The Best Entertainment Era

Although there are considerable differences between the story of the script and the plot of the movie he has seen, Ronan can still confirm that this is Avatar from the background setting.

The project is still years away, and with James Cameron's character, the script is bound to change constantly.

Many of the common Hollywood rules, such as not changing a script once it's finalized, simply don't apply to top directors.

Again, not for top stars.

It is not uncommon in Hollywood for big-name stars and directors to request script changes during filming.

In the next two days of communication with James Cameron, Ronan did not express any opinions on the script. Instead, he had a certain communication with James Cameron on technical aspects, especially James Cameron mentioned that Avatar The male and female protagonists of Use motion capture to shoot almost the whole process.

Motion capture is a new film shooting technology that has emerged in recent years, and it is used in a large number of scenes in the Lord of the Rings trilogy and The Polar Express.

Therefore, Ronan solemnly recommended Peter Jackson's Weta Digital Studio to James Cameron, which is currently the most outstanding motion capture special effects studio in Hollywood. Ge.

In addition, he also mentioned Andy Serkis who played Smeagol.

This one is unique in motion capture.

Andy Serkis, in addition to the motion capture role of Smeagol, has also used motion capture to play the role of King Kong in Peter Jackson's King Kong, which has been transferred to post-production.

Once, Andy Serkis also starred in motion capture as Captain Haddock in The Adventures of Tintin, the absolute protagonist Caesar in Rise of the Planet of the Apes and so on.

He was even called the king of motion capture by the media.

Motion capture technology has developed rapidly, but looking back at Smeagol more than 10 years ago, I still have to admire the strength of the special effects company Weta Studios and Andy Serkis' motion capture.

In terms of special effects, James Cameron has long since given up on the Digital Realm he created because of the filming of Titanic, and he has no idea of ​​pulling out the Digital Realm that is in a bad situation. Cooperate with Weta Studio and Industrial Light \u0026 Magic on special effects production.

Compared to the communication between Ronan and James Cameron,

The negotiations between George Clint and Jon Landau, representing Sandsea Entertainment, can only be described as difficult.

Although the two bosses have confirmed their intention to cooperate and the atmosphere is harmonious, the people below must strive for greater interests for themselves.

In the entire cooperation negotiation, there are dozens of major items that need to be discussed, and there are many small items in each major item.

For example, the major item of James Cameron's remuneration involves basic remuneration, box office share, technology patent royalty, screenwriter share, director share, and so on.

For a top-level production project like this whose future investment budget may reach 500 million US dollars, two months of negotiation between the two parties is considered fast.

If it is slow, it may be about the end of the year.

For example, Warner Bros. has the copyright of Richard Mattson's The Last Man. Although it has been adapted into a movie twice, Warner Bros. is preparing to shoot a new copyright and plans to invite Will Smith to play the leading actor.

The two parties have been talking for more than half a year, but no agreement has been reached yet.

Jon Landau is an established producer in the industry, and he's tough to deal with.

On the office floor where Relativity Entertainment belongs to Sandsea Entertainment, George Clint accompanied Ronan towards the Sandsea Animation Studio: He used all possible conditions to fight for the interests of James Cameron.

Ronan said: Cooperation is cooperation, negotiation is negotiation, and what should be fought for cannot be relaxed.

George Clint said: We should fight for it, of course we can't give up.

Ronan is very clear that Avatar is actually not as good as Titanic in terms of the number of viewers, but in terms of commercial revenue, Avatar is not inferior, or even stronger.

Avatar can do more peripheral projects than big ships.

When will it be discussed? Ronan asked.

George Clint thought about it carefully, and said: The negotiation is more difficult than expected. Jon Landau is very difficult, and it cannot be completed within two months.

Ronan nodded: You can decide for yourself.

The two entered the animation studio. Since Chris Leonard was not in the studio because he went to the zoo to inspect the pandas, his assistant accompanied Ronan and George Clint to look around.

The production of Despicable Me has entered the final stage, and it is expected to be completed around Thanksgiving this year. The Minions project has officially advanced and has entered the stage of on-site production.

Additionally, DreamWorks Animation registered several copyrights.

Since it was noticed that DreamWorks Animation Studios will not cooperate with Relativity Entertainment for a long time, Ronan specifically listed a future plan, such as letting Robert Lee go to the UK to learn from the famous children's writer Cressida Cowell. In his hands, he purchased the film and television adaptation rights of the children's fantasy literature How to Tame Your Dragon for US$5 million.

