American Life

Chapter 240 Change the track to break through and compete for the Olympics
"Fox Searchlight has reached a global distribution agreement with "Blind Flu" and it is officially scheduled to be released on the first weekend of October." Friedman passed the news to Charlie.

This kind of thing is not difficult for Friedman, who is well-connected in the industry, to inquire about it.

"Global distribution? It seems that Peter Rice is very optimistic about this movie." Charlie said casually.

"Sir, I think you are quite optimistic about this movie." Friedman continued.

"I'm just curious about the director himself." Charlie said nonchalantly.

Fernando Meirelles has previously made critically acclaimed films such as "City of God", but in his entire directorial career, this was only a flash in the pan.

The investment in "Blind Flu" is as high as 2500 million, and Charlie feels that it is really impossible to make money.

There is only half a month left in October. It seems that Fox Searchlight wants to take advantage of the Toronto Film Festival to directly promote the film to the market. It is estimated that there will not be too many high-profile promotion activities, and it does not seem to be a good impression of the film. Have great self-confidence.

That night, Charlie actually met Keira Knightley at the Toronto Film Festival.

Today is a special screening of British movies, and she also appeared at the scene with the main creator.

The other party was also surprised that Charlie appeared in the background.

"I didn't expect to meet again so soon." Charlie walked over.

"Have you seen my movie?" Keira smiled.

Charlie shook his head honestly, people kept passing by, and everyone just glanced at them briefly and quickly looked away.

"It's getting late, you should go back to the hotel." Charlie waved to her.

"Do you want to come with me? We all stay in the same hotel, right?" Kayla continued.

The Ritz-Carlton is just a few hundred meters from the Bell Cinema and has been an official partner of the Toronto Film Festival.Another benefit is that the filmmakers participating in the exhibition live together, making it easier for them to visit each other.

The other party said so, and Charlie would never refuse, so he and Keira Knightley returned to the hotel first.

On the way, Charlie asked her how many days she would stay.

"Just one night, I have to go back tomorrow."

"Back to England?"

"Back in Los Angeles, to prepare for the Captain America movie, I bought a complete set of comics and read them all tonight," she said with a smile.

Charlie nodded.Outside the isolation zone, there were actually many reporters surrounding them. They shouted Charlie's name, and flashlights flashed around the two of them.

"Why do I feel that you are more eye-catching than me?" Keira said suddenly, not knowing whether she felt that she was too famous or that Charlie was too famous.

"It's all a hype trick." Charlie shook his head. He used to need this attention, but now he doesn't want to attract too much attention at all, and is ready to concentrate on being the man behind the glamorous star.

"If you want to make headlines by suddenly breaking out about your relationship, it's best to involve someone else, and the man is black and pregnant. I guarantee you will make the headlines of gossip media like TMZ for a week in a row. No. , it’s a month.” Charlie said with a smile.

"I'll think about it." Keira turned to Charlie and then said seriously, seeming to really think about the possibility of this matter.

"Speaking of which, isn't this a natural hot spot for gossip right in front of me?"

"I don't mind building publicity for the new movie anyway." Charlie shrugged.

"If my relationship is exposed, it must be true." Keira explained.

"What about Rupert Friend?" Having said this, Charlie couldn't hide his gossip.

"We broke up last year."

"You should find an opportunity to announce this."

"I don't like exposing my personal affairs in front of the media, you should know this."

"By the way, do you have any favorite films to participate in the Toronto Film Festival this time? It seems that no one is interested in the DVD distribution rights of "The Duchess". This is why I was called by the producer this time."

"I never lose money in business, you should know that." Charlie responded in the same way.

Keira Knightley's smile faded and she said with some self-deprecation: "That's right. If I don't work hard, I will be forgotten by the audience."

"What do you think of the movie Slumdog Millionaire?"

Apparently her sources were not very good.Only then did Charlie mention that he had bought out the distribution rights for the film.

"Having a discerning eye, I am very optimistic about this film and the Academy Award."

"You love the Oscars?"

"Of course, you can only be called a 'great actor' if you win an award," Keira Knightley said fascinatedly.

"You will have this day." Charlie said firmly.

"Then it all depends on you, sir." Keira Knightley said with a smile, obviously a joke.

