Ace Hollywood

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The filming of "Pirates of the Caribbean" occupied most of Daniel's energy. The original plan of flying back to Berkeley University every two weeks had to be changed, because time had to be taken out to deal with matters in Los Angeles.

Before the acquisition of MGM, Daniel was obviously too naive. He thought that he could use his prophetic advantage to select a large number of film sources for the company. But when the number of productions reaches a certain level, it is not what he can do if he wants to. His own energy does not allow it, and various external conditions such as actors, directors, and scripts do not allow it.

After this first year of operation, after putting many works such as "Magic Mike", "Bad Teacher", "High School Musical" and "Black Swan" on the right track, Daniel also had to delegate the selection and production of films to professionals. ——This is also the reason why many producers of MGM and the film industry breathed a sigh of relief. Before that, almost all the projects of the two companies were handled by Daniel alone. Contacting the director and so on, all other departments revolve around his decision. Of course, as the boss, he can decide how the company operates in this way, but it is impossible for a seven-level Hollywood studio to rely on one boss to decide everything.

Daniel became famous at a young age, and became a contemporary legend in less than ten years in the industry. His confidence in himself is beyond doubt. The staff under him are very worried that this kind of self-confidence will eventually make him make unrealistic decisions and delusions, thinking that he can do everything well by himself.

Now that he is willing to delegate power and responsibility to various departments, everyone is relieved and has more information about the future of the company.

After removing the crisis of Daniel's domineering, as the most well-known actor in Hollywood and the investor with the highest success rate, his impact on the company will tend to be completely positive.

This is of course very good news.

As a result, Daniel finally reached an agreement with Time Warner to sell the exclusive use rights of MGM's precious film library for US$2.2 billion.

The exclusive use right here does not only mean that MGM can no longer transfer these film libraries to third parties. Even MGM itself cannot use these film libraries to make profits through channels such as production and sales to cable TV stations. The difference between doing this and completely selling the film library is that MGM has the right to use these films independently, such as adaptation and reshoots, restoration and release, screening exhibitions, ownership and other interests, all still belong to MGM. series of powers. It is almost impossible to obtain real benefits for MGM. In addition to these, the two sides have negotiated for so long. The biggest disagreement lies in who should own some of the copyright proceeds that MGM has transferred out. Time Warner believes that all the right to use the film library has been transferred to Warner, so when the agreement is reached, the income generated by these film libraries on fixed channels should naturally belong to Warner, but MGM does not recognize this. They insist that, transfer of long-term use rights,

was completed before the transaction was concluded. It should not be within the framework of the agreement. The deal reached by MGM and Warner should only include the attribution of interests after the agreement is reached, and the interests before that are not suitable for inclusion.

The reason why Warner is so persistent is not without reason.

After Daniel took over MGM, his use of the film library was quite exhausted. Image transfer, installment payment of long-term broadcasting rights, etc., are not positive for the long-term use of the film library. But since he has decided to sell the film library, he will not make any money in the end. Of course, he didn't do it too hard, otherwise he wouldn't be able to continue the negotiation during the negotiation. At least the price is not easy to negotiate. However, according to the terms of MGM, it can bring MGM an annual income of 10 to 20 million, which is almost equal to less than one-tenth of the previous annual income of the entire film library. Considering the benefits generated by the film library in the hands of Time Warner, this ratio will drop even further.

This should be an acceptable ratio for Warner.

Daniel won, and Plutos' financial looseness put a lot of pressure on Time Warner. Time Warner, which has experienced the biggest Internet disaster in Hollywood history, is also under great operating pressure. MGM's film library is of great significance to their layout of the entire entertainment industry.

After the two parties reached a deal, in the last month of 2005, Hollywood ushered in another big shock this year.

Paramount acquired DreamWorks, Disney acquired Miramax, the film industry acquired MGM, and created animation. Now Time Warner acquires MGM’s 4,000 movies and more than 10,000 TV dramas. Every action is enough to change Hollywood. The structure of the film industry, let alone so many successive appearances.

