Chapter 257

In the luxurious dining room of the Presidential Suite, exquisite desserts filled the table. Victoria was wearing yesterday's khaki low-collar shirt. She held the table with her left hand, and picked up a small piece of delicious Napoleon pie with her right hand shaking, her eyes half-open and half-closed. In time, he slowly brought it to his mouth and stuffed it into his mouth.

However, before Victoria could chew, the force of the impact came from behind. Her body shook a few times unconsciously, and the Napoleon cake fell out of her mouth desperately opening and panting, and rolled her feet out on the white oak dining table. It's a foot away.

"My dear, don't you like the breakfast I prepared for you?"

Holding Victoria's slender waist with both hands, Duke leaned closely behind her cocked back buttocks, "Or did I consume too little last night and are not hungry now?"

"I like it..." Victoria turned around, holding Duke's hand firmly in her right hand, and said quickly, "I like everything you have prepared for me, dear, go hard!"

"Then taste it slowly."

Slightly increasing the force, Duke pushed Victoria forward. She just picked up the Napoleon pie and wanted to put it in her mouth. She applied the heaviest force behind her. Not only did the snack fall on the table again, it even hit it. It was too violent, she made a hearty and dripping cry, and her entire upper body fell on the dining table, crushing the exquisite early into ∝≦, countless crumbs, the red cheeks were turning over with excitement. At that time, it was stained with a lot of cream.

Five minutes later, the restaurant was completely quiet, breakfast was completely destroyed, and a man and a woman who were not crazy enough moved the battlefield to the bathroom.

It wasn't until noon that Victoria Adams walked out of the suite after the Chanel suit Duke called for was delivered.

"I will miss you, dear." She seemed reluctant to give up, "Shall we date?"

There was endless expectation in her eyes, as if she had really moved her true feelings because of this night's love.

Duke does not answer this topic. I took a business card with only a string of numbers in my backhand and stuffed it into Victoria's hand, while gently squeezing her cheek, "You can make this phone call in Los Angeles."

"Definitely." Victoria solemnly collected the business card and turned away.

Back in the miserable room like a battlefield, Duke called for room service. Walked to the balcony and dialed Tina Fei's number. What happened last night has passed, and he is back to work again.

Things are going very smoothly. Tina Fei contacted Joanna Rowling's book agent through the publishing house, and she was able to meet the author himself soon and discuss the copyright of the film and surrounding issues.

Duke has no plans to go out in person. First, he is going to return to Los Angeles; second, this is completely unnecessary. The other party is not even a professional writer now. His appearance will only increase the other's attention. In order to increase the opponent's bargaining chip, it is enough for Tina Fei to come forward, not only to keep the price as low as possible, but also to obtain the copyright of one or two subsequent copies at a not too high price.

The experience of Joanna Rowling is indeed sympathetic, and the process of struggle is worthy of admiration, but business is business. Only because of such inexplicable emotions can fools give a price that does not fit the other party's current status.

Moreover. If the Harry Potter series is as successful as it once was, will Joanna Rowling lower her price because she is grateful for him for asking for it?

Do not make jokes. This is a business transaction, not a kid playing family.

Although he hasn't figured out who to work with or whether he should work with someone, Duke still intends to hold the initiative in his hands.

My mother had to stay in Europe to talk about business with some business groups, Tina Fei wanted to contact Joanna Rowling and her agent, and Duke went back to North America by himself. Time is very important to him. If "The Matrix" wants to catch up with next year's summer season, Tolkien's masterpiece wants to be successfully adapted, all need sufficient time to prepare, and "Chicago" is about to drop from North America. He also has North American box office shares that need to be settled with Warner Bros.

By mid-March, the number of North American cinemas in "Chicago" had fallen to about 150, and the North American box office had been unable to grow, with a single-day box office of less than $50,000. On March 15th, it officially dropped from North America.

The North American box office eventually reached a cumulative total of US$185.5 million!

At the same time, the global box office of the film has also passed the threshold of 300 million US dollars. However, as the popularity of the major overseas box office has passed, the film's overseas box office growth rate has also slowed down, and it can only rely on time to slowly accumulate.

Since its release on Thanksgiving Day, "British Patient" has accompanied "Chicago" all the way. Although it won the 69th Oscar nomination list, it has been suppressed by "Chicago" from the North American theater line to the North American box office. Now the Oscar nominees are brought. The coming Oscar effect is basically exhausted. The North American box office has accumulated US$68.75 million, which can be said to be a complete failure in the box office.

