Yesterday, MGM Pictures suddenly announced that it will take over the distribution of Dan Aykroyd and Kim Basinger's co-starring family comedy "My Stepmother is an Alien", and it is scheduled for December 23. "My Stepmother Is an Alien" is co-produced by Hollywood sole producer Weintraub Entertainment and Catalina Productions, and costs $20 million to make. ”

According to public sources, My Stepmother is an Alien was originally to be distributed by Columbia Pictures. Our reporter called the film's producer, Franklin Levy, who said that the producer and Columbia had only signed a contract of intent at the beginning, and the two sides could not agree on the terms of the final agreement, so they switched to MGM Pictures. ”

However, "My Stepmother Is an Alien" is scheduled for December 23 and will be in direct competition with MGM's other release, "Rain Man," which is scheduled for December 16. ”

"Rain Man" is directed by "Good Morning Vietnam" director Barry Levinson, starring Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise, this film has previously exposed a fierce conflict between the creator and the producer, Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise once publicly supported Barry Levinson, condemning Daenerys Films' wanton interference in the creation of the film, Barry Levinson finally launched the project, and Simon Westeros was rumored to take over the post-production work himself. ”

Regarding whether MGM's sudden introduction of "My Stepmother is an Alien" is due to a lack of confidence in the completion of "Rain Man", whether it will temporarily cancel the schedule of "Rain Man", or whether it involves other internal information, the author called MGM, Daenerys and CAA respectively, and all received responses. ”

"This newspaper will pay close attention to the follow-up progress of this matter. ”

Santa Monica.

Daenerys Entertainment headquarters, in Simon's office, put down the "Daily Variety" in his hand, and he looked at Amy Pascal and Robert Rem opposite.

Amy said: "I asked people to inquire, the internal test screening of "My Stepmother is an Alien" The audience response was very poor, and Columbia wanted to increase the distribution commission ratio, and also asked the producer to share the publicity and distribution costs, and the two sides broke up. ”

Simon picked up a pencil, spun it around in his hand, and said, "I'm not interested in this movie." ”

"As for MGM, I just went to see their publicity plan yesterday, and it was very sloppy. Tony Tomopoulos also said in front of me that "Rain Man" is simply useless," Robert Rehm said at this time: "Moreover, we are also asked to advance a $5 million publicity budget, but according to the current situation, we should only be able to get 1,000 screens that are completely guaranteed by the contract, not a single more." While we were able to send an accountant to follow up on the film's release as agreed, there were many ways for MGM to circumvent our oversight. ”

Simon has long understood that if you want to succeed in the release of a movie, you must not only look at the quality of the film, but also fight for strength and luck, but if you want to mess up, there are also too many means, and it is too simple. Therefore, he insisted on retaining the distribution rights of "Flying Over Innocence" in the first place.

Looking down at the newspaper in front of him again, Simon clearly felt the shadow of CAA without being reminded by Amy and Rehm.

Hollywood actor Dan Aykroyd, who rose to fame with his 1984 box office runner-up "Ghostbusters," is also a key customer of CAA. If there are no other external forces in this matter, as a sole producer, Columbia Pictures requires harsh conditions such as higher commissions, and the two sole producers may have to pinch their noses and admit it.

CAA, which has become more and more powerful in recent years, has the strength to make this happen.

Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise, and even Barry Levinson, the director of "Rain Man," are CAA's top ace clients. Now that everyone has completely collapsed on the "Rain Man" project, and several main creators have successfully put all the blame on Daenerys Entertainment, CAA obviously does not allow "Rain Man" to have the slightest possibility of turning over, and the result of this film can only be a failure, and the more it fails, the better.

Simon listened to the two talking, raised his wrist and looked at his watch, there was also an audition for a role in "Batman" in the morning, and he had a schedule at noon, afternoon and even evening.

Without further ado, Simon said to Robert Rem, "You go to MGM right now and get the distribution rights of Rain Man back." ”

Robert Rem hesitated, "Simon, what if MGM is not willing to let go?"

Simon got up, buttoned up his suit, and said, "It's your business, Bob." If MGM is unwilling, unfortunately, your year-end bonus will shrink this year. ”

Robert Rem watched Simon walk straight out of the office, looked at Amy helplessly, and said, "Simon doesn't seem to be happy today?"

Amy also stood up and said, "Maybe I've been too tired lately, and besides, no one will be too happy if this kind of thing happens." ”

"Okay," Robert Rem stood up together, followed Amy out, and continued, "This is our matter with CAA, although the Big Seven have not been very friendly to us lately, but Tomopoulos should not be willing to completely offend Daenerys entertainment to death, Amy, how much do you think I can offer?"

"MGM owns the distribution rights of "Rain Man" in North America, and the proportion of theatrical, videotape and TV platforms is 15%, and the overseas rights are still in our own hands. Amy recalls the original agreement, saying: "If the North American box office of "Rain Man" is calculated at $20 million, and you want to take back the distribution rights, I think $5 million is still more appropriate." ”

Robert Rem nodded, and so did the price in his heart.

According to the North American box office of $20 million, MGM can get a distribution commission of $3 million, not counting overseas, but the sales commission of video tapes and TV platforms in North America should be equivalent to the box office revenue, about $3 million, but this means a long payment cycle of several years.

However, Robert Rem then asked with a little teasing tone: "Amy, do you think "Rain Man" can only get $20 million?"

The two came to the hallway outside Simon's office, and Amy rolled her eyes and said, "Don't you think so?"

"Rain Man" has always been a project that the whole of Hollywood dislikes at the beginning, and there was such a big storm in the later stage of the film, and now several main creators have made up their minds not to participate in the promotion and distribution of the film, which has cast a shadow on the box office prospects of "Rain Man".

