I’m in Hollywood Chapter 826: Digital problems
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Chapter 826
"I talked to Jon Randall this morning, and Robert is also staring at this matter personally. Nominations for Oscar ten technical awards, we should be able to win all this time." Titanic "can be said in this regard There is no controversy. However, the six core nominations for best film, best Director and four major performance awards, there is no hope for best actor and best supporting actor, Leonardo ’s performance can only be said to pass, There are no outstanding male supporting actors in the film. For the other four, the award nominations should be regarded as pre-locked. "
Firefly Cinema, in the spacious office Loft in the digital field, Eric and Katzenberg sat together in the lounge area. After listening to him, subconsciously said: "That is, still 14?"
Katzenberg did n’t notice the other meanings implicit in Eric. He thought that Eric had calculated before, so he nodded and said, "Yes, 14 of them, there are 24 Oscar awards, but" Titanic "It is definitely impossible to get nominations that have nothing to do with the film, such as the best foreign language film, the best animation, etc. First of all, seven are excluded. Among the remaining 17 nominations, the best soundtrack is divided into plot and musical comedy. , This eliminated another one, we have no hope of getting the best male lead and best male match, so there are only 14 left. However, with these 14 nominations, we have been able to tie the 1950 "Comet Beauty" 》 The nomination record created may also exceed the number of “Ben-Hur”. ”
Just as Eric just said that, he was aware of the language problem. Fortunately, Katzenberg did not care, and he did not show any abnormalities.
If there is no recent media questioning of Golden Globe Award, Eric may also force people to nominate one of Leonardo ’s best actor nominations, surpassing the nomination record of “Comet Beauty”.
However, because Golden Globe Award is widely questioned, although the Oscar jury did not dare to ignore the winning strength of "Titanic" this time, it also paid more attention to its own credibility. Xiao Lizi obviously did not meet the standard performance. After receiving the nomination for the award, the media will definitely turn the muzzle to Oscar after the nomination is announced.
Although it is impossible to break the "Comet Beauty" record in the number of nominations, but as Katzenberg said, it is still very likely that 11 little gold men surpassing "Ben-Hur".
The two discussed detailed public relations details, and Eric asked again: "How is the overseas distribution situation?"
Similar to North America, most of the countries where "Titanic" has been released overseas have come out of the Box Office curve similar to North America.
Especially for United Kingdom, the Box Office equivalent to USD in four weeks has exceeded 36 million. According to the current trend of Box Office, United Kingdom Box Office of "Titanic" will easily exceed the 71 million USD Box Office record created by "Jurassic Park" a few years ago. It is not impossible to break 100 million. In addition, Spain and Australia The Box Office in other countries and regions is also very good. Only these nine overseas Box Office markets have been released, and the cumulative Box Office in a month has reached 92 million USD. Stimulated by such outstanding Box Office results, the overseas film producers who were quite cold about the release of "Titanic" had completely changed their original attitudes at this time.
"Next week I will fly to Europe, Robert will also rush to Japan, and personally consult with the local distribution and theater," Katzenberg paused and said: "Eric, my idea is that we do n’t Need to pursue a higher share ratio, the average share of 35% is already very good compared to the previous years, and then requesting to increase the share will definitely dampen the enthusiasm of local publishers. However, we can do it in announcement, schedule and cinema In terms of this, more resources are required. "
Although Firefly has its own branches in the major ticket warehouse countries in the world, specific distribution work also needs to cooperate with local distribution companies, and it is inevitable to share certain hairstyles with each other.
Katzenberg is personally responsible for the release of Europe, and the distribution department Chairman Robert Thompson is responsible for Japan, and Eric is also very satisfied with this arrangement.
Thinking about it, Eric nodded and said: "Then do it according to your ideas. In addition, let Robert go to China by the way to see if it is possible to get the qualification for" Titanic ".
Katzenberg is a bit puzzled, because Eric has inadvertently told these years, Firefly has deliberately strived for one or two sub-account quotas in the Chinese market almost every year in these years, but to be honest, although there is a large population of more than 1billion, the film market It is really small and pitiful, and the share ratio is even lower.
However, he did not question Eric ’s decision. After all, it was only an hour, nodded and agreed, and then said: "Eric, there is one more thing, Harvey wants to start the production of" **** family "in advance. , You were in New York some time ago, he talked to me about this matter, recently he is busy operating "Shakespeare in Love", shouldn't I have time to talk to you yet? "
Eric originally planned to file this fall, when FFMTV Station's business conditions stabilized, and then launched a self-made drama like "**** Family". After hearing Katzenberg, Eric asked: "What did he think?"
"Do n’t you say that" **** family "is a slow-heat type, should you mainly rely on the awards to gain fame," Katzenberg said: "Harvey thinks that it is best to start production now, in the autumn of March File playback, which can impact the Emmy Awards in August. If you postpone to the autumn file, you will definitely miss this year ’s Emmy Awards, and there will be a year-long interval from next year ’s Emmy Awards. Even if the "Family" is awarded, the influence generated in the first season will be greatly reduced, which is not conducive to the later distribution and operation of video tapes / DVDs. "
After taking a break for nearly a month at New York, and having the trouble of "Titanic", he returned to Los Angeles again. Eric found that he had accumulated too many things unconsciously.
The latter work of "Casino Royale" needless to say. In other respects, United Kingdom ARM, which was ordered by Eric to order Chris a year ago, has signed an acquisition contract, but many subsequent decisions still require Eric to make a final decision. In addition, Marvel Cinematic Universe plans Settings, the listing of MP3 players, the equity investment of Clover Holdings, the operating status of FFM TV Station, etc. Although these matters are all handled by dedicated personnel, a lot of work is still accumulated and Eric personally decides.
