King of Hollywood

The time has just entered September, and the popularity of the film market has finally dropped. Although there will inevitably be a small wave later, but for now, it has temporarily dropped from the peak to the bottom. So "Hero" was chosen at this time. The previous big productions have entered a period of fatigue, and the later movies aimed at the end of the summer vacation have not yet been released, which just fills the gap.

This is normal. Although "Hero" was nominated for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, and there was a lot of publicity in the early stage, most of the film critics gave good reviews, but it is a Chinese film after all, and it can only be watched with subtitles. It is understandable to put it at this time. But they were soon relieved, because with the preparation of 2,000 theaters, the film scored 21 million in North America in the first week.

As I said before, generally speaking, as long as the top four box office numbers in the first week are similar to the number of theaters, then the potential behind is worth exploring, so this is a good start.

But these are not what Adrian needs to pay attention to. He is confident in "Hero". It has aroused Americans' curiosity about martial arts culture, and the publicity has been well done, and the box office in North America will definitely not lose to the original version.

Perhaps the box office is at most equal to the cost of purchasing the distribution rights, but don't forget that this is a buyout, and the profits from DVD sales are all global.

So at this time he went to Las Vegas. It's not to relax, even though he often accompanied the women to visit, the Las Vegas is very close to California, but it was the first time he came here alone. The reason for this situation is naturally for work. Jeffrey Katzenberg is negotiating a business in Las Vegas.

"Steven has told me roughly that he agrees with you, but I don't think it's necessary. You yourself admit that our animation studio still has a future, Ed, and I've re-examined the production plan The second part of "Shrek" has been put on the agenda, and I believe this animation can bring the studio back to life." In Katzenberg's suite, the bald man with glasses said so.

This guy. Adrian couldn't help laughing in his heart, did he really think that he was showing weakness by coming to Las Vegas to see him?

After entrusting Spielberg to send a message, he stabilized for a while before he talked with Katzenberg, and then learned that he was in Las Vegas, and Adrian simply came over to have an interview with him. While showing sincerity, it also somehow gave Katzenberg a much-needed impression.

"It will be a matter of time, Jeffrey," Adrian said with a smile, "Forgive me, although DreamWorks is doing well at the moment. But it is not easy to expand. It is not easy to expand. No, you know, conglomeration is the trend of media companies, so no matter whether it expands or not, it is not optimistic, so why not leave yourself behind?"

Katzenberg is a smart guy. Although the three giants of DreamWorks are somewhat idealistic, as a person who is competent for the position of DreamWorks, he should have a lot of qualities. Adrian also directly picked up the topic, yes, he just wants DreamWorks. animation studio.

"Yes. I admit, what you said is a possibility that the studio will be reborn after the new 3D animation - but it may not. No one can say what the future is, can they? Most likely There are three situations where DreamWorks maintains a good momentum in film and TV production, and the studio also comes back to life because of the new animation. Worst case scenario. And, the film and TV side is good, the animation studio continues to lose money and the film and TV side is losing money and the animation studio is operating well." Adrian smiled and raised his hands.

"It goes without saying that it is the best case," he continued, "but if it is the middle two, I think no one will be willing to take over if you want to separate at that time. As for the last one, the person who wants to take over may be There are many."

Then, Adrian stopped, still looking at Katzenberg with that determined expression.

"I know," the bald man was silent for a moment, then shrugged his shoulders, "but there's nothing wrong with it, and it's not too late to talk about separation at that point."

"This is your hard work, Jeffrey," Adrian raised his eyebrows, "and it's not easy for you to explain to shareholders like this, is it? There is not only one way to beat Disney."

"It seems that you are well prepared, Ed." Katzenberg took off his glasses, narrowed them and looked at Adrian, who smiled and said nothing.

The advantage of talking to smart people is that some things don't need to be explained too clearly. Adrian's meaning is very clear. He is also one of the shareholders of DreamWorks and has a representative on the board of directors. Although he basically only participates in daily management, he Fully qualified to propose this resolution on the board. Unlike the media, DreamWorks has someone who can make the final decision, so if he really wants to make a move, even if he fails to achieve his goal in the end, it can still cause serious consequences to DreamWorks.

What's more, the relationship between DreamWorks and the media is very close, and it has reached the point where once the cooperation is suspended, it will definitely hurt a lot and give others an opportunity to take advantage of it. If Adrian conducts a hostile takeover, unless they can find another media group to compete with it, it will be difficult to escape the hands of the media. Even if he takes a step back and does not seek control of DreamWorks, but waits until later to separate the animation studio, he will definitely seek complete control instead of the current form of joint venture with them.

