Chapter 236 231 Where Is the Copyright of "The Hobbit"? 200

Chapter 232 Where is the copyright of "The Hobbit"? Who was the box office champion in 2004?

The sun shines on the bed through the window. The weather outside is still cold, but the United States has always been the most energy-wasting country in the world. The air conditioner does not stop, let alone a place where rich people gather like Beverly Hills.

Eric was leaning on the head of the bed, Theron was half lying on his shoulders, and the red hickeys on his neck and chest were clearly visible.

The celebration last night was so intense. The excitement of winning the Best Actress plus the surprise prepared by Eric made both of them very excited.

Not to mention that Theron's body has heavy traces of battle, but there are also quite a few on his.

A laptop sat on Eric's lap, and he clicked on Yahoo News. Sure enough, the entertainment section was almost filled with Oscar news, and there were more or less other sections.

The only thing that can steal the spotlight from this event is the upcoming Super Bowl.

"Isn't it, this Oscar is still boring? The New York Times comment is really confusing." Theron pointed at a news headline and complained.

Eric clicked the mouse to open it, and it turned out that he was complaining about Oscar's growing cowardice.

In the past, I was fearless in making political fuss, making biting satire, and attacking even the hottest topics. But in recent years, I have become more and more timid.

Especially after the war broke out last year, the academy banned and warned every participating star not to talk about politics and to pay attention to their words and deeds, so everyone restrained themselves a lot.

Big guys like Eric don't care about the academy's ban, but they are even more reluctant to take a political stand easily.

Ordinary celebrities don't dare to disobey the academy's orders. Only high-status thorns dare to be the first.

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.

Christo's jokes are more subtle and sparse, and it's normal to be criticized for being boring.

“‘The Lord of the Rings: The Third’ swept the 76th Oscars, winning all 11 awards it was nominated for, unprecedented and unprecedented!”

"Sean Penn was crowned the emperor with "Mystic River" and was nominated four times and finally won the award; Charlize Theron was crowned the queen with "The Devil Wears Prada" and broke through herself."

"As film technology continues to mature, the competition for Oscars will become increasingly fierce, and surpassing "The Lord of the Rings" may become a fantasy."

"The battle for best actress came to an end, Charlize Theron had the last laugh, and the Olsen sisters regretfully lost."

""Adele's Life" failed to pursue its dream and regretfully accepted the Best Original Screenplay Award. The Olsen sisters congratulated Charlize Theron on winning the Best Actress crown."

"Vanity Fair competes for beauty. A collection of female celebrities' outfits. Who is the most beautiful one?"

"Eric Cooper once again defeated a strong opponent to accept the Best Original Screenplay Award. After one year in the industry, he is a true movie wizard!"

“Sofia Coppola admits she’s not disappointed, applauds ‘Lord of the Rings’.”

"The award-winning hit "Adele's Life" failed to win the Oscars. The gay community expressed disapproval and the impartiality of the Academy was questioned."

Theron watched 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 at least more than 800 million US dollars to New Line. direct income.”

"This is only direct income. If you include copyright and other extended income, if the golden five years are used as a period, it is expected to bring in more than 1 billion US dollars."

"In addition to extending the copyright income, there are also the prequel and sequel of "The Lord of the Rings". Mr. Tolkien's world view is very huge."

"New Line really hopes to get rid of its reputation as an independent company and launch a charge towards the top seven positions in Hollywood."

But Eric scoffed at this report and kept laughing.

"What's wrong? Why are you laughing, dear?"

Eric pointed to his cheek, and Theron smacked it obediently.

After a pleasant tongue kiss, Eric answered her questions.

"My dearest actress, you can only believe at most 30% of this bullshit report. It is full of conjecture and unrealistic inferences."

"'Lord of the Rings' is indeed hugely profitable, but splitting US$1.8 billion is still nonsense. New Line can get around US$1 billion at most."

"Because it also involves dividends from Peter Jackson, Miramax, the Tolkien Copyright Society and other parties."

"Let me tell you something. Peter Jackson alone got at least 300 million US dollars from "Lord of the Rings". Especially after the success of the first part, his share also increased."

"How do you know such a secret?" Theron was a little surprised.

It's normal for her to be surprised. In fact, the figure of 300 million US dollars is too exaggerated. Let alone 2004, even in 2024, it will still shock people's jaws.

Before winning the Best Actress Award, Theron was not a top female star in Hollywood, but she was still firmly in the top tier.

However, her salary is only about 6 million U.S. dollars. If it is more, no one will hire her. The producer will consider it and think that you are not worth the price.

Even if she becomes a Best Actress now, the highest market price will not exceed 10 million. It is impossible to get any more, and there will be no box office dividends.

US$10 million is still the salary for a commercial blockbuster, and if the film fails, the price will be reduced immediately.

US$300 million is enough for her to make 30 movies. She probably won't be able to make so many movies in her lifetime, so surprise is inevitable.

"Don't believe me? I have a pretty good relationship with Big Beard. He revealed it once after he drank too much, and he proudly showed off his bad taste to me."

"Oh my god! $300 million, I can't even imagine it. Do directors make so much money? Honey, I suddenly want to change my career." Charlize Theron hasn't recovered yet.

Eric pinched her cheeks: "It's not easy to be a director. If an actor is a screw, then a director is an artist. The positions and angles of the two are completely different."

"I'll ask you a very simple question. Do you know how many components a mature crew should include?"

