Tom Cruise was not the only one who panicked when Hua Xia's "Hero of Justice" became famous on social networks in the United States and fought side by side with American netizens.
Affected by such a negative impact, the entire senior management of Warner Bros. fell into a huge panic. The strength of public opinion made it impossible for them to reverse it. Even Time Warner, the parent company of Warner Bros., was having a hard time.
Originally, Time Warner's acquisition of AOL (AOL) was a famous failure in history. Its market value shrank by hundreds of billions of dollars a year after the merger of Time Warner and AOL. In this life, AOL was facing a much more painful predicament than it had been at the same time in its previous life. This was because AOL did not have Makino Technology in its previous life.
In its previous life, AOL was a giant in the Internet industry in the United States. However, due to the rise of YY and the follow-up of YY, all Internet companies in the United States that provided page services suffered a huge blow. AOL was not spared.
Time Warner began to fall into a vortex of huge losses in 2002. Coupled with the support of YY, it was now overwhelmed. Unexpectedly, Warner Bros. made such a big mess at this time. For this group, it was like adding snow to snow.
Time Warner demanded that Warner Bros. immediately find a way to solve the current crisis of public opinion. At the same time, Hirata Jiro also put pressure on Warner Bros.
Hirata Jiro was furious at the current situation. For him, investing in this movie was to promote Japanese culture and the spirit of Japanese samurai. He did not expect that not only would he fail to achieve his goal of promoting Japanese culture and the spirit of Japanese samurai, but the spirit of Japanese samurai, which was the quintessence of Japanese culture, would be rejected and spurned by the whole world. If it was revealed that he was the investor, wouldn't he become the greatest sinner of Japan?
The infuriated Hirata Jiro scolded Mayer, the CEO of Warner Bros., on the phone. He demanded that Mayer find a way to solve this matter no matter what. If the influence of this incident continued to spread, he would make Warner Bros. pay the price.
He said to Hiro Hiro, "Mr. Hiro, all the media outlets in the United States are taking sides. Only a few media outlets controlled by Japanese investors have yet to express their stance. However, as you can see, these media outlets are now being boycotted by netizens. What's worse is that YY, which has a huge influence around the world, is also adding fuel to the fire. Its ability to disseminate information is too strong, and we have no way of influencing its views. So, according to the current trend, the impact of this matter will only get bigger and bigger."
"Motherf * cker!" Hirata Jiro suddenly went berserk, and his voice suddenly became hysterical as he angrily rebuked, "Mayer, I'm warning you, this movie is my dream. If it's ruined, I'll never forgive you! If that happens, don't even think about continuing to work in the film industry for the rest of your life! "
Meyer's tolerance was reaching its limit. Seeing that Hyota Jiro was pointing the spear at her, Meyer lost control of her emotions. She shouted, "The current situation has nothing to do with me. You were the one who wanted to make the movie. You were the one who approved the script. You were the one who appointed the director and the actors. I'm just helping you build the production team and promote the movie! My job is to help you integrate the resources and launch the project smoothly. I've done all this work a long time ago! "
Speaking of this, Mayer's dissatisfaction also exploded, and he said angrily, "The whole shooting of the movie has been very smooth. It was the leak of the script that caused this, but it's not my fault that the script was leaked. If you want to blame someone, blame Edward's poor management, causing such a big mistake in the crew! But Edward is not my man, he is yours! If you really want to hold him responsible, then go find him! I've f * cking had enough! "
After saying this angrily, Mayer did not give Hiro Hiro time to respond and immediately hung up the phone.
He had really had enough, and he did not want to continue to bear it.
Mayer was not the only one. Almost all the senior executives of Warner Brothers had reached the limit of their endurance.
Now, not only were they being scolded on the Internet, but many protesters were also protesting outside Warner Brothers' office. The scale of the protest was getting larger and larger, from dozens of people at first to hundreds of people, and it was still increasing. So much so that the senior executives of Warner Brothers did not dare to go to the company.
Among them, Mayer was the most miserable. The last time he went to the company, he was immediately surrounded by a large group of protesters as soon as he drove into the parking lot. When he got out of the car, an old Chinese lady threw two rotten eggs at him, and he was covered in dirt. He quickly got into the car and fled home. Not only did he not go to work, but the media also took photos of him and published them in newspapers and websites.
After that, Mayer never went to the company again. He and the other senior executives hid in their respective homes, communicating through YY group chat to discuss the next step.
Among the senior executives of Warner Brothers, there were people who were smart enough to propose a quick solution to this problem. They suggested that the company should hold a large-scale press conference, self-reflect, and apologize to the people of the world, especially the people of the United States and Hua Xia. Then, they should announce the suspension of "The Last Samurai" and the disbandment of the crew.
