"This shooting scene is huge, huh?"

Sitting in the rest of the studio, Charlize Theron looked at the scuffle on the set in the distance, turned to look at Matthew, and said, "You've made so many films, and finally turned back to the military action genre. ”

Matthew didn't have a scene for the time being, just sat next to her, and said, "This is an action sci-fi theme." ”

Charlize Theron nodded lightly and asked, "I heard you're going to work with Christopher Nolan?"

"yes. Matthew looked at her and asked, "You're interested, too?"

"I'm not interested, 'The Burning Plains' makes me feel haggard. Charlize Theron sighed, "I'm going to take a break." ”

Matthew asked curiously, "Finished shooting?"

Charlize Theron had a wry smile on her face, "The filming is over, but there are problems with post-production funding, and this small company's independent film is too unreliable." ”

"This kind of post-production doesn't require much money, and it gets better quickly. Matthew comforted Charlize Theron before asking, "I remember playing with you with a young actress named Jennifer Lawrence, the girl we met last time who deliberately wrestled." ”

"You're interested in her?" Charlize Theron asked, raising an eyebrow.

Matthew hurriedly waved his hand, "You're thinking too much." He simply explained, "I may have a play on my side that needs great young actresses. ”

In other words, "The Hunger Games" can be regarded as the masterpiece of the big cousin, right?

"Jennifer Lawrence......" Charlize Theron thought for a moment and said, "She is very talented in acting, but she has a lot of thoughts, likes to deliberately sell stupidity, and pretends to be a stupid big sister at a young age." ”

She groaned again and said, "It's not bad overall." ”

Matthew nodded slightly, asked a few more words, and then changed the subject, Jennifer Lawrence could be one of the backup candidates in the future.

Of course, Katniss doesn't have to be her, if "Twilight", which has changed the protagonist, can be a big success, he will have the confidence to change people in the future.

However, all this is only possible if he can get the film rights to "The Hunger Games" from Susan Collins.

The negotiations between Helen Herman and Susan Collins have been going on for five rounds, and the differences between the two sides are gradually decreasing, and before the sixth round of negotiations, Matthew met with Susan Collins for a chat, promising to invest no less than $50 million in the future for the adaptation of the film if he gets the rights.

Most writers want to see their work on the big screen, and Susan Collins is no exception, and Matthew's other conditions are pretty good.

In the sixth round of negotiations, the two sides reached an agreement and a formal licensing agreement was signed.

The core part of the deal is undoubtedly the royalties, with Studio 13 paying Susan Collins a one-time payment of $6 million, and Susan Collins owns a share of the film's North American box office profits in the future.

Not to mention the North American box office profit share, the $6 million copyright fee alone is three times higher than Matthew's earliest prediction.

But at that time, he didn't know that Susan Collins was an insider.

With such a high cost, Studio 13 also successfully obtained the right of first refusal to purchase the next two sequels of "The Hunger Games".

As Matthew thought, The Hunger Games wasn't standalone, and in Susan Collins' planning, it would be a trilogy series.

Even, Susan Collins even decided on the names of the last two parts, which are called "Burning Girl" and "Mockingjay" respectively.

"Happy working together!"

In the reception room of the Angel Agency, Matthew and Susan Collins exchanged contracts and shook hands, "Happy cooperation!"

At this time, the swords and swords in the negotiation have long disappeared without a trace, and there is only a harmonious atmosphere.

Susan Collins is a mature middle-aged woman who speaks very politely, "Matthew, it's an honor for me to get your attention to this book. ”

Matthew responded politely, "I read this book, both the setting and the direction of the story, it is very fascinating. For some reason, he thought of the Battle Royale and asked, "Ms. Collins, could you take the liberty of asking you about the inspiration for your creation?"

Future films will certainly be questioned, and if Susan Collins doesn't have the right words, then someone has to work out it in advance, and both sides must be on the same page in this regard.

As for imitation or plagiarism or anything like that, that's absolutely non-existent.