Yes, "it's your brainchild" and "there's not only one way to beat Disney" means that Katzenberg can continue to run all the animation studios, and all Adrian wants is to monopolize Hollywood. 3D animation film market. In short, the separated studio can still be held by them, but he will be the major shareholder. And have a certain degree of control.

From the perspective of Adrian's current power, this is a big concession, and his reputation in this area is not bad. At least so far, both Pixar and Blue Sky Studios have great freedom in creation.

"I need a moment to think about it, Ed," Katzenberg said finally.

It is understandable that the profits of animated films are too great. The profit generated by a popular animated product is at least several times that of a big production with similar box office. Naturally, Katzenberg will not give up easily.

"No problem. I just want to stay in Las Vegas for a few days, so you have plenty of time to think about it." Adrian smiled.

Let Katzenberg decide for himself, anyway, he has already expressed his attitude, and the animation studio of DreamWorks is determined to win. In fact, it doesn't matter if you wait any longer. Katzenberg also said that "Shrek 2" has already been approved. As long as DreamWorks' animation studio returns to the ranks of 3D animation, profits can be expected. And although they have media support in other respects. But maybe there may be another loss similar to "Pearl Harbor". At that time, even if Katzenberg was unwilling, he had to take the initiative to separate it in order to keep the back hand, and it would not be too late to start at that time.

But Adrian didn't want to share it with more people. At that time, everyone could see the prospect of DreamWorks Animation Studio. If there are too many other funds, he will not be able to achieve his plan to monopolize the 3D animation film market.

Besides, Katzenberg didn't have many choices, and even if he wanted to separate, he probably didn't want too much money, and Adrian and the others knew everything. more importantly. Although he has confidence in his animation studio, he is not sure where it will go in the future, and because of changes in certain factors, the studio has relatively more losses in 2D animation.

Adrian's advantage in information is undoubtedly revealed. In the first ten years of the early 21st century, North America and even the world. The animated film market is basically divided into three parts: Pixar, DreamWorks, and Blue Sky Studios, and Blue Sky Studios is limited by scale, basically Pixar and DreamWorks are competing. Although ten years later, the animation studios cultivated by various film companies began to make efforts slowly, but this pattern is still maintained.

Think about it, if the three major studios are in their hands, how much profit will be made, and how wide the influence of the media will be. That's one reason he made the trip to Las Vegas to interview Katzenberg.

"Fifteen o'clock, big." As the croupier lifted the gambling equipment, two six-point dice and one three-point dice were clearly exposed.

"You lost again." The gambler next to him suddenly laughed.

Adrian shrugged, let the croupier take away the chips, and then in the new round, threw the last 2000 on 15 points. Such a bet was meaningless, so the 2000 was gone immediately.

"Your luck is really bad, buddy. You should stop when you lost the second hand just now." Another gambler shook his head and said, as if feeling sorry for him.

"It's okay." Adrian smiled friendly, then got up and left. He only exchanged 20,000 chips. people would say so.

But Adrian doesn't care. He doesn't like gambling, especially this kind of gambling. It's okay to spend a little money to improve his mood. If you want to gamble a lot of money like in some movies... then forget it. For him who has been a man for two lives, coupled with so many years of training, rational thinking has been engraved in his bone marrow. It is not that Adrian has never gambled, but it must be under the condition that there is a 70% chance of winning That's why, so whether it's Las Vegas or Atlantic City or other gambling resorts, don't even think about making his money.

Coming out of the casino at Caesars Palace, Adrian walked leisurely along the street and looked back at the intersection. He suddenly remembered what happened in Caesars Palace when he came to Las Vegas to visit the team. Although Julia and Zeta Jones did not object to his handling, they felt a little uncomfortable, but they are used to it now, so even if they saw Leah on his private plane, they would not care.

After training, Leah Dissan has officially become the new fourth stewardess on the plane to replace Priyanka who is going to continue her medical school. After some training by Lin Xilei and Adrian's full development in bed, Lia Ya is already very honest and obedient, she has long understood that everything about her is in the hands of this person. So always find a way to express yourself in front of him.

For example, at the special party that Eliza held for her to celebrate her first boarding as a newcomer, despite being attacked by three other women, she fought back as hard as Adrian watched, and was very smart to only stare at him. The promoter Eliza chased after her fiercely and completely defeated her in the 69 game. But after this contest, she and Eliza became good friends. Every time a few people were together, Eliza couldn't bear it anymore, and she would volunteer to take over.

