distribution.

Since the company has limited funds, the cost of its self-invested films is mostly less than 3000 million.

Low investment also means low risk.

Now Link asks him if any of his films have cost more than $6000 million at the box office.

It's tantamount to scolding him for being poor and unable to make a big movie.

Harvey calmed down and forced a smile. "Haha, Link, these three projects are not bad. Although the cost is not high, the script design is very good. Do you have any idea of investing?"

"The investment is too small, the return will not be too high, and the company has no plans to invest."

Link leaned back to make it easier for Liu Xiaoli to take action.

He asked about Harvey's choice again.

Previously, Guess What Pictures also gave three film projects to Harvey, including "The Rock", "Fight Club" and "Girl, Interrupted".

The first project had a budget of $1 million, the second had a budget of $4000 million, and the third had a budget of $1800 million.

"Fight Club is great, Link, will you direct this movie?"

Harvey asked.

"Not sure. If I have time, I will direct it myself. If I don't have time, I will ask someone else to do it. I will be the producer and editor. But I suggest you invest in The Rock. It is a commercial film and has a greater chance of being a hit."

“No, no, I’m not investing in The Rock.”

Harvey hurriedly refused. After talking with Ovitz, although he didn't know his plans, he could guess that there was something wrong with the movie.

It would be foolish to jump into a fire pit knowing it is a fire pit.

In order to prevent Link from hearing anything, Harvey quickly explained that the budget of "The Rock" was too large and Miramax did not have that much money to invest, and he hoped to have the opportunity to participate in the investment of "Fight Club".

"Okay, Fight Club is fine too. The remaining 25% of the investment share is yours."

After talking to Ovitz, Link called Anne and said he needed to rest for a while and asked her not to call him for the time being. Anne said she understood.

Link put down the phone and started to act wildly with the beauty in his arms.
-
"Humph!"

In the office of Miramax Films president, Harvey Weinstein dropped the phone with a dissatisfied look on his face.

Link's attitude just now was perfunctory, and he seemed not to want to cooperate with Miramax. He was not serious during the conversation, and there was a woman's panting sound next to him.

It's so disrespectful to do that while talking on the phone.

When Miramax's movies were selling well, who in the industry dared not respect me? Who dared to be half-hearted when calling me? Now that Miramax has declined, Link and his people have no respect for me. It's really unreasonable.

Harvey Weinstein was breathing heavily, his belly was inflated like a balloon, and the buttons of his shirt were almost bursting.

"Brother, which movie did Link choose to invest in?"

Bob Weinstein asked, putting down his Motorola phone.

"He didn't want to invest in our film, saying that the cost of the film was too low and the returns were not great, so it was not worth investing in."

Harvey said sullenly.

"All three scripts are not worth investing in? And neither is 'Police Empire'?"

Bob was very surprised. Among the three projects, "Police Empire" had the largest cost budget of 3500 million US dollars. The film was jointly produced by Miramax Films and Disney's film department. The tentative director was James Mangold. The main actors included Sylvester Stallone, Robert De Niro, Harvey Keitel, etc. These actors had both acting skills and box office appeal.

This project has great investment potential, and they thought Link would choose this script, but it turned out that Link didn't like it.

Harvey shook his head, feeling both dissatisfaction with Link and some worry.

After the films under Guess What Pictures continued to sell well, Link's vision in selecting films has also been recognized by the public. More than 90% of the scripts he chooses will sell well, and the remaining 10% will not lose money even if the box office is lower than expected.

Now, after looking at three script projects from Miramax Films, Link is not interested in any of them.

Does this mean that these three script projects have poor potential, are not worth investing in, and will lose money if made into movies?

Harvey took out the information of the three projects and looked at them carefully. These three projects were all selected by him personally and had great market potential. He was originally very confident in these three projects, but after communicating with Link, his confidence was quickly lost.

"Brother, Link has a good eye. This is a fact recognized by people in the industry. He thinks these three projects are not good. Maybe there are really problems with these three projects. Should we choose a few new scripts?"

Bob asked.

"Why change? Do you think my eye for choosing scripts is not as good as Link's?"

Harvey asked unhappily.

Bob spread his hands and said nothing, but everything he said came true. In the past few years, although Harvey selected hit movies such as "Sex, Lies, and Videotape", "Cinema Paradiso", and "Pulp Fiction", there were also many loss-making movies, dozens of them. This also led to a significant increase in Miramax Films' debt ratio in the past two years.

This also shows that Harvey is much worse than Link in film selection.

Harvey knew this, but he was upset that even his brother Bob looked down on him. "Continue to shoot as planned. I don't believe his vision is always so good. Don't forget that his investments in "The Uncanny" and "At All Costs" also suffered losses."

"But the probability of Link being wrong is lower. If he is right this time, and these three movies have poor box office after their release, the situation of our company will become even worse."

Bob persuaded.

Harvey's expression changed and became even uglier. "Then what can we do? Are we not going to shoot the film just because Link is not optimistic? And what Link said is that the film will not make much profit at the box office, not that the film will lose money."

"Okay, it's up to you."

Harvey was clearly more professional when it came to filmmaking, and Bob wasn't going to argue with him.

"and many more!"

As Bob was about to leave, Harvey took a puff of cigarette and said with a suppressed displeasure, "Let the production department discuss it and choose one of the three scripts to shoot. Review the remaining two and find a way to reduce the budget or get investment from other film companies to reduce the risk."

"Okay, I'll make arrangements right away."

Bob pulled up his belt which had slipped down, and left the office shaking his big fat butt.

Harvey was smoking a cigarette and suddenly kicked the desk hard, cursing "Damn Link".

When he was making movies in the past, he was full of confidence and believed that every movie he decided on would be a big hit. No matter how others tried to persuade him, he would not listen. It was because of this intuition and persistence that he bet on many hit movies in a row in the past few years.

After meeting Link, his confidence was quietly taken away, and he became anxious and nervous after finalizing a movie project. It was a terrible feeling.

And all this was because of that damn bastard Link.

When Harvey thought about himself being anxious and worried here while Link was probably messing around in the office at this time, he felt an uncontrollable anger in his heart.

(End of this chapter)