Chapter 1409： Columbia Pictures

"The film and television business? Isn't that Colombia? Sony has reached the point of selling its core assets?"

Immediately afterwards, Yang Cheng asked and answered, “That’s right, I’ve read related reports from Sony before. Kazuo Hirai had the courage to buy Colombia, and he has made a lot of money over the years. strange."

Wang Yitong affirmed, “Yes, Sony Columbia’s performance in recent years has been at the back of the six major Hollywood cranes, and losses of varying degrees have made the Tokyo headquarters have doubts about continuing to hold Columbia.

As far as I know, Sony is already in contact with several financial institutions in the United States. The reason why it has not made any public announcements is because the company has to consider the performance of "Emoji Movie". "

Yang Cheng raised his eyebrows, "That is to say, the Sony headquarters has not given up. Once the "Emoji Movie" performs well, they will give up the idea of ​​selling?"

Without waiting for Wang Yitong's answer, Yang Cheng called Donna Rand directly, and asked professionals about Hollywood.

"Boss?"

"It's me, didn't you bother you?"

"No, what happened?"

"Are there any projects that have already hit or may hit the movies released by Sony Columbia this year?"

Donna Lande did not understand why Yang Cheng suddenly became concerned about the situation of his competitors, but she answered truthfully, “There are no films that have been released so far that can be called amazing box office results, but the big movie "Angry "Little Bird" will be released in the middle of this month.

Judging from the feedback from the trial screening, the final box office in North America should fall at around US$150 million, and the global scope is ideally estimated to not exceed 400 million. Of course, if there is an accident, it may be even higher. "

Yang Cheng knows that this accident is an uncertain factor, and no one can predict the occurrence of the accident. Donna Lande analyzes it from normal logic. The global box office of "Angry Birds" will not be too high, only a small profit.

This kind of game-changing movie is the big head around, but Sony Columbia can't eat this big cake, so there will be no positive changes to the financial report.

After a pause, Donna Lande seemed to be searching for something, and then said, "In the second half of the year, Sony Columbia will also have "Super Expendables", "The Heroic Seven Dragons", and "Space Traveler" and other projects will be released one after another. According to law, these projects are neither popular IP sequels nor popular adaptations. It is more difficult to get a box office explosion."

Yang Cheng knew it in his heart, and didn't want to sell it. He said directly, "You recently made an appointment with someone from Columbia Pictures for dinner to test if they have any intention to sell."

Donna Lande was shocked, "Columbia Pictures is going to be sold?"

Yang Cheng didn't dare to say something to death, "I just heard some wind noise by accident, and I won't suffer a test. Once the other party really has the intention, we must seize this opportunity.

Once the merger and reorganization of Disney and Fox are completed, it will be a giant with no precedent in the history of Hollywood. I don't want to compete with others for the second place. If it can win Columbia Pictures, Disney will not be the only one.

I believe the capital market is also happy to see the emergence of competition. "

Donna Lande agreed with Yang Cheng's statement, "I believe Americans are very willing to see Columbia Pictures return to their homeland, just like Westinghouse Electric."

Yang Cheng smiled and did not answer. He has no sense of belonging to the United States, but he can understand the American psychology.

As a classic case of foreign capital acquiring Hollywood assets, Sony’s acquisition of Columbia Pictures caused quite a stir.

At the end of the 1980s, with the depreciation of the U.S. dollar year after year, RB companies began to make frantic mergers and acquisitions in the United States.

As the pride of RB of that era, sony is naturally leading the way, successively setting off a frenzy on the west coast, acquiring Columbia Pictures and MGM.

The acquisition of Columbia Pictures alone cost US$5 billion, of which US$3.4 billion bought Columbia’s equity from Coca-Cola and assumed US$1.6 billion of collateral debt of the Columbia company.

At that time, on the cover of Newsweek in the United States, the statue of Liberty, a registered trademark of Columbia Pictures, was replaced by a RB geisha wearing a kimono with a full face to express the Americans’ attitude towards Columbia, a symbol of American film and television culture. The anger of acquisition.

If there is news that Columbia Pictures may return, I believe that Americans who are the most entertaining will be happy to see such a scene.

As for whether Sony will sell, the answer to this question is obvious to Yang Cheng.

Today, Sony is stuck on the one hand from the lack of growth in hardware business performance, and its ability to innovate is no longer as it was in the past. Its overall strength has declined severely. After several layoffs, it has also cut off the PC business.

On the other hand, although there is no major interference in Colombia's operations, its film business has become more and more tasteless in recent years. It can't be swallowed and vomited. It is useless to stay in your hands.

