Chapitre 446: Chapter 446: Universal Monster Series
At the Roosevelt Hotel on Hollywood Boulevard, Universal Pictures held a media release for Angels & Demons.
As a prequel to The Da Vinci Code, this Angels & Demons kept the novel's author, Dan Brown, as the producer, director Ron Howard, and starred Nicolas Cage as the male lead, with French actress Audrey Tautou as the female lead.
The rights to The Da Vinci Code series were initially acquired by Capet Pictures, but the prequel Angels & Demons was sold to Universal Pictures.
However, Charles Capet did not plan to continue developing Dan Brown's novel series. One Da Vinci Code movie had already done well enough.
In a suite at the Roosevelt Hotel, Charles was cuddling Gal Gadot on the sofa. They were attending the Universal Pictures banquet.
"Mmm," Gal Gadot straddled Charles's lap. After a kiss, she looked dreamily into his eyes.
"Captain America: The First Avenger starts filming next March. I can stay in the U.S. for a long time," said Gal Gadot, who had already been announced as the female lead.
"Haven't you been in the U.S. for a long time this year filming Fast & Furious 4?" Charles asked, with one hand on her waist and the other caressing her smooth, white thigh.
Gal Gadot nodded, saying, "I should listen to you and stay in the U.S. longer. That way, I can better develop my acting career!"
"Alright, it's time to head to the banquet," Charles said, patting her gently.
"You go ahead, I need to touch up my makeup!" she replied.
Then Charles went downstairs to the banquet hall hosted by Universal. When Ronald Meyer, the chairman of Universal, saw Charles, he came right over.
"Charles, welcome!"
"Hey, good afternoon, Ronald," Charles and Ronald Meyer hugged each other.
The two chatted warmly like old friends, although Charles was actually not very familiar with Ronald Meyer.
As one of the founders of CAA, Ronald Meyer had deep connections in Hollywood. After joining Universal, he was mainly responsible for the company's overall operations.
"Capet Pictures is really impressive. This Twilight Saga has shown everyone how formidable you are!" Ronald said.
Universal's performance this year was poor, with only Wanted slightly salvaging their reputation, grossing 135 millions in North America and 342 million globally. The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor barely broke even in North America, though it grossed $400 million globally, but its poor reviews ended the sequel series.
"Doesn't Universal have a joint financing agreement with Relativity Media? Having someone help with funding is great!" Charles said while taking a sip of wine from a waiter's tray.
Relativity Media's co-financing contracts with Universal and Sony-Columbia were quite significant.
Ronald Meyer laughed, "Has Capet Pictures ever lacked movie investment funds?"
Universal had big movies lined up for next year, like Angels & Demons, Public Enemies, and The Wolfman. Ronald Meyer was most optimistic about Angels & Demons, more than Fast & Furious 4.
"Has Capet Pictures completed the new The Incredible Hulk?" Ronald Meyer and Charles sat down in a quiet area of the banquet hall.
He inquired about the status of the Marvel character rights exchanged for Hulk.
Charles nodded and said, "The filming is about done. We expect to finish all special effects scenes by April or May next year. The new The Incredible Hulk is scheduled for a Christmas release next year!"
Ronald Meyer sighed. Now, Warner Bros. had support from DC Comics, and other studios had Marvel character movies as well.
Sony-Columbia had the Spider-Man series and Ghost Rider. 20th Century Fox had the X-Men trilogy and the Fantastic Four duology, with X-Men Origins: Wolverine set for release next year.
"It seems that Paramount's failure to secure a distribution deal for the Marvel movie series with Marvel Entertainment was a huge loss for them," Ronald Meyer said, clearly envious of Charles's foresight in acquiring Marvel Entertainment.
Capet Entertainment's acquisition of Marvel Entertainment was even more impressive than Disney's purchase of Pixar!
"Maybe it was all God's plan," Charles shook his head lightly. It was all in the past now.
"I heard Fast & Furious 4 is being rebooted, and they're planning to shoot Fast & Furious 4 and Fast & Furious 5 back-to-back?" Charles asked.
Ronald Meyer explained, "The company does plan to develop a new trilogy. After all, Tokyo Drift received terrible reviews. Fast & Furious 4 will follow up on 2 Fast 2 Furious and reunite the original cast. Vin Diesel will also be the producer for the new film. He suggested shooting Fast & Furious 4 and 5 back-to-back. But, we're still considering waiting to see Fast & Furious 4's box office performance before deciding!"
Charles nodded. If Fast & Furious 4 met expectations, they would continue. If not, the series would be discontinued.
While chatting, Charles noticed Emily Blunt at the banquet, immediately thinking of Universal's monster film The Wolfman!
Back in the 1920s and 30s, Universal had constantly adapted folklore and Victorian literature monsters for the big screen, bringing many well-known monster characters to life.
These included the Mummy, Dracula, Frankenstein's Monster, the Wolfman, the Invisible Man, and the Creature from the Black Lagoon. These monster movies made Universal a big player in B-movies for decades, hugely successful and influential in their time!
Before the millennium, Universal remade the classic monster movie The Mummy, adding many modern cinematic elements, especially heavy investments in special effects, achieving great success.
They followed up with The Mummy Returns, which was also a critical and commercial hit, making these low-cost B-movie monsters into a commercial IP.
Universal continued with the high-budget Van Helsing in 2004, but it only managed to gross 125 millions in North America and $300 million worldwide.
Now, even though The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor was not a huge success, it wasn't a total failure either.
This time, with the high-budget The Wolfman, Charles sensed Universal's ambitions. Could they be planning a "Dark Universe" already?
*****
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État de l’alimentation hebdomadaire
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Power Stone 
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