Chapter 257 Double Happiness
The Titan serialization has finally reached the tenth episode. The plot has also reached the point where Allen is eaten by a brainless giant, awakens his giant ability, and transforms into Attack on Titan for the first time.
This chapter is the first climax of the whole novel. The plot is like in a fantasy novel where you awaken a certain bloodline, activate a certain system when you are in a desperate situation, or start signing in with a ding. , that is, the golden finger is coming.
The appearance of golden fingers in novels is something that readers like to see, and the same is true in comics. Comic readers also like similar plot settings.
And as for the origin of the giants, a lot of foreshadowing has been done in the previous plot. The moment Alan transformed into a giant, it was equivalent to filling a big hole in the past, telling readers that giants are actually all Transformed by humans.
Of course, this also dug several new holes, such as why Eren can become a giant, whether others can become giants like Eren, what is the difference between the giant Eren becomes and other giants, etc.
As soon as this chapter came out, it received a lot of praise from readers, and "Monthly Shōnen Magazine" even reprinted it.
Kodansha, Shintaro Kawakubo looked at the readers who had just received them and surveyed them, with a look of joy on his face.
The comic "Giant" not only boosted the sales of "Monthly Shōnen Magazine" magazine, but also triggered extensive discussions. Judging from the results of the reader survey, this popularity is not inferior to that of the past. The story of Naruto's PK in the arena during the Chunin Examination.
Kawakubo Shintaro has realized that the work of Giant may really be able to break out of the siege of the three major comics.
The most popular manga in Japan at this time should be Naruto. This is mainly because in the summer, the Naruto Shippuden animation was officially launched, which gave Naruto a wave of popularity.
At the same time, the plot of One Piece comics has progressed to the battle of Judiciary Island, while Bleach has drawn the most popular Arrancar chapter among readers. These three head comics have all entered the climax of the plot.
The names of the three major migrant workers’ cartoons also began to rise gradually during that era.
At the same time, almost all shounen comics were eclipsed. "Gintama" is a fun game to play with, "Death Note" has upgraded its brain-burning showdowns, and "Prince of Tennis" has a great operational show, but its popularity is still several notches lower than "Sea of Fire".
And the popularity of Giants can actually rise steadily. Based on this, he must be the target of Kodansha's support.
Shintaro Kawakubo sat in his seat, thinking silently for more than half an hour, and finally made a decision.
He picked up the phone and dialed a number. After the call was connected, Shintaro Kawakubo said respectfully; "President, do you have time? I want to talk to you about the single book published by Giant. Things."
"Giant? I remember you told me that the author is a Chinese and a best-selling author. You admired the plot of this work, so you decided to give him a chance to serialize it. The comic has been serialized for less than a year, right? Is it going to be a single volume?" the president asked in a low voice.
Publishing a single volume within a year of serialization is nothing new in Japan. Many popular comics have this treatment, including One Piece, Naruto and Bleach, all of which were published a few months after serialization. Published in separate volumes.
But these works are all weekly serials, and weekly serials are updated faster than monthly serials.
Under normal circumstances, a weekly comic strip has about twenty pages per chapter, and four chapters are updated a month, which is eighty pages.
Shueisha's 32-page volume is about 180 pages long. The table of contents and character introductions at the beginning are almost eight chapters, which is a two-month serial update in the magazine.
The single volume of Japan's popular comics is usually published in two to three months. If the author is diligent, he will publish a volume in two months. If the author is not publishing, he will have to wait an extra month.
But monthly serialization cannot achieve this update speed. A monthly comic has about forty pages per chapter, and a single volume requires four months of serialized content. Therefore, the publication time of a single volume often also takes four months. It takes a month to publish one volume.
Giant has only updated ten chapters. Although each chapter contains a lot of content, it is barely enough to produce three single volumes.
When publishing a single volume, the time between the first two volumes should not be too long, generally no more than two months. Sometimes, in order to attract readers, the first two volumes will be published together.
According to this publishing pace, Giant would be better off saving a few more chapters before considering publishing a single book.
But Shintaro Kawakubo obviously couldn’t wait any longer.
"President, judging from the popularity of the reader survey, the time is ripe for Giant to publish a stand-alone book. The latest serialized chapter has gained both popularity and reputation. Now is the best time to release a stand-alone book." Shintaro Kawakubo continued. advised.
