American Life

Chapter 226 George Lucas, Salary Negotiation
On July 7, the annual San Diego Comic-Con was held as scheduled.

It's the summer season, and as the last stop before the movie is released, Charlie has booked the most important booth here. Replica models of Mark's armor from several movies are on display, and the crews of three Marvel movies are also here around the clock. interviews and autograph signings.

DC, which is also a competitor, will naturally not miss this good opportunity. Almost directly opposite, Batman also held a grand promotional event, and the Batmobile that stole the show in the movie was also dragged to the venue. .In addition, it also includes the "Watchmen" project, which will be released next year.

It can be said that as soon as you walk into the venue, you can see those COSERs who are familiar with comic images, and there are also many bunny girls among them. These white COSERs wear familiar bunny girl headdresses.It is enough to prove that pb magazine has been deeply integrated into mainstream culture in the past two years.

In addition to Marvel, Charlie's other important IP Twilight also came to the exhibition and announced the news of the sequel.

But compared to Marvel and DC, the two representatives of American comics, what really dominates San Diego is the Star Wars element.

Stormtroopers, Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader...

Ever since Star Wars was released in the 70s, this science fiction series has been widely popular. For a country without history, this science fiction series born in Hollywood has gradually become a cultural calling card.

This phenomenon would not be broken until the complete rise of Marvel 10 years later. And 20 years later, many elements of a certain Chinese game appeared at the San Diego Comic Con...

Charlie watched a tall alien creature with yellow skin slowly pass by him. Keira beside him couldn't help but said: "I heard that George Lucas will also participate in the exhibition this year."

"I hope he doesn't come." Charlie shook his head noncommittally. He didn't want anyone to steal the limelight of the Marvel movie.

If you look at the crowded Marvel booth not far away, you will know that the publicity effect this time is not bad, and there will be a special event in the afternoon. Scarlett Johansson will show up in the tights in the movie, and there will definitely be more people at that time. many.

Unfortunately, Charlie received the news in the afternoon. Not only would George Lucas appear, he would also receive a special award from the organizers of Comic-Con, similar to a lifetime achievement award, in recognition of Star Wars' impact on American culture. contribute.

As the contractor of the booth, Marvel also got a front row seat at the awards event. Kevin Feige was excited to go, but was stopped midway by Charlie.

"You need to stay and be interviewed and sign autographs."

"You can't treat me like an assembly line worker." Kevin Feige felt that his desire was ruthlessly stifled by Charlie Rossi.

"The bonus thing..." Charlie fell into memories.

"F**K YOU. You have to help me get George Lucas's autograph." Kevin Feige handed the pass to Charlie.

On the last day of the exhibition, the label award ceremony was held, and there was an acquaintance sitting next to Charlie in the first row.

"We don't have to fight to the death." Christopher Nolan whispered to Charlie. On the first day of Comic Expo, Marvel announced new news. "The Amazing Hulk" will be released in advance tomorrow, two weeks later. It is the global release of Iron Man 2.From the beginning of the promotion, the copy received by theaters was "The Fantastic Hulk", and Charlie made Warner play around.

"I don't want this either. You have to ask Warner about this." Charlie shook his head and said innocently.

The release date of his own movie has been announced a long time ago. The original plan was to release it separately from Batman. Who knew that the other party would take the initiative to mess with it.

"They are always like this, cutting off promising projects, but investing heavily in some bad movies. Rowling even heard that she was going to sue Warner in the UK. Oh, I said something I shouldn't have said." Christopher realized that he gaffe.

"I don't take anything you tell me in private to heart. I think you are an extremely good director. Maybe in the future you can dominate Hollywood like Spielberg or George Lucas." Charlie He couldn't help but say, and then started poaching.

"So, why not find yourself a good club? I can give you what Warner can give you, and the conditions are better than Warner's."

Christopher refused without thinking: "Sorry, Charlie, I have no intention of switching to anyone else at the moment."

He knew that if Warner knew that he had switched jobs to Charlie, they would probably faint. In addition, they would even receive death threats from fans.

"I respect your thoughts, and my invitation will always be valid for you. No one here can get the same preferential treatment as you." Charlie turned to look at him.

