Sorting out the success factors of "Hurricane Rescue" in his heart, Chris Lee did not ignore the problems of his boss, thought about it and said: "John, if you feel it is necessary, I can contact the Asian side in the near future." ”

John Kelly asked, "Can't you just woo Jack Cheng or Jett Lee?"

"Jett and Daenerys signed a three-film contract, and we definitely won't have a chance until it's done," said Chris Lee, adding: "Jack can try, after last year's 'Rush Hour,' he was paid a lot, basically the same as Hollywood." The "Police Story 4" that we tried to compete with last year ended up in the hands of Disney, and they paid a lot of money. Moreover, even if we are willing to make a price, Jack will not have a schedule in the short term, and "Rush Hour 2" will start filming in the second half of the year. ”

John Kelly weighed it and said, "In that case, let's get in touch with Asia first." ”

Chris Lee nodded.

In fact, I didn't expect much.

Under the strength of Daenerys Entertainment, the current Hollywood is no longer a question of whether other film companies can make good movies.

Or take this "Hurricane Rescue" as an example, the production cost of 25 million US dollars, under normal circumstances, the publicity scale should be about 10 million US dollars. However, with the recent widespread popularity of this film on the Internet, television, print media, etc., it is definitely not a momentum that can be created by $10 million in publicity and distribution expenditure.

Why?

Because Daenerys Entertainment owns the ABC network and many other cable channels, because the Westeros system has the interface to the largest online platform, because Simon Westeros has a very good relationship with the family behind major newspapers such as the Los Angeles Times and the New York Times.

Therefore, when Daenerys Entertainment's films are released, they don't even need to say hello, and these media platforms will naturally give enough exposure.

Not only that, due to the continuous blockbuster sales of Daenerys Entertainment's films, coupled with Daenerys Entertainment's own pressure operation, major theater chains in North America and even overseas will also give Daenerys Entertainment films better screen resources, better screening times, and even more active marketing of their own channels.

These inevitably lead to higher box office grossing films produced by Daenerys Entertainment.

Even, outside the theater chain, the videotape channel, Daenerys Entertainment controls the world's largest videotape chain company Blockbuster, and the Amazon online store under Egret, and the sales of videotapes in recent years have also shown a geometric growth trend.

And television, too.

All of these resources have unwittingly built a potential barrier, making Daenerys Entertainment, the stronger the stronger, and the weaker the other studios.

The fate of the weak is likely to be eliminated.

After ousting Peter Cooper and Jon Peters, Sony has been in a state of continuous losses in recent years, and there has been news that the Japanese are going to quit Hollywood in three days.

As an insider, Chris Lee sees better.

In the past few years, the global economy has been improving, and Sony can still barely support it, but now, the bursting of the new technology bubble, Sony's main business will inevitably be implicated, coupled with the impact of Tinkobar's iPlayer, iCam and other products on Sony's traditional players, cameras and other businesses, as well as the rapid decline of Sony's record business caused by Internet piracy music, unless there is a miracle, otherwise, the Japanese can really only choose to give up the film business this time.

John Kelly is 67 years old this year, and because Sony left Hollywood and lost his job, he could have retired directly. Chris Lee himself is only 41 years old, in the prime of life, and there is still a long way to go.

The two Sony Pictures executives had a discussion in this VIP screening room, and left the theater in the evening.

After dinner with his family after work, Chris Lee went out again and drove to the mansion of WMA head Jonathan Friedman in the Bel Air Mountains.

Regular parties and receptions to promote communication between their filmmakers and studios in order to forge more collaborations is something that Hollywood's major agencies do frequently, and this was the case at Jonathan Friedman's mansion tonight.

Speaking of which, before becoming president of Columbia Pictures, Chris Lee, who was not a top producer in Hollywood, wanted to attend some high-end occasions at the top of the Hollywood pyramid, which is the biggest benefit of this job. In the more than half a year since Chris Lee took office, he has never missed similar opportunities to expand his network.

The backyard of the mansion with a view of the night view of Los Angeles at the bottom of the hill was a very casual cocktail party, with only the occasional tinkling of some guests.

The main thing is, looking at the crowd, Sylvester Stallone, Roland Emmerich, Nicolas Cage, Nicole Kidman, Will Smith, Michael Bay, Francis Coppola, Al Pacino, John Wu...... It's all big names.

This is also the network resource that Chris Lee values the most.

