hollywood melon man

Chapter 230 Big Ship Premiere

Although the outside world is pessimistic about the release prospects of this long-delayed major project, the premiere of "Titanic" was still very grand.

Reporters from hundreds of media outlets gathered here, and Fox TV and CBS broadcast the entire red carpet ceremony live.

Little Gilbert mobilized his network and invited many people he knew well in the industry to attend the premiere.

Tom Hanks and his wife, Tom Cruise and his wife just passed by, Naomi Watts and Cameron Diaz, plus Jennifer Connelly, formed a trio of sisters who appeared on the red carpet superior.

Charlize Theron and Keanu Reeves were brought over by Gilbert Jr., and "The Matrix" and "Titanic" were linked together.

Not only that, little Gilbert went to visit the crew of "Star Wars" before, and happened to meet Spielberg, the nominal teacher.

So the two major directors George Lucas and Spielberg, as well as Natalie Portman, were invited by Little Gilbert.

Of course, this will definitely owe a favor to the two great directors.

But reciprocity is normal anywhere in the world. Similarly, little Gilbert will also return favors to "Star Wars" or DreamWorks project platforms in the future.

"???" Little Gilbert asked with a question mark on his forehead: "Why do you say that?"

"Really?" Little Gilbert said nonchalantly: "Then let everyone rely on their own abilities!"

After all, he was also given the identity of producer and screenwriter by James Cameron, and he can also be regarded as a member of the crew.

Natalie Portman clearly didn't believe it, looking like you were bragging.

As an investor, Gilbert Jr. certainly doesn't want "Titanic" to make the same mistakes again, so he suggested that 20th Century Fox and Paramount strengthen their publicity efforts.

At the premiere, after watching "Titanic" which was not much different from its previous life, little Gilbert also gave a very high evaluation.

"What are you gambling?"

Little Gilbert also made an effort, posting photos of himself with James Cameron, DiCaprio, and Kate Winslet on his Facebook account to help promote the film.

It seems that at the beginning of the summer season, we are destined to be competitors. "

"Don't believe it? If you don't believe it, just accept the bet. The chance of winning is very high." Little Gilbert said.

"Are you talking about "The Last Days" and "Godzilla"? Mr. Ovitz." There was a touch of politeness in little Gilbert's tone.

"Hahaha," little Gilbert laughed and couldn't help but touch Natalie Portman's head, but the girl slapped her away.

There are many reasons for the low box office of The Last Life in its first week. A large part of it is that media critics were not optimistic about it, which affected the viewing choices of movie fans in the first week.

He walked straight over and said to little Gilbert: "You know? Little Gilbert, Sony Colombia has prepared a special gift for you."

"Yes, they will not apologize, but they will applaud the miracle created by the film." Little Gilbert looked confident.

Judging from the results, there are probably not many people in the United States who don't know that "Titanic" is about to be released, but how many people are willing to go into the theater is unknown.

But later facts proved that the ever-expanding reputation of the audience can easily defeat the prejudice of media critics.

Unfortunately, he rejected me.

Natalie Portman's intuition told her that this was impossible. If it really had this box office, wouldn't it be No. 1 in film history?
But the person in front of her has an unparalleled vision for movies, and she also knows a lot from George Lucas.

After the premiere, little Gilbert also ran into an old acquaintance, Michael Ovitz. He has not lost his fighting spirit after leaving Disney, and he still seems to be the all-powerful emperor of the brokerage industry.

"This is out of trust in the quality of the movie, Nat." Little Gilbert suddenly wanted to tease this thoughtful girl: "How about we make a bet."

Little Gilbert's support for "Titanic" is an act of protecting his investment. He has many fans in North America and his appeal is extremely powerful.

We all believe that this film will achieve great results. "

So I'm really not sure whether "Titanic" is what little Gilbert said.

In addition to these media reporters, there were also various celebrity guests, including executives from 20th Century Fox and Paramount.

In this day and age, traditional newspapers, media and film critics can still influence the movie-watching choices of many viewers.

Michael Ovitz was unimpressed and continued: "I tried to persuade the executives at Sony and Columbia Pictures, but they never changed their minds.

"You didn't tell me that the quality of the film turned out to be so high and exciting." Natalie Portman exclaimed: "I now kind of believe that this film will achieve the results you said."

"Nat, if the box office does what I say it does, don't forget my ice cream."

"If the North American box office exceeds 600 million US dollars and the global box office exceeds 1.5 billion US dollars, you will treat me to ice cream." Little Gilbert said an exaggerated figure.

North America is obsessed with geniuses. A movie that little Gilbert, who has been a genius for six or seven years, is obviously more trustworthy than the film critics.

Natalie Portman on the side was puzzled and asked little Gilbert: "It seems that you are very confident. Can you tell me why?"

"About 1995, Director Cameron mentioned the original idea of ​​this project to me, and at that time I supported him in making this film.

Natalie Portman rolled her eyes: "Don't worry, I have a good memory and I won't forget it."

