Negotiations between Ovitz and Bronfman Jr. continued for some time. The two sides seemed to have reached an impasse. The two parties held several negotiations in Los Angeles and New York, but there was no result yet.

Ovitz saw that his request to make Seagram responsible for his taxes was very unreasonable. But this was also a method of testing. If the other party firmly refused, he would understand that here was

It was impossible for him to get the treatment, and he knew that his competitiveness was not strong enough, and he could not let Sony pay all the money he paid to compensate Warner Bros. like Gubel.

But little Bronfman did not refuse outright, but put on a reasonable attitude. No matter what agreement was reached in the end, Ovitz was certain of one thing, that is, Seagram wanted Ovitz very much.

And there are no apparent competitors.

Of course, this idea is also Ovitz's own speculation. In the past two decades, there have been few reliable projects in Hollywood and more studios. This way, he captured famous directors and signed half of the stars.

This strategy is still very intimidating to the top management of those studios.

But now the situation is reversed. Seagram's little Bronfman may be intimidated by Ovitz's behavior, but his father will never regard Ovitz as a powerful character.

An agent-turned-brokerage company owner, to put it bluntly, is someone who finds film contracts for actors and then gets a commission. From the perspective of the Bronfman family, who were involved in the bootlegging business during the Prohibition era, there was nothing to be afraid of.

In addition, there is Bronfman Jr.'s uncle, Charles Bronfman... This uncle Charles was excluded from the Seagram Group's new entertainment business by his brother Edgar Sr. With such an opportunity, he would definitely

He must use the strategy of attacking Little Bronfman in order to gain the upper hand.

Therefore, even if Bronfman Jr. intends to buy horse bones for thousands of dollars like Sony and give Ovitz a Gubel-like treatment, he does not have the final say within the Seagram Group.

Therefore, he had to delay Ovitz's new request as much as possible, and then buy time to convince other members of the family, especially his father, Edgar Sr., to provide treatment that exceeded the specifications, so that he could provide the new global

The film industry has brought a good demonstration effect, making directors and stars willing to cooperate with Bronfman, a new face.

In this way, Ovitz expected Bronfman Jr. to finally give in, and Bronfman Jr. also expected his father and uncle to agree to his strategy. Both parties expected something that was almost impossible to happen, so it was not surprising that the negotiations reached a deadlock.

All Ronald can do now is to wait for two people who are unclear about their position to slowly reach the inevitable end... and then he will give them a heavy blow.

…

There is an iMAX screening room inside the California Science Center in Exposition Park in Los Angeles. Some popular science iMAX and 70mm films are usually displayed here. Unlike ordinary movie films, they run sideways.

And the unique 1.43:1 aspect ratio, coupled with a curved screen about six stories high, makes people feel very immersive when watching it.

On this day, the theater did not show the usual popular science movies to the students and tourists as usual, but was closed. Two famous Hollywood directors, Ronald Lee and Jim Cameron, were coming.

Watch a new IMAX feature film here.

Because the cost of shooting is very high and the continuous screening time is too long, the xenon headlights used by IMAX will be easily scrapped, so there are very few feature films longer than 30 minutes. In the past, there were only IMAX manufacturers, in order to demonstrate the ability of IMAX to shoot feature films.

, a long documentary of the Rolling Stones' concert.

The advantage of IMAX is its unparalleled visual impact. The impact of the Rolling Stones concert is not very strong, so they found a deep-sea diving team and went to the Atlantic to film a film about the most famous shipwreck in the world...Titanic

's documentary.

The original version of the film was 90 minutes long, but considering the fragility of the IMAX projector, the officially released version was cut to 40 minutes, and the famous Interstellar actor Leonard Nimoy was re-voiced.

When the huge sunken ship appeared on the screen, Ronald felt a huge sense of sadness and epicness. Especially since the porcelain specially fired during the maiden voyage was still intact on the deck.

To take pictures of the wreckage at a depth of 12,000 feet, two deep-diving submarines each carried IMAX70 cameras and light bulbs equivalent to 150,000 watts, which illuminated the wreckage as brightly as daylight.

The camera moves back and forth, left and right, and is occasionally accompanied by photos of passengers who died that year, headlines from newspapers, and video interviews with surviving passengers.

Ronald felt that the documentary was well shot, and he also considered buying the rights to the 90-minute video tape version. This subject has always been the focus of public attention. The Titanic hit an iceberg and sank on its maiden voyage, which is a well-known event.

There is no need to worry about selling such a documentary. In addition to video tape sales, it can also be sold to PBS for broadcast as a documentary...

Suddenly, a panoramic view of the Titanic's bow appeared on the camera. A huge ship's bow slowly appeared in the center of the camera.

Ronald suddenly felt very familiar. Isn't this the special effects romance movie in his dream, where the hero and heroine romantically embrace each other on the bow of the ship? The appearance and style of the ship are exactly the same as in the dream, except

Two men and women in love are missing...

"Hiss..."

Cameron next to him was even more excited, "This is really spectacular. I want to write a script with the Titanic sinking as the background and film it..."

"Hey?" Ronald suddenly glanced at Cameron next to him. Did you film this? But there is no muscular man like Schwarzenegger as the hero in this movie. It is a love movie between men and women.

.

This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! "A love story?" Ronald asked tentatively.

"Hey, how do you know? I just had this idea in my mind. Could it be that you also..." Cameron was very surprised.

"Titanic is the most famous sunken ship. With such a background story, no action movie can match her. You should make the world's greatest love movie. Only love can be worthy of such a huge tragedy.

