Top of the Great Era

Chapter 2216 Drama version of "Lord of the Rings"

There was no response from Microsoft, and Zhou Buqi was not in a hurry, he called Ning Yameng, took his two children Ningning and Zhouzhou, and Ning Lu with them, and went to New York together.

After going there, I first met Wanda's Boss Wang.

beaming.

He has officially signed the contract and completed the acquisition of AMC Theaters, the second largest theater chain in North America, with a total price of 29.2 billion US dollars.Wanda's overseas expansion journey can be regarded as the first step towards a good start.

Zhou Buqi is definitely an important figure in the film and television industry. That night, at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York, a cocktail party was held, and many heads of the film and television industry were invited.

The center of Hollywood is in Los Angeles.

But New York is the center of the world.

Hollywood entertainment giants are all doing transnational business, so the international department and distribution department are basically in New York, and the headquarters of major TV stations are basically in New York.

For example, the headquarters of Time Warner Group is actually in New York, but the center of its film and television production business is in Los Angeles.

Zhou Buqi has a lot of face.

Even the President of France came to the United States for a state visit on this day and stayed in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel.When undertaking such important diplomatic and state affairs, the hotel will always be more cautious in its reception of foreign guests.

But Boss Zhou is different.

The status is high enough!

The hospitality conditions given by the hotel, except for the lack of diplomatic etiquette, are basically the same as the highest standards for leaders from various countries visiting the United States.

Anyway, the hotel is used to this kind of thing. Sometimes they will receive the leaders of several countries to visit the United States at the same time, and the organization is very strong.

There were a lot of participants, more than 40 people, each of whom was an important figure in the film and television industry.

Taking this opportunity, Zhou Buqi introduced him to Boss Wang.

President Wang sighed.

As a foreigner, he was really touched to enjoy such a face in the United States. At the same time, his gratitude to Boss Xiao Zhou was hidden in his heart.

When you are away from home, your family is still reliable!

Sure enough, he is a fellow from the Northeast, and he is really loyal.

During this period, Zhou Buqi met the executive director and senior vice president of HBO, nicknamed "Big Tom".It seems that there are two Toms among the executives of HBO, so one is called Big Tom and the other is called Tom to distinguish them.

When the two met, they naturally talked about "Game of Thrones".

Big Tom half-jokingly said: "Everyone regrets it to death. If they could have gritted their teeth and made the American drama project "Game of Thrones" by themselves, they wouldn't have to distribute the streaming rights."

Zhou Buqi said seriously: "If the MGM team hadn't been involved, maybe "Game of Thrones" wouldn't be able to produce such an excellent effect."

Big Tom didn't think so, but there was no need to argue with him, and said with a smile: "There is good news, the DVD sales of the first season of "Game of Thrones" have reached 120 million copies, with sales exceeding 1.2 million US dollars. "

"Oh."

Zhou Buqi was relatively calm.

At the beginning, "Game of Thrones" was a project that he personally went to HBO to discuss. The cooperation plan was that Ziwei Star Global invested 40% to participate in this American TV series, and got 100% of the streaming media copyright and 25% of the DVD. Sales profit share.

However, for such a trivial matter, he had long forgotten the specific terms.

Anyway, it's small money.

At the beginning, he didn't want any profit share from the DVD at all, and he was rushed to deliver it to his door.

Seeing that his reaction was very flat, Big Tom was very embarrassed, and asked a little flatteringly: "Mr. Zhou, that...I want to consult with you on behalf of HBO about the "Lord of the Rings" project."

"how?"

A smile appeared on Zhou Buqi's face.

Big Tom complimented: "This may be the most watched American drama ever!"

Zhou Buqi said: "It should be, the total investment is 15 billion US dollars, which is not false at all."

MGM, a subsidiary of Ziweixing Global, has basically stopped film projects. It mainly focuses on TV drama projects, and the most important one is of course the drama version of "Lord of the Rings".

MGM owns all TV rights to The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit.

Another $5000 million was spent to buy a one-time limited TV adaptation rights of "The Silmarillion" and "Children of Hurin" from Tolkien's descendants.

After spending another 600 million US dollars, an agreement was reached with Warner to buy the portrait rights of all the actors in the film trilogy "Lord of the Rings".

It also means that the TV series can continue to use the actors of the movie version of "Lord of the Rings" to a certain extent, as well as costumes, props and styling.

At a total cost of 2500 million US dollars per season of 1.5 million US dollars, the great director Peter Jackson was invited to serve as the chief producer and chief director of the drama version of "Lord of the Rings", and he will direct the most important episode of each season. of 2-3 episodes.

A total of 6 seasons are planned.

The total budget is $15 billion!
The first season is almost done, with a staggering $2 million budget.From March to May next year, when the movie is relatively off-season, the drama version of "The Lord of the Rings" will be officially broadcast, starting with the plot of the novel "The Hobbit".

