Chapter 1209： Solving historical problems

This year, because of the broadcast of the Winter Olympics, Oscar did not want to steal the limelight, so the awards ceremony was postponed for a week.

Of course, this is just an official statement.

As a person in the industry, Tang En understands the real reasons, one is because of interests, and the other is because of politics.

The so-called interest is because the broadcaster abc station and the local station have not negotiated the broadcast fee and advertising share.

In the past few years, the Oscar ceremony has been broadcast by Disney's abc television network, and the two sides have established a good cooperation relationship.

When abc ran into trouble this time, Oscar was naturally willing to cooperate.

Not only the Oscars, but actually the problems faced by abc are the problems faced by national television networks such as cbs, nbc, and fox.

Television in the United States is divided into national television and local television.

National TV stations like abc can spread all over the country, while local TV stations can only be limited to a certain place and cannot expand their operations.

Of course, this is all free.

There is no standard Mandarin in the United States, and although they all speak English, they have different accents. TV stations like abc and cbs speak with a New York accent, which is the "American English" that is commonly learned around the world.

But local language accents vary widely.

As a result, local TV users prefer to watch local channels because the accent is more acceptable and the content is more relevant to local life.

So in this case, large TV networks such as abc, nbc, and cbs have very close cooperation with local stations, and they will authorize some of the film and television content to be broadcast, and the local stations will distribute dividends to their broadcasters and advertising revenue.

With the growing power of local TV stations in recent years, there are more and more small and medium-sized entertainment companies, and their appetites have also grown. They are required to reduce the advertising dividend requirements of large TV networks in order to increase their own profits.

Hollywood has become a group of giants, and it is naturally a community of interests in this regard.

During this year's Oscars ceremony, the organizer abc station set up 58 advertising seats, each advertisement of 30 seconds, the price is 1.5 million US dollars!

Although the price is high, the supply is in short supply, and the advertising seats were sold out in November last year.

In addition, when local stations are authorized by abc to broadcast the Oscars, they can insert their own advertisements, and can also receive a secondary advertising fee, and then distribute dividends to abc.

Finally, the Oscars will be available to the world.

In addition to the national TV station abc and some local stations in the United States, more than 60 countries around the world will also broadcast and generate broadcast income.

In total, the domestic revenue in the United States is 10.4 billion US dollars, the overseas market broadcast fee is 28 million US dollars, and the total revenue is 1.3 billion US dollars.

This money, of course, will not all belong to Disney.

ABC wants to take out 40 of the total income as the royalties paid to Oscar!

A total of $52 million.

The sponsor of the Oscars is the American Film Institute. The unit's annual budget is about $55 million, which shows that most of it comes from Oscar's broadcast rights.

Of the remaining $78 million, abc will spend about $25 million to rent the venue, hire security, and decorate the red carpet for the ceremony.

In addition, about 9 million US dollars are used for administration, education and charity every year to show the social responsibility of the college and abc, and to show the political correctness of Oscar.

Coupled with abc channel expenses and one-off expenses, this year's abc network... can make a profit of 10 million US dollars by broadcasting the Oscars!

The reason why I say it is fortunate, because abc often has losses.

That time in 2002, because of the "911 incident", it caused a loss of 2 million US dollars.

In many cases, the broadcast of such ceremonies is not for making money, but for building a brand.

Now the whole country knows that the Oscars are televised on ABC.

ABC's brand image has naturally improved.

This is the decisive decision made by Michael Eisner after he rejected all opposition to acquire abc, he made a substantial concession to Oscar, and then left the award ceremony at abc.

Sure enough, the cooperation between the two parties over the past few years has been very pleasant.

In this battle for advertising dividends, abc has received strong support from the Hollywood industry and the Oscars. Either local stations cannot lose the opportunity to broadcast the Oscars! Or just be obedient!

Although there was a little trouble, the awards ceremony was postponed for a week, but fortunately everything was business as usual.

In contrast, the impact of another farce was even worse.

The Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film is Paradise Now, from Palestine. The problem is, in the hearts of the Jews, Palestine is not a state at all, it is the occupation of Israel's land.

The move has been met with protests and opposition from industry figures including Spielberg and George Lucas.

When calling this movie, the country code name "Palestine" cannot be used for introduction!

The Academy quickly ruled that the film should be considered an entry submitted by the Palestinian Authority.

Political meaning is very strong.

Dunn can be considered to have seen the domineering and arrogant style of the Jews in Hollywood.

In contrast, he did a little trick to get Lionsgate to voluntarily withdraw the crash, which is not worth mentioning.

In any case, under the ups and downs, the new Oscars have begun!

...

According to Oscar's practice, Dunn, as last year's best actor, should be the guest of honor to be the best actress in this year's Oscars.

But there are always exceptions.

Dunn has a special status, and since he did not have any works shortlisted this year, he simply did not attend the Oscar ceremony.

I threw a small party myself, invited some industry insiders, and watched the ceremony while drinking.

The main thing is to comfort George Lucas.

As the most anticipated movie of last year, Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith did not receive any nominations in this Oscar!

The box office didn't break the $1 billion mark, and it wasn't even nominated for a technology award at the Oscars, which is really disgraceful.

George Lucas was very lost, and he really had the heart to retire.

On the TV, a video was played, which was a clip of the five best picture nominated films, and then a voice sounded: "Here is the Kodak Theater on Hollywood Boulevard and Highland Boulevard, live for the 78th Academy Awards. Like an award ceremony!"

The television was quickly filled with applause and cheers.

The party scene was also a lot quieter.

After all, this is a viewing party. When everyone communicates, they must whisper and not influence others to watch.

At this time, Leonardo came over thiefly and whispered: "There is an opening over there, and you are betting on the first award for Best Supporting Actor, so let's play two games?"

Dunn waved his hand impatiently, "What's there to bet on? The best male supporting actor must be George Clooney! I have business affairs, I'm busy!"

Leonardo said thiefly: "Who is that model?"

"Which one?" Dunn frowned and had a bad premonition.

Leonardo pointed in one direction.

Tang En turned his head to look, and suddenly became a little angry, it was Doutchenkolos!

"Not bad, your friend?"

"That's mine, don't make up your mind!"

Dunn warned him, too lazy to talk nonsense with him. He didn't go to the Oscars tonight, but held a small party to watch the ceremony, not to judge Leonardo about beautiful women.

He has more important things!

"Are you really going to retire?"

"real!"

George Lucas has decided. He is now the richest man in Hollywood after Dunn, with a net worth of more than 2 billion US dollars and enough capital to enjoy retirement.

Dunn said: "Then leave Lucasfilm to me."

George Lucas glanced at him and said amusingly, "Are you really going to wipe out Hollywood? After acquiring Lucasfilm and getting Star Wars and Industrial Light and Magic, aren't you afraid of becoming a public enemy?"

"Public Enemy?" Dunn shrugged lightly, "It's been a long time ago, and it's not like you don't know it. It's not ticklish if there are too many lice. Besides, apart from New Universal, which Hollywood company do you think is qualified to eat Lucasfilm? ?"

This kind of thing, the two have talked about it many times.

George Lucas also confirmed that he had really considered selling Lucasfilm to New Universal, and he was at ease as an independent director in the New Universal Group, enjoying his leisure time.

However, he understands the situation within Hollywood.

New Universal is a thorn in the eyes of all giants.

George Lucas has been worried for some time. For fear that after selling Lucasfilm to New Universal, New Universal will be targeted by the Hollywood group, and it will be over, and Lucasfilm will also lose everything.

But with the end of the Big Five Alliance incident, everyone saw Dunn's true strength.

One-handedly resorted to the ultimate trick of streaming media, immediately disintegrating the situation and turning the tide.

As far as the current situation is concerned, the New Universal Group has become the general trend, and leading Hollywood in the new era has become the necessity of the times.

