I am a literary giant in Europe

Chapter 321 Perfect Ending
As Liu Jin was about to shut down his computer, he noticed a new email in his inbox.

It's a newly delivered email.

Upon opening it, I found a reply from Andy's Detective Agency.

The psychological aspect was also very simple, indicating that he had understood Liu Jin's intentions.

A standard contract should be attached.

They asked for 200 million won and refused to negotiate.

Liu Jin was stunned.

What, you're charging a fee?

But then I thought about it again, and it seemed normal.

Even if he commissions other detective agencies to collect the information, he still has to pay them.

I thought I could get a free meal by asking Mr. Lu for help, but it seems I was wrong.

He wasn't afraid that the detective agency was a scam.

Mr. Lu introduced it; heaven knows what kind of background this detective agency has.

A detective agency opened by Americans in Seoul?
Liu Jin smiled and handed the contract to Chloe.

He wouldn't give such a contract to Mario, not for any other reason than that Mr. Lu was involved, and he would be extra careful, and no one else would trust him.

In the email, he asked Chloe to help review the contract.

He will transfer 110,000 euros to Chloe tomorrow, and Chloe will then transfer the money to Andy's Detective Agency account.

His name, Liu Jin, is probably already infamous in South Korea.

Therefore, it's best to be careful.

He might not even show up again at the end of the deal.

……

Chloe quickly replied to the email, saying there was no problem.

Only then did Liu Jin feel relieved enough to shut down the computer and leap onto the bed.

Eva crawled into bed, while Julie and Adrian slept at the foot of the bed.

Then, turn off the lights.

I went home and fell asleep, sleeping soundly.

Liu Jin slept soundly until dawn.

The next day was sunny and bright.

Liu Jin first brought the three little ones with him...

They can no longer be called the three little ones; Julie and Adrian have grown up.

They often eat raw beef and eggs, and drink milk every day.

The two puppies grew into a big dog.

Eva isn't too old yet, but she can no longer lean on his shoulder like before, though that doesn't affect his running.

Liu Jin would put Eva in the cat carrier.

He carried a cat carrier, rode his bike, and took both of his cats with him to exercise.

After an hour of riding, Liu Jin was also covered in sweat.

The two animals were completely satisfied and went home to rest by the door.

Eva jumped out of her cat carrier and lay down on the sofa.

Liu Jin then went to cook.

After finishing his breakfast, he went out.

Before leaving, he called out to Qianqian's room. Qianqian, wearing pajamas and still half asleep, came out of there.

"I'm going to find Mela. I won't be back for lunch. You'll have to take care of yourself."

"it is good!"

Qianqian yawned, poured herself a glass of hot milk, and sat down.

Without further ado, Liu Jin went into the garage, got on his motorcycle, and sped away.

Today is Saturday, and Singra Publishing House is closed.

However, both Mela and Ottilie were present and continued to be busy with their own tasks.

Upon seeing Liu enter, the two were not very enthusiastic, merely nodding as a greeting.

"Otti, what are you busy with?"

"It's all because of you... I'm submitting another manuscript to Notre Dame University."

"Why don't you just find a lesbian?"

"Forget it, I can give her the other manuscripts, but I'll do this one myself."

"Alright then."

As Liu Jin spoke, he slipped into Mela's office.

She's on the phone.

Liu Jin didn't stand on ceremony and sat down.

A moment later, she put down the phone and looked at Liu Jin sitting across from her.

"Three million and two hundred thousand."

"what?"

"The father trapped in time, Miramax asked for $3.2 million plus a 5% share of the profits, which I did not agree to. Instead, I offered a 3% share of the global box office... It was considered a deal."

"I promised it to director Jean-Pierre Jeunet."

"It was because he insisted that Miramax finally agreed."

"I see."

No wonder Jon Gordon made a point of greeting him at the previous celebration party.

It seems that Miramax was already negotiating with Mela at that time...

It's estimated that "Amélie" gave Miramax enough confidence, and Jeunet's performance also satisfied them.

That works too!
To put it bluntly, the father trapped in time belongs to the category of art films.

Winning awards shouldn't be a problem, but the box office...

Liu Jin recalls that the movie was released in 2020.

It seems that the global box office was only around 20 to 30 million US dollars.

However, the production cost was very low, less than ten million, so the production company made a profit.

However, there is a problem here.

That was when the director of the film was Florian Zeller, a Frenchman born in 79. He was also the screenwriter of "Father". He initially presented the film as a stage play in 07, and then made it into a movie in 19.

The stage performances in the film felt a bit too theatrical. Of course, lead actor Anthony Hopkins delivered a flawless performance befitting an Oscar winner.

The production company is a British and French company...

Well, their distribution capabilities are just average.

Now, it's Miramax, and the director has changed to the more experienced Jean-Pierre Jeunet.

So the production company and director changed, and the distributor was replaced by the more capable Miramax.

Liu Jin estimates that the film will sell at least 80 million copies worldwide.

