On box office websites such as box, the top ten global box office movies released in 2002 are "Lord of the Rings 2: Two Towers", produced by New Line, with a proud result of 925 million US dollars, the second is Warner Bros.'s 878 million "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets", and the third is Sony/Columbia's "Spider-Man" with 821 million, which are the three movies with a global box office of more than 800 million in 02.

The fifth is Fox/Lucas's 649 million "Star Wars Prequel 2", the eighth is Sony/Colombia's 401 million "Men in Black 2", the ninth MGM 400 million "Die Another Day", and the tenth is IFC Films' 368 million "My Grand Greek Wedding".

The 4th, 6th, and 7th spots were all taken by the same independent film company, and Fortune described it as a "rapidly expansive" flame movie.

With the Golden Globes down and Oscar nominations announced, "District 9" once again appeared in less than 100 theaters in North America, scraping some missed box office; at the beginning of the year, it also landed on the big screen in Chinese mainland.

Although on the Internet, the clear and unclear piracy of "District 9" is not a new thing, and you can pick 5 pieces at the street vendors, as well as a series of promotional CDs such as "Buy "District 9" and get "Juno", "Hangover" + "Ghost Shadow", make you scream!", and even those who disrupt the market order directly copied a "Wang Yang Movie Collection", which is also 5 pieces.

However, under the eye-catching popularity of "Chinese Magical Director", "The World Says Good", "Special Effects Blockbuster" and Wang Yang's own high popularity, "District 9", which was cut by the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television and some bloody scenes that "do not affect the viewing experience", received 10 million US dollars in Chinese mainland. "Spider-Man" is 4.983 million, and "Hero" directed by Zhang Yimou is 30 million.

So the North American box office of "District 9" has now risen to 330 million, and the global box office is 765 million, ranking fourth in the overall list in 02. In January, on Movie Weekly's annual list of the top 10 films, it commented: "Many people will hate Magic Yang, and it will inevitably become a science fiction model that will be used as both business and art for the next ten or twenty years, for a long time, and it is that kind of movie." ”

The top 10 films of the year are a must-have list for many magazines, including Entertainment Weekly, Empire, Vanity Fair, Time and many others, as well as the top 10 by well-known film critics in various newspapers, such as Roger Albert of the Chicago Sun, all of which feature "District 9."

The North American box office is 320 million, and the global 617 million "The Hangover" ranks sixth on the overall list, which is the highest-grossing comedy in 02 and the highest-grossing R-rated comedy in history, and the global 476 million "Ice Age" ranks seventh, and it is the highest-grossing CG cartoon in 02.

"The box office miracle of "District 9" is due to creative new viral marketing, whether it is a viral website, a viral event, or a viral poster, a three-dimensional poster, it has become a new trend in the film industry, "Superman Returns" has opened a viral website, "Hulk" has opened a viral website...... The novelty of this among movie fans is declining dramatically. - Los Angeles Times.

"In 2002, Hollywood smelled two gold mines, the huge success of "Spider-Man" made many film companies re-focus on superheroes, and the era of CGI special effects production is coming, and in the face of "My Grand Greek Wedding" 5 million cost, 368 million global box office, "The Hangover" 25 million cost, 617 million global box office, many independent companies see hope, large companies see ways to reduce investment risks, scheduled to be released on a large scale in 03 R-rated comedies, there are already 6. —Empire Magazine.

In the list of the top ten box office movies in 02, major studios and independent companies accounted for 5 respectively, of which 3 of the latter were from Flame Films, and in the total North American box office of 9.25 billion from January 1 to December 31, Sony/Columbia topped the list with 1.407 billion and 15.2% market share, Disney's distribution brand "Bowei" accounted for 12%, Warner Bros. 10.7%, Universal 8.5%, and Flame Films ranked fifth with a total of 810 million and 8.7% market share.

After 8.5% of Fox, it is another independent film company, with 10 films released by New Line with a total of 771 million box office, ranking seventh with 8.3%, followed by Paramount, which released 19 films with 7.4%, then ninth with independent companies, with 7 films to take 5.1% of DreamWorks, and in tenth place, MGM, which released 19 films with a 4% share.

If you only look at the 02 side, Flame Films is already the leader of all independent film companies, in fact, there may be a lot of shortcomings, but there is no doubt that it is growing rapidly, and it is growing rapidly...... In the beautiful scenery of Santa Monica, in the bright conference room of the Flame Headquarters, a board meeting is underway, and the conference table is full of company executives in suits and leather shoes, and Wang Yang, who is dressed in a black suit, sits in the chairman's position, and he is not surprised when he looks at the financial statements and these figures.

