Mei Man: I drew Superman during the Great Depression

Chapter 323 New Choice
Like many talented businessmen, he knows that free competition is wasteful and monopoly is efficient.Therefore, his goal is to pursue this effective monopoly. --"godfather"

This film, which was later produced by Paramount, well interprets the characteristics of capital.

Since the fall of Edison, Paramount has reached the center of power in the film industry by virtue of tough methods, forming a new monopoly.

Throughout the 20s, Paramount had nearly 500 theaters, most of which were first-run theaters.

In the era when movies could not be released simultaneously, the first round of theaters meant a big box office.

At the same time, independent theater operators are forced to sign a five-year "Block Booking" contract, that is, a "bundle sale" contract. As long as the theater wants to show a film produced by Paramount, it must buy other films under its umbrella, ranging from a dozen or so. , as many as dozens or even hundreds, including various short films or feature films.

Moreover, in this bundling model, the independent theater operators as the contracting parties have no right to choose independently. That is to say, under such conditions, even if Paramount makes a lot of bad movies, they are not afraid of not being sold, and the risks are transferred to on these exhibitors.

And once the industry disagrees, Paramount will directly arrange to open a theater with better conditions opposite it, and adopt measures such as temporary price cuts to snatch most of the theater's customers in a short period of time, forcing the operator to make a decision. choose.

Throughout the 20s, Paramount relied on the benefits brought by the "Block Booking" contract to rapidly expand its scale, which naturally attracted the attention of the regulatory authorities.

In fact, as far as Colin knows, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission has been prosecuting Paramount’s “bundling” since 1921. Sky Corporation Case.

The entire prosecution and collection process lasted for seven years, until 1927, after collecting as many as 1.7 pages of testimony and 1.5 pages of evidence, the US Federal Trade Commission believed that Paramount "bundled sales" is indeed an unfair trade practice and demands that it cease immediately.And gave Paramount 60 days to comply with the findings or provide a written report.

But Paramount didn't care, and didn't submit a report until a year later, in which it strongly denied its monopoly.

From another point of view, the expansion of Paramount also happens to represent the first period of rapid development of Hollywood. During the period of the first lawsuit, Hollywood has rapidly grown into one of the top ten industries in the United States.The annual investment is about 20 billion US dollars, the number of films produced has reached more than 500, the number of theaters in the country has exceeded 2, and about 8000 million people go to the theater every week.

Such a huge market naturally attracted a large amount of capital injection.

Originally, according to the normal prosecution procedure, the regulatory authorities were ready to take action. In fact, in 1930, the US judiciary filed two more antitrust cases, and later merged these two cases into one lawsuit. case, and the defendant has also expanded from the original Paramount to ten film companies including: Paramount, MGM, RKO, Fox, Warner, Universal, United Artists, and First National Exhibition Alliance.

It can be said that once the lawsuit officially takes effect, the entire Hollywood will face severe punishment, just like Edison at the beginning.

However, during this period, something unexpected happened to everyone-the Great Depression.

Under the disaster that swept across the United States, Paramount was the first to taste the consequences of crazy expansion and became the first Hollywood giant to fall.

Although, due to the Great Depression, the new Roosevelt administration did not continue to pursue the issue of the lawsuit. In the current form of Hollywood, once the lawsuit is investigated again, the entire film industry may collapse in an instant.

However, everyone knows that the government will not let these big studios go easily.

"At least, it's not a problem now, is it?"

Frowning, suppressing the uneasiness in his heart, Otto Kahn looked at Colin in front of him and said calmly.

"But sooner or later he will become a problem. The federal government will not allow a behemoth like Paramount to continue to monopolize the entire film industry, even after the restructuring is completed."

As a latecomer, Colin knew very well that in 1938, shortly after the Great Depression, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a new lawsuit against Paramount and other eight major studios under the "Sherman Anti-Lass Act".

And this case is also known as "United States v. Paramount Pictures".

"This is not something I need to consider..."

After thinking for a while, Otto Kahn gave his own answer.

"All I need to do is to complete the reorganization of Paramount. As for what Paramount will face later, that is a problem that belongs to Paramount."

What Otto Kahn represents actually comes from the power of Wall Street. Paramount needs to use a lot of capital in the process of acquiring theaters. These funds are huge even for Paramount. Therefore, at the beginning Paramount had raised $1000 million in Wall Street investment firms at the time of the acquisition.

And Otto Kahn happened to be a partner of this investment company.

Therefore, Otto Kahn is not as indifferent as he himself said.

Paramount's interests in fact also represent the interests of Otto Kahn.

"I'm going to buy Paramount."

Just when Otto Kahn deliberately shied away, Colin who was in front of him suddenly opened his mouth and directly stated his purpose.

Colin's sudden confession made Otto Kahn's expression stunned for a moment. He picked up the napkin at hand and wiped his sauce-stained beard to hide the surprise at the corners of his mouth. Looking at Colin, he said, "Now is not a good time to enter the arena."

Although Otto Kahn has already begun to participate in the reorganization of Paramount, he knows very well that it is absolutely necessary for a company, especially a studio with such a huge property scale as Paramount, to complete the reorganization in a short period of time. In impossible times, especially before the Great Depression, Paramount acquired more than [-] movie theaters. These are all issues that need to be specially reviewed.

