American Entertainment: Starting with playing the role of Little Beaver

Chapter 35 I Will Win!!!
In the Western entertainment industry, the awards season actually refers to the period from October to February or March of the following year.

During this period, awards of all sizes will be announced in various countries, primarily the United States.

Of course, the most important and most anticipated part is the final shudder, the Oscars.

Therefore, under normal circumstances, Hollywood giants only start to get serious after the competition is halfway through.

Furthermore, to be honest, the awards season is actually a carnival for drama films, because most commercially successful films fail to win the favor of old academics.

The last time a film could simultaneously triumph in both commercial and artistic spheres was the once-in-a-century masterpiece, Titanic.

Even though awards season has little to do with Harry Potter, the final results of various awards are still a major focus for Warner Bros. and Disney. The reason is simple: it seems that The Lord of the Rings can replicate the success of Titanic!
With the release of "The Lord of the Rings," in addition to high box office returns, it also received a host of award nominations.

When they stormed into the Golden Globes and received nominations for four major awards—Best Motion Picture – Drama, Best Director, Best Original Score, and Best Original Song—Warner Bros. really wanted to strangle New Line Cinema.

It was fortunate that New Line Cinema won no awards at the final awards ceremony; otherwise, Barry Mayer would have been criticized again.

可1月20日落幕的金球奖只是一个开始，当时间来到2月12日后，第74届奥斯卡金像奖的提名名单也在学院院长弗兰克·皮尔森的宣布下出现了。

Following closely behind, "The Lord of the Rings," representing the youth of countless judges, swept 13 nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay, and Best Editing, making it the biggest winner at the nomination banquet.

While Harry Potter had its successes, compared to The Lord of the Rings...

The nominations for Best Art Direction, Best Original Score, and Best Costume Design all seem rather low-level.

This fact infuriated Barry Mayer so much that he slammed his fist on the table!
It also made Robert Iger laugh out loud.

If The Lord of the Rings achieves both box office and awards success, the Ross family's rule at Warner Bros. will inevitably be questioned. For example, Ted Turner could say at the next shareholders' meeting that the Ross family has poor judgment in choosing people, and that the professional managers they trust missed out on the next Titanic.

Don't underestimate this kind of diss.

As long as other profit-driven shareholders agree with Ted Turner's assessment, he can request a change of leadership at the shareholders' meeting. If Ted Turner can plant an inside man within Warner Bros., which is controlled by the Ross family, even a mere COO, they can still annoy the Ross family by feigning compliance, passing on information, and preemptively stealing excellent projects.

To put it bluntly, the internal strife within large groups with dispersed shareholdings is no different from ants moving house.

The struggle for power is a gradual process of erosion.

Because finding a breakthrough is the most important thing, Warner Bros.' top priority right now is to prevent "The Lord of the Rings" from winning major awards... Tsk, this whole thing seems pretty absurd.

But Warner had no choice; they had to do it this way.

Meanwhile, Warner Bros. was working hard to get the PR Oscar judges to sabotage New Line.

The Lord of the Rings suddenly topped the charts in the UK.

February 24, 2002, 12 days after the Oscar nomination dinner.

The 55th British Academy Film Awards were held at the Odion Theatre in Leicester Square, London.

The Lord of the Rings, which received 12 nominations, won 4 awards.

Although the success rate of 4 out of 12 nominations is not high, one of the 4 awards was for Best Picture and the other for Best Director.

When Peter Jackson, the New Zealand-born director of "The Lord of the Rings" who had been rejected by Barry Mayer, laughed heartily while holding up two glasses, the fact that "pressing down one gourd and another floats up" left Warner Bros. stunned.

In the eyes of the world, the British Academy Film Awards are just the British Oscars. Their popularity is not comparable to the real Oscars, and it can't even beat the three major European films. This view is correct and is indeed a fact.

However, all investors actually care a lot about this award because its organizer, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, has had a history of royal lineage in its past presidents. The first president was the Duke of Edinburgh, and currently, the Queen's favorite eldest princess is the Duke of Edinburgh.

Moreover, when the academy's headquarters were completed, the remarkably resilient elderly lady even brought her entire family to the ceremony for the ribbon-cutting and inscription. Afterwards, they were a regular presence at almost every awards ceremony. To use an imperfect analogy—

This is actually a royal recognition ceremony held by the British Royal Family to honor various artistic works and talents in the English-speaking world.

