Chapter 350

"Moulin Rouge" was delayed. Adriaan originally scheduled it to be released a little before Christmas, but the problem was that AC Media's high-grossing movies were all scheduled at this time, and they all performed extremely well. "X-Men", "The Lord of the Rings", and "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" were not to be mentioned. Even "Deep Chocolate" and "A Beautiful Mind", which were literary films that needed to be screened for a long time, had very good results. Not to mention "Ocean's Eleven", "Training Day", and "Diary of a Bachelor", which had different styles but were very valuable commercially.

"Diary of a Bachelor", starring Richel, was released before "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone". The premiere was not big, and Adriaan was still present. Of course, he had to forcibly pull Richel to a corner and violate him.

Therefore, if "Moulin Rouge" was released before Christmas as originally planned, it would easily cause the predicament of insufficient attention. It was not a big deal if it affected the box office. It was also a literary film that was screened for a long time. What's more, there was the gimmick of Miracle Director's first musical film. However, it would not be good if it affected the reputation of the film. At this stage, the most talked about Adriaan was "Lord of the Rings".

Therefore, after discussing with others, Adriaan changed the date to January next year. Just like "Love to Alabama" and "The Princess Diaries", Sarah's "Love to Alabama" was already decided to be released next year. This time, the date was set to February 14th, and "The Princess Diaries" was indeed scheduled to be released in early January.

In this way, although they were still competing with themselves, there was much more room for maneuver, and they could better squeeze the box office.

Of course, like "I am Sam", it was also necessary to have pre-screening at the end of the month to get an Oscar ticket. Didn't he make "Moulin Rouge" for this purpose? Moreover, he could also understand the audience's reaction and prepare for the publicity after the release.

After returning from London, life finally calmed down for the time being. Christmas Eve was just around the corner. The filming of "The Matrix", which had been intermittent because of the various premieres, had also stopped. Adrian also had more time to spend with his woman and daughter. Everything was wonderful, except for one thing — — — — —

The door was gently opened, and the corridor light that was never turned off cast a long shadow on the ground. In the dim room, the little ones were sleeping soundly on the bed, not noticing anything strange. A few large socks were hanging at the end of the bed.

A tall figure crept in, wearing thick clothes, with a conical hat on his head, and a long beard on his chin. He carried a large bag on his back. He walked to the stern and chuckled. Then, he slowly squatted down, took the thing out of his pocket, and tried to stuff it into the wool socks at the end of the bed.

At this moment, the little fellow on the bed suddenly jumped up.

"Thief! " A voice shouted, and then, a pillow was thrown at the figure at the end of the bed. The sound of the pillow was mixed with laughter, and the noise resounded throughout the bedroom.

"Hey, what are you guys doing!" Kate and Sarah, who heard the noise, rushed over and turned on the bedroom light.

Unfortunately, these little ones — Lily, Little Emma, Little Emma — had no intention of stopping. They continued to wave the pillow at the figure at the end of the bed, while Juliet and Deva clapped and cheered.

"Enough! You troublemakers! " Finally, when Adriaan shouted angrily, the little ones laughed and stopped.

At this time, Adriaan's Santa hat had fallen to the ground, and the beard stuck to his chin was hanging diagonally, as if it could fall off at any time. He looked a little embarrassed sitting on the ground with his messy hair. Fortunately, the pillow was not broken, or else the whole room would be filled with goose feathers.

"You should have gone to bed more than half an hour ago, and I specifically allowed you to sleep later, but you're still awake. Now, tell me, what are you going to do?!" Adrian pinched the cheeks of the little guys without any hesitation, and pretended to gnash his teeth, as if he was going to settle the score with them.

Unfortunately, it was not of much use. Even Deva and Juliet made faces at him, not to mention Lily and the two Emmas.

"Alright, if that's the case, then there's no Christmas present this year." Adriaan immediately picked up his bag and pretended to leave.

The two little ones, Deva and Juliet, who didn't have much of an opinion, suddenly looked uneasy. Unfortunately, Little Emma's words turned the situation around. "Don't worry, even if Eide doesn't give us Christmas presents, Santa will."

She knelt on the bed, crossed her arms, and glanced at Kate and Sarah, who were watching the commotion from the door. Then, she looked at Adriaan proudly. That's right, even if Daddy doesn't give Lily and the others a present, Mommy and Auntie will.

Adriaan couldn't help but roll his eyes, and glared at Kate and Sarah, who were standing at the side and smiling without saying a word. They hadn't spoken since he came in, and had been standing there watching the show, as if they liked seeing him like this. Then, he raised his eyebrows at Little Emma. There was no doubt that she was the mastermind behind this. He could still remember how she yelled at him on the phone that she was going to teach him a lesson.

