[US Entertainment] Superstar

Chapter 301 Soaring Business Value

While Eve was discussing with the manager, the top executives of MGM once again gathered in the meeting room on the top floor.

The smiles on their faces haven't stopped since the release of Legally Blonde.

This small-budget film really made a lot of money. North America actually squeezed out Tom Hanks and topped the latest week's box office chart.

In just ten days, the box office in North America surpassed [-] million, and the company made a lot of money in North America alone.

What's more, the stock price is the big head!

Almost all of them have MGM stocks and options in their hands. If the company goes bankrupt, it will be difficult for them to find a job again.Basically, there are suitable candidates for the positions of big Hollywood companies, and if they are acquired, the leadership will be changed.

CEO Gary Barber didn't bring these guys in for the stock, but because the company was financially relieved by the headlines.

"Have you read the newspapers recently? There is a lot of media speculation about who the next Bond girl is. I think it's time to start the "Bond 20" project."

Previously, the company was about to close down. Naturally, there was no way to make a 007 movie with the financial resources, so the plan has been shelved.

Now "Legal Blonde" has helped to recover a lot of blood, North American box office, global box office, VCD, DVD rental and sales, and on-demand fees from various TV stations around the world. It is expected to bring more than [-] million US dollars in revenue.

This is the power of phenomenal movies, not only high box office, but also high offline income.

However, these incomes will not be recorded immediately, but there is a settlement time.

Gary Barber just wants to use this settlement time to prepare for the film, and can start shooting as soon as the money arrives.

The 007 series of movies are notoriously high in box office but also high in investment. The company's money from this movie may not be as high as "Legal Blonde".

But in order to maintain the attractiveness of the brand, it has to be filmed every few years, so that the audience will not forget James Bond.

Chief Operating Officer Corey Snyder agreed: "I think the time is ripe. Now I start writing the script, looking for actors, and looking for the location of the real scene. It may take a year to start shooting. There is more time. Polished this movie script even better."

"That's good. Bond 20 is a very special time. It is both an opportunity and a challenge for us. Everyone must have a lot of expectations for this movie. If we can't meet this expectation, it may lose real Fans." Atif Rafiq is well aware of the difficulty of the project.

Twenty films have been filmed, without the support of the original work, it can only rely on the screenwriter to perform, and it is not known whether the audience will buy it.

"The actor mentioned by the media, who do you think is better?" Gary asked casually. If it wasn't because the newspaper kept mentioning it repeatedly, he wouldn't ask this question specifically.

After all, the script hasn't been written yet, so it's too early to consider actors.

"I think Cameron Diaz is not bad. She looks very seductive in "Charlie's Angels", and it is also an action scene, and she also has audience popularity."

"Don't you think Jennifer Connelly's temperament is very suitable for a female agent?"

"Are we looking for the sexy or the glamorous, or the dangerous, the smart, the fighting?"

"Bond 20 should invite a heavyweight female star to be the Bond girl, so that the lineup is more guaranteed. I suggest choosing a popular actress, but it must be suitable for commercial films."

"How about Nicole? She is very famous, maybe she can stir up the scandal between her and Pierce. After all, Tom Cruise's popularity is not in vain."

"Monica Bellucci feels the same as Catherine Zeta-Jones, it's a choice between the two."

As soon as actors were mentioned, everyone talked about the suitable female stars in their hearts, and all the names popped up.

Mark Platt asked suspiciously: "What do you think of Eve? It seems that she is very suitable for a Bond movie, and the age difference between her and Pierce will also be a point of view."

Hollywood movies have always liked young and old matching. A male actor can still act in a movie with a 50-year-old girl when he is 20 years old. An actress who is over 30 years old and plays with a 20-year-old male actor will be disliked. Gender discrimination is very serious.

In "Pretty Woman", the actor Richard Gere is almost twice the age of the actress Julia Roberts. In "Dragon and Phoenix", the actor Humphrey Bogart was born in 1899, while Audrey Hepburn was born in 1929, a full 30 years old.

That's why the producer felt that the suave James Bond, even in his 40s, could still attract the attention of young girls, age was not a problem at all.

"Is Eve?" Gary Barber seriously thought about this candidate. He was still happy about "Legal Blonde" just now. After thinking about it carefully, Eve seemed to be a good fit for a Bond girl.

First of all, it is young enough and has a very high popularity, which can bring young audiences to the 007 series of movies.

