hollywood melon man

Chapter 332 So much money!
From Gilbert Jr.'s birthday at the end of June to July, the popularity of "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" gradually dissipated, and this year's backlog of blockbusters began to be released in large numbers.

The weekend after The Matrix Reloaded, Jurassic Park 3, produced by Spielberg and distributed by Universal Pictures, was released.

However, compared with the first two "Jurassic Park" films, "Jurassic Park 3" did not perform well at the beginning of its release and its reputation was generally average.

As reflected in the box office, "Jurassic Park 3" only earned 5077 million US dollars in its first week and failed to win the weekly box office championship.

The box office of "The Matrix Reloaded" in its second weekend was as high as 5130 million. Combined with the box office on weekdays, the box office this week was 8925 million, easily achieving two consecutive weekly box office championships.

At present, "The Matrix Reloaded" has grossed a total of 1 million US dollars in ten days since its release. James Gunn became famous with this, which is much better than Joe Johnston who took over "Jurassic Park 8287.9".

This is the third hit film from Cantaloupe Studios in the summer this year. Compared with "Rush Hour 2", "The Matrix Reloaded" performed better in terms of peripheral products.

Due to the R-rating, the box office of "The Matrix Reloaded" should be around $300 million in North America and around $700 million worldwide. Many media outlets predict basically the same figures.

However, the film's peripheral products performed quite well, generating sales of 1 million from the premiere to the following weekend.

However, in terms of sales, "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" is still higher. So far, the global peripheral sales of "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" have reached 4 million US dollars.

"The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" As of July 3, the weekend when "Jurassic Park 5.11" was released, the North American box office has reached million US dollars.

Because there is still a long period of screening time left, it is no problem for "The Two Towers" to surpass its predecessor "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" in North America box office.

The film's global box office has reached 11.23 billion US dollars. Similarly, there is no problem in surpassing the previous film's global box office.

Having two films gross over 1 billion for two consecutive years is a remarkable achievement and also established Gilbert Jr.'s prestige in the field of commercial films.

However, compared with the box office of the two "Lord of the Rings" movies, what is more eye-catching is the sales of "Lord of the Rings" peripherals, which totaled 17 billion US dollars.

The best-selling DVD set is undoubtedly "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring", with global sales reaching 5 million US dollars.

This is also due to the impact of piracy in some regions, otherwise the DVD sales may even exceed 7 million US dollars.

The screening of "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" has reached the middle and late stages. According to reports from the market research departments of Disney and Warner Bros. Pictures, the sales of the soundtrack album and DVD of "The Two Towers" will definitely be better than those of "The Fellowship of the Ring".

As we all know, the profit from a movie's peripheral products is higher than its box office revenue. So even though the sales of peripheral products are not as high as the box office revenue, the profit obtained by all investors is more than the box office revenue.

Movie peripherals are more dependent on channels than box office sales. Without the channel support of Disney and Warner Bros.’ parent company Time Warner, movie peripherals can only be managed in a crude manner.

So this is why Jobs agreed to contact Pixar Animation Studios. Jobs knew very well that without the Disney platform, the peripheral products of Pixar animated films would not be so eye-catching.

Similarly, Gilbert Jr. only earned more than 200 million US dollars in personal income from "The Fellowship of the Ring", but he did not feel dissatisfied at all.

Compared to the box office and peripheral products, his income is considered low.

But without the support of Disney and Warner, he personally wouldn’t even get these incomes. Funding and risk resistance are one thing, and the advantage of large companies integrating resources is exactly what Gilbert needs.

In many novels, the protagonist always relies on his own strength to fight against big people, big groups, and big companies. It looks cool, but it is actually unrealistic.

As the saying goes, two fists are no match for four legs. Ip Man can beat ten people, but if I increase the number to a thousand, can I ask if Ip Man can still win?
Therefore, what Little Gilbert should do is to unite all the forces that should be united and build an interest group around himself.

In Hollywood, going it alone never works, because today's Hollywood is an era of giant media groups, and learning from James and forming a team is the only way to go.

