American TV series

Chapter 327 Small Business, Big Action

(Please give me a guaranteed monthly ticket, thank you!)

After praising Norris's current high-end atmosphere and being able to keep up with the pace of a super rich man like himself, he asked Norris to talk about how to acquire DC.

Money means money, but when he heard about the acquisition of DC, Sean was still a little trembling in his heart.

DC, this is a super IP library, Sean really never thought that he could successfully acquire it.

"Boss, the year before last, oh, let's talk about 1984, Warner wanted to sell DC." Norris organized his words and said: "At that time, the president of Warner contacted Jim Shooter, the editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics, and prepared to sell DC.

The sale of DC was a big deal at the time."

"How come I don't know about this!" Sean sat up straight. If he said this, he was very interested. "Then, you continue."

"Warner acquired DC Comics in 1969, but DC has been losing money every year in the past few years. It has lost a lot of money. The comics cannot be sold, but the peripherals are selling well. But if the comics are not selling well, sooner or later the peripherals will be finished."

"Warner has been worrying about this for a long time, but no one from DC Comics has wanted it."

"DC is no longer what it used to be. Now it's Marvel's world, and Secret Wars 1 is sweeping across the United States!"

"Where's the Batman movie?" Sean frowned even more tightly, he always felt something was wrong.

"There hasn't been a Batman movie in 20 years!" Norris shrugged, "The last time it was filmed was in 1966."

"The only good thing is "Superman", but the movie rights of Superman were sold by Warner to Ilya Selkind and his son. Oh, Warner participated in the production of "Supergirl" the year before last, but

They suffered a huge loss, so they don’t want to keep DC in their hands anymore.”

Sean's mouth twitched, "Tell me about DC and Marvel."

"It's nothing. Warner asked Marvel to acquire DC, and they negotiated for nearly a year. Batman, Green Lantern, and Wonder Woman were all negotiated anyway, including how to draw them in the future. All that was left was for the two parties to sign a contract. As a result, it was you at this time.

When the Peace Hotel was being built, First Comics took Marvel to court and sued Marvel for monopolizing the market."

"Because once Marvel successfully acquires DC, 90% of the U.S. comics market will be controlled by Marvel. If Marvel acquires DC, it will pay a large fine and may be split up in the future."

"So, this acquisition finally went bankrupt, well, it happened last year."

"Hiss!" Sean gasped, he didn't even know about this!

Not knowing is actually normal, there are no superhero movies nowadays.

The real superhero movie had to wait until 2002's Spider-Man.

"How much are they negotiating for?" Sean didn't hesitate at all. He got this thing in his hands, and later when Marvel was also in a bottleneck and preparing for a big sale, he would cut off Disney, Emma...

I dare not even think about it!

When the time comes, money?

What the hell is money?

I don’t like money!

Halle Berry looked at Sean with a confused expression. Didn't he say that he was filming "Catwoman"? She knew this, so why did it become the acquisition of DC?

Last night, Michelle Pfeiffer played Catwoman.

She even had a cat tail stuck in her butt.

Thinking about it, my face suddenly turned red.

So exciting!

"I heard, I heard, that when Warner and Marvel were negotiating before, they asked for 220 million." Norris also heard about it and didn't dare to confirm it.

"How much!?" Sean jumped up from the sofa. He suspected that he heard wrongly, "Are you missing a fucking zero!?"

"How can it be worth 2.2 billion? Are you kidding me?!" Norris was a little confused. "Ilya Selkind and his son purchased the movie rights to "Superman" for only $2 million."

"Half of Twentieth Century Fox's equity is only 575 million."

Sean didn't know what to say for a moment. I remember that it seemed like more than ten years later, Sony only spent a few million to obtain the copyright of Spider-Man.

If you calculate it this way, DC Comics’ 220 million is too expensive.

Of course, 20th Century Fox and Warner are definitely incomparable.

Twentieth Century Fox only focuses on film and television production and distribution. Warner, in addition to Warner Bros. Film and Television Studios, also has Warner Records, Atlantic Records and other record companies, DC Comics and many other subsidiaries.

So, 220 million, there is nothing to hesitate about!

It must be taken!

Sean took the phone and was about to call Warner President Bill Sarnoff. Halfway through the call, Sean stopped again.

