Chapter 514： Buyout

As soon as work hours arrived, the office door rang from outside, and Robert Iger pushed the door and walked in, still holding a thick document.

"Will this be busy?" Robert Iger said with a smile.

Ronan picked up his hand and shook it: "Yes."

Robert Iger understands Ronan’s style of doing things, and curiously asked: "Is there a fancy copyright again?"

Picking up another copy of "The Da Vinci Code", Ronan handed it to Robert Iger, who sat down in a chair, put down the file, and looked through it.

"Religious subjects." Robert Iger is not good at doing film projects, but simply flipped through: "I also borrowed Leonardo da Vinci and "The Last Supper." These contents seem to be the same."

Ronan put down the book in his hand and said, "This is easy to cause controversy."

Robert Iger didn’t look at it much, he closed it and put it aside. The specific decisions on film and television projects and content production were not within his management, and he also knew very well that compared with the young boss, he was inferior in this respect. Too much.

"I only heard yesterday that you were going to introduce a religious movie, wouldn't it be this?" Robert Iger asked.

Ronan shook his head slightly: "No. Embassy Pictures is talking about Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ". It was exactly that film that I saw on the Internet. I saw the book of "The Da Vinci Code". After the introduction, interest arose."

Robert Iger asked with concern: "How's "The Passion" talk about?"

"Yesterday's first formal negotiation." Ronan smiled, "I guess some talk."

Embassy Pictures is always paying attention to the dynamics of Mel Gibson's film. The current situation is extremely beneficial to the distributor. Except for a small company called New Market, no other distribution company is interested in Passion.

Robert Iger picked up the document and handed it to Ronan, saying: "This morning’s news, Vivendi Group and NBC have reached an agreement. It is expected that it will not take too long for the two parties to sign a formal shareholding agreement for Universal Pictures Entertainment Group. Assignment agreement."

Ronan immediately took the document handed over by Robert Iger, looked at it, and said: "10 billion U.S. dollars, and 85% of Universal Pictures Entertainment Group's shares, NBC can be regarded as getting what they wanted."

Robert Iger said: "Vivendi also kept a hand, maybe sometime he will turn his head and go to Hollywood."

Ronan smiled: "We also got what we needed."

"It's a pity that I didn't win the "Jurassic Park" series." Robert Iger has no regrets: "If this series can be successfully restarted, it will be able to create huge profits just by surrounding it."

Although Ronan was a bit regretful, he didn't pay much attention to it. He said: "This series is already famous. We can't pay a billion dollars for it, causing problems in the company's capital flow. It is impossible for us to encounter all good things. To."

Robert Iger said: "It makes sense, we can't get the copyright of all the hot movies." He stood up: "You are busy, I'm going back."

Sending off Robert Iger, Ronan called Robert Lee and asked him to contact Random House and Dan Brown to see if he could get the film and television rights to The Da Vinci Code.

Ronan then checked the news about NBC and Vivendi Group on the Internet. This transaction is about to be completed. General Electric of the United States has announced that it will merge the acquired Universal Pictures with NBC to form a new NBC Universal Entertainment Group.

This does not have much impact on the overall pattern of Hollywood, and the six major situations have not changed as a result.

But Universal Pictures lost a future trump card series.

In the conference room of Embassy Pictures, which is not far from Relativity Entertainment, negotiations on the release of "The Passion of the Christ" have reached the stage of greatest disagreement.

As the producer and largest investor of the film, Mel Gibson has personally stepped into battle in order to recover the investment.

"The buyout method you proposed is an insult to me!" Mel Gibson was furious. If it weren't for nothing, he would have left. There was an uncontrollable anger in his voice: "35 million dollars to buy out this film, you are insulting the name Mel Gibson!"

Garcia Rodriguez, who was in charge of the negotiations, had heard of Mel Gibson's personality and was not moved at all. He said, "Mr. Gibson, you can state your terms."

Mel Gibson is very popular, but he is not stupid. The publishing company is originally located in the upper reaches of the industry chain. In addition to the general cold reception of "The Passion of the Christ", he said: "Issued on a commission basis."

Garcia Rodríguez can accept: "Thirty-five percent of the North American box office issuance rake, peripheral distribution and overseas revenue are calculated separately."

"Ah..." Charlemagne, an executive of Aiken Pictures, said at this time: "The rake is too high."

