Hollywood Mogul 3 Dynasty: Dragon's Den Studios Reignited

[Abe Sargent]

It doesn't have any effects on budget or anything. I don't know what might be behind the scenes.

[Abe Sargent]

I greenlight a second flick this month (March):

The horror film, Falling in Love is greenlighted. We film in Toronto and Vancouver, and I jack up stunt and robotic effects. Once I am happy with the budget and locations, I move on to casting:

After his five star performance in Meadow of Life, I offer Santiago Arlington the first audition for the lead in Falling in Love, and he agrees. He nails the audition, and I don;t even consider hiring anybody else. Santiago is 29 and has amazing screen presence and is a very sexy man.

Stephanie Walnut gets a great audition in the first go and was cheap at just 50k so I sign her.

Cornelius Ranteck signs to be the villian which is a stunt heavy part. I wanted a very athletic actor for the role and got it, for 50k no less.

800k brings in Javier Okuma to be my director.

Rachel Snow will be my producer for a clean 400k.

The supporting roles go to various 50k actors who had good auditions.

I authorize the movie after eliminating all nudity from it. No need for smut.

[Abe Sargent]

I had scheduled two flicks to be released this month. Here is the first:

Hacking In

Direction: Bert Lorner had a three star performance.
Production:Mick Dannahan had a three star day
Lead:Terry Grouse had four stars
Romantic: Esther Nichert had five
Villain: Vallerie Bars had five

Supporting Roles: The one role was at five stars

Star: 1 star
Story: 3 stars
Character: 5 stars
Genre: 5 stars


Costs:

91.47 million credits


Total Gross: 150 million worldwide

Breakdown:

Domestic: 35 million theater
11.9 million ancillaries

International: 40 million theater
29 million ancillaries

Total revenue: 116 million credits

Net Gain: 24 million credits


Just 24 million credits net really isn't all that much.


Next up:


Hiding Out

Direction: Javier Okuma had a four star direction
Production: Errol Sooten had five stars
Lead: Christopher Borg with four stars
Romantic: Tara Brustle was with five
Villain: Ysabel Flyer had four

Supporting Roles: All supporting roles were at four

Star Appeal: One
Story Appeal: Two
Character Appeal: Five
Genre Appeal: Five


Costs: 93.8 million


Total Gross: 121.250 million

Breakdown:

Domestic: 38 mill theater
14 mill ancillaries

Int'l: 22.5 mill theater
16.5 mill ancillaries

Total revenue: 91.3 mill

Net Loss: 2.37 mill


So I gained just twenty million and lost a couple of million in two pictures. That's not good.

[Abe Sargent]

April

Jazz Drummer is complete and ready for release.
Ice Doom has finished production and has a lot of special effects, so it will be in post preduction until August
Green Wizard has finished pre-production and enters shooting.

Let me walk you through the release of Jazz Drummer:

The first thing I do is review how well it is doing with ratings. The average score for it is 85%. I decide not to edit the film. The rating is Teen.

I then pick a score (in this case, I chose the jitterbug MP3 since this is Film Noir.)

Now I can do anything I want with DVD release. Deleted Scenes, Out takes, Making of featurette, SFX featurette if appropriate, talent interviews, easter eggs, games, and a music video can all be added to the DVD at various costs. It also lists al of the major parts and I can select whoever I want to do audio commentary tracks.

I can also edit the DVD. Widescreen release? Fullscreen version?

All of this adds costs to the DVD. I don't expect a film noir flick to do that well in DVD, so I'm not going to add any bells and whistles. As such, I am going to put both full screen and widscreen on the same disc. You can't do this and add bells and whistles, but since I'm not including any, it will save me costs to not do two seperate pressings.


Now I take a look at marketing. Do I want to release a soundtrack? In this case, no. If I did, I could choose the musical genre of each track. For this film, there are no action figures or toys.

I can chose our marketing focus, and in this case, I want our primary focus on the plot, I could also focus on actors, producers, SFX, and more.

