I’m in Hollywood Chapter 828: Music copyright
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Chapter 828
"So far, North America Box Office of" Titanic "has successfully broken through 300 million USD, but the trend of this phenomenal blockbuster Box Office is still strong. Box Office analysts generally predict that with North America Box Office alone," Titanic "is likely to recover all 2.6 500 million USD is a huge investment, and the overseas Box Office of "Titanic" is likely to reach a jaw-dropping number. The film industry has just emerged to reflect on the large-scale production of large-budget movies in recent years, and it has become unbearable. Hollywood major Film Studio began to look for their own super blockbuster projects. In this case, Firefly Group suddenly announced that it would cease its external cooperation in the digital field of its special effects company, which is tantamount to pouring a pot of cold water on all Hollywood Film Studio except the Firefly system. "
"According to Firefly Group Chairman Jeffrey · Katzenberg, Firefly Group will increase the annual blockbuster movie from three to six each year in the next few years, at least half of which will be CG special effects blockbuster, if the digital field Continuing to maintain the original open operating model will make it difficult to meet Firefly Group's own needs. "
"It is reported that special effects companies in the digital field currently have the most top-level computer CG special effects technology of Hollywood. Since 1991, the digital field has produced excellent special effects in films such as" Terminator 2: Judgement Day "," Twister "and" Jurassic Park " It has won the Oscar Best Visual Effects Award for 4 consecutive years. At the same time, the digital field also has the industry's largest rendering farm, and has undertaken more than 50% of the Hollywood rendering of special effects in recent years. "
"Related analysts expect that because the digital field has a large number of Hollywood unique CG special effects technologies, such as the large-scale war scene design in" The Mummy2 ", etc., the digital field suddenly stopped its external cooperation, and may even make it unusable. The Hollywood Film Studio of the digital field technology has formed a "fault" for several years in the special effects blockbuster. This will undoubtedly have a strong impact on the Film Industry business of companies such as Time Warner, Paramount, Sony, etc., and the growth and decline of the Firefly Group, Metro Goldwyn Mayer Film Industry and 20th Century Fox The share will increase significantly. Affected by this news, the stock prices of companies such as Time Warner and Viacom have all declined slightly in the past week. Metro Goldwyn Mayer Film Industry, which has the closest relationship with Firefly Group, has further increased its share price, which has risen more than 9% in a week. "
Michael · Eisner lost the latest issue of 《Premiere》 magazine and stood up in distress to the window, thinking about what to do next.
In addition to this analysis article, the latest annual Hollywood power list released by this issue of 《Premiere》 magazine, except Eric Williams dominates the list without suspense, Firefly Group CEOJeffrey · Katzenberg has not followed the practice of previous years, together with Eric As the controller of Firefly Group, it ranks first in parallel, but is listed separately, occupying the second place. This change in detail undoubtedly shows Eric's more detached position in Hollywood. The third place still has nothing to do with Universal, but last year's most popular Metro Goldwyn Mayer, Drew · Barrymore and Amy · Pascal are tied for third place, and the fourth place is his Michael · Eisner.
I do n’t know if it ’s intentional or undoubted. In the top ten of this year ’s Hollywood power list, in addition to big Film Studio executives and top Director, producers, the figure of CEOStan · Winston suddenly appeared in the digital field, that is, It is said that the Firefly Group family has already occupied three places in the top ten of the Hollywood power list. If the Metro Goldwyn Mayer and Fox are included in the list, the Firefly system has basically controlled half of the Hollywood, which is in reality with Firefly Group. The influence is almost the same, even if you simply calculate the market share, because of the unexpected outbreak of "Titanic" that was not optimistic by everyone, Firefly, Metro Goldwyn Mayer and Fox, this year's share in the Hollywood Box Office market will also exceed 50 %, And the four major Film Studios, Warner, Paramount, Universal, Sony Film Industry, can only share the remaining 50% with countless second and third line Film Studio.
The plan will never catch up with the changes.
Michael · Eisner sighed in his heart, remembering his thoughts before the release of "Titanic", he couldn't help but laughed at himself.
However, there is still an urgent problem to be solved.
In the past week, after Firefly announced the cessation of external cooperation in the digital field, Industrial Light & Magic, which had almost agreed to cooperate with Universal, also suddenly changed its mind. Microsoft can almost be called a quick response and said that it will invest again in 100 million USD. Used for technical development of Industrial Light & Magic in CG special effects.
Although Industrial Light & Magic has been far inferior to the digital field in recent years, the special effects accumulated over the past 20 years are not comparable to other small special effects companies just established by Hollywood. Obviously, Microsoft is also successful because of the Box Office of "Titanic", see When it comes to the huge application prospects of special effects technology in Hollywood, some other thoughts have risen and I am no longer willing to intervene in Universal.
In response to the announcement of Firefly, this week, in addition to Microsoft generously injecting funds into Industrial Light & Magic, Sony, Paramount and Time Warner, they also announced the establishment of their own film and television special effects department.
Although Universal's Board of Directors also started to discuss related issues, the parent company Seagram Group Chairman Edgar · Bronfman also specifically called to ask about this matter.
But Michael · Eisner is clear that setting up a special effects department will not work at all. He still clearly remembers the words of Eric when everyone was competing for the "Transformers" movie copyright last year. The rendering farm built in Florida in the digital field at a cost of 100 million USD is not something that other second- and third-rate special effects companies can easily catch up with. In recent years, in order to develop a variety of CG special effects technology, how much has been invested in the digital field. Although there is no specific data, it can be imagined that this number is also very scary.
