After Peter Saunders hurried back to Los Angeles that night on Saturday, Simon didn't hear anything from Fox for three days.

This result did not surprise Simon, and his qualifications in Hollywood were still too shallow after all.

A young man under the age of 20 not only demands a hefty royalty from a big studio, but also demands absolute control over the production of a film, something that has never happened before in Hollywood.

However, with the box office success of "Lola Run", Simon is no longer as short of options as he was a few months ago.

While helping the crew of "Night of the Blood Corpse", Simon also made some plans for "The Grim Reaper" in private, and this plasma thriller is very suitable for the Halloween schedule at the end of the year. From the end of February to the end of October, the eight-month preparation, production and publicity cycle also seemed to be just right.

Therefore, Simon does not intend to tie himself to Fox. If Fox doesn't respond by the weekend, Simon will put the message out and seek another collaborator.

At the same time, with the continuous fermentation of popularity and word-of-mouth, the box office of "Lola Run" in the second week of release not only did not fall, but increased again.

From February 20 to February 22, the three days of the second week, due to the increase in the number of screens, "Lola Run" still achieved a 21% increase in the box office compared to the four days of the first week, reaching $6.69 million.

Then, after the following four working days, the box office of "Lola Run" finally reached $9.56 million in the second week, second only to "Field Platoon" with $11.1 million, and successfully jumped to the second place in the North American box office chart that week.

The two films released by the company occupy the top two positions in the single-week box office list at the same time, and the North American box office of both films is expected to exceed 100 million US dollars.

"Lola Run", a film that has become the focus of the entire federal topic, naturally has no obstacles to its subsequent release.

Mike Meadow, president of Orion Pictures, had planned to roll out the film as soon as possible, but after a detailed phone call with Simon, he agreed with his concept of 'hunger marketing'. In the end, Orion still did not rush to significantly increase the scale of "Lola Run" in the third week, but only increased the number of screens to 536, and the related theaters are still concentrated on the West Coast of the United States.

Many years later, three weeks after a film's release, either the popularity has faded, or pirated resources are flying all over the sky, and there is simply no point in continuing to increase the scale of screenings.

However, in the mid-80s, the speed of information transmission was far from being as rapid as in the Internet era, and film and television piracy was not as rampant as it was later.

Therefore, the accumulation of word-of-mouth in three weeks does not seem long for "Lola Run" at all, and will only increase the audience's expectations.

Simon, on the other hand, waited patiently until Friday, and Fox still didn't give any answer, so he called Jonathan Friedman and asked his agent to reveal that he was looking for a partner for "Here Comes the Grim Reaper."

Beverly Hills, Los Angeles.

It's Monday, March 2.

Ronald Goldberg, president of Fox Films, walked into Morton's restaurant, where Hollywood filmmakers often din, in the evening, and as soon as he entered the door, he felt that many people who had been dining looked at each other in different directions.

Although he felt a little embarrassed, Ronald Goldberg casually said a few words to the waiter who greeted him, and was then led to a table.

At this time, there was already a middle-aged man in his forties sitting at the table, somewhat balding, with an unassuming appearance, and the same standard Jewish nose. However, no one in the entire restaurant would despise each other because of their appearance, and the middle-aged man was Barry Diller, the current chairman and CEO of Twentieth Century Fox.

Noticing Ronald Goldberg coming over, Barry Diller, who was reading a newspaper, immediately got up, smiled and took two steps forward to shake his hand, and the two returned to the table and sat down.

After casual greetings and dinner, Ronald Goldberg glanced at the newspaper in front of Barry Diller, this is a copy of "Los Angeles Herald", and there is a striking butterfly picture on the layout, as an evening newspaper that is also more biased towards the dynamics of the Hollywood industry, Ronald Goldberg easily judged that this picture should be related to "The Butterfly Effect".

Barry Diller followed Ronald Goldberg's gaze and looked at the newspaper in front of him, and asked, "I heard that the test screening of this movie was not very good?"

Ronald Goldberg said with some hesitation in his tone: "Everyone thinks the story is complete and exciting, but several critics who participated in the test screening didn't like it very much, they felt that the plot of the film was too scattered and the main line was not clear enough. ”

Barry Diller also frowned slightly when he heard this. In this era, the most direct perception of a movie by ordinary people is the newspaper film review, and if the film critic does not evaluate it well, it will undoubtedly hinder the audience's enthusiasm to enter the cinema.

After thinking about it, Barry Diller asked, "So what are you going to do??"

Ronald Goldberg said: "There will be an internal audience preview on Wednesday and some adjustments will be made depending on the situation. Then, I'm going to schedule it for Easter, you know, that "Lola Run", maybe it can take a hit. ”

Ronald Goldberg said this with obvious bitterness in his tone.

A week ago, Peter Sanders brought back Simon's various requests for the "Death is Coming" project from Arizona, and Ronald Sandberg almost burst out laughing.

That young man was so daring to speak, Ronald Goldberg had worked in the media industry for thirty years, and he had never seen a guy who dared to put such a condition on a film company, did he think he was Spielberg?

So, Ronald Goldberg simply chose to ignore the other party.

However, with Simon Westeros looking for a new partner for "Here Comes the Grim Reaper" over the weekend, and this morning's box office data for last weekend's three days came out, Ronald Goldberg hesitated.

