Chapter 1213： capitalist playground

The emergence of emerging media has brought a new round of reshuffle in Hollywood.

The most successful of these are New Universal and Comcast.

Needless to say, the former is the boss of Hollywood.

Comcast, on the other hand, successfully entered the content provider industry from an operator during this change, and established the entertainment giant NBC Columbia Group.

To say that the most frustrated is Viacom, followed by Time Warner.

Recently, another big news came out of Hollywood.

New Line Cinema, an independent Hollywood studio with a history of nearly 40 years, was merged by Warner Bros. Pictures!

New Line Pictures was founded by Bob Shea in 1967. After more than 20 years of tepid development, it finally ushered in a big explosion in 1990!

At that time, Jiahe of the Hong Kong government made a movie "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", which was bought by 20th Century Fox.

However, Fox has been reluctant to release, worried that the box office has not yet released the high cost, resulting in a loss.

New Line Cinema chose to make a big gamble and bought the copyright of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" from 20th Century Fox for $3 million, and released it boldly.

As a result, the film made $130 million!

Directly made New Line Pictures famous in Hollywood and established its status in the arena in one fell swoop.

Affected by this, Turner Group, the entertainment giant at the time, offered $550 million to acquire New Line Pictures and gave New Line Pictures the right to operate independently.

Later, when Time Warner acquired Turner Group, New Line Cinema naturally became a subsidiary of Warner Bros.

However, the contract has not changed, and it still operates independently.

Bob Shea is also strong enough to lead New Line Cinema to the peak. Because of the great success of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", New Line Pictures and Golden Harvest Pictures formed a good relationship, and then the two sides cooperated and decided to launch the second Bruce Lee!

Then, Jack Chen was born.

The "Rush Hour" series made Jack Chen a big Hollywood star.

The "Lord of the Rings" trilogy brought New Line Cinema to its peak!

However, the success of "The Lord of the Rings" and the failure of "The Lord of the Rings".

"The Lord of the Rings" has made too much money for New Line Cinema, and these three films have made more money than New Line has made in the past 30 years combined.

Because the copyright of "The Lord of the Rings" is very complicated and there are many dividend parties, it has led to a series of copyright lawsuits.

Including Harvey Weinstein, Peter Jackson, the Tolkien Heritage Foundation, and Harper Publishing House are all suing New Line Pictures, saying that they did not pay enough dividends and had big accounts.

Especially the Tolkien Heritage Foundation's complaint is really surprising.

They claimed that according to the copyright agreement, 7.5% of the income of the "Lord of the Rings" series should be paid to the Tolkien Legacy Foundation as a copyright dividend. The "Lord of the Rings" trilogy has grossed $6 billion at the global box office, video discs and peripheral products, and the board should receive $423 million in compensation, but in fact New Line only paid it before the film started. paid them $62,500. (Actually, the contract stated a 7.5% dividend on profits, or about $150 million.)

It's just shameful!

If the copyright lawsuit can still be tolerated by Warner, then the development of the "Hobbit" film project failed, which made Warner very angry.

Warner has reason to believe that New Line has offended all the key people, so that the "Hobbit" project was lost. The gossip has come out. When Sal Zaenz's licensing contract with New Line Pictures expires next year, he will turn to New Universal and cooperate with Dunn Pictures to jointly develop this series!

Angry!

Moreover, the streaming media site Hulu is in full swing, but there is no Warner's share, which makes Warner feel a huge sense of crisis and frustration.

Reform is imperative.

The first thing to do is to get a new line to operate!

For good reason, cut expenses!

New Line Pictures operates independently, which means that New Line Pictures has many organizational departments of its own, especially the distribution department, which has nearly 1,000 employees!

Warner Bros. has the best movie distribution system in the world, but New Line has come up with one by itself. Isn't this enough?

Just to have independent marketing rights?

Now, Time Warner is facing a very serious debt crisis and needs to make substantial layoffs and sell related assets to maintain the company's daily operations and meet shareholders' dividend requirements.

Even Warner Music Group was sold.

Is there a problem with the complete merger of New Line Cinema?

This time, Barry Mayer was resolute and quickly came up with the charter. After the merger, New Line Cinema can still produce its own films, but the number of films will be greatly reduced, from 12-14 films per year in the past to half. What's more, New Line Cinema will lose distribution and marketing rights, which are run by Warner Bros.

