Chapter 1205： Numenoreans

The previous "The Hobbit" film series was not released until 2012.

In fact, after the box office failure of "King Kong", Peter Jackson intends to take over the "Hobbit" project to save his career.

Hollywood is not sympathetic.

The success of "The Lord of the Rings" has made his career booming, and he is as famous as Spielberg in the industry and higher than Cameron.

"King Kong" failed, immediately fell off a cliff, and lost the opportunity to shoot a commercial blockbuster.

Except for The Hobbit!

Both parties are interested in launching the project.

However, there are many troubles.

The copyright of "The Hobbit" is very complicated, and New Line Cinema has to negotiate with MGM.

Not only that, New Line Pictures and Peter Jackson also filed a lawsuit over the dividend issue of "The Lord of the Rings", New Line Pictures and Harvey Weinstein also filed a lawsuit over the issue of "The Lord of the Rings" dividends, New Line Pictures and Trustee. The Elgin Heritage Foundation is still in a lawsuit over the issue of "The Lord of the Rings" dividends!

The copyright "broker" Harvey Weinstein and Peter Jackson had a bad relationship.

Peter Jackson publicly satirized Harvey, saying that he played with female stars and had a very bad character. This led to the fury of Harvey Weinstein, who asked New Line Cinema to change the director and stop working with Peter Jackson!

There were so many issues to be resolved, and many parties negotiated. It took more than 3 years to negotiate. It was not decided until 2009, when Peter Jackson continued to direct the "The Hobbit" series.

The film started shooting in 2010, and the first "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" was released in 2012.

The start-up process of the project was very bumpy.

However, if the "Hobbit" movie no longer cooperates with New Line Pictures, but instead cooperates with Dunn Pictures, then all problems will be solved.

First of all, the dividend lawsuit does not involve Tang En Pictures.

Secondly, Harvey Weinstein is only an intermediary between Sal Zaenz, the real owner of the film rights of The Hobbit, and New Line Pictures, who takes 5% of the global box office share. If you cooperate with Dunn Pictures, naturally there will be no Harvey Weinstein.

In addition, MGM was acquired by New Universal, and cooperated with Dunn Pictures, there will be no messy copyright disputes of "The Hobbit".

In the end, "King Kong" was produced and invested by Dunn Films. It has contacts with Peter Jackson and has the basis for re-cooperation.

Sal Zaenz and Peter Jackson finally reached an agreement and contacted Dunn Pictures the day before Christmas.

The film and television entertainment department did not dare to be special, and immediately reported to Tang En.

Hearing about this, Tang En couldn't help being stunned.

Sal Zaenz wants to collaborate with New Universal to start the "The Hobbit" series?

And such a good thing!

Very good, must welcome!

In his early years, Tolkien had a difficult life and sold the copyrights of "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" to United Art Films, including the film adaptation rights and all related image licensing. The asking price is $10,000 and a dividend of 7.5% of future earnings.

Later, Lianyi Pictures could no longer survive, so it sold all the rights to the producer Sal Zaenz. United Artists only retains the film distribution rights for The Hobbit.

Later, Lianyi Pictures was acquired by MGM, and the distribution rights also fell into the hands of MGM.

Later, Tolkien's son, Tolkien Jr., took charge of his father's estate. While Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" trilogy was well-received, Tolkien Jr. lashed out, saying he ruined his father's story, a memory of his childhood.

But no way.

With the copyright out, little Tolkien could do nothing.

Since that's the case, let's break the jar.

Since the film adaptation rights of "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" have been left behind and can't be taken back, it is better to sell the TV rights of "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit", anyway. Rotten like this.

In those years, Tolkien Jr. was busy peddling the rights in Hollywood.

However, no one is willing to take over!

Why?

Because the relevant image copyrights of "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" are all in the hands of Sal Zaenz! The Tolkien Legacy Foundation, which Tolkien Jr. holds, has only pure television rights.

Without image authorization, the characters in the film and television content cannot be authorized to other advertisers, the same props and clothes cannot be sold, and advertising fees and derivative income cannot be earned.

This is equivalent to less than half of the income!