"Harvey is an expert in the operation of awards. Since he feels suitable, put it in the spring file. Well, I will take the time to call him at night to talk about this matter."
"Tonight?" Katzenberg raised his eyebrows slightly and smiled: "Tonight Harvey may not be free."
"Oh, I almost forgot, tonight is the Golden Globe Award awards ceremony, then wait for other time," Eric shrugged, there is no meaning to talk about, Firefly here only tonight "Red Alert" the original team meeting At the awards ceremony, the team of "Titanic" has already decided not to attend.
"The last thing is Clover Holdings," Katzenberg obviously did not talk about the interest of Golden Globe Award. Both of them are busy people, so he quickly switched to the next topic, saying: "Plus the recent purchases We have invested 1.9 billion 80 million USD in the major IT stocks of NASDAQ. According to the NASDAQ trend in recent months, the book profits of these stocks have exceeded 210 million USD. "
Eric nodded, he also knows these data, because of the stock investment in the Nasdaq market, Firefly ’s net profit this year will fall to about 1billion USD, plus two sales of paper media assets and animation studios in the previous two years The final balance of the business will not exceed 2billion USD. This is because Eric needs to extract large profits from Firefly Group and invest in Firefly's investment in Internet companies. Otherwise, Clover Holdings will be more aggressive in buying, and at the same time it will save more taxes.
Eric feels that Katzenberg should not mention this matter alone.
Sure enough, Katzenberg said quickly: "Buffett, Tom Murphy and David · West have called me a lot of times in the recent period, I think there must be more and more on your side, if not held by Clover Holdings The stock is profitable, and their opinions will definitely be greater. "
"I spoke to David · West last time," Eric picked up the coffee pot next to it and refilled himself with a cup of coffee, then said: "I told them that if they have doubts about Firefly Group's business strategy, I can repurchase their shares at any time. "
David · West made great efforts in the process of Firefly's acquisition of ABC, so it became one of the three directors outside Firefly Group.
And, the group of small shareholders of Firefly Group represented by major investment funds behind him, at this time, the share of Firefly Group shares held was close to 14%, and Buffett and Tom Murphy only controlled 10%, although they were relatively close at first. , But the two parties ultimately represent different interest groups.
In the past two years, due to the continuous sale of paper media assets, Hand-Drawn Animation studio and the group ’s strong profitability, these investment funds, with 14% equity in their hands, received annual profit dividends from Firefly Group around 500 million USD, which is sufficient Let the Manager people of these funds add a lot of weight to themselves in the annual financial report.
But this year, due to the additional expenditure of Clover Holdings, the small shareholders of Firefly Group, such as Berkshire Hathaway and State Street Universal Fund, will receive a profit dividend that will suddenly drop by more than half, plus these people themselves are experts in the investment field, obviously Eric His eyes on stock investment have a strong distrust, so he is full of dissatisfaction with his large purchase of NASDAQ stocks.
Katzenberg listened to Eric and said with a smile: "Unless they are crazy, they will ask you to repurchase shares. However, David · West discussed another thing with me on the phone yesterday, which you mentioned before. , I also think the time is right. "
Eric's thoughts turned around and suddenly realized, he said: "He wants to make the digital field available?"
Although he thinks Eric can guess, but he is so agile, he still surprised Katzenberg, smiled, Katzenberg nodded and said: "Yes, Eric, according to the current Box Office trend of" Titanic ", this movie global Box Office There is absolutely no problem to break through 1billion USD. As a film specializing in CG special effects, the success of "Titanic" will definitely further stimulate the development of the Hollywood special effects industry. Therefore, I also think that the next step should be the best driver to be listed in the digital field. , David also revealed to me that if it is listed in the digital field, Wall Street should be able to make a valuation of about 3billion USD on it. "
The current ideas of Katzenberg and David · West coincide with those of Eric a few years ago.
Eric is well aware of the future development trajectory of the Hollywood special effects industry. Although in recent years, Hollywood special effects company can still be regarded as a highly respected 'noble industry', but with the rapid development of computer technology and related software industries in the next decade With the support of top-level hardware equipment and software, the establishment of a special effects studio will become a breeze. At that time, the competition in the special effects industry will also be extremely fierce.
Therefore, Eric also thought that if "Titanic" can be as successful as the original time and space, then CG special effects will definitely be highly respected. At this time, let the digital field be listed, it will be the most suitable for drawing large sums of cash. good time.
But after a while, Eric has changed its mind.
Perhaps, after ten years, or even five years later, there will no longer be a high threshold in the special effects industry, but now, the digital field is definitely the top special effects company in the industry, and there is no one.
Therefore, if the external cooperation in the digital field is cut off, Firefly can at least maintain a leading time of more than three years in the field of special effects. Three years is enough for Firefly Group to make Hollywood other Film Studio in the special effects movie.
Even three years later, with the powerful body of Firefly Group and the support of allies such as Metro Goldwyn Mayer and 20th Century Fox, the digital field will not lack projects, even in the longer term, as long as the digital field has absolutely excellent special effects technology, even Unable to achieve profitability, or even a slight loss, Firefly Group is also sufficient to feed such an exclusive subsidiary.
Moreover, even if Wall Street has a valuation of up to 3billion USD in the digital field, when listing financing at this time, according to the 20% public share issuance ratio, Firefly can only borrow 600 million USD funds at most, 600 million USD, for Firefly, absolute It is irrelevant, as you can imagine, David · West made this suggestion at this time, and it was definitely not for the June 1 USD. (To be continued.)