Chapter 332 A lot of money!
From Little Gilbert’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 together.
On the weekend after "The Matrix Reloaded", "Jurassic Park 3", produced and distributed by Universal Pictures and produced by Spielberg, was released.
However, compared with the first two "Jurassic Park" films, "Jurassic Park 3" did not perform well when it was first released, and its reputation was also average.
Reflecting on the box office, "Jurassic Park 3" only received US$50.77 million at the box office in its first week, failing to win the weekly box office championship.
The box office of "The Matrix: Reloaded" on the second weekend was as high as 51.3 million. Including the box office on weekdays, the box office this week was 89.25 million, easily achieving two consecutive weekly box office wins.
"The Matrix: Reloaded" currently has a cumulative box office of 182.879 million US dollars in the ten days since its release. James Gunn has become famous with this film, which is much better than Joe Johnston who took over "Jurassic Park 3".
This is the third hit movie from Melon Studios this summer. Compared with "Rush Hour 2", "The Matrix Reloaded" performed better in terms of peripherals.
Limited by the R-rating, the box office of "The Matrix Reloaded" in North America should be around US$300 million, and around US$700 million globally. Many media forecasts are basically similar to this figure.
However, the peripheral performance of the film was quite good. From the premiere to the following weekend, it generated 135 million peripheral sales.
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 US$450 million.
"Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" As of July 9, the weekend when "Jurassic Park 3" was released, the North American box office has reached 511 million US dollars.
Because there is still a long running time ahead, it is no longer a problem for "The Two Towers" to surpass its predecessor "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" at the North American box office.
The film's global box office has also reached 1.123 billion US dollars. Similarly, there is no problem in the global box office surpassing the previous film.
For two consecutive years, two movies have exceeded one billion in box office. This is a very remarkable achievement, and it also established Gilbert Jr.'s prestige in the field of commercial films.
However, compared to the box office of the two "Lord of the Rings" movies, what is even more eye-catching is the sales of peripheral products of "Lord of the Rings", which together reached a total of 1.7435 billion U.S. dollars.
The highest-selling product is undoubtedly the DVD set of "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring", with global sales of US$552.55 million.
This is due to the impact of piracy in some areas, otherwise DVD sales may even exceed 700 million US dollars.
The screening of "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" has reached the middle and late stages. According to the market research department report of Disney and Warner Pictures, the sales volume of the soundtrack album and DVD of "The Two Towers" will definitely be better than that of "The Fellowship of the Ring" .
As we all know, the peripheral profits of a movie are higher than the box office, so regardless of whether peripheral sales are not as high as the box office, all investors make more profits than the box office.
Movie peripherals are more dependent on channels than box office. Without the channel support of Disney and Time Warner, the parent company of Warner Pictures, movie peripherals can only be managed extensively.
So this is why Jobs agreed to contact Pixar Animation Studio. Jobs knew very well that without Disney as a platform, the peripherals of Pixar animated movies would not be so eye-catching.
Similarly, Gilbert Jr. only received more than 200 million US dollars in personal income from "The Fellowship of the Ring", but he did not feel unsatisfied at all.
Compared with the box office and peripherals, his income is relatively low.
But without the protection of Disney and Warner, he personally would not even be able to get these incomes. Funding and risk resistance are the same thing. The advantage of large companies in integrating resources happens to be what little Gilbert needs.
In many novels, the protagonist always relies on his own strength to fight against big shots, 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. But if I increase the number of people to a thousand, can Ip Man still beat me?
So uniting all the forces that should be united and building an interest group around himself is what little Gilbert has to do.
In Hollywood, working alone never works, because today's Hollywood is an era of giant media conglomerates, and it is the last word to follow Ajan's example and work together.
Even though Ajan's skills are poor and he relies entirely on physical fitness and the help of referees, he has long understood the true meaning of teamwork in life.
There are just some stupid boys who are arrogant and arrogant with the feeling that I am invincible and can defeat all opponents.
But do you have a championship?
Oh, you really do? That's okay...
Based on the above theory of teaming up, this is why Gilbert Jr. did not turn Melon Film Studio into a film company like DreamWorks, but agreed to the merger between Disney and Warner Pictures.
In the new week, an internal Disney meeting was held, and Robert Iger presided over the meeting.
In the past two years, as Robert Iger has gradually taken charge of Disney, Disney's performance has also increased. In turn, it also allowed Robert Iger to secure his position as Disney President.
With chairman Michael Eisner semi-retired, Robert Iger is now the head of Disney.
However, Robert Iger knows very well that his ability to secure his position as Disney president cannot be separated from the support of Gilbert Jr.
There are even rumors within Disney that Robert Iger held the position of president because he held little Gilbert's thigh. This is not difficult, Robert Egger has good taste and has a good personal relationship with little Gilbert.
After listening to his supervisors' comments about the market performance of the "Lord of the Rings" series, Robert Iger was very satisfied.
He looked at the senior executives: "Everyone, this is our most critical period. The acquisition of Melon Studio is nearing completion.
We have reached an agreement with Warner, and the next step is the most critical period.
We want to ensure that no new players will enter the game. "
Disney, Warner, and Gilbert Jr. have reached a basic agreement, and each of them will acquire 50% of the shares of Cantaloupe Studios.
Gilbert Jr.'s request is also very simple. Disney and Warner must exchange shares of equal value.
