The Best Entertainment Era

In Century City, James Murdoch, who just came to Los Angeles from England, stood in front of the French windows of the reception room on the top floor of the Fox Building, looking diagonally across. building.

Originally a humble small Hollywood company, it has become a second-tier leader, even threatening Fox to a certain extent.

After two years of hard work in London, James Murdoch won the trust of his father Rupert Murdoch. In addition to continuing to serve as CEO of Sky Television and News Corporation UK, he was also allowed to participate in two Tenth Century Fox's business.

It also gave James Murdoch more hope that the future seemed to be in his hands.

The door of the reception room opened, and Jim Prose, the president of 20th Century Fox, walked in.

Hi, James. Jim Pross greeted enthusiastically: I just had a meeting and I kept you waiting.

James Murdoch looks very respectful to Jim Prose: I just arrived too, your work is important.

The two sat on the sofa chairs in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows. From this place, they could just overlook Century City and the entire Los Angeles.

James Murdoch pointed to the office building he had just watched: When I came to Fox last time, this building was still called the Death Star Building, right?

Jim Prowse glanced over there and said, Relativity Entertainment spent more than 200 million dollars to buy this building as the company's headquarters.

I met Ronan Anderson in London a few years ago. James Murdoch still remembers the meeting at the royal charity party: Relativity Entertainment was still a small company that didn't look like much at that time, right?

Jim Pross nodded lightly: In the past two years, Relativity Entertainment has developed too fast, and Relativity Entertainment has a simple equity structure. Strictly speaking, it is a sole proprietorship company, and there is no need to disclose revenue and financial reports to the outside world. We can only roughly estimate their income based on market statistics, except for the internal executives, it is estimated that other people don't know how much Relativity Entertainment's real profit is for a year.

James Murdoch: In terms of the film business alone, where do they rank in Hollywood?

Jim Prose said without hesitation: The top three are inevitable, but Relativity Entertainment does not have TV and other media businesses, and this aspect is weak.

James Murdoch asked: What is the basis for the extrapolation?

Mostly from the box office.

Jim Prose said simply: Then estimate the offline income from the box office.

By the way, was there a Relativity Entertainment movie released last weekend? James Murdoch asked again.

Jim Pross smiled: Resident Evil, adapted from the game, is a sequel, the first one did well at the box office, and the same is true for this one, with a North American box office of 34.2 million US dollars in the first weekend, and a single box office of over 10,000.

James Murdoch raised his eyebrows: Can the North American box office exceed 100 million?

Jim Pross shook his head: The word-of-mouth of this film is not ideal. It is unlikely that it will exceed 100 million dollars in North America, but 80 million dollars should be no problem. He sighed: Compared with first-line commercial productions, these medium-to-low-scale projects , the income does not seem particularly amazing, but Theory of Relativity releases about five films every year, and the combined profits are quite large.”

James Murdoch looked at the Relativity Entertainment building in the distance: Ronan Anderson is very capable in operating movies.

Jim Prose said directly: I think Ronan Anderson is above Jerry Bruckheimer.

James Murdoch didn't expect that Jim Prowse's rating would be so high, he was silent for a moment, and said after a while: According to what you said, Relativity Entertainment is stronger than DreamWorks, and the six major companies are watching helplessly. Does he become stronger?

Relativity Entertainment has been in a lot of trouble recently. Jim Pross said: But their shareholding structure is simple, their finances are healthy, and their cash flow is sufficient. As long as they can produce high-quality films stably, there is no good way for the Big Six to take him down. It’s been too long since it’s been separated from the studio. Paramount has used exclusivity, but the Passion of the Christ hit the box office and it’s all a laughing stock.”

James Murdoch was well aware of the weight of 20th Century Fox in the entire News Corp. After careful consideration for a moment, he asked, Can't we start off-line?

The offline rental market? There is no way to limit it. Jim Pross smiled helplessly: Fox has made efforts in this area, but it has no effect. The Big Six, including myself, have not paid much attention to Relativity Entertainment before. I believe that the threat of future competition is DreamWorks and Relativity Entertainment, even if there are two years of good results, they are just shooting stars.”

He put away his smile, and his eyes gradually became dark: By the time it really gets attention, Relativity Entertainment has formed a nearly complete industrial chain.

