America achieves both fame and fortune

Chapter 749 If you can't speak, you don't have to.

"Hi, Steven."

As Martin got out of the Cadillac Escalade, he immediately spotted Spielberg, went over to shake hands with the old man, and said, "I think this is my first time at DreamWorks."

Spielberg said, "Shall I show you around?"

It was still early, so Martin went along with his host's suggestion: "I couldn't be happier."

The two went directly to DreamWorks' showroom.

The DreamWorks campus is enormous. When it was first established, it encompassed various aspects of film, television, music, and media, and was hailed as the seventh largest company in Hollywood.

Like many joint ventures, partners can work together when things are going well, but fall apart when things go wrong.

As the three giants of DreamWorks turned against each other, DreamWorks fell apart. David Geffen was the first to leave with the music and media businesses, followed by the spin-off of DreamWorks Animation by Jeff Katzenberg. Spielberg's DreamWorks film and television production division struggled to survive and even gave up independent distribution in order to stay afloat.

Of course, all of these losses were the company's money.

Spielberg remains the second richest man in Hollywood, second only to George Lucas.

Walt Disney has offered a hefty $40 billion to acquire Lucasfilm.

Industrial Light & Magic is not included.

Martin only briefly looked around the exhibition hall. Spielberg was busy with the post-production of "Lincoln," and he didn't want to take up too much of the old man's time.

After leaving the exhibition hall, Martin, led by Spielberg's assistant, arrived at the DreamWorks Theater where a preview screening of "Seventh Son" was being held.

Along the way, Martin met Ericsson of Disney Studios and Claude of 20th Century Fox, and they traveled together.

With Spielberg's assistant by their side, Martin and Bruce entered the theater without any trouble.

Perhaps due to the negative impact of the box office failures of "Transcendence" and "The Lone Ranger," not many people came to the preview screening of "Seventh Son" today.

Martin and Eriksson were quite familiar with each other, so they sat together in the middle.

Knowing of the deep conflict between Martin and Megan Ellison, Erickson asked curiously, "What brings you here?"

Martin said with a smile, "Everyone in the industry knows that I was the one who first took a liking to the Seventh Son project. Later, my office safe was robbed, and then someone suddenly jumped out and tried to take the project from me. I didn't have as much funding as others, so the project copyright fell into someone else's hands."

This news had already spread throughout Hollywood, and many people who had heard about it looked over here.

Martin added, "Now that the project is finished filming and production, I can't give up without coming to see it. After all, it's a movie that just slipped through my fingers."

"Is the film still a failure?" Claude laughed and said, "The other two films Annapurna Pictures snatched were both failures."

Another person chimed in, "It's still a crushing defeat. Will they even be able to get back 20% of their invested capital?"

Eriksson said very seriously, "Perhaps after ten years of offline operation, it's possible."

When other companies' big-budget productions fail, or even utterly fail, those present not only enjoy watching the drama unfold, but also feel a strange sense of satisfaction.

Claude asked, "Martin, you always have a good eye; the projects you personally select are generally very successful. These last few projects weren't done on purpose, were they?"

"Are you kidding me? Who can guarantee a movie's success before it's released?" Martin shrugged. "A good script is just the foundation of a good movie. Aren't there plenty of good scripts that end up as bad movies? My studio's production is not the same as other people's production."

Beside Claude, someone suddenly whispered, "Keep an eye on Martin later. He knows this project very well. If he offers a high price, we'll consider following up."

These words struck a chord with Claude. Apart from Annapurna Pictures, the person present who knew the most about the Seventh Son project was undoubtedly Martin Davis.

Not only them, but many people were secretly observing Martin.

In a box on the second floor of the theater, Megan Ellison saw Martin and asked, "Who invited him?"

"I looked at the invitation list, and Martin Davis is definitely not on it," said Derek, who was standing next to him.

He took out his phone, made a call, and then said, "It was someone from DreamWorks who brought him here."

Megan Ellison looked grim but didn't say anything more.

This is DreamWorks territory, and since everyone's already here, it's impossible to go down and publicly kick them out.

"Boss?" Dreit asked.

Megan Ellison, who doesn't believe she's afraid of Martin and isn't planning to change her plans for anyone, said, "The screenings and subsequent talks will proceed as normal, let Wilson get ready."

Dreit went to the screening room next door.

Megan Ellison sat at the front of the box, staring blankly at Martin below, when she suddenly remembered something.

When she first entered Hollywood, her plan was to pursue art and win awards, and the first film she co-invested in, "The Hurt Locker," was also of that type.

But with the scripts for Seventh Son and Transcendence in front of her, and Martin Davis's reputation to back her up, she didn't hesitate to change her established strategy and choose a more profitable big-budget commercial production.

