The Antitrust Act does not allow film companies to have their own cinemas, and this restriction does play a role. But the bill does not prohibit media groups from owning cinemas.

In other words, as long as a media group is formed and the film company is included in it, the antitrust law will be useless. Cinemas and film companies can belong to the same media group, and the connection between the parties is naturally very close.

Among the seven major Hollywood film companies, except for Disney, the media groups behind them all have their own theater chains. At the same time, it has a huge influence on the three major theater chains. After all, the cinema chain is just the terminal, and they need Hollywood studios to continue to provide high-quality movies in order to continue to survive. If there is no movie, the ghost will go to the cinema.

After feeling the tangible threat posed by Zhang Fan, they began to gradually unite to suppress Zhang Fan together. It's like DreamWorks and many other film companies that are good enough to challenge the status of several giants.

The tried and tested method they use is theatrical suppression, after all, this is the lifeblood of film companies. It's just that it's a little troublesome to deal with Zhang Fan this time, because Disney had used this trick before, but it was cracked by Zhang Fan using a temporary theater line.

However, this time it is a little different, because this time it is a joint effort of several giant companies, and its influence is far from being comparable to Disney's single move. And several giants put pressure on the three major cinema chains, forcing them to choose to give up the contract when they had already negotiated with Zhang Fan, even if they had to compensate Zhang Fan a large sum of money for this.

Zhang Fan is just one film company by himself, no matter how good the development is, it is just one. It is impossible for a movie theater to release only a few movies a year, and even if each one is a big hit, it cannot afford to support a movie theater. They need a huge amount of film resources to fill an entire year.

Therefore, when several giant companies decided to tear their faces with Zhang Fan. There can only be one choice in front of the three major cinema chains, that is, and choose a few giant companies.

After all, one company makes several films a year, while the other side makes hundreds of films a year. For cinemas, there is no choice at all.

"The three major cinema chains have paid the liquidated damages. Eddie, who looked ugly, stood in front of Zhang Fan and reported the latest developments in the relevant situation.

"We're not short of that money. Zhang Fan shook his head and casually put the document aside, "Do you have any response plan?"

"The three major cinema chains have a very important influence, and even if we set up a temporary cinema chain again, they will be forcibly suppressed. "Eddie is a person who has been in Hollywood for many years, and he sees many things very clearly" because these Hollywood film companies can put pressure on the three major theater chains, and they can also put pressure on other small and medium-sized theater chains. ”

Once the Hollywood giants are really serious, those small and medium-sized theaters have no choice. Because it is even more difficult for them to resist the pressure of several giant companies than the three major theater chains. Without Zhang Fan's big-selling movie, the income may be reduced, but it will not starve to death. But if it weren't for the multiple films of the big companies, they would have gone out of business.

"I'm asking you what your plan of action is. Zhang Fan knocked on the table, "I know all these truths." ”

"I think there is a desire to break this environment. There are only two options. Eddie took a deep breath and said his thoughts, "The first one is to surrender to them, and all future film releases will be handed over to them." If that's the case, this time the matter will be calmed down in an instant, and the Avengers will even be able to get unprecedented movie screen support. ”

"Say the second. Zhang Fan never thought about surrendering, and if he wanted to surrender, there was no need to continue in this industry. It's good to take the money that you can't spend in your lifetime to live a chic life.

"The second is that we bought a strong cinema chain ourselves. Eddie looked at Zhang Fan with a serious expression, "As long as we can have a powerful cinema chain in hand, then they will no longer be able to threaten us with a cinema chain." After all, all they have is influence, and it is impossible to really sever the cooperative relationship with all theaters. As long as we show that we have the ability to protect ourselves, it will relieve all the concerns of the theater chain. ”

Film companies and cinema chains are complementary industries. There is no way for any one to survive without the other. These studios in Hollywood can only threaten and cannot really cut off the supply of films. Because that's the result of both sides dying together.

It's just a threat and a gesture. But once Zhang Fan has a strong cinema chain in hand and can release his own movies, then the fundamental reason why Hollywood studios threaten the cinema chain is gone. Since there is no foundation for everything, it is natural for other theaters to cooperate with Zhang Fan.

Hollywood studios can't stop other theaters from making money with something they are destined to do, which is completely out of the rules. After all, every company has its own way of survival, and it is okay to help, but if it hinders the way of survival, it is absolutely not.

