Chapter 169 Wu Baige was struck

Author: Stupid Old Leek

Chapter 169 Wu Baige was struck

Wu Nianzu also wanted to laugh after he figured it out. Pretending to be realistic is human nature!

If Wu Baige wanted to pretend, let him pretend. Wu Nianzu didn't feel any disadvantage anyway, and he was happy that he took him to meet these Hollywood insiders.

"Hey, James, Stephen, let me introduce you to someone..."

Wu Baige then led Wu Nianzu to meet two white middle-aged men, and the two parties exchanged polite greetings.

Seeing someone suddenly calling him over there, Wu Baige looked at Wu Nianzu feeling a little unsatisfied: "Azu, you first get close to the people here, I'll come back as soon as I go!"

After Wu Baige left, Wu Nianzu quietly listened to the two people in front of him continue to talk without interrupting.

Under Wu Baige's introduction just now, Wu Nianzu knew that one of the two people in front of him was James Jacks, the producer of Wu Baige's first Hollywood movie "The Ultimate Target"; the other was Stephen Sommers,

The monster horror film "Deep Chill", which was released earlier this year, has grossed over 100 million at the box office.

Both of them smiled and nodded to Wu Nianzu, and then continued to discuss the topic. They didn't have too many worries in front of Wu Nianzu, a Hong Kong actor.

"Mr. James, is it really impossible?" Stephen asked.

James shook his head and sighed: "Universal's box office performance last year was not ideal, and there were only a handful of movies that were successful: "Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World," "Skyfall," and "The Big Talker."

Mr. Bronfman Jr. is very dissatisfied with the performance of Universal Pictures in the past two years. Mr. Silver, the director of the film production department, was dismissed. Our "The Mummy" project plan was stopped. The 80 million project, the newly appointed

The production executive didn't have the guts to take the risk and greenlight it again."

"Mr. James, in fact, up to now, the script has been completely changed to have nothing to do with Universal Pictures' "The Mummy" in the 1930s. It is not necessary to discuss investment with Universal Pictures," Stephen Sommers advised.

"Stephen, don't you understand? Universal Pictures is the company most enthusiastic about monster themes in Hollywood. Vampires, werewolves, mummies, invisible men, Frankenstein, etc. are all themes that Universal has developed. It would not be possible if it were changed to another company.

Offer better terms."

"But we have prepared so much for this project..."

"Stephen, please take it easy for now. I have been planning this project since 1992, and it has gone through countless ups and downs. Hollywood is like this, there is no smooth sailing!"

James Jacks patted Stephen on the shoulder and walked towards the others.

Stephen lowered his head and sighed, and was gathering his mood when the handsome Asian young man who had been standing next to him asked with a smile: "Hi, I heard you mentioned mummies. I am also very interested in this subject. I don't mind.

If so, can we have a chat?”

"It's nothing. Mr. James has been preparing for this for 6 years. Many people in the circle know about it."

Perhaps simply because he wanted to complain, Stephen Sommers told Wu Nianzu about "The Mummy", which was once again pornographic.

In 1992, James Jacks, the founder and producer of Alphaville Film Company, came up with the idea of ​​remaking the classic horror film "The Mummy" from the 1930s. Universal Pictures agreed to fund the filming, but the prerequisite was that the production cost must be controlled at around US$10 million.

, because Universal just wanted to make a low-budget horror film.

In the following years, many directors and screenwriters such as Clive Barker, George A. Romero, Joe Dante, Mick Garris, etc. all contacted this project, and the script underwent many changes.

, also discussed different shooting styles.

But without exception, the project failed to get off the ground.

It wasn't until 1997 that Stephen Sommers called Jacks, hoping to adopt the style of "Prince Jason and the Monsters" or "Raiders of the Lost Ark" and make the mummy the protagonist's opponent.

James Jacks was very interested in his idea, and the two of them prepared for several months and submitted an 18-page outline to Universal. Finally, they won the support of the production supervisor Silver, who approved it at the meeting, and received 80 million yuan.

Investment amount.

But before we could be happy for too long, news came that production director Casey Silver had been fired, causing the project to be cancelled.

Of course Wu Nianzu knows what this "Mummy" project is. It is a super profitable blockbuster series. The box office of the three films has exceeded 400 million US dollars. In the third film, the villain Qin Shihuang played by Jet Li.

This also spawned the profitable "Scorpion King" series. The first one grossed 180 million in box office, becoming a landmark movie on Dwayne Johnson's road to superstardom. Although not all of the series starred him, as a spin-off

Being able to make four movies in succession from the side story is already quite profitable.

But Wu Nianzu thought of more after listening to Stephen's words. According to the time of his previous life, the filming of this drama should have already started.

He combined the news from his previous life to analyze from a higher perspective whether this incident was the difference between the two worlds and the butterfly effect.

This has not changed since Bronfman Jr. acquired Universal parent company MCA from Panasonic in 1995.

The biggest difference between this world and the previous life is that the financial crisis happened a few months in advance, which may have caused Bronfman Jr.'s plan to acquire Polygram a few months in advance.

From the beginning to the final success of a huge deal worth tens of billions of dollars, it is very likely that Universal Pictures, a subsidiary of Universal, was scrimping on food and clothing, so the newly appointed production director now does not dare to continue the 80 million dollar deal.