It can be said that the impact of 2005 on the entire Hollywood and even the entire world film industry is very huge.

Daniel and his film industry are of course the most eye-catching ones.

Because compared to other acquisitions, the acquisition of MGM by the film industry has changed the composition of the MPAA, which is the highest authority in Hollywood, the Motion Picture Association of America.

The seats used by MGM should automatically become the seats of the film industry. Since then, the film industry has become a component of the highest power in Hollywood.

All of this should have been natural. MGM's seat was taken over by people from the film industry, or the current MGM CE Ron Meyer, but Mayer himself was also the film director when he was the MGM CE. He is the senior vice president of the film industry, so to say that he is the representative of MGM is better than saying that he is the representative of the film industry.

But things are not always so smooth. There are many important MPAA meetings at the end of the year, and discussions about the MGM seat are rampant, so that Daniel has to suspend the filming of "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" and return to Los Angeles to deal with these matters.

Natalie Portman heard the news from Harvey Weinstein.

Some people think that since MGM has been acquired, the seat belonging to MGM in the MPAA should be canceled instead of being inherited by the film industry. Whether the film industry should have a seat in the MPAA is another matter. It needs to be considered by the entire industry. If it is believed that the film industry has this qualification, everyone should vote for it, instead of being directly obtained by the film industry without any basis.

This speech touched many people.

Mainly some fairly well-known independent studios, including Lionsgate, Legendary, Focus, DreamWorks Animation and even Weinstein Pictures, they are all members of MPAA. But it is not the core position that the film industry is fighting for now. There are only seven core locations, Sony, Columbia, Warner Bros., Fox, Paramount, MGM, and Disney. Although Sony and Columbia belong to the same company, they still have two seats. This is due to the relative independence of the two parties. No, if MGM is acquired by Sony, then it will not be treated in the same way as Columbia. It will be placed under Sony, at that time. The cancellation of the seat is indisputable, and Sony cannot monopolize the three positions.

Considering that MPAA itself is a giant combination, if it is only the wishes of these independent studios, of course there will be no particularly difficult things to deal with.

What is important is that one of the seven major organizations clearly supported the above point of view.

To Daniel's surprise, this time it was not Disney and Robert Iger, nor old rivals Sony and Columbia, but Brad Gray, the CE of Paramount Pictures, who stood up against him. This company is not familiar with Daniel. However, the two sides have played against each other many times, especially focusing on the Transformers series and Marvel. If the former hadn't been given an astonishing price by Daniel, it would definitely be acquired by Paramount in the end. After all, they and Hasbro Negotiations between them had reached a fairly advanced stage, and Daniel finally stepped in.

Transformers haven't been made yet though. I don't know whether it is a profit or a loss, but the beams between the film industry and Paramount have been set up. Of course, it is natural for Hollywood to compete for copyright, and it is uneconomical to go to war for this. So, more importantly because of Marvel Studios.

Paramount and Marvel are negotiating to release a possible number of ten Marvel-produced films. And possibly more. This is a company strategy that Brad attaches great importance to. He even thinks that this will be a way for Paramount to change its weak position in the Big Seven. He is very optimistic about superhero movies. The film industry is also fighting for, not distribution rights, but adaptation rights, or even acquisitions!

Yes, the film industry made an acquisition intention to Marvel through secret channels.

After MGM and Time Warner reached a basic agreement. The film industry tentatively proposed this invitation.

Paramount and Marvel have been dealing for so long, it is not difficult to get this news.

For the film industry's plan, Paramount has no idea of ​​​​following, Marvel's valuation is at least 2 billion or more-this is too expensive for Brad Gray. Of course, for Daniel, there is no "Iron Man" and Marvel without "Captain America", and the price is not cheap. It's just that compared to 2010, Disney's offer of 4.2 billion can be regarded as an appropriate price.

