Made in Hollywood

After a long time of screening, although the box office growth rate of "Independence Day" has become extremely slow, it is still climbing tenaciously.

In North America, the scale of film screenings has been reduced to 211, with a total box office of 339.77 million U.S. dollars, and it continues to march toward the 350 million U.S. dollar mark with difficulty and tenacity.

Overseas, as the film landed in the last few major markets, the overseas box office finally broke through the 400 million US dollars mark, and the global box office reported a total of 742.15 million US dollars, surpassing 800 million US dollars, and taking the second place in the total box office of film history is just around the corner. .

Yes, "Independence Day" has only one opponent in front of the global gross box office, Steven Spielberg's "Jurassic Park". The latter not only exceeded the $900 million mark in the global box office, but also in some remote areas. Screening in overseas regions has continuously improved the No. 1 box office record in film history.

"Independence Day" wants to catch up with "Jurassic Park", it can be said to be a very difficult task.

However, even with the current box office results and the previous consecutive successes of "Life and Death" and "Break in Death Island", Duke has the qualifications to stand among the high-rise buildings in Hollywood, and the suggestions made will also get a certain degree On the attention.

After Nancy Josephson had contact with Walt Disney people several times, they reached a ≥ privately. After some consensus, Walt Disney directly offered conditions that exceeded Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century Fox. Duke also said implicitly. After being very interested in the cooperation with Mickey Mouse, after repeated weighing, Warner and Fox finally decided to absorb Disney's investment, and the three companies formed a co-producer.

Entering October, the "Saving Private Ryan" project has passed the review of three companies. Like "Independence Day", although the script is one of the most basic conditions for film production, it is of little value in itself. The three companies can complete the pre-review and preliminary investigation as quickly as possible within the program. The director who led the project and his past achievements are most valued.

The completion of the review means that "Saving Private Ryan" can be initiated at any time, but before that, with the addition of Nancy Josephson, who represents Duke, the four parties must first negotiate the distribution of benefits.

After all. Others are all false, and interest is the basis for cooperation in several areas.

After nearly a week of wrangling, the three companies finally reached an agreement on the investment allocation. The production cost of the film was estimated at 80 million U.S. dollars. Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century Fox each accounted for 30 million U.S. dollars of investment. Walt Disney enjoyed the remaining 20 million. Dollar investment.

At the same time, Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century Fox acted as overseas and North American distributors of the film respectively, and Walt Disney has no distribution rights.

As for whether the three companies resolve their investment through financing or other means, and how the benefits involved are distributed. Then don't care about Duke.

What he is concerned about is his own director's remuneration!

This week’s wrangling, in fact, a lot of time was wasted on this aspect. Nancy Josephson called for Duke’s US$20 million in basic remuneration plus 25% of the film’s full income share, which is really high and scary. Investment Fang would definitely not agree.

Of course, the current Duke is not the Duke before "Independence Day." The salary negotiation is basically based on $100,000 and 0.1%. What was finally reached was still a stepped sharing agreement.

His screenwriter, director and producer have a basic salary of 10 million U.S. dollars, and his participation in sharing projects is no longer limited to the box office. There are surrounding areas.

In terms of box office, 150 million U.S. dollars is the base of the division. Under the strong competition of Nancy Josephson, as long as the film’s global box office reaches 150 million U.S. dollars, Duke will receive 2% of the box office share, 200 million. US$50 million increased to five percent. US$350 million is 10%, US$450 million is 15%, and US$600 million is 20%.

Although the 20% share is capped, the global box office of the film exceeds $600 million, and the producer will pay Duke an additional $5 million in bonuses.

The surrounding area has always been a restricted area for film companies. Unless you are top actors and directors, don't even think about sharing. Unlike the box office share, the peripheral share generally has limited income in the short term, but it is a long-term meal ticket.

As long as the film can still bring income, those who enjoy the share will continue to receive income, and even after their death, they can designate others as inheritance.

On the peripheral side, Nancy Josephson won a 6% share agreement for Duke. Although the percentage seems to be small, this is not a profit share, but a total revenue share around the film!

Maybe there is still a gap between this director's agreement and Spielberg's director's contract on "Jurassic Park", but it is definitely the top compensation contract in Hollywood.

