Best of Hollywood

Inside Paramount's headquarters building, William Friedkin walked into Shirley Lansing's office in a hurry with a file in his hand.

"Shirley, very good news."

William Friedkin sat down on the chair, put the data in his hand on the desk, and said with a hint of excitement, "The box office statistics and audience survey just passed by the theater company."

"Ryan Gosling, did a great job, almost perfect."

Shirley Lansing was looking at a document when she suddenly heard a voice, looked up at William Friedkin, and asked, "It seems that you have brought good news."

William Friedkin didn't talk too much, and said directly: "Yesterday's premiere of "The Truman Show" was screened on more than 2,300 screens at the same time, and the single-day box office earned 9.85 million US dollars, and the word-of-mouth is not bad."

"According to the 37 comments on the media, it has obtained 95% approval rate, with an average rating of 8.44 points. In the audience survey, more than 300 audiences were asked, and more than 80% of the audience gave A- ratings... ..."

"A﹣..." Shirley Lansing frowned, there are two grades of A and A﹢, it can't be said to be too good, but it can't be said to be too bad either.

"How about audience word of mouth!" she asked.

"It's not bad." William Friedkin shrugged, made a very helpless gesture, and said, "Many young viewers who took the questionnaire thought that "The Truman Show" is not like Ryan Goss. Lin's shooting style, there are no fast shots, no thrilling plots, and no bloody and violent scenes."

"However, the vast majority of audiences affirmed Nicolas Cage's acting skills. Of course, the plot is also very novel."

Shirley-Lansing felt relieved. Although the survey score was slightly lower than expected and did not reach A, but the audience's word-of-mouth is not bad, and there should be no big drop in the box office going forward.

"How about Cutthroat Island?" Shirley Lansing asked a very critical question.

The box office of "Cut Throat Island" will definitely affect the box office of "The Truman Show", and whether it can increase the number of screens and the rate of filming in the future.

"Cutthroat Island"?

There was a strange look on William Friedkin's face, even a hint of excitement and disbelief.

For a feature film, in terms of the audience, it is inherently inferior to a pirate-type action film, but the performance of "Cutthroat Island" made him a little confused how to describe it.

"According to the data given by the theater companies, the box office of "Cut Throat Island" on the first day barely reached about 1 million US dollars, about half of which came from the first screening, and the audience's reputation was very bad. It is difficult to exceed 10 million U.S. dollars, and it has been decided to significantly reduce the number of screening screens and the film schedule."

Shirley Lansing's spirit was shaken, is it difficult for the North American box office to exceed 10 million US dollars? She couldn't help showing a happy smile, and said, "It seems that Carlock Films and MGM have encountered a lot of trouble."

For the film distributor MGM, at most, it will lose some promotional expenses and money for printing copies, and there will be no big loss.

Carlock Films was not so lucky. As a medium-sized film company, such a large-scale commercial production cannot recover the cost, and it will definitely bear high debts, and may even face bankruptcy and liquidation.

"Get someone to contact the theater company immediately and tell them that "The Truman Show" needs to be increased to at least 3,000 screens." Shirley Lansing said in a very relaxed tone.

Originally, the number of screens for "The Truman Show" was set to be at least 2,500 screens. However, facing the simultaneous release of MGM and "Cut Throat Island", the theater company could only reduce the number of screens.

Now it is time to add back the original screen, and by the way, severely suppress "Cut Throat Island".

Next, Shirley-Lansing personally contacted several large theater companies, requesting to increase the number of screens and the rate of screening of "The Truman Show".

At the same time, almost everyone in the Carlock Films office building, including the crew members of "Cutthroat Island", turned pale.

The founder of the company, Mario Casal, sat on the office chair in a daze, his eyes were full of bewilderment and bewilderment.

Carlock Films has just undergone a reorganization and has brought in a number of strategic partners, which is why it has the money to invest a huge amount of money in the production of "Cutthroat Island".

The move is the first step in Mario Casal's attempt to revive the company.

However, what made him fall into the abyss was that "Cut Throat Island" not only did not have the expected big sales, it may even become the biggest box office bomb in Hollywood history.

"What did MGM say?" Mario Casal asked in a hoarse voice after a long silence.

"MGM has decided to stop all follow-up publicity plans to avoid further losses." An employee of Carlock Films said with a blank expression.

"Okay, I see, you go out first, I need to calm down."

For MGM's approach, Mario Casal was not surprised at all, and waved his hand to let everyone out.

During the whole process, Renee-Harling didn't say a word, not even a word of self-blame.

If the box office and word-of-mouth of "Cut Throat Island" are a little better, maybe they can think of ways to "The Truman Show", such as causing some scandals or something.

But when the theater company's data was in front of them, Rainey-Halenty didn't even mention it. It was impossible for MGM to continue to invest any resources for a film that was bound to fail.

As for Carlock Films?

Declaring bankruptcy would be the best outcome.

Ryan accompanied Monica Bellucci and Helen Solomon to a public relations luncheon, and then sent Monica Bellucci to the plane before driving back to the studio in the afternoon.

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"Ryan, you should come to the studio as soon as possible, instead of attending a public relations lunch with your lover." Sofia Coppola expressed her dissatisfaction.

Ryan didn't seem to hear it, and she asked with dissatisfaction in her tone, "How is "Cut Throat Island"?"

"The famous Carlock Films is about to face bankruptcy!"

At the airport just now, he had already received a call from Paramount.

Regarding Ryan's change of subject, Sofia Coppola curled her lips and said: "Facing the box office and word-of-mouth of "Cut Throat Island", it is hard to imagine that Carlock Films has any way to bring it back to life. The probability can only be faced. Liquidation."

"However, it is said that 20th Century Fox has always had the idea of ​​acquiring Carlock Films, and now is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."

"Even if "Cutthroat Island" cannot recover the cost, Carlock Films itself still has some good assets."

Carlock Films has produced many films, such as the "First Blood" series and "Terminator 2", etc., and have achieved good results.

That's why Sophia said that Carlock Films has a lot of high-quality assets.

"Hopefully 20th Century Fox will come up with a good price." Ryan had no interest in pursuing the idea of ​​Carlock Films.

Whether it is the film library and copyright owned by Carlock Films, or the TV program production department, he has no interest.

Except, of course, the videotape distribution channels owned by Carlock Films.

Besides, there was another reason.

Merrill Lynch was doing well, and Orion shareholders agreed to sell the distribution arm, albeit at a steep price.

The Canadian film company has also made some progress. Merrill Lynch has contacted another Canadian film company. The other party has been interested in acquiring the Canadian film company. The two companies can reach some cooperation and eventually split the Canadian film company. .

Once the acquisition is successful, Ryan will obtain the Canadian film company's North American distribution channels and some video tape distribution channels, and the other party will obtain all assets including film libraries and copyrights.

It's just that the attitude of the Canadian film company is very vague, and no one is sure whether a deal can be reached in the end.