The filming of "Pirates of the Caribbean" took up most of Daniel's energy, and his original plan to fly back to Berkeley every two weeks had to be changed because time had to be taken out to deal with things in Los Angeles.

Before acquiring MGM, Daniel was clearly too naïve, thinking that he could use his prophetic advantage to select a large number of sources for the company. But when the number of productions reaches a level, it is not something he can do if he wants to, his own energy does not allow it, and various external conditions such as actors, directors, and scripts do not allow it.

After the first year of operation, after putting many works such as "Magic Mike", "Cheap Teacher", "Youth Musical" and "Black Swan" on the right track, Daniel also had to delegate the selection and production of films to professionals - this is also the reason why many MGM and DD Pictures producers breathed a sigh of relief, before that, almost all the projects of the two companies were run by Daniel, he decided the project, even provided the script, provided the cast list and contacted the director, etc., and the other departments all revolved around his decision. Of course, as the boss, he can decide how the company operates, but a seven-level Hollywood studio can't rely on one boss to decide everything.

Daniel became famous as a teenager and became a contemporary legend in less than a decade in the industry, and his confidence in himself is unquestionable. The staff under him are very worried that this self-confidence will eventually lead him to make unrealistic decisions and delusions, thinking that he can do everything by himself.

Now that he is willing to delegate power and responsibility to various departments, everyone is relieved and has more information about the future of the company.

After removing the crisis of Daniel's arbitrariness, as the most recognizable actor and investor with the highest success rate in all of Hollywood, his impact on the company will tend to be completely positive.

This is, of course, a lot of good news.

So much so that Daniel finally reached an agreement with Time Warner to transfer MGM's precious film library. Exclusive rights for $2.2 billion sale.

The exclusive right here means not only that MGM can no longer transfer these film libraries to third parties, but also MGM itself, and that these film libraries cannot be made for profit by making DVDs or selling them to cable TV stations. The difference between doing this and completely selling the film library is that MGM has the right to use these films independently, such as adaptation and remake, restoration and release, screening, exhibition, ownership and other interests, all of which still belong to MGM, but this series of rights can hardly obtain real benefits for MGM. In addition to these. The two sides have been negotiating for so long, and the biggest difference is who should own some of the copyright proceeds that MGM has transferred. Time Warner argues that the rights to use the libraries have been transferred to Warner, so when the agreement is reached, the revenue generated by these libraries on fixed channels should naturally belong to Warner, but MGM does not recognize this, insisting that the transferred long-term use rights. It was completed before the deal was concluded, not within the framework of the agreement, and the deal between MGM and Warner should only include the vesting of interests after the agreement was reached. This previous benefit is not suitable for inclusion.

It's not for nothing that Warner is so insistent.

After Daniel took over MGM, the use of the film library was quite dry. Image transfer, long-term broadcast rights payment in installments, etc., are not positive for the long-term use of the film library. But since he has decided to sell the film library, he will not make a profit in the end. Of course. He didn't do it too ruthlessly, otherwise he wouldn't be able to continue the negotiation during the negotiation, at least the price would be difficult to negotiate. However, according to MGM's terms, it can bring MGM 1, 20 million yuan of revenue per year, which is almost equal to less than one-tenth of the annual income of the entire film library before. Considering the benefits of the film library in the hands of Time Warner, this proportion is even lower.

This should be an acceptable ratio for Warners.

Daniel won, and Plutos' financial easing put a lot of pressure on Time Warner. Times Warner, which has experienced the biggest Internet disaster in Hollywood history, is also under great operational pressure, and MGM's film library is of great significance to their layout of the entire entertainment industry.

In the last month of 2005, Hollywood had another big shake-up of the year.

Paramount acquired DreamWorks, Disney acquired Miramax, DD Pictures acquired MGM and founded DD Animation, and now Time Warner acquired MGM 4,000 films and more than 10,000 TV series.

It can be said that the impact of 2005 on the entire Hollywood, and even the entire world film industry, is very huge.

Daniel and his DD Pictures are, of course, the most notable of them.

Because compared to other acquisitions, DD Pictures' acquisition of MGM changed the composition of the MPAA, the highest authority in Hollywood, the Motion Picture Association of America.

The seats used by MGM should automatically become the seats of DD Pictures. Since then, DD Pictures has become an integral part of Hollywood's highest power.

All of this should have been natural, MGM's seat was with someone from DD Pictures, or the current MGM CEO Lang. Meyer came to take over, but Meyer himself was the CEO of MGM and the senior vice president of DD Pictures, so it was better to say that he was a representative of MGM than to say that he was a representative of DD Pictures.

But things didn't always go so well, and there were so many important MPAA meetings at the end of the year that there was so much discussion about MGM's seats that Daniel had to suspend filming in Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and return to Los Angeles to deal with it.

Natalie. Portman is from Harvey. Weinstein was there, hearing the news.

Some people believe that since MGM was acquired, the seats belonging to MGM in the MPAA should be cancelled instead of being inherited by DD Pictures. Whether DD Pictures should have a seat in the MPAA is another matter, and it needs to be considered by the entire industry, and if DD Pictures is considered to have this qualification, it should be voted on by everyone, rather than being directly obtained by DD Pictures without any basis.

This remark touched many people.

Mostly some pretty well-known independent studios, including Lionsgate, Legends, Focus. DreamWorks Animation and even Weinstein Pictures, they are members of the MPAA, but they are not the core positions that DD Pictures is fighting for now. There are only seven core locations, Sony, Columbia, Warner Bros., Fox, Paramount, MGM, and Disney - Sony and Columbia, although they belong to the same family, still have two seats, which is inseparable from the relative independence of the two sides, if MGM is acquired by Sony, then it and Columbia are not the same treatment, it will be placed under Sony. At that time, the cancellation was indisputable, and Sony could not monopolize three positions.

