Chapter 111 "Iron Fist" splits the North American box office for the first time
After the celebration banquet, the work on "Iron Armor Steel Fist" came to an end for the time being.
Little Gilbert went to work at Cantaloupe Studio as usual. He had no plans for a vacation this year, and Ellie's aunt wouldn't let her go. Naomi Watts, Cameron Diaz, and Charlize Theron each have their own work to do.
Simply, little Gilbert just went back to being a white-collar worker, working from nine to five, drinking tea and reading newspapers in the office.
At the same time, he also pays attention to the development of the two companies he invested in. After several months of development, Banana took the lead in opening an angel round of financing due to its first-mover advantage, several positions ahead of Yahoo.
Although the company is still losing money and has never been profitable, venture capital institutions are optimistic about Banana's potential.
In the angel round of financing, the company received a financing quota of 14 million, which was jointly funded by three venture capital institutions, and the shares paid were only 20%.
This 20% is still divided among three venture capital firms, so that each venture capital institution's shares do not exceed 10%, allowing Little Gilbert to effectively control the company's equity.
In March, Yahoo was also announced, which officially meant the war between portals and search engines had begun.
Financing is very necessary at this time.
If we don’t raise money, I’m afraid we won’t have the funds to compete with Yahoo.
Facebook, another social networking site, has expanded to Series A financing at this time, and once again received US$24 million in financing.
While receiving financing, Facebook continued to develop. Thanks to the rapid development of the Internet, Facebook became the largest photo sharing and social networking site in the United States.
Of course, after the emergence of Facebook, other social network competitors also appeared in North America.
Some social networking sites even began to try precise advertising delivery and then achieved profitability. This once again proves that the profit prospects of advertising delivery based on real-name social networking are very promising.
Of course, some companies are taking the opposite approach. Facebook is taking the real-name social route, while some companies are taking the virtual social route, which is also a feasible approach.
Seeing companies making profits through advertising, venture capital firms that invested in Facebook couldn't sit still, and they all asked Facebook to quickly launch advertising business.
You know, Facebook is the largest social networking site in the United States. Because of its first-mover advantage, it occupies a large market share and continues to expand.
If it expands further, it will produce the Internet Matthew Effect and then monopolize the market.
In this regard, Gilbert Jr. and Facebook CEO Mark Ruhl discussed that unless Facebook’s user base exceeds one million, commercial operations will not be considered for the time being.
This is actually supported. In September last year, the Washington government announced the information highway construction plan, which kicked off the great development of the Internet.
According to statistics in April 1994, Internet users accounted for 5% of the total population of North America.
But this proportion is rising rapidly, and in the next few years, we will enter a period of great development of the Internet.
Wary of the Internet bubble, Gilbert Jr. has been asking Facebook and Banana to develop steadily and make less radical moves.
Although such cautious measures were criticized by the investment market, many companies with radical development have surpassed Facebook and Banana at this time.
Netscape, which was established in April, has won the favor of venture capital with the Netscape browser, and plans to ring the Nasdaq bell in August.
During the financing, Gilbert Jr. also participated, investing US$1.5 million and becoming a small shareholder of Netscape.
At that time, it was just the time when Banana planned to launch Series A financing.
However, regardless of whether they are listed or not, there is no doubt about the potential of the two companies, so the investment market is still very optimistic about the two companies.
These two companies are long-term holding companies. In addition to Apple, Gilbert Jr. has long-term holdings.
But this does not prevent little Gilbert from taking advantage of the great development of the Internet to buy stocks in other Internet companies.
Microsoft, Cisco, Oracle and other stocks are all very popular and have been appreciating in value. Little Gilbert can only buy as many as possible.
He also pays attention to some start-up companies to see if there are any names he is familiar with, and if so, invest in them.
Just grasp the timing and sell on the eve of the Internet bubble bursting.
Little Gilbert didn't know the specific time, but he remembered that it seemed to be the period from 2000 to 2001, and these stocks were sold off in an orderly manner before 2000.
The specific operation process still needs to be completed by the investment manager David, and little Gilbert only assigns tasks.
Let professional people do professional things. Whether it is setting up a company or investing, just control the general direction.
These things outside of the movie did not consume any more of Gilbert's energy.
After a little consideration of the development of the two companies, little Gilbert fell into a normal rhythm.
"Sofia, what is Nicolas Cage doing now?" One day while chatting over afternoon tea, little Gilbert and Sofia learned about her cousin's situation.
"He," Sophia curled her lips and said, "He has been busy partying with a dozen long-legged models recently."
It's no secret that Nicolas Cage loves partying with leggy models.
When little Gilbert knew about it at first, he looked weird. Unexpectedly, Nicolas Cage, who looked like an honest man, also played very fancy games in his early years.
