In Century City, James Murdoch, who had just arrived in Los Angeles from England, stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows of the reception room on the top floor of the Fox Tower, and looked diagonally across from it, where a brand new building stood with a line of bold letters - Relativity Building.

What was originally an inconspicuous small Hollywood company has become a second-tier leader, and even threatens Fox to a certain extent.

After two years of hard work in London, James Murdoch earned the trust of his father, Rupert Murdoch, and allowed him to participate in the Twentieth Century Fox business in addition to continuing to be CEO of Sky TV and News Corp UK.

It also gives James Murdoch more hope, and the future seems to be in his hands.

The reception room door opened, and Jim Prologs, president of Twentieth Century Fox, walked in.

"Hi James. Jim Pross greeted warmly: "Just had a meeting, and I kept you waiting." ”

James Murdoch looked very respectful of Jim Prologs: "I've just arrived, and you have a job to do. ”

The two of them sat on the sofa chair in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, and from this place, they could just look down on Century City and the whole of Los Angeles.

James Murdoch pointed to the office building he had just looked at: "The last time I came to Fox, this building was still called the Death Star Building, right?"

Jim Prologis glanced over there and said, "Relativity Entertainment spent more than $200 million to buy this building as the company's headquarters. ”

"I met Ronan Anderson in London a few years ago. James Murdoch remembers the meeting at the royal charity party: "Relativity Entertainment was still a small company at that time, right?"

Jim Prologis nodded slightly: "In the past two years, Relativity Entertainment has developed too fast, and the equity composition of Relativity Entertainment is simple, strictly speaking, it is a sole proprietorship, and there is no need to disclose revenue and financial reports to the outside world, and the outside world can only roughly estimate their income according to market statistics. ”

James Murdoch said, "In terms of the film business alone, where do they rank in Hollywood?"

Jim Prologis said without hesitation: "The first three are inevitable, but Relativity Entertainment has no television and other media businesses, and this aspect is weak. ”

James Murdoch asked, "On what basis is the calculation?"

"Mainly from the box office. Jim Prologis said simply: "Then the box office estimates the offline revenue." ”

"By the way, was there a film about Relativity Entertainment that came out last weekend?" asked James Murdoch again.

Jim Prologis smiled: ""Resident Evil, based on the game, is a sequel, the first box office is good, and the same is true of this one, with a North American box office of $34.2 million in the first weekend, and a single box office of more than 10,000 dollars." ”

James Murdoch raised an eyebrow: "Can the North American box office exceed 100 million?"

Jim Prologis shook his head: "The reputation of this film is not ideal, it is unlikely that it will exceed 100 million in North America, but 80 million US dollars should be fine." He sighed: "Compared with first-line commercial productions, the income of these medium-to-low-scale projects does not seem particularly amazing, but Relativity releases about five films every year, which together make quite a lot of profits." ”

James Murdoch looked at the Relativity Entertainment edifice in the distance: "Ronan Anderson is a man who has a lot of ability to run movies. ”

Jim Prolos said directly: "I think Ronan Anderson is above Jerry Bruckheimer. ”

James Murdoch didn't expect Jim Prologe's rating to be so high, he was silent for a moment, and then said for a while: "According to what you say, Relativity Entertainment is stronger than DreamWorks, and the big six companies are watching him become stronger?"

"Relativity Entertainment has had a lot of trouble lately. Jim Prologis said: "But they have a simple shareholding structure, a healthy financial situation, and sufficient cash flow, as long as they can produce high-quality films steadily, there is nothing good for the Big Six to do with him, and the theater chain has been separated from the studio for too long." Paramount has used the means of exclusive release, but "The Passion of the Christ" was a box office hit, and these methods have all become a laughing stock. ”

James Murdoch was well aware of the weight of Twentieth Century Fox in the News Corp., thought carefully for a moment, and asked, "Can't you start offline?"

"There is no restriction on the offline rental and sales market. Jim Prolos smiled helplessly: "Fox has tried to do this, but it didn't work. The Big Six, including myself, had not paid much attention to Relativity Entertainment before, believing that the threat to future competition was DreamWorks, and that Relativity Entertainment had two years of good results, but it was just a shooting star. ”

He put away his smile, and his gaze gradually became gloomy: "By the time it really attracts attention, Relativity Entertainment has formed an almost complete industrial chain. ”

Jim Prologis knows James Murdoch's ambitions, and he is also a strong supporter of James Murdoch within News Corp., so he tirelessly said: "Online theaters, as long as the film can bring traffic, they don't care whose film it is, even if it's a Russian company, they will do it." The most critical aspects of the offline market are DVDs, merchandise and licensing, and TV rights. ”

James Murdoch listened very carefully, because one day he was going to fight back to the United States from London to fight for what was rightfully his.