"

"You really understand me..." Cameron was very happy. Ronald was indeed the most understanding and supportive person. At that time, his ex-wife Gale Hurd, although she was his own producer, did not

Such a vision...

"There is only one question, how much does this movie cost? For the shot of the bow just now, you can arrange for the hero and heroine to stand on the tip of the bow if they want to hug, with the same angle and the same camera position, it is simply...

I think there is no boy or girl who would not be moved by it."

"Is that so?" Cameron took the small notebook next to him and drew a simple sketch with a pen.

"How about letting the hero hug the heroine from behind? Then the heroine's excited face will occupy the close-up of the screen, and all the girls will go crazy for it. Of course, you have to find a handsome guy to play the hero..."

Ronald took the notebook, turned a page, and drew a sketch himself, and drew the storyboard of the scene in the dream.

"God Daxmn it, you're such a genius, Ronald. I can get this shot. How much do you think it would cost to use CGI?"

"The whole movie?" Ronald quickly calculated that if special effects of the level of Forrest Gump were used, the shooting cost of the entire movie would be over 100 million. Add some more for Cameron

The margin, "I think it's about 150 million..."

"It's better to just add some more money. I think we can build a real model and shoot it. It's almost 200 million," Cameron said half-jokingly.

His movie with a production cost of 100 million US dollars has just broken the record, and now it is about to hit the world record of 200 million US dollars...

"Two hundred million?" Ronald simply did the math again. This means that he needs to get more than 600 million in global box office to break even. However, with Titanic's household name, if a heart-stirring love story can really be made,

Maybe you can actually get your money back.

Commercial movies actually use film to tell a story, and the most popular movies in history all have love as the core. Probably because this can touch the largest audience.

If you use inflation adjustments, or use the number of moviegoers instead of box office figures, then the best-grossing movie in history is undoubtedly Gone with the Wind. There are also The Sound of Music, Snow White, Star Wars, etc. The types of these movies can be diverse, but the core

Love is the most important part of the main plot.

"It doesn't seem impossible. If you write the script and find a distributor, I can invest for you." Ronald calculated that the only way to make money for such a movie is to let as many viewers see it as possible.

.

In this way, global distribution capabilities are quite important. Ronald's own pipe dream cannot be achieved, but if seven major studios are willing to invest in distribution, and Ronald also invests in the project, it can still be done.

Arrived.

Ronald always had a feeling that this movie might have really changed Cameron and helped him move away from being a specific type of director.

"Really? Is that a deal?" Cameron was overjoyed. He himself likes diving, especially diving in the deep sea. If this movie can be approved, then he can at least use the funds as an investigation.

Going to the Titanic wreckage at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean by yourself... This is an opportunity that few people in the world have.

"Of course, after you finish writing the script, show it to me. If the studio has difficulties, I can come forward and work with you to convince them."

With a production budget of US$200 million, even Twentieth Century Fox, which has always bet on big productions, may not be able to easily agree to such a scale. Other studios, such as Paramount, are still compressing budgets under Redstone.

The risk is even more impossible.

Maybe in all of Hollywood, only Fox and Universal, which has just changed its major sponsors, are likely to invest.

Two weeks later, Cameron wrote the script. Ronald got the first copy, and after reading it, he also felt that the script Cameron wrote was so vulgar.

A young woman who was engaged to a rich man met a young man on the Titanic who got a third-class ticket through gambling and wanted to go on an adventure in America. As soon as Jin Feng Yu Lu met, they achieved an unparalleled love.

But since the audience has seen that this movie is Titanic, they will definitely expect a tragic ending in the end. With this expectation early on, and seeing such a beautiful love, Ronald feels that at least the script is worthy of being written.

With a budget of over 200 million.

With such a big budget, it’s not a cheesy tragic love story, so how do you get back the money?

However, no one else was as confident as Ronald in this vulgar story. The first person Cameron contacted was his old partner 20th Century Fox Pictures.

Their management simply did not have the ability to make such a large investment. After reporting the matter to the Fox Group, the new CEO Peter Chernin personally met with Cameron to discuss the movie.

Their idea is to persuade Cameron to give up the idea of ​​filming the Titanic. Just like this very unlucky cruise ship in history, which hit an iceberg and sank on its first voyage, any movie with the Titanic as the background will also

All suffered box office failures.

In 1953, Barbara Stanwyck starred in Titanic, a family-centered story that included some details of the shipwreck. Although it won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, it failed at the box office.

1958's Titanic Nights was an adaptation of Walter Lord's best-seller. It also had a good reputation and was a huge failure at the box office.

In 1979, The Night of the Shipwreck was not even qualified for theatrical release, and was eventually broadcast on television.

Besides, Cameron is really recognized by Hollywood for his whimsical action movies. If his Titanic is about the sinking of the ship, the people on the ship fight each other to save themselves, and finally escape to heaven, maybe there will be more

Why would you want to make a romantic movie when you have so much to watch? And it has a tragic ending?

It is really unimaginable for Cameron to direct a romantic movie, and the budget he requires is such a large one.

It's like the new Oscar winner for Best Director, Ronald Lee, decided to invest big money and then invited famous Hollywood comedians Jim Carrey and Eddie Murphy to star in a hilarious comedy.

, no one dares to invest in this kind of movie unless the director invests in the filming himself.

But the Fox team headed by Peter Chernin did not dare to reply to Cameron just like that. With his director True Lies once again achieving box office success, Cameron has become the best-selling director working with Fox.
To be continued...