Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Latest website: As a major shareholder of Coca-Cola, Buffy’s phone call quickly gained the attention of senior management. They expressed their gratitude to Ronald for calling him. Coca-Cola, which had always wanted to achieve a breakthrough in doing business with the most populous country in the world, specially sent someone to the hotel where Ronald was staying in West Berlin for face-to-face consultation.

The Coca-Cola Company has long coveted the huge market of more than one billion people. They thought Ronald had received some official information. They were a little disappointed when they heard that it was just an advertising sponsorship for the PBS documentary "Will the Dragon Rise Again?" .

However, it's still free to make a gesture of goodwill. When Ronald flew back to Los Angeles, he heard the news that not only was Coca-Cola's huge sponsorship (compared to the documentary) already in place, but the news also caused a large number of Fortune 500 companies to show their favor.

In addition to Coca-Cola, Johnson \u0026 Johnson, Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Allianz Insurance have all taken the initiative to sponsor this program.

For a moment, the producer of Xinxing Company was laughing from ear to ear. When did he have such a rich budget for making documentaries? Helen called and said that they also planned to invite Helen to Xujiahui and the Great Wall to shoot a few scenes as the opening remarks of the documentary.

"Didn't you expect that my influence would be so great?" Ronald thought happily that just because of his phone call, he didn't expect that so many big companies would come to sponsor him...

"No, I'm not that famous in the corporate world, am I?" Ronald was so happy that he sobered up. He asked Lawrence for the annual reports of several companies and looked at them. For a company with this kind of market capitalization, he must not be so famous. Big influence.

"It must be Buffy's influence..." Ronald revised his understanding. As a famous investor, Buffy took full positions in Coca-Cola, and the stock price slowly rose. Many people on Wall Street were suspicious of him. The vision is also very appreciative. It must have been a call from Buffy. Many people in the industry misunderstood his idea.

"What, before I file my taxes this year, all the income I can transfer will be invested in Coca-Cola." Ronald thought that Buffy was so respected, it must be right to buy with him...

"Well, let's also invest some in Microsoft..." Ronald added after taking a look at the Microsoft Word software used by accountant Lawrence.

Although he writes his own scripts, it is more convenient to use WordStar, but Word is a software that requires no memorization of shortcut keys and can be used immediately, and many secretaries use it frequently.

Lawrence has long been accustomed to Ronald's investment style and doesn't say much. Ronald's income was very good last year, although sales of the Dirty Dancing soundtrack have gradually come to an end. But the video tape is still very popular and has no intention of being unsaleable.

Last year, two million videotapes were sold in America. Although the sales volume was slightly lower than last year's 3.8 million copies, it still ranked among the top ten in the domestic video tape sales and rental rankings.

For a movie released in 1987, this achievement is truly the envy of major studios. Usually for a blockbuster movie, video sales will slump in the second year. Few of the seven major studios can match such strong sales.

In this alone, Ronald has sales of 80 million US dollars, not including sales in Japan, Europe and other places. Coupled with the fact that there are still some sales of the soundtrack, Ronald will be able to achieve sales revenue of over 100 million from the video tape of this movie.

Coupled with the various dividends and surplus from the blockbuster movies in the past two years, and the financing of the soundtrack of Carly Simon's "Working Girl", it also entered the top 20 in America's sales rankings. Not counting the dividends from the stocks he holds, Ronald's income from the film and entertainment industry in one year is already comparable to Spielberg's "Raiders of the Lost Ark" series and Lucas's "Star Wars" series. .

When I think about it, he didn’t have any special effects when he made this movie, and he didn’t need to support an expensive special effects company like Industrial Light and Magic. Ronald really had a money printing press last year, and it kept running. That kind of thing.

Ronald's daydream now only invests in some low-cost movies, so with a lot of cash in hand, he still follows Buffy's footsteps and buys some stocks to share the fruits of economic development.

…

"Hey, Ronald, did you hear? That idiot Minahan Golan is going to be filming Spider-Man?"

On this day, Ronald, who was resting at home, suddenly received a call from Cameron.

"What? Have you heard about it too? Hahaha" Ronald laughed loudly. It seems that Minahan's words to Hollywood have had an effect. Now several of the seven major companies have begun to invest in the filming of these two comic book adaptation movies. Really interested.

"I heard that you have something to do with this? I'm very interested in taking over one of them, Spider-Man... Is there anything you can do?"

"Are you serious?" Ronald stood up from the sofa. No matter what, I just asked Minahan to do some deception to get the basic rights I wanted out of Warner Bros.

