Chapter 474: United Artists

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

On Saturday, May 4, "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" once again earned a box office of 40.22 million US dollars.

In just two days after its release, the film earned $76.68 million at the box office in North America.

If nothing else, "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" will become the second film to surpass $100 million in box office in three days in its first weekend.

Although the North American box office market share has been growing, the overall speed is not very fast, and the overall market share is still limited.

While "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" was a hit at the box office, the rest of the releases were all down.

It can be said that "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" squeezed out the box office revenue of the entire May film.

This is why no major commercial films were released throughout the May schedule.

"Congratulations, Peter."

Inside a golf club in Beverly Hills.

Leonardo DiCaprio, Ryan, and Peter Jackson hugged each other, and said in a tone full of envy: "You and Ryan forced the academy to a point where they had to make compromises."

"To be precise, it's all thanks to Peter." Ryan smiled and said, "I just asked someone to prepare a public relations fund in advance for public relations at the end of the year."

If you want to win important awards, public relations funds are essential.

"I just want the Oscars to come sooner." Peter Jackson couldn't help showing excitement.

At the same time he was a little worried.

From the first day of "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," which grossed $36.45 million at the box office, the academy had to make a choice.

The first "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" won multiple Oscar nominations, but in the end it only won a few technical awards.

The second "Lord of the Rings: The Knight of the Two Towers" also won only a few technical awards.

However, the third "Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" struck again, earning a box office of 76.68 million US dollars in two days of release, and received unanimous praise from the media, film critics, and audiences.

It can be seen that at the next Oscars ceremony, the academy must make a choice, which is to bow to the commercial and award important awards such as best picture and best director.

Still choose to continue to ignore, disregarding the public opinion of the media and the audience, once again called "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" and won several consolation awards.

Leonardo DiCaprio is well aware that the academy will not choose the latter right now.

The ratings for the Academy Awards have been declining for several years, and the Academy needs to improve their ratings.

Moreover, this time the Academy awarded the Oscar for Best Actor and Actress to two black actors at the same time, which has caused dissatisfaction among many people.

On the media and the Internet, Qiqi's voices of dissatisfaction with the Academy and the Oscars erupted, and these needs to be calmed down as soon as possible to restore the fairness of the Oscars.

If the Academy ignores The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King once again.

Then, these voices of doubt will trigger a chain reaction, and the fairness of the Academy and Oscar will face the most serious challenge.

So The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King has a very high chance of winning a major award.

What's more, many people know that Ryan has always had a good relationship with Frank Pearson, the current dean of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Furthermore, this is not the first time the Academy has compromised with business, such as James Cameron and "Titanic".

The film's unimaginable box office performance made it impossible for the academy to ignore it.

The same is true for "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" right now. The total box office of the three films is expected to reach 3 billion US dollars, as well as the classic content, plot, feelings, technology and so on in the film.

Make it easy for the college to make the right choice. .

"Leon, what are your plans!"

Putting away the clubs, Ryan returned to sit under the umbrella, wiped the sweat off his face with a towel, and asked, "Are you going to move closer to the academy?"

"I'm almost at the end of my career in business. If I want to make a breakthrough next, I can only get an Oscar statuette." Leonardo DiCaprio was quite helpless.

The two films "Titanic" and "Inception" have sold well at the global box office. In addition, his last film "The Beach", with a budget of 50 million US dollars, returned 144 million US dollars at the box office.

As a result, his status in commercial films is getting higher and higher, and he needs to consider it for future development.

So for him, it would be best to get an Oscar for Best Actor statuette that symbolizes honor.

Ryan nodded without any surprise.

There are very few Hollywood actors who can ignore the charm and commercial value brought by Oscar's best actor and actress statuette.

He can understand Leonardo - DiCaprio's feelings, and this year, Li Zi has two films released.

One of them, "Gangs of New York," had a film budget of 100 million U.S. dollars. The original version of this film made a global box office of 193 million U.S. dollars, which is not a big hit.

But another "Cat and Mouse Game" directed by Steven Spielberg, with a budget of 52 million US dollars, won a North American box office of 164 million US dollars and an overseas box office of 187 million US dollars. The global box office of the film reached 352.1 million US dollars.

Another starring role in this film is Tom Hanks.

