America gains both fame and fortune

Chapter 591 A New Era of Fairy Tale Movies

If you want to dig a hole, you must have the right tools.

Daniel called suddenly, and Martin had to think of a solution on impulse, and with little time, he could only think of a reliable solution.

Like Bruce said, it doesn’t matter if the other party doesn’t step on it.

When Martin thought about it carefully, the only thing he could think of in the short term was movies.

Daniel took advantage of him last time when the old film library was so-called remake.

Of course, Martin was no pushover, and he casually gave Daniel three projects that might have particularly lucrative rewards.

This time Daniel came again, and brought the new president of Warner Pictures with him, which shows that they are destined to meet.

Martin asked, "Old Bull, which Hollywood movies do you think are so expensive to produce that they make people's scalps numb?"

"Soft science fiction that requires visual effects, superhero movies, and explosive action blockbusters." Bruce thought of the new trilogy that Warner Bros. wanted to plan some time ago, and said, "There are also epic blockbusters, especially magical epics."

The last sentence reminded Martin that among the three old films he gave to Daniel, there was a magical epic, and Warner Pictures had already approved the project.

The production budget was $1.5 million, starring Christian Bale and directed by Ridley Scott.

The other two are also adaptations of fairy tales that are related to magic.

Unfortunately, the latter two have not yet received the green light from Warner's review committee.

Martin searched his memory and it seemed that in his previous life, when he was browsing on his phone, he had seen news about Hollywood's big-loss flops in the UC Shock Department.

For example, "Green Lantern" and Ray's epic films left a deep impression on him.

There is also "A Princess of Mars" which Disney has already started producing.

Martin remembered a classic fairy tale and decided to add fuel to the fire in it.

"Old Bull, find a bookstore as soon as possible." Martin searched on Google and found the relevant book titles. He said, "Go buy two fairy tale books, Jack and the Beanstalk and Jack the Giant Slayer."

Bruce said, "I'll go right away."

Martin reminded him again: "The book should not be too new, nor too old. It is best if it has traces of being flipped through."

Bruce understood: "Leave it to me."

He came out of the studio, deliberately stayed away from the neighborhood, searched five bookstores, and bought two suitable books.

Back in Martin's office, Bruce placed two books on the table.

Martin took them. The two books were very new, but one could tell at a glance that they had been flipped through.

Jessica came in from outside at this time, handed Martin a plan book, and said, "There is not enough time, and it is all blank."

Martin said, “As long as there is a cover, it’s fine.”

He handed the plan to Bruce: "Read it carefully and read it several times."

Bruce took it, opened the cover and saw it was all blank paper. He pulled over a chair and sat down, flipping through the pages again and again.

Martin also started reading the two fairy tale books to familiarize himself with the specific contents that he had long forgotten.

After lunch and a short break, it was almost time for the appointment with Daniel, so the two of them had a brief discussion and set up their desks.

Martin just got back from Missouri and has a lot of work to do in the studio, so he's very busy and his desk will be a little messy.

Several documents waiting for signatures were placed in the front left, with a pen holder and other things standing casually on the side.

Other books and documents are also a bit scattered.

Among them are the books "Jack and the Beanstalk" and "Jack the Giant Slayer".

Under the book, a small part of the crooked plan was exposed, allowing people to see the words "Project" and "Jack".

It was a last-minute idea, so Martin could only dig a hole and wait for Daniel and Jon Berg to come.

A little before 2:30 in the afternoon, Daniel and Jon arrived at the door of Davis' studio together.

"I'm here to talk about the distribution, why do you have to follow me?" the former seemed a little dissatisfied.

Jon smiled and said, "Let me introduce myself to Martin. I want to find more interesting film projects from Martin in the future. How can we not know each other?"

Daniel reminded: "You'd better be careful, Martin is not someone you can mess with."

Jon put away his smile and said, "I know he's not easy to mess with, but you have to understand that we are the executives of Warner Bros., the investors and distributors, and the ones who feed them."

Daniel said no more and went straight into the studio door, with Jon quickly following.

The receptionist came to greet them and led them to the third floor. They knocked on an office door and Martin immediately came out to greet them.

"Come in, please." Martin shook hands with Daniel and Jon and said, "I just returned to Los Angeles from Missouri last night. I have a lot to do today, so things are a bit messy. Don't mind me." Jon noticed that the office was not big and Martin's desk was a bit messy. Maybe he was working on something when they came.

He quickly glanced across Martin's desk and paused when he saw the two fairy tale books.

Jon thought he had observed very carefully. The two books showed signs of having been flipped through recently, as evidenced by the slightly curled corners and the obvious creases on the covers.

People of Martin's age are generally not interested in this kind of fairy tale.

