American Fame and Fortune Chapter 895

Chapter 895: Use money to irrigate

The Thanksgiving holiday is coming, and "Beauty and the Beast", a joint venture between Disney Pictures and Davis Studios, will be released in North America a week before Thanksgiving.

This live-action fairy tale film cost as much as US$150 million to produce.

The premiere of the film was held at Disneyland in California.

Once this kind of film is successful, box office and DVD revenue will come second, and various peripheral products will be the bulk of the profit.

Elsa's dress, its profit can make countless top productions with an investment of 200 million US dollars cry until they have no tears.

Martin and Alan Horn attended the film premiere together.

However, neither of them went to the red carpet.

Standing at the entrance of the Disney Theater, Alan Horn said: "This is where "Pirates of the Caribbean" premiered."

Martin smiled: "Judging from pre-sales, 'Beauty and the Beast' is much better commercially than Pirates."

“Disney prepared millions of Belle dresses,” Allen-Horn said.

ˆThe film and its peripherals are selling well, and both sides can make profits. Martin said: "Based on the data reported from various aspects, this film will be a strong contender for the global box office championship this year."

The market response to "Beauty and the Beast" was, as Martin and Alan Horn said, an immediate hit upon its release.

On its first day of release in North America, it set a single-day box office record for November—$67.77 million!

The corresponding November weekend opening record in North American film history was also won by "Beauty and the Beast", with a box office figure of US$178 million!

The film also received excellent reviews from audiences.

"After being tortured by dark fairy tale movies for more than ten years, I finally saw a real live-action fairy tale movie. "Beauty and the Beast" made what a fairy tale movie should look like."

“This is the fairy tale in my memory!”

　　"Beauty and the Beast" has become Hollywood's most successful live-action fairy tale movie. By the time Christmas comes, its North American box office has exceeded 450 million US dollars, and its global box office has been close to 1 billion US dollars.

According to the predictions of authoritative market institutions, the North American box office of the film will be more than 500 million U.S. dollars, and the global box office may be as high as 1.3 billion U.S. dollars.

What is even more astonishing than the box office is the fact that the film's peripheral products are selling like crazy in the global market.

In just one month, Belle's skirts sold more than 5 million pieces, achieving sales of US$180 million.

As for other peripheral products, the sales volume is also amazing.

This is the power of Disney.

The huge success of "Beauty and the Beast" also strengthened Disney Pictures' determination.

Anya Taylor-Joy, whom Martin recommended, got the role of Cinderella after one audition.

At the same time, the real animal version of "The Lion King" and the live-action version of "The Jungle Book", which Davis Studio participated in the investment, have also been put into preparation by Disney Pictures.

Saoirse Ronan became famous and firmly entered the front line of Hollywood.

The Christmas break is over and Martin returns to Los Angeles from Atlanta, with Hollywood still in turmoil.

Hundreds of black people and LGBTQ people sat in protest on Wilhelm Street in Beverly Hills near the main entrance of the college's office building for several days, urging the college to implement the promised diversity reforms as soon as possible.

This wave is bound to affect this year's Oscar voting.

In the office of the Chairman of the Executive Committee, Tom Sherak stood in front of the window, looking at the protest signs on the road. He felt a little headache and said to the people next to him: "They can really make trouble, like the most **** student in the school. If you don't like it even a little bit, you'll make a fuss.”

Katherine Kennedy's eyes were focused on the reporters who were constantly filming around her, and she said: "This is not entirely a bad thing. The mainstream media in North America have been reporting on it for the past few days. The awards season has returned to its previous liveliness. This Oscar will definitely Highly visible.”

Tom Sherak can certainly think of the impact in this regard: "What's going on with the Koreans?"

Kathleen Kennedy simply said: "The three crews have invested tens of millions of dollars and are promoting the film all over Los Angeles and holding events one after another to lobby the judges."

Tom Sherak nodded slightly: “It seems that internationalization and diversification are the answers to restore the glory of the Oscars.”

"For now, yes." As the CEO of Lucasfilm, Kathleen Kennedy sees some things more clearly: "Internationalization is okay, but who knows how long diversification can last. It may suffer in a few years. Backlash."

