Seven Hundred and Ninetieth Chapters Take the Initiative to Jump Into the Pit

Unless Spielberg and others can, with the support of Microsoft, acquire a major Hollywood studio and improve distribution channels. Otherwise, the odds of the new Amberlin Studios wanting to gain a foothold in Hollywood are very low. At least for the last few years, Eric simply didn't take the studio to heart.

After an in-depth discussion with Harvey Weinstein, and after several consultations, the other party finally decided to take over the FFM TV station, and Eric then successfully won the script of "Black Road Family".

Harvey Weinstein signed the contract and began to integrate several paid cable stations acquired by the three acquisitions. At this time, FFM TV station actually only existed in the planning plan, and several TV stations were removed from the staff team. It will take at least a few months until all the broadcasting channels are integrated. The best estimate is that FFM can be officially launched under this name in the autumn file in September.

After the launch of FFM, it will definitely take a period of adaptation period to initially form a stable user group. In these turbulent times, it's certainly not a good idea to rush out The Black Road, and Eric plans to release the series next fall, which will also allow creator David Chase to have more time. Polished the episode more refined.

Eric has been working on projects such as FFM TV, "Titanic", "Rush Hour", "Jedi Men 2" and so on. Until late May, Hollywood studios began to release new films one after another, heralding the summer of 1996. File officially arrived.

Before "The Matrix"'s May 31 release date, only Time Warner's "Killing Hour" did well at the box office.

"Killing Hour" is a crime movie starring Samuel L. Jackson about racial conflicts in the United States. To be honest, this kind of movie is not very popular with film critics because it involves racial issues. In order to ensure that no taboos are violated, Critics have become so handicapped that it's hard to give this type of film a fair shot.

The average score of "Killing Moment" in the media is only about 7 points, which is not high or low. If it is not the film type that makes film critics consciously show mercy, it is estimated that the score will be directly pulled to the passing line of 6 points. With the addition of several movie stars such as Samuel L. Jackson, the film earned more than $23 million at the box office in its first week.

Because it is difficult for racial films to do very well overseas, with its $40 million production cost, unless "Killing Hour" can make a long box office line, Warner wants to recoup the possibility at the box office. Somewhat low.

Eric saw the relevant information, but felt that Warner seemed to have chosen the wrong schedule, and habitually filled a cannon fodder before the summer schedule. Next, blockbusters such as "The Matrix" were released in succession, and the schedule of "Killing Moment" and The box office space will be greatly squeezed, and it is impossible to get out of the long-term.

such a film,

If it can be placed at the end of the summer season, it may be possible to achieve unexpected box office results. After all, when it comes to serious topics such as racial conflict, only adult audiences may be interested. The most popular student group among the summer movie viewers is definitely not. would be too interested.

Of course, Eric didn't have any intention of worrying about Warner at all, because Firefly didn't seem to be doing well this year.

Since March, Firefly officially announced that "The Matrix" was rated R, and the media has never stopped talking about this film.

The novel "The Matrix" originally written by Eric did not involve too much philosophical thinking. It is more like a pure science fiction novel with a wide-open brain. This type of subject matter, if you pay a little attention, it is impossible to shoot. R-rated movie. The viewing requirements for R-rated movies are that teenagers under the age of 17 need to be accompanied by parents or adults to watch. This rating almost blocks a large part of the middle school students from the summer vacation file from the theater.

Because of the inherent limitation of audience groups, before "The Matrix", the highest box office results of R-rated films in North America were usually around $200 million, just like "Terminator 2" in which Cameron and Katherine played against each other in the summer of the previous two years. " and "Saving Private Ryan", although the two films are very popular, but because of the R-rating, the domestic box office in North America has remained at more than 200 million US dollars.

$200 million is almost the box office ceiling of R-rated movies recognized in the circle.

Although Firefly will still be able to generate profits even if "The Matrix" gets $200 million at the box office and overseas distribution, this is far from the industry's expectations.

In the eyes of many people, "The Matrix" is no less creative than "Jurassic Park". The North American box office of the first two "Jurassic Park" films has exceeded 300 million US dollars. Correspondingly, "The Matrix" Should have the same box office potential.

Therefore, after the film's R rating was released, the media generally felt that it was very likely that Eric's selection of Wachowski, the new director, screwed up the project. Even within Firefly, Katzenberg couldn't help but imply that Eric personally intervened in the final editing of The Matrix, revising it to a PG-13 rating.

However, these requests were rejected by Eric.

In addition to "The Matrix", "Titanic", which is still in the later stage, has also become the focus of media attention. "The production cost of "Titanic" exceeds 200 million US dollars, and Firefly may repeat the mistakes of Warner's "Future Water World". News headlines like this appear very frequently in the major mainstream media during this time.

Perhaps it is because Firefly has been too strong in recent years, which has overwhelmed too many people. Therefore, this year, after showing some decline, a group of people began to fantasize about the beautiful vision of turning into a serf and singing.

Eric is just laughing at these arguments, not to mention that everything has not been settled yet. Even if Firefly encounters some failures in the film business this year, it is impossible to cause too much damage to the Firefly Group, which has already laid a solid foundation. The group as a whole is still showing a vigorous upward trend.

Although Eric doesn't care too much about what the outside world says, it doesn't mean that others do.

Cameron clearly understands that if a film with a production cost of $200 million fails at the box office, the blow to his personal career will be almost devastating, so although his extreme pursuit of perfection has not changed, Cameron has recently made a The temper in the workplace began to become irritable again, and the number of curses and decibels soared.

Eric received a call from Stan Winston and took the initiative to show Cameron that the failure of a film Firefly could withstand.

