Huayu Entertainment: Tianxian really wants to improve

Chapter 249 Twilight City's First Window of Revenue

What is your budget?

"The second and third Twilight movies together would cost at least $100 million to meet the requirements of my script."

Gu Bei sent the prepared budget sheet to Eric.

The biggest improvement compared to the first film was in the actors' salaries.

Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson, who starred in the first film, each received a salary of $50.

But now that the film has grossed over $200 million in North America and over $500 million worldwide, their salaries for the sequel are bound to skyrocket.

Fortunately, Gu Bei had already signed agreements for five films with them and the important supporting actors.

This ensures that they won't have the power to overturn the table during sequel salary negotiations, and therefore won't be able to negotiate exorbitant salaries.

"Is this much necessary?"

Eric was slightly surprised upon hearing this.

Based on his professional experience, the second film is estimated to cost $5000 million.

Filming the two movies back-to-back can significantly reduce actor salaries and production costs, requiring only about $8500 million.

"need!"

Gu Bei said decisively.

no way,
The original Twilight 2 and 3 were absolutely terrible.

The third installment, in particular, was utterly terrible, from the plot to the special effects, making it a disaster for the series.

However, the original novel is not like that. When Gu Bei signed with Stephanie Meyer, Twilight 1 was not even as popular as The Mistakes in Starship.

The series only saw a sudden surge in sales around the time of the third book's publication.

Otherwise, MTV Pictures would definitely renew the copyright, instead of letting Gu Bei acquire it.

Although making money is not shameful,

But Gu Bei still had some sense of shame.
We need to make sure the Twilight fans in this world are eating well.
At the very least, we shouldn't let Robert Downey Jr., the actor from Twilight, get so close that everyone ends up agreeing with him.

"Then I'll take it to the company's green light committee and try to get it."

Eric hesitated for a moment, then immediately agreed.

His biggest backer right now isn't even Peak Entertainment, but Gu Bei, so he's decided to stand firmly on Gu Bei's side.

Eric warmly escorted Gu Bei home.

Only then did he take the budget sheet given to him by Gu Bei.
They went back to Summit Entertainment to negotiate a budget with the Greenlight Committee.

a few days later.

Gu Bei is still busy with the artist's post-production work.

Eric came to him again: "The actors' contracts have been agreed upon, but the Greenlight Committee still has some objections to the total budget. They think the budget is still too high."

"This isn't a project produced by your Peak Entertainment, so why don't you invest less?"

Gu Bei glanced at him and said indifferently.

"Cough cough!"

Eric coughed twice, looking somewhat embarrassed.

They would never skimp on a project like Twilight, which is guaranteed to make money; they'd borrow money to invest!
It's simply the nature of capital; it always seeks to extract the greatest possible profit.

"Edward, get the first round of Twilight's earnings report. Let's go to Summit Entertainment."

Gu Bei packed his things, called his assistant Edward, and got into the car with him amidst Eric's grateful gaze.

His relationship with Summit Entertainment is mutually beneficial; Summit Entertainment's biggest backer right now is Rose Pictures.

But apart from Summit Entertainment, Gu Bei couldn't find a distributor in Hollywood, where distributors have more power, who would ask for such a low price.

Needless to say, the six major players, Sony Classic and Lionsgate will only ask for more than a 20% investment share.

"The male lead received a $1200 million salary, and the female lead received a $800 million salary."

Gu Bei glanced at the film contract he had just negotiated, "Including the salaries of other actors, the total salary for all the actors in the two films is $3000 million, which is much less than I expected."

Eric said, "Karen negotiated the price herself; she's quite familiar with the Twilight cast."

Upon hearing this, Gu Bei revealed a thoughtful expression.

He has recently been looking for a production manager for Rose Pictures. Karen's recent film contract negotiations, which resulted in a total salary $500 million lower than Gu Bei had anticipated, proved her ability.

Moreover, Karen was originally the co-production president of Paramount, and she has extensive industry experience.

That's a pretty good candidate!
After a while,
They arrived at Summit Entertainment.
Summit Entertainment is located in Santa Monica. The exterior of its office building looks much older than Rose Films, but the interior decoration style is very much in the British classical style.

There were many people coming and going, making it much busier than Rose Film Studio.

As soon as Gu Bei walked in, he immediately attracted everyone's attention.

Amidst the surprised or admiring gazes of the crowd,

Gu Bei followed Eric into a large office.
There were six people inside, men and women, all middle-aged, and each of them was a senior executive at Peak Entertainment.

This is Summit Entertainment's Greenlight Committee, the decision-making group in Hollywood used to decide whether a film will be made. It usually includes executives from the production, publicity, and distribution departments.

"Bruce, we have no problem developing a sequel to Twilight, the only problem is the budget."

Bernard Eisinger began to speak in a gentle tone.
He sat in the very center because, in addition to being the founder of Summit Entertainment, he was also a veteran Hollywood producer, most notably for the Resident Evil series, in which he was a producer for every film.

"I have no problem with Summit Entertainment's distribution capabilities."

Gu Bei didn't follow his lead, but instead said to himself, "I'm just simply listing some numbers..."
The North American box office is currently $2.4 million, and the North American box office revenue for the film is $1.3 million.
The overseas box office is currently $2.8 million, and the overseas box office revenue for production is $1 million.
The first window of Twilight generated $2.3 million in revenue.

I believe no distributor could refuse to invest in this kind of film!

Bernard frowned: "Bruce, are you threatening us?"

"No!"

Gu Bei shook his head and said calmly, "I'm just reminding you that if you're not a Green Light Micro Member at Peak Entertainment right now, you'll pass through the Twilight sequel without hesitation."

The reason you are unwilling to approve it now is because you feel that this project belongs to you.

I'm just here to remind you that this project belongs to Rose Pictures!

They've spoiled them!

Gu Bei was very clear that

Bernard and his associates pulled this stunt.
They simply want to increase their investment share.

At times like these, the more you reason with them, the more you incite their greed. Therefore, Gu Bei's attitude was ten times more forceful than when he was dealing with Eric.

Let's vote!

Bernard looked at everyone,

With Eric included, there are exactly seven people.

The voice just fell,

Eric immediately raised his hand.
He was a staunch supporter of the Gubei Party.

(End of this chapter)