By July, some news began to appear in the media. A well-informed reporter got the news from Universal Pictures and published reports that Universal Pictures might have pulled the Scorpion King out to shoot a film alone. However, the impact was not very big. Hollywood has too much gossip every day. Without Universal Pictures' confirmation, it would not attract too many people's attention.

But Matthew knew this was the fact that the project had completed the review process within Universal Pictures and was temporarily named "The Scorpion King". Because there are some cases that are still being discussed within Universal Pictures, it has not been made public yet.

According to the news from Helen Hermann, if the financing of this fantasy action film goes well, the production cost will be around 40 million US dollars. If it doesn't go well, it may be reduced by 10 million US dollars on this basis.

Universal Pictures will not directly invest too much money in this project, and the production costs will be solved by financing. Now Matthew is no longer a rookie who knew nothing about Hollywood. He has learned enough in the past two years that Hollywood's commercial productions will basically not come from any company, and most of them are made of multiple investments. There are many film funds and investment institutions in Hollywood, and they often invest in optimistic movie projects to make profits.

The investment model is similar to other commercial investments, the difference is that the investment product becomes a movie.

Movies, especially large-scale commercial films, are often high-risk commercial products. Before a film is released, no one can guarantee that it will succeed. A failed large-scale investment film may end a film company. Even if a large studio has stronger risk resistance, it is still trying its best to avoid risks.

If possible, everyone wants to make money only without taking risks.

After the holiday, good news came from Helen Herman. Whether it was Universal Studios, Sean Daniel and Stephen Somos, there was no objection to him continuing to play the Scorpion King. The crew was officially established. Although it has not been made public yet, Sean Daniel has already started to negotiate with her on behalf of the crew about Matthew's actor contract.

According to Helen Hermann, if this film wants to make full use of the response caused by the Scorpion King in "The Return of the Mummy", it needs to be released as soon as possible. Universal Pictures plans to launch the "Scorpion King" in the summer next year or earlier, and time is quite tight.

There was another news that surprised Matthew.

Stephen Somos is not going to direct this film, but serves as the screenwriter and producer. Like Sean Daniel, he controls the general direction of "The Scorpion King" and finds another suitable director.

As for the reason why Stephen Somos gave up directing "The Scorpion King", on the one hand, compared to his current fame and status, "The Scorpion King" is just a small production, and on the other hand, he has reached a consensus with Universal Pictures to plan a super big production, and the genre is also a successive fantasy adventure action film.

"Stephen Somos is now ambitious."

In the office of Angel Brokerage, Helen Hermann told Matthew, "I want to stuff Universal Pictures' famous monsters into the same movie. It is said that he asked Universal Pictures to offer a $150 million budget for this, and Universal Pictures is also very tempted at the moment."

Matthew frowned and thought, he seemed to have watched a movie about a collection of monsters, which werewolf, vampires, Dracula and many other messy monsters.

Helen Herman continued, “Now Stephen Somos has a good impression of you, and you keep working hard. If "The Scorpion King" succeeds, we will have a chance to compete for the leading actor in this super-major production.”

If it fails, there is no need to think about this kind of thing. The male protagonist of a new actor's first commercial masterpiece will fail and his future will basically be over.

"$150 million..." Matthew was slightly stunned, "Is this a top-notch production?"

Helen Herman nodded, "That's right."

Matthew didn't have a clear attitude, "Let's talk about completing "The Scorpion King"."

At this moment, he gradually recalled the monster movie he had watched. I remember that the male protagonist was Hugh Jackman who played Wolverine. The female protagonist served as the heroine of "Pearl Harbor". The movie was not very good, and it seemed that the box office failed.

You can imagine that "The Scorpion King" succeeded, he became a little famous, and then served as the leading actor in the big production called "Van Helsing". As a result, the box office of the film failed, so he, the leading actor, might be in a state of doom.

Hugh Jackman once had Wolverine as the foundation and the capital to make a comeback, but he had nothing.

Think about the heroine. It seems that after the failure of "Van Helsing", it has never appeared in Hollywood's first-line production again, and has completely inseparable from Hollywood's first-line and even second-line production.

