America achieves both fame and fortune

Chapter 756 Shifting the Blame, Continuing to Shift the Blame

On Monday morning, Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas, as the director and producer of the film, invited Steven Spielberg of DreamWorks and Bob from Paramount Pictures to a meeting at the Interstellar Studios at Warner Bros. Studios.

The Novus had informed them in advance and had also invited Martin over.

Bob and Spielberg understood that Nolan had his eye on Martin Scorsese, and that the male lead had to be Scorsese.

All five of them knew each other, but Martin wasn't very familiar with Bob.

"I went to see 'Jack the Giant Slayer' with Martin last week, and it was a terrible movie. The plot, the style, and the characters were all completely disjointed!"

Inside the meeting room, Nolan glanced at Martin and said to Bob and Spielberg, "I think the root of this film's failure lies in Jon Berger's brilliant ideas, that almost insane so-called new production model."

Because of Jon Berg, Spielberg also watched the film and said, "This production model is too crazy; failure was inevitable."

Bob shook his head: "I don't understand what Jon Berg is thinking."

Nolan said, "What if Jon Berger interfered with our project in a similar way?"

Bob and Spielberg's expressions turned serious.

Martin has not yet officially joined the cast and has remained silent, not saying much.

Nolan added, "Since taking office, Jon Berg has botched a series of big-budget projects. Of the more than $6000 million Warner Bros. film projects in the past two years, all the successful ones were sequels to blockbuster films left by his predecessor, Alan Horn. None of the big projects led by Jon Berg have been successful."

Bob said, "But we have an investment agreement with Warner Bros., and Warner Bros. is unwilling to give up."

Nolan's gaze swept over Martin almost imperceptibly as he said, "Let's take advantage of the failure of 'Jack the Giant Slayer' to oust Jon Berger!"

He further stated, "We all have partnerships with Warner, and by taking this opportunity, together with other investors, we can force Warner Bros. to fire Jon Berg. I imagine Warner is already in an uproar."

Spielberg was also annoyed by Jon Berg, whose personal grudges had been dragging on the project, and said, "We can give it a try."

Bob said, "Let's give it a try."

Like most big-budget Hollywood productions, "Jack the Giant Slayer" was a typical anthology project. Now that the project has failed miserably, the investors need an outlet for their anger.

After a brief discussion, Spielberg suddenly remembered something and asked Martin, "I heard from Warner Bros. that the 'Jack the Giant Slayer' project originated from your side?"

"I did consider live-action fairy tale film projects. The studio even signed an agreement with Disney to invest in a live-action version of 'Beauty and the Beast.'" Martin first spoke seriously to pave the way, then said half-jokingly, "I studied these two fairy tales before Warner Bros. launched 'Jack the Giant Slayer.' At that time, I even had someone make a simple script. Later, when Warner Bros. launched the project, I gave up."

He shrugged: "I don't know how the news leaked, but Warner Bros. has invested heavily in the project, and if Davis Studios does it too, it will be a big problem if they clash."

Spielberg and Bob, however, interpreted these words differently.

Warner Bros. somehow got hold of Martin's desire to develop the project, and preemptively took action, resulting in today's crushing defeat.

There were also previous films like "Ogres and Gods" and "Dark Lands," which were reportedly snatched from Martin Scorsese by Warner Bros.

Spielberg and Bob exchanged a glance, both having similar thoughts: the projects Martin Davis was optimistic about might be problematic.

Who can tell the difference between truth and falsehood?

They've certainly drawn a lot of attention to Martin, but... let's just forget about it from now on.

Warner Bros. and Annapurna Pictures serve as cautionary tales.

Martin stopped there. Both big shots are shrewd and will understand. This information will spread gradually, and he will have far fewer troubles.

You can't just stuff flop scripts into your office safe and fill your desk with the source material for flop movies, can you?

Martin thought to himself that all those previous incidents were accidental, not intentional, absolutely not intentional.

The small meeting then ended, and Bob and Spielberg left one after the other.

Martin chatted with Nolan for a while longer before leaving.

While changing cars at the Warner Bros. Studios, he casually bought a few newspapers. Flipping to the entertainment section, the front page was full of reports about the box office failure of "Jack the Giant Slayer".

In the latest issue of People magazine, Jon Berger was mercilessly mocked.

"Under Alan Horn's leadership, Warner Bros. achieved great success in the first decade of the 20th century, but faded away due to the failure of Terminator 4. His successor, Jon Berg, was ambitious and wanted to take Warner Bros. to the next level."

"However, after Jon Berg took office, the three big production projects he promoted, 'Owls and Gods,' 'Dark Lands,' and 'Jack the Giant Slayer,' all failed without exception. In 'Jack the Giant Slayer,' he even created an unprecedented comedic editing style, which led to an unprecedented failure for Warner Bros.."

