America: Starting with the acquisition of MGM

Chapter 315 MGM launches counterattack

"You're saying that Brad Gray has been shaken?"

"That's right, think about it. At the beginning, he rejected my invitation directly."

"But then his secretary contacted me and said that he was busy with the Christmas holiday and couldn't spare the time."

"Just yesterday, his secretary contacted me again, and then I went to his estate in New Jersey and we met."

"Showing your attitude? What does this guy mean?"

Judy chuckled: "Just like you said, Brad Gray finally wavered, and he asked me to bring you a message."

"Paramount will withdraw from the competition during the Christmas season, but let him express his opinion that he will definitely not. He does not want to directly offend Disney, Sony, and Warner."

"It means that I plan to wait and see. I hope that the fight between me and Disney will come to an end, and then Paramount will make a statement."

"More or less, Paramount is weak and has no other good solution other than being a fence-sitter."

"Haha, have you ever heard of a saying?"

"What?"

"Loyalty is not absolute, but it is absolutely disloyal! At least this hole is temporarily opened."

"Well, everything depends on the Christmas performance, Eric. Actually, I have always had an idea in my mind."

"what idea?"

"Your woman is very nice, can you lend it to me?"

"Huh?" Eric didn't respond.

"Haha, just kidding. Regarding the last tough battle of the year, the Christmas season is about to start. Maybe we should launch a counter-encirclement and suppression campaign."

Eric looked back and forth on her face suspiciously, thinking to himself that they went on vacation with Gadot. Could it be that the two of them had done something?

"What do you think? We have been suffering. The Big Six are always able to mobilize various resources to besiege us. Although MGM has not failed, it gives the impression to the market that we are always in a weak position passively being attacked."

"I don't like this feeling. I prefer to take the initiative to attack. When you planned to acquire Lucasfilm last time, you wanted to arrange several blockbusters to attack "Star Wars Episode III"."

"Later, I kept thinking, if that's the case, why not launch a counter-siege for the Sixth National Congress during the Christmas period?"

"Eric, now we have reached the most critical moment. Shareholders are watching, and Paramount is also waiting."

"It's time to show our sharpest fangs. Even if it causes self-crushing, we must show our momentum."

"You must let everyone know that MGM has enough resources and countless back-up players. It is time for the title of the world's largest film and television company to change hands."

Judy's suggestion was like a wake-up call for Eric.

He suddenly realized that he seemed to be trapped in a strange thinking circle.

For large-scale productions, he has always set aside enough schedule to prevent self-competition and consumption.

In this way, even if we face the siege of the six major forces, even if we lose money, we can still lose less.

But this war of attrition has been going on for more than half a year, giving people the feeling of being endless. It would be better to launch a climactic counterattack.

Let the Six Majors also have a taste of being sniped. Maybe this is the node, the node where offense and defense change positions.

And MGM's market value is now second only to Disney. If Disney is defeated through this wave, MGM may jump to the top of the list.

The increased market value by then will definitely be enough to offset the film's losses.

"Well, it's a good idea, and it's really worth trying. I don't like the feeling of being beaten passively."

As he said that, he picked up the phone and called Kevin Feige.

"Boss, is something wrong?"

"Kevin, how is the production of Iron Man and Captain America going?"

"It's going very well, we're all in the post-production stage."

"I want to know the degree of completion and how long it will take to complete the film at the earliest?"

"According to the progress feedback given by Weta Digital last week, "Iron Man" has been 90% completed, and "Captain America" ​​is about 80% complete."

"If you are in a hurry and push it, you should be able to produce the finished film of "Iron Man" in half a month."

"Okay, I'll hurry up Peter Jackson, and you'll go for the review immediately."

"Boss, what happened? Didn't you say that you won't let "Iron Man" be released until at least February next year."

"I have changed my mind. This Christmas season is the time for Marvel to show off its talents. Notify the actors to get ready for promotions."

"Oh! Got it!"

Although he doesn't know what Eric is going to do, Kevin Feige knows that he just needs to carry out the mission.

At least until the results of the two movies are released, he won't have the confidence to express his opinions.

