Chapter 154 Everyone has their own ideas
In the early stage of publicity, Warner and Disney’s publicity departments adopted very smart strategies and did not emphasize the humanistic significance and patriotic sentiments of this film.
Emphasizing these elements in the summer movie will only make the audience hesitate to watch the movie. This is not an element that summer moviegoers like.
Therefore, in terms of promotion, we focus on emphasizing to the audience elements such as thrills, excitement, hot action scenes, and the most realistic war movies.
After several years of accumulation, little Gilbert has gradually established his own brand and has strong appeal.
Although it is only the early stage of publicity, many movie fans have already remembered the name of the movie "Saving Private Ryan".
In order to cooperate with the publicity department, little Gilbert shared several stills on his Facebook social account.
A photo of him with Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio, a panoramic photo of a transformed Omaha Beach, and a photo of the Elite Squad.
As soon as the photo was released, it quickly attracted attention from fans, with many likes and comments.
"When it comes to action movies, who is better than Little Gilbert in Hollywood today?"
"There is one, Michael Bay. I watched his "Jedi Men" and I have great ideas."
As soon as this netizen finished speaking, he was wildly attacked by fans in the comment area.
In the eyes of Little Gilbert fans, not to mention Michael Bay, a fledgling director, even many Hollywood first-line directors are not as good as Little Gilbert.
Those who can be compared with Little Gilbert are Spielberg, George Lucas, and even James Cameron.
Truck Driver was also unlucky. Although "True Lies" was okay at the box office, the film's investment of 115 million US dollars, including promotion and distribution, exceeded 140 million US dollars.
The high investment almost made it difficult for the film to make a return.
Coupled with the fact that his new film once again required investment of hundreds of millions of dollars, the personal salary of truck drivers has dropped a lot.
Gilbert Jr., who directed "Saving Private Ryan," received a base salary of $15 million, while Truck Driver only received $8.5 million.
Of course, in terms of box office share, both of them share 15% of the total North American box office share, so there is no difference.
In terms of remuneration, we can see the commercial performance of their recent films.
Compared with the truck driver's dilemma, Gilbert Jr. is much more calm. His "The Island" continued to be released globally and eventually accumulated a box office of US$588 million.
Even decades later, this result would still be a pretty good box office result for a non-sequel original movie, let alone now in the 1990s.
That's why the media gave little Gilbert the title of King of Summer Movies, Son of God and other titles so widely circulated. Little Gilbert is really awesome.
Movie fans are also looking forward to the collaboration between Tom Hanks and Little Gilbert. Now in terms of box office appeal, Tom Hanks is even stronger than Tom Cruise.
In the battle between the two Toms, Tom Hanks has the upper hand.
"Saving Private Ryan" has entered a difficult filming period, but the North American side seems to be singing and dancing.
In Michael Eisner's office at Disney Headquarters, Robert Iger is reporting to Michael Eisner on Touchstone Pictures' work this year.
Michael Eisner seemed a little distracted when listening to Touchstone Pictures' outstanding performance.
"The film's market performance is excellent. The film currently has a box office of 65.53 million U.S. dollars in North America. The global performance is also good. It seems that it will not be a problem to break 100 million." Robert Egger said.
When Disney spent $25 million to buy out the sequel rights to "The Last Day" from Gilbert Jr., Robert Iger believed it was a wise decision.
The third installment of this series has been filmed, creating considerable profits for Disney.
It seems that as long as the box office performance is good, this series can continue and film a fourth and fifth installment.
But Michael Eisner's mind is not on this, and B-level movies will never be the key projects of giant film companies.
He asked Robert Iger: "Have you discussed it with Warner? Do they agree to launch "Speed 2"?"
"I have already met with Jeff Robinoff," Robert Iger nodded: "Warner basically agrees with the project of "Speed 2".
It is planned to be prepared next year and released in the summer of 1997. "
"Speed" is also a film directed by Gilbert Jr. It is also a model of commercial films with high box office with small and medium budget.
After talking with Warner, both parties jointly promoted the project of "Speed 2", intending to use the good impression created by the previous film on movie fans to reap another wave of box office.
"Did Gilbert Jr. ever say he would direct this movie?" Michael Eisner asked.
"I've asked about this a long time ago. Little Gilbert said that a sequel is not in his plan."
In fact, there is one sentence that Robert Iger did not say, that is, Gilbert Jr. suggested not to promote the sequel plan. He believed that the second part would have a high probability of failure. Robert Iger has always admired Gilbert Jr.'s vision for movies and trusted his judgment.
