Hollywood Director 1992.

Chapter 472 Film Crew Shipwreck Accident
After accepting his advice, Depp gradually became more comfortable in his performance, losing his previous awkwardness and becoming more and more integrated with the character of Captain Jack Sparrow.

As Depp got into character, filming progressed more and more smoothly.

Only during the filming of water scenes, many actors, including Catherine Zeta-Jones, suffered from seasickness, even after taking anti-seasickness medication.

To take care of their health, the crew had to adjust the sea scenes and film them in calmer waters.

When the crew moved to a Caribbean island for filming, the North American summer movie season entered its most intense phase.

In the sixth week of the release of "Tomorrow Never Dies," the sci-fi disaster blockbuster "Godzilla," co-produced by Columbia Pictures and Guess the Movie, was released.

Godzilla is adapted from the science fiction novel published in 1948 by Japanese author Shigeru Kayama. It tells the story of a Jurassic-era dinosaur on a small island in the southern waters of Japan after World War II. Under the influence of hydrogen bomb radiation, it transforms into the incredibly destructive monster Godzilla. Godzilla invades Tokyo, causing widespread destruction, and the fate of humanity hangs in the balance.

The science fiction novel was adapted into films by a Japanese film company in 1954 and 1984.

The plot of the American Godzilla film is not much different from the previous two. It tells the story of how the French conduct nuclear tests on a Pacific island, creating Godzilla, which then invades the United States from the coastline and heads straight for the bustling Manhattan district of New York City, threatening the city with destruction. The story follows New York scientists, journalists, television cameramen, soldiers, and insurance company investigators as they unite to fight Godzilla.

The film cost $1.3 million to produce and grossed $6726 million in its opening weekend in 3310 theaters.

Weekly box office champion.

This is a pretty good result, and Columbia Pictures and Guess What Pictures have a chance to make a small profit.

This week, "Tomorrow Never Dies" earned $837 million, bringing its North American box office total to $2.05 million.

Fourth in weekly box office.

Second place went to Robert Redford's romantic comedy "The Horse Whisperer," starring Robert Redford, Kristen Scott Thomas, and Scarlett Johansson, which grossed $1851 million in its opening week.

The third-ranked film, "Deep Impact," earned $1337 million this week, bringing its North American box office total to $1.24 million.

Fifth place: Wedding Singer, $648 million, with a cumulative North American box office of $7137 million.

"I Know What You Did Last Summer" has been in theaters for 13 weeks, earning $87 this week, with a cumulative box office of $7553 million in North America, a box office return of 6:1, making it a blockbuster film.

MGM's "Dirty Doings," which was produced last year, was also released this week, grossing $451 million in 328 theaters, a mediocre box office performance.

In the seventh week of the James Bond film's release, Warner Bros. Pictures' Batman & Robin was released. The film tells the story of Batman and his sidekick Robin teaming up to fight villains such as Mr. Freeze and Poison Ivy.

The film is directed by Joel Schumacher and stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, George Clooney, Uma Thurman, Chris O'Donnell, Alicia Silverstone, and others.

The cast and crew are just as good as the previous one.

The film grossed $4291 million in 2934 theaters in its opening week, becoming the top-grossing film of the week.

However, the film cost a whopping $1.25 million, and it needs to gross over $3 million worldwide to break even.

Based on the box office data from the first week, the film is likely to lose money.

Furthermore, the film's critical reception was far worse than "Batman Forever," with many fans expressing disappointment and the media calling it the worst film in the Batman series.

After the opening week box office results were released, Miggos and Richard Fox also expressed their regret.

They originally thought the 'Batman' IP was popular and that finding another director to film it would also be successful, and they could save a lot of money from Link's salary.

Unfortunately, they underestimated Link's role in the film, leading to box office losses for the Batman sequel. More seriously, Batman & Robin damaged the series' reputation.

This loss is more serious than losing two or three hundred million dollars.

In the eighth week of the release of "007", "Rush Hour 2", produced by Guess the Movies, was released.

This story is about Hong Kong Island Police Inspector Lee and Los Angeles Police Detective James Carter who, while on vacation in Hong Kong Island, encounter a bombing at the U.S. Consulate, in which two U.S. Customs officials are killed. The two are ordered to investigate the incident, and after some investigation and several exciting fights, they work together to bring the killer to justice.

The film is directed by Brett Ratner and stars Chen Long, Chris Tucker, Li Bingbing, John Lone, Allen King, Milla Jovovich, and others.

