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In North America, where the vast majority of horror films are theatrical FMCG, especially the blood-soaked ones, "Dawn of the Living Dead" saw a significant decline at the box office on Sunday, down 40 percent from Saturday, earning $7.1 million.

When the box office statistics came out on Monday, "Dawn of the Living Dead" sat on the top of the North American box office list without any suspense, with a box office figure of $34.1 million!

In just three days, the film's North American box office exceeded the production cost line.

A film that cost only $28 million to make and grossed $34.1 million in its opening weekend doesn't need to do much to attract widespread attention.

"Oh, $34.1 million, that's too exaggerated!"

Putting down the newspaper in his hand, Doug Liman looked at Aziva Gossman opposite, and said, "The first weekend of "Spy" was only more than $27 million. ”

Aziva Gozman was reading a fax document, and when he heard his words, he raised his head and said, "How can the stamina of horror zombie movies compare to that of agent action movies?"

Doug Liman nodded, in addition to the type of film, in fact, there is a certain comparability between the two films, one is a remake, and the other is adapted from the hit, both of which have a certain audience base......

However, "Spy" cost a whopping $60 million to make, and "Dawn of the Living Dead" is less than half of it.

In such a comparison, Doug Liman suddenly had an idea that Matt Damon's appeal in "Spy" does not seem to be as good as that of Matthew Horner now.

"How much do you think Dawn of the Living Dead will grossing in North America?" he asked Aziva Gozman.

"It's definitely not as much as "Spy Shadow". Aziva Gozman is sure of this, "Cinema Score predicts that the final box office of "Dawn of the Living Dead" will be around $80 million. ”

That's a figure similar to what Doug Liman himself thinks, he said, "The production cost is $28 million, the North American box office is $80 million, and with the overseas box office, the global box office may be around $200 million, and the profit generated by Universal's investment is quite impressive." ”

It was clear that Dawn of the Living Dead was bound to be a big hit.

Aziva Gozman seemed to be a little emotional, "It would be nice if we could have such a high input-output ratio for this project." ”

In fact, Aziva Gonzman doesn't say, Doug Liman also knows that he is under a lot of pressure, a $100 million production, in today's Hollywood, although it is not the top, but it is also a big deal, once it fails, Aziva Gozman is estimated to be on the blacklist of the six major Hollywood companies, and he will basically miss the mainstream big productions in the future.

He, as a director, is not much different from Aziva Gozman's situation, but fortunately, there is also a series of "Spy Shadows", which can also make him more resistant to hits.

Doug Liman knows very well that it is precisely this pressure that made Aziva Gozman decide to invite two popular movie stars to star, the popular movie stars are paid a lot of money, but it also means greater box office appeal and more news production capacity, like Matthew Horner, if the play with Scarlett Johansson was not carefully planned, he would not believe it.

The current box office of "Dawn of the Living Dead" is the best embodiment of that hype.

I don't know why, Doug Liman thinks that the current Matt Damon, if compared purely from the perspective of a star, is not as good as Matthew Horner, after attending the premiere party last week, he specifically asked someone to understand, and what Matthew Horner said at the party is true, and a little too modest.

He took the needs of the project as a starting point, and put Matt Damon and Matthew Horner in his mind and made a comparison.

Matt Damon's acting skills are better than Matthew Horner's, but they are also limited, and he is still a good screenwriter, which is basically useless.

Matthew Horner is much better than Matt Damon's appearance conditions, his athletic posture and wild temperament are very appetizing to North American audiences, he has been conducting professional combat and firearms training, belongs to the plug-and-play type of actor, and has a good reputation in every crew, anyone he has asked people who have worked with Matthew Horner, there will inevitably be words hard work and dedication in the comments.

One more thing, Matthew Horner is even more shameless than Matt Damon!

Doug Liman doesn't underestimate this, and this is reflected in the "Dawn of the Living Dead" project, which is the overwhelming hype of countless media outlets.

How many people who weren't interested in it before did "Dawn of the Living Dead" seduce people?

Thick-skinned and daring to hype, this is definitely a big advantage for Hollywood stars.

A knock on the door interrupted Doug Liman's thoughts, and an assistant came in with fax papers, handed them to Aziva Gozman, and quickly left.

