"The rights to 'Terminator' are in the hands of Helmdale Corporation, a film company backed by British tax-shelter capital that has a distribution agreement with Orion. John Daly, president of Helmdale Corporation, refuses to relinquish the rights to 'Terminator'" , but expressed that we can cooperate with Daenerys Films. I think this plan is feasible, and if a sequel is made, the funds provided by Helmdale can help us share the risk."
"The rights to Tolkien's Middle-earth series and "The Lord of the Rings" are in the hands of Saul Zaenz, the same producer who produced two Oscar-winning films, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Mozart." The copyright of "The Hobbit" is with United Artists. The other party bought the permanent copyright of "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" in 1969 for 10,000 pounds. The copyright in the hands of Saul Zaenz was also from United Artists. Got it. As for "The Silmarillion", the copyright is in the hands of the Tolkien Heritage Foundation. I have contacted three parties, and they all said they could negotiate, but none of them accepted our offer. I think in the absence of a specific production plan, It’s very difficult to get the film and television rights of these three books, and you have to pay a sky-high price.”
"Dave Stevens, the creator of the comic book "The Rocketeer", did not accept my offer. He hopes to talk to you in person. I have inquired and the cartoonist has been looking for cooperation with the film company since last year. Chances are, he hopes to adapt the comic into a high-budget movie. After the summer comic-book adaptation "He-Man" failed at the box office, several companies that were in contact with them backed down."
"The rights to 'Charlie's Angels' are owned by Columbia Pictures, and the TV series was originally produced by Ronald Goldberg's production company. Before becoming president of Fox Pictures, Ronald Goldberg took that company Sold to Columbia for US$40 million. From the end of the series in 1981 to the present, the syndicated distribution and video sales profits of "Charlie's Angels" have been basically squeezed out. However, if we want to buy out all the rights to this TV series , Columbia Pictures’ asking price is US$10 million. This price is too high. Although the TV series lasts for 6 seasons, it now has little replay value, and there is not much profit left from the video sales. We can just buy the film and television adaptation of the TV series. right."
"Mission: Impossible, the TV series is produced by Paramount Television, which has been trying to develop a movie version, and Sidney Garnis said that if you are willing to direct it yourself, Paramount can consider filming Daenerys. industry cooperation.”
"Warner Bros. has also bought the rights to "The Bourne Supremacy". I called Terry Semel specifically to talk, and his reply was similar to Sidney Ganis. By the way, Semel also I said I would call you when I was free in the afternoon."
"Beyond that, here's the good news."
"I got the rights to "Spider-Man" from Canon Pictures for US$200,000. This was the original price when Canon Pictures obtained the rights from Marvel. After the box office failure of "Superman 4" invested by Canon Pictures in the summer, plus this Due to the company's own operating difficulties, Canon has completely given up on the "Spider-Man" plan. However, there are only three years left of the original five-year copyright term. If we do not produce a movie within three years, the copyright will automatically return to Marvel."
"Phantom Studio's offer for the film and television rights of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" is US$300,000. The TV animation version of this comic has received a very good response this year, but it is very difficult to make it live-action. I talked about US$200,000, and "Spider-Man" A five-year contract similar to "Xia Xia"."
"Dead Poets Society, the script price is $80,000."
"'Steel Magnolias', I watched the video tape of the Broadway stage play. It was very touching. The negotiated price for the adaptation rights was US$100,000."
""Fast and Furious", hehe, I really don't know how you saw this movie, Simon, this is a 1955 movie, and it is a B-level movie by Roger Corman. As per your request, $200,000 , Roger Corman sold us all the rights to this movie. I bargained with him for a long time, and he is indeed a smart man who never loses money. The filming budget of "The Fast and the Furious" that year was only more than 60,000 US dollars. I watched the tape and then I had no interest in watching it a second time.”
"As for the others, we are still in contact."
In the conference room of Daenerys Films.
Amy Pascal listed the results of the recent copyright negotiations one by one, then pointed to the thick stack of scripts on her desk and said: "In addition, this week, I have accepted a total of I recommended 60 movie scripts and selected 19 that I think are pretty good. They are all here. You can watch them over the weekend."
On the other side of the conference table, Simon was listening to Amy's report, but he was flipping through the "Spider-Man" contract in his hand.
"Spider-Man"!
This is Spider-Man!
Just launch a "Spider-Man" movie that can earn 7.8 billion US dollars worldwide!
In the era before his rebirth, let alone "Spider-Man", even some second- and third-tier superheroes could no longer be easily transferred by Marvel. Now, for only 200,000 US dollars, Simon has obtained the copyright of Marvel's most popular superhero, which is even a bit incredible when you think about it.
