Vol 2 Chapter 568: Underworld

Driving through the seaside villa area in Santa Monica, Duke deliberately went to his previous home to take a look, then turned around and drove to the marina area. As soon as he arrived at the parking lot, someone came to lead the way and led him to the long The long trestle.
Although this is a very strictly managed private yacht club, Duke still found a lot of paparazzi along the way, and apparently received relevant information.
To the media and the public, Wallace Lee’s name is not familiar, only those who follow Duke in the circle know that he was once the associate director of the Lord of the Rings trilogy and "Hurricane Rescue", and the independent director A movie will be released soon.
However, Kate Beckinsale is still a bit famous, although he has never been a first-tier actress, after the failure of "Van Helsing", it is a bit reluctant to say that it is a second-tier actress, but it has always been popular before, and now there is no With fewer fans and supporters, in the eyes of entertainment media, there is still value in reporting.
Moreover, well-informed people know that she was unmarried and had a first daughter. This engagement also attracted the attention of many paparazzi and entertainment reporters.
Stepping onto a luxury yacht, Duke saw Wallace Lee and Kate Beckinsale greet them, smiled slightly, and said, "Congratulations."
After finishing speaking, he handed over the prepared gift, and was picked up by a five-year-old girl standing next to Kate Beckinsale.
"Thank you!"
Although he joined only two thousand years later, Wallace Lee was also a member of Duke’s core team, and didn’t say much. After Kate Beckinsale thanked him, he pulled up the little girl and introduced to Duke. "This is my daughter Lily."
"Hi, Lily." Duke bent down. Looking at the little guy, he said, "How old are you this year."
The little girl blinked her eyes and replied slightly shyly, "I'm five years old."
"you are very cute."
After saying this, Duke left, and there were guests coming from behind. He couldn't take up Wallace Lee's too much time.
On the front deck of the yacht, Duke found that most of the people who came to the engagement ceremony were members of his team, and a few were friends of Kate Beckinsale.
What Duke didn't expect was that there were also cameramen taking pictures under the command of Nancy Josephson.
Seeing his agent, Duke walked over, Nancy Joseph urged the cameraman a few words, and then walked with him to the guardrail on the port side.
"What is this doing?" Duke held on to the guardrail with both hands and looked at the cameraman who looked like a media practitioner. Asked, "Have you invited people from the media?"
"Just take some photos, and the photos are mainly Wallace Lee and Kate Beckinsale." Nancy Josephson trimmed the wind-blown hair a little, and said, "They are not you, they need Seize every opportunity."
She turned around and looked at Duke, "Honey. I guess you have forgotten that "Underworld" directed by Wallace and starring Kate will be released next weekend. This film has limited investment and needs Explosive news to attract market attention."
Nancy Josephson is also the agent of Wallace Lee and Kate Beckinsale. Seizing this opportunity is a matter of course. Duke thought about it for a moment and understood it, just like Hollywood's great Some stars are the same. Wallace Lee and Kate Beckinsale certainly will not let go of the opportunity to use engagement hype.
Wallace is better. After all, he is a director. Strictly speaking, Kate Beckinsale can be included in the ranks of past actresses and wants to rise again. It is not a simple matter.
If Duke remembers correctly, once after "Van Helsing", Kate Beckinsale never turned over even after starring in the "Underworld" series.
However, she returned to Nancy Josephson's banner, and there must be a chance in the future.
As for her and Wallace Lee, Duke is not very optimistic.
The reason is simple. The deputy and classmate of Duke is somewhat similar to him when he was young. The chance that the two will eventually get together is very small.
"Duke, if there is a chance..."
Probably as before, I am more optimistic about Kate Beckinsale’s potential and think that she can get enough returns in the future, so Nancy Josephson said, "Find a suitable role for Kate in your film. Well, only starring in a small production like "Underworld", she will never become popular again."
"I will remember."
In any case, this is an agent who has served himself for more than ten years, and Duke will not refuse this small request.
Nancy Josephson understood the truth in moderation, and immediately changed the subject, "I heard that Tina's negotiation had a result?"
"Well, the tripartite negotiations have basically reached a consensus."
