Chapter 438: 100 million US dollars

Seek starting point subscription, monthly ticket, collection, recommendation ticket

The beginning of this year's summer file belongs entirely to "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers".

This is also one of the best release schedules of the year. Coupled with the impact of the global box office sales of the previous "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring", "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" showed an unstoppable momentum on the day of its release. .

"The Lord of the Rings: The Knight of the Two Towers is the darkness before dawn, and the desperate battle of Helm's Deep can make people cry."

"Although I don't like epic and magical movies, I have to admit that the Battle of Helm's Deep is really exciting, and it is one of the most classic war scenes in Hollywood history."

"Peter-Jackson is definitely the top director in Hollywood. From the narrative structure of "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" to the dark battle of Helm's Deep before dawn in "The Lord of the Rings: The Trooper of the Two Towers", it is perfectly shaped. I can't help but Looking forward to the final installment in the trilogy, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King."

"According to the information leaked from within Orion Films, another Tolkien book "The Hobbit" and George Martin's book "A Song of Ice and Fire" will be adapted in the future."

It is undeniable that "The Lord of the Rings: The Knight of the Two Towers" is definitely a classic movie.

Even in another twenty years, there is no epic film in Hollywood that can surpass "The Lord of the Rings: The Trooper of the Two Towers".

Not even the Hobbit franchise.

The box office results of the original "The Hobbit" trilogy are indeed very high.

But from the perspective of word-of-mouth and influence, it is far inferior to "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring", "The Lord of the Rings: The Knight of the Two Towers", and "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King".

The box office performance of "The Hobbit" has a lot to do with the ticket price of 3D movies.

There is no such thing as 3D movies in this period.

It's not that there are no 3D movies in Hollywood now, but that there is a lack of corresponding 3D projection halls and professional projection equipment.

The first IMAX3D movie was "The Polar Express" released in 2004.

However, it was "Avatar" that really made people realize the 3D movie.

James Cameron not only focuses on the shooting and production of 3D movies, he also promotes theater companies to update 3D projection equipment.

On the first day of the film's release in North America, "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" played in 3,800 movie theaters in North America in one day on Friday, easily earning a box office of 32.1 million US dollars.

Compared with the first-day box office results of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" and "Special Forces: The Rise of Cobra", it is not so dazzling.

But don’t forget that the first-day box office of the last “Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” was only 22.36 million U.S. dollars, and the midnight box office barely reached 32.64 million U.S. dollars.

The most important thing is that for a long time to come, the average box office on weekdays will exceed 10 million US dollars.

This is where it gets really scary.

On the next Saturday, "The Lord of the Rings: The Knight of the Two Towers" continued to sweep the North American box office market, earning another $38.56 million in box office in a single day, breaking the box office record set by "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone".

The North American box office of "The Lord of the Rings: The Knight of the Two Towers" inevitably declined on Sunday, with a single-day box office gain of 29.86 million US dollars.

Let "The Lord of the Rings: The Knight of the Two Towers" break another box office record, raising the three-day opening weekend record in North America to $100.52 million.

In three days, it earned 100 million US dollars at the box office, which is enough to make the entire Hollywood envious and bitter.

You know, the production cost of "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" is only a little over $100 million.

Michael Kuhn couldn't believe his eyes when he got the opening weekend box office numbers for "The Lord of the Rings: A Knight of the Two Towers."

Although he had long expected the big sales of "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers Rider".

But it's still unbelievable to earn $100 million at the box office in three days.

"Ryan, your vision is amazing."

In the office, Michael Kuhn looked at Ryan excitedly and said: "With the North American box office of "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers", many overseas theater companies and distribution companies have contacted us, hoping to increase the number of copies of the film. .”

"Good news." Ryan smiled.

The larger the screening scale, the higher the overseas box office of "The Lord of the Rings: The Trooper of the Two Towers".

That's good news for Orion Pictures.

Frank Macasso, who was sitting beside him, had a complex expression on his face.

It was he who sold the distribution rights to Orion Pictures for The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.

At this time, I was somewhat sighed.

Frank Macasso suddenly remembered something and said, "Barbara Broccoli has already started preparations for the crew of the next 007 series, and it is expected to officially start in January next year."

The 007 series of films is the only series of films that MGM can produce, and it is also the most important project in his hands.