But this project was promoted personally by Michael Eisner. Robert Iger knew that Michael Eisner had a strong and arbitrary character. If he rashly opposed it, Michael Eisner would be unhappy, so he had to find another opportunity.
"Then find a good director to take charge of this project. The film must ensure that it performs well in the summer season." Michael Eisner said.
The battle between him and Michael Ovitz has entered a fierce stage. Although Michael Eisner has the upper hand, it is impossible to completely drive Michael Ovitz out of Disney and requires a long period of planning.
If Michael Ovitz's "Saving Private Ryan" project is a success, his position will be completely stable.
But it’s impossible for Michael Eisner to deliberately stumble and let the project of “Saving Private Ryan” fail in order to drive away Michael Ovitz.
This is Disney's most important project, and destroying the company's interests for personal gain will be remembered by the company's senior management and board of directors.
Speaking of the board of directors, Michael Eisner was also very angry. In the past, these shareholders had never been monolithic. Although they were dissatisfied with his exclusive power, they could still control it.
But since Michael Ovitz was appointed president, this childhood friend has actually been connecting with many directors to support him.
Although he did not have the ability to challenge Michael Eisner's position, when Michael Ovitz wanted to be responsible for some business, Michael Eisner could not forcefully refuse.
This time Michael Ovitz, with the support of the Disney family, snatched the "Saving Private Ryan" project from Robert Iger, leaving Michael Eisner with a knot in his throat.
Compared to Michael Eisner's tangle, Michael Ovitz's situation is much calmer. He seems to foresee that the day when he will control Disney is not far away.
Of course, the foundation of all this lies in "Saving Private Ryan".
So Michael Ovitz made a special trip to Ireland to visit the filming location of "Saving Private Ryan."
Looking at the bustling set, Michael Ovitz sighed: "This is a movie, this is the best project!"
Little Gilbert didn't want to deal with Michael Ovitz, so he threw the trouble to Kane Waxman. They were all in the same group anyway.
However, little Gilbert's indifference did not extinguish Michael Ovitz's enthusiasm. He still visited the set with great interest, watched the actors' difficult filming, and then sent his condolences in time.
When I was just expressing condolences, there were always people taking photos around me to record this moment.
This must be recorded. If it is not recorded, who will know that he led this project?
This behavior only made Warner producer Charles Rowan very dissatisfied, and privately he tried to drive a wedge between Gilbert Jr. and Michael Ovitz.
"Looking at his appearance, this film was obviously directed by you, but you made it seem like he was the biggest contributor."
Little Gilbert certainly understood Charles Rowan's little thoughts. He glanced at Charles Rowan and said unhurriedly: "Let him do whatever he wants, as long as it doesn't interfere with the operations of the crew."
Little Gilbert didn't have a good relationship with Michael Ovitz, but he didn't want to lose his temper and express his dissatisfaction over the smallest things.
The competition within Disney is fierce, which may be an opportunity for little Gilbert, but the feeling of being treated as a card by both parties makes little Gilbert unhappy.
It's okay to be unhappy, but as long as the movie does well, both parties have to please him.
Over there, Michael Ovitz was still inspecting the crew, asking a few questions from time to time, which Kane Waxman answered.
Michael Ovitz still has some brains. Although he is the president of Disney, he can't order little Gilbert, and he doesn't treat little Gilbert as one of his subordinates.
Although little Gilbert didn't give him a good look, he was thick-skinned enough.
After visiting the set, Michael Ovitz came over and complimented: "This is my first time watching you film live, little Gilbert, you did a great job."
When people said nice things, little Gilbert couldn't be embarrassed, so he reluctantly gave a smile: "Thank you, Mr. Ovitz, this is what I should do."
"Do a good job." Michael Ovitz patted Gilbert on the shoulder and said, "If this movie does well, Disney will give you some rewards."
"Reward?" Little Gilbert expressed doubts.
"Of course," Michael Ovitz feels like he can call the shots: "This is my personal commitment. Of course, Disney executives will support me because we have the best directors in Hollywood."
The words "good guys, one of them" were omitted, but little Gilbert accepted it.
Not yet, but sooner or later little Gilbert will become the best director in Hollywood.
Little Gilbert smiled and said, "Mr. Ovitz, thank you for your support."
Hearing these words, Michael Ovitz seemed to have achieved his goal, and his smile became even brighter.
It's just that in Little Gilbert's opinion, this face looked a little ugly when he smiled.
(End of chapter)