With the news that the sequel to "Special Forces" may change the director and actor appeared in the media, fans have not yet been in an uproar, and some people can't sit still.

Early this morning, Paramount Pictures had just gone to work, and representatives from four Wall Street investment institutions, including Merrill Lynch, Allianz Ventures, Marathon Structured Financial Capital and Nova Financial Investment, walked into Paramount headquarters together and approached the managers of Paramount Pictures and Hasbro in charge of the "Special Forces" project with a bad face.

"Andre, I heard you're going to remove actor Matthew Horner and director Stephen Sommers in the 'Special Forces' sequel?"

These four investment institutions, faintly led by Bruno of Merrill Lynch, asked directly, "We came here today to ask Paramount Pictures and Hasbro, is this true?"

Andre from Paramount Pictures exchanged a look with Wells, the representative of Hasbro, and immediately said, "We just want to change the director, Stephen Sommers is paid more in the sequel, and we want to change a director with a lower salary out of cost control." ”

Hasbro's Wells answered, "The new director is strongly recommended by Woody Allen, and ability is not an issue. ”

"What about the actor? Matthew Horner?" Bruno asked directly, "Can you guarantee that Matthew Horner will appear in a sequel after the director is changed?"

They invested a large percentage in Special Ops: Rise of the Cobra, and will maintain the same percentage in the sequel.

Therefore, Bruno said unceremoniously, "Matthew Horner's agent, Helen Herman, has already negotiated with you once, right? It is said that if Stephen Sommers is replaced, Matthew Horner will also withdraw from the project?"

"We're talking to Matthew Horner and Helen Herman, and the results are still to be discussed. ”

"Don't worry. Wells, a representative of Hasbro, also said, "We only talked to Helen Herman once, and this negotiation will definitely go on for a long time." ”

The people from the four investment institutions exchanged glances, and it was Bruno who said, "In that case, we will only state one point." He suddenly accentuated his tone, "Matthew Horner is the most profitable guarantee for film investment, and we require Matthew Horner to appear in the sequel to "Special Forces", otherwise Merrill Lynch will reconsider its investment in the sequel to "Special Forces"!"

Andre and Wells were a little helpless, and before they could speak, the other three investment structure people also expressed their positions.

"Allianz Ventures will also consider it carefully!"

"Marathon structured financial funds will also be carefully considered!"

"Nova Financial Investment will also be carefully considered!"

As soon as the voices of the representatives of these four companies fell, Bruno and Wells broke out in a cold sweat.

If they withdraw their investment, Paramount Pictures will have to look for new outside funding, and now that the financial crisis has not passed, they don't have to think about how difficult it will be to raise funds.

"Both, please convey our comments to your board of directors!" Bruno re-emphasized, "I hope Paramount and Hasbro will consider our comments carefully." ”

Bruno hurriedly said, "It will be." ”

The two sent off the four representatives of the investment institutions and returned to the reception room, Wells couldn't help but shake his head and said, "It's difficult to change the director." ”

Bruno shrugged helplessly, "Who would have thought that Matthew Horner would be completely on Stephen Sommos' side?"

The two of them knew very well that if Paramount Pictures didn't want to change the actor and refinance, it would have to compromise with Matthew Horner and Stephen Sommus.

In the face of Matthew Horner's box office and commercial guarantees, Paramount Pictures sometimes has to bow its head.

I guess as long as the board of directors is not dizzy, will give up the rookie director, right?

It's close to late July, and "Special Forces: The Rise of the Cobra" is coming to its third screening weekend in North America, and Matthew made a special call to Emma Watson, who will come to Los Angeles the day before the premiere of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" and will take the initiative to call him after coming.

Matthew is looking forward to discussing life and the future with the wand-wielding Hermione Granger.

Plus, he kept in touch with Rachel Weisz and learned more about Natalie Portman and Black Swan.

Sometimes, I have to admire the determination and ability of Natalie Portman as a woman.

Just over a month after the premiere of "Cloud Atlas", Natalie Portman took out Darren Aronofsky with a tough gesture and knocked Rachel Weisz out of the game.

This is really not something that ordinary women can do.

Moreover, Natalie Portman has done much more than that in the past month or so.

After successfully uniting with Darren Aronofsky, she persuaded William Morris to give her full support, and even got a lot of things done in terms of preliminary planning.

With the assistance of William Morris, Natalie Portman and Darren Aronofsky have largely finalized the partnership, and the film will be co-financed and distributed by Cross Creek Productions and Fox Searchlight.

There is only one goal in mind – the 2010 awards season!

