The Best Director

"Oh ho-"

There are patches of snowflakes in the sky, and the vast Park City Deer Valley Ski Resort is full of white awns. Looking down from the sky, you can see piles of pine trees covered with white snow are still green. There are some well-equipped tourists enjoying the fun of skiing.

"OK! READY——!" On the snow-white mountain slope, Wang Yang, Joshua, Harry George, Alexis and others all supported the ski poles in their hands. Go down the mountain to the finish line!

Park City, a ski resort, is hosting the 22nd annual Sundance Film Festival, where "Reservoir Dogs", "Crazy Clerk", "Memory Fragments", "Death Illusion"... Last year's production cost was only The 2.8 million "Hustle and bustle" not only received 23.56 million global box office in the end, but also an award season with 82% freshness. The producer MTV Films and the distributor Paramount Classics are quite enviable.

This year, a total of 120 films entered the film festival, which lasted for 10 days from the 19th to the 29th. The opening film was "Old Friends Are Rich" starring Jennifer-Aniston. This romantic film with a production cost of 6.5 million was produced by the independent Producer "s-Is-That-ns" comes out, and due to its critically acclaimed premiere, it's linked to "Lead Dog," which is already slated to serve as the closing film, and Films such as "Coming Soon" and "An Inconvenient Truth" have become the hot spots in Park City this year.

Today, Sundance will naturally not be short of filmmakers, celebrities, media reporters, etc. Sony Classics, Fox Searchlight, Universal, Lionsgate, Weinstein... Including Flame Movie, it did not come to show off It means that although "Shanghai Kiss" which participated in the exhibition is difficult to take on this important task, FF is here to hunt for treasures, and to find the kind of films that can be encountered but not sought after, and this year seems to be a big year, and the opportunity has come.

"Hey fat guy, you slide too slowly! Galileo was right. When an object falls, the weight and speed are not proportional! He is wrong again! Because I will be faster!" On the snowy slope, first deliberately fell In the back, Wang Yang, who came from behind, yelled trash talk at the penultimate Harry George, and raised his ski pole to overtake him, leaving behind a series of laughter: "Hahahaha——"

"See you later...Yan." Looking at the coquettish back in the red ski suit who quickly went away, the big fat man shook his head helplessly. Who made him not good at sports? Losing three pounds is hard enough. Harry continued to carefully control the center of gravity of his body, sliding the snowboard slowly, how could Yang slide so fast? He can even participate in the Olympics...

Wang Yang is not only here to attend the film festival, but also to go on vacation. For this reason, he called Joshua and other friends to enjoy this skiing weekend together. Jessica did not come because she had to take care of Keke. After all, this is a plateau The weather is cold, and it will be bad if the baby catches a cold and gets sick, although Ke Ke has carried out cold resistance training.

"Oh--" Suddenly, I heard excited shouts from behind,

Joshua knew Young was coming! He immediately bent his knees even more, leaned forward to lower his center of gravity, and couldn't help but keep pushing his ski poles, how could it be possible! If I had known that Yang Mingming was an expert skier, it would have been impossible for me to be number one from the bottom! He wants to tease everyone, it's disgusting! "Oh!" Suddenly, the center of gravity was out of control, and Joshua wanted to slow down sideways, but suddenly rolled in the snow and hit a pine tree before stopping.

Wang Yang let out an exclamation, the skis stopped in a parallel turn, slid up and asked, "Are you okay, brother?" Joshua raised his head and squirted out a mouthful of snow. Wang Yang observed him for a while, and then Haha laughed out loud, it's all right! As he activated it, he shouted with a smile: "Yue Shu, I know that the snow is free, but don't eat too much! It's not beneficial! Maybe someone peed there..."

"No way!?" Looking at the distant figure, Joshua took a deep breath, slowly turned his head to look at the snowy ground, and then looked up at the big pine tree in front of him. "Pfft—" Soon Zachary Levi also had Bai Xue, and looked helplessly at Wang Yang who had gone away. That guy was no longer a rookie when he was filming "High School Musical".

