The phenomenal blockbuster "Spider-Man" has been fully offline, with a North American box office of $510 million, an overseas box office of $750 million, and a total box office of $1.26 billion.

Although the box office performance in North America lags behind "Star Wars Episode 1: The Ghost Man Menace", the global box office is second only to "Titanic", ranking second in film history!

Just by sharing the box office, Down Pictures received $420 million, which is definitely a big profit!

Even the "Spider-Man" soundtrack, which was released early, sold 280,000 copies and earned $5.5 million, which is already negligible.

Of course, more income means higher taxes.

Hollywood has a set of general guidelines, in the face of this kind of blockbuster and profitable movies, the company's daily operating expenses, shareholder dividends, and union dividends are all planned as film expenses, which will greatly increase the budget cost of the film on the books.

When the cost is high, the profit will be less, and the taxes and fees will be lower.

Therefore, in addition to some industries specially approved by some countries, such as environmental protection, national defense, and waste recycling, investing in movies in Hollywood is definitely the industry with the lowest tax rate.

No matter how ugly the data on the ledger is, anyway, at the end of the year, Donn Pictures has a full $400 million more on its books because of the movie "Spider-Man".

In addition, including the box office share of "Soul Shifter", "Memory Fragments" and "Chainsaw", as well as the sales and rental revenue of videotapes and discs before "My Grand Greek Wedding" and "Wedding Proud", Towne Pictures' net income for the year reached $490 million!

In particular, the CD rental income of the two films "My Grand Greek Wedding" and "Wedding Proud Guest" reached more than 28 million US dollars, which is a real surprise.

Because the income from the rental business is tax-free, this long-term income is really the biggest value of the film company!

For example, MGM, which is dying, has a mediocre performance in the past year, but with a huge inventory of more than 2,200 films, the annual rental income is as high as 300 million US dollars.

It is not for nothing that IP, intellectual property, will stand out in the curtain of the times.

The harvest of Down Pictures is gratifying, but the expenditure is ...... It's just as complex and huge!

Since May, Tangen Pictures has received a $1 billion capital injection, and has successively acquired Starz TV, Focus Pictures, and DCP TV Production, and invested in Silkwood Animation, spending a total of $259 million;

Film investment is even larger, "Drug Network", "The Chronicles of Narnia", "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", "Unsinkable", "A Beautiful Mind", "Pirate League", "New York Vice" and other films, with a total investment of more than 700 million US dollars!

There are also two TV series, "Band of Brothers" and "Six Feet Under", which cost another $70 million......

This year, the investment expenditure of Down Pictures is as high as 1.03 billion US dollars!

So much so that Tang Pictures this year, with "Spider-Man" and "Chainsaw" box office hits, I don't know how many equally envious eyes reddened, but the actual business result is a sharp decrease in book funds.

Now Towne Pictures has a cash flow of only $450 million......

From the financial situation of Down Pictures, it can be seen why investing in movies can make a lot of money, but the operating conditions of film companies will get worse and worse.

Including MGM, Lionsgate, and Paramount are all facing bankruptcy, and Warner and Fox are also facing the end of acquisitions.

It is true that making movies makes money, but there is never any extra money on the books of film companies.

For example, making a movie with a total cost of $30 million, after two or three years of operation, earned $40 million, and on the surface, it earned $10 million.

In reality, this part of the money simply cannot stay on the books, and the film company must invest in more new films if it wants to operate.

With the development of the times, the production cost and publicity cost of movies are getting higher and higher, and a movie that could be made for 30 million two years ago may cost 40 million US dollars two years later......

Such a result is equivalent to not making a penny from this movie!

And once the investment of a new film fails, it will face the end of debt.

The return of funds for films is slow, and various expenses have increased year after year, and various labor unions have disputes from time to time, so that film companies are becoming more and more difficult to mix. Even the Hollywood giants can only operate miserably, absorbing money from Wall Street, the Middle East, and Asia everywhere to maintain the shooting of new movies.

If Don doesn't play two big votes in the stock market, and then get enough money to invest in a few high-tech companies, then with Donn's ability in Hollywood alone, even if he has foresight, even if he can get all the big IPs in Hollywood, it is impossible to create a media group like Disney.

Now Donne, of course, is not short of money.

Because of Jobs' requirement that Apple's stock price not be lower than $10, Don has been quietly sucking in Apple stock, which has accounted for 6.1% of the total share capital, which will be an astonishing fortune in ten years.

Therefore, money is not very attractive to Donne, and he cares more about his personal career pursuit.

No matter how rich Apple is, it is Steve Jobs, not Donn Walker, who is really in charge of Apple. Even if he were to replace Steve Jobs, he would not have the ability to manage Apple.

