I’m in Hollywood

Early Saturday morning, Michael Eisner drove to Universal Studios in Burbank.

After more than three months of preparation, the Titanic theme exhibition hall in Firefly Studios officially opened today.

Although the executives of Firefly Group have repeatedly understated in some interviews that this is just a test of the theme park project by Firefly Studios, it is even more like an image project of the company. But Global did not dare to take it lightly.

Universal Studios Park operated by Universal Pictures Group originally did not have a strong competitive relationship with Disneyland, which now belongs to Firefly. One of the two parties is mainly for adult tourists, and the other is a fantasy park for children.

But now, the opening of the Titanic theme exhibition hall indicates that Firefly Group has officially begun to develop a theme park project for adult tourists over the age of 18.

Although Universal Studios has a profound heritage of more than 30 years, in terms of theme park operations, the Firefly Group, which has Disney as its own, is obviously not inferior to Universal. What's more, the large number of popular movies continuously developed by Firefly in recent years will also provide a rich theme for its development of the studio park project. In this regard, Universal Pictures is completely incomparable with the other party.

According to the information obtained in advance, as early as a week ago, the limited 20,000 tickets for the opening day of the Titanic theme exhibition hall have been sold out, and the tickets for the following week are basically sold out.

Apparently, the project was already showing signs of fire even before it opened.

Although with the gradual release of Titanic worldwide, the popularity of this film will gradually cool down. A few months later, if only relying on the Titanic themed exhibition hall, the number of daily visitors to Firefly Studios can reach two or three thousand, even if it is not bad. However, as long as the executives of Firefly Group are not stupid, they will definitely take advantage of the success of the Titanic theme exhibition to expand other movie-themed projects, so as to maintain the popularity of Firefly Studios. At that time, Firefly Studios will also gradually It developed into a competitor that took customers directly from Universal Studios.

Michael Eisner walked around the park with the vice president of the group responsible for the operation of the theme park, and asked about the bookings for the next few days. The park officially opened at 8:30, watching the influx of the movie theater. Tourists, he relaxed a little bit. But then the management of the theme park convened and held an impromptu meeting about developing a new project in the studio to compete with Firefly Studios.

It was like this until noon, when Edgar Bronfman, CEO of the parent company Seagram, called, and it was convenient for them to have lunch together at the restaurant in the studio.

Edgar Bronfman came over half an hour later, hugged Michael Eisner warmly, and the two walked into a restaurant in the studio together.

Also chatting a few words about the opening of the Titanic exhibition hall, Edgar Bronfman turned the topic to the movie: So, how was the box office of Air Force One on the first day, I this morning Been busy with other things and haven't seen the data report yet?

Air Force One is Universal's flagship film this summer, starring Harrison Ford. This project originally belonged to Sony Pictures, but Sony put all its resources on Godzilla, and Universal took the opportunity to grab it.

For this film, Michael Eisner is both excited and somewhat apprehensive, because he almost released the film alone on the same day as Jedi Boys 2 and Ice Age. Casino Royale, Air Force One will likely be crushed by Casino Royale like Jedi Boys 2.

The first day is close to 12 million, and the first week should be able to reach more than 55 million US dollars, Michael Eisner said, and added with a smile: There will be no more popular movies in the next few weeks, according to Air Force The word-of-mouth of No. 1, this film should go out of a long line,

North America should earn at least $150 million at the box office.

Edgar Bronfman also nodded with satisfaction. The production cost of Air Force One was US$85 million. If North America can get 150 million, the production cost will almost be recovered, and the film will be profitable enough at the box office. .

However, when I turned to what I saw in the newspaper yesterday, the box office of Casino Royale was still as high as more than 52 million US dollars in the third week of its release. Even though he just arrived in Los Angeles from Canada yesterday, Edgar Bronfman is well aware of what's been happening at MGM in the last week.

Thinking of the powerful influence that Eric Williams had shown during the whole incident without ever walking to the front of the stage at all, Edgar Bronfman was full of envy in his heart. In fact, it was also the reason why he finally made up his mind to come to Los Angeles.

Noticing the change in Edgar Bronfman's expression, Michael Eisner immediately realized his thoughts, and his originally good mood suddenly dropped a lot.

There's really nothing to be happy about.

Maybe Universal is definitely in a better position than Sony and Warner this year, but Michael Eisner has never been one of those people who likes to compare himself to guys who are inferior to him.

As a very orthodox American theme film, even if Air Force One can be successful in North America, the overseas box office will not be very good. Even if it can get 300 million in the world, it is not even as good as the North American box office of Casino Royale, let alone compared with the global box office of Casino Royale.

Consider Casino Royale, which has grossed $247 million at the North American box office in just three weeks.

Meanwhile, the film's overseas box office performance has been stronger. In the first week, 36 countries opened simultaneously, and Casino Royale won an overseas box office of 136 million US dollars. It also grossed $68.5 million overseas in the latest week.

In three weeks, Casino Royale has garnered 303 million US dollars in overseas markets. It is expected that the first stage of overseas and North American release will be roughly synchronized, and the overseas box office of Casino Royale can easily reach more than 450 million US dollars.

Although it has achieved roughly synchronization in many ticket warehouses, overseas, there are also many countries that deliberately ranked Casino Royale after the summer season for various considerations such as protecting their own movie market.

That is to say, Casino Royale will start the second phase of larger-scale release after September. By then, it will not be a problem for Casino Royale to get another 200 to 300 million US dollars at the overseas box office. This means that, before the end of the year, Casino Royale is destined to break the global box office mark of 1 billion US dollars, becoming the second consecutive film in Eric Williams' directorial career to exceed 1 billion US dollars at the global box office.

