Heads Up Hollywood

Hollywood in the 1990s was the era of superstars.

During this period, the 20 million club was born, allowing these top Hollywood stars to have the same treatment and level as big producers and big directors.

Tom Cruise, Tom Hanks, Kevin Costner, Jim Carrey, Mel Gibson, Bruce Willis, Jack Chen, Will Smith, Nicolas Cage...

Among them, "Shuang Tang Yi Kai" is a superstar among superstars.

However, with the advent of the new century, the era of superstars came to an end, and the era of special effects came to Hollywood.

Although it was only in 2001, this trend has already emerged. The best-selling movies in the past two years are all blockbusters with special effects.

Many action stars will step into the footsteps of Stallone and Schwarzenegger and gradually retreat to the second line.

Mel Gibson in the previous life was like this.

In the 1990s, he was invincible, and every movie he participated in was bound to be a hit, and the salary for a single movie even reached an unprecedented 25 million US dollars!

But in the new century, it quickly fell to the altar and was replaced by rising stars Tom Cruise, Leonardo Ricaprio, George Clooney and others.

When he couldn't get an ideal film contract, he could only save his own scripts and started a "Passion of the Christ" project.

As a result, the movie was a hit!

However, because Mel Gibson is a devout Catholic, when it comes to doctrinal issues in the movie, he is suspected of insinuating Judaism, which has attracted the envy of many bigwigs in Hollywood.

A big-selling movie not only failed to save Mel Gibson's career in Hollywood, but made him fall into a trough completely.

The result can be imagined, Mel Gibson is full of hatred for the Jews who control the power of Hollywood, and once he made a drunken gaffe, he was "accidentally" filmed and exposed.

Immediately afterwards, several scandals broke out one after another, such as domestic violence, such as animal cruelty, such as discrimination against women, such as violent tendencies...

In short, Mel Gibson rolled back to Australia in despair.

Twain was very indifferent to this group of superstars in the 90s, mainly because they were spoiled by the superstar era, and they paid 20 million US dollars for a casual mouth.

Seems like anything below $20 million is a waste of their time.

Except for one - Mel Gibson!

During the years when Twain was growing up, many people gave him selfless help, including Mel Gibson.

Of course, many people, including Mel Gibson, saw Twain's potential, and helping him was investing in talent.

Help is help!

Tang En knows how to repay his kindness, and he will do his best to give back. As the special effects wave rolls around, secure Mel Gibson's superstar status and his Hollywood career!

Mel Gibson is a loyal and tough guy, and he is not an American, so he has a natural disadvantage in terms of salary.

In Hollywood, male actors are paid more than female actors, and American actors are paid more than foreign actors.

This summer, the two popular films "Unsinkable" and "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" starred Mel Gibson.

Among them, "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" received 25 million US dollars in remuneration, and "Unsinkable" received 20 million US dollars in remuneration. The price is very high, but there is no lion asking for dividends. This is the benefit of foreign actors.

Of course, not signing the dividend agreement doesn't mean he can't get the dividend.

According to Hollywood practice, for every blockbuster film, the film company has to pay dividends to the crew, actors union, directors union, screenwriters union, film association and other organizations, which is about 2%-3% of the total global box office.

Especially for outsiders like Sony Pictures, although their performance is sluggish, the dividends paid out in the past ten years are the highest in Hollywood.

To put it bluntly, only by sharing the interests can we have more pleasant cooperation in the future.

By the end of July, "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" had been in theaters for 4 weeks, and the global box office finally broke through the $300 million mark!

Among them, the box office in North America was 150 million US dollars, and the overseas box office included 160 million US dollars. The French market alone contributed more than 40 million US dollars.

The box office was good enough, but it fell short of Universal's pre-release expectations.

Why?

Because a racing movie "The Fast and the Furious" produced by Universal Pictures sold unexpectedly at the box office, it even squeezed the living space of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", which is really dumbfounding.

Fortunately, "Unsinkable" has a strong reputation, and the box office did not show a cliff-like decline due to the continuous release of new films.

By the end of July, the North American box office of "Unsinkable" had successfully reached 420 million U.S. dollars, while the overseas box office was not good enough, only 360 million U.S. dollars, and the global box office was 780 million U.S. dollars!

Getting to the $1 billion mark... seems so close, but it is so far away.

"Unsinkable" has been released in North America for 10 weeks, and its weekly box office revenue has dropped below $10 million. Overseas markets have also gradually passed the apex and started a parabolic decline.

Judging from the current situation, the overseas box office of "Unsinkable" is approximately between US$450 million and US$480 million.

On August 1st, Tang En called James Cameron to his office.

"There's a check on the table for you."

They were all old friends, and Tang En was not polite, he didn't even raise his head, and quickly wrote on the manuscript with a pen.

