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The reason why Fang Jianhui was looking for George Lucas was to solve the special effects of "."

After getting the script of "." in the system, he carefully studied it many times and found that some scenes must be completed with the help of special effects, and these scenes are the essence of the whole film, and they must not be sloppy. And now the highest level of special effects is undoubtedly the Industrial Light & Magic created by George Lucas.

ILM is a professional VFX production company that is the brainchild of Lucas. The problem is that today's film production is basically not particular about special effects, and the industrial light and magic industry basically can't do anything other than rely on Lucas's own "Star Wars" to support it.

The money Lucas made from "Star Wars" was basically invested by him. As soon as he heard that Fang Jianhui was looking for Industrial Light & Magic to make special effects, he was immediately enthusiastic, and the two made an appointment to go to Industrial Light & Magic the next day to talk in detail.

San Francisco, ILM Headquarters.

After Fang Jianhui arrived with Bai Annie and the lawyer, he found that in addition to Lucas, there was also a big bull present, although he had not met, but Fang Jianhui knew that this person was Spielberg, a good friend of Lucas, and the director of "Jaws", which set box office records a few years ago.

Spielberg was very interested in hearing Lucas say that Fang Jianhui, who is now in the limelight, was going to make an alien movie, and ran over to see it.

Fang Jianhui, Spielberg, and Lucas are the only three directors with the best box office in Hollywood.

Fang Jianhui took out the script of "." and showed it to the two, both of them were full of praise, Spielberg was even a little excited, saying that this movie fulfilled a dream for him, a dream he had had countless times since he was a child.

Spielberg's parents divorced when he was a child, and when he was lonely, he began to fantasize about having an alien accompanying him, and in his mind, aliens were his closest friends.

Fang Jianhui took out some prepared papers, which clearly showed some typical special effects scenes in the style of comics. He pointed to the drawings and communicated in detail with ILM's special effects engineers about the final result he wanted to achieve.

Spielberg and Lucas on the side are also top elites in the field, and they put forward some suggestions from time to time, and after some exchanges, the three of them were touched by each other's talents and felt like friends.

The special effects engineers of Industrial Light & Magic needed to carefully evaluate his requirements, and did not give Fang Jianhui an answer on the spot, and Fang Jianhui was not in a hurry, and agreed to leave after the next meeting.

Two days later, Lucas came to Fang Jianhui and said apologetically: The effect that Fang Jianhui needs, Industrial Light & Magic can't do it in the short term, and after evaluation, they believe that it will take at least one to two years to achieve it.

Dizzy, when Fang Jianhui heard this, he was unexpected! What should I do? He thought about it, there was no other better choice than to find industrial light and magic, they couldn't get it, and other companies couldn't get it. One or two years is one or two years, and during this time, I will find a system to buy another one.

Fang Jianhui made up his mind and said to Lucas: "I can wait for a year or two, and I will shoot after your technology improves." ”

finally had a business, but because the level was not enough, it was about to turn yellow. When Lucas was depressed, he was greatly moved when he heard Fang Jianhui being so righteous, and he shook his hand repeatedly, not knowing what to say.

The plan has been decided, and the rest of the negotiation and signing of the contract are handled by his subordinates. Fang Jianhui didn't want to take advantage of others, and Lucas also felt ashamed, so the price was quickly negotiated, three million dollars, and Industrial Light & Magic made all the special effects scenes in the movie. In terms of time, it was also relaxed to limit the technical preparations of Industrial Light & Magic to the end of 1981. Then, it's a matter of signing a contract and going about their own business.

After solving this matter, Fang Jianhui pondered in his heart, what kind of movie should he buy from the system? It must be a Hollywood box office blockbuster, because the most important thing at present is to make money, how can he buy Fox within five years without making money?

While Fang Jianhui was thinking about it, Andy Murphy pushed the door and walked into his office, followed by William, who had been busy with investment work in New York.

Andy looked excited: "Boss, good news! There is news that the shareholders of Twentieth Century Fox are interested in selling the company. ”

"Andy, I know you've always had a lot of interest in Twentieth Century Fox. Fang Jianhui said: "But you should know my situation, even if they want to sell it now, I can't afford it." And he said, "What is their current market value?"

"After assessment, between 6.3 and 660 million, the maximum is not more than 700 million US dollars. William said.

"How much cash do we have at our disposal?" Fang Jianhui asked.

"At present, there are about 80 million, and there will be 30 million box office accounts in a month, a total of about 110 million. ”

"Look, Andy-san. Fang Jianhui turned to Andy Murphy: "People are worth more than 600 million, and I only have 100 million, how can I buy it?"

Regarding Fang Jianhui's name of 'classmate', Andy Murphy was automatically exempted from military service, and smiled: "You don't know this boss, the acquisition company does not have to be discussed after all the funds are in place, as for the specific acquisition, please introduce it to Mr. William." ”

William spread out the notebook in his hand, and asked someone to take a blackboard to Fang Jianhui's office, and gave him a more than two-hour 'leveraged buyout' lesson.

"Oh, that's right. According to his understanding, this so-called 'leveraged buyout', to put it bluntly, is somewhat similar to a housing mortgage.

A leveraged buyout is a strategy in which a company or individual uses the assets of the target as collateral for debt to acquire another company. During the course of the transaction, the acquirer's cash outlay was minimized.

The salient feature of leveraged buyouts is that the acquirer borrows money on a large scale to cover (most) of the transaction costs in order to make the acquisition. Usually 70% or all of the total purchase price. At the same time, the acquirer uses the assets and future earnings of the target company as collateral for the loan. Interest on the loan will be paid through the future cash flows of the acquired company.

