Chapter 407

After returning, Cao Yang spent a long time communicating with Anne Hathaway and Eva Green; both actresses expressed that they had learned quite a lot of performance and vocal techniques.

Because yesterday's Oscar ceremony was already very exhausting, and he had to coach the two actresses after returning, Cao Yang ended up sleeping quite soundly and waking up rather late.

By the time he woke up, it was already eleven o'clock in the morning.

However, Anne Hathaway and Eva Green were not doing much better; neither of them had woken up yet either.

Logically speaking, the two of them should have had more energy than Cao Yang, but there are exceptions to everything.

In order to look more radiant and moving on the Oscar red carpet, female stars often go on a diet many days in advance; in the few days before the event, they might even eat nothing or just a tiny bit.

This resulted in them having neither physical strength nor energy.

Therefore, the two of them, curled up together, were sleeping even more soundly than Cao Yang.

Cao Yang sat up and reached out to pat each of their bottoms, but the two didn't even have any particular reaction.

Shaking his head, Cao Yang picked up his phone to take a look; there were actually two missed calls on it, one from Warner CEO Barry Meyer and one from Warner Bros. President Jeff Robinov.

Cao Yang couldn't help but shake his head and sigh; he couldn't coach too late in the future... no, that wasn't it, he couldn't coach multiple people's acting at once. Look, two calls came in on his phone, and he hadn't even heard them.

He first called Barry Meyer back, and once the call connected, he said with a smile:

"Sorry, Barry. At yesterday's Oscar ceremony, I set my phone to silent mode, and after that, it was interviews and then the banquet, so I forgot to switch it back. I only realized you had called when I picked up my phone."

"Haha, understood, understood. In that kind of setting, you definitely have to set it to silent."

Barry Meyer's tone was natural; one couldn't hear any displeasure at all—given his status, very few people would fail to answer his calls, and he basically never encountered such things.

But since he had encountered it this time, he still had to smile and express his understanding.

"I haven't congratulated you yet, my dearest Mr. Director. Congratulations on your production 'The Fault in Our Stars' winning Best Picture. If I remember correctly, this is your third one, right?

This is a truly remarkable achievement; in the entire history of Hollywood, it is an extremely rare thing. Congratulations on becoming the first in history."

"Tied, it's tied. Mr. Saul Zaentz is a legend of Hollywood; he is a great producer."

Cao Yang replied with a smile.

Hmm, Saul Zaentz is a legendary producer, so flattering him is definitely not wrong. The more impressive he is... haven't I already reached the same level as him, winning three Oscar Best Pictures?

Of course, Saul Zaentz's status doesn't need to be boasted about.

In the producer industry, even the most active gold-medal producer today, Jerry Bruckheimer, cannot be mentioned in the same breath as Saul Zaentz in terms of status and influence.

It's just that Saul Zaentz is very low-key, or rather, the award-winning films he produced are from a more distant era; by the time the internet became popular, he had basically already retired, so people rarely pay attention to figures from that era.

Actually, there is another film everyone is familiar with that was also operated and pushed by Saul Zaentz, only he was just behind the scenes.

This film is "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

What everyone sees on the surface is Peter Jackson using this series to join the ranks of great Hollywood directors, but I'm afraid not many people know the inside story.

As early as 1976, Saul Zaentz bought the adaptation rights for film, television, games, and merchandise for "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit."

It's just that, limited by the technology of the time, he didn't produce it into a live-action film, but only produced an animated film, "The Lord of the Rings."

Later, he sold the film adaptation rights of the novels to Miramax, led by the Weinstein brothers.

This was what made Peter Jackson.

However, there is one point: he only sold the film adaptation rights to Miramax; the remaining television, game, and merchandise rights were still in his hands.

Later, Miramax didn't have high hopes for "The Lord of the Rings" film and sold the rights to New Line.

The "Lord of the Rings" film series was ultimately a huge success, and both New Line and Peter Jackson made a fortune, but Saul Zaentz didn't earn any less.

A specialized company once conducted an assessment; the success of "The Lord of the Rings" film series made the valuation of the rights related to these novels exceed 2 billion US dollars.

