New York, Upper East Side, James Murdoch walked out of his apartment, met Jim Prologis who was waiting here, and drove to the Rupert Murdochs' newly purchased mansion.

"How's it going?" James Murdoch looked through the car window and at the somewhat gloomy sky: "Is there a possibility of salvation overseas?"

Jim Prologis knew he was talking about "10,000 Years Before History," and out of the sense of responsibility of a professional manager, he could only tell the truth: "Overseas may be worse than North America." ”

James Murdoch is not lacking in decisiveness: "Don't invest overseas, stop loss." ”

"Okay. Jim Prologis felt a little guilty and said, "I am responsible for the failure of these two projects......"

James Murdoch waved his hand: "Now is not the time to talk about this, isn't your recent project also successful? ”

He doesn't feel like he's letting Jim Prolos take the blame just yet.

It's normal for every Hollywood company to have successes and failures, and the three films released by Twentieth Century Fox this summer, "Pharaohs and the Gods" and "10,000 Years Before History" failed commercially, but there was also the success of "The Simpsons".

The film based on the animated series has grossed more than $150 million in North America since its release in early June.

Jim Prologis didn't say anything more, after all, deep down, he didn't want to be held accountable either.

Although the three films in the summer file are two failures and one success, which is a common occurrence in the Big Six in Hollywood, the failed "Pharaohs and the Gods" and "10,000 Years Before History" both cost more than $100 million to make, while the successful "The Simpsons" is only a medium-sized production.

However, this also means that "The Simpsons" can have a lot of profits, which can more or less make up for the losses of "Pharaohs and the Gods" and "10,000 Years Prehistory".

James Murdoch suddenly asked, "Jim, do these two films that failed have anything in common?"

"Well......" Jim Pross actually thought about it, "it's all costume war epics." ”

James Murdoch asked, "Is there any other film of this type in a big-budget project?"

Jim Prolos said: "There's another one, Robin Hood, which is also very expensive, $130 million ......"

As soon as this number came out, the air in the car seemed to freeze for a moment.

Even for a company like Twentieth Century Fox, more than $100 million is a considerable investment.

I can't figure out what the problem is, but Hollywood studios have their own rules for survival and ways of judging their projects, and James Murdoch asks, "Can the Robin Hood project be terminated?"

Jim Prologis shook his head and smiled wryly: "The project is in post-production, we have invested hundreds of millions of dollars, and if we terminate it, the loss will be huge." ”

"Then get it done. James Murdoch quickly decided: "After the completion of the film, organize a few more screenings, see the specific response, and then decide on the scale of investment in the publicity and distribution." ”

Twentieth Century Fox will also learn from the failures of "Pharaohs and the Gods" and "10,000 Years First," with each of the two epics costing up to $200 million in production and distribution, and not much to recover in the short term.

Since the beginning of the new century, the investment in the promotion and distribution of big-budget films has become higher and higher, not only infinitely close to the production cost, but some even exceed the production cost.

Jim Pross hurriedly responded: "Okay. ”

It is simply impossible to abandon "Robin Hood", which has already begun post-production, but the failure of two consecutive costume epics has also made the top brass of Twentieth Century Fox, including Jim Pross, very cautious about the genre.

"I have issued an official notice. Jim Prologis then added: "In the short term, Twentieth Century Fox will not have any more epic projects. ”

James Murdoch nodded slightly: "This decision is timely. He thought of something else, reminding: "There are also two directors, Ridley Scott and Roland Emmerich, with whom Twentieth Century Fox will not work with again for years to come." ”

"I understand. Jim Prologis said: "The management of the company has reached a tacit understanding. ”

This kind of thing doesn't come out openly, but no one wants to work with losers.

James Murdoch asks, "What about the other big-budget big-production projects?"

Jim Prologis said, "There are no epic projects anymore. In addition to the spin-off series of "X-Men", there are also "Super Storm" in the disaster genre, "Terminator 4", which is also a sequel to the sci-fi film, and "Dragon Ball", which is a big-budget game adaptation. ”

Hearing these words, James Murdoch relieved himself and said, "Abandon other epic film projects except Robin Hood and invest all the money and resources saved into these projects." ”

Jim Pross replied again, "Okay. ”

The car left Manhattan and ended up on Long Island, where it stopped in front of a luxurious estate.