But then I thought about it and it became normal. This is North America after all. Although little Gilbert maintains close relationships with three women, he is a different kind of person in Hollywood.
Some people even maliciously speculated that little Gilbert actually didn't like women and was just using Naomi Watts and the others to cover up the fact that he liked men.
Of course, no one dared to ask little Gilbert this question face to face.
Sofia asked curiously: "What are you doing with Nicholas? Making a movie?"
"Of course," little Gilbert said matter-of-factly: "I don't like men, and I don't want to have a party with long-legged models. Of course, I'm looking for him to make a movie."
"Is it the Alcatraz project?"
"That's right, help me ask him if he has a schedule to work with me once."
"Okay, I'll ask him another day." Sophia agreed.
At this time, Nicolas Cage successively starred in films such as "Wild at Heart", "Black and White", and "Red Rock West".
Most of these films are B-level movies and independent films, and Nicolas Cage looks like an artistic young man.
Sofia quickly found Nicolas Cage: "Little Gilbert wants you to act in a movie."
"Which little Gilbert?"
"Who else has a little Gilbert in Hollywood?"
"It turns out it's your boss," Nicolas Cage showed no interest and said directly: "Isn't he always making commercial films? I'm not interested."
Seemingly anticipating her cousin's thoughts, Sofia Coppola said: "I think it's best for you to talk to little Gilbert in person, maybe you'll change your mind."
"Change your mind?" Nicolas Cage doesn't think he will change his mind. He is only interested in art movies and long-legged models.
However, after all, the other party is a well-known talented director in Hollywood, so it is inappropriate to refuse directly. Nicolas Cage said: "Well, Sofia, you might as well ask little Gilbert to come directly to my home and have an interview with me."
Sofia still knew her cousin well and said warily: "What do you want to do?"
"No," Nicolas Cage shook his head and said, "What else can I do? If anything goes wrong, just come to me."
Sofia Coppola quickly revealed Nicolas Cage's request to Gilbert Jr. and warned him to be careful.
He didn't want to go at first, but when Sophia said it, little Gilbert immediately became curious.
He was curious about what Nicolas Cage was doing, so he decided to go to the meeting alone.
This is a very ordinary first weekend in June. "Iron Fist" has accumulated a box office of 169 million U.S. dollars in North America and 173 million U.S. dollars overseas. The total global box office has reached 355 million U.S. dollars, creating good results. To get this North American box office, the classification advantage is very important.
"Iron Fist" is a PG-13 rated movie, which means that the film has a relatively broad audience base.
And with "Jurassic Park" reaping box office hits around the world, Hollywood-style commercial blockbusters have become more popular around the world, creating favorable conditions for "Iron Fist".
The film is still being released in theaters. North America has reached the stage of relying on a long period of time to accumulate box office, and there are many overseas markets waiting for release.
Although the final results have not yet come out, the global box office of "Iron Fist" seems to be between 400 and 450 million US dollars, which does not seem to be a problem.
Through the box office, "Iron Fist" can achieve profitability.
After the first weekend in June, North American theaters ushered in their first box office split.
Disney is responsible for North American distribution, and Disney has always been very strong in facing North American theaters. Based on Little Gilbert's past performance, Disney received the highest share of the box office this time.
Calculated based on the stepped account sharing ratio of 90%, 80%, 65%, and 40%, Disney received US$126 million for the first North American account split in the first four weeks of "Iron Fist" box office revenue.
After the fifth week, Disney drops to the same bill-sharing standard as other Hollywood studios, usually only getting a 25 percent bill-sharing ratio.
In addition, the account sharing agreement stipulates that all box office revenue after the twelfth week will belong to the theater chain, and the producer and distributor will no longer participate in the sharing.
Of course, some films have this clause, while others do not, and they will continue to participate in box office sharing until the film is released in North America.
Some people may ask, can North American theater chains accept such harsh box office splitting conditions?
According to the revenue sharing ratio of domestic theater chains in the previous life, it would be very expensive for a film company to get more than 40% of the revenue sharing ratio.
This is the difference in the market system. You must know that many film companies in the previous life actually had their own theater chains.
If a movie you invest in is released in your own theaters, you can get two levels of income from the movie's separate account: the film producer and the theater chain's account.
It seems that the producers and distributors are losing money, but through the theater chain, all the profits are actually in their hands.
However, the ratio of account sharing in the Chinese film market was not always like this from the beginning. Before 1994, Chinese film companies could get 70% of the total box office, theaters got 24%, and 6% of the box office had to be turned over. .
This unchanging account sharing ratio is even more exaggerated than the dominant account sharing ratio of Hollywood and theater chains in the North American market.