She smiled: "The mainstream groups in society are actually very resistant to these things."

Tom Sherak couldn't control it for that long: “It's useful for the time being, so we'll use it first.”

If the Oscars don't make a splash, the ratings will be unstoppable.

With this background, "Moonlight" became the darling of Hollywood. It was praised by the media and insiders said it captured the soul of the film.

The popularity of "Focus" was gradually overshadowed by this special film.

In the current social environment, the shabby things that church priests do are not as good as those of LGBTQ people.

The influence of "Split" is also great.

Martin has spent tens of millions of dollars on marketing and public relations. A huge professional public relations team is lobbying not only North American judges, but also overseas actor judges.

Having money may not necessarily win you an Oscar, but it can solve most of the obstacles in the process of winning the award.

In addition, among all the films competing for heavyweight awards, "Split" has the largest audience.

Martin's new film has been released in North America for two and a half months. The North American box office has accumulated 237 million U.S. dollars, and the overseas box office has also exceeded 200 million U.S. dollars.

The film is still opening overseas, and the global box office is expected to hit US$500 million.

Over this period of time, the reputation of "Split" has declined. The most intuitive thing is that the IMDB score has dropped to 8.3 points.

However, Martin's role has become more and more popular, with praise from the Hollywood industry, the North American media, and ordinary audiences.

All forecasting agencies believe that Martin is the most popular candidate for the Best Actor Oscar this year.

Even Las Vegas bookmakers suspended betting on Martin's winning bid.

Although the New Year of 2016 has arrived, the award season situation has become increasingly clear. Among the candidates for Best Actor, the only ones who can truly compete with Martin are Tom Hanks of "Bridge of Spies" and Eddie Ray of "The Danish Girl" DeMaine, Michael Fassbender in "Jobs".

The leading actor in "Moonlight" did not apply for this award at all.

Martin's philosophy has always been simple and direct. If you want to win the award with dignity at the award ceremony, all the work must be done in advance.

You can't even apply for awards, and you're not eligible to be nominated, so what can you do to compete?

After Martin got the Oscar votes, because Leonardo was still filming in Canada, he did not engage in fair and impartial voting rules. Except for his own and Aniston's films, most of the other awards that were eligible to vote were chosen for the familiar ones. People or movie names.

There is no other way, he has not seen most of the candidate films, so he can only use this simple and trouble-free method.

This is also the ultimate purpose of Oscar promotion, because statistics over the years show that more than 60% of Oscar judges will not watch the candidate films at all.

In this case, when they choose to vote, familiarity is very important.

Throwing away millions of dollars for publicity, the goal is just to look familiar in the eyes of most judges.

As the awards season progresses, Martin has almost swept the best actor awards in all frontline awards. Independent awards such as the Film Critics Association Awards and the People's Choice Awards, led by Los Angeles and New York, have awarded Martin the Best Actor.

At the TV and Movie Golden Globe Awards held in mid-January, Martin successfully won the Best Actor in a Drama Series.

The Screen Actors Guild Awards, the real benchmark for the Oscar acting awards, later announced the results. Martin once again won the Best Performance Award.

These all indicate that Martin is getting closer to his second Oscar for Best Actor.

The first step is to get the ticket, which is the Oscar nomination.

Davis Studio, people gathered in the large conference room.

Martin's agent Thomas, manager Bruce, two studio directors Jessica and Emily, plus producer Louise, all stared at the TV.

The screen has already moved to ABC TV, where academy presidents Tom Sherak and Emily Blunt jointly announced the nomination list for this session.

The list quickly reached Best Actor.

“Bridge of Spies”, Tom Hanks; “Jobs”, Michael Fassbender; “Split”, Martin Davis…”

There was a round of applause and cheers in the conference room.

Thomas fist bumped with Martin.

Louis hugged Martin and asked, "We're going to have a party tonight?"

Martin vetoed it out of hand: “The party will be held when we get the prize.”

Bruce reminded in a low voice: "Martin doesn't like to open champagne at half-time."

"It's easy to overturn." Martin said casually: "Before I get the Best Actor statuette, any changes are possible."

