Chapter 232 231. Where is the copyright of "The Hobbit"? Who was the box office champion in 2004?
The sunlight shines through the window onto the bed. The weather outside is still cold, but the United States has always been the country with the most serious energy waste in the world. The air conditioner never stops, let alone in Beverly Hills, where rich people gather.
Eric leaned against the head of the bed, and Theron was half lying on his shoulder, with the red kiss marks on her neck and chest clearly visible.
Last night's celebration was so intense. The excitement of winning the Best Actress award plus the surprise Eric prepared made them both very excited.
Not to mention that there are heavy traces of battle on Theron's body, there are also many on his body.
A laptop sat on Eric's lap. He opened Yahoo News and saw that the entertainment section was almost completely filled with Oscar news, with other sections also having some.
The only thing that can steal the limelight from this event is the upcoming Super Bowl.
"No way, this year's Oscars are boring? The New York Times' comments are really confusing." Theron complained, pointing to a news headline.
Eric clicked the mouse and saw that it was criticizing Oscar for being more and more timid.
In the past, he dared to write about politics and make biting satires, and was not afraid to criticize even the hottest topics, but in recent years he has become increasingly timid.
Especially after the war broke out last year, the academy issued a clear ban and warned every participating star not to talk about politics and to be careful about their words and actions, so everyone has restrained themselves a lot.
Bigwigs like Eric don't care about the college's ban, but they are even less likely to express their political views easily.
Ordinary stars dare not disobey the orders of the academy, and only troublemakers with higher status dare to be the first to do so.
For example, at yesterday’s Oscars, only Sean Penn said, “There are no weapons of mass destruction,” but he didn’t dare to say more.
Crystal's jokes are even more obscure and rare, so it's no surprise that they were criticized for being boring.
"The Lord of the Rings: Revenge swept the 76th Academy Awards, winning all 11 nominated awards, unprecedented and unmatched!"
"Sean Penn won the Best Actor award for Mystic River, winning the award after four nominations; Charlize Theron won the Best Actress award for Monster, breaking through herself."
"As film technology continues to mature, competition for the Oscars will become increasingly fierce, and surpassing The Lord of the Rings may become a fantasy."
"The competition for Best Actress has come to an end. Charlize Theron has the last laugh, while the Olsen sisters lost regrettably."
"'Blue Is the Warmest Color' failed in its quest for success and unfortunately accepted the Best Original Screenplay award. The Olsen sisters congratulate Charlize Theron on winning the Best Actress award."
"Vanity Fair is full of beauty, here are the outfits of all the female stars, who is the most beautiful one?"
"Eric Cooper once again defeated strong opponents and won the Best Original Screenplay Award. After one year in the industry, he is a true film genius!"
"Sofia Coppola admits she is not disappointed and gives applause to The Lord of the Rings."
"The award-winning Blue Is the Warmest Color" lost the Oscars, and the gay community expressed disapproval, and the fairness of the Academy was questioned."
Theron looked at the news with great interest: "Dear, it seems that New Line is really going to rise. Look at this news. The Lord of the Rings trilogy has brought New Line at least more than 800 million US dollars in direct revenue."
"This is just direct income. If we include various extended incomes such as copyright, if the golden five-year period is taken into account, it is estimated that it can bring in more than $1 billion."
"In addition to the extended copyright income, there are also the prequels and sequels of The Lord of the Rings. Mr. Tolkien's worldview is very vast."
"New Line has a real hope of shedding its reputation as an independent company and charging towards becoming one of the Big Seven in Hollywood."
But Eric sneered at the report and laughed strangely.
"What's wrong? Why are you laughing, dear?"
Eric pointed to his cheek, and Theron smacked it obediently.
After a pleasant French kiss, Eric finally answered her questions.
"My dear actress, you can only believe 30% of this bullshit report at most. It is full of speculation and unrealistic inferences."
"The Lord of the Rings did make a ton of money, but it's ridiculous to split $1.8 billion. New Line can only get about $1 billion at most."
"Because it also involves dividends to Peter Jackson, Miramax, the Tolkien Copyright Society and other parties."