It's just that the Chinese film market was too small at that time and it didn't generate much box office every year, so it was not conspicuous.
Calculating based on this data, "Shaolin Temple", which is rumored to have received a box office of 160 million RMB, can get 112 million RMB from the box office split by the film company.
The movie "Shaolin Temple" was released in 1982.
But North America is different. Theaters and Hollywood producers have a cooperative relationship.
Because Hollywood is a content producer, and theater chains cannot do without high-quality Hollywood content, Hollywood film companies have always been very strong in terms of revenue sharing ratio.
Especially for Disney, its account sharing ratio is ridiculously high.
Of course, this situation will change in a decade or so.
But now, Hollywood film companies are indeed in a strong position facing theater chains.
After the first box office split, the revenue of US$126 million will still need to be shared by several Disney, Warner, Melon Studios, and eight small investors.
As a North American publisher, Disney needs to deduct a 15% distribution commission, which is approximately US$18.9 million. This part is Disney's net profit.
In addition, publicity and distribution expenses, one-third of the remuneration owed to the crew and cast, as well as copy development, warehousing, transportation and other expenses must be deducted.
This part adds up to 19 million U.S. dollars. After deduction, there is still 88.1 million U.S. dollars in the box office.
This is not over yet, director Gilbert Jr. still has a 10% share of the total North American box office, and Gilbert Jr. took away another $12.6 million of this part.
Fortunately, Bruce Willis had only been promoted to the front line before he participated in this movie. The movie before he participated in "Iron Fist" failed at the box office.
Therefore, he is not qualified to sign a box office sharing contract, otherwise he will have to withdraw another amount of money.
Therefore, in the end, the first box office split left only US$75.5 million, which was not enough to cover the production cost of the film.
Melon Studio occupies one-eighth of the investment amount and can take away a box office share of US$9.438 million from this US$7,750.
After investing US$10 million, only US$9.438 million was received. It looks like Melon Studio is losing money.
And don’t forget that you still have to pay taxes. After paying taxes, comparing this income with investment will result in a considerable loss.
If this is the case, then all funds and investors who invest in Hollywood movies will suffer losses.
Fortunately, this is not the case.
North American theaters are still showing it, and after the twelfth week of screenings, there will be a second box office split with the theaters.
In addition, the film has been screened in overseas markets.
Except for a few areas, the split ratio between Hollywood and overseas is basically 35% for producers, 17% for distributors, and 48% for exhibitors.
Unless there are special provisions, this is basically the account sharing ratio.
Although the overseas box office has not yet been divided, based on the current overseas box office, the producer can get a box office of 60.55 million US dollars, and Melon Studio can get a box office income of about 7.5687 million US dollars.
Together with the North American box office, the film has already achieved profitability.
But the most important thing is that this is not the end, because there is still a lot to be done at the overseas box office and it can achieve good results.
In addition, box office revenue is only part of the deal. North American TV rights and video rights are under negotiation and can still generate profits.
In addition, according to statistics, within one month of the release of "Iron Fist", peripheral products generated sales of approximately 9 million yuan.
It may not seem as big as the box office, but these are long-term incomes. Sales will last ten or twenty years, and the total energy will continue to create profits.
All in all, although the film did not live up to Gilbert Jr.'s own expectations, it even left his core fans slightly disappointed.
But ordinary audiences, film companies, major investors, and brands are all very satisfied with the commercial value of this film.
Because the North American box office exceeded 150 million U.S. dollars, the brands that had previously placed advertisements also kept their promises and successively rewarded the "Iron Fist" crew.
The film company generally does not participate in the sharing of this part of the reward, and directly allows the entire crew to divide it according to their level, which can be regarded as a reward for the crew members' contribution to the film.
As can be seen from the above, the income of a movie is calculated from many aspects, which is quite complicated.
Even the most senior and experienced accountants will be confused unless they are fully involved in the accounting of all accounts.
Fortunately, little Gilbert was prepared and allowed the team led by accountant Kevin to participate in all aspects of the film from the beginning.
It's not that he doubts that Disney and Warner will deliberately steal his money, it's just that even though some things haven't happened, you have to be careful.
For these complicated accounting transactions, little Gilbert usually just listens to the report and then cares about when his money will arrive.
North American box office divisions are usually very quick and will be settled within half a year to a year, while overseas box office divisions are more troublesome, often taking a year and a half, or even two or three years.
But these are all problems later. After paying attention to the first box office split in North America, little Gilbert was invited to visit Nicolas Cage's home.
Regarding North American theater chains, distributors, and producers’ account sharing ratio, you can look at Disney’s account sharing ratio above, or you can go back and read Chapter 49. I wrote it in quite detail.
If you want to know more details, go check the information. I won’t write it down, lest you call me stupid.
(End of this chapter)