Secondly, she has good acting skills, good looks, and a good figure. Many people ignore that Eve is actually a sexy beauty with a unique style because of her excellent acting skills, but she never deliberately takes the sexy route.

Playing a flesh-and-skin girl in "Almost Famous" this year, that is the direct opening, allowing the audience to see her hot body and hot appearance, and she is already a goddess-level actress who is both sexy and acting in the eyes of audiences all over the world !

Others also began to seriously consider the feasibility of this proposal.

They have all witnessed Eve's popularity with their own eyes. Not to mention that Americans are not superstitious, they are actually the most superstitious group. Eve is now gaining momentum. If she is chosen as the heroine, the film will naturally not worry about lack of attention.

And now Eve is already far ahead in the awards season, and if nothing unexpected happens, she will get the statuette before the movie starts, and her status will be even higher then.

The script hasn't even appeared yet, so naturally there are no restrictions. At worst, let the screenwriter write the script according to Eve's appearance.

"If you want to choose a young actor, I think only Eve is the most suitable. Even if her salary may be the most expensive, but being expensive also has its advantages. Maybe it will make "Bond 20" break through the restrictions."

"At first, I thought that the $1000 million sequel to "Legally Blonde" could invite her, but now it seems really impossible. Why don't you pack the two projects and get her to sign two movies in one go."

These people all knew that the success of "Legal Blonde" was basically due to Eve. If the actors were changed in the sequel, it would be a dead end, and no audience would buy it.

Therefore, Eve must be invited. Now she has two North American films that have exceeded 2 million yuan, and they are sequels. If CAA does not seize the opportunity to increase the salary, there will be ghosts.

Anyway, "Legal Blonde 2" won't be launched in the next two or three years. This doesn't conflict with the "Bond 20" project. MGM executives want to tie up Eve and let her good luck The company divides a bit.

"It seems possible to have two movies bundled. If the film salary can't be given too much, let's make some concessions on the dividend."

This time Eve only has 5% of the North American box office dividend, but this dividend has already made her a huge profit of 1000 million US dollars.Add in the $500 million in pure pay, and her total on Legally Blonde is over $1500 million, which is more than most male actors.

In the case of a sequel, the 5% North American box office dividend may move towards the global box office dividend, and CAA will definitely not meet the 5% figure.

When everyone thought that Eve would take away so much money, they felt a faint feeling of blood dripping in their hearts.

But it doesn't work if you don't pay dividends. If you don't pay dividends, the production cost will be very high, and the company won't be able to spend that much money.

Earning less is better than not earning at all.

What's more, Eve got more, they actually got more.

It can be said that the thoughts of this group of people have basically determined the candidate for the heroine, but it depends on whether Eve agrees or not, and also depends on whether the screenwriter has this ability.

As long as it can bring income to the film company, Eve will be offered by this group of people.If one day she can't bring benefits, she will be kicked away, so there is no need to talk about favors.

Gary Barber touched his chin and said, "If Eve signs up to be the leading actress, our stock price should go up further, right?"

"Maybe we can get more low-interest loans from the banks with the "Bond 20" project."

Almost every bank is willing to provide loans to Hollywood companies, whether it is JP Morgan or Lehman Brothers, they only need the producers to provide corresponding collateral to get loans.

This kind of collateral is not a few houses, but the overseas distribution contract of the film, the film library of the production company, and well-known film brands.

Hollywood's distribution system is very strong, and even very old films can continue to generate income.

Overseas distribution contracts are often sold in advance, such as DVD distribution rights, TV broadcasting rights, etc. The contract will stipulate how much deposit is paid in advance, and the remaining money will not be given to the producer until the film is produced and released.

MGM has no mortgage release contract for the time being, but it only mortgaged the film library at the beginning of last year and got hundreds of millions of dollars in cash.

The most valuable assets of the entire company are the film library and the 007 movie brand. The 007 brand alone can borrow hundreds of millions of dollars from the bank because it is a hen that can lay eggs.

When lending to a project, the bank also needs to study the lineup of male and female protagonists, find foreign actresses or second-tier actresses, where there is such a large commercial value as Eve, they may give tens of millions of dollars more in the evaluation.

There are too many benefits to using Eve as the heroine, and the high salary is basically not a problem, because her value is so high, and it is very cost-effective to earn ten times the income with one film salary!