"The Mummy" makes sense.

From the director's point of view, Stephen Sommers naturally knew nothing about this large-scale acquisition that was still going on behind the scenes, nor did he know that he had been affected.

Wu Nianzu probably understood the cause and effect of this matter. He also wanted to laugh when he thought about the young Bronfman who had reduced his family's tens of billions of assets to only one-tenth of his family's wealth in 10 years since the acquisition of Universal.

Bronfman Jr. can be said to be one of the biggest spendthrifts in the United States. In order to buy Universal, he sold his shares in DuPont for 8.8 billion. Two years later, his shares in DuPont doubled, and then his property was constantly squandered.

shrink.

Sometimes I really don’t fear that the second generation of rich people are just hanging around and waiting to die, because your father’s huge wealth has enough money to squander it for 10 generations without any problem, but I am afraid that the second generation of rich people are not capable enough and still want to start a business.

But Little Bronfman is none of his business at the moment. The "Mummy" series in front of him makes him a little itchy, but there are some questions that he still needs to find out clearly.

"Mr. Stephen, you said that this "The Mummy" is a remake of Universal's 1932 "The Mummy". Do you need to obtain the remake rights from Universal?"

Stephen touched his chin and said: "It was like this at the beginning, but after six years of continuous adaptation, the script is completely different from the original, only retaining the two elements of resurrecting the mummy and love. In fact, you said it is a brand new one

There are no errors in the script."

Wu Nianzu also nodded when he heard this. There are many movies with widely circulated themes such as mummies and vampires, not only in Hollywood, but also in Europe.

You can't say that as long as the Mummy's resurrection and romance infringe on the copyright of Universal's old "Mummy" movie, then you Universal are too overbearing.

"I see. Then does Universal hold the copyright to the latest script you just mentioned?"

Stephen was a little confused as to why Wu Nianzu was so concerned about copyright issues, but he did not hide anything like this that everyone in the industry knew:

"Actually, the current ownership of this script is in the hands of producer James Jacks. He has his own independent production company, Alphaville. Of course, I should also have a part in it."

After all, the latest version of the script was modified by Stephen Sommers based on the previous version, so it is considered shared by James Jacks and Stephen Sommers.

Wu Nianzu was overjoyed after hearing this. As long as it was not in the hands of Universal, it should be easy to handle.

"Hey, Stephen, as I just said, I am very interested in the mummy theme. Can you let me take a look at your script? If possible, I would like to buy it at a price that satisfies you." Wu Nianzu said with a smile.

.

Wu Nianzu naturally knows the plot of "The Mummy", but he still has to read the script first, otherwise it would be too weird to say that you want to buy it if you don't even know the plot.

Stephen Sommers immediately refused after hearing this:

"No, no, no, I won't sell it!

You know, I watched the old version of "The Mummy" when I was 8 years old, and I was deeply fascinated by it. I have long wanted to make a Mummy movie, and I hope to be able to shoot the magnificent scenes of ancient Egypt, but I have never been able to

right opportunity.

This script embodies my dreams and hard work for so many years, and I will not sell it unless I am the director!"

Wu Nianzu didn't expect Stephen's reaction to be so strong, and he seemed to have a tough attitude.

If Stephen has such an attitude, then James Jacks, who has been planning this project for 6 years, must be equally generous.

This is a bit tricky.

Originally, according to Wu Nianzu's idea, the optimal strategy was to buy the copyright of the script first, and then the priority would be in his hands no matter how it was operated.

But obviously Stephen and James are not that easy to deal with.

Then read the script first, and then have a good talk with them to find out what their conditions are.

Moreover, he would have to find a professional lawyer to compare and verify whether this version constituted plagiarism for Universal's version. He didn't want to give Universal a wedding dress in vain.

Wu Nianzu smiled at him again: "Stephen, do you know? In addition to being an actor, I am also a famous singer. In addition, I also have a TV station."

"Huh?" Stephen didn't know why.

"So I want to say that I actually have some spare money to invest in you, but you must let me see the script first."

"What? You invest? Do you know how much that is?"

"$80 million."

"You have 80 million?"

Wu Nianzu nodded, but Stephen's first reaction was not to be happy, but to look at Wu Nianzu's doubtful face.

You must know that Hollywood has always been a place where scammers are rampant. Many Hollywood stars have had the painful experience of being defrauded by scammers.

Wu Nianzu sighed, his reputation is still too small!

Wu Baige was still talking to a producer from Paramount. Zhou Runfa came over and said that Wu Nianzu was looking for him. He seemed to have some problem with a director and asked him to go over and help him prove it.

His heart moved, why did Azu get into trouble if he didn't watch, but this little brother asked his big brother for help when he knew something was wrong, which made him feel relieved.

Wu Baige confessed his crime, held his head high, and followed Zhou Runfa back with a swagger, thinking about pretending to be in front of Wu Nianzu again... no, it was to help his new little brother get back on track.

When Wu Baige saw Wu Nianzu and Stephen Sommers, he was about to ask them what happened, but Stephen Sommers preempted him: "Hey, John Wu, this Daniel is really in Hong Kong Island
To be continued...