Hollywood Director 1992.

Chapter 366 Investing in "Titanic", Maggie Cheung and Gong Li's Hot Pot
A long-tailed pink butterfly was clinging to the French window of Link's office.

The floor-to-ceiling windows are filled with spring.

Liu Xiaoli did not allow him to use any violent tactics because she was worried that Monica and the others would find out and deduct her share of the main building's bedroom resources.

The two of them enjoyed themselves in the office for more than half an hour. Liu Xiaoli tidied her dress and stockings and left contentedly.

Link looked at her slender waist and round breasts under her professional suit, and secretly praised Liu Xiaoli for becoming more and more of a beauty.

In the domestic entertainment industry, with her figure and looks, she can beat 99.9% of female stars. Coupled with her cold and aloof temperament of a strong woman, almost no one can compare to her. Even Chen Chong, Gong Li, Chen Hong, Zhou Huimin and others will feel half a head shorter when they see her.

Thinking of Gong Li, Link called to ask about her work schedule and asked if they had time to have dinner together on Saturday.

Gong Li's new movie "Chinese Box" is about to be released, and she has been busy promoting it recently.

Gong Li was very happy when she received his call. She said that Maggie Cheung was also there and asked if he wanted to invite her along. She was hinting that Maggie Cheung was also interested in him.

Link agreed, he understood why Gong Li did this.

Because he was too strong, Gong Li was often unable to handle the situation alone. She was even injured once and stayed in the hospital for a week.

With Maggie Cheung by her side to share the workload, Gong Li can also do the job more easily.

After hanging up the phone, Link began to deal with the work at hand. At the end of the year, in addition to reviewing the work summaries of various departments, he also had to prepare for new film projects next year to facilitate the company's film budget and production plans.

The company currently has 13 tentative film projects.

The first is "The Rock", which cost $1 million to produce. Link plans to direct it himself, and his salary will be 25% of the North American box office share and 20% of the global box office share.

The second project is "Rush Hour", for which Link served as screenwriter, producer and editor, starring Chen Long, Chris Tucker, Tom Wilkinson, Michelle Reis and others, with a production cost of US$3000 million.

The film was prepared in August and has already started shooting in Los Angeles.

The third one is "Toy Story" from Pixar Animation Studios, which is based on the original studio's animated short "Tin Tin Soldier". The production cost is 3000 million U.S. dollars. Production began in July and is expected to be completed in February. It is scheduled to be released at the end of next year.

The fourth one is Jim Carrey's comedy film "Liar Liar", directed by Tom Shadyac, the original director of "Ace Ventura". The film tells the story of Fletcher, a successful lawyer who often lies and says one thing and means another in order to win a lawsuit. Because he broke his promise to his son Max's birthday party, he became a person who can only tell the truth, which triggered a series of funny events.

Renée Zellweger plays the lead actor's ex-wife, and Haley Joel Osment plays his son.

The film had a budget of $4500 million.

The remaining film projects include the female-themed film "Girl, Interrupted" starring Sofia Coppola, Winona Ryder, Angelina Jolie and others; "Smoke" directed by Wang Ying; and three horror films in preparation, including "Fight Club", "Primal Fear" and "Paranormal Activity 3".

There are also "L.A. Confidential" and "12 Monkeys" in collaboration with Columbia Pictures, and "Austin Powers" and "Crazy Jane Doe" in collaboration with New Line Cinema.

These 13 projects are currently tentatively scheduled.

However, in order to ensure the company's competitiveness in the film market, by June next year, the production department will add several film projects based on the completion of each project and the remaining funds.

Jingle Bell!
The phone on the desk rang, and his assistant Anne told him that James Cameron was online and wanted to talk to him.

Link picked up the phone and asked Director Cameron what was going on.

Director Cameron came to ask for help.

Two ocean-themed blockbusters released this year, "Waterworld" and "Cutthroat Island", all suffered losses.

The first film has only grossed $6805 million in North America and about $7200 million overseas, with an estimated loss of around $1 million.

"Cutthroat Island" only grossed more than 1300 million US dollars in two weeks after its release and is expected to suffer even greater losses.

"Titanic," directed by Cameron, is also a blockbuster film about the sea, with a production budget of $1.4 million. It has many similarities with the previous two films, which also caused the production company Fox Film to be timid when investing in this film, and it became increasingly reluctant to pay.

In addition, James Cameron was very strict with the actors and staff when filming the movie, and there were constant problems within the crew, which led to the continuous increase in the production cost of the project.

From the initial budget of 1.4 million, it was increased to 2 million US dollars, but it seems that 2 million US dollars is not enough.

After seeing this situation, Fox Film President Barry Diller publicly expressed his dissatisfaction with James Cameron and was unwilling to pay for subsequent production funds.

Without subsequent financial support, "Titanic" could not be filmed.

James Cameron had to leave the crew and return to Los Angeles to solicit investment. He made six trips back and forth and blocked Barry Diller's office door three times, but he still failed to convince the senior management of Fox Film to continue investing.