Because when the original timeline movie was released, it coincided with the global pandemic, and the film market worldwide was sluggish, so the movie's box office performance was naturally dismal.

A global box office of 20 to 30 million?
They've underestimated the prestige and influence of an Oscar Best Picture nomination in Europe and America!
Liu Jin was very satisfied with the outcome of the negotiations with Mela.

"Let's leave it at that, but it would be best to have Brown send a financial auditor to follow up."

"Hehe, you seem to have a lot of reservations about Hollywood."

Previously, Pirates of the Caribbean contracts also included clauses regarding financial follow-up.

Liu Jin smiled and said, "Don't worry?"

"Hehe, I'm even more worried."

As Mela spoke, she waved her hand, got up, and took a folder from the bookshelf.

"I called you here today to talk about the results for the second half of the year."

Statistics are current as of December 10th.

It was time for the twice-yearly accounting again, and Liu Jin immediately sat up straight.

All the royalties from the first half of the year have been deposited into his account.

Liu Jin hardly made any moves, except for spending ten million US dollars a few days ago to acquire Apple stock.

Apart from that, there are only two other major expenditures planned for the second half of the year.

One sum is the estate in Gruson, and the other is the house in Paris, totaling five million and fifty thousand US dollars.

Of course, there are also miscellaneous expenses.

For example, the wages of the four workers on the estate.

Therefore, he hardly touched the royalties from the first half of the year.

Sales of The Old Man and the Sea in North America have slowed down.

Throughout the second half of the year, from June to December 10th, a total of 4.87 million copies were sold.

Pirates of the Caribbean: The First Series sold 9.8 million copies, Pirates of the Caribbean II sold 5.1 million copies, and Pirates of the Caribbean III, released earlier this month, sold 970,000 copies in its first week, taking the top spot. As the final installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy, Random House is taking it very seriously. They started building hype in August, and so far, it seems poised to perform no less well than the first series.

Next year, Random House will be launching a hardcover edition set.

It costs $33.

The three retail prices combined amounted to forty-one dollars.

It's a collection, and a hardcover edition at that, which also includes hand-drawn cartoon character cards by Liu Jin.

We should be able to make another killing!
The French Trilogy, namely Angel, Father, and Childhood Sweethearts, sold a total of 4.1 million copies in North America.

It's all three books combined, don't get me wrong.

The sales of "Life Is Beautiful" are surprisingly good.

Instead of declining in the second half of the year, it showed a growth trend.

The victim groups behind Blumenthal are partly fueling this.

By December 10th, sales had reached 7,394,000 copies.

It ranked third on the North American annual bestseller list.

Moreover, according to a Random House survey, the book still has great potential, and sales are expected to continue to increase next year.

Next up is the girl with the dragon tattoo.

Published in the second half of the year, it sold four million copies.

Fatal Ident performed only moderately, with a total of 1.8 million copies sold throughout the year. This figure is partly attributed to the movie's release, which further boosted book sales.

The response to "The Crucible" was rather lukewarm, with a total of 1.2 million copies sold.

This "ordinary" is relative.

Moreover, this is a work that reflects the darkness of America's social welfare system, making it difficult for Americans to empathize with.

However, because it involves the social welfare system, it attracted the attention of many disability organizations and organizations of vulnerable groups. Their efforts, in turn, sparked interest in the book among many Americans.

This book, along with The Old Man and the Sea, has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, and the results will be announced in mid-April next year.

Also selected was Melissa's documentary "The Crucible: The Truth".

Ms. Luo from Senqu said that there is no need to worry about sales for such award-winning works.

The growth rate won't be fast, but it will be steady. In particular, the attention from disability organizations will continue to drive sales.

Liu Jin nodded, indicating that he understood.

"Fifty First Dates will be released globally before Christmas, so it will not be included in this statistic."

After Mela finished speaking, she pushed a statistics table to Liu Jin.

As Mela recounted the story, Liu Jin's heart pounded.

The success of Pirates of the Caribbean and Life Is Beautiful, in particular, was somewhat beyond his expectations.

As for the other books, most of them were within his expectations.

Liu Jin picked up the spreadsheet, quickly skimming through the data before landing on the final summary.

My throat is a little dry!

He licked his lips and looked up at Mela.

"There shouldn't be any statistical errors in the data, right?"

“Penguin Random House did the statistics once, I also had a statistics company in America do the statistics once, and I also asked a British statistics company to do the statistics three times in total. Random’s data is basically accurate.”

As she spoke, a look of jealousy appeared on her face.

"Congratulations, Liu. Your profits from the America Book Market in the second half of the year totaled $98.7 million."

"Joy and rejoice together!"

"What's there to be happy about? I'm dying of jealousy!"

This data is mainly due to the fact that Pirates of the Caribbean, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and Life Is Beautiful were not included in the statistics this year.

result……

Liu Jin couldn't help but chuckle.

To be honest, this number also surprised him.

……

(End of this chapter)