Rachel Weisz's latest feedback, Natalie Portman even has two supporting actresses confirmed, she asked her friend Mila Kunis to play the first supporting actress, and Renona Ryder to play the second supporting actress.

It's clear that Natalie Portman and Darren Aronofsky hit it off and are clearly going to make a big deal.

Matthew somewhat understands Natalie Portman's psychology, the failure of "Cloud Atlas" has frustrated Natalie Portman's idea of developing towards the mainstream of business, and the future of "Alien Battlefield" is uncertain, and she once again returns to the independent film circle she is familiar with, wanting to hit the Oscars.

As long as she can win the Oscar, even if "Cloud Atlas" and "Alien Battlefield" both fail at the box office, she will not be marginalized in Hollywood.

After all, the Oscar for Best Actress is still very important in the hearts of many companies and audiences.

That way, even if the business path doesn't work, Natalie Portman has other paths to follow.

I just don't know what kind of targeted reaction Rachel Weisz will have, after the last meeting, Matthew obviously felt that Rachel Weisz was strengthened by his revenge, and he would definitely not stop there.

Of course, where he can help Rachel Weisz, he will also help.

If nothing else, it should be regarded as Rachel Weisz's favor when he returned the crew of "The Mummy Returns".

Natalie Portman's initiative to snatch the project "Black Swan" is also somewhat closely related to the box office fiasco of "Cloud Atlas".

Maybe that's not quite right, after all, Natalie Portman also starred in the film, and also won the Oscar for Best Actress.

But the failure of "Cloud Atlas" definitely strengthened Natalie Portman's determination to grab "Black Swan".

Just this week, after more than a month of screenings, because the single-day ticket sales were too low, "Cloud Atlas" was forced to be removed by major theaters in North America, officially ending the short screening journey.

The North American box office of "Cloud Atlas" was fixed at $22.37 million.

Not to mention that the North American box office overwhelmed the production cost line, and the final box office was only a fraction of the production cost.

Overseas, the performance of "Cloud Atlas" is also dismal, because the North American box office is too poor, and there are not many overseas countries and regions that have introduced "Cloud Atlas", and the total number of countries and regions is less than 60.

As a result, the film's overseas box office has also been greatly limited, with the cumulative overseas box office currently less than $25 million, and the global box office combined is less than $50 million.

According to the forecasts of many market institutions and Disney's internal body, it is difficult for "Cloud Atlas" to exceed $60 million at the global box office in the end.

In fact, since the box office in North America was released in the first weekend, Disney has stopped investing resources in "Cloud Atlas", knowing that a film will inevitably lose money, and it will increase investment, which is not a decision-making mistake, but a problem with the head.

The lack of sufficient post-publicity and promotion is also an important reason for the box office decline behind "Cloud Atlas".

The film itself is not friendly to the audience, the reputation of the film critics is good, but the audience's reputation is extremely poor, and there is a lack of marketing in the later stage, so it is strange that the box office trend can be strong.

Matthew also heard some rumors about Plan B and Brad Pitt, who is said to be blocking the door of Plan B every day, urging Plan B and Brad Pitt to repay, Brad Pitt simply does not have enough liquidity to repay the debt, so he can only swear by his promise to postpone the repayment date until after the release of "Alien Battlefield".

It's clear that Brad Pitt still has faith in "Alien Battlefield", hoping that this film will be a box office hit and can plug the hole caused by the failure of "Cloud Atlas".

The failure of "Cloud Atlas" also reminded many people who invest in commercial productions, including Matthew, that movies that are too complex and obscure, at this stage, are really not suitable for commercial blockbuster films.

Even if the professional reputation is against the sky, it is difficult for the audience to buy it.

The quality assurance praised by the media is no longer a box office elixir in this Internet era and fast food era.

Mainstream audiences come to the theater every day for relaxation and leisure, they want popcorn and fast food, they pursue sensory stimulation and pleasure, they are not keen to refresh their worldview, and they have no intention of making movies a challenge to subvert themselves.

Especially for commercial sci-fi films, the high production cost of this kind of film determines that it cannot be used as a tool for the director to experiment with ideas, and when an ambitious director wants to present his own vision of the world, he needs to invest more money.

Once the operation is not good, the lost funds will be calculated in tens of millions.

Movies that didn't do well at the box office went down, and naturally new movies entered theaters, and just the day before the premiere of "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince", Matthew waited for a call from Emma Watson.

"Hurry up!" Emma Watson shouted on the phone, "I'm in a conflict with someone!"