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Aniston, who had been sitting quietly next to Eric, was a little confused. When he came, Eric did not hide from her the purpose of inviting Robert Shea this time. However, more than half of the dinner has been eaten now, and the two of them have not talked about the acquisition of the film company at all. Instead, they talked about various industry insiders without looking for margins, the huge loss of MGM's "Heaven's Gate", the box office miracle of "Gone with the Wind" when Robert Shea was born in 1939, and why Disney rose so quickly Ah, the truth about RKO's bankruptcy, anyway, there is nothing about the acquisition of the film company, at least the little girl with a not so smart head didn't find any signs of it.
At the beginning, Aniston listened with gusto, but then she gradually lost interest, but she didn't want to be rude and embarrass her boyfriend. The little girl could only sit upright and listen carefully, although her mind had already flown to the sky.
Until the waiter removed the cutlery and replaced coffee for several people, the 'chat' between Eric and Robert Shea still didn't end.
"...The latest issue of "Variety" magazine published a data article, statistics ≠ ≤, it shows that from next year, the income of videotapes and TV broadcast rights of movies will exceed the box office of movies across the board, and the various peripheral copyrights of movies The development is also becoming more and more diversified, so the role of distribution channels will become more and more important in the film industry chain, and it will be difficult for pure film content providers to survive in the future."
"It's a bit one-sided to say that. If there are no excellent works, then the expansion of distribution channels will be impossible to talk about. It is precisely because of one high-quality film after another that Hollywood can expand its territory in overseas markets. Invincible, if our movies are like European movies, if they are not enterprising and there are few good movies, then they will definitely be like European movies, they can only entertain themselves in a small circle. Highways are important, but if there are no cars, Highways have no value in existence. Moreover, the remuneration of Hollywood movie stars has increased by more than ten times compared to ten years ago, and they have even begun to share the profits of movies. This is the most intuitive evidence of the importance of content in the movie market. Reflect." After Eric finished speaking, he took a sip of coffee without haste, and glanced at Robert Shea. Not long after the dinner started, the two exchanged a few compliments, and unknowingly began a secret conversation In the confrontation, although no one mentioned any issues such as company acquisitions, the two have been arguing about who is more important about movie content and distribution.
The discussion on this topic was started by Robert Shea, and from that moment on, Robert Shea was already at a disadvantage. Because since the other party brought up this topic, Eric also understood that Robert Shea was very moved by Firefly's proposal to acquire the new line. If the other party was unwilling to sell the new line, he would not want to bring up this topic at all.
Robert Shea, who was sitting across from him, also felt a little bitter. He found that he had still far underestimated the vision and insight of the young man sitting across from him.
As an old man who has been in Hollywood for more than 20 years, how could he not understand that once he brings up that topic, it is very likely that the other party will find out his intentions.
But Robert Shea originally thought that Eric was only nineteen years old after all. Even if he has some talent in film production, he must know little about other aspects, and he is more than 30 years older than him, which can be said to be too much Thirty years of accumulated experience, coupled with Robert's feeling that his eloquence is not bad, so at the beginning he was confident that he could calm down Eric, once he planted a "distribution channel is the key" in Eric's heart With the seeds, Robert will be able to take the initiative in future negotiations.
Several films that Eric produced in a row have created miracles at the box office. Therefore, when Eric asked him to invite him and revealed some news, Robert Shea's mind became alive, and Firefly acquired New Line, this is for sure, Robert Shea has never considered the possibility of reverse, but even though Robert Shea is fifty years old, he is still very ambitious, he does not value the huge amount of money that Firefly acquired New Line , but hope to achieve the merger of the two companies and get as much equity as possible in the merged company.
New Line has developed to a bottleneck so far. Among the second-tier film companies, New Line is already a leader. It has a series of movies with stable income, and has also built a good distribution channel in the United States. It also has regular cooperation in overseas distribution. What is even more commendable is that New Line has not been attached to any film giant and has maintained a completely independent business status. However, compared with the six major film companies, the gap between New Line is still very large. The main reason for this gap is that New Line lacks box office hit movies, or none at all. So far, New Line's "A Nightmare on Elm Street" series with the best revenue has a maximum box office of just over 40 million. However, for a movie to be considered a big hit, the North American box office must reach about 100 million US dollars to qualify. Without a blockbuster movie, New Line is doomed to be difficult to rank among the giants.