I chose the type of marketing campaign, and I chose a blanket marketing campaign. No teaser trailer.

I can set advertising budgets for various communication genres. In this case, we have 2000 screens, which is middle of the road.


Now I can choose to relese the movie. I want to release it next month in May because this month, April, sees all of my competitors on various weekends. On May, Week One, there is no movie released, so we will have it all to ourselves.

I then approve its release.

[Abe Sargent]

Review of "Hacking In"
AllCinema.net
Alice Lichet


Unlike many reviewers currently rating the Nouveau Hollywood scene, this reviewer was reviewing movies for a lot longer time than just the past several years. Back in my native France, I regularly reviewed movie for over a decade before bringing my experience to Hollywood with the rejuvenated business.

Some of my colleagues seem to think that every movie is the greatest they've ever seen. That's because they've still only seen, maybe 25 brand new movies. I have not.

So what do I think of Hacking In? It's good. But it suffers from a malaise. Sure, I like the film, and I really enjoy many of the things Dragon's Den Studios wants to do. However, this movie was just okay.

Director Bert Lorner was okay. Lead Terry Grouse was solid. But the movie felt flat to me. Blase.

This movie is about gangsters from the 1920's hacking into the modern Cybernet and the hijinks that ensue. It certainly is a clever premise, but it is one of those premises that make you think it is trying to appear intelligent, instead of actually being intelligent. Gangsters with tommy guns on the Cybernet? That's just silly.

So, although the film is procedurely sound and the plot is better than a lot of crap that gets made, it still doesn't hold up to other films I've seen. It will never be a classic, instead being merely forgettable.

At best, a solid B.

[Poli]

Originally Posted by Anxiety

AE: Clancy?

Sigh.

[Poli]

I liked the insight to how it works as well. Very nice.

I played around with this game for a week before I went on deployment in 2003. I liked it, but never got back around to it when I finally came home.

[Abe Sargent]

Review of "Hiding Out"
AllCinema.net
Alice Lichet


Hiding Out is a solid enough film if you like good acting, good direction, but a weaker script with little story appeal. Hiding Out was the story of a cadre of spies that hide out in the Rockies, lead by super spy Steve Wishbone (played well by Christopher Borg) and his wife Simone Wishbone (played even better by Tara Brustle, the best acting job in the film).

Steve and Simone's cadre are attacked by a vicious counter-spy working for the United States of Africa, Sidle Umbaga (played solidly by Ysabel Flyer) (pronounced SEED-lay OOM-baa-gaa). Sidle wants to shut down the cadre of spys through several methods.

Although the movie had good production values, you just never felt anything. Well acted, well directed with interesting characters and genre elements, but it lacked heart. I don't expect it will ever do well at the theater because it is so limited in emotion.

In other words, although this film certainly was technically proficient, it was never something that mattered to me as a viewer. That's a shame, because it could have been something. C+

[Abe Sargent]

I greenlight Rare Care, the Romantic Comedy. After choosing all of the info, I then head to contracts.

I hire Eugene Hamm to be my director for 800k. He would be one of my top choices for a director if only we did more omedy films, so this may be a rare chance for him to shine.

One cool million credits brings Errol Sooten to the production chair with experience and gobs of talent oozing from his every word.

Garrett Michael will take our leading job for 600k. He has an amazing work presence and good comedy skills.

For a million, sexy, smoking, presence leaded and talented Emily Hort will be our romantic interest.

The other two roles go to 50k people with a hot audition. I authorize production to begin!

[Abe Sargent]

May:

Writing for The Prisoner is complete.

Hold on Tight's post-production is complete and ready to be released.

Pre-production on Holiday Pain is finished and it moves to regular production.



I get to greenlight The Prisoner, our first internal script! I put every element at four stars across the board for the script.

I jack up the SFX up to five stars because they are all important for the film. I also increase all of the production FX (make-up, pyro, stunt, robotics) to four stars. Cinematographer, set design, score and cosutmes are also set to four stars. Actually, let's jump score up to five stars.