Who knew good brother Cameron really had the idea to make Spider-Man?

"Let me ask about this. I'll contact you when I have more details." After thinking about it, Ronald calmed down Cameron first and went to Minahan to talk to Minahan about the situation.

"Warner Bros. didn't respond at all, Ronald. Columbia, before the change of bosses, had some interest from other TV stations..." Minahan received Ronald's call and hurried to his house to drink coffee.

"This coffee is really good..." Minahan took the coffee made by Diane and drank it very vigorously.

"What do they think?" Ronald frowned slightly. He didn't really want to make a movie based on a comic book. This kind of movie involves huge investments and huge risks. It sounds like I made a lot of money last year, but in reality it was just about the same as making a big investment like a movie.

"Hey, Robert Daly of Warner Bros. is an old man. He always wants to spend a small amount of money to achieve big things. He wants to buy the movie rights directly from me. The following people are not allowed to..."

Minahan Golan said the direct reason is that Daley, an invisible Jew, is actually still using the TV station’s business methods to run the film industry. If you can spend nothing, you will definitely not spend it; if you can spend less, you will definitely not spend more.

"How can I still be picky by you?" Ronald glanced at Minahan. He performed very well today and did not spit in front of Diane at home.

"Now there is an opportunity. There is a very suitable director who really wants to shoot the script in your hand. What do you think?" Ronald released the news first to see Minahan's reaction.

"Quack, quack, is it true? Am I going to turn over?" Minahan let out a vulgar laugh, drank the coffee in one gulp, and began to express his thoughts while dancing.

Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he saw Ronald's smile. Minahan felt a sudden thought and immediately put down his cup, "In this way, Warner Bros. will definitely alleviate its doubts about our script. As long as we put a little more emphasis on If there is news that other large studios are interested, they will definitely increase their offer, so that our real purpose can be achieved."

"Very good, but I'm not unreasonable. As long as we can get Warner Bros. to let go, if this movie can be approved, if you are willing to cooperate with them, I will facilitate it and will not hinder it."

Ronald knew that Minahan had a dream in his heart to make a blockbuster movie, and Cameron also had a dream in his heart to make Spider-Man. If Cameron's expressed interest really leads to the script he wants being sold, he doesn't mind if someone else realizes their dream.

"Quack, can you tell me who is interested?" Minahan is very clear about his role as a tool. If Ronald were not behind him, he would probably have the right to adapt these two comics. Can't keep it. However, I heard that a director is interested and can also get the interest of Qida. I feel itchy in my heart. Could it be Spielberg?

"What's the inconvenience? It's Jim Cameron."

"It's him? Okay!" Minahan started dancing. He liked the style of finding light in the darkness in Cameron's movies. If he could hire such a person, he might really succeed.

"He has been a fan of Spider-Man since he was a child..."

"Gah...uh..." Minahan, who was smiling happily just now, suddenly choked.

"You mean Spider-Man? I thought it was the Fantastic Four."

"The Fantastic Four? Are Warner Bros. interested in the Fantastic Four?" Ronald was also surprised, "Why? Superman and Batman have proven that comic book adaptations require characters with the best comic fan base. ?”

"Hey, Warner Bros., I think the Fantastic Four are also very popular... uh, uh... you know, there is only one Spider-Man, and there are four Fantastic Four..."

Minahan Golan stretched out four chubby fingers, waved them in front of Ronald, and then replaced them with one finger.

"What's the point?" Ronald didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Movies are not toy manufacturing, how can they still count heads?

Besides, aren’t the various villains in Spider-Man more interesting than the Fantastic Four? Moreover, the format of the movie, with four protagonists, actually weakens the plot and character portrayal of the movie...

"Hey, they are completely judging by the TV series now. Robert Daly doesn't read comics anyway..." Minahan retracted his chubby fingers. He has dealt with Warner Bros. more and expressed his feelings. Said it again.

Although they filmed the first few Superman movies, a lot of money was taken away by the Mexican independent producers Salkind and his son, who held the rights to adapt and film the films. After Daly took office, the filming of Superman sequels was limited.

He also gave the script of Superman III to Richard Pryor, a popular black comedy star at the time, and asked him to take the lead in the filming of the third installment. The whole movie was neither fish nor fowl, comedy didn't look like comedy, science fiction didn't look like science fiction, and it caused a lot of scolding from the audience.

Later, I felt that the potential of this series had been drained, so Minahan Golan took advantage of it and persuaded Christopher Reeve to star in the fourth part (of course, he failed even more).

