Heads Up Hollywood

The last episode of "Six Feet Under" will be on Sunday, August 19th, and there will be a two-week window until the premiere of "Band of Brothers" on September 9th.

During this period, DreamWorks will launch a wave of strong publicity for "Band of Brothers", with a total publicity investment of more than 15 million US dollars. If "Band of Brothers" can be broadcast on Starz TV station and cause a strong social effect, then DreamWorks will have more room to ask prices when selling copyrights to other countries, and it will also be more confident in the sales of video tapes and DVD discs. foot.

For the STA TV network, these two weeks are the warm-up period for "Band of Brothers"!

Professional cable TV stations cannot broadcast advertisements, but they can broadcast trailers!

The two versions of the trailer, which were cut by Steven Spielberg himself, are magnificent and passionate, and can be played repeatedly on the two TV stations under STA.

Moreover, in order to create a sufficient atmosphere for broadcasting, Dunn Films made great efforts to snatch two wonderful blockbuster films to warm up for "Band of Brothers" - Fox Films' comic adaptation film "X-Men" and Universal Pictures' "X-Men" The fantasy comedy The Grinch!

Even "Poison Net" produced by Tang En Pictures was directly abandoned by Tang En.

At this time, what we want is a strong, hot and emotional film, not the slow pace of "Drug Net".

The copyright fee of "X-Men" is 20 million US dollars, and it will be broadcast on the weekend of August 26;

The copyright fee of "The Grinch" is 28 million U.S. dollars, and it will air on the weekend of September 2.

At the same time, in order to speed up the installed capacity and number of users of the STA TV network, Dunn Pictures and Comcast signed a short-term cooperation agreement.

From August 26th to September 9th, for every one million new subscribers of STA TV network, the operator Comcast can get an additional percentage point of feedback from Tang En Pictures, with a cap of five points.

There are brave men only under great profit!

Why does Comcast have huge cash flow? It is because you can get the user's pledge and high operating fees.

The more installed capacity, the more Comcast's deposit, the more new users, the higher the operating commission!

Undoubtedly, this move by Twain Films will make Comcast more actively participate in the promotion of the STA TV network.

It can be said that in order to create momentum for "Band of Brothers" and to pave the way for the STA TV network, Tang En spent a lot of money!

Fortunately, the share of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith's" has arrived. With a global box office of 520 million US dollars, Dunn Films has received a share of 170 million US dollars. The company's book funds currently exceed 280 million US dollars, which is very sufficient.

...

Tang En was in the office, pacing back and forth with his hands behind his back, looking a little anxious.

Last night, "The Grinch" finished airing on Starz, and he awaited the latest data.

Normally, he would not be able to get the statement on Monday because the operator is closed on weekends. You can only get a rough ratings report through the STA TV network.

However, because of the new cooperation, Comcast has worked overtime for two consecutive weekends in order to allow home users to enjoy installation and subscription services even on weekends.

In the past 10 days, as everyone expected, the number of paid subscribers of STA TV network has increased linearly.

But the growth rate... is not as optimistic as imagined.

Only 560,000 subscriber households added!

So far, STA TV network subscribers have reached 5.4 million. Subscriber numbers also increased because of Showtime's "Six Feet Under."

STA TV network, still ranked third in North America.

This made Tang En very unwilling.

"X-Men" failed to become a booster for STA. Now, it depends on the performance of "The Grinch".

It is now September 3rd, and "Band of Brothers" is about to land on Starz TV, making its world premiere.

If you can't come up with a shiny and dazzling growth data, it will be somewhat ugly.

Suddenly, someone knocked on the door.

"Come in!"

Tang En yelled anxiously, and took a few steps forward, only to find that what was waiting was not a data report, but Kevin Feige, Assistant President of Marvel Studios.

"Kevin?"

"Boss, do you have something to leave?" Kevin Fitch looked at Tang En, who seemed to be losing his composure, in surprise.

Tang En waved his hand, smiled self-deprecatingly, and pointed to the sofa, "Sit down, what do you want?"

Kevin Fitch sat down, rubbed his hands, a little shy, "Boss, that... "Spider-Man 2" has been finished."

"oh."

Tang En responded casually.

Kevin Feige had no choice but to say: "Boss, you promised me that after finishing this film... I can prepare my TV series."

It was only then that Tang En came to his senses!

He agreed a long time ago that as long as Kevin Feige finishes producing "Spider-Man 2", he can prepare for his comic TV series "The Punisher".

"Post-production is also very important!" Tang En gave him a deep look, "Kevin, work must be done from beginning to end!"

Kevin Feige hurriedly said: "I know, I will always participate in the post-production of "Spider-Man 2". But you know, I am just a production assistant, and there is not much work in post-production. I hope I can spare More energy, ready for The Punisher."