I greenlight the film with around 70 million in production costs before heading to contracts. Time to bring in some talent.

It takes me a long time to find my lead actor, and a lot of auditions later I ultimately decide to cast Alphonso Meddler as my lead with just a 400k contract. I wanted a bigger name, but the talent was not hitting their auditions. He will be our Number Six.

For 7 million, but no points, I sign Blossom Kinder, the 15th best drector in the game, to head the project. She's an amazing visionary with great action skills.

I hire Stu Kerr for a million to produce. Stu did a great job with Meadow of Life so I can trust him with this project.

For the romantic interest, I have a problem. The only good actresses with a massive audition are either hugely expensive (15+ million credits!) or very unknwn (50k), I think the hot chick over the popular chick is the right play, so I cast unknown Rosie Ventura for 50k as Number 34.

Next I need the first Number 2. I can't find a suitable actor to cast in the role who nails the audition, so I settle for Dennis Ungerman who had a good audition for 800k.

For the subsequant Number 2, I am looking for a younger actress. I have to sign another 50k actress, Bonny Tifun.

Lastly, for Number 97, a compatriot captee, I hire Stan Westgate for 800k.

I send the production crew out to begin work on our script!

[Abe Sargent]

I will release the family flick, Hold on Tight next month. For now, I decide to authorize a soundtrack. I add some things to the DVD (expecting family sales) and hope we'll see some powerful ancillary sales from the soundtrack and DVD.

I decide to send out a script to create a movie version of Mary Shelley's The Last Man. Since the novel is public domain, we don't need to make any purchases. I send the scifi/apocalyptic flick out to a writer.

[Poli]

I want a football movie!

[Poli]

Originally Posted by Anxiety

Review of "Hiding Out"
AllCinema.net
Alice Lichet


Hiding Out is a solid enough film if you like good acting, good direction, but a weaker script with little story appeal. Hiding Out was the story of a cadre of spies that hide out in the Rockies, lead by super spy Steve Wishbone (played well by Christopher Borg) and his wife Simone Wishbone (played even better by Tara Brustle, the best acting job in the film).

Steve and Simone's cadre are attacked by a vicious counter-spy working for the United States of Africa, Sidle Umbaga (played solidly by Ysabel Flyer) (pronounced SEED-lay OOM-baa-gaa). Sidle wants to shut down the cadre of spys through several methods.

Although the movie had good production values, you just never felt anything. Well acted, well directed with interesting characters and genre elements, but it lacked heart. I don't expect it will ever do well at the theater because it is so limited in emotion.

In other words, although this film certainly was technically proficient, it was never something that mattered to me as a viewer. That's a shame, because it could have been something. C+

You're insane. I like it.

[Abe Sargent]

Review of "Jazz Drummer"
AllHollywood.com
Saturday Editorial Team


May 2, 2053

I don't really like film noir. I don't like bad guys with cigarettes as good guys while good guys are corrupt. It a played out genre. I just wanted to make sure my biases were across before I gave my reivew.

I love Jazz Drummer. It's fun, frenetic, and a blast. I was never bored, despite average direction. Acting, story, characters; all were very good. It inverted normal Film Noir.

Before I go into that, allow me to introduce the plot of the film. The lead, Jim Taylor (played well by Marvin Linscon) is a dirty cop in a city of dirty cops. However, he also has the occasional altrustic motivations and he is going after a private investigator, Sandra Everhart (played solidly by Jessica Miggle) who is motivated by kindness tinged with a dark soul.

THe beauty of this film is that it turns film noir on its ear. Normally, in film noir, the establishment is corrupt, evil, or incompetant and so the grimey outsider, like a P.I., has to get involved despite not wanting to in order to save the day.

In this movie, however, a dirty cop is the hero and the gritty but benevolent PI is the villain. That's a clever flip-flop of nomral film noir, and it makes a great idea.

I love fresh ideas, even with genres I don't care for. As a result, I give this film an A-.

