In recent years, sales of peripherals, especially videotapes and DVD copyrights, have taken up an increasing proportion of a movie's revenue, and major Hollywood companies have also made changes accordingly, the most obvious of which is the cancellation of Instead of selling the copyrights of film and video tapes for several years in the past, he either expanded or established his own disc and video tape distribution department in order to maximize his profits.

Warner Bros. originally had such a department, but now it has been expanded into a subsidiary company, specializing in the distribution of DVDs and videotapes of Warner Bros. and its partners' films. Relying on the broad platform of Time Warner, the subsidiary's pressure plate and distribution capabilities Neither is a problem.

1998年8月13日，《黑客帝国》北美票房停留在3亿2758万美元上面，成功打破《拯救大兵瑞恩》此前保持的3亿2579万美元的北美R级片票房纪录。

On the day the film was released in North America, DVDs and videotapes were officially released in North America. Although the sales volume was not as amazing as "Titanic", it was enough to make other companies envious.

In the first four days, the videotape sales of "The Matrix" were 2354 million U.S. dollars, the ordinary DVD sales were as high as 2802 million U.S. dollars, and the ultra-luxury commemorative set DVD worth 199 U.S. dollars also sold 58 copies. revenue!

At the same time, the negotiations between Duke Studios and NBC Television came to an end, and the latter took away the North American TV rights of the film for the next three years at a total price of 2000 million US dollars.

A film with super box office sales and extremely popular peripherals can create amazing profits.

Warner Bros. and Duke Studios can be said to be the biggest winners this summer. Compared with "The Matrix", "Godzilla" released at the same time is still struggling in theaters, trying to push the North American box office of more than 9500 million US dollars to 1 million Dollar mark.

Walt Disney's "Heavenly Heist" is better, with a current North American box office close to $1 million.Taking into account overseas and later income and profit is not a problem, Michael Bay, the director known as the "Little Bang Maniac" by the North American media, is approaching the previous road.

Just talking about peripheral income, these two films plus the long-lost "Clash of Heaven and Earth" and then multiplied by five, it is difficult to compete with "The Matrix".

With The Matrix being such a hit, a big celebratory party is a must.

Warner Bros. spent huge sums of money when the film was available on videotape and DVD for a full week.Duke, who has rented a private club in Malibu to hold a celebration party and has already rushed to work in New Zealand, also returned to North America on purpose.

Since it was a celebration party, Duke was naturally the focus of people's compliments. He finally finished the party and just hid in a corner to be quiet for a while.Warner Bros. CEO Jeff Robinoff sat across from him.

"Duke."

Jeff Robinoff knew his character well, so he went straight to the point, "Have you thought about merging Duke Studios into Warner Bros."

Duke thought for a while and asked, "Jeff. Is this your personal opinion?"

"No, no..." Jeff Robinov shook his finger, "I represent the opinions of the entire Time Warner."

Duke mused.

Jeff Robinov added, "It is better to exchange shares. Warner Bros. will exchange shares of Duke Studios in your hands with shares of equal value."

"That means Warner wants to hold [-]% of Duke Studios?"

Hear Duke's question.Jeff Robinov nodded immediately, "Indeed."

Holding his chest with one hand and his chin with the other, Duke thought for a while.I understand Warner's intentions, which are actually not complicated. They are related to the "Matrix", "Lord of the Rings" trilogy and the "Harry Potter" series.

"The Matrix" has terrible revenue, and it is clearly a series.

Although the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy is known as the most difficult magical masterpiece to shoot, his continuous success obviously gave Warner enough confidence.

The "Harry Potter" series has been vigorously promoted by the Harry Potter studio, and it has become a trend of deflagration.

Warner obviously wants to take all the copyrights of these three series into the bag, and for this reason he does not hesitate to give him more shares in Warner Bros.

Should Warner's opinion be considered?Duke must carefully consider. He has neither the idea nor the ability to make Duke Studios bigger. In exchange for the shares of Warner Bros., which can also enjoy the dividends brought by these series, it is not a bad thing, and even benefits in his opinion. There are more disadvantages than disadvantages.

But the problem is that only one of "The Matrix" is released, and "Lord of the Rings" and "Harry Potter" are only in the preparation stage. It is impossible for Warner to pay enough for this. The timing is simply not right now.

"Jeff..." Duke smiled, "Always give me some time to think about it."

"Of course!" Jeff Robinov said solemnly, "No matter what, Warner will respect your ideas."