It also caused the film and television company to be reluctant to take over.

Tang En was like picking up junk, and bought this part of the TV copyright.

He knows that it is impossible to develop derivative copyrights, to advertise with images related to "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit", or to put them in Universal Studios to attract tourists, nor to adapt them into games.

But he still wanted to insist on filming the TV series!

Because he valued the bigger picture, he wanted to put the series of TV series on Netflix, ignite a fire in the streaming media industry, and deeply establish Netflix's position as the industry leader.

In contrast, the related image income is not worth mentioning.

Unexpectedly, Sal Zaenz suddenly came to the door!

He asked to cooperate with New Universal to jointly develop the "The Hobbit" series of movies!

This is great!

Since it is a cooperation, the use of related images must also be authorized to New Universal! Movies can be used, but TV shows can’t be spared!

It's a lot of work!

However, Dunn did not show too much excitement, frowned, and looked very embarrassed, "I have already released the words, and the filming of the "The Hobbit" series will start within the next two years. Movie, doesn't that make me break my promise?"

Sal Zaenz had no TV rights in his hands, and wanted to make a lot of money, he could only make movies, so he bowed and said, "With all due respect, with Peter here, the "The Hobbit" series of movies... will definitely be a hit! Of course, even if it is made into a TV series, it will be a hot topic. But the revenue of TV series is far from being comparable to that of movies.”

This is true.

For movies and TV dramas of the same level, the profit rate of movies can reach 3-5 times that of TV dramas.

Dunn shook his head and said: "This is not a simple issue of movie revenue, but involves a larger strategic pattern. The TV series of "The Hobbit" involves the grand strategy of New Universal, which may leverage tens of billions... A hundred billion dollar industry. It's a company secret, I can't say it, but to New Universal, the 'The Hobbit' TV series is more valuable than the 'The Hobbit' movie!"

Sal Zaenz took a deep breath, his face a little ugly.

He seemed to have guessed something.

Maybe it has something to do with the streaming media business, which has been a hit with public opinion recently!

A multi-billion dollar industry? This breath is big enough!

If so, it would be difficult for Dunn to change his mind.

Peter Jackson tentatively said, "Or... just shoot the movie and TV series together?"

Dunn almost laughed.

Thinking back to the first time I met Peter Jackson, he was still a sturdy, handsome guy. It had only been a few years, and he had gained serious weight, turning into a chubby, chubby man.

According to him, he spent too much energy studying movies and no time to exercise.

In fact, it is very likely that after filming the "Lord of the Rings" series, he developed, became rich, and began to enjoy life.

Tang En pretended to be surprised, "To shoot together?"

Sal Zaenz immediately rejected: "This is not good! Whether it is a movie or a TV series, this subject matter is a big investment. If a project is shot at the same time and divided into two types of distribution, it will greatly affect the yield."

In fact, it affects his income.

Dunn actually thought about it.

A new model can be created, where TV and TV dramas work together.

To shoot a lot of material, take out 10 hours of it and divide it into 10 episodes as the first season episodes. Then cut out the most exciting clips for 3 hours and play them in the cinema as a movie.

But soon he vetoed himself.

This is really not a good idea. The release of movies and American dramas in this form will only hurt each other and damage each other's profits.

Dunn pondered for a while and said, "In the beginning, little Tolkien sold the TV rights of The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit everywhere, but no one took over. I asked him to talk to him, and I still got some extra benefits. "

"extra benefits?"

"Or, it's additional copyright." Dunn paused and explained, "We got the rights to adapt a lot of unorganized stories."

The story background of The Lord of the Rings is huge and complicated!

Tolkien's life was so huge that he couldn't tell the whole story.

Fortunately, this story has always stayed in Tolkien's mind.

Usually, he would often write a story like a "biography", as many as several hundred.

There are also many "oral histories".

It is also a story I tell my children every night when I put them to sleep.

There is no written record of this part, but Tolkien Jr. deeply memorized it.

After Tolkien's death, Tolkien Jr. sorted out all the writings of his father before his death, and wrote many stories that his father did not write but told.

Part of it was published by Tolkien Jr.

There is a larger part that he is still sorting out.

