Chapter 302: No Choice
The academy, as usual, did not respond to the controversy over the award results in the media. Everyone knows that no matter who the award is given to, it will always cause controversy.
A few days after the Oscars, the Firefly Studio, after the early-year turmoil, released its first film, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles". Many people were paying close attention to the movie with various emotions.
Although the film "Downfall" released earlier, also had good box office results, the box office of that movie, although it was greatly increased under the influence of Eric, still counted as a small fight.
Because Eric was very optimistic about "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" beforehand, Robert Shaye raised as much as $2000 for the film, which is already the limit of Firefly"s current capabilities, while the seven major film companies could raise more than $3000 if necessary.
Moreover, even if the box office of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" is much better than planned after its release, it is still difficult to increase the canvas, and once the box office is not satisfactory, hundreds of screens may be removed next week.
Therefore, this release has attracted the attention of most people inside and outside the Hollywood circle. If Firefly suffers a setback this time, many people will rejoice in their misfortune and even add salt to their wounds.
Eric, the producer of "The Instinct," was not nervous like Robert Shaye or Jeffery. This was because of the box office results from their previous work, which served as a guarantee, combined with the much larger scale of promotion for the movie now compared to the previous one. Firefly invested a huge $6 million in the movie"s promotion budget, not including the cost of producing 2,000 copies.
Although Eric attended the premiere, he kept a low profile, letting the creators of "Ninja Turtles" take the spotlight. At this moment, he was discussing the preparations for "The Instinct" with Jeffery.
"Jeffery, if Hollywood doesn"t find the right actor, I suggest you try Europe. Just like the movie "La La Land" a few years ago, the director chose European actors because the majority of Hollywood actors he liked were too conservative to act."
Jeffrey glanced at the stage where Robert Shaye was speaking pa.s.sionately. He shook his head and said, "Eric, I"m not worried about this. There are still many things, such as the director you recommended, Paul Van Hove, who just took on a big production movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and has no interest in "Instinct". And the budget is also a big problem. I had someone do a detailed budget based on the script you gave me, and the result is that the cost of this movie is at least 30 million dollars, far exceeding your 20 million dollar budget. And the most important cla.s.sification issue, the scenes you designed are a bit over the top, and it"s easy to be rated NC-17. We now have no ability to interfere with the rating committee, and once it"s rated NC-17 and shown in restricted theaters, this movie will definitely end up being a loss."
Eric ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. He knew that what Jeffrey said was true. The movie rating committee in the United States was completely controlled by the seven major film companies, and many people had a.n.a.lyzed that some of the same scenes appeared in some movies. If a movie was produced by one of the seven major film companies, it would be rated R, but if it wasn"t, it would be rated NC-17. Eric clearly remembered that in a previous life, Meg Ryan starred in "Naked Cut" in search of a breakthrough, and because it was released by a major film company, some of the shots in the movie could be considered equal to the level of an "Ava" movie, but it was rated R.
If the movie was shot in the future and wasn"t rated NC-17, then the seven major film companies must have collectively gone crazy. Although there is still a way to re-rate the movie by modifying the plot, the story will inevitably undergo significant changes. The box office results are then difficult to predict.
After thinking for a while, Eric knew that he had no choice. He had to say, "Okay, Jeffrey. Contact the seven major film companies and see which one is willing to cooperate, and choose one that is more favorable to us."
"And about you being the screenwriter..."
"If that"s the case, there"s no way to hide it. Let"s just use our real names. I"m not even twenty years old yet, and writing this script is just a way for people to think I"m wild and young. If we hide it, I bet those guys, no matter what their intentions are, will find a way to reveal it."
Jeffrey shook his head helplessly. "Eric, I just don"t understand why you have to make this movie. I can"t see anything special about it."
"Just watch the script a few more times," Eric teased. "Do you know who the killer is yet?"
Jeffrey shook his head again. "I won"t be able to fully determine that until you tell me what exactly "I..." means when the female lead, Beth, says it after she"s shot by the male lead, Nick."
Eric hinted, "Perhaps it"s "I"m sorry," "I was wrong," "I love you," etc.?"
"I think the least likely is "I love you," and the most likely is "I was wrong,"" Jeffery said.
Eric was stunned. Actually, the original line was "I love you," but Eric felt that it would be difficult for someone deeply loved to say "I love you" just before they die after being shot without hesitation by the person they love. Therefore, Eric made a small modification in the script and only left "I...", letting the audience guess. Just like "The Island," leaving a suspense would benefit the box office.
