Hollywood Domination: First column

One hundred million?

One hundred million?

——She really said 100 million?

Kevin Riley really couldn't believe his ears—of course, he has seen the situation where celebrities bring money into the game. When they cooperated with "prada" before, Jennifer just took out three points with pride One of the costs, but at that time it was only an investment of 10 million. Although it was a bit crazy to do so compared to her status and qualifications at the time, many production companies set up by the big coffee can also afford this money. Filmmaking, for example, Tom Cruise and Paramount share the copyright of the "Mission: Impossible" series. His production company has invested in the previous "Mission: Impossible" filming, and the amount is tens of millions. And relying on this investment and the 20/20 asking price of his big-name stars, he took away most of the income from the "Mission: Impossible" series. Therefore, although this series has always been profitable, it is inseparable to bear most of the costs. Paramount, which has made too much profit, is not so enthusiastic about developing a sequel.

But—even for Tom Cruise, the investment is in the tens of millions. A film production company founded by a star, which is closer to a personal studio, is 100 million for a project? Even if Kevin is a high-level executive in charge of a 500 million project in the Fox Film Company, with rich business experience, he has never seen this kind of situation. It's like—like a 7-8 year old girl suddenly It's like jumping into the driver's seat and starting to drive, it's unbelievable, as if you have entered "The Twilight Zone".

"It seems that Disney's previously announced capital injection was not a commercial hype, but really gave her some cash." After a brief shock, Kevin's sophisticated brain also began to automatically search and analyze, searching for the previous period of time. The news that left an impression on him, "However, according to the figures announced at the time, how much did Disney inject, 100 million? 150 million? Almost all of it was invested in "Avatar". Doesn't Disney have any objections to this matter? No matter how close she is with Robert Iger, even if the rumors are true and Bob is fascinated by her, it is impossible for him to watch his little princess act like this..."

For Fox, a company of the size of Big Dream is not even a child, at best it is a crying baby. What Kevin cares about is not the 100 million, but Disney behind Big Dream "In the previous negotiations, James occupied a relatively advantageous position, because Universal also intends to accept the conditions again. In fact, objectively speaking, Universal and him have cooperated for so long, and returning to Universal is more important for the project. Good thing, but James turned Universal down without hesitation - he still holds a grudge. Disney probably fell out with him... two years ago? Maybe James rejected Disney because of this, so they enclose land through big dreams? Otherwise it's really It is impossible to explain why they took out a huge cash of 100 million at once, this cannot be J.J's own idea, and Bob can't explain it to the board of directors at all."

He immediately thought of a few guesses, and provided a logical inside story for this earth-shattering idea. Kevin felt a little relieved: he is not a patriarch, and his wife has been working outside. , but for some reason, the idea of ​​a female star setting the highest personal investment record is really hard to accept.

"... To be honest, it's really unfair." When he fully adjusted himself and came back to his senses, Jennifer had already confided to James and Jon, "Yes, the style of "Pirates 2" Bad reviews, but that's not why I can't get a bonus, after all, Johnny is also the object of ridicule by film critics, it's a matter of film quality - and I'm not bragging, James, according to Cesare's findings, Among the 1 billion box office, the box office called by me alone will not lose much to Johnny..."

Her tone was very aggrieved, like a wayward little girl, pouted because of the adult's partiality, which seemed a bit abrupt compared with Jennifer's rational and low-key usual style-but Kevin found that James and Jon It seems that they all like this. After all, it’s not like he instinctively raised his guard. James and Jon are middle-aged people in their 50s and 60s. Based on male instincts, they must be very sensitive to the acting like a spoiled child from an Oscar queen. appreciated.

Although an investment of 100 million is not completely bad news for Fox, Kevin still feels that it is not good—Jennifer has taken the rhythm of the field now—he wiped off the Coffee stains, walked up to the conference table. But there is no way to object to Jennifer's statement - none of the girl's commercial films is less than 300 million. If Fox objects to this, what will they ask Jennifer to do?

"But what did Disney say? Josh's performance was well received by the critics, they said, and if I asked for a third installment, Josh would join in, and they couldn't give me or Josh—but they You can give Johnny a dividend, but not me!" Jennifer raised her voice, "It's not fair, James."