$1 billion.

In comparison, Air Force One is not worth mentioning at all.

Taking a sip of the soda that the waiter brought, Michael Eisner put aside these depressing thoughts and said to Edgar Bronfman: Ed, do you remember what we were making of '' The Scorpion King, the special effects movie derived from The Mummy series?

Of course, Edgar Bronfman nodded and said, What, is there something wrong?

No, Michael Eisner shook his head and said, I've been thinking about this for the past few weeks. Since MGM can make a special agent movie universe, maybe we can make a mummy universe around Egyptian mythology. ?

Edgar Bronfman paused, nodded immediately, and said, This is a good idea, why not. By the way, do you have a detailed plan now?

I haven't figured it out yet, but, um, it's almost there.

Speaking of this, Michael Eisner responded somewhat vaguely.

In fact, the plan in his heart was relatively mature, but it was not that simple to implement it.

The main issue is the cast.

The two consecutive Mummy series have been successful. All the leading actors in the film demanded a substantial increase in their remuneration. The two main actors and actresses were completely negotiated. At the same time, they reported a high price of 20 million US dollars plus profit sharing. Universal must be difficult. Tolerable, therefore, the salary negotiations for the third film have been in a stalemate.

The Mummy series is the only project in the world that can bring stable and lucrative profits in recent years. Michael Eisner thinks that he absolutely does not have the confidence of Eric and Pierce Brosnan. Therefore, This matter has not been resolved until now. If the leading actors cannot handle it, the so-called Mummy Universe will definitely not be able to be implemented smoothly.

Edgar Bronfman did not realize the difficulties Michael Eisner encountered, the more he seemed to think his plan was feasible, so he said: In this way, I will also be in Los Angeles for a while, everyone. Take time to discuss it together.”

Michael Eisner nodded and asked curiously, Is there something important you are going to stay in Los Angeles recently?

Yeah, I just met Doug Morris this morning. Speaking of which, maybe you can give me some advice on this matter.

Doug Morris is the CEO of Universal Music, and Michael Eisner usually deals with each other no less, asking: About the record company?

That's it...

Edgar Bronfman was about to speak when the waiter brought up the lunch for the two of them. He paused for a while, and then continued after the waiter left: I plan to continue to increase Seagram's media. The proportion of business, just right, there is news from Europe recently that Philips plans to sell Polygon records, I think this may be a good opportunity to further expand the Seagram record business.”

Michael Eisner, who had already picked up the utensils to eat, frowned slightly when Edgar Bronfman said this, put the utensils down again, and said seriously: Ed, I don't think this is a good idea. You sure Do you know the fireflyer player from Firefly Electronics? Now everyone is discussing the topic that online digital music may seriously impact physical records. If this trend comes true, buying PolyGram now is equivalent to taking over a big company at a high level. burden.

I don't think so, Edgar Bronfman shook his head and smiled: Michael, I should know more about this than you. Over the past few decades, from vinyl records to cassettes type players, and the CD records that appeared in the past few years, although every time someone said that the new playback carrier may affect the sales of records, in fact, this situation has never happened, and the record industry as a whole is still thriving. Yes. The reason why there are so many rumors this time is actually very simple. It is only because Japanese electronics manufacturers are worried that fireflyer players will affect their market position in the field of traditional portable players, so they make so many alarmist remarks.

Michael Eisner didn't know much about the record industry. After listening to Edgar Bronfman's eloquent words, he realized that he had already made up his mind. I think if Polygram wants to find a buyer, the Firefly Group should be more suitable. They want to promote the fireflyer player, and it will definitely not work without enough music rights. So, Ed, maybe you can wait a little longer. If the Firefly Group isn't keen on this at all, Seagram better be cautious.

Speaking of this, Edgar Bronfman deliberately looked left and right, lowered his voice seriously, and said, I just happened to hear some news that the last time Williams went to England, he had already been with Polaroid. Jin has been in contact with him. Although there is no news out, you should also know that if there is any news in the media, then Firefly must have almost talked with Philips, and there will be no chance for us to take action.

Michael Eisner was stunned for a moment, and asked in a cautious tone: Ed, where did you get the news, aren't you afraid that this was revealed to you by Polygon?

Haha, don't worry, this is what I finally found out. The source must have nothing to do with PolyGram. What I have to do now is to reach an agreement with Philips in advance before Firefly is officially launched. Edgar Bronff After Man finished speaking, he smiled smugly.

Michael Eisner smiled in agreement, and asked again: Then, how much will it cost to buy Poly Gold?

Around $10 billion, Edgar Bronfman said: I plan to sell the rest of the company's beverage business. By the way, you must also cooperate with Seagram, and then Seagram will issue another 5 billion. Bonds around the U.S. dollar are generally sufficient.”

The total size of Seagram Group is about 30 billion US dollars. Due to the continuous expansion in recent years, the media industry including Universal Pictures and Universal Music has accounted for more than 70% of Seagram's total market value. Buying Polygram would presumably transform Seagram into a media conglomerate.

However, Michael Eisner suddenly realized that after buying Polygram, half of the entire Seagram Group's industry will be the record business, and now another $5 billion in bonds will be issued to further improve Seagram Group's business. Debt ratio, once the record industry really declines with the rise of digital music as the media analyzes, the situation that Seagram Group will face in the future will be very bad. (To be continued.) uMore wonderful novels, welcome to visit everyone's school