The King of Directors 2000

Chapter 644 Movie Public Opinion

The sun rises in the east and the summer wind blows slowly.

When the warm sunshine was high above the roof, a few birds sang loudly. Under the gentle eyes of his wife, Toby Emmerich drove away from home and headed to the Warner Pictures headquarters building.

It was a smooth ride until he made it to Hollywood.

At the entrance to Hollywood, a group of people were protesting against studios that paid them too little and exploited their production value.

Most of these people wear glasses, and most of them are screenwriters.

They held banners and stood there silently.

Hollywood screenwriters have always been restless and would come out to protest from time to time. I don’t know whether they really feel oppressed or just want to take advantage of the opportunity to be lazy.

Emmerich saw it and smiled disdainfully.

Even if these screenwriters keep protesting, in the end they are not doing their jobs honestly.

Nowadays, Hollywood harvests talents from all over the world. They just write scripts and do not need the level of Nobel Prize masterpieces.

And it quickly attracted the attention of many people, including many crazy clown fans, who quickly left messages.

Even though it was broad daylight, Emmerich couldn't help but shudder.

After Emmerich entered the office despite the curious eyes of his colleagues and changed his clothes, the security guard came over to report the situation.

The security guard quickly glanced at Emmerich and said, "Yes, sir, I'll go right away. I will definitely give you a satisfactory result."

He thought for a while, then put on the clothes that had been hit by eggs again, and messed up his hair to make himself look more embarrassed, and then took several selfies in succession.

Emmerich glanced at the security guard coldly, "Remember my car. If you see my car in the future, follow it immediately. I don't want it to happen again."

The sneaker yelled and threw eggs.

"Emmerich get out of Hollywood."

"You damn businessman, put away your hypocritical feelings. You just want to squeeze the commercial value of the clown."

Soon after, he listened to the car and felt better. He then left the car and headed towards the elevator in the underground parking lot.

An egg was thrown on his hand. The eggshell cracked and the egg liquid flowed out. It was sticky and very fishy.

"Da da da!"

After the security guard left, Emmerich contacted a lawyer and asked him to sue the student named Finch.

These Hollywood screenwriters are actually not valuable, and the top executives of the six major film companies will not care about them.

Emmerich was a senior executive in the company and could not sympathize with these screenwriters. Then he stepped on the accelerator and left these screenwriters behind at a faster speed.

Noting that the person who was attacked was Emmerich, a company executive, the security guard hurriedly explained: "We have been very careful. This should be an accident. I can guarantee that it will not happen again."

The clown's exaggerated smile looked even more weird under the dazzling sunlight, as if he was hiding an ulterior secret.

Another security guard stopped to reassure Emmerich.

"Warner doesn't want to make 'Joker'."

"Bitch, don't touch the clown. He is my idol. If you dare to promote this project again, I will not spare you."

He usually likes to eat fried eggs, but at this time he hates eggs the most.

He chose the most disgusting photo and posted it on his Facebook and Twitter with the text, "I was attacked by a crazy clown fan. I swear, all extreme clown fans will regret it. They... Resist me sometimes, but we’re going to make a great Joker movie.”

The car arrived under the Warner Studios building. Emmerich saw a group of people holding banners. Different from the screenwriters he had just met, this group of people was younger and more radical. They shouted loudly and shouted loudly in the distance. Wherever you go, you can hear their accusations.

"I hate you businessmen the most. You deserve your punishment and your evil deeds will be punished."

At this time, the security guard in the parking lot hurried over. When the attacker saw this, he turned around and ran away.

There is a break room in his office with several sets of clothes that he can change into.

"Remember, this time it's eggs, next time I'll throw shit at you."

Suddenly there was a rush of footsteps, and someone suddenly appeared from behind a pillar. This person was wearing a clown mask. He was wearing a large windbreaker. Then he took out several eggs from the windbreaker and threw them one by one at Ai. On Muric.

"Sir, are you okay?"

Two security guards chased the attacker.

Emmerich hurriedly protected his head.

Emmerich was silent for a moment when he heard this, and then slowly said: "Save the video of him attacking me, and then make him admit the fact of attacking me."

