After receiving Spielberg and handling some other work, Michael Ovitz left the CAA headquarters at 11 o'clock and rushed to Burbank Universal Studios on the other side of Beverly Hills.
I made an appointment with Simon for lunch today to discuss LinkedIn, a workplace social network that will be launched at the end of June.
After the project was finalized in February and venture capital investment from Igret was obtained, Eisner has been mainly responsible for the project in recent months. Because they are neighbors and both shareholders, the two friends often get together after dinner to discuss various details of the website. This lunch was Eisner's invitation to Westeros, and it was ultimately based on Simon's schedule. Determine the in-house restaurant at Universal Studios Burbank.
Worried about traffic jams, we set off early and arrived at Universal Studios at only 11:40.
I called Eisner and learned that he had also arrived early and was with Westeros at the Universal Cinema inside the studio.
Parking his car in a parking lot next to Kirk Douglas Avenue in the north of the movie theater, Michael Ovitz walked to the Universal Cinema in a familiar way. Looking at the tourists passing by, he felt incomprehensible. . Back then, Ovitz's first job in Hollywood was as a tour guide at Universal Studios. At that time, Spielberg was just a young guy who skipped school and came to Universal Studios to do odd jobs.
Everything has changed now.
After Daenerys Entertainment merged with MCA, the 200-hectare Universal Studios became more and more inclined to be a more pure theme park, and most of the office departments turned to Malibu Daenerys Studios, even if they are set up here The Wisteria Street set and the "Friends" studio where Daenerys produced the popular "Desperate Housewives" are also regularly open to tourists. The office space that was once reserved for many Hollywood celebrities has also become a popular attraction for movie fans. .
In the early years of Hollywood, in order to make friends with famous filmmakers, they often reserved an office for them within the studio. Spielberg's Amblin Company even had a specially built small building in Universal Studios.
CAA's habit of retaining offices for its big names was actually inspired by Ovitz's experience as a tour guide at Universal Studios.
Daenerys Entertainment still retains this custom.
Now, in addition to Spielberg, who quietly moved Amblin's headquarters, in recent years, more big-name offices have settled in the two film and television bases of Universal Studios and Malibu Studios.
Universal Cinema is located in the middle of the movie city. It is actually a large multiplex cinema for tourists. Unlike Disneyland, Universal Studios Burbank is more like a large commercial center. In addition to various attractions, there is no shortage of restaurants, hotels, cinemas, shopping malls and even hospitals within the studio.
Michael Ovitz came here, and a staff member took him into a screening room in the theater that was under renovation.
Entering the screening room, in the dim light, Ovitz first noticed the double image on the big screen in front of him, and vaguely made out that it should be a clip from "Jurassic Park 2".
3D.
The name immediately popped into Ovitz's mind.
Due to work reasons, Ovitz, who was out of Los Angeles some time ago, did not attend the premiere of "Jurassic Park 2" held at the Sacred Civic Auditorium on May 31. However, he later heard that the film's premiere would be broadcast in IMAX. The shocking effect of the method, there are also rumors in the circle that Daenerys Entertainment will vigorously promote this new form of movie broadcasting.
Ovitz, who likes to get to the bottom of things when things happen, immediately asked his assistant to find information about IMAX. After research, he felt that it was not easy to promote IMAX because the cost of this playback system was too high.
However, if the entire power of Hollywood is gathered, it is not impossible.
Now seeing the 3D version of "Jurassic Park 2" in this screening room of Universal Cinema, Ovitz realized that, just like the original CG special effects, Daenerys Entertainment once again took the lead in Hollywood in film technology. cutting edge.
The staff handed over a pair of 3D glasses. Ovitz thanked the other person, went to an empty seat in the middle of the theater and sat down. Taking advantage of the light in the theater, he looked at the 3D glasses in his hand. They were not what he remembered. I have seen red and blue 3D, put on my glasses and look at the big screen, it happens to be the scene of the dinosaur army destroying the poacher's base, the shock that comes over my face is indescribable.
Unfortunately, what is played on the big screen is obviously not the whole story, but only a fragment.
In less than five minutes, the clip was played and the lights in the screening room were turned back on.
Simon, Eisner and others were sitting in the front row. When the lights came on, Ovitz stood up and walked over, greeted Simon and exclaimed: "Simon, I just saw the future of Hollywood, right?"
"certainly."
Simon smiled and nodded, spoke a few words with several Daenerys Entertainment executives around him, and then got up with Girl A and walked out with Ovitz and Eisner.
Meals are arranged in the internal restaurant in the north of the cinema.