"Looks like I shouldn't let you all sleep together, so I've decided to separate you all!" Adriaan snorted coldly and rolled up his sleeves.

"Rest!" Little Emma immediately shouted, and then gestured as she raised her pillow again.

Then, Little Emma and Lily also raised their pillows, while Deva and Juliet crawled behind them to hide, as if they were going to resist to the end.

"Alright, kids, calm down!" Kate finally walked over to help him out.

She didn't listen to Daddy, but she had to listen to Mommy. Lily was very smart, and she would never disobey either Mommy or Daddy. The troublemaker stopped, and naturally, Deva and Juliet, who only followed her sister, quieted down. Then, Little Emma, who always followed the crowd, also stopped. Little Emma couldn't do it alone, so she could only compromise.

"You're always lucky, Eide!" She said to Adriaan with a pout the next day.

"Alright, Emma, you're a big girl, and a popular celebrity at that. Can you stop doing such childish things?" Adriaan replied with a sigh.

Hearing this, the little girl's eyes widened, and the corners of her mouth drooped down. She looked fierce and hurt, and after staring at him for a long time, she snorted and left the study. Adriaan sighed again. Of course, he knew that Little Emma wouldn't be happy, but he had no other choice. She had been sitting on his lap since she came in, and wouldn't get off no matter what.

What an annoying thing. That's what Adriaan said to himself. But he didn't take it to heart. Little Emma was already so big, and she was so smart and mature. Why would she ignore him because of something like this? If she gave up just like that, then she wouldn't be Emma Watson — — Adriaan's Emma Watson.

As expected, after a few hours, Little Emma started asking him questions again, and Adriaan started having a headache on how to deal with her. Luckily, this situation didn't last too long. After Christmas, Little Emma would return to London. Of course, Adriaan had to promise to visit her during the new year.

"I promise, in January, I'll definitely come to London to see you." After sending her to the airport, Adriaan comforted her, and then immediately added, "Of course, there might be a few days' difference, please understand."

"… Okay." The little girl said unwillingly, her cheeks puffed up.

Adriaan smiled and shook his head. He leaned over and kissed the corner of her mouth. Little Emma's eyes suddenly lit up. She looked at him up and down in disbelief, then let out a short cheer and rushed into Adriaan's arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a firm kiss on the cheek.

Her face was filled with a smile, as if she had never been so happy before. She even felt a little light-headed as she walked along the VIP passage to Adriaan's private plane.

"Eide … Don't you think … you're crossing the line?" After watching the plane land on the runway, Kate, who came to send Little Emma off, said to Adriaan worriedly.

As his first woman, and having experienced the time when Adriaan took care of Little Emma, she was very sensitive to these things.

"Yes, I know, it's true." Adriaan stared at the accelerating plane. He didn't turn his head until it began to climb. "I'll take care of it, Kate, don't worry."

Kate didn't say anything. She just held his arm and looked at him with worry and trust. Adriaan smiled and put his arm around Kate's waist. He pulled her into his arms and watched the plane fly into the clouds.

The year 2001 passed just like that. A lot of important things happened in many fields that greatly affected the direction of the world. For example, 9/11, and the European Union's announcement of the euro on January 1, 2002. In the field of media, the most influential event was AC Media becoming the world's number one media company.

At the beginning of the year, they acquired AT&T Broadband. Adrian Kewell was in the limelight at the Oscars. In May, they occupied nine of the top ten TV ratings. After 9/11, they led various commemorative activities. Adrian Kewell personally donated 100 million to help the families of the victims, which led to a wave of philanthropy. Finally, during the entire Christmas period, from "Monster Company" to "Ocean's 11," from "X-Men" to "Lord of the Rings" to "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," AC Media's box office surpassed that of other companies.

The veteran media groups were either sighing, vigilant, or upset as they watched this young group climb to the top step by step. Why did a freak like Adrian have to come out of it? However, this wasn't the end. After finally getting rid of the sad and depressed year 2001, AC Media gave them another blow in 2002. Although this was only the end of 2001, the shock it caused was no less than the previous events.

At the beginning of each year, there would be a conclusion to the previous year, with some statistics, such as the total box office of the past year. In 2001, the total box office of the entire North America was about 8.4 billion, but the total box office of the films produced and distributed by AC Media was as much as 2.3 billion! That's right, it accounted for a quarter of the North American box office!

Although the North American box office was basically divided up by several major film companies, and then other companies picked up the leftovers, it was already quite amazing for a film company to have a box office of one billion dollars a year. Almost no media company was like AC Media, which accounted for a quarter of the total box office in the United States!

In the early days, MGM might have had the strength, but that was based on a monopoly. Although the major film companies were also very powerful, it was no longer possible for them to have the absolute right to speak like they had a few decades ago. Therefore, the most important thing that AC Media could do was that the films they produced and distributed were good enough.

