Chapter 62： "The Invasion of Evil"

In the next few days, Ryan is busy.

Negotiations between "The Truman Show" and 20th Century Fox have reached an impasse.

Instead, the new cooperation plan, a brand new horror script, has been unanimously approved by the top management of 20th Century Fox.

At the same time, the contact with Touchstone is also very harmonious.

Carter-Eisner, the head of Touchstone, said that not only can it solve the problem of distribution, but it can even accept a large investment from Ryan Studios. The only requirement is the distribution commission, which is relatively harsh.

The film cannot be based on the partner's commission, but can only follow Hollywood's rules, so a relatively high commission is given for the distribution share.

Of course, these can continue to be discussed, the touchstone is more or less, and some percentages can be reduced.

Moreover, just as Helen said, Touchstone didn't plan to invest at all, but found an investment institution, so it took a certain amount of time to invest and investigate, and the funds did not arrive so quickly.

You can talk about it slowly.

There has also been some progress in superhero copyright characters. First, an agreement was reached with Universal Pictures to buy the copyrights of Iron Man, Hulk and Namor at a price higher than the market.

Then, an agreement was reached with Constantine Films to buy the copyright of the Fantastic Four.

To this end, Ryan paid a large sum of money.

The only fly in the ointment is that the copyright of the Fantastic Four in the hands of Constantine Films has a time limit. If you want it not to be taken back by Marvel Comics, you must shoot a low-cost film every once in a while according to the content of the agreement. .

Of course, compared to what happened to the "Fantastic Four" in the previous life, the current situation is not bad.

The first "Fantastic Four" in the previous life had a box office of 330 million US dollars, which was considered a big hit. Unfortunately, starting from the second part, the character design completely collapsed.

The main reason is that the film producer, 20th Century Fox and Marvel Comics, had a falling out.

Well, the final copyright of the Fantastic Four in the previous life still falls in the hands of Twentieth Century Fox.

But the Marvel comics are very strong. In the comics, they directly turned the Fantastic Four into outright villains, and all kinds of greens, and finally announced that they would stop updating.

Ultimately leading to a landslide for the Fantastic Four.

Even in Ryan's impression, the latest "Fantastic Four 2015" is still a dismal box office. Whether the investment cost can be recovered is not a small problem.

So he would rather spend some more money than permanently buy out all the copyrights. He doesn't want to mess with Marvel Comics in the future.

As for buying Marvel Comics?

Even though the sales volume of Marvel comics has declined in recent years, causing the stock price to plummet, but the lean camel is bigger than the horse. If you want to acquire Marvel comics, you still need to pay a very amazing amount of money.

What's more, in the next ten years, Marvel Comics will continue to lose money, and even go bankrupt many times, like a sinkhole, bottomless.

Buying Marvel comics now is definitely not a good choice, there will be opportunities in the future.

Marvel comics without the copyright of a group of superhero characters is tantamount to losing the future. Apart from avoiding some troubles, it has almost no value for Ryan.

In fact, Marvel Comics at this time began to sell their own sons once they were short of money. The reason is very simple. The real sons are valuable, but the godsons are not. For example, the copyright of Spiderman was sold in this way.

However, now some people are willing to buy the copyrights of many superhero characters almost in a package. Even if they are some godsons, or the copyrights of second- and third-tier superhero characters, Marvel Comics still has the capital of a lion.

"Why, are you still considering the superhero copyright of Marvel Comics?"

Sofia Coppola came over and looked at Ryan who was in deep thought, puzzled, and said, "I really don't know why you bought the copyrights of those superhero characters!"

"Could it be that you want to create a second Superman, Batman!"

For Ryan's investment method, she was at a loss. First, she spent tens of millions of dollars to invest in a little-known special effects studio, saying that she planned to produce a 3D animation feature film.

Even among the many Hollywood film companies, only Disney is investing in the production of 3D animated feature films.

It is said that some directors and shareholders of Disney are very dissatisfied with the investment agreement reached in the early years. If the funds had not been used up by Pixar Animation Studios, they would rather withdraw the funds than continue to take risks.

"why not!"

"With the continuous innovation of film technology, there may not be a day in the future when a group of superheroes will be brought to the big screen."

