America: Starting with the acquisition of MGM

Chapter 200 We Found Taylor Swift

Eric's eyes lit up when he heard the name Kevin Feige.

Anyone who knows Marvel knows that the DCEU has been booming for more than ten years. A bunch of superheroes have formed a movie universe together, and the person behind it is Kevin Feige.

It can be said that until the end of "Avengers 4", which is the third phase of Marvel, the company's operations were extremely successful. For more than ten years, it has made tens of billions of dollars around the world, making countless people jealous.

The biggest contributor to such success is Kevin Feige. He takes charge of the overall situation and is undoubtedly a successful planner and strategic master.

Subsequently, quantum travel and the fall of Thanos, the climax that the audience had been waiting for for more than ten years finally came to an end. Although some viewers complained that Avengers 4 had too many plot bugs, most viewers were still satisfied, which can be seen from the box office.

Then the Marvel Universe entered the fourth phase. The departure of Iron Man and Captain America caused the hero team to instantly lose its backbone.

Coupled with more than ten years of superhero blockbusters, the audience has indeed become aesthetically tired. After watching Endgame, fans who have been chasing it for more than ten years have finally fulfilled their wish.

Just like when a puff is ejaculated during sex, a man's desire will suddenly decrease, and he will naturally lack interest in subsequent works.

The new movie-watching group does not bother to review old movies from ten years ago. They cannot understand many plots without starting from the first movie. They have unknowingly raised the threshold for watching movies.

These factors are in line with objective laws and no one can change them.

The film and television dramas launched in the fourth phase include "Wanda and Vision", "The Falcon and the Winter Soldier", "Loki", "Black Widow", "Shang-Chi", "The Eternals", etc.

Did you find a problem?

The quality of the first few dramas released was pretty good, especially "Wanda and Vision", which was well received, but then it took a sharp turn for the worse.

The casting of "Shang-Chi" was obviously discriminatory. It deliberately chose Liu Simu, who has an ugly and ugly daughter who is disgusting. Tony Leung rushed to participate in it.

That is to say, he is too famous, so he was not blocked. Just like when he was filming "Lust, Caution", he was not blocked because of his fame. Newcomer Tang Wei was unlucky and did not film for three years.

"The Eternals" is even more of a piece of shit. The LGBT elements shine through and it's beyond bad.

The reason why this situation occurs is actually internal.

Because just like Warner particularly likes to intervene in DC's planning and filming, Disney also began to intervene in Marvel's internal operations from this stage.

Mickey Mouse appointed a new CEO, Bob Chapek, to take over. After the veteran CEO of Marvel, he immediately placed a large number of cronies into important positions in the company. The representative person was Victoria Alonso, and they took away Kevin Feige's hand. that power.

Since Kevin Feige understands both comics and movies, he always meets face-to-face with the director to communicate the project blueprint.

But after Bob Chapek came, Kevin Feige was not allowed to communicate directly with the director and screenwriter, but had to have other executives present to negotiate.

If everyone disagrees, then sorry, you can no longer make decisions as before. You must continue to hold meetings to negotiate and ask for instructions.

If the director, screenwriter and other executives agree, then Kevin Feige will be kicked out and lose his right to make suggestions.

Under Bob Chapek's series of operations, Marvel has become a place where political correctness is rampant, and Kevin Feige is completely isolated and becomes a puppet with name but no power.

Fortunately, the consequences are obvious. Except for "Spider-Man 3" which made a lot of money based on emotions, other projects mostly suffered losses.

After several years of frustration, Disney finally seemed to realize its mistake, so it kicked away Bob Chapek and invited Kevin Feige out, hoping that he could clean up the mess.

Then Marvel made a masterpiece like "Rocky 2" that once again became a god.

It can be seen from the development history of Marvel in later generations that Kevin Feige is definitely a talent. Marvel with him and without him are completely different companies.

At the same time, it also proves from the side that if an outsider guides an expert, something will happen.

This kind of talent Eric must be in the palm of his hand. After two or three years, he will succeed Avi Arad as CEO and he will serve as chairman of the board of directors.

On the surface, Kevin Feige is in charge of Marvel, while Eric is behind the scenes. The two of them, one in the dark and the other in the open, can ensure that Marvel continues to thrive for decades.

