America: Starting with the acquisition of MGM

Chapter 91 89. "Frozen" starts

In China, the Oscars are over, but the discussion about "Hero" has just begun.

People in China's entertainment industry expressed their comfort to "Hero".

Lu Chuan: "Actually, it doesn't matter whether you win or not. Awards have something to do with the behind-the-scenes operations, especially commercial awards like the Oscars. The media may have been too optimistic before, thinking that the peaceful theme of "Heroes" was in line with current affairs, and thus treated it High hopes, but so too for Germany’s Home.”

Zhou Xiaowen: "Winning awards is a matter of luck, especially foreign awards. There is a lot of chance. I once participated in a film festival in Spain as a judge. Shortly after the movie opened, the judge to my left made a faint snoring sound. The selection chairman was snoring loudly, but the Spanish film actually won the award."

"Of course the Oscars will be much better. After all, its judges are members of the Academy. But all in all, it's good luck for a movie to win an award. It doesn't matter if you win an award. Don't worry too much if you don't win an award."

Wang Xingdong: "Entering Oscar is equivalent to conquering a mountain. Although only one can pull out the flag in the end, being able to conquer the foot of the mountain is already a success."

"There are so many movies in the world, and it is quite good for "Hero" to be nominated for an Oscar. There are really too few movies from China that can go abroad. I admire Director Zhang very much for being able to convey Chinese culture and language to the world through a movie. It was shown to the whole world that Zhang Yimou is already a hero regardless of whether he won the award or not.

Completely opposite to the insiders, the general public almost all criticized the film for confusing plot and deserved not winning the award.

And everyone can see that Zhang Yimou desperately longs for an Oscar, and he is not a hero if he doesn't win.

The Chinese people in 2003 were far from as awakened in their thinking as they would be 20 years later, and the theory of victory and defeat and gold medalism were still the mainstream.

Especially after Hai Dao's Ang Lee won the award for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", everyone had high hopes for Zhang Yimou. The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment. The greater the disappointment, the harsher the criticism.

Different from China's monotonous scolding, Hollywood is much more lively, and the entertainment section is almost slaughtered by the Oscars.

Adrien Brody becomes king and kisses Halle Berry passionately.

"The Pianist" became the biggest winner, winning best actor, best director and best picture in one fell swoop.

Nicole Kidman finally blocked the post and made anti-war remarks.

Eric Cooper performed a heroic rescue on the red carpet and took a Vanity Fair photo with Nicole Kidman. The handsome man and beautiful woman were just like Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman back in the day.

The reporter also went to interview Tom Cruise, who congratulated his ex-wife on winning the award and expressed his gratitude to Eric for his behavior.

"The Lord of the Rings" won technical awards and a bunch of nominations, and Peter Jackson made pornographic jokes in interviews.

"Chicago" lost to the Macintosh, winning four technical awards and one for best supporting actress, but lost the best picture award.

Before the Oscars, there were only two strong contenders for best picture: "Chicago" and "The Pianist."

And very suddenly, the Polanski sexual assault case that had been dormant for many years was once again heated up, and a large number of media began to report his black material. Even if the victim said that he would not pursue the case, and that art should be separated from character, it did not help.

It’s self-evident where this dirty trick comes from. Everyone in the industry knows it’s Harvey Weinstein, because this scene is so similar to the situation faced in “Saving Private Ryan” back then.

At the 71st Oscars, "Saving Private Ryan" was the favorite to win the award. Also not long before the Oscars were about to be held, the media broke out a lot of negative information, including veterans criticizing the filming of war scenes as too fake, and the film ignoring those soldiers who died, etc. wait.

The result was that "Shakespeare in Love" was a huge hit, and Gwyneth Paltrow was banned.

But this time the method failed, and the media provided cause analysis and insider reports.

First of all, the US-Iraq War had a great impact. The whole world was paying attention to this war. The anti-war theme of "The Pianist" finally defeated the public relations behind "Chicago".

Secondly, "Chicago" suffered a sniper attack. Analysts originally predicted that "Chicago" would have a box office of at least US$3 million and would be screened until at least after the Oscars.

However, the sudden entry of "Sharknado" and "Saw" caused the box office of "Chicago" to be cut in half.

The original screening time was forced to be canceled more than a month in advance. Even though Miramax negotiated with the theaters many times and the Weinstein brothers personally came forward to persuade, it was of no use.

Theater chains have to consider profits. When profits are too low, let alone the Weinstein brothers, Disney will lose face.