Anne Darren, who is currently at the top of the ski race, is no ordinary tourist. The independent romance film "Flannel Pajamas" starring her participated in this year's film festival drama competition. At this time, seeing Wang Yang chasing up and walking parallel with her, Annie smiled and said hello, "Director!"

"Hey, Annie!" Wang Yang turned his head and looked at the freckled woman. She was wearing a white plush hat, her long hair tied up on her back, and her face with faint freckles was no longer youthful and immature, but With the mature style of the big sister next door, it makes people feel very soft and comfortable. He smiled and said: "You skate really well! People don't know, and they think you grew up in Utah." Nebras The plus girl Annie smiled: "I'm not, maybe I just... have a little talent."

Hearing her chuckle, Wang Yang also laughed: "Then my talent is higher than yours." He didn't speed up to get rid of her, and said with a smile: "We haven't chatted like we are now, you know , we should come out more and have fun."

Although he didn't say "JUST-U-AND-ME", his words are still a bit ambiguous. Maybe others will think it's a hint, but Annie knows that he has no other meaning, never has, he just regards her as a good friend, She smiled and said, "Yes, I haven't properly congratulated you on winning the Golden Globe Award for Best Director." Wang Yang wondered, "Please, didn't you say 'congratulations'? How about it?" Annie who was being teased just kept laughing: "I don't know, a greeting card? Oh no no..." She naturally thought of "500 Days with Summer" and was amused by herself: "No, no. "

"Haha!" Wang Yang looked forward with a smile, gradually bent his body to prepare for acceleration, and asked: "So your movie "Flannel Pajamas" will premiere tomorrow?" Annie replied: "Yes. "Wang Yang held up his snow pole and shouted: "Take us to see it together tomorrow! See you later, girl!"

Wang Yang really wants to see Annie's performance now, and wants to know what level she has reached. Watching "Flannel Pajamas" is a good opportunity. For Anne Darren, Wang Yang knows that he has some different feelings in his heart. Because he insists on becoming famous because of him, he has a somewhat "hopeful" mentality. Cooperation opportunities, but Anne does not lack major supporting roles, and actively participates in independent film performances. She keeps a low-key and simple life, and is not lost in the hard-won flashes. She is very upbeat.

There will be opportunities for cooperation soon, not "I Am Legend", the second half of the script adapted by Mark Plutosevich and Akiva Goldsman adds female characters for commercial considerations, but he Not going to do that, the whole movie is just Robert Neville, the rest are zombies.

"Oh ho ah ah—" The wind whistled past his ears, and the snowflakes hit his face icy cold, Wang Yang didn't think much, and continued to chase Alexis in front at full speed: "Ah——" If you look at it from a bird's-eye view of the sky, you can see a red dot quickly approaching the blue dot, and then parallel to it for a while, and the red dot surpasses it.

"What's the action of the flame movie?" Park City is already in a state of rumors, which movie should I buy? Is it to buy out the copyright or buy the distribution right with dividends? Distributors are discussing a lot, and the top executives of various companies gather together like teachers and gossips, Sony Classics is about to win "Old Friends Are Rich", Universal Pictures has already negotiated "Leader Dog", Mickey Mouse Lamax competes for "Midnight Audience"... The most concerned is the "Miracle Wholesaler" Flame Movie!

It bought "Crash" at the Toronto Film Festival, it bought "Memory Fragments" and "Death Illusion" at Sundance, and even swallowed up the producer Newmarket... This year's 22nd Sundance, Flame Which miracle student did you fancy?

"Huo Huo seems to be very interested in "Little Sunshine Girl". They are asking about the price." "Pretty Girl", he has been skiing for the past few days, and he also said that he is here for vacation, so he has no objection.", "Do you believe it? No matter who's idea, we will make "Little Sunny Girl" Buy it!", "The theater of "Flannel Pajamas" found Magic Yang!", "He said the film is very cool!", "Huoyan asked the price of "The Magician" again!", "Huoyan took a fancy to "Midnight" Audience"!", "The flame is attacking "Boots"!"...

