After finishing her morning fitness routine, Natalie went back to her room to take a shower, changed into her formal clothes and walked down the stairs, and as soon as she approached the restaurant, she smelled a strange and familiar smell, the smell of her mother's zuò breakfast, which she had almost forgotten since moving to Los Angeles.

Thinking of last night's phone call, her brow furrowed slightly, she shook her head and smiled, and sat down at the dining table, like a child who had not grown up, waiting for her mother to bring breakfast.

"Honey." Mrs. Shelly walked into the dining room from the kitchen and placed a tray in front of Natalie, "I hope you like it." ”

"Mom."

After serving the steaming cereal porridge, Natalie looked at her mother, "Thanks, I haven't felt this way in a long time." ”

Picking up the spoon and stirring it in the bowl a few times, Natalie heard her mother say again, "I can come over whenever you like." ”

The stirring pause slightly, and Natalie blinked, "Of course, Mommy." ”

As always, Natalie didn't eat much, and after drinking the small bowl of cereal, she put down the spoon and waited for her mother to finish eating, and took the initiative to clean up the table.

After doing this, under the advice of Mrs. Shelly, Natalie walked out of the villa with her, walked along the path of the garden, and took a slow walk, there was no important work today, and it was completely possible to stay at home.

In December, Los Angeles does not feel the cold at all, and the bright sunlight shines in the garden, reflecting the figure of the mother and daughter, which looks unusually warm.

Gently holding the crooked arms, Natalie follows in the footsteps of her mother like a teenager, and it is difficult to have such a peaceful moment in the contentious Hollywood, especially in recent times, in order to gradually kick off the awards season, her life is full of hustle and bustle.

Although I understand that the Oscar for Best Actress is very likely to be held in my hands. Natalie didn't relax at all, she didn't want any accidents at the critical moment, in addition to participating in various public relations activities prepared for her by Ryan these days, she also used the advantage of her identity to get in touch with the connections that her mother could get in touch with.

Most people were unusually polite to her, and the rumored dark side was not seen, and she understood why, this was an extremely realistic circle, and even if those judges didn't choose her, they wouldn't risk offending Ryan.

Thinking of Ryan. Natalie has a headache and her mother's attitude towards Ryan ......

"Nate ......"

Her mother's words interrupted her train of thought, and Natalie looked over, "What? Mom? ”

"According to the analysis, what are your chances of winning Best Actress?"

Hearing the concerned question, Natalie said seriously, "According to the analysis of the public relations team, my current probability is more than 70%, and the biggest competitor is Australian actor Kate?" Blanchett. But now the shape shì ......"

She made a gesture you understand.

"If she wins the Oscar for Best Actress." Mrs. Shelly pulled Natalie to sit on a garden bench, "Would you like to move back to New York?" It doesn't have to be Long Island, it can be on the Upper East Side or the Upper West Side, so that your dad and I can come and see you whenever we want. ”

"Mommy......" Natalie hesitated slightly. Or say, "I love the weather in Los Angeles." ”

"Nat!" Lady Shelly's voice raised a bit, "Why do you have to stay with him?" Next year you're the Oscar-winning actress, and we're Jews. We can get the best resources, and it doesn't take too much effort for you to have other people pay for things that break their heads and grab them......"

"Mom!" Natalie interrupted her mother. "Please don't say it."

"Do you think I'm wrong?"

Natalie didn't answer that it's no secret that a lot of Hollywood's privileges belong only to Jews.

"I'm sorry, Mom." She stood up and walked towards the villa, "I'm not moving back to New York, I'm going to read the script." ”

"Nat......" Lady Shelly also stood up, "do you know a lot of people are talking about you?" ”

"I ......," Natalie's figure paused briefly, "I don't care, this is Hollywood!" ”

Really don't care? How is that possible.

Back in her study, Natalie forced herself to stop thinking and focused on the script, which reflected the experience of American troops in Iraq.

In the living room downstairs, Mrs. Shelly is flipping through the newspapers, and the focus is naturally on the entertainment version, which is still far from the Oscars next February, and even the list of nominees has not come out, but in the media's predictions, Natalie is undoubtedly the biggest favorite.

In some of the smaller awards that have been given recently, she has completely overtaken Kate? Blanchett, swept a series of Best Actress awards.

