Chapter 74: Animation Studio

  In the villa's gym, after finishing his routine exercise, Ryan stood bare-chested facing George, with whom he had been learning some simple self-defense techniques recently.

  Ryan sprang into action, like a young leopard, and pounced on George. George sidestepped the attack, grabbed the boy's arm, and executed a perfect back slam, sending him flying onto the thick foam mat.

  "Come on!" Ryan, a carp, stood up straight, with a faint outline of abs between his belly, apparently transforming into a male model.

  "Alright Ryan," George interrupted, advising, "your body is developing, over-exercising isn't beneficial."

  "Alright then." He could only put away his fist and sauntered towards the locker room.

  He learned self-defense not to kill people in the future, but to have a better chance of escaping when encountering danger and being chased by paparazzi fans. Having agile movements doesn't hurt, does it? Besides, some films he plans to star in require such skills.

  Anyway, he followed George's learning, just some self-defense skills taught in the Marine Corps.

  After taking a refreshing bath and changing into dry clothes, Ryan arrived at the villa entrance. George had already been waiting in his car, and today they were going to Disneyland.

  Reynolds had already let Goldwyn give Disney the script for The Lion King, along with a stack of storyboards and sheet music, and under his instructions, Goldwyn opened negotiations with a sky-high contract.

  Animation is Disney's bread and butter, and even if Ryan wanted to invest in it, they wouldn't let anyone else get a foot in the door on their area of expertise.

  Rothman made a sky-high offer, demanding 10% of the profits from The Lion King, not just North American box office revenue, but all revenue generated by The Lion King, including box office, merchandise, licensing, video tapes and soundtrack albums.

  Think about it, the box office of this movie alone is close to 800 million US dollars, the original soundtrack is a huge success, second only to "The Bodyguard", and there are also various dolls, comics, animated series, T-shirts and so on.

  The movie later moved onto Broadway's stage, causing a huge sensation.

  The Lion King's total revenue is absolutely astronomical.

  Disney wouldn't agree, but they knew Ryan was going to be expensive, and next it would be their turn to pay up.

  After a month of negotiations, the two sides finally stepped back under Michael Eisner's intervention. Ryan would receive only 5% of the profits but had to sing "You've Got a Friend in Me" or another song after puberty and provide voice acting for an important role in the film.

  Audi 90 sedan arrived quickly in Burbank, after waving to the front desk, Ryan rushed to the animation studio, he came here today to discuss with those hand-painted painters how to perfect the image of animal roles.

  Although he drew more than a dozen main characters, his painting skills were limited after all. Colored pencil sketches cannot fully reflect the appearance of these characters. He signed that agreement, but it's not just about getting paid. At the same time as gaining benefits, he must also fulfill his obligations.

  He hadn't even entered the animation studio's hall when he heard a hubbub of voices inside, seemingly very lively. He hastened his steps and walked in, looked up, and was so startled that he retreated three steps.

  George followed closely behind him, thinking that something unexpected had happened, and at the same time, his hand unconsciously reached into his suit pocket.

  "It's okay!" Ryan calmed down, Disney's hand-drawn animators were a bunch of crazies, if it weren't for the rise of 3D computer animation, they would still be around and 2D animation wouldn't have gradually declined.

  Unfortunately, Pixar's technology is advancing by leaps and bounds...

  Ryan shook his head and stopped thinking about it, after all, the progress of technology is unstoppable for anyone.

  As for what was in the hall, it would scare this reckless guy back, very simple, there was a real adult male lion and a young lion cub inside, not the kind that were locked in iron cages.

  Of course, the two lions are at a considerable distance from each other, and next to them seems to be a tamer.

  Even if they have iron chains around their necks and look very tame, the devil knows when they will go wild.

  The male lion seemed to sense that someone else had joined the ranks of observers, suddenly shook his head, shook his long mane, and looked at Ryan's standing position with a majestic appearance that was indeed very much like the king of beasts.

  "Wahhh~"

  A deafening lion's roar rose up, making Ryan's toothache unbearable. Disney was just too crazy.

  However, that little lion seems to be quite good-looking, looking a bit like a larger cat, with an adorable silly appearance. If it can be cartoonized a bit, it really has some of the youthful Simba's demeanor.

  "How about...George, we raise a small lion in the villa?" Ryan seemed to have thought too much.

  "Ryan, are you sure Miss Kidman will agree?" George's words dispelled his wicked thoughts.