Although Saul Zaentz sold the game adaptation rights to New Line as well, he still retained some other aspects of the rights.

Tolkien probably never imagined until his death that his novels could create such great value.

He died in 1973, and his heirs packaged and sold all the rights to "The Hobbit" and "The Lord of the Rings" to Saul Zaentz in 1976.

It's just that I don't know if Tolkien's descendants, after seeing the "Lord of the Rings" series create so much wealth, will regret their decision back then.

Hmm, they definitely regret it to the point of their guts turning green.

Warner CEO Barry Meyer calling Cao Yang was just a formality; isn't it just an Oscar Best Picture? Compared to this, he values more Cao Yang's ability to revive the "dead" "Pirates of the Caribbean."

Most importantly, it's the ability to make "New Pirates of the Caribbean" sell over 1 billion US dollars globally.

That's right, over 1 billion US dollars.

Don't look at the current box office of "New Pirates of the Caribbean," which is still a little bit away from 1 billion; after this film won several major technical awards at the Oscars, 1 billion US dollars will definitely be reached.

The promotional power that comes with the Oscars is very great.

Many art films that win Oscar awards can sell for one or two hundred million US dollars or even more globally.

Otherwise, there wouldn't be so many Hollywood films daring to throw millions or tens of millions of dollars into it just to get an Oscar nomination and award.

Barry Meyer also wants to create a billion-dollar-level film.

Among the two films in Hollywood currently exceeding 1 billion US dollars, "Titanic" was co-produced by 20th Century Fox and Paramount.

And "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" nominally belongs to Warner, because the film's producer, New Line Cinema, was acquired by Warner as early as '93.

But unfortunately, although New Line was acquired by Warner, New Line's original president, Shaye, still held major equity in New Line at the time of the acquisition and enjoyed the company's autonomous management rights.

Therefore, although New Line belongs to the Time Warner Group, its film operations are not related to other film companies within the group.

This is very awkward.

A nominal subsidiary produced a film of the billion-dollar level, while Warner, although it has a constant stream of explosive films and even a cash cow like "Harry Potter"...

... just hasn't produced a film of the billion-dollar level.

Barry Meyer very much hopes to join forces with Cao Yang to produce another billion-dollar-level film.

He has placed this hope on "The Dark Knight," which is currently in post-production.

"Batman" is the superhero with the most fans and naturally has a good box office foundation; plus, with Cao Yang collaborating with Nolan, there is still hope.

Barry Meyer's goal is very simple: to "urge" Cao Yang. The Oscars are already over, shouldn't you come to the company now to follow up on the film's post-production?

Barry Meyer is still not at ease with Cao Yang letting Nolan handle the post-production.

Who is Nolan?

Just a Hollywood director who is somewhat reliable.

The films he directed haven't won major awards, the box office hasn't exploded, and even for a national-level comic adaptation like "Batman," he almost messed up the first reboot film!

Don't say that not losing money at the box office is a huge success.

That applies to new films with no foundation.

Is "Batman" a new film? Does it have no foundation?

This has the largest fan base in North America, okay!

Look at the reboot film "Pirates of the Caribbean" directed by Cao Yang, which can exceed 1 billion US dollars in global box office; can the 300 million-plus global box office of the first "Batman" directed by Nolan compare?

No matter who it is, would they choose to believe in Cao Yang or believe in Nolan?

The answer is obvious.

After hanging up on Barry Meyer, Cao Yang was just about to call Warner Bros. President Jeff Robinov when he didn't expect him to have called again.

Compared to Warner CEO Barry Meyer, Jeff Robinov is not only concerned about the sequel to "Batman," but he is more concerned about "Joker."

In Jeff Robinov's view, the probability of success for the "Batman" sequel is still very high with Cao Yang taking action and joining forces with Nolan.

But "Joker" is different; this is an extension of the "Batman" series, and there has never been a precedent for pulling out a villain to start a project, so it is very uncertain.

This kind of film with a villain pulled out independently is not very suitable for being made into a commercial blockbuster because its popularity definitely cannot compare to the protagonist.

If it can't be made into a commercial blockbuster, then it can only take the art-house route, digging deep into the character's inner world and relationship map, and magnifying human nature for the audience to see.