Made in Hollywood

The star-studded Regent Hotel on Whistle Street in Beverly Hills, even if it was held in the form of a formal banquet, was more luxurious and attractive than the just-concluded Golden Globe Awards ceremony, because it was the Oscar nominee afternoon. Banquet, announced the list of nominees for the 68th Academy Awards.

The nominations are at the end, with Richard Dreyfuss on stage reading the best picture nominations, "The Postman," "Piggy Run," "Braveheart," "Sense and Sensibility," and "Salvation." Private Ryan"."

"YES!"

Despite having guessed the result in advance, the two production managers, Charles Rowan and Robin Grande, gave each other a high five, Duke glanced at them, and asked the female assistant sitting next to him, "Tina, count the How many nominations did we get?"

Tina Fey flipped through the notebook and said, "Best Score, Best Makeup, Best Art Direction, Best Original Screenplay, Best Sound Editing, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Effects, Recent Cinematography, Best Male Actor Leading role, best director, best picture, a total of eleven nominations!"

"Where's our opponent?" Robin Grande leaned over and asked.

Needless to say, Tina Fey also knew he was asking about Braveheart, saying, "Best Score, Best Makeup, Best Costume Design, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Effects, Best Original Screenplay , Best Sound Editing, Best Cinematography, Best Director and Best Picture, ten nominations."

She added, "Except for the best costume design, the rest of the awards are in direct competition with us."

Charles Rowan took a look at Braveheart. Mel Gibson, who was being criticized by the public and spurned by almost everyone in Hollywood, did not attend, and he couldn't help but snorted, "How many technologies do they take at most? Award, I want to win a heavyweight award, huh..."

Several people looked at Duke at the same time. Duke spread his hands innocently, indicating that it had nothing to do with him.

In the past few days, relevant news has been coming, and some of the most important ones are still from Mel Gibson's original partners, Paramount Pictures and Viacom. They were probably stimulated by Mel Gibson's words. Summer Redstone personally intervened in the company's cooperation projects. Paramount announced yesterday that the new film project "Ransom Storm" will replace the original actor Mel Gibson. Columbia Television (CBS) also Will drop programs related to Mel Gibson.

Several other companies, although not publicly stated, but there have been rumors in private that they will not consider working with Mel Gibson in the short term.

These moves are not just for Jewish reasons. Racial discrimination is a forbidden area that public figures cannot touch. People who get into such trouble will be boycotted by a large audience. No company wants to make works that are destined to lose money.

The nominee luncheon came to an end after the Oscars for technological achievement were presented to John Lasseter and Steve Jobs of Pixar Studios.

"Robin. We're getting our dresses ready in advance."

The banquet dispersed, and everyone was in no hurry to leave. Charles Rowan said to Robin Grande, "If there is no accident. We will raise the best picture statuette."

The specific award-winning work of the crew has always been coordinated by the two production managers with the production and distribution side. Duke couldn't help looking at him and asked, "You look confident?"

"The original possibility was only 60%." Charles Rowan was full of confidence, "Now it's 80%!"

Robin Grande patted Duke's arm. "You should now think about who to walk the carpet with. This is the best chance to promote the film."

Duke knows that he is talking about "Chicago", this film will definitely miss the Super Bowl halftime commercial, and the Oscar red carpet is also a good publicity opportunity. It is a waste for him to walk on the red carpet alone. How can we make the most of the Oscar invitation letter? Value is also an issue that he must consider as a film investor.

After thinking about it, Duke decided to leave this kind of thing to the professionals. Penny Kelly has much more experience in this area than him.

Several other people were still talking, but Duke's eyes turned to the other side, it was John Lasseter and Steve Jobs, the ugly duckling of Pixar studio finally transformed into a white swan, and let the latter step into the room. to the ranks of billionaires.

Just don't know when he will return to Apple?

After thinking for a while, Duke still didn't have any impression. He could only sigh that his head was too stupid. Except for some movie-related content and popular goods such as 911, many events that happened in North America have no memory. .

Then, he was relieved, after all, he didn't have Google in his head.

Out of the Regent Hotel, when the parking lot was about to leave, Duke stopped Charles Rowan.

"Charles, Oscar PR has come to an end." He walked to the other side and asked, "I know, you haven't worked with Warner on a project recently, are you interested in continuing to work with me? From next year, I need to be able to Trustworthy people go to New Zealand to start a big project, maybe three to five years there."

"Can I think about it?" Charles Rowan didn't ask about the specific project.

