Chapter 559: The Clown and the Car Accident

These findings made him feel helpless and stressed.

After the rise of Lionsgate Pictures, the top executives of the six major film studios were all in danger. They did not want to be fired by the board of directors, so they had to find ways to produce blockbuster movies to make money for shareholders.

But investing in a movie is akin to gambling. No one knows whether a movie will be profitable before it's on the shelves.

According to the investment rules of the Hollywood film industry, less than a quarter of the movies that make a profit each year. Taking the movies released last year as an example, a total of 826 movies were released in North America last year, with an average box office of US$13.26 million, and the vast majority of the movies lost money.

The six major film studios are unable to expand film investment while ensuring movie profitability, which also prevents the six major film studios from catching up with Lionsgate in the movie box office.

For this reason, they can only find a way with Lionsgate. It is best to find the successful model of Lionsgate Films' investment in movies, and then transfer that method to use, maybe they can beat Lionsgate at the box office.

It's a pity that no matter whether they arranged commercial espionage or poaching, they failed to learn Lionsgate's investment model.

There are also rumors that Link’s method of investing in movies was learned from Relativity President Ryan Kavanaugh. After Warner Pictures studied Kavanaugh’s big data investment model, it found that it was of no use.

In addition, according to former Lionsgate employees, the success of Lionsgate movies mainly depends on Ivaca and several senior executives. Link is usually too busy and seldom cares about the company's affairs.

It shows that the success of Lionsgate movies has nothing to do with Link.

Pam Abdi investigated for a long time, but could not find the core secrets of Lionsgate's film production. When faced with the inquiry from president Kevin Tetsuhara, she could only respond with silence.

"You also know the attitude of the board of directors. If the secrets of Lionsgate's operations are not found and Lionsgate continues to lead at the box office, you and I will end up like Jeff."

Kevin Tetsuhara said in a deep voice.

The 'Jeff' he was talking about was Jeff Robinoff, the former CEO of Warner Pictures. Last year, he was fired by Warner Group due to poor box office performance of his movie. Five director-level executives were also fired at the same time.

In addition to Warner, in the past few months, there have also been great changes in the senior management and production departments of Universal Pictures, Fox, and Sony Pictures. The media called it a major reshuffle within the six major film studios.

If the six major film studios cannot solve their box office decline, there will probably be a new round of reshuffle in less than two years.

Pam Abdi understood this, but there was no good way. He lowered his head and thought for a moment, and said: "It is very difficult to defeat Lionsgate movies with regular methods, so I propose to use unconventional methods to deal with Lionsgate." Door."

"Unconventional?"

Kevin Tesuhara is an old man in the film industry. When you hear his words, you can also understand his thoughts. There are many ways to use unconventional methods to deal with competitors in Hollywood.

For example, contract traps, box office fraud, publicity suppression, movie crashes, exposing rival scandals, etc.

This is the more legal of unconventional methods.

There are also illegal ones, such as arranging for someone to leak the opponent's script, sending someone to cause trouble on the set, kidnapping actors and directors, burning film or video equipment, etc.

Among these methods, using the media to suppress Lionsgate and exposing Link's scandal have been used by the six major film studios long ago, with very average results.

Illegal methods have great disadvantages. If someone is caught, not only will they lose their jobs, but they may even go to jail. As the CEO of Warner Pictures, a high-level migrant worker.

Kevin Tsuuhara didn't want to risk that much for a job.

In addition, among the shareholders of Lionsgate Pictures are not only Link, who is ranked 37th by Forbes, but also Carl Icahn, who is ranked 25th. It is definitely not a good idea to use this method against them.

Kevin Tesuhara shook his head, "The board of directors prefers that we beat Lionsgate at the box office through formal means, rather than unconventional methods. Although unconventional methods are effective, they will destroy the film market environment and harm our opponents." When it comes to profits, we will also suffer losses. In addition, the shareholders behind the board of directors are still looking to invest in Lions Gate, and they don’t want to see a very profitable Lions Gate go bankrupt.”

Pam Abdi frowned. This wouldn't work, and that wouldn't work either. After much thought, he couldn't find a suitable way to defeat a Lions Gate that was getting stronger and stronger.

"Look at this document."

Kevin Tetsuhara picked up a folder and handed it over.

Pam Abdi opened it and looked at it, with a look of surprise on her face. This document was submitted by Lionsgate Pictures, stating that it wanted to win the film adaptation rights of the "Joker" character in the Batman series, and the price was 2000 Thousands of dollars.

"Lionsgate wants to make superhero characters too?"

"Yes, most of the most profitable movies in recent years are related to superhero characters, and Lionsgate wants to join them."

