The media and audience feedback of the premiere of Crouching Tiger, hidden dragon in Cannes was sent back to North America. Danelis entertainment immediately put the relevant news on various media platforms such as newspapers, TV and the Internet. Hollywood Reporter and variety gave a lot of praise and comments. The first official trailer was timely launched on the YouTube video website.
Everything is familiar.
Now in Hollywood, danelis entertainment is not only a big studio that attaches the most importance to marketing, but also has a large number of media resources.
Therefore, even though the final stage of a series of blockbusters in the summer season is in full swing, crouching tiger, hidden dragon is still more than two months away from its release date on July 25. The film is still in the "Kung Fu craze" stalls in the current North American film market and has attracted a lot of public attention.
On the other hand, the two new films "Police Story 4" and "absolute power", which were launched on May 16 in the summer season, are also some people's joys and some people's worries.
"Police Story 4" is Jack Cheng's new film, which continues the popular "Police Story" series in Hong Kong. However, after the rush hour fire last year, the production specifications of Police Story 4 were upgraded and the script was specially modified to cater for the western market.
As a result, the project got the attention of Hollywood parties and was finally won by Disney controlled by Vivendi.
The film was shot all over the world, and the production cost of the final public promotion reached 25 million US dollars. In North America, the film started with 2376 screens. Three days in the first weekend, with Jack Cheng's popularity and 7.8 media comprehensive score, it successfully earned 17.81 million US dollars, and the box Office of the whole first week is expected to reach about 25 million US dollars.
It's a big sale.
As for the total box office of the film in North America, it depends on the box office curve. However, even if Disney offered quite high conditions at the beginning, it will definitely make a profit this time. Therefore, other Hollywood studios regret that they failed to be more bold when they opened last year.
Clint Eastwood's new Sony film absolute power is in sharp contrast to police story 4.
With a production cost of US $50 million and a screen size of 2579, this crime thriller tells the story of a lone robber involved in the murder of the president, exposing evil and upholding justice. Only US $15.17 million has been made in the first three days, and it is estimated that the full first week will be about US $20 million.
If the cost of the two films is adjusted at the beginning of the summer season, it will not be a failure. Unfortunately, with a cost of $25 million, the box office in North America is conservatively estimated to reach $50 million. With a budget of $50 million, it is unlikely that the local box office will be equal to the cost.
Generally speaking, the box office results of the first three days are that Disney has made a steady profit, Jack Cheng's popularity in North America has further stabilized, and the bumpy Sony, even if it is not a box office fiasco, has once again met with a rebuff.
Los Angeles.
The result of Simon's one week's leisure in China is that he is surrounded by a lot of work during his week back in North America. Even if the new week of May 19 comes, it's still the same.
Denise studios in Malibu.
After breakfast, Simon arrived at his office at 8:20, and Amy Pascal arrived early, planning to talk about something before the nine o'clock high-level meeting.
"As for Godzilla, some other details are still under negotiation. However, Dongbao has no room for concession when it asks for 30% of the investment share. Simon, if you have no problem, we can sign an agreement recently?"
Simon sat on the sofa in the reception area of his office, flipped through a list of documents just handed over by girl a, and asked with two purposes: "30% investment is OK, you can promise them. What are the details
"It's mainly the issue Commission, and it's also very important to share the peripheral products. We have the initiative in the former, which can be stuck at 15%. The latter is mainly in Dongbao. After all, they have been operating Godzilla for decades. "
Simon nodded and motioned to Amy to continue. He just asked. He knew the details well and didn't intend to interfere in them.
When Amy saw Simon's promise, he understood that the cut-off to Sony had been basically finalized. He looked down at his memo and showed some smiles. He said, "Over Sony Pictures, I met Chris Lee again at a party at the weekend. He said that" the ultimate miracle of 2013 "has been approved. Oh, it's mainly because Sony knows that it can't get Godzilla However, Sony has only given us $40 million in budget. "
Simon made some marks on the list of documents in his hand and said with a smile: "it's good to set up the project. At the beginning, the future water world said that it was only 70 million."
After all, it's not an obvious thing. Amy didn't say much. She laughed and then said, "besides, Wu has recently found a new project. They have planned a gunfight action movie with Zhou, the hero of Crouching Tiger, hidden dragon, which just premiered in Cannes. I've seen the synopsis of the story. It's probably about a story about a failed killer mission and being chased. Wu is good at it However, Denny once talked with him about Wu's low interest in continuing to work with us. This time, he doesn't plan to act as a director in person, but is only responsible for productionSimon knew what Amy meant by that.
If Simon thinks it's necessary to stay, Denise can bid a higher price for it.
Simon shook his head: "we insist on our own standards. If Wu can't accept it, let him be at will."
To put it bluntly, it's because after the successive success of "broken arrow" and "mission impossible 2", white dove Wu has the idea of fighting for more salary and discourse power for himself.
It's human nature.
