The king of ghost horse comedy

Chapter 341
"Hey, I found something here." Xu Guanwu suddenly stretched out his hand and shouted, the excitement on his face was almost uncontrollable.He really didn't expect to find it in a pile of old papers that had been there for more than two years.

Richard Zanyuk and David Brown heard Xu Guanwu's call, quickly dropped the script in their hands and rushed over, and then everyone leaned their heads together, and saw a word written on the script - "Halloween "? !

"What kind of movie is this, Stanley? The name doesn't seem like a comedy or an action movie." David Brown said with a frown.

"You guessed right, it's actually a horror movie." Xu Guanwu shook his head and said with a smile.

"Horror movie?!" Richard Zanjuk couldn't help being a little surprised, then he copied the script, first flipped through the summary of the story, and then directly turned to the last page, where there was a sentence, "Recommended investment— — $30.”

"You want me to be the producer of this low-budget movie?!" Richard exclaimed excitedly, feeling extremely funny.

He, Richard Zanjuk, Shaodong of 20th Century Fox Company, has produced blockbuster films such as "The Sound of Music", "Jaws", "Rampage", etc., and has controlled tens of millions of dollars in film investment .It is deeply loved by Hollywood filmmakers and fans all over the country.

And the movie "Halloween" is just a small-budget movie, with only 30 investment, which is not enough for his salary.And it's a bloody horror movie that only relies on blood and women screaming to attract audiences, and to the most orthodox Hollywood filmmakers, it's a piece of shit.

"I, Richard Zanyuk, will never be the producer of this low-budget horror film, never!" Richard waved his fists and shouted very excitedly.

Xu Guanwu did not expect Richard to have such a strong reaction. In his opinion, a movie is a movie, as long as it can make money for investors.Furthermore, the movie "Halloween" is a classic in the history of American horror movies. As many as ten sequels have been filmed in the future, with a total box office of more than [-] million US dollars.And based on the relatively cheap cost of horror films, this has brought great benefits to investors, and it is a very popular series of horror films.

But obviously Richard doesn't think much of making horror movies, because although horror movies can get a good box office, their status in Hollywood was once embarrassing.Hollywood's eight orthodox film companies disdain the distribution of horror films, and only small distribution companies such as Lions Gate Pictures and New Line Pictures are willing to release such films.

The reason is that most horror films are independently produced, and the initial investment is very small.The investment of a film like "Halloween" is only 30 US dollars, and the participating actors must prepare their own clothes; the first part of "Ghosts" directed by Sam Raimi cost only 180 US dollars; "Ghost Street", the cost was only [-] million US dollars...even the remuneration of action movie stars at that time was not comparable.

Because the investment is generally relatively low, the production is naturally simpler.No matter the special effects, the scenes, or the actors, they are not up to the grade at all.In this way, even though these horror films may be well-made, for traditional Hollywood studios, there is no interest in distribution.

Since they never have a shortage of releases, why not release a multi-million-dollar movie instead of a low-budget investment movie? !Without knowing what the box office will be, they are naturally more willing to release movies with relatively large investments.This is also the reason why no company was willing to release "Rocky" after Xu Guanwu finished filming it.

Another reason is that although horror movies can always get a good box office, the public always has some prejudice against them, thinking that they are low-level entertainment that cannot be on the table.

Therefore, these horror films can only be distributed by small distribution companies in the end, and naturally they will not get much support from resources, so the box office will naturally not be too high.Although huge benefits have been obtained compared to the cost, but purely from the data point of view, there are still no hot-selling action movies that look festive.

The movie "Halloween" ended up with a global box office of 6000 million US dollars. Compared with the investment of 30 US dollars, it is a huge profit.But compared with other mainstream action films released at the same time, his 6000 million global box office is actually not as good as the performance of action films in the United States alone.

Although "Halloween" is obviously more profitable, but in terms of reputation, action movies that have earned hundreds of millions of dollars are naturally more famous.Whoever said that Europeans and Americans don't engage in face-saving projects, in fact, they are not inferior at all in this respect.

However, Xu Guanwu is much more pragmatic than Richard, and no matter how big his face is, he can't make a living, but the box office of 6000 million US dollars is a real deal.He had already made up his mind that even if Richard made up his mind not to make this movie, he would arrange for his own people to make it.

Xu Guanwu knows how powerful this "Halloween" is, and it has been translated as "Moonlight Panicked" in China.When later generations selected the scariest horror films, "Moonlight Panic" topped the list, and the box office of this series of films, if factoring in currency depreciation, inflation and other factors for more than 30 years, is still the most profitable series Horror film.

Imagine an investment of 30 yuan in exchange for a box office of 6000 million yuan, which is simply more profitable than "Jaws" and "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". Xu Guanwu will never give up this movie.

……

After Richard quarreled for a while, seeing that Xu Guanwu ignored him at all, he couldn't help but calm down immediately. "Stanley, I said that I would never be the producer of this movie, never!" He howled into Xu Guanwu's ear.

