"I understand how you feel. In fact, I am very optimistic about the future of Blue Sky Studio. Otherwise, I would not have come to persuade you in person, even though you were still doing CG scenes for some commercials or TV series at that time. I think you should know that I never do useless things. Since I bought Blue Sky Studio and agreed to your conditions, it means that I am optimistic about you. You are different from Pixar. They are the pioneers, and it is inevitable that they have a huge harvest. If you want to get the same harvest, you must put in more effort.
What's more, the two studios have different styles of persistence. Pixar insists on stories that are suitable for all ages, and you believe in excellence. Human time is always more precious than a machine, right? Therefore, there is no need to be so anxious. I have already arranged it. This year, I need you to work hard to make a short animation. Eight to ten minutes is fine. As long as it can be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film, I will agree to make a feature-length 3D animation. The investment will be at least 50 million US dollars. If you can win, then the investment will be more.
What do you think? "This was the promise Adriaan made to Wei Ji and several core members of Blue Sky Studio. Anyway, Blue Sky Studio won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 1998, which was why it was acquired by Fox. He didn't mind repeating the process.
Pixar, who had the peripheral rights in their hands, was making enough money. He was not in a hurry to let Blue Sky Studio generate profits so quickly. In his plan, Blue Sky Studio would also play an important role in AC Media's plan to take the Disneyland route.
The New Year had arrived. For Adriaan, more opportunities were waiting for him. AC Media would also usher in another opportunity to expand. Therefore, as soon as the New Year's holiday ended, he began to plan more things.
"Who can tell me what people are most afraid of?" Sitting at the head of the conference room, Adriaan glanced at the senior executives and asked.
No one spoke. Even Claude and Laffern, who was discovered by him, looked at him with confusion.
"Okay, this question is a bit general. Let me change the way I ask it. Let's see humans as animals — higher animals. What are they most afraid of when they don't have to worry about food and clothing?" Adrian changed the way he asked.
No one answered. In the end, Claude cleared his throat and said, "It's still too general. Eide, maybe you can give us more detailed conditions."
"More detailed is the same as telling you the answer." Adriaan shook his head and then looked behind him to the right, "Can you tell me the answer?"
Sitting there, Charlize looked up and looked at Adriaan with surprise. Adriaan gave her an encouraging smile.
"Well …" After thinking carefully, Charlize finally spoke. "I think you are lonely, right?"
"Yes, lonely!" Adrian snapped his fingers and looked at the executives in the room again. "As social animals, after satisfying their survival needs, the thing people are most worried about and most afraid of is loneliness!"
He paused for a moment, waiting for them to digest his words, and then said, "In my opinion, there are two kinds of loneliness. One is, for various reasons, separated from society and abandoned in a primeval forest or on an uninhabited island. DreamWorks wanted me to direct a movie starring Tom Hanks, but I declined. The movie is about such a story. It should be a terrible experience. No steak, no TV, no baseball, no living and entertainment facilities, and most importantly, no one to talk to you. If you don't keep exercising, maybe in a few years, you won't even be able to speak. Even Robinson Crusoe had to have a Friday with him. This shows how terrible loneliness is.
But this is only the first kind. There is another kind of loneliness that is even more terrible. The first kind is being separated from society because of an accident, and the second kind is being abandoned by society. To put it simply, no one cares if you are alive, and no one cares if you are dead! This is why so many people want to be Miss Beauty, Mr. Bodybuilder, cheerleader, quarterback, actor, talk show host, and so on. Because only in this way can you show that you are different from others. Only by showing that you are different will you feel that you are outstanding and valuable!
But for a long time, there have always been very few channels for people to show themselves. Although there are beauty pageants in an ordinary town, and although there are more and more variety talent shows, compared to the overall population base, it is still very small. Most people seem mediocre, and no one cares about them except for their loved ones, even if they do have many special qualities. But now, it is different. A flat world has appeared in front of them. In this world, they can vent everything they have, show everything they have, and use all kinds of methods to attract the attention of others! Yes, this is the Internet!