For a time, the target of Flame Films included almost the entire premiere unit and drama competition unit, as well as several documentaries such as "An Inconvenient Truth". Which one is it?

"Sunshine Little Girl" is indeed the object of the flame movie's first glance, and the level has reached the highest SSS level, buy it! Must buy!

The film tells a dream-seeking story. 7-year-old Olive has a big weird and crazy family. His father is a lecturer who sells success courses and sells his "Nine Steps to Success" everywhere; his elder brother admires Nietzsche. The autistic patient who was admitted to the flight academy swears dumb, and has not spoken to his family for nine months; the gay uncle is a total failure, dumped, unemployed, and attempted suicide... Grandpa was driven out of the nursing home Old rascal, foul-mouthed, drug-addicted; and Olive herself, who dreams of overnight fame and believes she'll be Miss America one day; and Mom, who's probably the only normal person, if she doesn't have menopausal symptoms.

With the support of these weird family members, Olive participated in a beauty pageant called "Sunshine Little Girl", and the family drove a broken van and embarked on a collective dream journey.

A few development track tidbits can explain to a certain extent how much embarrassment this R-rated family road movie comedy with a production cost of 8 million has experienced before. 1: In 2000, Michael Arndt created the first draft of the script, and the production Filmmakers Ron Yexa and Albert Berger were interested in producing the film, but were unable to do so due to funding issues. 2: In 2001, producer Mark Tetotu bought the right to adapt the script at a price of 250,000 yuan, looking for focus film investment. 3: Focus thought and thought, but was unable to make up his mind to invest in the film because the script was too bland. 4: In 2004, Mark Tetotu spent 400,000 and redeemed it from the focus. 5: The production fee of 8 million is jointly invested by four independent producers, na-de-ns, g-h-lms, rd-Gear-ns-, and Deep-ver-ns.

Still, despite being yet another screen debut of husband-and-wife directors Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, "Little Miss Sunshine" is now a big hit in Park City. , not only because of its undeniable potential as a film, Flame seems to be very interested in it.

"It has a lot of successful characteristics." Mark Slanter, Chris Ball and others all think it is quite extraordinary, and Wang Yang also thinks so. He likes its characters, stories, themes, and temperament very much. Funny, very touching, very touching, and he knows more about its potential.

"Old Friends Are Rich", which was originally purchased by Sony Classics, received 13.36 million North American box office/18.24 million global box office, and the three indicators of Rotten Tomatoes were 71%/70%/37%; 32.14 million box office, Rotten Tomatoes three indicators 54%/56%/68%; "Midnight Listeners" purchased by Miramax 7.83 million/10.63 million box office, Rotten Tomatoes three indicators 40%/30%/36%...

They either had pretty good results, or they turned out to be a loss-making business. What about "Little Sunny Girl"? Originally, it was bought by Fox Searchlight at a record high price of 10.5 million at Sundance, with a 10% bonus clause for all gross income. It did not disappoint Fox Searchlight, on the contrary it was a huge surprise, 5.9⑧9 million/100 million box office, Rotten Tomatoes three indicators 91%/⑧9%/90%, 2007 Oscar for Best Picture (nominated), Best Supporting Actress (nominated) , Best Supporting Actor.

How many Sundance sessions does this have to release one movie? Anyway, many, many sessions. Now that Wang Yang knows its huge potential, the flame will not operate conservatively like X Searchlight. You must know that there are only 1,602 theaters at its widest screening (it will be released on July 21, and the sixth week will be the widest from September 1-7). I believe that if we step up publicity efforts, adjust the schedule to around the awards season from November to March, and remain patient, just like the operation mode of "Brokeback Mountain", then the North American box office will be no problem to exceed 80 million, or even break through 100 million.

"Little Sunny Girl" will also be the core player of Flame Shock in the awards season of 2006-07. With the attention and money spent on publicity and promotion, it can easily get more nominations for awards. Instead of just one nomination for Best Actress in a Musical/Comedy at the Golden Globes, the Oscars are more like winning the jackpot.

Higher box office, more nominations! The premise is that the flame movie bought it.