"The story derives from the legend of Theseus and the Minotaur. I read this story when I was eight years old, and it has been ingrained in my heart ever since. ”

Probably not expecting Matthew to ask this question, Susan Collins thought for a moment and said, "In that story, there is a place called Crete, and every year, people send seven virgins to the Minotaur. In mine, I didn't want to write the same mythological story, so I set the story in the devastated Americas of the future, and created The Hunger Games with the perspective and values of contemporary people. The Katniss in the story is Theseus, and the Minotaur is escalated to the government and the invisible system and pressure. In itself, this is the simplest story of the gladiators of ancient Rome, with modern content. ”

Matthew nodded, and said naturally, "Ms. Collins, our collaboration on film starts now, and the origin of creativity has always been a good publicity point, and you are a veteran TV screenwriter, so you must understand the importance of this aspect, so I won't say more." ”

"Don't worry, Matthew. Susan Collins assured, "I'll go along with your propaganda." ”

As the original author, of course, she hopes that the film adapted from her work can be widely disseminated, and the larger the scope, the better.

It's still early before the film adaptation, Matthew and Susan Collins chatted about some ideas for future movies, and then sent Susan Collins and her party out of the angel agency.

Back in Helen Herman's office, he breathed a long sigh of relief, and although there were many twists and turns in between, he finally got the rights to the "Hunger Games" series.

In the past two years, film rights have become more and more expensive, and the millions of dollars in copyright transfers can only be said to be of a medium level, such as Dan Brown's "The Da Vinci Code" and "Angels and Demons" have sold tens of millions of dollars in film rights transfer fees.

It may not be long before Hollywood companies shell out hundreds of millions of dollars in film rights for a hit or other work.

In this era of film where originals are declining, adaptations and sequels are rampant, this possibility is not impossible.

When Helen Herman returned to the office, Matthew spoke with her for a little more about the future adaptation of The Hunger Games.

The adaptation of "The Hunger Games" will not be planned until next year at the earliest, and will be released in 2010 or 2011, and may even be pushed back.

One of the main reasons for this is the funding problem of Studio 13.

As a shell studio, Studio 13 is not well funded, and Matthew cannot afford to invest in too many medium- and large-scale filmmaking projects at the same time.

His investment in "Iron Man" has begun to pay off, and the expected profit is high enough, but this profit is even the previous investment of 40 million dollars, and it will be invested in "Iron Man 2" next.

This new work is in the early stages of preparation, and it is expected that it will move into pre-production at the end of the year, including director Jon Favreau, the hero and heroine Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow, and Scarlett Johansson, all returning.

As a sequel to a blockbuster movie, the salaries of these cast and crew are certainly not as low as the first one.

So, the production budget of "Iron Man 2" is as high as 200 million US dollars.

Matthew owns 40 percent of the investment, or $80 million.

It doesn't necessarily mean that he has to invest $80 million, which is the upper limit of investment, but Matthew remembers the core position of Iron Man in the entire Avengers, and he also knows the heat he once caused, and the investment will definitely be the highest ceiling.

In this way, the funds recovered by "Iron Man" were thrown into the investment in Marvel superhero movies.

Also, "Captain America" has also been put on the agenda by Marvel Studios, and it won't take long to start planning, which is also the goal of Matthew's planned investment.

And when he talked to Kevin Feige on the phone, he also heard the other party mention an interesting idea, Marvel Studios plans to let Wolverine and Magneto in "X-Men" make a cameo (because the story is during World War II, and Wolverine was a soldier during World War II, and Magneto was a prisoner of war), but the film and television rights of Wolverine and Magneto are in the hands of Twentieth Century Fox, and they need to negotiate with Twentieth Century Fox and reach an agreement to achieve it.

Matthew knew that this was not easy to achieve, and that Marvel Comics sold the rights to many popular series such as Spider-Man and X-Men due to survival problems, in exchange for funds to maintain the survival of the company, but it was easy for the copyright to go out, and it was too difficult to get it back.

Maybe they won't think of Marvel Studios until Sony Columbia Pictures can't play the "Spider-Man" series, and Twentieth Century Fox also messes up "X-Men" and "Fantastic Four" one after another.

The investment in Marvel superhero movies will occupy a lot of Matthew's liquidity, and "The Hunger Games" can only be postponed for the time being, of course, it will not be postponed indefinitely, after all, the contract between the two parties clearly stipulates that if Studio 13 does not adapt the movie within ten years, the relevant copyright will automatically return to Susan Collins.

This is the same as Marvel Comics' licensing on Spider-Man, X-Men, and Fantastic Four.

Therefore, in order to maintain the copyright in their hands, Sony Columbia and Twentieth Century Fox, even if they do not have a good plan, will make a related movie before the copyright expires, even if it is a super bad movie.