"Sir, we caught that person. He is a student at Los Angeles Institute of Technology. His name is Finch. He is twenty-one years old and comes from Texas. His parents are ordinary farmers. How should we deal with it?"

"Damn, how do you let outsiders into the company parking lot?"

"Stay away from the holy clowns, you disgusting businessmen."

He understood what Emmerich meant, which was to sue the college student.

This college student will definitely be banned from approaching Emmerich in the future, and may even face extremely high compensation.

The tweet went out quickly.

Emmerich couldn't help but turn around and observe, and found that some people were wearing clown masks.

As soon as he finished speaking, he left the underground parking lot.

"No Lee, no Phoenix, no this disgusting project."

"Believe me, this is definitely not the last time. Maybe a hundred rotten eggs will drop on you tomorrow."

Emmerich was slightly stunned when he saw such a message.

In order to maintain popularity by following the black-red route, he took the initiative to arrange for people to badmouth the clown.

A Chinese director was invited, Phoenix was unreliable, completely different from the comic version, etc.

All kinds of bad news have indeed attracted the attention of many viewers.

A lot of people thought "Joker" was going to be a bad movie.

Under such circumstances, those extreme Joker fans began to attack the "Joker" crew.

Emmerich realized at this time that although the Joker is a villain, due to the outstanding performance of the previous actors, this character has a very powerful charm and has attracted many fans.

Maybe in the DC universe, the Joker has more fans than many superheroes.

His previous behavior has undoubtedly offended Joker fans, and he will inevitably encounter more obstruction before the movie is released.

"Oh, what a headache."

Emmerich shook his head helplessly when he thought of this.

At this moment, the secretary knocked on the door and walked in, "Sir, the president has held an emergency meeting."

Jeff Robinoff has decided to leave Warner Pictures, and he doesn’t know what kind of meeting he will hold at this time.

Emmerich was upset and had to change into clean clothes, and then hurried to the conference room. He soon saw Robinov, as well as some of his colleagues.

"Toby, I heard that you were hit with rotten eggs?"

"Toby, good luck to you."

"Man, I look forward to your strong counterattack. I can introduce my lawyer to you, and I can get you at least one hundred thousand dollars in compensation."

Emmerich dealt with it one by one.

Soon after, the meeting was officially held. Robinov sat at the front, with a big screen behind him.

He was wearing a suit, his hair was combed meticulously, and he looked very formal, but his eyes were very tired, and you could clearly see the helplessness and frustration in his eyes.

His speaking voice was also weak.

"Guys, a very bad thing happened. The New York Times will publish a news article tomorrow, which lists the five movies with the worst losses in the first half of the year. Unfortunately, we will be the most prominent in this news. people."

He then clicked the mouse and saw a news article appear on the big screen.

This news item counts the five Hollywood movies with the worst financial losses in the first half of 2014.

They are "The Expendables 3", "Sin City 2", "300: Rise of an Empire", "Hercules: Battle for Thracia", and "Edge of Tomorrow".

"The Expendables 3" is a movie invested by Lionsgate Pictures, costing US$ million. The North American box office is only US$ million, which is not as good as the mainland box office. However, the mainland box office is higher, but the share is less. The global box office of this movie is US$ million. , if it can reach the hands of the producer, it will not exceed million. This movie will definitely lose money.

"Sin City 2" is a movie from Dimensions Pictures. It is a comic book adaptation, and it can also be said to be a superhero movie. It has an investment of million, but the North American box office is only million, and the overseas box office is negligible. The global box office No more than million.

It can be said that it’s my grandma’s fault.

"300: Rise of an Empire" is a movie invested by Warner Pictures, with a cost of million, a North American box office of million, and a global box office of million. Needless to say, it lost at least million.

"Hercules: The Thracian War" is a Paramount movie, with a cost of 1.6 billion, a North American box office of 71 million, and a global box office of 210 million. I even lost money.

"Edge of Tomorrow" is a Warner Pictures movie with a cost of 178 million. It invited Tom Cruise. It is an absolute science fiction blockbuster. The North American box office is only 100 million and the global box office is 360 million.

Because the overseas box office is larger and the split is smaller, the producer will not receive more than 110 million US dollars.

