American Entertainment: Starting with playing the role of Little Beaver

Chapter 65 Capital's Joyful Praise

Since the turn of the century, Paramount has gradually fallen out of the Big Six.

In the last decade of the 20th century, Paramount produced twelve films that ranked in the top ten at the box office in a single year, including two films that topped the charts, even though one of those top spots was shared with Fox—that was *Titanic*. But that doesn't matter, does it? Making the list and making money is enough.

However, since 2000, Paramount has only made it into the top ten twice.

Furthermore, one of those instances was contributed by Mission: Impossible 2.

When this fact came to light, Paramount's ability to create dreams could only be described as explosive.

While other companies are steadily climbing the ladder, what about them?

If we pull any further, DreamWorks will kick us off!
Therefore, after discovering that Disney and Warner Bros. had conspired to kill Weinstein because of Isabella, they immediately convened an emergency meeting to boost performance. In their eyes, Disney had obtained Isabella from Warner Bros., and once this fact came to light, Disney's live-action film business might experience a volcanic eruption.

what?
Some people are asking if the current war is related to the Oscars.
Dear!
The Oscar is just a personal honor!
What does it have to do with capital whether an actor can win awards or rise in status?

As long as the commercial value of the Oscars doesn't surpass that of blockbuster entertainment films, the first thing capital will embrace will be box office giants!

So……

"What do you think?"

Shirley Lansing raised an eyebrow, her gaze sweeping over her colleagues at the conference table.

"Uh... I think she's become a Disney princess, but she's still a Warner Bros. princess."

A guy wearing glasses pushed up the main body on the bridge of his nose.

"So Disney's performance may look a little better going forward, but not by much."

"Because Isabella's main job is still making HP films."

This analysis amused the others present.

Shirley Lansing also smiled and shook her head.

She knew that the person's analysis was correct.

Even if Disney and Warner Bros. partnered to share Isabella... uh... that sounds strange, doesn't it? But since Isabella can't split herself into two, Disney can't monopolize Isabella indefinitely. So, Disney's performance might improve, but it can't improve too much. As long as there's any possibility of progress, they need to have a way to deal with it.

Or rather, they need to make their bosses see that they are solving problems.

And this...

"Judging from the current situation, the best way for us to boost box office revenue is to continue filming 'Mission: Impossible'..."

It was the same bespectacled man who said, "Because we only have 'Mission: Impossible' as a box office guarantee."

“I agree,” another slightly younger white man nodded. “If we want to give the parent company an explanation, the best way is to have Tom go back to filming immediately, but…”

"But the problem is that Paula's asking price is too high."

The only woman in the meeting room besides Shirley Lansing said, "Paula said that if the Mission: Impossible series goes to a third film, Tom will have to get 20+20, with the latter being 20 across all areas, which is unacceptable to us."

Upon hearing this, the large meeting room fell into a deathly silence.

The Paula mentioned by the woman is Paula Wagner, Tom Cruise's agent and partner.

In 1992, she and Tom Cruise co-founded a production company called C/W.

Subsequently, most of Tom Cruise's movie accounts were transferred through this company.

When this fact came to light, Paula Wagner was essentially Tom Cruise's spokesperson. Therefore, when Paula Wagner stated that she would take 20% of the total revenue from the Mission: Impossible series, the only person who could possibly want that money was Tom Cruise.

Paramount wouldn't dare sign such a contract.

Anyone who dares to sign will be fired by their boss, Sumner Redstone.

"Okay, okay, let's not talk about this for now."

Shirley Lansing waved her hand, signaling to stop.

She personally prefers soup, so...

I understand everything I understand.

"Besides Tom, do you have any other ideas?"

"For example, how about we bring Daniel and Rupert on the project?"

Shirley Lansing looked around again.

This question made the people in the meeting room think.

That's right—

When Shirley Lansing discovered that Disney COO Robert Iger was able to acquire Isabella from Warner Chairman Barry Mayer, she felt that Warner was capable of sharing HP's core trio with the outside world.

In that case, bringing them on board for the project might be a good idea?

Because Isabella has proven that Harry Potter fans can be converted by the main characters!

but--

"Shirley, I think this idea is worth trying, but its feasibility is not high."

The only two women in the conference room spoke up again, "I have two reasons, the first of which is related to the Harry Potter movies."

"Isabella's success in gaining fans doesn't mean that Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert will be able to attract HP fans to the cinema, because Hermione's performance in the HP movies is far superior to Harry and Ron's."

"When Hermione's on-screen presence even surpasses that of the protagonist Harry, I don't think Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert can carry the box office. Or rather, isn't it easier for a girl to attract fans than a boy in the film industry?"

