Hollywood Director 1992.

Chapter 467: Box Office Performance of the Premiere of "007"

Suck~

"What is the taste?"

As the afternoon was drawing to a close, Liu Xiaoli walked into the office and sniffed.

"Does it smell? I can't smell anything."

Link glanced at the few wads of tissues in the wastebasket, then kicked it under the desk.

"It smells strongly of curry. You've got a strong palate these days."

Liu Xiaoli said with a half-smile.

"Don't be so sarcastic. Aishwarya eats Western food now, she doesn't smell of curry at all."

“Did I mention Aishwarya? You’re just admitting it.”

Liu Xiaoli winked her pretty peach blossom eyes mischievously and playfully nudged him with her elbow, "I thought you were busy with work, but it turns out you're busy with this in the office, ptooey~".

"I only relax after I finish my work, so don't think I'm neglecting my duties."

Seeing that she was still going to make sarcastic remarks, Link put his arm around the beautiful woman's shoulder and walked out, saying, "Alright, wife, it's time to go home. Let's relax tonight."

Liu Xiaoli rolled her eyes at him, pulled the arm off his shoulder, hugged it to her chest, and walked out.
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Tomorrow Never Dies grossed $5812 million in its opening week in 2807 theaters across North America, making it the top-grossing film of the week.

Apart from Disney's sports film "He Got Game," other films released at the same time performed poorly at the box office, earning less than $500 million.

This week, "Kill Bill" grossed $373 million. After 10 weeks in theaters, the film has grossed $8275 million in North America and approximately $6519 million overseas. Compared to its $3000 million production cost, this is a pretty good result.

Quentin had extremely high expectations for the film, but when he saw that the box office had not reached 100 million after 10 weeks of release, he was deeply disappointed. He often called Link to complain that the audience was not sophisticated enough, that they liked to watch trashy movies, and that they ignored good movies like "Kill Bill".

Link chuckled to himself, knowing that Quentin was mocking his commercial films, but he didn't care.

He told Quentin that the audience has discerning eyes, and movies they don't like are like food that doesn't suit their taste. No one will force themselves to eat something they don't want to eat; that's no different from self-torture.

Besides James Bond and Kill Bill, other noteworthy films this week include four movies from Guess Movie Studios that will be released in March and April.

The first one is the fantasy comedy "The Pleasure of the Superpowers," starring Nicole Kidman and Cameron Diaz.

The film was released in early March and grossed $4015 million in North America over eight weeks. With a budget of $2800 million, it is expected to make a profit of tens of millions of dollars when including overseas box office, advertising sponsorships, and video revenue.

The second film is the romantic comedy "The One I Love," starring Jennifer Aniston and Paul Rudd.

It tells the story of the female protagonist, Nina Borowski, falling in love with a gay man.

The film had a production cost of $2100 million, and despite the presence of popular stars Jennifer Aniston and Kate Beckinsale, its box office performance was mediocre.

After six weeks in theaters, the film grossed $2830 million in North America. To break even, it will need to rely on overseas box office markets.

The third film is "I Know What You Did Last Summer," a low-budget thriller similar to last year's hit "Scream."

It tells the story of a group of young people who hit and killed a pedestrian while traveling, dumped the body, and fled the scene. A year later, they received an anonymous letter and were subsequently subjected to a vicious revenge.

The film stars Ryan Phillippe, Naomi Watts, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and others.

With a production cost of $1200 million, the film grossed $5421 million in North America in four weeks, and is projected to gross around $8000 million in North America. Including overseas box office, the film's return on investment is more than 10 times.

It was a blockbuster movie.

The fourth comedy film co-invested by Haoqing Rose Pictures is "Taxi".

The film was released in France at the end of last year, where it grossed $5500 million domestically and about $1200 million in other regions, which is 10 times the production cost.

However, due to cultural and linguistic differences, the film performed poorly at the North American box office, accumulating less than $800 million in its first three weeks.

The Rose Pictures project is expected to make a fortune, but guess what? The film production company itself will earn very little.