Ok. The reason for thinking of this is mainly because he is currently in Las Vegas alone. For Adrian, this situation has basically never happened in the past two years.

If you find another chick under the bed tonight, you'll have to deal with her immediately. This idea came to him in his mind, and then he heard a noise coming from the side.

Looking for the sound, it was a young man and woman wearing sunglasses. I was arguing with someone who is probably the owner of a small shop on the street. Adrian raised his eyebrows in surprise, and was about to walk away, but after thinking about it, he walked over: "What he means is that this gadget costs $10, not $8."

He spoke French. Their quarrel is actually very simple. The English of the young men and women from France is not very good. They can basically understand their daily conversations, but if some slang words are mixed in, it will be a bit troublesome. Moreover, this store is just a small store, unlike those big hotels that have dedicated waiters to deal with foreign guests, so misunderstandings will inevitably occur in communication.

"This one costs $10? You're joking." The young man complained after understanding it. Although the girl seemed to want this little doll very much, he returned it and said no.

Adrian then helped to translate the sentence back, although the shopkeeper who was big and thick was frowning and was very dissatisfied. But he didn't say much, and took the things away.

"Thank you, sir. If it wasn't for you, I might have reported to the police." After resolving the matter, the young man and his girlfriend thanked Adrian.

"It's not a big deal, it's just a communication problem. If you want to buy souvenirs. Each hotel has a special counter, which may be more expensive, but the service is very good. Places like this are usually places where locals shop for goods." Adrian explained it to them.

"Your French is very good, are you French?" the girl asked curiously.

"No, beautiful lady, I'm American." Adrian smiled slightly.

"If you don't mind, let's find a place to sit and chat." The young man looked around, then pointed to the open-air cafe not far away.

Anyway, Adrian has nothing to do now, so he agreed.

"Are you traveling?" Adrian asked casually after sitting down and asking for a cup of coffee to dismiss the waiter.

"Hmm...well." The French girl replied, she took off her sunglasses and smiled, but the French guy immediately said: "Actually, we are going to see if Las Vegas is suitable for holding a grand wedding .”

"You want to get married?" Adrian was a little surprised, "If I'm not wrong, you won't exceed... wait!"

He saw that girl suddenly narrowed her eyes, with delicate features and light makeup, which gave off a beautiful feeling and a little temptation. Her dark brown and black hair was very suitable for her. If the hairline could be lowered Some are just perfect.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to offend, but where have we met?" Adrian asked a little abruptly.

It would make people feel unhappy to ask this kind of question as soon as they met, and asking a man's girlfriend, but the young man was not angry, but smiled triumphantly, and then hugged his girlfriend: "Look , my dear, your fame has spread all over America."

The girl smiled a little embarrassedly, and then stretched out her hand: "Hi, my name is Alizee, Alizee Jacotai, and this is my fiance, Jeremy Shatley."

"Ha, I remembered, the famous French female singer who sang Madonna's "Beautiful Island"," Adrian's eyes flashed, "Madonna once praised you, saying that you sang very well."

"Really?" The French girl named Alizee opened her eyes wide, showing excitement but at the same time a little suspicious.

"Of course, although she doesn't like talking to me very much, she did say this." Adrian laughed, then remembered something and introduced himself under the puzzled eyes of the young couple: "By the way, My name is Adrian, Adrian Cowell, a Hollywood film director and producer."

"Nice to meet you, Mr. Kewell." After saying this, Shatley took a breath, and looked at Adrian in disbelief.

Alizee next to him also reacted at this time, and her mouth grew.

"You said...you said...you are that...that miracle director?" Shatley asked stammeringly.

"If no one in Hollywood is called that anymore, it should be me." Adrian smiled slightly, and then took out his business card, which was the one with the director's name on it, not the one of the chairman of the media board .

"Oh my God," Shatley couldn't help but exclaimed after confirming the business card, "Are you really the director of miracles? You are really the director of miracles!"

Although Alizee knocked on him embarrassingly at the side, and felt that his fussy reaction was really rude, she couldn't help casting excited eyes on Adrian.

"Calm down, buddy, we are on the street now." Adrian reminded with a smile.

"Oh, yes, of course, I'm just... a little excited, just a little excited." After taking two deep breaths, Shatley finally calmed down, after all, he was still a young man under twenty years old.

But Alizee didn't care about that much.

"Can you sign me?" She immediately found a pen and a small book and handed them over, her eyes sparkling. (to be continued)