The Flame Group currently consists of 5 main parts, FF Company, FM Company, Flame Home Entertainment, Blue Sky Studio, and Image Engine. Blue Sky Studio and the image engine return is not much profit, after all, the input costs are almost all the salaries of special effects artists and animators, and at the same time, the I&B department has to develop new technologies, and the parent company has to invest money in it, which is why many companies cannot afford to support animation companies and special effects companies.

The group's main business is still the film market, FF production has the high cost of high-quality confidence, FM small and medium-sized cost, home entertainment is responsible for the TV business, and the business policy is divided into two parts, "film in theaters" and "home video disc market", the former has box office, various later peripheral income, the latter relies on leasing, copyright tax, TV on demand and other small markets, that is, the "film and television library" plan.

"Sweetheart" 170 million global box office, "Ice Age", "District 9", "The Hangover" ...... "Mr. Hughes" 160 million...... DVDs, Original Soundtracks, Copyrights...... 175 million yuan was allocated to Blue Sky to produce "Ice Age 2" and "Kung Fu Panda", 30 million production costs for 22 episodes of "Prison Break", 60 million production costs for "Berserk", 50 million production costs for "The Hangover 2", and 25 million production costs for "mit-21-team", ...... "Mmmm......mm" Wang Yang looked at the income and expenditure of each item, the company naturally had to pay taxes and administrative expenses, and at the beginning of the year, shareholders paid dividends, and now the liquid cash in the company's account is more than 384.5 million, while his personal account has more than 301 million. Previously, he invested 100 million yuan to set up a charitable fund, which was managed by a special person, and there was no specific target for help, but mainly for out-of-school children around the world, and sudden disasters.

And the Flame Group obviously has more than just the 384.5 million in cash, the 100 million worth of studios, all the assets and businesses of its subsidiaries, and the movies in production...... The whole group is worth about 1 billion, and it has no debt, no listing.

However, today's meeting is not a financial reporting meeting, otherwise Wang Yang would not have "specially" run back from Las Vegas. Previously, after half a month of filming, the crew had ended their work in Boston and moved to Las Vegas, a casino city, and after nearly a week of filming, the time also stepped into March. Wang Yang came back this time because the company had a big deal and the acquisition was negotiated, just waiting for him to make a final decision.

It's not about buying women's website iVillage, which is still in negotiations, and the target is Craftsman Films, $160 million.

"As long as we nod yes, we can get a library of more than 6,000 films from Artisan Company. Mark Slant sat on the left, a flash of excitement flashed across his face, he looked at his smiling colleagues and Wang Yang, and said with an accent: "6,000 units! plus our own 2,500 films, 8,500 units! Warner Bros. only has 1,400 films, and 4,000 copies worldwide ......."

In the past few years, Flame Films has always adhered to the film and television library plan, buying film rights everywhere in the world, naturally there are also Chinese-language films from Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan, and the overseas copyright of "Infernal Affairs", which was called the "rescue work" last year, belongs to Flame, including its adaptation rights.

"With these 6,000 films, it is expected that the 'home disc market' will generate 200 million to 300 million cash per year in the future. Mark Slunt paused, his eyes full of accomplishment, and smiled: "This money is enough for all the daily operations of the company." ”

6,000 movies are like the big mushroom in "Super Mario" and the fruit in "Pac-Man", and after eating it, the film and television library plan will quickly get on the right track...... Wang Yang looked at the hand-Chinese "Artisan Movie", and the situation of 5 years ago vaguely appeared in front of him, when he took a deep breath and walked into the door of the Artisan proudly, Nicole Wievol, Stephen Thomas, ...... "Buy it." Wang Yang nodded, glanced at everyone, and said, "Buy it." ”

Although this was expected, otherwise the chairman would not have agreed to start this acquisition plan, but there was still excited applause in the conference room, everyone laughed and cheered, and Mark Slunt who proposed the plan was especially happy, he laughed and said: "This is crazy! Our company's development has been fast for 5 years!" Wang Yang smiled and raised his hands and shouted: "The rocket has been lifted off, everyone hold on, let's-go!"

After the contract is signed, the 160 million acquisition money can be transferred immediately to complete the acquisition; and the remaining 224.5 million in the flame film account is enough to make a good release plan for this year, and the independently operated FM company will release 4 films on a large scale this year, including the eye-catching "Chainsaw" at the Sundance Film Festival at the beginning of the year, which will be released in April; FF is currently confirmed to release three films, "MIT-21-team" at the end of July in the summer vacation, "Dance Out of My Life" in the weak season in October, "The Devil Wears Prada" at Christmas.

