v2 Chapter 576： Disney in action

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"The other party went to the Warner Building yesterday and visited the headquarters of 20th Century Fox in Century City today."

In the office of the chairman of the Burbank Disney headquarters, Cook Dick frowned and said to Michael Eisner, "Our people have had contact with them, but they refused our invitation."

Michael Eisner's fingers slowly tapped the desk in front of him, "The situation is not good for us."

"It's true." Cook Dick thought about the feedback from the other side of the Pacific, and said, "Originally, our initial contact with them went smoothly, but all of this was brought up by Time Warner and News Corporation to jointly propose the Warner Fox World. After that, everything changed."

Obviously, apart from the resounding signboard of Disneyland, the current Walt Disney is unable to compete with Time Warner and News Corporation in any respect.

"If you lose this project," Michael Eisner also frowned slightly, obviously there is no good way to break the predicament he is facing, "It will be extremely detrimental to Disney's future and ours."

This kind of investment is not only comparing the public relations ability, but also the overall strength, no matter which...→, Walt Disney is at a disadvantage.

Cook Dick also understands this, as well as the importance of the Disneyland project to them.

Today's Walt Disney Group is no longer what Michael Eisner looked like ten years ago. The Disney family headed by Roy Disney has become the biggest opposition. With their and some inexplicable support, Robert Iger's activities within the group caused a lot of trouble.

If ten years ago, they could easily kick Robert Iger out. But the other party has the support of some shareholders who have voting rights. It is not easy to get rid of it. Moreover, after losing Pixar Studio, many shareholders are extremely dissatisfied with him and Michael Eisner.

The positions of these shareholders are also slowly changing, although there are still many shareholders who support them, and they are striving for the support of shareholders who have turned to neutrality. But it is also a top priority.

How can we win over those people? Cook Dick is very clear, their position is very simple, who can bring benefits for the equity in their hands, they will support whom.

Looking at North America and the entire Western world, Walt Disney is just a newly emerging media group, unable to compete head-on with those established companies. With the separation of Pixar Studios, the original most famous animation business has lost support and market competitiveness has declined sharply. . Emerging markets have become a life-saving straw.

Therefore, they are actively exploring the other side of the Pacific, so that their products can be fully landed.

But now, this plan is facing a serious threat, and it may even die.

There was a brief silence in the chairman's office, and Michael Eisner was also carefully considering how he should respond if the Disneyland project was aborted.

Only a few people know that his ultimate goal is not just to transform Walt Disney into a world-class media group. Since being hired by Roy Disney to come to power in the 1980s, he has continued to allow Disney to raise funds and expand its shares. On the one hand, it is to raise funds necessary for expansion, on the other hand, it is to dilute the equity in the hands of the Disney family.

After twenty years, he finally created the current situation. The Disney family's equity is less than 6%!

Walt Disney is no longer the Disney of the Disney family, but his equity is only a little more than 5%. This is also not Disney of Eisner.

Many years ago. Michael Eisner has an idea, that is, like Rupert Murdoch and Summer Redstone, can truly become the owner of a media company!

To this end, he formulated a long-term plan to firmly control the position of chairman of Walt Disney. Take advantage of every opportunity for stock expansion financing and option rewards to get as much of Disney’s equity as possible, and even formulated a decades-long plan for this.

But this plan has encountered setbacks in recent years. The most serious one is undoubtedly the departure of Pixar Studios. If the Disneyland project fails, it will definitely be no less than a blow to losing Pixar Studios.

Faced with this predicament, a strong like Michael Eisner also gave birth to a sense of powerlessness. He knew who was behind the planning and promotion of all this. If it was just Duke Rosenberg and Time Warner, he and Hua Disney still has the strength to compete, but the other party pulls News Corp into it, and doesn't want to give Disney any chance at all.

Just like Hollywood rumors, Duke Rosenberg has never been as simple as a director. Under his plain face, he hides a deep heart.

Strictly speaking, there was not too fierce competition between the two parties at first, but the Pixar studio was too tempting. This piece of cake was so big that anyone could turn it away. Duke Rosenberg and Time Warner reached out, and Normal business behavior.

"Are we just giving up like this?"