He needs to carve out a sphere of influence of his own!

An area he has the power to control!

The choice, of course, is Hollywood!

But the money earned in the movies alone was not enough for Towne Pictures to grow rapidly and become a media giant comparable to Disney.

He needs to transfer funds from other fields to diversify while developing the film industry through non-stop acquisitions.

Movies......

It's Donn's hobby, and his profession is directing.

……

Rose Pictures has been registered, and it is still an empty shell.

However, Donn knew that with the rise of feminism, feminist films would become a fad, and Rose Pictures' status would rise.

It's an empty shell now, but the future is promising!

The person at the helm of this company must be a woman, preferably ...... In the future, the company's employees are all women, which has become a unique landscape in Hollywood.

After the recommendation of Bill McNick and Michael Ovitz, Don decided on the president of Rose Pictures - Katherine Kennedy.

Catherine Kennedy has nothing to do with the famous "Kennedy" family, she was a civilian background, she was a small secretary at Lucasfilm in her early years, and in the process of working with Steven Spielberg, he discovered her talent and embarked on the path of producer.

Now, she and her husband created the Kennedy Marshall Film Productions, of which she is president, responsible for the company's operations.

But this is just a small production company, which can't be smaller, and it doesn't even have the ability to invest, and it can't even get a little copyright for the commercial blockbusters it participates in.

The main function of the company is to help the couple avoid income tax.

Because the federal government's tax rate on the film industry is very favorable, the corporate income tax is 25%, far less than the 39% personal income tax.

So in the face of Donn's gracious invitation, Katherine Kennedy had no reason to refuse.

Under the recommendation of CAA boss Kevin Hovein, Donn met the Hollywood strong woman for the first time and had an open and honest conversation.

The communication between the two sides was very harmonious.

"Because Rose Pictures is just an empty shell now, and there is very little business, it ...... You can continue to work with other studios, preferably with our own company, or you can continue to work with Kennedy Marshall Films as president. ”

In the face of talents, Don always shows enough sincerity and friendliness.

Katherine Kennedy smiled, "Donn, thank you for your generosity, but ...... As the first film company in Hollywood to focus on feminist themes, I hope that Rose Pictures can get on the right track as soon as possible. ”

Don frowned, "This...... It's hard, I'm afraid. Catherine, you should know that feminism is just a trend, and there is no general trend yet, and it takes time for Rose Pictures to show its talents. ”

"Actually, there is another way. ”

"Oh?"

"Under Tang Pictures, all films involving women's rights, even if they are few, Rose Pictures must participate in the production, whether it is an independent small production or a commercial big movie. This will allow Rose Pictures to open the market as quickly as possible. ”

Donn agreed, "It works. ”

Katherine Kennedy smiled, "Of course, it would be better if you could give me a sum of money so that Rose Pictures could have the opportunity to participate in the investment and production of women's rights works by other film companies." ”

Tang En smiled heartily, "There will be funds, but not too much." The new film "Juno", which I wrote, is expected to invest about $8 million and be produced by Rose Pictures. As for other funds...... You and Bill fight for it, there's nothing I can do. ”

Don Pictures now has $450 million, which looks like a lot, but it's actually tight.

In the spring of next year, there will be two blockbusters, "Spider-Man 2" and "Daredevil", and "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" will start filming in the summer.

Bill McNick talked to Donn about it, and if he can't inject more money into Donn Pictures, then it's best not to fool around.

Both sides have the sincerity of cooperation, and Katherine Kennedy will not make excessive requests, and when she heard Don say this, she understood, "There is one last request, I want to work in the production department of Done Pictures." ”

Tang En glanced at her and said slowly: "The production department of Tang En Pictures is different from the production department of other film companies, with little authority and many constraints, and it is subject to the constraints of the market analysis department, the art analysis department, and even the screenwriting department. ”

Katherine Kennedy waved her hand and smiled dumbly, "Donn, you're mistaken, I don't want power. Since Rose Pictures is involved in all of Down Pictures' women's rights productions, it would be easier for me to take on a role in the production department. ”

"That's right...... That's easy, I'll talk to Bill when I get back, and you'll be an associate director in the production department. ”

In fact, in Donn's opinion, with Catherine Kennedy's ability, serving as a vice president at Down Pictures is more than enough.

There is no hurry, and in a short period of time, we must first establish mutual trust and tacit understanding.

Katherine Kennedy stood up, looked at Donn with a smile, and held out her right hand, "So...... From now on, you're my boss?"

Don En laughed, stretched out his hands very enthusiastically, and shook hands with her, "I wish us a happy cooperation!"