Everyone left the theater together laughing and joking. There were not many tourists at noon, so Simon still put on his sunglasses and quickly got on a battery car and rushed to the northern administrative district.
Until they sat down in the restaurant, Simon and Eisner were still talking about 3D and IMAX.
Whether it is 3D or IMAX, they actually have decades of history. The main reason why it has not been promoted is not the cost, but the lack of necessity.
Before the 1990s, there were very few Hollywood science fiction blockbusters such as the "Star Wars" series. Even "Star Wars", although it used a lot of new technologies, was not actually good at visual effects. It was mainly produced by George Lucas. A brand new science fiction world created.
In addition, most Hollywood movies are very traditional genre films.
Whether it's Sylvester Stallone's "First Blood" series or Spielberg's "Raiders of the Lost Ark" series, the viewing experience of such films on 2D and 3D screens is not much different. The same is true for IMAX and ordinary screens.
Since there will be no disruptive changes in the movie-watching experience, there is naturally no need to promote it.
But it's different now.
As CG special effects technology becomes more and more mature, more and more visual spectacle films are created using a large number of special effects technologies, such as the "Jurassic Park" series and the DC Movie Universe series. These movies are displayed on 2D screens and 3D The viewing experience on the screen or IMAX is completely different.
Therefore, now is the right time to start promoting technologies such as 3D and IMAX.
The promotion of any new film technology is inseparable from content and channels. In the final analysis, it is still capital. For Daenerys Entertainment, which is currently dominating Hollywood, these are not problems. Even if other studios do not cooperate, Daenerys Entertainment is even enough to complete this reform of the film screening model on its own. .
Simon is actually planning to do just that.
The first person to eat a crab may take a lot of risks. However, by recognizing the huge business potential contained in it, the first mover can often reap more generous profits.
No one knows the market potential of 3D and IMAX better than Simon.
During the lunch, Simon was not entirely honest with Eisner and Ovitz, but he did not hide his thoughts too much and gave a general account of his thoughts. In recent years, due to the revival of the entertainment industry, the number of theaters has continued to increase around the world. Taking advantage of this trend, Daenerys Entertainment happened to promote these two new technologies.
First of all, you can start promoting it from Daenerys Entertainment’s own theaters.
The MCA that was originally merged was far more than just a Universal Pictures. To be precise, it was a series of very large asset portfolios, including 40% of the shares of Cineplex Odeon, the largest theater chain in North America at this stage. It was an asset purchased by MCA after China and the government relaxed controls on the entertainment industry.
After development in recent years, Odeon Cinemas not only has a total of 379 theaters and 1,863 screens in the United States and Canada, but has also quietly expanded its business to overseas markets such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Italy, New Zealand, and Ukraine.
Because the franchised theaters are basically located in prime locations in major cities, in 1994, as a subsidiary of Daenerys Entertainment, Oden Cinemas took about 11% of the box office share with about 6% of the screens in North America. .
Ordinary people always focus on Daenerys Entertainment’s most dazzling movie business, so they can’t help but wonder whether there is a bubble in Daenerys Entertainment’s market value of hundreds of billions of dollars, which is comparable to other major Hollywood companies. The fact is, Dany Liz Entertainment Group is already a comprehensive super entertainment giant with leading advantages in film, television, music, games, theaters, video chains and other aspects.
Now, Simon plans to use Daenerys Entertainment's Oden Cinemas as a basis to carry out a reform of film projection technology. Once successful, it will definitely further strengthen Daenerys Entertainment's advantages in the entire entertainment industry.
During the meal, we talked about 3D and IMAX, and the topic soon turned to the upcoming LinkedIn.
The company was just a random seed that Simon planted.
The original price of 5 million US dollars to acquire 20% of LinkedIn's shares was actually a bit high. Simon valued Eisner and Ovitz more. Otherwise, for 5 million US dollars, he could get at least 30% of the shares. However, for LinkedIn, the time cost Simon gave would only be an occasional discussion over meals together.
In the entire Westeros system, Simon has too many things to take care of, and he tries his best to avoid having to do everything.
The two parties discussed LinkedIn's core functions and potential business models for an hour. At one o'clock in the afternoon, lunch ended. Simon continued to convene several Daenerys Entertainment executives in the morning to discuss the promotion of 3D and IMAX. The agenda of this matter It’s not urgent, and it’s expected to take another two years to truly roll out.
After finishing the day's work, Simon left for Europe in the evening and went to Italy again to visit the pregnant Sofia.
On the other hand, this box office week that started today, under the pressure of "Jurassic Park 2", only one major new film was released in North American theaters. This is a romance film from Fox Pictures called "9 Months Pregnant" ", the film stars Hugh Grant, who became famous last year with "Four Weddings and a Funeral", and Julianne Moore, the heroine of the "Conjuring" series, and has only 1,461 opening screens.