"Has the shooting location been confirmed?" Ryan asked.

"It's confirmed." Frank Macasso nodded and said, "The filming location of the crew will be in Pinewood Studios in England and Maui Island."

The reason for choosing a British studio is very simple, so that it can gain a sense of identity from British movie fans.

After all, the protagonist of the film, James Bond, is a British agent, not an American agent.

In addition, Maui is the second largest island in Hawaii.

"Where's the budget!" Ryan continued.

"The film's initial budget is $142 million." Frank Macasso hesitated for a moment.

Orion Films produces a lot of large-scale commercial films every year, but the budget of 142 million US dollars is still frighteningly high, almost the film with the highest investment of Orion Films.

"When you audition, remember to notify me." Ryan frowned slightly, but he didn't say much.

"007 Die Another Day" is a series of films. In the film, the starring Pierce Brosnan and the producer Barbara Broccoli will inevitably offer a high salary, even a certain percentage The box office is divided into.

In this way, the budget of the whole film can only be greatly increased.

This is inevitable.

"Have the results of the survey on zombie-themed movies come out?"

Ryan turned to look at Michael Kuhn and asked, "The next step is to prepare for the filming of "Resident Evil."

"Rush Hour 3" and "Tomb Raider 2" were released in the summer, among which "Rush Hour 3" is the last completed film.

"Tomb Raider 3" and "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" will be released next year.

The filming plan of the "Death Comes" series of films has been temporarily suspended.

It is still uncertain when the second part of "Blade Warrior" will be restarted.

In other words, starting from 2002, the shooting plan of Orion Films will be greatly reduced.

Therefore, Orion Pictures will need to create a new series of films in the future.

Resident Evil is one of them.

What's more, the success of "Tomb Raider" and the TV version of "The Walking Dead" is enough to show that game adaptations and zombie-themed movies have a certain market.

Michael Kuhn's eyes were full of surprise, and he said: "According to the survey data sent back by overseas branches, the approval rate of zombie-themed films among overseas audiences is much higher than that in North America."

This data was investigated by a number of overseas distribution companies.

What is intriguing is that North American audiences are significantly less interested in zombie-themed films than overseas audiences.

Ryan had anticipated this, tapped his fingers lightly, and said, "Frank, get someone to contact Milla Jovovich to see if she is willing to sign multiple film contracts at once."

The original "Resident Evil" filmed a total of six films, and Alice, played by Milla Jovovich, is the soul of the entire series of films.

In the film, Milla Jovovich created a perfect Alice.

Ryan remembered that when it was rumored that Milla Jovovich would not be starring in the fifth "Resident Evil 5: Retribution", many fans expressed their refusal to watch the film.

It can be seen from this that the film company needs to take a big risk to change another actor to play Alice midway.

It's best to sign multiple movie contracts at once.

In the previous life, the film company loved and hated Milla Jovovich, and if she continues to play Alice, it will win the support of fans, which is a good thing for the box office of the film.

It's just that, in this way, the film company needs to pay a far from cheap remuneration and box office share.

So from the very beginning, Ryan planned to sign multiple film contracts at once, trying to control the remuneration of the film's leading actors to an acceptable range.

"In addition, the budget of the entire project cannot exceed 35 million U.S. dollars." Ryan specifically added.

There's no way "Resident Evil" has the same $142 million budget as "007: Die Another Day."

The "Resident Evil" series of films must control the cost of shooting.

Without the support of the North American box office market, relying solely on the overseas box office market, it is doomed that the cost of filming should not be too high.

"I'll call someone to contact Milla Jovovich's agent immediately." Frank Macasso secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

Just now he was really afraid that because of the budget of "007: Die Another Day", Ryan would be dissatisfied, or the film budget would be reduced.

After briefly understanding the details of the "Resident Evil" project, Frank Macasso got up and left, asking someone to contact Milla Jovovich's agent.

It would be best if Milla Jovovich could play the role of Alice.

If it doesn't work, Ryan can only change actors.

Since Milla Jovovich starred in "The Fifth Element" in 1997, she hasn't had any blockbuster movies, and her pay is probably not too high.

The only thing to worry about is that she may not easily agree to sign multiple film contracts at once, and Orion Pictures needs to make some concessions.

