Chapter 57: Harvey Gets Explosive

[Chapter 57: Harvey Gets Explosive]

Charlie looked up and thanked Etto before taking the thick stack of files handed to him. He skimmed through them briefly and passed them to Harvey.

"This is the most reliable information I could gather. Do you have anything to add?"

Ever since he first stumbled upon the Lord of the Rings project, when it was in talks with Miramax,

Charlie had his eyes locked on it!

As a player with cheats, he knew exactly how much profit this project would generate.

Originally, Charlie planned to take it slow since the project, in his memory, wasn't produced by Miramax in the end.

But with a series of events piling up, the opportunity was right in front of him, and he had no reason to wait any longer.

Harvey flipped through the documents with a heavy heart filled with doubts.

Was this project really worth such serious attention?

...

Lord of the Rings was an epic fantasy work, originally a sequel to Tolkien's 1937 children's book The Hobbit.

Since its publication, it had an incredibly broad following in Western society and was one of the best-selling books of all time, with sales over a hundred million.

Such high-quality rights had long attracted Hollywood film companies.

But none of the major studios had ever seriously planned to produce it due to how difficult it was to adapt.

Back in '77, two separate animated adaptations had been made, but the results were mediocre.

This was exactly why the Lord of the Rings project was now before Harvey.

But this guy himself was more into evaluating arthouse films.

The decision to invest was mainly moved by Peter Jackson's strategic proposal.

Of course, it was clear the idea wasn't overly strong; otherwise, Harvey wouldn't have chosen to use the Lord of the Rings copyright as part of his stake in the Corleone Studios.

...

Over ten minutes later, Harvey said with some surprise, "The info is pretty complete. Besides the Tolkien Estate, there's United Artists and Saul Zaentz's Tolkien Enterprises. One thing -- there's a company called Iron Crown now holding character licensing for a card game."

Charlie frowned. "To get all the rights except the book rights, I'd have to go to the Tolkien Estate? United Artists is in decline now. Can you convince them to sell their remaining distribution rights?"

Tolkien Estate valued the rights highly. Over time, each company that handled the rights, even after selling, retained many benefits.

If the movie became a hit, all these companies would come rushing to share profits.

The worst part was, in most cases, they had the upper hand legally.

Charlie's current job was to sign the most complete copyright transfer agreements in advance, so when these guys got greedy, they'd get less.

Getting everything with no compromises was impossible.

"That's tough," Harvey sneered. "The Tolkien Estate's control is held by Tolkien's own son, who edited his father's works early on. They're not short on money, the whole family lives off their dad's rights. If you can convince Eisner at Disney to move, that might be a chance. Disney's theme parks have some ties with Kirk Kerkorian, the Vegas mogul."

'Shit, can Eisner help me?'

Charlie rolled his eyes, then curiously asked, "Kirk Kerkorian?"

Harvey chuckled. "The big boss at MGM. Don't tell me you don't even know United Artists was acquired by MGM back in '81."

Of course, he knew.

Charlie couldn't stand how the old guy always took digs at him, "Can you stop joking around? Let's get serious. You have to get United Artists, don't say you can't do it!"

The Lord of the Rings project had been with United Artists for nearly ten years until '76, when they handed it to Saul Zaentz. They kept some partial distribution rights, holding onto hope. But Saul, a former musician turned independent producer who worked on Oscar films like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, clearly couldn't handle Lord of the Rings.

He only developed two underwhelming animated films.

Now it's been about ten years.

Finally, the appearance of Peter Jackson, who seemed born to direct Lord of the Rings, gave many hope.

But currently Kerkorian had reacquired MGM United Artists through various moves.

It was just a partial distribution right with no clear prospects. United Artists focused on developing new James Bond films to show good financial reports.

From all angles, reclaiming all distribution rights wasn't very difficult.

Though it might be tough for Charlie, it was a good chance for Harvey.

"Alright," Harvey shrugged, agreeing, then turned serious. "Honestly, Godfather, this deal might cost a million or two. Are you really that confident about Lord of the Rings? Aren't you afraid of losing everything?"

A small studio certainly didn't stand on equal grounds with even a declining United Artists.

Spending a million or two was clearly way above market value.

But it was all worth it. Charlie nodded without bargaining. "Of course! Just wait and see. Next, we have Saul Zaentz, an Oscar producer like you. He's the one who recommended Lord of the Rings to you, right?"

"You want me to convince him?" Harvey squinted and blew on his beard.

"Got a problem?" Charlie feigned innocence.

"Damn it, you're in charge of Lord of the Rings. I have a contract with Disney. I can't get involved in these things!"

Charlie smiled cheekily, "You're just the messenger, nothing more. Would Eisner make you beg on your knees for that?"

"Asshole, I can do this stuff. Don't push my buttons!" Harvey slammed the table. "But your attitude treats me like a regular employee. Miramax owns 35% of Corleone Studios. I'm a voting director! You better know who you're talking to."

So what, you want me idolize you like God?

Charlie snorted coldly, "Can you stop being such a pain? We're working here! You're acting like a neglected kid craving a mommy kiss. Here, have a hug, okay? Good boy!"

With that, Charlie actually gave him a hug.

"Fuck you, you better show me some respect!" Harvey turned red, his face twisting like a madman.

He was already fierce-looking, and anger made him look like a psycho killer.

His brother Bob looked serious, Jill Messick trembled in fear.

However, Charlie was tall, muscular and battle-hardened.

Also a hot-headed boss; he wasn't about to back down.

With glaring eyes and booming voice, he towered over Harvey, "Who's disrespecting whom? I've been serious about the work, and you act like you're loaded with explosives, sparking with every word! I've ignored that so far, but you keep pushing,"

Harvey paused but still defiantly shouted back, "You're greedy, I've never seen anyone like you. The movie's not even made and you want to hold everything in your hands. I don't see the point of convincing anyone for you."

*****

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