New York 2006

Chapter 283 The arrival of June

As June entered, Luo Ji flew from New York to Los Angeles to promote the upcoming release of "The Twilight Saga: New Moon."

At the same time, Warner Bros. and Logic Pictures also spent a lot of money and promoted it on TV stations and the Internet. For a time, various media were filled with press releases about the movie.

"The Twilight Saga 2 will be officially released early tomorrow morning."

"Writer Stephenie Meyer, actors Kristen Stewart, Taylor Lautner and Logic were guests on the Oprah Show yesterday to promote the movie "The Twilight Saga"."

"The third trailer of "The Twilight Saga" has been viewed more than 2 million times on YouTube."

“The Twilight Saga became the top-selling pre-sale ticket on Fandango, surpassing Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith. Moreover, the film accounted for 2% of the movie box office during the same period.”

"The Twilight Saga created a pop culture of vampires, HBO's True Blood has been a hit, and The CW's The Vampire Diaries pilot aired earlier this month, becoming the network's first new series pilot. The series that attracts the largest number of viewers. The TV series is expected to be officially launched in September."

"There are rumors that Taylor Lautner and Logic will take off their shirts and go bare-chested in The Twilight Saga 2."

Luo Ji's face darkened after reading this report. He looked at Logic Pictures' new CEO Yang Yanzi next to him and complained, "Are you still using male sex to attract audiences to the cinema?"

Yang Yanzi chuckled: "Of course, it's not just men who are lustful, women are also lustful."

Luo Ji rolled his eyes speechlessly, then put the newspaper in his hand on the table, looked at her and said, "Is there anything I need to cooperate with in the next promotion? I have plenty of time now."

Yang Yanzi shook her head: "Not yet. We have already promoted what should be promoted. Next, we have to wait for the first weekend box office to come out and make a decision based on the situation."

"Okay." Luo Ji said helplessly.

Since the various company structures have been adjusted, Luo Ji usually spends four hours a day on work, and can finish it in six hours at most.

He suddenly had a lot more time, and suddenly he didn't know what to do when he was free from his busy schedule.This made him a little uncomfortable.

Yang Yanzi then said: "Stephanie Meyer wants to see you."

Luo Ji said, "Is it for the film and television rights of her new novel "The Host"?"

"Yes."

Luo Ji rubbed his chin and thought about it. Stephenie Meyer's "Twilight" created the popular culture of teenage vampires and has become a series comparable to "Harry Potter".

Her new work "The Host" has naturally received increasing attention, and many companies have joined the bidding for film and television rights. Logic Pictures, as an old partner, is of course no exception.

But Stephenie Meyer's bid for "The Host" was very high, reaching $500 million.

Many companies hesitated, and Luo Ji's company was no exception.This is not because she is unattractive. The real reason is because "The Host" did not perform well in the book market, which explains everything.

Luo Ji was still nostalgic, and this beautiful young woman's "Twilight Saga" had brought him too many benefits.

He thought for a while and said: "Well, I have other things to do these two days, so you can ask her to come to me the day after tomorrow."

"Ok."

…………

It had been a week since the company started reforming, and of course Luo Ji also wanted to check and accept the results and conduct an on-site inspection.

Luo Ji has basically visited the company in New York, but he has not yet visited the company in Los Angeles.Recently coming to Los Angeles, he has been busy promoting movies and has no time.

Since I have some free time these days, let’s take a look.

The first stop was, of course, the place where I started, Logic Pictures, which I had just visited.

After nearly three years of development, this company has become a comprehensive second-tier Hollywood film and television company.Production includes TV series, movies and music videos.

Oh, by the way, there are also documentaries.

He invested in and bought the film and television rights to the dolphin documentary about the director that he met at the Oscars.The company is barely involved in the documentary field.

This year is considered the most important year for the company. The TV series "Westworld" and "The Vampire Diaries" have been pre-ordered by the TV station for two seasons, which is a good start.

The movie "The Twilight Saga" is about to be released, and the horror movie "Deus Ex Machina" will also be released on Halloween this year. The production of "World War Z" also went smoothly.