Unfortunately, other Hollywood studios may connive at famous directors, but Simon won't. After all, there are so many cases in my memory that I can't get used to it. On Danielle's side, anyone who wants to go away has to go away. Simon is not used to it.
Amy, who has believed her boss's judgment for a long time, didn't refute it. She wrote it down on the memo and said, "then the matrix. Simon and the wodrowski brothers have talked to me several times. Independence Day is coming soon. They think their project can be started?"
The wodrowski brothers have been in Simon's eyes a few years ago. There are still two people who don't have the idea of "the matrix" that Simon's big butterfly has fanned out. However, after completing the first feature film "crazy flowers" invested by danielis entertainment, in order to let the two brothers accumulate more experience, Simon sent them to the crew of "Independence Day" to act as deputy director to Roland Emmerich Play.
"Independence Day" will be released on July 4, the independence day of the United States, and the work of the wodrowski brothers has already been successfully completed.
Simon heard Amy mention this, thought about it, nodded and agreed, "yes, but it's still a schedule. Please pay attention to it."
"It must be a blockbuster," Amy said. "Since you've been so optimistic about them all the time, I think the summer program in 1999 should be very suitable."
"Well."
A lot of the preparatory work for matrix has been completed. It's just the summer of 1997. If we speed up the production, we can release it even next summer. It's just that the 1998 film list is full and can only be put in 1999. Simon knows how successful this project was. If it's not put in the hot summer or end of the year, it's a waste.
Even in the summer of 1999, there are still two years left.
As a business, the shorter the operation cycle of a sum of money, the more cost-effective it is. That's the same reason. The concept of earning 10% in one year for 100 million US dollars is totally different from that of earning 10% in two years. Therefore, in the case of determining the schedule, the closer the official shooting date of "matrix" is to the schedule, the more favorable it is for danielis entertainment.
Even though daenerys entertainment is now one of Hollywood's biggest cash reserves, Simon has been paying close attention to this issue.
Amy Pascal, of course, has no objection.
two people continued to talk about the many trivial things about Danny's business, such as the game of the same name developed by the Dan Nelly game department in conjunction with the Star Wars preface series of Lucas pictures, such as another summer tour to be launched soon after the second idol of the United States, such as Simon's last visit to Rome Universal Studios after the construction site. And so on.
So, until nearly nine o'clock, they got up and went to the meeting room where the regular high-level meeting was held on Monday, and shuttled through the corridor. Amy thought of another thing: "I almost forgot, Simon, what should we do about the exchange study project with two Chinese universities?"
A few days ago, in China, because the siheyuan in Maoer hutong is very close to Zhongxi, Simon took time to go there. He had the idea of introducing a group of school students to Hollywood for exchange and study, and told them to go on.
I thought that the two sides would have to communicate for a while before they could come up with a plan. When Amy mentioned it, Simon said, "you can talk to Chen Qing about this, because some of them will have a special identity. She must know that these people will give them some comfortable positions and preferential treatment. The others are all cast into the film crew they are shooting, and they are considered interns. "
The following regular meeting lasted for an hour. When I returned to my office again, someone was waiting here. It was an Asian man about 40 years old, named Zheng Shoudong.
Just listen to the name, obviously, Korean.
Of course, this is not accurate.
Simon has seen the other party's information when he was in China. Zheng Shoudong, 43 years old, was born in Seoul, South Korea. He graduated from Yale Law School. He is currently an American citizen and works for McKenzie international law firm, which specializes in mergers and acquisitions and bankruptcy reorganization. In addition, he has been resident in Hong Kong for six years.
Although not as a partner of McKenzie, not even the chief executive of McKenzie's Hong Kong Branch, this middle-aged man with a dual degree of Yale J.D. and a master's degree in economics has a solid ability, and has participated in a number of mergers and acquisitions projects during McKenzie's work.
Not top notch, experienced.
This is one of Simon's criteria for selecting puppets.
"Mr. westlow, it's true It's a great honor to meet you. "At this time, facing Simon, a middle-aged man who has been unable to go any further due to his ethnicity, is obviously a little nervous. When he greets him, he is instinctively bowing himself 90 degrees, which makes Simon very satisfied. What he needs is a person who still retains the Korean habits.
When the other party straightens up, Simon doesn't shake hands with the other party again. He signals Zheng Shoudong to sit down on the sofa in the reception area and walk to one side.
Zheng Shoudong hesitated to sit down until Simon sat down. His butt was just a little close to the sofa. When he saw that girl a had brought her coffee, he subconsciously got up and said thanks again and again.
Simon waited patiently for the other party to be polite to girl A. after a while, he said, "Mr. Zheng..."
Zheng Shoudong quickly turned his attention to the young tycoon next to him. Respectfully and carefully, he interjected: "Bruce, Mr. westrow, you can call me Bruce. This is my English name."
Simon shook his head: "no, Mr. Zheng, if you are going to work for me, I want you to use your Korean name as much as possible."
Zheng Shoudong didn't know why. He thought it was wrong for him to jump in. Sweat oozed from his forehead, and he nodded: "Oh, of course, of course it's OK."