Fox Films asked him to complete the filming as soon as possible. They would rather get a half-finished product than lose a penny more.

James Cameron had no choice but to call Link for help, thinking of what Link had said before.

After learning what happened, Link did not immediately agree.

He invited Director Cameron to the company to have a chat, asking about the progress of the filming, how much funding would be needed to complete it, and guessing what the benefits of the film industry's participation in the investment would be.

By the way, I'll come and check out the relevant information about the "Titanic" crew in person.

In the afternoon, Director James Cameron came to Guess What Pictures with some information. According to Director Cameron, the filming progress of "Titanic" is currently about 40%, and there is still a lack of $1 million in funds to complete the filming.

The only condition they could offer was the overseas distribution rights of Titanic.

Guess What Pictures invested 1 million US dollars, and after the release of The Ship, it can obtain the distribution rights of the film in overseas regions, and it can get a share of the box office in overseas regions.

This condition is very attractive.

After Director Cameron left, Link instructed the board secretary, Anne, to contact several shareholders of the company to hold a meeting to discuss the feasibility of investing in "Titanic".

Producers including Daniel DeVito and James Schamus attended the meeting.

At the board meeting, representatives of shareholders including Vanguard Capital, Morgan Investments and Goldman Sachs Investments believed that investing in such films was also very risky and reserved their opinions.

Link expressed his confidence in the project and in Cameron's ability as director.

With his insistence, the board members voted unanimously to approve the investment proposal.

Guess What Pictures invested $1 million in "Titanic".

At the same time, Guess What Pictures invested US$4500 million in Lightstorm Entertainment, a special effects company owned by director Cameron, and acquired a 45% stake.

This investment also makes up for the shortcomings of Guess Pictures in special effects.

"Link, I heard that your company is going to take over the film project abandoned by Fox Film, and it's an ocean-themed movie. Is that true?"

After discussing business, Link went to Gong Li's house to eat spicy hot pot, and Maggie Cheung was also there.

Both of them wore the same style of casual long skirts in different colors. One was plump and round, and the other was slim and cute. Because they often acted, they had the aura of stars and the temperament of literary and artistic actors. Their every frown and smile, every gesture and movement had a unique flavor.

Hearing Gong Li's words, Link smiled and told the two about the filming of "Titanic". Fox Film was worried that the film would lose money and did not want to continue investing. The film's director James Cameron could not find funds, so he asked him for help.

Guess What Pictures invested $1 million and co-produced the film with Fox Film.

"Link, aren't you afraid of losing money? This year's two ocean-themed movies all lost money, and the losses were huge. The budget for Titanic was as high as 2 million, and the global box office must be to million US dollars to recover the cost. This is too difficult."

At the dinner table, Maggie Cheung, wearing a red halter dress, looked at Link across from her through the steam. She saw his handsome face, the aura of a superior, and the words Gong Li had said in private, such as baguettes and Russian sausages. She couldn't help but feel her face flushed.

Link looked at Maggie Cheung with blushing cheeks and smiled, "Don't worry, I participated in the script design of Titanic, I am familiar with this project and I have confidence. In addition, the ancients said that things will never happen again. The first two sea-themed movies lost money. According to probability calculations, the third one has a high chance of success."

Link said the second half as a joke.

"Haha, how can you say that? Investing in movies is not like anything else. The words 'once, twice, three times, and again and again' are not appropriate here."

Gong Li couldn't help laughing.

"Yes, I heard from a master in Hong Kong that this year is the year of fire, and all water-related movies will suffer losses." Maggie Cheung said with a smile.

“Can we still calculate it this way?”

Link smiled unexpectedly, "Maybe the master is right. Movies about water this year haven't done well at the box office. But Titanic won't be released until next year or the year after. Maybe it will be a good time then."

"Then I wish your movie will be a big hit and your investment will be multiplied tenfold or a hundredfold."

Gong Li smiled while holding the wine glass.

Maggie Cheung also smiled and picked up the glass to wish him a successful investment.

Link smiled and clinked glasses with the two.

When eating hotpot, the three of them not only drank beer, but also a few glasses of Moutai. The more they ate, the warmer they felt, and their minds became more and more excited.

Before all the dishes on the table were put into the hot pot, Gong Li sat in his arms with a blushing face, hooked her arms around his neck and kissed him.

Gong Li drank a few glasses of wine, and her expression and body were very relaxed, like a rose blooming freely, and every part of her body was beautiful.

Link stroked her soft waist, and the fire in his body suddenly became stronger, like a stove under the table, turning from red flames to green flames, and the scorching heat almost melted the beauty in his arms.

Maggie Cheung lowered her head to eat the hotpot, listening to the bubbling sound in the pot. The blush on her face gradually spread below her neck, her body became hotter and hotter, and her legs couldn't help but get tangled together.

Just as he was about to stand up to get the beer, he accidentally fell on Gong Li.

