Two Hundred and Eighty-Eight-Good Things Come One After Another

Since the filming of "Batman Begins" ended and entered the busy post-production period, Wayne has hardly cared about "The Blair Witch Project."

Even his agent Jimmy had been warned by him not to participate in the film as much as possible and not to meet with that fat guy Harvey. Even if there was something that needed to be discussed, it was best to do it over the phone.

Not only those in the circle, but also many media outlets knew that Jimmy was Wayne's spokesperson, and the two were one. The reason why he warned Jimmy was because he did not want to expose his existence.

Although he has never cared about the operation of this matter, his knowledge of the vampire Harvey Weinstein will definitely drain the value of the film and the crew, and at the same time he will not leave a penny of benefit to Those creators who were scolded.

Even if he didn't deliberately learn about the film, he had heard a lot of rumors through newspapers and staff around him during the period before the Oscars. During that whole month, fans and the media were verbally criticizing "The Blair Witch Project" to the extreme.

Due to the confidentiality agreements and publicity contracts they signed, the several cast members who were pushed out had to continue to appear to promote the film to attract the attention of fans and the media in order to create greater buzz and generate more box office for the film.

As soon as they returned to North America, they knew that they had been cheated. The price of becoming famous in this way was very heavy, but they did not dare to disobey the big fat man's arrangements, nor did they dare to tell the truth, otherwise the liquidated damages would be Give them half their lives.

"I heard that the young director was hired away by Universal Pictures to make another mockumentary-style horror film?"

Wayne asked curiously. Generally, assistant ladies are more concerned about these things. She has always been very aware of these gossips.

"Yes, it seems that Universal Pictures gave him half a million dollars and wanted him to continue to copy "Blair Witch"." Nina nodded and said affirmatively: "A gamble of hundreds of thousands of dollars, this cost It’s not too high.”

After hearing this, Wayne gently scratched the stubble on his chin and had some thoughts in his mind. "You go on."

"Okay. "Blair Witch" was only released for six and a half weeks before it was withdrawn from theaters. The film's North American box office was 141.4 million, and its global total was 2.8. According to figures provided by Coopers and Partners, even if the overseas box office was Some moisture, and it won’t exceed the million-dollar level.

In the end, Witch Studios and Witch Distribution received a total of 1.1% of the box office. We and Harvey Weinstein each shared 50%. "

Nina tilted her head. Regardless of whether the boss could understand it or not, she pointed at the numbers on the form and explained. "You need to sign here, and the share will be transferred to the Greenberg Studio account tomorrow."

"Well done!"

Wayne happily picked up the pen and signed the authorization document. Good things happened one after another this morning, making him feel more relaxed. "This amount is probably less than 60 million U.S. dollars. Excluding our initial investment, we have made almost 50 million U.S. dollars in net profit! Nina, you see, making money is sometimes that simple!"

Except for making a random marketing plan and investing money, Wayne hardly put any thought into this matter. This feeling of enjoying the results while others worked hard really fascinated him.

Wayne couldn't help but sigh in his heart, no wonder everyone scolded black-hearted capitalists, but they all wanted to be capitalists. The feeling of watching others make money for themselves was simply not very satisfying.

"Is there any bonus? Boss."

Nina is also very happy. As long as her boss gets richer and richer, she will never be afraid of losing her job.

"Of course, um, three percent, you and Jimmy get the same amount, both three percent!"

In his eyes, the money is no different from free money. Jimmy is responsible for keeping an eye on it in the early stages, and Nina is also paying attention. Moreover, he has always been generous to the people around him.

As the timeline gradually lengthened, Wayne knew better than anyone that no matter how good his relationship was, he still needed to use greater interests to unite his core team, and money was exactly what he lacked the most.

"Ah! Thank you boss!"

Nina waved her little fist excitedly and screamed excitedly, her eyes filled with money-crazy light.

Wayne sometimes couldn't understand his assistant. Not to mention the first two years, the salary he paid to her and Sergey in the past two years was absolutely sky-high. Nina was in charge of her own life and all external affairs. Contact, Sergey is responsible for the most important security.

But this little girl doesn't care if she doesn't find a boyfriend. She holds fashion magazines all day long and can easily buy the luxury goods there. However, she never buys one. She's like a fool. All she needs is money in her bag. If you put it in your bag, you will almost never spend it again.

"By the way, boss." After the excitement, the assistant lady saw that he wanted to go back to the room to catch up on his sleep, and quickly added: "Harvey Weinstein has been calling and wants to have a talk with you. According to my analysis, the first reason is for Regarding the offline copyright of "Blair Witch", the second thing is that I still don't give up on the Lord of the Rings!"

