Six Hundred and Ninety - Do You Want Me to Make Conditions? I Want Venom!

There were almost no invited celebrities at tonight's cocktail party, so Paul, who was waiting not far from the elevator door, became very conspicuous.

The media representatives in the banquet hall were all wondering why the Sony Columbia executive was here. But even Bruce Rosenblum still didn't figure out the other party's purpose during the pleasantries.

Everyone knew that he was waiting for Wayne, and everyone also knew that there was basically no cooperation between Sony Columbia and the young man. This was what made people feel puzzling.

If the master of dark Hollywood movies wants to cooperate with other companies besides Warner Bros., his first choice will definitely be Twentieth Century Fox. Precisely since he entered Hollywood, he has only cooperated with these two movies. The company has cooperated.

"Good evening, Wayne."

The moment the elevator door opened, Paul stepped forward with a smile on his face, under the watchful eyes of countless people in the banquet hall.

"Hi, Paul."

Wayne strode out of the elevator with the same sincere smile, stretched out his right hand, and observed the other person carefully.

The moment the two shook hands, they were actually looking at each other. In Wayne's eyes, this is the image of a typical middle-aged North American local executive, with a meticulous couture suit, neatly styled hair, and a slightly fat belly.

"I wish you in advance that "Charlie's Angels" will be a hit at the box office."

"Hey, Paul." It seemed like he was joking. Wayne said, "This sentence comes from you, an executive of Columbia Pictures, and I'm really uncomfortable with it."

Hearing his ridicule, Paul shrugged slightly, raised the champagne he had been holding in his hand, raised his head and took a sip.

It was obvious that he had been waiting for Wayne as if something was really going on. "Can you find a place to talk alone?"

"Is there something wrong? Can't we talk about it here?"

Seemingly unintentionally, Wayne used the corner of his eye to glance at Bruce Rosenblum, who was staring closely at him not far away. However, his actions were not concealed at all, and were all seen by the middle-aged white executive in front of him.

"I think it's best if we talk alone."

Paul also glanced at the Warner Bros. executives in the distance, the smile on his face not diminishing. "I swear, you will never regret it."

Upon hearing this, Wayne's eyes flashed with a thoughtful look, he waved to a waiter, and whispered for a separate lounge.

Under the guidance of the waiter, the two turned out of the banquet hall along the corridor and came to a VIP lounge. Nina took the initiative to tip the waiter, and after personally making sure there was no one else at the door, she closed the door to the lounge, looked at her boss who had already sat down, and nodded.

"Wayne, you are the most market-savvy genre film director I have ever seen in my half-life career in Hollywood."

No one knows what Paul wants to say, but his face is full of sincerity, and such an evaluation of Wayne is indeed not an exaggeration.

"Strictly speaking, the path you have taken is a path that cannot be copied at all. I have seen many directors with strong artistic stylization, but usually a strong personal style will inevitably bring about the niche of the work. to the wide range of movie fans. On the contrary, you not only retain your own strong dark style, but also take into account the love of popular movie fans..."

Nina and Wayne sat quietly on the sofa together, listening to each other's praise of themselves. In fact, both parties know very well that what they are talking about now has a high probability to have nothing to do with what the other party wants to say, but it is undeniable that facing the other person's unsparing praise can indeed greatly bring the person being praised closer. good impression.

Sometimes human nature is so simple, just like you don't feel disgusted with people who greet you with a smile.

"Speak directly, Paul."

Seeing that the other party had no intention of stopping, Wayne and the assistant lady looked at each other and couldn't help but interrupt the other party. "Why are you looking for me tonight?"

"I don't know if you noticed it, but when "The Flash" was just released, someone was behind that little reporter to cause trouble for you."

Seeing a trace of impatience flickering on Wayne's face, Paul immediately stopped his compliments that had nothing to do with the plan, with a mysterious tone in his tone. "And with the continued reports of James Franco's scandal, it can be said that all the troubles encountered by "The Flash" all come from Paramount Pictures..."

"Huh?!" When the other party said this, Wayne tilted his head and said: "The matter is over, Paul, isn't Hollywood always like this? Besides, don't say there is no Sony Columbia in it. Handwriting, I’m not a fool.”

The six giants of Hollywood have a complicated relationship where they would like to stab each other, but then turn around and smile to cooperate with each other. Not to mention the competition between "The Flash" and "Godzilla", similar things can be said to happen every moment.

