The heroes and heroines of the original "Sky Trap" are Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta-Jones respectively, although the male protagonist of CAA's packaging this time is still Sean Connery, the heroine is another actress under CAA who is not too famous, named Angie Everhart. Pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info

Although Angie Everhart is very beautiful in the profile, Eric naturally thinks it is better to use the original heroine Catherine Zeta-Jones. Because, Catherine Zeta-Jones's temperament is too suitable for partnering with old men.

Bill Michanik nodded to write it down, and Eric continued, "Also, why did the Soul Shifter project get a $40 million budget?"

"Soul Shifter" tells the story of a girl who suffers from 'borderline personality disorder' and is based on a true biography.

Eric has seen this movie, the two leading roles are Winona Ryder and Angelina Jolie, Winona Ryder is decent in the film, but Angelina Jolie won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress for the role of the antisocial personality in the film.

Eric just didn't expect the film to have a budget of $40 million.

Although the script in hand and the film in memory are excellent, with a budget of more than $40 million, unless it can win a few heavyweight Oscars, it is basically impossible for such a marginal film to recoup its cost.

Bill Michanik apparently prepared for it, explaining: "This is a script that Miss Winona Ryder loves, and director James Mangold danced it herself. Howard also values the prospect of this film, so he will put the budget more lenient. ”

Eric tugged at the corners of his mouth, Howard Stringer was a layman.

The biopics favored by the Oscars either tell a story of redemption, such as "Schindler's List," or show certain spirits, such as "My Left Foot." In general, the connotations of these biopics should be positive and in line with orthodox values.

A film with a negative theme and a dark ending like "Soul Shifting Girl", let alone the Oscars, it is not easy to get a nomination.

The only thing Sony Pictures can look forward to when such a movie is an Olympic film is that Winona Ryder, who has been nominated for two Oscars, can hit the queen crown. But in fact, even if there is no memory of his past life, just based on the script, Eric can see that Winona Ryder's role has limited space to play, and there is no hope of winning the Oscar at all.

After thinking about it for a moment, Eric said: "The original plan of this project has been completely reversed, and the budget has been compressed to less than 20 million US dollars, and if Winona Rhett thinks that 20 million can't be filmed, then the project will be cut." Also, you send a copy of the script to Charlize Theron. ”

As a veteran Hollywood executive, Bill Michanik also knows that the film's budget of $20 million is more than enough.

Just as he was about to nod yes, Bill Michanick was pleasantly surprised by Eric's last words: "Charlize Theron, Eric, you mean, Lisa's character?"

The trio of "Breaking Bad" is definitely the most popular new generation of Hollywood actresses in recent years, and if "Soul Shifter" can get Charlize Theron to join, the shortcomings of the original lack of box office appeal will be immediately remedied.

Eric nodded, last time he promised Charlize to pay attention to a script that could better exercise his acting skills, and the role that once belonged to Angelina Jolie was just right, as for Angelina Jolie, it was naturally not in Eric's care.

Bill Michanick was confirmed by Eric, but hesitated: "But, Miss Theron's salary? and would she agree to play such a sociopathic character, you know, her image in the "Breaking Bad" series has always been very positive, even if she agrees, I think her agent will discourage it." ”

"There's no problem with the salary, Charlize must know what kind of offer to make. As for the image, this is even more worrying, we adults may find such a character with an antisocial personality very out of place, but for teenagers, they are at the age of flamboyant rebellion, such a character, not only will they not be disgusted, but they will find it cool. ”

Bill Michanik was relieved, but remembered Eric's $20 million budget and began to struggle again.

Winona Ryder's personal salary is $7 million, and if she is only an Oscar-level actress, the $20 million production cost will definitely be no problem.

But if you add an actress like Charlize Theron with strong box office appeal, even if the other party is willing to lower her salary to star, he feels that it will take at least $30 million to be worthy of the two coffee positions.

After all, although Charlize Theron does not have an Oscar, her salary should be higher than Winona Ryder, even if the other party is willing to lower her salary to star, but 5 million dollars will still be available. The two heroines alone took up $12 million of the production budget, and the remaining $8 million was spent on supporting roles and film production, which is obviously a bit stretched.

After going through his analysis, Bill Michanik suggested, "Eric, is it possible to sign two split contracts, or raise the budget to $30 million?"

Eric pondered for a moment and said, "Lower Winona's salary to $5 million, Theron will give her 3 million, and in addition, 10% of the North American box office share for each of the two people, the remaining 12 million should be enough." ”

Bill Michanik also began to calculate in his heart, although the fixed salary given by Eric is very low, this is actually the norm for unpopular films.

As for the 10% North American box office share here, it definitely refers to the 10% of the box office share that Columbia gets from theaters.

In this way, as long as "Soul Shifter" can sell $50 million at the North American box office, the income of the two heroines from the share plus the fixed salary will be about the same as the figure they just envisioned, and at the same time, Columbia can roughly recover the production cost on this box office figure.

If the box office goes higher, the two heroines will get more money, but at the same time, Colombia will start to make a profit. If the box office is less than $50 million, then there's not much to say.

Considering these, Bill Micchanik also has to admire Eric for making just the right adjustment to the film budget in just a few minutes, and at the same time very accurately letting the two heroines share the risk of film investment, this kind of remuneration model, the actor can not get the original Jack Nicholson in "Batman" The remuneration, but as long as the film box office is good enough, the protagonists can also get enough income.