Therefore, even if other film companies were extremely jealous, they couldn't attack this absolute strength. They could only lament again. Why did a freak like Adrian Kewell appear?! Was there no way out in the future? Of course not.

"Very good data. Although I expected it, I didn't expect it to reach this level, so …" Adriaan threw the report on Claude's table. "You can restrain yourself now."

He had always known that only by learning to share could he become bigger and stronger. In this world where capital was close to perfection, eating alone would only push himself and his group to a place where everyone would target him. Because of this, with Claude's full cooperation, AC Media was able to develop smoothly all the way to today's point.

And the reason why in 2001, not only did they carry out various high-profile actions, but also launched a variety of excellent works on TV and movies, fully squeezing the profit margins of other companies, the key was to show strength, to establish prestige!

"Let them see how strong we are," Adriaan said at the beginning.

This did have a considerable effect. The most popular TV series and the most popular movies in North America were in AC Media. Most of the important Oscar nominations were taken by them. Nine of the top ten positions in the ratings were theirs. The group's annual box office accounted for a quarter of the total box office in North America. These shocking achievements fully proved that AC Media was undoubtedly the world's number one!

Then, 2001 had passed, and their purpose had been achieved, so they should return to their original position and maintain a certain degree of low profile. They could not rob all the profits like last year.

"I know. Didn't DreamWorks invest in 'A Beautiful Heart'?" Claude smiled. With his ability, it was impossible for him to see the benefits of doing this, not to mention that it had been discussed a long time ago. "But you, Eide, you said before that you would provide some ideas for TV series, and then produce them for other TV stations to broadcast."

"Don't worry, I have already thought of a good theme, derived from 'CSI': 'Naval Criminal Investigative Service'." Adriaan shrugged, "Although it is also a detective drama, it is completely different from the style of 'CSI'. Now it is only a concept, but it will soon be perfected by the screenwriters. I plan to give it to CBS to broadcast. After all, we are allies."

"Well, then I don't have to worry," Claude laughed, "I like a win-win strategy."

This was indeed a win-win strategy. On the surface, it seemed that giving their own TV series to other TV stations would harm the interests of their own TV stations, but in fact, that was not the case. As mentioned before, the purpose of showing their strength had been achieved. Next, they should keep a low profile and share some of the profits with others. Although ABC had many channels, if they took all the outstanding TV series, especially those that were very popular in primetime, it would become a competition between themselves, and the result would be a lot of losses.

Making their own TV series and giving it to other TV stations would not only not suffer a greater loss, but also gain more. In short, this model was that the TV station would get the advertising fees, and the production group would get the copyright fees. At the same time, they would unite their allies and reduce the hostility of others. It was killing many birds with one stone, so why not? AC Media had always had a good relationship with Viacom, so naturally, they would be the first to share it with them.

In fact, this model had existed in his previous life, and it was first implemented by Warner. As a media conglomerate, although Warner also had its own WB TV network, it could not cover the entire United States for various reasons. Many places could watch it for free, but some places had to pay to watch it. In this case, if they produced an outstanding TV series, but could not maximize the profits due to the limitations of the TV network, it would be a pity. Therefore, Warner thought of a way to make their own TV series and give it to other TV stations to broadcast. This way, they could make profits, reduce the risk, and gain friends.

This approach changed the operating model of TV stations. Before the 1990s, the four major TV stations basically invested in their own production, and buying finished products from other production companies was very rare. Warner established a new model and promoted it. As a result, after the first decade of the 21st century, the net profit of the TV industry surpassed that of the movie industry.

Unfortunately, because of Adriaan, Warner's most important "Friends" was snatched away, which was equivalent to crippling them. "Friends" was not to be underestimated. It might not have the longest lifespan, and it might not have the largest investment, but it was definitely the most popular! Warner relied on the unprecedented success of "Friends". Some people estimated that this TV series had brought about about 4 billion in revenue for Warner from the start to the end of its run. That was how they managed to promote their own risk model, and gradually, other TV stations and production companies accepted it.

After that, Adriaan continued to promote good TV series one by one. Although Warner insisted on this model and promoted it to a certain extent, ABC bought a few good TV series from Fox, but compared to the same period in his previous life, it was much worse.

As Adriaan had a certain level of understanding of the TV industry in his previous life, there was no way he would not know the benefits of this model. In fact, he had done this before. For example, for CBS's "The Intern" and NBC's "The Office". Therefore, after showing his strength, he decided to use this model to express his goodwill to Warner.

Moreover, in two or three years, all the high-rated TV series could be produced by AC Media's TV production team …

"Okay, let's talk about blogging." Adriaan threw out a new topic.