Dominating Hollywood: Starting with Scarlett

Chapter 212 Cooperation confirmed
The day before the photography exhibition was officially launched, the latest issue of "The Hollywood Reporter" suddenly released a piece of news that shocked Hollywood studios.

"Lian Mei is about to sell it, and the buyer is surprised!" 》

The report described in detail a private meeting between Tang De and Howard Stringer, the head of Sony North America. Berger gave full play to the subjective initiative of a journalist and made specific thoughts. Although he always adopted a speculative perspective, his words fell on On paper it looks more like a done deal.

This undoubtedly made many film companies feel threatened by Tang De.

His Norton Eye has been making crazy profits since its inception, with a huge and high profit ratio. Compared with its low cost, many film companies' eyes are so red that they can be hung at intersections to serve as red lights.

You must know that although big movie companies like Universal and Sony make hundreds of millions in profit from a blockbuster, its cost is also very high.

We also need to spread out all the losses this year. In fact, the net profit is several times lower than the total box office.

Therefore, even big companies are envious of Norton Eye’s momentum and efficiency in attracting money.

They originally thought that Norton Eyes was going to go a boutique route and become a mini-Lionsgate.

But now it is revealed that it is acquiring United Artists, and it seems that it is going to develop into a large film company.

Tang De smiled mysteriously: "Of course not. In fact, I haven't said anything truly valuable yet. But before that, I want to ask you what you think."

"On the one hand, it's because we have a good relationship, and on the other hand, if United Artists wants to develop, it needs to shoot Hollywood blockbusters. Tom is a very good and famous actor, and he will use his fame to help United Artists tide over the difficulties."

"So a shell company like United Artists, which has complete production and distribution channels, is our best choice."

Thinking of this, he raised his head: "What happens after that?"

"Yeah." Although Paula Wagner was quite convinced by Tang De's statement, he felt it was still not enough.

Tang De spoke eloquently: "But this does not mean that it is not good. In my opinion, it has more investment value than the parent company MGM."

"For example, the director's cut version, or the uncut version." Tang De smiled, like a gnome who had picked up a gold coin.

"mine?"

"Why?" Paula Wagner was puzzled.

"Apart from these? Even if we achieved some meager profits in the first two years, what happens after that? Does the company have to rely on small movies to develop?"

"What?" Paula Wagner was shocked. This was the first time he heard of such a shameless way of making money.

"What do you mean?"

"First of all, I think profit is the first priority." He took out several professional investigation reports and handed them to Paula Wagner.

Therefore, regular film companies will only regard these movies as a supplement, not the main course.

"It's difficult." Paula Wagner shrugged. With so many low-budget films at the film festival every year, no one dares to say that they will be able to pick a hit.

"'Saw' is indeed good, but 'Fifty Shades of Grey'... this movie probably can't be filmed every year." Paula Wagner asked.

Paula Wagner took the initiative to find Tang De.

But Tang De is very confident: "I picked out the Norton Eyes movies from the junk... As for the vision of selecting movies, I can promise that I will never lose money."

This undoubtedly touched the cake of many film companies. They would rather sell United Artists to some mediocre people, or to a film production company of the same size, than let a company like Norton Eyes complete the acquisition and develop along the way.

"Yes, "Fifty Shades of Grey" is an adaptation of a novel after all. The original author has not yet written the subsequent parts, so naturally there is no way to film them."

"Because it has no debt." Tang De laughed: "MGM is carrying more than 10 billion in debt, and its future destiny has no other choice but to sell it to a big company. All they are doing now is In a desperate situation, bankruptcy is only a matter of time.”

"Then there will be movies. I think in the first two years, United Artists' main focus should be on film festivals and discovering movies with box office potential."

Under Paula Wagner's doubtful gaze, he explained: "Although Cruise has unparalleled appeal, the movie that made him successful was not with United Artists."