  Ryan scratched his head and thought to himself, "When I have the money, I'll buy a small island in the Caribbean. At that time, not only will I raise lions, but also tigers... Hmm, and then get a few hyenas and leopards, let them fight for survival on the island, it's like an animal version of The Hunger Games..."

  "Hey Ryan." The film's executive producer Don Hahn walked over, interrupting his reverie.

  "Hello, Tong." Ryan greeted him and pointed at the lion, asking, "What's this for?"

  "The studio had specially hired a lion from the circus." Don Hahn seemed to be used to this kind of scene, "to inspire the artists, do you want to go take a look?"

  Having died once, Reyn knew the value of his life. After being reborn, he kept a safe distance from any dangerous activities, and even now, he shook his head and said, "Just take a look from afar."

  He looked around and indeed, many painters were standing nearby with their easels, and the voices he had just heard were theirs.

  Ryan knows well that this industry is a profession that requires imagination, and the more relaxed the working atmosphere is, the better.

  "Ryan, are you interested in going to Africa?" Don Hahn joked, the crew would soon be heading to Africa for a shoot and would likely be there for a while.

  "Never mind, I still have school anyway."

  Ryan shook his head hastily. To him, Africa was synonymous with disease, chaos and war. He didn't want to go there at all.

  It must be said that these painters have a very strong professional spirit, they not only patiently observe the lion's every move, but also several brave people, actively walked over, accompanied by trainers, and had close contact with the lions.

  Ryan wondered if he didn't have that kind of dedication, as he and Natalie often discussed, art in his eyes was more about serving money and honor.

  Perhaps no one understands this story more thoroughly than him, and no one is clearer about the character's personality. However, after borrowing his painted setting drafts, these hand-painted artists soon confirmed the images of Muzi Fa, Xinba, Nana, Knife Scar, and Sang Qi.

  In Ryan's eyes, these roles have at least a 90% similarity with their previous lives, which is sufficient for an animated film.

  For hand-drawn animation, having the character's image and habitual movements finalized can greatly speed up production. In the past, Disney spent a lot of time just finalizing the animal characters. Due to their confidence in Zemeckis, under Michael Eisner's strong intervention, the animation department suspended other projects and put most of its energy into The Lion King.

  However, Disney dared to suspend several projects such as Aladdin and put all the painters into The Lion King, which proved that this golden signboard was gradually shining and could influence major film companies.

  This is good news, isn't it?

  Ryan's efforts all along have been to establish a loose alliance of interests, binding more forces to his interest chariot, laying the foundation for his and Nicole's future development, and using his own influence to protect the people he wants to protect as much as possible in this stage where his own strength is still weak.

  A new semester, Ryan officially entered the fifth grade learning career, he is one of the oldest in his grade, most American elementary school students start their elementary school life at the age of six, but because of his past experiences, he didn't enter primary school in London until he was seven years old.

  Natalie is one year younger than Ryan, but she's in the same grade as him, which also happens to be a place where she often teases him. Fortunately, so far all his grades have been A's, leaving her no excuse on this front.

  At school, Rowing's time was almost entirely devoted to writing, 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire' had to be finished as soon as possible, the publisher's calls for more material were about to blow Mrs. Goldstein's phone up.

  Up to now, he can have today's achievements, in addition to the accumulation of the previous life and the talent of this life, hard work is also an important factor. Since determining his goal, except for occasional relaxation, Ryan has hardly given himself time to play.

  Ryan also knew that after he finished writing, the publisher still had to review and typeset, promote and publicize, arrange for publication and enter sales channels, etc., which indeed took time.

  As his fame grew, and all of his works were published by the "Alien Body" publishing house, a small press under the name of the "Alien Body" magazine, its market value skyrocketed. It is said that major publishers such as Pocket Books, Random House, and Hill Group have set their sights on it, and a takeover battle may ensue.

  Those major publishers have not done Ryan's work, wanting him to switch to their name, but Ryan knows the truth of being a chicken head rather than a phoenix tail. He is the biggest author of "Alien Body", they will pour all resources towards him, let alone the current contract and royalties are already at the top of the industry.

  Even if they switch to their own camp, will they give more royalties? Besides, "Alien Body" has always done a great job in promotion and publicity, otherwise it wouldn't have the current sales.

  In short, no matter how bustling the outside world was, Ruien hid in the campus and villa, starting a brief life of not hearing anything outside the window, with only writing magic books in mind.

  Collect and recommend votes~