This new film poses no threat to "Jurassic Park 2".
The next day, "Jurassic Park 2" announced its single-day box office as usual on June 9. Compared with the US$28.79 million on its opening day last week, the film's box office on the first day of the following week dropped only 39% year-on-year, continuing to earn 1,756 million. Ten thousand U.S. dollars. Because the box office on the first day last week also included midnight screening data, judging from the box office data on the first day of the following week, Daenerys Entertainment's promotion team predicts that the drop in the second week of "Jurassic Park 2" is likely to be 35 %about.
Revenue in the first week was US$129 million, and the drop in the second week was not only less than half, but maintained at 35%. The possibility of "Jurassic Park 2"'s domestic box office breaking through the 400 million threshold has once again increased significantly.
The final box office for the next week from June 9 to June 15 was as expected, with a final decline of 36% and a revenue of US$82.63 million.
Two weeks after its release, the cumulative box office of "Jurassic Park 2" easily exceeded 200 million US dollars, reaching 211.76 million US dollars, surpassing the Easter-scheduled "Twilight Zone 3" and second only to the Valentine's Day-scheduled "Jurassic Park 2" at the beginning of the year. This Man Came from Earth" temporarily ranks second on the annual list.
Everyone also discovered that the three labels under Daenerys Entertainment Group, Gaomen Pictures' "The Man from Earth", Daenerys Pictures' "Jurassic Park 2" and New World Pictures' "Toy Fighter 3" temporarily occupied the top three in the 1995 annual list.
Counting projects such as "Broken Arrow", "Red Zone", "The Brothers McMullen", "Under the Zipper" and other projects that achieved good results in the first half of the year, Simon's original idea of Daenerys Entertainment's three labels has gradually evolved into In fact, the plans of the three major Hollywood studios have begun to take shape unconsciously.
On June 16, two other new summer films, Paramount Pictures’ “Braveheart” and Disney’s 2D animated film “Pocahontas,” were released.
Mel Gibson's epic blockbuster "Braveheart", which he directed and starred in at a cost of US$72 million, has grabbed the schedule of DreamWorks' "Gremlins", but Paramount obviously does not have enough money for this movie. Confidence, only 2,055 opening screens were given in the first week.
In comparison, Disney's "Pocahontas" opened on a higher number of screens, 2,569.
Probably because it was so ambitious when it just took over Disney, Vivendi Group has spared no effort in supporting this Hollywood studio.
On the other hand, on the same day of June 16, Igret finally submitted its first prospectus to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), a month later than expected, mainly disclosing the information to investors. Greet's corporate profile, operating performance, equity distribution, fund-raising scale and other information.
After the annual revenue of 1994 exceeded 10 billion US dollars, the industry generally expected that Yigret's revenue growth would slow down.
This is also true.
However, the results still exceeded the expectations of most industry analysts.
In the first quarter of 1995, Eagle's revenue growth was still as high as 67% year-on-year, far exceeding the industry's previous forecast of 30% to 50% growth. This performance growth rate inevitably pushed up Eagle's revenue again. Rite’s IPO valuation. Therefore, in the first version of the prospectus submitted to the SEC, based on the initially determined share capital data and issuance price, the valuation reported by Eagleite has reached US$130 billion.
If the revenue growth in the next two quarters is still equivalent to the growth rate in the first quarter, Yigret can actually increase the issue price to a certain extent before it is actually listed.
By then, the company's valuation may exceed $150 billion.
Considering that the total financing scale of this IPO reached US$20 billion, in order to avoid risks as much as possible, in the prospectus, Igret also revealed that he would activate the over-allotment option plan used by Nokia North America when it was listed, that is, the green shoe mechanism.
If the stock price falls short of expectations after the listing, Yigrit will use the funds raised from this listing to repurchase shares equivalent to 15% of the IPO issuance to support the stock price and protect the interests of investors.
The green shoe mechanism is actually two-way.
If the market feedback exceeds expectations, Yigrit will continue to supply 15% of the IPO shares to investors at the issue price. This is a kind of feedback, and Yigrit will also be able to obtain more additional funds.
After the success of the IPO, Simon's shareholding in Igret will be reduced to less than 60%.
After transferring more than 40% of the shares, the Westeros system has basically completed the plan to integrate Ygritte into the American economy and even the global economy. Next, if anyone wants to find this technology giant that still has many suspicions of monopoly, When it comes to Wuba’s troubles, the first thing to consider is whether the countless investors behind the company agree.