Tang En gave a soft "hmm".

Regarding the work of Kevin Feige, when he was in New York last time, he communicated with Nina Jacobson and Ridley Scott, and they all praised him.

"In principle, I would agree."

"Boss, thank you!"

Kevin Fitch was overjoyed.

"Wait!" Tang En waved his hand and pondered: "Kevin, since you want to shoot "The Punisher" wholeheartedly, let me ask you, what kind of character is the "Punisher"?"

Kevin Fitch said: "He's not a hero, not even an anti-hero, he's just a criminal, a criminal who doesn't hurt good people!"

Tang En frowned slightly.

Kevin Feige continued: "From the point of view of ordinary people, he is indistinguishable from good and evil. On the one hand, I want to applaud him for eliminating evil, but seeing his way of eliminating evil is too cruel. I think this is the Punisher This character's greatest personality charm."

Tang En shook his head, "Kevin, don't forget that the release date of "The Punisher" will be after the release of "Daredevil". The Punisher and Daredevil are friends, and these two superheroes cannot be separated .”

The script of "Daredevil" has been finalized, and Kevin Feige, as one of the producers, of course has seen it.

It's just that he was very surprised. Is it appropriate to put "The Punisher" and "Daredevil" side by side?

Judging from the script, "Daredevil" shows a completely realistic "epic-level good guy", even giving up self and love for the sake of justice. He fought with his fellow apprentice and passionate girlfriend "Erica", and finally saved New York.

"The Punisher" and "Daredevil" are completely two extremes!

"Daredevil" does not kill people, and insists on using legal means to punish criminals; "The Punisher" is ruthless, often punishing criminals in ways that are several times crueler than the law.

"Shouldn't it be filmed according to the comics?" Kevin Fitch was a little confused.

Tang En said: "Comics are a niche after all, but the influence of film and television works is too great. We must not promote crime from the perspective of the protagonist."

There are too many large-scale American dramas with criminals as the protagonists, but why are only a few hits such as "Breaking Bad", "Prison Break", and "Bloodthirsty Forensic"?

Because while the protagonist is sinful, he has the moral bottom line to stick to, showing the brilliance of human nature.

After the TV series "The Punisher" in the previous life was filmed, it caused a lot of controversy.

Comics fans believe that "The Punisher" is not violent enough, killing enough, or evil enough; film critics believe that the plot is simple and straightforward, without the display of humanity, and lacks artistic value.

But judging from the ratings and ratings, this drama is deeply loved by the audience.

Why?

Because TV drama is a long story.

In a short period of time, using large-scale violent scenes may attract attention and form a gimmick. But after a long time, it will definitely arouse the disgust of the audience.

The legendary top ten banned films in the world can be watched out of curiosity, but who can really enjoy the plot in it?

Kevin Feige said in confusion: "But... are we still filming 'The Punisher'?"

"No, Kevin, you misunderstood." Tang En waved his hand, "Of course we are filming the Punisher. The politics is not correct, so it must be the core of the Punisher. However, we want to show the inner struggle of the characters and add a sense of three-dimensionality. Embodying the good side rather than emphasizing the evil side."

Kevin Feige realized something, "I see, this struggle is the same as Daredevil. Daredevil's struggle is the upholding of justice and the law, and the Punisher's struggle is the confrontation between justice and evil. In the final analysis, they It’s the same kind of people, just in a different way.”

Tang En smiled and said: "That's right! The Punisher must not be a criminal! If you can show a personality similar to Daredevil in the play, then you are qualified to make a big commercial movie alone!"

Kevin Fitch felt a chill.

Suddenly, he felt that his choice to start with "The Punisher" was probably a mistake.

This role...is not easy to shoot!

If I knew it earlier, I should have started with simple characters, such as some agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., which can be made into comedy action movies. It is very simple, unlike "The Punisher", which requires serious inner expression.

Kevin Fitch sighed, "In this case, I need to ask Deacon Whistler and Jonathan Nolan to help write the script. In terms of budget...I don't think it can be less than 40 million US dollars."

Deacon Whistler is Tang En's queen screenwriter. He was selected from the grassroots back then and is currently the number one screenwriter of Tang En Pictures. Although he has a stutter, his screenwriting ability is as high as "98", and he is good at dark, action, police and criminal scripts.

Not to mention Jonathan Nolan, the script of "Daredevil" was mainly conceived by him and Deacon Whistler.

Tang En smiled, it seems that this Kevin Fitch really has a lot of ambitions!

At this moment, the door of the office was suddenly pushed open. Ella Fisher looked excited, held up a report, and kept shaking it at Tang En, saying happily: "Come out, come out 1.16 million! In the first two days of September, STA TV Network added 1.16 million new subscribers!"

Tang En stood up abruptly, his eyes flashing brightly.

Great things can happen!