After thinking about it, I called Katzenberg. After the acquisition, it would definitely be placed with the film and television company, so it was necessary to listen to Katzenberg's opinion.

"I want to acquire DC Comics from Warner Bros."

Katzenberg was stunned. What game company did Sean want to acquire last time? This time it’s DC Comics. It’s all a mess.

"The comic book market is not doing well right now, including Marvel. In fact, it is not doing well either. People's entertainment methods are gradually diversifying, especially with the development of TV networks, and the overall situation of comics is going downhill." Ka

Sunberg reminded Sean.

"I know, of course I know, but DC has a lot of copyrights. Not only can those superheroes be adapted into movies, but they can also be adapted into TV series, games, etc. It is a huge film library with great development value.

.”

"Warner has tried, not to mention that they all failed. However, the only successful case was Superman. That was a long time ago. In recent years, there have been no successful cases in movies and TV series adapted from comic book superheroes."

"That's because the current shooting technology is not yet mature." Sean continued: "Take Qian's cartoon as an example. It takes less time and lower cost to shoot a cartoon of the same quality now. What I am aiming for is not the current one."

market, but ten or even twenty years from now.”

"But during this period..." Katzenberg worried.

"I have money to support them!" Sean's voice revealed domineering!

I, Sean, am rich!

"Okay, boss, it's up to you." Katzenberg shrugged, "We can reduce DC's expenses appropriately, and the comic distribution channel and the video tape distribution channel can complement each other a lot, which is a good thing for the company to a certain extent.

Very effective supplement.”

Although Sean Pictures has won the title of Top Eight, it does lag far behind other companies in terms of distribution channels, especially in video tape distribution, which was developed based on the foundation laid by Norris back then.

Audio and video products are not divided into different categories. After acquisition, it is indeed a great supplement.

"Very good, look, we have reached an agreement!" Sean looked very happy.

Katzenberg: What do you call consensus?

Warner has lost money after operating DC copyrights several times, so it feels that DC is a burden. In addition, it is a listed company with many shareholders and has to pay attention to financial reporting issues, so it is unwilling to keep DC's "junk", but Sean Pictures said

It is Sean's personal property after all.

It's up to Sean to decide how he wants to play. Even if he loses money, as long as Sean doesn't care, then it doesn't matter!

After forcibly reaching an agreement with Katzenberg, Sean immediately called Warner President Bill Sarnoff.

After one hour……

"Bill, long time no see." Sean smiled and walked up and gave Bill Sarnoff a hug.

There is a rumor that Sean will give people a hug when he asks for something, but usually just shake hands when they meet.

Bill Sarnoff smiled and invited Sean inside.

After serving black tea, before Bill Sarnoff could start to chat, Sean went straight to the topic, "I heard that you guys thought about selling DC Comics in 1984?"

"Ah, yes, you don't know?" Bill Sarnoff was stunned for a moment and then nodded. Is there anyone in Hollywood who doesn't know about this kind of thing?

"Yes, I just found out. After all, I was still a poor man in 1984." Sean shrugged. "At that time, I was still serving dishes and cleaning in a pizza shop, but I didn't have time to pay attention to Hollywood."

Bill Sarnoff looked at Sean with a strange look on his face. In three years, you have become the new generation of super rich people in the United States. So, are you sure you are not here to show off to me?

"Actually, I am a comic book fan. Most of my happy time as a child was brought by comics, especially Batman. That is my idol and the guiding light of my life!" Sean said eloquently.

Bill Sarnoff: Oh, Penguin is your guiding light in life, your idol, got it!

Damn Batman, Bill Sarnoff has so many bad things that he doesn’t know how to vomit!

Batman doesn't kill people, but you kill people like crazy. Batman is just, but you are evil. If Batman knows that there are fans like you, he will jump out of the comics and beat you to death!

Of course, I just thought about this in my heart. Bill Sarnoff just looked at Sean with a smile, you make it up, you keep making it up.

"I was very depressed when I heard that DC was in trouble!" Sean's expression was spot on, "Since you are planning to sell DC, it just so happens that I also want to realize a dream I had as a boy."

"So, I showed up here today, DC, I want it!" Sean waved.