The film grossed $9771 million in its opening week in 3118 theaters across North America, setting a new record for the highest-grossing film of the summer and also the highest-grossing film in a single week for a Chinese-starring actor.

Chen Long and Chinese Kung Fu have become unprecedentedly popular in North America.

Rush Hour 2 is a box office smash, with its North American box office expected to surpass $2 million, becoming the second MGM-produced film this year to break the $2 million mark in North America. This achievement has made Hollywood studio executives quite envious.

At the beginning of the year, after Guess Movies acquired MGM, they thought that the huge burden of MGM would slow down the development of Guess Movies and give other film companies a chance to catch up.

Unfortunately, they were disappointed.

Guess what? - While some of the films released by MGM in the first half of the year suffered losses, most of them were box office hits, including high-grossing films such as "Rush Hour 2", "Wedding Singer", "I Know What You Did Last Summer", and "Kill Bill".

Based on current box office data, there is a very high probability that MGM will retain its position as the industry's highest-grossing film.

"Mike, should we continue to pursue a collaboration with Guess the Movies?"

In the Disney president's office, after reviewing the weekly box office figures, Michael Ovitz asked Michael Eisner across from him, "Guess what? After merging with MGM, their production and distribution capabilities have increased by 200%, and their total North American box office this year will probably exceed $20 billion. If we continue to work with them, they will earn even more box office revenue and capture a larger market share. In a few years, once Guess Films has absorbed MGM's assets and liabilities, we may never have a chance to catch up with them again."

Eisner took a drag of his cigarette and slowly exhaled. "Who else can we partner with if not Guess Movies? Our investment is likely to be profitable with Guess Movies, but not necessarily with other film acquisition companies."

Ovitz sighed, feeling helpless. "If we had known it would turn out like this, we should have joined forces in '93 and '94 to completely destroy Guess Movies. We wouldn't be in this passive situation now."

“It’s all in the past, there’s no point in talking about it.” Eisner waved his hand. “Link is filming Pirates of the Caribbean in the south. You can go and see him when you have time, ask him what he needs, and talk to him about other projects.”

"All right!"

Ovitz reluctantly agreed.

This is also the predicament faced by Disney and five other film companies.

They wanted to destroy Guess Movies and Link, but they also wanted to partner with Guess Movies to make money and prevent being left behind by other film companies.

This approach has led to their inability to eliminate Guess and Link, and they are gradually becoming inseparable from them.

Ovitz sighed pessimistically and returned to his office. He called Link to say he wanted to visit the set, and his assistant, Aishwarya, said she would let Link know.

The next day he flew to Miami, then took a boat to Havana, Cuba, and from Havana took another boat to the small island in the Caribbean where the film crew was located.

However, an accident occurred during filming the night before his arrival.

While Catherine Zeta-Jones, who plays Elizabeth Vance, was rowing to the island at night, her small boat suddenly took on water and sank into the sea in less than 20 seconds. Catherine and the lighting technician on the boat also fell into the water.

Fortunately, the rescue team and Link reacted quickly. When Link saw the small boat taking on water, he took off his coat, jumped into the sea, and quickly grabbed the sinking Catherine and the lighting technician, leading them onto the speedboat.

Catherine and the lighting technician also escaped danger.

"Filming in the sea at night is very dangerous."

Ovitz looked at the surging sea and said.

“But this way of shooting saves money and the visual effect is better. Link has very strict requirements for film.”

Executive producer Mike Statham shrugged.

"Okay, that's understandable."

Ovitz continued walking forward and suddenly noticed several Cuban police officers in the film crew. "What's going on here?"

"In the past two days, the crew has experienced more than one accident. Last week, when we were filming in the Dominican Republic, the set suddenly caught fire. Although no one was injured, a lot of equipment and props were destroyed, and the crew suffered a loss of about $30."

This morning, Director Link's bodyguards apprehended two unidentified individuals outside the film set, who claimed to be entertainment reporters. Considering the suspicious circumstances surrounding the fire at the studio and the sudden leak in the small boat, we decided to call the police and simultaneously file a murder charge against the two men. The police are here to investigate this matter.

Producer Mike Statham said.

"I see. Link's been having really bad luck lately."

Ovitz grinned, feeling a little happy. Link, that bastard, used to have incredibly good luck, so good that it made people jealous. Now he's finally down on his luck, hehehe~
But when Link looked over, his face immediately fell, revealing a resentful expression.

(End of this chapter)