The early draw naturally led to a further reduction in influence. There are more than 6000 Oscar judges with branches all over the world, and not all of them follow Harvey Weinstein's rules.

How do the judges who can’t see the film choose? Of course, "The Pianist" has the upper hand.

Anyway, the failure of "Chicago" added to the feud between MGM and the Weinstein brothers.

In Beverly Hills, a black car parked on the side of the road, and Charles got out of the car with his intern brother Tony.

Both of them were carrying filming equipment, and their occupations were self-evident. They were reporters from the Los Angeles Times, and they came here specifically to cover Nicole Kidman.

As an experienced entertainment reporter, Charles looked around, pointed directly at a place and said: "Go there, this is a good location, everything that happens at the gate cannot escape our eyes."

The younger brother Tony moved the equipment over obediently, but when he got closer, he discovered that there was a camera hidden behind the tree.

"Boy! What are you doing? That's my place!"

Not far away, West, who is also an entertainment reporter, ran over while eating a burger.

The younger brother Tony looked back, and Charles immediately came up to negotiate: "Brother, I am Charles Wesson from the Los Angeles Times. If you are in this industry, you should have heard of my name. Nicole Kidman is my old client. Here It’s my fixed position, you stepped on the line!”

West finished the hamburger in several bites and stood in front of the machine without giving in: "Don't do this, I don't know anything about Charles Wesson. I only know that I came to this position first. If you want it, You should have been earlier."

"Young man, I don't like your tone. It seems that you are a newcomer and do not understand the rules of this industry. But if you want to develop your career, you'd better follow my advice."

"What! Are you threatening me? Nicole Kidman's photos are worth more than $300 now. If you want, give me the money or get out of my place!"

"Boy, do you want to fight?"

"Old guy, it's you who are looking for trouble. If you want to take action, I will beat you until you can't find anything!"

The two sides quarreled at each other for several minutes, getting more and more angry, waiting for the other side to make the first move and then blackmail them severely.

But journalists are not smart. It is okay to curse, but it is absolutely not okay to strike first.

At this moment, younger brother Tony pointed at the door and shouted: "Come out! Come out!"

The two of them got into the mood instantly, picked up the machine and started filming wildly.

"Tony, drive quickly and catch up with her!"

"Okay, but didn't you say that Nicole Kidman's car is a Rolls-Royce? Why is a Lamborghini coming out?"

"Don't worry about it, none of these big stars have a bunch of luxury cars."

"That's right." Seeing Charles chasing the Lamborghini further and further away, West, who was alone and lagging behind, couldn't help but feel annoyed. He was still too young and couldn't do this job alone. Unfortunately, it was too late to chase him now.

He sighed, and just as he was thinking about whether to stay here or stay with other celebrities, he saw a Rolls-Royce drive out of the gate.

West was stunned for a moment, then looked at the direction in which the Lamborghini left, feeling suddenly ecstatic.

"Hahahaha. I'm going to post it, I'm going to post it, this message is worth at least $2000."

Turning the steering wheel and pressing the accelerator to the bottom, West quickly followed the Rolls-Royce.

After talking to Spielberg that night, things were pretty much settled.

Then the relevant departments of MGM and DreamWorks began to connect, draft the specific details of the contract, and then go through the legal department to ensure that there would be no traps that would be detrimental to both parties.

On Thursday morning, Eric received a call from Spielberg. In the morning, the three giants of DreamWorks would come to MGM together to complete the final step of the process.

At 9:30 in the morning, a Buick commercial vehicle parked in front of the MGM building.

Stepping out of the car were Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen.

The three of them have different positions at DreamWorks. For example, Spielberg is best at live-action movies.

Jeffrey Katzenberg served as the executive director of Disney. He focused on animated films and was known as an animation wizard. He single-handedly led the production of well-known works such as "The Little Mermaid", "Beauty and the Beast" and "Aladdin".

David Geffen focuses on music. The rapid rise of famous bands or musicians such as the Eagles, Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, and Guns N' Roses is inseparable from him.

The full English name of DreamWorks in 2003 was Dreamworks SKG, S stands for Spielberg, K stands for Katzenberg, and G stands for Geffen.

Seeing the three of them, the hostess and Volvo, who had been waiting in front of the building for a long time, came out to greet them and guided them into the conference room.

In order to show respect, both Cooper and his son attended today's signing ceremony. With the arrival of the Big Three, the two sides completed the meeting and shook hands.

Just like a state visit, things have been settled privately, and signing is just a matter of process.

