Chapter 149 Top Production

By July, some news began to appear in the media, and well-informed reporters got wind from inside Universal Pictures, and published a report similar to that Universal Pictures might pull the Scorpion King out to shoot an independent film, but the impact It's not very big. There is too much gossip in Hollywood every day. Without confirmation from Universal Pictures, it will not attract too many people's attention.

But Matthew knows this is a fact. The project has already gone through the review process within Universal Pictures, and it is temporarily named. Because some situations are still being discussed within Universal Pictures, it has not been made public yet.

According to Helen Herman, if the financing of this fantasy action film goes smoothly, the production cost will be around 40 million US dollars. If it is not smooth, it may cut 0 million US dollars on this basis.

Universal Pictures will not directly invest too much money in this project, and the production cost is more dependent on financing. Now Matthew is no longer a rookie who knew nothing about Hollywood before, and he has learned enough in the past two years. In fact, Hollywood's major commercial productions basically do not come from any one company, and most of them are made up of multiple investments. There are many movie funds and investment institutions in Hollywood, and they often invest in promising movie projects to make profits.

The investment model is similar to other business investment, the difference is that the investment product becomes a movie.

Movies, especially large-scale commercial films, are often high-risk commercial products. Before a film is released, no one can guarantee that it will succeed. Studios are more resistant to risks, but they are also trying their best to avoid risks.

When possible, everyone wants to make money without taking risks.

After the Independence Day holiday, there was good news from Helen Herman. Whether it was Universal Pictures, or Sean Daniel and Stephen Sommers, there was no objection to him continuing to play The Scorpion King, and the crew was officially established. Although it has not been made public yet, Sean Daniel has already started negotiating with her on Matthew's actor contract on behalf of the crew.

According to Helen Herman, this film needs to be released as soon as possible if it wants to take full advantage of the repercussions caused by the Scorpion King. Universal Pictures plans to launch the film in the summer next year or earlier, and the time is quite tight.

There was also a piece of news that surprised Matthew.

Stephen Sommers is not going to direct this film, but serves as a screenwriter and producer. Like Sean Daniel, he will control the general direction and find another suitable director.

As for the reason why Stephen Sommers gave up directing, on the one hand, compared to his current fame and celebrity status, it was only a small production, and on the other hand, he and Universal Pictures had reached a consensus to plan a film Super big production, the genre is also a series of successful fantasy adventure action films.

"Stephen Sommers is very ambitious now."

In the office of the Angel Agency, Helen Herman said to Matthew, "If you want to put the famous monsters of Universal Pictures into the same movie, it is said that he asked Universal Pictures to pay $50 million for this. The budget, Universal Pictures is also very tempted at the moment.”

Matthew frowned and thought, as if he had seen a movie with a large collection of monsters, which was stuffed with werewolves, vampires, Dracula and many other messy monsters.

Helen Herman continued, "Now Stephen Sommers has a good impression of you, you keep working hard, and if you succeed, we have a chance to compete for the leading actor in this mega-production."

If you fail, you don't have to think about this kind of thing. The male lead of a rookie actor's first commercial masterpiece will fail, and his future will basically be over.

"$50 million..." Matthew was stunned for a moment, "Is this a top-level production?"

Helen Herman nodded,

"That's right."

Matthew didn't have a clear attitude, "Let's finish it."

At this time, he gradually recalled that the monster movie he had seen, remembered that the actor was Hugh Jackman who played Wolverine, the heroine played by the heroine, the movie was not very good, it seemed The box office also failed.

It is conceivable that if he succeeded, he gained a little fame, and then acted as the leading actor in this supposedly big production. As a result, the film box office hit the streets, so he, the leading actor, would probably fall into a doomed situation.

The former Hugh Jackman had Wolverine as a base and had the capital to turn over the book, but he had nothing.

Think about that heroine. After it seems that she failed, she never appeared in Hollywood's first-line productions, and was completely insulated from Hollywood's first- and second-tier productions.

It's also possible that he remembered it wrong. After all, he was only interested in pure entertainment films at that time. He didn't know what the literary film was like. Except for the Werewolf and Vampire series, the movie of the heroine he had watched was not clear. It's not that it has moved to the field of literary films.