At the same time, nearly 800 employees in Los Angeles and New York will be forced to leave.

Including founder Bob Shea, and his longtime partner, New Line co-chair Michael Lynn, have left the company.

This asset reorganization is also a side reflection of the general trend of Hollywood, reflecting the current overall market situation of the American film industry.

In recent years, with the emergence of new media, the traditional movie market has also been impacted, movie audiences have been lost day by day, and movie DVD sales have become increasingly weak.

At the same time, the rising overheads of film companies and the soaring production and marketing costs of film companies are constantly compressing the profit margins of film companies.

The overall environment is sluggish, but it cannot cover up the brilliance of New Universal!

While Time Warner is busy selling businesses, reorganizing assets, and cutting expenses, New Universal is trying to spend money.

Dunn and George Lucas have negotiated.

New Universal wants to acquire Lucasfilm!

Such large-scale mergers and acquisitions will definitely not be completed in a short period of time. The real merger will have to wait until New Global is listed.

That's fine. After the listing, New Global will have an exact market value.

As long as the price of Lucasfilm is negotiated, the transaction will be very smooth.

However, this does not prevent Dunn from visiting Lucasfilm in advance as a master!

This time, Dunn went to Industrial Light and Magic.

Industrial Light and Magic is not in Hollywood, but on a hill in San Francisco's Psidy Park. It has a very idyllic atmosphere and is a standard Silicon Valley temperament.

From a long distance, you can see a large sculpture standing on the hill - Master Yoda!

After Tang En and his party got off the bus, they saw a lot of tourists taking pictures next to the sculpture.

Well, it has become a tourist attraction!

Tang En has been here many times, and each time he came here as a director to communicate with the special effects artists on film processing. This time is different. He is the owner to appreciate this laboratory for exploring future technological development.

"Dennis! John!"

As soon as he walked to the door, Tang En saw an old acquaintance greet him.

The former is Dennis Mullen and the latter is John Knoll. They are the top special effects artists at ILM and the best special effects artists in the world today.

Dennis Murren is a god-level existence in the special effects industry. He has won the Oscar for best visual effects nine times. He is the first special effects artist to be named on the Walk of Fame. He is the queen of Spielberg and George Lucas. Special effects artist, also worked with Dunn on "Spider-Man" and "Avengers".

John Noel is not far behind. He is the special effects supervisor of the "Pirate League" series. Cameron is the special effects supervisor of "Avatar" in preparation, and he has been appointed. What is especially amazing is that he and his younger brother had nothing to do 20 years ago, and developed a photo editing software, which was later renamed - photoshop.

Dennis Murren is very old, he doesn't speak much, and rarely goes to the front line. He is mainly responsible for the management of Industrial Light and Magic. John Noel was still very young and full of energy. When he saw Dunn, he smiled and said, "Will you be our boss in the future?"

Tang En waved his hand, "They are all old friends!"

Then, surrounded by the crowd, he visited the special effects studio of Industrial Light and Magic.

Have been here many times.

The main thing is to shake hands with everyone, get to know each other, and make a statement.

Let everyone understand that the owner of Industrial Light & Magic has changed, and it will be a subsidiary of New Universal in the future.

There are more than 900 special effects artists working here. Of course, it is impossible for Tang En to shake hands one by one. The main reason is to have simple exchanges with some grass-roots leaders.

"How many projects do you have now?"

"17."

Dunn opened his eyes slightly, "17?"

Hollywood can release about 20 commercial blockbusters in a year. Is this a complete package?

Dennis Murren followed Dunn and said, "There are 11 projects with an investment of over 100 million yuan, of which New Universal has 6. The remaining 6 films have an investment of about 70 million to 80 million US dollars."

"Who was it outsourced to?"

Dunn knew that a blockbuster special effects film required thousands of special effects artists to work around the clock. With the capabilities of Industrial Light and Magic, it is impossible to complete so many projects. They will only be responsible for the core special effects production in the film, and simple special effects will be outsourced to overseas special effects companies.

Dennis Murren said: "Mainly France, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, Israel and the Netherlands. Korea has made a big push in this area in the past two years, and is seizing the market, and the level is not bad."

Tang En nodded and said calmly, "We can strengthen some cooperation with China, which is in line with the group's overall strategy."