Christopher nodded: "Thank you for your consideration."

After a few words, Charlie and Christopher didn't say another word for the rest of the time. He turned to talk to Zack Snyder sitting on the other side, and Charlie mostly communicated with Bob Friedman. .

In addition to starting filming "Twilight Saga 2" immediately, Charlie also asked Bob to put the "Hunger Games" project on the agenda to prepare for the preliminary preparations.As for the heroine, it has to be Jennifer Lawrence. After the previous beatings, I believe she will become more comfortable.

"Also, Quentin has been clamoring that he has been treated unfairly."

"Find an opportunity for him to come see me."

Finally, amidst the cheers of the crowd, George Lucas, one of the "Four Boys" who ushered in the new Hollywood era, stepped onto the stage.

Twenty years ago, the four of them were still emerging directors, charging against the old order. Now they have become the order itself.

Charlie has met two of these four people before, namely Martin Scorsese and Spielberg. Today he met George Lucas and Francis Coppola. Speaking of which, he is one of these four people. The worst one.

After the brief ceremony, the host asked the audience the most anticipated question, asking what follow-up filming plans George Lucas had after the Star Wars prequel trilogy.

"Except for spin-offs in the form of side stories, the main story has ended. This is an extremely complete story. I don't want to do those continuation works that will destroy the original framework." George Lucas talked about this in A topic that has been said more than once in public.

"He's throwing away his cash cow." Bob Friedman said sadly.

He dreams of creating a magnificent IP like Star Wars, but such an opportunity may only appear once in decades, or may not even occur at all.

For Charlie, he actually never understood why Americans were so enthusiastic about Star Wars. Later he realized that this is a country that was only founded 200 years ago. The entire country does not have any classical stories. From this perspective, it can explain why the Star Wars War can be popularized by all people.

George Lucas himself is also a man favored by fate. He incorporated many metaphors of power struggle into Star Wars. From the beginning, he handled the entire grand project from screenwriter to director, and it can be said that he got most of the follow-up. Income, wealth freedom has been achieved since then.

For a person like him who lacks neither fame nor money, he naturally has no motivation to continue making movies to earn money.

At the end of the ceremony, when the audience and the media had left, Charlie found that the people sitting in the front row did not move.

Bob Friedman noticed Charlie's actions and reminded him at this time: "After the ceremony, there will be a small exchange meeting within the industry, which was requested by George Lucas."

At this time, George Lucas glanced at the people in the audience, looked at these young faces, and couldn't help but nodded knowingly. When he saw Charlie, his movements stopped obviously.

Watching other people surround him, Charlie still sat in his seat, but told Bob beside him:
"Get me an autograph for Kevin Feige."

George Lucas praised Christopher greatly in his speech: "I have read all your works, from the very beginning of Followers to the latest Fatal Magic. You have the same ingenuity as David Lynch. Relying on narrative tricks, Being able to make a movie like a maze, but not that complicated, is what impresses me the most. You will be an excellent commercial film director."

As for Director Zha, there seems to be mixed praise and criticism.

"Movies may not need so many high-speed shots, and don't you think these films are too gloomy?"

Listening to your words, Zack Snyder just nodded and didn't explain much.

If Zack Snyder is still giving some face, he is completely contemptuous of Charlie. In his view, Charlie is a replica of Ted Turner, and he just uses movies as a tool. This tool has once It is a magazine, now it is a movie, and in the future it can become other things, such as games.

In the middle of the exchange, when Charlie was about to leave, he found Charlie and asked Kevin Feige.

"He was still working and didn't have time to come over. To be honest, if you want to find an opportunity to sell your George Lucas Films, you should go to those giants, Disney Warner Universal and so on."

Charlie said casually.

At that time, George Lucas did not think about this issue for a moment, but he quickly discarded this idea. He has been looking for a suitable successor for the past two years.

A young man who is talented enough and has potential, understands the operation of movies, is familiar with the rules of Hollywood, and most importantly, has a pious creative heart and is willing to continue to maintain the vitality of the unique IP of "Star Wars" and give it new meaning of the times.

Now, he seems to have found a suitable candidate, and this person is Kevin Feige.

