Compared with the huge and monotonous studios and busy administrative areas, the digital field office LOFT in Firefly Studios, which is mainly made of glass and steel structures, is undoubtedly the most comfortable place to go, with several buildings like works of art side by side among green trees and vines, like a small world in the studio. Pen ~ fun ~ pavilion www.biquge.info

Of course, as one of the core departments of the Firefly Group, not just anyone can enter the digital field office area.

Tom Fromton, under Caroline's personal guidance, was able to reach the second floor of an office loft.

Along the way, Tom Foreston was secretly looking around.

However, it wasn't the elaborate décor and the ubiquitous special effects movie models that attracted Tom Fraston to Tom Foreston's office lofts, but the digital realm itself.

As one of the two co-presidents of Viacom, who is also responsible for the company's film and entertainment business, Tom Freston knows all aspects of the digital landscape.

Warner, Paramount, and Universal's special effects company, a special effects company in the age of light and shadow, has intended to imitate the digital field from the beginning, but for most of the year, the executives of the three companies basically have to admit that it is difficult to catch up with the digital field.

The company of the Firefly system has been laying out CG special effects since eight years ago, and it has been deeply rooted in Hollywood for eight years.

If you want to catch up in the era of light and shadow, the most convenient way is undoubtedly to poach people from the digital field in the traditional way.

But this model is not working at all now, because even if the light and shadow era poachs the other party's technical talents from the digital field, they can't get the company's professional special effects software. The core special effects software in the digital field has even stopped being sold, and instead has adopted a rental license model to cooperate with other small and medium-sized special effects companies.

Naturally, the age of light and shadow cannot be within the scope of the authorized list in the digital field.

Unable to obtain software licenses in the digital field, the light and shadow era can only choose to cooperate with Autodesk, a veteran mapping software manufacturer, to develop exclusive CG special effects software.

Autodesk refused to cooperate with the digital field in software development because it was not optimistic about the prospects of CG special effects, and now in order to make up for the original decision-making mistakes, it has spared no effort in related software development. However, the gap in technology accumulation in eight years is definitely not something that can be caught up overnight.

Moreover, even if Autodesk catches up with the pace of the digital field in software technology after a few years of hard work, it will certainly not be able to easily break the strong chain of interests that the Firefly system has established in the Hollywood special effects industry.

You must know that for the same movie, even if it does not use some top-level special effects technology unique to the digital field, it is just a popular ordinary CG lens, and the special effects companies that use software and technical support in the digital field often have an all-round advantage from effect to cost compared with other peers.

As a result, even with the knowledge that there is a risk of being choked by the Firefly system at any time, it is difficult for other Hollywood studios to decisively cut their reliance on the digital realm and its affiliated special effects companies.

"Mr. Foreston, Eric will have about ten minutes to go, please wait a moment. ”

Caroline led Tom Foreston to the lounge on the second floor, politely explained, and instructed the staff to prepare coffee before turning to leave.

After three days of waiting, Tom Foreston didn't mind the last ten minutes, thanked the digital field staff who brought him coffee, sat down at the table and quickly sorted out what to do with Eric Williams next, and then breathed a sigh of relief.

He looked around again, got up and grabbed a copy of yesterday's "The Hollywood Reporter" from the bookshelf next to him, intending to kill the last few minutes.

The headline of the newspaper in his hand happened to be the eye-catching box office figure of "Iron Man".

Entering the third weekend of its release, the box office of "Iron Man" still fell by only 39%, and it collected another $37.88 million in three days.

At the same time, the superhero blockbuster has already grossed $260.51 million in North America in two and a half weeks, and it is almost certain that it will break the $300 million mark in the next week and a half. The North American box office exceeded 300 million in four weeks after its release, and after the entire screening cycle, the film's North American box office easily reached 400 million US dollars, and there was no suspense at all.

In comparison, Paramount's box office of "West Point Revealed" in the same period is simply unbearable to look at.