"No matter how talented a boy is, his ceiling is only that of a child star."

"And the ceiling for girls right now is Shirley Temple."

Everyone acknowledges this fact.

So, as soon as she finished speaking, everyone in the conference room nodded in agreement.

"The second reason is that we don't have any programs suitable for boys."

The woman continued, emboldened by her colleague's affirmation: "Currently, the only youth program we have is 'Queen Bee'."

"..."

A silent chuckle rippled through the Paramount conference room.

Yup!

Even if Warner Bros. were willing to share the core trio from HP with their peers, they still couldn't bring them over!

Because they don't currently have any projects suitable for the "iron triangle" (referring to a trio of experts/groups)!

We're all industry insiders, so they won't say things like, "As long as you can carry the box office, even a pile of shit can sell for gold." Movies sell content; what's the point of just punching boxes if there's no content?
"Well, in that case, we'll probably have to apologize to Mr. Redstone."

Shirley Lansing shrugged. "We probably won't make it this year or next, and we can't save Paramount."

Although her tone was relatively relaxed, everyone in the meeting room was still somewhat dejected.

Because they could apologize to Mr. Redstone, and Mr. Redstone could tell them to get lost.

Just when everyone thought that they might have fewer colleagues after this year, someone else suddenly said—

"Um... I actually think the 'Queen Bee' project is worth starting..."

'Um? '

These words made everyone raise their eyebrows.

"Furthermore, I think if we handle it well, we can even let 'Queen Bee' ride on Isabella's popularity..."

'Um??'

Everyone became interested and turned their attention to it.

The man sitting in the middle of the long conference table was the deputy manager of the development department.

When he noticed that all his colleagues were looking at him, he smiled and said, "The Queen Bee is about teenagers, right?"

"And there are many children in 'The Voice of China,' and wasn't the girl who competed against Isa at the end just the same age as her?"

"I think her name is Margot... Robbie?"

“We can’t get Isa to act in ‘Queen Bee’ because the tone of ‘Queen Bee’ doesn’t match HP, but we can get someone who has a screen connection with her to act in it. Moreover, by doing this, we can not only get the hype, but also reduce the production cost. As far as I know, it seems that no one has been offered that girl yet?”

"Then, even if the project fails, we can tell Mr. Redstone that we've tried our best, we've even tried to ride on Isabella's coattails. When we've gone that far..."

"I think Mr. Redstone can understand our predicament?"

"After all, we didn't just lie there and wait to die."

"Wow—"

Almost instantly, flames of excitement ignited in Paramount's conference room!

"Oh—that's a good idea—if we can't get Isabella, we can get someone connected to her—"

"I think it's worth a try—this girl might actually be a hidden gem—"

“When we used Lindsay Lohan as a template for the budget of ‘Queen Bee,’ the entire project was planned for less than 20 million, and we also had to give Lindsay 5 million. But now, with a newcomer… we can probably make the movie for 10 million!”

"Ten million is a bet! It's not a big investment. If we succeed, even if we don't make it into the top ten, we'll still make a profit! Plus, it'll make our return on investment on our financial statements look really good!"

The cacophony of voices made Shirley Lansing's eyes grow brighter and brighter.

Finally, she slammed her hand on the table and said to the person who made the suggestion, "Okay, you go talk to them—"

"We must take down Isabella's...friend?!"

The battle for the Oscars is raging in the industry, but Paramount is focusing on business, and even on Isabella's friends. This behavior seems disrespectful to the golden statuette, but as for the other studios...

Well, Fox, Sony, and Universal didn't exactly respect the Oscars either.

While Paramount was holding its meeting, the three companies were actually secretly discussing things, and then—

Everyone's just watching the drama unfold.

"Is there some internal strife at Disney?"

"Roy Disney and Robert Iger swiftly took down Michael Eisner's men?"

“Wow~~~Cool~~~”

"Roy Disney has finally risen up!"

"If I remember correctly, twenty years ago when he was fighting his own people, he fought Walt Disney's son-in-law, Ron Miller, for a full three years? Ten years ago when he was fighting Eisner, he hadn't even beaten him? But now... it seems like he's about to win? This is truly a miracle..."

"Yes! He's finally starting to resemble his father!"

“But I feel like things aren’t that simple. Using the IRS to attack Amnesty International? That shouldn’t be Roy’s idea. He shouldn’t be that smart. I think this whole plan was Barry’s idea.”

"What? Why?"

"Because Warner Bros. has an animated series called 'Jackie Chan Adventures,' which has a very classic line: 'Magic must defeat Magic'..."

"Hahaha~ After hearing what you said, Roy still seems to be a fool!"

