The Best Entertainment Era

Just after working hours, the office door knocked from the outside, and Robert Iger pushed the door and walked in, holding a thick document in his hand.

Will it be busy? Robert Iger said with a smile.

Ronan picked up the phone in his hand and shook it: Yes.

Robert Iger understood Ronan's work style, and asked curiously: Is there another copyright you fancy?

Picking up another copy of The Da Vinci Code, Ronan handed it to Robert Iger, who opened a chair and sat down, put down the file, took it and flipped through it.

Religious themes. Robert Iger is not good at film projects, so he simply flipped through them: I also borrowed Da Vinci and The Last Supper, and the content looks the same as the real thing.

Ronan put down the book in his hand and said, This is easy to cause controversy.

Robert Iger didn't read much, and put it aside. The specific decisions on film and television projects and content production are not within his management scope, and he is also very clear that compared with the young boss, his ability in this area is inferior Too much.

I just heard yesterday that you are going to introduce a religious movie, isn't it this? Robert Iger asked.

Ronan shook his head lightly: No. The embassy film industry is talking about The Passion of the Christ directed by Mel Gibson. It was after watching that film that I saw The Da Vinci Code on the Internet. After the briefing, the interest arose.

Robert Iger asked with concern: How is the Passion of the Christ going?

The first formal negotiation yesterday. Ronan smiled: I guess there is some talk.

Embassy Pictures is always paying attention to the development of Mel Gibson's film. The current situation is extremely beneficial to the distributor. Except for a small company called Newmarket, no other distribution company is interested in The Passion of the Christ.

Robert Iger picked up the document, handed it to Ronan, and said: The news this morning shows that the Vivendi Group and NBC have reached an agreement. transfer agreement.

Ronan immediately took the document handed over by Robert Iger, looked at it and said, For 10 billion US dollars, to get 85% of the shares of Universal Pictures Entertainment Group, NBC can be regarded as fulfilling its wish.

Robert Iger said: Vivendi also kept a hand,

Maybe when he will turn around and go to Hollywood again.

Ronan smiled: We also got what we needed.

It's a pity that we didn't win the Jurassic Park series. Robert Iger is not without regret: If this series can be successfully restarted, the peripherals alone can create huge profits.

Although Ronan was a little regretful, he didn't care too much, and said: This series is already well-known, and we can't pay a billion dollars for it, which will cause problems with the company's capital flow. It is impossible for us to encounter all good things. arrive.

Robert Iger said: It makes sense, we can't get the rights to all the hit movies. He stood up: You are busy, I will go back.

After sending Robert Iger away, Ronan called Robert Lee and asked him to contact Random House and Dan Brown to see if he could get the film and television copyright of The Da Vinci Code.

Ronan then checked the news about NBC and Vivendi Group on the Internet. The deal is about to be completed, and General Electric has announced that it will merge the acquired Universal Pictures with NBC to form a new NBC Universal Entertainment Group.

This does not have much impact on the overall structure of Hollywood, and the situation of the Big Six has not changed because of this.

But Universal lost a future flagship franchise.

In the conference room of Embassy Pictures, not far from Relativity Entertainment, the distribution negotiations for The Passion of the Christ have reached the most divisive stage.

Mel Gibson, as the film's producer and largest investor, has personally stepped into battle in order to recover his investment.

The buyout method you proposed is an insult to me! Mel Gibson was furious. If there was no other way, he would have left. There was uncontrollable anger in his voice: 35 million dollars to buy out this film, you are insulting the name Mel Gibson!

Garcia Rodriguez, who was in charge of the negotiations, had heard about Mel Gibson's behavior and was not moved at all. He said, Mr. Gibson, you can state your terms.

Mel Gibson is very popular, but he is not stupid. The publishing company is already located in the upper reaches of the industry chain, and with the general cold reception of The Passion of the Christ, he said: Publish it on a commission basis.

Garcia-Rodriguez can accept: 35% of the North American box office distribution fee, peripheral distribution and overseas income will be calculated separately.

Cough... Charlemagne, an executive of Aiken Films, said at this time: The commission is too high.

Mel Gibson calmed down a bit, and said, Fifteen percent of the box office!

Yes. Compared to Mel Gibson, Garcia Rodriguez seemed slow: The film's promotional expenses and distribution expenses are calculated separately.