"Let me tell you something. Peter Jackson alone earned at least $300 million from The Lord of the Rings. Especially after the great success of the first film, his share also increased."
"How do you know such a secret?" Theron was a little surprised.
It was normal for her to be surprised. The figure of $300 million was really too exaggerated. Not to mention in 2004, even in 2024, it would still be jaw-dropping.
Before winning the Best Actress award, although Theron was not a top female star in Hollywood, she was still firmly in the top tier.
However, her salary is only about 6 million US dollars. No one will hire her if she wants more. The producer will consider that you are not worth the price.
Even if she won the Best Actress award now, her highest market value would not exceed 10 million, no more, and she would not receive any share of the box office profits.
10 million US dollars is still the salary for a commercial blockbuster, and if it fails, the price will be reduced immediately.
$300 million is enough for her to make 30 movies. She probably won't be able to make that many movies in her entire lifetime, so it's inevitable that she would be surprised.
"Don't believe it? I have a pretty good relationship with the bearded man. He revealed it to me once when he was drunk. He was very proud to show it off to me."
"Oh my God! 300 million US dollars, I can't believe it. Does a director make so much money? Honey, I suddenly want to make a change too." Charlize Theron hasn't come to her senses yet.
Eric pinched her cheek and said, "Being a director is not an easy job. If an actor is a screw, then a director is an artist. Their positions and perspectives are completely different."
"I'm asking you a very simple question. Do you know how many components a mature crew should include?"
"Let me count them for you. They include producer, chief director, screenwriter, executive producer, co-producer, life producer, executive director, casting director, chief cameraman, assistant cameraman, sound crew, lighting crew, prop crew, makeup crew, costume crew, stage crew, and actor crew."
"There are also post-production editing team, post-production dubbing team, post-production team, publicity team, publicity and distribution team, and ground staff team."
"Okay, okay, that's enough, I don't want to be a director anymore. It's too troublesome. It's giving me a headache just listening to it." Charlize Theron hurriedly stopped him.
Eric chuckled: "You feel troubled by just the name. The reality is that you have to coordinate them well, and no mistake can be made in any link."
"To be able to make hundreds or thousands of people work efficiently under your command, and finally achieve the effect you want and express the ideas you want, this is the ability of a top director."
"There are only a few directors in Hollywood who have this ability, and Peter Jackson is one of them."
What Eric said now is still very simple. The actual filming process is much more complicated than this, and there are more problems to face.
Take last summer's hit "Pirates of the Caribbean" for example. Although director Gore Verbinski is not well-known, he definitely has the potential to become a top director.
The most well-known example in the industry is that when this guy saw that the first movie was a hit, he immediately happily worked with the screenwriter to prepare the script for the second movie in advance, and just waited for Disney to give the order to start filming.
As a result, he did wait for it, but what he waited for was not good news about Mickey Mouse, because the Disney boss thought that only shooting the second film was too slow.
If we want to shoot a movie, we should learn from "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Matrix" and shoot the second and third parts together, strike while the iron is hot and make money. The release date has already been set.
But the problem is that they write the entire script in advance before starting filming, so that they can take care of both the shooting and the performance at the same time.
"Pirates of the Caribbean" has not yet considered filming the third part, and the script has not even been finished.
It is impossible for this kind of commercial blockbuster to be tossed around for several years like the King of Sunglasses. Disney requires both high quality and fast shooting. Your client is just like a complete beast!
But director Verbinski had no choice but to obey orders.
To make matters worse, "Pirates of the Caribbean" had to be filmed in many locations, with a lot of islands to visit, and the shooting schedule was very tight, which meant that he could only visit each island once.
That is to say, you have to finish shooting the second and third parts at the same time in one trip.
But where is the script? Where is the fucking script? How would I know what to shoot without a script? So Verbinski had to urgently consult with the screenwriter and rush to come up with a plot after going to an island. No matter where in the movie the plot should be put, just shoot it first.
The latest novel is published first on Liu9shuba!
So the filming was done on two fronts, and the timelines of the two stories were completely messed up.
On the fourth day after the second part started filming, the last scene of the third part's finale had already been shot.
Not to mention the actors didn't know what they were filming, nobody knew what they were filming! Verbinski himself didn't know what to film in the beginning to make the story come together. A normal director would have been finished if they encountered such a situation.
But surprisingly, the final film turned out quite good.
What is a top director? This is it!
So they are worth the price!
"Baby, there is one very important thing that is not clear about this report, and that is the copyright issue."
"Although Mr. Tolkien has written many works, The Hobbit is undoubtedly the one that is most closely connected to The Lord of the Rings. Other works like The Children of Húrin and The Silmarillion are also related, but the time interval is too long and the stories are relatively fragmented, so they are not suitable for being made into movies for the time being."
"And the rights to The Hobbit weren't in the hands of Miramax or New Line, so guess who got it?"
Hearing this question, Charlize Theron immediately realized something, and her beautiful eyes revealed surprise: "Honey, the copyright is in your hands?"
Eric nodded. "Yes, this is one of the few high-quality assets left by the former MGM. Of course, if it was put before the popularity of The Lord of the Rings, no one realized that this thing could be put on the big screen."
"That was in the 1970s. The Tolkien family sold the rights to The Hobbit to United Artists, which was later acquired by MGM, so the rights naturally went to MGM."
"I should thank Warner for not leaving this gold mine behind. Now it belongs to me."
"The Lord of the Rings has become a global hit, spreading Tolkien's name all over the world and paving the way for the filming of The Hobbit. In addition to thanking Warner, I also have to thank the Weinstein brothers and New Line, who are also the founders."
"Then let's start this project quickly and shoot a trilogy. Taking advantage of the enthusiasm of global movie fans, the project will definitely make a lot of money," suggested Charlize Theron.
MGM's stock price must have soared after the movie was released, and her own 1% stake would more than double.
Eric waved his hand and said, "Don't worry. You think The Hobbit is a high-quality project, but I think it's more of a bargaining chip. Some people are more anxious than me."
"You mean New Line and Miramax?"
"Hehe! It's all the companies in Hollywood, but these two must be the most anxious. It won't be long before lobbyists come to their door."
"But why do we have to co-produce? MGM is fully capable of completing it independently, so why should we share the cake with them?" Theron was a little confused.
Eric stroked her golden hair, which still had the scent of intoxication on it.
"I said that copyright is just a bargaining chip. New Line wants to join, but it needs to show enough sincerity."
"money?"
"No, I don't lack money, what I lack is support."
"What on earth are you talking about dear? I have no idea what you are thinking."
"I have a new idea that will change the global film and television development landscape and will soon be released. It will draw a lot of dissatisfaction and siege from many people. Although I have already won over a few allies, it is not enough. I need to unite more people around me."
"I see. It's YouTube and Facebook, right?"
"You understand it immediately. You are such a smart girl!"
"Haha. I occasionally pay attention to news in other fields. There are too many reports about Facebook and YouTube. Many people say that these two websites are pushing the Internet era to a higher and farther future."
"They all praised you as a genius, not just a genius in film. Films have overshadowed your talent. Some people even suggested that you concentrate on the Internet."
"Grasp with both hands, and both hands must be strong!"
"What's the meaning?"
"What I learned in Huaxia means doing two things together and achieving mutual success."
Charlize Theron nodded: "Now that the Oscars are over, many crews have started filming. When are you going to start filming Inception?"
"I think it will be soon. The crew has already started to set up. Nicole Kidman's La Vie en Rose has also finished filming. It will definitely start shooting in March."
"Do you want to release it by the end of the year again?"
"I haven't thought about it yet. I have several big movies waiting for release dates, so I need to plan them carefully. A crowded Christmas season is not a good thing. I have to talk to Spielberg about it."
"DreamWorks?"
"Yes, they are making an animated film for me, an A-grade animated blockbuster. MGM has invested more than $100 million in it. If nothing unexpected happens, it will top the box office this year."
"Hmm? Cartoon? Champion?"
"Yes, I will."
(End of this chapter)