Meiyu: I don’t care about the cost when making movies

Chapter 161 Could it be that the theme of the party is wrong?
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Wayne tried hard to control his expression and managed not to laugh out loud.

In fact, when he first debuted, Nicolas Cage was a standard literary young man. Apart from literary and artistic films, he didn't like commercial movies at all. He also had a very personal style when leading people to socialize.

But I don’t know whether it’s because he’s become more mature as he gets older or because the money he earned from just making literary films wasn’t enough for his extravagant spending. Anyway, not only did he start to take on commercial films later on, he also became more and more cheerful. .

Across the way, Nicolas Cage couldn't help but sigh as he looked at Wayne in front of him.

I think back then, he was also a handsome young man with long flowing hair. Coupled with his melancholy eyes, I don't know how many girls were fascinated by him. Unfortunately, he is only in his 30s and his hairline is almost moving back to the top of his head. The role he played I have also changed from a beautiful boy to a middle-aged uncle. These years are really ruthless.

However, his love for artistic films has not changed, but it is really not profitable to make artistic films.

So he was really happy that Wayne could spend so much money on him to make a romance film that is closer to a literary film, even if it was just a supporting role.

"Of course, I am very confident in my vision!" Wayne couldn't help but smile.

Then he said hello to Dustin Hoffman and Susan Sarandon who were also walking here, and after a few brief greetings, he walked in with Mia and Jessica. The audition room inside.

"Sorry, I'm late." Wayne said proactively as soon as he entered the door.

After seeing him come in, screenwriter Jim Sadie and Richard Curtis, the great director, also stood up and came up enthusiastically.

At this time, Nicholas Sparks, who was still sitting in his seat with a cold face, seemed a bit dazzling.

However, Wayne also knew that great writers like Nicholas Sparks usually have more individual personalities, and the previous copyright issue probably annoyed him a bit, so he didn't have a common understanding with him.

Of course, Wayne was not prepared to put his warm face on his cold buttocks. He just pretended that he didn't exist and led Mia and Jessica to his seat.

However, what he didn't expect was that his ignorance made Nicholas Sparks a little more aggressive.

"She is not suitable to play my heroine! My heroine is a white aristocratic girl. Her image and skin color do not match my setting, and she is just an actor. Why is she sitting here?" Nicholas Sparks Suddenly he spoke.

The entire audition room fell silent instantly.

Objectively speaking, what Nicholas Sparks said is not wrong. In that era, aristocratic girls were basically white, and a wheat-colored complexion like Jessica was indeed not suitable for the role of 'Ellie'.

At the same time, as an actor, Jessica really shouldn't be sitting here.

But when did he, Wayne, have to be objective when doing things?

Moreover, this is not the first time that Nicholas Sparks has sold the copyright for a man who is several decades old. Don’t you know that after the production company buys the copyright, it will adapt it according to the actual situation?

Hollywood adapts so many movies every year, who will completely follow the settings and plot of the original work?

Obviously, Nicholas Sparks either didn't know or wanted to use this as an excuse to find trouble.

After a pause, Wayne put away the polite smile on his face, turned around and walked up to Nicholas Sparks, looking at him condescendingly. The cold gaze made Nicholas Sparks couldn't help but tighten his body and his breathing changed. It became a little difficult.

The atmosphere suddenly became solid.

Nicholas Sparks couldn't help but stand up, hoping to relieve the oppression caused by Wayne's tall figure and terrifying momentum.

However, the next second, a crisp slap sounded, and Nicholas Sparks knocked over the chair, fell backwards, and fell to the ground with a loud bang.

At this moment, everyone in the room was stunned, with shocked expressions on their faces.

Especially Nicholas Sparks, who fell to the ground, covering his face with one hand and struggling to hold himself up with the other, looking at Wayne in disbelief, completely confused.

He never expected that Wayne would actually hit him, and in front of so many people.

"Are you surprised?"