For little Gilbert, he 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. would like to see.
If this acquisition can be completed, it will definitely shock the entire North America and even the enthusiasts who care about Hollywood around the world.
But in fact, for Hollywood, it is no secret that Disney and Warner acquired Xigua Studio, which belongs to Sima Zhao.
Companies including Universal Pictures, Paramount Pictures, and 20th Century Fox Pictures have also been intervening, and Little Gilbert has been waiting for a 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 it continued, there would be too many variables. Robert Egger and Doug Walter had several private contacts and finally reached a consensus.
According to the acquisition plan and expectations for the future, the acquisition can be completed by the end of the year at most. At that time, Gilbert Jr. will become a shareholder of Disney and Warner Pictures, and a very important shareholder. This also means that Gilbert Jr. is basically tied to these two companies. It may take some effort to change owners in the future.
In this regard, Gilbert's choice of mentor is different from Spielberg. 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 Disneyland 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 a park plan, Disney is an expert in making parks, and Warner is really not as good as Disney.
"Lord of the Rings" and "Harry Potter" are two such big IPs. It would be a pity if the theme park did not develop them.
However, Warner also has an advantage over Disney. Warner Records is one of the three largest record distributors in the world, and the soundtrack albums released by Warner are sold all over 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 drama department has already planned to develop spin-offs of "The Lord of the Rings" and even acquired the copyright to George Martin's "A Song of Ice and Fire", intending to develop it into a TV series or movie based on "The Lord of the Rings".
In addition, Warner's game production department is also very strong.
Related derivative games of "The Lord of the Rings" are also already in development plans.
There is no doubt that Warner, which has a dominant position in the development of these peripheral series, can undoubtedly get more revenue, which also offsets the disadvantage of its own Warner World being inferior to Disneyland.
In addition to these things, the most important task for Disney and Warner at present is the negotiation with J.K. Rowling.
Rowling herself is inclined to continue to cooperate with Gilbert Jr., Disney and Warner Pictures. She personally admired little Gilbert and maintained a very good personal friendship with him.
But in the face of huge interests involving hundreds of millions or even billions, even if Rowling wanted to be emotional, her agents, family, and interest groups would not agree.
Therefore, the issue of cooperation for the sequel to "Harry Potter" has been discussed since last year. In addition, other companies have caused troubles from time to time, resulting in negotiations that are not going very smoothly.
However, Rowling's attitude has not wavered and she still wants to continue to cooperate with Gilbert Jr., so the remaining issues are just discussed slowly.
In early September, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" will be released.
In view of the response of the previous film and the return of the original cast, the results of the second Wizards movie will 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 movie's box office and all peripheral revenue.
Melon Studios, Disney and Warner all paid a lump sum of US$120 million for the rights to the subsequent "Harry Potter" series of novels.
This also set a record for the sale of novel copyrights and made Rowling a wealthy writer.
And that's not all. If the accounts are divided according to the new sharing agreement, Rowling will receive US$241 million in revenue from "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone".
But fortunately, this sharing agreement will only take effect when "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" is released, otherwise it will feel like a loss.
However, according to some internal plans, the "Harry Potter" series is to establish a separate studio and the accounts must be settled separately.
In other words, Rowling is sharing the revenue with the "Harry Potter" studio. Not even Wall Street elites can detect the accounting methods used by major Hollywood companies.
When the time comes, the left hand will overturn the right hand and some losses will occur out of thin air, and Rowling will not know about it.
When Robert Egger was discussing with Little Gilbert, Little Gilbert strongly opposed this plan. He believes that this method can be used on the series' protagonist, but not on Rowling.
Because this will cause some unexpected chain reactions and have very bad effects.
Compared to Rowling, the Gryffindor Triangle is the real trouble. Haley Joel Osment's salary for playing Harry Potter has risen to $10 million.
This salary is the most expensive among child actors.
The other two, such as Emma Watson, have seen their salaries rise to the million dollar level. It is conceivable that if the three leading actors continue to star in subsequent series, the salary will rise very quickly.
It is normal in Hollywood for sequel movies to demand higher pay, and actors may even ask to participate in a share of the box office and peripherals.
But for the film company, this is unacceptable, and it will inevitably affect the interests of the film company. As you can imagine, it will be another tug-of-war negotiation.
In the same way as Rowling, in fact, the three young actors cannot make the final decision regarding remuneration. Despite the good relationship between Hailey and little Gilbert, his family will not give up huge benefits just because of this relationship.
So after "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", the studio 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.
At this time, Robert Egger's trick can be used, and the "Harry Potter" studio borrows money from Disney and Warner to shoot the movie.
If the left hand turns to the right hand, there will be a loss. There are no legal problems, and there are no problems with the accounts.
Since there is a loss, the box office and peripheral profits will naturally be gone.
Of course, there is another trick, which is to change the actors and replace the original three leading actors with new actors. However, this trick is generally not used unless it is a last resort.
Of course, the young actors must also fulfill their obligations.
Haley's acting skills are pretty good, so don't worry about him, but the acting skills of the other two minor actors are terrible. As the series progresses, they will inevitably be required to contribute better acting skills.
Therefore, Little Gilbert requires the actors in the series to take acting classes seriously.
If the performance is not up to standard, it will be reflected in the salary.
(End of chapter)