For most people, the reason why the six major Hollywood labels are called "film production companies" is that their main function is naturally to make movies, so the source of income is mainly based on the box office; But in fact, the box office of the film is divided by the distribution company, the production company and the cinema chain, and the production company wants to make money from the box office, which is almost impossible, and make full use of the copyright in its hands to create circular interests, peripheral interests and derivative interests, which is the main source of income for the production company. Pen % fun % Pavilion www.biquge.info

Taking "Batman Prequel: The Mystery of the Shadows" as an example, this work is calculated purely according to the box office data, after deducting the high cost and publicity expenses, the loss of Warner Bros. is about 15 million. In such a situation, even if the reputation of film critics and audiences is against the sky, a loss is a loss, and if it can't make money, Warner Bros. will definitely not approve the production of a sequel.

But in fact, aside from the strategic significance of this film for Warner Bros. to restart the DC Comics series, thanks to the excellent reputation, "Mystery of the Movie" has achieved excellent results in the video rental market, and later released DVDs, and sales are also very good. Just by this stage, Warner Bros. has turned a profit, and after that, Warner Bros. can continue to develop sets, dolls, comic book characters, series of animations, etc., and the profit chain can continue to extend.

In his 1997 book "The Game of Cinema", British scholar Martin-Dale said that the American film industry has undergone earth-shaking changes since the 90s, and the real value of the film industry is no longer limited to the box office profits of the film itself, but in the number of opportunities it provides for film companies to cooperate with other fields. These areas include television products, theme parks, consumer goods, music soundtracks, books, computer games, interactive entertainment, and more. All of these peripheral benefits reduce costs and risks, which increases revenue, and the film provides the keys to this magical kingdom.

Disney has an innate advantage in this regard, and after Michael Eisner came to power in the 80s of the last century, the reason why he was able to lead Disney to achieve a counterattack was to take the lead in achieving transformation in this area and rising strongly, which also made other top film studios jealous. In order to get more derivative income, large production companies began to concentrate funds on those fantasy works, especially the 1997 "Titanic" marked the maturity of computer special effects, but also provided convenient conditions for fantasy works, Warner Bros. "Harry Potter", Paramount's "Transformers", and Sony's "Spider-Man" are all the same.

Some people once wondered why Twentieth Century Fox still tirelessly wanted to come back to life, the reason is very simple, such a series of works is not as simple as the box office, and there is a huge industrial chain derived from a work. The same is true for the "Spider-Man" series, where Sony Pictures gritted its teeth and refused to let go of the adaptation rights, first with the Toby Maguire version, then with the Andrew Garfield version, and then with the Tom-Holland version.

The realization of this industrial chain is intellectual property. The simple and direct explanation is that after Warner Bros. holds the property rights of "Harry Potter", whether it is a book or a movie, or a TV series, toys, games, etc., derivatives can continue to generate profits.

This is also the core essence that distinguishes Hollywood's big six studios from the rest.

For other studios, the film is their most profitable means - or the only means - whether it is the production company or the distribution company, and when the box office fails, it is difficult for them to find other ways to close the loopholes, reduce the losses, and worse, lack sufficient financial support, and the investment and development of new projects will naturally suffer, creating a vicious circle.

DreamWorks is a typical example, the lack of support from the distribution department is only the first link, and the failure to use intellectual property rights is the main culprit that breaks the circular chain. The "Shrek" series has an unparalleled box office pull ability, and even Pixar has struggled to shake the position of this series in the hearts of audiences, but DreamWorks has not been able to fully develop the peripherals of the series as much as possible.

One detail can be seen, after the breakup of DreamWorks, the popularity of DreamWorks animation has remained high, even after ten years.

Of course, from another point of view, it is not that DreamWorks does not want to develop, but that the capital investment required to develop the surrounding industrial chain is too large, and they do not have the ability to develop.