Wayne walked over with a smile, and directly in his frightened eyes, he picked up his collar with one hand and lifted up his whole body, which weighed [-] kilograms, and said with a sneer: "You are Did you drink too much or write stupidly? This is my company, my crew, and Jessica is my girlfriend. I can arrange it however I want. Do you understand? Not happy? You can terminate the contract and get your book back Ah, can you afford the liquidated damages?"

Nicholas Sparks's face suddenly turned ugly.

Obviously, he cannot afford to pay the 3000 million liquidated damages, which is enough to bankrupt him.

Even during the production and release of the film, he could not make any negative comments about the film, otherwise Wayne would definitely take him to court and pay a large sum of money.

Although he was already known as the "godfather of pure love novels" in Millikin at this time and was quite famous, in fact, the cumulative sales of his four works were only a few million copies. After all, there were far fewer readers who read such pure love novels. There are more magic, suspense, and science fiction.

In addition, his royalties for each work are only 10%, and most of them are earned by the publisher. Therefore, excluding the 750 million for "The Notebook", his total assets are only about 1000 million. After all, he has five children. To support, the family expenditure is not a small amount.

Thinking of this, Nicholas Sparks finally woke up and realized what stupid thing he had just done.

The Wayne in front of him is not an ordinary actor or producer, but the boss of a production company and a capitalist!

Moreover, Hemera Pictures is now considered a well-known production company in Hollywood, ranking among the top five under the Big Seven. How could he, a small writer, dare to offend such a person?
Even JK Rowling has to listen to Warner!
Nicholas Sparks, who wanted to understand, was about to have a heart attack because of the frustration, but he could only hold it back.

He didn't even dare to put on a bad face and walk away, and he didn't dare to take revenge. He could only try his best to smile and apologize to Wayne.

When Richard Curtis and Zhan Sadie on the side saw this, their expressions unconsciously became a little more humble.

In Hollywood, famous directors and stars can quarrel with the sky and the earth, even the CEOs of the seven giants without fear. But who would see them dare to antagonize the real masters behind these giants?
Just like there are many people who dare to criticize Fox, but who dares to criticize its real owner, Rupert Murdoch?

Although Wayne's financial resources and influence at this time are far inferior to Rupert Murdoch, he is still a capitalist worth hundreds of millions, right?

This little episode passed quickly.

The subsequent auditions seemed to go much smoother. It only took about an hour, including Nicolas Cage and Dustin Hoffman, who were just going through the motions, to complete the auditions.Among them, although Jonah Hill's performance has improved a lot compared to last time, he was still eliminated.

This is not only because his acting skills are a bit poor, but also because his own image is a bit unsatisfactory.After all, Jonah Hill, who is only 1.7 meters tall, weighs more than 180 kilograms at this time. Not only does he not have the temperament of a rich boy at all, but even the costumes for him have to be custom-made, even if the director agrees. Mia, the producer, won’t agree!

In the end, he declined Nicolas Cage's proposal to celebrate at the bar in the evening. After the audition, Wayne left the company with Jessica and Hannah.

Mia, on the other hand, stayed and continued busy with the preparations for "The Notebook".

"Thank you, honey! You were so cool just now!"

As soon as she got in the car, Jessica couldn't wait to wrap herself around Wayne like a boneless snake, her eyes full of love.

Wayne didn't tolerate her when he saw this, which made Hannah, who was driving in front, couldn't help rolling her eyes at the rearview mirror, raised her middle finger, and then stepped on the accelerator to the bottom, only using 10 He returned to Wayne Manor within minutes, and then joined the battle without even getting out of the car.

“The first round of offers from major issuing companies has already come out.”

The next morning, Wayne, who was learning music reading from the composer and arranger teacher hired by Mike in the piano room, received a call from Serra.

"Among them, the three highest direct buyout offers are Disney's US$5200 million, Universal's US$5000 million, and Sony's US$4960 million."

"As for the guaranteed plus share price, the highest one is Miramax's 2500 million. In addition, after the box office exceeds 6000 million, for every 1000 million increase, we will be given a share of 395 million."