James Cameron also touted the business: "The original idea for the entire project came from Director Gilbert Jr. At that time, I felt that he was more suitable for this project than me, and later I wanted to invite him to be the male lead.

But it was just ice cream, so Natalie Portman didn't hesitate and readily agreed to the bet.

"They're not going to apologize, little Gilbert," Spielberg said.

After watching the movie premiere, Natalie Portman came to Gilbert: "I found out, you are actually a big bad guy."

"I have only one opinion," Gilbert Jr. told Spielberg: "Those who don't like this movie will soon find out how wrong they are."

Although it is not a film directed by himself, the producer and screenwriter are listed as producers and screenwriters, and they are actively involved in publicity and distribution, which will surely attract some movie fans to the cinema.

After several years of hard work, although it cost a lot of money, we have all seen the results. I believe that the love between Jack and Rose and the story of Titanic will become eternal in the history of movies, just like the theme song "My Heart Will Go On". "

Michael Ovitz hadn't finished chatting yet, he took the opportunity to poach and said: "I was in charge of your project at Disney, and I know how good you are, little Gilbert.

If you come to me, I guarantee you will be our company's most important customer.

No package service, no strings attached, whatever you want, I will do it. "

"I can't see the difference between this and the agency I'm in now at Sheena's agency." Little Gilbert said it was unattractive.

For directors at his level, the agency has little restraint on them. They are basically in the position of service providers, no matter where they go.

Compared to Michael Ovitz, Sheena Boone is more trustworthy.

At this time, Sheena Boone happened to come over, and her tone was quite rude: "Mr. Ovitz, is it too much to poach little Gilbert in front of me?"

"Sheena, long time no see. I heard that your agency is doing very well." The smile on Michael Ovitz's face never disappeared, and his smile became wrinkled and a little stiff.

"Hmph," Sheena Boone hugged little Gilbert's arm, showing her good relationship with little Gilbert, and snorted coldly: "Do you think I would be stupid enough to give little Gilbert any restraints?

I met Martin some time ago, maybe I should ask him to have dinner with him again. "

Martin is Martin Scorsese, who was poached from CAA by Michael Ovitz and Martin Bob.

"This is just normal business dealings," Michael Ovitz said without any embarrassment. It is normal for an agent to be thick-skinned.

He continued: "I heard that the percentage of your contract with little Gilbert is quite high, which is not in line with his worth."

"You don't have to worry about it, Mr. Ovitz." Sheena Boone was not polite at all: "Our contract commission with Little Gilbert has long been reduced to 3%, which is the lowest agent commission in Hollywood. "

"Then congratulations, little Gilbert." Michael Ovitz looked at little Gilbert: "You have finally become the most valuable director in Hollywood, unmatched by anyone else."

"Thank you for your concern," Little Gilbert said in the same neutral tone: "I think Mr. Robinov and Mr. Eisner know best what I am worth."

Jeff Robinoff and Michael Eisner are the CEO of Warner Pictures and chairman of Disney respectively. Michael Ovitz was kicked out of Disney, but he knew Michael Eisner and knew that Gilbert Jr. was telling the truth.

In fact, there is no need for Warner and Disney to prove it. Twentieth Century Fox and Paramount present today are willing to offer generous terms as long as Little Gilbert agrees to cooperate. Just as he wanted to get Little Gilbert's agency contract, these companies also wanted to work closely with Little Gilbert, even if they offered unprecedentedly generous benefits for this purpose.

For the brokerage company, even if the commission rate drops to 3% as Sheena Boone said, the brokerage company will still make a profit.

Because the director's salary for each of Gilbert's films is huge, and the most important thing is his signature role.

In recent years, Sheena Boone has relied on Little Gilbert's brand to poach people everywhere, and she has always been successful. They joined Sheena Boone's agency because of little Gilbert.

Michael Ovitz had the same idea and was willing to give up his signature packaging service to do so.

But now it seems that poaching is very difficult.

But think about it, if it was so easy to be poached, other brokerage companies such as ICM would have taken action long ago.

Michael Ovitz had no choice but to leave the last harsh words: "Then we'll see you in the summer, little Gilbert, be careful of meteorites and Godzilla."

"See you in the summer..."

After Michael Ovitz walked away, Sheena Boone complained: "Mr. Ovitz is old and out of date."

Little Gilbert smiled and said: "He is experienced and weathered."

"There is only one left who is experienced, but his experience is no longer useful in the new era." Sheena Boone said.

This is true, it seems that Michael Ovitz is a little behind the times.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, which can be said to belong to Michael Ovitz's era, he accomplished several major things.

He has participated in major events including Sony's acquisition of Columbia Pictures and Panasonic's acquisition of Universal Pictures.

It is estimated that Michael Ovitz himself regrets why he offended a young man with unlimited potential and did not beat him to death with a stick.

After that, I didn’t seize the opportunity to join Disney and didn’t stay at Disney.

But regardless of whether she regrets it or not, Sheena Boone's judgment was correct. Michael Ovitz's sensitivity is no longer what it used to be, and he cannot keep up with the rhythm of the times.