Jim Prose knew James Murdoch's ambitions, and he was also a supporter of James Murdoch within News Corp. At this time, he took the trouble to say: Online theaters, as long as the film can bring traffic , They don’t care who’s film is, even if it’s a Russian company, they will still play it. The most important thing in the offline market is DVD, peripherals and licensing, and TV copyright.”

James - Murdoch listened very seriously, because one day he will return to the United States from London to fight for what belongs to him.

Jim Pross continued: In terms of peripherals, if a movie hits the box office and its characters or other products become popular, profit-driven merchants will definitely not let it go, such as Pirates of the Caribbean and Captain Jack Sparrow, and the embassy The film industry has its own manufacturing and distribution channels that it has developed.”

DVD can now account for nearly half of the profits of a movie. This is actually the best way to limit it. Viacom's Blockbuster has stopped selling and renting movies from Relativity Entertainment since last year, but for their The impact is limited, because Netflix, a subsidiary of Relativity Entertainment, has surpassed Blockbuster in terms of rental and sales performance across the board.

In addition, like peripheral products, Embassy Pictures has an independent DVD producer on the other side of the Pacific Ocean. In that country, our ability to influence is limited, and the business that can generate foreign exchange, no company will give up easily.

James Murdoch chimed in: What about TV rights? Relativity doesn't have a TV station, does it?

Jim Pross nodded and said: CBS belongs to Viacom, ABC is owned by Disney, NBC has just merged with Universal Pictures, plus our Fox TV station, all the four major TV networks in the United States are affiliated with the six major film companies. Closely linked. The problem is, the Big Six were never really united, they were competitors.

If the six major companies want to cooperate closely and take action against a company with considerable strength, I am afraid that the six major companies will start to mess up themselves.

Although there is a certain tacit understanding between the six major companies, and even a small amount of cross-shareholding among each other, who wants to completely suppress other companies and become the top company in Hollywood and occupy the largest market.

Visible opponents like Relativity Entertainment are not scary. No one wants to face those dark enemies who seem to stand with themselves.

James Murdoch asked: Is there no other way?

It's too difficult, and the Big Six itself is also full of difficulties. Jim Pross shook his head and said: Universal Pictures has just merged with NBC, and the internal integration will not be completed within a few years. Meng Films did find trouble with Relativity Entertainment, but they lost their teeth. Their production business had problems, and they focused on DreamWorks and wanted to swallow it. Warner Bros. and Relativity Entertainment are still in the honeymoon period. There is cooperation on the project. Disney, no matter what, the two internal factions are about to shoot at each other. Fox is not easy. Marvel Comics has been crazy recently, demanding to modify X-Men and Fantastic Four 》Contract, otherwise you will have to go through legal procedures...

I remember the contract with Marvel was very clear, James Murdoch said.

Jim Prose said: This is not a contract issue. Marvel Comics is poor and crazy. They sold almost all of their valuable copyright assets, and they did not hesitate to turn against us for money.

James Murdoch's tone turned cold: A worthless company is not worth Fox's price, don't be soft on Marvel Comics, they don't deserve sympathy.

Jim Prose said again: I'm not worried about Marvel Comics. Marvel Comics is indeed crazy because of lack of funds, but there are people behind it who are pushing this matter...

James Murdoch was immediately alert: You mean relativity entertainment?

Yes, Relativity Entertainment. Jim Pross said slowly: As far as I know, Relativity Entertainment and Ronan Anderson bought the copyright of a number of second- and third-tier comic characters from Marvel, and the relationship between the two parties has been very close since then. , relativity entertainment's robert lee and avi allard got very close.

James Murdoch stood up, came to the floor-to-ceiling windows, looked at the Relativity Entertainment building again, and said in a low voice, I'm in London, and there are some people who can get exclusive news by special means.

Jim Pross hurriedly said: James, be careful. Ronan Anderson is not an ordinary person. He has at least a net worth of more than one billion U.S. dollars. He is cunning and cunning. If we take the lead in using methods that exceed the rules...

Unlike these professional managers in Hollywood who still relatively abide by the rules of the game, James Murdoch dared to use illegal means for profit.

In London, he has ordered some of the News Corp. outlets to do so.

I understand. James Murdoch also knew to be cautious: I will think about it carefully before I say it.

Jim Pross breathed a sigh of relief. He is just a professional manager and cannot go crazy.

James Murdoch added: I'm going to see Ronan Anderson.