This is why, at each edition, many of the investors behind the participating projects come to the event to have a conversation with members of the royal family. To ordinary people, this behavior may be hard to understand, but once you have the resources, everything becomes a business.

"So Robert Shea went?"

Looking at Peter Jackson holding up the trophy in the photo, Barry Mayer's face was so gloomy it could drip water.

"Yes." The secretary nodded.

"Anything gained?"

"Uh...we're lucky, the princess didn't go this year."

The secretary said, "The royal spokesperson said that the eldest princess is not feeling well."

"Oh..."

Barry Mayer breathed a sigh of relief.

It's good that we didn't meet.

The new Line is actually more disgusting to the Big Six than DreamWorks.

They already had a foundation in film production;

In terms of domestic distribution, they had already been able to establish a perfect presence many years ago;
In terms of project promotion, they have Turner Broadcasting Network, which can spread the news all over the world;

The only weakness of New Line Cinema is its overseas distribution, which can be established in two ways. The first is the money-burning approach, where giants directly establish branches in various countries around the world and build their own distribution networks. The second is to form alliances, which involves going through agents and cooperating with local distributors in various countries to help them distribute their films.

Currently, among the six major companies, Warner Bros., Disney, and Sony have chosen to build their own networks, while Fox, Paramount, and Universal have chosen to form alliances. Since the effects of both are actually similar, and in countries with strict censorship, they can only go through agents.

So, the new line...

If they can get through the UK agents, they can bypass the Big Six and achieve distribution in the Commonwealth and Europe.

Well, the entire British Isles only have 50 million people. Where do they get so much money to support the development of the entertainment industry every year?

Aren't they all from the royal fund?

Since the new line had not been successfully maintained, Barry Meyer closed the report with a sigh of relief.

If the new line is successfully built, he'll be completely finished.

He then added, "What about Oscar?"

The secretary understood what the boss meant and said, "There's a high probability we can take him down, because we pushed Ronald aside."

The Ronald the secretary was referring to was Ron Howard, the one who directed "Apollo 13".

This year, he has a film that is vying for the Oscars, which is "A Beautiful Mind".

Warner's reason for pushing him was simple.

1. Warner itself doesn't have any projects this year.

2. Ron Howard is in the same line as Steven Spielberg.

Ron Howard was born into a family of actors and started making movies as a minor, but the film that truly made him famous was called "American Graffiti." In that project, George Lucas also taught him how to make a complete film.

Then, Ron Howard tried his hand at directing.

Then, through Lucas's introduction, he got to know Spielberg. Throughout his career, many of his films were financed by Universal, which was Spielberg's private domain.

Currently, "A Beautiful Mind," which is vying for the Oscars, is a joint production of Universal and DreamWorks.

Furthermore, Ron Howard's wife is Clint Eastwood's sister.

To put it bluntly, when this guy was aiming for the Oscars, the number of people campaigning for him could have been half of Hollywood! And once Spielberg, Universal, and Eastwood all got involved, adding another bet on him would have easily killed New Line Cinema.
The same is true.

With March 24th approaching, Ron Howard successfully took the crown, winning both the Oscar for Best Picture and Best Director.

The Lord of the Rings received 13 nominations and won 4 awards, only garnering four minor awards for Best Original Score, Best Cinematography, Best Makeup, and Best Visual Effects.

Although Harry Potter didn't win anything at all, three nominations and zero wins is only a minor setback, right? Going home empty-handed would be a disgrace!
"Ha—Barry Mayer has had some luck—"

"Ron Howard is aiming for the Oscars this year? Oh—"

new York.

In a mansion on Long Island.

Ted Turner closed the report Robert Shea handed him with a smile.

He tossed it aside casually and said, "Bob, don't worry about it, because we have a second movie this year and a third movie next year."

"When the excellence of 'The Lord of the Rings' is obvious to the naked eye, the Oscars will definitely favor it."

"It won't be too late for us to attack Warner then."

"Okay, boss, thank you for your understanding."

Robert Shea readily expressed his gratitude, and Ted Turner waved to him, indicating that he shouldn't be so polite.

As a veteran of nearly fifty years in the business world, he has plenty of patience.

However, compared to his relaxed demeanor, Barry Mayer felt drenched in sweat.

The fact that he had narrowly escaped danger left him somewhat frightened.

Just when he thought he had truly struck gold, his secretary's report swept away the gloom in his heart...

"What did you say?"

"Did Disney explode?"

When you encounter difficulties yourself, you'll definitely feel down, but when your opponent encounters difficulties...

Swish!
Barry Mayer's eyes instantly lit up!

