Entertainment upstart

Chapter 811 Talks, Cooperation

Ever since Zhou Xia and Lao Mouzi rejected the "Great Wall" project, Luo Yi found cooperation in flower art, which owns 10% of the shares of Legendary East.

But the progress of the project was not smooth, and the only other suitable directors were Ang Lee, Wu Yusen, Xu Laoguai, and Xiaogangpao.

Li An's family rejected Legendary at the very beginning, and the rest is Old Freak Xu, who is busy preparing for "Lin Haixueyuan", and the schedule will take some time.

As for director Wu Yusen, since the fiasco of "Red Cliff", he is not the best choice, and he is busy with the filming and production of "Taiping Wheel".

The rest is Xiaogangpao. After talking with Xiaogangpao for several months, both parties are not satisfied, so it is best not to continue.

Now that Xiahua Film and Television wants to make a big splash in North America, and is also interested in Legendary Pictures, which is looking for investment, so the three giants of Legendary come this time, besides talking about investment, they still hope to cooperate with Zhou Xia and Xia Hua in "The Great Wall" "this project.

Zhou Xia will have a meeting with DreamWorks Animation next, and will meet with Cate Blanchett in the afternoon, so after a brief exchange of pleasantries, the conversation officially started.

Chuangqi Films was actually an investment platform before, but it was actually transformed into an independent film studio today last year, developing under Universal.

Although it has not been established for a long time, the current CEO Thomas Tull is an investment genius who is good at big data analysis.

When he was just a little-known screenwriter and assistant director, in 2005, relying on the analysis of the investment output of Hollywood animation films, he got the first investment of 5 million US dollars and established the legendary company.

Then participated in the investment of Warner Bros. "The Dark Knight" and "The Hangover" series and other films, and later produced "Inception", "Godzilla", "Pacific Rim", "Jurassic World", "King Kong", Movies such as "Warcraft" own the relevant copyrights of these movies, and its legendary comics are also investing in supporting the development of new comics.

At present, the market value of Legendary Pictures is about 12 billion US dollars, including the market value of Legendary Oriental, which was listed in Xiangjiang last year, with a market value of 4.5 million US dollars.

For Xiahua Film and Television, which currently has a market capitalization of more than US$360 billion, it would cost about US$14 billion to acquire it wholly at a premium.

This consumes too much cash flow, so investment holding is the most suitable right now.

However, Xia Hua Film and Television has no interest in Legendary East, so if they can reach an agreement, the divestiture of Legendary East will only be the acquisition of Legendary Pictures.

If it's only [-] or [-] million US dollars, Zhou Xia is still willing to spend this money.

Generally speaking, investing in Legendary Pictures, if it operates properly, will be more effective than investing in Studio8.

However, Legend has not yet experienced the failures of "300 Warriors: Rise of the Empire", "Clash of Hackers", and "The Seventh Son". If it is forcibly acquired, it will indeed need to pay a higher price.

Just like the Wanda acquisition in that time and space, if you just spend money, don't interfere with some projects, and don't control risks, you will face losses.

In the previous communication between the two parties, Xiahua Film and Television mainly discussed the acquisition price, while Legendary Pictures was more likely to discuss cooperation with Zhou Xia and Xiahua Film and Television in the Mainland.

The purpose of the two parties is not quite the same, and now they are communicating again, but they are still arguing again.

In the end, without an agreement on acquisition funding, a spin-off of Legendary East was out of the question.

Then Xiahua Film and Television and Zhou Xia didn't want to cooperate with Legendary in depth, especially the "Great Wall" IP that Legendary wanted to create, let alone help advance it.

After talking for an hour and a half, the Big Three of Legendary Pictures left disappointed, and those who stayed behind Zhou Xia and Xia Hua were also dissatisfied.

"Peter, Zhang Zhao, continue to communicate with Legendary. If you can't buy it, you can also invest and hold it. It's the same as Studio8, enter the market first and then talk."

After the legendary person left, Zhou Xia was not angry, and explained to his two right-hand men.

"Well. But more than 50% of the shares may cost about 7 million U.S. dollars."

"If you really can't get the management right, it's still the same as the conditions I mentioned to Studio8. We participate in the promising projects, and don't let us fill in the pits if you don't look good."

Zhou Xia looked at Zhang Zhao and continued: "You can have in-depth communication with them, talk about the cooperation between the two of us in the past few years, communicate more, and convey our sincerity. I will not interfere with specific matters. They will only intervene when they are optimistic about big projects, and their founding team will do the operation and management.

"Okay, I understand what you mean." Zhang Zhao understood that Zhou Xia was asking him to use practical examples of cooperation between the two to convince the other party, so he quickly agreed.

"That's good. In half an hour, the DreamWorks animation staff will come. It may be even more difficult to negotiate with them."

After Zhou Xia finished speaking, thinking that today is Saturday, and many departments of the company are on holiday, there are no people, so she hurriedly said to Peter: "By the way, Cate Blanchett will come to the company at three o'clock in the afternoon. For those who are not at work in the relevant departments, let them Come overtime!"

"Boss, this..., yes, I understand." Peter wanted to say that this is not good, but seeing Zhou Xia's eyes, he decided not to mention this matter.

Anyway, overtime pay is higher, and there are always people who are willing to give up their vacations and come back to work.

