By July, some news began to appear in the media, and well-informed reporters got the news from within Universal Pictures, and published reports similar to Universal Pictures that might pull the Scorpion King out alone to shoot independent films, but the impact was not very great, and there was too much gossip in Hollywood every day, and without Universal Pictures' confirmation, it would not attract too many people's attention.

But Matthew knows that this is true, and the project has gone through the review process within Universal Pictures and is tentatively named "The Scorpion King", because there are some situations that are still being discussed within Universal Pictures, so it has not been made public for the time being.

Helen Herman passed on the news that if the financing of this fantasy action film goes well, the production cost will be around $40 million, and if it doesn't go well, it may be cut by $10 million on top of that.

Universal Pictures will not invest too much money directly in this project, and the production costs rely more on financing to solve, and now Matthew is no longer a rookie who knows nothing about Hollywood before, and he has learned enough in the past two years, Hollywood's commercial productions basically do not come from any one company, most of them are made up of multiple investment platters, and there are many film funds and investment institutions in Hollywood, and they often invest in promising film projects to make a profit.

The investment model is similar to other business investments, except that the product invested becomes a movie.

Films, especially big-budget commercial films, are often high-risk commercial products, and no one dares to guarantee that a film will succeed before it is released, and a failed large-investment film may make a film company finish, even if the large studios are more resistant to risks, they are trying their best to avoid risks.

Possibly, people want to just make money, not take risks.

After the Independence Day holiday, Helen Herman has good news, whether it is Universal Pictures, or Sean Daniel and Stephen Sommers, there is no objection to him continuing to play the Scorpion King, and the crew has been officially established, although it has not been made public, but Sean Daniel has begun to negotiate Matthew's actor contract with her on behalf of the crew.

According to Helen Herman, if the film wants to make full use of the repercussions caused by the Scorpion King in "The Mummy Returns", it needs to be released as soon as possible, and Universal Pictures plans to release the film "The Scorpion King" in the summer of next year or earlier, and the time is quite tight.

There was also a piece of news that surprised Matthew.

Stephen Sommers is not going to direct this film, but doubles as a writer and producer, and like Sean Daniel, controls the general direction of "The Scorpion King" and finds another suitable director.

As for the reason why Stephen Sommers gave up directing "The Scorpion King", on the one hand, compared to his current fame and position, "The Scorpion King" is only a small production, and on the other hand, he has reached an agreement with Universal Pictures to plan a super big production, and the genre is also a succession of successful fantasy adventure action films.

"Stephen Sommos is ambitious right now. ”

In the office of Angel Agency, Helen Herman said to Matthew, "He wants to cram the famous monsters of Universal Pictures into the same movie, and it is said that he asked Universal Pictures to provide a budget of $150 million for this, and at the moment Universal Pictures is also very tempted." ”

Matthew frowned and thought, as if he had seen a movie with a large collection of monsters, stuffed with werewolves, vampires, Dracula and many other messy monsters.

Helen Herman continued, "Now that Stephen Sommers has a good impression of you, you keep up the good work, and if The Scorpion King can be successful, we have a chance to compete for the lead actor in this mega production. ”

If it fails, there is no need to think about this kind of thing, the actor of a rookie actor's first commercial masterpiece will fail, and his future will basically be over.

"$150 million...... Matthew was slightly stunned, "This is a top production, right?"

Helen Herman nodded, "That's right. ”

Matthew didn't have a clear attitude, "Let's finish "The Scorpion King" and then talk about it." ”

At this time, he gradually recalled the monster movie he had watched, remembering that the actor was Hugh Jackman, who played Wolverine, and the heroine served as the heroine of "Pearl Harbor", the movie was not very good, and it seemed that the box office failed.

It can be imagined that "The Scorpion King" succeeded, he became a little famous, and then served as the leading actor in this big production called "Van Helsing", but the box office of the film hit the streets, then he, the actor, may fall into a situation from which he will never recover.

The former Hugh Jackman had Wolverine as a foundation and had the capital to turn the page, but he had nothing.

Think about the heroine, it seems that after the failure of "Van Helsing", she never appeared in Hollywood's first-line productions again, and was completely insulated from Hollywood's first-line and even second-line.

It is also possible that he remembered wrongly, after all, at that time, he was only interested in pure entertainment films, and he didn't know what the situation was like in literary films, and the movies of the heroine he had seen, except for "Pearl Harbor", were werewolves and vampires series, and it was not clear whether she had switched to the field of literary films.