In just half an hour, when the names of several people fell down one after another, the law in black and white took effect, and MGM and DreamWorks Animation officially formed a strategic partnership.

The two parties signed a contract to produce five animated feature films, with DreamWorks retaining 5% of the investment share for each film.

If DreamWorks does not participate in the investment, it will be fully owned by MGM, and DreamWorks will only play a production role.

This partnership is not that DreamWorks will sell its animation department to MGM, but it will put MGM's projects at the highest priority, and other work can still be taken on, but the premise is that it does not affect MGM. s project.

"Jeffrey, regarding the "Frozen" project, the character design has been basically completed, but the script and scene design will still take some time. You can carry out pre-production, and then MGM will provide a complete script. Make it easier to get started with DreamWorks.”

Katzenberg nodded slightly, then suggested: "Steven has already told me that this movie is adapted from Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale "The Snow Queen" and made into a full 3D model. This is no problem, DreamWorks can do it. "

"But I also have a suggestion, that is, I hope DreamWorks can participate in the creation process of the script. There is no other meaning. After all, we will also invest 10%. We all hope to make the first work well."

Katzenberg said it more tactfully, but Eric could understand what the other person was worried about.

He said with a smile: "Jeffrey, you don't have to do this. I like to speak directly so that we can communicate better."

"I understand what you mean. You are worried that MGM will be like Disney and cannot get rid of the old habits and old models of the past, right?"

"Yes, among MGM's animated films in recent years, only one, "Pink Panther", is outstanding, but it also imitated the path of "Tom and Jerry" and "Drewby"."

"But I can tell you clearly that now is not the era of Kerkorian. Young people will use their young minds to tell a good story about the past. "Frozen" will only follow the trend and will not go backwards. .”

Why did Eric say that? Because Disney’s operations in the animation field in recent years have provided living negative examples to the entire industry.

Since the rise of DreamWorks and Pixar, especially the birth of "Toy Story," the first 3D animated feature film, the entire industry has undergone a major reshuffle, officially entering the 2D era from the 3D era.

But how did Disney do it?

Yes, it goes against the trend. Not only does it still refuse to use 3D, it also says that animated characters made with computer special effects are pitiful.

At the same time, Disney is still telling stories the same way they did decades ago, but the audience is no longer the same audience it was then.

The new generation of viewers who think about princes, princesses and parents simply don’t buy it. It’s not just using a few new memes or saying a few buzzwords to call it a trend.

So "Cinderella 2" failed miserably, and "Xingyin Island" also failed miserably. Disney is like an old man, trying hard to learn new ideas from young people.

He himself thinks it is very fashionable, but young people think it is nondescript.

DreamWorks is naturally worried that MGM will not be able to change its thinking, and when the movie is released, it will be equivalent to dragging itself down.

The two parties talked until noon, and then had lunch in the MGM cafeteria. If they hadn't seen all the bosses there, they would have definitely rushed to Spielberg for an autograph and a photo.

"Steven, try this, you're going to love this dish," Eric said, pointing to the sweet and sour pork.

Ever since he traveled through time, he sent people to Chinatown to hire a chef in his 50s, who was paid a high salary of US$2 and specialized in Chinese cuisine.

And it's not the American version of Chinese food. He's used to the taste from the other side of the country, so he really can't fall in love with the American version.

When the master chef first came, MGM employees saw that their boss liked to eat it, so they were naturally eager to try it. However, they were used to the American version and were not used to the authentic Chinese cuisine.

But as time went by and a few months later, the master chef became more and more popular and successfully won over everyone's taste.

Now his meal volume is doubled or even tripled compared to when he first arrived, but the high salary of US$2 still makes this middle-aged man smile from ear to ear with joy.

After lunch, the Coopers and his sons sent the Big Three of DreamWorks out.

As a result, as soon as they walked out of the door and took a few steps, a large number of reporters rushed out from the surrounding corners, among flowers, behind trees, and beside trash cans, surrounding several people.

Just when everyone thought that the reporter was going to ask about the cooperation between MGM and DreamWorks, they took the opportunity to advertise "Frozen".

These paparazzi have already thrust the microphone into Eric's face, almost stuffing it into his mouth.

"Mr. Cooper, are you and Nicole Kidman dating?"

　My colleague's wife was diagnosed with cancer and he took a vacation. Now I am the only one responsible for the office. It is much busier than before, but I will still update it normally. Generally speaking, there is one update on weekdays and two updates on weekends, with additional updates depending on the situation.

　　

　

(End of this chapter)