The result? The result is this embarrassing situation we're in today.

Megan Ellison wondered if Annapurna Pictures would dominate awards season if they continued to pursue the artistic merit of films like "The Hurt Locker."

On the first floor, Bruce reminded Martin, "Megan Ellison is watching us from the second floor."

Martin said, "It's alright, I brought her a gift this time."

He absolutely would not allow Annapurna Pictures to use such a low-quality product as "Seventh Son" to harm their Hollywood colleagues.

At that moment, Martin decided to protect the entire Hollywood film industry.

Boycott "Seventh Son"!

The big screen lit up, and the preview screening began.

The film is different from the script Martin saw.

In addition to fantasy, witchcraft, adventure, and monster fighting, the film also incorporates elements of romance and strives to make it appear darker and more brutal.

The effect, however, was like gilding the lily.

This is a typical Hollywood assembly-line fantasy epic, with very elaborate special effects scenes; most of the investment went into special effects.

Ten years ago, if this film had special effects of this quality, it might have attracted attention.

However, over the years, audiences have been dazzled by the flashy computer-generated special effects. In particular, the appearance of "Avatar" brought CG special effects to a peak and raised the audience's threshold for special effects films.

Not a single one of the film experts and senior buyers present, including Martin, was moved by the special effects.

As the credits rolled and the theater fell silent, Erickson abruptly asked Martin, "What did you think of this film?"

"Not as good as 'The Lone Ranger'." Martin expressed his honest opinion: "Aside from 'The Lord of the Rings' series, it seems like the industry hasn't had a successful fantasy epic in a long time, has it?"

The people attending the preview screening were all gathered in the middle area, and since the theater was quiet at the moment, most of them heard what was said.

Wilson then came from backstage, stood on the small stage, waved to the crowd, and said, "Guys, long time no see. This movie was pretty good, wasn't it?"

Claude replied, "No wonder I haven't seen you in so long. You've gone to Annapurna Films to be a producer."

Wilson waved to him in response, saying, "This film is well-made and commercially viable. Annapurna is ready to transfer the rights. Anyone interested can contact me."

Martin gave Bruce a look.

Bruce suddenly raised his hand and said, "Davis Studios is willing to buy all the rights to this film for $3000 million."

All eyes in the room fell on Bruce, and then turned to Martin.

Martin smiled and nodded.

If Annapurna Pictures is really willing to sell to him for $3000 million, he can make a profit by reselling it to Netflix.

Claude of 20th Century Fox reacted swiftly, immediately replying: "$35 million."

The others did not actively participate, but instead frequently looked towards Martin, waiting for him to make another bid.

If they acquire this film for thirty or forty million US dollars, and then release it on the stock market, there's a possibility that they could make a profit.

Martin shook his head and said to Bruce, "Old Bruce, let's go."

The two got up and entered the passageway, heading towards the outside of the theater.

Without hesitation, Eriksson followed.

Claude, who had come with them, ignored the previous offer and got up to leave.

Once those three families left, the others couldn't sit still and followed suit.

Soon, the theater, which originally had nearly twenty seats, was emptied of only a handful of people.

The buyer from Lionsgate then said, "Wilson, $4000 million. If you're willing to sell, we'll sign the contract today."

Wilson glanced at the lights on the second floor. Megan Ellison in the private box made no comment. He forced a smile and said, "$4000 million? You're kidding. Definitely not."

The Lionsgate buyer looked around; not a single person from the six major companies remained.

Thinking that Martin Davis, who knew the project better, was only willing to offer $3000 million, he sighed, picked up his bag, and walked out.

Wilson looked at the two houses that hadn't left yet.

One of them waved their hand, indicating that they were just watching the show.

A representative from another company quoted a price: "3000 million US dollars. If you agree, we will sign the contract and make the payment immediately."

Wilson thought to himself, "Are you crazy?" He held back his anger and said, "Your offer is too low. Someone just offered $4000 million."

"But the guy who offered $4000 million is gone." The representative pointed towards the theater entrance: "If you contact him now, he won't even offer $3000 million."

Although the other person was right, Wilson couldn't help but retort, "If you can't speak, you don't have to."

The man held up five fingers: "$3000 million! 5! 4! 3..."

When he mentioned the number 1, he turned around and left.

Judging from the market performance of Transcendence and The Lone Ranger, $3000 million also carries some risk. After all, buying the rights is only the basic investment; promotion and distribution are still needed to generate sufficient returns.

All of these require money.

The theater was empty; Wilson could only see Megan Ellison on the second floor.

The preview and tentative deal fell through.

(End of this chapter)