Psychologists once did a test. If a person wore a mask that no one could recognize, he would be able to do whatever he wanted without any scruples. The Internet is like this. Do you see the 1994 issue of The New Yorker in my hand? On the Internet, no one knows you are a dog. A gentleman who observes all kinds of etiquette in life may be a shrew on the Internet. A villain in life may also be a calm thinker on the Internet. The Internet is full of infinite possibilities. It is both illusory and real. This is not a new media channel, but the speed of its operation and development is far faster than other media. Look at the websites that we have in our hands, Yahoo, Amazon, IMDB, and so on. They are all like this, and there will be more in the future. Whoever can make use of this, make use of people's desire to show themselves, to promote and influence, will be able to take the lead in the coming 21st century! "
This was not the first time Adriaan emphasized the importance of the Internet, but he used to talk about it in private with the company's executives. This was the first time he brought it up in a meeting. This was necessary because in the early years of the 21st century, people showed much more of themselves than in the past decade. After all, as long as they were shameless, anyone could become a celebrity in the Internet age.
Since he had finally become a rising star in the media industry, if he did not seize this opportunity to further expand, then Adriaan must be the stupidest person in the world, and the first opportunity was the blog.
After the meeting, he returned to Claude's office and asked, "Why didn't you mention the … blog you mentioned in the meeting just now?"
"I have always been in charge of the tone, and you arrange the specific work. Since you did not mention it, why should I?" Adriaan spread his hands.
"Come on, everyone knows that as long as you don't mention these things, I won't say anything." Claude rolled his eyes. "Hurry up and tell me, what are you planning?"
"Okay, okay, for two reasons." Adriaan sat down. "First of all, I need them to figure it out themselves. They can't always do what I say, right?"
"Hey, why does it sound like you're talking about me?" Claude suddenly shouted. Adriaan ignored him and continued, "Second, I can't slap myself in the face, right?"
"Slap yourself in the face?"
"You've forgotten what they discussed in private at Hearst's mansion two weeks ago, on New Year's Eve."
"You mean, the news website? But this and … okay, I know. "
Looking at Claude's understanding face, Adriaan shrugged. In fact, long before the Internet was fully formed, there was already this kind of expression on the Internet, but it never had a fixed form. Since a blog could publish the author's mood, it could also be used to record news and other information. Compared to ordinary submission methods, a blog was obviously much faster. If you added a powerful search engine …
The big shots in any industry would only have two choices when it came to new things. The first was to suppress it and quickly absorb it while maintaining their own advantages. The second was to find a way to get involved and fight for a share of the profits. The former was suitable when the other party was weak, and the latter was suitable when the other party had a certain scale.
If AC Media launched a blog service, it would undoubtedly fall into the latter category. However, it would require quite a bit of skill to tie some big players, especially the big players of traditional media, in. What's more, he had just agreed to the news website. If he immediately came up with something like this, it would be too unsightly. Anyway, he had good cooperation with the Hearst Corporation and Newhouse Corporation. It wouldn't be a bad thing to be more prepared.
Just wait and see. Besides, there were still a lot of things that he hadn't taken out yet. Adriaan thought with satisfaction. Then he changed the topic, "How's Seagram?"
"Without a doubt, they have relented. They also know that blindly expanding has put them under a lot of pressure." Claude laughed, but then he changed his expression. "But we can't use the funds from Southeast Asia for the time being. In the past few months, Soros has almost finished his preparations. He will be in Indonesia soon. So, once Seagram makes a decision, we must raise funds."
"It's okay. Even if I only have 35% of the shares, I can still control the company. I don't even need that much. As long as we have 35% together, it will be fine." Adriaan waved his hand nonchalantly, but his eyelids twitched when he heard the words "will be in Indonesia."
"Promise me that you will win Universal," Feng Yu said, looking at him.
"Okay, I promise I will win Universal." Claude laughed.
Yes, the final piece of the puzzle was not Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Columbia, or Warner Bros., but Universal! Sony would not let go of Columbia, even if the company's losses were only partially improved. It was even more impossible for Warner to do so. Warner Corporation was already a giant, and unless it was acquired, it was impossible to take it over. How could Adrian be willing to part with it?
As for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, its former glory was long gone. From the fact that Kirk Kerkorian had sold it several times and bought it back, it could be seen that they were involved in some kind of money-laundering business. No matter what, Adrian and Claude were still considered decent people in the industry. How could they have too much contact with these people, even if they had already washed their names clean?
Therefore, Universal was the best choice. In the late 1980s, there was another Japanese company that entered Hollywood with Sony. That was Panasonic, which bought Universal. Unlike Sony, Panasonic retained the management of Universal and gave it a lot of autonomy. However, cultural differences were not that easy to overcome. Also, expanding too fast would cause indigestion. Plus, Universal's profits were not very good, so they sold it to Seagram Corporation early on.
Speaking of which, there was also Adriaan's credit. Universal had a few good productions in the early 1990s, but because of Adriaan's interference, Schindler's List was gone, and Jurassic Park became a joint investment. Universal's income was much lower than it had been in Zhang Heng's previous life, so Panasonic sold it a year earlier.