"Yes, Boss."

Faced with his gaze, the secretary nodded and said, "Fox launched Ice Age on the 15th, and then it unexpectedly became a hit."

A week before the 74th Academy Awards, Fox Animation released their first film of the year, Ice Age. As this film marked Fox's official entry into the computer animation industry, and given their lack of previous successes, neither the outside world nor Fox itself believed the film would be a success.

Fox believes that if Ice Age breaks even, that would be good enough.

However, no one expected that in its opening week, Ice Age would gross $4630 million in North America, beating Resident Evil, Showtime and The Time Machine to take the top spot.

It seems like very little, right?

But Fox's own first-week projections only reached a maximum of 3000 million!

That's over 1630 million!

Moreover, in this day and age, a 4000 million+ opening weekend is considered a summer box office figure, and this figure would even top the summer box office charts, because "Jurassic Park" and "SW" are super IPs, while "HP"...

Surely no one considers a record-breaking 9000 million in the opening weekend to be the norm?

So……

It's already incredibly impressive that "Ice Age" managed to rake in 46.3 million yuan in its opening week during the off-season of mid-March! What's even more surprising is that it followed up with another 4098 million yuan in its second week! In just ten days, it has grossed 8729 million yuan!
With this result, Ice Age is guaranteed to gross $1.5 million at the North American box office!

Over 3 million people worldwide? That's a piece of cake!
With a little effort, reaching 4 million is entirely possible!

And Ice Age was able to gross 4 million at the box office.
that……

"Boss, it's outside...outside..."

What's outside?!

“Outside…the media…they’re all saying we are…we are…”

"What is it??"

"It's...it's the Joker..."

"Wow--"

Disney.

Tyrant's Cave.

Michael Eisner was so angry at his assistant's stammering report that he threw everything in front of him to the ground!
That's right.

If Fox succeeds, doesn't that prove that Disney is a complete failure?
Previously, even though Pixar and DreamWorks were successful, Disney could still argue that it hadn't lost.

For example, they could say that half of the copyrights to Pixar's IPs belong to Disney.

Therefore, Pixar's success is Disney's success.

For example, they could say that DreamWorks' success is unrepeatable, and that Katzenberg's success is due to his Disney DNA and the guidance he received from Eisner. Otherwise, why didn't the other studios—Warner Bros., Universal, Paramount, and Fox—produce computer-animated films? Right?
We at Disney just haven't made computer-animated movies yet. If we were really serious, it would be a piece of cake!
but!
But——

Now, Fox, which has absolutely no connection with Disney, has produced a computer-animated movie!
So how can Disney continue to wear the GOAT crown that symbolizes the kingdom of animation?
Michael Eisner trembled with rage at the thought that Roy Disney would relentlessly harp on Fox's success and kick him while he was down at the upcoming shareholders' meeting.

Meanwhile, in Disney's baby dragon office, Robert Iger also looked irritable.

It's not a big deal if the live-action film business is sluggish, because this thing can be boosted in the short term.

Hire a celebrity and get a good script, and you can solve everything.

For example, Isabella Heywood and Chris Columbus.

If this combination comes out, isn't it practically the same as robbery?
But animation requires accumulation, and how can he possibly build that up?

Yes.

Even though none of Disney's current operational problems will fall on Robert Iger's shoulders, and regardless of whether it's his fault or not, the scapegoat will only be Michael Eisner, Iger is still putting himself in the shoes of others and thinking about ways to break the deadlock for the group.

He rose from a local TV weather presenter to become the COO of Disney.

Over the past thirty years, he has climbed step by step the ladder of life, and now...

Who doesn't want to be crowned king?
"Jingle Bell--"

As Iger pondered Disney's future path in the animation business, the landline on his desk suddenly rang. He picked it up and listened…

"Bob, congratulations."

"..."

Barry Mayer's blessing made Iger roll his eyes.

He could detect the schadenfreude in Barry Mayer's words, a mockery of the lackluster state of their Disney animation business. But at the same time, he also glimpsed a deep-seated desire in Barry Mayer: a wish that he would do something significant.

For example, getting rid of Michael Eisner and becoming the head of Disney.

And this...

"Barry, are you genuinely congratulating me?"

Aiger tapped his index finger on the table, his tone calm.

"Of course~"

Barry Mayer laughed on the other end of the phone, “My good brother, of course I sincerely congratulate you.”

Barry Mayer is just enjoying the drama!
I sent you to poach my people!