More importantly, special effects companies want to accumulate enough technology, which needs to be obtained through practice in the production process of a large number of CG lenses. According to the information disclosed by Firefly, Firefly Group will have three CG special effects movies each year in the future, so even if Metro Goldwyn Mayer and 20th Century Fox are added together, they can be as many as Firefly. The three companies can provide six special effects movie orders for the digital field every year. There are countless movies that require a small number of special effects scenes, which provides a sufficient platform for technology accumulation in the digital field. At this point, Time Warner, Paramount, Sony, and even Universal itself are impossible.
The first idea in the mind of Michael · Eisner is of course union, but from the response of Industrial Light & Magic supported by Microsoft after the announcement of Firefly, it can be seen that everyone has their own small abacus in their hearts. .
Thinking about things, the office door was knocked, and Michael · Eisner responded, and his assistant pushed the door in and said, "Mr. Eisner, I have inquired, Eric Williams went to San Francisco these two days, it seems to be For a secretly developed music player for Firefly. "
"Music player?" Michael · Eisner questioned suspiciously. Although the MP3 player has been fully developed at the end of last year, in recent months, Firefly Electronics has been preparing for various preliminary preparations, so Basically in a confidential state.
The assistant of Michael · Eisner nodded and said, "It's a brand new digital audio player. It's a coincidence. You let me participate in the company's negotiation with Nicole · Miss Kidman on the renewal of" The Mummy "last week. I happen to see that Miss Kidman has used this player, which is only slightly larger than the old lighter. It uses a micro hard disk as a storage medium. It can store hundreds of songs in MP3 audio format internally, and no external media such as tapes and discs are required. , I just called Record Company specifically. They also received an invitation from Yahoo Network Company to sell songs in the Yahoo music store at the end of last year. The two parties are still negotiating. "
The eyes of Michael · Eisner, who had been listening attentively, immediately lit up, and he had just faintly realized a problem.
If everything is as the assistant said, then this music player must be supported by a large amount of genuine music resources if it is to be promoted. The reason why Sony bought Columbia records was in this regard. Obviously, the music copyright resources are just the shortcomings of Firefly Group. Although Firefly Records has launched some good singers in recent years, on the inside, Firefly Records is still inferior to Universal records, Warner records and Sony records. Thousand and eight thousand miles away.
"You did a great job," praised each other without hesitation, and said Michael · Eisner: "In addition, prepare a copy of the information on the negotiation between Record Company and Yahoo for me, and then help me make an appointment with Doug. Morris. "
Doug Morris is the CEO of Universal Records. MCA Group, which Seagram took over from Panasonic, mainly includes two parts of Universal Pictures and Universal records. However, Michael · Eisner is not responsible for the business of Universal records.
......
"Fireflyer, this is the most suitable name we finally discussed. Fireflyer is actually a fairy in the fairy tale" Peter Pan "who is somewhat conceited but sincerely loyal to friends. It is because of the laughter of a baby in Renton But in the story, Fireflyer finally married Tinkerbell Tinkerbell. It can be said that this is a small flaw, but the flaw does not conceal the role. Our MP3 player product pursues the same as close friends. The experience of using it just coincides with the character of Fireflyer. At the same time, Fireflyer can also be seen as an extension of Firefly (Firefly). "
In an office building in the city of Auckland, San Francisco, Eric, Chris and a group of Firefly electronic management sat in a conference room and listened quietly to the explanation of Firefly electronic Chairman Bill Olsen.
Bill Olsen is an executive dug by Chris from Apple Inc.. He used to be Apple Inc. responsible for product marketing. A Vice Chairman. Originally, even with Firefly Group as the backing, Bill. Olsen is still not very good. It may be worthy of Firefly Electronics, a small company that has just started, but because of the declining of Apple Inc. in the past two years, the management has switched to find another one, plus Eric and Chris promised enough salary and option rewards, Bill Olsen is willing to come over as Chairman of Firefly Electronics, mainly responsible for the marketing of MP3 players.
Eric finished listening to Bill Olsen and said: "The name Fireflyer is really good, but since you mentioned Tinkerbell, Bill, do n’t you think we can apply for this trademark as an MP3 player as well Is it another brand, maybe, for women only? "
Bill Olson laughed: "Eric, your suggestion was actually mentioned in the original naming conference, but after our discussion, we temporarily dismissed this idea."
Eric looked at the CEO of Firefly Electronics, Victor McNeilly. Victor McNeilly graduated from Stanford University with a PhD in Electronic Engineering and was dug by Chris to take charge of MP3 and eBook project development. Kedo McNeilly is responsible for product development and production at IBM. Although his position is not too high, but his own professional ability is also very good. At first, Chris let the headhunting company look for three months to determine the dimension. Cando McNally's candidate.
Victor McNeilly is a middle-aged white man with a big face and a big beard in slightly chubby. Some of them are not trimmed. When he saw Eric, he smiled and gestured to Bill Olsen, laughing: "Eric, let Bill talk to you, he is the expert in this respect."
Eric looked at Bill Olsen again.
Bill · Olson does n’t sell lawsuits, saying: “It ’s like this, Eric. Under the current circumstances, we only have a product such as Fireflyer. Maybe we can name the pink model Tinkerbell as you said, but This will definitely dilute the player's brand image, which is not good for the promotion of the product. "
......
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Victor McNeilly is a middle-aged white man with a full face and a big beard, slightly chubby, and has some edging. Seeing Eric looking at himself, he smiled and gestured to Bill Olsen, laughing: "Eric, let Bill talk to you, he is the expert in this respect."
Eric looked at Bill Olsen again.
Bill · Olson does n’t sell lawsuits, saying: “It ’s like this, Eric. In the current situation, we only have a product like Fireflyer. Maybe we can name the pink model Tinkerbell as you said, but This will definitely dilute the player's brand image, which will be detrimental to the promotion of the product. "(To be continued.)