The Best Entertainment Era

After staying at Relativity Entertainment for nearly an hour, Shirley Lansing took the initiative to say goodbye and left. From the beginning to the end, she was making friends and cooperating, as if she and Ronan were friends for many years, and Paramount Pictures and Relativity Entertainment were strategic partners.

Ronan sent Shirley Lansing away and called Mark Randolph directly to learn more about the competition between Netflix and Blockbuster.

Netflix's Internet rental business has had a huge impact on entities like Blockbuster. In particular, Netflix has developed rapidly last year, and the strength and weakness of the two companies have begun to reverse.

What would Viacom and Summer-Redstone do?

Ronan wasn't too worried. The support behind Netflix used to be much weaker than it is now, and they all went directly to Blockbuster. With the support of Relativity Entertainment, this process will only be faster.

But some things have to be guarded against.

Ronan called Connie again and asked her to check the recent dispute between Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks.

On the other hand, Robert Iger's team is still negotiating with Artisan Pictures, but there is not much progress.

Fortunately, Lionsgate Films is not the kind of company with deep pockets, and after the bid reaches about 340 million US dollars, it will no longer raise the price rashly.

At the same time, there was another bad news.

Several small theater chains have refused to show The Passion of the Christ in their own theater chains on the grounds that it is suspected of defaming religious history.

I'm sorry, Thomas. Hoddle of Debicci Theater Company was full of apology, and said to Thomas, director of theatrical distribution of Embassy Pictures: After the trailer of The Passion of the Christ was released, the theater received a lot of fans and comments. The protest of the church, we are a small regional company, and we cannot go against the demands of local audiences and public opinion, we regret that we can only give up the film The Passion of the Christ.

Thomas' face remained unchanged, and he felt a little unhappy in his heart. He said, Hodell, are you sure you want to reject the film from Embassy Pictures? This is an important project that Mr. Ronan Anderson pointed out.

Hearing the name Ronan Anderson, Hoddle was almost shaken, but thinking of some pressure, he still said: We are not a big company like the four major theater chains, and the regionalization is too strong. If we don't pay attention to the local market There is no room for public opinion.”

I understand. Thomas nodded lightly, then sighed, implying: In this day and age, there are still commercial companies struggling with profits.

Hoddle opened his mouth,

I don't know what to say.

Thomas' face suddenly turned cold: In this case, we have nothing to say. He stood up directly: In the future, Bourne Shadow 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean 2, I guess you don't want to cooperate with Relativity Entertainment either.

After saying this, Thomas walked away without even giving him a chance to reply.

Holder sat there shaking his head, and suddenly regretted giving up The Passion of the Christ, but after thinking about it carefully, he was a little lucky. This film does not have many special effects and is not very commercial, so it will definitely be a big hit at the box office?

Let's just wait and see. You don't have to bear huge pressure, but you can also watch the development of the situation. Even if the film's box office hits, you can follow up in time. At worst, just bow to Relativity Entertainment.

No one wants to have trouble with profits, this time the favor is returned, and there will be no need to think so much in the future.

Thomas met with representatives of several theater companies in succession, not all of them like Hoddle.

The people of Boulder Entertainment Company in New Mexico are carefully considering the pros and cons.

Felipe, although you have less than a hundred theaters, you have always been happy to cooperate with the embassy film industry. The films produced by Relativity Entertainment continued to sell well, giving Thomas enough confidence: This time, for some inexplicable reasons It is disappointing and chilling to refuse the films of Embassy Pictures to enter your theaters.

Hearing this, Felipe was also a little helpless, and could only say: On this one, how should we cooperate in the future?

Thomas smiled: Continue to cooperate? Hehe... Felipe, do you think that the films released by Relativity Entertainment, the films released by the Embassy Films, and the projects promoted by Mr. Ronan Anderson will lack theater screenings? Let me remind you Last year, that is, in 2003, among the more than ten films released by the Embassy Pictures, did any of them fail at the box office?

Felipe was speechless. The movies released by Relativity Entertainment are simply synonymous with making money.

Thomas also said: This year, that is, 2004, Embassy Pictures released more films. If Jushi Entertainment does not release them, we will not force them. The cooperation between Embassy Pictures and Jushi ends here.

This... Felipe thought of Relativity Entertainment's performance last year, and heard that there were more films this year, and fell into hesitation: Thomas, we never said that we would cut off cooperation with Embassy Pictures.

Thomas looked at him, just smiled.

The four major theater companies are strong, and the Embassy Pictures must be easy to talk about, but a small company like Jushi Entertainment...

