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Bill Michanick took Howard Stringer to his office, and as soon as he sat down, Howard Stringer pulled out a document from the briefcase he was carrying: "Bill, you take a look at this first." ”

Bill Michanik took it, opened it, and the first thing that caught his eye was a photo of a giant beast with a dinosaur covered with armor on its back, and Bill Michanik blurted out without thinking: "Godzilla?"

"Yes, Godzilla," Howard Stringer nodded, took the coffee from Secretary Bill Michanik and put it aside, waved him away, and continued: "Mr. Idei contacted me yesterday and passed on these materials, and the Sony headquarters has begun to contact Toho and will soon get the authorization, and he hopes that we can bring this monster to the big screen with the most advanced CG special effects technology in Hollywood." ”

Since the appearance of the first "Godzilla" tokusatsu movie in 1954, the image of this monster born out of the nuclear fear of the Japanese people has spread all over the world and gathered a very high popularity. In addition to the more than 20 Godzilla movies produced by Toho himself, there are many comics, animations, and toy goods about Godzilla around the world, and the image of this monster has had a huge impact on many films involving giant beasts.

Bill Michanick understood that Sony's top management must have been stimulated by the box office explosion of "Jurassic Park 2" again, so he had the idea of making a CG special effects version of "Godzilla" on a whim. Since it is based on the Jurassic Park series, the budget size of this project will definitely not be less than 100 million US dollars, but if this project is launched, it will conflict with the development strategy he designed for Columbia.

He groaned for a moment. Bill Michanik asked, "Howard, what are Mr. Idei's plans for this project, you know, Colombia is not in a good situation right now?"

"I know you're worried, Bill," Howard Stringer smiled. "There is no problem with the budget, and Mr. Idei said that as long as we can get the project done, Sony is willing to bear a production budget of less than $150 million and will spend $50 million on distribution, because he wants the first part of the film to make a name for itself and then make a series like Toho." ”

Bill Michanik listened to Howard Stringer's words, but there was no joy in his heart.

If Sony threw $200 million at this project, then. In the future, the global box office must reach at least 500 million to ensure that the project breaks even. Although "Jurassic Park" had already pushed Hollywood's highest global box office record to $1 billion two years ago, Bill Michanick, who has been in Hollywood for 20 years, knows very well that even with the current expansion of the global box office market, it is definitely not easy to make a movie with a global box office of 500 million.

Last year's Hollywood film market was more brilliant than ever, but it was a whole year. There are only six films that have exceeded $500 million at the global box office. Bill Michanik could have imagined that this $200 million project would fail again. Sony's confidence in running the film business is likely to be devastated, and it may pull out of Hollywood, as Panasonic did. Every change of ownership of a big film company means management turmoil, and when the time comes, he, the CEO, will face an uncertain future.

After hesitating, Bill Michanik said, "Howard, I said it when I joined the company. If Sony wants to keep its film business going for the long term, it should focus on producing low- and medium-budget films in the coming years, and through this conservative business strategy, it will steadily repair Colombia's crumbling production and distribution system. At that time, both you and Mr. Idei agreed with my business philosophy. Why risk it now?"

Howard Stringer patiently explains: "Bill, Mr. Idei's exact words are that Sony wants Columbia to have a big movie franchise that is very iconic. ”

"Howard, I just think this kind of decision is stupid, they should know what it will mean if this project fails. And if the Japanese want to maintain decency, the two series "Men in Black" and "Jumanji" will be enough," Bill Michanik shook his head, and continued: "Howard, I think we should convince Mr. Idei to give up this idea, and even if we do, we should postpone it for two or three years until Colombia recovers." ”

Howard Stringer comes from a media background, and he also knew that Nobuyuki Idei appointed him CEO of Sony USA in the hope that he would revitalize Sony's entertainment business. Not only the top management of Sony's headquarters, but even Howard Stringer himself was greatly stimulated after seeing the box office data of "Jurassic Park 2" in full swing. Therefore, after the project of Godzilla was thrown out by Sony headquarters, Howard Stringer also felt that there was a lot to be done.

It's just that he didn't expect to come in high spirits, and before he could say a few words, he hit several soft nails in front of Bill Michanik in a row.

"Bill, we just need to do this project on our own in order to get out of Men in Black and Jumanji. As long as we have our own ace movie series, we will no longer be controlled by others. ”

Bill Michanick wanted to say something, but seeing Howard Stringer's serious expression, he realized that it was not appropriate to continue to hard top up with this direct boss, and his tone softened, "So, Howard, we can do this project, but I think it's better to postpone it for a year." We all know the situation in Colombia, because of Peter Cooper, Colombia's production and distribution business has been in a semi-stagnation since the second half of last year, and although it has improved in the past few months, it can be ...... for another year."

"Bill, this matter is a decision of the headquarters, there is no room for negotiation, all we have to do is to carry it out. Howard Stringer finally lost his patience and interrupted Bill Michanik, saying, "Also, I don't want us to continue to argue, the board will never allow Colombia to get out of control again, if you don't cooperate." I will report back to the Board of Directors on the situation as it really is. ”

Bill Michanik was surprised, he had been on the job since the end of April, and the two had gotten along so well that he even thought Howard Stringer was an easy-going person. But he didn't expect Howard Stringer to be so stubborn, and even threatened himself, and couldn't help but curse in his heart, Bill Michanik thought to himself that Sony had just kicked out two straw bales and hired a fool who didn't know anything about the film industry.

