I’m in Hollywood Chapter 694: Power penetration

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The taxi stopped by the road on the top of Beverly Hills. The driver had a pleasant conversation with the dark-haired middle-aged passenger wearing a smart suit and looked at the luxurious mansion outside the car window. "Man, I never imagined that the destination you visited was here. The Beverly mansion of this size lived in either a super superstar or Hollywood top producer. You must be developed."

Chris · Wedge is also in a good mood, and even a little excited. He smiled and responded to the driver's words. After paying the car, he carried a briefcase and turned to the door of the mansion.

The house number was confirmed again. Chris · Wedge reached out and rang the doorbell, and waited patiently, remembering the phone call the other day.

It all starts from 1987, when Chris · Wedge was just 30 years old, he resigned from an animation studio where he originally belonged, and several partners founded Blue Sky Studios, which produces film and television special effects, on the second floor of a dental clinic. After eight years of development, although the current Blue Sky Studios is still far from being comparable to the industry overlords in the digital field and Industrial Light & Magic, it is already well-known in the film and television special effects industry. It has more than 100 employees and also took part in last year. Jumanji "CG special effects production.

A few days ago, Producer, who was in charge of the Jumanji team who was in contact with Blue Sky Studios, suddenly called him and asked if he was interested in computer animation. Chris · Wedge has always envied the success of his former friend John · Lasseter on 3D Animation. I have made similar attempts, and of course nodded without hesitation, so there is today's anticipated meeting.

There was a voice of a female voice asking inside the door. Chris · Wedge felt that the voice was a bit familiar, too late to think about it, and quickly rallied and responded.

The door opened, and the tall and slender girl with a little red leap appeared in front of Chris · Wedge. Her long blond hair was fluffy and messy, and she was lazy. The upper body is covered with a loose beige sweater, the round neckline is wide open, and the skin of a small sheet of white on the shoulder is diagonally exposed. Although the hem of the sweater is somewhat wide, it did not cover the two slender **** s wrapped in white tight jeans.

Chris · Wedge was stunned for a moment. It wasn't until the girl frowned slightly that she reacted abruptly and said with some embarrassment: "Hello Miss Roberts, nice to meet you. I am your fan."

Chris · Wedge said so, his right hand lifted slightly, looking at Julia's slender hands on the door handle, and finally he was not embarrassed to reach out.

"Eric and Liz are waiting for you, come with me," Julia responded, stretched his hand and pulled the sweater, and turned and walked inwards.

Chris · Wedge followed the corridor in the courtyard behind Julia. At this time, he calmed down and recalled the situation when he just saw Julia. Then I realized that the status of the Hollywood first-line actress was not quite normal, a little like just waking up, some like drunk, or, more like some ... high, Chris · Wedge must have not smelled The taste of wine is now at four o'clock in the afternoon. Even the time for nap has passed, and it is impossible to wake up just now.

Involuntarily thinking in his heart, bypassing the trail. Seeing the two figures by the pool in front of the mansion stand up and walk over, Chris · Wedge quickly put those at sixes and sevens thoughts aside, thinking about these things would not do him any good, in case his master guessed his mind. That would be worse.

Looking at a pair of young men and women coming over, Chris · Wedge eagerly reached out to the Eric walking in front: "Hello, Mr. Williams."

"Hello, Chris, just call me Eric, this is Liz. You should call by phone."

"Of course, Miss Murdoch, nice to meet you," Chris · Wedge smiled and shook hands with Elizabeth.

The three people sat down at the round table in the courtyard. Julia served coffee to the three people. Instead of participating in the conversation, they lazily walked down to the beach chairs and lay down, flipping up a copy of magazine.

Although Chris · Wedge is a little confused about the relationship between the man and the woman in front, he is carefully controlling his eyes, trying not to glance at Julia not far away.

"The general situation is that you and Liz must have talked on the phone. I have also seen the special effects you made for 《Alien 3》," Jumanji "and other videos. It is very good. I also know that you have asked Columbia during the production of" Jumanji ". I have invested in animation short films, but I have not been successful, right? "

Chris · Wedge nodded: "Yes, Eric, the studio where I was in my early years had done Disney's animation outsourcing projects, and has always been very interested in animated movies."

Elizabeth asked: "If it is an investment in animation, you should find Firefly, why do you contact Columbia?"

Chris · Wedge smiled awkwardly, glanced at Eric, and did not know how to answer.