"By the way, what's the current status of the cooperation that Marvel and Hasbro discussed some time ago?"

"It's going pretty well. The contracts have been signed, but the exclusive authorization is not yet available. Our contracts with many companies have been terminated, but there are still a few left."

"The latest company is Beechcraft Toys. The licensing period will not end until the end of next year. By then, only Double Star Entertainment and Hasbro will be left."

The contract was signed before, and there was nothing Eric could do. He couldn't unilaterally break the contract. That's not how business works.

At most, when Marvel becomes popular, those people come to ask for reconciliation and just refuse them politely.

"Communicate well with Double Star Entertainment and Hasbro and produce peripherals for related characters such as Iron Man and Captain America in advance. We will make a lot of money."

After hanging up the phone, Eric contacted Peter Jackson again and asked him to speed up.

The two have a good relationship, and the bearded man is cheerful and agrees immediately.

The main reason is that Eric gave the copyright of The Hobbit to New Line, and New Line invited Peter Jackson to continue to direct and continue to offer the industry's top salary.

If another trilogy can be made, Peter Jackson will have no problem earning 300 to 400 million US dollars.

He was grateful in his heart.

"Are you going to release two superhero movies?"

"Well, in addition, you should summarize the shooting progress of other movies. If you want to fight, you have to fight a big one."

Soon, MGM released several latest movie trailers, including "Iron Man", "Captain America", "Transformers 2", "Rampage", "Assassins of the League", "La Vie en Rose", etc.

At the same time, it was announced that the release dates of "Iron Man", "Captain America" ​​and "Assassins of the League" would be advanced to the Christmas season.

Looking at the handsome iron armor in the trailer, Robert Downey Jr. conquered many audiences with just one trailer, mainly because the armor was so handsome.

In addition, he has been very honest this year, quit drinking and drugs, attended various charity activities, and constantly showed his healthy side, which greatly improved his reputation.

Chris Evans' Captain America also received a lot of praise. He rushed forward in the hail of bullets. The fierce action scenes were completely different from the feelings given by superheroes such as "X-Men" and "Spider-Man". They were real and magical.

The bullets that could turn a corner attracted the curiosity of many viewers. James McAvoy finally waited for the opportunity.

Neeko fully demonstrated her charm in the movie. The biographical movie and the art film clearly showed that she was going to impact this year's Oscars.

Suddenly, the gunpowder smell of the Christmas season surged. Looking at MGM's full-scale attack, it was the Big Six that was a bit messed up.

Do you accept it? Do you fight?

This is a question.

If you accept it, you have to mobilize more resources to attack. You must know that MGM has mobilized almost all A-level productions this time.

"Assassin's League" may be weaker, but the production cost has reached 80 million US dollars. In this case, pulling small pawns over will not be of much use.

But this year has come to the last moment. In order to snipe MGM, the big productions are almost used up.

Most of the big six are now holding big movies that are ready to be released next year.

Pulling them over is like jumping into this meat grinder, but admitting defeat is even worse.

Whether it is Disney, Sony, or Warner, everyone is worried.

Finally, everyone's eyes turned to Disney. As the big brother, can you do it?

Whether it is a taboo topic for a man or not is a taboo topic for Disney.

In order to defend their position, they have to do it even if they can't.

So soon Mickey Mouse announced that "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe", which was originally scheduled to be released next year, will be moved forward to the Christmas season.

Sony also announced that "Rivals" starring Will Smith will be moved forward to the Christmas season.

20th Century Fox announced that "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", which was originally scheduled for June, will be moved forward to January.

At the same time, Warner and Universal also announced that "Batman Begins" and "Meet the Fockers 2" and other movies may be rescheduled, but did not say the specific date.

Paramount did not express its position and kept silent and pretended to be an ostrich.

The storm is coming, and seeing them rushing in again, Eric simply adds fuel to the fire.

It just so happens that BK Films has already completed the production of "The Invisible Man" and "Pearl", and is waiting for the release date.

There is no need to wait, and it will enter the Christmas to February schedule together with "Saw 3".