Cameron picked it up and took a look, and couldn't help taking a deep breath—a total of 50 million US dollars!

He is the producer, director and screenwriter of "Unsinkable", and he has received a total of 15 million US dollars in salary and 10% of the global box office dividend.

Tang En put down his pen, watched Cameron staring intently at the check in his hand, and smiled, "This is the first payment. The rest will be paid next month. The company's liquidity is currently insufficient."

Because of the price hike by HBO, Twain paid an additional $30 million for the North American copyright of "Band of Brothers", and in order to hollow out HBO's content production team, he paid an additional $10 million for the buyout fee.

Coupled with the recent approval of the two films "The Hours" and "Chicago", Tang En Pictures' accounts funds are running low.

Fortunately, at the end of last month, Universal Pictures received the first North American box office share of "Unsinkable", a total of 180 million US dollars. There is also a "Saw" and "Spider-Man" video rental income, which also exceeded 20 million US dollars.

After paying Cameron's first dividend, Tang En Pictures still has 150 million US dollars in liquidity.

James Cameron shook the check in his hand, and the corner of his mouth slightly raised, "Fortunately, we signed an investment dividend agreement, and only need to pay 15% capital gains tax. If it is a bonus dividend agreement, you have to pay half of the personal income tax." Hand over to the country!"

Twain was also a little emotional. He just entered the industry back then and didn't know anything. He didn't find 20th Century Fox to operate the accounting contract. The huge dividend of 180 million US dollars from "Titanic" was personal income tax. It was really heartbreaking.

"By the way, what are you writing? It won't be another new script, right?" Cameron stared at the manuscript on Dunn's desk.

Tang En smiled, "It's just an idea, an outline. I will determine the framework of the story, and leave the specific plot design to the screenwriting department."

"God doesn't even know how you have so many ideas!" Cameron shook his head, still unable to bear the curiosity in his heart, "Can you tell me what the subject matter is?"

"Archaeology... Let's explore, tell a story about discovering a treasure."

"Like in Raiders of the Lost Ark?"

"Uh...it's not the same. Forget it, let's not talk about it, how about you? "Unsinkable" is a big hit at the box office, do you have any new plans?"

Tang En's words made Cameron curl his lips again and again, "The box office hit? It's far from what I expected!"

Tang En felt a little helpless after hearing this.

Regarding the box office of "Unsinkable", the two have communicated many times.

Cameron's expectations are high, and the guarantee will make "Unsinkable" the fourth movie with a global box office of more than 1 billion US dollars. If possible, it can even surpass "Spider-Man", which has a global box office of 1.26 billion US dollars, and become the second highest-grossing movie in history.

But now it seems that it is very difficult!

Not to mention breaking through $1 billion, even if it exceeds the $930 million of Steven Spielberg's "Jurassic Park", it will be very difficult.

With a long sigh, Cameron came to the office and sat down on the sofa, straightened his face, and said lightly: "I have already decided that if the box office of this movie can't exceed 1 billion US dollars, I will give up the long vacation. Plan until you make a really big movie!"

Tang En couldn't help laughing and said: "That's good, in order to allow you to continue filming, I will definitely find a way to prevent this film from exceeding 1 billion dollars at the box office!"

Cameron didn't even look at him, and said confidently: "Don't be kidding, you won't."

Tang En smiled, he really didn't know how to do it.

Not because he thought about Cameron's body and wanted him to rest, but because of the long-term interests of Tang En Pictures!

"Avatar" was launched in 2005, and it took four years of preparation, filming, and production before it was released in 2009.

It is already 2001, and within 4 years of this interval, let Cameron make another movie?

It's too difficult!

He worked on "Titanic" for 4 years, and "Unsinkable" is still working on it for 4 years.

In the next four years, if Cameron is really allowed to spend time on an unknown project, even if it succeeds, I am afraid that in 2005, he will have to stop his preparations for the "Avatar" project and go on a long vacation up.

The loss outweighs the gain!

After thinking deeply for a while, Tang En decided to put his treasure on "Avatar", and said: "If possible, I will talk to Universal, make improvements in publicity, and try to make "Unsinkable" more popular. There's a new flashpoint."

Cameron's eyes lit up, and he looked at Tang En intently, "I knew it, you are not a pure businessman!"

Tang En's complexion changed, and he sighed softly: "I stole your "Titanic" back then, how should I put it... There must be a sense of guilt in my heart. So in terms of movies, I will definitely help you as much as possible."

Cameron waved his hand grandly, "I don't need to mention the past. Besides, your filming of "Titanic" is brilliant enough! If I were to take the shot, maybe I wouldn't be able to create such a box office legend."

"Maybe...maybe...not necessarily, hehe..."

Tang En smiled.

In the past few years, he has frantically absorbed resources from friends around him, and even robbed Cameron's big boat.

Now, he's strong enough to give something back.