Reborn Tech Maniac

Chapter 313 Gaining a Firm Foothold in Hollywood
"In the foreseeable next few years, the status of software will only become more and more important. Don Estridge made timely adjustments, which shows that he is still very sensitive to the development trend of the personal computer industry." Tang Huan Nodded, "How is the troika he built for the IBM-PC platform doing now?"

For the opponent of the blue giant, Tang Huan showed magnanimity and gave corresponding respect. He didn't want to roll up his sleeves and rush forward to fight like his subordinates. This was determined by his status as a business leader.

"After receiving almost nanny care from IBM, the function and quality of the product have made great progress, and a new version will appear on COMDEX a few days later."

Speaking of this, Simeone shook his head slightly distressed, "After all, it is impossible for our software development to do our best on the IBM-PC platform and make wedding dresses for them, so it is difficult to widen the gap. And many engineers think that, Developing software for IBM-PC is doomed to have no future, and once transferred to the project team over there, there will be complaints."

This is really a problem. Excellent software functions must first serve their own hardware platform.

Tang Huan pondered for a moment, "In any case, we cannot give up on IBM-PC software development, because this is a gesture of strength, proving that Zheru software can appear on any mainstream platform that users want. "

Looking around at the crowd, Tang Huan smiled slightly, got up and wrote a few words on the blackboard, "I want to explain a concept to you, that is the entrance. The reason why the category of personal computer appeared in the microcomputer is mainly because it can be popularized to Thousands of households. And each such device is an entrance."

"Users work, study, and entertain at this node, and over time, they will form a fixed habit. We can try to make users willingly spend money to buy our products, but we cannot ignore their habit. Because, This can also be regarded as a kind of life experience and learning accumulation, no one is willing to learn and master the same thing from scratch many times.”

Tang Huan, who returned to his seat again, raised his hand and made a gesture, "It is difficult for the Fangyuan computer produced by us to cover all nodes, but software, a special intellectual product, can become the most extensive entrance. What kind of hardware platform, the first thing users think of is that our various software is the best to use, and the value of the entrance is reflected. Especially with the advent of the Internet age, its significance will become more and more important.”

Everyone here is an elite with thousands of choices. Although they have not been baptized by concepts such as portal websites, Weibo, and smartphone apps in the Internet age, there will be no obstacles to understanding Tang Huan's thoughts.

Everyone savored Tang Huan's point of view carefully, and the more they thought about it, the more they realized that the boss had a thorough understanding of the industry rules, which is probably unmatched by anyone in the industry.

Simeone, who was full of admiration, immediately stated, "I will appease the frustration of the boys in the project team when I go back."

"There is still one thing that needs to be taken into account. The functions on the IBM-PC can't be better than our own Fangyuan computer, otherwise, it's really putting the cart before the horse." Tang Huan joked with a smile.

After discussing the topic of "entrance" and the competition for territory in the PC market for a while, Tang Huan asked, "Has Don Estridge made any other moves?"

"He is still exploring the application field of IBM-PC, and recently he has his eyes on video games." Hawkins answered first, "But the effect should not be great, after all, the current price of IBM-PC is not as high as that of Apple's Apple IIe. Especially now that Commodore's junk computers are making trouble in the low-end market, making IBM-PC a game platform with no cost advantage at all."

"The current situation in the video game market is really chaotic. In addition to those completely cross-field manufacturers entering this field, the relatives of personal computers are also joining in the fun." Tang Huan shook his head emotionally.

It has to be said that once capital loses its rationality and becomes crazy, it is like a wild horse that has run free, and it is difficult to regain control.

Regarding the trend of this wave of market, not to mention that Tang Huan has no idea of ​​saving the market, even if he occasionally has similar thoughts, he will deeply feel that in the face of the general trend, any resistance is futile.

A dead friend is not a poor one, as long as EA can plan ahead and make no mistakes, it can pass the level safely.

Tang Huan couldn't express these thoughts, he could only hold them in his heart.

So, after he waved his hand, he asked the next topic in a dull manner, the preparations for the COMDEX exhibition, because the venue for the first half of the year was not Las Vegas in the west, but New York on the east coast. .

Compared with the past where he had to do everything by himself, now Tang Huan just needs to sit on the floor and listen to the report for things like COMDEX. The only thing he needs to use his brain is the few speeches he will use.

In the following time, Zheru requisitioned Silicon Valley One to go back and forth between San Francisco and New York, and set up an air corridor between Silicon Valley and the COMDEX venue. Other companies benefited from this, and their exhibits were also transported by the extremely powerful transport facility. Needless to say, the Boeing 747-200 was consigned and won favors.

In response, Tang Huan just said lightly, "Silicon Valley No. [-] will naturally serve Silicon Valley as much as possible."

After casually displaying this kind of lofty integrity, Tang Huan, who basically stayed in the R&D center, continued to inquire about the progress of many R&D projects one by one. top priority.

Tang Huan hid in Silicon Valley and buried himself in his old business. David Biggerman, president of MGM, and Andy Albert, president of United Artists, ran over from Hollywood one after another in a hurry.

After a storm of rectification, MGM's stubborn illnesses were eliminated one by one, and all traces of the Kirk Kerkorian era disappeared.

Now even if the veteran gambling king takes MGM back, he can't control it anymore.

However, this kind of "shock therapy" will inevitably hurt muscles and bones, and even lose people's hearts.

In fact, Kirk Kerkorian, who holds 40.00% of the shares, had the idea of ​​privatizing MGM before he sold MGM, but it ended in failure.

However, after Tang Huan put forward sufficient reasons to repair MGM severely, many shareholders who were optimistic about the recovery of the American film industry sold their shares pessimistically.