Even when the supervisory department was investigating Paramount’s monopoly issue, it took about seven years. Otto Kahn conservatively estimated that Paramount would need at least one year, no, about two years In order to truly complete the restructuring.

"However, it is undeniable that Paramount is the largest studio in Hollywood. Even if it enters the reorganization, it still retains important properties."

Paramount's most important property is naturally its huge number of theaters.

And these are also the key points that Colin cares about.

The reason why he came all the way to Los Angeles to meet Otto Kahn is also that he knows that in the near future, a group of people like him will set their sights on Hollywood and join the film industry with money. — Gangsters.

The reason why the gangsters are so eager to join the ranks of Hollywood is naturally the "Prohibition" that is about to be officially abolished.

As the group that earned the most benefit during the entire "Prohibition" process, with the abolition of "Prohibition", they must find a new foothold. When legal alcohol can no longer provide huge profits, how to find new targets becomes a challenge. The first choice of this group, not to mention that the benefits obtained by relying on the "Prohibition" are ultimately illegal, so an investment that can legally launder money is also what they are looking for.

The film industry, it seems, fits their needs well.

It is precisely because of the consideration that in the near future, the whole of Hollywood will pour in a new fund that Colin needs to make arrangements in advance.

Although, Paramount has always been his first choice.

After all, regardless of the scale or the number of theaters, once it can be grasped, it will greatly increase the speed of Colin's acquisition of [Faith] in the future.

But if there is really no other way, he doesn't mind choosing another studio for acquisition.

From what Roy Disney said, Colin already knew that besides Paramount, which was officially reorganized, the financial situation of Fox and 20th Century Studios was also not ideal. What is a 20th Century Fox.

"..."

Otto Kahn did not immediately respond to Colin's positive attitude.

According to the safest approach, the reorganization of the entire Paramount should not have any new third parties entering, so as to ensure that the internal rights and interests of Paramount will not be too much damaged to the greatest extent.

Otto Kahn himself does not want too much capital to be inserted into Paramount, which will undoubtedly affect his own rights.

"Sorry, Mr. Colin Looper, I am not a first-party position on the acquisition of Paramount, and I cannot make a decision for Paramount. This needs to be discussed by the bank restructuring team before I can give you a formal reply."

After being silent for a while, Otto Kahn gave a well-balanced reason.

But from his tone, Colin could vaguely perceive Otto Kahn's attitude.

As the person in charge of the reorganization of Paramount, in fact Otto Kahn has absolute dominance over the entire Paramount.

"Yes, I am looking forward to a good result."

Although, he already had the answer in his heart, but on the surface Colin still showed expectation.

"Of course, I will try my best to convey your thoughts, Mr. Colin Luper, to everyone in the reorganization team."

Otto Kahn also responded with a smile.

……

The world of mutants, inside the eerie castle.

During this time, Ke Lin has been focusing on the acquisition of film companies in the world.

After the meeting with Otto Kahn, he asked Roy Disney to help contact other film studios in Hollywood. Fox Films was the most active in terms of acquisitions. Of course, this is also very different from the current situation of Fox. associated.

A few years earlier, two years before the Great Depression in 1927, Fox's power holder, William Fox, had bought their stake in the Lowy Corporation after the death of his old rival Marcus Lowy, which owned not only 200 Many movie theaters, or the parent company of MGM.

However, Louis Mayer, the head of MGM, was angered by the acquisition and quickly fought back, using his political power to push the Department of Justice to open an antitrust investigation of Fox Film Corporation.

What is even more unfortunate is that William Fox himself was injured in a "car accident" in the process, and the subsequent Great Depression wiped out most of his wealth.

Fox Films' film empire began to fall apart, and William Fox himself went to jail for debts.

Today, Fox Films is facing huge financial problems. William Fox has lost control of Fox Films. Even when the 20th Century Production Company acquired Fox Films, William Fox directly became outsider.

A company named after the surname, but in the end it became someone else's wedding dress, no matter who is facing such a situation, it will feel disheartened,

According to the information Roy received, William Fox had just been released from prison not long ago, and the sudden Great Depression had shattered his original ambitious ideas. Today, William Fox only wanted to sell Fox as soon as possible.Obviously, the entire Great Depression had a huge impact on him. After all, he himself was actually imprisoned because of the Great Depression.

It is said that William Fox himself has already had the idea of ​​​​leaving from the film industry.

Knowing part of William Fox's situation from Roy, Colin also moved the idea of ​​meeting him.

Although Fox Films is not as large as Paramount, it also has a large number of theaters under its umbrella, which is an option.

Of course, the meeting with William Fox required Roy to contact him, and Colin himself took advantage of this time to return to the mutant world.

I don’t know whether it’s because of the relationship between the two dimensions or the increase in time gem fragments. Compared with the previous anti-world, the time flow in the mutant world is slower. Colin has experienced so many things in the normal world, but in the mutant world, only Three days have passed.

During this period, Tony and the Avengers are working hard to repair the broken belt, starting to use the future technology level in the cable belt, even a genius like Tony can't complete the work in a short time, especially Considering the death of the entire mutant world due to the apocalypse, it fell into madness and chaos.

Even rationalists like Nightcrawler have to hide in the shelter to ensure that their consciousness is not overly eroded by the madness factor.

A large amount of research equipment and professional materials could not be found immediately, and this situation undoubtedly greatly slowed down the restoration of Tony and Banner.

　Thank you Yewuyue~ for the 500 starting point reward.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)