DreamWorks Headquarters, Glendale, Los Angeles.

There was silence in the conference room, and everyone was looking at the old man with round glasses, the old man had always given a very gentle image, and now his expressionless face was as cold as a layer of ice.

"Susan, tell me about it. Spielberg's tone was flat: "How much was the box office in the first week?"

Glancing at her boss, Susan Arnold stubbornly said: ""Blair the Witch 2", 3,383 theaters, box office $4.68 million in the first week. ”

There was an instant burst of discussion in the conference room.

Spielberg said, "Quiet. ”

The discussion came to an abrupt end.

Spielberg said: "How much has been invested in this project so far?"

Susan Arnold didn't dare to delay, and quickly replied: "The purchase of the sequel copyright is $12 million, the filming and production cost is $6 million, and the publicity and distribution expenditure is $16 million." Actual expenditures are currently $34 million. ”

Spielberg looked at her and didn't speak.

Susan Arnold understood what he meant, and continued: "The Cinema Score has an average D for theater audiences and predicts that the North American box office will not exceed $10 million. ”

There was a faint gasp in the conference room.

It is not difficult for anyone to imagine that most of the $34 million invested is difficult to recover, and perhaps it is possible after 30 years of operation in the offline market?

Spielberg is a big man who is used to seeing storms after all, and he has not failed in his own right, and his mood is very stable, saying: "All subsequent plans for "Blair the Witch" are stopped! ”

"Yes. Susan Arnold was a little unwilling, but she couldn't fight for it, and the film was a complete failure.

But there is one thing that I have never figured out, the same model, the same operation, why "Blair the Witch" succeeded, but the sequel failed?

Most of the successful sequel movies are big hits in the scolding.

Spielberg said again: "Go back and summarize well." Also, what's the name of those two directors?"

"Daniel Malick and Edjado Sanziz. Susan Arnold replied.

Spielberg immediately decided: "DreamWorks must not cooperate with these two people in the future!"

This is not just for Susan Arnold alone, but for everyone in the room.

All the executives and producers of DreamWorks Studios have these two names in their hearts.

What kind of directors are the easiest to remember for Hollywood studios? the most successful ones and the most unsuccessful ones.

At the end of the meeting, Spielberg returned to his office, his brows furrowed, his face full of sadness, and even his always straight back was a little bent, as if a mountain of pressure was pressing on him.

Since its founding, DreamWorks has not had a smooth time.

People on the outside only see the success of films like "Saving Private Ryan," "American Beauty" and "Gladiator," but they don't see the problems inside DreamWorks.

Splits at the top...... Spielberg had a headache at the thought of this problem, the DreamWorks business had been divided into three separate parts, David Geffen had plans to quit DreamWorks, and Jared Katzenberg also wanted to make the animation studio independent.

Fortunately, it is still a group at present, as long as it can get out of the predicament and fight a way out of the encirclement and suppression of the six major companies, these crises are nothing.

If things go well, all the problems are actually minor.

But thinking of this, Spielberg's head hurts even more, and the live-action film department has not been very smooth since last year.

First came the failure of poaching PolyGram's distribution department, then the refusal of the Mountain Foundation, which kept in touch, to work with DreamWorks again, and then the fiasco of a sequel that should have been very secure.

Without digging the distribution department, DreamWorks' overseas distribution channels cannot be established in a short period of time, and it may even take six or seven years or even more.

The Mountain Foundation gave up cooperation with DreamWorks, and the two TV series projects were short of funds and could not be approved for a long time.

A sequel film that was supposed to be an easy success fails, causing an already somewhat tight cash flow to be further strained.

Spielberg felt that his head was about to explode, and it seemed that the dream factory with good momentum had no solid foundation at all!

Why are there accidents in some of the things that are sure of everything? Especially these three things.

People are old and fine, Spielberg analyzed it a little, and suddenly found that these three things have one thing in common!

Where did PolyGram's distribution department go?

Which Hollywood company is the Mountain Foundation working with?

Who bought the rights to the sequel to the failed Blair the Witch 2?

These are three companies, but anyone who is well-informed in Hollywood these days doesn't know that this is a small group of companies!

The owner of the company is called Ronan Anderson......

Spielberg suddenly took off his disc glasses, his face full of solemnity.

I don't know why, he has a feeling that the resources and opportunities that should belong to DreamWorks have been robbed by others.

It's a bad feeling.