The overt or covert methods will basically only stay during the film competition period. Once the winner is determined between the two sides, it is almost impossible to hold on to it. This is the survival logic of the Big Six over the years. If you persist in clinging to it, it will only allow other companies to take advantage.

"No, no, no, listen to me..."

Even though he was interrupted, Paul was not angry at all. He just smiled and waved his hand and continued: "Paramount and Columbia do have some kind of tacit understanding, but all the bad things against you came from CEO Oga Xiong. The command.

This morning, at the Sony Columbia board meeting, the majority of shareholders cast a vote of no confidence in Ohga. In other words, his career at Sony Columbia is over, and if nothing else happens, I will become the next CEO. "

"Ha, congratulations." Since he had received the news in advance, Wayne did not pretend to be pretentious, but said congratulations in a nonchalant manner.

Seeing that he didn't have any special reaction to this news that could shake Hollywood, Paul was slightly surprised, and then continued: "The era of Ohgao has passed, Wayne, maybe we can talk, Sony Colombia creates the possibility of cooperation with you.”

"cooperate?"

"cooperate!"

Having said this, Wayne immediately thought of the little spider. If nothing else, the only project that the two parties could collaborate on was this little spider.

"No, Paul."

Unexpectedly, Wayne shook his head firmly before Paul said the conditions he wanted to impress. "Let's put it this way, Paul. I simply can't spare any time to work on projects with Columbia. There's no need to lie to you on this point. My work plans have already been scheduled after the millennium."

Seeing his immediate refusal, Paul immediately sped up his speech and said, "Listen to me, Wayne, the terms Sony Columbia is offering you will definitely not be lower than those offered by 20th Century Fox for the "X-Men" project. The treatment given above and the work you have to do are similar to the "X-Men" project.

We need you, the superhero master, to construct a complete series development outline for Spider-Man, and even the script. You just need to give enough successful ideas. Believe me, Wayne, this Sony Columbia project will definitely not take up too much of your work energy. All you have to do is control the general direction of the first film..."

"Wow even."

Although Paul was quite sincere, Wayne still looked unhurried. Even under the other person's gaze, he marveled as he took the cigarette and fire from the assistant lady's hand, tilted his head and lit one.

"Do you think I will be short of money? Paul." Along with a large cloud of smoke being spit out, there was also his slurred voice.

"Well......"

In fact, Sony Colombia's biggest capital to impress him is nothing more than a salary that far exceeds the market price, and even offers a sky-high share of the "X-Men" project. No one doesn’t love money. If anyone does, it must be that the price is not high enough. This is the truth that Paul has always firmly believed.

It can be seen that when he thinks about the other party's net worth and the fact that there is no shortage of projects to make big money, his previous confidence immediately becomes less confident.

As an executive of one of the six giants in Hollywood, he can certainly calculate the other party's income from film projects. Even if we put aside the DC series, each of which has earned the other party hundreds of millions of dollars, its subsidiary Greenberg Studios also holds the copyright to popular movie series such as "The Matrix".

Everyone knows that no matter how much salary a director or producer can get, it is just a one-time deal. But as the owner of a 100%-controlled film company, he can earn endless profits from successful film series.

From this aspect, the other party is not only not short of money, but may also be worried about how to invest the large amount of cash flow to preserve its value.

Just thinking about Wayne's terrifying net worth behind his back made Paul feel a little helpless. Now he began to wonder if he had taken his confident invitation to cooperate this time too much for granted.

"Paul, you just said that I only need to work on projects like "X-Men"?"

Just when he was racking his brains to think of ways to make his conditions more convincing, Wayne, who had been silently smoking half a cigarette, suddenly asked this question.

Paul was stunned for a moment, then nodded immediately. "Yes, Sony Columbia needs a beginning that can ensure the success rate of "Spider-Man" and a complete development outline, which will not take up too much of your work energy."

Holding a cigarette between his fingers, he flicked it in the ashtray on the coffee table next to him. Wayne raised his eyebrows and asked with an imperceptible distortion in his voice, "Can I make any conditions?"

"certainly."

Although he was a little confused as to why the other party changed, Paul did not have the time to think clearly. He nodded again and said: "I can guarantee you that not only will you get the top salary package, but you will also gain the friendship of Columbia Pictures... ....”

"I want venom!"

"What?!"

Wayne just used a simple sentence to slowly solidify the atmosphere in the entire lounge.

