After chatting with Kevin Tessulha for a while, and with some news about the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy that had been circulating in the circle, Matthew basically understood the ins and outs of the matter. The "The Hobbit" that Warner Bros. and Peter Jackson are preparing can be said to have struggled from the vortex of trouble.

After Xinyi Film won the copyright of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, it also obtained the copyright of "The Hobbit" with the assistance of Miramax's Weinstein brothers, but not 100% of the copyright. Part of the copyright of "The Hobbit" is still in the hands of MGM Pictures.

Therefore, the initial proposal to film "The Hobbit" was MGM and Peter Jackson, and Warner Bros. joined the company after taking over the copyright of its subsidiary Xinyi Film.

It was originally planned to be jointly funded by MGM Pictures and Warner Bros.

But there is another problem. Peter Jackson is unable to act as a director.

As for the reason, Peter Jackson and Warner Bros., to be precise, have a lawsuit with Xinyi Film, a subsidiary of Warner Bros.

Shortly after "Lord of the Rings 3: Return of the King" was released, Peter Jackson sued New Line Films because New Line Films owed his trilogy a total of $15 million in director salary.

Xinyi Film has a relatively poor reputation in this area, and Peter Jackson is not the first person to be denied.

Peter Jackson won the lawsuit and received the owed salary, but sued New Line Film again at the end of last year because he did not get the rewards marked in the contract from the games and audio-visual products adapted from the "Lord of the Rings" movie.

Although Peter Jackson and his wife were preparing to bring "The Holt" to the screen before filming "The Lord of the Rings", he was also the most suitable director of "The Hobbit", but the lawsuit was in full swing and Peter Jackson was temporarily unable to get married.

Just in April this year, MGM Pictures, which had been in trouble, finally couldn't stand it and applied for bankruptcy protection. As a company's high-quality asset, they sold part of the copyright of "The Hobbit" to Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. also obtained the full copyright of The Hobbit.

In addition, with the intervention of Kevin Teshura, New Line Film reached an out-of-court settlement with Peter Jackson, which could turn Peter Jackson's energy back to the film production.

But Peter Jackson was exhausted physically and mentally, and coupled with the negative effects brought by the new Line Films, he no longer wanted to work with Warner Bros. Instead, he recommended Matthew's old acquaintance Gilmo Del Toro as director.

It's like a soap opera tailored for housewives.

"Because MGM Pictures withdraws..." Kevin Tessulhara whispered, "All the production costs of this series need to be borne independently by Warner Bros."

Matthew nodded slightly, probably MGM's sudden withdrawal caught Warner Bros. a little off guard.

With the great success of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, "The Hobbit" is definitely a top-notch production, and the production cost is bound to be quite considerable.

"Kevin." Matthew thought of this and took the initiative to say, "Are you planning to raise funds to solve the production costs?"

"Yes." Kevin Teshura said so much, and she wanted to recruit people. Everyone knew that Matthew had money. "You have been working with Warner. Some situations should be understood. How big is Warner Bros. running a top-level project, and you can't invest too much money in a short period of time."

Of course Matthew knew this, and not to mention anything else, the production budget for the film "Green Lantern" alone was as high as 250 million US dollars.

Moreover, Warner Bros. has high hopes for this film, hoping to achieve greater success than "Iron Man", thereby laying the foundation for the entire Justice League cinema universe, and has not raised much external financing.

To put it figuratively, "Green Lantern" is the son of Warner Brothers, and "The Hobbit" can only be considered half a son.

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

Kevin Tesuhara immediately said, "Matthew, we can work together again, and there is still a funding gap of about 20% in this project."

Nowadays, no one in Hollywood knows the value of Matthew. When Matthew came to greet him and Ron Mayer, he thought of this and 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 pay for "Inception" and "Special Forces: The Rise of Cobra" alone is as high as tens of millions of dollars. If he is pulled into the market, it can solve the partial funding gap of "The Hobbit".

On the one hand, this can show Warner Brothers' sincerity in cooperation, making the cooperative relationship between the two parties closer.