Overall, the eight films released by Guess the Movies before the summer season performed quite well. Although none of them grossed over $100 million at the North American box office, both "Kill Bill" and "I Know What You Did Last Summer" were close to $100 million at the box office.

"I originally thought I was famous enough and had good box office appeal, and that this movie would gross at least 5 million, but it only grossed this much." Jennifer Aniston flipped through a movie magazine, her lips curling into a slight dissatisfaction.

After the first three seasons of Friends aired, she became a household name in the United States, known as "America's Sweetheart," with a fame that surpassed even top movie stars. Wherever she went, she was greeted with cheers from the public.

Her advertisements are everywhere, on television and on the streets.

But because of her immense fame and her deeply memorable performance in Friends, she is Rachel Green in the eyes of the audience, not Jennifer Aniston.

No matter how she acts, the characters always bear the shadow of Rachel Green, making it easy to be distracted while watching her movies.

This is also one of the reasons why "The Person I Love" did not perform well at the box office.

Another reason is that the script is mediocre, there aren't many highlights, and the story isn't exciting enough. The story of a beautiful woman falling in love with a gay man is a niche one, so it's not bad that it grossed more than 2800 million yuan in six weeks.

“This role is not suitable for you. The Rachel Green you played is sweet, willful, dependent, and rather vain and arrogant. Because you played her so well, in everyone’s mind, that’s what you are like. It’s a stereotype. It’s just that you suddenly acted differently from Rachel Green in other works. Many people can’t accept this change, so they won’t go to see the movie.”

Link put his arm around the girl and said.

"Wouldn't that affect 'The Truman Show'?"

"No problem. Your character is quite similar to Rachel Green, a bit naive and vain, so the audience will be more accepting of her."

This is why Link decided to cast Aniston as the female lead. However, if the system's evaluation of the film is not high during the test screening, he will replace her with someone else. The female lead does not have many scenes in the film, so it will not be too troublesome to replace her and reshoot.

"Link, what's your next movie? Why haven't you started casting yet?"

Lisa Kudrow put down the magazine and asked.

Courteney Cox and Drew Barrymore also paid attention to this issue.

"Pirates of the Caribbean, a fantasy adventure film, the entire project began preparations as early as the beginning of last year, and the roles were also cast at that time. Several lead actors were invited to participate. The male lead is Johnny Depp, and the male supporting role was initially offered to Leonardo DiCaprio, but he is too famous now and is not available. Later, an Australian actress was chosen. The female lead is Catherine Zeta-Jones. This role requires a classic beauty. Only a special supporting role in the entire film required an audition."

"It's a real shame I didn't get the chance to participate."

Drew Barrymore said, pouting her chubby lips.

“I remember you have three films this year.”

Columbia Pictures' "The Kids' Love," Warner Bros.' "Rush Forward," and MGM's "Kiss Me"—all three are romantic comedies, and she played the leading role in each one.

"Yes, I don't lack roles, but this is your movie. No one would miss the opportunity to participate if given the chance. I learned a lot from you when we were filming Batman Forever."

Drew said with a smile.

"There's a chance. MGM sent us a script for a female-led action movie. If you're interested..."

"I'm interested!"

Before he could finish speaking, Drew excitedly raised his hand.

"You don't need to shout so loudly. You're always the loudest in bed."

Jennifer Aniston pinched Drew's chubby cheek as if to vent her frustration.

Link laughed and said, "This is an action movie with a lot of fight scenes. If you're interested, find some time to practice. Mila, Diaz, and Julie have already started training, so you can join them."

"Does this movie have four female leads?"

“Three! You team up with Diaz, while Mila and Julie have other film projects.”

The company currently has three female-led action movies: Resident Evil, Tomb Raider, and Charlie's Angels. These three film projects have great potential and can all be made into film series. Therefore, before the official filming, they all need to undergo training. If they do not perform well, Link will consider replacing them.

"I understand, I will definitely train hard."

Drew happily threw herself into his arms, seducing him with her voluptuous, fair body.

Jennifer Aniston and the other two watched Drew's performance with smiles, without interfering, until Drew loudly called for help, at which point they got up and went on stage.

(End of this chapter)