Felipe weighed it back and forth in his mind.

Thomas said seemingly casually: Let's compare the income that the film brings to you.

How to compare? The box office is the most intuitive data. Although theaters do not rely entirely on box office revenue, the basis of sales income is passenger flow, and the box office directly reflects the number of passenger flow.

How many years has it been since the pressured company had a blockbuster movie? What about relativity entertainment? It has been gaining momentum in recent years.

Who has a grudge against big income in business?

After a few minutes of consideration, Felipe made a decision: I'm sorry, I apologize to Embassy Pictures, because of my short-sightedness, Jushi Entertainment almost lost one of the most reliable partners. Thomas, I'm here to assure you All theaters under Jushi Entertainment will show The Passion of the Christ on the premiere day. We will...no, we will sign a formal screening agreement this afternoon!

Thomas immediately extended his hand with a smile and said, Have a nice cooperation.

Philip quickly reached out and held Thomas' hand firmly: Happy cooperation!

Later, Thomas met with people from several small theater companies. Some, like Jushi Entertainment, continued to cooperate with Embassy Pictures, while others took a wait-and-see attitude.

The recent information quickly reached Ronan, and Ronan was not surprised, because Connie got some information.

In the office, Connie stood opposite the desk and said to Ronan: Recently, in the headhunting incident against Relativity Entertainment, many small theater chain companies refused to show The Passion of the Christ. Although there is no clear evidence, there are all behind it. Shadow of Paramount Pictures.

Ronan was not surprised: Paramount Pictures, huh... Shirley Lansing is such a good friend.

Connie added: Paramount Pictures is mainly targeting DreamWorks at this stage. Judging from the feedback from many sources, we are only a secondary target.

Ronan nodded lightly. It is normal at this stage that some of the six major companies are eyeing Relativity Entertainment, let alone Paramount Pictures under Viacom.

The current competition between Netflix and Blockbuster is almost at a fever pitch.

Connie's words continued: Originally, Embassy Pictures won nearly 3,400 theaters for The Passion of the Christ in North America, but it was affected, and many small theater companies gave up our film. Director Thomas of Embassy Pictures did It took a lot of work and made several companies change their minds, and The Passion of the Christ currently has about 3,000 movie theaters confirmed to open.

It's not too much. Ronan was not afraid of competition, and he was also afraid of any competitors: No matter what pressure those companies are under, as long as The Passion of the Christ hits the box office, they will actively beg to return to the screening ranks.

U.S. law does not allow film companies to operate theaters at the same time, even if they hold shares.

Relevant bills have been implemented for decades, and even if traditional large companies still have some influence over cinema companies, this influence cannot withstand the temptation of profits.

This is not the era of barbaric growth. The game needs to abide by the minimum rules, especially when the opponent is strong. If you use means outside the rules, you have to face the risk that your opponent will also use means outside the rules.

Ronan wasn't worried about the theater, nor was he worried about the troubles caused by Paramount Pictures' headhunters. Perhaps from the outside, Relativity Entertainment is a new company, and there must be many internal problems. Poaching some personnel will inevitably cause internal problems. , thereby affecting the development of the company.

These are indeed very likely to happen before Robert Iger entered Relativity Entertainment, but Robert Iger has adjusted and managed Relativity Entertainment very well in the past two years, and there is no need to worry that the company will fail to operate if some middle-level personnel are removed.

What's the current situation with Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks? Ronan considered that Paramount Pictures had stretched out his hand, and he would definitely slap back, otherwise Relativity Entertainment would be weak, and other onlookers like Companies like tigers will definitely follow suit.

Connie said: Paramount Pictures is pressuring DreamWorks every step of the way. In addition to increasing the distribution ratio when negotiating with DreamWorks on the release of War of the Worlds some time ago, they have recently made repeated moves, from several small shareholders of DreamWorks. In their hands, they bought part of the shares of DreamWorks. It is said that they are still in contact with the Koreans. The Koreans are quite dissatisfied with Spielberg because of the distribution channel of DreamWorks...

Ronan understood: Paramount Pictures is preparing to swallow DreamWorks. Spielberg's life is not easy.

Very sad. Connie said simply: Spielberg has not appeared in public for a long time.

Ronan nodded slowly: I see.

He picked up the phone, dialed Robert Iger's number, and talked for a long time.

Paramount Pictures poached the entertainment corner of Relativity and poached the theaters of the movies distributed by Embassy Pictures. Now it is going to swallow DreamWorks. Have you asked his opinion?