At Embassy Pictures, more than a dozen spectators gathered in the film room, and the screening of an animated feature film has reached the end stage.

Shrek and his friends work together to defeat the fairy godmother and her son Prince Charming, successfully marry Princess Fiona, throw down the super light bulb and donkey to give birth to the big winner poor mouth donkey, and the boot-wearing cat with the super killer trick of selling cute spoofs, and go on their honeymoon together......

At the end of the trial meeting, there was sparse applause in the pull-tab room because of the limited number of people.

"How's it going?" García Rodriguez asked Thomas in a low voice, "How is it better than the first part?"

Thomas told the truth: "As far as my personal feeling goes, the quality of the film is slightly inferior to the first one, but this is a sequel, and it is estimated that the commercial success is higher than the first one." ”

Garcia said slowly, "It's about the same as I thought. ”

With that, he turned his head to look behind him, where Jareif Katzenberg of DreamWorks Animation Studios was standing next to Ronan and seemed to be discussing the film as well.

Jared Katzenberg glanced at the person next to Ronan, remembering that it seemed to be the former head of the Twentieth Century Fox animation studio, I don't remember what it was called, for him, an animated filmmaker, the other party was just a junior among the juniors.

He smiled and asked, "Ronan, is this one okay?"

Ronan was full of praise: "Very good. In particular, the parody style of famous movies is full of fun, except for the "Shrek" series, this form has never appeared in previous cartoons, and even in other forms of films, it is definitely not so concentrated, which is refreshing for everyone. ”

Jarev Katzenberg proudly said, "DreamWorks Animation Studios has found the right style and is on the right path. ”

Ronan agrees: "DreamWorks Animation Studios' animated feature films are going to get better and better. ”

Although DreamWorks Animation Studio is not as good as Pixar Studios, and the animated feature films produced are mixed, but overall the development is quite good.

He introduced to Jared Katzenberg: "This is Chris Renard, the head of the animation studio at Shahai Entertainment. ”

Chris Renard greeted with a smile, "Hello, Mr. Katzenberg. ”

"Hello. Jereif Katzenberg shook hands gently with Chris Renard.

He didn't quite understand why this little-known animator could be valued by Ronan?

Embassy Pictures was originally the most suitable partner of DreamWorks Animation Studio, and Ronan was also the most important partner for him, until the establishment of this Shahai Entertainment Animation Studio, he found that Ronan did not necessarily regard DreamWorks Animation Studio as the primary partner.

Nowadays, there are many animation producers in Hollywood, Pixar Studio is a well-deserved industry leader, and then other companies, this Shahai Entertainment Animation Studio, if it really wants to develop, it will inevitably become a strong competitor to DreamWorks Animation Studio.

Sitting in the current position, you must think about the company, otherwise it is better to retire and step down.

I hope that Spielberg will be able to build a good DreamWorks distribution channel in the next few years.

Although he had a very unpleasant falling out with David Geffen and Spielberg at some point in the past, he didn't mind having the distribution rights of DreamWorks Animation return to DreamWorks if the conditions were right.

In any case, both belong to the same company.

Jareven Katzenberg casually exchanged a few words with Ronan, then turned to Ronan and said, "The schedule is set for the second weekend of May, can it be released simultaneously worldwide?"

Ronan is full of confidence: "There is no problem, this is not the first time that Embassy Pictures has released a movie globally, and "Shrek 2" will appear in theaters in more than 30 countries and regions on the second weekend of May. ”

This is the sequel to the blockbuster movie, which naturally has a strong fan base, no longer needs to wait for the North American box office to explode and be released overseas, and the global synchronization can also effectively avoid the box office losses caused by piracy.

Even in a market like North America, where copyright management is extremely strict, it is difficult to avoid the emergence of piracy, and there is an endless stream of ghost-like clandestine photographers in theaters, and now it is the age of the Internet, as long as the gun version appears on the Internet, it can spread around the world at a speed unimaginable a few years ago.

Jared Katzenberg is confident in Embassy Pictures' distribution capabilities, but has a little doubt about the schedule chosen: "Coming out on the second weekend of May, Ronan, isn't this schedule a little tight?"

Ronan said: "This schedule is not bad. ”

"The first weekend was the premiere of Universal Pictures' Van Helsing. Jarev Katzenberg was a little worried: "The following weekend was Warner Bros.'s super epic "Troy", although the audience of "Shrek 2" is different from these two films, but it is sandwiched between two top blockbusters, will it be affected?"