However, the original "Resident Evil" can be filmed one by one, and even after the final chapter is released, Constantine Films plans to restart the filming of the series, replace a new leading role and protagonist, and continue filming .

It is enough to explain the profitability of the "Resident Evil" series of films.

In his previous life, Ryan discussed this film with others.

The main profit of "Resident Evil" is not in the box office, but in the film DVD disc rental market, peripheral copyrights, and merchandise.

So, when he was at Netflix, Ryan thought of "Resident Evil".

Orion Films contacted several DVD manufacturers on the other side of the Pacific Ocean, and settled in US dollars, reducing the purchase cost of DVDs to the price of a cabbage.

Let's put it this way.

The CIF price of DVD discs produced on the other side of the Pacific Ocean is ten times the normal price of DVD discs in North America.

In addition, Orion Films has long-term business partners, and the price can be lowered.

As for quality issues!

There is no need to worry about these at all, and it is guaranteed to meet the quality requirements of American DVD discs 100%.

Now the total foreign exchange reserves on the other side of the Pacific Ocean are less than 160 billion US dollars. For the commodities that can be exported to generate foreign exchange, the quality requirements are very high, even stricter than the quality inspections of some European and American countries.

Last month, Netflix received its first batch of DVDs from across the Pacific Ocean, and the price of each DVD disc is only US$1.35.

An unbelievable price.

But Ryan knew that the cost of manufacturing on the other side of the Pacific Ocean was very low. After excluding various shipping costs, the manufacturing cost of each DVD disc was only a few cents. For the manufacturers there, there was still a high profit.

Especially for export commodities, manufacturers can also get a tax rebate subsidy from the government.

When he was in college, Ryan also bought a lot of pirated DVD discs, which cost 5 yuan a piece. If converted into US dollars, the price of each DVD disc is less than 1 US dollar.

Of course, the quality of pirated DVD discs varies.

With the arrival of the working day, Ryan brought the "Spider-Man 2" crew to New York for filming.

Originally, according to the original plan, he was planning to go to New York for filming before May.

However, some time was delayed on Netflix, coupled with the release of "The Lord of the Rings: The Trooper of the Two Towers", Ryan simply postponed the time by two weeks.

Anyway, the shooting time of the "Spider-Man 2" crew is relatively loose, and he will not return to the United States if he is killed before October.

To be more precise, before mid-September.

As soon as he arrived in New York, Ryan first took the crew to the World Trade Center to shoot, and in the next few days, he kept shooting in Manhattan.

In fact, the framing and shooting of "Spider-Man 2" is very simple. It just roughly shoots some iconic buildings in Manhattan inside and out. The whole process has nothing to do with the actors.

The maturity of digital synthetic image technology has gradually replaced live-action shootingActors only need to shoot under the blue screen.

During the visit, Ryan also met with a business delegation from the other side of the Pacific Ocean, and the two sides expressed their hope to continue to deepen cooperation.

Some people even privately revealed that as long as Orion Films continues to purchase a large number of products across the Pacific, it will give some policy support, such as the introduction of films.

At that moment, Ryan agreed directly.

There is a certain number of overseas films imported from across the Pacific each year.

Regardless of whether it is divided into films or bought out, both have quota limits.

Otherwise, Ryan would not have donated a large sum of money every year.

These funds are part of the box office revenue from the market across the Pacific Ocean, and the remaining part is invested in the construction of theaters and other investment projects.

In recent years, Orion Pictures has not converted a large amount of dollars from the other side of the Pacific Ocean.

Otherwise, the number of films introduced by Orion Films every year will not increase year by year.

This year alone, there have been G.I. Ops: Rise of Cobra, Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Rush Hour 3, Tomb Raider 2, Spider-Man, Shrek "And many other films.

A film company that does not exchange large sums of money for dollars, but invests heavily, will naturally be satisfied by many people.

In addition, Ryan is also a shareholder of Amazon.

The quantity of goods purchased by Amazon is more than several times that of Orion Films.

On the day before the crew ended the location shooting, Ryan met a somewhat unexpected person.

The correct chapters of "The Best of Hollywood" will continue to be updated on Sonovel.com. There are no advertisements on the site. Please bookmark and recommend Sonovel!

If you like Best Hollywood, please bookmark it: () Best Hollywood novels are updated the fastest.