Of course, Kevin Feige doesn't do a good job every time, such as "Captain America 1", "Thor 1", "Thor 2" and other plots.

But no matter how bad it is, it is still better than those in the later period, and these bad works need Eric to control them.

As far as the DCEU's first game is concerned, it would be best to make "Iron Man". Unfortunately, the copyright of Iron Man is still in the hands of New Line.

After New Line successfully launched the "Blade" series, it seems to be more confident in superhero movies. It has once released news that it wants to bring Iron Man to the big screen and invites Tom Cruise to play Tony Stark.

Then MGM can only settle for the next best thing and make "Captain America" ​​first.

Anyway, in terms of character popularity alone, Captain America is not even remotely better than Iron Man. The former has always been a first-line hero, while the latter has never been a first-line hero.

It was after the movie was released that Iron Man's popularity began to increase rapidly, but it still did not become the most popular.

Spider-Man, Wolverine, Doctor Doom, Magneto and others have always overwhelmed him.

At Neverland, Eric and Michael were talking about this period of time.

"Mykko, I went to China a few days ago to promote Transformers, and I talked about you with the officials there."

"They asked me to help send you an invitation. They hope you can go to China to attend a large party and perform on stage."

"Me? You mean Huaxia plans to invite me?" Maikou asked, pointing at his face in surprise.

"Yes, you are the king of pop in the world. You also have a large number of fans in China, probably more than in the entire United States."

"There are a total of 1.3 billion people there. Do you know how big a group of people this is? The United States only has more than 200 million people, which is only one-fifth of China."

"Eric, wait for me."

Maikou said, stood up and left, and came back after a while holding several photo albums.

"Wow, look at the cover, this photo album seems to be quite old."

"Well, the photos stored in it are all my photos from the 1980s, at least more than ten years ago."

As he spoke, he opened one of the books and flipped through it but couldn't find what he was looking for. He picked up another book and opened one of the pages. He pointed at it with a smile and said, "Look at this, guess where this place is?"

The photo shows a young Maikou. At that time, his skin was still completely black. He looked to be in his twenties, with a handsome face and a feminine softness.

Next to him is a Chinese old lady, looking kindly at the camera.

Eric could tell at a glance that he was definitely Chinese, and the feeling was completely different from Southeast Asia and Bangzi.

"Hahahaha, you can't guess it. Let me tell you, the place in the photo is Huaxia."

"That was in 1987. I went to Xiangjiang for vacation, and then went to a city in GD Province, or it would be more appropriate to call it a village."

"I can't remember the specific name of the place, but look at the scenery in these photos. It's really beautiful there. It's a beauty unique to nature, mysterious and peaceful."

Then he pointed to a photo on the lake and said: "Look at this, I am sitting on a boat wearing a straw hat, surrounded by water. The color of the water is very clear."

"That old lady, she invited me to her house for tea and gave me a few potatoes to eat."

"This memory suddenly came to me. It's so wonderful to think about it now. I love that country."

Eric looked at the photo album for a long time.

Fate, wonderful!

"Maiko, are you willing to attend the party? It will probably delay you for two or three days."

"What year exactly is it?"

"It's the evening of January 22nd, but you have to fly there in advance. The party may require a rehearsal, and you also need to familiarize yourself with the stage in advance."

"Eric, are many people watching this show?"

Eric nodded solemnly: "The Spring Festival Gala is the highest-profile gala in China. It is only held once a year and will be watched by hundreds of millions of people at the same time. You can think of it as the Chinese version of the Super Bowl."

It is said that Americans don’t understand the Spring Festival Gala, but no American understands the Super Bowl. Football is actually the number one sport in the United States. Baseball, basketball, and football combined are not enough to play.

Sure enough, when he heard the word "hundreds of millions of people", Maikou, who was used to big winds and waves, was also surprised.

"Oh my God! It seems that I really have no reason not to participate in the party watched by hundreds of millions of people. What do you need me to perform? Sing or dance?"

Eric shrugged: "You decide the show yourself, just think of it as a warm-up for next year's national tour."

"Hahahaha, you're right. I've been doing recovery training recently, so let's take this show as a touchstone to get back on stage."

"It has always been my dream to let more people see and know me. Thinking about the scale of hundreds of millions of people is exciting."

