After chatting with Kevin Tsohara for a while, coupled with some news about the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy that was circulating in the circle before, Matthew basically figured out the ins and outs of the matter, and the "Hobbit" that Warner Bros. and Peter Jackson were preparing can be said to have struggled out of the vortex of trouble.

After New Line Pictures won the film rights of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, by the way, with the assistance of Miramax's Weinstein brothers, they got the copyright of "The Hobbit", but not 100% of the copyright, and part of the copyright of "The Hobbit" is still in the hands of MGM Pictures.

So, it was MGM and Peter Jackson who originally proposed filming The Hobbit, and Warner Bros. joined after taking over the rights to its subsidiary, New Line Pictures.

It was originally planned to be co-financed by MGM Pictures and Warner Bros.

But there's a hassle in this, Peter Jackson is too weak to be a director.

As for the reason, it is Peter Jackson who has a lawsuit with Warner Bros., to be exact, with Warner Bros. New Line Pictures.

Soon after "The Lord of the Rings 3: The Return of the King" was released, Peter Jackson took New Line Pictures to court because New Line Pictures owed him a total of $15 million in director salaries for the trilogy.

New Line Pictures has a relatively poor reputation in this regard, and Peter Jackson is not the first person to be owed.

Peter Jackson won the case and was paid back wages, but sued New Line Pictures again late last year for not receiving the money he said in his contract from the games and audiovisual adaptations of the Lord of the Rings films.

Although Peter Jackson was not filming "The Lord of the Rings" before he and his wife were ready to put "Holt" on the screen, and he was also the most suitable director of "The Hobbit", but the lawsuit was in full swing, and Peter Jackson was temporarily out of luck.

In April of this year, MGM Pictures, which had been struggling with difficulties, finally couldn't hold on and filed for bankruptcy protection, and as a high-quality asset of the company, they sold part of the rights to "The Hobbit" to Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. also got the full rights to The Hobbit.

In addition, with the intervention of Kevin Tessohara, New Line Pictures reached an out-of-court settlement with Peter Jackson, allowing Peter Jackson's energy to return to filmmaking.

But Peter Jackson was physically and mentally exhausted, coupled with the negative effects brought by New Line Pictures, he didn't want to work with Warner Bros. anymore, and instead recommended Matthew's old acquaintance Guillermo del Toro as the director.

It's like a soap opera for housewives.

"Because MGM Pictures withdrew ......," Kevin Tessohara whispered, "all the production costs of this series need to be borne by Warner Bros. alone." ”

Matthew nodded slightly, estimating that the sudden withdrawal of MGM Pictures caught Warner Bros. off guard.

With the huge success of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Hobbit is sure to be a top-tier blockbuster, and the production cost is bound to be considerable.

"Kevin. Thinking of this, Matthew took the initiative to say, "Do you plan to finance the production costs?"

"yes. Kevin Tsohara said so much, he just wanted to attract people to join him, everyone knows that Matthew has money in his hands, "You have been working with Warners, and there are some situations that you should understand, how big top projects Warner Bros. is currently operating, and you can't invest too much money in a short period of time." ”

Of course, Matthew knows this, and if nothing else, the production budget of "Green Lantern" alone is as high as $250 million.

And Warner Bros. has high hopes for this film, hoping to achieve a greater success than "Iron Man", thus laying the foundation for the entire Justice League cinematic universe, and it has not raised too much external financing.

In figurative terms, "Green Lantern" is the son of Warner Bros., and "The Hobbit" can only be regarded as half a son.

Matthew said tentatively, "I still have some money in my hand." ”

Kevin Tsohara immediately said, "Matthew, we can work together again, and there is still a funding gap of about 20 percent for this project. ”

Nowadays, no one in Hollywood knows the value of Matthew, and when Matthew came to say hello to him and Ron Meyer, he thought about it, and he was also calculating the feasibility, and quickly discovered that this could bring two benefits to Warner Bros.

Everyone knows that Matthew is very rich now, not to mention anything else, the basic salary of "Inception" and "Special Forces: The Rise of the Cobra" alone is tens of millions of dollars, and if he is brought in, it can solve part of the funding gap of "The Hobbit".

On the one hand, this can show the sincerity of Warner Bros. cooperation and make the cooperation between the two parties closer.

What's more, compared with those film funds and financial institutions, if Matthew participates in the investment, it can also bring a certain publicity effect to the film.

Warner Bros. doesn't have to be looking for someone to work with, and if you're planning to raise money, why not find someone who could bring in a bigger profit?