Dennis Mullen frowned, "The technology over there... I have been to the Hong Kong government, and the level is very poor, and the gap is too big with Korea and Japan. I watched "Promise", and the special effects were a mess. I heard that it is at this level, Also higher than the mainland? Can’t cooperate.”

Tang En was choked for a moment, "It will get better in the future."

Dennis Mullen said: "Then let's talk about it later."

Dunn glanced at him amusingly and shook his head. This old man is like this. When the two worked together to make "The Avengers", there was a lot of controversy, and he said: "Recently, MPAA is making a proposal to the parliament. Under the situation of the strong promotion of the global special effect industry, in order to ensure the United States A leading position in this field must also be supported by policy.”

"Oh? Export tax rebate?"

"Yes, but only for special effects blockbusters."

"That's enough!" Dennis Mullen lit up, "How many shares?"

Tang En shook his head and said, "It depends on the results of the parliament. Preliminary estimates...it should be between 20% and 25%."

"This is a lot of money!" Dennis Mullen exclaimed.

Assuming that Hollywood spends 2 billion to shoot special effects blockbusters every year, 60% of the special effects expenditure is 1.2 billion US dollars. If 20% were refunded...that would be $240 million.

Of course, this money will not fall into the pockets of the producers, but to support the special effects industry, which can further improve the treatment of special effects engineers, so as to dig the best special effects engineers in the world to the United States to ensure the industry's leading Advantage.

The first to bear the brunt of course is Industrial Light and Magic.

According to the special effects market in the United States, every year 240 million, at least 200 million US dollars will fall into the pockets of Industrial Light and Magic.

Um!

This is a good thing!

Soon, Dennis Mullen also reacted.

What does Dunn mean by saying this?

yes!

The special effects industry in the United States has been lingering for so many years, and the federal government has not issued policy support. Why is there a tax rebate for exports now?

Is it because New Universal is buying Lucasfilm?

It's very possible!

What is Parliament?

It is a playground for capitalists!

In the past, Lucasfilm was an independent film company with no power and power, and even guilt.

As a subsidiary of Lucasfilm, Industrial Light & Magic had a tight life.

Even though Industrial Light and Magic is the industry leader, it doesn't enjoy much profit.

But now that George Lucas and Dunn have reached an agreement, it will be different soon.

The MPAA came forward and put forward a motion to Congress to apply to support the special effects industry.

This is obvious!

This is Dunn's handwriting!

It was a proposal from New Universal, which was then applied for by the MPAA! Operate national policies to help Industrial Light & Magic live better!

Sure enough, leaning against a big tree is a good way to enjoy the shade!

The ability of the giant group is really extraordinary.

Far from being comparable to Lucasfilm.

This has not yet reached an exact acquisition agreement. When the merger is completed, with the backer of New Universal, Industrial Light and Magic will only enjoy more benefits that were not available before.

Dennis Murren was very excited, thought for a moment, and then said: "The Korean government has a lot of support for special effects, and will subsidize directors and professionals to study in Hollywood. There is a Korean study group here at Industrial Light and Magic. The tuition fee It's $800,000."

"A tuition fee of $800,000?" Tang En pouted You are so dark.

Dennis Murren took it for granted that Industrial Light & Magic had this capital, "I know that New Global is strengthening cooperation with China and wants to be one step ahead of the potential market. Since Industrial Light and Magic is going to be merged into New Global, naturally It must be in line with the group's strategy. In this way, we also provide an opportunity for Chinese filmmakers to come and learn and enhance communication."

"What about tuition fees?"

"$800,000!"

Dunn twitched the corners of his mouth.

Koreans can come to study because of the government's support and the government takes money. What about those filmmakers in China? At your own expense? Who can afford $800,000?

This money is enough for them to make two movies!

If he told the Chinese side the news, saying that the tuition fee of 800,000 US dollars came to study at Industrial Light and Magic, they would not appreciate it at all and would only think that Tang En was trying to corrupt money.

"Forget it, when I didn't say it."

Tang En thought about it for a while, then sighed and waved his hand, very helpless.

In fact, China is currently fully supporting the development of the special effects industry, and the state's funding in this area is not small, but the direction is completely different from that of South Korea.

South Korea sends professionals to Hollywood to study, and all expenses are paid by the government. The Chinese approach is to encircle land, build buildings, and build all kinds of beautiful special effects industrial parks...

$800,000, enough to build a building!