Tetsuhara said as he lit a cigarette.

"What's the company's opinion?"

Pam Abdi asked.

"We just finished the meeting and the company is ready to agree."

"Agree? Lionsgate has strong production capabilities. If we leave this kind of role to them to change and make a movie that will be a hit at the box office, it will probably be even more detrimental to us."

Pam Abdi said worriedly.

With the popularity of the "Batman" series of movies, the character of the Joker has also gained great popularity. In 2012, Warner Pictures also produced a movie about the Joker, which resulted in a loss of more than 60 million US dollars.

But this character is very popular. If it is produced by Lionsgate Pictures and made by Lionsgate into a movie with a good box office, the shareholders will feel that they are incompetent.

Pam didn't quite understand why company executives agreed to the deal.

"The company's opinion is to cooperate with Lionsgate Pictures to develop this character. During the cooperation process, we can learn Lionsgate Pictures' film-making skills and see if they have any secrets. However, the copyright of the Joker still belongs to Warner."

Tesuhara said while smoking.

Pam Abdi thought for a moment and understood what they were thinking.

It’s not bad to handle it this way.

"You have negotiated with Lionsgate. The company is prepared to let you take charge of this negotiation and try to keep the initiative on the company's side."

Tetsuhara said.

Pam Abdi nodded. He did have contact with Lionsgate Pictures. When the scandal of Warner box office stealing came out in 2011, he personally came forward to negotiate with Palm Beach Pictures and Lionsgate Pictures.

At that time, Warner was one of the Big Six, and Lionsgate and Palm Beach were both small companies. It was easy for him to take the initiative in negotiations. But now Lionsgate has risen strongly, with a market value of more than 7 billion, and it surpassed Warner in North American box office performance last year. One end of the film industry.

Now when negotiating with Lions Gate, it may be difficult to take the initiative.

For this negotiation, he could only do his best.

——

"Boss, Warner Pictures called and agreed to negotiate cooperation on the role of the Joker."

said vice president Michael Burns in a Lionsgate coffee room.

"Oh, that's good news."

Link nodded. Originally he was worried that Warner would reject it, so he bought the rights to adapt the thriller novel "It" by American writer Stephen King.

"It" was adapted into a movie and renamed "The Return of the Clown". It is a thriller movie with high ratings.

With a production cost of 35 million, it has received more than 700 million in box office worldwide, becoming a representative work of dark horse movies.

Warner Pictures' Joker is a literary film starring Joaquin Phoenix. It earned more than 1 billion in global box office that year and helped Joaquin win the Oscar for Best Actor. The production cost does not seem to be high.

If you catch both versions of the Joker, these two movies are expected to earn nearly a billion dollars, which is a very good deal.

"Mike, you are responsible for acquiring the copyright. Warner will probably not give up this character easily. They will act according to the circumstances during negotiations. You can increase money or cooperate. Try to get the rights to adapt this character."

Link said.

"Okay, boss."

Michael Burns nodded, talked about other work, and then left the coffee room to work.

Jingle bell bell!

The cell phone on the table rang. It was Ms. Anna's call. Link picked it up and listened for a while, then immediately frowned.

"Is something okay, Paul?"

"It's still under rescue, and the specific situation is unclear. Boss, my suggestion is that I arrange for someone to watch in the hospital first, and then tell you when there are new situations. There are too many reporters in the hospital now, and your coming will affect the traffic."

Ms. Anna said.

"Okay, do as you say."

Link put down the phone and shook his head. In the previous call, Ms. Anna told him that Paul Walker was racing in Long Beach, Los Angeles at around three o'clock in the afternoon. He was involved in a car accident and was later found by passers-by and sent to the hospital.

He is still being rescued and his life or death is uncertain.

Link was helpless when he heard the news. After meeting Paul Walker in 2008, he had repeatedly advised Paul to drive slower and try not to overdrive, and Paul also listened to his advice.

I originally thought that if nothing happened to him last year, it would be over, but I didn't expect that it would happen again this year.

He had no other choice but to pray for Paul.

He opened the browser and took a look. There are a lot of news on the Internet about Paul Walker's car accident. Some said that Paul had passed away, and some said that he was still being rescued. However, Paul's agent has not yet publicly responded.

Link sat in the office for a while. After going home with Ivaca, he received a message from Ms. Anna. Paul Walker had suffered extensive burns on his body. After receiving rescue, he was now out of danger. He was recuperating in the intensive care unit and had not yet woken up. , the assistant who was riding with him unfortunately passed away.

Seeing this news, Link felt unfortunate for the assistant and at the same time he was relieved. If something like this happened, Paul would probably never touch a car again in his life.