[Abe Sargent]

Jazz Drummer


Direction: Emmet Mustlow, three stars
Production: Terrence Weague, four stars
Lead: Marvin Linscon, four stars
Romantic: Theresa Shall, five stars
Villain: Jessica Miggle, four stars

Supporting Roles: All with four stars

Star Appeal: one star
Story Appeal: four stars
Character Appeal: five stars
Genre Appeal: two stars


Costs: 83.7 million credits


Total Gross: 488.6 million

Breakdown:

Domestic:

117 mill theater
80 ancillary

Int'l:

127 mill theater
93 mill ancillary


Total Revenue: 417 mill

Net Revenue: 333.6 million credits



Our first actual hit!

[Abe Sargent]

June:

The Call of Cthulhu is back from the script writers

I greenlight Call after jacking up special effects, production and more across the board to five stars. I want to make this the best made movie ever.

I select Shanna Grappel as my director for 2 million. She's good across the board.

Lissa Zigowski for 5 million (but no points) becomes my producer. She's also solid across the board and I am happy with my admin team.

1.5 million brings Aaron Hayes as my leading man. Let's hope he brings something to the role.

800k brings the very talented Wyatt Orvis to one of my other leading roles.

The third leading role goes to Race Dagwood for three million.

I send the movie to production where it will take over two years and 165 million for production alone plus personnel and then marketing and such later.

This is a heavy comittment. I only hope it works.

[Poli]

I'm bumping this because I can...and I see Anxiety in the thread.

[Abe Sargent]

I've been busy the past couple of days with work but I suspect that I'll continue tonight or tomorrow.

[Abe Sargent]

DRAGON'S DEN STUDIOS PRESS RELEASE


June 13, 2053 - Today Dragon's Den Studios announced the acquisition of the cinema version of the old time traveller, Doctor Who. The long running science finction show ran for over twenty-five years before being cancelled once, eleven years in its second incarnation during the early century, and four years in a recent revival twenty years ago on the BCC. Doctor Who has been on television for a total of forty years, rivaling the storied Star Trek and Star Wars television stories.

Studio head James Essex was pleased with the acquisition, "It gives us one of the biggest sci-fi franchises of all time to play with as we choose. We are delighted."

The studio immediately sent out a story idea for a script, entitled Doctor Who and the Sands of Time. Although it should take fifteen months or so to write, fans are already taking notice. Dragon's Den Studios would like to remind everyone that they do not take open casting calls or unsolicited screenplays.

Dragon's Den Studios is dedicated to the idea that quality, intelligent cinema can be a success and that entertainment can stimulate the mind.



DRAGON'S DEN STUDIOS PRESS RELEASE

[Abe Sargent]

Review of 'Hold on Tight"
Nate Oblerstein's Blog, The most read entertainment blog in the business!


I sat down in the theater to watch the fifth release from Dragon's Den Studios, a family friendly flick featuring many talking animals set in the Everglades in Florida. This film, entitled Hold on Tight, is a live action film and not animated.

I don't particularly enjoy family/children films, and to be honest, I doubt I'll watch Hold on Tight again. However, I can say that it was well made. The acting was spot on, the direction and prduction were both top notch, and even the smarmy jazz soundtrack (available now on disc at a store near you) was solid.

Obviously, DDS perfers to put on big movies instead of movies with big stars. This is their fifth straight film without a big name star in the directing chair, the production booth or the acting studio. It's obvious that they prefer substance over fluff, and this is just another example.

In this movie, Capers (played by Garrett Michael) is an otter who has to swim across a river in the Everglades and the animals that he encounters along the way as the river winds its ways through the swamps and into Everglades City.

