Sitting in front of his computer, Matthew spent the entire day from morning until afternoon, skimming through the science fiction novel. Since it was still being serialized on a blog, Andy Weir had clearly not finished writing it yet. The story had only progressed a little past halfway. Judging by the speed at which Andy Weir had been uploading chapters since the beginning of last year, it was likely that the book wouldn't be finished this year.
After quickly reviewing the novel, Matthew sat in thought for a while.
Although the novel was incomplete, its thematic framework was already quite clear.
In simple terms, it was a space survival story, which could also be called "My Life as a Farmer on Mars" or "Growing Potatoes on Mars."
Yes, growing potatoes on Mars was the scene that left the deepest impression on Matthew after reading half of the novel.
"Growing potatoes on Mars, huh!" Matthew muttered to himself.
He looked once again at the document filled with letters, where the title of the novel was written—The Martian.
If translated directly, it would simply be Mars.
Perhaps because Mars is relatively close to Earth, there are many science fiction novels about Mars in North America. The most typical example being the adaptation of A Princess of Mars, in which Brad Pitt had invested.
There were several scenes in The Martian that were very similar to a movie Matthew had seen before.
In particular, the part where the protagonist faces a desperate situation and grows potatoes on Mars.
Matthew furrowed his brows as he thought for a moment. The movie wasn't called Mars, but the scene of growing potatoes on Mars stuck in his mind. He vaguely remembered the lead actor being Matt Damon.
Yes! It was Matt Damon! He recalled that the movie included some scenes featuring the space agency from the other side of the Pacific, clearly to appeal to that audience.
The movie was probably called The Martian.
Matthew finally remembered the name of the film. He also vaguely recalled that it had been quite a popular movie at the time.
As for whether the Matt Damon movie The Martian was adapted from this The Martian novel, Matthew wasn't sure.
He didn't even remember who the director of the film was, so it was impossible to remember the original author.
However, given the similarity of several key scenes, it didn't seem like a coincidence, especially with the whole potato-growing on Mars plot.
This book might really have potential for adaptation.
Matthew began to think it over. With his experience from managing adaptations of the Twilight and The Hunger Games series, he knew well that a novel's journey to becoming a successful film adaptation was a long one. But if a novel could be published and garner some attention, it would lay a solid foundation for a movie adaptation.
Comic book adaptations, novel adaptations, and sequels to popular movies were undoubtedly the three main components of Hollywood's commercial film industry today.
Original, high-budget productions were exceedingly rare. To be more precise, only a handful of people like Christopher Nolan dared to take on top-tier investments for original projects.
And all of them were directors who had thoroughly proven themselves.
According to the information Bella Anderson had gathered, The Martian, still an unfinished novel, was currently only being serialized on Andy Weir's personal blog, with very limited attention. It was said to have fewer than 3,000 readers.
Given this, Matthew estimated that he could acquire the film rights to the novel, as well as other related rights, at a relatively low cost.
But securing the novel was just the beginning of a long road to making a film adaptation.
This was different from Twilight and The Hunger Games. When he had first taken an interest in those projects, not only had they already been published, but they also had gained some popularity and readership.
But The Martian? Just 3,000 readers…
If a movie ticket averaged $8, how much box office revenue could they generate from 3,000 viewers?
Of course, you couldn't calculate it that way. To ensure that a future Martian adaptation didn't become another awkward Hollywood flop based on a commercial novel, the novel itself would need to gain some popularity and a solid readership before the film came out.
This meant finding a publisher for The Martian.
Fortunately, Matthew had the necessary connections to make that happen, and it wouldn't be difficult.
The next step would be to figure out how to promote and hype the book. The hard sci-fi genre tended to have a smaller audience these days.
Maybe they could try releasing it digitally?
Matthew thought about it for a while and finally made a decision. He would have Bella Anderson reach out to Andy Weir. If the price was right, he'd acquire the rights. Then they could slowly work on it, especially since it would take a long time for Andy Weir to finish the book.
He estimated that the cost of acquiring the rights wouldn't be too high, so even if the movie adaptation didn't pan out, the loss would be minimal.
As for producing the film, a hard sci-fi movie set on Mars would require a budget of at least $50 million to look credible.
Thinking about this, Matthew rubbed his forehead. An opportunity like this was too good to pass up.
He glanced at the clock. It wasn't quite time to get off work, so he made a couple of phone calls—one to Bella Anderson and another to Helen Herman, giving them a rough outline of the situation.