There is no need to conceal this kind of thing, Duke said directly,
Time Warner will acquire Duke Studios and Pixar Studios in cash and stock exchanges. In order to solve the investment problems caused by the acquisition, they are in a new round. I will give priority to accepting my funds in the financing of share expansion."
After thinking about the specific figures for a while, Duke said again,
After all, I can probably get about 7% of Time Warner’s shares with the Duke’s studio and a large amount of capital in this transaction. And Steve Jobs became members of Time Warner’s board of directors."
This deal, it seems that Duke is the winner, but Time Warner is not a fool. It is just the copyright of the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings trilogy held by the Duke Studio, which is the gold machine.
To put it simply, this is just the difference between long-term revenue and short-term revenue. From 2000 to the present, even if the Harry Potter series exclude the movie box office, various products have taken away more than 10 billion US dollars in revenue from the global market. .
And with the passage of time, the influence of the Harry Potter series has become more and more popular, and the income brought by it has become more obvious. Although the Duke Studio only holds part of the copyright, it is also coveted by all Hollywood and even the American business circle. Object.
What's more, in this way, Duke was completely seated in Warner's chariot.
In the past, Spielberg has proved the importance of a hugely successful director to a company, and the rise of Duke has also proved his value and even his influence on Warner's performance.
Steve Jobs can make a profit entirely because of Pixar Studio, which is also eligible for the attention of any group company.
In this era, no one will object to the fact that Pixar Studios is the leader of the entire animation industry in Hollywood.
Although the three parties have not yet reached a formal written agreement, this negotiation, which has lasted for several years, is about to end.
The end of this negotiation can bring another benefit. Time Warner Group, Duke and Steve Jobs have become an inseparable community of interests. The parties can concentrate on attacking the opposite market with the greatest potential. May use Warner World to top off Walt Disney's Disneyland.
Today, Warner Group has the dc comic series, the Harry Potter series, the Lord of the Rings derivative series, the Pixar animation series, and the distribution rights of the Transformers series and the Marvel Universe in the Duke plan. These investments are increasing. Production requires an extremely broad market space.
And Time Warner’s products have never been a movie.
Of course, the planned paradise may also be called Warner Fox World.
After Duke’s proposal, after a period of measurement and consideration, Rupert Murdoch and News Corp have revealed their intention to cooperate.
Although Disneyland is more famous, Duke has assembled the power of two major media groups, which is enough to fight.
This engagement ceremony was not complicated. The routine ceremony ended and it was a party. Then, according to Nancy Josephson’s plan, the engagement photos of Wallace Lee and Kate Beckinsale were sent to major universities. The media and websites appeared on many entertainment pages the next day.
Perhaps it is Kate Beckinsale, the English rose that has not been completely forgotten, or perhaps it is the trilogy of the Lord of the Rings on Wallace Lee’s back and the title of the deputy director of "Hurricane Rescue" that played a role. Their engagement news still attracted a certain degree of attention, and the crew of "Underworld" and Warner Bros., who served as the distributor, also made claims for the film.
Since the production cost is only 30 million U.S. dollars, the claimed scale is not large, but it makes a big fuss with the help of Wallace Lee and Kate Beckinsale's relationship.
At the same time, Duke is also working as a platform for the film in the promotion, anyway, he is an investor in the film.
He even shared his views on the film in real-time sharing-"Underworld" is different from any vampire or werewolf movie in the past. It systematically expounds the origins of vampires and werewolves and hundreds of years of grievances, love Audiences of this subject are worth going to the theater.
Probably enough attention has been drawn in advance, and the quality of the film is not bad. "Underworld" was released in North America in mid-November and received more than 27.5 million US dollars in the first week. For a film with a production cost of only 30 million US dollars , This first week box office number is quite good.
Although the film can only be said to be a niche film close to the B-level film, the response to the fixed crowd is good. Such a film cannot become a popular film, as long as the fixed audience crowd attracted is large enough to be profitable.
After Thanksgiving, the North American box office of "Underworld" has exceeded 50 million US dollars. Although this type of film is very hot, there is no problem in recovering the cost through the box office. The subsequent TV and video tape copyrights are basically It is profit.
As a result, the sequel was naturally put on the agenda.
Kate Beckinsale also got rid of some bad luck in recent years by this. In the eyes of some viewers who like "Underworld", he even got the title of ‘Goddess of the Night’. (To be continued...)
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