The production method of TV series is actually very different from that of movies. Comparatively speaking, characters are more important in TV dramas. Many viewers watch TV dramas just to watch the important characters in them, and the plot is secondary.

So it’s not surprising that Warner Bros. is placing more emphasis on a “Fantastic Four” with four main characters, and it’s not Minahan’s nonsense.

Rather than buying the rights to "Fantastic Four" from Minahan, or using "other people's money" in exchange for "Forrest Gump", Warner Bros. is more willing to wait for Minahan's adaptation rights to expire. , and then re-purchase it from Marvel at a very low price (two to three hundred thousand US dollars)... Marvel, which is now in financial difficulties, may have more favorable terms for adaptation.

"That's it...then, let's use Spider-Man to stimulate Warner Bros."

Ronald found the daydream man, learned about the situation with Richard, and confirmed Minahan's statement.

After that, he immediately contacted Columbia Pictures to get support from them.

"Sorry, Ronald, Colombia has its own troubles to deal with now, and we can't initiate such a big project for the time being..."

Ronald approached the new president, Frank Price, but was politely rejected by the latter.

It turns out that Colombia now has its own problems. New CEO Peter Guber and his good friend, Jon Peters, had previously signed a distribution deal with Warner Bros. to underwrite their studio's films.

Now after Sony acquired Columbia, it spent a large sum of money to buy out their production companies, and then all the works of the previous Gubel-Peters Production Company were also attributed to the new Columbia Pictures.

In this way, in fact, the two of them breached the contract with Warner Bros. This made Warner Bros. executives furious. After Guber became CEO of Columbia Pictures, he launched a lawsuit against Sony, seeking one billion US dollars in compensation.

Of course, Sony was not a small player like Ronald, and immediately filed a countersuit, suing Warner Bros. for infringement proceedings against its CEO and vice president.

Now within Sony Columbia Pictures, many film projects have been suspended due to this incident.

"Is that so? Are you disgusted enough by Warner Brothers? Do you want to think of some way to disgust them?" Another idea popped up in Ronald's mind.

In fact, if this kind of prosecution occurred in two companies controlled by American Capital, it would not be a problem at all, let alone an issue between Jews.

It was because of the Japanese companies that the reputation was so bad in America that Warner Brothers made a big deal about it and wanted to take advantage of it privately.

Japanese people love saving face. No matter what the actual outcome of this lawsuit is, they will feel that they have been insulted by their Hollywood counterparts.

That's why they were so rude and had to launch a countersuit. They couldn't let their reputation as the first company to acquire a Hollywood company be shattered by a bizarre lawsuit.

Lawyers for both parties are trying their best to reach an out-of-court settlement. If such a case goes to court and lifts the lid on a large number of scandals within Hollywood, neither party is willing to see it.

At this time, if it can slightly win over Warner Bros. in the competition, I'm afraid Sony will be willing to do it no matter what.

However, doing so would be very humiliating to current CEO Gubel. The big turmoil he caused caused Frank Price, another faction in the company, to regain his face. He was definitely not willing to do so.

In this way, the matter was submitted to Dahe's office. In the midst of his busy schedule, Dahe called Ronald.

"Ronald Sang, as long as it is within the scope of the company's rules, you and Plesan can do whatever they want, and I will support you. But don't break the rules and let Chairman Morita pick out..."

Guber was recruited by Akio Morita "on a whim", while Price was recommended to Dahe by Ronald. There are actually many interest groups within Japanese companies like Sony, which are solving and operating in effective ways that American executives don't understand.

"It's within the rules... that means don't make trouble with them?" Frank Price didn't quite understand the Japanese way of thinking, and wanted to ask Ronald for advice.

"Gubel and Peters have the power to green light projects. According to the regulations, do you have any power?" Ronald asked.

"I can buy a script with one item and pay it in advance, I understand..." Price finally understood the implication of Da He.

One day later, Minahan got the good news and immediately called Ronald and asked to advance Spider-Man immediately. After all, there was not much time left for the adaptation rights to expire.

"Quack, Ronald, we have received an advance payment from Columbia for the Spider-Man video distribution rights and an advance payment from Viacom for the TV broadcast rights. Can we extend an invitation to Director Cameron?"

"Okay, you send a formal invitation to Jim right away, and I'll call him right away. Wait, what did you say about Viacom buying the TV broadcast rights?" Just as he was about to hang up, he found Minahan Also mentioned the name of another company.