Chapter 19 19 Transformers The Walking Dead and Gal Gadot

Chapter 19 Transformers, The Walking Dead and Gal Gadot

At the MGM Tower, there were far fewer people in the conference room at this time.

After a while, someone walked in with a large stack of scripts: "Boss, these are the movies that are currently being produced and are planned to be produced next year."

Eric picked up a book and flipped it through. When he saw the title, "The Groom Goes to the Wrong Bed," it was an urban light comedy. He had never heard of it. It must be a loser, and he immediately threw it away.

I picked up the second book. The movie is called "Alien God Dog". It focuses on the youth market. I haven't heard much about it. It will probably lose money. Throw it away!

The third one is the movie "Time Out," starring Denzel Washington. The contract has been signed and filming is about to begin.

Eric did have some impressions of this movie, but it was not a good impression because the movie was not a hit.

On the contrary, Denzel Washington's tyrannical behavior was criticized by the entire crew, which made it into the entertainment news. The filming was not smooth, so how could the result be any better.

I sighed, threw the script aside, and read several books in succession. Finally, my eyes lit up when I saw "Legally Blonde 2".

Although the investment in "Legally Blonde 2" has doubled and the estimated cost is as high as 26 million U.S. dollars, the impression is that the box office is over 100 million U.S. dollars. Coupled with the income from other aspects such as the disc market and TV stations, it is definitely profitable and is of high quality. resource.

But that's all. Apart from this and a co-invested 007 movie, among the dozens of scripts, almost all of them are garbage.

MGM is so big, and its sense of film and market is simply terrible.

Seeing Eric's uncertain expression, several middle-level managers knew something was going to be bad and stayed where they were without daring to speak.

Sighing, Eric threw back the script of "Legally Blonde 2": "Continue to produce this one, but pay attention to compressing the cost. 26 million US dollars is a bit high, try to reduce it to less than 22 million, and the rest Those are all void.”

"???"

The conference room suddenly fell into suffocation, and even his father, Charlie Cooper, looked confused.

"Eric, are your decisions too arbitrary? Some of these movies have already been launched and some contracts have been signed. We will lose tens of millions of dollars!"

Eric smiled: "Dad, believe me, those are just a bunch of rubbish. It is better for a strong man to cut off his wrist than to continue to invest and lose more money. What we need now is victory. What we need is a big hit movie. Believe me!"

Seeing his son's firm eyes, Charlie Cooper was silent for a moment, recalling their agreement.

The new MGM was at the helm and was the captain of the ship, but Eric had absolute power over film and television production choices until the first production he directed failed.

"Everything is done according to Eric Cooper's wishes. Regardless of whether it is started or not, and whether the contract is signed or not, these scripts are all on hold for the time being."

Although Charlie Cooper's heart was bleeding, he still gave the order in an unquestionable tone. If he could win the 10 million bet, he would definitely be able to win this time.

Moreover, my son has just joined the company, so in order to establish his authority, he must support him to the end.

Others look at me and I look at you, and it’s hard to say anything. Anyway, it’s your company, so you can do whatever you like, and just pay me my salary on time.

Judy asked: "Then the company's only movies waiting for release this year are "Red Dragon" and "Barbershop", and next year's plan is only "Legally Blonde 2". Do we need to add new plans?"

"Of course it is necessary, and I have set a clear goal. This year and next, MGM's major project will be Transformers!"

Eric thought about what to make for the first movie for a long time. He originally thought it would be good to travel back to 2002, but when he recalled the big-selling movies carefully, he suddenly felt that it was a loss. It would have been perfect if it could have been made a few years earlier. .

For example, in the Pirates of the Caribbean series, the five films have a box office of 4.5 billion, with an average of 900 million per film. But unfortunately, the first film will be released next year. Disney has been producing it for more than a year, and it is impossible to cut it now.

JK Rowling sold the rights to the Harry Potter series to Warners long ago, and the first movie was released in 2001.

The Fast and Furious series can be said to be the only popular racing movie on the market, with billions in box office. Unfortunately, the first one was also released in 2001.

Jurassic series, the masterpiece of the last century.

The Star Wars series is also a masterpiece of the last century.

The Lord of the Rings series, like Fast and Furious, was released in 2001, and Tolkien's rights had been sold long ago.

In short, almost all the blockbusters in the series that can be thought of were the first ones released a year or two ago.

Now you know why people like time travel at the turn of the millennium.

After some thought, Eric took aim at one of the few omissions - Transformers.