Bill Sarnoff frowned slightly. His first reaction was that the comic industry was about to usher in a new development. The guy in front of him saw Qian Jing!

It is said that Sean is not only unscrupulous in doing things, but everyone in Hollywood also admits that Sean has a unique vision, full of courage, talent, and unlucky luck.

Since entering Hollywood, the movies he has shot have become more popular than the last, and he has never failed.

In just a few years, there have been countless hits, and in the past two years, Sean has been in the limelight.

It's normal for Bill Sarnoff to think so, but no matter what angle he analyzes it from, he doesn't see any changes.

Or does this guy in front of me have any way to bring DC back to life?

Many ideas flashed through my mind, including operating IP. After all, Warner has really worked hard on how to save DC.

I just tried various methods but couldn't find a way out.

This is called getting on the pole, not a business!

When Bill Sarnoff took the initiative to approach Marvel to sell DC, Marvel still looked down upon it and seemed dispensable. It was Bill who took the initiative to ask for help.

Now that Sean came to the door, they began to hesitate.

As soon as he saw this look, Xiao En became annoyed and his face suddenly dropped.

"This is the most annoying thing about you!" Sean pointed at Bill Sarnoff and said.

Bill was stunned by one sentence. Why was he scolding him? Weren't you being nice just now?

You can change your face quickly even when you are acting, okay?

"Whether to sell or not is a matter of one sentence. What are you thinking about? I figured this out a few years ago. Didn't I contact Marvel if I didn't?"

"It's obvious to all. Well, now that I want to acquire it, do you think DC is not for sale?"

With a wry smile, Bill Sarnoff looked helpless, "Mr. Sean, after all, it's a transaction of several hundred million dollars. You can't let me give you an answer now."

"Why not?" Sean spread his hands, "My acquisition of New Century Media, a 2 billion acquisition, only took two or three months. Most of it was preliminary preparations, and the serious talks only took a few days!"

The expression on Bill Sarnoff's face was distorted. If you beat Murdoch away, you won't complete the acquisition soon!

"When I sold my shares in the correctional company and was preparing to go public, the negotiations never lasted more than two days!" Sean reached out and knocked on the table, "I also bought two pieces of land in Los Angeles. You know, it only took a few days.

"

Bill: Yes, you blew up a building and killed more than a hundred people. Everyone was dying. Can I not sell it to you?

If you hadn't caught up with the Los Angeles riots, you would have been arrested long ago!

"Defining the construction plan with the design company, two pieces of land were completed in one day!" Sean seemed not to see the expression on Bill's face, and continued talking, "You guys think so much, and it takes several years to do something big.

When can I make money?"

"I spent 1.5 billion on the military, paid it off in one lump sum, and it took a total of 3 days!"

"Time is money, do you understand? Opportunities are right in front of you. Instead of wasting time on a few more million or a few million less, it is better to use it and think about how to make more money!"

"Look at me, I went from being a waiter in a pizza shop to being worth billions in a short period of time just because I do things neatly and neatly. Isn't this enough?"

"You negotiated for 220 million back then, right? Now the comic book market is even more sluggish, and it's no longer worth the price. However, I will give you 220 million in cash!" Sean curled his lips, "This small amount of money is not enough.

I’m wasting my time with you!”

Bill Sarnoff couldn't control his expression anymore. Although it felt like Sean was showing off, this was really his style of doing things and he had the right to show off.

Taking money is not treated as money!!

Provoked by Sean, Bill Sarnoff gritted his teeth and said: "In principle, I agree, but I am only the president of the company. It is useless for me to agree alone. To be on the board of directors, the company owner Steve Ross is needed

Sir, I agree!"

"A small business worth 200 million makes you do the same as 2 billion!" Sean shook his head with a look of disdain on his face, "Three days, I can only wait for you for three days. I have other things to do after three days."

After that, Sean got up and left without any further words.

Warner couldn't be given too much time to react to this matter. Although the market was indeed hopeless, he himself didn't believe it when he said that it was a dream come true when he was a child.

Others certainly don’t believe it!

He, Sean, is a master who doesn't let the rabbit go before he sees the rabbit, and he may get into trouble if things go wrong.

For example, if other people enter the market and want to acquire it, such as Warner not selling all its shares, such as retaining part of the copyright, such as splitting DC...