Aside from the big project of theme parks, the surrounding industry chain means cooperation with different fields, such as TV stations, record labels, doll developers, game developers, publishers, etc., first, this requires a strong professional department to operate, and negotiations in different fields will face different challenges, requiring a large number of professionals to join; Second, each field needs to invest a lot of money in pre-development and production before reaping expenditures, not to mention publicity operations before going public. All of this requires huge financial support; Third, they also need a rich intellectual property library, which simply means that there are enough materials to develop and produce, which is also an important reason why comic book adaptations have been so valued later.

The reason why Disney can lead the six major film studios in this area is because of the heritage, they started with animation, and they have formed a peripheral industrial chain as early as the eighties, and what they need to do is to maintain their advantages, continue to develop, excavate, innovate, and continue to lead. Later, Disney's acquisition options can also be seen that Robert Iger continued this line of thought: Pixar's cartoons, Marvel's comic book characters, Lucasfilm's Star Wars series......

For most studios, more precisely, for studios outside of the Big Six, they often don't have the ability to tap into the industrial chain, and even with the injection of Wall Street money, it is a difficult task to develop peripheral areas from scratch.

The reason why Lionsgate can rise strongly in the future is because the "Twilight" series, "The Hunger Games" series, and "Saw Horror" series have formed an industrial chain, which gives them the conditions to become a film empire. But it's a pity that Lionsgate has a weak follow-up and can't develop more intellectual property rights with commercial value, and they even didn't hesitate to divide "The Hunger Games 3" into two parts against infamy, just to continue the vitality of the industrial chain, but unfortunately they were not able to succeed, if they can't find new intellectual property rights, then Lionsgate will either not advance but retreat, becoming a very successful medium-sized film company; Either it is injected into Wall Street money and inherited the blood of the six major studios.

Therefore, before the rebirth of Lance, Lionsgate's momentum slowed down significantly, and it obviously encountered a bottleneck in development.

For Chaos Pictures, Lance's goal has never changed. If he wants to have the ability to change Hollywood, if he wants to turn Hollywood into the Hollywood he wants, Chaos Pictures must have the ability to turn things upside down. So, first the trailer soundtrack department, then the screenwriting department, then the distribution department, step by step, Chaos Pictures is perfecting itself. Next, there is the IP department.

For the IP sector, there were two factors that were most important: one was financial support and the other was copyright repository support.

Hollywood's six major film companies have an average of about 15 works per year, and their copyright library is supported by tens of thousands of works.

Taking Disney as an example, in 2014, they announced their filming plans for the next few years, including nearly 20 works such as "Fantasy Forest", "Alice in Wonderland 2", "Peter's Dragon", "Dream Blowing Giant", "Beauty and the Beast", etc., all of which are animated live-action works, giving full play to the advantages of intellectual property.

But now Chaos Pictures is just getting started, and their copyright library is pitifully scarce; At the same time, their annual production has only stabilized at about two, and after the success of "Fury Road", they have entered a new stage of development, but considering the upcoming Marvel acquisition plan, they will not be able to fully accelerate it for at least a year - provided that all the works are as successful as expected, then after a year, their annual output can be increased to five. Maybe.

So, as James said, even money aside, their pathetic copyright repository didn't bring any support. It would be maddening to set up a property department in the current stall, even for Reims.

"Relax." Lance chuckled when he saw James's red-eared appearance. He could feel that James was genuinely worried about the company's future, James had truly seen himself as a part of Chaos Pictures, willing to participate in decision-making, and willing to express his opinions, although the road to trust was still very long, but this is a good sign, isn't it? "Relax! Even if I wanted to fly now, I wouldn't risk my life by standing on a cliff without wings. ”

The teasing tone made James thrust in his chest and slumped his shoulders speechlessly, "Lance, I'm not kidding. In the face of Lance, James has no inhibitions, and under the premise of absolute professionalism, he is more calm and direct between friends.

Lance spread his hands, "Me neither. I know that we don't have any funds, we don't have a copyright library, not to mention the property rights department, and even our production department and distribution department haven't fully grown. After a pause, his tone changed, "But, no one stipulates that we can't start now." ”