"Here's the autograph he wants." George Lucas handed the thing to Charlie.

"Can you help me make an appointment with him? Boss Charlie."

"Your worth is much higher than mine. If you have anything to say to him, I can convey it to you on your behalf." Charlie said.

He had just tried to poach Christopher Nolan, so he was quite sensitive to this issue.

And Kevin Feige is his "core asset" and he absolutely cannot leave.

"It's nothing, I just want to express my appreciation to him, that's all." George Luca explained.

"I'll tell him." Charlie nodded.

·
Meeting Kevin Feige again, Charlie threw a cultural shirt with the Marvel logo signed by George Lucas to him.

Kevin Feige looked at the words "To Kevin Feige" on it and couldn't help but exclaimed.

"He actually knows me! That's so cool. What does he say about me?" Kevin Feige then asked.

"He thinks you are a boring guy who only makes vulgar popcorn movies and has no talent at all. I asked you to add this sentence." Charlie said with added jealousy.

Apparently, Kevin Feige was devastated when he heard the news and couldn't help but complain.

"This old guy is too harsh."

In the evening, Charlie meets the four stars of the Twilight Saga.In addition to Kristen and Ashley Greene, who met for the first time, it also includes the two leading actors, Robert Pattinson and Taylor Lautner, as well as four agents.

The reason for meeting the four of them was also very simple: they had not negotiated a salary.

This job was supposed to be done by the producer, but the price demanded by the other party was too outrageous. The news had already been released, and Charlie happened to be in San Diego for final negotiations on the matter.

Charlie asked four people to enter the room one by one. The first one to enter was Robert Pattinson and his agent.

"1200 million, are you sure you're not kidding?" Charlie laughed after hearing the offer from Robert Pattinson's agent.

You must know that in The Twilight Saga 1, Robert's salary was only 200 million US dollars, which suddenly increased six times.

"It will indeed be higher than other actors of the same type, such as Hugh Grant and Henry Cavill, but if the actor is changed, the final box office result will definitely be lower than Robert. I think you should also know this. "The manager from WME said in a leisurely manner.

In Hollywood, there is only one factor that measures an actor's salary: box office appeal.

In Hollywood, there is no question of whether it is expensive or not, only whether it is worth it. As long as more people can enter the cinema, the pay will naturally rise.

From this point of view, as the face of the film, Robert, who became famous overnight and attracted countless fans, is indeed qualified. The other party even bid $1400 million at the beginning. This was the result after a long process.

"I know this too, but the total investment for the entire sequel is only US$5000 million." Charlie looked at Bob with gestures.

"What about the idea of ​​suddenly turning a werewolf into a vampire?"

After all, Taylor's salary is much lower.

"You can let anyone star in this role. Believe me, no one can reach the level of Robert." The other party was confident.

Generally speaking, actors in sequels are paid relatively high salaries, and as a youth movie, the two male and female leads in "Twilight" are extremely important and can almost be said to be irreplaceable.

"1000 million, with a sequel contract, this is my bottom line." Charlie looked at the other person.

In the previous life, the salary of the two leading actors was 1200 million, and Charlie knew that he did not have much room for bargaining.

The bottom line is that Charlie took over the project halfway through, and it would have been a completely different story if he had taken over from the beginning.

As for the third part, the salary of the two leading actors has more than doubled on this basis. Of course, that will all happen in the future.

Considering that the final box office result was approximately US$1.4 million, the box office revenue attributed to the producer should be nearly US$9000 million, with a gross profit of approximately US$4000 million.

Of course, the benefits attributed to Charlie will be greater, after all, the distributor is also PB Pictures.

Moreover, the final box office result of the first part is higher than that of the previous life, and the box office of the sequel will most likely be even higher.

After a long tug-of-war, the sharp-tongued and difficult agent finally agreed to the figure. The 200 million was entirely for the sake of the sequel contract. The agent was really afraid that Charlie would change the protagonist.

Although there is limited room for bargaining with Robert Pattinson, Christine, who then followed his agent in, is completely different.

"Is your father okay?" Charlie didn't mention the movie, but turned to her father.

(End of this chapter)