Maggie Cheung is 31 years old this year. Although she is older, after being influenced by dozens of literary and artistic films, she is full of the temperament of an artistic woman.

Sometimes she is as gentle as water, like the peerless singing queen in "Ruan Lingyu".

Sometimes she is charming and coquettish, transforming into Jin Xiangyu in "New Dragon Inn".

Although I don’t know how beautiful she was when she was 18, she could never be more charming than she is now.

It's not just Maggie Cheung, all women in the entertainment industry are the same. The more roles they play, the more halos they have, the heavier the filter they have, and the more attractive they are to men.

However, after meeting Link, all her filters were shattered in less than ten minutes.

In her decadence, only her animal instincts remained, making her not much different from an ordinary woman.
-
After his date with Gong Li and Maggie Cheung, Link returned to the company to continue his work, including finalizing the investment for the "Titanic" project, the promotion of the new film "Chinese Box", and continuing to promote "The Sixth Sense".

On Monday, Daniel DeVito signed a cooperation agreement on behalf of Guess What Pictures with the producer of "Titanic", 20th Century Fox, officially finalizing the cooperation.

After the two parties signed a cooperation agreement, the news was also reported by media outlets such as The Hollywood Reporter and the Los Angeles Times, claiming that Guess Pictures invested $1 million to accept the unpopular shipwreck-themed film project "Titanic."

A stone stirred up a thousand waves.

This attracted many media outlets to reprint and report the story, causing a lot of discussion.

Many colleagues do not understand why Guess Pictures invested in this project.

At the end of November, there were rumors in the circle that because "Cutthroat Island" had poor box office performance, Fox Films planned to abandon the movie "Titanic" with the same theme.

It is said that after Director Cameron returned to Los Angeles from the crew, he approached several film companies for investment.

Just hearing that the movie was based on a shipwreck in the North Atlantic in 1912, many film company executives expressed their lack of interest before Director Cameron even finished speaking.

After the box office failures of "Waterworld" and "Cutthroat Island", Hollywood film studio producers are very sensitive to words like "water", "sea", "lake" and "big ship", and avoid such scripts.

Not to mention that the Titanic project has many similarities with Waterworld and Cutthroat Island, with higher costs and a greater chance of losing money.

Hollywood film companies are even less likely to invest.

However, Guess What Pictures ignored the concern and spent $1 million to take over the film.

This is too bold.

"What is Link doing? Isn't he afraid of losing money by investing in this kind of movie?"

In the office of the president of Universal Pictures, Ron Meyer frowned as he looked at the Los Angeles Times spread out on the table. On the Times was a photo of Daniel DeVito and Fox Film producer Jon Landau signing a cooperation agreement on behalf of the two companies.

“This guy is too confident, maybe he thinks the movie will be profitable.”

Michael Ovitz said, smoking a cigar.

“Will this movie be profitable?”

Harvey Weinstein asked, frowning at the interview in the movie.

"Impossible! 'Waterworld' and 'Cutthroat Island' didn't make money. How can this movie make money?"

Mario Casal said angrily.

"But so far, no movie invested by Link has ever suffered a loss."

Ovitz sighed quietly.

"This one is different. The production cost is as high as 2 million US dollars. It will only be profitable if the global box office exceeds 5 million US dollars. It is very difficult."

Harvey said.

Several people nodded, acknowledging this.

Hollywood releases more than 5 films every year, but in the past five years, only eight films have grossed more than $8 million worldwide, an average of less than two per year.

The probability of this movie grossing more than 5 million worldwide is slim.

There is a high probability that Guess Film's investment will go down the drain.

Ovitz thought that next year Guess Pictures would invest another 1 million to shoot "The Rock", and the investment in the two films would reach 2 million.

If both films lose money at the same time, the development of Guess What Pictures will definitely be greatly affected, and Link's prestige in the Guess What board of directors will be greatly reduced.

Guess the movie studio might go bankrupt because of this.

“Haha, that’s good news.”

Ovitz slapped his thigh excitedly.

"Yes, it would be great if Guess Pictures went bankrupt because of this. As long as Guess Pictures is still around, none of us will make any money."

Harvey squinted at Link on TV.

Mario Casal nodded in agreement. He looked up at Langmeyer, Michael Ovitz and others and once again made a request in the name of his fellow tribesmen, hoping that they would help Carlock Pictures overcome the difficulties.

Harvey spread his hands and said, "Mario, it's not that I don't want to help you, but I'm powerless. Miramax Films currently has a financial deficit of over 100 million. If the situation doesn't improve, Miramax will go bankrupt in two years."

Ovitz also apologized, saying that he had just joined Disney and did not have much real power, so he was unable to help even if he wanted to.

Longmeyer told Mario Casar bluntly that Carlock Pictures was in debt of more than $4 million, a figure so large that no one in Hollywood could help it revive unless it found investment from Wall Street.

hey~
Mario Casal hung his head helplessly.

Link's talk show continued on TV.

(End of this chapter)