If these are successful, his company will reach a higher level and become a pivotal film and television company in Hollywood.

Luo Ji walked out of the company and as soon as he got to the car, he received a call from his girlfriend Christine.

A gentle voice came from the other side: "Honey, where are you?"

"I just came out of the movie studio and was going to take a look at Marvel Studios."

Christine immediately said eagerly: "I'm going to find you!"

"Uh... okay. Can we meet up at Marvel Studios?"

"Ok."

……

Burbank, Los Angeles, is small, with only 11 residents here.

But here are the world's most famous media and entertainment companies.For example, Disney, NBC, Warner Group, etc., this place is also known as the "Media Capital of the World".

There is a reason why this city has become the "Media Capital of the World". In addition to policy-related factors, it can actually be summarized in one sentence.A huge industrial scale has been formed here.

If you are a rich man and want to shoot a movie here, you can hire any talent you want, rent any equipment you want, find any actors you want, and produce whatever you want. special effects.

The huge industrial scale can provide you with conveniences that cannot be provided anywhere else.This is also the reason why media and entertainment groups gather here.

Although the headquarters of Marvel Entertainment is in New York, Hollywood Burbank has such conveniences that when Marvel Studios was founded, they still chose Los Angeles.

It took less than 10 minutes for Luo Ji to arrive at Marvel Studios.Christine also moved very quickly and arrived in a short time.

Accompanied by Marvel Studios CEO Kevin Feige, the two visited Marvel Studios.

Kevin Feige's attitude was very bland, completely lacking the enthusiasm he had during the previous meetings.

He brought the two people into a room, pointed to the people inside and introduced calmly: "The film company now has a total of 53 employees. This is the most important department of the film company, the creative department. The main function of the creative department is to develop the film universe. Strategic planning, script writing.”

Luo Ji didn't care about his tepid attitude and looked at the creative department. There were twelve people in it. Except for the two Chinese people who were pushed in by Zhu Haowei, the others were all white.

Luo Ji smiled and stepped forward to greet many employees: "Hello." "Hello, Logic." Many employees stood up to say hello, but none of the white people looked very enthusiastic.

It seemed that it still needed some time to adjust, so Luo Ji had a good attitude and suggested with a smile: "Would you like to take a photo with me and Kristen?"

Some white people, you look at me, I see you are a little bit at a loss.A Chinese employee suddenly said: "Of course."

The most indispensable thing for film and television companies is cameras, and soon an employee from the photography department became a guest photographer.Luo Ji and Christine enthusiastically accompanied them throughout the process and took photos with them one by one.

Of course they were happy to take photos with two big stars, and several white employees soon put smiles on their faces.There is no longer any barrier that the group headquarters parachuted two Chinese people into the creative department.

After the group photo ended, Luo Ji looked at Kevin Feige and gave him a hook: "Kevin, come here. Let's take a photo together."

Kevin Feige smiled awkwardly, waved his hand and said, "I don't need to."

Luo Ji stepped forward, hooked his shoulder and pulled him over: "You're a grown man, what are you trying to do? Come on."

Kevin Feige's body was a little stiff at first, but gradually relaxed during the photo session.

Click, click, click of the camera shutter.Photo explanation.

The act of taking a group photo instantly brought everyone closer. The solemn atmosphere today dissipated a lot. Everyone gathered around the photographer and looked at the photos just now.

Kristen acted like a hostess and stepped forward to interact with several employees with a smile.Looks very harmonious.

Luo Ji walked up to Kevin Feige and said directly: "I see that you don't seem happy today? Is it because Zhu Haowei interfered with the company's creative department?"

"Yes, Logic. I remember you said before that you would not interfere with the company's creativity." Kevin Feige then earnestly advised: "Logic, we have really put a lot of effort into the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I hope Don’t have too much interference from other departments. Too much intervention by Zhu Haowei might ruin the Marvel Cinematic Universe.”

Luo Ji said, "But have you noticed that since our company announced the project of "Shang-Chi", it has caused a great response among the Chinese community."