Because the TV series rights of "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit" could not be sold, Tolkien Jr had no choice but to agree to sell part of the unpublished story rights.

"Which part?"

Sal Zaenz and Peter Jackson are both "Lord of the Rings" passers. When they heard Dunn's words, their eyes widened immediately.

Dunn smiled and said: "It's the story of the Second Era, mainly the history of the Numenoreans, the establishment of Rivendell, the dwarf city Casa Tara, the peak period of Moria, and so on."

The 100-year-old story of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings takes place in the third era. At this time, the Numenores had disappeared for thousands of years.

This is a piece of ancient history!

Sal Zaenz and Peter Jackson looked at each other, their eyes couldn't help but let out a frenzy, and said in unison, "This is Silmarillion!"

This is a gem!

A gem that the whole of Hollywood coves!

It's a pity that little Tolkien didn't sell anything.

However, the time span of "The Silmarillion" is too long. The story of the Second Age belongs to the time category of "The Silmarillion". The history of the Numenoreans in this book is an understatement, with little story to tell.

Dunn said: "No, this has nothing to do with "The Silmarillion", it's just a coincidence of the time domain. These are some descriptions of the Numenores that Tolkien did not organize before his death. We got some unpublished from Tolkien's hands. s material."

Sal Zaenz took a deep breath with a shocked expression on his face.

Peter Jackson was equally astonished and couldn't help but ask, "Can it be adapted?"

"Of course!" Dunn smiled, "But the adaptation requires the approval of young Tolkien, which means that he must be included in the screenwriting team."

Do you even have the right to adapt the story?

This is so attractive!

Peter Jackson was stunned for a while, then sighed and said somewhat disappointedly, "What a pity, it would be great if it could be made into a movie!"

Dunn said with a smile: "It would be nice to make it into a TV series! I promised Tolkien Jr. that the cost of a single-season series would exceed $100 million before he agreed to authorize this part of the story. It's a pity that our contract The time limit is 8 years, and it will expire if you don’t shoot, and he will take back the copyright.”

Peter Jackson gritted his teeth firmly and said, "Shoot! This story must be filmed!"

Although the TV series has nothing to do with Sal Zaenz, he couldn't help but say: "Yes, if such a good story is not filmed, it would be irresponsible to the fans."

Peter Jackson was very moved.

Tang En looked at them with a half-smile, "What about the movie?"

Peter Jackson gritted his teeth and said, "You can make the TV series "The Numenores" first, and then the movie "The Hobbit"!"

Dunn looked at Sal Zaenz, "What do you think?"

Sal Zaenz had no choice but to accept, "This is the best."

As long as the project of "The Hobbit" can be promoted, it will be a few years later to make money at most.

Dunn said: "I can watch it. Make three seasons of the TV series "Numenor" first, and tell this part of the story of the second era completely. After this story is told... The "Hobbit" movie should start. By that time, Cameron's new research should also be successful ~ www.novelhall.com ~ Peter Jackson's eyes lit up, "You mean 3D movies? "

"Of course!" Dunn seemed very confident, "Peter, believe me, 3D is the general trend in the future movie market! The "Lord of the Rings" trilogy was limited by funding, and many special effects were not exquisite enough. In 2018, I believe The Hobbit will be the best 3D movie series, and even a sign of an era!"

Saying so, Sal Zaenz immediately rejoiced in his heart.

Making The Hobbit a 3D Movie?

The ticket price of 3D movies is very high!

He can make more money!

The three discussed for an entire afternoon and finally reached a consensus.

First, the TV series "The Numenores" of the Second Age was filmed for three seasons.

Then I made three films of "The Hobbit".

The TV series "Human Emperor Aragorn" will be filmed again for a total of three seasons.

The so-called "Human Emperor Aragorn" is the 60 years from the end of the "Hobbit" trilogy to the beginning of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, telling the story of young Aragorn's growth.

In the third era, the Numenoreans have been exterminated for thousands of years, and the Emperor Aragorn is the descendant of the Numenores!

"Human Emperor Aragorn" will write another legend of the Numenoreans!

The whole story is a complete connection from front to back.