White Plains, New York, Blue Sky Studios is located in this small city northeast of Manhattan, the headquarters of Blue Sky, the animators are working in front of the computer as usual, talking and laughing from time to time, and they are now working on a commercial animation project, although the total length of this commercial animation is only about 3 minutes, but they have been busy with it for several weeks.

The production of animation is very difficult and tedious, it can be said that it is very boring, each animator, generally can only complete 4 to 5 seconds of animation every week, before the modeler has to model, and then also to do rendering, special effects and so on. These tasks are consuming the patience of the producer, and if they are not well adjusted, they will not only affect the efficiency, but also be more likely to be depressed.

Therefore, Blue Sky is like Pixar, and the headquarters has video game rooms, gyms and other entertainment facilities to relax employees' minds.

"Hey, is there a result?" Phil, who was sweating at the gym, returned to his desk, he looked at his colleague Austin next to him and asked, Austin shrugged his shoulders and stared at the computer screen motionlessly, Phil muttered, "I really don't want to do this damn commercial, I'm going to make a movie." But at the end of the day, he sat down and continued to complete his weekly five-second task.

Phil was referring to the takeover of Blue Sky Studios, which had been going on for a long time, and in the last two weeks, the meeting room had been frequented by the Flame Films acquisition team and their boss Wonder Young, and before that by 20th Century Fox. In fact, everyone has long been accustomed to it, and their biggest wish as employees now is to settle the dust as soon as possible, the company will not lay off employees, and then start making movies.

On both sides of the conference round table in the conference room, there are the negotiation teams of Blue Sky and Flame, and on the blue sky side, sits the founder and CEO Chris Wackey, a 42-year-old middle-aged white man, who has single-handedly founded Blue Sky from Disney's animation programming, and is the technical core and soul of the company, technical director Mike Elingkis, animation director Carlos Shaldanha, technical elite Carl Ludschvi, Tom Bissoglu and other partners.

On the side of the Flame Company, Mark Snaunt, lawyers, appraisers and others, as well as Wang Yang in a gray trench coat.

After two weeks and several revisions to the acquisition plan, the negotiations have come to the decision stage, and now Carl Ludschevie and others have basically agreed, only Chris Vecchi, Mike Ellingkis, Carlos Shaldanha still have concerns, especially Chris Wecki.

"Chris, you don't have to worry so much. Mark Slunt spread his hands and said confidently: "You know, our flame movies are thriving, and the profits brought by "Youth Musical" continue to increase, and "Youth Musical" 2, the popularity of the previous work and its cost, how much do you think is the possibility ......of loss? and "When Happiness Knocks on the Door", he glanced at Wang Yang, Wang Yang smiled and said: "Oh, I don't think it will lose money." ”

Everyone in the conference room smiled, and Mark Slant showed his body language and said, "Moreover, the money we acquired is a lump sum." If the money is put into the blue sky account, it will not be transferred out again, you are an independent subsidiary! What else is there to worry about?"

"Hmm......" Chris Weckey frowned slightly, and wanted to say "okay" several times, but swallowed it back, the purchase price of 90 million was very high, and it was even more satisfying that none of the original employees were laid off. It's not that he's worried about the collapse of Flame Films, it's just that technically, he's more inclined to Fox, even though Fox's purchase price is 65 million. He looked at Mike Ellingkis, who silently gave him a "agree" look.

"Ladies and gentlemen, I have decided to raise the purchase price to 100 million. Wang Yang said seriously, for a while, Chris Weckey and the others on the other side were stunned, Mark Slunt pretended to look at Wang Yang with doubts, Wang Yang nodded, and reiterated: "One hundred million." In fact, 100 million was originally the purchase price he originally expected, and now that he says it at this time, he may be able to make a final decision. He smiled and said, "Chris, you have to believe in my sincerity. I love moths, you can tell from the logo of the fire movie, so I really like "Bunny Bonny", especially the final shot, wow! The opening animation of our fire movie has a very similar shot, Mark, did we make that animation with blue sky?"

Mark Slunt shrugged, "No, it's just an animation company in Los Angeles that isn't well-known." Wang Yang muttered softly: "I knew I was looking for the blue sky." ”

Chris Weckey and the others all laughed, they were all faintly excited in their hearts, although the difference between 100 million and 90 million was only 10 million, the psychological senses brought by the two were completely different. They also fully feel the sincerity of Flame Films, and in the acquisition, a large part of the sincerity is the price.

"I knew that Blue Sky Studios needed to advance in technology. Wang Yang's expression became serious, he looked at Chris Weckey opposite, and said: "Chris, 85 million of the purchase money, 65 million will be used to make "Ice Age", 20 million research and development technology, you can improve the CGI-studio and goblin system to your heart's content...... You can do whatever you like. ”

CGI-Studio is Blue Sky Studio's proprietary rendering system, just like Pixar's Renderman, which is one of the most valuable things in the company, and the leprechaun system can make complex models become like images on cards, combined with multiple light sources, translucent objects and surrounding shadows, in addition to hair formation systems, water wave generation systems, and so on.