Like an old farmer who diligently watered and fertilized his crops, Chris Lee greeted him one by one, until he met Alec Baldwin, one of the four Baldwin brothers, and whispered a few words to learn that Simon Westeros was also here, only a few minutes before him, and Chris Lee was suddenly even more excited.

Because once he loses his current job in the next two years, Chris Lee is most likely to be a solo producer for a while.

The best partner for the current Hollywood producer is undoubtedly Daenerys Entertainment under the control of Simon Westeros.

After whispering a few words, he learned from Baldwin that Westeros was on the terrace on the second floor of the villa, but Chris Lee did not go straight away, continued to communicate with the guests, and listened to Al Pacino's sigh at the piano by the pool, before finally coming to the villa and walking directly to the staircase on the second floor.

happened to meet John Wu and another Asian man whose name Chris Lee also recognized walked down, and hurriedly smiled and stepped forward to greet the two: "Hello, Wu, I'm so glad to meet you, and also, you're Zhou, right, that, "True Colors of Heroes". ”

Fa Ge, who came to North America because of some things in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", saw Chris Lee recognize him, nodded politely, and asked, "Hello, may I ask who you are?"

"I'm Chris Lee, and I'm currently the president of Columbia Pictures. ”

Chris Lee said, taking out his business card and giving it to the two.

John Wu, who was originally a little cold, quickly smiled when he heard Chris Lee introduce himself, took the business card and reached over again.

Chris Lee shook hands with John Wu and said with a smile: "John, I have watched your "Broken Arrow" and "Mission Impossible 2", oh, and the "True Colors of Heroes" that created a box office miracle in Hong Kong, it just so happens that Chinese kung fu has been very popular in Hollywood in the past two years, I don't know if you have any ideas about this, maybe we can cooperate?"

The two glanced at each other when they heard this, and John Wu said: "I just finished "Changing Face", and I don't have a new film plan for the time being, and Ah Fa happens to be the same. However, if the idea is to say, Chris, sorry, we don't have it yet. ”

"That's not a problem, we can find time to talk, and we'll definitely come up with a good idea, two, how about tomorrow?"

Chris Lee sent out a direct invitation again, mainly because he was keenly aware of the subtext in John Wu's words, after "Changing Face", Wu and Daenerys Entertainment did not reach a follow-up intention, and obviously had the intention to cooperate with other studios.

John Wu glanced at Fa Ge, who was about to say something, and took over the conversation: "I'm sorry, Chris, Zhou and I don't have time tomorrow. ”

"It's okay, in this case, can you two leave me a contact information, we can contact us by phone first?"

This time, John Wu did not refuse again, but Fa Ge will go to New York next Monday, and the later stage of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is mainly completed there, and he can't stay in Los Angeles to meet Chris Lee, so he can only entrust it to John Wu.

After such a conversation, Chris Lee has basically reached an intention, which can be regarded as a real gain tonight.

Seeing the two of them walk elsewhere, Chris Lee stepped up the steps to the second-floor terrace.

Then I saw a certain target figure at a glance.

Simon Westeros leaned on the couch facing the railing, and there were four girls sitting on the left and right, two generations of xenogirls on the left, an Asian girl on the right, and Mia Sara, the heroine of the recent "Horror Ghost".

In addition to the other three familiar faces, they took one more look and recognized that the Asian girl was the girl who played Jett Lee's kidnapped sister in "Hurricane Rescue" that he just watched this afternoon. Even though the aesthetics of the East and the West are different, the girl is obviously different from the common Asians on Western screens, and Chris Lee was still amazed during the afternoon movie.

Because it's really beautiful.

Now, seeing the other party appear here, Chris Lee suddenly had a feeling that this was indeed the case.

How could Simon Westeros miss such a little beauty.

Or, presumably, it was Simon Westeros's personal selection of the little beauty.

In addition to Simon Westeros, who hugged left and right, there were also Jonathan Friedman, the owner of the mansion that Chris Lee had never seen just now, and several creators of the two films "Hurricane Rescue" and "Horror Ghost", Jett Lee, Ben Stiller, Doug Liman and Peter Jackson.

Perhaps it was a deliberate effort to come together to celebrate the success of a series of recent films.

Of the four movies related to Daenerys Entertainment in the Easter schedule, only Jim Carrey of "The Cable Fixman" did not appear, and Chris Lee, who happened to know some rumors in the circle, was not surprised.

