Chapter 318: MGM's Profitable Year
Liu Hongmin had no other options for this situation. All he could do was to earn more copyright fees before the market dropped to its lowest point.
Liu Hongmin is relieved that Random House is operating abroad. As a giant in the book industry, Random House also has to protect its own interests, even if it costs more for marketing.
Each series of World of Warcraft brought Liu Hongmin hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties, and Random House earned at least times more than Liu Hongmin. How could they easily give up such huge profits?
The other books made at least tens of millions of dollars in profit, which is more than what most of their contracted writers earn.
Liu Hongmin is as prolific as a sow, writing five, seven or eight books every year. Where can they find such a high-quality writer?
What's more, they also run a series of companies such as Transformers and MGM with Liu Hongmin, and they are already strategic partners. If it is not a matter of life and death, they will not abandon Liu Hongmin.
This year is a fruitful year for MGM, with a series of works released after New Year's Day.
"The Grim Reaper" was filmed first because it had a Hong Kong version. This was a test work of MGM to verify whether Liu Hongmin's novel was popular. MGM's shares were reorganized and the stock price continued to fall. Although the announcement of multiple projects made the stock price rise, it was only a temporary move.
Only when the movie is released can MGM's stock price be truly boosted. However, the production cycle of Hollywood movies is relatively long, so Andrew wanted to adapt a novel by Liu Hongmin to test the quality of Liu Hongmin's novel and boost the stock price at the same time.
On March 3, "The Ship" was released in North America. This was the first time that Liu Hongmin's novel was officially released in North America, and many book fans went to the theater to show their support. Although many people had already seen the Hong Kong version of "The Ship", they were still enthusiastic.
After six weeks of release, "The Grim Reaper" earned more than 3200 million . dollars at the box office. This box office obviously does not conform to the temperament of the MGM giant, but considering that its cost was only more than 100 million . dollars, more than 3200 million . dollars at the box office is completely acceptable.
The film was a small success, earning MGM more than $1500 million in profits. This was soon reflected in the stock market, where the stock price immediately climbed, increasing MGM's market value by $ million.
If "The Cruise" is a small-scale production, then the next "Lethal Weapon 3" is a big production.
"Lethal Weapon 3" was released in North America on May 5, and took in $15 million at the box office. Jet Li's role as a Hong Kong Interpol was well received by North American audiences, and his fighting scenes were so good.
When Li Lianjie was a few years old, he went to the United States to perform martial arts and was well received by the audience. When he grew up, Li Lianjie once again conquered the country with martial arts.
Although "Lethal Weapon 3" was a huge success, this movie was a Warner Bros. project after all, and MGM only invested in it. However, the $100 million investment earned more than $700 million in profit, which is still good news for the stock market.
On June 6, Rumble in the Bronx, co-produced with Tomorrow Films, was released and earned $25 million in the first week. In the end, Rumble in the Bronx earned more than $1500 million. The film cost $5400 million and made a profit of more than $1700 million, with MGM making more than $800 million.
Three consecutive films made profits, although not much, but it still restored the stock market's confidence in MGM. In the following days, MGM's stock price rose steadily, and investors were paying attention to the box office of MGM's next films.
With this movie, Jackie Chan officially entered Hollywood, and many companies came to him, wanting to cooperate with him. MGM immediately announced that it would mainly invest in the next movie with Jackie Chan as the main investor.
Next, the movies released by MGM will be the highlight.
Wu Baige's Mission Impossible was released on August 8 and immediately became a hit in the North American market. Tom Cruise's action scenes were very cool, and he was on par with Jet Li. Many fans went to the theater just for Tom Cruise's cool action scenes, showing the advantage of playing at home.
It won the box office championship in its first week and remained at the top of the box office for the next three weeks. By the time it was released, it had grossed a total of $ million.
The cost of Mission: Impossible was 50 million US dollars, and Cruise received 20 million US dollars for the film. The film made MGM 50 million US dollars in profit. Although the revenue ratio was not high, it was the highest revenue of MGM this year.
MGM's stock price saw a surge, directly increasing its market value by $300 million.
Warner Bros.' film "The Bodyguard" also exploded in the North American market on November 11. However, compared with "Mission Impossible", it was only slightly inferior. In the end, "The Bodyguard" won a box office of 25 million US dollars, and MGM made a profit of more than million US dollars.
If "The Bodyguard" is the icing on the cake, then the release of "The Curse of the Black Pearl" will completely save MGM's stock price.
On December 12, after more than a year in production, The Curse of the Black Pearl was finally released in North America. This pirate film directed by Cameron was highly anticipated, and it attracted audiences to rush into the theaters as soon as it was released. Their choice was right, because if they were a step late, they really couldn't buy movie tickets.
The film was a huge hit on the first day, earning over $800 million. In its first week, it earned over $5400 million, breaking the single-week box office record this year.
Starting from the second week, the box office remained strong, and after six weeks it grossed a total of $ million, becoming the box office champion of this year.
The Curse of the Black Pearl won the box office and successfully raised MGM's stock price to a terrifying height. Because there were two sequels, investors were very optimistic about this series, and the stock price soared. In February 1993, MGM's market value officially reached 2 billion US dollars.
MGM also took the opportunity to announce its next film shooting plans, and "Mission Impossible 2" and "Dead Man's Chest" are certain to be released.
Andrew screened through Liu Hongmin's novels and decided to shoot Edge of Tomorrow. Of course, when adapting, many things in it will be changed. After all, Hollywood and China have different ideologies. MGM needs to change Edge of Tomorrow into an American story in order to succeed.
Liu Hongmin asked Andrew to purchase the copyrights of "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Hobbit", and then included them in the filming plan and slowly looked for suitable actors.
Liu Hongmin's World of Warcraft series, in which the war is more magical, is not very easy to adapt, so it is temporarily shelved. According to Liu Hongmin's suggestion, Feng Kan acquired a game company and prepared to make it into a game. When the time comes, it will be determined whether to make a CG movie or shoot a live-action movie.
(End of this chapter)