During the development of the story, many people explained the plots of the two books "The Silmarillion" and "The Children of Hurin" clearly by telling or recalling.

Ziweixing Global has invested so much in this project, it cannot just authorize Netflix to play streaming media.

With Netflix's current strength, it can't afford such a big project.

There has to be some sort of distribution.

Get it on TV first.

When the TV station is over, it will be hooked up to Netflix.

When Zhou Buqi talked about "Game of Thrones" with HBO before, he had already agreed that HBO could get the priority for the first round of TV broadcast of the drama version of "Lord of the Rings".

Although there is priority, the price still needs to be negotiated.

HBO is a little scared here.

If you want to rebroadcast the drama version of "The Lord of the Rings", it will definitely be a sky-high price!

You know, in order to develop the drama version of "The Lord of the Rings", Boss Zhou even gave up the film project of developing the "Hobbit" trilogy, and wanted to show the plot of the movie in the TV series.

"This..." Big Tom hesitated to speak, and said in a difficult way, "MGM and HBO have had a very pleasant experience in the cooperation of "Game of Thrones", and it is best that "The Lord of the Rings" is also the same. I I thought... there is no need to open the operation, and the two parties can sign a cooperation agreement."

If there is an open bidding, it will be miserable.

If the two parties sit down and discuss in private, without allowing other TV stations to participate, the price can be kept relatively low.

Zhou Buqi smiled, "Private talk? It's okay. But HBO has to take responsibility and take risks together. Just like "Game of Thrones", MGM contributed 40% of the investment, which is not low risk .”

Big Tom was very happy, "It should be, we can talk about it."

Zhou Buqi said: "Go back and connect with MGM."

Any project has the risk of failure.

The same goes for The Lord of the Rings.

The momentum is so big, if it fails, it will be a big loss.

If HBO can participate and take some risks, then it is a matter of course for them to get the first round of TV rights at a low price.

How that risk is taken, though, is up for debate.

Let them participate and invest together. This model will definitely not work. We have to make a fuss about the TV rights.

……

It's been a busy night.

It's really tiring to engage in this kind of entertainment. Every guest has a lot of status, so they have to cover everything.

On the second day, Zhou Buqi went to Changyou's temporary headquarters in New York, met Don Mattrick, and mainly talked about the process of acquiring Take-Two.

"It's okay, it is estimated that there will be progress soon."

Mattrick still gave a good news.

Zhou Buqi asked, "How long?"

Mattrick said: "No later than next month, we should be able to give a more accurate news."

Zhou Buqi nodded, "It's okay."

Mattrick said with a smile: "The stock price of Changyou has been rising recently, which is the only bright light in the game industry in the trough. The executives of take-two may have other ideas, but for them For shareholders, it will be a rare investment opportunity to sell Take-Two to Changyou and exchange it for Changyou shares.”

Zhou Buqi said: "The recent rise in Changyou's stock price is largely due to Ren Yuxin's success in the Japanese game market in the past few months."

Mattrick deeply agrees, "It's true, the game market in Japan is very closed. In the past few years, many game companies in the United States have tried to get a share of the pie, but they have not been very successful. Ren Yuxin's trip to Japan That’s right, it’s opening the door to Japan.”

Zhou Buqi smiled, "This is the difference in thinking. Ren Yuxin did not open the door to Japan, but entered the Japanese game industry first, and opened the door from the inside."

Mattrick nodded, "Cooperation is mutual, and we should indeed learn from it."

In the past, it was very difficult for American game companies to enter the Japanese game industry. The idea was not correct. Americans wanted to sell American games to Japan and make a lot of money.

How can it be so easy?

Zhou Buqi's and Ren Yuxin's strategies are different, they do the opposite, they help Japanese game manufacturers sell their games all over the world to make a lot of money.

The same is to make money, which is the complete opposite business strategy.

Of course, the latter is more acceptable.

And once the cooperation is established.

The next development will be easier. Ren Yuxin, like the Americans, also wants to sell his games to Japan to make a lot of money. He even almost hollowed out NetEase’s big talk studio, just to let them develop a game. A mobile game aimed at the Japanese market... First of all, enter the Japanese game industry first. After entering, open the door from the inside, which is very easy.

Japan has been taken, and South Korea is next.

This is relatively easy.

Ren Yuxin was previously the president of Penguin's game business. He had cooperated and made friends with Korean game companies for many years, so he had to adopt a similar model.

The two sides discussed the development strategy of Changyou in the future.

Still focus on mobile.

Most of the current mobile apps are operating at a loss, and it is difficult to find a profit model, except for games.

99% of apps that make money on mobile phones are games.

Mattrick suddenly made a suggestion and said with a smile: "Zhou, your thinking is always so clear, your ideas are so good, and your imagination is so strong, why don't you come up with a framework of thinking and let's develop a mobile game? "

(End of this chapter)