Outsiders always enjoy watching the drama unfold.

Oscars happen every year, but infighting among peers... well, infighting among peers is actually quite common, but the fiercer the infighting, the happier they are, because they can earn more money when their peers die.

Not to mention, they were also annoyed by Weinstein.

Let's start with Sony. Sony is a Japanese company, and its acquisition of Columbia Pictures was an attempt to strengthen its global brand influence. Winning an Oscar is also a means to gain fame. Therefore, they are naturally at odds with Weinstein.

As for Fox, like Sony, they are a subsidiary of News Corporation. Rupert Murdoch is in the media business, and strengthening their influence is what they want to do most. Weinstein always blocks them from appearing at the Oscars.
When someone like that dies, it's a sign of respect if they don't piss on his grave.

And then there's Universal, whose full name is Vivendi Universal now. No matter what happens to Vivendi after it acquired Universal, at least before and after the acquisition, they hoped to use Hollywood's publicity window to enhance their brand value.

If Miramax's full name were Disney Miramax, then their win over Vivendi would be acceptable.

But when Disney refused to put its logo in front of Miramax's logo, then...

With the Weinstein brothers gone, the fact that they haven't fired any shots is already considered restraint.

Therefore, Warner Bros. teaming up with Disney to take down Weinstein was just a bit of fun for them.

As for Isabella, who was the 'instigator' of this incident, no, I should say the 'key figure'?
Although people didn't talk about her much, she was still on the "best to avoid" blacklist. The reason for not talking about her is simple—

Isabella didn't appear out of thin air; her commercial value had already been estimated by all parties.

Since we've already talked about this countless times, what's the point of continuing to talk about it now?

The reason for putting her on the "best to avoid" blacklist is even simpler—

All capital will protect its own pillars.

To put it bluntly, right now, if anyone dares to mess with Sony's Tobey Maguire, Sony will crush them.

Are you blocking my path to wealth?
Then go die!
What do I care if you have your own difficulties?
I'm not running a charity!
If you feel wronged, then go home and find your mom!
cough……

The Oscars are important, but only intellectual property (IP) can make capital go wild.

So when you realize that no matter how you manage the Oscars, its final revenue is capped.

Then you can face it with a smile.

And after the laughter...

"What did you say? Eminem wants to run for the Oscars?"

Stacey Snyder, chairman of Universal Pictures, heard some earth-shattering news from his subordinates at the conference table.

Her subordinates' repeated nods made her squint, and she sighed, "Eminem is a singer, and 8 Mile is, after all, his first movie, so it's a bit unrealistic for him to want to win an Oscar right after his debut."

"But, given the situation this year... sigh... if he wants to make a run for it, I can try to get him a nomination."

Since this year's Oscar race has become a complete mess, like a cat playing with yarn, everyone can do whatever they want. However, while agreeing, Stacey Snyder, with a big smile on his face, suddenly remembered something else.

"Hey wait."

"If I remember correctly, Eminem didn't mention wanting to compete for the Oscar, did he?"

"Didn't his movies even get a Golden Globe nomination for a musical or comedy?"

The question startled everyone in the conference room for a moment, then they all nodded.

Not only that, everyone was nodding and laughing at the same time, because it was hilarious—

In this day and age, the Golden Globe Awards are held much earlier than the Oscars.

For example, the Golden Globe nominations were announced on December 19, 2002.

This means that films released after December 19, 2002, can only compete for the Golden Globe Awards the following year.

Theoretically, this fact shouldn't affect Oscar nominations, because the Oscar application process doesn't state that entries must first be nominated for a Golden Globe Award before being eligible for an Oscar. However, since the Golden Globe Awards are widely recognized as the biggest indicator of Oscar success, a film that skips the Golden Globes and goes straight to the Oscars seems...

Is that strange?
Then, the rules of the Golden Globe Awards are actually even more arbitrary than those of the Oscars.

"Catch Me If You Can" was released on December 25, but Leonardo DiCaprio was nominated for a Golden Globe Award on December 19.

Yes, this year, Leonardo DiCaprio received a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actor in a Drama for his role in "Catch Me If You Can".

Yes, as long as you bribe someone, a movie can get a Golden Globe nomination even if it's not released.

If you stuff a lot in, the judges might just close their eyes and award you the prize.

So, when everyone in the industry knows the Golden Globes are terrible, Eminem's "8 Mile" wanted to compete for the Oscars without even participating in the Golden Globes?
This……

Honestly, this is going too far.

However, Global Times didn't care.

As I said before, qualifying for the Olympics is a business.

If you're willing to take the order, we'll accept it.

You give us money, and we'll do the work.