There are many means.

It must be cut quickly.

After all, 220 million is not a big deal, and there are many people who are qualified to enter, especially if Rupert Murdoch is an old guy, he might cause trouble for himself.

Even if it's just to make myself unhappy.

Sean is 100% sure that Murdoch can definitely do this!

That's why Sean came up with this thing. This is called character design. He has a bad temper and no patience. The character design is established, and many things have an explanation.

After saying goodbye to the president of Warner, Sean was not idle either. He went to visit the crew of "Thelma and Louise" and gave the crew a day off to care about his employees!

It is also a platform for Maggie Cheung. He is the only Chinese actor here. Even if others do not mean it, they will inevitably be excluded.

Deeply moved, Maggie Cheung tried her best to hit Sean's body that night...

You are so sexy, I like it so much!

The next day, I went to the crew of "Red Zone" again. Compared to the original version, the script here has been greatly changed, with more Americans added and less Chinese elements.

Fortunately, Sean gave the order to die, and the crew, led by Fang Long, including these Americans, all cooperated.

Of course, even if he gives the order, the long-term concept will not be easily changed. However, this depends on Fang Long himself. He must be extremely benevolent and righteous to this elder brother.

When Sean arrived, the crew that was filming immediately fell silent.

The impression he left on people was more ruthless and cruel. Many people wanted to get close to him, but just thinking about it, no one dared to be the first to make a move.

Yuan Baye never felt this way before, but after the riots in Los Angeles, he also shrank a little.

Sean just had a chat with the creative team. The production of this drama is relatively large and there are many big scenes. Compared with "Thelma and Louise" which is about to be completed, it will take some time.

Fang Long was very emotional, everything went well, it didn't look like a lie, well, it was definitely a much better filming experience than last year.

Michelle Yeoh didn't have much of a role, so Sean took her away directly, and her face was red when she left. Fortunately, this is the United States, and the atmosphere is open. She would have been embarrassed to do this in Hong Kong Island.

After all, you are practicing martial arts, so keep your energy up!

…

Just when Sean was deeply addicted and gentle in Hollywood, Neil was planning a big operation in Southeast Asia!

Sean has always felt that Neil was not mentally normal. The original task left to Neil was to build an intermediary company to promote the prosperity of the pirate industry and expand his own business at the same time.

Complements Yuri's Warmonger.

All the way, all the way to the sea.

But after Neil took root in Southeast Asia for a period of time, he had other ideas. Not only did he want to be Jeff in Southeast Asia, well, he also wanted to win Yuri's job.

Be the underground king of Southeast Asia!!

In order to gain fame, this guy decided to make a big one!

After following Sean for so many years, Neil has concluded two principles.

First: If a person is not ruthless, he cannot stand firm!

Second: Either don’t do it, or do it!

Robbery of merchant ships?

So what if it’s a large oil tanker with tens of thousands of tons!

Not sensational!

He wants everyone to see what the fuck is sensational!

Sean left more than 10 people to assist this guy, and Neil contacted Jeff and borrowed more than 30 people to come over and put it all together.

"A big operation!" Neil paced slowly in front of the crowd with his hands behind his back. There were 52 people sitting below, each from 26 recently emerged pirate organizations in the area.

These people come from neighboring countries, including Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Thailand.

Regardless of whether Thailand is one of the Four Little Tigers, it is talking about rich people, and there are still many poor people who cannot afford to eat!

Of course, compared to the war-torn Cambodia and Myanmar, it is still much better, but precisely because the situation is better, Neil made his home base in Thailand.

"A big operation requires a lot of manpower, so I found you." Neil glanced at everyone, "Who is willing to participate?"

"Mr. Tiger, can you tell me what specific actions will be taken?" someone asked loudly.

"No!" Neil shook his head, "Nothing can be revealed before taking action."

Everyone looked at each other, and someone asked: "How much profit?"

"I don't know, the first goal of the action is not money, but to gain fame. Of course, it would be best if you can earn more." Neil replied slowly.

Everyone frowned more and more. These people were all trained and studied the "Pirate Robbery Encyclopedia" by Neil before. They were all outstanding graduates. Only in this way can they build a pirate team.