The two walked into the elevator together, Charlie lived upstairs. When the elevator reached a certain floor, Keira turned around and waved to Charlie.

"I have to go."

Her smile was gradually obscured by the closed elevator doors.

Others dare not say it, but Charlie can be sure that Keira Knightley has no interest in him at all, and will even deliberately keep a distance from her because of her status as the boss of a film company. This is her principle.

Obviously she has no chance of becoming famous because she doesn't care at all.

At the end of the ten-day Toronto Film Festival, "Slumdog Millionaire" unsurprisingly won the most valuable Audience Choice Award.

At this time, Charlie had returned to Chicago and lived a happy life for a few days.

Taylor's third solo album is finally nearing release.

The Miss Universe competition of the Meri Group has just come to an end. Diana Mendoza from Venezuela finally won the crown. Because Charlie was busy with movies, he did not take the initiative to participate this time, while Diana was eliminated by Venus. The signing was successful, and now Linnie can receive many endorsements, and Charlie is ready to follow suit.

PB Company was fine during Charlie's absence. With the Olympics over, the magazine took advantage of the situation and produced a feature on female athletes.Three well-known sports beauties in the United States, Allison Stoke, Alex Morgan, and Tanis Belbin, were invited.

Sports agency is also a very profitable industry, but in Charlie's opinion, these three do not have much agency value. Instead, he thought of another female tennis player who is currently 21 years old and has not yet reached the peak of her career - Mary Maria Sharapova.

"Sharapova? That tennis player, yes, signed with the same agency as me." Gisele Bundchen said.

Today, Gisele Bundchen has once again returned to her pre-pregnancy slender figure. She has frequently mentioned the matter of her comeback to Charlie. Obviously, the luxury goods have made her feel tired.

Speaking of which, IMG's main business is sports agency, and it started modeling agency in 1987.

"IMG...Yahoo seems to have been seeking to acquire IMG a few days ago?" Charlie asked again.

Many media have disclosed this matter. After the death of the company's founder McCormack, the company's business began to decline. The current CEO Theodor Forstmann is eager to sell the company. Yahoo has a great interest in this , the acquisition was terminated midway for unknown reasons.

"Yes, but the price offered by Yahoo was only US$15 billion, and Forstmann Little felt that this price was too low."

Forstmann Little is a private equity firm that acquired a controlling stake in IMG for US$2004 million in 7.5, but did not interfere with its operations.

US$15 billion is indeed a bit low for IMG, a global brokerage company with annual revenue of US$10 billion.

"What, you want to be my boss?" Gisele Bundchen straddled Charlie.

"I want you to be the boss's wife." Charlie said.

This is actually true. If the acquisition can be completed, Gersh will merge with IMG to form a new company.

Which of the four major Hollywood agencies is not deeply entrenched? It is better to open up the situation in other tracks. IMG, the world's leading sports agency with a number of supermodels under its banner, is a good choice.

"Sounds good." Giselle hugged Charlie's neck, leaned forward, and buried Charlie's face into the abyss.

"Yoga training is not in vain." Charlie felt that Gisele did not look like she had given birth to a child at all, and was even firmer, and of course it was not limited to her skin.

·
Entering October, the three films that were previously on the summer schedule have also reached the time of settlement.

"The Incredible Hulk" has a cumulative global box office of 3.5 million U.S. dollars, "Thor" has a global box office of 5 million U.S. dollars, and "Iron Man 2" has reached a total of 9 million U.S. dollars, and it is still in theaters.

In addition to "The Incredible Hulk" cooperating with Universal, the other two movies were distributed by PB Pictures, and most of the proceeds went into Charlie's pocket.

After deducting domestic and foreign publicity and production costs, Incredible Hulk's profit is around US$8000 million.

"Thor" only has a mere 1 million, and "Iron Man 2" has 2 million. The reason is that the publisher charges 5% of the industry's maximum share. For Charlie, it is a left hand and a right hand.

As for this part of the net profit, it will continue to be used as investment in the remaining films and will be recorded as "cost".

It is still just box office revenue, and the next DVD release window will enter next year. Under normal circumstances, the total DVD revenue and box office are roughly the same, and 20% will be used as a share of the producer.

Later, there were rights sales to pay TV stations, and then free TV stations.

