Amulet of Samarkand – Produced by Sarah Liebman 1

Amulet of Samarkand

Logline: A young magician’s apprentice enslaves a 5,000-year-old sarcastic djinni to steal the Magical world’s

most powerful weapon: the amulet of Samarkand.

Tagline: A spell has its limits

A production of

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Project Overview

Heyday Films is a prominent British production company known for producing the Harry Potter Franchise, Paddington Bear (2014), and Gravity (2013). Because of Harry Potter’s great success, Heyday will be taking on a similar project with the production of the Bartimaeus Trilogy, a series of fantasy novels about magicians in London. Sarah Liebman will produce the first installment of the series, Amulet of Samarkand. GENRE Action, Fantasy RUNNING TIME 100 minutes FORMAT Digital HD BUDGET £ 150,114,990 RELEASE DATE July 2019 TARGET AUDIENCE Children, 10-12 Young adults, 12-20 (mainly male) Adults, 20-40 When the first novel of the trilogy was released in 2003, the main demographic to read this best-selling book were males between the ages of 12 and 16. However, the books were popular among many young adults and adults of all genders.

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Synopsis Amulet of Samarkand follows the story of Nathaniel, a young apprentice magician who has just entered into London’s society of magicians. While attending one of his first events as a magician’s apprentice, Nathaniel becomes the victim of humiliation of London’s strongest magician Simon Lovelace. In an act of revenge, Nathaniel decides to summon and enslave Bartimaeus, a 5,000-year-old, sarcastic and maniacal djinni to carry out his complicated plan against Lovelace. Biting off more than either can chew; Nathaniel and Bartimaeus embark on an adventure to steal Lovelace’s coveted Amulet of Samarkand, all the while maneuvering through the social hierarchy of London’s most notorious and posh magicians and demons.

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Production Schedule

Half of the film will take place outside on the streets of London, while half of the film will be filmed on sets created in Leavesden studios. We will secure film location permits for specific streets of London during location scouting. Warner Bros. owns Leavesden studios and previously used it to film most of the Harry Potter films. This studio is well equipped for Amulet of Samarkand as the two film franchises have similar needs. Because the character of Bartimaeus is a djinni, or demon, he will be created through the use of CGI and VFX in post-production at Pinewood Studios, also utilized in the creation of the Harry Potter films. However, the physical filming will take place at Leavesden. Leavesden and Pinewood studios are only 26 minutes away from each other, which will help with efficiency of production and post-production.

PRE-PRODUCTION Script Adaptation - January 2017 - March 2017 Casting by Janet Hirshenson - February 2017 - April 2017 Location Scouting - January 2017 - April 2017 Set Construction – February 2017 – May 2017 Storyboarding and Principal Photography - March 2017 - July 2017 PRODUCTION July 2017 - August 2018 Leavesden Studios [Warner Drive, Leavesden WD25 7LP, United Kingdom] Streets of London POST-PRODUCTION November 2017 - April 2019 Pinewood Studios [Pinewood Studios, Pinewood Road, Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire SL0 0NH, United Kingdom] Release July 2019

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Shooting Plan Date Location Number of Days July 1st, 2017 Streets of London 150 (approx. 4 months) December 1st, 2017 Leavesden Studios 200 (approx. 6 months) June 1st, 2017 Reshoots as needed 60 (approx. 2 months)

Financing

Company/Investor Percentage

Heyday Films 35%

Warner Bros. 45%

Jonathan Stroud 5%

Private Investors 15%

Stage Income (£) Outcome (£) Balance (£)

Pre-production

+ 150,000,000 - Investors, Warner Bros., Heyday Films, Jonathan Stroud

- 50,000,000 100,000,000

Production 0 - 75,000,000 25,000,000

Post-Production

0 - 25,000,000 0

Distribution + 75,000,000 0 75,000,000

Opening weekend

+ 115,000,000 0 190,000,000

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Key Crew

Director: Alfonso Cuarón Cuarón recently won an Oscar for his direction of Gravity (2013) and directed the third Harry Potter film. He is a very well regarded film director and has worked with Heyday Films in previous years. Author: Jonathan Stroud Jonathan Stroud is the author of these best-selling books and will have some creative consulting capabilities for the films. Screenplay: Philippa Boyens Boyens has extensive experience adapting books into screenplays as a co-writer of the screenplay of the Lord of the Rings.