Considering that the MPAA itself is a combination of giants, if it were just the will of these independent studios, there would certainly not be anything particularly difficult to deal with.

The important thing is that one of the seven stands out and clearly supports the above view.

To Daniel's surprise, this time it wasn't Disney and Robert Iger, nor old rivals Sony and Columbia. It was Brad who stood up against it. Gray - CEO of Paramount Pictures. The company and Daniel are not familiar with each other, but the two sides have played against each other many times, especially focusing on the Transformers series and Marvel, the former if not for Daniel's surprising price. Eventually, it will definitely be taken over by Paramount, after all, the negotiations between them and Hasbro have entered a fairly deep stage, and Daniel has finally stepped in.

Transformers haven't been made yet, though. I don't know if it's a profit or a loss, but DD Pictures and Paramount's beams are erected. Of course, Hollywood's struggle for copyright is a natural thing. It doesn't make sense to go out of your way for this. So, it's more important because of Marvel Studios.

Paramount and Marvel are in talks to release Marvel-produced films, which could be ten or more. This is a corporate strategy that Brad takes very seriously, and he even thinks that it will be a way for Paramount to change his weak position in the Big Seven, and he is very optimistic about superhero movies. DD Pictures is also fighting, not for distribution rights, but for adaptation rights, and even acquisitions!

Yes, DD Pictures has made an acquisition interest to Marvel through secret channels.

After MGM and Time Warner reached a foundational agreement, DD Pictures tentatively made the offer.

Paramount and Marvel have been dealing for so long, it is not difficult to get this news.

For DD Pictures' plan, Paramount has no idea of following, and Marvel's valuation is at least more than 2 billion - this is a good pair for Brad. Gray's case is too expensive. Of course, for Daniel, there is no "Iron Man", there is no Marvel of "Captain America", and this price is not cheap. It's just that compared with 2010, Disney's offer of 4.2 billion is also a suitable price.

Marvel is considering this suggestion.

Paramount wants to mess up the acquisition, and they have to make DD Pictures lose all of its advantages before Marvel shareholders can see that the proposal is not operational.

Originally, Paramount's target was the financial pressure of DD Pictures, which now relies on loans to run on a large scale after spending 2.8 billion to acquire MGM and then pushing the production plan on a large scale, is obviously worthy of concern for Marvel shareholders, although there is no such thing as not being able to pay, otherwise DD Pictures would not have proposed an acquisition. However, once Plutos or DD Pictures smashes the pot and sells iron to pay the money, how can Marvel's movie plan be realized? The production budget of each super movie is very impressive, on par with DD animation, or even higher. Moreover, Daniel is a special effects school, which is also well known.

The so-called special effects school is also a classification of factions that emerged after the application of special effects technology in Hollywood in recent years. Some people believe that special effects damage the basic properties of the film, reduce its connotation, and completely turn the film into a fast-moving consumer product. This is the pessimistic view of conservatives. On the other hand, the special effects school insists that computer special effects technology should become an important auxiliary technology for film shooting, and will not have a negative impact on the film's own duties, considering that film practitioners should respect the diversity of production methods and the diversity of the audience's demand for films, the development of special effects technology should be encouraged.

Daniel not only starred in the "Lord of the Rings Trilogy" and "Pirates of the Caribbean" series, but even acquired a part of the shares of a post-production special effects company, Weta Digital, and has made his special effects card position clear.

In addition to him, many well-known directors are also members of this faction, such as George. Lucas, James. Cameron, Stephen. Spielberg and so on, this faction can be said to be powerful.

Marvel's shareholders and executives are also undoubtedly special effects.

Therefore, if DD Pictures really wins Marvel, whether it is Daniel himself on the side of DD Pictures, or the managers of Marvel, they will ask for a super budget, and the investment of 100 million to 200 million blockbusters is a pivotal thing for any studio. DD Pictures still has this ability after paying the acquisition fee.

Now DD Pictures relies on its ability to generate cash from the market to maintain its rapid growth, but if it fails, DD Pictures' operations are likely to have problems - if Plutos is indeed out of money.

Paramount's choice of this breakthrough is very powerful and correct.

But with Time Warner and MGM striking an agreement, that became inconsequential.

2.2 billion!

DD Pictures was able to pay for the acquisition in instalments, which was enough to ease their financial pressure.

For Paramount, there are even worse conditions.

"Social Network", "The Hangover", "Chainsaw", "Love to the Roof" and other DD Pictures' best-selling films have entered the later revenue period, DVD sales, broadcast rights sold at high prices, and the surrounding sales continue to be hot, bringing tens of millions of revenue to DD Pictures every account period. "Saw 2" and "The Immortal Gardener" were released one after another, and there was another wave of box office revenue.

These benefits do not need to be specially calculated in terms of amount, and this development trend is very attractive to Marvel.

This is a company full of promise and potential, Marvel lacks the ability to make successful films, and shareholders are not so full of Marvel's new direction, and this skepticism even lasts until 5 or 6 years later, otherwise Disney would not have succeeded in acquiring Marvel. After all, for Marvel investors, they are mature, mature investors do not require a return on investment of hundreds of percent, there is no such serious gambling, and they must squeeze out all the possible value of the investment object. In the eyes of sophisticated investors, when the returns are high enough, it is the right way to avoid risks and withdraw from the market.

These factors have increased the winning rate for DD Pictures' acquisition of Marvel.

Paramount's choice to leverage DD Pictures from the bottom can be said to be a risky move, if DD Pictures can't keep this seat, it won't be able to give Marvel, and even the shareholders behind Plutos, a confident explanation. Of course, Paramount doesn't know that Daniel is the only one behind Plutos.

But one trick is still very tricky. (To be continued......)