As soon as it was time to go to work, there was a knock on the office door from outside, and Robert Iger pushed the door and walked in, still holding a thick file in his hand.

"Isn't this going to be busy?" said Robert Iger with a laugh.

Ronan picked up the one in his hand and shook it: "Yes." ”

Robert Egger understood Ronan's style of doing things, and asked curiously, "Do you have the copyright you like again?"

Picking up another copy of The Da Vinci Code, Ronan handed it to Robert Egger, who opened a chair and sat down, put down the papers, took it and flipped through it.

"Religious themes. Robert Iger is not good at making film projects, so he simply flipped through them: "I also borrowed Leonardo da Vinci and The Last Supper, which look like the real thing." ”

Ronan put down the book in his hand and said, "It's easy to get into an argument. ”

Robert Iger didn't look much and closed it aside, specifically deciding on film and television projects and content production, which was not under his control, and he also knew very well that he was much less capable than the young boss.

"I just heard yesterday that you're going to introduce a religious movie, can't it be?" asked Robert Iger.

Ronan shook his head slightly: "No. Embassy Pictures was talking about Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, and it was after watching that film that I saw the introduction to The Da Vinci Code on the Internet that I became interested. ”

Robert Iger asked with concern, "How's the Passion going?"

"Yesterday for the first time there were formal negotiations. Ronan smiled: "I guess there will be talks." ”

Embassy Pictures is constantly keeping an eye on Mel Gibson's film, and the current situation is extremely favorable for distributors, with no other distribution company interested in The Passion of the Christ except for a small company called New Market.

Robert Iger picked up the file, handed it to Ronan, and said: "This morning's news, Vivendi Group and NBC have reached an agreement, and it is expected that it will not be too long before the two parties will sign a formal equity transfer agreement for Universal Pictures Entertainment Group. ”

Ronan immediately took the document handed over by Robert Iger, looked at it and said: "$10 billion, get 85% of the shares of Universal Pictures Entertainment Group, NBC can be regarded as getting what you want." ”

Robert Iger said: "Vivendi also has a hand, maybe when he will turn around and go to Hollywood. ”

Ronan smiled, "We got what we needed, too. ”

"It's a pity that I didn't win the Jurassic Park series. Robert Iger has no regrets: "If this series can be successfully relaunched, it will generate huge profits from the peripherals alone. ”

Although Ronan was a little regretful, he didn't care very much, and said: "This series is already famous, and we can't afford to pay a billion dollars for it, causing problems in the company's cash flow, and it is impossible for us to encounter all the good things." ”

Robert Iger said: "It makes sense that we can't get the rights to all the big movies. He stood up: "You are busy, I'll go back." ”

Sending Robert Iger away, 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, the deal is about to be completed, and General Electric has announced that it will merge Universal Pictures and NBC after the acquisition to form a new NBCUniversal Entertainment Group.

This has not had much impact on the overall pattern of Hollywood, and the situation of the Big Six has not changed because of this.

But Universal Pictures has lost a trump card series for the future.

In the conference room of Embassy Pictures, which is not very far from Relativity Entertainment, negotiations over the release of "The Passion of the Christ" have reached the most divisive stage.

Mel Gibson, as the film's producer and largest investor, has gone into battle in person in order to recoup his investment.

"The buyout method you proposed is an insult to me!" Mel Gibson was furious, and if there was no way, he would have left a long time ago. There was irrepressible anger in his voice: "Buy this film for $35 million, you guys are insulting the name Mel Gibson!"

García Rodriguez, who was in charge of the negotiations, heard about Mel Gibson's personality and was not at all moved, saying: "Mr. Gibson, you can name your terms. ”

Mel Gibson is very popular, but not stupid, the distribution company is originally located in the upper reaches of the industrial chain, coupled with the general cold reception of "The Passion of the Christ", said: "Distribute in a commission way." ”

García Rodriguez is acceptable: "Thirty-five percent of the North American box office is a commission on distribution, and peripheral distribution and overseas revenue are calculated separately. ”

"Ahem......" said Charlemagne, an executive at Aiken Films, "the commission is too high." ”

Mel Gibson calmed down a bit and said, "Fifteen percent box office rake!"

