At Los Angeles International Airport, Disney CEO Sandy Litwatt and President Bill Michanick were waiting in a VIP lounge.
Watching Litvatt hang up the phone, Bill Michanik asked, "Simon must have said no, right?"
"Those things happened a few days ago, how could Simon attend the party to welcome the French guy?" Sandy Litwat smiled indifferently, put away the phone, took a sip of the cup of coffee next to him, and said, "Anyway , we just need to complete the gesture that we should do, just like when Peter Guberra entertained Akio Morita with a lot of celebrities, and made the Japanese happy."
Bill Michanik crossed his legs, with a bit of regret and self-deprecation: "It's a pity that we don't have as good treatment as Cooper and Peters."
"At least in a short period of time, a donkey will not step into the pit twice at the same place. We just didn't have a good time," Sandy Litwat shrugged and smiled, looking at the airport runway outside the glass window of the VIP room, and suddenly Then he asked, “Have you had any contact with Michael recently?”
Michael, of course, was their old boss Michael Eisner.
Bill Michanik didn't hide anything, and nodded: "We had breakfast together a few days ago. Michael's LinkedIn workplace social networking site is doing very well, and he also tested whether I would be interested in working together."
Sandy Litvatt heard what Michanik said and was a little disappointed that Eisner did not contact him.
But he was relieved quickly.
Litvatt himself is a lawyer and was once the head of Disney's legal department. Although he managed the business he was responsible for in an orderly manner during his tenure, he did not have many outstanding features. Moreover, he was not familiar with the emerging Internet industry. Not familiar.
What's more, Litwat also knew that Michael Eisnara had hired Frank Wells, the former president who retired from Disney, as a director and legal adviser to LinkedIn's board of directors. Frank Wells was also a lawyer by training, and was Sandy Litvatt's direct boss before his retirement. Now that he had this helper, Eisner would certainly not think of him again.
Not so with Bill Michanik.
The former head of Disney's home entertainment department successfully managed the video distribution of a series of Disney's old animated films in the 1980s. Not only did he create sales miracles one after another, he also directly provided a large sum of money for Disney's development in the 1980s. funds, and contributed to the rapid rise in Disney's stock price.
All in all, Michanik is a practical talent who is very good at business development and marketing. If he moves to LinkedIn, he is very likely to help Eisner improve the business model of this workplace social networking site. Sustainable business model is an issue that many Internet companies urgently need to solve at this stage.
Thinking about this, Sandy Litwat asked again: "Then how did you reply to Michael?"
Michanik shook his head and said, "I refuse."
Litwat was a little surprised: "Why, I think this is a good opportunity?"
"The Internet industry is so crazy right now, I can't understand it," Michanik said truthfully, "Moreover, I think this bubble wave will last for another year at most. If you go to LinkedIn, you may not have started the business yet. We have to face the crisis of the bubble bursting and the market becoming undervalued. In comparison, it is more stable to stay in Hollywood."
"You could be missing out on hundreds of millions of dollars," Sandy Litvatt half-joked.
Michanik shook his head and said: "Now, whether it's Wall Street or Hollywood, many people are trying their best to squeeze into Silicon Valley. How many of them can really make a fortune? These people don't even think about how easily they can return once the Internet bubble bursts. The original field? Moreover, in my opinion, the monopoly pattern of the Internet industry has taken shape, and the Westeros system accounts for most of the interests. Unless there is another change, otherwise, those who find gold mines in this field will It’s just going to get less and less.”
Litwat thought about Michanik's words for a moment and had to nod, but still couldn't help but said: "I heard that LinkedIn is already preparing for an IPO?"
"Yes, it will probably go public early next year. Michael and I have revealed that LinkedIn's IPO valuation may be around US$500 million. Compared with the initial investment of the website, this is a considerable number, but compared with the likes of Ygritte The gap between new technology giants is still too far. This is also the reason why I don’t go. If you choose to join in the first place, you can get more shares in this IPO. If you change jobs now, you will only get some future options. In this regard, you are definitely better than I know better, once the bubble bursts, those options will be worthless."
In fact, I was also thinking about using my savings over the years to try it in Silicon Valley. After hearing Michanik's analysis, Litwat rubbed the coffee cup in his hand, feeling a little depressed, and gave up some of his thoughts.
After all, both of them have reached middle age.
Can't afford it.