Then there is "Kung Fu", which has been invested for a long time, and Stephen Chow has already finished filming.

According to the original agreement, Stephen Chow will be responsible for the distribution in China, and MGM will be responsible for it worldwide, so it is simply squeezed into this deadly schedule.

This time it is really packed, with no free time left.

Many people realize that after this round of fighting, if they win, the new emperor will ascend the throne.

Lose? Lose, lose, both sides will suffer.

Time has entered December, and there is only one week left before the Christmas schedule.

In addition to filming, Eric's daily life is to have sex with women, which is boring and tedious.

During this period, he also bought a house for Xiao Liu and brought Lao Liu in.

Then he received a request from China, because the annual Spring Festival Gala was about to start.

In view of the unprecedented popularity brought by Michael's attendance in the last session, CCTV asked him again.

They didn't need big stars, but hoped to invite Taylor Swift, Xilin, Katy Perry and Martian to sing a song together on stage.

Because programs such as "The Voice of America" ​​and "Ninja Contest" were introduced there, they were also well received after being broadcast.

For the current Chinese mainland, the most influential singing variety show is the Youth Song Competition and Super Girl.

Although the Youth Song Competition is more professional and the singers are talented, the format is too old-fashioned, and the ratings have long been bad, and the audience doesn't like to watch it.

Super Girl is a product of imitating "American Idol" and "British Idol", and the copyright fee has not been paid yet, which is a plagiarism.

It is indeed very popular, but there are also a lot of negative news, and it was sued by a British copyright company.

In this era of weak copyright awareness and imperfect laws in mainland China, facing an uninfluential British company, the toilet station will definitely win, but this person will definitely lose.

CCTV is producing its own "China Voice", which will be broadcast in the first half of next year.

Eric would naturally not refuse this request, and asked the four people to take two or three days to go there, so as not to delay things.

Since the album was released, the four have become one of the most eye-catching singers of the new generation, and have been receiving many commercial performances.

Among them, the most expensive is Mars. Although he did not win the championship, he seemed to be named the successor of Michael after the competition.

If Michael cannot be invited, then just invite him. After all, he is also a master of singing and dancing, and can sing Michael's songs for free.

Katy Perry followed closely behind. "Stronger" scored a big score and is a strong contender for the Grammy next year.

Taylor Swift and Silence are about the same, and their appearance fees have reached 250,000 US dollars.

On Friday, the Arclight Theater premiered "Inception".

As usual, a long red carpet was laid on the asphalt road, and long and short guns were set up around it to aim at the stars who came to the stage.

Conan O'Brien was invited to be the host, strolling back and forth on the red carpet and making jokes.

Today, Eric not only invited many stars, but also paid off many directors to attend the premiere together.

After all, this is Inception, a high-scoring masterpiece that ranks high on imdb. If you don't invite these colleagues, how can you pretend to be cool?

"Christopher, it's great that you can come."

Looking at Nolan walking towards him, Eric took the initiative to extend his hand and shake hands with him.

"After receiving your invitation, I turned down all my evening activities. My only job tonight is to appreciate your masterpiece."

Eric laughed loudly. He really wanted to see Nolan's expression when he watched the movie later.

Holding the other party's hand, Eric lowered his head slightly and whispered: "Nolan, you just said that you have something to do in the evening. Is it because the post-production of Batman has not been completed yet?"

Nolan laughed dryly a few times: "Don't ask about this. If people know that you are getting information from me, Warner will definitely make trouble for me."

"Warner? Warner is shit!"

Listening to Eric's undisguised abuse, Nolan was embarrassed and didn't know what to say.

I know you don't get along, but you should be more careful, brother. There are cameras all around. It's not good to record it. People will think I defected to the enemy.

"If you are not happy working at Warner, why not cooperate with me in the next movie? You can shoot whatever you want. I promise not to interfere."

Nolan is not yet a god. Although his talent has been recognized, his commercial performance still lacks a final work. He can't make movies as freely as he will in the future.

So when I heard Eric's promise, I was somewhat moved.

"I will consider it, Eric."

"Well, remember, I admire you, Nolan!"

"Hahahaha, it's my honor."