…………

In a small conference room in the Warner Building,

Kevin Tsujihara looked at his brother-in-law Jon Berg and Daniel, who was in charge of distribution, sighed, and asked again, "What's going on with this project?"

Jon Berg stated, "The distribution company's poor marketing and promotion, coupled with malicious negative reviews circulating online, severely impacted the film's reputation and dragged down its box office performance!"

Unsurprisingly, Jon Berg once again shifted the blame: "The promotional methods were outdated, and when the film faced a public relations crisis, the distribution company did nothing, leading to..."

"The bad reviews are because the video quality is too poor!" How could Daniel let the other party put the blame on him? The potential loss of up to 3 million US dollars is too heavy a burden for anyone to bear.

He retorted, "Jack the Giant Slayer lacks even the most basic quality. How can it possibly reverse its decline through publicity? Audience reviews are built upon the foundation of a film's quality!"

Jon Berger knew this blame was enough to crush him, saying, "The distribution company made a serious mistake; they didn't schedule a test screening for 'Jack the Giant Slayer,' depriving the production company of their last chance to get feedback and revise the film!"

Daniel angrily retorted, "It's clearly you who refused to let the film have a test screening, confident that the film would be a success upon release."

He wasn't just on the defensive; he was also actively attacking: "If you hadn't been so clever and used your so-called new editing method, the film wouldn't be like this!"

Jon Berger said, "My editing approach is sound. Any new production method needs time to mature, and your distribution..."

Even Kevin Tsujihara couldn't stand it anymore: "Alright, stop arguing."

Daniel and Jon Berg both shut their mouths.

Kevin Tsujihara said, "You all go and prepare. This matter will be discussed at the group company meeting this afternoon."

Daniel got up and left the meeting room.

But he paid special attention and had someone secretly observe him for a while.

As expected, Jon Berg then went into Kevin Tsujihara's office.

Daniel felt a heaviness on the top of his head, as if a layer of dark, gooey stuff was pressing down on it.

Jon Berg is Kevin Tsujihara's brother-in-law.

Daniel was very clear about this.

Shortly after returning to his office, Daniel began to consider countermeasures. Although "Jack the Giant Slayer" had only released its opening weekend box office in North America, the losses were entirely predictable and extremely large, so someone had to be held accountable.

Under normal circumstances, the person primarily responsible would be someone from the production company.

The current situation is not normal.

The phone rang, and Daniel answered it. It was his old friend Louise Mayer calling to invite him out for a chat.

Daniel only considered it for a few seconds before agreeing.

Half an hour later, the two met in the morning tea area of ​​the Smoke House restaurant.

Louise sipped her black tea and asked, "What's wrong? Did something happen? You look so worried."

Daniel said, "This latest big-budget production has botched it."

Louise nodded slightly: "Kevin Tsujihara and Jon Berg and those people are trying to shift the blame onto you?"

Daniel glanced at him: "You're very well-informed."

"I've been working with Warner for almost twenty years," Louise said calmly. "And we've known each other for over a decade, haven't we?"

Daniel recalled, "I've been with Warner for over ten years."

Louise pushed up her black-rimmed glasses: "So, you don't want to leave Warner Bros."

Daniel sighed: "Some things are not a matter of whether I want to or not."

Louise said, "My information is that Kevin Tsujihara and Jon Berger intend to pin the blame on you, making you the main person responsible for the failure of 'Jack the Giant Slayer'."

This was not unexpected for Daniel, so he chose to believe: "The responsibility is not mine."

Louise stated directly, "If you don't take action, the responsibility is yours."

Daniel looked at Louise and asked, "Did you want to talk to me about something today?"

Louise said, "Now major Hollywood studios are undergoing reforms, and many conglomerates are optimizing their industrial structures, like Disney Studios, merging distribution labels and production companies, with one person directly in charge."

She asked, "Daniel, wouldn't you like to be like our old friend Alan Horn, managing both distribution and production?"

Daniel understood what she meant: "You represent more than just Pacific Pictures, don't you?"

"Of course not." Louise briefly explained, "Besides my Pacific Pictures, there's Martin's Davis Studios, the Nolans' Colt Studios, DreamWorks, Paramount, Castle Rock, and more than a dozen other companies and investment funds that are currently working with Warner Bros. or have worked with them before. They are all victims of Jon Berg."

Daniel immediately grasped the key point: "It seems that Warner Bros.' delay in paying its revenue share has offended too many people."

Louise said, "Jon Berg diverted his share of the profits to 'Jack the Giant Slayer,' thinking he would pay the rest after the film was a big hit and the box office revenue was recouped. Now that plan has fallen through."

Daniel said, "I'm lucky if I can even protect myself."

Louise smiled and shook her head: "We've known each other for over a decade. You're at the top of Time Warner, you have people backing you up."

(End of this chapter)