"Oh." Jon laughed happily, his eyes shone shrewdly. Obviously, although the producer appreciated Jennifer's rare cuteness, he was not confused by it, it was just because of Jennifer's The proposal is completely harmless to Jon and James, and he seems to be very cooperative. "It's kind of unfair, girl, but I'm afraid it's the reality—"

"Yes, and I'm not going to change the rules." Jennifer grimaced, "But I don't want to miss such a good opportunity - I have already missed "Pirates 3", and I must not miss "Avatar" ", I must get the dividend, James, and it is 20/20, even if it is just to prove that I can get this qualification-"

She smiled embarrassingly again, with a sly gleam in her green eyes, "Of course, also because I want to share a piece of the cake in this project that is bound to create miracles, the box office of "Avatar" will definitely be higher than that of "Pirate" 3", even higher than "Titanic" - I will never miss it again, it will make me regret it for the rest of my life."

Because Jennifer had been complaining about Disney before, Kevin who was new to this project, and even James, was a little confused. To stop her flattery without violating business etiquette, I could only look anxiously at James with twinkling eyes and a happy smile, and even agreed without asking Kevin. "Of course you won't regret it, you are a very enterprising girl, dear Jennifer - also very self-motivated, I like your spirit."

Even Jon nodded without objection, perhaps because he estimated the situation was bad when he left for two minutes just now. Without asking about Kevin's attitude, "This is good news, Kevin. Isn't Fox only able to pay in batches? You have always said that your cash chain is very tight, but now that Jennifer has paid 100 million in cash, we will Can you recruit more artists and shorten the construction period——Kevin?"

He joked, "Are you overjoyed, Kevin?"

Although he hasn't enjoyed the coffee yet, Kevin has already tasted the bitterness in his mouth: Generally speaking, for such a big project, Fox either pays for it all or doesn't do it at all. The stupid decision to sell the North American distribution rights of "The Nick" to Paramount for blood recovery directly caused a group of Fox executives to be scolded by shareholders in a letter. Kevin was also among the uncomfortable executives at the time. Now that Fox is determined to contract an investment of 550 million, it has already decided to accept the most expensive movie in the world, and even has an additional budget. It is mentally prepared to make a big gamble. Even if it is 100 million less, 450 million is the most expensive. An expensive movie, the difference is not so big that it will make people tempted.

It is very obvious that Fox will definitely not be able to cheat Jennifer's 100 million investment. If another upstart wants to invest in "Avatar", then Fox may welcome it, because there are many ways to make him bear it. The biggest risk is to get back the least profit at the slowest speed, but with the support of Disney, Jennifer has no shortage of negotiating think tanks, and many common methods cannot be used. For example, convert the publicity fee into the cost to offset the profit, and use the usual method of recording 90% of dvd sales into the cost to conceal the profit when the company and the star sign a sharing agreement... All these will be found by Disney's veterans and they will be rejected. the opinion of.

This is not the most troublesome thing for Kevin. Looking at Jennifer's sincere expression, he really can't help suspecting that this is a trick by Disney: either accept Jennifer's investment, and honestly give her the corresponding share. Profit, or reject Jennifer's investment, and then offend James and Jon.

If Disney is interested in "Avatar" and just lacks an excuse to reconcile with James, Jennifer is the best middleman... Maybe Disney would prefer Fox to turn it down, anger James, and let "Avatar" return to technology Accumulate stronger Disney. And if Fox agrees to invest, Jennifer will be able to take 20% of the share-wait a minute! 20? 100 million can account for less than 20% of 550 million! Only 18%!

Looking at the expressions of approval from James and Jon, Kevin's lips fluttered, and he was a little speechless: Jennifer made it clear that she wanted to use the 100 million investment as a cover to get the worth of the superstar 20/20. The extra 2% share is of course irrelevant to these two bigwigs, and James may even be very moved that Jennifer blocked Leo and Chris asking for a share and raised the investment threshold to It’s so high, but it’s different for Fox. The movie stars get the box office share, not omnichannel. For “Avatar”, a project with low box office profits, 2% box office share and 2% % of the omni-channel share, it is much worse... But if Fox raises this point in follow-up negotiations and Jennifer complains to James, Disney may hope to see things develop in this direction...

