"Happy Fourth of July, Mr. Gray. Pen × fun × Pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 The secretary smiled brightly and took the initiative to say hello, Brad Gray smiled and nodded in response, then pushed open his office door and started another busy day.

For most Americans, today is a national holiday, a day off and off; But for Hollywood, it's still a working day, and because of the holidays, the box office competition will be more intense, and everyone's eyes will be focused on it. Brad is even more so.

Because "War of the Worlds" produced and released by Paramount was released this weekend, July 4 this year is Monday, which means that the first week of the premiere of "War of the Worlds" ushered in a four-day box office explosion period, and everyone is staring at how much it can achieve.

Brad has only been in charge of Paramount for less than a few months, and "War of the Worlds" is not his decision, but he still hopes that the work will do well at the box office so that the turbulent Paramount can gradually stabilize.

"War of the Worlds" was Tom Cruise's first film to be released after winning the Oscar, and it was filmed in collaboration with Steven Spielberg, which attracted countless eyes. After the release, it did not disappoint, and when it was released early on Wednesday, it still broke out at the box office of 65 million in three days over the weekend, winning the box office of the week without any suspense, and the cumulative box office in the first five days has exceeded 100 million US dollars.

This gave Brad a long sigh of relief.

Comparatively speaking, Operation Smith, produced and released by Twentieth Century Fox, was not so lucky. The film debuted in the second week of June, with Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, who were officially married, attending the premiere in a high-profile manner, and Twentieth Century Fox spent a lot of public relations money to get the media to sing praise, but it still couldn't stop the people from condemning. In particular, "Friends" officially came to an end at the end of May after a decade-long broadcast, and people's love and nostalgia for Jennifer Aniston reached its peak, which made Brad controversial.

First of all, it lost the media comprehensive evaluation, and the poor evaluation of only 51 points reminded people of last year's "Troy"; Then the Rotten Tomatoes index and theater scores also brought bad news; The opening weekend only grossed $35 million, and although it managed to win the top spot at the North American weekend box office, it was far below expectations, and compared to the cost of 110 million and more than 30 million in publicity expenses, this premiere result is really unsatisfactory.

It can be clearly felt that after the "derailment door", Brad's positive image has been severely hit, and his relationship with Angelina has seriously affected the box office data. However, there are also many viewers who are curious about the spark between Brad and Angelina, which is also an important driver of the movie's box office.

While this week's "War of the Worlds" achieved excellent box office figures, "Operation Smith", which entered its fourth week of release, ranked fifth on the weekend box office chart with a score of 8 million, and the cumulative box office staggered past the 100 million threshold, which is really gratifying news.

While there is still a question mark over where the final box office will end up, it is certain that the likelihood of losing money is decreasing, and this is not a complete disaster. Next, how to promote the overseas market and how to use the topic effect of Brad and Angelina to have a positive impact will become the biggest problem that Twentieth Century Fox and the public relations team of the two will face.

Brad Gray has read all the major newspapers today and has a general grasp of the direction of the industry; Then I started to read e-mail, and unlike the news media, these are all information transmission within the industry, not only involving industry secrets, but also an important platform for information exchange.

Reading and reviewing emails one by one, and replying to important emails, time is lost before you know it. Then, Brad saw a forwarded email. Due to his current position, most of the emails he receives are directly sent emails, or CC emails, and there are not many forwarded emails, Brad's first reaction is a pyramid/sale or scam email, and he is ready to delete it when he raises his hand, but accidentally clicks on the email itself, and then a series of forwarding lists are displayed, apparently this email has been forwarded at least ten times.

"Hollywood Blacklist", the title of this email is even more terrifying, Brad couldn't help frowning slightly, is it a scam email? But then, Brad noticed that this email was actually forwarded to him by the general manager of the production department, could it be a virus?

Now that he had clicked on it, Brad subconsciously scanned it, and the surprise in his eyes slowly swelled up, and he had to go back to the beginning of the email and read it again.