During this time, Lauren Weisberg, the author of "The Devil Wears Prada", has reached an agreement with Flame to sell the adaptation rights, and the Flame Film immediately started preparations for production, and it was announced for the first time that the heroine Andrea will be played by Jessica Alba, and now there are rumors in the media that Miraculous Young is going to adapt and direct it himself, but the Flame official has not responded for the time being.

This is also a means of marketing, first let the market guess, let the fans be curious and interested, and then announce with certainty that this 99% sure thing will get more attention than if everything was made clear at the beginning.

After the meeting, the executives left the conference room with a smile, and Wang Yang walked to the chairman's office and said to Mark Slunt next to him: "Mark, I'm going to start a music record company first, you know a TV station, how do you need some music, music v, or something." It is also possible to cooperate with the original CD business of the flame movie. He smiled and said, "Robert Downey Jr. is very good at singing, I told him to give him a disc." ”

Mark Slunt knows what he means is that he founded it himself, and it has nothing to do with Flame Finance, and a music record company is really rare for a person worth more than 1 billion, many film and television stars, sports stars have their own record companies and their own singers, but they just have to cooperate with big companies in distribution. So there is nothing to persuade or suggest, Mark said with a smile: "Young, you can release the album yourself, you sing very well, and the sales must be good!"

"I go out of tune to sing, it seems interesting?" Wang Yang looked interested, and then waved his hand again, and said, "Forget it now, I'm so busy that my ass is rotten." ”

"My boss, to be honest, I wish you were making 12 movies a year. Mark Slant had a look of covetousness on his face and said with a smile: "One per month, then you don't have to think about it." After the initial completion of the film and television library plan, we can think about increasing production. ”

Wang Yang listened and thought deeply, and increased production means that the snowball rolls faster, and it also means that the risk increases, and it will start to borrow money. "Anyway, I don't agree to borrow money to increase production when you're financially healthy," he pondered. We're going fast now, and the most important thing is to be able to stand firm and not go back or fall down. ”

"I didn't say borrowing money to make movies, the interest rate is too high now, and the rate of return is difficult to guarantee. Mark Slunt shrugged. DreamWorks has always relied on a lot of financing to make movies, making and losing, but it has accumulated more and more debt, and with a little information in his head, it will eventually be bought by Paramount. Proper financing can accelerate the pace, but over-reliance will only dig its own grave.

Mark seemed to think of this as well, and continued: "But borrowing money allows us to continue to merge and accelerate the expansion of the film and television library, and this project is not very risky." ”

"Let's talk about it, one foot at a time. We don't have any artisans right now. Wang Yang turned his head to look at the CEO, the company has developed rapidly in the past two years, which is related to the big movie sales and the company's senior management to do a good job, he smiled and said the plan that he had thought of a long time ago: "Mark, by the end of this year, I am going to adjust the company's equity once, and everyone will be rewarded." ”

"Oh...... Big surprise!" Mark Slunt glared and smiled, no one doesn't like rewards, it's full of momentum! He exclaimed excitedly, "It looks like this year's Christmas is full of surprises!"

Wang Yang patted him on the shoulder vigorously and said with a smile: "This is not a Christmas gift. By the way, you really think I sing very well?......"

Within two days, a new piece of business news came out in the film industry, Flame Films completed the acquisition of Artisan Films for $160 million! Just like the original A-Pix, this is a complete acquisition, and Flame gets everything that Artisan has, even a broken chair in the company's headquarters.

The Flame Film announced that it would cut and reorganize the employees of the original craftsman company and transfer them to the business work of the flame; in addition, the films of the original craftsman will no longer use the "craftsman" brand in the future, and will be uniformly changed to "flame".

This is not a salvage capital injection restructuring, but an asset annexation. Many commercial media are very puzzled, it is worthless to inject capital into a broken company, so what can be done by annexing it? Naturally, there is no explanation for the flame movie, which is a trade secret, and it will only be revealed when the market is stable; now countless competitors are speculating about the idea of the flame movie and the magic Yang.

In fact, according to the inference, it is easy to get the answer, the flame is definitely not for those office chairs, they are interested in the rights of those more than 6,000 movies. But there is a reality, those are basically "garbage movies"! The highest-grossing movie of Artisan Company is the CG animation "The Adventure of Vegetable Baby" released in October 02, with a production cost of 14 million but only 25 million global box office.

Flame movies are not satisfied with "Ice Age"? Is it just to look good in numbers by buying these more than 6,000 movies that have no market at all?

In any case, the new acquisition of Flame Films has once again shown the media public that it has no end in its pace and ambition, and that they have every reason to believe that this will be another successful acquisition by Flame based on past experience, and they have every reason to believe that a new kingdom of independent cinema is on the rise.

(To be continued)