Ryan half-jokingly said: "Just like George Lucas did when he put "Star Wars" on the screen, ILM may not have such technology in the future."

In the future, Industrial Light & Magic really has such a technology.

If you really want to start Marvel Dafa, it is best to acquire a special effects company in advance, such as Industrial Light and Magic, or the newly established Digital Realm.

"I hope you are not in the Arabian Nights."

Sofia Coppola didn't want to continue the discussion. This kind of almost impossible thing, casually put down the script in her hand, said very seriously, "Ryan, I have to say something about the new script."

"The Truman Show!" Ryan asked with a puzzled face.

"It's not this, I'm talking about "The Invasion of Evil Spirits"."

Sofia Coppola organized her words and said, "I originally thought you would write a plasma horror script similar to "Saw", instead of telling about an evil spirit."

"Perhaps in terms of the plot, the writing is very good, but you have to remember that this is a horror movie."

"Evil Spirit is a kind of horror movie." Ryan said undeniably, "Didn't you keep persuading me that I should properly pursue art?"

Perhaps because of the influence of her family, Sophia has always liked to pursue artistry, and some hate commercial films.

"Of course I persuaded you. For example, "The Truman Show" is a very good script. Even if you finally compromised on the commercial aspect, it still retains enough artistry."

"But the current script is completely different. Except for some family concerns, it is still a horror movie through and through."

"I'm afraid that your filming will not be artistic enough, nor will it be supported by the audience." Sofia Coppola expressed her thoughts.

In her opinion, the script of "The Evil Spirit Invasion", whether it is commercial or artistic, will be a failure.

"No, you are wrong."

Ryan pointed to the script on the table, and said: "I never thought of developing on artistry, this "The Evil Spirit" itself is a commercial film."

"It's just that it's not written for most horror fans, but for the female audience."

Who would have thought that for a horror film "The Evil Spirit Haunted", women accounted for 59% of the audience.

Children, young men and women, and women will be the three largest viewing groups in the North American market.

As long as it is approved by one of the groups, it will be difficult to rush to the street.

The only thing to worry about is that in the early 1990s, the North American feminist movement hadn't caught on yet.

Female crowd!

"I still don't understand what you mean." Sofia Coppola showed a puzzled look. As a woman, she really couldn't see that there was anything in the script that could attract her. "At least in my opinion, this script Not at all attractive."

At least she is also a woman.

"That's because you're just a girl, not a housewife with a family."

In this regard, Ryan was quite helpless, and said: "Besides, in your eyes, I am afraid that only artistic scripts are attractive."

You can't talk about horror, family and children with a young literary girl.

Sofia Coppola curled her lips and couldn't help but want to argue, but found that just like Ryan said, she was just a girl, not a housewife with a family and children.

"Maybe you're right, but I still stand by my opinion."

She has her own opinion on this

"Okay, UU Reading Let's put it another way."

"The film was invested by 20th Century Fox, and I don't have a share of the box office. It can be regarded as an attempt." Ryan showed a look that you understand.

Things like this are not uncommon in Hollywood, such as "Hulk" filmed by Ang Lee in his previous life.

However, Twentieth Century Fox is not a fool. It will not prepare the crew of "The Invasion" in January next year, and "Chain Saw 2" will be released in early Christmas this year.

It is conceivable that once the box office of "Chain Saw 2" is not satisfactory, there is no need to prepare for "The Evil Spirit" and give up this cooperation.

Only then did Sofia Coppola realize that Ryan just wanted to use 20th Century Fox's investment as an experiment.

"If Twentieth Century Fox hears about this, they will have to kill you."

"So in order to keep it secret, I will ask for leave to go to Europe." Sofia Coppola took the opportunity to ask for leave.

"No problem. By the way, you can go to England on my behalf to see the filming of the crew." Ryan agreed without hesitation. The only request was to let her go to England by the way.

Sofia Coppola rolled her eyes, and said angrily, "Would you like me to bring a beautiful gift for your little girlfriend?"

Of course she was talking about Monica Bellucci.

"If you hadn't reminded me, I almost forgot that I needed to prepare a gift for Monica."

Ryan suddenly realized, took out a beautiful packing box from the desk drawer, and put it in front of Sophia, "Just help me bring it to Monica, or I have to go to the post office."

At this moment, Sophia was completely speechless.