These all show that his development in commercial films has almost come to an end, and he urgently needs an Oscar statuette.

"Nice idea."

"But, Leon, you're too young."

Ryan shrugged, and said sharply: "Before the age of thirty, the Academy will not easily award you the Best Actor statuette."

In fact, apart from the age factor, the biggest obstacle comes from Leonardo DiCaprio himself and "Titanic".

While "Titanic" sold well at the box office, it also made him famous overseas as a milky actor, which made him not popular with academic old men.

"Just like Tom Cruise and Jim Carrey!" Peter Jackson gestured.

Among the big-name Hollywood male stars, there are only a handful of them who have not won the Oscar for Best Actor.

The most famous of these are Tom Cruise and Kim Carrey.

The difference is that Kim Carrey has never bowed to the academy.

He does not have any tendency to appear in art films, but has always insisted on appearing in various comedy films of different styles.

Tom Cruise is just the opposite of him. He is always trying to find a way to get the Academy's recognition, and thus get an Oscar for Best Actor statuette.

"Jin Carrey has no interest in Oscar, and the Academy will not let him win." Ryan agrees very much with Kim Carrey's choice.

The uncrowned king does not necessarily need an Oscar's best actor statuette.

Not to mention the best actor Oscar winner, Kim Carrey has never been nominated for an Oscar at all, and not even once.

Not even in the future.

The academy has always discriminated against comedians. As long as they are labeled as comedians, it is almost equivalent to saying goodbye to the Oscar statuette.

"As for Tom Cruise!"

Ryan shook his head and continued, "The academy doesn't like him either."

The Real Academy not only doesn't like Tom Cruise and Jim Carrey, it doesn't like Leonardo DiCaprio either.

It took Xiao Lizi ten years in his previous life before he was recognized by the academy and won the coveted Oscar for Best Actor statuette.

I'm afraid even he himself can't tell whether it's worth it compared to what he paid.

Of course, Ryan will not persuade too much, Leonardo DiCaprio's obsession with Oscar's best actor statuette is even more than that of Tom Cruise.

Speaking of Tom Cruise, Leonardo DiCaprio suddenly thought of something, "Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise seem to intend to continue working together."

"They got a couple of editors and they're working on a script about aliens."

Steven Spielberg has always been fond of shooting films related to aliens, and "Minority Report", which will be released in June, has a very good reputation in the test screening of the film.

It made Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise want to continue working together.

Of course, the premise is that the release of "Minority Report" can be as popular as the test screening, ushering in a box office hit.

Hearing what Leonardo DiCaprio said, Ryan couldn't help but think of a movie about aliens called "War of the Worlds".

Directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Cruise, the sci-fi film had a budget of $132 million.

Ryan was very impressed with the film, which grossed $234 million in North America alone, $369 million overseas, and $603 million worldwide.

Among the sci-fi movies about aliens, it can be regarded as a very good one at the box office.

It's a pity that DreamWorks was on the verge of being acquired by Paramount at that time, and it was impossible to spend 132 million US dollars to take the risk of shooting a science fiction film.

In desperation, Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise found MGM at the time.

However, MGM is also in trouble, and the prerequisite for MGM's investment is that it must invest in the name of United Artists, and does not include film distribution rights, and must accept the acquisition of Tom Cruise and his partners. invitation.

Tom Cruise and partners plan to buy United Artists from MGM.

As one of the former eight old Hollywood film companies, United Artists' entire assets and film library were swallowed up by MGM as early as the early 1980s.

At this time, there is only an empty shell left, and there are almost no valuable assets Of course, Tom Cruise and his partner Paula Wagner (female) only want to buy United Artists brand.

In any case, as one of the eight major film companies in Hollywood before the 1980s, United Artists still has a certain value in its own brand.

What's more, the hot sale of "War of the Worlds" brought United Artists back to the attention of the media and audience.

Ryan secretly remembered it.

That's a pretty good deal.

United Artists is of no use to Orion Pictures, as long as the price is right, it is not impossible to sell it.

In the evening, Ryan had dinner with Frank Pearson

During the period, the two talked for a long time and reached a lot of consensus.

Orion Pictures needs "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" to return with a full load in the next Oscar, and the academy needs to restore fairness and ratings.

The two hit it off.