Using a house mortgage as an analogy, the buyer does not need to take out 1 million at one time for a 1 million commercial house, he can only take out 300,000 yuan, and the remaining 700,000 yuan can be paid by a bank loan (the collateral is the house), and then pay the bank principal and interest on a monthly basis.

Leveraged buyouts are also where the target company has a market value of one billion, but the acquirer can only pay 300 million (or less), borrow the rest of the money from the bank (the collateral is the target company), and then repay the principal and interest to the bank on schedule. In addition, after buying a house with a mortgage, you can rent out the house you bought and use the rent to repay the mortgage. After a successful leveraged buyout, the target company itself is profitable, that is, the money earned by the target company can then be used to repay the bank.

If a leveraged buyout works well, all three parties to the transaction are beneficial: the shareholders of the target company successfully sell the company and receive cash, the acquirer only needs to pay very little cash to buy the company, and the bank earns a lot of fees and interest.

"According to my calculations, the valuation of Twentieth Century Fox is at most 700 million, we will contribute 100 million ourselves, and the remaining 600 million will be borrowed from banks or raised by issuing bonds in the market. The financing period is 8 years, 600 million plus various fees and interest, and we have to repay about 100 million every year. William concluded: "With a down payment of 100 million, plus 800 million in 8 years, the acquisition of Fox will take about 900 million in total." ”

"Well, that sounds like it's still feasible. Fang Jianhui smiled: "It's a pity that I can't buy the shares of MT and LB companies that I selected." ”

"That can be left untouched. William said: "We can continue to buy stocks, and then we can borrow money from the bank with pledged stocks." If these two companies do well and the stock price rises, we can borrow more. "He didn't say a word, and if that's it, the leverage is even higher.

"That's fine, I'm very optimistic about these two companies. Fang Jianhui said: "I still have one last question, that is, if we have to repay 100 million yuan every year, can we still afford it?" Once the loan cannot be repaid on time, the banks and bond investors who borrowed money can take over Fox Company, and the money they spent will be wasted.

"I think it's worth it. Andy Murphy answered: "Fox itself is profitable, and the profits in the previous years ranged from 20 million to 40 million, and it has been making money. If I were to be the CEO, I would be confident that I would be able to increase my profit to 60 million in the short term. With a profit of 60 million, plus the level of your director, you only need to make a film with a box office of hundreds of millions every year, which is enough to repay the annual loan of 100 million. ”

"Also, once we have a controlling stake in Twentieth Century Fox, we don't have to worry about releasing films in the future. William added.

Fang Jianhui agrees with this statement, why is it called the Big Eight in Hollywood, it is that these eight companies have the ability to distribute films to countries around the world. After mastering Fox, in the future, filming and distribution will be a one-stop, unlike now, where all the money from distribution is made by others.

"Okay, I've made up my mind, just do what you say, William, and buy Fox!" Fang Jianhui slapped the table. It is almost impossible to make a film with a box office of hundreds of millions every year, but for Fang Jianhui, it is easy and pleasant.

"Boss wise!" William and Andy complimented in unison, and Andy was especially happy, excited at the thought that he would be able to sit on the CEO of Fox after the acquisition was successful.

The big policy was set, Andy and William had a lot of work to do, and after a few more conversations, the two went their separate ways.

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"I have to hurry up and make another movie to make more money. Expect the enemy to be lenient, so as not to encounter some accidents during the acquisition and be overstretched. Fang Jianhui thought.

"Please choose the language, genre, and emphasis (box office value or artistic value) of the film script. After Fang Jianhui issued an instruction to buy a movie script in his heart, the system prompt sounded.

"English, horror films, box office-focused. Fang Jianhui replied in his heart. There is a heavyweight film that will be released in June this year, that is, Lucas's "Star Wars 2: The Empire Strikes Back", this film has been filmed and is in post-production, which is also one of the reasons why Industrial Light & Magic will give him the time to make ".", Fang Jianhui doesn't want to fight this kind of strong film head-on, so he can only try to shoot it in advance and release it in advance. Considering that the sooner the filming is completed, the better, Fang Jianhui chose horror films, which are usually small productions.

"Got the screenplay for the film "The Sixth Sense", art value: 91, box office value: 96. ”

Fang Jianhui quickly browsed through his mind: This film is called a horror movie, but it is not scary at all, and there are few horror scenes in the whole film. It's not so much a horror film as a suspense film, but an extremely delicate emotional film. From the very beginning, the film gradually paves the atmosphere, interspersed with family, love and friendship, and finally detonates a subversive ending that surprises all audiences, making the audience addicted to it while their IQ is teased.

Not bad, not bad, Fang Jianhui commented. Not only is the box office value as high as 96, which means that even if you meet "Star Wars 2 Empire Strikes Back" head-on, you still have the strength to win the battle.

What makes Fang Jianhui even more satisfied is that the difficulty of filming this film is extremely low. From beginning to end of the whole film, there are only two main characters, that is, the male protagonist and the little boy, and the secondary characters include the little boy's mother and the male protagonist's girlfriend, there are only four people in total, and there are only three or four scenes.

Fang Jianhui estimated that after everything was ready, he could finish filming within 10 days.

Fang Jianhui didn't know that in his original time and space, "The Sixth Sense" was not only the highest-grossing horror film of all time, but also selected as one of the "100 Best Films in Film History" by the American Film Institute, and the lines in the film: Iseedeadpeople were also selected as the "100 most classic movie lines".