Anyway, this business doesn't require a cash-on-delivery transaction. If you want to throw money at it, go ahead and throw money at it. To put it bluntly, I can even make a profit.

And when Universal can laugh and act recklessly...

“Isa, do you know? The whole of Hollywood is in chaos because of you.”

What is afternoon on the west coast is evening in Iceland.

There is a time difference of almost seven hours between the two places.

So, when Columbus called, Isabella had just returned to her hotel suite.

Her life today is very fulfilling.

We climbed a volcano, soaked in hot springs, and even tried Iceland's most famous marinated shark meat for lunch.

At the same time, she also felt that she was having a very unlucky day.

Because she was climbing an active volcano, it was a real hike, and the towering crater almost killed her;
Before soaking in the hot spring, she thought it was natural, but after soaking, she realized it was man-made. What's the point?
The most ridiculous thing was the marinated shark meat, it was so damn smelly! She was already gagging before the dish even arrived at the table, and that dish cost 35 euros!
This is a robbery!
but--

Weinstein's disappearance and the Oscar explosion wiped away all her unhappiness for the day.

Warner's lightning-fast handling of the situation and the fact that even though I was no longer in the game, the world was still being stirred up by me made her very happy.

Well, she just expressed her unhappiness about being targeted by the enemy to Barry Mayer, and the enemy disappeared... This...

Three sentences to make two old men take Hollywood by storm for me?

hehehe~
Okay, just kidding, just kidding.

but--

"Goose, goose, goose, goose~"

The little beaver, leaning against the sofa in the presidential suite, was laughing like a little Shiba Inu.

But at the same time, she also denied it, saying, "Oh Chris, you can't just say things like that!"

"I've never been to the United States, so what does it matter to me whether Hollywood is chaotic or not?"

"Disney only cracked down on one criminal!"

So...hmm?

Columbus on the other end of the phone rolled his eyes at the behavior of acting innocent after getting a good deal.

"Okay, okay, okay, this has nothing to do with you, okay?"

He couldn't be bothered with Isa anymore and changed the subject, saying, "So, besides this, don't you have anything else to say? Warner Bros. has already decided to get you nominated for an Oscar, you don't need to pay anything..."

That's right, Columbus's sudden call was to tell Isabella that Warner was planning to do charity work.

Or rather, it's like giving them all free opportunities to compete in the Olympics.

Well, to be honest, in the eyes of real capitalists, spending tens of millions on Olympic bids? That's actually not that much.

But there should be rules for everything, shouldn't there?

The industry rule is that the beneficiaries share the profits 50/50, so any company that arbitrarily takes on all the profits is actually breaking the rules.

But this time the situation is indeed special; The Voice did help Warner.

The first busy task is to hard-top the new line;

The second favor I did was help clear landmines.

The former is self-explanatory, the latter is related to DC.

Since The Voice was able to absorb the popularity of The Lord of the Rings, just like The Fear of Death and Die Another Day, it proves that Halle Berry's commercial value is not as high as people previously thought.

and so……

She wants to ask for 2000 million for "Catwoman"?
Warner Music is too lazy to even negotiate the price now.

Go ahead and shout all you want, we're not inviting you anyway.

Yes, the Catwoman project has been suspended.

On Warner's schedule, this was a multi-million dollar investment project, and if such a project lost money, the shareholders would hold them accountable.

Especially when they were still having a great time fighting Ted Turner.

Applying the brakes early means making a profit.

Therefore, when the creative team behind "The Voice of China" has made contributions, capital can sometimes be quite understanding.

Of course, Warner also admitted that his understanding of human nature was related to Isabella being wronged.

If they're not going to let Isabella pay, what will others think if they ask someone else to pay?
Although Christian Bale, Jude Law, and others are not as commercially valuable as Isabella.

But what about Chris Columbus?

In fact, he's also a big shot in front of Barry Mayer.

Right?

Then, Warner's goodwill excited many people in the creative team of "The Voice".

Isn't it a good thing to be able to compete for the Oscars without spending money?
Furthermore, Jude Law wants to change his Oscar category; he wants to compete for Best Actor.

All his previous plans were ruined because of Isabella's meddling.

He originally hoped to win Best Actor next year with "Cold Mountain," but...

Weinstein is in trouble.

Cold Mountain is a Weinstein project.

So……

I have no choice but to accept the reality.

And this...

"Director, I really have nothing to say."

"Because a 12-year-old girl cannot become an Oscar-winning actress."

"So, what does Oscar have to do with me?"

Isabella would not waste her energy on something that doesn't exist.

Life is only about 30,000 days long, so the most important thing is to live each day happily.