"Save your throat, you don't need to repeat it a few more times, I have already heard it." Xu Guanwu waved his hand and said, "Since you don't want to be an investor in this movie, I won't force you to do so." Do it. I will hand over this film to CAA agency company, they happen to have producers, directors, and actors under their hands, and it would be good to let them operate it."

"Stanley, I think it's better not to hand it over to the CAA brokerage company." Hearing what Xu Guanwu said, David Brown quickly dissuaded him, "You should keep the neutral and simple side of the CAA brokerage company. The reason why it is developing now is relatively Well, it is because it only provides talents, but has not set foot in the field of film production and distribution. That's why these film and television companies are willing to cooperate with it. But if it sets foot in the field of film and television production and distribution, it will definitely give Other film and television companies pose a huge threat. Not only will they not hire talents from the CAA agency, but it is even more likely that they will jointly drive the CAA agency out of Hollywood."

"David is right. You can see that none of these agencies in Hollywood are involved in film and television production. You know that it's not that they don't want to, but that the status quo simply doesn't allow it." Richard also nodded and said, " I think if you really think this movie is good, you might as well give it to our company to produce it. Although the two of us will not be producers, we can hire employees from CAA agency company to do it in our name. .”

Xu Guanwu was taken aback when he heard this, and then nodded in agreement.Only now did he understand that it was no wonder that the CAA brokerage company did not set foot in the field of film and television production even when it was at its best. It was because of this reason.

……

"Okay, okay, everyone, don't be dazed anymore, and continue to read the script, my friends! There is not much time left!" Richard clapped his hands and said.

Xu Guanwu couldn't help smiling when he heard this, and put away the movie "Moonlight Panic" carefully, and prepared to turn around and invest in this movie.

Over the next few days, they read more than 5000 scripts.There are also quite a few movies that Guanwu thinks are good, but after review by Richard and David, they still feel that the ones selected by Xu Guanwu still have problems of one kind or another.

Xu Guanwu didn't know much about American movies in the 70s, so he wasn't sure that the script he chose would be able to sell money, so under the persuasion of Richard and David, he didn't insist on it.

As a result, after reading all the scripts, Xu Guanwu only chose the script "Panic in the Moonlight", but Richard and David got nothing.Compared with Xu Guanwu, they are undoubtedly more cautious.Some movies that Guanwu thinks are okay, they will find various reasons to shirk them, making Xu Guanwu feel that they are too cautious.

After working for several days without gaining anything, Xu Guanwu has no interest in playing with the two of them any longer.He left a phone number for Richard and David, so that they could call him if they had anything to do, and then took his wife Zhao Yazhi to Silicon Valley.

As for Richard and David, they will continue to stay in Hollywood. On the one hand, they will continue to look for suitable projects, and on the other hand, they will arrange the shooting plan of "Moonlight Panic".

The script of "Moonlight Panic" was created by John Carpenter, who once won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film. He is a talented young director, but he was born at an untimely time.He has always wanted to make a horror film, and "Moonlight Panic" is his brainchild.

But because this film requires a large investment, and although he won the Oscar for Best Short Film, he is still a young director who is poor and has no status. The investment of only 30 US dollars is still impossible for him. bear the weight.

But John Carpenter did not give up his ideal. He worked hard to save money, worked as screenwriter, assistant director, soundtrack for other movies, and even worked as a waiter in a fast food restaurant. This "Moonlight Panic" was filmed.

But with the cheap salary in the 70s, if you want to save 30 US dollars, it is nowhere in sight.Seeing that it might take him another ten years or more to make up the money, John Carpenter couldn't help but feel a little frustrated.He was not because of the suffering he had suffered in his previous struggles, but because he thought that his hard work could not be put on the stage, so he felt lost.

And at this time, Richard Zanjuk stepped up and shouted that I have money here and want to invest in movies!As soon as this sentence was uttered, although John Carpenter knew that Richard would not like his low-budget horror movie, he still had the idea of ​​one in a million and sent a letter to Richard's company. this script.

And a sentence was added at the end, "It is recommended to invest 30 US dollars." This is already a considerable sum of money for independent films.The investment of "Ghost Player" directed by Sam Raimi is only [-] US dollars.

The script was sent out for many days, but John Carpenter never received any news.When he was almost desperate, the phone rang suddenly one day.John Carpenter hesitated to speak the phone and answered it. The ringing of the phone was probably not a good thing for him. It was either urging him to pay the room fee or urging him to pay off the credit card...

But the voice that rang on the phone at this moment made John Carpenter burst into ecstasy. "Mr. Carpenter?! Hello, this is the R&D film company! The movie script "Moonlight Panic" you mailed has passed the first round of review by our company. Please come to our company to discuss follow-up matters as soon as possible .”

"YES!" After hanging up the phone, John Carpenter couldn't help weeping with joy, tears streaming down his face.

(End of this chapter)