"Okay, come to my office and we'll talk in detail." After the president said that, he turned off the phone.
Shintaro Kawakubo let out a sigh of relief. Now that the president has let me go, the matter of publishing a single volume is almost the same.
......
Early in the morning, Zhang Wei received a call from Kodansha, telling him that Giant was about to release a single.
“Finally the money is coming!” Zhang Wei suddenly lost all sleepiness.
In the Japanese comics industry, there are two parts that really make money. One is the publication of single volumes, and the other is the sharing of various peripherals of comics.
Japanese people love to buy comic books. Many times, even if they have read it in a magazine, they will buy another comic book to keep at home and read it from time to time.
The most common one is the 32-page single volume. Big publishing houses such as Shueisha, Kodansha, and Shogakukan basically publish this kind of single volume.
With 32 single volumes, popular comics are priced at approximately 390 yen excluding tax, ordinary comics are priced at 420 yen excluding tax, and unpopular comics are priced at 450 yen, also excluding tax.
This is also a very interesting rule in the Japanese business system. The more popular the product is and sells well, the cheaper the price. The less popular the product is and the product is difficult to sell, the more expensive the price. Unlike other places, the more popular the product is, the more the price will be increased, and if the product is not selling, the price will be reduced.
That’s why there is news that a certain Japanese product has not increased in price for thirty years. In addition to Japan's thirty-year deflation, Japan's unique business culture is also one of the reasons.
When you are in Japan and see that the price of a certain product has not increased for a long time, there is a high probability that the sales volume of this product is quite good. On the contrary, if you find that the price of this thing has increased, it should be because business is not good.
Based on the selling price of 390 yen for a popular manga single volume, if 100 million copies can be sold, it will be 39 billion yen in sales, and this amount is after deducting consumption tax.
If the author gets 15% of the royalties, it will be 5.85 billion yen, which is a few small goals when converted into RMB.
Although there are only a few comics that can sell more than 100 million copies in Japan, Giant is exactly one of them.
So there are reports that Eiichiro Oda earned US$250 million from "One Piece". This is definitely not just talk. Not counting peripherals, just based on the sales of the single "One Piece", Oda's share is indispensable.
Now that Giant has begun to publish single books, it means money is coming!
Zhang Wei quickly turned on the computer and checked the Japanese yen exchange rate. 100 yen can be exchanged for 0.86 US dollars, which is equivalent to 116 yen for 1 US dollar.
I have to say that the Japanese yen is still strong in this era. If you think about the ratio of 1:160 in the future, you will know how miserable Japan will be harvested in more than ten years.
"Japan makes money and Japan spends it. If I make more money, I will take it home. What is there in Japan worth investing in at this time? It seems that with Japan's national destiny, there seems to be nothing worth buying.< br>
By the way, I remember that Japanese toilet seats were very popular in the past two years. How about setting up a trading company and importing toilet seats from Japan? Forget it, it’s better to just register a brand in Japan, then OEM it in China and sell it as Japanese goods! ”
While pondering, Zhang Wei logged into QQ to see if anyone was looking for him. By the way, he also logged into the mailboxes of NetEase and Google to see if there were any new emails.
In the NetEase mailbox, there are a bunch of fresh advertisements.
In the Google mailbox, there are a bunch of fresh English advertisements, but there is also a normal email signed by Cormac McCarthy, and the sending time is three. It was a little while ago, but it’s still hot now.
“I haven’t contacted this old man for almost a year, and he suddenly sent me an email. I don’t know what it was about. ”
Zhang Wei clicked on the email, read it quickly, and was immediately overjoyed.
“No Country for Old Men is going to be adapted into a movie. It’s really a double blessing!”
……
The time goes back to a few days ago. I have been living in seclusion and don’t want to see anyone. Cormac McCarthy, who was a guest, made an exception and met two guests. They were a pair of brothers. The elder brother was named Joel Cohen and the younger brother was named Ethan Cohen.
These two are the Coen brothers, the famous director duo in Hollywood.
The Coen brothers can be said to be Hollywood's genius directors. In 1984, the two directed the film "Blood Maze" for the first time and won the Dennis Film Festival Jury Prize. This film was later changed by director Zhang Yimou into "Three Guns". 》.
How is the filming of "Three Shots"? Let's not comment for now. Let's just say that the quality of "Blood Maze" is top-notch if it can be adapted by Director Zhang. What's more, when filming this movie, the two brothers People are still newbies.