"If you agree, I will give you an answer. You sign the contract as soon as possible. However, I predict that the remuneration will not be too high. I hope you don't mind."

Maikou waved his hand: "Remuneration is not a problem, Eric. We are all people who don't value money. It is enough for hundreds of millions of people to see me at the same time."

It went smoothly beyond expectations. I didn't expect that Maikou agreed so easily. Eric had planned to persuade him.

After all, limited by economic conditions and copyright restrictions, people over there were watching and listening to pirated copies, but they didn’t actually contribute much economic benefit to Mykou.

There is no compensation for inviting celebrities to the Spring Festival Gala. It’s good to just give them a box lunch. Even if foreign celebrities are compensated, it was not high in 2003.

It is said that when Celine Dion sang in the Spring Festival Gala, she only received a friendly price of 2 million yuan.

Now having 200,000 RMB is not bad. At the same time, Maikou will definitely bring its own clothing and team, which is actually equivalent to a discount.

Eric knew what Chen Ou had in mind when he came to find him, but he was just aware of his relationship with Maikou, so he wanted to use his face.

Now that McQueen has given itself face, MGM has been helping China expand overseas markets. After paying so much, I don’t believe they are still stuck in the approval process for American dramas.

If he is really so unkind, don't blame Eric for turning against him when the time comes.

Of course, there is still some selfishness. Let MyKou bring a little shock to domestic entertainment. It is best to severely crack down on the Korean wave and the idol style, improve the public's aesthetic level, and improve the ratings of American dramas after they enter China. It will also be helpful.

Picked up the phone on the spot and called Chen Ou.

"Hello Director Chen, is it convenient for me to speak?"

"It's convenient, just tell me Mr. Cooper."

"As for the thing you asked me to do, Maikou has already agreed that he will attend this year's Spring Festival Gala."

"Really? Thanks, thank you so much Eric."

Chen Ou's somewhat excited voice came from the opposite side. Being able to invite the world's three top tenors does not mean that he can invite the world's pop king.

The former is a bit too elegant. Being too elegant means that it is highbrow and unpopular, and the common people cannot understand it. It is not widely disseminated, so in terms of popularity and value, it is actually far inferior to Maikou.

"You're welcome, I said friends are meant to help each other."

"Hahahaha, you're right, you're right, friends help each other, it makes so much sense."

"You should take the time to send someone over to sign the contract and then discuss the details of the stage. After all, time is running out."

"Well, I'm going to send someone to the United States right now. Eric, I didn't expect you to get things done so quickly. To be honest, I just gave it a try that day."

Eric smiled: "Bureau Chen, I also hope that your photoelectric company can give me an answer soon."

"Don't worry, I will do my best, no, I will try my best!"

After hanging up the phone, Eric looked at Maikou: "China will send someone over soon. You two can handle the specific matters. I won't care."

"What! That won't work! We'll go together then. As the middleman, you can't shirk it."

Eric chuckled: "No problem, it would be nice to watch the Spring Festival Gala live."

After talking about this matter, the two talked about the management issues of Art Records, especially the recording of The Voice of America, otherwise they would not be able to compete with American Idol next year.

"By the way, Mike, when will the recording of The Voice of America start?"

"It's coming soon. It will be officially launched before the end of the month. The players found this time are all good prospects with good skills."

“I listened to their demos of songs and there were a few that were really good and I thought they were worth cultivating.”

"Haha, to be recognized by you means that they are really strong. Do you have detailed information? Resumes and the like."

Soon, Maikou brought over a thick document, which contained the personal information of the contestants, including names, home addresses, singing styles they are good at, etc. There were dozens of files to open.

Yes, although the other three instructors don't know the contestants' information, as one of the producers, Michael would be incompetent if he didn't know the information.

However, what I heard were all demos, and the difference from the live performance is still very big, so it will not affect the live recording effect.

Besides, even if it affects some, it can be compensated for by my acting skills.

Turning to the first page, there was a teenage boy named Cavalon Sinai, and Eric was not impressed.

On the second page, there is another teenage boy, whom I still don’t recognize.

When I turned to the tenth page, a young girl suddenly jumped out in front of me. The photo looked like she was only thirteen or fourteen years old.

The name column clearly reads: Taylor Alison Swift.