Seeing the future Colombian CEO's face full of surprise and hard thinking, he didn't care what the other person was thinking and continued in a seductive voice: "Paul, I want the film and television rights to the character of Venom. Money doesn't mean much to me, but I like collecting superheroes with special attributes.

You have time to think about it carefully, or you can wait and see the box office results of "X-Men" before making a decision. My condition is Venom. I can help Sony Columbia Pictures make a film development plan for free without even a cent of the profit from "Spider-Man". The reward is the film and television copyright of Venom. "

"No, you misunderstood."

Paul shook his head. "Even if I become the CEO of Sony Columbia, I don't have the right to give you the copyright to a certain movie character."

In fact, in his heart, he felt that the business was not a loss. Venom was just one of the characters that came with Spider-Man. Even if he sold it, would someone still spend hundreds of millions of dollars to buy it?

Yes, in Paul's mind, as long as the first "Spider-Man" can be successful, he is willing to vigorously promote this plan, even if it means paying Wayne hundreds of millions of dollars in remuneration. Although this price may scare people to death, but think about it from another perspective, which successful DC movie paid him less than this amount?

"That's your business."

Shaking his head with regret, Wayne stood up with a cigarette in his mouth, buttoning his suit jacket with both hands, and nodded. "You can think about it carefully. If you can give me the film and television rights of the Venom character, you can call me at any time."

Nina promptly put down a personal business card of her boss on the coffee table, took one last look at the frowning Paul, and followed her boss out of the lounge.

For Wayne, this is more like a dispensable test. Take the copyright of the superhero Venom, of course he will be happy if he can get it, but even if he can't get it, he won't lose anything, because Venom It wasn't in his plan at all.

But for Paul, this condition made him very uncomfortable.

He painstakingly dug a hole, made his old boss suffer a big loss, and then used his performance over the years to become the CEO of Sony Columbia. All of this went perfectly.

Now there is only one result that can allow him to secure his position as CEO. In a movie company, is there anything more convincing than a successful movie series? Obviously, his idea was "Spider-Man".

It just so happens that in the entire circle of Laiwu, all the superheroes who have achieved success and glory are all more or less related to Wayne, and there is simply no second person who can replace him.

Warner Bros.'s DC movie series, with offline revenue capabilities that are not inferior to Disney's animated feature films, has ranked first among Hollywood studios year after year. Not only is Twentieth Century Fox watching with envy, but other film companies are also looking at it. be envious.

There are always people who can't help but want to try to copy it, but the results are not so gratifying. The green fat man created by Universal Pictures has still not gained market recognition.

Twentieth Century Fox is smarter. No matter what the reason is, they used benefits and favors to successfully tie Wayne to their chariot. This is what Paul wants to copy. He also hopes to temporarily tie Wayne to the Colombian chariot with huge benefits that are difficult to refuse.

Who knows, as long as the first "Spider-Man" can gain market recognition, the subsequent work will be much simpler. On the premise of not changing the style of the film, just keep filming as it is. This can be said to be the Hollywood movie company's best sequel method to make money.

"Venom, venom..."

In the empty hotel lounge, Paul whispered the name, not only thinking about the characteristics that Wayne liked in this hero, but also considering the possibility of meeting his conditions.

However, one idea after another was constantly rejected by himself. There is no way, the six major Hollywood film companies all have one virtue, and that is the copyright insurance vault. There have always been only six movie rights that can be swallowed with open mouths. Once it enters their mouths, it is basically difficult to spit it out.

The same is true for Sony Columbia. He didn't lie. Even if he really became the new CEO, he would be just a professional manager who has reached the top and has no right to give out the rights to movie characters.

Paul needs "Spider-Man" to create a series that continues to be successful and continues to bring a lot of revenue to Sony Columbia. This is a shortcut for him to secure the CEO position in a short period of time. The safest way is undoubtedly to meet Wayne's conditions.

"As long as the film rights are in the six major copyright libraries, basically you don't want to be spit out again. Honey, it's too difficult to expect Sony Columbia to agree to your conditions."

When Wayne took Nina back to the banquet hall, Naomi Watts and others also finished the premiere press conference. Because he didn't have much hope, he told the matter as a joke. .

The Australian actress had the same idea. After listening to the assistant lady's description of the meeting, she deliberately stretched out her white fingers, patted the man on the shoulder, and said pretentiously: "Boy, don't be too greedy. The movie in your hand is There are already a lot of copyrights, do you really like collecting those third-rate superheroes?"

