Hollywood Tycoon [US Entertainment + Business War]

On Monday, The Hollywood Reporter reported the news that "Toy Story" won the box office in its opening weekend with the headline "Small Toys Beat Big Tanks."We must know that "Toy Story" not only defeated "007: Goldeneye", which was considered invincible, but also put "Goldeneye" on the runner-up position with a box office gap of 1000 million US dollars.As soon as the box office results were announced, countless film critics felt that it was unscientific.

Yes, the box office performance has nothing to do with the artistic achievement of the film, but it has something to do with the scene of the film! Nearly two-thirds of Toy Story's scenes are either in Andy's bedroom or in Shade's bedroom, and when was the bedroom of two furry kids more appealing than a street chase in Moscow?More importantly, the only explosion scene in "Toy Story" is the scene where the fireworks explode at the end of the movie. Can this be compared to 007 driving a tank and racing?Countless film critics shouted in their hearts, this is unscientific!

Regardless of whether everyone thinks it is scientific or unscientific, in short, "Toy Story" won a box office of 2900 million US dollars in the first weekend, ranking No.3 in the box office list in the first weekend of the year.You must know that the work before this cartoon is either the third work of the popular "Batman" movie "Batman Forever", or the sequel of the classic funny movie "Aeroplane Detective 2: African Madness," while "Toy Story" is the only new entry on the list.

In addition to marveling at the box office results of "Toy Story", "Hollywood Reporter" put forward a fact very sadly, "I hope all the actors pay attention, this is a three-dimensional animation movie without real people. I once heard It is said that the green screen technology of Galaxy Movies has advanced to the point where any scene can be completely virtualized, which means that we do not need the real world as the subject of shooting. Now, the computer technology of Galaxy Animation Studio is also warning us that maybe On a certain day, movies will no longer require human participation. After all, computers can be used to virtualize any perfect actor who is indistinguishable from the character, but why keep real human actors?"

Not to mention, this feature of the "Hollywood Reporter" has indeed caused tension among many Hollywood actors. Some second- and third-tier actors have said that Hollywood must distinguish between movies and animated movies, and stipulate that only movies starring real people can be defined as movies.At the same time, the Actors Union, which represents the interests of actors, also asked Galaxy Animation Studio and Industrial Light and Magic to disclose their respective research, so that a third party can monitor the progress of film computer technology.

Galaxy Animation Studios did not respond to requests for comment, and George Lucas took to the SAG in a sneer at the San Francisco Chronicle. "When did our actors union have the power of the Department of Commerce or the FTC? What authority do they have to review technology research by private companies? Which court gave them a warrant? I'm here to warn someone if you If there is no search warrant, then our guards are not vegetarians with guns."

Although Lucas's response caused some controversy, it also received a lot of support.In the United States, research by private companies is unsupervised.Unless the federal government or the state government thinks that the research endangers the public interest, it can apply to the court for an injunction to require the supervision of the research.The Screen Actors Union obviously responded too enthusiastically to the actors this time and forgot their own identities, and said many things that did not match their identities.Therefore, after Lucas's tough statement, the actor union also had to come forward to ease the cheek one or two.

The "Toy Story" crew during the promotional period had to accept cross-examination from various programs. Director John Lasseter had to say: "We are very aware of the importance of actors to the film. Galaxy Animation Studio has never planned to let The plan for the live actors to disappear from the film. We’re shooting an animated film, and our goal is to make animated characters that fit the needs of our plot, not animated characters that are very realistic with humans.”

Such reports will naturally be gathered to Jed, who just said coldly: "They are afraid."

"Yeah, any new biological clock that suddenly comes into the existing food chain will be scary." John walked in with a bunch of documents. "The news just came from Hong Kong that Asia Satellite TV has obtained the satellite TV license in Taiwan, and it is expected to enter the cable TV network in Taiwan as soon as the middle of next year. At the same time, your ally in Asia, Mr. Lin Jianyue Again proposed the plan to form a film company. I guess you didn't let him manage the TV company, he may be a little free. I read the plan he proposed, and from my personal point of view, it is worth doing. But I I don’t know much about the Hong Kong film market, so the final decision depends on you. In addition, an invitation letter from the Chinese Consulate in Los Angeles.”

"Invitation letter?" Jed was a little surprised.In fact, I don't have much contact with the Chinese government, so how could I suddenly receive an official invitation.

