Chapter 959 Summoning the Dragon

Seeing the copywriting of "Dragon Ball" written by James Huang in front of him, Ronan had nothing to say for a while, and the reasons given by James Huang in the copywriting were also very powerful.

For example, comic-adapted movies are popular in the North American market, and the future prospects of this genre will get better and better.

For example, "Dragon Ball" has sold as many as 180 million sets worldwide, making it the highest-selling comic in the world.

For example, as long as the first one is successful, this comic can be easily serialized, bringing unimaginable huge benefits.

And compared to before, because of the success of the "Dragon Ball" series in the hands of Relativity Entertainment, James Huang is more confident and ready to make "Dragon Ball" a Hollywood quasi-first-tier and even a first-tier commercial production.

James Wong's proposed production budget to Ronan is as high as $130 million!

Of course, Ronan couldn't agree. The main market for Riman is in East Asia. Strictly speaking, there are only two.

Although North America also has a certain audience, it is undoubted that it is a niche type. It is impossible to support such a huge investment by relying on two markets alone.

In the past, there were quite a few Japanese comics that were adapted into movies by Hollywood, and there are many famous works among them.

But these adaptations, as long as the investment is slightly higher, all of them will end up on the street.

Even if James Cameron rolls up his sleeves and plays himself, it can't change this.

Ronan has a special experience, and because of this experience, he has formed a very stubborn cognition: any adaptation that ignores cultural differences will eventually rush to the point where he doesn't even know his mother.

To that end, Ronan turned down Mexican director Guillermo del Toro's mechs and monsters.

It is also impossible for him to invest in such a Japanese manga-themed movie that is destined to cheat.

Japanese comics are very popular, but compared to its narrow market and circle.

For Hollywood's first-line commercial productions, if they want to make enough profits, the North American market must explode, and the global market cannot be ignored.

Japanese manga, which can only be popular in a corner of the country, is not suitable for global film adaptation.

Ronan is not very clear about the development after twenty years, but in the next ten years or so, the theme of Japanese comics is only worth 20 to 30 million US dollars in adaptation.

No matter how high it is, the money invested may be in vain.

Compared with adapting Japanese manga into movies, those film productions that borrow the ideas and settings of Japanese manga and then completely turn them into Hollywood models are more likely to succeed.

There are many successful examples in this regard, such as "The Matrix" and "Inception".

But no one thinks that these movies have anything to do with Japanese manga.

Perhaps, these are the correct ways for Hollywood to open up the subject matter of Japanese manga.

Cultural differences cannot be ignored in the film market.

For example, Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is good for Americans, but it is drowsy for Eastern audiences, and it is far less enjoyable than Old Freak Xu's martial arts films.

But Mr. Xu's martial arts films have no room for survival in North American theaters.

It was impossible for Ronan to give the green light to James Huang's project, but thinking of what Wen Ziren said, Connie contacted James Huang again to ask about the latest status of the "Dragon Ball" project.

After Connie got in touch with James Huang, Ronan chatted with James Huang,

It roughly revealed my doubts about this project.

In any case, James Huang has played a certain role in the development of Relativity Entertainment, and Ronan doesn't want to watch him go down this street.

But people are always changing with the change of status and status, and not everyone will follow the advice of former business partners.

It is no exaggeration to say that most of these people who have been in Hollywood and achieved success are paranoid, and will become more and more confident as they continue to succeed.

This trend is very obvious, and it is reflected in more than 95% of directors, actors and various types of behind-the-scenes workers.

For example, Ronan vaguely reminded Heath Ledger and Paul Walker.

But the former didn't take his words seriously at all, and the latter was obsessed with the speed of racing.

The power of words is sometimes infinite, and sometimes it is extremely weak.

James Huang thanked Ronan for his reminder and kindness, and said that he would treat this project with 120% energy and avoid making various mistakes...

Ronan didn't say anything more, but let Connie focus on collecting detailed information about James Huang and the "Dragon Ball" project.

Since James Huang has already negotiated cooperation with the new partner 20th Century Fox, many matters are on the surface, and the relevant situation is not difficult to find out.

Soon, the specific information was transferred to Ronan.

Twentieth Century Fox has given the green light to "Dragon Ball", signed a cooperation agreement with James Huang Cao, and spent 5 million US dollars from the island country to buy the film and television adaptation rights of "Dragon Ball" as quickly as possible.

Although it bears the title of the world's best-selling manga, the copyright of Japanese comics has always been difficult to sell at sky-high prices in Hollywood.

With the current enthusiasm for comic book adaptations, if an American comic has such sales volume, there is no bid of tens of millions of dollars, and the copyright of film and television adaptations is not even considered.

