hollywood melon man

Chapter 567 Dinner Invitation

After securing the copyright to the novel, Gilbert Jr. began to consider how to proceed with the adaptation of the project.

"We need a female director for this project," said Gilbert Jr.

"Female director?" Ivanka asked. "Why must it be a female director?"

"It's simple," Gilbert Jr. explained, "Female directors are usually very delicate and have their own unique way of handling this kind of youth campus romance movie."

Ivanka nodded slightly: "Now that you mention it, I think Sofia is very suitable, but I don't think she would direct a movie like this."

"Indeed," Little Gilbert shrugged and said, "Sophia has a dream of pursuing film art, but she doesn't like movies like this.

But there is no need to rush, let’s wait until we return to Los Angeles and then slowly do this!”

It was not complicated to obtain the copyright of "Twilight". The contract was signed on Christmas Eve, and the crew of "The Last of Us" also officially announced the completion of filming and returned to Los Angeles.

The filming went very smoothly for the crew, and they even finished filming more than 20 days ahead of schedule, which was extremely fast.

But wrapping up the film does not mean the end of film production, there is still a lot of post-production work to be done.

During this period, "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire" swept the global market, earning $2.94 million in North America, and it would not be a problem to break $ million.

The global box office also reached 8.84 million US dollars, achieving another box office explosion.

The box office is accumulating at a pretty good rate and may eventually exceed $1 billion.

However, after entering December, it was not this movie that was the most popular, but another fantasy movie "The Chronicles of Narnia".

The film, which stars Anne Hathaway, grossed $6556 million in its first week, which is not as good as the first week of "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire."

However, the box office performance of "The Chronicles of Narnia" is very strong, and the word of mouth is quite outstanding, which shows that it is a latecomer that has surpassed the previous one.

Since playing Princess Arwen in "The Lord of the Rings" series, Anne Hathaway finally has another hit commercial film masterpiece.

Because of her popularity, she was given a lot of roles in The Chronicles of Narnia. Although she was the second female lead, her roles were almost as many as the first female lead.

Little Gilbert helped promote the movie on his personal social account. The Chronicles of Narnia was very considerate and thanked Little Gilbert on the social account and gave many peripheral toys to Little Gilbert's children.

By the way, "The Chronicles of Narnia" was released by Buena Vista Pictures, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of Disney.

So this is actually a Disney project, and as a Disney director, Gilbert Jr. is naturally considered a member of the crew, although only the creators of "The Chronicles of Narnia" think so.

Besides, the film's second female lead, Anne Hathaway, has a close relationship with little Gilbert!

Because it was released relatively late, "The Chronicles of Narnia" has grossed $2.06 million in North America as of December , temporarily ranking behind "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" and ninth in North America for the year.

This year's North American box office champion is George Lucas' "Star Wars: Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith", which earned $3.8 million.

It seems that the slogan for George Lucas' last "Star Wars" movie is still strong. If the quality of the film is better, it may be able to get a box office of 400 million to 500 million US dollars in North America.

But George Lucas said this was his last Star Wars movie, but he didn't say it was the last Star Wars movie. There is a difference between the two.

After completing this project, George Lucas decided to retire and live a life of retirement. He felt that he was no longer suitable for staying in Hollywood.

Lucasfilm and Industrial Light & Magic, owned by him, have become the favorites of major Hollywood giants.

But Lucasfilm and Industrial Light & Magic are huge in size, and any company that wants to acquire one of them will need to come up with a huge amount of money.

This means that only a few companies can participate in this acquisition war. The few that can participate are the seven major Hollywood giants and second-tier film companies supported by Wall Street funds.

David Ellison's Sky Studios also wanted to participate. Although Sky Studios did not have that much money, David Ellison could seek support from Larry Ellison and contact investors from Silicon Valley.

But to be honest, Sky Studios is not competitive enough. This mainly depends on who George Lucas is and who he prefers. The ones who are competitive enough are undoubtedly the seven giants in Hollywood.

It's a simple truth. The giants have broad distribution channels and advantages in surrounding resources, which are unmatched by second-tier film companies.

So for some time, all kinds of rumors have been flying around Hollywood.

Later on, we will talk about the new boss of MGM, Prince Abdul from the Middle East, who raised four billion dollars to acquire Lucasfilm. One can't help but sigh that he is indeed a rich man sitting on black gold.

Then it was said that Columbia's parent company Sony was considering acquiring Lucasfilm, and Columbia Pictures had already contacted George Lucas.

Then there are rumors that 20th Century Fox and George Lucas are playing the emotional card, after all, they have been working together for so many years.

Universal and Paramount have both been rumored to have various ambiguous relationships with George Lucas.

It was against this backdrop that Gilbert Jr. returned to Los Angeles, and before diving headfirst into post-production, he received an invitation from George Lucas to be his guest.

Naomi Watts was at home, and Gilbert said to her, "Naomi, come with me to a private party."

"Okay, whose party is it?"

"George's," Gilbert Jr. said as he watched Naomi Watts pick out her dress, "Private parties don't need to be so formal, just be casual."

"Okay," Naomi Watts put on a simple makeup and followed Gilbert Jr. to George Lucas's home.

Gilbert Jr. and Naomi Watts happily attended the appointment, and he thought it was a party. However, when he arrived at the place, he found that only he and Naomi Watts attended the appointment.

"Don't doubt it, I came here specifically to treat you to this meal." George Lucas looked at the two people dressed up and smiled, "It's a good thing you didn't wear formal clothes, otherwise it would be a bit restrained."

"It's okay, George." Little Gilbert waved his hand and said, "But I'm afraid it's not as simple as just treating me to a meal, right?"

"Of course," George Lucas gestured for invitation, "Please come in. Catherine has prepared dinner. We can talk while we eat."

When we walked into the restaurant, George Lucas' girlfriend Katherine had already prepared dinner.

She smiled and said, "George's friend got a bluefin tuna and gave it to George. It's the main course today. There's also the apple pie I made.

George knows that you like Chinese food, so he specially ordered some Chinese food to be delivered.”

Gilbert Jr. and Naomi Watts expressed their gratitude: "It is so delicious. Thank you for your hospitality."

"You're welcome. Come on, take a seat. Just treat it like your own home. Don't feel restrained." George Lucas turned to Catherine and said, "Bring me the bottle of wine I treasure. Little Gilbert and I will have a few drinks.

Naomi, would you like a drink?"

"No," Naomi Watts said she didn't want to drink: "Catherine and I will just have drinks."

"Watermelon juice?"

"can."

"Okay, I'll get it."

"Okay!" Catherine brought over a bottle of wine and two wine glasses. She also brought over two glasses of freshly squeezed watermelon juice, one for each of her and Naomi Watts.

The dinner was very sumptuous, but the four of them couldn't eat much. After dinner, the servants came to clear away the dinner, and then they went to the living room to chat.

Naomi Watts and Catherine were chatting about family matters, while George Lucas and Gilbert Jr. were talking about the recent much-talked-about acquisition of Lucasfilm.

(End of this chapter)