Made in Hollywood

In recent years, the sales of peripherals, especially video tapes and DVDs, have accounted for more and more of the revenue of a movie, and major Hollywood companies have also made changes. The most obvious one is to cancel the film. Instead of selling the copyright of video and video tapes for several years in the past, it has expanded or established its own disc and video tape distribution department in order to maximize profits.

Warner Bros. originally had such a department, but now it has been expanded into a separate subsidiary, specializing in the distribution of DVDs and videotapes of Warner Bros. and its partners' films. Relying on the broad platform of Time Warner, the subsidiary's ability to press discs and distribute goods Neither is a problem.

On August 13, 1998, the North American box office of "The Matrix" stayed at $327.58 million, successfully breaking the $325.79 million North American R-rated box office record previously held by "Saving Private Ryan".

On the day the film was released in North America, DVD and videotape were officially released in North America. Although the sales were not as amazing as "Titanic", they were enough to make other companies envious.

In the first four days, "The Matrix" sold $23.54 million in video tapes, $28.02 million in regular DVD sales, and 580,000 copies of the $199 ultra-luxury commemorative DVD, which combined created $63.1 million. revenue!

At the same time, negotiations between Duke Studios and NBC came to an end, and the latter took the North American television rights to the film for the next three years for a total price of $20 million.

A movie that sells at the box office and is extremely popular around the world can create astonishing revenue.

Warner Bros. and Duke Studios are the biggest winners this summer. Compared to "The Matrix", "Godzilla", which was released at the same time, is still struggling in theaters, trying to push the North American box office of more than $95 million to 100 million dollar mark.

Walt Disney's "Peerless Cataclysm" is better, currently grossing close to $150 million in North America. It is not a problem to count the income from overseas and later stages. Michael Bay, the director known by the North American media as a "little bang maniac", is approaching the way he used to be.

Just talking about the peripheral income, these two films plus "The Clash of Heaven and Earth" which has been released long ago, and then multiplied by five, it is difficult to compete with "The Matrix".

"The Matrix" is so popular, a big party is a must.

Warner Bros. spent the entire week on tape and DVD of the film. He rented a private club in Malibu for a celebratory party. Duke, who had been to New Zealand for work, also returned to North America on purpose.

Since it was a celebratory party, Duke was naturally the focus of being surrounded and complimented by everyone. Warner Bros. CEO Jeff Robinoff sat across from him.

"Duke."

Jeff Robinoff knew his character well, so he got straight to the point, "Think about merging Duke Studios into Warner Bros.?"

Duke thought for a moment, then asked, "Jeff. Is this your personal opinion?"

"No, no..." Jeff Robinoff shook his finger, "I represent the opinion of the entire Time Warner."

Duke thought.

Jeff Robinoff added, "It's still a stock exchange method. Warner Bros. will exchange shares of the same value for your shares in Duke Studios."

"That is, Warner wants to hold 100% of Duke Studios?"

Hear Duke's questioning. Jeff Robinoff nodded immediately, "Indeed."

With one hand on his chest and one on his chin, Duke thought for a while. I understand Warner's intentions, but it's not complicated. It's related to "The Matrix", "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy and the "Harry Potter" series.

"The Matrix" has terrible revenue, and it's clearly a series.

Although the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy is known as the most difficult fantasy masterpiece to shoot, his continuous success has obviously given Warner enough confidence.

The "Harry Potter" series has been vigorously promoted by the Harry Potter studio, and has already had a trend of detonation.

Warners clearly wanted to pocket all the rights to the three series, and for that purpose gave him more Warner Bros.

Should Warner's opinion be taken into account? Duke has to think carefully. He has neither the idea nor the ability to make the Duke studio bigger in exchange for a stake in Warner Bros., who can also enjoy the dividends brought by these series. more than cons.

But the problem is that there is only one release of "The Matrix", and "The Lord of the Rings" and "Harry Potter" are only in the preparation stage. It is impossible for Warner to pay enough for this, and the timing is simply not right.

"Jeff..." Duke smiled, "Always give me some time to think about it."

"Of course!" Jeff Robinoff said solemnly, "No matter what, Warners will respect your ideas."

After Jeff Robinoff left, Duke thought for a while and decided to postpone the matter for a while until the right time to deal with it.