Howard Stringer was a former journalist and later served as president of CBS's news division. Although he is also in the media field, he has never been involved in the film industry from beginning to end. Hollywood's non-professional executives abound, but the current leaders of Hollywood's Big Seven, such as Jeffrey Katzenberg, Michael Eisner, and Shirley Lansing, including himself, have all climbed up from the bottom of Hollywood.

It is not for nothing that a layman commands an insider, just like Paramount, who was in a glamorous situation ten years ago, because Martin Davis, a layman shareholder, frequently interfered in the management of the company. This led to the rapid decline of the company and was eventually acquired by Viacom.

"Okay. Bill Michanik shrugged slightly, although he was very resistant, he didn't want to look for a second job so soon, since the project was decided by Sony headquarters, even if it failed. He doesn't have to take much responsibility for it, and if he can succeed, it will be better: "Howard, in that case, what are you going to do with it?"

Although Bill Michanik made compromises on the surface. But Howard Stringer could still feel the obvious negativity in him, thought about it, and said: "Well, Bill, I'll be in charge of this project personally, and the production will be handed over to Samsung Pictures, and you can continue to manage the company according to your own ideas, and cooperate if necessary." ”

Bill Michanick felt that Sony executives and Howard Stringer had obviously been stimulated by the box office success of "Jurassic Park 2", thinking that they could make a billion-dollar film casually.

He was thinking about how to get rid of this extremely risky project completely, so that in the future, the project would be successful, and the improvement of the overall strength of the company would also be of great benefit to his management of the company, if it failed, even if he faced the risk of losing his job, he at least did not have to carry this big stain when looking for the next job.

"Of course, it's great if you can do it yourself," said Bill Michanik, nodding without hesitation, smiling.

Seeing that Bill Michanik no longer resisted the plan and was briskly delegating power, Howard Stringer was very satisfied, but at the same time felt that the tone of what he had just spoken was a little heavy. He is indeed not a person with a tough personality, and what he said just now was actually repeated by Nobuyuki Idei in private, and the Sony board of directors really does not want to see an uncontrolled manager in Colombia again.

However, neither he nor the Sony executives realized that believing in the reins could cause the horse to lose control, but the reins were tightened too tightly, and the result was often strangled to death.

"So, Bill, who do you think is the best person in Hollywood to direct this film?" Howard Stringer asked softly, intending to lighten the mood.

"I think the first thing we should solve is the special effects," although he felt Howard Stringer's thoughts, Bill Michanik still made up his mind not to get involved in this matter, so he did not take the initiative to recommend the director, but said: " If you want to use CG technology to bring Godzilla to the big screen, Hollywood can only undertake the special effects of this project, only in the digital field, but after the incident at the beginning of the year, our relationship with Firefly is not very good now, although Firefly said that the digital field is operated alone, but no one dares to guarantee that Firefly will not deliberately set up obstacles for us. ”

"Aren't the special effects of Universal's 'Mummy' also done in the digital realm," Howard Stringer thought for a moment and said, "Michael Eisner and Eric Williams used to have a much worse relationship than Firefly and Columbia. ”

"I think it's mainly the reason why the heroine Nicole Kidman reconciles it," says Bill Mitnick, "She's Eric Williams' woman, and she's got a whopping $30 million from the first part of The Mummy, which is largely the price Universal paid for the success of The Mummy." ”

"If Godzilla succeeds, it's not that we can't afford it," Howard Stringer said after a moment's pause, "So, do you think we can use the same strategy as Universal?"

Bill Michanik shook his head and said: "I don't think so, Warner's "Fair Game" released at the end of May, the heroine Claudia Schiffer is also Eric Williams's woman, but this action film with a production cost of $50 million, the box office in the first week was less than $10 million, and last weekend under the impact of "Jurassic Park 2", the box office fell by 57% in three days over the weekend , only got $3 million, and there were originally evaluation agencies that predicted that the box office of the film could reach 30 million, but now it seems that it would be good to reach $25 million. ”

"I heard about it at a business reception the other day," said Howard Stringer, "It is said that during the preparation of the film, Eric Williams predicted that the project would fail, and Joe Silverie made a lot of changes to the project in an attempt to save it, but unfortunately nothing worked, but he did not hear about the heroine." ”

Bill Michanik thought to himself that at a formal business reception, of course, people don't talk about this gossip, but just pay a little more attention to Hollywood, and these things are never a secret: "Anyway, Howard, we have to solve the problem of special effects first, and secondly, for such a big project, it is also very important to find a reliable director, who has preferably directed a successful special effects blockbuster." ”

Although he didn't intend to get involved, Bill Michanik tried his best to steer Howard Stringer on the right track.

Howard Stringer also thought about Jurassic Park 2 almost immediately: "Well, maybe we can try to get in touch with Joe Johnston." ”

"If it can be successful, it will be great," Bill Micchanik nodded in agreement, but did not have much hope for this, since the Fireflies let Joe Johnston take over "Jurassic Park", they will definitely sign a strict option contract with him, unless someone is willing to pay a huge amount of liquidated damages for him, or the Fireflies will be merciful and voluntarily release him, otherwise, the possibility of Joe Johnston making films for other film companies in the next few years is extremely low.

[It's about to be 515, I hope to continue to hit the 515 red envelope list, and the red envelope rain will be able to give back to readers and promotional works on May 15. A piece is also love, and it must be better!] (To be continued.) )