Chinese Entertainment: Starting from 1996

Chapter 537 Rejection and Cooperation

Looking at Kevin Channer with a smile on his face, Liu Zhou immediately understood that this was probably the reason why he came to China in person.

The cooperation between the two parties and the invitation for him to direct the Superman movie were all incidental.

After all, these two things should be trivial matters to Warner, and Warner still holds the initiative in the latter. It is not necessary for Liu Zhou to do this, so why bother to invite him in person?

It was a big deal like taking over Summit Entertainment that required Warner's senior vice president to travel all the way to visit.

After Summit Entertainment became popular, several of the Big Seven Hollywood studios expressed their intention for such "cooperation", especially Universal, Paramount and Sony Columbia.

The performance of these three companies has been at the bottom in recent years, mainly because they lack a core blockbuster series of movies.

At this time, "Fast and Furious" had not yet become a big hit. It was just a racing movie with a certain degree of fame in North America. In addition, the "Jurassic World" series had not yet started, so Universal did not have any outstanding series of movies.

This is even more true for Paramount. After entering the new century, Paramount's performance can be said to be the worst among the Big Six. Otherwise, it would have continued to cooperate with Tom Cruise on the "Mission Impossible" series after most of the profits were taken away by Tom Cruise.

As for the globally popular "Transformers", the main investor is Spielberg's DreamWorks, and Paramount only has the distribution rights. In addition, Hasbro also wants a piece of the pie, so Paramount does not get much benefit from it.

Sony Columbia was doing better at the beginning of the new century, as it produced the hit "Spider-Man" series, but now that the trilogy has been completed, they dare not continue to take advantage of Spider-Man.

Historically, MGM, which should have been acquired by Sony Columbia, was intercepted by Wanda, which also caused them to lose the "007" series, so they are now also lacking core series movies.

Especially when they saw the other three companies doing so well, they became even more anxious.

Needless to say, Disney has successively acquired Pixar, Lucasfilm and Marvel, and Mickey Mouse has firmly established itself as the number one giant in Hollywood.

Warner is also very successful, with "Harry Potter" on one hand and "Batman" on the other, and its performance is second only to Disney.

20th Century Fox ranked in the top three thanks to the X-Men series, from which it developed the Wolverine series, and with the addition of James Cameron.

However, because 20th Century Fox and Summit Entertainment collaborated on "Rise of the Planet of the Apes", the two sides had frequent contact, and Fox had also expressed its intention to cooperate. Only Disney and Warner had no contact with Summit Entertainment.

I thought they had enough confidence and Summit Entertainment was dispensable to them. I didn't expect that Warner was not uninterested, but very interested and had even come to China.

But they will be disappointed. If it is a cooperation like the one with 20th Century Fox, there is certainly no problem. But if it is a cooperation like investing or acquiring the company, Liu Zhou is definitely not interested.

"Kevin, aren't we discussing cooperation now? If the Joker project is approved, I will also cooperate with Warner in the name of Summit Entertainment." Liu Zhou replied with a smile.

"Mr. Liu, let's be frank. I think many companies have approached you to acquire Summit Entertainment. We at Warner will make a very sincere offer."

"Kevin, since you know that many companies have approached us, you should also know that I rejected them all. We will not sell Summit Entertainment."

"Two billion dollars, plus the company's management rights will all be handed over to the existing management. We at Warner will not interfere, and Summit Entertainment does not need to be merged into Warner and can operate independently. In addition, we at Warner can also help improve Summit Entertainment's distribution capabilities in North America."

"The conditions are quite good." Liu Zhou replied with a smile, "I am a little tempted by what you said, but haven't you been consolidating the power of New Line Cinema in the past two years?"

New Line Cinema is also very well-known in Hollywood, and is known as the strongest second-tier film company under the Big Seven.

When Warner acquired New Line Cinema in 1993, because New Line's founder Bob Shea was quite strong, Warner allowed New Line to continue to operate independently.

However, with Shea's retirement, Warner also began planning to merge New Line Cinema into Warner.