Coupled with Tang Huan's intentional acquisition, Kirk Kerkorian's privatization idea has ironically made significant progress after he withdrew from MGM.

Although there is still a long way to go before MGM's privatization goal, the distribution of MGM's shares is now much clearer, and it will not be hard to argue when someone questions that it is controlled by the Mafia.

In fact, Tang Huan did not really plan to privatize MGM, which is bigger than a horse, but Lianmei, which is relatively small in scale, has actually been privatized.

Tang Huan's goal for rectifying MGM's shares is to simplify the shareholder structure, and it will continue for a period of time, so that when something really happens, all kinds of phenomena of not working hard will emerge one after another.

In the original time and space, MGM was completely finished, not only because it was abused by Kirk Kerkorian, but also because it was played by capital.

Tang Huan didn't want to think that after MGM made money under his guidance, moths would still remain among the major shareholders.

MGM's reform will continue, but compared to before, the adjustment intensity will definitely be much lower, after all, some goals have already been achieved.

Before David Biggleman came to MGM, he left a professional stain of embezzlement at Columbia Pictures, so he did not sit securely as MGM president, especially regardless of former boss Kirk Kirkley. An, and the current boss, Tang Huan, are both very strong, so there is no need to mention the sense of oppression in his heart.

Hearing that Tang Huan had returned to the United States, David Bigelman hurried over to report on his work.

After some adjustments by the professional team appointed by Tang Huan, MGM is currently divided into three main parts: MGM Classics——MGM’s traditional business, MGM Television——MGM TV, MGM Home Entertainment——MGM May Family Fun.

This is what remains of MGM after the sale of location locations, recording studios, and even props, furniture, and other assets in the Cork Kerkorian sale in the 1970s.

At Tang Huan's request, David Bigelman has recently been busy with the work of MGM Home Entertainment, and quickly put the video business on the track of normal operation.

It has to be said that David Bigelman is quite capable, and Tang Huan, who was deeply satisfied, nodded and affirmed the other party's work achievements.

The waters of Hollywood are very deep, and the profits of some movies can be reduced many times without knowing it. The personal behavior of embezzling public funds is childish compared to cheating with groups.

Tang Huan didn't bother to pay attention to David Bigelman's past, as long as the other party can handle the things he explained to him now, it will be a more capable candidate for the president, let's talk about it slowly.

"MGM finally has a new look now, so let's start slowly, first grab the distribution business that was lost before, and the production of movies and TV can also be resumed." Tang Huan who closed the file casually , ordered lightly, "MGM's tradition of making blockbuster films before, I will choose an opportunity to re-establish."

Hearing the last sentence, David Bigelman couldn't help but feel refreshed. It seems that his career has the hope of recasting its glory.

After dismissing the beaming David Bigelman, United Artists President Andy Albert appeared joyfully as if the two had made an appointment.

The reason why the opponent's emotions are so high is naturally because after the disastrous failure of the "Heaven's Gate" project last year, United Artists has recently begun to have a strong recovery momentum.

The movie "The Four Seasons" selected by Tang Huan for release - "Four Seasons", after Andy Albert's evaluation, he felt that this small-budget romantic comedy with a budget of 650 million US dollars was not bad, and Tang Huan's "snack" According to the instructions, he stepped up a little bit on the distribution.

As a result, the subsequent box office performance of "Four Seasons" not only stunned him, but also surprised the industry so much that it shattered countless glasses.

《四季》的上映日期是5月22日星期五，结果第一个周末票房5月24日达到了1200多万美元，第二个周末票房5月31日达到了750万美元，第三个周末票房6月7日突破了700万美元，连续三周位居美国票房榜首。

Measured by current standards, the weekend box office can exceed tens of millions of dollars, which is a remarkable achievement.

The box office of "Four Seasons" was more than 1200 million US dollars in the first weekend, which was the highest weekend box office of the year at that time, and it was comparable to the blockbuster "Raiders of the Lost Ark", which was just released in the middle of this month.

With the release date almost a month away, the box office of "Four Seasons" is expected to exceed US$6000 million, which is really enviable compared to the US$650 million shooting budget.

Originally, Andy Albert thought that Tang Huan took the initiative to provoke the copyright lawsuit with EA because Universal Pictures took the initiative to counteract and intercepted several films released by the other party.

Now it seems that countermeasures are certain, but anger may not necessarily be seen.

The boss is extraordinary, no matter what business he does, his vision is extremely accurate.

Andy Albert, who was no longer young, admired him more and more. At the same time, he couldn't help feeling a little more afraid.

But in any case, as long as this kind of success happened during his tenure, then the credit can be shared, and the previous movie "Heaven's Gate" suffered a major loss in his career, and he also had the opportunity to make up for it himself.

Tang Huan didn't pay too much attention to the astonishing performance of the dark horse "Four Seasons". After he entered Hollywood, the first thing he had to do was to gain a firm foothold, and this required solid steps.

The last Monday in May every year is Memorial Day in the United States - Memorial Day.Officially, it is to cultivate patriotic sentiment, but among the people, it is regarded as the official start of summer.

Since the blockbuster "Jaws" directed by Spielberg in 1975, under the operation of Universal Pictures, has been a great success, the concept of the summer file has begun to appear.

The box office of movies in this period, the income of a weekend, may be several times higher than that of the off-season, and the competition will naturally become more intense.

Only after such baptism can Tang Huan gain a firm foothold in Hollywood.

So Tang Huan paid more attention to how the "007" produced and released by himself will perform in the summer file with strong opponents.

When it came to this aspect, Andy Albert did not mince words, and directly admitted that his skills were not as good as others, "Based on the previous test screenings and the box office of the first weekend, we will definitely not be able to compete with "Raiders of the Lost Ark". Than."

(End of this chapter)