The production cost of "Van Helsing" is as high as $160 million, "Troy" is an exaggerated production budget of $175 million, and the production cost of "Shrek 2" is $75 million, which is not a little worse than these two films.

Ronan said calmly: "Every year, the summer schedule is very crowded, and there are heavyweight films released every weekend, and the successful film will still be successful, it won't have too many impacts, and we can't find a more suitable schedule." ”

The choice of this schedule was originally selected by Ronan specifically at the behest of Embassy Pictures, looking at the entire month of May and June, is there a better schedule than this?

The front is a super street fight, and the back one, although it doesn't hit the street, is not much better.

Brad Pitt also proved through "Troy" that his commercial appeal is really not very strong.

Jerever Katzenberg thought for a moment and said, "Well, you're an expert on this, so I won't say much." ”

Ronan smiled and said, "Don't worry, Jared, this sequel should do better than the first one." ”

"I hope so. Jereif Katzenberg didn't stay long, and said: "There is still something to do in the company, I will leave first, and we will meet again another day." ”

At the end of the preview meeting, Ronan briefly asked Embassy Pictures about the coordination of theaters with the theater company, and also left Embassy Pictures.

For online distribution, the number of theaters directly determines the box office.

Not only "Shrek 2", which will be released on the second weekend of May, but also "Resident Evil 2" will be released by Embassy Pictures in early April, and it is necessary to win as many theaters and screens as possible from the theater side.

Ronan's requirements are very clear, the number of theaters in North America for "Shrek 2" should reach about 4,000, and even if "Resident Evil 2" is an R-rated film, the number of premiere theaters must be more than 3,000.

Of course, the more theaters that Embassy Pictures can get, the better.

Chris Renard followed Ronan out of Embassy Pictures and on Ronan's Rolls-Royce Phantom.

Ronan asked, "Will 'Despicable Me' be completed this year?"

Chris Renard assured: "There will definitely be an internal test screening before the end of the year. ”

"DreamWorks Animation Studios won't be working with Embassy Pictures for long. Ronan saw it very clearly: "After the five-year period, the cooperation between the two sides may end, so the business of animated feature films still depends on us." ”

Regarding Pixar's plans, there is no need for him to talk to Chris Renard.

And unlike DreamWorks Animation Studios, if Pixar's hangers want to continue to hang, Pixar Studios must retain a certain degree of independence.

Chris Renard said: "I understand that as long as 'Despicable Me' goes well, we're going to launch a big animated movie like 'Minions.'" ”

Ronan nodded, he also thought about the situation of Jerry Katzenberg and DreamWorks Animation Studios, especially in the past year, Jared Katzenberg rarely walked with him and Will Smith and Tom Cruise anymore, and the former golf foursome gradually became an iron triangle.

Many of these reasons are not difficult for him to figure out.

This opportunity to use Artisan Pictures to promote the full cooperation between Embassy Pictures and DreamWorks Animation Studios in the next five years can also be said to be a win-win situation.

Outside of the Big Six, there is no distributor that is stronger than Relativity Entertainment, and the distribution commission given by Embassy Pictures is much lower than that of the Big Six.

As for Jared Katzenberg's drifting away from the three of them, Ronan has no complaints or complaints, Jared Katzenberg represents not only himself, but the entire DreamWorks Animation Studio, which involves dozens of shareholders and hundreds of employees, and Jared Katzenberg must be responsible for them.

Business has always been complicated, and business competition will not affect personal relationships, and it can only be said that there are very few.

The mall is like a battlefield, and Jereif Katzenberg has clearly made his choice.

Ronan closed his eyes and thought for a while, then said, "Chris, last year British children's writer Grey Chowl published an adventure book. ”

This is seen on the information collected by Connie, and he didn't think much about the idea of fighting it, but this time gradually made him make up his mind: "The title of the book is called "Viking Little Heroes: How to Tame Your Dragon", which roughly tells the story of a Viking boy who becomes a Viking warrior through how to train a dragon, I think it is very suitable for adaptation into an animated movie, you take the time to watch it." ”

Chris Renard said, "I'll go back and buy a copy. ”

Ronan nodded, and said: "After reading it, if you think it's okay, contact Robert Lee directly from the head office and ask him to come forward to buy the relevant copyright." ”

"Okay. Chris Renard answered.

Ronan sent Chris Renard back to Shahai Entertainment, and asked the driver David to rush to the newly renamed Relativity Building, Christopher Nolan, who completed "Batman: Time to War", has already started the preliminary preparations for the new film project, and the two made an appointment to meet today a few days ago.