Of course, if you feel bad about it, then help Firefly make a movie after Titanic.

Cameron was naturally very moved, and readily agreed to Eric's suggestion, and once again accepted Eric's proposal for the first big movie in the Marvel Universe series, "Spider-Man".

Why do you say 'again'?

Because Cameron was interested in shooting "Spider-Man" as early as 1991, Carlock Pictures also bought the copyright from Marvel at that time. However, the "Spider-Man" script originally conceived by Cameron was too large, and even the scene of Peter Parker and Mary Jane making love on the Brooklyn Bridge was properly rated as R. In the end, due to various reasons such as cost and risk, Cameron abandoned the project, and the copyright of "Spider-Man" was also recovered by Eric a few years ago.

Of course, since Cameron took the initiative to jump into this pit this time, Eric certainly wouldn't let his temper. As the opening masterpiece of the Marvel Cinematic Universe series, the new version of "Spider-Man" in the future is almost equivalent to setting the overall tone of the Marvel Universe series of movies. Therefore, R-rating is not acceptable in any case.

Almost finished the work that needs to be handled in person, and the time has quickly come to the end of May.

On May 27th, the premiere of "The Matrix" was held at the Los Angeles Music Center. After attending tonight's premiere, Eric will fly to the Bahamas tomorrow. The "007 Casino Royale" crew has already assembled locally. .

While the box-office prospects for "The Matrix" were apprehensive both inside and outside the company, the premiere was on a par with blockbuster premieres in previous years.

In addition to the main creative team such as the Wachowski brothers and actor Keanu Reeves, a large number of Hollywood superstars also came to join in.

Eric and Drew arrived at the premiere by car at 6:30 in the afternoon. The red carpet was just boiling, and the trio of "Charlie's Angels" could be faintly seen walking in front.

Although "Casino Royale" and "Charlie's Angels" will have a plot crossover, the appearance of the three Charlie's Angels is carefully controlled within ten minutes. This is actually a hunger marketing method, and a ten-minute crossover plot. , which can not only make the audience excited enough, but will not make them completely satisfied, so there will be expectations for more plot crossovers in the future.

The three of Charlize's scenes were mainly concentrated in Europe, and filming was still several months away, so they did not travel to the Bahamas.

Eric and Drew walked across the red carpet together, ignoring the excited questions from reporters on both sides, posing for some photos with a smile, and walked into the premiere.

I greeted the guests one by one in the backstage, and it was almost seven o'clock, and everyone went to the screening hall one after another.

Eric sat with Katzenberg, and Andy Wachowski was on the other side. Knowing that Eric would definitely talk about something with them, the girl took the initiative to choose the star guest seat in the back row.

After the screening hall was filled with people and gave a brief speech, the film officially began to play.

Looking at the familiar animated scene of fireflies flying into the sky, Eric noticed Andy Wachowski's clenched fist beside him, reached out and patted it, smiling: "Andy, be confident, I'm right The film is very confident."

Andy Wachowski smiled at Eric. Of course, he is not lacking in self-confidence. However, the success or failure of hundreds of millions of dollars in investment is more related to his future directing career. Feeling apprehensive.

Eric has a lot of authority over this project. After he determined the script that was not much different from his previous life, he seldom paid attention to the specific shooting affairs. Of course, about the finishing touch of 'bullet time', in After confirming that the crew missed it, he immediately brought it up.

Except for some character changes, the plot of the new version of "The Matrix" has not changed much from the original. It's not that Eric doesn't want to make some changes to the flaws in the past, but unless he devotes a lot of energy to fully control this Project, or wanton meddling, will only disrupt the Wachowski brothers' shooting rhythm, and the result will definitely not be worth the loss.

The story still begins with Agent Smith's pursuit of Trinity. As a hint to the virtual world, the entire scene is a touch of green, and the overall dark tone of the film makes many film critics on the scene preconceived. I think this is a reflection of the Wachowski brothers' lack of directing skills.

It wasn't until Trinity's stunning 360-degree lens rotation special effects appeared that many film critics realized that this film may not be as bad as imagined. With the cool action design, it only takes a few tens of seconds. The fighting scene has already caused many ordinary movie fans who were invited to watch the movie to exclaim.

After the suspenseful opening, the actor Neo, played by Keanu Reeves, appeared. Neo is a top hacker on the verge of awakening. When he was found by Trinity, he experienced a series of changes, and the leader of the resistance army, Mo. Faith met and finally chose to return to the real world.

The real world two hundred years later.

When Neo woke up, the giant human cultivation base that provided bio-energy for the robot appeared in front of the audience. The realistic special effects performed by the digital field once again aroused exclamations in the field, and some audiences even subconsciously touched the back of their heads.

As the plot continued, the intuition-sensitive film critics also discovered the film's ingenious use of color. When the protagonist is in the virtual world, there is a faint green around, but when the protagonist returns to the real world, the green light disappears completely, and people can only see the flowing green data stream on the display of the spacecraft.

At the same time, Neo's discussions with various members of the Resistance Army and the Prophet about reality and fantasy also make the film more philosophical under the appearance of science fiction.

Of course, these are just the opinions of professional film critics. At this time, ordinary audiences have been attracted by the contrast settings between various reality and fantasy in the film, especially the final battle. When 'bullet time' appeared, it was like the original 360-degree The special effects of the lens rotation are average, which once again made many audiences addicted.

When the film ended in Neo's suspenseful self-report, the lights came on, and after a brief silence, there was a warm applause in the screening room, and some excited fans even shouted the names of the film's main creators.