But Tang De did not feel a headache about this news, because this news helped him promote the largest cooperation since the founding of Norton Eyes.

Just by changing the name and a few scenes, you can re-release the disc and make another amount of money from fans.

"Yes, you and Tom Cruise are planning to join forces to acquire United Artists, right?"

Therefore, in just three days, Sony Pictures received offers from several companies, including Lionsgate Pictures.

"Don, I want to know your plans for acquiring United Artists, is that okay?" Although Paula Wagner just wanted to know, everyone knew that when he was sitting here, he was actually thinking I've already made up my mind.

"The biggest problem with United Artists right now is that it is just an empty shell. It has no movies, no TV, nothing. It has nothing except making some money from the sale of CDs of some old movies."

Paula Wagner was silent for a few seconds: "Yes, you are very well informed."

Tang De shrugged: "Of course it's because I have the movie in my hand."

This thing is like gambling on stones. Maybe hundreds of stones in a row will turn out to be useless stones, or you may win a big prize on the first stone.

This is simply blackmail!
But thinking about it carefully, Paula Wagner felt that this was indeed a good way to effectively squeeze out all the potential viewers of a movie.

But there is actually not much interference they can do. The most effective one is undoubtedly to make an offer to Sony and raise the price of United Artists.

"It's not hard to see, so why did you choose him?"

"Of course, no problem." Tang De nodded and explained his operating strategy to him in detail.

"But how can you guarantee that you can make a profit after the acquisition? You must know that the annual cost is tens of millions of dollars."

Hearing this, Tang De shook his head: "I don't think so."

Tang De spread his hands: "But I am very optimistic about its profitability, especially the optical disc business. Whether it is "Saw" or "Fifty Shades of Grey", the place where they really make money is the optical disc. For this reason, I Several different versions are already planned.”

"'Saw' and 'Fifty Shades of Grey', two series, can ensure United Artists' balance of payments."

"The Mission: Impossible series is in the hands of Paramount, and with all due respect, other than this series, Cruise's box office performance has been inconsistent."

"This fully demonstrates that a good story is the key reason why audiences go to the theater and buy tickets. Paying actors is only a minority behavior. And if the movie itself is bad, the actor's box office reputation will also plummet."

"So United Artists needs a blockbuster series, not an actor."

After saying this, Tang De picked up the cup and took a sip of tea, watching Paula Wagner think quietly.

Paula Wagner also took a sip of water, and then said: "You are right, but series of movies are very difficult and not easy to make."

"If it's a traditional series of movies, it's certainly difficult to make, but if it's a movie that uses new technology, the difficulty becomes very simple."

"new technology?"

"You should have heard about Cameron's new movie." "Avatar, right?"

"Yes, he used 3D film technology, which is not a new technology, but it has never shown its true brilliance."

Paula Wagner frowned: "But how can it be possible to attract audiences into the theater with just one technology?"

"Of course!" Tang De handed him the red and green glasses he had prepared in advance, then turned on the TV and played a special video.

"This is an older method of viewing 3D movies." Tang De explained for Paula Wagner: "By overprinting red and cyan on a strip of film, the 3D effect is achieved through glasses."

"Well, although I can see clearly, the experience is not very good." After Paula Wagner tried it, she felt that her eyes were a little tired.

"Yes, this is one of the reasons why 3D movies have not been developed before."

Tang De threw the glasses into the trash can and took out a new pair of glasses from behind: "But now there is a brand new technology, polarization technology, which does not require red and cyan eyes. Wearing it is no different from normal glasses. , and the effect is better than color technology.”

Paula Wagner took the glasses and put them on with great interest, and Tang De played a special video.

This time, his expression was clearly shocked. The darts thrown by the actor in the scene seemed to really hit his face. The immersive feeling of being in the scene even made him start to dodge left and right.

After he finished reading, Tang De said with a smile: "Look, this is the new change brought about by new technology. Although it is not very mature yet, the effect is already amazing."