Now you're in trouble, aren't you?

Hehe ~
however--

"Okay, if you're genuinely congratulating me, how about I sign Isabella?"

Iger smiled and said, "Let me stabilize the live-action film business so I have time to think about the future direction of animation."

"..."

Barry Mayer is no longer laughing.

I called to mock you, and you actually tried to poach my people?

get out!

“Bob, let me put this to you, from today onwards, if you ever set foot in Livingston, I will take your last name.”

"pat-"

Barry Mayer slammed the phone shut.

Aiger burst out laughing at his exasperated behavior.

But soon, he pursed his lips again.

He sighed softly.

because--

Isabella is just completely uncooperative!

For the past two to three months, neither Warner Bros. nor Disney has received a response from Isabella. Since Isabella stated that her top priority is to make "The Chamber of Secrets" a success, both parties have had no choice but to accept it.

Who told them they were film studios?
They wanted to work with Isabella, but when the actress said she wanted to do her job well, they couldn't just say that filming "The Secret Chamber" was easy, so let's talk about the contract first... That's just nonsense!
Since cooperation couldn't be negotiated, everyone could only wait. And then, all sorts of troubles started to arise during that wait.

This makes them feel helpless.

However, just when Barry Mayer thought he had weathered the storm and Robert Iger felt the situation was still under control.

On April 29, 2002, an even bigger joke unfolded.

That was the release of "Spider-Man," a film produced by Sony.

Prior to this, there were very few successful comic book adaptations. Furthermore, when Sony was preparing for Spider-Man, they invited directors such as Roland Emmerich, Chris Columbus, Tim Burton, Michael Bay, and David Fincher to direct the film, but all of them refused. Not only that, David Fincher, who had read the script, even said that Sony's script was as stupid as a donkey and could not possibly make money.

So when Sony officially started producing and promoting Spider-Man, the other five major Hollywood studios, and even smaller second- and third-tier studios, didn't pay any attention to the film. Everyone thought the Japanese would continue to lose money, but...

"What the fuck???"

What did you say???

"Spider-Man raked in $1.148 million at the box office in its opening weekend???"

"Only...North America???"

On May 6, Barry Mayer was absolutely furious when he saw the report!
"Yes, Boss, Spider-Man broke Harry Potter's opening weekend box office record."

The secretary who came to report was also covered in sweat, and said anxiously, "It seems we... underestimated this little spider..."

This is more than just an underestimation!

Everyone fucking misjudged this guy, bro!

What does it mean for a company to gross over $100 million in its opening weekend in North America?
This is fucking the first in history! The only one in history!

This is a height that Jurassic Park, Star Wars, and Harry Potter can never reach!
And now, Spider-Man has reached...?

Oh——

My——

God—

Barry Mayer felt like he was going crazy!

"M-Fxxk! We can't wait any longer!"

Barry Mayer stared at the report his secretary brought him for a long time, then stood up abruptly and shouted at his assistant, "Tell everyone! The negotiations must be accelerated!"

"I agree with David Heyman's 18-month production idea! But he has to get the movie done properly!!"

"There are four Harry Potter books now, right? I'll take Azkaban and the Goblet of Fire! I can accept a single book license fee of no more than two million US dollars! I can add another 0.5% to the revenue share for derivative products!"

"Then, we need to sign a lock-in agreement with J.K. Rowling. Warner Bros. will take all the adaptation rights to her next three novels! The licensing price for the last three books will be no less than two million US dollars, and the upper limit will be calculated by the investment department!"

"And then……"

"And then……"

Perhaps I said too much in one go?

But it could also be that he was a little emotional.

Barry Mayer was slightly out of breath at that moment.

His eyes flickered, and after a pause, he said again—

"Nathan Bailey is in Livingston, right?"

"Have him talk to Chris Columbus and tell him that we hope he can continue to direct the next two films."

"As for the price..."

Barry Mayer gritted his teeth and said, "Ten million for a single film as director's fees, plus five percent of the global box office revenue, and let him be an executive producer like J.K. Rowling. He can put his company on the production company's list, that is, let the company's logo appear on the film. Then, I will give him ten million in production fees, which will be paid through his company's account!"

"Twenty million plus five percent! Bring him back!"

At this moment, Barry Mayer's thoughts are actually very simple: Warner is facing a very dangerous situation.

Internally, the new Lord of the Rings franchise is eyeing them covetously;

Externally, Sony's Spider-Man is challenging their dominance.

