Thanksgiving Day in 1995 happened to fall on November 23, a week after Eric returned to Los Angeles, and the year-end schedule officially entered Thanksgiving Week.

On November 17, in addition to the still released Jim Carrey comedy, Firefly's "Jedi Men" and MGM's "Scream" were officially released. In addition, the new films released this week include Warner's "Good Things Come in Pairs" and Sony's "White House Love", which are two romantic comedies that are just in time for the holiday season.

As a media group with a business scope covering film, television, amusement, music and consumer goods, the film department is the most exposed one, but its share of the group's operating revenue has dropped to 20% After returning to Los Angeles, Eric began to be busy dealing with the complicated corporate affairs accumulated in the past few months, so he didn't pay much attention to the release of these two low-budget films, but after the first day of release, he casually looked at the box office data of the next two films and put it aside.

However, unlike Eric's bland, confident reaction, the media attention to the two films was beyond everyone's expectations.

With the popularity of directing the second Victoria's Secret show, and with the full publicity and support of the Firefly Group, Michael Bay's film debut neodymium "Jedi Men" exceeded everyone's expectations. The crime action film, which had a budget of only $19 million, grossed $26.6 million in its first three days, knocking out the Jim Carrey comedy in its second week of release.

Crime action movies with two male protagonists have almost been made badly over the years, not to mention popular series such as "Beverly Hills Detective" and "Lethal Weapon", there are countless similar films that are obscure, and the ideas that can be used in this genre have basically been exhausted, and it is difficult to make anything new.

However, while achieving an excellent box office, "Jedi Men" has been uncharacteristically praised by many media. Although the plot of the two male protagonists with contrasting personalities swapping identities in this film is a small innovation, the media and critics focused on Michael Bay's shooting style.

"With dazzling car chase shots, sharp editing style, and explosive action scenes, Michael Bay is worthy of being a visually winning MTV director, turning a $19 million low-budget crime action film into a $50 million blockbuster visual impact. Although the plot is not out of the trap of genre films, it is still a popcorn film that can meet the audience's visual enjoyment. ”

"With just the right amount of slow motion, visually stunning wide-angle scenes, and a special aesthetic everywhere, Michael Bay has undoubtedly delivered a satisfactory answer to the producers and the audience as a director's neodymium work. ”

“……”

It has to be said that Michael Bay's mastery of the visual senses of the camera is excellent, but Eric couldn't help but laugh out loud when he saw these comments in the media.

As a 'person who has come over', Eric's most vivid memory is the 'three-board axe' shooting technique that Michael Bay was repeatedly criticized by film critics in his previous life.

At this time, most of the views that the media praised Michael Bay were precisely the same points that they repeatedly used to criticize Michael Bay later. Most directors have a strong personal style, and for film critics, many directors often like or hate the filming techniques from the beginning, and few Michael Bay like this, from liking to hating, and then turning into extreme disgust.

However, as long as it can bring good profits to the producers, then, the opinion of the film critics, heh, who cares.

Because one of the protagonists of "Jedi Men" is no longer Will Smith, but has been replaced by another black rap singer, therefore, this time there is no "Jedi Men", because Will Smith fell into the embarrassing situation of not being able to start the sequel because of his fame in other movies.

Three days after the box office of "Jedi Men" was released three days after its opening weekend, the production department of Firefly began discussing the development of a sequel with Michael Bay.

On the other hand, "Scream", produced by Flower Pictures and distributed by MGM, has a box office of $12.15 million in the first three days of the opening weekend due to the unsparing publicity and distribution support of MGM after the full integration, but this data only occupies the third place in the weekly box office charts, behind Jim Carrey's comedy of $21.35 million and nearly $8 million.

Critics' reviews of "Scream" were also polarized, with some people saying that the film was very engaging in terms of its suspenseful setting, but there were also many who felt that the film was a hodgepodge of old horror movie memes.

Although Eric privately hinted that Drew could let go of the release of "Scream", he was not quite sure why the film was successful.

After grossing $12.15 million in the first weekend, "Scream" earned more than $6 million again on the following weekday, bringing the total box office to $18.63 million in the first week.

So, after the first week of screening, combined with the box office data of the first week and the word-of-mouth of the film, the film company roughly made a total box office estimate of several new films released.

Because after all, it is just a popcorn movie and a black comedy, although directing the second Victoria's Secret show made Michael Bay famous, but most institutions have given a total North American box office forecast of $100 million for "Jedi Men". Compared to the production and publicity costs of about $30 million, there is no doubt that Firefly will be very profitable at the North American box office alone.

As for "Scream", according to the film's first-week box office and polarized word-of-mouth, the agency's total box office data forecast is only $50 million, and the box office decline is expected to be between 30% and 50% the next week, and the total box office figure is far lower than the more than $100 million box office data in Eric's memory.

Just as Eric wondered if it was the butterfly effect of his rebirth, the time came to the next week.

Jim Carrey's comedies, Firefly's Jedi Men, and even the two romantic comedies released by Sony and Warner that didn't make any waves all showed corresponding box office declines according to the predicted normal box office trend, but the box office of "Scream" came as a big surprise in the three days of the following weekend.

Although there are several new films such as "Money Train" and "Club" that are not outstanding at the box office but still occupy a lot of market share, "Scream" surprised everyone, not only did the box office not fall, but rebounded, although this reverse decline was only a slight 7%, but the box office still reached $13.1 million in three days. And this reversal chart, which surprised everyone, indicates that the total box office of the film will far exceed the $50 million figure originally predicted by the media, and may even be comparable to "Jedi Men".