Duke will not tell him the details until he expresses his intention to cooperate.

Leaving Beverly Hills, Duke and Robin Grande went to Warner Studios in Burbank. The outside disturbance did not affect the crew, and all kinds of preparations have been going on, even props, sets, rentals When the work is all done, just wait for the actors to rehearse.

The song and dance rehearsed by Lily Fred was also recognized by Duke. According to the current rehearsal progress, he initially scheduled the film to start after the Oscars.

"Congratulations, Duke."

Just walked into the studio, Duke met Tom Cruise, his smile looked very sincere, "Congratulations on your nomination for Best Director."

"Thank you, Tom." Duke greeted him quite politely. Since Cruise joined the crew, the two have maintained a good superficial relationship, "I will remember everything you did for me."

"you are welcome."

Thinking of the night of the Golden Globes and Mel Gibson today, Tom Cruise, for some reason, always had some fear of Duke, "We are partners, we should work together."

He looked at his watch. "My dance class is over today. I still have a few things to do. Let's go first and talk about it another day."

"Okay." Duke beckoned to him. "Goodbye, Tom."

Wherever Tom Cruise is. There is never a shortage of reporters and paparazzi. When I came in just now, there were dozens of people with cameras hanging near Warner Studios. In terms of publicity alone, inviting him to appear in "Chicago" was a very good deal.

After going to the dance studio to see the actresses training, Duke went to the Warner Building up front to meet with the director of distribution at Warner Bros. When discussing some situations for future announcements, compared to the summer movies produced in the past, the theme of "Chicago" is inherently insufficient, and the overall investment in the film is relatively low.

More importantly, it is too long since the glorious era of musical films. Even if he is the director of this film, he cannot change that "Chicago" can only be screened in North America in the future in the form of small-scale screenings or even point screenings.

How to use limited resources to promote the film has become the focus of recent exchanges between the crew and Warner Bros.

Tom Cruise is the brightest point of publicity, but frequent use can also lead to aesthetic fatigue, and excessive bombardment can even lead to rebellious psychology. The new publicity point is particularly important when leaving Warner. Duke simply hung up Penny Kelly and gave her the job.

Time is ticking closer to the Oscars, as "Saving Private Ryan" received eleven Oscar nominations, after the nominees luncheon. The film returned to mainstream commercial theaters again, expanding from 115 theaters to 812 that weekend.

The Oscars of this era are far more powerful at the box office than after the explosion of the Internet. Fans who have not watched it go to the theater because of the nomination, and some fans who have watched it choose to review it again in order to wait for the Oscars ceremony.

Like most nominees, "Saving Private Ryan" bounced back sharply, taking in $3.52 million, $2.76 million, and $2.11 million in the last week of January and the first two weeks of February, respectively , the North American box office has accumulated a total of 322.17 million US dollars!

This film also completely consumed all the market potential. By the last day of Oscar's collection of votes in mid-March, it was removed from all theaters in North America, and the North American box office was finally fixed at 325.79 million US dollars.

Duke easily clinched his second North American annual box office number one and knocked out the second-place Toy Story by nearly $150 million!

On the same day, "Braveheart" also completed its North American theater tour. After being nominated for an Oscar, the film also ushered in a small rebound boom, but due to the influence of the Gibson incident, the rebound has always been limited. , only put the film's North American box office into the $30 million mark and ended with $31.75 million in North America.

The strength of the North American market in the last period has also significantly increased the global box office of "Braveheart". After being shown in major markets such as the British Commonwealth, Europe, and Australia, the film's box office figures are finally no longer so appalling. The global box office On March 15th, the 100 million dollar mark was passed with difficulty!

If you count the videotape and TV copyright income after the Oscars, it won't take too long for "Braveheart" to recover its costs, but CAA, the project leader, is not happy at all, and their competitor, "Rescue" released at the same time, is not happy at all. Private Ryan is basically down from the global market, and the global box office is as high as 649.27 million US dollars~

This number is only second to "Jurassic Park", "Independence Day", "The Lion King" and "ET Alien", ranking fifth in the film history list!

"Although Lucasfilm is preparing to re-release Star Wars again, which will certainly surpass Saving Private Ryan, two of the top five films in film history now come from Duke. ?Rosenberg! Such a director who can rival Spielberg, but is an outcast from CAA, shouldn't someone at CAA be responsible for this?"

A cold voice floated in the CAA conference room, and no one could utter a rebuttal. (To be continued ~^~)