Hollywood Tycoon [US Entertainment + Business War]

Jamie is just an ordinary high school student in Orange County, California. In this area where the average income ranks among the top in the United States, Jamie's family background is relatively ordinary, so he doesn't attract much attention in high school.But the only thing that makes him feel that going to school is interesting is that his neighbor Susan is in the same class as himself.

Like Jamie's family, Susan's family is nothing more than an ordinary blue-collar family.The reason why Jamie and Susan came together was the "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" that Susan bought back then. Both children were amazed by the magical world full of imagination.Naturally, they never left behind the Harry Potter movie, but the two children with little pocket money chose to watch the movie in a relatively simple cinema.

But this time, Jamie is going to invite Susan to see "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" at the AMC Star Theater in Orange County.Because I heard from a British pen pal that this time the Harry Potter movie is totally worth going to IMAX, because the scenes and special effects cannot be presented by ordinary theaters.For this small date, Jamie took out the wages he earned from delivering newspapers and the pocket money he usually saved, and then bought two sets of tickets.

When Jamie knocked on the door of Susan's house and explained the purpose of coming to Susan's parents, Jamie was a little embarrassed by the serious expression on Susan's father, the ambiguous smile on Susan's mother's face, and Susan's blushing face. .

Fortunately, Susan's father thought for a while and asked, "Hey, Jamie, can you guarantee that my daughter will go home safely before ten o'clock?"

"Of course, sir." Jamie raised his head and puffed out his chest, "I want you to promise that I can do it."

"That's good!" Susan's father nodded in agreement, and then Susan's mother told Susan to change into warm clothes. After all, the nights in Orange County are not particularly warm in winter.

The two children left the complex and headed to the AMC Star Theater under the watchful eyes of Susan's mother.Because today is the premiere of "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" in North America, the tickets are already sold out.If it weren't for Jamie and the conductor of this theater being buddies, Jamie wouldn't be able to grab such a tight ticket on this day.

Although everyone knows that all the tickets for tonight have been sold out, and there are no tickets for the midnight show that people rarely ask about, but many diehard Harry fans are not giving up, and they are still staring at the ticket office. , See if there is any refund at the imminent time; or simply hold up a "I need a ticket" sign and ask a kind person to sell a ticket.But Jamie and Susan naturally would not pay attention to such a person, for them, this movie ticket is also very precious.

"By the way, my ticket includes one popcorn and two drinks. What do you like to drink?" Jamie asked.

AMC theaters prohibit audiences from bringing their own food in the cinema, but they sell some popcorn and nuts themselves, in addition to the common cola, juice and water.Compared with ordinary convenience stores, the food and drinks in theaters are naturally much more expensive, but these packages usually contain popular movie characters, so many viewers bought them with love and hate.

Fortunately, Jamie bought a promotional package ticket, which already included food and drinks, otherwise Jed would have to bleed out his already shriveled purse.There are many flavors of popcorn in the theater. Jed guessed that girls would like sweetness, so he chose popcorn with honey cream flavor, and the drink he chose for Susan was naturally orange juice, which many girls do not reject.

Jamie and Susan took their drinks, then looked at the seats on the movie tickets and began to enter the screening room to find seats.Although IMAX has worked hard to reduce the cost of IMAX-related equipment, IMAX screening halls can only appear in high-end theaters in first- and second-tier cities, and mid- and low-end theaters generally cannot afford such expensive equipment.

I have to say that Jamie's buddies are very good, and the seats arranged for Jamie and Susan are the best.Unlike watching ordinary movies, IMAX movies are best placed in the center slightly forward, so as to experience the so-called "presence" more perfectly.Just an IMAX promotional video before the screening surprised Susan and Jamie who experienced IMAX for the first time. They couldn't imagine what such a movie was like.

Similar to the previous version, Jed still chose to start with Voldemort.Just because of the improvement of computer special effects and shooting technology, the entire Riddle mansion has been rebuilt more realistically, instead of looking like a model like the original version.In terms of shooting techniques here, Jade borrowed Japanese psychological horror film techniques, and through the dark pictures and suggestive soundtracks, the audience was hooked from the very beginning.And when Frank, the janitor, bumped into Voldemort, the whole theater gasped.

Unlike the past three Harry Potter movies that only pursued PG ratings, this time "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" was directly assigned PG-13. Although PG level and PG-13 level are only tutoring levels, there is still a clear gap between the two levels. PG level requires parents to provide counseling for school-age children, and primary and middle school students can generally watch freely; but PG-13 obviously will Primary school students also rowed in.