George Lucas is also a lot more at ease.

I really want to cooperate with Dunn, and have some business contacts.

"Some problems left over from history will be more troublesome!"

"what?"

"Copyright issue."

After a pause, George Lucas began to explain slowly.

There have been six Star Wars films, all distributed by Twentieth Century Fox. Except for the first Star Wars: A New Hope, the distribution rights for the other five films expire in 2020. And the first film Star Wars: A New Hope, 20th Century Fox has the permanent distribution rights!

Twentieth Century Fox is an insurmountable obstacle if a full-length Star Wars DVD set is released in the future.

Just like Warner wants to cooperate with New Universal to develop the Hobbit series of movies, New Universal holds the distribution rights and does not agree to develop, Warner can only stare blankly.

Judging from the current situation, the relationship between New Universal and 20th Century Fox is not bad, and the other party will not set up obstacles for it.

However, Lucasfilm's other big ace Indiana Jones franchise is different.

Raiders of the Lost Ark series is a film series jointly developed by Lucasfilm and Paramount, and both parties have the production rights and distribution rights. Paramount has a more active and tough voice.

If New Universal wants to improve efficiency and reduce expenses, it must vertically integrate the copyright of such series of films. Twentieth Century Fox and Paramount are both unavoidable.

Especially in the world of streaming media in the future!

Dunn also thought that high-quality movies such as Star Wars and Indiana Jones could become Netflix's exclusive content as a tool to compete with other streaming media platforms.

The distribution rights are in the hands of others, and Twentieth Century Fox and Paramount will definitely cast a large net in order to make money.

"The problem of 20th Century Fox... It shouldn't be a problem." Dunn pondered for a while, and whispered in his ear.

George Lucas was slightly startled, "What do you mean?"

If New Universal wants to buy Lucasfilm, it must not be a wholly-owned acquisition. For someone like George Lucas, too much cash is meaningless, and he will definitely ask for New Universal's stock.

When the merger is completed, George Lucas will definitely become a director of New Universal and have the right to know the group's decision-making.

In this case, Dunn doesn't need to hide too much, saying: "Twentieth Century Fox has something that New Universal desperately needs."

"Huh?" George Lucas was stunned for a moment, a little unresponsive.

Tang En said lightly: "Twentieth Century Fox is a TV network with sports channels covering the United States. It has good film and television resources and interpersonal relationships, especially the copyright of Marvel's X-Men."

"You...you want to..." George Lucas suddenly widened his eyes showed an incredible expression, "I thought Lucasfilm would be able to satisfy your appetite Well, I didn't expect that you've already set your sights on a bigger goal!"

If New Universal buys Twentieth Century Fox, then the Star Wars copyright issue is solved. As for Raiders of the Lost Ark... If you can cooperate, you can cooperate, if you can't cooperate, it's a tasteless series compared to Star Wars. Treasure hunts are out of date.

Tang En smiled, "How do you feel now?"

George Lucas pondered for a long time without answering directly, "By the way, do you think this Oscar... Who is the favorite?"

Tang En said: "There is no doubt, of course it is Brokeback Mountain!"

Brokeback Mountain received a total of 8 nominations, the most nominated film this time.

"Controversy and praise coexist. Brokeback Mountain will win some awards, but it is unlikely to win the best picture." George Lucas is a veteran filmmaker and knows the Oscars too well.

Tang En glanced at him and said with a smile: "There's a handicap over there, or... let's make a bet too?"

"What bet?"

"I said Brokeback Mountain would definitely get the best picture!"

"Bet what?"

"I was right, you pushed for the merger of New Universal and Lucasfilm."

"What's wrong?"

"Then I'll push it."

"Ha ha."

George Lucas couldn't help laughing.

...

Two hours later, Jack Nicholson will take the stage, and he will be the guest of honor, presenting the last Oscar's best picture!

"Best picture goes to...Brokeback Mountain!"

In the Kodak Theater, everyone stood up and applauded.