hollywood melon man

Chapter 716 Stupid Warner Management
In the internal screening room of Cantaloupe Studios, Gilbert Jr. and Nolan watched the carefully produced "District 9".

"How is it?" Nolan asked little Gilbert what he thought with an expectant look in his eyes.

"Very good," Gilbert Jr. said with satisfaction, "Compared to the original script, the story has expanded in scale. The theme and core remain the same, but it is more attractive."

Hearing Gilbert say this, Nolan was relieved: "That's great, the hard work of the creators has not been in vain, we can bring a good story."

"Arrange the promotion and publicity. I will convince Disney to invest resources," said Gilbert Jr.

After Warner withdrew from the investment and production of Cantaloupe films, Disney became the sole distributor of films produced by Cantaloupe Studios.

For both Disney and Cantaloupe Studios, this has undoubtedly reduced a lot of trouble in the workflow.

Currently, the share exchange between Warner Bros. and Cantaloupe Studios is progressing slowly, and Gilbert Jr. has returned to Cantaloupe Studios with a stake of 16.8%.
The reason why only such a small amount of shares flowed back is related to the previously mentioned fact that someone on Wall Street wanted to take over.

Someone on Wall Street wants to take over Cantaloupe Studios and become one of its shareholders.

But this is unacceptable to Gilbert Jr. He has already made it clear to Warner that once the shares of Cantaloupe Studios are sold to someone else, he will not give up his shares in Warner.

In order to protect his own interests, he will even support people within Warner who support him.

By then, it will be unclear whether Warner is still Warner or whether he continues to follow Gilbert Jr.'s surname.

It is also for this reason that Warner is still hesitant. As long as Gilbert Jr. still has Warner's shares, it would be a pipe dream to talk about getting rid of Gilbert Jr.'s influence on Warner.

Unless Wall Street can convince Gilbert Jr. to accept cash to buy back its shares.

But little Gilbert is not a fool, he will definitely choose the option that is most beneficial to him.

Besides, Wall Street, the medical complex, and those old SB consortiums have just dealt with him. What capital do they have to convince little Gilbert?

It was not until this time that Warner realized that this matter was not as simple as he thought.

The benefits promised by Wall Street, old financial groups, and medical complexes are not so easy to get. Instead, I have become the topic of conversation among Hollywood practitioners, and my reputation is not very good.

Brian Roberts, owner of Universal Pictures and CEO of Comcast, Universal Pictures' parent company, made sharp public comments.

"I don't know what Warner Bros. executives were thinking? They had finally established a partnership with the greatest and most talented director Hollywood has ever seen.

Now, all of this was destroyed in an instant.

Just for that illusory promise, I paid such a heavy price.

I really can't understand it. This is not the IQ and way of thinking that a business operator should have.

Fortunately, Gilbert Jr. thought of himself as a film artist and produced The Dark Knight for Warner, otherwise Warner’s performance this year would have collapsed terribly.”

Translated into Chinese, it means: Warner, for those few things, gave up the huge benefits that you originally had. It's like throwing away a watermelon and picking up a sesame seed.

Why Brian Roberts said this? It has something to do with the relationship between Universal Pictures and Gilbert Jr.

Gilbert Jr.'s debut work was The Shallows, which was invested and distributed by Universal Pictures. But later, Universal Pictures' internal management was in chaos, which led to the failure to maintain cooperation with Gilbert Jr.

From then on, Gilbert Jr. moved to Disney and Warner Pictures, and gradually grew into a world-class director.

Universal Pictures changed hands several times. When Disney and Warner saw the huge profits of the "Lord of the Rings" series directed by Gilbert Jr., Universal Pictures came to Comcast. Although Gilbert Jr. had left Universal Pictures for more than ten years at that time, Universal Pictures still missed him.

The most painful thing in the world is that you originally didn’t care about a small person in your own company, but he later grew up and made very, very great achievements.

Universal Pictures is the one that suffers the most. They once had a great director as their partner, but they did not cherish him.

If they could go back in time, the executives of Universal Pictures would like to shout to Gilbert Jr.: "Don't leave. We support you no matter what you want."

If they had to add a deadline, the executives would confess affectionately: "Until the end of the world and the universe, we will stick with little Gilbert."

Once you understand this, you can understand why Brian Roberts reacted so strongly to Warner's actions.

But it’s okay. Brian Roberts gave orders to the executives of Universal Pictures to contact Gilbert Jr.

Since Warner wants to let go, Universal Pictures can take over again!

But so far, Gilbert Jr. has no intention of returning to Universal Pictures, and Robert Iger, that bastard from New York, has also blocked Universal Pictures from the door of Cantaloupe Studios.

In fact, thinking about this matter is quite abstract. Looking at the operations of Warner’s management, you will wonder whether this company is a group of makeshift teams.

But in fact, this is not the first time that Warner’s management has made a stupid mistake. This management is hereditary.

In the late 1960s, movies were impacted by the new entertainment method of television. Coupled with the popularity of new cultural elements such as anti-war, hippies, and ideological liberation, some people put forward the slogan that movies are dead.

That was right around the end of Hollywood's golden age, and the film studios were scrambling for solutions.

It was also from that time that the concept of commercial films was gradually established. It was also from that time that the summer season was gradually taken seriously by various film companies.

What really made commercial films popular were Spielberg's "Jaws" and George Lucas' "Star Wars".

The success of these two films brought audiences back to movie theaters, which helped Hollywood film companies find their direction.

As a result, film companies have transformed into commercial films, but Warner Bros. is the only one that still holds on to its old ideas. When preparing to shoot the first Superman movie in 1973, Warner Bros. was thinking about developing into a Golden Age film.

Steven Spielberg, who was a new director at the time, volunteered to direct "Superman" and told Warner about his film production plans in person.

From now on, it is a very standard commercial film production model.

But at that time, it was not accepted by Warner management, so the two sides parted ways unhappily. Warner also looked for other film directors, but no one was willing to take over.

It was not until the success of Spielberg's "Jaws" in 1975 that Warner, which had been in a downward spiral for several years, finally made up its mind to transform itself into a commercial film.

At that time, Warner was on the verge of a dangerous situation due to the continuous failure of film investment.

It can be said that the success of "Superman" saved Warner's life and allowed Warner to successfully survive the decline after the end of the golden age.

This isn't the first time Warner management has made a blunder, nor will it be the last.

Little Gilbert remembered that in the previous life, Warner Bros. forced Nolan away because of the streaming business.

Nolan was very angry when he left: "I thought I was working with the greatest film company in the world, but now it seems that I was wrong."

(End of this chapter)