Elizabeth finished speaking just now and immediately understood that Firefly already has the best 3D Animation technology in the industry. Under normal circumstances, it is simply impossible to see Blue Sky Studios.

Eric did n’t seem to hear the problem of Elizabeth, and talked directly with Chris · Wedge about the 3D Animation movie. Chris · Wedge was also quite well prepared in the past few days, and skillfully responded to various problems of Eric. A set of pre-prepared animated short storyboards were presented to Eric.

Even if we already have some technical accumulation, an animation studio still needs to start with short animated films in the production of 3D Animation movies. At the beginning, Pixar accumulated after continuously producing short films such as "Luxo Jr." and "Tin Toy" With enough experience, I started to get involved in animated feature films.

After half an hour, Chris · Wedge collected the artwork and said: "Eric, this short film only needs the investment of 3 million USD. As long as I can get the funds, I promise to bring out a sufficient proof within six months that we have control of the animation. Feature-length works come out. "

Eric shook his head and said, "Chris, I am not planning to invest in Blue Sky Studios."

Chris · Wedge just showed a disappointed expression, thinking that the short film animation script he prepared for himself did not pass the approval of Eric, but Eric went on: "I plan to acquire Blue Sky Studios."

Chris · Wedge immediately raised his head: "Eric, do you mean ... acquisition?"

Eric nodded and smiled at the corner of her mouth: "Yes, buy."

Although not in the Hollywood circle, Chris · Wedge still knows a little about the relationship between Eric and Elizabeth, he had always felt before. It must be that Fox is more interested in Blue Sky Studios. Even if it is to acquire Blue Sky Studios, it should be the Elizabeth opening that represents Fox.

But after these half an hour of communication, Chris · Wedge realized that Eric still played a leading role in this matter. This made him feel confused again. Firefly already owns two animation studios of Pixar and Disney animation at this time. Even if Firefly wants to continue to expand in the field of animation film, it should be limited to these two studios.

Although I knew I would not reject this offer, Chris · Wedge still asked carefully: "Eric, I ... can I know why?"

"Of course." Eric explained: "Although the rating of animation movies has been controlled within the PG-13 level because of the audience group. But for Disney, there are still many good ideas that do not meet the core value of Disney's Concept, if these ideas are issued by Disney, it will damage the established brand image of Disney. Therefore, I intend to take these ideas out and give them to an animation studio that is completely independent of the Disney system for production and hand over Other Film Studio release. "

Chris · Wedge asked: "Is there still a lot of Film Studio under Firefly?"

"Disney is a very important brand in the Firefly system. If other movie departments of Firefly release animated films, the audience will naturally think of Disney. What I want is a complete divestiture."

Chris · Wedge nodded, glanced at Elizabeth, and said: "So, Eric, what are the acquisition conditions?"

“In order to show the sincerity of long-term cooperation, we do not intend to take a wholly-owned acquisition. Firefly and Fox each offer 5 million USD and acquire 45% of Blue Sky Studios shares respectively. You can continue to retain 10% of the shares. In addition, Firefly will give Blue Sky Studios animation technology support. Animated movies produced by the studio in the future will be released by Fox. "

The offer price of 10 million USD to acquire 90% of the shares is far lower than the expectations of Chris · Wedge. This studio is after all his eight years of hard work, but Eric will give Blue Sky Studios technical support. But let Chris · Wedge immediately did not hesitate too much. You know, the top 3D Animation technology in the hands of Firefly is not money that can be bought, but this is the fundamental reason why Firefly can monopolize the 3D Animation film market in recent years.

After thinking for a moment, Chris · Wedge nodded decisively: "Eric, I agree to this transaction."

"Very good. I hope we can cooperate happily in the future," Eric got up and shook hands with Chris · Wedge, the two sat down again, and Eric began to talk about his detailed plan.

Talking about sunset, Chris · Wedge took the initiative to say goodbye. The specific acquisition contract will be negotiated in more detail in the future.

Send Chris · Wedge away, and the two returned to the swimming pool. Elizabeth looked at Julia, who was still lazy on the beach chair, and said, "Eric, look at her. Just now, Chris · Wedge was more than one glance To Julia, I think he must be guessing that Julia seems to be high, but the news is Oh. "

As if suddenly Julia came to life, he threw the magazine in his hand towards Elizabeth and retorted: "You are only high, I am just a little tired."

"Oh, come on, let me check if you are really tired," Elizabeth said, rushing to grab the Julia's waist, but Julia flexibly lifted his foot and kicked it.