Even though James has poor skills and relies entirely on his physical fitness and the help of the referee, he realized early on that the true meaning of life is to stick together.

There are only some silly guys who think they are invincible and can beat all opponents, and look down on everyone.

But do you have a championship?

Oh, you really have it? That's fine...

Based on the above theory of group formation, this is also the reason why Gilbert Jr. did not make Cantaloupe Studios into a film company like DreamWorks, but agreed to the merger between Disney and Warner Pictures.

In the new week, an internal meeting was held at Disney, chaired by Robert Iger.

In the past two years, as Robert Iger gradually took charge of Disney, Disney's performance has also risen. In turn, Robert Iger has secured his position as Disney's president.

With Chairman Michael Eisner semi-retired, Robert Iger is now the head of Disney.

However, Robert Iger is very clear that his ability to secure his position as Disney's president is inseparable from the support of Gilbert Jr.

There are even rumors within Disney that Robert Iger got the position of president by clinging to Gilbert Jr. This is not difficult at all, because Robert Iger has good vision and a good personal relationship with Gilbert Jr.

After listening to his supervisors' comments on the market performance of "The Lord of the Rings" series, Robert Iger was very satisfied.

He looked at the group of executives and said, "Everyone, the next period is our most critical period. The acquisition of Cantaloupe Studio is nearing completion.

We have reached an agreement with Warner, and the next period is the most critical period.

We want to ensure that no new players enter the market.”

Disney, Warner, and Gilbert Jr. have reached a basic agreement, with each company acquiring 50% of the shares of Cantaloupe Studios.

Gilbert Jr.'s request was simple: Disney and Warner must exchange shares of equal value.

Gilbert Jr. has no shortage of cash, after all, he ranks 12th on the Forbes rich list. But becoming a shareholder of Disney and Warner Pictures is something Gilbert Jr. is happy to see.

If this acquisition can be completed, it will definitely shock the entire North America and even the people around the world who care about Hollywood.

But in fact, for Hollywood, Disney and Warner's acquisition of Cantaloupe Studios is obvious to everyone and is no longer a secret.

Companies including Universal Pictures, Paramount Pictures, and 20th Century Fox have also been intervening, and Gilbert Jr. has been waiting for a good price.

But because of the excellent commercial performance of "The Lord of the Rings" and "Harry Potter" series, Disney and Warner could no longer sit still and quickly made concessions.

If the matter was delayed any further, there would be too many variables. Robert Iger and Doug Walter met privately several times and finally reached a consensus.

According to the acquisition plan and future expectations, the acquisition can be completed by the end of the year at the latest. By then, Gilbert Jr. will become a shareholder of Disney and Warner Bros., and a very important shareholder. This also means that Gilbert Jr. is basically tied to these two companies, and it may take some effort to change his owner in the future.

In this respect, Gilbert's choice of mentor is different from Spielberg's. Spielberg's original intention of establishing DreamWorks was to become a new Hollywood giant.

But it is obvious that the giants do not want new giants to join the battlefield.

In addition to the acquisition and surrounding matters, the person in charge of the Disneyland project also reported: “We are currently expanding several Disney parks around the world.

Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and Middle-earth Park are under steady construction, and the two related parks of Disneyland in Orlando are expected to open in September. "

Although Warner also has theme park plans, Disney is an expert in building theme parks, and Warner is not as good as Disney.

It would be a shame if theme parks don’t develop such big IPs as “The Lord of the Rings” and “Harry Potter”.

However, Warner also has advantages over Disney. Warner Music is one of the world's three largest record distributors, and the soundtrack albums released by Warner are selling well around the world.

In addition, Warner's TV drama production department is much stronger than Disney's TV department, which has always produced children's dramas.

Warner's TV department has already planned to develop a spin-off series of "The Lord of the Rings" and has even acquired the copyright of George Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire", intending to develop it into a TV series or movie like "The Lord of the Rings".