Although the last few Transformers films are indeed a stretch, there is no denying its ability to attract money, with an average box office of more than 800 million per film.

Moreover, the film and television rights have not yet been bought by Paramount. Now if we communicate with Hasbro, we are very sure to win the rights.

As for the biggest difficulty in filming Transformers, it must be the special effects technology. In this regard, the MGM special effects department has no chance. It must find professional teams such as Industrial Light and Magic or Weta Digital.

The production of the original Transformers began in 2005, and when we start filming here, it is estimated that it will be in 2003. Two years later, the special effects technology will be fully up to standard.

In fact, when it comes to the most profitable movie projects, the pinnacle should be the Marvel series.

Although 20th Century Fox has already produced the "X-Men" series and Sony has just released the first Spider-Man, it was actually Iron Man in 2008 that really opened the era of superhero movies.

From Iron Man to Avengers 4, superhero blockbusters have swept the world in 11 years, greatly suppressing the living space of other types of movies.

But after 11 consecutive years of glory, although Avengers 4 is dazzling, it is more like the afterglow of the setting sun. What follows is the cold winter night, and the superhero movie collapses.

There are many reasons for the failure of superhero movies, such as the epidemic, political correctness, and the high-level operations of DC and Marvel, but in Eric's view, these are not the root causes.

The root cause is actually aesthetic fatigue, especially Marvel's popcorn model, which has remained unchanged for 11 years. Audiences around the world are tired of it, and the viewing potential has been exhausted.

This situation can only be restored by time. It is necessary to wait until a new batch of movie-watching subjects grow up before superhero movies can usher in a recovery. No other method will work. Even if one or two big hits appear later, it is just a single phenomenon.

Although the glory days were short, the company made a lot of money. At most, it could just transform itself later. Eric would definitely take advantage of this piece of fat meat in advance.

DC was acquired by Disney in the last century, but Marvel is still independent, but its situation is so miserable that it has to sell its children to survive.

Spider-Man and his friends and Ghost Rider were sold to Sony, the X-Men series was sold to 20th Century Fox, the Hulk was sold to Universal, and Black Widow was sold to Lionsgate.

Even Iron Man was sold to Universal, but later Universal felt that there was nothing to do, so it sold it to 20th Century Fox.

20th Century Fox also felt that this second-tier hero was not easy to shoot, so it sold it to New Line.

New Line held it for a few years, but also had no idea how to make a movie for this iron lump, so it simply sold it back to Marvel.

Marvel made a desperate move, mortgaged all its assets to the bank, and finally made Iron Man, which was a desperate situation.

In short, with Marvel's current miserable state, it is definitely a good time to acquire it.

However, Eric was worried that even his father would not support him when he immediately started a new merger and acquisition after acquiring MGM.

Others did not foresee the situation. Marvel was a mess and worthless.

When he made achievements, it would be the time to acquire Marvel. Eric set the time in his mind as next year.

"Mr. Volvo, you should contact Hasbro first. It is best to obtain the copyright secretly before announcing it. I don't want to cause trouble."

Volvo was a talent recruited by his father. He worked in a small film company for 20 years and was very experienced.

"Don't worry, I will contact Hasbro as soon as possible."

Eric hummed: "In addition, I also plan to shoot a TV series, a zombie theme, which is a story about a sudden global infection, with only a few survivors left, struggling to survive in the doomsday."

The TV series Eric was talking about was naturally "The Walking Dead". Compared with movies, TV series are also a piece of fat meat that cannot be let go, and there are also variety shows.

However, the choice of TV series is more complicated, because the income is greatly affected by the ratings, and the ratings statistics in the United States are completely different from those in China. Not all TV series are compared together, because just like movies, American TV series are also graded, divided into public stations and cable stations.

TV series on public stations are free to watch. In 2002, the public stations with relatively wide coverage were CBS, ABC, FOX, NBC, WB, UPN and PBS.

Among them, PBS is quite special. The content is mainly education and children. For example, "Sesame Street" is from them, and it has nothing to do with American TV series.

As for CW, which is often mentioned in China, it was formed by the merger of WB and UPN in 2006, and it has not been established yet.

Public stations are strictly regulated. Generally speaking, nude scenes and vulgar language are not seen. Even some sensitive words will be harmonized, which is equivalent to the PG13 level in movies. For example, Eric's favorite "Friends" is from NBC.

Cable TV is a paid channel, so the scale is naturally larger. After all, I have paid the fee, so are you still going to show me SpongeBob?