It's a solid film, to be sure, and your family may just love it. Undertand though, that my rating is biased because it's really not my thing. I give it a B+"

[Abe Sargent]

Hold on Tight:




Direction: Glenn Canleck - five stars - yay!
Production: Rolando Ulrich - Another of them there five stars
Lead: Garrett Michael - four star performance
Romantic: Dixie Wilson - 5 starsies
Villain: Lamont Heart - The Quad pack

Supporting Roles:

All four and five stars performances from support

Star Appeal: One
Story Appeal: Three
Character Appeal: Five
Genre Appeal: Five


Costs:

95 million credits

Total Gross:

226 million

Breakdown:

Domestic:

57 mill theater
94 mill ancillaries


Int'l:

56 mill theater
41 mill ancillaries


Total Gross Revenue:

249.5 mill

Net Revenue: 154 mill


A solid amount, and look at those sky high domestic ancillaries.

[Abe Sargent]

July -

The script for Lucifer's Hammer is complete.

Just Another Time entered production.

Green Wizard finished production.


I greenlight Lucifer's Hammer. The production budget is 107 million.

For 1.5 million, Rosemarie Lane will direct this movie. She's a solid director with great talent in the action genre and with SFX. I hope she'll do well with this large film.

5 million credits brings the 18th best producer in the business, Irving Lu to the set as our producer. Irving is solid across the board and should prove very beneficial.

For the lead, I am looking for a male around 30 who can play as a wealthy amateur astronomer who discovers the comet. It's a tough part because after the comet crashes, there's some action scenes, various emotions, and so forth (94 overall difficutly). After a lot of hemming and hawing and auditioning, I decide to cast Oscar Wassal for a clean million to star.

Next up is the romantic lead. We'll need around a 28 year old female who's role is a bit less demanding, (87) with a few action scenes and some strong lead roles. I sign up the tenth leading lady in Hollywood, 15 million and Sarah Crig signs onto our movie with a nailed audition. This is the first major star to land a role in one of our films.

Rev. Armitage is the villain of the film who preaches that the comet is God's plan for cleansing the world pre comet and post comet becomes the leader of anti-technology terrorists. It is a tough role to play coming off as intelligent and crazy, poised and angry, collected and chaotic. (92 difficulty). I cast the 11th leading man in Hollywood, Floyd Pierce for 24 million. Another star to the cast.

Senator Arthur Jellison is the major supporitng role I need to cast next. It's another tough role (another 92). I use my full 15 auditions and do not find a single 5 star audition. I cast a four star audition - Rudy Towers for 800k.

The next role is Harvey Randall. This isn't nearly as hard (just an 82) although it's no slouch either. I hire 500k Orlando English for the role.

The last major supporting role goes to Dr. Stewart, a university professor who surivives the impact, barely. After another 15 auditions, I am once again forced to go with a four star audition, 900k for Blair Hammond.

It's a big project, so I authorize production and off we go.

[Poli]

Word.

[Abe Sargent]

DRAGON'S DEN STUDIOS


July 29, 2053 - In a continuing list of properties purchased, Dragon's Den Studios has announced the acquisition of The Squadron Supreme, a 12 issue mini-series published by Marvel Comics and written by legendary writer Mark Gruenwald.

Squadron Surpeme was one of the first superhero comics to explore the reality of being a superhero including temptation and dystopia. Dragon's Den Studios and CEO James Essex are proud to bring to the screen the first adaptation of this groundbreaking series.

Essex was quoting as saying, "This is the sort of material that we love to get. Intelligent, realistic, interesting, and with great characters. This is going to be a fun project to work on."

The script has been sent out for a draft today. Dragon's Den Studios is dedicated to bringing you intelligent and quality films that will last, instead of fluff.


DRAGON'S DEN STUDIOS PRESS RELEASE

[Abe Sargent]

August:

Writing on Boone County Chronicles is complete.

Duty has finished post production and is ready for release. Duty was our first film, but the special effects delayed release while they were made ready.

Ice Doom has also finished post production and is ready for release as well.

Production on Holiday Pain is finished and it is ready for post-production.

Falling in Love has begun shooting.


I decide to try and recut Duty. It's currently at high marks in everything except length, which is at 12%. I decide to try and cut it I can't get it any better, but the release is delayed for a month while my producers try to cut it.

