Chapter 536: Movie Studio Operations

On November 18, the premiere of The Twilight Saga: New Moon was held at Universal Studios. 

As one of the most anticipated movies of the year, The Twilight Saga: New Moon constantly made news headlines.

The entrance to Universal Theater was packed with fans and reporters. The fan base of New Moon had been eagerly awaiting the appearance of the movie's stars for a long time!

Charles and author Stephenie Meyer attended the premiere together and gave interviews.

"The script adaptation for The Twilight Saga: Eclipse is already complete. Now, I'm preparing to adapt the fourth book, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn," said Stephenie Meyer, who was named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world after the publication of Breaking Dawn last year!

The publication of The Twilight Series novels and the high box office performances of the movies brought Stephenie Meyer both fame and fortune.

Charles smiled and said, "For the final installment, Breaking Dawn, we're planning to split it into two parts. In 2011, we will release Breaking Dawn Part 1, and in 2012, Breaking Dawn Part 2!"

Stephenie Meyer was a bit surprised and then shocked, "So you're going to do it like Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by splitting the finale into two parts."

Charles nodded, "That's because Twilight is so popular. Another movie can keep the fans engaged for another year!"

"Charles, you guys are amazing," Stephenie Meyer didn't mind at all; an extra movie meant more promotion for her novels and a significant increase in income for herself.

"Oh, we have no choice, we do everything for the fans," Charles said, looking at Kristen Stewart being interviewed on the red carpet. "Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson also want to give the fans another great movie!"

Stephenie Meyer chuckled, "Indeed, the fans love Twilight. We can't let them down. I'll work with the screenwriters to adapt Breaking Dawn into two movies!"

Warner Bros. started a trend by splitting the finale of the Harry Potter series into Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 and Part 2.

The Twilight Saga was just following the trend.

After her interview, Kristen Stewart ran into Charles in the restroom and pulled him into a stall.

Quickly, they were passionately kissing, and soon Kristen Stewart straddled Charles...

"Baby, this is way too exciting," Charles leaned against the wall, somewhat helpless.

Kristen Stewart just sprayed some freshener, straightened her clothes, and said, "Isn't exciting good? I have to promote the movie soon, and I'll be running around a lot, won't see you for a long time," she said, fixing Charles's clothes. "You've been under a lot of pressure lately, with layoffs during the economic downturn and protests at Capet Square."

Charles waved his hand, indicating it was all routine stuff, "You should hurry out, the movie is about to start!"

Kristen Stewart nodded and left the restroom.

Charles washed his face at the sink and then left as well.

He definitely wouldn't watch the movie. He didn't participate in the fan interaction session or anything like that.

Instead, he went straight to the headquarters office at Universal Studios, accompanied by Adam Ferguson.

As a former senior executive at Universal, Adam Ferguson remained one of the highest-ranking retained executives.

"The difference is really huge. The Twilight series is just too popular," Adam Ferguson said, comparing the movie situations of Universal and Capet. The disparity was evident.

"Market positioning is very important," Charles smiled and glanced at the movie schedule for the next year in his hand.

Universal's major films included The Wolfman and Little Fockers. As for those romance or horror movies, Charles didn't bother to pay attention.

"Is the feedback from The Wolfman test screenings really that bad?" Charles asked.

Adam Ferguson nodded, "The positive feedback isn't high. The Victorian-style visuals might be a plus!"

"It seems that developing horror movies in a commercial blockbuster mode is too hard to succeed," Charles said, shaking his head. "Van Helsing was similar, with production budgets of nearly 160 million dollars. The success of The Mummy had a lot of coincidences."

Then, Charles instructed, "In the future, Universal should focus on producing and distributing big-budget commercial blockbusters and action movies.

Youth or female-centric, romance films should be handled by Capet Pictures, and Marvel Studios will naturally be responsible for the Marvel franchise adaptations.

Matrix Pictures will handle the market for thriller and horror B-movies.

Focus Features will be responsible for distributing foreign films and art house movies."

Charles had long thought this through. As for labels like Icon Productions, they could shut them down since there were no plans to develop projects under them anymore.

Adam Ferguson nodded, "With Marvel Studios now, Universal's market share won't be low!"

Universal's film library had many options, and assigning horror-monster films to Matrix Pictures made perfect sense.

"What's the news from MGM?" Charles had been busy and paid little attention to MGM.

"MGM is accepting bids. Apart from 20th Century Fox, Warner Bros, Relativity Media, and Lionsgate, bidders include Comcast, Fortress Investment Group, and thousands of other capital ventures."

Adam Ferguson kept an eye on MGM, as it had once been one of Hollywood's seven major film studios.

"Still bidding?" Charles thought Comcast would have already taken MGM by storm.

"Yes, the deadline is the end of January next year!"

"I see."

*****

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