You know, just last month, Twentieth Century Fox and Paramount Pictures signed a director contract with James Cameron. The basic remuneration for the new project of the studio tyrant is only $8.5 million, and the box office share is only 100%. The fifteenth, and not the total box office share, but the box office profit share.

The two directorial contracts of Duke and James Cameron directly reflect the performance of their latest work. The biggest capital of Hollywood directors is commercial performance. Compared with the huge investment, "True Lies" is not a good box office. In addition, Cameron’s new film once again called out hundreds of millions of dollars in production costs, which caused his personal remuneration to drop.

Similarly, this is one of the reasons why Twentieth Century Fox agreed to Walt Disney's participation in Duke's new project. James Cameron’s boat requires a high investment. Even if it can be financed, Twentieth Century Fox will still find it difficult.

Originally, Duke heard that James Cameron's new project was about to start, and also considered whether to wait for the "Independence Day" share to be paid in, and then give up.

The final investment of Da Chuan is really terrifying. The point he can get is divided into thrown in and can't even see the splash, and it is only 1994. When will the film be released? The end of 1997!

When the film ends and the share is received, it is likely to be delayed until 1999. Such a large sum of money will be placed on a project with little say in the long term. Even if Duke knows almost nothing about finance, he knows that it is definitely not. Wise choice.

According to the agreement, Duke’s team members will all join the crew and hold their respective roles. The only difference from "Independence Day" is that Sophia Coppola is no longer an assistant director, but has become the film’s associate director and executive producer. one.

Her goal was not to serve as an assistant to Duke for a long time, but to become a real film director after a certain amount of accumulation.

Next, Duke also needs to hire a personal assistant to take over the position of Sophia Coppola, as well as finding the right person in charge of public relations, he simply threw it all to Sophia to deal with.

In mid-October, "Saving Private Ryan" was formally established. While Duke exchanged the preliminary work of the film with the producers, it was inevitable to attend some necessary publicity activities. After all, the investment of the film is here, and the actual type is still commercial.

Then with the establishment of the D-Day studio as a shell company, Duke's focus has completely shifted to the preliminary preparations.

"Duke,"

Because Jon Landau went to partner with James Cameron, Fox sent a new producer named Lynch. "The $10 million early-stage capital of 20th Century Fox has been paid to AIA. on."

"The first funds from Warner Bros. and Walt Disney have also arrived."

The speaker was Charles Rowan, who continued to serve as the first production manager of the film, "Our initial start-up funds are sufficient."

Hearing these words, the financial officer of the AIA Company sitting at the end of the conference table nodded, but did not say anything. As a third party, his most important job is to supervise, not to make suggestions.

"Well."

Duke sat at the top of the conference table, his eyes swept across everyone present, "We are now discussing the focus of the next work."

In the past two consecutive movies, Duke used the same team and greeted him in advance. The facts have proved that he will have a better income and future. After the invitation from the D-day studio, these cooperations are more familiar. Many behind-the-scenes personnel such as lighting, props, setting, art director, etc. were almost in place at the fastest speed.

"Jos..." Duke turned his gaze to the head of the fireworks team, "This is a documentary World War II film. We must abandon those exaggerated explosions."

"I understand." Jos Williams said immediately, "My people are studying the weapons and explosives of World War II. They will definitely give you satisfactory results."

"Robin, for the locations you suggested, I think Ireland is more suitable."

There is no way. Robin Grande called the British government a few days ago. The other party rejected the request to send an army to assist in the filming. The Irish government promised that if the crew hires locals, A team of about 800 people will be provided to assist the filming crew.

In fact, this is not difficult to understand. Ireland, which has a relatively difficult economy, needs thousands of jobs that the crew may bring, and the Kingdom of Great Britain has never sold Hollywood face much.

"Chris..." Duke said to an executive producer, "You leave as soon as possible and go to the military museums in Europe. I want two or three Tiger tanks. If you can't find a prototype, I will buy two in Russia. We will transform the old tanks ourselves."

For Hollywood professionals, it is not difficult to make other types of tanks look like Tiger tanks.

Next, other people who have seen the script will also put forward their own opinions. This kind of preparation meeting originally exists to solve the problem. The crew needs to reach a basic consensus as soon as possible and work in one direction.

"Right, Duke."

Charles Rowan asked, "Have you thought about the specific release date of the film?"

"What advice does the producer and distributor have?" Duke did not answer, but asked instead. (To be continued...)

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