"Denden!!" there was a knock on the door to the presidential suite, and Sid nodded to the assistant, who immediately got up and opened the door, and Sid stood up and looked at the door. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

I saw a tall, gray-haired, middle-aged man walk in first, followed by several entourages, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Stringer." Sid smiled and took the initiative to greet the middle-aged man.

"I'm glad to meet you, Mr. Leon, please call me Howard. Howard Stringer, a middle-aged man, said with a kind smile.

"Then please call me Sid, too. Sid said with a smile.

It was none other than Howard Stringer, the chairman of Sony Group North America at the time.

After the two sides sat down, Howard Stringer secretly looked at Sid opposite, but under the young excessive face, there was a calm bearing that did not match his age. It seems that as a business competitor, it seems to be qualified. Howard Stringer thought to himself.

And Sid was actually watching him, too.

Howard Stringer is the first non-RB chairman in the history of Sony Group amp; amp; amp; CEOs are also noteworthy figures in the history of world business. But unfortunately, during the years when he served as chairman of Sony, Sony's situation not only did not improve, but also deteriorated.

So after a dismal few years of business, Howard Stringer finally stepped down. Although in hindsight, the media and business circles unanimously believe that he is just a middle-of-the-road man with great ambitions and talents.

But before joining Sony, Howard Stringer spent 30 years at CBS and rose through the ranks to become chairman of CBS Network. He has also won nine Emmy Awards for individual awards, and he co-produced the CBS Evening News, which was also the highest-rated news program in the United States.

Not only that, after Howard Stringer became the owner of Sony North America, he also changed the situation of Columbia Pictures at the bottom of the seven, and focused on developing the popular "Spider-Man" series, which developed a gold medal movie series worth more than $3 billion for Sony Pictures in one fell swoop.

It can be seen that he does have his strengths in the development of entertainment content. But let such a person go to serve as the chairman of Sony's headquarters, it belongs to Huaibei, the orange species of Huainan.

Being able to play software does not mean that you can play with hardware. If the major is not right, no matter how high the record is, it is useless.

Although he thought so in his heart, Sid still had a warm smile on his face: "So, Howard (Stringer), what do you think of my proposal?"

"So, why would you want to work with us on the Harry Potter films?" asked Howard Stringer quietly.

Yes, that's the most important part of Sid and J.K. Rowling's plan.

As a company with almost zero overseas publicity and distribution capacity, and everything is still in its infancy, if it wants to fully develop the market value of a global masterpiece like "Harry Potter", it must find a large company to cooperate in publicity and distribution.

And looking at the seven major studios: Warner has a feud, MGM is getting worse and worse, it is difficult to protect itself, Disney (chairman Michael Eisner and the Disney family) civil strife has just started, Paramount, Fox, and Universal are too strong, no matter who they find, they will inevitably be eaten to the bone.

The only thing that is possible to reach equal cooperation is Sony Columbia Pictures, which is very strong and in urgent need of excellent works to boost its performance.

Why would Fire Lion have a chance to play on an equal footing with a behemoth like Sony Pictures?

Because Sony Pictures at this time was in an unprecedented period of weakness.

Before Howard Stringer took over Sony North America, Columbia Pictures was chaired by two of Hollywood's most rare wonders – Peter Cooper and Jon Peters.

At that time, in order to fulfill the Hollywood dream of Sony founder Akio Morita, Sony spent a lot of money to hire these two guys to serve as the chairman of Columbia.

If you really want to say, Peter Cooper's resume is definitely glamorous enough, at that time, the box office was second only to "Jaws" "Batman", Spielberg's "The Color Purple", and "Rainman" starring Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman, which won the Oscar.

But from the time they entered Columbia Pictures, Peter Cooper and Jon Peters became extremely good franchises. They seized on the arrogance of the RB people in the late '80s, because of their unprecedented economic power, and as soon as they took office, they released several expensive films with high investment costs, which cost at least 40% more than Hollywood companies in the same period.

Although there are times when the box office is profitable, there are more films with bad box office reputation, which unwittingly dismantles the original solid foundation of Columbia Pictures and even drags down the overall strength of Sony's North American division.