Ten days after its release, the $95 million blockbuster film had a cumulative box office of $35.13 million.

Of course, not only "West Point Revealed", but also under the strong impact of "Iron Man", "Sky Trap", which was released last Friday, only had a box office of $19.15 million in the first three days of the first weekend.

However, the production cost of this emotional work, which was mainly supported by the first 007 actor Sean Connery, was well controlled by Columbia at $60 million.

Even if the North American box office is not satisfactory, the overseas box office potential of "Sky Trap" is much higher than that of "West Point Revealed", and the final global box office expectation of about $200 million is enough for Colombia to recover all the production and distribution costs. In the future, the net profit generated by videotapes, DVDs and TV peripherals will basically be generated.

And, in Tom Friston's view, the significance of "Sky Trap" to Colombia is not at all the box office.

The film's eventual cost control of $60 million meant that Columbia Pictures was quickly assimilated by the Firefly system after leaving Sony, and it was no longer squandered at will in film production, which was a chronic disease that Columbia Pictures did not completely improve for nearly a decade during Sony's control.

In fact, because Hollywood film financing has been too easy in recent years, outside of the Firefly system, everyone has spent a bit lavishly.

Just like the current "West Point Revealed", if Paramount can be ruthless and strictly control costs, not to mention $95 million, even $60 million is more than enough. With the budget reduced to $60 million, Paramount will now be under much less pressure to lose money.

However, in order to win over director Simon West, who became famous with "Prison in the Sky", Paramount's production department did not do this, but consciously or unintentionally accommodating each other during the production process. However, despite piling up production costs by more than 50%, the director, who is only the second time directing a big-budget film, has not been able to come up with a satisfactory work.

In comparison, the firefly system is much stronger.

In recent years, the CAA once speculated Sean Connery's salary to $20 million, but in "Sky Trap", Columbia insisted on only offering the veteran 007 actor $12 million, and there was no box office share option.

Although Sean Connery repeatedly threatened to quit the project, he eventually accepted it.

Obviously, Sean Connery also knows that without Sony, it is impossible to get $20 million from Columbia, and he is definitely not worth $20 million in the eyes of other big Hollywood studios. As for companies such as Cullock Films, which frequently offered sky-high salaries to veteran Hollywood superstars in the past few years, with the completion of the integration trend of media groups, the film distribution channels have been further monopolized, and they have gradually fallen silent after continuous losses in recent years.

Absentmindedly flipping through the newspaper in his hand and hearing the sound of footsteps in his ears, Tom Foreston immediately came back to his senses and got up to greet Eric who walked into the lounge: "Eric, it's a pleasure to meet you." ”

"Hello, Tom, sit down. ”

Eric politely shook Tom Fromton's hand and sat down at the table and chair next to him, looking at the slightly aged middle-aged man in front of him.

Tom Foreston is only in his 40s, but his gray hair and wrinkles on his face make him look ten years older than his actual age.

Tom Fromton sat down with him, and also looked at the casually dressed young man in front of him with a calm temperament, and took the initiative to say: "Eric, I came here this time in the hope of clearing up some misunderstandings between the two of us a few days ago. ”

Eric took the mineral water that Caroline handed him, put it on the table, and nodded flatly, "Well, then what?"

Tom Fraston didn't get any useful information from Eric's expression at all, so he could only continue: "Stanley Cullen will be leaving Paramount in the near future, and as for Blockbuster, we can provide a sum of compensation to seek a settlement with companies such as the Firefly Group." ”

Eric raised his hand with a puzzled expression and asked, "Who is Stanley Cullen?"

The entire youth on the other side didn't even let go of those departing employees of the 'Hollywood Gossip' website, how could they not know Stanley Cullen?