Now they are jointly in charge of Disney. Even though there is not much room for display under the strict control of Vivendi, they are still the top seven heads of Hollywood. Although the French have strict control over Disney, in order to stabilize people's hearts, they did not pay much attention to the salary of the two of them. Not bad either.
After waiting for more than ten minutes, an assistant came over to inform them. The two got up and took several entourages to a tarmac inside the airport for private jets to take off and land.
Jean-Marie Messier, the new chairman and CEO of Vivendi Group, and his party came from France today.
Jean-Marie Messier has just recently taken over the old corporate giant with a century-old history and a market value equivalent to more than US$30 billion from the former head Guy Deyovani, who has been in charge of the Vivendi Group for 20 years.
Vivendi previously focused on water, transportation, energy and other fields. During Jean-Marie Messier's tenure as president, it began to enter the media field. Vivendi's acquisition of Disney was personally promoted by Jean-Marie Messier. project, relying on the qualifications accumulated through this acquisition, Messier defeated other competitors in one fell swoop and became the new head of Vivendi.
Just after completing the handover of duties last week, Messier couldn't wait to arrange this North American trip.
Even if Disney's current performance is somewhat tepid, after all, the time is still short, and this transaction is far from being labeled as a failure. The global media and entertainment industry is currently growing at a rapid pace. Acquisition of Disney is a challenge for those who are ambitious and want to make Vivant a success. For Messier, who has transformed into a media and entertainment giant, this is just the beginning.
After getting off the plane, Jean-Marie Messier, who came to Hollywood with a large group of subordinates, did not go to the hotel to rest, but rushed directly to the Disney headquarters in Burbank.
A large conference room at Disney headquarters.
Sandy Litwat sat on one side with a group of Disney executives, looking at the executives of Vivendi's French TV 4, the famous French Gaumont Pictures team and the French director Lu, who is well-known in Hollywood, on the other side of the conference table. Besson and others felt a little strange.
Are the French trying to counterattack Hollywood
Jean-Marie Messier also looked resolute. Everyone sat down, briefly introduced each other, and then went straight to the topic, saying that he would personally promote Disney to focus on creating a number of blockbuster projects with other Hollywood film companies. To compete, at the same time, in order to share risks, Disney will also strengthen cooperation with major French media and entertainment companies.
After asking Sandy Litwat about the progress of the "Terminator" copyright negotiations and affirming it, Jean-Marie Messier announced on the spot that he would cooperate with French Gaumont Films to jointly develop French director Luc Besson's preparations The sci-fi blockbuster "The Fifth Element" series for many years.
Messier also personally introduced that this is a science fiction series with a complete world view that Luc Besson started creating when he was a teenager. The complete concept of the trilogy has been completed and may be developed into a series similar to the DC movie universe in the future. The fifth element cinematic universe series.
Sandy Litwat and others did not express dissatisfaction with the sudden attack that the French had no prior notice at all.
It’s just that I can’t help but complain in my heart.
Another movie universe. Doesn’t the movie universe cost money
Moreover, attracting a large number of French filmmakers to cooperate with Disney makes Disney executives even less optimistic. It is strange that the French film style can adapt to Hollywood.
Just like Luc Besson, although "Blue Sea and Blue Sky" created a box office miracle for French movies, this director, at least so far, has not shown much ability to make Hollywood-style movies. "The Killer Isn't Too Cold" only had a good reputation in North America, but it didn't do well at the box office.
The afternoon meeting was held in such a lively manner. In the next two days, Jean-Marie Messier personally finalized several projects and signed the contract for "Terminator 3". On the third day after arriving in Los Angeles, Jean-Marie Mercier -Mary Messier hosted a grand press conference at the Disney headquarters in Burbank and publicly announced Disney's new phase of film development plan, led by two major projects: "Terminator 3" and "The Fifth Element".
This day is June 21st, Friday.
The past box office week in North America has just ended. Originally, the topic of "Spectre" was hot, but I didn't expect to be suddenly attracted by Disney's big move.
However, this does not conceal the edge of "007: Spectre".
In the box office week from June 14th to June 20th, the first week of "Spectre" opened in the North American market alone, with a screen size of 3,346, and a crazy box office of 89.17 million US dollars, even accounting for inflation. , which is also the highest first-week box office performance of the 007 series since its inception.
Although the total production and promotion budget of "Spectre" reaches 125 million U.S. dollars, from the current point of view, only local theater distribution can allow MGM to achieve good profits, and overseas and follow-up productions can even make a profit. Fang made a lot of money.