Punch-

Elizabeth didn't make any preparations for a while, and fell into the swimming pool.

"Ah, woo ..."

The Elizabeth kicked into the swimming pool by Julia quickly poked his head out, lying on the edge of the pool and yelling loudly at Julia: "However, I wo n’t be with you anymore, you vicious woman, murdered Husband. "

Eric smiled and pulled Elizabeth out of the pool, urged her to change clothes, turned around and sat down on the beach chair lying on Julia, reached out and put the girl around her knees.

The Julia, who has just recovered his spirits, was amused by Elizabeth, feeling the movements in Eric ’s hands. He murmured a few times, as if the cat with the bone removed, and quickly returned to the lazy and confused. status.

Elizabeth came back after changing clothes, holding a large towel in his hand and wiping his wet hair, looking at the Julia soft on Eric. This time, I didn't provoke this cat, who was always going to swell, and sat down next to me, saying: "Eric, you keep talking about some idea of ​​an animated movie that doesn't conform to the Disney release style. Do you already have an idea?"

Eric picked up the magazine book that Julia just held and looked at it casually, saying: "I saw a book that was completely anti-fairy some time ago, the author is William · Steig, you can start to work on this book recently Take the right to adapt. "

"What are you, you didn't make it clear."

Eric smiled. Tao: "You go to buy a copy of just knows tomorrow. The book is basically a complete subversion of Disney's previous fairy tale routines, but I think it is very interesting. It can be made into a special animated movie, but this one However, it is impossible for an animated movie to be released by any of Disney and Firefly's Film Studio, otherwise the brand image elaborately created by Disney will be greatly affected, so I came up with the idea of ​​forming an animation studio that is separate from Firefly. "

Elizabeth is interested: "Oh, what is the name of this album?"

Eric: "" Shrek "."

The "Shrek" of DreamWorks in the original time and space is completely Katzenberg after leaving Disney, in order to revenge an animation work of the old club, it can be seen from the film quality. The investment of the film is not high, and the production is very rough, but what I did not expect is that this low-cost animated film spoofing Disney fairy tale unexpectedly burst into Box Office, and even won the North America Box Office championship that year, which also brought the precarious DreamWorks animation back to life. Now that Katzenberg has not left, DreamWorks has changed to another look. Eric is almost certain. If you do not intervene, an alternative 3D Animation movie like "Shrek" will not even appear in this world.

Recently. In order to find Firefly's summer project next year, Eric also sorted out some of the films in memory, and naturally thought of these.

Although series such as "Shrek" and "Ice Age" have achieved Box Office scores no less than Disney animations in previous life, these animated movies are somewhat deviated from the core spirit of Disney animation. Moreover, the 3D Animation film market is far from being saturated. Cooperating with Fox to win Blue Sky Studios can not only put Disney's animation projects into this studio, continue to bring huge profits to Firefly, but also through Blue Sky Studios Cooperation. Maintain the influence of Firefly on Fox.

Considering these, Eric remembered another thing again, and said to Elizabeth: "Liz, there is another thing, since you have Blue Sky Studios, are you interested in buying a toy company?"

Elizabeth wondered: "Toy company, why?"

"In the future, the animation produced by Blue Sky Studios must be produced around."

Elizabeth stared at Eric for a few seconds and said with a lip: "You ’re **** again, not many people will buy a restaurant for a steak?"

"Okay," Eric smiled and said: "Actually because of copyright and Hasbro in the hands of this toy company, do you know?"

"Well, Transformers," Elizabeth blurted out, but immediately got up his mind: "Are you saying Transformers?"

Eric nodded: "Look, when it comes to Hasbro, you immediately think of Transformers. It can be seen how famous this toy series is. If it is developed into Live-Action Film, it has absolutely unlimited potential."

"Then there is no need to buy Hasbro, can we just buy Transformers's copyright?"

"Of course not, copyright will always have a deadline, and Hasbro will not be stupid enough to sell you a permanent copyright, so you can only get once and for all if you win Hasbro. After the development of special effects technology for several years, I believe that Transformers copyright is worth Not as good as 《Star Wars》, and not much worse. "

"You are too exaggerated. Is there any movie copyright comparable to 《Star Wars》?" Elizabeth is almost subconsciously shaking his head. The influence of 《Star Wars》 has been deeply ingrained in the minds of Westerners. Even the Julia pillowed on the legs of Eric follows lightly Shake his head gently.