As far as she knows, Greenberg Studio currently holds the film and television rights to Iron Man and Black Widow, and she vaguely heard about Black Panther a few days ago. According to normal people's thinking, these are all second- and third-rate superheroes, and their popularity is not comparable to that of Superman and Spider-Man.

But if you want to turn these heroes into movies, the investment required is not much worse than that of first-class heroes. After all, from a movie perspective, at least the investment in special effects and manpower are the same price, which is totally not worth the loss.

"Nami, what kind of hero is this? It depends on who makes it."

Wayne shook his shoulder violently, shook off Naomi Watts' hand, stretched out his finger and tapped her forehead. "If Paul really has a way to give me venom, then I won't mind and squeeze in more working time."

If he hadn't mentioned "Spider-Man", he really wouldn't have been able to remember Venom. Many years ago, Marvel Comics, which was on the verge of bankruptcy, had to sell the copyright of its most popular Spider-Man movie to Sony Columbia due to the downturn in the entire comics industry.

You know, it's not just a single Spider-Man who sells his body, but also more than 900 heroic characters related to Spider-Man comics such as Venom and Spider-Woman. This is such a huge wealth. Of course, people in this generation do not understand it, but Wayne knows it better than anyone.

In his memory, the copyright deals for basically any well-known superhero were sky-high. He was right when he said that no matter how good a superhero is, whether he can make money depends on whose hands he is.

If these heroes from Sony Columbia were in the hands of Walt Disney in his memory, it would definitely be another story.

More than ten years later, Sony Columbia made a desperate investment of 200 million US dollars to produce "The Amazing Spider-Man 2". However, it did not bring enough surprises at the box office. The 200 million US dollars investment only brought in 700 million US dollars in global sales. At the box office, and more fatally, the reputation of the "Batman" movie collapsed. It can be said that it was unanimously criticized by fans, film critics, and the media.

What's even more fatal is that Sony Columbia's desperate move has also plunged itself into the whirlpool of the financial crisis. Amid internal and external troubles, it had no choice but to cooperate with Marvel Studios, a subsidiary of Disney, and nodded to Spider-Man to join the Avengers.

However, things were so unpredictable. At that time, the entire Hollywood felt that Sony Columbia had no hope in superheroes, but they tinkered with "Venom".

"Venom" was not only a box office hit, but also had an unexpectedly high reputation among movie fans. It can be said that this movie once again brought Sony Columbia back from the line of life and death. This superhero, who was regarded as a life-saving straw, also became Sony Columbia's only remaining weapon against Disney.

"Listen, Wayne."

Since the creative team of "Charlie's Angels" will start a promotional tour early tomorrow morning, the reception did not last too long. Naomi Watts' eyes have never left her two "good sisters" in the movie. When the two women were holding wine glasses and casting glances at them frequently, she secretly stretched out her hand and There was a twist on the man's waist.

"If you dare to invite those two b***hs back to the manor to fool around, then I will take little Fundy and move out overnight."

"You misunderstood me, Nami."

Regretfully taking one more look at Angelina Jolie's towering figure, Wayne reluctantly threw aside some perverted thoughts in his head. Turning his head and looking seriously into Naomi Watts' eyes, he said, "How could I do that? What do you think of me? My dear."

"Treat it like a beast that can get mad at any time!"

The Australian actress saw all the man's actions. The two had known each other for nearly ten years, and she understood some of the thoughts of the man next to her very well.

Before Wayne could say anything, Angelina Jolie walked directly in their direction with a glass of champagne. Naomi Watts slowly narrowed her eyes and watched the other person approaching her.

"Wayne, the reception is about to end, can you take me back?"

Angelina Jolie didn't even look at the Australian actress. She made no secret of her purpose. She raised her chest and raised her head to show off her plump figure under the low-cut evening dress. At the same time, she issued an invitation that adults would understand.

Especially when she saw the man's eyes wandering over her body for the first time, the corners of Angelina Jolie's mouth began to tilt up involuntarily. She didn't care at all about the gazes of the people around her. Instead of hiding, she pushed a few strands of hair behind her ears, exposing her entire face.

At the same time, he also used this action to take another step forward, not only closing the distance between the two parties, but also shrugging the area not covered by his low-cut evening dress in front of the man's eyes.

"Well......"