Charlemagne said: We are all insiders in the Hollywood circle, and it is difficult to calculate the cost of publicity. This is all clear. Mr. Rodriguez should stop talking about such insincere conditions.

Garcia-Rodriguez repeated the old saying: The best way to cooperate is to buy out. We can trust each other and don't have to worry about mistakes in some places due to neglect or other reasons.

Mel Gibson chimed in: But box office hits hurt our producers!

Gentlemen, maybe this is not very pleasant to say, but the box office of this film is a hit... Garcia-Rodriguez smiled: What do you think the chances are?

Without waiting for Charlemagne and Mel Gibson to answer, he continued: The Passion of the Christ is a non-English film. How many foreign language films have really achieved commercial success in the North American market? What is the overall proportion? From the picture to the content to the theme, it is extremely heavy, and there is nothing interesting for the audience.

Hearing that his film was belittled so much, Mel Gibson's anger that had just fallen was ignited again: The artistic content of this film cannot be measured by simple business!

Garcia-Rodriguez smiled apologetically: Sorry, Mr. Gibson, what I just said may not be appropriate. But Embassy Pictures is a commercial company, not an art institution. I am a professional manager , nor artists, we release The Passion of the Christ means investing a huge amount of money, we must first consider the commercial value of the film.

He seemed to be thinking about Mel Gibson: I am a businessman and Mr. Gibson is an artist. Although we have differences in this regard, we respect film artists and understand that it is very important to make a meaningful film like The Passion of the Christ. It’s not easy, from the perspective of emotional and healthy development of the industry, Hollywood needs this type of film, and also needs artists like Mr. Gibson.”

Mel Gibson is a bit confused, what is this guy trying to do, belittle and praise?

Charlemagne then said: The Passion of the Christ has both commercial value and commerciality, and the market response...

Garcia-Rodriguez looked at Charlemagne, just smiling, the smile was very pure: Mr. Charlemagne, we are all people who have worked in Hollywood for many years. Do we have to say something clearly? It's not like no one has filmed similar What is the commercial response to the movie? Embassy Pictures has a complete distribution channel, especially the offline distribution channel. If it weren’t for my confidence in the company’s offline distribution capabilities, I feel that after two or three years of operation, it can achieve profitability through offline channels. I'll sit here and talk to you.

He slowly put away his smile: Before you contacted the embassy film industry, you went to all the large and medium-sized distribution companies in Hollywood, but all of them were rejected. One or several distribution companies have a problem with their vision. Could it be that all distribution companies have a problem with their vision.

Mel Gibson's voice suddenly became much weaker: New Market Distribution is willing to distribute my film.

Charlemagne pinched his forehead, because he was too embarrassed to mention this small publishing company that couldn't be smaller.

Garcia-Rodriguez did not refute. Newmarket, the distribution company, is not convincing wherever it is said, and it cannot be used as a weight at all.

Based on the principle of win-win, we proposed to buy out the copyright of Passion of the Christ. Garcia-Rodriguez ignored Mel Gibson's New Market Company at all: Will the box office of this film be high? ?Embassy Pictures is the distributor, how much income can you get after the cut? You can’t even recover the cost you invested. The ability of the Embassy Pictures can recover the cost in time until it generates profits.

Mel Gibson no longer mentioned any new market distribution companies, exchanged glances with Charlemagne, and said, Yes, we can accept cooperation in the form of a buyout.

Garcia-Rodriguez said seriously: The buyout does not mean that you have nothing to do with this film. You must be deeply involved in the influence of the film, the promotion and distribution during the release period.

This is Hollywood's distribution rules. Mel Gibson has no objection, and it has become a reality: For 50 million US dollars, Aiken Pictures will sell out the copyright of The Passion of the Christ in one go, including overseas copyrights.

50 million US dollars? Garcia-Rodriguez shook his head: This means that all the risks of the film will be borne by the embassy film industry, and you can get 20 million US dollars in profit...

He sighed, as if he had made a very difficult major decision: We respect a film artist like Mr. Gibson, and we also want to be friends with Mr. Gibson and have a long-term cooperation. Embassy Pictures can appropriately increase the transaction price. 40 million US dollars ! One-time buyout!

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