Both of them expressed their support.
After a series of successful film investments, even the usually level-headed Helen Herman had developed a nearly blind trust in him.
After the calls, Matthew continued reading the science fiction novel. Suddenly, he realized something: every year, the number of films he produced exceeded the number he acted in.
Regardless of his ability as a producer, he was now undeniably both a Hollywood superstar and a top-tier producer.
Matthew knew his strengths well and had never considered becoming a director. Although many actors in Hollywood transition to directing, given their star power and the resources they have access to, Matthew knew that in the world of Hollywood, directors weren't at the top of the industry.
Actors who reached his level often craved more power, and in the power games of Hollywood, it was always the producers holding the most influence. This role became the "ultimate peak" many Hollywood stars aspired to.
Big-name actors who became producers typically followed two paths. One was to star in films produced by other companies, like the G.I. Joe series, where they had more control over the projects they wanted to work on. The other, of course, was about profits—being the boss meant getting a bigger share of the earnings.
But the two weren't mutually exclusive. After all, who wouldn't want to make money while doing what they loved?
The former was relatively easy to manage. The latter, however, wasn't as straightforward as it seemed.
The greater the power, the greater the responsibility. While becoming a producer came with more benefits, it also carried more risks.
Having transitioned from being in front of the camera to working behind the scenes, Matthew had come to understand this well. Relying solely on acting wouldn't cut it anymore. As an actor, he only needed to worry about performing well. As a producer, he had to manage everything, including performance. One oversight could result in wasted time, and time was money.
Nowadays, Julia Roberts had fully transitioned to producing, Tom Cruise tightly controlled the Mission: Impossible franchise, Leonardo DiCaprio continued to invest in Martin Scorsese's films, and even Johnny Depp had started his own production company.
Matthew was undoubtedly a commercial success story.
Some even said that he had built a movie empire using nothing but his looks.
In essence, his Thirteen Studios was still a shell company, but more and more buyers were willing to offer high prices for it.
However, Matthew had no plans to sell just yet, knowing that the Twilight series would continue to succeed. And if The Hunger Games and Insidious franchises also succeeded in the future, the profits would far exceed any offer of $100 million.
The negotiations between Bella Anderson and Andy Weir went smoothly. With Helen Herman introducing Andy Weir to a physical book publisher and helping him secure a deal with Amazon for digital sales, Andy Weir quickly signed the licensing agreement. Thirteen Studios acquired the film rights to The Martian for just $300,000.
Through Bella Anderson's negotiations with Andy Weir, Matthew also learned more about the situation. Over the years, Andy Weir had been serializing not only The Martian on his blog but also several other novels. Weir saw The Martian as a stepping stone, hoping it would open doors to Hollywood and publishers.
Andy Weir had been pitching his novels worldwide for a year. Although his position as a Blizzard executive gave him some advantages, his lofty dreams clashed with the harsh reality. He had approached over a dozen companies and publishers, all of whom had turned him down—until he met Matthew. For Weir, it was a case of grasping at straws.
Matthew was lucky, and so was Andy Weir. Without this opportunity, who knows how many more years it would have taken for someone to show interest in adapting The Martian into a film.
Both parties got what they needed, striking a deal quickly.
After securing the rights to The Martian, Matthew returned to the Fast & Furious 5 set to resume filming. A week later, Bella Anderson brought more good news. After long and arduous negotiations, she had finally reached an agreement with Chris Kyle and his wife, Taya Kyle. On behalf of Thirteen Studios, she signed the deal for the movie rights to Kyle's autobiography, American Sniper.
Thirteen Studios bought the film rights to American Sn
iper for a total of $7 million, with the rights valid for fifteen years. This meant that within fifteen years, if Matthew produced and released an American Sniper film, they would retain the rights. Otherwise, they would lose the rights after the fifteen-year period expired.
This was a standard practice for book or comic book movie rights in North America.
With the rights to American Sniper in hand, Matthew planned to reach out to Clint Eastwood to see if the veteran cowboy might be interested in directing.
Originally, Chris Kyle had suggested Steven Spielberg as a good choice, but Matthew had vetoed that. Spielberg's war films were simply too sentimental…
Time quickly flew by, and it was now May. Marvel Studios and Disney were preparing to host a grand premiere for Iron Man 2, and Matthew returned to Los Angeles to attend.
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