But when you think about it, opportunities have slipped out of DreamWorks.

The matter of Polygram Pictures is that he ignores people and ignores Albert Hoffman's old problems, which leads to accidents.

The Mountain Foundation, DreamWorks, has been hesitant to refuse Indians to invest in big projects such as "Gladiator" several times, and even he feels that DreamWorks lacks sincerity.

The rights to the sequel to "Blair the Witch", which Susan Arnold bought from Relativity Entertainment on her own initiative.

Spielberg knew very well that the power to employ people, do things, and make decisions was in his hands.

"Am I not good?" Spielberg's rare self-doubt: "Am I old? I can't even compare to a young man in his early twenties?"

Ronan Anderson, Relativity Entertainment ......

These two names kept spinning in Spielberg's mind, especially Relativity Entertainment, which has perfect North American distribution capabilities, and after winning the distribution department of Polygram Pictures, it is actively exploring and building overseas distribution channels.

That's an overseas distribution channel, an overseas distribution channel that even DreamWorks doesn't have!

Spielberg pressed the intercom and called the assistant in: "You go check what is the latest film released by Embassy Pictures?"

The assistant is very aware of the industry dynamics, and replied directly: "I heard some time ago that Embassy Pictures has no plan to release films in theaters in the first half of the year, and the latest movie to be released is "Human Removal Plan 2" released on Halloween. ”

Spielberg asked, "What about the overseas distribution of the film?"

The assistant thought for a while and said, "It should also be the agent of the embassy pictures." ”

"You go look it up, make sure the news, and then summarize it to me. Spielberg thought for a moment, and then ordered: "Let people pay more attention to the news of Relativity Entertainment, Embassy Pictures, and Shahai Entertainment." ”

"Yes. The assistant immediately replied, "I'll let someone do it." ”

Spielberg sat in his office, lost in thought again.

Overseas distribution channels are too important for DreamWorks, he made a huge mistake before, and there should be a chance to make up for it.

If Embassy Pictures can successfully distribute the film overseas......

The degree of "Blair Witch 2" hitting the street is even more miserable than Ronan expected, and when he saw the box office data of this film, he found one thing.

In the past two years, it seems that I have a special relationship with DreamWorks.

It's a pity that "Band of Brothers", which has been paying attention for a long time, has never found a chance to intervene, and can only watch this miniseries that can get countless benefits in the future.

However, Ronan did not have remorse or other similar emotions.

After all, DreamWorks got the copyright very early, and the original author served as a consultant for "Saving Private Ryan", and was friendly with Spielberg and Tom Hanks, and would give priority to working with these two.

Ronan knows very well that even the reborn can't do all the good things.

Greed is good, but in moderation.

He never forgot this sentence.

Greed is like an ecstasy pill, it can break all people's reason, when the mind is full of thoughts to make a fortune, it is like carving "come and lie to me" on the brain, it is especially easy to be used.

At the end of June, Robert Lee finally returned to Los Angeles from overseas.

"Danny Donald stayed in the East for the time being. Robert Lee said to Ronan: "With him there, a lot of work is easier to do, and the style of the Oriental people is very different from ours. ”

Ronan flipped through the work log that Robert Lee brought back and asked, "Is the work going well over there?"

"There were a lot of problems at the beginning, but the original Polygram channel played a big role, and they had a certain network of contacts over there, which helped a lot," said Robert Lee. ”

Ronan asked, "Have you submitted the information for "Spy Shadows"?"

Robert Lee immediately said: "It has been handed over to China Film Group and relevant departments, China Film Group is interested, but it can only be discussed whether to introduce it after watching the finished film." ”

"Good. Ronan said, "We'll wait for the news." ”

Robert Lee wondered: "Ronan, I have been in the field over there, the film industry there is very backward, not only are there few theaters, but also a large area has closed down, and the box office share is also low, is it necessary to open up the market?"

Ronan explained simply: "Do you know that there are 1.3 billion people over there? And the economy is developing rapidly, how big will this market be in the future? The North American film market is also developing step by step, and we should be prepared in advance, once this market develops rapidly, we can enjoy huge dividends." ”

Robert Lee said, "Ronan, you see farther than I do, and I listen to you." ”

Ronan smiled and said, "Let's rest for a while." ”

"I'll just rest for three days. Robert Lee asked, "You called me some time ago, didn't you say that I had something very important to do?"