chapter 118

27 June 1999.

A bombshell exploded in Hollywood.

The epic fantasy literary novel "The Lord of the Rings" created by the famous linguist "JRR Tolkien", a professor at the University of Oxford in England, is about to be adapted into a movie.

The investors are Warner Bros.'s "New Line Films" and the Hollywood genius "Meyers Pictures".

The total investment is said to have reached $300 million.

That's right, the amount of investment increased, and this was Martin's decision after discussing with Warner.

How can the seizure search make a perfect blockbuster, Peter Jackson must be given room to play, 300 million should be enough, this number is more than the 295 million US dollars in the previous life.

Martin's "Meyers Films" invested 160 million US dollars, plus other miscellaneous things such as Martin's actor salary, soundtrack fees, etc., accounting for 60% of the share.

New Line Films invested the remaining $135 million, or 40 percent of the share.

This large investment of "Meyers Pictures" shocked the glasses of countless people inside and outside the circle, this is 160 million, Martin has only been in the industry for how long, and he has earned so much.

Someone calculated an account for Martin, since his debut, book royalties + music royalties + film return on investment + some miscellaneous income, his worth has reached 180 million US dollars.

" The youngest self-made billionaire in history. "

The Los Angeles Times ran such a sensational headline the day after the news broke.

The article said: "It has been nearly three years since the publication of our little genius's first original book "Kung Fu Panda" in 1996, and in these three years, our little genius has developed rapidly in the three tracks of writing, film and music, and has achieved extremely brilliant achievements, even brilliant achievements. "

"Kung Fu Panda has sold 5.1 million copies to date, Ready Player One 4.3 million, and Harry Potter is even more terrifying, selling 3.2 million copies in less than a year. "

In fact, sales figures for the first two books have slowed down a bit since the beginning of 1999, but after the news of Martin's violent beating of Ben Affleck, the flat sales curve suddenly showed an upward movement. "

It is reported that many customers who buy Martin's novels are women, and they take out the banknotes in their pockets not for the book itself, but to support the hero in their hearts, and Martin's actions to help Charlize have gained a lot of hearts for him. But interestingly, many people bought Martin's books and read them, and in turn became Martin's book fans. "

"At the same time, in terms of music, Martin's results are extraordinary…

"There is also film and television, Martin wrote, participated in and invested in several films, the rate of return is also extremely amazing…"

"From the three tracks, Martin not only gained fame and influence, but also financial benefits should not be underestimated, according to this newspaper's statistics, Martin's income in these three aspects is about 180 million US dollars…"

"Our little genius has become the youngest self-made billionaire in American history, and he is the representative of the American dream!"

Of course, if there are positive reviews, there will be negative ones.

Martin's old rival News of the World: "Martin Meyers must have gone with the wind, yes, he relied on his talent to turn himself into a billionaire, but this investment in The Lord of the Rings was an absolute failure." "

"Tolkien's books have always been considered the most difficult to adapt, because they involve the author's imaginary grand world, as well as all kinds of novel races, and his books have so many fans that even famous directors dare not guarantee that they will make movies that will satisfy most fans. "

"Who is Peter Jackson?"

"A small director who has only made some B-grade films, is he capable of harnessing such a grand worldview?"

Martin took out almost all of his net worth and invested in this unknown guy, which is a gamble, if the gamble is lost, then he will lose most of the savings he has earned over the years, and can only obediently go home and ask his parents for pocket money. "

Although the current Peter Jackson is not a famous director, he is not an unknown small director, otherwise the new line in the original timeline would not have invested in him.

And even if Martin loses this 160 million, he still has about 20 million in his hand, which is enough as pocket money!

Just one day after the News of the World article was published, it was slapped in the face by another authoritative media report.

That is the "Fortune" impurity. 

Unlike most media outlets that focus more on Martin's achievements in arts and entertainment, Fortune, as a business magazine, focuses more on financial directions, and it has more information channels for financial industry practitioners.

Therefore, "Fortune" impurity inquired about some different news.

"Martin's development in entertainment is certainly commendable, but we find that this genius is not only in entertainment, but also in the financial sector. "

According to well-informed sources, Martin has invested most of his net worth over the years in Yahoo, Microsoft, Apple and other Internet industries, and so far, these investments have brought him great returns. "

"He is definitely worth not $180 million, but at least $410 million. "

Oh, Martin also invested in a small website called Google, which became the largest shareholder of the Internet company, and this investment is not yet visible to see how effective it is, and it will take time to verify. "

Media coverage of Martin's wealth caused an uproar.

As we all know, the United States is a country that worships wealth greatly, and a new billionaire will definitely attract attention, not to mention that this billionaire is still a child under 14 years old!

Martin's fame began to spread quickly out of the circle, spreading beyond his circle of book fans, music fans, movie fans, spread to the corners of the United States, and then spread to the world outside the United States.

I don't know how many families and parents have begun to use Martin as a role model for educating their children – handsome, healthy, versatile, and profitable, Martin has simply become the perfect child template in the eyes of parents.

It was also from this day that Martin truly became the national idol of the United States.

Even the president of the United States, Bill Clinton, specifically mentioned Martin in an interview, saying: "Martin is our model of American educational success, he proves that happy education in the United States is successful and outstanding, not the so-called foolish education, public schools can produce geniuses." "

But he didn't mention that Martin's public school was in the top rich circle in Los Angeles, and the school's students were all rich children.

Most of the students at this school have tutors to make up classes outside of school.

And because these wealthy people have good educational resources for their children – they donate money to the school every year so that the school can build state-of-the-art buildings and hire the best teachers.

Take the best public high school in the United States, the "Academic Magnet High School" in North Charleston, South Carolina, for example, this school receives an average annual donation of up to 3 million US dollars, and the school district of this school district has to pay the highest real estate tax in the United States.

(PS: Yes, you read that right, the United States also has school district housing. ）

Students at this school, in addition to the main course, must take at least 5 graded courses each semester, including Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Foreign Languages, Art, Physical Education, and more.

The schoolwork is very heavy, and this is not the so-called happy education.

Martin studied in such a public school, and the students of this school have never experienced the "happy education" of "Clinton".

Of course, as the president of the United States, "lying" is a necessary skill, "whitewashing" is a conventional weapon, and "opening the mouth" is an important inheritance.

So what "Clinton" did was just a traditional act of the president of the United States.