"So far, the North American box office of "Titanic" has successfully exceeded 300 million U.S. dollars, but the box office trend of this phenomenon-level blockbuster is still strong. Box office analysis agencies generally predict that "Titanic" will be very successful based on the North American box office alone." It is possible to recover all the huge investment of 265 million U.S. dollars, and the overseas box office of "Titanic" is even more likely to reach a jaw-dropping figure. The film industry has just emerged to reflect on the big-budget films in recent years. Under such circumstances, the Firefly Group suddenly announced that it would stop its special effects company’s digital cooperation with external parties, which is tantamount to pouring cold water on the outside of the Firefly system. All the Hollywood studios."
"According to Jeffrey Katzenberg, chairman of Firefly Group, Firefly Group will increase the number of 'blockbuster' films per year from the current three to six in the next few years, at least half of which will be CG-focused. If the digital field continues to maintain the original open operation mode, it will be difficult to meet the needs of Firefly Group itself.”
"It is reported that the digital field special effects company currently has Hollywood's top computer CG special effects technology. , has won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects for 4 consecutive years. At the same time, the digital field also has the industry's largest rendering farm, which has undertaken more than 50% of Hollywood's special effects screen rendering work in recent years."
"Relevant analysts predict that because the digital domain has mastered a large number of Hollywood's unique CG special effects technologies, such as the large-scale war scene design in "The Mummy 2", etc., the digital domain's sudden stop of external cooperation may even make it impossible to use the digital domain. Hollywood film companies with advanced technology have formed a "fault" for several years in terms of special effects blockbusters, which will undoubtedly have a strong impact on the film business of Time Warner, Paramount, Sony and other companies. The market shares of GM Pictures and 20th Century Fox will increase significantly. Affected by this news, the stock prices of Time Warner, Viacom and other companies have all fallen slightly in the past week. MGM, which has the closest relationship with Firefly Group In the film industry, the stock price rose further, with an increase of more than 9% in a week."
Michael Eisner threw away the latest issue of "Premiere" magazine, stood up in distress and walked to the window, thinking about what to do next.
In addition to this analysis article, the latest annual Hollywood power list released by this issue of "Premiere" magazine, in addition to Eric Williams occupying the top position without any suspense, the CEO of Firefly Group Jeffrey Katzenberg did not follow the usual practice in previous years, and was tied for the first place with Eric as the controller of the Firefly Group. Instead, he was listed separately and occupied the second place. In this detail, The change undoubtedly shows Eric's increasingly detached position in Hollywood. The third place is still not related to Universal, but MGM, which was the most popular last year. Drew Barrymore and Amy Pascal tied for third place, and it was Michael Eisner's turn to take fourth place.
I don’t know whether it’s intentional or not, but in the top ten of this year’s Hollywood power list, in addition to executives of major film companies and top directors and producers, there is also the figure of Stan Winston, the CEO of the digital field, which means , the Firefly Group has already occupied three places in the top ten of the Hollywood power list. If you count MGM and Fox on the list, the Firefly system has basically controlled half of Hollywood, which is different from the Firefly Group. In reality, the influence is almost the same. Even, if we simply calculate the market share, because "Titanic", which was not expected by everyone, unexpectedly broke out, Firefly, MGM and Fox, this year's Hollywood box office market. The share of the film industry will also exceed 50%, and the four major film companies, Warner, Paramount, Universal, and Sony Pictures, can only share the remaining 50% with countless other second- and third-tier film companies.
Plans can never keep up with changes.
Michael Eisner sighed in his heart, thinking of his thoughts before the release of "Titanic", he couldn't help laughing at himself.
However, immediate problems still need to be solved.
In the past week, after Firefly announced the cessation of foreign cooperation in the digital field, Industrial Light & Magic, which was about to reach a cooperation intention with Universal, suddenly changed its mind. Microsoft can almost be said to respond quickly and said that it will invest another 100 million U.S. dollars. , used for the technical research and development of industrial light and magic in CG special effects.
Although Industrial Light and Magic has been far inferior to the digital field in recent years, the special effects experience accumulated over the past two decades is not comparable to other small special effects companies that have just been established in Hollywood. Obviously, Microsoft also because of the box office success of "Titanic", Seeing the huge application prospects of special effects technology in Hollywood, some other thoughts arose, and he no longer wanted Universal to get involved.
In response to the news announced by Firefly, during this week, in addition to Microsoft's generous injection of funds into Industrial Light and Magic, Sony, Paramount, and Time Warner also announced the establishment of their own special effects departments for film and television.
Although Universal's board of directors also began to discuss related issues, Edgar Bronfman, chairman of the parent company Seagram Group, also called to inquire about this matter.
But Michael Eisner knew that setting up an exclusive special effects department would simply not work. He still clearly remembers what Eric said last year when everyone was fighting for the copyright of the "Transformers" movie. The rendering farm built by the digital field in Florida at a cost of 100 million US dollars alone is not something that other second- and third-rate special effects companies can easily do. It can catch up, and in these years, how much has been invested in the digital field in order to develop various CG special effects technologies. Although there is no specific data, it can be imagined that this figure is also very scary.
More importantly, if special effects companies want to accumulate enough technology, they need to obtain it through practice in the production process of a large number of CG shots. According to the news disclosed by Firefly, the Firefly Group will feature three CG special effects films each year in the future. Then, even if MGM and 20th Century Fox are combined, they can have as many films as Firefly. Six special effects film orders, and countless other films that require a small amount of special effects scenes, provide a sufficient technology accumulation platform for the digital field. This is impossible for Time Warner, Paramount, Sony and even Universal itself.
