It's never easy to bring a grand epic to the big screen, and it takes a big adaptation.

Peter Jackson's adaptation of the original book can be described as drastic, but it has to be quite successful overall.

For example, for Boromir, Peter Jackson made an almost subversive adaptation, turning the betrayer in the original book into a hero in the movie.

The trumpet to welcome the return of the king has not sounded, the fluttering banner has not been planted in the White City, the withered holy white tree has not yet blossomed, the silver trumpet has been cut in half, and Boromir has come to the end of his life.

"I will follow you, my brother, my leader, my king......"

Boromir's deathbed vow is undoubtedly a powerful weapon for sensationalism, and the film also affirms him through the mouth of Aragorn: "Rest in peace, son of Gondor." ”

"The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Rings" was a huge success, and the film had a good reputation and box office, which even Ronan was envious.

It is a series with a trilogy of more than half a billion dollars in total value.

It also kicked off the outbreak of Hollywood magic movies.

Coupled with the success of "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone", which was also released this year and was a big hit, Hollywood will inevitably set off a boom in magical movies in the next few years.

A large number of high-investment magic films and epic films have sprung up like mushrooms after a rain, but very few can really succeed.

Not only in the past few years, but in the following ten years, most of the magic films and epic films are black holes, and there are very few successes, and even contribute to most of the typical fiascos in Hollywood during this time period.

There is a good saying that if you see a director or film company that is not pleasing to the eye, encourage them to make a magical epic, more than 90% of them may hit the street.

And this type requires high investment, and once it hits the street, it is a super big pounce.

For Ronan, there are several obvious big holes in Hollywood that can't be easily tapped into, such as the magical epic pit outside of the Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean series, such as the Knight Shyamalan and Colin Farrell pit, such as the Island Comics adaptation live-action movie pit.

Once you fall into these pits, nine out of ten will fall miserably.

Especially Hollywood's island comic adaptation of live-action movies, Hollywood in the previous life was called a bumpy road, just like the island market is the grave of Hollywood superhero movies, island country comic book adaptations are also seriously unsuitable in North America, James Huang's "Dragon Ball" Needless to say, even the masterpiece of the truck driver film that has always had market protection is seriously lower than expected.

The adaptation of a live-action movie from a Japanese comic is risky, and you still need to be cautious when entering the pit.

In his previous life, Ronan also heard that Lionsgate had obtained the rights to live-action film adaptations of "One Piece" and "Naruto", and fans of the manga can look forward to the live-action movie.

Just thinking about it gives me goosebumps.

To be honest, instead of adapting Japanese comic movies, it is better to buy Japanese horror films and adapt them into American versions.

On the one hand, the adaptation rights of island comic films are much cheaper than those of local works in North America, and on the other hand, the comic adaptation rights in North America are too concentrated, resulting in many companies that want to get a piece of the pie can only find other sources.

After all, in some ways, the characters in the island comics are very much like superheroes in American comics.

And cultural differences seem to be shrinking over time.

But Ronan's memories tell him very clearly that North America has always been the most exclusive film market in the world.

It's December 2001, a new awards season in North America has kicked off, Ronan will not participate in this Oscar game this year, whether it is the production of Shahai Entertainment or the distribution of Embassy Pictures, there are no award-winning films.

Ronan is still focused on the company's own development, and is also planning an itinerary to the other side of the Pacific Ocean before the New Year to raise funds for the Pacific Film Investment Foundation.

Scott has already booked a plane ticket, and when Ronan finishes the work at hand, he will leave in about a week, and the main destinations of this trip are also the island country and South Korea, which Embassy Pictures has already contacted.

If it doesn't go well, Ronan will consider going to other countries to raise money as appropriate.

As time goes on, many countries on the other side of the Pacific are getting richer and richer, and the hot money in them is ready to be used.

Taking advantage of this free time, Ronan roughly dealt with the task at hand.

The preparations for "Pirates of the Caribbean" have generally gone quite smoothly, with the four leading roles of Johnny Depp, Keira Knightley, Christian Bale and Jeffrey Rush, plus other actors with action scenes, who have entered the crew in advance to begin professional training.

A large crew, also led by George Clint's deputy, traveled to Rosario, Baja California, to set up a suitable backdrop for filming, including boats, on the set of the artificial lake established by James Cameron and the Rosario Dock area.