"Yes. Compared to Mel Gibson, Garcia Rodriguez is slow: "The cost of the promotion of the film and the cost of distribution are calculated separately. ”

Charlemagne said: "We are all Hollywood insiders, and it is difficult to calculate the cost of publicity, which is all clear, and Mr. Rodriguez should stop this insincere condition." ”

García Rodriguez recalls the old saying: "It's best to work together with a buyout, we can trust each other and not worry about mistakes due to neglect or other reasons." ”

Mel Gibson chimed in: "But a box office hit would hurt the interests of our producers!"

"Two, maybe you don't like that, but this film is a box office hit......" Garcia Rodriguez smiled: "What do you think are the odds?"

Without waiting for Charlemagne and Mel Gibson to answer, he added: "The Passion of the Christ is a non-English language film, and how many foreign language films have really been commercially successful in the North American market? What is the overall percentage? And the film is extremely heavy from the picture to the content to the theme, and there is nothing to make the audience find interesting." ”

Hearing that his film was so belittled, Mel Gibson's anger that had just fallen burned again: "The artistic content of this film is not something that can be measured by simple commerce!"

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 agency, and I'm a professional manager, not an artist, and we have to invest a lot of money to release The Passion of the Christ, and we have to think about the commercial value of the film first. ”

He seems to be thinking about Mel Gibson: "I am a businessman, Mr. Gibson is an artist, although we have differences in this regard, we have a lot of respect for film artists, and we also understand that it is not easy to make a profound film like "The Passion of the Christ", from the perspective of emotional and industrial health, Hollywood needs this genre film, and it also needs artists like Mr. Gibson." ”

Mel Gibson is a little confused, this guy will belittle and appreciate, what is this trying to do?

Charlemagne continued: "The Passion of the Christ has both commercial value and commercial nature, and the market response is ......"

Garcia Rodriguez looked at Charlemagne, just smiling, and his smile was pure: "Mr. Charlemagne, we are all people who have been in Hollywood for many years, don't we have to say some things explicitly? It's not that no one has ever made a similar movie, what is the commercial response? Embassy Pictures has perfect distribution channels, especially offline distribution channels, if it weren't for my confidence in the company's offline distribution capabilities, and I feel that I can achieve profitability through offline channels in about two or three years of operation, I will definitely not sit here and talk to you." ”

He slowly put away his smile: "Before you contacted Embassy Pictures, you went to all the large and medium-sized distribution companies in Hollywood, but all of them were rejected. ”

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

Charlemagne pinched his forehead, because he was too embarrassed to mention this small distribution company.

García Rodriguez did not refute that the new market, the publishing company, is not convincing anywhere, and it cannot be used as a weight at all.

"Based on the principle of win-win, we proposed to buy out the copyright of The Passion of the Christ. García Rodriguez ignored Mel Gibson's statement about Newmarket: "Will this film be a box office high? As the distributor, how much income do you have to get after the commission? You can't even get back the cost of your investment." With the ability of Embassy Pictures, it can pay for itself in time until it generates a profit. ”

Mel Gibson stopped mentioning any new market issuers, exchanged glances with Charlemagne, and said, "Yes, we can accept a buyout." ”

García Rodriguez said seriously: "The buyout is not that you have nothing to do with the film, the impact of the film, the publicity and distribution during the release, you all have to be deeply involved. ”

This is a Hollywood distribution stock, Mel Gibson has no opinion, and it has become realistic: "For $50 million, Aiken Films sold out the rights to The Passion of the Christ at one time, including overseas rights. ”

"$50 million?" Garcia Rodriguez shook his head, "which means that all the risks of the film will be borne by Embassy Pictures, and you can get $20 million in profits......"

He sighed, as if he had made a very difficult and important decision: "We respect a film artist like Mr. Gibson, and we also want to be friends with Mr. Gibson, and cooperate for a long time, Embassy Pictures can appropriately increase the transaction price." $40 million!

Lewen mobile version update fastest website: