Three Hundred and Eleven - The Light to Explore the Path Is Here!

Early the next morning, Naomi Watts put on a cap, large sunglasses and a mask. Accompanied by Wayne, she went to Beverly Private Hospital for a blood test in a low-key manner.

The result was quite satisfactory. The Australian girl was about six and a half weeks pregnant, and her physical condition has been good. As long as she gets through the reaction period, she will no longer be as lethargic as she is now.

As a result, the new project "King Kong" that was originally planned to be submitted to Warner Bros. was also postponed by Wayne. This project will be reserved for Naomi Watts until she is willing to return to filming.

Regarding some subsequent promotional tasks for "Batman Begins", he personally called the distribution department of Warner Bros. The Australian girl will suspend all work and rest in peace in the manor until the child is born smoothly.

The new project "The Matrix" successfully passed the review, and the first fund of US$20 million was deposited into the account of a third-party guarantee company. As usual, Warner Bros. prepared a press release specifically for the signing of this project. meeting.

Wayne only showed up for a short while before the press conference. After officially signing the contract, he quietly gave up the stage to Zack Snyder, Luke Simmons and others. He even said nothing during the production preparation meeting. , just sitting silently observing.

"The Matrix" is expected to require an investment of about US$70 million. Greenberg Studios and Warner Bros. Production Company will jointly invest, each investing 50%, to jointly establish a hacker studio.

Warner Bros. is responsible for the distribution of the film. In accordance with Hollywood industry rules, normal distribution fees are charged. Similarly, the copyright of the film also belongs to Warner Bros.

The contract between the two parties clearly stipulates that Greenberg Studio enjoys 50% of the normal revenue of "The Matrix", including box office, movie peripherals, offline copyright operations, video rental and sales, etc.

However, this kind of omni-channel income is stipulated for fifteen years after the film is released. All income generated after that has nothing to do with Greenberg Studio and all belongs to Warner Bros.

This is the first time that Wayne has been involved in channel revenue, an area that is the exclusive domain of production companies. If it were not for his increasing importance and his involvement as the boss of a film company, it would be difficult for Warner Brothers to give up this area. part of the proceeds.

And the most important point is that Warner Bros.'s investment was made under the name of Wayne Greenberg's production, and was drawn from Bangzi's film fund, without itself investing a single penny.

This is the resource influence of industry giants. Simply put, they are empty-handed.

If "The Matrix" is a hit, Warner Bros. will not lose a penny. Most of the funds invested in the film's promotion and distribution are left-handed and right-handed. Even the publicity channels are their own affiliates, and the projects in them are simply ineffective. Check, it basically means taking money out here and putting it into the pocket over there.

The box office revenue of subsequent films will also be given priority by the distribution department to collect the distribution commission, and then it can be transferred to the account of Hacker Studio, and the two investors will share it according to the contract ratio.

Finally, there is the most profitable income from peripherals, copyright sales and authorizations, video rentals, sales, etc. This part also has nothing to do with investment funds, and is the territory of Warner Brothers and Greenberg Studio.

Therefore, investing in blockbuster movies is indeed a huge profit, but these profits have nothing to do with outsiders. Now is the mid-to-late 1990s, which is also the most mythical period for Hollywood movies to make wealth. Many foreign film foundations, during this period They have all become targets of exploitation by production companies.

Until more than 20 years later, although such things have decreased, they still continue to happen. There are always rich people who feel good about themselves and plunge into this circle to pay tuition.

For the project "The Matrix", if Warner Bros. were more ruthless, they could even discuss it with Wayne in advance so that the final project would still generate a loss after deducting the box office revenue.

In this way, investors will not only not get the returns they deserve, but they will not even get back the initial investment in production.

Hollywood production companies are very familiar with this kind of thing. If they want to make a film lose money, outsiders can't even bring in an entire accounting firm to find out the clues from the messy financial transactions, let alone go to a special account. The Court of Equalization of Lahua went to litigate the case.

Of course, all the methods are only aimed at outsiders, which is why production companies are unwilling to accept funds from the industry. Everyone knows what is going on, and there will be much less room for manipulation.

The "Matrix" project, Wayne's Greenberg Studio, will never be an obstacle to Warner Bros. His identity as the major shareholder has been determined. Regardless of whether the film loses money in the final accounts, his share of the profits will not be There will be less.

Not only will the profits from Greenberg Studio be small, but so will his interests from Warner Brothers. Business is business, but he can indeed benefit from both sides.

No one thinks this is wrong, not even the shareholders of Warner Bros. This is the standard of business society. Everyone is part of capital, and the rules have always been like this.

Moreover, executives and most shareholders of Warner Bros. and Time Warner actually don't pay much attention to the "Matrix" project. What they have been focusing on is the second part of "Batman".