I authorize Duty's release for Labor Day weekend in September where it will be across from a competing flick.

I put Ice Doom on the slate for this month at school starting weekend.


I greenlight Boone County Chronicles. We'll film on location in Charleston, WV and also in Vancouver for other shots.

I cast:

Director Blair Salon, the 20th best director in Hollywood for 8 million but no points. I will have some minor talent in most of the roles (which reuqire children to play), so I need a talented director.

750k brings producer Rob White ot the fold.

Now my talent:

Playing me is Harvey Samnor for 50k.

Playign my buddy Joshua Priestly, is Horace Chaing, for 50k.

Playing one of my love interests, Missy Woodard, is Patricia Pitts for 50k.

For the villain, Steve Barker, I cast Errol Hailey for 200k.

Another buddy, Brad Williams, is played by Dony Su for 700k.

Another friend/love interest, Melissa Garretson, is played by Mandy Pamper for 200k.

Lastly, my father, Dr. Richard Sargent, the local baptist minsiter is played by Jackson Coachman for 100k.

I move The Boone County Chronicles into production.

[Abe Sargent]

I've always wanted to reboot the Avengers with a good team instead of major characters, so I've sent away a script to create an Avengers movie based on the Marvel comics team, using these characters: Monica Rambeau as the team leader, Panther (previously known as Black Panther) (Luke Charles), Hawkeye (Clint Barton), Black Knight (Dane Whitman), She-Hulk (Jennifer Walters), and Firebird (Bonita Juarez).

[Abe Sargent]

Review of 'Ice Doom'
AllCinema.net
Alice Lichet


I like a good superhero action film as much as the next blonde sophisticated French chick. This film revolves around Captain Cold as the next superhero who tries to prevent an early Ice Age from striking MegaCity when the evil villian Cold Snap decides to remake the world in his twisted vision.

The plot is dull although the ice special effects were nice. The whole movie seems like Box's Ice Cave from Logan's Run. If only the script were as smart.

It's not bad, it's just dull. It's passable, but it could have been cleaned up easily I think.

The direction is lackluster, with poor choices being made. With an average script and a below average director, why would you want to go see this movie? Has Dragon's Den Studios' claim to quality shown an flaw?

Glen Valek as Captain Cold nails the part and does a fine job with his role. All of the other actors turn in solid performances as well, although Glen steals the show acting wise.

Still, acting is not enough to keep this French reviewer from a poor review. C-

[Abe Sargent]

Ice Doom


Direction: Steve Tiza - just two stars
Production: Galvin Wilkes - four stars
Lead: Glen Valek - 5 five stars of happiness and joy
Romantic: Erika Hardin with four stars
Villain: Rudy Towers, also with the four stars


Supporting Roles: Both are at four stars

Star Appeal: One Star
Story Appeal: Three
Character Appeal: Four
Genre Appeal: One


Costs: 117 million credits


Total Gross: 198 million

Breakdown:

Domestic:

43 million, theater
26 million, ancillaries


Int'l:

56 million theater
56 mill ancillaries


Total Gross Revenue: 181.5 million


Net Revenue: 64.5 million credits


Not that much of a gain with this movie.

[Abe Sargent]

September:

By the Heath is ready for release and BOY is it rated well! I jack up advertising and release it on Thankgiving weekend. It'll be competing with another studio movie but I'm okay with that.


I send another movie script out - this time the story of the Flatwoods Monster brought to screen. One of the most authentic UFO and alien encounters, brought to life on the silver screen.

[hoopsguy]

Just started reading along and enjoying the ride.

[Abe Sargent]

Originally Posted by hoopsguy

Just started reading along and enjoying the ride.

Welcome, Welcome!

I'm am going to use a new feature of HM3 to try it out and see how it works.

See, you can make a production deal with talent and then they'll take your money and make monies with it. My understanding is that you'll still have to cast the flick, but they'll but scripts, and greenlight the film.


Steve Tiza is one of the top directors in Hollywood. I decide to offer him a production deal. I sign him for a two year deal for 5 million each year. He will direct and produce his films on his own, so I won't have to pay those prices. We'll see how this works.