Entering the manor, James Murdoch just said hello to the other siblings and potential competitors, and was called to the study by Rupert Murdoch.

Rupert Murdoch preferred James Murdoch to his other sons and daughters, and also gave him enormous power, first the control of the British media led by Sky TV, and then the twentieth century Fox.

In the eyes of the outside world, this is undoubtedly a very clear signal that the future media empire of the Murdoch family will be led by James Murdoch.

James Murdoch himself thinks so.

"I heard that Fox had two big productions fail this summer?" Rupert Murdoch asked directly.

"The Pharaohs and the Gods and 10,000 Years Before History. James Murdoch knows that there is no way to hide it: "In the short term, it may cause some losses to the company. ”

Rupert Murdoch sat behind his desk and pushed several documents to the front: "Don't be careless, always keep an eye on the health of the company's cash flow." ”

James Murdoch picked up the file and looked at it and said, "I know, father. ”

In fact, most of the funds for these two projects come from Twentieth Century Fox, and some of the funds are invested by investment institutions, at least the loss of Twentieth Century Fox will not be as serious as it seems on the surface.

But this also brings other problems, and the confidence of those investors in Twentieth Century Fox has been seriously frustrated, and they do not plan to continue investing in other big-budget film projects of Twentieth Century Fox.

This forced Twentieth Century Fox to use its own funds to invest in major productions such as "Wolverine", "Super Storm", "Terminator 4" and "Dragon Ball".

Also, the problem of bank loans had to be solved, and a considerable part of Fox's investments in "Pharaohs and the Gods" and "10,000 Years Before History" came from bank loans.

Before coming to New York this time, some banks had already begun to collect money, and some banks were even considering loans for other film projects.

Twentieth Century Fox faced quite a few problems, but James Murdoch was not panicking, he was very confident that he was more than capable of solving them.

After several years of hard work, he has basically built his own back garden, and it is time to turn his main energy back to the twentieth century Fox.

Rupert Murdoch advised: "The film and television industry has its own peculiarities, don't be careless. ”

James Murdoch immediately assured: "Father, I will prove myself as I did in England. ”

Rupert Murdoch was quite satisfied with his youngest son's achievements in the UK, nodded slowly, and suddenly changed the subject: "I have a plan, and News Corp has been preparing for it for a while. ”

James Murdoch had never heard of it, and immediately asked curiously, "Father, what plan?"

Rupert Murdoch said: "I am ready to make a merger offer to Time Warner and its controlling shareholder, Warner Bros."

Hearing this, even with James Murdoch's well-informed, he was instantly stunned.

What a shocking plan!

"Why Time Warner and Warner Bros.?" is contrary to James Murdoch's planning.

That is, James Murdoch, in exchange for someone else, Rupert Murdoch will not explain at all: "After Time Warner broke up with AOL, the media business has been declining, but they have the best content production project in the world right now, and the Harry Potter series has brought Warners a total revenue of nearly 10 billion dollars." ”

He glanced at James Murdoch: "In addition, Marvel Entertainment's movies prove that the era of superheroes has begun, and we missed Marvel, but DC Comics has the potential to be only stronger than Marvel." News Corp.'s media business, combined with Warner's premium content business, is a powerful combination and complementary strengths. If the plan goes well, we will become the world's largest media conglomerate, and Twentieth Century Fox will become Hollywood's premier company. ”

James Murdoch couldn't help but say, "It's too difficult. ”

Rupert Murdoch said: "So, now it's just a plan, and I'm going to release the news to test Warner's attitude. ”

"Father!" James Murdoch hesitated, but said, "According to you, News Corp. needs quality content, and Twentieth Century Fox can't meet the requirements, and I fully agree with that, but Warner isn't the only option, right?"

Under Rupert Murdoch's gaze, James Murdoch said: "Relativity Entertainment! A dynamic young company with countless quality content, if you can win the ...... of Relativity Entertainment"

"Do you think I haven't thought about it?" Rupert Murdoch said lightly: "Relativistic Entertainment is a concentrated stake, and it is more difficult to take it than to acquire Warner Bros. ”

James Murdoch didn't give up: "What if Ronan Anderson agrees?"

Rupert Murdoch said: "I could consider it as a backup option. ”