Ding dong!

An instant message was received on the phone. The person who sent the message was Taylor. Taylor asked him if he had seen the news about Paul Walker's car accident.

Link replied that he saw that Paul Walker is currently out of danger.

Taylor didn't care what happened to Paul Walker, but he just reminded him not to drive too fast in the future, and asked him to try not to drive when he went out, and he could only take a modified commercial vehicle.

Link replied that he understood and asked her to do the same. By the way, he asked her if she wanted to bring her children over for the weekend.

Taylor said to watch the time and come over when you have time.

Link said yes.

After spending Christmas together, the relationship between the two parties has become closer. Taylor and Evaka did not have that awkward feeling when they lived together. Although it has not reached the point where the three of them are sleeping together, the situation now is better than imagined. The middle is better.

Link's next goal is to keep up his efforts, strive to have another child with Taylor in two years, and completely weld this little girl to his aircraft carrier.

In addition to Taylor, Marion Cotillard, Emma Roberts, Emma Stone, Beyoncé, Lana Del Rey, and Frank also sent messages one after another asking about Paul Walker, persuading him in either serious or joking tones. Drive slower and don't make the same mistake again.

Link accepted their advice and said he would try to be careful.

When they received news the next day that Paul Walker had woken up, Link and Ivaca drove to the hospital to visit Paul. According to the hospital, Paul Walker had extensive burns, more than ten fractures, and even comminuted fractures. Massive bleeding from internal organs.

The main reason why a life was saved this time was that the ambulance arrived quickly and was relatively close to the hospital. If it were delayed for another twenty or thirty minutes, it would be difficult to save the patient.

Link waved to Paul Walker, whose head and face were wrapped in gauze, through the glass.

Paul Walker grinned and flashed his middle finger.

Link shook his head. This guy had more than ten broken bones in his body, but the middle finger that should be broken the most was not broken.

Infected by the atmosphere in the hospital and affected by the news of many recent plane crashes, on the way back, he and Ivaca talked about life and death. They both felt that making too much money was useless and that they should live in the present and enjoy themselves. Life.

For this reason, the two made vacation plans on the spot and increased their vacations from two to three this year, each time being no less than a month.

——

"Fake Family" has officially exceeded 100 million US dollars at the North American box office 24 days after its release. The current box office is 100.1 million US dollars, officially becoming Lionsgate's second North American box office movie this year to exceed 100 million US dollars.

The overseas box office also exceeded 100 million this week, with 106 million US dollars.

The film is also Lionsgate's first film to surpass 200 million in global box office this year.

This week, the North American box office of "Fatal Call" also reached a total of 51.87 million U.S. dollars, and the overseas box office was 20.4 million U.S. dollars, with a total box office of more than 72 million U.S. dollars. Compared with the production cost of 12 million U.S. dollars, Lionsgate Pictures made a huge profit of more than 30 million U.S. dollars.

Lionsgate has another movie released this week, "Ender's Game," which is produced by Summit Entertainment. The production cost has been reduced from $110 million to $82 million.

The film had a box office of US$27.01 million in 3,407 theaters over the three weekends. For a commercial science fiction film, this result is very average. It can only maintain capital at most, and it is difficult to make money.

At the time of the release, the media exposed internal conflicts within Lionsgate Pictures, saying that Lionsgate had reduced Summit Entertainment's production funds on the project, resulting in a serious decline in the quality of the film.

There are also media outlets who stand on the side of Summit Entertainment and feel aggrieved for Summit Entertainment.

In this regard, Robert Friedman, the former chairman of Summit Entertainment and current deputy director of Lionsgate Pictures, stood up and explained that the current cooperation model between Lionsgate Pictures and Summit Entertainment is the most reasonable, and there is no suggestion of suppression.

In addition, "Ender's Game" has some problems with its subject matter. Reducing investment is a reasonable move, and facts have proven that this approach is right.

The main reason why Robert said this is that when acquiring Summit Entertainment, Lionsgate paid him and his shareholders some shares of Lionsgate. Now that Lionsgate’s market value has doubled compared to last year, their shares have naturally increased in value. .

They won't complain if they can make money.

In addition to "Ender's Game", Lionsgate Pictures has three more movies to be released in the early part of the summer season, "The Grand Budapest Hotel", "Dark Lady 4" and "Divergent: The Alien Awakens", and in the summer season there will be "The Vanished" "My Lover", "John Wick", "Neighbors" and "So You Think You Can Dance 5" were released.

Whether Lionsgate Pictures can get a foothold in the top six this year depends on the performance of several summer movies.