The 80/20 rule in the Hollywood box office market is particularly obvious. Every year, 20% of the movies share more than 80% of the box office revenue. And the top ten movies on the annual box office list have always been monopolized by the six major film companies, which means that more than 80% of the box office revenue is in the hands of the six major film companies. The proportion has been reduced, because the vigorous development of various channels has given independent film companies a lot of room for development, so the six major film companies only account for about 85% of the total box office each year, leaving 15% for other Hollywood film companies This proportion may seem small, but compared to more than ten years ago, this proportion is already very large. More than ten years ago, the six major film companies basically took all the annual box office and left it to the small film companies. The share is only a pitiful 1%.
If New Line wants to join the ranks of the giants and share more than 80% of the profits, there are only two ways to go before meeting Eric, or concentrate all its strength and put all its strength in a desperate venture to make large-scale investment in film production. It is possible to achieve a big box office sale, but doing so is extremely risky. Once it fails, the only way for New Line to go bankrupt. Or just go on slowly, maybe one day, a certain small-produced film invested by the company suddenly got a sky-high box office, and quickly accumulated a huge financial strength for it. It can also be sold well and achieve a virtuous circle, then it is possible to quickly accumulate strength and one day rank among the ranks of large companies. In parallel time and space, Lionsgate has risen by luck in this way. Lionsgate, which was established in 1997, was originally far inferior to old second-tier companies such as New Line and Miramax in terms of qualifications and strength. The low-cost documentary "Fahrenheit 9/11" was released under tremendous political pressure. Fortunately, it won a box office of 224 million US dollars worldwide, and quickly accumulated enough capital, and then used this capital to continuously develop super-best-selling films. The "Twilight Saga" series and the "Hunger Games" series once stepped on Universal and MGM in terms of box office results, and followed Warner, Disney, Columbia and Fox, ranking fifth.
And after Eric threw out the acquisition intention, Robert Shea saw another broad road. This road allows the new line to enter the movie smoothly without taking risks or slowly waiting for good luck to come. In the ranks of giants, Eric's previous films have been sold well, which has proved that he has the strength to do this. Now that there is a combined giant like MGM-United Artists in the six majors, there will definitely be another new line- Firefly, well, it's Firefly - New Line.
After one or two cups of coffee, Robert Shea didn't have the patience to spend any more time with Eric. The patience of the young man in front of him was astonishing. Although he didn't want to admit it, Robert Shea still had to face this confrontation Among them, the fact that he has failed. And if we don't bring up the topic again, perhaps Eric will really treat this meeting as a chat, and then get up to say goodbye, then the meeting again may only be at the negotiating table.
"Eric, I heard that Firefly is planning to expand its own distribution channels?" Robert Shea asked casually as he stirred the coffee refilled by the waiter with a spoon.
There was a smile on the corner of Eric's mouth, and finally he couldn't help it anymore. This meal has been eaten for almost two hours, and Eric almost didn't have the patience to spend it with Robert Shea anymore. The little girl has been drifting away continuously A few charming little eyes came over to imply that he wanted to leave. Eric planned to finish the coffee in front of him. If the other party didn't raise any questions, he would go back and hug Aniston to have sex. The line issued an invitation to buy.
The reason for having such a meal is that Eric wanted to probe Robert Shea's tone to see if the other party intends to sell the new line, because in memory, Robert Shea's desire to control is very strong, and the new line in his previous life Although the new line was recruited by Warner, Robert Shea still firmly held the control of the new line. It seemed that almost twenty years later, it was not until "The Golden Compass" suffered a huge loss that Robert Shea was forced to step down under great pressure.
The topic that Robert Shea raised at the beginning, and after arguing with Eric for a long time, has already expressed his attitude, so there is not much need to talk about it or not. Anyway, even if the preliminary intention is reached, the specific terms are yet to come. Long-term negotiations are required. It has taken more than half a year for Sony to acquire Columbia, and it took at least a year with the previous planning. Although Firefly's acquisition of the new line will not be so troublesome, it will definitely not be completed within a month or two. (My novel "I Am Hollywood" will have more fresh content on the official WeChat platform, and there will also be a 100% lucky draw gift for everyone! Open WeChat now, click the "+" sign on the top right to "add friends", Search the official account "qdread" and pay attention, hurry up!)