However, the other party pretended to be stupid, but Tom Fromton could only explain stubbornly: "Stanley Cullen is the vice president of Paramount Pictures, mainly responsible for the distribution business, and those misunderstandings last time were caused by his unauthorized claims." ”

"Oh," Eric nodded, but added, "I don't know this man, Paramount, I only know Shirley Lansing." ”

Tom Foreston was stunned for a moment, then understood, and subconsciously shook his head and said, "Eric, this can't be done. ”

"It's your business to do it or not," Eric put away his casual moment, sat up straight and stared at Tom Foreston sharply, "Anyway, Paramount, I only know Shirley Lansing, then, since something went wrong, Shirley Lansing should be responsible." ”

Eric's attitude suddenly became stronger, and Tom Foreston's momentum suddenly weakened a little, and said: "Eric, it's not like this, after all, the last incident didn't affect you much." ”

If the head of one of the seven studios leaves because of a gossip incident that did not cause any turmoil at all, not to mention the possible impact on the operation of Paramount Pictures, this incident alone will seriously damage the prestige and status of the entire Viacom in the media industry.

"But what if it happens?" Eric glanced at the newspaper in front of Tom Foreston and said, "Just like "Iron Man", if it weren't for the proper handling of the Firefly Group, how much box office would be left in this billion-dollar film at the global box office, 500 million, 300 million, or less." So, I'm not going to allow this to happen a second time. As much risk you bring to the Firefly Group, you should take as much responsibility as you do. Now, if you want to reconcile, Shirley Lansing must leave. ”

After a moment of silence, Tom Foreston had to nod and say, "Okay, I'll tell Summer, then, about Blockbuster?"

"Speaking of which, Tom, do you know what conditions a lizard must meet first in order to achieve its goal?"

Viacom's move to split Blockbuster on Saturday has now proven to have had little effect at all.

Hearing Eric say this, Tom Forston's face couldn't help but be a little sneering, and he shook his head and said, "I don't know about this. ”

Eric smiled slightly, like a young teacher who had suddenly come to preach, and said, "It's simple, the lizard's severed tail must be able to attract the attention of predators. What's the point of doing that if the predator behind it doesn't want to eat that tail at all?"

Tom Fromton nodded helplessly, "It seems, that's true." ”

"So, since you like to do it, you should pick a tail that's attractive enough. ”

Tom Foreston had a bad feeling in his heart, but he could only follow Eric's topic and say, "Eric, what do you want?"

"Showtime," Eric said without further detour, "fire Shirley Lansing and transfer Showtime, that's what I'm asking for." If we do these two things, we will write off the last thing. ”

Eric deliberately didn't mention Stanley Cullen again, but it was clear that this man was unlikely to stay in Hollywood anyway.

In recent years, as HBO continues to grow and FFM TV station expands rapidly, Viacom, which realizes the commercial potential of pay-per-cable channels, has also increased its investment in its Showtime TV station.

While Showtime has grown nowhere near as fast as FFM, which has been built by several major companies, it is one of Viacom's fastest-growing businesses. With its low fees and its own content channel resources, Showtime has now amassed more than 6 million paying subscribers.

"Eric, your request is too much, and Summer won't agree to it at all. ”

"I'm still the same as I just said, it's your business whether it works or not. It's like you're causing me trouble, and solving the problem is only my business. Now that I've solved the problem I've faced, it's time for you to solve the problem you're facing," Eric said, adding, "and, compared to the terms offered by some people, my request is actually quite reasonable. ”

"We've learned about Carl Icahn's visit to you, Eric, you're not going to make it. And, even if you succeed, you're going to face a lot of trouble in the future, because this manipulation of yours is a serious violation of the law. ”

"Then it's another problem I'm going to face, and it's none of your business," Eric shrugged, "You can let Summerer try and see if he can keep his position." By the way, I'd like to remind you that next week we'll be announcing a list of films to work with, and while it's mostly non-core projects from MGM and Columbia, Wall Street film funds are definitely more willing to work with the Firefly system right now. So, you can think about whether to survive again and spin off Paramount Pictures. ”