However, this heroine can be said to be a lesson from the past, an actress who can serve as an absolutely top producer such as "Pearl Harbor" and "Van Helsing" one after another, the upward momentum is definitely stronger than that of him now, and I am afraid that many people are also optimistic, but "Van Helsing" failed......

Matthew can imagine that if he wins the leading role in "Van Helsing" and the film fails at the box office, it is estimated that he will be even worse than the actress.

Maybe I'll have to play soy sauce in Hollywood in the future.

Of course, these are assumptions, after all, it is very difficult to get the actor of the top big production, if nothing else, Universal Pictures will tend to use star actors with more box office appeal.

Glancing at Matthew, Helen Herman didn't discuss the topic again, instead saying, "My negotiations with Sean Daniel have just begun, and I have made a million dollar offer for you." ”

Matthew nodded, knowing that it was just an offer.

Helen Herman continued, "Sean Daniel has already started all the planning work, and in terms of compensation, he only has a budget of $5 million, which also includes the remuneration of the director and other behind-the-scenes jobs, and it is unrealistic for you to take one-fifth of it. ”

She thought for a moment, "The salary that falls on the contract will probably be around half a million dollars." ”

Matthew is quite satisfied with this price, and there is still a large part of the profit compared to the money invested.

He also knew that Helen Herman used herself as a bargaining chip in the negotiations with the crew, using him and the Scorpion King to get the crew to use more clients under the Angel Agency.

Such as the heroine and several other important supporting roles.

Angel Brokerage is working so hard to make him the leading actor, not just for the 10% commission.

But Matthew didn't bother, it was part of the business, and Helen Herman and Angel Agency provided him with a lot of convenience and resources, and they were not doing charity.

Helen Herman is looking for more than just a leading actor in this project.

This is also the reason why she has temporarily excluded Matthew from private contact with Sean Daniel and Stephen Sommers, and once Matthew says the wrong thing, it will cause a lot of trouble for the negotiations later.

"Do you have any special requirements in terms of treatment?" asked Helen Herman.

Matthew shook his head, "You can do that." ”

As long as the salary is appropriate, he has never cared much about other aspects of treatment.

Although he said that he would raise money as soon as he came up, and he always had to compare his baht, he seemed to love money too much and was a nouveau riche, but as far as he knew, what stars really care about is actually money, unless there is the temptation to win the Oscar, it is possible to reduce the price, and in all the starring contracts, how much to get paid is always the most important point, because it is the trinity of status, popularity and vanity.

That afternoon, after Matthew left the angel agency, Helen Herman came to Universal Studios again and met Sean Daniel, and as Stephen Sommers began to work on another project with Universal Pictures, the "Scorpion King" crew was controlled by Sean Daniel.

At present, "The Scorpion King" has been officially established, but it has not been disclosed to the public because of timing problems, but the crew is just an empty shell for the time being, and the only thing that is certain is the production team headed by Sean Daniel.

"Helen, your request for Matthew's personal assistant, chauffeur transfers, separate dressing room, travel expenses, these are not a problem. ”

Sean Daniel has no objection in this regard, and Helen Herman's conditions are not excessive, which coincides with the situation of Matthew as an ordinary actor as the leading actor, "but in terms of salary, you are asking too much." ”

He said seriously, "A million dollars...... Matthew Horner is a good actor, but not worth the price. ”

"But he's the male lead!" Helen Herman emphasizes, "and it's he who creates the very popular image of the Scorpion King." ”

Sean Daniel shook his head, looking like he didn't want to talk to Helen Herman, "Half a million dollars, or I'd rather be replaced." ”

What he didn't expect was that Helen Herman didn't retort, "I can accept it, but there is one condition." ”

"Conditions?" Sean Daniel frowned slightly, but he didn't want to change people to play the Scorpion King, which would increase the risk exponentially, and asked, "What conditions?"

Helen Herman lifted her black-rimmed glasses, "I heard that the crew still needs a heroine and a few supporting roles, can you give priority to my actors?"

Originally, she wanted to emulate CAA, but reason told her that angel agencies did not have such strength.

This condition is not too much, Sean Daniel thought for a moment and said, "If the conditions are similar, I can give priority." ”

The negotiations between the two sides gradually went smoothly, and in the next few days, agreements were reached on many aspects.