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Key Cast Bartimaeus – David Tennant NOTE: Tennant will be perfect in this role because of his iconic voice. Although Bartimaeus will be created through CGI, Tennant will be able to bring this sarcastic character to life with his voice. The character of Bartimaeus is both a part of the story as well as acts as the narrator. Nathaniel – Asa Butterfield Simon Lovelace – Tom Felton

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Budget

Above the Line Costs £ 19,200,000 Principal Crew Rate per Day

(£) Days Total (£)

Director n/a n/a 3,500,000 Screenwriter n/a n/a 1,200,000 Story Rights n/a n/a 2,000,000 Producer n/a n/a 1,000,000 Principal Cast Rate per Day

(£) Days Total (£)

David Tennant n/a n/a 4,000,000 Asa Butterfield n/a n/a 4,000,000 Tom Felton n/a n/a 3,500,000 Below the Line Costs £ 121,913,000 Rate per

Day (£) Days X People Total (£)

Cinematographer 4,000 410 X 1 1,640,000 Production Designer 1,500 410 X 1 615,000 Sound Engineer 1,000 410 X 1 410,000 Composer 2,500 300 X 1 750,000 Editor 4,000 150 X 1 600,000 VFX Supervisor 1,500 450 X 1 670,000 Costume Designer 750 410 X 1 307,500 Casting Director 1,000 60 X 1 60,000 Additional Crew 500 410 X 180 36,900,000 Additional Cast 3000 300 X 70 63,000,000 Extras 80 50 X 50 200,000 Quantity Unit Price (£) Total (£) Location Permits 200 2000 400,000 Pinewood Studio Fee 1 250,000 250,000 Craft Service 410 1,000 410,000

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Equipment RED Epic Feature Package

1 260,000 260,000

Sennheiser Audio Kit 1 15,000 15,000 Lighting Kits 1 75,000 75,000 CGI VFX Software 1 500,000 500,000 VFX 500 2000 1,000,000 Contingency (10%) 11,083,000 Transportation and Accommodation £ 374,000 Airfare 150 600 90,000 Accommodation 500 500 250,000 Contingency (10%) 34,000 Marketing and Distribution £ 8,657,990 Promotional Kits 100 700 70,000 Photo Shoots 20 300 6,000 Interviews 7 700 4,900 Posters 500,000 3 1,570,000 Website 1 20,000 20,000 Book Re-Release 1 1,000,000 1,000,000 DVD (first run) 500,000 5 2,500,000 Blue-ray (first run) 500,000 5 2,500,000 Trailer 4 50,000 200,000 Contingency (10%) 787,090 Total: £ 150,114,990

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Distribution

New Line Cinema, a subsidiary of Warner Bros, will distribute the film. This company also distributed the Lord of the Rings franchise, which was incredibly successful and grossed over $2.9 billion. The distribution plan for this film will be incredibly profitable because of the choice to release this film in the summer months along with the other summer blockbusters.

Major Theatrical Release US & Europe July 2019 Duration: 6 months DVD/Blu-ray Release US Black Friday, November 2019 Europe December 2019 **Available for Amazon Pre-order on October 1st, 2019** TVoD – ITunes US & Europe January 2020 Duration: 2 years Subscription VoD – Netflix US & Europe April 2020 Duration 2+ years Free TV US & Europe September 2020 Duration: 2+ years

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Marketing and Promotion

Press: March 2017 Heyday Films will release a press release

announcing the film’s production start date for Variety, Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, etc.

May 2017 Heyday Films will release the names of the

principal cast December 2019 Re-release a new copy of the novel with stills

from the film during the holiday season January 2019 – Digital and Print interviews with cast and crew will July 2019 be released on various platforms April 2019 Trailer released July 2019 Premiere in L.A. and following week premiere in

London Social media presence:

- Website - Twitter - Instagram - Facebook

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Revenues

The Bartimaeus Trilogy, along with the prequel, have sold over 6 million copies in over 36 languages. The series has a very committed fan base that has been long awaiting the film version of the beloved books. The popularity of the books as well as the stellar, top-notch cast and crew will draw in a very sizable opening weekend revenue for the Amulet of Samarkand as well as huge DVD, Blu-ray, ITunes, Amazon, and Netflix revenue. The re-release of the novel will also draw in a large revenue as well as serve to promote the film.

Summary (USP)

Now is the perfect time for Heyday films to pursue the creation of the Bartimaeus Trilogy film franchise. Now that revenues from the Harry Potter films are slowing down, beginning this new franchise will bring Heyday films back into the spotlight. After the release and assessment of Amulet of Samarkand, Heyday will go into production of the follow two films in the trilogy as well as the prequel. This will be at least an 8-year project, bringing in a decade of sustainable revenue. Fans have been waiting for this film for long enough; it is time to begin production.