Many film critics were a little puzzled when they speculated why "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" was suddenly classified as PG-13, because the "Harry Potter" series of novels are undoubtedly violent and sexual. A very "clean" book.When they saw the beginning, the film critics discovered that the director had become more radical in dealing with the horror scenes.Although this will exclude some young audiences from entering the arena, it is becoming more and more suitable for the tastes of adults.In comparison, film critics found the change to be commendable.

After ending the scene in Riddle's old house, Jed sped up the narrative speed of the story, the scene of Weasley's house was reduced to almost only a few shots, and the "Portkey" disappeared after only a hasty appearance.The reason why Jed speeds up is because he has time for two scenes of "Quidditch World Cup" and "Night Attack of Death Eaters".Jed has always complained that the original "Quidditch World Cup" was anticlimactic, with a gorgeous opening, dazzling players on the stage...and then it ended inexplicably.

In order to make up for the original regret, Jed deliberately selected several Premier League games for the actors playing Quidditch players to watch.It took two weeks of shooting before Jed gathered enough footage.With the help of editors and sound effects artists, the short 5-minute Quidditch battle dazzled the entire audience.Although professional film critics know that such a fierce confrontation was completed by editing and special effects in the later stage, they have to deny that this scene reflects the director's super high lens language ability.

Although the United States is a famous football desert, it doesn't mean that everyone can't understand the game. What's more, the Quidditch game looks more like the most violent national sport in the United States-ice hockey.Therefore, the appearance of this scene of the game ignited the adrenaline of many high school students.In the Death Eater Night Attack, Jed's magical special effects worked very well, and the whole scene looked intense but gorgeous.

Of course, the latest Harry trio cast has also been recognized by Harry fans.Some originally neutral fans also have to admit that the looks and ages of Daniel and others no longer meet the needs of the movie.The new version of Harry is still young, he looks like a freshman in high school, but Daniel and the others look as if they are about to graduate from college.Perhaps European and American audiences can tolerate such a difference, but Asian audiences complain a lot in private about such a huge age gap.

"Jamie, this one is much better than the first three." Susan whispered, "The first three feel like children's movies produced by Disney. I'm still wondering if I should watch them in the future. I didn't expect the fourth The whole movie seems to be more suitable for us. Especially the new Harry Potter, I thought it was unnecessary to replace Daniel, but now I think it is really necessary."

"Of course!" Like all high school boys, the last thing they want is to be acknowledged as "grown up." "The previous Harry Potter movies were only suitable for my younger brother in elementary school, but now Harry Potter is suitable for us!"

"Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" lived up to the expectations of the distribution department of Galaxy Pictures Group. In the first week of its release, it smashed "Four-Eyed Chicken" and "Walk with the Song" with a weekend box office of over 2.6 million. The average income of [-] US dollars made the managers of various theaters smile.The most important thing is that this box office does not have the income of IMAX theaters. If the income of IMAX theaters is added, then the box office performance of "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" in the first week and weekend is close to [-] million US dollars.

As soon as the results were announced, "Vanity Fair" analyzed the success of "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" with the headline "This is not just a movie, this is a money printing machine".Of course, not only "Vanity Fair", whether it is pure entertainment publications such as "Hollywood Report" and "Variety Show", or pure movie magazines such as "Box Office" and "Movie Review" have published similar topics, even "Wall Street" Financial newspapers such as "Daily" also made an analysis report.

Different from entertainment magazines, the entry point of the "Wall Street Journal" is very strange, that is, "As the most growing movie entertainment company in Hollywood, why did Galaxy Film Group choose to delist from the New York Stock Exchange? And as a public media operating company Why did the WE broadcasting company announce its privatization at this time? As the big boss behind these two companies, Jed Sherman made any amazing moves? Of course, the most curious thing is that the three major film companies joined forces What happened to the acquisition of MGM?"

Not long after the "Wall Street Journal" speculated about Jade's purpose, Qian Jie, the public relations director and chief press spokesperson of the Galaxy Film Group, announced in front of the media: "The group's private ownership of the Galaxy Film Group and WE Broadcasting Company The decision on privatization will not change. At present, we have completed the privatization of WE Broadcasting Company and will announce its delisting before the end of the year; at the same time, the privatization progress of Galaxy Film Group has basically been completed, and only some finishing work is still left. Proceed. In addition to these two announcements, the board of directors has authorized me to announce to friends in the media that Sherman Entertainment Group has completed the acquisition of MGM Films, United Artists, Lionsgate and Summit Entertainment, Galaxy Films The industry group will integrate with these companies after the privatization is completed, and the new Galaxy Pictures Group will focus on film production, while the distribution work will be completed by Sherman Entertainment Group.”

After Qian Jie announced the news, she left the news room, while the rest of the reporters were in a daze. It took a long time before someone asked, "Did I just hear that MGM was acquired?"