Made in Hollywood

Hollywood was full of hustle and bustle during the award season, but the entire entertainment industry was still functioning in an orderly manner. At the beginning of February, "Inception" ended its screening in Syria and officially went down and down from all markets around the world. After nearly a year of screening, this The film eventually earned $1.121 billion in box office worldwide.

At the same time, the release configuration of the film's upcoming limited edition DVD/Blu-ray package was also exposed in advance through unofficial channels.

As early as last year, the DVD of "Inception" was launched in North America. Despite the continued decline in the industry background, it has still sold close to $130 million in sales.

The limited edition DVD/Blu-ray set released this time is different from the previous ones and has a certain collection value.

The limited edition set includes a number of souvenirs, a limited edition aluminum dream machine suitcase, a user manual for a portable automatic snain intravenous injector, a set of postcards, a gyroscope, and a DVD, a Blu-ray and a digital copy. Of the three discs.

Once this product was launched on the market, it was enthusiastically sought after by fans of Inception. In just ten days, it sold more than $350,000 in North America alone.

Popular movies like "Inception" have too many peripheral projects that can bring profit.

"Inception" is down, and the popularity of another Duke film has also declined. "Gravity" has just spent its fifth weekend in North America. The weekend box office has fallen to 12.15 million US dollars, although the North American box office has exceeded US$330 million, but the market potential is obviously consumed with little left.

However, the second weekend’s "Trends of War" had a more violent decline. Affected by the poor reputation of the audience, the box office of this film plummeted by nearly 60% compared with the first weekend. It was reported to be 190,000 U.S. dollars over the weekend, and it received 7.37 million U.S. dollars for ten days of release in North America.

Compared to "Robin Hood", this can be said to be a relatively successful commercial production.

As for whether Walt Disney and David Ellison would think so, Duke is unclear. What he cares about now is the Oscar nomination list.

Because of staying in San Francisco to participate in the final negotiations with Lucasfilm, Duke did not attend the nominees lunch on Weihir Street in Beverly Hills, only Scarlett Johansson did it for him. As soon as the nominees luncheon ended, Los Angeles passed the relevant nomination list to Tina Fei.

"The nomination results are announced."

Taking advantage of the gap in the negotiation, Tina Fei walked up to Duke, sat on the chair next to him, and whispered. "We are the biggest winner on the nomination list."

After working hard for several months, just for today, Duke couldn't help asking, "What have you gained?"

"Inception has eight nominations!"

Looking at the emails on the phone, Tina Fei said one by one, "They are the best photography, the best sound, the best sound editing, the best visual effect, the best film, the best original script, and the best art. Guidance and best original soundtrack."

Duke nodded slightly. These nominations are basically based on technology awards, which are completely in line with the school's usual style. Awards such as Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay are destined to accompany Inception.

Tina Fei continued. "Our key public relations "Gravity" won the best film, best director, best actress, best photography, best editing, best visual effects, best sound effects, best sound effects editing, best Art direction and best soundtrack, nominated for a total of ten awards."

"We have a total of eighteen nominations." Tina Fei said with regret, "Unfortunately you did not get a double nomination for best director."

Not getting double nomination is also a good thing in some respects. Double nomination is extremely easy to distract the judges’ votes. Duke knew this very well, shook his head, and said directly to Tina Fei, “Now the nomination list is out. Let Nancy and Penny's actions a little bit restrained."

According to the regulations of the college, after the nomination list is announced. The film crew can no longer carry out public relations work, but this is obviously impossible. If nothing else, many members of the college are part of the Hollywood industry. In the shooting or preparation of many films, it is unavoidable that some filmmakers participating in the Oscars gradually contact with the members of the academy.

As for what the two parties will discuss in private, they are not under the control of the college.

However, there are some things that can't be done too much, otherwise it will not be worth the loss if the college catches the typical.

The college's executive committee is also aware of these, as long as it does not go too far. They will also open one eye and close one eye accordingly.

This is a game of money and fame. If these factors are eliminated, then this game is not necessary.

Putting the Oscar nomination aside for the time being, Duke then devoted all his energy to the acquisition negotiations with Lucasfilm.

After more than half a year of seesaw and inspection, the acquisition team jointly formed by Duke and Time Warner became the first of Lucasfilm. Time Warner can provide Lucasfilm with a broad and complete platform. The funds can meet the price requirements of Lucasfilm's shareholders.

