Best Movie Star

"Is it a big scene this time?"

Sitting in the rest area of ​​the studio, Charlize Theron watched the melee on the set in the distance, turned to Matthew, and said, "You made so many films, and finally turned back to the military action theme."

Matthew didn't have a show for a while, so he sat next to her and said, "This is an action science fiction theme."

Charlize Theron nodded lightly and asked, "I heard you want to work with Christopher Nolan?"

"Yeah." Matthew looked at her and asked back, "Are you also interested?"

"I'm not interested, "Burning Plains" makes me haggard." Charlize Theron sighed, "I plan to rest for a while."

Matthew asked curiously, "Finished?"

Charlize Theron showed a wry smile on his face, "The filming is over, but there are problems with post-production funding. This small company's independent films are too unreliable."

"This kind of film post-production doesn't require a lot of money, and it will get better soon." Matthew first comforted Charlize Theron, and then asked, "I remember that you were playing with a guy named Jennifer Lawrence. young actress, just the girl we met last time who deliberately wrestled."

"Are you interested in her?" Charlize Theron asked, raising his eyebrows.

Matthew waved his hand quickly, "You're thinking too much." He explained simply, "I may have a play here that needs outstanding young actresses."

By the way, "The Hunger Games" can also be regarded as the representative work of the big cousin, right?

"Jennifer Lawrence..." Charlize Theron thought for a while and said, "She is very talented in acting, but she has a lot of thoughts. She likes to be stupid on purpose, and she pretends to be stupid at a young age."

She pondered again and said, "It's not bad in general."

Matthew nodded lightly, asked a few simple questions, and then changed the subject. Jennifer Lawrence can be one of the backup candidates in the future.

Of course, Katniss is not obliged to her. If the "Twilight" with the replacement of the protagonist can be a great success, he will have the confidence to change in the future.

However, all this is premised on the fact that he can get the film rights of "The Hunger Games" from Susan Collins.

Negotiations between Helen Herman and Susan Collins have been going on for five rounds, and the differences between the two sides are gradually reducing. Before the sixth round of negotiations, Matthew met with Susan Collins once and promised After obtaining the copyright, it will invest no less than 50 million US dollars in the future to adapt and make movies.

Most fiction writers want to see their work on the big screen, and Susan Collins is no exception, and Matthew's other conditions are pretty good too.

In the sixth round of negotiations, the two sides reached an agreement, and then signed a formal authorization agreement.

The core part of this agreement is undoubtedly the copyright fee. Studio Thirteen will pay Susan Collins a one-time payment of $1 million, and Susan Collins will have 5% of the film's North American box office profits as a share in the future.

Not to mention the North American box office profit sharing, the copyright fee of one million US dollars alone is three times higher than Matthew's original estimate.

But he didn't know at the time that Susan Collins was an insider.

After paying such a high cost, Studio No. 13 also successfully obtained the right of first refusal for the next two sequels of "The Hunger Games".

Just like Matthew thought, "The Hunger Games" is not a single novel, in Susan-Collins planning, this will be a trilogy series.

Even Susan Collins has set the names of the last two novels, namely "Burning Girl" and "Mockingjay".

"Happy cooperation!"

In the reception room of the Angel Agency, Matthew and Susan Collins exchanged contracts and shook hands, "Happy cooperation!"

At this time, the sword and sword shadow in the negotiation had long since disappeared without a trace, and there was only a harmonious atmosphere.

Susan Collins, a mature middle-aged woman, spoke very politely, "Matthew, it's my honor that this book has your attention."

Matthew responded politely, "I read this novel, no matter the setting or the direction of the story, it's very attractive." For some reason, he thought of the battle royale and asked, "Ms Collins, can you take the liberty to ask Can you tell me the source of your inspiration?"

Future movies will definitely be questioned. If Susan Collins does not have a suitable rhetoric, then someone will have to draft it in advance, and the two sides must have a unified voice in this regard.

As for imitation or plagiarism, that is absolutely non-existent.

"This story is derived from the legend of Theseus and the Minotaur. I read this story when I was eight years old, and it has taken root in my heart ever since."

Probably not expecting Matthew to ask this question, Susan Collins thought for a while and said, "In that story, there is a place called Crete, and every year, seven children are sent to Boys and girls, dedicated to the Minotaur. In my novel, I didn't want to write the same fairy tale, so I arranged the story in the future destroyed America, and created "The Hunger Games" with the perspective and values ​​of contemporary people ”. Katniss in the story is Theseus, and the Minotaur has been upgraded to a government and that invisible system and pressure. As far as the story itself is concerned, this is the simplest ancient Roman gladiator story, plus Just modern content."