Of course, it was not Neil who came forward for training in the first place, so this kind of information cannot be left behind.

It’s just that everyone is learning in order to embark on the road of getting rich, so that those who get rich first but are unwilling to lead others to get rich together can correct their evil ways.

Well, the concept I set up for everyone during the training is that of ‘justice’ and doing justice for heaven!

It's just obvious that these people don't understand it deeply. Many people only see money...

Seeing that no one spoke, Neil's mouth curled up and he said, "If no one speaks, that's the default. Well, I'll give you five days to gather people!"

As soon as these words came out, someone couldn't hold back his anger and said, "Mr. Tiger, I'm sorry, I have other things to do."

One person stood up and said that he felt that the joint action goal was too big and would easily attract too many people's attention.

Being a pirate is about making money, there is no need to be so high-profile.

"Of course, no problem." Neil made a gesture of invitation.

The man apologized and walked out with his men. At this moment, the others began to make moves.

"Mr. Tiger!"

"Mr. Tiger!"

Two people in the crowd shouted again.

At this moment, two gunshots "bang" and "bang" were heard.

The two people who had just walked out of the door had their heads exploded like watermelons hit by a sledgehammer.

Broken bones mixed with blood and brains were scattered everywhere.

A large skull fell in front of Neil.

Neil smiled, raised his right foot, and aimed at the skull on the ground.

The skull flew out of the door accurately, flew past two headless corpses lying on the ground, hit the wall and bounced high again.

Pulling out a white handkerchief, Neil bent down and gently wiped his leather shoes. The blood immediately stained the white handkerchief red.

He stood up, threw the handkerchief on the ground, and then looked up at the crowd. There was still a smile on his face, but it looked full of sinisterness, "You two called me?"

"No!" The two of them were sweating profusely and their heads were shaking like rattles.

Fortunately, he was a step slow, otherwise, the corpse lying at the door would have been them.

"Did I hear wrongly?" Neil stared at the two of them.

"No, no, no!" The two shook their heads again. Neil stared at them, and their clothes were instantly soaked with cold sweat.

"Yes, yes, I mean, I am willing to go!" One person stuttered and finally found an excuse.

"Yes, yes, me too, I also want to say that I am willing to go!" The other person nodded quickly.

"Oh, that's it!" Neil smiled and motioned for the two of them to sit down.

After walking around the room twice, Neil said: "You have learned a lot before, but some things must be experienced firsthand to understand."

"This lesson is called 'eyesight'. There are so many ships on the sea, can any of them be robbed?"

"Obviously not!"

"Visibility is very important. If you make the wrong choice, you will be killed." As he said this, Neil looked at the two corpses at the door.

"Of course, luck is also very important." As he said that, he looked at the two people who had just sat down.

"Okay, five days!" Neil raised his hand and gestured, turned around and left.

When I walked out, the corpse at the door was gone, leaving only two long bloodstains caused by dragging the corpse.

…

A large ship, followed by dozens of smaller ships speeding across the sea.

The displacement of large ships is about 200 tons, and the displacement of small ships is about 80 tons.

After sailing on the sea for more than a day and a night, before finally reaching the destination, Neil ordered everyone to rest.

In the entire fleet, Neil is the only one with a satellite system, so he is not afraid of them spreading the news at sea.

After resting for a few hours, it was daylight and Neil gave the order to set off.

"The destination is ahead, Natuna Island, also called the Riau Islands. Different countries have different names. It doesn't matter."

"Our goal is to rob this island!" Neil said in shock, and a group of pirate leaders were startled.

They thought that they might cut off the shipping route and rob many merchant ships at once, but they never thought that Mr. Tiger would rob a "province".

This is a large island. It can definitely be called a provincial level. It is much larger than the land area of ​​many small countries.

This goal is just crazy!

Neil glanced at everyone and then continued: "There are only about 10,000 people here, living scattered on the island. Our target is a town here, with a total population of only about 8,000."

"8,000 people may seem like a lot, but they are just civilians without guns, and here we have 500 people with all kinds of weapons!"

"The actual control here is currently in the hands of Indonesia. Our target, Badong Town, is 230 kilometers away from Indonesia."