Mel Gibson calmed down a bit and said: "15% of the box office rake!"

"Yes." Compared to Mel Gibson, Garcia Rodriguez seemed slow and tidy: "The promotion and distribution costs of the film are calculated separately."

Charlemagne said: "We are all insiders in Hollywood, and it is difficult to calculate the cost of publicity. This is all clear. Mr. Rodriguez should stop talking about such insincere conditions."

García Rodríguez reiterated the old saying: "It is most suitable to cooperate in the form of buyout. We can trust each other and don't worry about mistakes in some places because of neglect or other reasons."

Mel Gibson interjected: "But the big box office sales will harm our producers!"

"Two, maybe these words don't sound very good, but this film is a big box office..." Garcia Rodriguez smiled: "What do you think the odds are?"

Without waiting for Charlemagne and Mel Gibson to answer, he added: "The Passion of the Christ" is a non-English film. How many foreign language films have really achieved commercial success in the North American market? What is the overall proportion? The screen, the content, and the theme are all extremely heavy, and there is nothing interesting for the audience."

Hearing that his film was so despised, Mel Gibson's anger that had just fallen flared up again: "The artistic content of this film is not simply measurable by business!"

Garcia Rodriguez smiled apologetically: "Sorry, Mr. Gibson, what I just said may not be appropriate. But Embassy Pictures is a commercial company, not an art institution. I am a professional manager. , Nor is it an artist. Our release of "The Passion of the Christ" means investing a lot of money, and we must first consider the commercial value of the film."

He seemed to think about Mel Gibson: "I am a businessman and Mr. Gibson is an artist. Although we have differences in this regard, we respect film artists and understand that it is very important to make a profound film like "The Passion". It's not easy. From the perspective of feelings and the healthy development of the industry, Hollywood needs this type of film and artists like Mr. Gibson."

Mel Gibson was a little confused. This person would belittle and admire. What is he trying to do?

Charlemagne then said: "The Passion of the Christ not only has commercial value, but also takes into account commerciality, the market response..."

García Rodríguez looked at Charlemagne, just smiling, with a pure smile: "Mr. Charlemagne, we are all people who have worked in Hollywood for many years. Do we have to say something clearly? Isn’t that no one has filmed similar What is the commercial response of films? Embassy Pictures has a complete distribution channel, especially offline distribution channels. If it were not for my confidence in the company's offline distribution capabilities, I felt that it would be profitable through offline channels after two or three years of operation. I will sit here and talk to you."

He slowly put away his smile: "Before you came into contact with Embassy Pictures, you went to all the large and medium-sized distribution companies in Hollywood, but they were all rejected. One or several distribution companies have a problematic vision. Is it possible that all distribution companies have a problematic vision? "

Mel Gibson's voice suddenly became much weaker: "The New Market Distribution Company is willing to release my film."

Charlemagne squeezed his forehead because he was embarrassed to mention this small issuing company.

García Rodríguez did not refute the fact that New Market’s issuing company is not convincing anywhere and cannot be used as a weight.

"On the basis of the win-win principle, we proposed to buy out the copyright of Passion." Garcia Rodriguez ignored Mel Gibson's new market company: "Will the box office of this film be higher? As the distributor, how much revenue do you have after the rake? You can’t even collect the cost you invested. With the ability of the Embassy Film, you can recover the cost in time until you make a profit."

Mel Gibson stopped mentioning any new market issue company and exchanged glances with Charlemagne and said: "Yes, we can accept cooperation by way of buyout."

Garcia Rodríguez said seriously: "The buyout is not that you have nothing to do with this film. You must be deeply involved in the influence of the film, the promotion and distribution during the release period."

This is Hollywood's issue of shares. Mel Gibson has no opinion, and it has become reality: "50 million US dollars, Aiken Pictures sold out the copyright of "Passion of the Christ", including overseas copyrights."

"50 million dollars?" Garcia Rodríguez shook his head: "This means that all the risks of the film will be borne by the Embassy Pictures, and you can get 20 million dollars in profit..."

He sighed, as if he had made a very difficult major decision: "We respect film artists like Mr. Gibson, and we also want to be friends with Mr. Gibson, and through long-term cooperation, Embassy Pictures can appropriately increase the transaction price. 40 million US dollars ! One-time buyout!"

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