Then came the paid on-demand services at airports and hotels.

There are also online copyright benefits.

Under normal circumstances, the box office of a film only accounts for 10%-20% of the entire back-end revenue. Of course, this requires a 7-year release window.

In terms of income alone, making movies is definitely the investment method with the highest yield in the world, provided that you are a big player in this field and can guarantee the quality of the film.

Therefore, acquiring IMG is not difficult for Charlie.

At the same time, "Blind Flu", a project that Fox Searchlight snatched from Charlie, was only released in China for ten days before it was removed from theaters due to poor revenue. The cumulative box office was only a pitiful 3000 million, and the producers and distributors Fang Shuang suffered a loss of blood.

As for "Slumdog Millionaire" that Charlie has bought out, it will be released in December. Because it is the last month, films that are aspiring to win Oscars are often released together, so it is also called the Olympic season.

Major competitors at the box office have also emerged, including Keanu Reeves' major sci-fi production "The Day the Earth Stood Still", low-budget art film "The Boy in Striped Pajamas", and Will Smith's best actor "Seven Stars". Pounds," Titanic's reunion with "Road to Revolution," and its most formidable competitor, the fantasy film "The Revenant," directed by David Fincher and starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett.

The plot, picture, director, cast, this movie can be said to crush all the movies of this month.

As the saying goes, the smell of wine is also afraid of the dark alley. As a distributor, in order to get more attention for the humble curry-flavored movie, Charlie took out a weapon that had been abandoned for a long time. Starting from the early screening, he was full of firepower on Twitter. open.

""The Day the Earth Stood Still" is a disaster movie disguised as a science fiction film. Sadly, the director and screenwriter were unable to control this subject matter at all, and turned it into an ambiguous and pretentious metaphysical proposition, which looks like a new Putting old wine in bottles makes you confused."

""Seven Pounds" is a tender movie. I admit that Will Smith's outstanding acting skills in the movie moved me deeply. However, this movie is full of depth and boring. With all due respect, it is not suitable for most audiences. At least I fell asleep in the theater.”

"As for "Return to Youth," this movie will become a dark history for the two leading actors. David Fincher abandoned the murder case and switched to warmth. If you ask me, it can only scratch the surface."

"Slumdog Millionaire, which won the Toronto Audience Choice Award, will be a life-changing movie for the audience. It is like a playful prophecy written by Dickens. Most of the time when we face the difficulties in life, We are powerless, but this does not prevent us from mustering up the courage to go on. We strongly recommend that everyone can go into the cinema and watch this movie. You will be well worth your trip."

Faced with the attacks, the creators of several other films also decisively stepped down.

"Compared to the clanging special effects popcorn, 'The Day the Earth Stood Still' at least tells a story with heart. This is the real movie." "Still" director Scott Drakeson.

"Statistical institutions show that watching Marvel movies for a long time will weaken people's IQ." Meryl Streep.

"If you find Seven Pounds boring and even fall asleep in the theater, then I can only say that this movie is not made for you." Will Smith.

""Rejuvenation" will not become my dark history, on the contrary will become my glory, I swear, this is David Fincher's best movie." Brad Pitt.

It looks like a sharp-tongue and full of gunpowder.In fact, everyone is arguing and arguing just to promote their own movies. Everyone understands and cooperates tacitly, and even when they meet in real life, they still shake hands and hug.

Charlie was even lucky that the slums could get a response from these people, which was a huge profit.

Amid the noisy quarrel, "Slumdog Millionaire" was released as scheduled.

Opened in 2 theaters on first day, box office: $943 million.Ranked No. 550 in the single-day box office rankings.

In fact, this movie had no publicity at all at the beginning. There were only 10 theaters at the beginning, and the box office on the first day was only a measly US$.

After Charlie obtained the copyright, he changed his distribution plan and sent copies on a large scale. The cost of this alone was US$450 million (the production, storage and transportation cost of one copy was US$1500).

This does not include some small-scale publicity activities in the early stage.

Charlie's investment soon paid off. Starting from the third day, the box office of "Slumdog" bucked the trend and rose. More than 3300 theaters chose to schedule the film, directly reaching the top of the single-day box office rankings.

(End of this chapter)