"Buy a theater?" Zhang Fan raised his hand and rubbed his chin, not directly refusing as Eddie imagined, but thinking carefully.

As the head of the film company, Eddie is naturally very clear about the operation of the film company. This film company makes a lot of money, and it is enough to buy a theater after deducting the necessary expenses. However, it may need to be supported by bank loans. What he worries about is whether Zhang Fan will be reluctant to spend billions of dollars to expand his film career. After all, this money is a huge amount of wealth for most people to enjoy for a lifetime.

The cinema chain seems to be very important, and the operating income seems to be quite a lot. But in fact, the money is not much.

The expenses of the cinema chain are very huge, except for the mess of labor taxes, utilities, gas and property fees. They also have to bear huge expenses such as infrastructure maintenance and renewal of the theater chain.

And although most of the theater's revenue has shifted from the box office to selling soda popcorn, if there is no attractive enough movie to be released, there will be no audience at all. Without an audience, who can they sell soda and popcorn to? This is why they have been under pressure from several giant film companies to cooperate with Zhang Fan before. Because the movies produced by Zhang Fan are attractive enough to attract a large number of audience traffic.

Basically, most of the theater chains can't make enough profits, and there are even those who lose money and owe debts. If Zhang Fan really buys a large-scale cinema chain, he will even have to post a lot of money every year to support it. Eddie was worried about whether Zhang Fan would have this kind of determination and courage.

However, Zhang Fan's answer made him instantly relieved, "I know, then buy the theater chain." ”

Zhang Fan had previously acquired a cinema chain in the name of SC Company, but it was only a small cinema chain that only existed in California, and it had little influence on the overall trend.

And this time, Zhang Fan is going to come to a big one, starting directly from the three major theaters!

For the acquisition of companies, Zhang Fan himself does not have too professional skills. So he went to real professionals to do it.

"Zhang, I heard about you. It's so enviable. The person Zhang Fan is looking for is David Lawrence, a senior partner at Goldman Sachs, a professional in the true sense of the word.

"It's just luck. After Zhang Fan sat down, he nodded with a smile: "Good luck." ”

"Luck is also a form of strength. "David gave Zhang Fan whiskey" and it is the most powerful strength, stronger than anything else. ”

After a few simple greetings, Zhang Fan turned the topic to business: "David, I came to you this time to entrust you Goldman Sachs with one thing." ”

"Speak. David Lawrence, who knew the end of the greetings, looked equally serious, with Zhang Fan's net worth at this time, what he entrusted would definitely not be a small business.

"I heard that once Goldman Sachs takes over the commission, no matter how difficult it is, it will do it?" Zhang Fan did not directly say about the acquisition of the theater chain, but asked about Goldman Sachs' reputation.

"Yes. David Lawrence nodded vigorously, "Goldman Sachs' official order has never failed." This is our credibility. ”

"Good. Zhang Fan laughed: "Then I will officially submit the commission to Goldman Sachs now." Entrusted Goldman Sachs to acquire AMC Cinemas on its behalf. ”

"AMC Cinemas?" said David Lawrence, lowering his gaze and quickly searching his mind for information.

AMC Cinemas is the world's second-largest cinema chain with a portfolio of 346 cinemas and more than 5,000 screens. Among them, there are 120 IMAX screens, and 2,200 screens for 3D movies. This company is the world's largest operating company for IMAX and 3D screens.

The cinema company's theaters are mainly concentrated in the center of large cities in North America, and most of them are in prime locations. They own 23 of the top 50 highest-grossing companies in North America. The number of moviegoers is close to 200 million, and the number of employees exceeds 20,000.

After receiving this information, David Lawrence quickly contacted his assistants to inquire about the relevant details. Soon, much of the information that was considered absolutely confidential by large conglomerates was brought into the hands of David Lawrence.

While David Lawrence was doing all this, Zhang Fan had been sitting quietly on the sofa next to him drinking whiskey. Since he believes in these professionals, he doesn't need to be too involved, he just needs to control the main direction. Someone else is naturally going to do it.

If he goes to talk to AMC himself, let's not say if he can have a chance to buy it. The long negotiation and bargaining time alone was enough to drag on until after the Avengers release, when the daylilies were cold.

Zhang Fan, who has enough financial support in his hand, doesn't want to dwell too much on this. So he gave everything to Goldman Sachs, which never failed!

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