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

Warner Bros. doesn’t have to find someone to cooperate. Since they plan to raise funds, why not find someone who may bring greater benefits?

"Yes." Matthew didn't mean to refuse, but he was still cautious. "Kevin, Tolkien's literary work, the director would be Peter Jackson."

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

Kevin Tessulhara smiled, "We are talking to Peter Jackson, too, and want to inspire him to direct this series."

"I believe he will definitely come back." Matthew was still confident in Warner Bros.'s persuasion.

Even if the two have reached a simple intention, the remaining 20% ​​funding gap in "The Hobbit" will be handed over to Studio No. 13 to raise it. How to invest and cooperate, there will naturally be people below to discuss.

Compared with the projects that I had worked hard to get before, the "Hobbit" project is easier to come, which is also the impact that Matthew has reached a certain level, especially after he has been successful and accumulated a wealth of wealth, he has unknowingly brought about.

The amount of attention he can bring far more than those movie funds when investing in movies.

Matthew still has a certain impression of "The Hobbit". A series that once could shoot a trilogy will definitely have a bad return.

However, the plot of this series is almost forgotten. It is not as impressive as the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy. The one who remembers the most is the condor from the sky. Every time at a critical moment, there will always be a condor who will change the situation.

Although commercial movies have the law of immortality in the protagonist and other plug-ins such as gold fingers, the use of gold fingers over and over again will inevitably become a meme on the Internet.

While Matthew talked to Kevin Teshura, Taylor Swift was always with him, without saying a word, and he really looked like a very qualified girlfriend.

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

This famous Jewish fat man greeted others and searched everywhere. Soon, in a corner with few people on the left side of the banquet hall, he saw Kevin Teshura, the target who came here this time.

Unexpectedly, he also saw Matthew Horner next to Kevin Teshura.

Harvey Weinstein frowned slightly, but his feet were not slow, and he walked directly towards Kevin Tesuhara. Not to mention that Kevin Tesuhara had Matthew Horner and a tall girl beside him, even if he was surrounded by people, he could not stop his purpose.

"Kevin!"

Before he arrived in front of Kevin Tesuhara, he spoke, "You make it easy for me to find."

Hearing a familiar voice from the back, Matthew looked back and happened to see Harvey Weinstein's fat face and nodded politely.

In public, he pays great attention to his personality.

Harvey Weinstein also nodded to Matthew and came to Kevin Tesuhara. Kevin Tesuhara smiled, "Hello, Harvey."

"Kevin, I heard you made people sternly reject my investment in The Hobbit?" Harvey Weinstein said directly, "Why?"

Hearing this, Matthew glanced at Harvey Weinstein. This fat man also wants to invest in "The Hobbit"?

Then, he thought of the information he got from Kevin Tessulhara's words. When Harvey Weinstein was still at Miramax, he assisted Xinyi Films in integrating the copyright of the "Lord of the Rings" series, and helped Xinyi Films obtain part of the copyright of "The Hobbit", and Miramax's investment in the "Lord of the Rings" series.

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

Matthew nodded slightly, he always remembered the Oscar Night.

"Sorry, Harvey." Kevin Tessulhara was very polite. "Warner Brothers has basically finalized all investments in this series, and there is no share left for Weinstein Pictures."

He was telling the truth, and had just reached a preliminary intention with Matthew and gave the last 20% share of the Hobbit to Studio No. 13.

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

Harvey Weinstein suddenly aggravated his voice, "Kevin, don't forget how you got the copyright of the Lord of the Rings series."

Hearing these bad tone, Kevin Teshura put away her smile and said seriously, "No need to remind you, the copyright was bought by Warner Bros. and New Line Film for huge amounts of money!"

Matthew looked at Kevin Tesuhara, then Harvey Weinstein, and gradually understood that Harvey Weinstein wanted to invest in the "Hobbit" series, but Warner Bros. didn't want to accept it very much, and Kevin Tesuhara just handed over the remaining 20% ​​of the investment share to him.
Chapter completed!