In addition to Simon's own five films from "Lola Run" to "Instinct", he also achieved success in "When Harry Met Sally". But in all fairness, "When Harry Meets Sally" was also unremarkable at the script stage, but it was a lot of fun when it was finished, with sparks flying between Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan. However, the cost of "Rain Man", in the eyes of many people, seems very mediocre and completely lacks highlights.

Amy felt even more in her heart at this time that the reason why Simon was holding on to this movie was completely a teenager's heart.

After all, his boss is just a young man who has just turned twenty.

Robert Rem was noncommittal to Amy's rhetorical question, but just smiled.

Noticing that Amy was going downstairs with him, and seemed to be planning to go out, Robert Rehm casually asked, "What are you going to do here?"

Amy said: "Regarding the company's consumer goods department, I recently looked for a manager to meet in Century City in the morning. ”

Although the merger of New World Entertainment has been completed, the company's division adjustment and integration have not stopped.

Since the beginning of "Star Wars", the development of film and television spin-offs has always been the focus of major studios, and it has also created a new lucrative profit point for Hollywood. As a result, the creation of Daenerys' Entertainment Consumer Products division has been one of Amy's most recent priorities. As Daenerys Entertainment has more and more self-released films, this aspect will also bring a lucrative report to the company.

"Oh, actually, I think the company should also buy a record company as soon as possible, or set up a record department, starting with "Lola Run", our company's film soundtrack sales are very good, it is said that the original soundtrack record of the summer file "Vulgar" has sold more than 6 million copies. When Robert Rem said this, he couldn't help but shake his head and said: "It's a pity, judging from the current situation, "Vulgar" is likely to be the box office champion this year, just this movie has completely freed Orion from the predicament, and these profits should have belonged to us." ”

Amy also has some regrets.

With last year's stock market crash, a large amount of money flowing to Hollywood came to an abrupt halt, and it became very difficult for film companies to raise funds. If it weren't for "Vulgar", Orion Pictures, which released more than a dozen films at once this year but didn't have a single box office hit, would definitely be in trouble, and even go bankrupt like Canon Pictures and De Laurentiis Entertainment.

Now, a "Vulgar" may reach $150 million at the North American box office alone, and the global box office is expected to reach $300 million, which is enough to support Orion Pictures' performance. The subsequent sale of the film's videotape and television rights was even able to generate a good cash flow for Orion Pictures for several years.

"No one thought that "Vulgar" would be so successful, and even Simon himself probably didn't expect it, which is also something that can't be helped. Amy couldn't help but shake her head and said, "As for the record department, Simon talked to me a long time ago. Do you know that best-selling single he wrote for Madonna, Simon's talent in music is no less than that of a movie. It's just that we are not familiar with the record business, and we are not even busy with movies now, so we can only put this matter on hold for the time being. ”

"Madonna's single?" Robert Rem was a little puzzled, he didn't pay attention to Madonna at his age, but he quickly laughed: "I've seen Simon play the "Wild Bee Flying" tape on the guitar, and it's really amazing. ”

The two chatted casually, all the way to the parking lot downstairs, and then each got in the car and rushed to their destination.

On the other hand, Simon left the office and rushed downstairs to the audition room.

Recently, it was already the last round of auditions for an important supporting role in "Batman". In addition to Bruce Wayne and Selena Kyle, the three most important characters in the first part of the film are Bruce Wayne's butler Alfred Pennyworth, Gotham Police Chief James Gordon, and the most important villain 'Black Mask'.

In several "Batman" movies in the original time and space, starting with Tim Burton, the villains are probably the Joker, the Riddler, the Two-Face, the Scarecrow, etc., and the Black Mask has never appeared.

In fact, Black Mask is really not a classic villain of the "Batman" comics, and this character only appeared in 1985.

However, after carefully studying a series of comic works of "Batman", Simon felt that the character of Black Mask was very suitable as the villain of the film's first series.

Black Mask, formerly known as Roman Siennis, was also from a wealthy family in Gotham City, and was a very good friend of Bruce Wayne when he was a child. Compared with Bruce Wayne's experience, Roman Siannis also had a not happy childhood, the Siannis family generally has a fiery and desperate gene, at a very young age, Roman Siannis has been subjected to his father's violence from words to hands and feet, and finally when he can't bear it anymore, Roman Siannis killed his parents and inherited a large amount of the family's property.

However, without the control of his parents, the violent character of Roman Siannis's personality that was formed in the family line gradually revealed, and at the same time, because he was not good at running the company, the Siannis family's business was gradually on the verge of bankruptcy under his management.

Bruce Wayne returned to Gotham after many years of traveling, and happened to hear about Roman Siennis's predicament, out of childhood friendship, Bruce Wayne directed the Wayne Group to buy the Siannis family's bankrupt company, Roman Siannis became nothing in the process, so he turned his anger on Bruce Wayne, and completely degenerated into one of Gotham's most notorious criminals.

In addition, in the comic book plot, Roman Siannis also has a deep entanglement with Catwoman, which also happens to completely connect Bruce Wayne, Selena Kyle, and Roman Siannis himself.

Simon's film script certainly doesn't copy the comic book setting, but the plot in it is very much borrowed.

Moreover, two people with similar backgrounds, one tried to punish the evil and become Batman, and the other completely fell into darkness and became a criminal, which also has a lot of things worth digging that make people fall into thought, and the 'fledgling' Batman also suffered his first transformation after this encounter.

Simon positions his version of "Batman" as a commercial blockbuster, and the film is commercial in the first place in any case. However, on the premise of ensuring commerciality, Simon has not completely given up adding some deep thinking about value and human nature to it.