It was not difficult for Jon to make this judgment, and then he had a sense of expectedness. The printed manuscript bound under a book was placed casually, with half of the cover exposed, and words such as Jack and Project could be seen.

Is this a new project?
Jon remained calm and glanced past it, as if he saw nothing.

Daniel made an effort to introduce Jon Berg to Martin.

Martin exchanged a few polite words with Jon and invited them to talk in the reception area.

Daniel got straight to the point and said, "Martin, I heard that you are negotiating with Disney Pictures about distribution?"

Martin said: "Alan Horn is an old friend of ours. He approached me a while ago to discuss cooperation, and I couldn't refuse."

He was equally direct: "The conditions offered by Disney Pictures, just the North American distribution commission, are three percentage points lower than those of Warner Bros., and taking into account the overseas and offline commissions, based on the first John Wick film, the producer's income will be tens of millions of dollars more."

Daniel reminded: "You overlooked one point. The high revenue of John Wick was due to Warner Bros.' extensive global channel operations. Without Warner Bros.' global channels, the total revenue of the film would be discounted."

Martin added: "John Wick 2 is a sequel to a hit movie. Isn't it inappropriate to simply and crudely apply a rigid distribution strategy to it?"

"This involves multiple films from multiple companies, and the situation is very complicated." Daniel knew very well that Kevin Tsujihara could not change, and only the partners below could change: "Warner Bros.' distribution channels can effectively increase the total revenue of a film. If the total revenue is high, you can get more share."

The disagreement between the two sides is a deadlock, and it happened that the current captain of Warner Bros. was the one who made this decision. Martin sighed lightly: "Disney's distribution channels may not be inferior to Warner Bros."

Daniel emphasized: "But in the past few years, Warner Bros. has done the best in Hollywood in various online and offline channels."

"I have been working with Warner Bros. for many years, and you are an old friend of mine. If the conditions between Warner and Disney are not much different, I will definitely give priority to working with Warner." At least half of what Martin said was true.

He looked at Daniel and said, "You know, although the film is produced by my studio, it involves many investors. I must take their interests and opinions into consideration."

Having said that, there is actually nothing more to say.

The two sides simply couldn't reach an agreement.

Jon had prepared a lot to say, but after reading the two books, except for an occasional word, he kept everything else to himself.

Daniel ultimately failed to reach an agreement with Martin and left Davis Studio with Jon.

After seeing the two off, Martin asked, "How was it?"

Bruce had been staying in the corner of the office and observing silently: "The man from Warner Pictures has looked at the desk."

Just because you’ve seen it doesn’t mean you’ll step on it. Martin didn’t ask any more questions and went to Pacific Pictures to find Louise.

On the other side, after Jon separated from Daniel, he immediately returned to his office and asked someone to find the two books "Jack and the Beanstalk" and "Jack the Giant Slayer", and quickly read through them.

He had read the book a long time ago and remembered the main contents.

These classic fairy tales have been adapted many times by film and television companies around the world through animation, film and television.

Jon suddenly remembered that among the three projects provided by Daniel before, two were also related to fairy tales, namely "Peter Pan" and "The Wizard of Oz".

This was a project that Martin Davis was optimistic about, but Daniel schemed against Martin, resulting in Martin not getting the copyright.

Martin is turning around to make other fairy tale movies?

Is a new era of fairy tale movies about to begin?
Jon did not jump to conclusions. He pressed the intercom and called his assistant McDonald, saying, "Go collect some information to see if other Hollywood companies have plans or projects to adapt classic fairy tales, mainly medium or large investments."

"Yes." McDonald did so immediately.

Jon had not yet finished reading a copy of Jack and the Beanstalk when MacDonald returned.

He handed the printed detailed information to his immediate superior and said, "Currently, many companies have launched plans to remake classic fairy tale movies. Relativity Media has invested heavily and found Julia Roberts to run a project called Snow White and the Magic Mirror."

Jon was also looking at the information.

MacDonald continued: "Universal Pictures plans to invest about $1.5 million to shoot and produce "Snow White and the Huntsman". Kristen Stewart and Charlize Theron have already confirmed their participation. Disney plans to combine Grimm's fairy tales such as Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, and Rapunzel to shoot a live-action fairy tale musical..."

Jon nodded slightly and immediately understood why Martin was interested in fairy tales. Many Hollywood companies have plans in this regard.

Other companies have it, and of course Warner must have it too.

Jon's eyes fell on the two fairy tale books. It would definitely not work to simply adapt and film them according to the fairy tale plots as in the past. Perhaps it would be a good idea to combine them?

Jon saw the efforts of many big companies in the industry and felt that it was feasible.

He even had more ideas. The end of Warner's most popular fairy tale Harry Potter series was inevitable. If the new fairy tale movie project was successful...

(End of this chapter)