It is also possible that he remembered it wrong. After all, he was only interested in pure entertainment films at that time, and he didn't know what the situation of art films was. The movies of the heroine I watched werewolves and vampire series in addition to "Pearl Harbor", and it is not clear whether she had moved to the field of art films.

However, this heroine can be said to be a lesson from the past. A actress who can serve as an absolutely top-notch production such as Pearl Harbor and Van Helsing, has a rising momentum that is definitely stronger than he is now, and I am afraid that many people will also like it. As a result, "Van Helsing" failed...

Matthew could imagine that if he won the male lead in "Van Helsing" and the film lost at the box office, it would probably be even worse than the actress.

Maybe I can only play soy sauce in Hollywood in the future.

Of course, these are all assumptions. After all, it is very difficult to get a male lead in a top-level production. Not to mention anything else, Universal Pictures will tend to use more box office star actors.

Looking at Matthew, Helen Hermann did not discuss the topic anymore, but said, "My negotiations with Sean Daniel have just begun, and I have offered you a million dollar offer."

Matthew nodded, knowing that it was just a quote.

Helen Herman continued, "Shaan Daniel has started various planning work. In terms of pay, he only planned a budget of $5 million, which also includes the director and other behind-the-scenes jobs. It is unrealistic for you to take one-fifth of it by yourself."

She thought for a while, "The salary on the contract will be about $500,000."

Matthew is quite satisfied with this price code, and there is a large part of the profit compared to the money he invested.

He also knew that Helen Herman used himself as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the crew, and used him and Scorpion King to let the crew use more clients under the Angels agency.

For example, the heroine and several other important supporting roles.

Angel Brokerage is working so hard to become the male lead, not just for a 10% commission.

But Matthew didn't ask, it was part of the business, and Helen Hermann and Angel Brokerage provided him with many conveniences and resources, not doing charity actions.

Helen Hermann is asking for more than just a male lead in this project.

This is also the reason why she temporarily prevents Matthew from having private contact with Sean Daniel and Stephen Somos. Once Matthew says the wrong thing, it will cause a lot of trouble to the subsequent negotiations.

"Do you have any special requirements for treatment?" Helen Hermann asked.

Matthew shook his head, "You can do this."

As long as the pay is appropriate, he has never cared about other aspects of treatment.

Although he raises money from the beginning and is always very particular, he seems to love money too much and is very nouveau riche, as far as he knows, what celebrities really care about is money. The price can only be reduced unless there is the temptation to win an Oscar. Among all the performance contracts, how much money is charged is always the most important point, because it is a trinity of status, popularity and vanity.

That afternoon, after Matthew left Angels Agency, Helen Herman came to Universal Studios again and met Sean Daniel. Since Stephen Somos began to prepare another project with Universal Studios, the crew of "The Scorpion King" was dominated by Sean Daniel.

At present, "The Scorpion King" has officially been launched, but it has not been made public due to timing. However, the crew is just an empty shell for the time being. The only thing that is certain is the production team led by Sean Daniel.

"Helen, what you asked for issuing a personal assistant, a private car pickup, a powder room, a trip expense, isn't a problem."

Sean Daniel has no objection to this, and Helen Hermann's conditions are not too much, which matches Matthew's case of an ordinary actor as the leading actor. "But in terms of pay, you're asking for too high."

He said seriously, "A million dollars...Matthew Horner is a good actor, but not worth the price."

"But he is the hero!" Helen Hermann emphasized, "It was him who created the very popular image of the Scorpion King."

Sean Daniel shook his head, looking like he didn't want to talk to Helen Hermando, "A half a million dollars, otherwise I would rather replace him."

What he didn't expect was that Helen Hermann did not refute, "I can accept it, but there is a condition."

"Condition?" Sean Daniel frowned slightly, but he did not want to replace him as Scorpion King, as the risk would increase exponentially, and asked, "What conditions?"

Helen Hermann helped out with black-edged glasses, "I heard that the crew also wanted a heroine and several supporting roles. Can I give priority to my actors?"

Originally, she wanted to follow CAA, but reason told her that the angel agency did not have such strength.

This condition is not too much, Sean Daniel thought for a while and said, "If the conditions are similar, I can give priority to it."
Chapter completed!