[Abe Sargent]

Review of "Duty"
Fantasy.Net
Heather Tasker


I love fantasy films as much as anybody else who reads our website, so I was happy to be given the press pass for Fantasy.Net to the critics' showing of Duty. Duty is the newest movie from fledgling movie house Dragon's Den Studios.

Duty was the first project that DDS started, and although several other movies have been released first, this was actually their first project. Their studio head, James Essex, is said to be a big fan of the script as well as fantasy and science ficiton in general. A lot of work was put into Duty, so is it worth seeing?

Do you like a great script? Good acting? Solid special effects? Then you'll want to see this film. If you like average direction, then movie is for you too, but except for that one notem, everyhing here hums.

Duty is the story of Eamund (Lyndon Fresh), a nomadic desert elf who survived a magical cataclysm along with other creatures from various races, and now has to work with monsters and men alike of radically different backgrounds, beliefs and lives. When elf and orc, Thurl (Roberto Wimbleton) have to work together to restablish civlization, you really feel like you are breaking down fantasy convention.

That's why I think James Essex liked the tale. It's a realistic portrayal of death and community on a huge scale as minotaur and man alike must work with each other's best interests at heart. The villian, a 16 year old female princess named Alondra (Didi Atlantic) is actually the villain of the tale. The representative of humanity is the villain. That's a interesting spin from conventional fantasy or scifi where humans are usualy the galaxy's good guys.

I love this movie, and I can't wait for the DVD! I give it an A.

[Abe Sargent]

Duty:

Direction: Grant Tares, three stars
Production: Irvin Schick, five stars
Lead: Lyndon Fresh, four stars
Romantic: Eunice Matliff, five stars
Villain: Didi Atlantic, five stars

Supporting Roles: Both at five stars

Star Appeal: One star
Story Appeal: 4
Character Appeal: 5
Genre Appeal: 5


Costs: 194 million credits


Total Gross:

406 million

Breakdown:

Domestic:

96.5 million theater
53.5 million ancillaries


Int'l:

106.4 million theater
89 million ancillaries


Gross:

346 million


Net Revenue:

136.6 million credits


That's a much better performance.

[Abe Sargent]

October:

This is an important month. It is the first month since the founding of the studio that we have made money. We began with a budget of one billion, and are now at 20 million over a billion.

I have a meeting with a big scriptwriter to flesh out one of my own ideas for a fantasy movie set in my own world. I entitle the project, The Calling.

I also greenlight my own idea about a guy who moves to an inner city to begin ministry there and sets up a house for the local guys. I name that project The Brother.

Rare Care and The Prisoner are out of pre-production.

Green Wizard and Handling Fire are finished and ready for release.

Handling Fire is screening very well. I slate it for release in Holloween weekend, this month, to get the horror viewing public out. I increase advertising and add to the number of screens it will show on. I'm happy with it.

Green Wizard is not reviewing as well, but I put it in December when it will get the holiday viewing public.

[Abe Sargent]

Review of "Handing Fire"
AllHollywood.com
Saturday Editorial Team

October 29, 2053 - I love a good horror story as much as the next guy. I also love great acting, a clever script, and solid special effects. That's why I feel comfortable recommending Handling Fire.

This story is about a high school teacher named Samson (played very well by Howard Sanek) who begins to feel like he's on fire. He throws water on himself, looks lin mirrors, and so forth. He's never actually on fire, but we begin to see his quick descent into madness by seeing his flame delusions along with him, which is where the SFX comes in.

His dreams are never realised, but each one shows more and more disconnect with reality. His wife, Susan (Wendi Trott nailed the part) tries to help him, as do friends Tyler (Alaine Neets in a solid performance) and Gabriel (Ernie Physter, also very good in his role).

I cannot spoil the plot, but when you discover what happens, you be very, very impressed with the script and the acting. The villain, who is never named, is played by Theresa Yublan, does a scintilating job in the role.