These are all things that Wang Yang figured out in Blue Sky Studio in the past two weeks, and there are too many technologies behind it to make an animated film. He doesn't understand the technical aspect, but he knows that if he spends money on technology development, it will be Blue Sky Studio, that is, himself, who will ultimately benefit. So he won't be stingy in this regard, and he doesn't want to be wordy anymore, as long as Blue Sky does a good job of the movie and makes excellent animations.

"I am absolutely a supporter of technology development, and now IT technology is different every day, and if you want to not be eliminated, you have to keep improving. Wang Yang smiled slightly, and said his plan with a serious face: "In addition, if the financial allows, I will continue to gradually inject funds into Blue Sky, and I hope that Blue Sky can develop in terms of movie special effects." ”

Hearing him say this, even though it was just a blank check, Chris Weckey and Mike Ellingeris could feel each other's eagerness to try it when they looked at each other. After two weeks of contact, they all know that this 19-year-old young man is not a little child, although he loves to joke and is a little arrogant, but in serious things, he is very calm and mature, and has a mind beyond his years. This is also a big reason why they have dispelled the fear of "will the flame movie go out of business soon".

Wang Yang said again: "But in addition to technology, I think the most important thing in a good animated film is the story and characters in the end. Seeing Mike Ellingeris nodding in agreement, Wang Yang continued: "Because it's a movie, what is the most important thing about a movie? I think if the audience looks at it, cries and laughs, and their emotions are completely affected by it, and they will think about it and experience it afterwards, then it is a good movie." Animated films are the same, the difference is only in the way of expression and the theme of expression, but if it wants to have vitality, it has to rely on the story and characters, and this is my understanding of animated films. ”

Animation director Carlos Shaldanha clapped his hands and smiled, "That's a good point! Mike Ellingkis also clapped his hands and praised: "Technology is to better express animated content, and content is always the first goal of animation." ”

When they say this, they actually say that they agree to the acquisition, and suddenly, everyone in the conference room quietly looks at Chris Waiki, who owns more than 60% of the company, the creator and director of "Ice Age", and if he doesn't nod, the acquisition can't be made.

Chris Weckey looked at his partners, and then at Wang Yang, he took a deep breath, made up his mind, and nodded: "Yang, we agreed!" After that, a wave of excitement welled up in his heart, and finally settled down, he could sleep peacefully.

Before he finished speaking, the conference room burst into thunderous applause, and everyone showed happy smiles. Mark Slunt smiled and took off his black-rimmed glasses, wiped his eyes a little tiredly, and followed the young boss to complete an acquisition, a big acquisition of 100 million yuan!

"Chris, happy cooperation!" Wang Yang is also very excited, as long as he signs the contract, he will own this excellent animation production company, in the future to produce excellent animation, interesting characters, they will become the children's bedside dolls, with them growing up, it is really happy! He stood up with a smile, stretched out his hand to leaning over, and said with a smile: "Flame and blue sky, it will be a beautiful marriage." ”

Everyone laughed, and Chris Weckey also stood up, shook hands with Wang Yang with a smile on his face, and said, "Yang, this marriage is very exciting. ”

The preliminary negotiation was completed, and the specific contract still needed to be drafted, and everyone walked out of the conference room with a smile and came to the office outside. Chris Weckey clapped his palms and shouted with a smile: "Guys, I'm going to announce something!" Phil, Austin and other employees all stood up, only to see Chris Weckey look at Wang Yang next to him and said with a smile: "Yes, you also know, we agreed to the acquisition of Flame Films." But it's a great start, because we got 100 million to use to make Ice Age!"

"Wow!" Phil shouted excitedly, "Oh my God, really?!, can we start making movies?" His voice was drowned in applause and cheers, and nearly a hundred employees in the office kept chanting and clapping, they all knew that Fire Movies promised no layoffs, and "Ice Age" would take at least 2 years.

"Yes, I'm going to make a movie soon!" Vaguely hearing that voice, Wang Yang responded with a smile, looking at the boiling office, this scene reminded him of the scene when he acquired A-PIX a year ago, and it was also so exciting and happy.

The next day, Flame Films and Blue Sky Studios completed the signing of the contract, and Flame Films injected $100 million and received 85% of Blue Sky's shares, Chris Waiki 10%, and other partners 5%. Subsequently, Flame Films announced this news to the outside world, and announced that Blue Sky Studios will begin production of the animation "Ice Age", which is expected to be released in the summer of 2002.