After entering Columbia Pictures, Peter Cooper didn't care about the quality of the film, nor did he care about the market prospects, only whether he could make a big enough impact to show off to the comics at RB headquarters. And then use this as a basis to grab more benefits for yourself. During this period, Spielberg's rare big bad movie "Captain Hook" was a product of his operation.

In addition to this, Peter Cooper also gave himself a sky-high annual salary, private jets, luxurious offices, and other amazing extravaganza. Although Colombia's status in Hollywood was declining in those years, Peter Cooper's personal pocket was rich.

When he finally left with a huge retirement payment, he left Sony Columbia with a paper loss of $2.7 billion, which was $2.7 billion in the mid-90s! You must know that 10 years later, when MGM and Universal were bought and sold, the price was only $4 or 5 billion.

It can be said that Sony did not directly liquidate Colombia later, which is already a good mentality.

"Because I think we can talk about cooperation on an equal footing. Sid said without hesitation.

"Cooperation?" Howard Stringer furrowed, "You want to use our Columbia Pictures distribution channels, right?"

Although Peter Cooper has caused indelible damage to Sony, Columbia Pictures still has the largest distribution channels among the seven major studios, especially in South America and Asia, and is second to none in Hollywood.

This is also why once "Spider-Man" exploded, it immediately brought a lot of profits to Sony. MGM, with its outdated management and weak international distribution channels, could not have achieved such a turnaround.

"Yes, all we need is overseas publicity channels. Sid chuckled unabashedly.

"What makes you think I'm going to agree to such a thing!?" Howard Stringer asked, seemingly irritated by Sid's unceremonious attitude, raising his voice.

Sid smiled unmoved, turned around and took out a thin document from behind him, "This is the current sales of Harry Potter novels in the UK and European markets. ”

Howard Stringer silently took a look at it, and his brows were raised in surprise, and the average sales rate of more than 30,000 copies per month was far faster than the average children's novel. You must know that the market for children's novels is no different from the ordinary novel genre, which belongs to the genre that does not follow the explosive stream, but takes the long line.

The average children's novel can sell thousands of copies a month, which is already a very good sales, and "Harry Potter" seems to be an inconspicuous achievement, but it actually contains huge market potential. Howard Stringer, who spent 30 years at CBS, certainly understands this.

"Just because the original novel sells well doesn't mean that the movie adaptation will sell well. Howard Stringer said quietly.

"Hehe, this kind of deception to laymen, don't use it to waste everyone's time. Sid chuckled and said, not at all scruples because the opposite is the chairman of Sony North America, who is a high-ranking and powerful in the industry, "Or does Mr. Stringer think that the movie versions of "The Da Vinci Code" and "The Lord of the Rings" will not have box office guarantees?"

Howard Stringer looked at Sid unmoved, as a 30-year-old fritter in the shopping mall, he certainly would not affect his judgment of the negotiation for personal reasons. He was just thinking in his heart, Sid's unceremonious attitude, was it the youthful vigor of the teenager's fame, or was it a disguise?

If it is the former, he will be happy, but if it is the latter, then he should be more careful, after all, he doesn't want to capsize in the gutter, if he suffers a loss in the hands of a junior, it will be worth the loss.

"Fire Lion Pictures is still just a small company that produces and distributes a DV movie. I don't think this kind of resume can support the production ability of a summer blockbuster. "Howard Stringer is worthy of being an old man, and he pointed out the weakness of the fire lion at a glance.

Although Sid and Fire Lion are now in the limelight because of "Ghost Shadow", this has also become their biggest shortcoming, and they have no experience in producing and distributing regular film films, so they cannot prove their production ability, let alone "Harry Potter", an A-level blockbuster with an investment of hundreds of millions of dollars.

"So I didn't ask for specific cooperation now, but we could reach a letter of intent for cooperation first. There are no specific terms of cooperation, only a general framework for cooperation. Sid said confidently.

"Nothing compulsory?" Howard Stringer asked, his eyes twinkling.

"Of course. Sid nodded.

Howard Stringer thought for a moment, then agreed. After all, with a letter of intent without any restrictions, leave yourself a possible business partner. This kind of business will only be rejected by a fool.

"Other conditions can be said later, but the review time must be set first. After obtaining Howard Stringer's consent, Sid was secretly relieved and put forward the most basic conditions of intent.