When adjusting for inflation, the previous highest-grossing box office of the 007 series was "007: Thunderball" produced in 1965. The global box office that year was US$140 million, equivalent to US$720 million in 1996. Judging from the local and overseas data of "Spectre" in its first week, this latest 007 movie is likely to break the box office record set by "Thunderball" after accounting for inflation, becoming the most profitable film in the series since its inception. 007 movie.
Affected by "Spectre", the box office of other films during the same period fell sharply.
The second-place "Mission: Impossible 2" saw its box office drop by 51% in its third week of release, cutting it in half, with revenue of US$27.98 million. However, in three weeks, the cumulative box office of this action movie adapted from a TV series with the same spy theme has reached 161.24 million US dollars.
Because "Spectre" is so strong, except for the second-placed "Mission: Impossible 2", which maintained a box office volume of more than 10 million US dollars, all other films this week were knocked down to within the 10 million US dollars range.
The third-placed "Dragon Heart" dropped 53% the next week, collecting only US$7.93 million, with a total of US$24.76 million in two weeks.
Even "Romeo and Juliet", which has been performing well as a dark horse since its opening, experienced a relatively high box office drop of 36% in the past week. It was the first time that the box office dropped by more than 30%, and the box office in a single week was only 6.76 million US dollars. , ranking fourth on the list.
Speaking of which, this is also a sign that "Romeo and Juliet" is beginning to exhaust its box office potential.
After all, in the six weeks since its release, including the box office of US$6.76 million in the past week, this low-cost romance film with a production cost of only US$15 million has successfully exceeded 100 million yuan in box office, successfully entering the 100 million yuan box office club. The total North American box office reached US$106.43 million.
The fifth place is "The Mummy", which dropped 46% in a single week and earned US$6.38 million. In its five weeks of release, this fantasy adventure blockbuster co-produced by Fox and Daenerys has grossed a total box office of US$143.35 million.
Outside of the top five, the box office of other films released during the same period was less than US$5 million.
On June 21, a new box office week begins.
According to the ups and downs of this summer season, none of the three major new films this week are considered too blockbuster.
The first is "Police Empire" produced by Daenerys Entertainment's High Gate Pictures. This crime drama film written and directed by James Mangold and starring Sylvester Stallone, who took a salary cut, was released at the end of last year. Delayed to release this summer, the production cost is only 10 million US dollars, and the number of opening screens is 1,697.
Next, Disney's 2D animated film "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", adapted from the animated film "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", opened on 1,297 screens.
Compared to "Police Empire", it's not worth mentioning.
Due to the rise of 3D animated films, 2D animated films have become less and less expected by audiences in recent years. Although "The Hunchback of Notre Dame" has a world-class super IP foundation like "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", in fact, such an adult-oriented film The subject matter is very unfriendly to audiences of all ages, especially the key child audiences for animated films.
Disney also mentioned the topic of reviving animated films during its grand press conference on Friday. Unfortunately, due to restrictions from various factors, almost no one is optimistic that Disney can do this.
Finally, there is "Broken Chain Rage".
This is a film adapted from real events. It tells the story of a slave uprising on a slave ship during the slave trade before the American Civil War and finally gained freedom. The film was directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by DreamWorks. Paramount is responsible for distribution and production cost $40 million.
Compared with movies such as "Jurassic Park", "ET" and even "Schindler's List", "Unchained" is almost unknown in Spielberg's list of works. In the original time and space, it was probably Not many people know about this movie.
Like "Schindler's List", "Unchained" was a project that Spielberg had been preparing since the 1980s and was not produced until the establishment of DreamWorks.
Moreover, this is also due to the success of "Schindler's List".
As a joint project between DreamWorks and Paramount, if "Schindler's List" hadn't shown investors that such heavy themes could achieve good box office success, even Spielberg would have been unlikely to get it. invest.
However, Paramount clearly regrets it.
Compared with "Police Empire" and "The Hunchback of Notre Dame", "The Hunchback" opened on only 1,019 screens, with more than a thousand people on the screen. This was obviously for Spielberg's sake.
Moreover, unlike "Schindler's List" where everyone was cautious about offending something, political correctness in the United States in the 1990s had not yet reached an extreme level. On the day of the film's opening, the comprehensive media score was 7.7, which was relatively For a movie that needs word-of-mouth to support its box office, this kind of public feedback is obviously unsatisfactory.