Chapter 280

Normally, Sunday is not a good time to have a party because the next day is a weekday.

However, today's situation is somewhat special.

Warner Bros.'s fifth week of "lethal weapon 2" officially broke through $100 million in North American box office after two days of release on Friday and Saturday, so the film's celebration party was specially arranged today.

Because "lethal weapon 2" is Warner Brothers film's first domestic film with a box office exceeding 100 million five years after the release of "elf" directed by Joe dent in 1984. The celebration party at Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills is very grand. Steve Ross, Warner Brothers' helmsman, has been engaged in the incessant merger and acquisition of time company, Warner Brothers and paramount communications The most intense moment of litigation game still came to Los Angeles.

More than that, it is said that in the banquet for the main creators of lethal weapons 2 at noon today, Steve Roth also rewarded a group of main creators with an expensive sports car, and personally handed the key to everyone.

Steve Roth's generous personality is indeed the reason why Warner Bros. has been able to attract a group of top filmmakers to work with him. Clint Eastwood, the "old cowboy", has only been working for Warner Bros. in the past ten years. Steven Spielberg, Barbara Streisand, Cher and other famous Hollywood filmmakers have also made friends with Ross.

Simon also received two consecutive enthusiastic invitation calls from Steve Ross before he could no longer refuse and had to agree to attend the party tonight.

After the announcement of danielis Entertainment's 10 foreign film cooperation plans, Simon doesn't know whether he has become the most powerful person in Hollywood, but he is definitely the one who receives the most invitation in Hollywood recently. It's not hard to understand why Hollywood is so crazy about Simon just by watching Warner Bros. celebrate the film after its box office success.

The box office performance of lethal weapon 2, which made Warner Brothers overjoyed, is expected to be less than half of that of sixth sense in North America.

Because of Simon's partner's initiative to provide scripts, the seven major Hollywood studios, the mainstream second and third tier film companies, the top producers in the circle, and even the major talent agencies have sent a large number of scripts to Denise entertainment.

These days, wherever he is, Simon has a pile of plays waiting to be read.

Next year's films such as ghost, pretty girl, dancing with the wolf and Ninja Turtle have all been identified. However, with the news of 10 films coming out, talent agencies and Hollywood stars are also boiling up.

Ten movies, naturally, mean a lot of opportunities.

Denise's ability to entertain a series of films is obvious to all. The second and third tier actors are crazy about these opportunities that may promote them to the first tier. Even the top stars in the first tier can't be calm in the face of the plans of these 10 films.

After all, the resources of Hollywood are limited, but the opportunities for the latecomers to be promoted to the first line will not increase too much, so the original first-line stars will inevitably decline.

In the banquet hall of the Hilton Hotel.

When Simon appeared, the sight of all the guests, like countless compasses encountering powerful magnets, converged on the young man at the door.

Steve Ross brought some people to meet him for the first time. Although it's not proper to invite Simon, a young man destined to be the focus of the audience, on today's occasion, Ross is also helpless. He will fly to Delaware tomorrow, and he can't squeeze out any other time to ask Simon again in a short time.

"Simon, I'm so glad to see you again," he hugged Simon warmly, and rose joked, "Why are you alone, but it doesn't matter. You can just find a girlfriend."

Simon and rose hugged each other and said, "how are you, Steve

"You know, I'd love to fight Martin Davis if I could."

Simon said with a smile, "then he can't beat you."

Rose also laughed, patted Simon on the shoulder and looked at other people: "you all know, well, this is Barbara. She just asked me to introduce her."

Simon nodded to Terry Semel, Mel Gibson, Joe Percy, and the director of lethal weapons 2, Richard downer. He shook hands with Barbara Streisand, whom Rose had mentioned, and said, "Hello, Ms. Streisand."

Barbara Streisand shook hands warmly with Simon and said, "just call me Barbara, Simon."

"Of course, Barbara."

After a few words, Mel Gibson and others scattered the party again.

Steve Ross took Simon to the dining table in the corner of the hall and sat down. He beckoned for the waiter to serve them with drinks. He said, "I called George COGO this afternoon. Simon, WGA's investigation on danielis entertainment should stop here. You can get in touch with someone there tomorrow and it will be over soon."Simon was no longer worried about WGA's investigation, but he nodded gratefully and said, "thank you, Steve. What is the outcome of this lawsuit? "

Simon is naturally talking about the disputes between the three companies over the merger.

