Chapter 212: Gaining a Fan

Moments later, under the guidance of the waiter, Rowling, Dumbledore, Snape, and Professor McGonagall all walked over.

The three young actors were indeed there too!

"So cute!"

Seeing Hermione, who seemed to be attending such an occasion for the first time and was clearly a bit nervous, Wayne couldn't help but feel a little excited.

However, to avoid giving people the wrong impression, he first greeted Rowling and the others before turning his attention back to the three children.

"They must be 'Harry Potter', 'Ron Weasley' and 'Hermione Granger', right?"

"Yes, Mr. Wayne."

"I have to say, Ms. Rowling has a really good eye. They look like they've stepped right out of the book, especially Hermione. She's exactly like the Hermione in my mind."

Wayne complimented, then smiled and asked Hermione, "Nice to meet you, beautiful young lady. Can you tell me your name?"

"I, I'm Emma Watson... I'm your fan, I especially love 'The Notebook' that you starred in..."

Hermione stammered, her little face flushed red with excitement, and her small white hands unconsciously clenched into fists.

At her age, she shouldn't be able to act so seamlessly, so this should be her true feelings.

"Really? Then I think we can become fans of each other soon." Wayne smiled and touched her head.

Hmm, her messy hair felt quite nice to the touch, making it a bit hard to let go.

"Fans of each other?"

"Yeah, I think even before the movie comes out, just seeing you play Hermione, I'm already becoming your fan~"

Hermione became even more excited after hearing this. Her idol, her male god, would also become her fan and like her?

Was there anything more exciting than this?!

The others around them all looked thoughtful when they saw this scene.

Wayne's high regard for Hermione was clearly beyond their expectations.

But Wayne didn't bother to care about their thoughts. He had already forgotten all about Michelle Branch. For the rest of the party, he basically stayed with Hermione, chatting with her about interesting things that happened during filming.

And after learning that she could only stay in Los Angeles for three days and would be returning to London in two days, he invited her to visit Wayne Manor. He also called Quentin to adjust the shooting schedule and give himself two days off, preparing to take Hermione around Los Angeles.

This undoubtedly made the little girl overjoyed.

However, to avoid unnecessary trouble, Wayne also invited his sister and Lily Collins.

This way, even if they were accidentally seen by passersby, there wouldn't be any problems.

It is worth mentioning that the other casting choices in the original "Harry Potter" were okay, but he wasn't very satisfied with the choice for 'Ginny Weasley', perhaps due to personal aesthetics.

Considering that this character would have more and more scenes later, he planned to replace this role with Lily.

As for why not his sister, it was naturally because she had to play the Scarlet Witch.

Two days later, Hermione reluctantly hugged Wayne's neck, kissed him on the cheek, and then boarded the return flight with the rest of the crew, including Rowling.

Wayne was also very reluctant to part.

However, he pulled himself together and put himself back into work. After work, he went straight to the villa at 12 Roxbury Street.

Just yesterday, Alexandra Daddario, who had completed her transfer procedures and became classmates with Amanda Seyfried and Camilla Belle, had moved into the villa with her luggage and even invited him for coffee.

If it weren't for the fact that he had to accompany Hermione at the time, he would have already taken Daddario down.

I have to say, Daddario's figure is truly amazing.

The proportions and lines of her bust, waist, and hips were, in a way, better than a supermodel's, more in line with the average person's aesthetic.

However, Daddario's "combat power" during their first coffee date wasn't as formidable as he had imagined.

In less than forty minutes, she took the initiative to ask for mercy.

So Wayne naturally called Camilla Belle and Amanda Seyfried over, giving the three of them a chance to get to know each other better.

Time flew by in this unremarkable cycle of filming and "drinking coffee" until August 28th.

Just as "Resident Evil 1" officially ended its run with an astonishing global box office total of $601 million ($267 million in North America and $334 million overseas), "Heidi" was also completed and had passed Wayne's review.

Honestly, in his past life, he was just a theoretical critic and didn't really understand.

Now that he was personally in charge of a production company, which was equivalent to having those famous directors remake classic works from his past life, he realized...

There's a reason why great directors are expensive.

The difference in directors' abilities can bring about a huge improvement in the final quality of the film.

Although Milla Jovovich's fame in his past life wasn't as great as Charlize Theron's, she still fit the role well. However, the final box office of "Resident Evil 1" was only $100 million.

As a result, just by changing the supporting actor to Ben Stiller, the director to Nolan, and making the props and special effects a bit better, the total box office increased sixfold!

And with this "Heidi", he could also clearly feel that after changing the director to Gus Van Sant, the quality had improved significantly.

In addition, although the acting skills of the replacement female lead, Lily Collins, and his sister might not be as good as the original, they were more pleasing to the eye and cuter.

In a comprehensive comparison, if the "Heidi" from his past life could score a high score of 9.3 on Douban with 630,000 ratings, then the current "Heidi" should be able to get around 9.45.

Unfortunately, due to the type of film, the distribution rights for this film did not sell for a very high price. It was eventually sold to Disney, who planned to release it at Christmas, for $60 million.

Wayne didn't know how to evaluate this.

Although, schedule-wise, "Heidi" was indeed suitable for a family-friendly time like Christmas, the problem was, if he remembered correctly, "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" seemed to be released on December 19th.

"Hopefully 'Heidi' won't make Disney lose money." Wayne, who received the news from the crew, couldn't help but shake his head.

Although he didn't want Disney to grow, he also didn't want his film to become a box office bomb.

Unfortunately, although Disney's arrangement avoided 9/11, it clashed with "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring".

It was impossible for the box office to not be affected by clashing with a blockbuster.

Just like "Rush Hour 2", which was released on August 3rd, because "Taken" and "Resident Evil 1" had taken up too much of the box office space, it had only been released for 25 days and the global box office had just exceeded $200 million.

It seemed that the final box office would be around $220 million, a full $120 million less than the $347 million global box office in his past life.

And then there was "Pearl Harbor," which was released on August 10th.

Originally, it was only competing for box office with "Rush Hour 2", "The Princess Diaries", and "American Pie 2".

As a result, there were three more competitors: "Taken", "Resident Evil 1", and "The Ring".

With an original global box office of $449 million, it would be good if it could keep $300 million this time.

Of course, the most tragic were "Jurassic Park III" and "Planet of the Apes". Not only did they clash with other films, but their own quality was also extremely poor.

As a result, not only was the box office directly halved compared to his past life, but the originally planned sequels were also directly canceled.

Therefore, for "Heidi", which was about to clash with "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring", Wayne's expectation was only a global box office of $120 million, just so Disney wouldn't lose money.

Unfortunately, even with the system plug-in, he could only start with the quality of the film to increase the chances of it being a box office hit.

As for the final box office results, he couldn't be 100% sure.

On the last day of August, "The Intern", which started filming on July 8th and lasted for two months, officially finished shooting and entered post-production.

Compared to "Heidi", this "The Intern" was obviously more valued by major distribution companies due to its genre.

However, the post-production time was not short, so everyone was not in a hurry.

Finally, September 11th arrived.

With that earth-shattering crash, the eyes of the whole world were almost drawn to it.

Hannah, who was filming, hurriedly ran over with her phone and told him about it.

So he pretended to be as shocked as everyone else, but in his heart, he couldn't help but sneer playfully.

"Now it can finally begin."

The previous chapter was blocked again, and it hasn't been unblocked yet.

Almost every chapter is being reviewed and blocked now, it's really frustrating.

(End of chapter)