Of course, Bill Michanik also knows that in recent years, while a large amount of hot money has poured into Hollywood studios, celebrities have become more and more demanding for salaries, and most stars are definitely unwilling to share 'risks' with studios.

Most Hollywood producers can actually do this ideal salary model, but whether it can be accepted by stars is another matter.

Eric naturally could see Bill Michanick's thoughts, and said: "Bill, since you have joined the Firefly system, you should be firm in one thing, we are the masters of Hollywood." Celebrities want unreasonably high salaries, of course we can't stop them, but they definitely don't want to get these from the Firefly system. If Hollywood stars are reluctant to participate in firefly films, then we will make our own stars, just like in the days of big studios. Firefly, MGM, Fox, and now Columbia, the big four studios combined, we are now not only able to make the rules, but also punish those who break them. ”

Although Hollywood studios have gradually increased their control over film projects since the beginning of the era of big budgets, in front of Hollywood stars with box office appeal, film companies are still flattering and accommodating from top to bottom.

At this time, hearing Eric's words, Bill Michanick had a feeling in his heart that he had turned over as a serf and sang, and even his blood boiled a little.

Yes, these people are the masters of Hollywood.

After all, stars are piled up by film companies through one film after another, controlling the four major film companies, relying on Hollywood's powerful film industry, stars of any level are enough to create.

After a moment of agitation, Bill Michanik remembered what was going on and said, "Didn't you say three projects, and what else?"

"The last one is the Final Fantasy animated movie between Samsung Pictures and Square Enix," Eric said, "cut it, we don't invest in it, we don't want distribution rights, I can find whoever I want, we don't participate in this project." ”

From the list of Colombian projects given by Bill Michanik, Eric unexpectedly discovered the super hole of "Final Fantasy Soul Depth".

In my memory, this animated film with an investment of more than 100 million yuan failed at the North American box office, which directly caused Square Enix, which had produced eight classic "Final Fantasy" series games, to be on the verge of bankruptcy, all the management was ousted, and the company was finally acquired by Enix. Sony Pictures, which was involved in the production and distribution, also suffered heavy losses.

Bill Michanick didn't expect Eric to suddenly only think of "Final Fantasy Soul", in recent years, 3D animated films have become more and more popular in the market, and Sony Pictures will naturally not let go of this cake. "Final Fantasy" is a popular game at the national level in RB, and Sony Pictures executives are still full of expectations for this game adaptation animation project.

However, this time, Bill Michanik didn't ask much, and nodded in agreement.

After all, if you talk about 3D animated movies, in Hollywood, Fireflies claim to be second, and no one has dared to jump out to sit in the first position.

In the whole of Hollywood, only the Firefly Group has two successful 3D animated film studios. Whatever Eric's purpose for making such a decision, Bill Michanick didn't feel the need to question Eric's judgment.

Knowing this, Bill Michanik added, "Eric, what are we going to do next about the Pirates of the Caribbean script?"

Bill Michanick asked about this in a somewhat empty tone, thinking back to everything that had happened during this time, he felt that this script was probably just a bait thrown by Eric. Sony bit it up, and then threw away its own film department.

"Put it on hold for now, wait for a few years of recovery in Colombia before starting the film. ”

Now that he has won Columbia Pictures, Eric does not plan to take "Pirates of the Caribbean" back to Firefly, and Columbia also needs a façade work.

As for the Firefly, the original time and space project was originally created to promote the Pirates of the Caribbean project at Disneyland Los Angeles. But at this time, Disneyland did not have any Pirates of the Caribbean tours. Eric found out about the idea from a plan for Disney's Adventure in California, but the adult-oriented Disney Adventure project was cancelled as construction began on Firefly Studios, which was also aimed at adults.

Eric has also submitted the planning of the Pirates of the Caribbean tour to the design team of Firefly Studios, which is obviously more suitable for the Disney brand to be spun off and fully integrated into the adults-oriented Firefly Studios Park.

Hearing Eric's answer, Bill Micchanik knew that he wanted to fork it, so he nodded and asked again: "Also, Eric, will the salary negotiations between "Men in Black 3" and Will Smith and others also be put on hold?"

"This can be continued, but in terms of salary, we don't make concessions. In addition, after completing "Enemy of the Nation", Firefly will no longer cooperate with Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones unless the two parties agree on "Men in Black 3". ”

Due to the need to rush the schedule of the "Enemy of the Nation" project, Eric gave the actor to Will Smith. But after this film, the firefly system should also show its absolute strong posture.

Bill Michanik also couldn't help but extend the scene depicted by Lower Eric.

If Will Smith and others don't make compromises, they will definitely have to work with other studios outside the Firefly system. In the same way, the Firefly system will certainly maintain a consistent attitude towards other A-list superstars. It is conceivable that if all these stars who insist on high salaries turn to Warner Bros., Universal Pictures and Paramount, the other three may be gloating in the short term, but after a long time, whether the three can continue to pay high salaries is another matter, and the resources they have are not enough for all those first-line stars to share, and at that time, there will definitely be some stars who will not be able to get film contracts for a long time, and they will have to compromise with Fireflies in the face of the threat of declining popularity.

On the firefly system, to be honest, whether it is an animated movie or a special effects blockbuster, the dependence on superstars is very low. What's more, it is easy to combine the resources of the four companies to recreate a group of obedient stars.