Per editor: Dong Xingsheng
When words like power struggle, betrayal, infidelity, murder, etc. are associated with Gucci, the most well-known luxury brand today, and labeled "true story", perhaps the public will sigh again, and reality is often more dramatic than movies.
On November 24, "Gucci Family", directed by Ridley Scott and starring Lady Gaga, Adam Dreifer, Al Pacino and others, landed in North American theaters. The film is based on Sarah Guy Fulton's biographical essay Gucci House: A Story of Murder, Madness, Eroticism and Greed, and revolves around Maurizio Gucci, Gucci's third-generation successor.
In 1995, Maurizio was shot dead on the stairs of his office in Milan, followed by his wife, Patricia Rijani, who was charged with buying a murderer and sentenced to 29 years in prison.
"Gucci Family" poster Image source: Douban
As of November 30, the film grossed $34.931 million worldwide, ranking third in the North American Thanksgiving box office list. According to reports, the production cost of this film is as high as 75 million US dollars. On the foreign film review website Metacritic, the audience scored 8.3 points (ten points), but the film critics did not have a good feeling for the film, only giving 59 points (100 points).
Currently, Gucci belongs to French luxury giant Kering. According to the latest financial report, Gucci revenue accounts for nearly 60% of Kering Group's total performance. Notably, salma Hayek, the actress who plays Pina Orema in the film and is found to have been involved in the murder, is the wife of Pinnot, the current CEO of Kering Group, in real life. According to The Hollywood Reporter, it was with Pinnot's permission that the film team was able to access Gucci's historical archives.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of Gucci. Looking back at the history of growth in the past century, behind this is the foundation of the founder Gucciio Gucci and the mediation of several generations of Gucci people, the blessing of the genius creative director Tom Ford, as well as the trend of the times and the entry of external large groups.
One of the protagonists of the story, Maurizio Gucci, is the grandson of founder Guccirio Gucci and the third generation of Gucci's successor. His father, Rudolf Gucci, the youngest son of Guccirio, started out as a film actor and starred in more than 40 films until 1953, when he officially joined the family business after his father's death.
Relationship chart of the main characters of the Gucci family Image source: Compiled by Zhu Peng, a trainee reporter
In 1952, Rudolph, together with his brothers Ordo and Vasco, opened the first Gucci store outside of Italy in New York, opening Gucci's rapid growth path. In 1974, Vasco Gucci died, and Rudolph and Aldo split Gucci equally. Intra-family conflicts also became more apparent at this time.
Rijani once said: "For the members of the Gucci family, power is like a disease. Aldo has three sons, and they're not happy that their uncle has the same stake as his father, because they think his father is the one who contributes the most.
Indeed, as Guccirio's eldest son, Aldo entered a Gucci job at the age of 20, when he was still a small handicraft shop. After the successful opening of the store in New York, Aldo shouldered the heavy responsibility of Gucci's international rise and actively promoted the promotion of Gucci's popularity.
Everything began to change after Vasco's death, and "one mountain does not allow two tigers" to be fulfilled. In order to improve his voice in Gucci, Aldo set up a perfume sub-line, and he and his three sons jointly held 80% of the shares. The competition for business lines eventually turned into a family control war.
Rudolf died in 1983 and his only son, Maurizio, inherited most of his shares. Aldo was kicked out of the company's management in 1984 by his son, Paul Gucci, and Maurizio became Gucci's majority shareholder.
After six years of internal control struggle, Maurizio became chairman of the Gucci Group in 1989.
One day in 1985, Maurizio told his wife that he was going to Florence on a business trip. The day after he left, he sent someone to tell Rigne that he was divorcing, but it was not until 1994 that the two officially divorced. But Maurizio has been in love with his lover Paula since he left.
On the other hand, under the leadership of Maurizio, who lacked commercial experience, Gucci was in a state of continuous loss from 1991 to 1993. During this period, brands such as Chanel and Dior were accelerating their expansion. In 1993, Maurizio chose to sell all of his remaining Gucci shares to Investcorp for $170 million, after selling 47.8 percent of Gucci to the fund. At this point, the Gucci family lost control of Gucci.
In 1994, Tom Ford was appointed Creative Director of the Gucci Group, and in March of the following year he reinvigorated Gucci's influence with a series of new products. In the 10 years since he was at the helm of the idea, Gucci has become one of the most recognizable luxury brands in the world.
Tom Ford Image source: Douban
Just as Gucci was beginning to make a comeback, on March 27, 1995, Maurizio was shot four times in the back by a gunman as he entered his office building at Via Palestro 20 in Milan.
The Gucci House project has reportedly been in the hands of Ridley Scott for more than 10 years, and it was only this year that it was completed with the investment of MGM, an established Hollywood film company. Although the film has mixed reviews, the all-star cast and highly topical story have allowed Gucci to hitch a ride on traffic. According to shopping platform ShopStyle, searches for "Gucci" have increased by 31 percent since the movie's release.
In an interview with The New York Times, Ridley Scott said he never reads movie reviews. "You have to be the one to decide what you say about yourself. If you start thinking about what the audience is thinking and what the audience might want, it's fatal. Blade Runner was also criticized for being useless at the beginning of its release, but a good movie will justify itself, and now it is in the collection of the Library of Congress. ”
In fact, looking back at the history of Hollywood films, biographical films have always occupied an important position, although most of them have not been popular in recent years, but these films are usually strong and are the big hits of the awards season. Earlier "A Beautiful Mind" and "Forrest Gump", in recent years, "Darkest Hour" and "Bohemian Rhapsody", have all won Oscars.
From the box office side, the box office of such films is greatly affected by the audience base of the content. "Darkest Hour", which tells the story of former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in World War II, is relatively niche and grossed $150 million worldwide. In contrast, "Bohemian Rhapsody", which tells the story of the British rock band Queen, has a strong audience base and high theme resonance, and the film has a global box office of $913 million.
The story of "Gucci Family" is dramatic enough, but the story of the tyranny lacks an audience base outside the cinema, especially at the moment when the impact of the epidemic on offline cinemas is still there, and rationally, the box office performance of the film will not be too good. This may be another pressure for MGM, the production party behind it.
The comprehensive production cost of "Gucci Family" is not low, and according to the current box office, it is not easy to make a profit.
Founded in 1924, MGM has produced many classic films, among which the "007 series" has swept the world. The latest, 007: No Time to Die, landed in theaters in October and grossed $758 million worldwide as of November 29.
"007: No Time to Die" Image source: MGM official website
In an interview with The New York Times, lead actor Lady Gaga said: "We don't know how the film will perform after it's released, but it doesn't matter because we feel like we've accomplished a great thing. ”
Daily economic news