Aziva Gonzman glanced at it and said, "Universal Pictures has its own counts. ”

Doug Liman looked at Aziva Gonzman curiously, but Awazi Gozman didn't let him wait longer, saying, "In Universal's first-weekend live audience survey of "Dawn of the Living Dead", the first-week audience was mainly divided into four categories, one is the impact of the original film, the second is attracted by Matthew Horner himself or news related to him, the third is to enter the theater and find no better choice, and the fourth is some other factors. ”

He looked down at the fax document again, "The first item occupies thirty-seven percent, the second one occupies thirty-five percent, and the rest are the third and fourth items. ”

"That is......" Doug Liman stood up, "and Matthew Horner's personal appeal brought about a third of the opening weekend box office of 'Dawn of the Dead.'"

He was a little surprised, "This ratio is a bit amazing!"

Aziva Gozman is very calm, "I can't say it exactly, a third of the audience who came to him can't all be regarded as his fans, and a large part of it comes from the influence of that hype." ”

Doug Liman nodded, but said, "After all, it still has to be on his head." ”

Stars win attention in various ways, attract attention, and convert into economic benefits from starring in films, which is where the greatest value of stars to commercial films lies.

Compared to these, acting skills and the like are secondary.

Aziva Gozman handed the fax file to Doug Liman and said, "Don't wait any longer, now that we've finalized the script, we're going to send Matthew Horner an audition invitation for him to come over in late May." ”

It has been proven that Matthew Horner is fully capable of monoclonal antibody box office, and modern action roles also have strong appeal, so it is better to send him an audition invitation in advance, so that the actor can also have time to prepare and adjust the schedule, and can also properly take care of the friendship with Helen Herman.

Doug Liman agreed, "Matthew Horner is a really good candidate. Something else suddenly rang out and asked, "What about Brad Pitt?"

Just last week, Brad Pitt's agent got some information from the crew and recommended Brad Pitt.

"Don't worry!" Aziva Gozman said directly, "Have you ever paid attention to Brad Pitt's resume? He is famous, a standard A-list star, but how many commercial works have carried the box office alone? In the last three years, no! Expanded to the last five years, his real box office hit is only "Ocean's Eleven", and he is not the leading actor!"

Doug Liman recalled, and it seemed like that.

Aziva Gozman added, "Among the current A-list male stars, Brad Pitt belongs to the kind with more average commercial appeal. In addition, he also wants to bring capital into the group, we are not short of funds at the moment, and $100 million will be available soon. ”

"Are you going to reject him?" asked Doug Liman.

"No, send him an audition invitation too. Aziva Gozman obviously has his own considerations, "Let's wait, Brand Pitt's "Troy" as the absolute actor will be released in early May, let's see if he can independently carry the box office of a commercial blockbuster." ”

This is the best way, in case "Troy" is not good at the box office, Brad Pitt does not show enough box office appeal, and when auditioning, find a reason such as not matching the role, and turn him down.

In addition, Aziva Gozman also has doubts about Brad Pitt bringing money into the group, and the actor will inevitably have to be a producer when he brings money into the group, and once there is a situation, it will be quite troublesome to deal with.

At present, Hollywood has negative teaching materials in this regard, and Vin Diesel has continuously brought money into the group and bullied the director directly on the set.

Aziva Gonzman would never allow such a-stirring stick on the set to appear on his crew, and Brad Pitt didn't have a good reputation in this regard.

Moreover, accepting to bring capital into the group means that a lot of preliminary planning has to be reversed, and it takes a lot of time to negotiate alone.

In short, he is not in a hurry to make a decision now, and it is not too late after watching the box office statistics of "Troy".

Doug Roman discussed some more film preparations with Aziva Gozman, said goodbye and left his office, Aziva Gozman saw the office door closed from the outside, thought for a while, and dialed Helen Herrmann's phone.

"Helen, didn't you say some time ago that you were curious about the script for my new project?"

Now that he decided to invite Matthew Horner to the audition, Aziva Gonzman doesn't mind selling another favor, "I have a copy here, I don't need it for the time being, you have time to come and get it......! So be it. ”

He hung up the phone, pulled a copy of the script out of a drawer, and waited for Helen Herman to come and pick it up.

Helen Herman has always been following up on his new job, and since Universal Pictures and the crew of Dawn of the Living Dead didn't arrange much post-screening promotion, Matthew quickly rededicated himself to filming "National Treasure", and the rest of the scenes were basically interior scenes in the studio.