What the young tycoon said must be something.
Zheng Shoudong still doesn't understand why he suddenly appeared in front of Simon westero, so that when his boss informed him of this a few days ago, he still thought it was an overdue April Fool's Day joke. It was not until he returned to the United States and officially received a meeting date from Simon westero that the global chairman of McKenzie came to meet him from Chicago headquarters to find out the reasons.
It's not a dream.
The only thing Zheng Shoudong can confirm is that this is definitely a good thing for him.
It can be called a turning point in life.
Now the result is that the more you look at this meeting, the more you tremble, and the calmer you are, the less you feel. You feel the sweat on your forehead, and almost all middle-aged people want to cry.
As long as he is not blind, he will not be satisfied with his performance at this time.
Simon, of course, could see the tension of the middle-aged people next to him, but he didn't mind. He continued: "let's get down to business, Zheng. I hope you come to work for me. Is there any problem?"
As soon as Zheng Shoudong's eyes brightened, he nodded without hesitation: "of course, of course, Mr. westrow."
"Very good," Simon affirmed, and then said, "here's the thing. I plan to make some investment in South Korea next, so I can find you. Zheng, first of all, what do you think of the current economic situation in South Korea?"
Zheng Shoudong quickly determined two things.
I'm already employed.
The reason why he was liked by Simon westero has also been found.
So he began to relax. Hearing Simon's question, the middle-aged man quickly thought about it for a moment and said, "Mr. westero, in my opinion, the economic situation of South Korea is as precarious as that of Thailand, which has been attacked recently. This can be seen from the bankruptcy of Hanbao steel at the beginning of the year. If Mr. westero wants to invest in Korea... "
Zheng Shoudong said that he was a little more transparent about why he was asked to join gengatong, but he just stopped for a moment and said quickly, "next, it's really an excellent opportunity, because the economic development of South Korea in recent years is quite good, and there are many enterprises worth investing in. Therefore, once the next economic crisis in South Korea leads to some enterprises in trouble, Mr. westero can just launch the vulture acquisition. "
Speaking of this, Zheng Shoudong pauses again. Seeing the young man beside him nodding slightly, he goes on: "however, there are also many obstacles, because the Korean economy is not open, let's say the enterprise equity. At present, the Korean law stipulates that the maximum proportion of foreign capital holding the shares of Korean enterprises is only 7%, and it is impossible to obtain the control right at all. Of course, South Korea has been promoting financial reform since last year. In case of a crisis, I think as long as Washington puts pressure on Seoul, many restrictions will be lifted in the short term. "
Simon listened to Zheng Shoudong say this, the corner of his mouth showed a little smile: "so, Zheng, you should understand what I want you to do?"
Without hesitation, Zheng Shoudong bowed slightly to Simon on the sofa: "yes, Mr. westrow."
"Very good," Simon repeated his affirmation just now, pushing a document that girl a had just put in front of him to Zheng Shoudong: "in this case, this is your first title after working for me. The position of director of Bank of New York should be regarded as part-time welfare. Oh, it should be the Bank of New York Mellon by now. "
Zheng Shoudong shows an unexpected expression again. He carefully picks up the document Simon pushed in front of him and opens it. It's an employment contract.
It turned quickly, except for the one he signed.
This made Zheng Shoudong once again have the illusion that he was dreaming.
Even though he has been in Hong Kong before, Zheng Shoudong also knows that bank of New York has recently successfully acquired Mellon financial group to become a first tier bank in the United States. Moreover, with the nature of his previous work, he certainly knows what it means to be a director of a large bank with assets exceeding 100 billion.It's just that his ethnicity, even in the management of McKenzie before, did not dare to think about such a position.
However, Zheng Shoudong was not a fool after all, and soon he wanted to understand.
No matter how Simon westerlow got the job for him, he had to obey westero completely when he entered the board of directors of the Bank of New York Mellon. Once he had his own idea, he would not be far away from rolling away, or even further, he would lose everything else westero gave him.
Simon didn't explain this too much. I believe the other party will understand.
As for the deeper level, giving Zheng Shoudong one of the two board seats of Bank of New York Mellon obtained some time ago is, first of all, easier for the other party to control, and secondly, related to the next layout for South Korea.
Veronica's financial sorting of the enterprises in the westero system has been going on for some time in the past. However, according to the previous data, Simon can probably be sure that the free cash reserve of the whole westero system should be about $60 billion.
Even compared with Simon's wealth, which has been shrinking due to the sharp fall of the Nasdaq, the money is still small.
Simon didn't intend to use all the money.
For the top of the pyramid, borrowing money is always the king.
When Zheng shoudong'an was put on the board of directors of Bank of New York Mellon to give a sweet date in advance, it also had the intention of letting the other party be responsible for coordinating the westero system to draw funds from Bank of New York Mellon to invest in South Korea. Of course, the Bank of New York Mellon will certainly not be the only source of funds for the westrow system.