The media and the industry are shocked, they have always heard that Fox is buying Blue Sky, why did they suddenly succeed in the acquisition of Flame Films? But the reason why they were surprised was not this, but everyone knew what kind of goods Blue Sky Studios was, and even though it won the best short film at this year's Oscars, so what? They have been doing it for 8 years! And short films are different from feature films, short films are less than 10 minutes, and there are no lines; feature films are 90 minutes, they need good stories, Good character, Blue Sky Studios has zero experience, in terms of technology, it seems so rough, even the animal hair is not realistic, smooth and smooth, the eyes look like a black and white ball, there is no sense of agility and cuteness.

One thing to know is that "Ice Age" is said to be an animal movie. Didn't ice age animals grow hair? So what about mammoths?

Of course, no one would be surprised if it was a big company, like Fox, or Warner Bros. bought Blue Sky for 100 million, but now it's a fire movie that has been established less than a year ago, and it's Magic Young! That's right, that 19-year-old young man is the youngest billionaire, but his net worth will not exceed 200 million, the production cost of "Youth Musical" is 30 million, the budget announced by "When Happiness Knocks on the Door" is 40 million, and it is said that there will be a "Juno" next year, and now another 100 million will be smashed...... Is he really crazy?

The Wall Street Journal's comment: "There is no doubt that Blue Sky Studios is to be happy about, Chris Wacki is to be happy, they have been greatly helped. As for Miracle Yang's behavior, I thought about it for a long time, and I can only say that this young man's courage is very amazing! With such a drastic investment, is he taking a risky gamble, or is he really full of confidence? In any case, he is a crazy guy! He is a crazy man with a lot of money and rampage in the business world. ”

There is also a lot of discussion on the Internet, fans of Flame Movie and Wang Yang are very excited, like a big victory, and more people are sighing again and again, just like the editor of the entertainment section of the Yahoo forum: "Recently, the magic Yang has always been in front of us, to be honest, I am a little tired of seeing him in the entertainment version, but today he even occupies the commercial version, which is unforgivable! But what he did had to surprise and interest people, I agree with the evaluation of the Wall Street Journal, crazy." ”

20th Century Fox seems to be indifferent to the "knife snatching love" of the flame movie, and the company's spokesman James Finn said in an interview with the media: "This is indeed a very regrettable thing, we used to have high hopes for Blue Sky Studios, hoping to absorb its excellent talent and technology, but now everything is different." But we have an excellent animation department of our own, and Frozen Planet will be on the market next year......"

Chris Wackey, founder of Blue Sky Studios, said in an interview with the New York Times: "We chose Flame Movie because of its sincerity, sufficient funds, no layoffs, research and development technology, and better conditions? I don't agree with the outside world's evaluation of Amazing Young, he is a wonderful young man, he is not crazy, he did not spend 100 million yuan to buy a toy." He understands animated films, he understands Blue Sky Studios' philosophy, and I know that his acquisition was well thought out, and so do I agree, and it will be the right decision. ”

When he learned that Wang Yang "bought a toy with 100 million US dollars", his lovers and good friends were very surprised.

"Dude, you're so speechless...... Wow!" Joshua's voice was full of excitement, shouting: "100 million!?Oh my God, if it is exchanged for coins, it can cover the entire Hollywood Avenue, right?" Wang Yang felt speechless and said, "Why did you think of this?" Joshua also felt a little strange and smiled: "I don't know, I just thought of it." ”

Natalie Portman sent a text message "Congratulations on your successful acquisition, and don't forget the storyboard design of Juno. Seeing this text message on his phone, Wang Yang shrugged helplessly, it seems that Natalie has some dissatisfaction with his recent "crazy behavior".

"Can I do the voice acting for Ice Age? man, I've loved animation since I was a kid......" Zachary babbled as soon as he got on the call. When he was breathing, Wang Yang had a chance to say: "Zachary, when the time comes, I recommend you to Chris Wecki, but it's not me who decides." "The acquisition contract states that Flame Films will not interfere with and interfere with the production of "Ice Age", and Blue Sky Studios will have the greatest freedom.

Seeing Jessica's name displayed on the phone screen, Wang Yang walked to the balcony while connecting, and said, "Hey, Jessica, got it?"

"Jan, is that what you call a surprise?" Jessica's tone sounded incredulous. Wang Yang leaned on the railing, looked at the dark night sky, and said softly: "Yes, do you like it? The animation of Blue Sky Studio will accompany our child's growth and let her have a good childhood." Jessica sighed softly and said, "Young, I'm ......" She laughed and said, "I don't know how to say, you're a good father?"

"Yes!" Wang Yang also smiled, he frowned again and asked, "Jesse, what's wrong with you?" Jessica sighed and explained, "I have a cold, just a small cold." She was a little embarrassed and said, "Rachel was infected by me too." She said with a smile: "We all have to wear masks to film, and the director said that the face will be changed back with special effects in the later stage." ”

Although he was a little worried, Wang Yang was amused by her and said, "That's right, this is the best way to deal with slugs." ”

(To be continued)