Soon it was eleven o'clock, and the people from DreamWorks Animation arrived on time, not too early and not too late.

This also proves Zhou Xia's previous words that the people from DreamWorks Animation are not so active and optimistic about reaching an agreement this time.

Otherwise, they would have come early like the people from Legendary Pictures.

The three people from DreamWorks, the founder and CEO Katzenberg, the executive officer Michael Lachance, and one of the directors of "Kung Fu Panda 1" and John Stevenson, who has been promoted to the director of the animation department, were invited into the meeting room.

This time Zhou Xia was not so direct with the legendary people, but just asked about the progress of some projects of DreamWorks Animation and so on.

It wasn't until Katzenberg took the initiative to bring up the investment cooperation between the two parties that Zhou Xia started talking with the other party.

Compared with Legendary Pictures and Studio8, DreamWorks Animation has almost no willingness to sell the company completely, and the main focus of the negotiations between the two parties is here.

Zhou Xia wants to win these three companies, and also wants to win their global distribution rights of movies, or the distribution rights of some movies.

Although the distribution contract between Dreamworks Animation and Warner Bros. is until 2015, after Xiahua's acquisition is successful, Dreamworks can still make a lot of money in projects such as "Kung Fu Panda 3" and "How to Train Your Dragon" in the next few years.

Moreover, after the film distribution rights and various peripheral copyrights for subsequent development are obtained, it will not only generate box office revenue, but can continue forever.

Therefore, even if the output speed of DreamWorks Animation is too slow, it is still worth buying.

It's just that after the acquisition, another production department must be established in China to allow them to learn and exercise, which will also speed up film production.

After all, animation-related production labor in the United States is really too expensive, it's like keeping a bunch of money-burning machines.

After an hour of communication, at twelve o'clock, the two parties finally reached an initial agreement on the investment plan.

Zhou Xia was still a little unwilling, and decided to try to persuade Katzenberg and others before seeing off the guests.

"Mr. Katzenberg, I understand what DreamWorks Animation means to you. You don't want to sell him, because dreams and careers are the source of happiness, which cannot be measured by money. Just like you bought your The place where I live now has persisted for ten years, and it is the same as going to chat with that couple every week.

What you want is to build a perfect home, and with such persistence, you feel happy, just like when you founded the "Dream Factory", what you do is to create dreams, so do I, and I am also a creator A dreamer, a person who regards work as a source of happiness.

Even if I buy your company, it will not change the status quo. To me, you are DreamWorks. The animal stars you created are like beautiful dreams, accompanying the lives of countless people around the world.

Shrek the green monster, Kung Fu Panda, Puss in Boots, Madagascar, and now how to train your dragon, etc., I like each of these characters, please believe that I understand your philosophy.

Moreover, the end of a period is also the beginning of a new period, which can give wings to the new DreamWorks. Our Xiahua Film and Television also has an animation production department, and we invest in several animation films every year.

In addition, we also have literature and animation websites, and there are countless oriental stories to be developed, which require professional talents from DreamWorks. In addition, in terms of distribution capabilities that you are most worried about, I can guarantee that there will be no more stories soon. same.

In our country, we have our own theater chain, with unmatched publicity and distribution capabilities. We have acquired the largest theater chain in Europe, and we are also in contact with related theater chains in North America. On a global scale, we can guarantee the animation of DreamWorks Movie release.

So, is there a better partner than us? Hollywood Six, two of them, Disney and Warner, you have already cooperated with. It’s nothing more than another company. Is there any difference? It’s better to change to a different partner. "

Zhou Xia had already said enough, and if he said more, he would feel like begging for help.

"Zhou, thank you for your words just now, and your understanding of me. We will seriously consider your proposal."

Katzenberg shook hands with Zhou Xia, and after speaking earnestly, he said goodbye to the other two executives and left.

"Boss, looking at the situation, I'm afraid DreamWorks Animation won't sell itself." Peter said in a low voice.

"It doesn't matter. Isn't the investment agreement basically reached? If it doesn't work, let's take it slowly." Zhou Xia sighed helplessly. Katzenberg still didn't insist, but now the film and television industry is the era when capital is king.

The profit rate of his DreamWorks simply cannot support their long dream and the time to make an animated film.

It was still early, and there were still three hours before the meeting with Cate Blanchett in the afternoon.

After Zhou Xia had a working meal with several executives of the company, he went to the meeting room by himself to continue preparing for the meeting in the afternoon.

About how the movie "Carol" was shot, how to convince Kate the Devil and so on.

If you want to convince her, you must first understand her.

Speaking of which, Zhou Xia doesn't know much about her, but she has seen many of her movies and has a deep memory of the characters she plays.

Cate Blanchett has worked with many of Hollywood's gods.

In "The Aviator" played by Xiao Lizi, she played "Hepburn" and won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress, and starred in "Rejuvenation" with Brad Pitt, and also received an Oscar nomination for Best Actress; and then in 2014 Starring "Blue Jasmine", won the Oscar.

She also played the glamorous elf queen in "The Hobbit," the evil stepmother in "Cinderella," and Hela, Hammer and Loki's evil older sister in "Thor 3." .

how to say?

King Kate is similar in status and type to Emperor Gong.

It's no wonder that in another time and space, a director named Pao Hui chose Gong Huang to play Carol when filming the Chinese version of "Carol".

(End of this chapter)