As "Chicago" officially went down, Duke's accountant team began to frequently contact Warner Bros. to get the North American box office share as soon as possible. Duke now needs money very much. Nancy Josephson has already worked with Cruise over there. Shi and Paramount Pictures have started contact, if all goes well, this will be a huge investment.

Duke's successive successes have brought great influence. Warner Bros. has always been committed to establishing a good relationship with him, and wants to participate in the investment and publicity of the next film. "Chicago" is almost in the program. The fastest settlement with the Duke's studio.

After the film went offline, after deducting various taxes and fees from the theaters, Warner Bros. got 84.5 million U.S. box office shares from the theaters. According to the announcement and distribution agreement signed with the Duke Studios, they intercepted percent of the North American box office. Ten-That is, 18.55 million US dollars as distribution fees, and 15 million US dollars in advance to promote marketing and other expenses were deducted, and then a total of 50.95 million US dollars went to the Duke's studio.

The Duke Studio immediately paid a series of fees to the various associations and organizations, and made up the remaining one-third of the remuneration of the actors and crew members. The final balance of the book is 45 million US dollars. If you count the original soundtrack of the film, the first round of North American television broadcast rights and Other surroundings, just in a North American market, the pre-tax profit of "Chicago" exceeded 30 million US dollars!

It will take some time to split the accounts in overseas regions, but this part of the money, plus the remaining overseas box office share of "Saving Private Ryan" paid by Warner in February, is enough to support Duke's investment in Tom Cruise's "Mission Impossible" "Project, and start the preliminary work of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy in New Zealand.

Good news soon came from Nancy Josephson. After five rounds of tripartite negotiations, Tom Cruise and Paramount Pictures finally agreed to join the Duke Studio with an investment of 30 million US dollars. In "Mission: Impossible", in order to resolve the final funding source of the project as soon as possible, according to the signed agreement, the Duke Studio not only enjoys the same proportion of the income as the investment, but also owns the corresponding film copyright.

Of course, Tom Cruise agreed to invest in Duke Studios because Duke will fully support him to lead the project, and he is also the largest copyright owner of the film.

US$30 million is not a small number. In addition to the need to leave sufficient funds for the New Zealand project to start, and a large amount of income has been invested in the stock market some time ago, Duke suddenly discovered that his capital chain is extremely tight, especially in The Matrix "According to his vision, the production cost should be at least 80 million US dollars. Now he can't come up with this money.

After all, net worth and liquidity are completely different things.

Nowadays, even if you don't count the gains from buying Microsoft and Yahoo on the stock market, Duke's personal net worth is infinitely close to 400 million U.S. dollars, but most of them have become fixed assets such as stocks and shares, and he Has been increasing the shareholding ratio of Warner Bros. and Victoria's Secret, and liquidity is indeed limited.

"My advice."

In the conference room of the Duke's studio, Duke's accountant David said, "Using the copyright of "Chicago" or some shares of Warner Bros. to mortgage the bank to solve part of the funding problem for the new film.

Duke nodded, agreeing with David's opinion. This is the most normal business behavior.

"Also, Duke."

The speaker is Robin Grande. Although "The Matrix" has not formally established a project, he will definitely serve as the production manager. "We can introduce foreign investment, and Warner Bros. has promoted the review at the fastest speed. We can Accept part of their investment, and this is a science fiction film, we can also think of some ways in advertising."

This is also a method commonly used by Hollywood filmmakers. Duke thought about it and said to the agent lady, "Nancy, once the project passes Warner Bros' review, you will immediately determine the film's investment ratio, announcement distribution, copyright pre-sale and They negotiate, you know where my bottom line is."

Needless to say Duke, Nancy Josephson also understands that this is also related to her future income. If she wants to get more, she must first let the employer get as much as possible.

Nodded, Nancy Josephson suddenly thought of other aspects, "The Oscars ceremony is coming soon, don't you want to attend?"

"I'm not going to attend." Duke looked at Robin Grande. "Robin and I have to go to Australia and New Zealand first, and then to Hong Kong, Warner Asia People are already waiting for me."

Going to Australia is naturally going to the Fox Studios in the suburbs of Sydney, and New Zealand will be the focus of the next few years. If nothing else, he will stay in Australia regularly for the past three to five years.

As for Hong Kong, it's even simpler. One is to go and see, and the other is to meet the two action guides that Warner Bros. contacted.

Warner Bros. has contacted them several times, but they are still unable to negotiate the price. (To be continued...)