On stage, after several main creators of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" took turns giving speeches, the movie began to play.
Eric frowned as he watched the movie again on the screen. The strong flavor of a B-grade Hong Kong film was unavoidable. Although the total cost of $13 million was a super-production for Hong Kong films, it was only a moderate cost in Hollywood. In addition, there had to be some special effects in the movie, the result of which was predictable.
One scene, in particular, stood out to Eric. When a group of people were fighting, a knife-wielding villain cut the power line. Here, even if you were unable to do a glowing special effect, you should at least have some sound of electricity, but the result was...nothing. The villain just shuddered a few times, even if he had touched the electricity, it looked a bit funny.
Of course, this was mainly because Eric"s appet.i.te was spoiled by the special effects of his past films. Although Eric frowned frequently, the audience in the theater partic.i.p.ating in the premiere laughed or gasped softly from time to time because of the language and martial arts movements of the four ninja turtles.
The previously nervous film crew finally relaxed after hearing the sounds. Perhaps it was due to the film"s budget, or perhaps it was a tradition in Hong Kong films, but the movie only had a ninety-minute time slot and soon ended. The lights hadn"t even turned on yet before the theater filled with enthusiastic applause.
"A fantastic science fiction action movie. Although many areas of production are unsatisfactory, with a 13 million dollar investment, this is a remarkable film."
"The occasional jokes about Renaissance figures in the movie are hilarious, and the action design is also full of surprises. It"s worth a watch."
"..."
After the premiere, a variety of reviews came in, and due to the Firefly"s aggressive promotion and public relations, the overall evaluation of the movie was very positive. Many newspapers gave high scores, although there were occasionally a few harshly critical articles appearing, they could not cause a stir. Although the seven major film companies did not want to see the success of this movie, no one would spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to smear the movie in the face of Firefly"s relentless spending on promotion.
Moreover, the seven major companies were not particularly optimistic about this movie, otherwise, Fox wouldn"t have refused to distribute the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" after seeing the completed film.
Under the attention of many people, three days later, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" received $25 million in box office revenue for its first weekend in 2000 theaters in North America, causing many people to be shocked.
Fox, who had once again fallen for the wrong movie, quickly fired several executives in a short period of time. With the "Golden Alliance" incident, Fox was inevitably subjected to ridicule from many media outlets.
Facing this situation, Fox had no choice but to endure.
One week later, the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" had its first-week box office results, reaching 32 million.
Seeing this result, many media outlets that were previously speaking out had no voice.
People within the Hollywood circle also realized that Firefly, after experiencing the storm at the beginning of the year, was not affected in any way. The news that Eric was the first to have a good look at this movie was inevitably revealed, and once again caused a heated discussion within the Hollywood circle. Besides the several movies Eric partic.i.p.ated in, including "Steel Magnolia," this was the second time that a movie was not liked by others but was liked by Eric and became a great success.
All of a sudden, many people started asking around about which movies Eric had an eye on. As a result, the matter of the series of copyrights that Eric had had Drew acquire before the year ended once again caught the attention of many. Because Niki wasn"t in too much of a hurry, only about half of the 20 or so copyrights that Eric had listed were acquired. When the two copyrights that were currently being negotiated were discovered, all of Hollywood"s strongest film companies joined the compet.i.tion, and the copyright owners also held off on selling. In this situation, Eric could only have Drew stop acquiring copyrights, even though there were still a few that hadn"t been obtained. If he were to act now, he would definitely fall into a frenzy, and the chances of getting his hands on them would be extremely low.
At the time, many people started to ask Eric which movies he was interested in. So, the matter of the series of copyrights acquired by Drew before Eric"s list came into the eyes of many people again. Because of the reason that Nina was not too impatient, Eric"s list of over twenty copyrights only acquired half. And after two copyrights that were being talked about were found, all the Hollywood movie companies with strength joined the compet.i.tion, and the copyright owners also waited for a good price.
And Eric"s most valued adaptations, such as "Charlie"s Angels", "Mission: Impossible", and "The Bourne Ident.i.ty", have already been acquired. Of course, these are all afterwords, and after the success of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," the most complicated person was undoubtedly Robert Shaye. After all, if Robert Shaye could wait for half a year, waiting for the release of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," then the new line would be completely different.
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