"Dear gentlemen, ladies, this is a Hollywood script blacklist ......" The content of the email explained in detail the source of the blacklist, as well as the selection criteria, and reiterated that none of these works have found investors, and each work is marked with a list of screenwriters and their contact information, interested parties can contact by themselves, "This is just a list of internal exchanges in the industry, welcome all peers to join, and also welcome the discussion and opinions of all peers." ”

Subsequently, the list of the top 15 blacklists is attached, and the details are in the annex. Final Signature...... The signature is actually "Chaos Pictures: Franklin Leonard". Brad's gaze stayed here for a long time, and he couldn't react.

As the CEO of a film company, he knows better than anyone the value of such a list of scripts, and Chaos Pictures is actually the driving force behind it, and the influence is absolutely unimaginable, what is Lance thinking about?

Brad adjusted his breathing, and then clicked on the blacklist in the annex, a complete list of eighty-six works, and below the list was also marked the names of the people on the exchange list, a full eighty people. Brad scanned it carefully, and he actually found the names of two of Paramount's film and television pre-development managers, not only that, but also many familiar names, all of which proved that the weight of this list was far deeper than expected.

Releasing the mouse, Brad took a deep breath, and again, finally letting his surging emotions settle down. Then he repositioned himself and began to read the list again, but after thinking about it, he picked up the microphone again, "Please help me contact the production department, and there will be an emergency meeting in thirty minutes." ”

Brad Gray is just one of the scenes in Hollywood, on July 4, a total of 156 people across Hollywood received this email, and 76 people became the first witnesses to the blacklist, excluding the 80 people on the exchange list. These include the production divisions of Paramount, Twentieth Century Fox, and DreamWorks, as well as the production divisions of 31 small independent film companies, as well as the key executives of the Producers Guild of America, the Directors Guild of America, and the Writers Guild of America.

This blacklist was like a gift beautifully wrapped in a bow, delivered to the hands of these 156 people. Those film and television pre-development managers are like treasures, and they have contacted the producers they are familiar with with the blacklist, and they can't wait to submit proposals, hoping to start the project; The producers were amazed and became the focus of discussion in almost 24 hours, but most of them were on the sidelines, skeptical of the blacklist, and only a few picked up the phone and contacted the projects they were interested in, hoping to make further observations on the script.

But no one can deny that the blacklist has quickly become the hottest topic within the Hollywood industry, and even the box office battle of the "World War" cannot be compared.

At first, people were still questioning the authenticity and artistry of the list, and many people raised a question: what is the purpose of Chaos Pictures' work?

Overnight, the phone in the Chaos Pictures office was flooded, but everyone got the same answer, "I'm just looking for more suitable works to shoot." As for why this list is given back to everyone, this is even simpler, "The wisdom that comes from the collective naturally has to be fed back to everyone, which is the wisdom of the entire industry, not one person or one company." ”

Chaos Pictures' wisdom, generosity, and maturity have truly shaken everyone in the industry. Compared with the name Lancelot Strello, compared to works such as "City of God" and "Murder by the Knife", this time Chaos Pictures has really made a name, standing out from the ranks of independent film companies, and everyone is impressed.

It didn't take long for people to discover the value of the list: the combined opinions of eighty film and television pre-development managers crossed, which already represented the mainstream opinion of Hollywood; The works on the list, after being reviewed by senior screenwriters in the industry, have successively discovered the shining points of the scripts...... All of this proves that the blacklist is not only not "black", but also represents the most promising new faces of independent films at present.

Realizing this, everyone's blood boiled. The blacklist is spreading faster and faster, and in less than a week, almost everyone in Hollywood has one, and it has become the most fashionable National Day reading gift for industry insiders. Those who did not read the blacklist in time truly experienced the loneliness and loneliness of being "abandoned by the times".

Barry Meyer got the blacklist on July 6, and Robert Iger was a day later than Michael Eisner, who didn't actually read the blacklist until July 7. Those who truly understand the value behind this list know the weight of such a thin list, and at the same time they have to start to face up to the potential of Chaos Pictures.

I didn't work with Reims, but now it's still the right choice? (To be continued.) )