In addition, Warner's game production department is also very strong.

Related spin-off games of "The Lord of the Rings" are also already in the development plan.

There is no doubt that Warner, which occupies a dominant position in the development of these peripheral series, will undoubtedly get more revenue, which offsets the disadvantage that its own Warner World is not as good as Disneyland.

In addition to these things, the most important task for Disney and Warner at the moment is the negotiation with J.K. Rowling.

Rowling herself is inclined to continue working with Gilbert Jr., Disney and Warner Bros. She admires Gilbert Jr. very much and has maintained a very good personal friendship with him.

But when faced with huge interests of hundreds of millions or even billions, even if Rowling herself wanted to act emotionally, her agent, family, and interest groups would not agree.

Therefore, the issue of cooperation on the sequel to "Harry Potter" has been discussed since last year until now, and coupled with the occasional interference from other companies, the negotiations have not been very smooth.

However, Rowling's attitude has not wavered and she still wants to continue working with Gilbert Jr., so the remaining issues can be discussed slowly.

In early September, the project of "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" will be launched.

Given the response to the previous film and the return of the original cast, the second film would not be bad no matter what. So everyone made certain concessions and finally reached an agreement.

According to the latest contract, starting with Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Rowling will enjoy an 8.5 percent share of the box office and all peripheral revenues.

Cantaloupe Studios, Disney and Warner paid $1 million in one go for the copyright to the subsequent Harry Potter novels.

This also set a record for the sale of novel copyrights and made Rowling a wealthy writer.

And that's not all. According to the new profit-sharing agreement, Rowling can get $2 million in profit from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

But fortunately, this profit-sharing agreement will only take effect when "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" is released, otherwise it would be a huge loss.

However, according to some internal plans, the Harry Potter series will be set up as a separate studio and the accounts will be settled separately.

In other words, Rowling split the profits with the Harry Potter studio. Even the elites on Wall Street cannot figure out the accounting methods of the big Hollywood companies.

By then, some losses will be incurred out of thin air and Rowling will not know about it.

When Robert Egger discussed this plan with Gilbert Jr., Gilbert Jr. strongly opposed it, believing that this method could be used on the main actors of the series, but not on Rowling.

Because this will cause some unexpected chain reactions and will have very bad effects.

Compared to Rowling, the Gryffindor triangle is the real trouble. Haley Joel Osment, who plays Harry Potter, has seen his salary rise to $10 million.

This salary is the most expensive salary for child actors.

The salaries of the other two actors, such as Emma Watson, have already risen to the million-dollar level. It is conceivable that if the three leading actors continue to star in the subsequent series, their salaries will definitely rise very quickly.

It is normal in Hollywood for sequels to demand higher pay, and actors will even ask for a share of the box office and peripheral profits.

But for the film company, this is unacceptable, which is bound to affect the interests of the film company. It is conceivable that the negotiation will be a tug-of-war.

The same reasoning as Rowling, in fact, the three young actors can't decide on the issue of pay. Although Haley and Gilbert have a good relationship, their family will not give up huge benefits just because of this relationship.

So after Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, the studio re-signed new contracts with the three actors to satisfy those greedy agents and parents.

But soon, agents and parents will seek greater profits and become more greedy.

This is when Robert Iger's trick can be used, with the Harry Potter studio borrowing money from Disney and Warner to shoot the movie.

If you transfer money from one hand to the other, you will incur a loss. There is no problem with the law or the accounts.

Since there is a loss, there will naturally be no share of box office and peripheral revenue.

Of course, there is another trick, which is to replace the original three leading actors with new actors. But this trick is generally not used unless it is absolutely necessary.

Of course, the young actors must also fulfill their obligations.

Haley's acting is not bad, so there is no need to worry about him, but the acting of the other two young actors is too bad. As the series goes deeper, they will inevitably be required to contribute better acting skills.

So Gilbert Jr. required the actors in the series to take acting classes seriously.

If the performance is not up to standard, it will be reflected in the remuneration.

(End of this chapter)