A tall figure flashed past him, sat across from him, and handed over a glass of champagne.

Charlize Theron gathered his long hair and said, "I'm here to thank you."

Duke touched her glass. "You look prettier and more confident."

"You brought this to me." Charlize Theron also drank the champagne after Duke drank it. "Without you, there would be no Charlize Theron today."

"How does it feel to be a big red and big purple?" Duke asked with a smile.

“Excellent!”

Putting down the glass, Charlize beckoned the waiter to bring two glasses of champagne, "I've never felt better."

"Every time I pass by in North America, countless men and women are crazy for me." She leaned closer, "Even in the Far East, the voices of shouting and screaming for me have not decreased."

Duke's "The Matrix", although first of all guarantees the role of the hero Neo so that the film will not be out of balance, but Trinity can play a lot more space than before, especially in combination with Charlize The spear fighting and fighting designed by Theron's body characteristics are definitely eye-catching weapons.

One of the many changes brought about by The Matrix was to make Charlize Theron as popular as Keanu Reeves.

For some at Warner Bros., Duke's return from New Zealand was a good opportunity to meet face-to-face on a collaborative project, and Doug Walter quickly picked it up.

"Duke, how long does your new project take to complete?" he asked.

"From September, two months of preparation, two months of filming, and two months of post-production and promotion." Duke thought about it and said, "It will definitely be completed before next year's Oscars."

"Summer time?" Doug Walter asked again.

Duke resisted the urge to roll his eyes and said, "Come on, Doug, this is just a small-budget film, and it's going to be completely overwhelmed in the competitive summer season."

"I think your small production can compete with other directors' big productions."

Doug Walter turned to look at Charlize Theron, "Is that so, Miss Theron?"

"I think what Mr. Walter said is very reasonable!" Charlize said seriously, "Who dares to underestimate you now?"

"The die-hard fans of The Lord of the Rings..." Duke said, spreading his hands, "After the news spread, many die-hard fans of The Lord of the Rings objected to me putting this series on the big screen, thinking that I would destroy the magic classics in their hearts. ."

Doug Walter shook his head, "There are always old-fashioned people in every era. They never understand that only by looking forward will they succeed."

"Haven't you heard of it?" Duke smiled helplessly. "Some die-hard fans of The Lord of the Rings are going to New Zealand to protest against me."

"They can't change your continued success!"

Doug Walter just finished saying this, someone came over and whispered a few words in his ear, he nodded to Duke, "I have something to deal with, I'm taking my leave for now."

The surroundings were a little quieter, and Charlize Theron and Duke continued to chat while drinking.

"The Matrix has just been offline in North America." She asked curiously, "Are you preparing a new work again?"

"It's just a small production for practicing." Duke said casually.

He has been preparing for the convener since he arrived in New Zealand in mid-August, and the Warner Bros. review was approved at the end of last month, with the initial $8 million in funding and the corresponding financial supervisor and production manager. Quickly in place.

When I came back this time, I not only participated in the celebration party, but also signed a director contract with the producers of Warner Bros. For such a small production, Duke only took a symbolic $500,000 as compensation in order to reduce the crew's performance from various aspects. upfront expenses.

Of course, a step-by-step sharing agreement determined by the film's revenue figures is also essential. The maximum share is the same as "The Matrix", which can reach 20% of the film's global box office and % of peripheral income. fifteen.

However, whether the new project will succeed in the end, even if Duke has a certain degree of confidence in himself, he does not dare to make any guarantees.

At this stage, he holds some shares of Apple, Yahoo and Microsoft, and is also a major shareholder of Victoria's Secret and Warner Bros. He has a personal fortune of hundreds of millions, and the global box office of the six completed works is close to 3 billion US dollars. Not to mention the failure of a small production, even if it is a production with an investment of hundreds of millions of dollars, it will not seriously affect his status in Hollywood.

Besides, in order to ensure that the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy is as successful as possible, practicing with such a multi-line narrative mini-production is an essential choice.

At the end of the party, Duke and Charlize Theron didn't communicate at all, got into the same car and drove west of Burbank.

"Have you heard, Duke?" Charlize said, "Sony Columbia Pictures is going to cancel the sequel of "Godzilla" and temporarily seal the series." (To be continued ~^~)

PS: It’s finally raining in Jinan, let’s celebrate with monthly and recommended tickets