This move is smart, dark, entraning, realistic and harrowing all at the same time. Despite rather average directing from Desmond Norden, I can't bu wonder at the quality of this film. If this is what Dragon's Den Studios meants by saying that they were going to make intelligent and quality films, then we have a treat on our hands. Maybe we have a template for making a better kind of film.

This is an epochical film. Arguably the best since New Hollywood took over after the old one fell. Without a doubt, it gets a solid A.

[Abe Sargent]

Handling Fire

Direction: Desmond Norden, 3 stars
Production: Bret Martinamore, four stars
Lead: Howard Sanek - five stars
Romantic: Wendi Trott - four stars
Villain: Theresa Yublan - five stars of happiness and joy

Supporting Roles: One had four, the other five

Star Appeal: One Star
Story Appeal: 4
Character Appeal: 5
Genre Appeal: 5


Costs:

186 million


Total Gross:

3,014,875,584 billion credits.

That's a lot of records getting broken right there.


Breakdown:

Domestic: 644 million theater
269 million ancillaries

Int'l: 863 million theater
699 million ancillaries


Total Gross Revenue: 2.476 billion


Net Revenue: 2.290 billion credits


That's a lot of Junior Bacon Cheeseburgers.

[MrBug708]

Nice job there

[TonyR]

Originally Posted by Anxiety

Net Revenue: 2.290 billion credits
That's a lot of Junior Bacon Cheeseburgers.

Dude, that's pre-tax burgers.

[hoopsguy]

Wow, sounds like the "must-see" movie of the year. Congrats on breaking the bank.

Question on the casting decisions - you are pretty frequently hitting 1 star in this area. Is this strictly a cost decision, or are there not many talented actors with star power? I haven't played this game, but I would expect there to be some correlation between big-name actors and generating an audience.

[Abe Sargent]

I choose to go with talent over star power, at least thus far. In the first year, I was also conscious of my budget and steered clear of bigger name stars that might cost me 15 or 20 million on a film when I was running out of cash.

[Barkeep49]

It seems like your directing rating has been consistently lower than other areas as well. Was that a cost cutting measure as well?

[Abe Sargent]

Originally Posted by Barkeep49

It seems like your directing rating has been consistently lower than other areas as well. Was that a cost cutting measure as well?

There's an opportunity to audition talent for starring roles but not for production or direction. You just have to grab someone with talent and hope for the best. I've personally blackballed the director with a one star performance and keep working with others.

[Abe Sargent]

What I wanted to check was to see if the mega hit affected the salary demands of the people in the movie Handling Fire.



Director Desmond Norton - currently demanding 900k (same as before)

Producer Bret Martinamore - demanding 2 mill - also same

Actors:

Howard Sanek - 800k - same
Wendi Trott - 3 mill - same
Theresa Yuban - 50k - same chump salary


Does not look like immediate salary increases because of a big movie. We'll see later when awards come out.

[Abe Sargent]

November -

I slate Holiday Pain for a December release in the second week.

It screens so well that I jack up advertising for it until 2500 screens agree to display it.

[Abe Sargent]

By the Heath -

Direction: Kelly Gween - ONE star
Production: Bert Quinby - five stars
Lead: Darcy Ester - five stars
Romantic: Blair Hammond - four stars
Villain: Shauna Mang - four stars

Supporting Roles: Three - two with five stars, one with four

Star Appeal: One star
Story Appeal: Three
Character Appeal: Five
Genre Appeal: Five


Costs: 132.3 million credits


Total Gross: 352 worldwide

Breakdown:

Domestic:

73.5 million theater
35.6 million ancillary

Int'l:

102 mill theater
76 mill ancillary


Total Revenue: 287.4 million credits


Net Revenue: 155 million


For our first adaptation - not a bad job. Now I just need to blacklist the director.

I'm finding it difficult to write different ways of "the cast was good but hte director blew" in my reviews, so I am going to skip teh review for this one, I hope you don't mind.


-Anxiety