When Duke raised the purchase offer to 400 million US dollars, the entire Hollywood only left him and Walt Disney two prospective acquirers.

The assets in the hands of Lucasfilm are indeed very attractive, but there are also Lucas Animation, Lucas Online and Lucas Games departments that have lost performance. When it comes to acquisitions of such a huge amount of money, any investor will inevitably consider The input-output ratio, the high price of four billion US dollars, has exceeded the bottom line of many companies such as 20th Century Fox, Sony Columbia and Paramount Pictures.

In the minds of these companies, Lucasfilm is not worth so much money. With such a large investment, it is still a huge question whether it can be recovered in the future.

Looking at the entire Hollywood, including Walt Disney, which finally competed with Duke, only Duke firmly believes that the power and potential of the Star Wars series is unlimited, and the future will definitely burst out with unlimited brilliance, as long as there are no major errors in operation. , Only the sales of Star Wars peripheral products will not take long to offset this huge acquisition.

Therefore, facing the last competitor, Duke once again raised the price to US$4.1 billion. Walt Disney, which was inherently unstable, finally retreated. Lucasfilm basically became Duke’s possession. .

When I came to San Francisco this time, the two parties had reached an agreement on the purchase price, and talked more about details.

For example, Duke plans where Lucasfilm's main business will go in the future.

Since the end of the Star Wars Prequel series, the entire Lucasfilm industry has only produced one film "Indiana Jones 4", and George Lucas is in a semi-retired state. Naturally, his performance is not very good. This directly affects the income of many employees and executives of Lucasfilm.

If the income cannot be guaranteed, and then talk about beliefs to employees or instill spiritual chicken soup, it will be nothing and no use.

Duke knows this very well. After having a close talk with George Lucas, he directly wrote the restart of the Star Wars series into the negotiation agreement between the two parties, and promised that if necessary, he will personally serve as the director of the restart film.

With his past achievements and his reputation and appeal in the film market, this is undoubtedly a shot in the heart of Lucasfilm's management. After reaching an agreement in this regard, the remaining details of the negotiations have become much smoother. .

In mid-February, Duke, Time Warner and Lucasfilm jointly convened a press conference in San Francisco to formally announce the change of Lucasfilm, which involved a transaction amount of up to 4.1 billion US dollars!

In the new Lucasfilm industry, Duke holds absolute controlling rights, and Time Warner’s symbolic shareholding will also become the publisher of the new "Star Wars" series. Catherine, who has similar ideas to George Lucas ? Kennedy accepted Duke's appointment and became the new CEO of Lucasfilm.

With the completion of the transaction, Duke knew very well that he had a huge treasure trove of wealth in the Star Wars series!

He himself also enjoys nearly one-third of the revenue share of all aspects of the "Harry Potter" series. Together with the current Star Wars series, the two most marketable movie series in history can be regarded as his What's in the bag.

Correspondingly, the new Star Wars plan will be put on the agenda after Lucasfilm returns on track.

In this regard, Duke already has some ideas. The new Star Wars does not need to be as creative or technologically revolutionary.

In Duke's thinking, the most important thing about the new Star Wars is that it has no obvious flaws like the transformation of Anakin Skywalker.

In terms of special effects, the new "Star Wars" does not need to be too hard. The special effects scenes can be above the level of Hollywood blockbusters. The breakthrough technological revolution is what James Cameron will do, not the new work of this series. To take a risk, even if a robot like d2 is redesigned at that time, its main function is to "sell cute".

In some ways, Duke just wants to repackage the new "Star Wars" with today's Hollywood technology, and turn it into a retro movie with a good story!

Duke and George Lucas had communicated in this regard. Lucas was not satisfied with the lack of creativity and imagination of the new "Star Wars" he proposed. In his opinion, the "new ideas" should be " The force of Star Wars.

However, George Lucas has always admired Duke's handling of the market, and he has not insisted on his opinions.

The launch of the new "Star Wars" is a matter of a few years from now. After the acquisition of Lucasfilm is completed, Duke will adjust it accordingly. After spending half a month in San Francisco, he will Back in Los Angeles, the 83rd Oscars ceremony is about to begin! (To be continued.)

ps: Ask for monthly and recommended tickets!