Seagram Corporation, which took over, was famous for its brewing. After taking over, they had the ambition to create their own media empire. Unfortunately, the gap between brewing and media was too wide. Like Panasonic, they quickly fell into a predicament. Moreover, there was a variable like Adriaan, disrupting the situation. Spielberg, who had a good relationship with Universal, had also established DreamWorks. Seagram began to seriously consider the possibility of selling it.
And this was an opportunity for AC Media. After all, Universal Pictures could be considered the second oldest film company in Hollywood. Even though it had been a second-rate film company for a period of time, it still held the position of one of the top seven film companies. This was especially true in the past decade or so. Every few years, there would be a change of ownership, but under the leadership of CEO Lonnie Meyer, it still maintained its position as a major film company, especially with Adriaan's interference. One had to admit that Lonnie was a very powerful person.
He had a long history in Hollywood, a position in the MPAA, and his movies and TV series were all well produced. Even though his film library was not as good as Miramax's, most of his movies were high-quality. He also had contacts who could help him contact them, and there were no unscrupulous forces involved. This was practically tailor-made for AC Media! The only problem was that Universal's overseas distribution was rather lousy. But nothing was perfect in this world, and this could be remedied through hard work. If not for Panasonic's lack of funds, Adriaan might have already sold it.
But it was not too late now, and it might even be more suitable.
After getting Claude's promise and officially mentioning the importance of the Internet during the high-level meeting, Adriaan immediately turned his attention to the end of the Christmas and New Year period. After all, although the prospects were good, it still needed time to complete.
So far, "Moment of Massacre" had officially broken the 100 million mark in the North American box office, but that was as far as it could go. For such a movie, it was already quite a good result, and it gave Kate a good start to his comeback. As for "Doomsday," it was still moving towards 200 million, but the prospects were not very optimistic. It was still unknown whether it could break 200 million. But if the overseas box office was included, at least it would not be a problem to recoup the cost.
On the other hand, "Titanic" was still firmly in the theaters. Although the number of theaters had shrunk a lot compared to the past few months, it was still holding on. Film critics were amazed. This was a miracle. Even the most demanding people had to admit that this movie was unparalleled in terms of business.
So far, the box office in North America had exceeded 700 million, and the overseas box office had reached 1.2 billion! At the end of the year, after several twists and turns, after being released in China, it also earned a box office of close to 400 million yuan. As expected, the third generation wanted to see how the capitalist countries promoted themselves.
Now, people all over the world who were paying attention to the movie were waiting with their necks stretched, wanting to know if "Titanic" could reach the unprecedented global box office of 2 billion before it went offline.
"Definitely!" This was Adriaan's answer. Although he knew very well that the movie had broken the record in his memory, he still hoped to get a global box office of 2 billion US dollars.
"Tell the owners of the theaters that as long as we keep the movie online for a while, as long as we pass that period, I can increase the share to 70%. They should know which period it is!" Adriaan said to Laffern.
If it were not for the fact that it was too obvious and ostentatious, it would not be difficult for him to spend 20 million out of his own pocket to push the 2 billion mark.
Just wait and see. If it really can't hold on, it doesn't matter even if it's ostentatious. That's what Adriaan thought.
There was no need to talk about how long they had to hold on. When the time came, they would know that after the middle of January 1998, it was already the end of the Christmas-New Year slot. The third of the three movies that had been prepared was finally held for its belated premiere. The reason why it was held at this time was that the movie was not suitable to be released in a popular slot.
"This is indeed a good movie. When its main attraction is nostalgia, it's destined that not many people will like it. After all, the main consumers in the movie market are around 18 to 25 years old. So, if this movie is placed in a popular slot, it will be very bad." When deciding on the release date, an assistant manager of Bosworth seized the opportunity to give his opinion to Adriaan.
Adriaan was pleased to accept his opinion and promoted him. Although he did not care much about the movie, and the main reason for releasing it at the end of the year was to fight for the Oscars, it would not be good if the box office figures were too bad. As for whether the movie would be disqualified for the Oscars if the premiere was scheduled in January, oh, don't forget the Film school's requirements. As early as Christmas, LA Confidential had a pre-screening in Los Angeles, so it was completely in line with the requirements.
However, at the premiere, Adriaan walked the red carpet with Zeta Jones, so as soon as they appeared, the reporters on both sides could not wait to press the shutter. There was something to write about again.
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