"So, residents on the island don't keep all their money in banks but at home, and a small number of them are also in county banks." Neil raised his head and glanced, "Do you understand what I mean?"

Everyone was suddenly stunned!

rich!!

Robbery cannot take away all the victim's property!

But, here it’s just the opposite!

The wealth of more than 8,000 people, what a concept!

Even if each person can only grab $200, that’s still $1.6 million!

Besides, there are still a lot of supplies.

They don't mind TV, tape recorder, even rice...

Pirates also need to eat, and they all come by boat, even a small one with a displacement of dozens of tons, what a fright!

Make money, don’t be shabby!

"This is Badong, a seaport town southeast of Natuna Island!"

"The plan is this. I will take people over to the island later. There is a satellite transmission tower on the island, which is used by the island to communicate with the outside world."

"When I send you a signal, you will come over immediately and occupy the harbor as soon as possible. At this time, my people will destroy the satellite tower and completely cut off their communication channels."

"I don't need to tell you the rest!"

Everyone laughed when they heard this, their faces full of excitement.

"Here, I want to warn you." Neil looked around at everyone and his face became rarely serious, "You are not allowed to kill people, or in other words, if you can do it without killing people, you will never kill people. Of course, except for those who have weapons and try to resist!!

"

"The reason was made very clear during the training, especially rape. Who the hell wants to ruin my business? I will send him to see God!"

Everyone nodded quickly.

"Okay, that's it. You go back and arrange your own people!" Neil waved his hand, and everyone changed boats.

After explaining the plan, the big ship sailed towards the shore. There were only 6 people on board, Neil and 2 soldiers. The remaining three were all Thais who could speak Malay and communicate, and were responsible for covering.

Everything went smoothly. The pier was very big. Tens of thousands of people lived here 30 years ago, and it was very bustling with ships coming and going. Now it is in decline, but there are also a lot of ships. Neil and the others are inconspicuous.

When I got ashore, I didn’t have anything with me. Someone had already sent me to the island.

Several people arrived at the place and changed their equipment. They were divided into two groups. One group went straight to the back of the town, where there was a signal tower on the top of the mountain.

The other party went straight to the island telephone exchange.

We walked up to him openly, there was no need to hide anything, the people on the island were not that vigilant, there were only two of them, and when the gun was shown, the other party immediately became honest.

The people were tied up, bombs were placed on the signal tower, and Neil took out his mobile phone to send a signal.

Half an hour later, a group of pirate speedboats rushed to the pier like flying!

Upon receiving the signal, Neil activated the bomb. With a bang, the signal tower fell to the ground and external communications were cut off.

"Ta-ta-da!" "Ta-ta-ta!"

"Tu tu tu tu tu tu..."

More than a dozen boats directly surrounded the dock. Submachine guns and heavy machine guns were fired at the boats, on the decks, and on the sea. The gunshots were shocking and loudspeakers were shouting.

After killing the two people who had short-circuited their brains and came out to stab them, another RPG shot hit the dock, and the port was controlled.

Half of the people were left behind to drive everyone ashore on the boats at the pier. The other half went ashore, grabbed a few vehicles, and went straight to the town police station with guns.

The people at the police station didn't know there was an accident at the pier. They were too far away and didn't hear anything. Someone at the telephone station called the police, but they only said half a sentence, heard a gunshot, and then nothing.

The telephone exchange was captured as planned, but a grenade blew up the equipment, completely cutting off communications on the island itself.

At the door of the police station, a group of policemen rushed out in a chaotic manner, some with pistols, some with rifles, some with shotguns, their guns were older than the people... all kinds of policemen.

Before I even got to the telephone exchange, I was blocked by half the people coming from the pier.

Although the pirates' equipment is inferior, it is much better than the police's. With one RPG, the police can be forced to surrender in just a few minutes!

After World War II, pirates successfully attacked land cities for the first time.

Natuna Island has fallen!!

…

"Boss, guess where I am?" Neil said with a smile, holding his satellite phone.

Sean: "..."

…

…

(PS: Just to inform you, there are a lot of things going on in July. My children are on vacation and I need to go out to play with them. My brother-in-law is getting married in the middle. There are also many celebrities who are coming to Sanya for vacation. I am responsible for hosting the fireworks... Maybe the occasional update will not be effective...)