However, Meyer had been adamant in his refusal.
The 140 million US dollars investment was almost all from Sumitomo. Hiro quietly completed the investment through an external investment company and fund. It looked like Warner Brothers and several other companies invested in this movie, but in fact, all the money came from Sumitomo.
This money was given to Warner Brothers. Warner Brothers had already spent more than half of the money. If they announced the suspension of production now, Warner Brothers would suffer a heavy loss.
The legal staff calculated that if they stopped production, they would lose at least 200 million US dollars.
The reason why it was 200 million USD was because the 140 million USD investment came with a risk clause. If the film wasn't completed as planned due to an unnatural force majeure, Warner Bros. would have to pay 100% of the investment and pay 100% of the compensation.
Originally, the clause given by Sumitomo was very loose. As long as the movie was completed, Warner Brothers would not have any risk of violating the rules. Even if it took one more year, as long as the movie was done well, Sumitomo would not pursue any responsibility.
However, the most embarrassing thing was that this movie was probably the movie with the most resistance in the history of the film industry. According to the contract, if they stopped production, they would have to pay 280 million US dollars to Sumitomo. Because they had already spent more than half of the money, there were still tens of millions left on their books, and the rest had to be borne by themselves. The loss was definitely more than 200 million US dollars.
Mayer did not want to bear such a large loss when he was the CEO. 200 million US dollars! How many movies would he have to make to earn it back?
Moreover, this was only the direct economic loss. The indirect loss was even greater!
If the investors lost confidence in Warner Brothers because of the stop of production, then Warner Brothers' valuation, future projects, and even their share of profits with other companies would be greatly affected. As the parent company, Time Warner was bound to be affected as well. The stock price had been falling for the past two days, and many of the reasons were because of the trouble caused by Warner Brothers. Once they announced that they would stop production, the impact would be even greater.
But now, Mayer finally understood that he could not escape from this blame. The longer he waited, the greater the price he would have to pay!
That d * mned Hirata Jiro didn't care about the actual situation at all. He even shamelessly came to hold him accountable. If it weren't for the fact that there was such a big problem with his theme, he wouldn't have caused so many problems one after another! Mayer was the one who was screwed over by him!
Previously, he did not want to bear the loss of 200 million US dollars. But now, it seemed that he could not avoid these losses. In this case, he might as well bear it himself. Then, he would immediately hold a press conference to apologize to the people of the world, admit his mistakes, and admit the evil of the extreme samurai. Then, he would announce the stop of production. Although the losses could not be recovered, at least he could save his reputation! If he continued to delay, he would have to pay for the losses, and his reputation would be completely ruined. By then, he would definitely lose everything.
Therefore, the angry Mayer immediately organized a video conference with the senior executives who were hiding at home. After the call was connected, the first thing he said was, "Get ready, we will hold a press conference tomorrow morning!"
It was already 8: 30 p.m. local time. If it were not for the lack of time to prepare, Mayer would have held the press conference immediately.
The other senior executives immediately asked, "What strategy are we going to adopt for the press conference?"
Mayer said without hesitation, "Apologize! Stop the production! "
After Mayer made this decision, all the senior executives in front of the camera did not say a word.
Seeing that no one was paying attention to him, Mayer said angrily, "Don't worry! I was the one who made the decision to stop the production. I will bear all the responsibility! "
When Mayer said this clearly, the senior executives in front of the camera finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Everyone wanted to stop the production of "The Last Samurai" as soon as possible, and then immediately apologize and beg for the public's forgiveness. That way, the pressure that society had exerted on them over the past few days could be reduced by half. However, after all, it involved at least 200 million dollars in direct losses and immeasurable indirect losses. No one was willing to take the blame.
Mayer had been the same before, but now he could not bear it anymore. Right now, he just wanted to get out of this matter as soon as possible.
At this time, one of the senior executives said, "Let's talk to Edward and Tom Cruise and see if they are willing to attend this press conference together. If the three of us apologize together, it will highlight our sincerity."
"Absolutely not!" Mayer immediately exploded and shouted, "Edward and Tom Cruise must not be informed of this matter. Not only that, you must keep it highly confidential until tonight. Secretly prepare for tonight, contact the major media at 8 o 'clock tomorrow, and tell them that we will hold an emergency press conference at 10 o' clock. I want everyone to be caught off guard!"
"Why?!" Almost all the senior executives did not understand why Mayer wanted to leave Edward and Tom Cruise aside at this time.
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