Gradually, Mrs. Shelly set her sights on Disney-related information, although she was very unwilling in her heart, and even hated the thin teenager back then, so much so that she once appeared in Sandy? Jenkins stabbed the media with such news, but in the end he put up with it, which did not do his daughter any good.

As always, almost all about Disney is good news, with Pixar Studios' Ratatouille being a big hit, National Treasure 2 having a poor reputation and box office success, and the Harry Potter franchise being another success......

Even she, a person who is hostile to the other party, has to admit that the thin teenager at the beginning has become a national figure in the United States and one of the top giants in Hollywood, no one wants to offend this kind of person, and no one wants to completely stand on the opposite side of Disney for no reason.

How can I get Nat to leave him?

This is something that Mrs. Shelly has been thinking about, after all, they only have this one daughter.

Meanwhile, Ryan sits in a conference room at Pixar's studio, talking to John? Lassett and Ed? Camel attends a high-level meeting at Pixar Studios.

Although "Ratatouille", which was released on Thanksgiving Day, received more than $150 million at the North American box office in 20 days, it fell below the estimates of Disney and Pixar from the opening results to the first-week box office to the weekly decline, and the North American box office trend was even lower than that of "Cars".

In particular, as a competitor in the same schedule, Twentieth Century Fox's "Elwin and the Squirrel" has always overtaken "Ratatouille" in the North American market, and if it weren't for the latter's overseas box office far exceeding the former, I am afraid that Pixar would have already caused an uproar within Pixar.

Even so, for the first time since "Toy Story," Pixar Studios really felt the pressure of competition.

"I don't know if you've noticed."

In fact, there are some problems that Ryan has long been aware of, but it would only backfire to say them in the context of Pixar's continued success, "Pixar has always emphasized the audience first, but now it is losing that concept." All of you here are Pixar veterans, do you remember when we made "Toy Story"? ”

Don't wait for Brad? Bird and Andrew? Stanton and the others replied, and Ryan continued, "We did a lot of research on the market while telling a good story, and this was not the case for Bug Crisis, Toy Story 2, and Looking for Nemo in the future. ”

"But what about now?" He shook his head, "Pixar is just sticking to the tradition of telling good stories. ”

"We're not ignoring market research."

The cold reception of "Ratatouille" in North America this time also sobered up the arrogant Pixar executives a lot, "but they didn't pay attention to the results of market research, and everyone focused on telling a good story, but forgot what kind of story the audience needs." ”

Pixar encountered such a problem in his previous life, how about the story of "Machine Qì Man Vali" and "Brave Legend"? It must be excellent, but it has been met with a cold reception from the market, and compared with the early works of Pixar Studios, the ability to attract money is greatly reduced.

"That "Machine Qì Man Wall-E" ...... "Andrew? Stanton hesitated.

The film is already complete, and it would be riskier to revise it.

Ryan also understands this, he did not object at the beginning, and he also figured out the cold reception of the market, reminding Pixar Studios that we are not invincible, and no one can continue to be successful without ignoring the market and talking to themselves.

"I'll remind the publicity department." Ryan rubbed his forehead, "Think more about the periphery." ”

The production cost of "WALL-E" is as high as 180 million US dollars, and the publicity and distribution expenses are also 120 million US dollars. It seems to be only about $520 million.

If this weren't an animated film that relied more on the periphery for profit, it could really make Pixar and Disney cry.

This also illustrates another problem from the side, there is no inevitable connection between IMDB and professional scoring and the market.

With the nature of the business group's pursuit of profits, the sequel animations of Pixar Studios in the previous life continue to come out, but Disney has not put the sequel of this series on the agenda for a long time, which also shows that the profit is not optimistic.

He is not a pure actor, nor is he a pure producer, sitting in his current position, the first thing he must consider is the profit prospect of the film, otherwise no matter how high the professional rating is, no matter how classic the film is, it will be useless to him.

Pixar's management is all smart people, but the cycle of continuous success has made them gradually rise up and break away from the thinking of the market, and Ryan doesn't need them to change too much, as long as they insist on telling a good story, continue to pay a little attention to the demand of the market as they did at the beginning of the century.

Of course, Ryan will also remind them with practical measures that Disney is not only owned by Pixar Studios to produce successful animated feature films.

Several teams from Disney's animation department returned to Los Angeles from Norway and Greenland, and the project officially named "Ice and Snow Adventure" has completed the script writing and will soon enter the actual operation stage. (To be continued......)