"I know. I also know that some Chinese-American groups don't like some of the elements in the comics. We had already started revising it before Zhu Haowei's people joined."

Luo Ji said: "But only ethnic minorities understand the psychology of ethnic minorities. I'm afraid you won't be able to grasp "Shang-Chi". I can promise you that they will never interfere too much in Marvel's creation."

"you promise!"

"I promise! I am the one who is most optimistic and the one who most hopes for the success of the movie universe. Our goals are the same."

Luo Ji told the truth this time. After acquiring Marvel for so long, Luo Ji also discovered that Kevin Feige was the architect of the Marvel Cinematic Universe strategy.

He is also a comic book fan himself and has devoted a lot of effort to the strategy of the movie universe.

In "Apocalypse", Marvel's "Avengers" has already filmed its fourth film, not to mention how many individual superhero movies have been filmed.

Since Kevin Feige is the core one, Luo Ji certainly won't interfere too much with him.

Kevin Feige looked at Luo Ji seriously, nodded and said, "Thank you, Logic!"

"You're welcome." Luo Ji patted him on the shoulder and said with a smile: "Do you know why I spent 38 billion yuan to acquire Marvel? It's because I'm optimistic about your movie universe strategy. Just one idea from you. Worth the price!”

"Hahaha." Kevin Feige felt much better.

The subsequent visit was much more harmonious, and Kevin Feige introduced the whole process enthusiastically: "Many employees of the company are now participating in the filming of "Iron Man 2."

"Most of the crew are hired from outside, and only some people in core positions are employees of the company. Therefore, the company's operating costs are very low."

"If "Shang-Chi" wants to be well-produced, special effects are indeed the top priority. So now we have to prepare the special effects department of Oriental Culture. I suggest setting it up as a subsidiary company."

"The script of "Thor" has been revised and is almost ready. Casting should start soon. We plan to start filming in September."

"We have a distribution contract with Paramount for seven films, which is expected to end with the release of the first Avengers film."

"The comics of "Shang-Chi" have already begun to be redrawn, and we will also redraw his origin story based on the movie."

"When Marvel was in decline, Sony bought the Spider-Man copyright from Marvel and also acquired nearly a hundred Spider-Man villains and peripheral characters. If Sony does not produce a Spider-Man movie within five years, the copyright will indeed return us."

"Although we recovered the rights to "The Hulk" from Paramount, it was because the Hulk made them lose money. Just like "X-Men" is still at Fox, Sony's gains from the "Spider-Man" trilogy It's so big, they can't let it go. They will definitely restart the Spider-Man movie before the copyright expires."

When Luo Ji heard this, he touched his chin and started thinking.

Kevin Feige's words obviously make sense, but in "Avengers 3", the superhero Spider-Man appeared.

Luo Ji said, "Try contacting Sony to see if Spider-Man can return to the Marvel family."

"Okay. But Sony is very likely to open its mouth." Kevin Feige then said: "Their revenue from the Spider-Man trilogy will reach at least 10 billion dollars."

Luo Ji also felt helpless: "Let's try contacting them first."

"Ok."

…………

After visiting Marvel Studios for more than three hours, Luo Ji and Kristen left Marvel Studios.

With a smile on her face, Christine held Luo Ji's arm intimately: "Dear, is this the company you acquired for 38 billion yuan?"

Luo Ji said, "Yeah, but this is just one of its subsidiaries. Marvel has many other subsidiaries."

"Are you really optimistic about Marvel's cinematic universe strategy?"

"Uh-huh."

Kristen said coquettishly: "Can you let me play a superhero too?"

Luo Ji hugged her and said, "What role do you want to play?"

"Captain Marvel, Scarlet Witch or others. Which role do you think I am suitable for?" Christine said about two of the more famous female superheroes in Marvel comics.

Luo Ji thought for a while, looked at her seriously and said, "I really found that you are very suitable for a female superhero?"

Kristine immediately asked curiously: "Who?"

"She-Hulk!"

Kristen immediately patted her boyfriend's chest: "Yuck!"

(End of this chapter)