Warner must have lost 60 to 70 million.

In the first half of 2014, the five movies that suffered the most losses were two from Warner Bros., one from Paramount, one from Lionsgate, and one from Dimensions.

The six major Hollywood studios include Warner and Paramount, with Warner being the largest.

No wonder Robinov felt like he was about to die. When this news came out, he became the laughing stock of Hollywood.

Robinov smiled bitterly and said: "Everyone has seen that our performance in the first half of the year was very poor. We can only hope that we can make up for it in the second half of the year. I called everyone over, mainly for two things. The first is to unify the caliber. At this time we There can be no contradictory voices and we must be united.

Secondly, all new movies will be questioned and ridiculed by the outside world. I hope everyone can be strong and have enough confidence. "

Robinov paused, then said: “Especially Toby, I saw your tweet.

In fact, there were a lot of "Joker" tweets on Twitter, and there was also a real-name vote in which more than 10,000 people opposed our filming of "Joker" with their real names.

Toby, please remember that the company will always support you.

But you have to work hard. If you fail, the company and you will be under tremendous pressure. "

When Toby Emmerich heard this, he nodded with a stiff expression.

He was a little confused. What did Robinov mean by specifically naming him at this time?

The two of them have a good relationship.

Hearing this, other executives looked at Emmerich with half-smiling smiles.

"Toby, how much did you invest in your new movie?"

"It's not a lot. The budget is $70 million."

In fact, the cost of the movie is indeed not high. The actors' salaries are average, there are no big scenes, and there is no need for complicated computer special effects. The highest cost is Li Shengyao's salary, which is a full 20 million US dollars.

The other executives had surprised looks on their faces when they heard this.

With so much news about "Joker", I thought it would be a blockbuster like a superhero, with an investment of hundreds of millions. In comparison, 70 million is indeed not high.

If this movie can be introduced to China, given Lee Sheng Yew's past performance, even if it is a loss, it will not be much of a loss.

Thinking of this, other executives looked at Emmerich with less mocking eyes.

Emmerich vaguely understood what Robinov meant, and he nodded towards Robinov.

Soon after the meeting ended, Emmerich immediately made several calls. He contacted several well-connected reporters and asked them to hype the cost of the "Joker" movie. He said that the cost of the movie was 100 million and that it was a superhero movie. Get the scale.

After a busy day, Emmerich drove home.

The community where he lives is one of the best in Los Angeles. The security here is very good, so there is no need to worry about someone throwing rotten eggs.

He returned home smoothly, but saw his wife sitting on the sofa with a worried look on her face. When she saw him, she stood up excitedly, and then threw herself into his arms.

"Honey, are you okay?"

Emmerich shook his head, "Don't worry, it's just an egg. I'm fine. There's nothing wrong with it."

"I saw some news, honey, a lot of people are against the production of "Joker", we already have enough money, you don't need this, we can withdraw."

"No, I can't quit now. I have invested a lot of energy. As long as the movie sells well, I will get very high ratings. I have a great chance to take a step forward. You have to support me."

“But with so many people resisting, can we succeed?”

"Okay, this is a story written by Lee. He is a film director and he has been successful in the past."

Emmerich was unsure.

He originally thought he could control public opinion, but now he is obviously out of control. "Joker" has attracted many extreme fans.

These fans may cause more trouble in the future.

But when it comes to his wife, he doesn't want to worry her. He wants to show a bright future.

After comforting his wife, Emmerich came to the study, turned on his computer, clicked on his Twitter, and found that more clown fans were attacking him and making all kinds of obscene remarks.

He thought for a moment and clicked mute.

But after a moment of hesitation, he lifted the ban.

Letting these clown fans scold him can actually maintain a certain level of popularity.

He then searched for the movie Joker, and soon found some news related to the cost of the movie, all of which said the cost was 100 million. Under these news, there were ridicules and abuses. They believed that the movie would definitely lose money, and Warner would definitely regret setting up this project.

Emmerich looked for a moment and saw few words of support.

He quit browsing speechlessly.

Most people look down on the clown, so he must live up to his reputation this time.

(End of this chapter)