However, Sheena Boone is a little worried: "Doomsday theory is very popular now. Is it possible that "The Doomsday" will threaten our project?"

"Normal business competition is never 100% successful. Sheena." Little Gilbert was not worried: "Just do your job well and leave the rest to God!"

Sheena Boone smiled and said: "You are the son of God. I think God will favor his children."

"That's right, you are very insightful." Little Gilbert also laughed.

"What about Godzilla? After the wave of monsters caused by "Jurassic Park", will a scarier monster from an island country be more popular?" Sheena Boone asked.

"It is very popular, but this monster comes from an island country." Little Gilbert emphasized this point.

Sheena Boone instantly understood that Godzilla is not a monster native to North America. Although Japanese culture has a market in North America, it is not mainstream.

It is a bit difficult for a big monster from an island country to attract North American movie fans.

Sheena Boone is worried about whether the performance of "The Matrix" will be affected under the attack of "Armageddon" and "Godzilla".

But in fact, for little Gilbert, this doesn't matter.

If he was afraid of competition, he shouldn't have made movies in the first place.

There is competition everywhere in life, it is nothing more than big or small competition. If you are afraid of competition, then just go back and forth from wherever you are!

Besides, with his achievements in the past seven years, shouldn't others be afraid of him? Why should he be afraid of others?

It would be nice to have some competitors, just to show off the power of little Gilbert. In case the new kid doesn't know how to count, he doesn't know the horror of little Gilbert, the Hollywood Husky, who bites whom.

After the premiere, Dazhou officially started its theatrical journey.

The midnight screening of "Titanic" grossed $625 million, which is a pretty good result. But compared with the production cost of million US dollars, it is somewhat unworthy of its worth.

As soon as little Gilbert entered the set in the morning, his assistant Anna delivered the latest newspapers and brewed a pot of Longjing.

While enjoying the tea brought back from China, little Gilbert read the newspaper and read the comments about "Titanic".

"Why are there all good reviews? Are there any negative reviews?" Little Gilbert asked.

Anna handed over a pile of newspapers: "These are all bad reviews."

"Who are they?"

"Critics in The New Yorker, The Washington Post, and The Hollywood Reporter all gave negative reviews."

Little Gilbert shrugged and said: "This is normal. It seems that Fox and Paramount don't do any public relations."

"The media and film critics are always full of bias," Anna said, trusting her boss's vision: "But it won't be long before they regret it."

"Haha, if you want to make them regret it, you have to have solid results." Little Gilbert put down the newspaper, drank his tea, and began to work for the day.

While little Gilbert was busy with the final filming of "The Matrix", "Titanic" was sailing calmly in the unruffled North American film market.

The midnight box office performance was good, and in a theater survey, audiences gave it A+ reviews as high as 96%. This seems to indicate that this film is unusual.

But the reality is that the film's box office results on its premiere day were mediocre, with only US$1223.5 million, which was not even as good as some less-than-stellar films in the summer.

This box office result once again made the media who badmouthed "Titanic" collectively climax.

These media outlets began to read in the Saturday newspapers and began to advocate the failure of the big ship, and that the $200 million investment from 20th Century Fox, Paramount, and Gilbert Jr. was about to be wasted.

And James Cameron, along with DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, became a street rat and the target of beatings by the media.

It seems that 20th Century Fox and Paramount will go bankrupt because of this movie, James Cameron will withdraw from the industry, and little Gilbert's shrewd film vision will no longer be the same as before.

If the movie market is dominated by the media, then "Titanic" will really be what they hoped for.

But unfortunately, it is the audience who has the final say on what the film market is like. Audiences will use their own behavior to make choices about the film market.

The media are all pessimistic, but they have not paid attention to it, and even deliberately ignored one piece of data, which is the increasingly good reputation among the audience.

Logically speaking, a movie's reputation declines over time, but "Titanic" does not.

"Titanic" performed strongly on Saturday, taking in $1511.8 million at the box office in a single day.

The most amazing thing is that the audience's reputation in the theater chain survey has also increased, and the A+ praise rate has reached 97%. It seems that there is still room for continued growth.

Another proportion is the audience ratio. The proportion of female viewers reached an astonishing 51.3%.

Many people may not know what this data represents. Generally speaking, commercial blockbusters have a characteristic that the proportion of male audiences is much higher than the proportion of female audiences.

But this is not the case for "Titanic". The proportion of female viewers is higher than that of male viewers.

If anyone thinks this is nothing magical, look at another statistic. The survey found that many female viewers watched the movie once on Friday and again on Saturday.

And these fans who watch the movie over and over often bring in new viewers.

These data are not eye-catching, and the media does not care about these high-level data other than reporting on the box office failure of "Titanic".

As a result, "Titanic" continued to take in a box office of US$1653.9 million on Sunday, and the box office in its first week reached US$4389.2 million, which is a pretty good result.

However, the production cost of "Titanic" was US$200 million, and the box office pattern of movies is showing a downward trend, so the media is still not optimistic about the prospects of this movie.

No one expected that "Titanic" would be so strong.

(End of this chapter)