Seeing Chris Lee appear, everyone who was chatting enthusiastically came over together.

Jonathan Friedman, who was closest to the staircase and was the owner, recognized Chris Lee, took the initiative to get up, shook his hand with a smile, and without waiting for the others to get up, he directly pulled Lee to sit down in an empty seat next to him.

Obviously, for the sake of entertainment, there are six sets of sofas of all sizes arranged around the oval coffee table near the railing on the terrace of more than 100 square meters, which is enough to squeeze more than ten people to have a tea party.

Jonathan waited for Li to sit down and help introduce him, and Li, whose butt had just been stained on the sofa cushion, got up slightly and nodded to everyone.

Actually, I really want to exchange business cards.

After all, whether it is Jett Lee, Doug Liman, Peter Jackson and others, they will all be hot in Hollywood in the next few years. However, at this time, the scene is obviously not suitable, and there is no hurry, there will definitely be a chance later.

Simon has been paying close attention to Hollywood's movements, and Sony Pictures changed management again last year, and he also knew that it was the first time he had met the head of Columbia Studios, and after Lee greeted him, he casually asked: "What is the post-production effect of Verhoeven's "Starship"?"

Chris Lee didn't expect Simon Westeros to suddenly ask himself this, even if this kind of problem of probing the sensitive information of competitors is a bit inappropriate, Westeros has a casual posture and casual tone, but Li didn't dare to be perfunctory at all, did not hesitate to hide it, sat up a little straight, and said: ""Star Troopers" is the team of Samsung Pictures is in charge, however, I also have some attention, in terms of CG effects, it is still good, very shocking." ”

Simon was noncommittal, and asked with a smile: "Norio Ohga should be very angry these days, right?"

Chris Lee was a little embarrassed, but still told the truth: "Mr. Ohga just had a video connection with us in the morning, and it is true...... Not too happy. ”

Simon smiled, rubbed his palm against the slender waist of the Asian girl next to him, looked at Chris Lee and said as if persuasively: "Actually, you do your job well, Hollywood is after all us, the natives, the Japanese are outsiders, outsiders come and go, and we are still the masters of Hollywood." ”

Chris Lee nodded subconsciously.

But.

Soon I realized it again.

Simon Westeros, this is obviously a hope that the Japanese will 'come and go' as soon as possible.

Or, a little bit of a wooing yourself.

Why woo?

Presumably, it was in the hope that he would facilitate the Japanese to 'come and go' as soon as possible.

As the main production label under Sony Pictures, it is not easy for Chris Lee to do well, but if he wants to mess up something, it is too simple.

Thinking so, Chris Lee tentatively looked at the young tycoon on the opposite side, but the other party had already turned his gaze, but Jonathan Friedman next to him also looked at him with a smile.

With these thoughts in mind, Chris Lee didn't stay here for long, and took the initiative to get up and say goodbye.

When Chris Lee left, everyone seemed to have forgotten what had just happened and continued to talk about some trivial things.

No one came up to greet him for a while, and Simon, who was idle for a short time, also looked at the Asian girl next to him. Deliberately asked in Chinese, which is not very fluent: "By the way, what do you pronounce your name, is it 'Qiqi', it's very interesting." ”

Because she was not proficient in English, she smiled and corrected the girl who was at a loss just now: "It's 'qin', Mr. Westeros, this word means diligence in Chinese, well, hardworking." ”

"Oh, I see. ”

The girl said with caution: "Actually, Mr. Westeros, you can also call Angel, this is my English name, in Chinese, it is Jiang Anqi." ”

Simon had a smile on the corner of his mouth: "I think this name is better, just like you, beautiful as an angel." ”

"Thank you for your appreciation, Mr. Westeros. ”

"Actually, you can call me Simon, and besides, you don't have to be so formal. ”

"It's going to be rude. ”

"No, the people close to us call each other by name, aren't we close now?"

The girl named Jiang Anqi in English is actually very familiar with dealing with people, and she obviously felt the ambiguity in the words of the man around her, but she pretended not to know, and blushed just right and said: "Then, okay, Wei ...... Simon. ”

Jett Lee, who heard this conversation while continuing to chat with someone next to him, couldn't help but scold.

He has seen how slippery this big man's Chinese is, and now, deliberately pretending to be jerky and soaking up a girl is even more slippery, which is admirable.