Although Columbia Pictures itself is profitable, it is just a drop in the bucket for Sony’s huge system. Based on the current market, it has marked a price of nearly 10 billion for Colombia and successfully sold it. That said, it is more conducive to its streamlining business and returning to the core.

Therefore, what Yang Cheng needs to do now is to make the final determination for Sony.

So he instructed Donna Lande, "Find a way to snipe the upcoming movie in Colombia."

Donna Lande's mind turned quickly. This is to add fire to Columbia Pictures. There was no big hope for the project. Faced with the squeeze of movies released in the same period, the probability of success has decreased again, as long as three or two projects are lost. , I don't believe that Sony headquarters can hold it!

As for the benefits of acquiring Columbia Pictures, it’s not billions of dollars. As one of Hollywood’s oldest large companies, its film library is worth several billions, and it has been left in film history. After countless classic films, they can still contribute a lot of profits to Columbia Pictures.

In addition, as the biggest trump card in the hands of Columbia Pictures, Spider-Man, and the copyright of its related characters, are worth billions, and unlike Marvel’s other displaced characters, Colombia almost has the territory of Spider-Man. All copyrights.

Moreover, Spider-Man’s status in the hearts of Marvel comics fans is not the same as that of Iron Man’s second- and third-line supporting roles. One is the protagonist, the other is the supporting role in the supporting role, one is a son, and the other is a godson. The prestige sold all his sons clean, and he would not be reduced to using Iron Man to become the protagonist of the turnaround. Fortunately, this desperate gamble, Marvel still won!

In fact, Columbia Pictures was able to obtain Spider-Man, but it also went through twists and turns. At the earliest, Marvel had to sell his son to Cannon Pictures in tears in order to alleviate business difficulties. However, a few years later, Cannon Pictures It was poorly managed and was acquired by the French film company EMI, while the chairman of Cannon Pictures took the copyright of Spider-Man to Twentieth Century Fox.

Then Fox sold the script adaptation rights of Spider-Man to Columbia Pictures, ready to be filmed by James Cameron, and Arnold Schwarzenegger will play Doctor Octopus.

As a result, MGM later acquired part of the assets of Twentieth Century Fox, including the full copyright of Spider-Man, but Columbia Pictures insisted that the copyright should belong to them. At that time, they were under the Sony banner, which was equivalent to left-handed and right-handed. So in the end, Columbia was able to get the full copyright of Spider-Man.

As a result, Colombia owns not only the copyright of Spider-Man, but also the copyright of Spider-Man related comic characters, such as Venom, Doctor Octopus, Vulture, Mystery, etc. You can make film adaptations at will. Marvel is only here. Provide some creative control on the basis to avoid conflicts with the Avengers storyline.

Of course, after being acquired by Disney, in the face of interest, Marvel and Columbia reached a cooperation agreement, allowing Spider-Man to appear in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and the Avengers role can also appear in Spider-Man’s single-player movies. It was approved by Marvel. In short, the two parties have a very happy cooperation under the condition of common interests .

Once Columbia is in the hands of New Era Pictures, this cooperation will undoubtedly go deeper. Because of Yang Orange's relationship, New Era Pictures and Disney have recently come close.

After hanging up the phone, Yang Orange said to Wang Yitong, "I will step up contact with Mitsui Jiro. As long as he lets go, Sony shouldn't have too many problems."

Wang Yitong said with concern, "Mitsui Jiro obviously hopes to get rid of the burden of JDI. For Sony, Columbia Pictures is just a tasteless one, and it is not too burdensome, but JDI has already suffered a major loss.

Will he agree? "

"So we have to prepare with both hands, find a way to contact Yuji Sato, and I will talk to him in person."

Wang Yitong was surprised, "Is it necessary?"

There are things that Wang Yitong doesn’t know, and Yang Cheng doesn’t say much. He just said firmly, “Yes, you can contact me, and this is not a test. If Sato Yuji is really determined to prevent this acquisition, he should not Will you meet with opinions?

On the contrary, once he agrees to the meeting, it proves that he has a demand. As long as he has a demand, then everything will be discussed! "

After Yang Cheng said so, Wang Yitong also understood what to do.

After the two separated, Yang Cheng returned to Amman and enjoyed the top spa for an afternoon. In the evening, he appeared in a small izakaya that could not be smaller.

Wang Yitong's efficiency was so frightening, and Sato Yuji's promise to meet so simply, it really surprised Yang Cheng.

When Wang Yitong informed him that the meeting had been arranged, Yang Cheng even thought that Sato Yuji would have waited for him to come to the door, otherwise, why would he agree so easily? A little bit of restraint can also be considered a stand-in person!

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