"Yes, it is indeed amazing." Paula Wagner sighed: "Is this technology already in use?"

"Not yet, because others haven't realized the importance of the new technology."

"But isn't Avatar using it?"

"But Avatar is very slow, isn't it? The movie is at least three years away."

"So..." Paula Wagner said in surprise: "You want to release it before "Avatar"?"

"Yeah...yes, this is the new series of movies I want to create. A 3D series of movies, the quality of the script is acceptable, and as long as the visual effects are good enough, the audience will buy it."

"Indeed, I believe those young people will definitely like this kind of movie." Paula Wagner was not a fool. He immediately realized the unique potential of this 3D technology.

"It seems that United Artists does have hope for a turnaround." He hugged Tang De happily: "Tang, I must say that coming here today is the best decision I have ever made in recent times. Let's talk Let’s talk about the contract.”

After confirming the cooperation, the specific terms and conditions will be negotiated.

But even if Paula Wagner realized that Tom Cruise was not as good as Donald, he did not intend to give up on this friend. He suggested that Tom Cruise take a part of the shares in New United Artists and serve as CEO.

Tang De thought about it but did not refuse, because letting Tom Cruise stand in front of the stage would also be conducive to the company's reputation and development.

And he didn't want to be too public and focus all the attention on himself.

So he and Paula Wagner quickly negotiated a cooperation. It is tentatively agreed that Norton Eyes will contribute US$1 million, Paula Wagner will contribute US$5 million, and Tom Cruise will contribute $3000 million.

According to the professional estimates of Paula Wagner's team, the acquisition price of United Artists should be around 6 million.

Even if those big companies submitted some bids, they would not be able to exceed this number.

After all, everyone is just making trouble and joining in the fun, and they don’t really want to acquire it.

And Sony is not the final leader of this acquisition, MGM is, because they will be able to get the US$6 million to alleviate the debt problem.

So they are more urgent than Sony.

After Paula Wagner left the company, Tang De looked at the polarized glasses in his hand and raised the corners of his mouth.

In fact, he lied.

Although polarization 3D technology does appear now, the cost is very high.

A 20-second video cost him $.

If it is a formal movie shooting, it can be said that every second is burning dollars crazily.

This is also the real reason why most movie companies are afraid of this.

However, Tang De's idea of ​​​​creating a 3D movie series is also real, but it is unlikely to be realized in the near future, at least until around the second half of 2007.

Because Avatar had already entered the advanced stage at that time, he could use a ready-made production team to create a 3D movie.

As for the content of the script?

Tang De feels that "John Wick" is a good choice. It is simple, direct, stimulates adrenaline, and has various touching scenes.

It also meets the requirements of the series of movies.

However, this is only a temporary consideration. If he encounters a more suitable one in the future, Tang De will make timely adjustments.

While Paula Wagner was negotiating with MGM, Tang De's photography exhibition also ushered in its official viewing day.

A large number of media and citizens went to the gallery after purchasing tickets.

Pucci and Madden are no exception.

"Man, you're really surprised. Someone who usually likes to sleep in so much actually got up so early today."

Madden looked at his watch and yawned.

It's only seven o'clock now, more than an hour before the film festival starts.

Madden was originally going to sleep until half past eight, but Pucci ran to his house and pulled him up.

"Of course!" Pucci wore glasses and walked forward with military steps, "I want to be the first man to see nude photos of female stars!"

"No wonder." Madden slapped his forehead: "You should apply for a job as a gallery security guard, so that you can look at photos of female celebrities every day."

"Oh!" Pucci shouted: "You are such a genius! Why didn't I think of this method!"

Madden shrugged: "It's no use, man, you're not tall enough. Are you going to hit other people's ankles with a security baton?"

"FXXKYOU! Madden!" Pucci stretched out his middle finger and cursed fiercely.

After getting off the bus, not long after walking, the two of them arrived at the entrance of the gallery.

(End of this chapter)