Simon Westeros will not mention the news for the time being, as long as Fox does not let go and takes the initiative to give up, it is impossible for the other party to easily reach cooperation with other film companies.

But.

The box office data of "Lola Run" in the past three days really made many people look sideways.

In the third week of filming, the number of screens increased to 536, but the single-theater box office of "Lola Run" still reached $20,110 over the weekend.

According to an internal Hollywood report, due to a series of recent media buzz, "Lola Run" has not only attracted the interest of audiences of all ages, but has also formed a movie-watching trend among young audiences, who all think that "Lola Run" is a very cool movie, so they generally choose to watch it repeatedly.

The results of the report even show that the scarcity of screening theaters has stimulated many people to queue up for tickets to watch the film.

In the end, in the third weekend, "Lola Run" reached $10.78 million at the box office, easily overpowering New Line Pictures' "Ghost Street 3", which opened with 1,343 screens this week, and won the top spot in the weekend box office charts.

So far, the total North American box office of "Lola Run" has reached $27.31 million. Just this box office figure has already left many Hollywood movies in the dust.

And, now that it has topped the weekend box office charts, it's easy for "Lola Run" to keep that position for a long time in this off-season.

The first place has always attracted the most attention, and "Lola Run" already has a very high degree of topicality, and then continuing to maintain the position of the weekly box office champion will undoubtedly attract more people's attention to this movie, and then form a virtuous circle.

The box office of the film has reached 27.31 million in two and a half weeks, so if the 'cycle' continues, the final box office of this film is likely to be even better than the general expectations of the media.

Ronald Goldberg's mind came to this point, and he didn't even want to think about it anymore.

The waiter brought the dinner at this time, but Barry Diller did not pick up the dishes, looked at Ronald Goldberg opposite, and did not know what to say for a while.

Barry Diller and Ronald Goldberg are two decades of old acquaintances.

It was Ronald Goldberg, who was still working in the ABC production department, who single-handedly promoted Barry Diller, which led to Barry Diller's continuous glory in ABC and Paramount.

Three years ago, Barry Diller was kicked out of the company by Martin Davis, the jealous chairman of Paramount's parent company, and it was Ronald Goldberg who introduced him to become chairman and CEO of Twentieth Century Fox.

Twentieth Century Fox was in charge of Fox Television Network and Fox Films, and Ronald Goldberg single-handedly promoted his former subordinates to be his immediate boss.

It's a two-time encounter.

As a result, Barry Diller has always been grateful to Ronald Goldberg.

It's just that as the leader of Fox Films, Ronald Goldberg has run this film company unsatisfactorily, and Fox Films has not had a movie with a North American box office exceeding 100 million for three consecutive years.

Because of his deep personal friendship, Barry Diller would not kick Ronald Goldberg out of the company under any circumstances, and he rarely even interfered with Ronald Goldberg's management of Fox Films. But both sides are clear that Rupert Murdoch, the company's majority shareholder, will not tolerate Fox Films' tepid status if the situation continues.

After a moment of silence, Barry Diller said, "Ronald, I've already heard about that young man, and the news that came out over the weekend. ”

Ronald Goldberg smiled wryly and said, "Barry, do you think you should promise him? That's just a hairy boy under twenty years old, but he put forward harsh conditions that even Spielberg wouldn't talk about easily. ”

"Isn't there a premise?" said Barry Diller, "$16 million, although this guarantee is a little lower, but if it only needs $8 million in production costs, Fox will definitely be profitable." ”

Ronald Goldberg said: "If that's all there is to it, of course it can be discussed. It's just that he also demanded absolute control over that project. The director, the actors, the shooting, the final editing, it's all up to him. How could I possibly rest assured. ”

"I just watched 'Lola Run' in the afternoon," says Barry Diller, "and it's a really good movie for an 18-year-old." So, Ronald, if you can be sure that "Lola Run" was really done by him, perhaps, you can agree. ”

Ronald Goldberg was still a little hesitant: "That's for sure. It's just, Barry, you know, there's never been anything like this in Hollywood. ”

"It's just a good idea to be a publicity point for the future," laughs Barry Diller, "just like when he's 18 years old." Speaking of which, it was a really good movie marketing. If he hadn't been 18 years old, the film would have grossed $10 million or 20 million at most, but now, it's getting $100 million or two. It would be amazing if the relevant marketing plan was also planned by that young man. So, Ronald, I suggest you try to bring this young man under Fox Films, and perhaps, you'll get a second Spielberg. ”

Ronald Goldberg listened to Barry Diller say so much, and naturally understood that the other party had good intentions, and he was actually clear about his situation, if the situation of Fox Film could not improve as soon as possible, he would not only have to leave after the contract expired next year, but it would also be difficult to find a corresponding position in other studios in the future.

Although it is a bit of a feeling to rush to the doctor to woo the young man who has just made a name for himself in Hollywood, Ronald Goldberg really has no better choice.

He really wanted to win over Steven Spielberg, and in fact, he did so, and it was Spielberg's fiancée's "Space Station" last year, which failed at the box office and then didn't do it.

Thinking so, nodding, Ronald Goldberg said, "Okay, then I'll talk to him as soon as possible." ”