Twentieth Century Fox has high hopes for the "Dragon Ball" project, and also hopes to create a successful comic-adapted film series in addition to the "X-Men" series.

Therefore, after they settled the comic copyright and James Huang's director contract, they moved very quickly in all aspects, such as determining the production budget of the project.

According to information obtained by Relativity Entertainment, 20th Century Fox has formulated a production budget of up to 140 million US dollars for "Dragon Ball".

At the same time, we are also preparing to invite star actors to play.

For market considerations, the hero will definitely become an American, which is inevitable.

It is said that at the suggestion of James Huang, 20th Century Fox has already invited the famous oriental superstar Xiao Ma to play the role of Gui Xianren, the key teacher next to the actor.

This project, Ronan reminded to no avail, and it involved 20th Century Fox, and finally he wisely chose to shut up.

Since it is useless to say more, it is better not to say it.

Ronan is not surprised that 20th Century Fox is interested in this project, because he has also watched James Huang's "Dragon Ball", and the opening title of that time was 20th Century Fox.

Ronan asked someone to inquire again, and learned a little about the behind-the-scenes situation of this project.

For example, 20th Century Fox took the initiative and approached James Huang to ask for cooperation in "Dragon Ball".

Now, Ronan is completely sure that 20th Century Fox is staring at Relativity Entertainment, and wants to follow the path of Relativity Entertainment, making Relativity Entertainment have nowhere to go.

"It doesn't matter."

In the office, Ronan said to Robert Lee: "Twentieth Century Fox likes it, let them dig it out."

Robert Lee said: "In terms of personnel, they can only target people whose contracts with us have expired. Those who have long-term contracts cannot break the contract because of the invitation of 20th Century Fox. Such consequences are not what the actors and directors are willing to do. acceptable."

Ronan still warned: "Don't worry about personnel, the most important thing in Hollywood is people. But our projects, especially the projects that I'm going to tell you to buy copyrights, must be kept secret."

Robert Lee said: "You can rest assured in this regard, all key projects will be in charge of a professional team directly under me."

Ronan nodded slightly: "Don't be careless."

"I understand." Robert Lee said again: "What about us? Do you want to do something?"

Ronan waved his hand: "Not for now, we have a big plan for 20th Century Fox, so don't make too many moves in advance, so as not to attract their attention."

Robert Lee said: "It just always feels like something has been taken from us."

Ronan said calmly: "The ones that are stolen may not necessarily be the best ones, nor may they be successful."

How many projects did 20th Century Fox snatch from Relativity Entertainment? Are they planning to collect all seven dragon balls and then summon Shenlong?

Let's hope 20th Century Fox doesn't vomit blood then.

Ronan made a simple calculation. In the past year, 20th Century Fox has confirmed a lot of projects that are directly related to Relativity Entertainment.

There are "Pharaohs and Gods" directed by Ridley Scott, "10,000 Years Before History" directed by Roland Emmerich, "Robin Hood" starring Russell Crowe, and the storm disaster blockbuster "Superstorm", "Terminator 4" will never stop filming the Terminator until it disgusts the audience.

Now, there is another "Dragon Ball".

For these large-scale commercial production projects, the lowest production budget is 120 million U.S. dollars, and the highest may even be as high as 200 million U.S. dollars.

Twentieth Century Fox must be able to collect all seven Dragon Balls to summon Shenlong!

Relativity Entertainment also owns the copyright of a Japanese manga. In order to attract James Cameron and get the independent investment rights of "Avatar", Ronan specially asked Robert Lee to go to the island country and bought the manga The film and television adaptation rights of "Gunmeng".

This is the comic that James Cameron had in mind.

However, later things went more smoothly than Ronan expected, "Gunmeng" was not used, and the copyright has always been in the hands of Relativity Entertainment.

Ronan has no plans to adapt "Gunmeng" in the short term.

Still the same problem, if the investment is too high, this kind of Japanese manga adaptation movie is a waste.

If the investment is not enough, the final effect of the film can only be cheating.

As for James Cameron, Ronan felt that the truck driver was destined to spend the rest of his life filling in the "Avatar" hole.

In late September, 20th Century Fox and James Huang jointly held a press conference to officially announce the project "Dragon Ball".

At the same time, good news came from Jessica Felton. At the just-concluded Toronto International Film Festival, "Juno", which participated in the film festival's competition segment, was voted and supported by countless audiences, and won this year's Toronto International Film Festival. The highest award of the International Film Festival - Audience Choice Award.

This made "Juno" instantly famous and became one of Hollywood's most watched small-budget films.

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