"Let me count them for you, including producer, chief director, screenwriter, executive producer, co-producer, life producer, executive director, casting director, chief camera, assistant camera, sound recording team, lighting team, props team, makeup team, costume team, stage management team, and actor team."

"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, okay, I don't want to be a director anymore. It's too troublesome. I'm so tired of hearing it." Charlize Theron hurriedly stopped him.

Eric laughed: "Just the name makes you feel troublesome, the reality is that you have to coordinate them well, and no link can go wrong."

"To make hundreds or thousands of people work efficiently under your command, and finally shoot the effect you want and express the ideas you want to express, this is the ability of a top director."

"There are not many directors in Hollywood who have this ability, and Peter Jackson is one of them."

What Eric said now is still very superficial. When making a movie, it is much more complicated than this, and there are more problems to face.

For example, last summer's big hit "Pirates of the Caribbean", although the director Gore Verbinski is not well-known, he definitely has the ability to become a first-line director.

The most well-known example in the industry is that this guy saw that the first movie was popular, and he immediately happily worked with the screenwriter to prepare the script for the second part in advance, waiting for Disney to give the order to start shooting.

In the end, he did wait, but it was not good news for Mickey Mouse, because the Disney boss thought that it was too slow to only shoot the second part.

If we want to shoot, we should learn from "Lord of the Rings" and "The Matrix", shoot the second and third parts at the same time, strike while the iron is hot and make money, and the release date has been set.

But the problem is that they all wrote the entire script in advance before shooting, so that they can shoot at the same time.

"Pirates of the Caribbean" has not considered shooting the third part, and the script has not even been shot.

This kind of commercial blockbuster can't be tossed around for several years like the Sunglass King. Disney requires both high quality and fast shooting, and it's just like your client!

But director Verbinski has no choice but to follow orders.

To make matters worse, "Pirates of the Caribbean" has many filming locations, and a lot of islands have to be visited. The shooting time is very tight, which means that he can only go to each island once.

That means that he has to shoot the second and third parts at the same time in one trip.

But where is the script? Where is the fucking script?

How do I know what to shoot without a script?

So Verbinski had to consult with the screenwriter urgently. After going to an island, he hurriedly came up with a plot. No matter which part of the movie this plot should be put into, he just shot it first.

So the two-line shooting, the timeline of the two stories was completely messed up.

On the fourth day after the second part started shooting, the last scene of the third part had been shot.

Not to mention that the actors didn't know what they were shooting, no one knew what they were shooting!

Verbinski himself didn't know what plot to shoot in the front to make the story come back. Ordinary directors would have given up if they encountered this situation.

But unexpectedly, the final film effect was 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 in this report, that is the copyright issue."

"Although Mr. Tolkien has many works, the one that is most closely connected to "The Lord of the Rings" is undoubtedly "The Hobbit". Other works such as "Children of Hurin" and "The Silmarillion" are also related, but the time gap is too long and the stories are relatively fragmented. It is not suitable for filming for the time being."

"And the copyright of "The Hobbit" is not in the hands of Miramax and New Line. Why don't you guess who got it?"

Hearing this question, Charlize Theron immediately realized something, and her beautiful eyes revealed surprise: "Dear, the copyright is in your hands?"

Eric nodded: "Yes, this is also one of the few high-quality assets left by the former MGM. Of course, if it is put in "The Lord of the Rings" Before it became popular, no one realized that this thing could be put on the big screen. "

"That was in the 1970s. The Tolkien family sold the copyright of "The Hobbit" to United Artists, and then United Artists was acquired by MGM, so the copyright 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 is popular all over the world. It has spread Tolkien's name all over the world and paved the way for the filming of "The Hobbit". In addition to thanking Warner, I have to thank the Weinstein brothers and New Line, who are also the founders. "

"Then let's start this project quickly. We will also shoot a trilogy. Taking advantage of the enthusiasm of global movie fans, the project will definitely make a lot of money." Theron suggested.

After the movie is released, MGM's stock price will definitely rise sharply, and her own 1% of the shares will more than double.

Eric waved his hand: "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."

"Are you talking about New Line and Miramax?"

"Hehe! They are all the companies in Hollywood, but they must be the most anxious. It won't be long before lobbyists come to them."

"But why do we have to co-produce? MGM is fully capable of completing it independently, why do we have to share the cake with them?" Charlize Theron was a little confused.

Eric stroked her blonde hair, which still had a fascination.

"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 are you talking about, dear? I don't understand your thoughts at all."

"I have a creation that will change the development pattern of global film and television and will soon be released. At that time, it will attract a lot of dissatisfaction and siege. Although I have won over a few allies, it is not enough. I need to unite more people around me."

"I understand, it's the kind of YouTube and Facebook, right?"

"You understand it at once, you are really 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 praise you as a genius, not just a genius in movies. Movies have overshadowed your talent. Some people even suggest that you concentrate on I'm working on the Internet."

"Two hands, both hands must be strong!"

"What does that mean?"

"I learned it in Huaxia, it means to do two things at the same time and achieve each other."

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 started to set up, and Nicole Kidman's "La Vie en Rose" has also been filmed. It will definitely start in March."

"Do you want to release it at the end of the year again?"

"I haven't thought about it yet. I have several blockbusters waiting for the release date. I need to plan it well. It's not a good thing that the Christmas season is too crowded. I have to talk to Spielberg."

"DreamWorks?"

"Yes, they are making an animated film for me, an A-level animated blockbuster. MGM has invested more than 100 million US dollars. If nothing unexpected happens, it will top the box office champion this year."

"Huh? Animation? Champion?"

"Yes, it will definitely be."