In Cook Dick’s view, whether it is the situation in Los Angeles or the news from across the Pacific, it is almost impossible for Disney to win. It is even more uneconomical to invest resources rashly, instead of wasting time and energy on hopeless In terms of the project, it is better to tighten your fists and concentrate all your efforts to deal with the Disney family and Robert Iger, and first stabilize the situation within Disney.

But the opposite market is too big, and the future market potential is too tempting. How could Michael Eisner be reconciled? He thought for a while and said, "If something could seriously distract Duke Rosenberg and Time Warner Maybe we may have a comeback."

After all, this is a project involving huge investment. It is impossible for the opposite party to make the final choice immediately, and Disney is not without hope.

Cook Dick held his chin with one hand, his mind was spinning fast, half a minute later, he suddenly suggested, "Duke Rosenberg, Warner Bros. and Marvel Pictures have planned a huge plan, "Iron Man "It is the beginning of the whole plan, if this beginning is in trouble..."

After a short pause, he said again, "Why don't we advance the release of "Pirates of the Caribbean 2: The Gathering of Souls" to early May, and compete with a new work as a sequel to a popular series..."

Everyone knows that, under normal circumstances, the competitiveness of the sequel to the big-selling series is unmatched by new works.

But without thinking about it, Michael Eisner shook his head and rejected the proposal, “We can’t take any risks on Pirates of the Caribbean. This is Disney’s only signboard in live-action movies, and since the day the sequel was launched, all The publicity of this year is focused on the release in July this year."

His face gradually turned serious, "Don't forget, Cook, the director of "Iron Man" is Duke Rosenberg, there are not many people named David Ellison in this world."

Hearing these words, Cook Dick could only show a wry smile. The figure that Duke Rosenberg has stood in Hollywood over the years is really too tall.

However, there are people who dare to challenge. For example, David Ellison, who lost in "Air Combat Heroes," is said to be actively planning new projects and intends to compete with Duke Rosenberg again. .

"We just watched them reject the Disneyland project?" Cook Dick was unwilling.

"Look?" A sneer hung on the corner of Michael Eisner's mouth. "Don't forget, it was Duke Rosenberg who reached out and snatched Pixar Studio first, and instigated the Warner Fox World in the background. , How can we just watch them succeed?"

Cook Dick can see it, Michael Eisner has plans.

"Since the other party wants to intensify the competition." Michael Eisner said in a slightly gloomy tone, "Then we will use the most intense means to compete with him."

In Hollywood, there are also many ways to hide behind the scenes.

Michael Eisner whispered a few words to Cook Dick. After the latter left the chairman's office, he immediately took out his mobile phone and made several calls.

Duke knew that with Michael Eisner's character and style, Walt Disney would definitely fight back, and he also considered that the other party might use some shameless means and took many preventive measures.

But this is not the focus of his work at this stage. While busy in the later stage of "Iron Man", Duke also extended an invitation to the mountain eagle who came to Los Angeles with the inspection team, inviting them to formally be a guest at his Duke Manor.

"You seem to value him and the market behind him?"

In the living room of the eye-shaped villa, Scarlett watched the housekeeper Emma lead the servants in the busy setting up the small banquet hall, and asked Duke standing next to him, "I have watched "Hurricane Rescue" and "Batman: Hour of War". If you convert your overseas statements into U.S. dollars, the box office of these two films is less than 50 million U.S. dollars, so even less can be allocated."

"Honey." Duke patted her on the back lightly. "It's called focusing on the future."

In the past, he could completely ignore that side, but now that the opposite market is getting closer and closer, the China-US WTO memorandum on cultural products such as movies will also come into effect, and it is time to seize the market.

Although the North American market is huge, it is unlikely to have any significant growth. The market across the Pacific will undoubtedly be the biggest piece of cake in the future.

Indeed, due to various reasons, the revenue of the opposite movie is heavily dependent on the box office, but North America has also experienced this stage. The consumer habits and consciousness of the audience are slowly cultivated. No market is a mature market at first.

When the sun turned to the west, a message came from the entrance of the manor. The car that the mountain eagle was riding in had already entered the manor. As the owner, Duke took Scarlett and walked to the entrance of the villa. (To be continued...)