The profit that superheroes can create has been basically proven by Wayne. It can indeed be compared with successful animated feature films. If you analyze carefully, the current Disney Animation Studio masterpiece "Pocahontas" and the box office trend have been The stable "Batman Begins" has a very similar profit composition around it.

Walt Disney's various channels are frantically selling derivatives such as dolls, clothes and skirts, children's stationery, etc.

Warner Bros. also used its channels to frantically sell derivatives such as Bat suits, masks, darts, capes, car models, etc. during the movie's release. It can be said that Warner Bros. is just copying Chi Luoluo's homework for this gameplay. They will learn how Walt Disney did it in the past.

This is what makes other giants in the industry jealous. Everyone knows how much profit those low-cost peripherals can generate, provided that you have a platform to display them and make fans willing to pay for the works.

In the past, this kind of work was exclusive to Disney, but now Wayne has opened up another direction, reminding all Hollywood companies that Warner Bros. was the first to try it, and it made him salivate.

While Warner Bros. was hoping that Wayne would be able to stop making DC superhero movies soon, Universal Pictures couldn't bear it at first and announced that the new project "The Incredible Hulk" was officially approved.

The Hulk is expected to invest US$120 million, and the target is Batman's first film. Universal Pictures did not hide its ambitious ambitions. It almost told the media and fans that this big guy that no one can control is the same as Bruce- A person of the same level as Wayne.

They invited back Billy Beckby, the director of "The Trial of the Hulk" in 1989 and "The Incredible Hulk" in 1990, and announced to the media in advance that this would also be an epic masterpiece with dark and serious themes.

"Imitators will eventually appear, don't worry too much, it's always been like this in Hollywood!"

At the entrance of the Warner Bros. conference room, Zack Snyder was making preparations. Wayne was sitting on a lounge chair outside the door, reading the news in the newspaper with interest.

Jeff Robinoff quietly sat next to him, glanced at the newspaper in his hand and said: "Universal Pictures is red-eyed by profits. Superhero movies are not that easy to copy. "

Wayne tilted his head and glanced at him, with a sarcastic smile on his lips. He shook his head and said, "There are many companies that own superhero copyrights. Everyone is waiting for a guiding light. Universal Pictures just jumped on it." It’s really…”

Hollywood has superhero giants, and everyone has seen the terrifying profits Batman has created. Why is no one eager to announce the production? Because they all know that compared to the investment of hundreds of millions of dollars in superhero movies, there are too many risks to take.

These companies would rather wait and invest their money in safer projects than risk such a large sum of money.

If we really want to make a movie of the same type, Sony Columbia's success rate will be the highest except for Warner Brothers. The popularity of Spidey can be compared with Bruce Wayne and Clark Kent in North America.

But even this company was able to hold back its impatience, continue to wait for opportunities and observe the market, but Universal Pictures was the first to fail.

Just by looking at the news published in the media, Wayne immediately understood that they must have specifically studied Batman, tried their best to extract all the successful elements, and then added them to their own film.

What he was sneering at was precisely the self-righteousness of the other party. Everyone was blinded by Batman's success, and they all ignored the most important point. In this era, superheroes not only require hundreds of millions of dollars in investment to become Production, this kind of film is still an out-and-out genre film.

This is not the post-2000 era when superheroes were rampant. The audience in this era has assumed that this kind of movie is a niche genre, and may not be as mainstream as "shit", "pee" and "fart" comedies.

And why is Wayne taking his time and preparing to film one film at a time? It’s because even if you have a bomb in your hand, you have to slowly cultivate the viewing habits of movie fans. You can’t just throw the bomb out at the beginning, otherwise you will just waste the bomb and blow up the air.

"Zach, it's okay." Jeff Robinov shook his head in the direction of the conference room. "Although the crew he has assembled now are all veterans in the industry, I'm afraid Zach won't be able to suppress them. The director's authority is too important! You should let your team join this project."

Where does the director's authority come from? To put it bluntly, it is achieved in exchange for success. No one can help Zack Snyder pass this level. This is where his coordination ability is most tested.

"No." Wayne shook his head without hesitation. "Steve and Robert need to pay attention. The team behind the scenes has also been busy for several years. Moreover, I have other plans in the future. Forming his own production team is something Zach must do. He needs such an opportunity. prove yourself."

"Okay." Jeff Robinov shrugged. They had cooperated not once or twice. Out of trust in him, he did not ask more about the future arrangements. "I heard that Nami is pregnant. Congratulations! Having a child can make a man mature quickly."

"Thanks!"

When talking about this, Wayne unconsciously put on a warm smile. "This feeling of anticipation is very strange, and it may last until the baby comes out. It's too early to talk about this now. Let's go to your office. Regarding my future work plans, there are some things that I need your and the company's assistance."

"ok, no problem."

Jeff Robinoff is very curious about what kind of project can make this young man give up directing "The Matrix" and postpone the second Batman movie.