In June, paramount suddenly made an offer for the acquisition of time company, which disrupted the impending merger between time company and Warner Bros. after time company firmly resisted, paramount filed a lawsuit to the Delaware federal court, asking the court to stop the merger of time company and Warner Bros.

As we all know, for tax avoidance and other reasons, many big companies in North America are registered in Delaware.

Simon is concerned about the information that in order to resist Paramount's offer, time company has recently adjusted its stock exchange and merger plan with Warner Bros. to a combination of stock and cash.

Steve Ross heard Simon's question, with a confident expression on his face, and said, "the verdict will come out next month. It's not a big problem."

"Well, first of all, I'd like to congratulate you on becoming the head of Hollywood's largest media company."

Steve Ross raised his glass to Simon with a smile, and he was very proud.

As far as the current situation is concerned, paramount is almost doomed to be defeated because of the strong resistance of time company.

Moreover, because of this lawsuit, the merger of Time Inc. and Warner Bros. has produced twists and turns, but Warner Bros. at the helm of Steve Roth has unexpectedly gained more benefits.

Not only time's offer to Warner has been improved, but also the senior management of time company, who used to be the acquirer, has strived for the cooperation of Warner in order to avoid the fate of being acquired. Recently, they have made great concessions in the power distribution of the new company in the future.

Now, although Warner Bros. is still the nominal acquiree, in fact, it has occupied the dominant position in the merger and acquisition of time company and Warner Bros.

Steve Roth is a person who likes to discuss company management and business negotiation skills with people around him. He continues to tell Simon about the progress of the current acquisition.

After more than ten minutes of chatting, the old Hollywood tycoon got to the point and asked, "Simon, what are you going to do with the 10 films that Daniels entertains?"

Simon is looking back on some of the M & A cases Ross just mentioned, and if he has any insight. He has been paying close attention to this merger and acquisition case, hoping to gain some experience related to his future layout. Rose's personal explanation made him understand this merger and acquisition case more deeply.

Time Inc., Warner Bros. and paramount communications are all listed companies. However, it is not the shareholders of the three companies that promote the progress of this matter, but the management who have their own interests in mind.

Therefore, paramount communications launched this lawsuit in order to protect the interests of shareholders of time company, and made a wrong direction at the beginning.

In the era of decision-making power, the management of the company does not care whether the shareholders can get more than one billion two billion dollars. What they are interested in is whether their millions of dollars of earnings are protected and their control over the company.

When Ross asked about 10 movies, Simon took back his mind for a while and said with a wry smile, "there are too many scripts I've received recently. Steve, to be honest, I'm still going through the scripts in the car I just came here. As for the specific arrangement, the key is the quality of the script. "

"Simon, I saw the sample of Batman this afternoon. It's amazing. Although "flying over innocence" and "Batman" have not been released yet, I am sure we will have a very happy cooperation. So, Warner doesn't ask too much for 10 films. How about giving us two more? "

"I'm also looking forward to continuing to work with Warner, Steve, but, you know, it needs to come up with the right project."

"I understand, Simon. Warner's copyright library is still very rich, you can choose at will. In addition, if you like any other script, tell Terry that he will try his best to win it. Moreover, I know that danielis entertainment also has a lot of copyright in reserve. If you are willing to cooperate with Warner, even if the conditions are more compressed, we can accept it. "

Simon has actually seen the first scripts Warner sent to him, and has roughly confirmed the goal.

However, the dispute with WGA has not been settled yet, and Simon is not in a hurry to announce several projects he has already chosen out of caution.

Feeling that rose was still staring at himself with his eyes shining, and pretending to hesitate for a moment, Simon finally said: "I can only say, Steve, there will definitely be a place for Warner in these 10 films, but I'm not sure about the specific ones. In addition, even if we can't work together on these 10 projects, you know that danielis and Warner will definitely continue to develop the Batman sequel. Since you have seen the sample film, you must have such confidence. "

That's what Steve Ross wants tonight.

Warner and Denise are already working on two films. Ross also sees Simon's intention to make this decision a few days ago, so he is worried that the young man will give up his opportunities to other film companies. Ross actually thought of Batman, Superman and wonder woman.However, the cooperation project with danielis entertainment is naturally more beneficial.

"In that case, enjoy the party tonight," Steve Roth said after getting the promise he wanted. He raised his glass of champagne to Simon and joked to himself, "I've already felt a lot of eyes attacking me, an old man, for taking up too much of your time."

Simon got up and watched Steve Ross leave. Just as he was about to eat, Jonathan Friedman came up ahead of everyone and asked, "Simon, have you picked out the project?"