The two became regular guests at the Cannes Film Festival. In 1991, "Barton Fink" won the Palme d'Or and the Best Director Award at the Cannes Film Festival. In 1994, "Empire" was nominated for the Palme d'Or. In 1996, "Fargo" won the Cannes Film Festival Best Director Award. In 2000 In 2001, "Escape" was nominated for the Palme d'Or, in 2001 "The Absent Man" was nominated for the Palme d'Or, as well as the Best Director Award; in 2004, "Old Lady Killer" was nominated for the Palme d'Or.
Judging from their past results, these two brothers are definitely the darlings of the Cannes Film Festival. As long as they participate, they can at least be nominated for a Palme d'Or.
In addition, the two brothers also made great achievements at the Academy Awards. "Fargo" won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, and the two brothers also won the Best Film Award. Nominated for the Director Award.
Being nominated for Best Director at the Oscars means that the two have entered the ranks of the world's top directors.
Now these two top directors came to Cormac McCarthy because they took a fancy to his book "No Country for Old Men". They planned to adapt No Country for Old Men into a movie.
The work "No Country for Old Men" has been on the market for more than a year. McCarthy's reputation and the quality of the work have indeed made "No Country for Old Men" a bestseller.
After reading this novel, the Coen brothers were not only attracted by the content of the story, but also keenly aware of the value of adapting "No Country for Old Men". So I personally visited the house, hoping to get McCarthy's authorization to adapt the novel into a movie and put it on the big screen.
McCarthy is also a screenwriter himself, so he was naturally very interested in adapting his work into a movie, so he met with the Coen brothers.
In the study, after the three people sat down respectively as guest and host, the Coen brothers chatted about their views and opinions on "No Country for Old Men".
After a long chat, the Coen brothers and Cormac McCarthy had something in common. McCarthy also recognized the abilities of the Coen brothers, and the topic between the three finally came to the script adaptation of the work.
"Mr. McCarthy, we know that you are also a screenwriter yourself, so we sincerely invite you to join in the creation of the script. We also hope that you can give more opinions on the script." Brother Joel said. .
My younger brother Ethan continued: "Of course, when the movie is released, your name will also appear in the screenwriter column."
The Coen brothers obviously know very well that people like McCarthy A great writer of this level will definitely not allow screenwriters to modify his works indiscriminately, contrary to his original intention of creation.
Given McCarthy's status in the literary world, he was qualified to directly deny the script. If McCarthy had said no to the script, the movie probably wouldn't have been made.
So the two brothers simply gave McCarthy a screenwriter position. Even if conflicts occurred during the script adaptation process, there was still room for negotiation.
Hearing the Coen brothers talk about the script, McCarthy smiled slightly and said, "Actually, I have already prepared a script here. Take a look and see how it goes."
McCarthy said, slowly stood up, walked to the safe, turned the combination, opened the door, and started to look for the script of "No Country for Old Men" given to him by Zhang Wei.
Seeing McCarthy looking for a script, the Coen brothers smiled at each other, with disdain in their eyes.
Although the Coen brothers are directors, their screenwriting skills are also among the best in the world. The movie "Fargo" won the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay, and the screenwriters of this movie were the Coen brothers.
Winning the Oscar for Best Screenplay is enough to illustrate the Coen brothers’ strength in screenwriting.
In 2001, the Coen brothers' "Escape from Hell" was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
"The Three Kings" is adapted from "The Odyssey", which is the "Odyssey" in "Homer's Epic".
"Homer's Epic" is known as the first European masterpiece. If it weren't for the Bible, "Homer's Epic" would be the No. 1 novel in Europe.
Adapting "Homer's Epic" is equivalent to adapting "A Dream of Red Mansions" in China.
Imagine trying to remake a new version of "A Dream of Red Mansions". Once it is filmed, there will be people who find fault with it. If it is not filmed well, there will be a lot of criticism, let alone an adaptation of "A Dream of Red Mansions".
The Coen brothers not only adapted "Homer's Epic", but also received an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay, which is enough to illustrate the strength of the two in adapting screenplays.
It was also because of their confidence in their screenwriting abilities that when McCarthy went to get the script from the safe, the two of them showed disdain at the same time.
We are the top screenwriters in the world. How dare we show off our script in front of my Coen brothers?
I really don’t know how high the sky is!
(End of this chapter)