Although "Sunshine Little Girl" is now a favorite, but if there is no addition of flame movies, X Searchlight has already bought it. In fact, the record high of 10 million seems scary. In fact, minus the production fee, it is only 2 million profit. Compared with the 6.5 million production fee/20 million buyout fee of "Crash", it is nothing. , 10% of the total income dividend is also like a blank check, but it still scares Mark Tetotu, who has been tortured by the focus for four full years! Then the entire production process of "Little Sunny Girl" was ignored, and now...

"SSS level." Perhaps X Searchlight's positioning for it is 30 million at the box office, and perhaps other filmmakers will move upon hearing the news, but Wang Yang knows best that no one can stop Flame's determination, whether it is a full buyout or bonus, regardless of 15 million , 20 million, 30 million, come on!

Flame’s distribution and operation ability is not inferior to that of Fox Searchlight. At this time, the price, sincerity and promise will determine the winner. These negotiations and competitions are all handled by Mark Slanter and others. No one feels the critical moment. It's better for the bright-eyed chairman to go on vacation obediently.

In addition to "Sunshine Little Girl", Flame Movie also has a must-buy real target, the PG-13 fantasy drama "The Magician".

This is director Neil Berger's second film since his debut mockumentary "Kennedy Assassination Proof" (2002), starring Edward Norton, Jessica Biel, Paul Giamatti and others. Starring, it was produced by 5 small producers including Bullseye Films, b-Movies, and Michael London Films with a joint investment of 16.5 million US dollars. It is worth mentioning that "Big Brother" Bullseye and b- are the producers of "Crash Film companies.

In contrast, "The Magician" does not have so many legendary stories. This is just a normal production investment, but the 16.5 million production fee also shows the confidence and vigor of the producer. After all, Bullseye and B -I made a lot of money from Flame before. In fact, everyone understands that they didn’t come to Park City to find someone to buy it at a high price. Who would pay 20 million or more to buy an independent movie? But "The Magician" needs a theatrical distributor. If no one is interested, I can only bite the bullet and try to distribute it myself, although Bullseye and He have no distribution experience for the time being.

But the world is so weird, Huomo Movie is interested, and it is an interest that can be bought at a high price!

"SSS class." Why not? Wang Yang is very aware of the potential of this movie, originally it really failed to find a satisfactory distributor, b-distributed "The Magician" with the distribution brand Film Group (-LM-UP), and there were only 51 distributors in the first week With theaters (opening on August 18) and the widest number of 1438 (the 5th week), "The Magician" finally received 39.86 million North American/878.9 million global box office, and the three indicators of Rotten Tomatoes were 74%/87%/83%. .

This made him famous in one fell swoop, and the founder Bob Yarui became even more ambitious. In 2007, he released four films successively on a large scale, "New Hip-hop Song", "Regrouping", "Final Season" and "Perfect Christmas". The notoriety of an "upstart", but the four-game losing streak wiped out the success of "The Magician", and the company even filed for bankruptcy in December 2008.

Wang Yang thinks that the relationship between Flame and Newmarket can be like that with Newmarket. If "The Magician" was released by Flame, he would not be able to predict how the box office performance would be. You must know that it has sold nearly 90 million yuan, and Flame's movie... ...It is certain that the world will exceed 100 million.

More importantly, by accepting "The Magician" under its banner, Flame can carry out some related publicity with "The Magician" which will be released at the end of the year, as well as carry out some related promotions in the later sales and rental of the film. Some bundles that benefit from both, the Magic Nights Weekend Package is just perfect.

"Little Sunny Girl" + "Magician"! This is the secret mission that Wang Yang assigned to the flame people. You don't need to care about other films, these two must be won!

"Which movie did Fantastic Yang take a fancy to?" Park City was shrouded in a layer of fog, and Jon Feltimer, the Lions Gate, also wanted to find out some news. For this reason, he dialed the number and said with a smile: " Hi Jan, it's me, Jon! Are you in Park City? Have you seen a movie? Oh, really, just here to ski? Haha, no, no, I'm still good at golf, just getting old. Have you Have you seen any movies?..."