Whether it's the media or Hollywood studios, the response to box office dark horses is always surprisingly fast, after all, the media wants news, and the studios want the market.

Therefore, in the following days, the reason for the magical box office trend of "Scream" was quickly unearthed.

The reason seems to be simple and surprising.

The teenage viewers interviewed said that their classmates and friends around them were discussing the movie, and they found this thrilling and bloody horror movie very exciting. At the same time, the setting that the film takes place in a group of high school students also makes them full of a sense of substitution. One of the boys interviewed even said that they were tired of the performances of Bruce Willis and Mel Gibson, and they wanted to see a movie that was more relevant to their lives, even if it was a horror movie. ”

"Hollywood often classifies audiences between the ages of 18 and 34 as a unified group of young audiences, and with the movie-going craze sparked by Scream, we should find that this age division rule may have to change from now on. A USC professor said that "Scream" The reason why it is popular, the deeper reason, should be affected by the baby boom echo period, the United States after the Second World War, began the first baby boom, an average of more than 10 million children born every year, and the baby of that year, in the sixties and seventies grew up and started a family, after the seventies, once again brought a baby boom to the United States, this baby boom because it was affected by the first baby boom, so it is called the baby boom echo period. According to estimates, the total number of babies born in the 70s has reached 60 million, and these teenagers between the ages of 16 and 25 will undoubtedly become a separate group of movie consumers. The success of "Scream" is undoubtedly due in large part to the fact that it inadvertently caters to the needs of this group of teenagers who are in a rebellious period. ”

At the top of Beverly Hill, Elizabeth, wrapped in a white bathrobe, sat on the early morning terrace, finished reading the "Los Angeles Times" in her hand analyzing the reasons for the box office success of "Scream", and looked up at Eric, who was sitting opposite: "Hey, I suddenly regret it." ”

Eric didn't lift his head, drank the coffee in his hand, and asked while reading the newspaper, "What's wrong?"

""The Grim Reaper is Coming" should also be regarded as a teen movie, I suddenly regretted changing the "Ace Spy" with you, to be honest, the more I read this script, the worse it gets. ”

Eric smiled and said, "yes, I think it's very bad too, that's why I changed it with you." ”

"You bastard," Elizabeth glared at him, tentatively, "and you're here, have you started making?"

"The new line is going to be released in the summer next year, and the casting has begun, and now it's too late for you to change it back," Eric raised his head and said with a smile: "So, you still have to make this bad movie honestly, but no one said that bad movies don't make money." ”

"Hey, you know that to help her, any low-budget horror film can get such a high box office, not to mention help me pick a few scripts. ”

Eric shook his head and said, "This time it really has nothing to do with me, the script was chosen by Drew himself, and I didn't interfere at all." ”

She ...... Hmph......" Elizabeth looked visibly disbelieving.

Eric shrugged: "That's the way it is, just ask around, the girl is smarter than you, $500,000, buy out the screenwriter's five scripts at once." I regret the screenwriter, if it weren't for the $500,000 to sign a package contract, after this movie, he could buy a nice mansion in Beverly Hills with just one script, and now, he can only buy a small apartment at the foot of the mountain with that $500,000. ”

Elizabeth showed a sly little expression on her face and said, "Eric, are you suggesting that I poached that screenwriter, a $500,000 contract will not be too much liquidated damages." ”

Eric was just joking, "Scream" was a huge success, Kevin Williamson will naturally receive a private dividend from MGM, and the final income must still be well over $500,000. Moreover, it is impossible for any screenwriter to guarantee that his script will always be successful, and the chances of a horror film being a box office hit are even lower, even if a film company is willing to pay a liquidated damages to help Kevin Williamson terminate his contract, the other party will not agree to it if they are a little smarter.

Glancing at Elizabeth, Eric said, "You can try it, as long as you are not angry, you can dig it up and count your ability." ”

After all, she has been in the film industry for a few years, and Elizabeth also understands the rules, sighed when she heard this, and said: "It seems that I have to pick some teen movie scripts recently, well, Eric, what have you been busy with lately?"

"Hold a meeting to discuss the company's departmental budget and development plan for next year. ”

Elizabeth blinked, knowing that it was inconvenient for her to inquire about this, but asked curiously, "How much can Firefly achieve this year's operating income?"

"About 24 billion, a little better than originally expected. ”

"Wow, it's still ...... A little better. It's twice as much as mine, and the tone in which you say this is really annoying," Elizabeth said twice, and couldn't help it, and asked: "According to the previous net profit margin of 11%, Firefly's net profit this year is almost 2.6 billion US dollars." ”

"Well, though, there's the late balance from last year's sale of the animation division and print assets, which is about $1.25 billion. ”

"Tsk," Elizabeth smacked her mouth enviously, grabbed the silver knife from the breakfast plate next to her, and waved it, "Now, don't move, rob." ”

Eric flipped the page of the newspaper in front of him, smiled and shook his right hand on the table: "I surrender, Your Majesty, but it's too easy to be caught in broad daylight, why don't you go to the bedroom, I'll give you tens of billions?"

"Ahh ”

Eric looked at Elizabeth's departing figure and said, "She obviously lives with you, how can I get used to it." ”

Elizabeth didn't look back, and said in a rude tone: "It's all your fault anyway." ”

"Uh, okay. (To be continued.) )