"Yes, the invitation is signed by the Ministry of Culture and the China Film Association. They hope that you can go to China and give a public speech at the China Film Academy on the market differences between Chinese and American films." John looked at Jed slightly teasingly. "Mr. Sherman, it turns out that you are already a master director in the eyes of the Chinese people?"

Jed didn't take John's words to heart, but was just thinking about the pros and cons of going to China to give a speech.In fact, Jed hopes to sell his films to China, and at the same time, it is Jed's hope that more people can enter the cinema to watch movies.In fact, Jed also wanted to learn from the time-traveling novels, and after a flick of domineering spirit, he bought domestic theaters and integrated a theater company that was stronger than Wanda Cinemas in the future, but he knew that this was impossible.The Chinese government has far more control over the cultural industry than other industries, and it is almost impossible for foreign capital to enter the theater industry, and it will be around 2012 that it will be slightly loosened in the future.

But even if it is really approved to own a theater chain, it does not make much sense in China, because only two companies in China will have the distribution rights of foreign blockbusters in China in the future.One is China Film Group, established in 1999, and the other is Huaxia Film, established in 2003.These two companies have controlled the source of films upstream, and theater companies are completely meaningless downstream.Therefore, Jade has little interest in setting up theater chains in mainland China. As for the establishment of a foreign-funded film company, that is simply a dream.

After thinking about it, Jed found that apart from being able to influence the high-level thinking, going to China this time seems to be of no benefit to him.So Jed said with some frustration: "Forget it, I won't go, it's no good anyway!"

"Why do you think you're not good?" John asked rhetorically, "According to Chinese law, you can't buy their film companies and TV companies, but you can leave a good impression on their executives. You don't Forget, doing business in China actually depends largely on 'Guanxi'. This is a kind of interpersonal communication unique to China."

"How do you know so much about China?" Jed was a little surprised when he heard the word "relationship" out of John's mouth. "Have you ever worked in China? I've seen your resume, but you don't have this work experience."

John shrugged, "Some things you don't have to go to know in person. Our previous law firm had an office in Hong Kong and had helped many American companies enter China. Our colleagues found that there are actually many things that seem to be the same on the surface. Some rules and regulations are related, but in fact they are more related to the person in charge of this matter. As long as you can get the consent of their supervisors, the so-called rules and regulations are just a decoration, and even the law can be violated."

John spoke candidly, but Jed sounded harsh. "Let the secretary's office reject this invitation. Next year, both Asian TV and my company in the United States will be very busy. I don't have time to give speeches."

In the second week of the release of "Toy Story", "Toy Story" and "Golden Eye" are still occupying the first and second places at the box office, while the third place is Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro's "Casino". Take it down.As for Sony's "Silver Line Storm", it was kicked to No.1500 with a box office gap of nearly 4 million.This time, both Sony Pictures Entertainment Group and Columbia Pictures have forgotten their oath to defeat Jed, but swallowed this bitter pill bitterly.

However, Jed is not interested in paying attention to the changes in the box office at this time, but continues to meet with the man in black in a very secret bar.The man in black first smiled jokingly and said, "The Japanese wanted to slap you hard, but they took it upon themselves to humiliate themselves. Although you played well in this round, you may not be able to do so in the next round." Your benefit." The man in black took out a stack of documents from his arms, "In fact, we only learned of this news belatedly, the professional killers hired by the Mitsui consortium have entered the United States, of course you are not them Otherwise, I should have come to attend your funeral at this time. But unfortunately, you are on their blacklist. I can only tell you one thing, this professional killer is very good!"

"Is it your 'industry conscience'?" Jed couldn't help but sneered, "I don't think the money I gave you was for such a news? And the important thing is, the promise back then where?"

The man in black shrugged, "Relax, Mr. Sherman. Although we can't catch this professional killer, we won't let him kill you easily. After all, our boss has worked very happily with you. You give us The profits brought by the family are very considerable. Now you are the third in the important list of our family, second only to our boss and heir, how is it? I am very happy! Because of your help, we can finally have a relationship with Secre The members of the Tuo family competed."

"My business with your boss is legal business, and any illegal things have nothing to do with me." Jed drew a line with him coldly, "Don't put me on your family's list, I and your family not related!"

"Of course! Of course! If you let your grandfather know that we got you into the mafia, I'm afraid he will come to our boss directly to trouble you?" The man in black laughed, "But what I don't understand is why don't you Looking for your grandfather? Doesn’t he want to avenge his daughter and son-in-law? You must know that the organization behind your grandfather can not only influence the United States and Canada, but also has great influence in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Southeast Asia. They can even go directly to Japan . . . I think you should consider them."