Therefore, Warner's statement that it will allow Summit Entertainment to continue to operate independently after acquiring it is just a negotiation tactic. Once the situation stabilizes, they will still have the final say in everything.

"I understand what you mean, but we have kept our promise to New Line. If Bob Shea is not ready to retire, we will let them continue to run New Line.

We can also guarantee that Summit Entertainment will continue to be run by you unless you suffer major losses, and we at Warner will not interfere."

Warner has indeed done much better than several other companies in this regard, but capital is profit-seeking, so Liu Zhoucai did not dare to believe their promises.

"Kevin, I'm a little curious. I don't understand why Warner wants to acquire Summit Entertainment. Summit Entertainment's performance is not very outstanding for Warner."

"No, Summit Entertainment's potential is recognized to be high. I believe that no company would not want to acquire it, including Disney. If they were not digesting Marvel, they would definitely have made an offer to you.

As for us at Warner, although we seem to be in great shape now, with the end of the Harry Potter series and the upcoming completion of the Batman trilogy, we must also prepare for the future.

Summit Entertainment will be a great addition, and with Twilight and Superman, Warner will continue to lead the way.”

"I see. It seems that Warner is considering the long term. However, I should have expressed to you long ago that Summit Entertainment is not for sale. Why do you still want to acquire it?"

"There is nothing that is not for sale in Hollywood, and if there is, it is because the price has not been agreed upon.

Moreover, although Summit Entertainment is working together with Lionsgate, once Lionsgate completes the layout of overseas distribution channels, Summit Entertainment will also be controlled by Lionsgate.

If Summit Entertainment is willing to sell to Warner, we will not only hand over the company to you to run, but you don't have to worry about North American and global distribution. Warner's channels are unmatched by Lionsgate.

We have also conducted research and found that one of the important reasons for your acquisition of Summit Entertainment was probably your desire to open up distribution channels for Chinese-language films in North America.

By then, Warner could sign a contract with Golden Harvest to release 15 films in North America each year.”

“Warner is indeed very sincere, and your offer is the highest among all the offers we have received, but I still cannot agree to it because I don’t want to hand over the initiative to others.

Maybe you don’t know one thing, Lionsgate has wanted to merge with Summit Entertainment more than once, but even so I didn’t agree, let alone sell Summit Entertainment. ”

"If you are not satisfied, we can raise the price. Two and a half billion dollars is the bottom line price Warner gave me. I remember that you acquired Summit Entertainment for just over one hundred million dollars four years ago.

We have made more than 2 billion US dollars in four years. This can be considered a very successful transaction, and the company will continue to be handed over to you to run. "

"Kevin, this is really not a matter of price. Both Golden Harvest and Summit Entertainment are not short of money. We acquired this company not just to make money. You should also know the strength of Golden Harvest Group in the mainland. It is currently the number one in the country, so our future plan is to go abroad.

North America is the world's largest film market, so Summit Entertainment is also the most important part of Golden Harvest Group's outward expansion.

We at Golden Harvest are not content to just stay in the domestic market; we also hope to become a global film and television giant.

This involves Golden Harvest's future development plan, and Summit Entertainment will not be sold."

"Ok."

Kevin Qianer heard Liu Zhou say this and realized that Summit Entertainment really didn't want to sell it, so he had to settle for the next best thing:

“Since you don’t want to sell it, can we at Warner replace Lionsgate and cooperate with Summit Entertainment?
You should know that we at Warner are much stronger than Lionsgate, the upstart bank-backed company, and you can cooperate with Warner the same way you cooperate with Lionsgate."

"Kevin, I'm not a newcomer. I know a lot about Hollywood. Although Warner is stronger, big companies like you have more means.

I don't want to spend my time and energy competing with you, and the initiative of cooperating with Warner is in your hands, but if we cooperate with Lionsgate, we will cooperate on equal terms.

In fact, we don’t have to make it that complicated. We work closely with Lionsgate, but more on distribution. We can also work together on production.

Just like we worked with 20th Century Fox on Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and both sides were very satisfied, we should also be able to work happily with Warner.”