Louise nodded slightly: "When you win the Best Actor, I will hold a large celebration party for you."

　　After all the Oscar nominations were announced, people in the conference room congratulated Martin and then dispersed.

Louise followed Martin into his office, came to the reception area and sat on a sofa chair, and said: "This year's Oscars is much more lively than last year. Black people are making trouble, LGBTQ groups are demanding reform of the academy, and Koreans are going crazy in Los Angeles. Money rushes for prizes, I feel like there is a hand pushing from behind.”

Martin said: "Your feeling is correct. The hand behind the push comes from the executive committee of the college."

Louise said: “I don't know what Oscar will look like in the end.”

The intercom on the desk rang. Martin went to answer it, and the assistant's voice sounded: "Miss Saoirse Ronan is here."

Martin said: "Let her in."

Louis glanced at her watch: "I'm leaving first. Remember to come to Sherman Oxon to find me in the next two days."

Martin waved his hand: "I know."

Louise went out, turned down the corridor, and happened to meet Saoirse Ronan.

　　With "Beauty and the Beast" becoming the annual box office champion in North America and around the world, Saoirse is currently extremely popular.

But when she saw Louise coming, she immediately smiled and said hello: "Good afternoon, Ms. Mel."

"Long time no see, Saoirse." Louise stopped, looked at Saoirse for a moment, and said directly: "I have a project here, a **** theme, and we need two actresses, one in middle school and one in youth, Kate Wen Slater has agreed to play one of the female leads..."

Saoirse quickly said: "Madam, please inform my agent directly about the role script and the specific audition process."

Although she knows that she is in Louise's sight because she is currently very popular, she will not be stupid enough to refuse such a top female producer in the industry: "I can audition for the crew at any time."

Louise nodded with satisfaction: "You have done well recently, keep it up, and wish you good luck."

"Thank you." Saoirse watched Louise turn into the elevator, then gently pressed her chest to calm down a little, and went to Martin's office.

Martin asked: "Why do you have time to come here today?"

Saoirse smiled: "Congratulations on your Oscar nomination for Best Actor."

Martin said casually: "This is not the first time I have been nominated, so there is nothing to congratulate."

"I'm going to Sacramento to film "Lady Bird" tomorrow." Saoirse looked at Martin: "I won't be able to see the teacher for a long time."

Before Martin invested in "Lady Bird," he communicated with Greta Gerwig several times about the filming of the film and said: "Your director friend has great ideas, and long-term cooperation with her will be of great help to your career. "

Saoirse responded: "I have always been good friends with her."

She pondered for a moment and then said: "Greta revealed to me that when "Lady Bird" is completed, she wants to reshoot "Little Women."

This novel has been made into movies and TV series countless times. Martin was somewhat impressed and asked: "Is there a copyright issue involved?"

Saoirse has learned: ""Little Women" has already entered public copyright, and Greta plans to shoot a new version. How should I put it? Basically, she wants to show the independence of women."

"Let's do this. When "Lady Bird" is finished, you ask Greta to come to me to talk about new projects." Martin felt that if the investment in this film is controlled, the probability of profit is relatively high: "That director friend of yours , a lot of ideas.”

Saoirse smiled: "I know, without you, teacher, my relationship with her would not be as good as it is now."

When it was time to get off work, Martin and Saoirse left the studio together and went directly to the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.

Before arriving at the hotel, Anya Taylor-Joy called again and wanted to have a good discussion with Martin.

Saoirse was very considerate of the teacher and asked in a low voice: "Your little lover?"

Martin covered the phone: "Anya."

Saoirse knew who it was: "If she doesn't mind, you can let her come over, I don't mind."

Martin said a few words on the phone, and Anya responded immediately.

When the two arrived at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Anya was already waiting inside the hotel.

The three of them entered the suite on the top floor together.

In the time leading up to the Oscars, each seeded contestant is still doing public relations promotions.

This year, because of black people and diversity, the college seems to have relaxed its standards.

Film is art, but the film industry is an industry.

Without market acceptance, the flower of art will wither.

How can the flower of art bloom more brilliantly?

In fact, there is a generally accepted answer in the film industry: use money to irrigate.

(End of this chapter)

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