Matthew nodded and said naturally, "Ms. Collins, our cooperation on the film starts now. The creative origin of the novel has always been a good publicity point. You are a senior TV screenwriter, you must understand this aspect. I won't say much about the importance."

"Don't worry, Matthew," assured Susan Collins. "I will cooperate with your publicity."

As the original author, she certainly hopes that the film adapted from her work can be widely disseminated, and the larger the scope, the better.

It is still early for the film adaptation, and Matthew and Susan Collins chatted about some future movie ideas, and then sent Susan Collins and his party out of Angel Agency.

Back in Helen Herman's office, he breathed a long sigh of relief. Although there were many twists and turns in the middle, he finally got the copyright of the "Hunger Games" series.

In the past two years, the film copyright of novels has become more and more expensive, and the copyright transfer of millions of dollars can only be said to be of a medium level. For example, Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" and "Angels and Demons" have sold thousands of dollars. $10,000 in film rights transfer fees.

Maybe it won't be long before companies in Hollywood pay hundreds of millions of dollars in movie rights for a hit novel or other work.

This possibility is not impossible in this movie era where originals are declining, adaptations and sequels are rampant.

When Helen Herman returned to the office, Matthew chatted with her for a while about future adaptations of The Hunger Games.

The adaptation of "The Hunger Games" will have to wait until next year at the earliest to start early planning, and it will be released in 200 or 20 years, and it may even be pushed back.

One of the main reasons is the funding problem of Studio No. 13.

As an empty shell studio, the capital of No. 13 Studio is not sufficient, and Matthew is not able to invest in too many medium and large-scale film production projects at the same time.

His investment in "Iron Man" has begun to be recovered, and the expected profit is high enough, but this profit, together with the previous investment of 40 million US dollars, will be invested in "Iron Man 2" next.

This new work is in early planning, and it is estimated that it will be transferred to the early preparations by the end of the year, including director Jon Favreau, hero and heroine Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow, and Scarlett Johansson , all return.

As a sequel to a big-selling movie, the salary of these cast members is certainly not as low as the first one.

Therefore, the production budget of "Iron Man 2" is as high as 200 million US dollars.

Matthew has 40% of the investment quota in it, which is 80 million US dollars. ..

It does not necessarily mean that he has to invest 80 million US dollars, which is the upper limit of investment, but Matthew remembers Iron Man's core position in the entire Avengers, and also knows the popularity he once caused, and the investment will definitely be the highest limit~www.readwn .com~ In this way, the funds recovered by "Iron Man" are all thrown into the investment of Marvel superhero movies.

In addition, "Captain America" ​​has also been put on the agenda by Marvel Studios, and it will not take long to start planning, which is also the goal of Matthew's planned investment.

And when he was on the phone with Kevin Feige, he also heard the other side mention an interesting idea, Marvel Studios plans to have Wolverine and Magneto in "Men" come to a cameo (because the story is during World War II, During World War II, Wolverine was a soldier, and Magneto was a prisoner of war), but the film and television rights of Wolverine and Magneto are in the hands of Twentieth Century Fox, and they need to negotiate with Twentieth Century Fox and reach an agreement to achieve it.

Matthew knows that this is not easy to achieve. At that time, due to survival problems, Marvel Comics sold the copyrights of many popular series such as Spider-Man and the Soldier, in exchange for funds to maintain the survival of the company, but the copyrights were easy to get out. It's too hard to get it back.

Maybe after Sony Columbia Pictures can't play the "Spider-Man" series, and 20th Century Fox also screwed up "Men" and "Fantastic Four", they will think of Marvel Studios.

The investment in Marvel superhero movies will take up a lot of Matthew's liquidity. "The Hunger Games" can only be postponed for the time being, but of course it will not be postponed indefinitely. After all, the contract between the two parties clearly stipulates that if 13 If the studio does not adapt the film within ten years, the relevant rights will automatically return to Susan Collins.

This is the same authorization that Marvel Comics has for Spider-Man, Men of War and the Fantastic Four.

Therefore, in order to maintain the copyright in their hands, even if Sony Columbia and 20th Century Fox do not have an excellent plan, they will make a related movie before the copyright expires, even if it is a super bad movie.