Jim Prologis continued: "Periphery, a movie that hits the box office, and the characters or other merchandise become popular, profit-driven merchants will not let go, such as Pirates of the Caribbean and Captain Jack Sparrow, and Embassy Pictures has its own developed manufacturing and distribution channels. ”

"DVD can now occupy nearly half of the profit of a film, which is actually the best means of restriction, Viacom's Besda, since last year no longer sell and rent films from Relativity Entertainment, but the impact on them is limited, because Relativity Entertainment's Netflix performance in rental and sales, has surpassed Pepsi across the board. ”

"Also, like merchandise, Embassy Pictures has independent DVD producers across the Pacific, a country where we have limited influence and can generate foreign exchange business, and no company will give up easily. ”

James Murdoch chimed in: "What about TV rights? Relativity Entertainment doesn't have a TV station, right?"

Jim Prologis nodded and said, "CBS belongs to Viacom, ABC is under Disney, NBC has just merged with Universal Pictures, plus our Fox TV, the four major television networks in the United States are all closely connected to the big six studios. The problem is that the Big Six have never really joined forces and are competitors. ”

If you want the six major companies to work closely together and make a move against a very powerful company, I am afraid that the six major companies will be in chaos first.

Although there is a certain tacit understanding between the six major companies, and even a small amount of cross-shareholding between each other, who doesn't want to completely suppress other companies and become the top companies in Hollywood and occupy the largest market.

Visible opponents like Relativity Entertainment are not terrible, and those secret enemies who seem to stand with themselves do not want to face.

James Murdoch asked, "There's no other good way?"

"It's too difficult, and the Big Six themselves are also very difficult. Jim Prologis shook his head and said: "Universal Pictures has just merged with NBC, and the internal integration will not be completed in a few years, and there will be no energy to take care of anything else for the time being." Paramount Pictures had troubled Relativity Entertainment, but it was broken, and their production business went wrong, and they stared at DreamWorks to swallow it. Warner Bros. and Relativity Entertainment are still in their honeymoon period, and the two sides have collaborated on several film projects. Disney, not to mention, both factions inside are about to raise their guns and shoot at each other. We at Fox are not easy either, Marvel Comics has been going crazy lately, asking to change the contracts of "X-Men" and "Fantastic Four", otherwise we will have to go through the legal process......"

"I remember the contract with Marvel was clear. James Murdoch said.

Jim Prologis said: "It's not a matter of contracts, Marvel Comics is insane, they sell almost all of their valuable copyright assets, and they don't hesitate to turn against us for money. ”

James Murdoch's tone turned cold: "A worthless company, not worth the price Fox pays, don't be soft on Marvel Comics, they don't deserve sympathy." ”

Jim Prologis added: "I'm not worried about Marvel Comics, Marvel Comics are indeed crazy because of lack of funding, but there are people behind it who are pushing for it......"

James Murdoch was immediately alarmed: "You mean relativistic entertainment?"

"Yes, relativistic entertainment. Jim Prologis said slowly: "As far as I know, Relativity Entertainment and Ronan Anderson bought the rights to a number of second- and third-tier comic book characters from Marvel, and the relationship between the two sides has been very close ever since, and Robert Lee of Relativity Entertainment is very close to Avi Arad. ”

James Murdoch stood up, came to the floor-to-ceiling windows, looked at the Relativity Entertainment Building again, and whispered: "I'm in London, and there are some people who can get the scoop by special means. ”

Jim Pross hurriedly said, "James, be cautious. Ronan Anderson is no ordinary man, he has at least a billion dollars in net worth, and he is a cunning person, if we are the first to use means that exceed the rules......"

Unlike these Hollywood professional managers who are relatively game-compliant, James Murdoch dares to use illegal means for profit.

In London, he has instructed some of News Corp's outlets to do the same.

"I understand. James Murdoch also knows to be cautious: "I'll think about it." ”

Jim Prologis breathed a sigh of relief that he was just a professional manager and couldn't go crazy.

James Murdoch added: "I'm going to meet Ronan Anderson. ”