[Chapter 392: The Intense Summer Blockbuster Season and the New Scripts]
While filming in New York, Link also received a call from Mark Amin.
Mark mentioned that Harvey wanted to jointly promote and release Fight Club.
Link didn't oppose, asking how the movie was doing, and if the viewership was good, they could ramp up the publicity before the release.
Mark said the film was excellent; it was a dark and interesting movie. Increasing campaign efforts might lead to better box office results.
Angelina Jolie also called him to talk about Fight Club, saying it was really cool, and her unconventional role was very striking. She mentioned she would visit New York with Winona Ryder and Liv Tyler over the weekend, and would bring an interesting script for him to review.
Link agreed.
...
"Link, here are last week's box office stats," Lewinsky handed over some documents and a few newspapers.
Link looked through them.
By July, halfway through summer, competition in the North American film market was getting more intense.
The blockbusters released in May and June still had strength, while new releases were soaking up the box office, including Independence Day, The Fifth Element, The Birdcage, A Time to Kill, and Wild Things.
The magazine Total Film analyzed the reasons for this intense contest.
First, more major films were released simultaneously than in previous years.
Statistically, 22 films released this summer had production costs over $50 million, six more than last year.
With so many blockbusters and a relatively fixed North American box office total, the competition was unavoidable.
Second, the Big Eight Hollywood studios kept increasing their promotional and distribution costs, expanding their release scale. Studios that once only released art-house films now also aired commercial movies, causing tight scheduling in theaters.
Total Film also pointed out that Guess Pictures and other companies were responsible for this situation.
Before 1993, competition in summer was moderate. Starting from 93, Guess Pictures improved their production capacity, releasing several high-quality movies each year, alongside films from the Big Seven. This caused an oversupply of movies and fierce box office battles.
Without Guess Pictures, the situation would have eased.
Additionally, Link played a negative role in this scenario.
Unlike Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, and others, Link was a global tycoon who relied entirely on the film industry for profits. He earned money through film investments, then put those profits into the stock market, boosting his wealth year after year.
Seeing this, other capitalists started to emulate him, further increasing investment in movies. This led to a rise in capital for film companies, which then chased big-budget productions, worsening the situation.
It could be said that Link's rise and Guess Pictures' emergence contributed to the booming of Hollywood, but also made intra-industry competition more cutthroat and sped up the cycle of winners and losers.
Total Film continued to sound the alarm, warning the Big Seven and smaller studios that the window of opportunity was closing, urging them to act fast or risk going extinct.
...
Link chuckled at this. He wasn't really convinced by Total Film's perspective.
The main reason for the fierce summer competition was the broader economic environment.
After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in late 1991, the U.S. became the world's sole superpower, a global economic hub drawing resources and capital worldwide. The U.S. economy entered a period of rapid growth, and the entertainment industry thrived.
Under Clinton's new economic policies, the growth accelerated. From 92 to 96, it was a high-growth period, with increasing capital flowing into Hollywood, which was part of the reason for soaring actor salaries and rising production costs.
With big budgets and ambitions, more blockbusters flooded theaters.
This was the fundamental reason for the brutal summer competition.
Link's role in this was limited; he didn't want to take the blame.
"Monica, tell PR to draft a statement countering that article. It's not our responsibility, and we shouldn't take the blame for others."
"Yes, boss!" Monica Lewinsky turned and smiled as she tucked her hair behind her ears.
He then continued to look at this week's box office numbers.
...
The top box office hit was Fox's sci-fi movie Independence Day.
It told of a giant alien mothership entering Earth's orbit, releasing over thirty small ships into the atmosphere, hovering over major cities and causing panic worldwide. The U.S. president and global leaders convened to find a solution. The protagonist, Steven, teamed up with scientists to prevent the alien invasion and defend Earth.
An old-fashioned story, but with impressive effects and grand scenes.
In its first week, Independence Day played in 3,082 theaters, earning $91.7 million, setting a new first-week box office record previously held by The Sixth Sense.
Its production cost was about $75 million, and it was expected to do as well as Batman Forever overall.
...
Second place went to Disney's romantic film, Phenomenon, with a first-week gross of $34.33 million.
...
Third was Columbia's sci-fi blockbuster The Fifth Element.
Set in 2259, the story involved evil alien forces trying to conquer Earth, while kind beings from outer space came to save humanity and the universe's 'fifth element' -- but they were shot down. Ultimately, humans recovered the 'fifth element' to destroy the evil alien threat.
Directed by Luc Besson, it starred Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman, and Milla Jovovich.
Its production budget was around $85 million, the highest-cost film made in cooperation between Guess Pictures and Columbia Pictures.
It earned $21.13 million this week, with a total of $55.07 million after two weeks, below expectations.
The main reason was that Besson's style didn't quite match American tastes -- some plot elements were weak, and competition with Independence Day also affected its box office.
However, Milla Jovovich's heroic, fiery appearance, striking physique, and cool fight scenes drew much attention, especially from male fans.
Rumor had it that she became Link's girlfriend early on, which angered her fans and made them criticize Link harshly.
...
This week, The Net dropped to fourth with $17.41 million, and its North American total reached $159 million.
Batman Forever ranked sixth, earning $10.81 million this week, with a North American total of $272 million.
Due to Independence Day's huge success, all other movies released at the same time flopped.
Including MGM's Fled, Peter Jackson's The Frighteners, Columbia's The Stepford Husbands, Disney's musical film Kazaam, and Mirasmax's August.
Some lost tens of millions; others lost a few million.
This time, not only independent movies suffered heavy losses, but the Big Seven studios also felt the pinch. It was like a fight to get food -- those who secured it ate well, while others clutched their stomachs and shouted for food, sometimes getting bitten.
...
Link shook his head; luckily, there weren't many movies from Guess Pictures this summer, or else they'd be caught in the 'Meat Grinder' too.
After reading the paper, he resumed filming.
---
Over the weekend, Angelina Jolie, Winona Ryder, and Liv Tyler came for a visit. Link took them to his top-floor apartment on South Central Park West for the night.
After some lively activity, Link leaned back on his pillow and looked over the new scripts Jolie and Liv brought.
...
Jolie's script was called Gia, based on the early 80s supermodel Gia Carangi's life.
Gia was abused as a child, a very tragic childhood, but at 18, she was discovered by a modeling agency and became a professional model.
Through their efforts, Gia rose to fame in fashion, gaining fame and fortune, but after becoming famous, she felt empty and unfulfilled, eventually falling into drug addiction. Her career declined, and she died of AIDS at 26.
Gia was also a lesbian, and the script included some lesbian love stories.
Overall, it was quite good and one of Jolie's notable works.
It could be a good investment.
...
Liv Tyler's script, called The Waterboy, was written by a friend of hers. She brought it to show Link.
The story was about a college football team's water boy, shy and simple-minded, who was mocked and teased but never fought back. Later, his coach saw potential in him, and he became a football player, eventually succeeding.
His personality was similar to Forrest Gump, and it was an inspirational story, somewhat trendy.
Link remembered this was a famous comedy starring Adam Sandler, with good box office results.
It was also worth investing in.
...
After gaining his approval, Jolie and Liv Tyler, ignoring their discomfort, happily threw themselves into his arms.
Back in the top-floor apartment, chaos started again.
*****
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