However, this heroine can be said to be a lesson from the past. An actress who can successively serve as an absolute top-level production star must have a stronger upward momentum than he is now, and I am afraid that many people are optimistic about it, but the result failed...

Matthew can imagine that if he won the leading actor, the film will fail at the box office, and it is estimated that it will be worse than the actress.

Maybe I can only play soy sauce in Hollywood in the future.

Of course, these are all assumptions. After all, it is very difficult to get a leading actor in a top production. If nothing else, Universal Pictures will tend to use star actors with more box office appeal.

Glancing at Matthew, Helen Herman did not discuss the topic any further, but instead said, "My negotiation with Sean Daniel has just begun, and I made an offer of one million dollars for you."

Matthew nodded, knowing it was just an offer.

Helen Herman continued, "Sean Daniel has already started various planning work. In terms of remuneration, he only planned a budget of 5 million US dollars, which also includes the remuneration of the director and other behind-the-scenes work, you take it alone. One-fifth is unrealistic."

She thought for a moment, "The salary that falls on the contract will probably be around half a million dollars."

Matthew is quite satisfied with this price. Compared with the money invested, there is still a large part of the profit.

He also knew that Helen Herman used herself as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the crew, using him and the Scorpion King to get the crew to use more clients from the Angel Agency.

Such as the heroine and several other important supporting roles.

The Angel Agency worked so hard on him to become the leading actor, not just for the ten percent commission.

But Matthew didn't ask, this was part of the business, and Helen-Hellman and the Angels Brokerage Company provided him with a lot of convenience and resources, but they were not doing charitable actions.

In this project, Helen Herman asked for more than just a male lead.

This is also the reason why she temporarily prevented Matthew from having private contact with Sean Daniel and Stephen Sommers. Once Matthew said the wrong thing, it would bring a lot of trouble to the subsequent negotiations.

"Do you have any special requirements in terms of treatment?" Helen Herman asked.

Matthew shook his head, "You can figure it out in this regard."

As long as the salary is suitable, he has never been very concerned about other aspects of the treatment.

Although he raised money as soon as he said it, and he always paid attention to money, it seemed that he loved money too much and was very upstart, but as far as he knew, the real concern of stars was money, unless there was the temptation to win an Oscar. It is possible to reduce the price. In all the performance contracts, how much to receive is always the most crucial point, because it is the trinity of status, popularity and vanity.

That afternoon, after Matthew left the Angels Agency, Helen Herman came to Universal Studios again and met Sean Daniel. As Stephen Sommers began to prepare another project with Universal Studios, the crew was led by Shaw. En-Daniel is in charge.

At present, the project has been officially approved, but it has not been disclosed to the public due to timing issues, but the crew is just an empty shell for the time being, and the only confirmed one is the production team headed by Sean Daniel.

"Helen, you asked for a personal assistant for Matthew, a private car, a separate dressing room, and travel expenses. These are not problems."

Sean Daniel has no objection in this regard, and Helen Hermant's conditions are not excessive, which is consistent with Matthew's situation as an ordinary actor as the male lead. "But in terms of remuneration, you are asking too much."

He said earnestly, "A million dollars... Matthew Horner is a good actor, but not worth the price."

"But he's the male lead!" Helen-Hellman emphasized. "He created the very popular image of the Scorpion King."

Sean Daniel shook his head, as if he didn't want to talk to Helen Hermando, "Half a million dollars, otherwise I'd rather make a substitution."

What he didn't expect was that Helen Herman did not refute, "I can accept it, but there is one condition."

"Conditions?" Sean Daniel frowned slightly, but he didn't want to change the role of the Scorpion King, so the risk would increase exponentially, and asked, "What conditions?"

Helen Herman lifted the black-rimmed glasses, "I heard that the crew also needs a heroine and a few supporting roles, can you give priority to my actors?"

Originally, she wanted to imitate AA, but her reason told her that the Angel Agency did not have such strength.

This condition is not too excessive, Sean Daniel thought about it and said, "If the conditions are similar, I can give priority to it."

The negotiations between the two sides gradually went smoothly, and in the next few days, an agreement was reached in many aspects.