At the same time, after he listed the brief outline, Shahai Entertainment's screenwriting department also produced an animation script Kung Fu Panda that still needs to be carefully polished, and registered the copyright with the Screenwriters Union and the Copyright Bureau.

This is also the feature film territory that Shahai Entertainment Animation Studio will expand in the next step besides the Minions series.

Chris Leonard went to the zoo to investigate pandas on the spot, which is to prepare for this project.

In addition, Ronan asked the screenwriting department to prepare a brand new animation script based on the combination of primitive man and orogeny.

Although he is eyeing Pixar Studios, Ronan will not give up the development of Shahai Entertainment Animation Studio.

Peppa Pig has become the animation studio's most commercially successful work so far.

This summer, the third season of this animated series was launched. After the preheating and continuous broadcast of the first two seasons, the influence of Pink Pig gradually spread. A star figure in the animation market.

This is directly reflected in the copyright fee for the third season.

NBC TV paid Shahai Entertainment $7 million for the rights to premiere 35 episodes of the third season.

Due to the amazing ratings of the first broadcast among the children audience, the copyright fee for the second round of broadcast is still as high as 4 million U.S. dollars.

In direct proportion to the number of viewers and the copyright fee, there are also peripheral products of Peppa Pig.

In the first seven months of 2004, in the global market including North America, Shahai Entertainment earned a total of 11.7 million US dollars in the peripheral product market other than animation series, including merchandise and peripheral authorization.

This number is still increasing. Relativity Entertainment has internally made market predictions that Peppa Pig alone may bring a total of 20 million US dollars in revenue to Sandsea Entertainment in 2004.

Cartoons, especially the peripherals of popular cartoons, are often very profitable.

Even Hasbro, one of the two largest toy manufacturers in North America, was attracted by Peppa Pig. In addition, Hasbro had a business relationship with Relativity Entertainment, and Hasbro Chairman Brian Goldner came to Los Angeles to visit Robinson. South.

Hasbro is one of the most recognized household brands in the world.

Facing Ronan in the reception room, Brian Goldner said confidently: Hadbaby has always been able to create a broad marketing channel for children's product portfolio and bring strong operational returns.

Ronan didn't answer, and waited patiently for Brian Goldner to continue.

Brian Goldner has a clear mind and has also dealt with Ronan and Relativity Entertainment. He knows that it is impossible to buy out the copyright of the Peppa Pig series. With authorization, Hasbro uses its global channels to sell Peppa Pig products to every market, and this will be a strong alliance and a mutually fulfilling cooperation.

Ronan asked, What kind of licensing does Hasbro want?

In fact, from the perspective of profit maximization, he has no objection to granting partial authorization to Hasbro.

Although Embassy Pictures has relatively strong offline distribution capabilities, has close business contacts with many related businesses, and can also obtain various peripheral products with high quality and low prices from the other side of the Pacific Ocean by way of OEM, but compared For a traditional toy manufacturer like Hasbro, there are still major deficiencies in some aspects.

And authorization is one of the main ways of Hollywood peripheral operations.

Brian Goldner could hear that Ronan was not opposed to licensing, and said with a smile: Hasbro's business covers toys, games and consumer products, and we hope to get the relevant licenses for these three categories of products. .”

Okay. Ronan agreed: Bryan, you can ask someone to discuss licensing with Shahai Entertainment, and I will notify them.

Brian Goldner smiled even brighter: This will be a successful cooperation.

Ronan said: Hopefully we can win together.

I vaguely remember that I once read a report that Peppa Pig created an annual revenue of 1.1 billion US dollars for the company.

This is definitely the most profitable pig ever.

Of course, without too much analysis, it is not difficult to draw a conclusion that more than 90% of these revenues come from animation peripheral products.

In the peripheral operation of animation products, Relativity Entertainment still has a long way to go, and it is very necessary to cooperate with companies like Hasbro.

In order to show the importance he attaches to his partner, Ronan called Shahai Entertainment in front of Brian Goldner.

As for how to talk about it, Ronan will not interfere, but the peripheral authorization will definitely not be sold out, but will cooperate with a small amount of basic authorization fee plus a high sales commission.

After chatting about the authorization of Peppa Pig, Brian Goldner suddenly changed the subject and said, Ronan, you got the adaptation rights of Transformers and Special Forces a few years ago. , when do you plan to start filming?