"Yes. Matthew didn't mean to refuse, but he was still more cautious," Kevin, Tolkien's literary adaptation, the director is better than Peter Jackson. ”

This fat New Zealand man was born specifically to shoot Tolkien's literature.

Kevin Tsuhara smiled, "We're also talking to Peter Jackson and want to move him to direct the series. ”

"I'm sure he'll come back. Matthew is still confident in Warner Bros. persuasion.

The two of them have reached a simple intention, and the remaining 20% of the current funding gap of "The Hobbit" will be handed over to Studio 13 to raise, and the specific investment and cooperation will naturally be discussed by the following personnel.

Compared with the projects that I worked hard to get before, the project "The Hobbit" came relatively easily, which is also the impact that Matthew has unconsciously brought about after reaching a certain height, especially after continuing to succeed and accumulating a rich net worth.

He invests in films, and he can bring far more attention than those film funds.

Matthew still has a certain impression of "The Hobbit", a series that once filmed a trilogy, the benefits must be not bad.

However, the plot of this series is almost forgotten, not as impressive as the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, but the deepest memory is the Condor from the sky, and at every critical moment, there will always be a Condor to change the tide of battle.

Although commercial movies have the law of the protagonist's immortality, and there are other cheats such as cheats, a cheat is used over and over again, and it will inevitably become a stalk on the Internet in the end.

While Matthew was talking to Kevin Tsohara, Taylor Swift was obediently by his side, not saying a word, and really looked like a very qualified girlfriend.

There were more and more people in the banquet hall, and there was a constant stream of people coming in and out of the door, and Harvey Weinstein also walked into the banquet hall.

The famous fat Jewish man was chatting with people and looking around, and soon saw Kevin Tsohara, the target of this visit, in a less crowded corner on the left side of the banquet hall.

Surprisingly, he also saw Matthew Horner next to Kevin Tsohara.

Harvey Weinstein's brows furrowed slightly, but his feet were not slow, and he walked directly towards Kevin T'Souhala's side, not to mention that Kevin T'Souhara had Matthew Horner and a tall girl by his side, even if it was surrounded by people, it couldn't stop his purpose.

"Kevin!"

Before he could get to Kevin Tsuhara, he said, "You're going to make it easy for me to find." ”

Hearing a somewhat familiar voice coming from behind him, Matthew glanced back and saw Harvey Weinstein's chubby face and nodded politely.

In public, he pays great attention to his personality.

Harvey Weinstein also nodded at Matthew and came up to Kevin Tsuhara, who smiled, "Hello, Harvey. ”

"Kevin, I heard that you made people sternly reject my investment in The Hobbit?" Harvey Weinstein didn't talk nonsense at all, and said directly, "Why?"

Hearing this, Matthew glanced at Harvey Weinstein, this fat man is also going to invest in "The Hobbit"?

Then, he thought of the information he had received from Kevin Tsuhara, when Harvey Weinstein was still at Miramax, he assisted New Line Pictures in integrating the rights of the "Lord of the Rings" series, and at the same time helped New Line Pictures get part of the rights to "The Hobbit", and the "Lord of the Rings" series also had Miramax's investment.

Taylor Swift suddenly leaned into his ear, muttered in a low voice, "I heard you didn't have a good time with Harvey Weinstein some time ago?"

Matthew nodded slightly, he had always remembered Oscar night.

"I'm sorry, Harvey. Kevin Tsohara was polite, "Warner Bros. basically finalized all the investments in the series, leaving no share for Weinstein Pictures. ”

He's telling the truth, having just reached a preliminary agreement with Matthew to give the last 20 percent of The Hobbit to Studio Thirteen.

You can't just say it and immediately deny it in front of Matthew Horner, right?

Harvey Weinstein suddenly accentuated his voice, "Kevin, don't forget how you guys got the rights to the Lord of the Rings series. ”

Hearing these unkind words, Kevin Tsohara put away his smile and said seriously, "I don't need you to remind you, the copyright was bought by Warner Bros. and New Line Pictures for a huge amount of money!"

Matthew looked at Kevin Tsuhara and then at Harvey Weinstein, and gradually understood that Harvey Weinstein wanted to invest in the "Hobbit" series, but Warner Bros. didn't want to accept it, and Kevin Tsohara had just given him the last remaining twenty percent of the investment.

Harvey Weinstein doesn't seem to want to give up, but will he give up such an opportunity to make money? Even if he does, he won't give it to someone like Harvey Weinstein.