He took a big sip of coffee, let the hot liquid dilute the faint headache, and looked helplessly at the still beautiful and lovely Jennifer. ——It’s just that now Kevin is not in the mood to appreciate her perfect looks... This is the most annoying thing about women. They can often use their unreasonable privileges to disrupt the normal process of the whole thing, and at the same time always Abuse your endearing talents to achieve your goals.

"Sure." He swallowed his coffee, smiled resolutely, and said cheerfully, "I'm just so—so surprised, you know what I mean, Jon, that Jennifer's boldness really I was terrified."

Jon chuckled, "Yeah, even I was taken aback - girl, I know your cash comes from Disney, don't they have a problem with your desperate move?"

Compared to the preoccupied Kevin, he asked this question very directly, but Kevin was not happy: This shows that Jon has really accepted Jennifer's idea of ​​capital injection, otherwise he would not care about the stability of funds.

"Dream's shareholding adopts an ab system," Jennifer said frankly and naturally, "Disney can't influence my decision. Of course, they are also very optimistic about this project and have not exerted any pressure on me."

She seemed to be telling the truth, but Kevin wasn't sure. He glanced at the letter of intent, then looked at James: In Hollywood, contracts don't always count, especially for a big guy like James. In other words, the binding force of an investment letter of intent is not so strong...

Disney is also very optimistic about this project...

"Pirates of the Caribbean" has brought Disney a huge cash flow...

He bit the soft flesh on the inside of his cheek to restore himself quickly. Afterwards, Kevin Riley stood up with a happy face, as if rubbing his hands impatiently, "This is really good news——Jennifer , you heard what Jon said just now, Fox is indeed a little tight on cash right now - I will contact my colleagues now, we should immediately expand the scale of the meeting..."

He also began to outline a negotiation strategy in his mind: it is definitely not enough to bully people too much, but maybe the cost of publicity can be converted into it...

Among James and Jon's happy chatting and laughing, Jenny exhaled silently, and exchanged a look with Cesare: She is not Kevin, of course she doesn't know what he thinks, but from his expression You can probably guess some of his mentality changes. It seems that the worst-case scenario that Cesare said last night really almost happened just now. Although logically speaking, Fox would like someone to share their cost pressure, but because the big dream has a strong Disney color, and Fox has previously Having made similar mistakes, there is also a slight chance that Fox will reject Jenny's capital injection proposal.

Of course, as long as they still need Jenny to play the role, this matter will always be discussed, but of course such a situation should be avoided as much as possible, because it will hinder Jenny's side from using the big killer of "James' support". For James, he can support Jenny to bring money into the game, but the favor may not be enough to help her get a favorable position in the distribution of benefits. For this grumpy director, his patience is obviously limited.

Even though she was mainly performing just now, it seemed that it was just a family chat, but the words explaining the investment motivation were actually finalized after half an evening of discussion between her and Cesare. Including the timing of proposing the investment and mastering the rhythm, it was the result of Cesare asking her to rehearse several times. After all, this is a large project worth hundreds of millions, and none of them trusted her on-the-spot performance. ——And these efforts are indeed valuable. At least, the rhythm of the opening is now in their hands. Kevin seems to be on the side of "accepting investment". They don't need to play the James card now.

More importantly...

Jenny smiled at James, "By the way, James, I saw my model, she is really beautiful, when will she have a name?"

James immediately became interested, and he said happily, "Actually, the script is already being written..."

More importantly, her crazy confidence in the profitability of "Avatar" also gave James confidence and made him closer to himself. The director who is slowly entering old age has developed a "confidant feeling" towards himself, and although this is a big project with a level of 500 million, according to common sense, in the struggle between investors, the personal will of the director and producer plays a role in it Insignificant...

But Hollywood is not an ordinary business world——Hollywood is a place rich in individual heroism, and it is also the place that is most obsessed with individual heroism. Capital must give way to heroes, and James Cameron is precisely these films. The most charming hero in Shang's eyes!

Of course, this does not mean that the subsequent negotiations will be smooth sailing. Jenny would not have done so beautifully even in her dreams. However, from the slightly relaxed shoulders of Cesare, she can see that he and her have made The same judgment: if this is a hurdling competition, then at least when they cross the first hurdle, their posture is still relatively graceful.