After Jeff Robinov left, Duke thought about it for a while and decided to postpone the matter temporarily, waiting for the right time to deal with it.

A tall figure flashed behind him, sat across from him, and handed over a glass of champagne.

Charlize Theron brushed her long hair and said, "I came here specially to thank you."

Duke clinked his glass with her, "You look more beautiful and confident."

"You brought this to me." Charlize Theron drank the champagne after Duke drank it. "Without you, there would be no Charlize Theron now."

"How does it feel to be popular?" Duke asked with a smile.

“Excellent!”

Putting down the glass, Charlize beckoned the waiter to bring two glasses of champagne, "I've never felt so good."

"Everywhere I pass in North America, there are countless men and women who are crazy about me." She moved closer, "Even in the Far East, the voices of screaming for me have not diminished."

Although Duke's "The Matrix" first guarantees the actor Neo's role so that the film will not be unbalanced, Trinity has much more room to play than before, especially when it is specially combined with Charlize ? The gun fighting and fighting designed by Theron's body characteristics are definitely eye-catching weapons.

One of the many changes brought about by "The Matrix" is to make Charlize Theron as popular as Keanu Reeves.

For some people at Warner Bros., Duke's return from New Zealand was a good opportunity for face-to-face exchanges and cooperation projects, and Doug Walter quickly approached him.

"Duke, how soon is your new project planned?" he asked.

"From September, two months of preparation, two months of shooting, two months of post-production and publicity." Duke thought for a while, and said, "It will definitely be completed before next year's Oscars ceremony."

"Summer time?" Doug Walter asked again.

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Duke said, "Come on, Doug, this is just a small-budget film, and it will be completely overwhelmed in the highly competitive summer file."

"I think your small production can compete with the big productions of other directors."

Doug Walter turned to look at Charlize Theron, "Is that so, Miss Theron?"

"I think what Mr. Walter said is very reasonable!" Charlize said seriously, "Who dares to underestimate you now?"

"Die-hard fans of the Lord of the Rings..." Duke spread his hands and said, "After the news spread, many die-hard fans of the Lord of the Rings opposed my bringing this series to the big screen, thinking that I would destroy the magical classics in their hearts .”

Doug Walter shook his head, "There are always old-fashioned people in every era. They never understand that only by looking forward can they be successful."

"Haven't you heard of it?" Duke smiled helplessly, "Some die-hard Lord of the Rings fans are going to organize a group to protest against me in New Zealand."

"They can't change your pace of continued success!"

Doug Walter had just finished speaking, when someone came over and whispered something in his ear, he nodded to Duke, "I have something to deal with, I'm taking my leave for the time being."

The surroundings became a little quieter. Charlize Theron and Duke continued to chat while drinking.

"The Matrix just rolled off the assembly line in North America." She asked curiously, "Are you preparing a new work?"

"It's just a small production for practice." Duke said casually.

Since he went to New Zealand in mid-August, he has been preparing for the convener. The review by Warner Bros. was passed at the end of last month. The initial funding of 800 million US dollars and the corresponding financial supervisor and production manager also quickly in place.

When I came back this time, I not only participated in the celebration party, but also signed a director contract with the producers of Warner Bros. For such a small production, Duke only took a symbolic $50 as remuneration, so as to reduce the cost of the crew in all aspects. Upfront expenses.

Of course, a stepped share agreement determined by the film’s revenue figures is also essential. The maximum share is the same as that of “The Matrix”, which can reach 20.00% of the film’s global box office and 15.00% of peripheral income.

However, whether the new project will succeed in the end, even if Duke has a certain degree of confidence in himself, he dare not make any guarantees.

At this stage, he holds shares in Apple, Yahoo, and Microsoft respectively, and is a major shareholder of Victoria’s Secret and Warner Bros. He has a net worth of billions of dollars, and the combined global box office of the six completed works is close to 30 billion US dollars. Not to mention the failure of a small production, even if a production with an investment of hundreds of millions of dollars hits the street, it will not seriously affect his status in Hollywood.

Besides, in order to ensure the success of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy as much as possible, it is an essential choice to practice with such a small multi-line narrative production.

At the end of the party, Duke and Charlize Theron didn't have any communication, they sat in the same car tacitly, and drove towards the west of Burbank.

"Have you heard, Duke?" Charlize mentioned, "Sony Columbia Pictures is planning to cancel the sequel of "Godzilla" and temporarily seal this series." (To be continued~^~)

PS: It’s finally raining in Jinan, let’s celebrate with some monthly and recommended tickets