"DreamWorks is a little lower. They gave us 3000 million, plus after the box office exceeds 8000 million, they will give us a share of 1000 million for every additional 360 million."

"As for the settlement rules, we follow our previous rules. Settlement will be made immediately after the box office is reached, and all settlements will be completed within three days after the film is released."

Wayne fell into deep thought after hearing this.

The box office of "Mean Girls" in the previous life reached an astonishing US$1.3 million, including US$8600 million at the North American box office and US$4400 million at the overseas box office.

None of the main characters in that version of "Mean Girls" were famous.

The most famous female lead, Lindsay Lohan, and second female lead, Rachel McAdams, are just small actors who have just entered the third tier.

Not to mention the director and screenwriter.

Although the main female characters in the updated version of "Mean Girls" are also not famous, they still have considerable appeal because of their existence.

Coupled with the overall upgrade from plot to picture after being directed by Nancy Meyers, his box office expectations for this upgraded version of "Mean Girls" have been increased to US$2 million.

That's right, 2 billion.

Among campus comedies in recent years, only "Ugly Country Party" can reach this figure.

Based on the calculation of [-] million, there is no doubt that the conditions provided by Miramax are better.

Of course, because Miramax's overseas distribution capabilities are limited, the overseas box office is definitely not as big as if it were handed over to the Big Seven, but it is still better than DreamWorks.

What's more, he still owed Harvey a favor, so he could repay the favor this time.

"Just go with Harvey's offer, but ask him to release the movie before May."

"No problem." Serra said with a smile, "I think that guy Harvey would be happy to ride on our popularity of "The Bourne Supremacy"."

Serra is right. The reason why Harvey and other distribution companies are willing to give such a high quotation is not only because of the quality of "Mean Girls" itself, but also because of the impact of "The Bourne Supremacy". Come on with the heat.

Through the channels of MPAA, these distribution companies have more or less understood the quality of "The Bourne Supremacy", and some of them have even seen the film.

Coupled with the popularity brought by the Oscars, they have already predicted that "The Bourne Supremacy" is likely to be a big hit.

At that time, Wayne's popularity and influence were undoubtedly one step closer, and he became a popular first-line actor in Hollywood. If they took advantage of this time to release "Mean Girls", wouldn't they be able to save a lot of money on publicity while ensuring its popularity? Did it cost?

For example, at Miramax, Harvey is only planning to invest US$500 million in the promotion of "Mean Girls" this time.

In this way, if the box office exceeds 6000 million, he can make back his money through the box office, and the remaining disc sales income will be pure profit!

Among the many films produced by Hemera Pictures, which one has a box office of less than 6000 million?Those with less than [-] million US dollars are not good enough!

So after receiving the call from Sierra, Harvey agreed without hesitation. His old face smiled like a chrysanthemum, not to mention how happy he was.

Although his box office expectations for "Mean Girls" are not as high as Wayne's, they are still 1.6 million, which is 2000 million higher than "Girls."

So based on this quote, he can probably earn about 1000 million US dollars through the box office. Coupled with the larger disc sales market for comedy films, he can probably earn 4000 million US dollars from this movie!

"That guy Wayne is so generous!" Harvey couldn't help but sigh sincerely after hanging up the phone.

"But if the box office really reaches 1.6 million, it will be my turn to owe him a favor."

Of course, Harvey didn't mind owing Wayne a favor, and was even happy about it.

Favors come and go, favors come and go, and if you owe favors, the exchanges between the two parties will become more, right?

On the other hand, the heads of other distribution companies were also surprised when they learned that Hemera Pictures had reached a deal with Miramax so quickly. Then they began to send people to inquire about the inside story, and then they all agreed Was lost in thought.

"Perhaps Mr. Wayne doesn't often attend the parties we hold, but we just didn't find the right theme for the party?" Many people couldn't help but come up with this weird idea after thinking about it.

(End of this chapter)