But this is reality.
Constrained by special effects technology, in this era, superhero copyrights, which are difficult to film and television, are far less popular than they were later. Although he had ambitions for the entire Marvel from New World Entertainment, Simon decisively bought the rights to "Spider-Man" in advance.
At the same time, he also secretly made up his mind that no matter whether he can successfully win over Marvel in the future, Daenerys Pictures will firmly hold the copyright of "Spider-Man" in its hands.
As for the remaining 3 years of the copyright period, this is not a problem at all. The worst case scenario is learning from the memory of Constantine Pictures' method of preserving the copyright to "Fantastic Four" and just spending a million dollars to make a B-level movie, so that the contract can be extended for another five years.
Thinking like this, when Amy finished speaking, Simon quickly brought his thoughts back.
After earning more than one billion U.S. dollars from operating the stock index futures market, Simon began to collect copyrights again, and he became less secretive. After all, now is arguably Simon's best chance to easily buy a lot of rights.
Suddenly became a billionaire, or a billion-dollar 'fat sheep', many people were very happy to sell him some copyrights at a high price. But then, if Daenerys Pictures continues to produce more blockbuster movies, any project Simon has his eye on may cause competition, and at that time, it will become very difficult for him to obtain certain rights.
The copyrights Amy just reported, not to mention "Spider-Man" and "Fast and Furious", "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", "Dead Poets Society" and "Steel Magnolias" are all box office hits in the next few years. The best-selling work, "The Rocketeer" that has not yet been obtained, is a grain of 'sand' that Simon mixed in casually.
After the huge wealth was exposed, Simon no longer deliberately did such things. Anyway, most of the copyrights he was interested in were very popular projects, and it would be natural for them to be successful at the box office in the future.
Closing the "Spider-Man" copyright contract in front of him, Simon said to Amy: "Let's continue talking about "Terminator" and Tolkien's works. As long as they ask for the price, we will buy it. As for "The Rocketeer", I will make time Talk to the cartoonist. Try lowering the price for the rights to "Charlie's Angels". US$10 million is indeed too high, but you must make sure to get it. The last "Mission: Impossible" and "The Bourne Supremacy", Since Paramount and Warner are already developing it, forget it for now.”
Being able to win "Spider-Man" and "Fast and Furious", and "Charlie's Angels" can be said to be one step away, Simon is very satisfied. For "Terminator" and Tolkien's Middle-earth series, we can definitely only polish it slowly. Both works are very famous, and the copyright holders will not let them go easily.
As for "Mission: Impossible" and "The Bourne Supremacy", next year the Writers Guild will launch the longest strike in Hollywood history. Even if development has started now, these two projects are likely to be shelved due to the strike. In the end, it was even dragged to ten years later like the original time and space.
Although the longer it takes, the worse it will be for Simon, but he still has many opportunities.
Amy wrote down Simon's instructions on the memo, and then said: "So, what should we do next with the copyrights we have obtained?"
"'Dead Poets Society' and 'Steel Magnolias' are included in the company's production list, and the others are on hold for the time being." Simon rubbed the "Spider-Man" copyright contract in front of him, suddenly remembered something, and asked: "Amy , DC's "Superman" and "Batman", do you think we can win them?"
"The copyright of "Superman" is in the hands of European producer Alexander Salkind. I happen to know this. Alexander Salkind bought the 15-year film and television rights of the "Superman" series, and he also There is an automatic renewal clause, but after the box office failures of "Superman 3" in 1983 and "Supergirl" in 1984, Salkind has stopped the production of the "Superman" series, but still holds the copyright in his hands. Canon Pictures What the industry has previously obtained is only the filming authorization. Counting from the first "Superman" in 1978, there should be about 5 years of copyright left. If you want to film, just like Canon, we should be able to get it. Authorization," Amy said while thinking, and then added: "As for "Batman", the copyright is still in the hands of DC. Warner seems to have been brewing this project. At the beginning of the year, I also heard that they planned to produce a TV series version. Let Bill Murray play Bruce Wayne, I don’t know the latest news.”
Simon imagined Bill Murray, who is good at comedy, playing Batman, and it felt a little funny.
Due to later memories, Simon instinctively felt a natural distance from superhero copyrights. But now, after hearing that the copyright of "Superman" was no longer in the hands of DC, and that Warner also planned to make "Batman" into a TV comedy, he soon felt moved. He looked at his female executive across the conference table again and said: "Ai Mi, do you think it's possible for me to buy DC from Warner?"