However, Elizabeth responded quickly. If this sentence is spoken from other populations, there is naturally no credibility, but Eric is different. "Eric, would n’t you be serious?"

Eric nodded decisively: "Do you look like I'm kidding?"

Elizabeth's eyes rolled around: "Why didn't Firefly take the Hasbro down?"

Eric shrugged: "The goal of Firefly is too big, if we take action. Not only will some people jump out and compete, Hasbro will also speak lion himself. My plan is similar to Blue Sky Studios, Fox is bright, Firefly is dark . Here we take down the Hasbro first, and then we split again, how about? "

Elizabeth blinked shrewdly: "What if I don't plan to share with you?"

Eric pretended to make a fist fiercely, and squeezed the Pā Pā of the bone joint: "Then I have to move thickly."

Elizabeth was not intimidated by Eric ’s movements, but Julia moved Eric ’s fist to his cheek and rubbed it. Shout low: "Eric ..."

Elizabeth looked at Julia's, with an unbearable expression: "I think you dragged her into the room to have a good meal."

Eric reluctantly pulled up Julia, reached out and gently pumped a note on the girl ’s fart: "Do n’t be entangled, go for dinner."

"Well, what are you going to eat?"

"Everything you eat in the refrigerator."

Looking at Julia fluttering away suddenly, Elizabeth shrugged and turned back to the topic just now. Since Eric was so determined, she no longer doubted and asked, "How much is this company?" "

"I am checked. The current market value of Hasbro is 2.9 billion USD. If the acquisition is in good faith, 3.5 billion USD can be won. Even if it is a malicious acquisition, it should not exceed 4billion USD. And, I think that with the influence of Fox, the acquisition is successful Is still very likely. "

"But, 3 to 4 billion USD," Elizabeth started to retreat again: "Eric, I think we still have to buy Transformers copyright first. Try to extend the copyright period, 20 years, is it enough?"

Eric shook his head and said, "Hasbro's operating conditions are very stable. The net profit in recent years has been around 200 million USD. After the acquisition is completed, with the Blue Sky Studios peripheral authorization and Hasbro perfect toy production and distribution system, future performance There must be a lot of room for improvement, plus Transformers copyright, which has great potential, can be said. Hasbro is the kind of company whose value is seriously underestimated, and it has been merged. Even if it does not develop film and television copyright, it can recover all the investment within ten years, if not Firefly has too many plans to carry out in recent years, I will definitely do it myself. "

Before the rebirth of Eric, only the first four global Box Office of the "Transformers" series were close to 4billion USD, and the peripheral profits generated by the movie are even more difficult to estimate. In memory, after Disney won Pixar, Marvel and Lucas Film Industry in succession, it also issued an acquisition offer to Hasbro, but the Hasbro price was too high, and the most important "Transformers" copyright was also caught by Paramount. This transaction failed. carry out.

In recent years, special effects videos have become more and more dazzling in Hollywood. Eric believes that someone will soon notice Transformers copyright. If you do n’t take it down in advance, you will only regret it. The copyright authorization related to Hollywood, the longest case is only 20 years, but Eric knows that after 20 years, Transformers is still in shoots, even if this time and space will advance the production date to the popularity of Transformers, series length There is absolutely no problem surpassing Harry Potter, so the 20-year copyright authorization time is far from enough. What's more, Hasbro will definitely not sell Transformers for 20 years. Instead of suddenly encountering the risk of copyright getting out of control in the future when the Transformers series is in full swing, it is better to eat this company completely.

The reason for taking this cake out and sharing it with Fox is that on the one hand, Firefly already owns Marvel, a large gold mine of copyright that has been developed for decades, and there are many developable animated movies and Live-Action Film copyright, even if you want to All profits are used up, and it is impossible to have enough time and date for issuance. On the other hand, the development of Firefly itself has reached a limit. Due to the restrictions of anti-monopoly and other factors, Firefly is no longer able to merge with other Film Studio with great fanfare. The way of cooperation has become the most infiltration of Eric into the entire Hollywood system. Good way, so that while making profits, Eric can also gradually expand its control of Hollywood, just like Metro Goldwyn Mayer at this time, with the cooperation of many movie projects, Eric has invisible power in this Film Studio even Not less than its CEO, if Eric speaks, Metro Goldwyn Mayer's major shareholder Crédit Lyonnais S.A. will absolutely not hesitate to replace the helm of Metro Goldwyn Mayer. (To be continued.)