Well-known cable TV channels include FX, AMC, CNN, HBO, Showtime, etc., which are divided into basic channels and premium channels. Basic channels will also take teenagers into consideration and add some advertising elements. Premium channels basically have no advertisements and are more sophisticated.

For example, among the basic channels, AMC’s representative works include "Mad Men", "Breaking Bad", "Better Call Saul", "The Walking Dead", etc. Among them, the first episode of the fifth season of "The Walking Dead" set a record for the ratings of basic cable TV dramas.

Among the premium channels, HBO’s representative works include "Game of Thrones", "The Sopranos", "True Blood", "Band of Brothers", "Sex and the City", etc., all of which are powerful representatives. HBO even shot an advertisement for itself with the slogan "This is not a pornographic film, this is HBO."

Even in the fiercely competitive cable TV channels with frequent excellent works, "The Walking Dead" is not the highest rated or the highest comprehensive ratings, but it does make the most money and has a good reputation. Eric naturally has to take the lead in getting such a good show.

It’s not too late to develop high-scoring dramas such as “Breaking Bad” after making money, because although “Breaking Bad” is the ceiling of American drama ratings, the ratings of the first three seasons and even the first half of the first four seasons were not high, and it was almost cancelled.

The main reason is that after the plot reaches its climax, many viewers who have not watched the previous plots pay to watch the previous seasons, which brings in ratings, but the cost-effectiveness of "Breaking Bad" is far inferior to "The Walking Dead".

"Billy, you and the marketing and legal departments should conduct an investigation first, especially in the field of comics. I don't want to fight a copyright lawsuit later. Give me an answer within three days."

Billy understood that this was the first test for himself, and immediately solemnly said that there was no problem.

Eric looked at the creative department again: "George Martin, do you know this person?"

A middle-level manager hurriedly replied: "I know him. He is a writer and screenwriter, but his screenwriting level is not very good. He has worked in Hollywood for a few years and has not created any well-known works, but his novels are well-received."

"Yes, I just want the copyright of his novels. "A Song of Ice and Fire" is a great work. We must get it earlier than other companies."

"Also, keep an eye on the horror film scripts on the market, collect them and send them to my office. That's all the plans for the time being."

Seeing Eric finish speaking, everyone couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. The company has not yet stabilized. If they take too big a step, it is easy to get into trouble.

Then, Charlie Cooper arranged some things, and everyone walked out of the meeting room one after another.

"Judy, wait a minute."

Hearing Eric's voice behind her, Judy couldn't help but turn around, and took back one of her legs that had stepped out of the door.

"What's the matter, boss?"

Without other people, Judy suddenly became unserious, with a long and strange tone.

"Don't make trouble, I want to ask you something, I remember you are Jewish."

"Yes, what's wrong? Do you hate Jews? But it's too late to say this now."

Eric thought to himself, even if I really hate Jews, I dare not say it. Look at Mel Gibson, aren't there many stars who have been banned for saying the wrong thing?

"It's good that you're Jewish. I have something to ask you to do."

Judy smiled immediately: "Warren and the Gis brothers were assigned jobs, but I was left out. It turns out that you have a secret mission."

"Ahem, what secret mission? It's all for work. Take a look at this first."

Eric took out a magazine, turned one of the pages, pointed to a girl with a bright smile and asked: "What's she like?"

Judy's eyes lit up, she pulled the magazine over, looked at it carefully, licked the corner of her mouth and said: "What a young and beautiful beauty. No, when did you start paying attention to the fashion industry?"

"I saw it by chance recently. This girl is Gal Gadot, an Israeli Jew. I think she is very good and has the potential to be on the big screen."

Judy laughed: "There are many models who want to enter the film and television industry, but few of them are really successful. , I admit that this girl is very beautiful, but how do you know that she has potential, just by looking at her face? "

"Yes, just by looking at her face!"

"Uh"

Judy was speechless, and asked after a moment: "Okay, what do you need me to do? Help you hunt for beauties?"

"Don't say it so harshly, it's all for work, find out Gal Gadot's address and contact information, and test whether she is willing to develop in Hollywood. I will give you certain authority and you can promise something appropriately."

Judy shrugged: "No problem, I have a way to deal with women, especially beautiful women. Confirm, are you really not interested in her? If not, I will take action!"

Eric: "Don't mess around, she is still a minor."

"Really? Then I am more interested!"

""

Again, don't keep books, it will really kill you.

Everyone is welcome to comment, if you have any good ideas, please give your opinions.