Finding a replacement for the Interceptor, Matt O'Connor, a designer of vehicle and boat props, contacted Seattle's Port Grace Historical Authority and leased an imitation 18th-century brig called the Lady Washington to film the Interceptor.

The Lady Washington, a replica of the first American ship discovered on the Pacific Northwest in 1789, is a sleek sailboat that is simple to maneuver and quick to speed, and very similar to the Interceptor.

But this part of the scene was to be filmed in Rosario, and the crew needed to tow the "Mrs. Washington", which had no ability to sail, to Rosario.

This is also no small project.

However, compared to rebuilding a brig, the cost of filming with the "Lady Washington" can save the crew two-thirds of the expenses.

As for the other "Dreadnought", neither Ronan nor Matt O'Connor could find a second antique brig and had to rebuild a prop ship in the Rosario dock area.

According to Matt O'Connor's design, the Dreadnought would be based on the winning ship of the British fleet, the Victory, and was designed to be 170 feet long and 34 feet wide, possibly using nearly 40,000 pounds of steel and 1,000 square feet of canvas.

The crew has already recruited 150 craftsmen and will be built on a floating barge at the Rosario Pier, which is expected to take three months.

The cost of the two prop ships, the "Black Pearl" and the "Dreadnought", was as high as $15 million.

The first expenditure of this part of the money was borrowed from Shahai Entertainment to Relativity Entertainment, and pulling in other investments is something that needs to be completed as soon as possible in the next few months.

If the amount of financing is sufficient, it can also solve the budget of "Hurricane Rescue" by the way.

Ronan knows very well that Netflix will be a big money-eater in the next few years, and Shahai Entertainment's production funds will be more dependent on external financing.

With the Cinéfondation fundraising, Ronan will further implement the chicken-and-egg model.

The script of "Hurricane Rescue" has been officially finalized after several changes, and Ronan has also hired an experienced production manager to oversee the daily affairs of the crew.

After several rounds of negotiations, the legal department of Shahai Entertainment and Mrs. Seyfried finalized the contract between the two parties, and Amanda Seyfried signed a three-part agreement at one time, and the first film reached the highest salary of $50,000 in her career.

The actor also talked about it with Liam Neeson, just waiting for Liam Neeson to sign a contract with him after he took care of the trivial matters at home.

In terms of salary, because he is the leading actor, he is 500,000 US dollars more than Liam Neeson starring in "Star Wars Prequel: The Phantom Menace", which is a $2 million salary without any post-production.

As a result, the film's production budget was tentatively set at $16 million.

The biggest problem with this project at the moment is that there is no suitable director, Ronan has already posted job postings in newspapers and director's unions, but several candidates interviewed are not satisfied, especially in terms of sharp camera style and fast editing rhythm, they are extremely unadept.

Ronan also greeted several major agencies, including CAA and William Morris, and invited them to recommend suitable directors to Shahai Entertainment.

Brian Lord of CAA is very concerned, and has called Ronan specifically for this purpose, and is now counting the company's second- and third-tier director clients, as well as their specialties and style characteristics, so that Shahai Entertainment can choose from them.

In contrast, the reaction of brokerages such as William Morris has been mediocre.

A few days later, Ronan saw a familiar name on the list of third-tier directors provided by Brian Lord - Jeffrey Abrams.

This is a veteran of Hollywood, and a veteran screenwriter, who has been in the industry since 1990 as a TV series screenwriter, as well as a producer, and has also worked as an actor.

Just two years ago, Jeffrey Abrams took on the screenplay for Michael Bay's "The Peerless Apocalypse" and became one of the byline screenwriters, which also guaranteed him the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Screenplay that year.

Like all veteran screenwriters, Jeffrey Abrams transitioned to director after "The Peerless Apocalypse" because of the writer's naturally poor living environment, directing five episodes of the TV series "Two-Faced Female Spy".

This is also Jeffrey Abrams's only directing credential.

Ronan took time out of his time to meet with Jeffrey Abrams, and after the interview, he was given a script and asked Jeffrey Abrams to provide a shooting plan based on which he would decide whether he was suitable to direct the film.

Later, Ronan met Liam Neeson, who had returned from Europe, and finalized the contract with him for the leading actor.