If Spider-Man manages to gross $1.1 million in its opening weekend, it has the potential to break the $10 billion mark. In that case, Warner Bros. must stabilize the situation with Harry Potter; otherwise…

Ted Turner is sure to be able to rally a bunch of neutral shareholders to launch an attack against them.

He might say that Warner Bros.' inability to produce a film that grosses over a billion dollars is related to the lack of integration of their internal resources.

Do not believe?

Then let's take a look at Sony.

Sony did indeed lose money for many years after acquiring Columbia.

But with internal purges and the centralization of power, didn't they get back on track?

If even 1%-2% of shareholders are affected by such rumors, he will lose his position.

This is no exaggeration. AOL Time Warner has a market value of over 100 billion dollars. Even if the votes are tied, 1% of the voting rights are worth 1 billion dollars.

When there are countless shareholders in a group, and they are not united, even 1% of their power can rewrite the fate of countless people.

Therefore, once he had the globally acclaimed "Harry Potter" as his trump card, any mishaps he made could lead the shareholders to accuse him of incompetence. At that point, no matter how much the Ross family trusted him, they would have no choice but to fire him.

If he doesn't leave, the Ross family will be kicked out.

So……

'Stay calm! Stay calm! Stay calm! Let the right people continue doing the right things!'

Barry Mayer roared in his mind!

Since a stupid person couldn't get into this office, the assistant understood the boss's meaning immediately.

But at the same time, he had another question: "Boss, we are confident in our negotiations with David Heyman and J.K. Rowling, but what about Chris Columbus... what if he just refuses to return?"

"2000 million plus 5% might be a lot for others, but for him..."

"It's probably just average."

Chris Columbus is actually very rich.

Ten years ago, when filming "Home Alone 2", he was the one who received the most prizes in the entire crew.

At the time, Macaulay received 5% of the $450 million North American box office, while he received 10% of the $1000 million global box office.

Yes, that's the significance of joining the 5 million club in 1990.

Before Cameron made "The Big Ship," his income was always higher than Cameron's.

If Columbus hadn't been making all sorts of bizarre films over the years, like "Bicentennial Man," which only grossed 80 million at the box office despite a 100 million investment, he would have squandered his entire fortune.

To be honest, the production cost of "The Sorcerer's Stone" will increase from 1.25 million to 1.3 million or even 1.35 million because of him.

Currently, he only receives 2.5% of the $1000 million global box office.

However, even so, based on Warner's $6 million forecast when HP initiated the project, Warner's offer to him was still $2500 million.

Therefore, after he proved himself again, the price of 2000 million plus 5% was not much for him.

Barry Mayer understood all of this, so he simply laughed at his secretary's well-intentioned suggestion.

His eyes turned cold, and he said—

“If Chris Columbus rejects our offer, then tell him that Warner Bros. is willing to invest in ‘The Voice’ produced by him, with a guaranteed investment of ten million. He will receive 5% of the box office revenue and video revenue as a producer. If he is willing to direct ‘The Voice’, we can increase the investment to twenty million, of which ten million will be his director’s fee, and we will increase the percentage of both revenue sharing by 2.5 percentage points.”

"That is, ten million plus 7.5% of the box office and videotape revenue."

"Then, he also has the final cut."

"We have only one request."

"We'll start filming as soon as 'The Locked Room' is finished!"

"I heard this project is progressing quickly?"

"Released at the end of the year, along with 'The Locked Room'!"

"I allow 'The Voice of China' to reap the publicity benefits of 'Escape Room'!"

"As long as Chris Columbus is willing to return to Harry Potter!"

The secretary's pupils contracted upon hearing this quote.

Just as he was about to nod, Barry Mayer added, "Then, we also need to get Isabella Heywood, right? She... she... Nathan Bailey said she had the rights to the script? And she also wrote the song? I don't care if she's talented or not, anyway, both of them together are worth £1.5 million!"

"Then, we'll hire her to star in it and give her another million pounds!"

"Next, I'll give her a title as producer, and I'll give her 1.5... no! 2.5% of the profits!"

"Furthermore, as long as she signs the contract, her salary for Harry Potter will always be on par with Daniel Radcliffe's!"

"M-Fxxk! Robert Iger! Go eat shit!"

"Snapped--"

Barry Mayer slammed his hand on the table.

He has to win!!!
The dull thud and the flushed face revealed the boss's determination to the secretary.

“Okay, Boss, I’ll go and inform everyone right away.”

The secretary nodded without hesitation.

He quickly left the boss's office.

(End of this chapter)