The first thought in Michael Eisner's mind is of course to unite, but from the reaction of Industrial Light & Magic backed by Microsoft after Firefly announced the news, it can be seen that everyone has their own little calculations in their hearts and wants to unite. Easier said than done.
While thinking about something, there was a knock on the office door. Michael Eisner answered, and his assistant pushed the door in and said, "Mr. Eisner, I have inquired, Eric Williams I went to San Francisco for two days, it seems to be for a music player secretly developed by Firefly.”
"Music player?" Michael Eisner asked suspiciously. Although the MP3 player was developed and matured at the end of last year, in recent months, Firefly Electronics has been preparing for various preparatory work, so it is still basically is kept confidential.
Michael Eisner's assistant nodded and said, "It's a brand new digital audio player. It's a coincidence that you asked me to participate in the company's contract with Ms. Nicole Kidman on the sequel to "The Mummy" last week. I happened to see Ms. Kidman using this kind of player. It is only slightly larger than an old-fashioned lighter. It uses a micro-hard disk as a storage medium, and it can store hundreds of songs in MP3 audio format. It does not need tapes or discs at all. These external media. By the way, I just made a special call to the record company, and they also received a cooperation invitation from Yahoo Networks to sell songs on the Yahoo Music Store at the end of last year, and the two parties are still negotiating."
The eyes of Michael Eisner, who had been listening intently, immediately lit up, and he had faintly realized a problem just now.
If everything is as the assistant said, then if this music player wants to be promoted, it will definitely need a lot of genuine music resources to support it. The reason why Sony bought Columbia Records back then was because of this consideration. Obviously, music copyright resources are exactly the shortcoming of Firefly Group. Although Firefly Records has released some good singers in recent years, in terms of background, Firefly Records is compared with the old giants such as Universal Music, Warner Records and Sony Records. There is still a distance of one hundred and eight thousand miles.
"You did a good job," Michael Eisner praised the other party without hesitation, and said again: "Also, prepare a copy of the materials for the negotiation between the record company and Yahoo, and help me make an appointment with Doug. Morris."
Doug Morris is the CEO of Universal Music. The MCA Group, which Seagram took over from Panasonic, mainly includes Universal Pictures and Universal Music. However, Michael Eisner is not in charge of the business of Universal Music.
…
"Fireflyer, this is the most suitable name we finally discussed. Fireflyer is actually an elf in the fairy tale "Peter Pan", who is somewhat conceited but sincerely loyal to his friends. It was born because of the laughter of a baby in Renton. In the story, Fireflyer finally got married with Tinkerbell. It can be said that this is a character with some minor flaws, but its flaws are not concealed. Our MP3 player product also pursues the same experience as a close friend. , just fits the character of Fireflyer, and at the same time, Fireflyer can also be seen as an extension of Firefly."
In an office building in Oakland, San Francisco, Eric, Chris and a group of Firefly Electronics management sat in a conference room, quietly listening to the explanation of Firefly Electronics President Bill Olson.
Bill Olsen is an executive that Chris hired from Apple. He turned out to be a vice president in charge of product marketing at Apple. Originally, even with the backing of Firefly Group, Bill Olson was still a It is unlikely that Firefly Electronics, a small company that has just started, is in favor of Firefly Electronics, but because of the decline of Apple in the past two years, the management has jumped to find another job, and Eric and Chris promised enough salary And option rewards, Bill Olson is willing to come over to serve as the president of Firefly Electronics, mainly responsible for the marketing of MP3 players.
After hearing what Bill Olsen said, Eric said: "The name Fireflyer is really good, but since you mentioned Tinkerbell, Bill, don't you think we can also apply for this trademark as a trademark for MP3 players?" Another brand, maybe, for women or something?"
Bill Olson said with a smile: "Eric, your suggestion was actually mentioned by Victor at the original naming meeting, but after we discussed it, we temporarily dismissed the idea."
Eric looked to Victor McNairy, CEO of Firefly Electronics. Victor McNairy graduated from Stanford University with a Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering. Victor McNairy is in charge of product development and production in IBM. Although his position is not too high, his professional ability is also very good. At the beginning, Chris asked the headhunting company to look for it for three months before confirming Nominated for Victor McNairy.
Victor McNairy is a middle-aged white man with a slightly fat body and a big beard. He is a little rough. Seeing Eric looking at him, he smiled, gestured to Bill Olson, and said with a smile: "Eric, let Bill talk to you, he is the expert in this field."
Eric looked at Bill Olson again.
Bill Olson didn't sell the lawsuit either, and said: "Well, Eric, in the current situation, we only have a product like Fireflyer, maybe we can name the pink one the Tinkerbell you said, but in this way It will definitely dilute the brand image of the player and be detrimental to product promotion.”
…
…
Victor McNairy is a middle-aged white man with a slightly fat body and a big beard. He is a little rough. Seeing Eric looking at him, he smiled, gestured to Bill Olson, and said with a smile: "Eric, let Bill talk to you, he is the expert in this field."
Eric looked at Bill Olson again.
Bill Olson didn't sell the lawsuit either, and said, "Well, Eric, in the current situation, we only have a product like Fireflyer, and maybe the pink one can be named Tinkerbell as you said, but in this way It will definitely dilute the brand image of the player and be detrimental to product promotion.” (To be continued.)