"This fat man is very calculating. He just said that I'm too busy at this time, so I'll put it off for now."

Wayne shook his head and smiled. The copyright of "Blair Witch" nominally belongs to Witch Studio. Even though the distribution work is mainly done by Miramax employees, the distribution company is also a newly registered Witch Company. This is something he I've thought of it a long time ago.

If this film wants to operate offline, even a simple video tape release requires the consent of both shareholders of the studio, not to mention other TV rights and other things, which are the main money makers.

The reason why Wayne is not in a hurry is that he is aware of the shortcomings of the film. Although the box office has been rising all the way amid the criticism, during this period, all the market potential has been completely consumed. Distributing video tapes and operating copyright and peripheral markets at this time will definitely not maximize profits.

He has been waiting for a successor, and now it seems that the big head of Universal Pictures is good. Since they even hired the director, why not just buy the rights to the film and the sequel?

As soon as the work on "Batman Begins" is finished, he will discuss the matter with Harvey Weinstein. He does not believe in the copyright of a film with a North American box office of nearly 150 million and a global box office of 280 million. Karma is unmotivated.

Even if Universal Pictures is unwilling to buy it, there must be many people in Hollywood who want to buy it, right? As long as they can make money, those production companies don't care if they get scolded.

The main reason is that Wayne doesn't want to expose himself. It doesn't matter to people in the industry, but if fans know that he is the mastermind and the mastermind who has deceived so many people, the aura that has always existed around him will most likely be scolded.

After a year or two, when the public has gradually forgotten about this incident and the anger is not so great, it will not matter whether it is exposed or not. New gossip emerges in Hollywood every day, and the public and media attention , nor will it be focused on one thing forever.

"I'll go back and take a nap. If you have nothing to do, don't call me." Wayne told the assistant and returned to the master bedroom leisurely. No matter how crazy the outside world was because of his video, he closed his eyes and fell asleep peacefully. .

The focus of this publicity and promotion activity, which was prepared in advance, is the currently popular male and female protagonist, Christian Bale to be precise. If it weren't for Naomi Watts' unwillingness, the Warner Bros. public relations department would have wanted to promote their relationship with these two.

This kind of drama, in which the male and female protagonists fall in love with each other, can be said to have been in the hands of Hollywood distribution companies for a long time. Movie fans are naive in some aspects. They hope that the handsome men and beautiful women on the screen can hold hands in reality.

This is the case for most of the actors who broke up and reunited due to the release of the film. Even the time for holding hands, the time for quarrels, and the time for the first date were all planned in advance.

Relatively speaking, director Wayne must be much more famous in the industry, but among movie fans in the 1990s, movie stars were more famous.

After a rare half-day break, Tim Burton led the team and took off from New York again, starting a one-city publicity tour. This process was very grueling, but the main actors enjoyed it.

Everywhere they go, movie fans will receive the creative team with the greatest enthusiasm. The places where Christian Bale appears have become the focus of fans' pursuit as the film's release time becomes longer.

Now he has simply become Bruce Wayne in reality, especially through Warner Bros.'s television stations, which continuously broadcast his appearances at premieres. With almost no effort, he surpassed Michael Keaton and became the heart of movie fans. The perfect choice for Batman.

All this work was not in vain. When the tumultuous opening weekend passed and a new working day arrived, the results achieved by "Batman Begins" were dazzling enough to make everyone in the industry jealous.

"Congratulations, Director Greenberg!"

On the charter flight from Boston to Seattle, Liam Neeson and Gary Oldman waited until the plane stabilized and walked to Wayne to congratulate him.

"Hey, what's wrong with you today?" Wayne opened his eyes helplessly. "This result does not belong to me. It was created by all of us, including you, do you understand? So, there is no need to congratulate me. Why not seize the time and sleep a little longer? There are many activities waiting for you after landing. .”

Ever since he got on the plane, the crew, both actors and behind-the-scenes workers, almost all lined up to congratulate him. He had repeated these words so many times that he couldn't remember.

"Okay." Liam Neeson usually had more contact with him. He shrugged and glanced at Gary Oldman and said, "Anyway, thank you very much for giving us this opportunity to participate in this great movie. "

"Okay! ok! To be honest, I didn't expect that the box office numbers would be so high. However, I reserved these words for the celebration party, but now I say the same thing. Your efforts are what made this film possible." The essential."