Kevin Qianna didn't expect Liu Zhou to be so stubborn or cautious, but there was nothing he could do because what he said was true and the initiative was in the other party's hands.

He didn't lie just now, Warner really wanted to acquire Summit Entertainment.

The end of the hit Harry Potter series has a huge impact on Warner. Although they are quite confident about the rebooted Superman movie and DC Universe, they do not rule out the possibility of failure.

If they can acquire Summit Entertainment, it will be a way out for Warner. At least they will have "Twilight" as a guarantee, so that Warner's performance will not drop too much.

Even if it is impossible to acquire Summit Entertainment, it would be good if we could obtain the distribution rights of Summit Entertainment's movies, but now both of these goals have failed.

Although I felt a little frustrated, Liu Zhou's suggestion of working together to produce a movie was also a good idea.

Summit Entertainment is now well-known for its strong production capabilities. Almost every movie it makes is a hit and has good box office. It is very similar to DreamWorks when it was first established. They also had a very strong momentum at that time.

This is why Hollywood is so optimistic about Summit Entertainment now, and Summit Entertainment does not have the hidden danger of disintegration like DreamWorks, because all the shares of the company are in the hands of Golden Harvest.

In addition, Summit Entertainment also has a very popular series of movies, which makes everyone even more optimistic about it.

"Of course there is no problem in investing in and producing movies together. We can even sign a contract to collaborate on two or three movies a year."

"There is no need to sign a contract. We can do it like the Joker project. If we think there is a suitable project, we can submit it to Warner for review. If you approve it, then it's fine. If not, then forget it.

Of course, you need to give priority to reviewing the projects we submit, and the cooperation model can also be the same as that between us and 20th Century Fox."

Liu Zhou didn't feel like he was being bound. Signing the contract was like handing over the initiative.

"Okay." Kevin Qianer said with a wry smile, "Mr. Liu, I feel like I have gained nothing from my trip to China this time."

“Haha, it’s not nothing. At least I gained my friendship and the Joker project. I am very confident in this project. If you are willing to cooperate with me, I will definitely not let you down.”

"Since you are so optimistic about this project, please write the script as soon as possible. Then I can support your project."

"No problem. For the sake of our friendship, I'll treat you to lunch. You can enjoy some Chinese food."

Kevin Channer stayed in China for three days, and the cooperation with Golden Harvest and some other matters were finally finalized.

After he left, Liu Zhou began writing the script for "Joker" while handling company affairs.

This movie was very popular all over the world in its past life, especially after the rise of short videos, many movie bloggers edited and explained this movie.

In his previous life, Liu Zhou also liked this movie very much and watched it repeatedly several times. He had a deep memory of the main line and plot. What he needed to consider were some details and dialogues.

However, for Liu Zhou, who has been in the industry for more than ten years, this was just a small problem, so he spent three nights writing the script, and then spent another three nights polishing the script before finalizing it.

The original version of "Joker" is already a classic, and Liu Zhou felt that there was nothing that needed to be changed, and he didn't think he could make the script better, so the script was similar to the original.

He felt that as long as Warner's review committee was not blind, it would definitely not be passed.

But the filming of this movie started seven or eight years in advance, and Liu Zhou suddenly felt that he didn't know who to choose as the male lead of the movie.

The reason why "Joker" is so classic is closely related to the outstanding performance of the film's leading actor Joaquin Phoenix.

Joaquin Phoenix and his brother River Phoenix are both very talented actors, especially his brother, who was very famous in the 1990s.

At that time, Johnny Depp and Keanu Reeves were his younger brothers.

However, as he became famous at a young age and had great talent, especially in a place as glamorous as Hollywood, River Phoenix got stained with laundry detergent and even died from an overdose.

This directly scared the two of them and made them start to change their ways, otherwise Hollywood would have lost two more superstars.

Joaquin Phoenix has stayed away from laundry detergent since then and focused on acting.

It seems that he is already in his thirties now, but I don’t know if he can carry this movie at this moment.

(End of this chapter)