Marvel is considering the suggestion.

Paramount hopes to mess up the acquisition. They must lose all the advantages of the film industry, so that Marvel shareholders can see that this proposal is not operational.

Originally, Paramount's goal was the financial pressure of the film industry - after spending 2.8 billion to acquire MGM, it has promoted the production plan on a large scale. The financial situation of Plutos Investment Company, which is now relying on loans to operate, is obviously It is worthy of concern for Marvel shareholders, although there is no such thing as not being able to pay, otherwise the film industry would not be able to propose an acquisition. However, once Plutos or the film industry sells the iron and pays the money, how will Marvel's movie plan be realized? The production budget of each super movie is very considerable, which is comparable to or even higher than that of animation. Moreover, Daniel is a special effects school, which is well known.

The so-called special effects faction is also a faction classification that emerged after the application of special effects technology in Hollywood in recent years. Some people think that special effects damage the basic attributes of the movie, reduce its connotation, and completely turn the movie into a fast consumption. This is the pessimistic view of conservatives. The other side is the special effects school, who insist that computer special effects technology should become an important auxiliary technology for film shooting, and will not have a negative impact on the work of the film. Considering that film practitioners should respect the diversity of production methods, and also consider the audience's perception The diversity of film needs should encourage the development of special effects technology.

Daniel not only starred in the "Lord of the Rings Trilogy" and "Pirates of the Caribbean" series, but even acquired part of the shares of Weta Digital, a post-production special effects company, which has clearly stated his position on special effects cards.

Besides him, many famous directors are also members of this faction, such as George Lucas, James Cameron, Steven Spielberg, etc. This faction can be said to be powerful.

The shareholders and executives of Marvel are also undoubtedly the special effects school.

Therefore, if the film industry really wins Marvel, whether it is Daniel himself on the film industry side or the managers of Marvel, they will ask for a super budget, a blockbuster investment of 100 million to 200 million, and no cost for any production company. For studios, it's a big deal. After paying the acquisition fee, does the film industry still have this ability.

Now the film industry relies on its own ability to harvest cash from the market to maintain rapid development, but once it encounters setbacks, there may be problems in the operation of the film industry-if Plutos is indeed out of money.

The breakthrough chosen by Paramount is very powerful and correct.

But with Time Warner and MGM's deal, that's less of a factor.

2.2 billion!

The film industry can completely pay the acquisition fee in batches, which is enough for them to ease the financial pressure.

For Paramount, it was even worse.

"Social Network", "The Hangover", "Chain Saw", "Love to the House Collapsing" and other film industry's big-selling films have entered the late stage of revenue, with big sales, broadcast rights sold at high prices, and peripheral sales continue to be hot. Every account period is bringing tens of millions of income to the film industry. The successive releases of "Saw 2" and "The Immortal Gardener" have brought another wave of box office revenue.

The amount of these benefits does not need to be specially calculated. This development trend is very attractive to Marvel.

This is a company full of promise and potential. Marvel lacks the ability to produce successful films. Shareholders are not so sure about Marvel’s new direction. This kind of doubt even lasts until 5 or 6 years later, otherwise Disney would not be able to Successful acquisition of Marvel. After all, for Marvel investors, they are mature. Mature investors do not require a rate of return of several hundred percent, and they are not so serious about gambling. They must squeeze out all the possible value of the investment object . In the eyes of mature investors, when the returns are already high enough, it is the right way to avoid risks and quit.

All these factors have increased the winning rate for the film industry to acquire Marvel.

Paramount chose to shake up the film industry from the bottom up, which can be said to be a risky move. If the film industry cannot keep this seat, it will not be able to give Marvel, or even the shareholders behind Plutos, a confidence boost. explain. Of course, Paramount didn't know that Daniel was the only one behind Plutos.

But one trick is still very tricky. (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendations and monthly tickets. Your support is my biggest motivation.)