Hollywood Hunter

In the first-class cabin of a Boeing 747 from Tokyo to Los Angeles, Michael Ovitz has spent the 12-hour flight through various materials.

Initially trying to get Sony to buy MCA, after Lou Vasalman offered a high price of 8 billion US dollars, Sony, whose current market value is only more than 14 billion US dollars, chose to refuse, and Michael Ovitz turned his target to Colombia.

Coca-Cola happens to also intend to give up non-core business, and the two sides have officially opened negotiations.

The time is January 7th.

Michael Ovitz led the negotiating team to assist Sony’s acquisition of Colombia in Tokyo for two days and returned today.

Now, the young man has set off to Australia to shoot "Batman", but these days, Hollywood seems to be still revolving around Daenerys Entertainment. Several materials that Michael Ovitz looked through along the way were also related to Daenerys Entertainment.

In the past year, as of December 31, 1988, the total box office generated in the US market was 4.69 billion US dollars.

If calculated by the deadline of December 31 and divided by distributors, Hollywood’s highest grossing box office this year is Disney, with a total of $531 million and a market share of 11.3%.

After Disney, the other Paramount, Warner, and Universal have roughly 10% market share.

Among them, Daenerys Entertainment’s self-published "Scream", "Steel Magnolia", "Death Poetry Society", "Rain Man" and the additional "Avilla Fright", as of December 31 , The cumulative box office is only 256 million US dollars, and the market share is 5.5%.

From this data alone, Daenerys Entertainment seems to have nothing special.

However, the entire Hollywood actually understands that this method of calculation is completely deceiving.

If calculated by the producer, Daenerys Entertainment’s seven movies this year, "When Harry Meets Sally", "Pulp Fiction", "Instinct", "Scream", "Steel Magnolia", " "Death Poetry Society" and "Rain Man", as of December 31, the cumulative box office reached 730 million US dollars.

730 million US dollars will immediately increase Daenerys Entertainment’s market share from 5.5% to 15.6%.

What is even more can not be ignored is that this accounted for 15.6% of the market share of 730 million US dollars in the box office, only 7 movies produced. In comparison, Disney's $531 million box office figure implies 15 movies, one of which is "When Harry Meets Sally" produced by Daenerys Entertainment.

Moreover, if calculated according to Daenerys Entertainment’s total North American box office estimates for these films, the total box office of the seven films is likely to reach a terrifying US$900 million. 900 million US dollars, which is close to 20% of the US annual box office market share.

It is conceivable that if this situation continues, Daenerys Entertainment is likely to become an industry hegemon like MGM in the golden age of Hollywood.

The independent film company, which has only been up for two years, has shown such a strong development potential. If it were other circumstances, Michael Ovitz would definitely be stunned. But now, this powerful company is in opposition to CAA.

Michael Ovitz does not regret CAA's contribution to the "Rain Man" incident. He once told his clients that if necessary, he could kill for them. It is precisely because CAA unconditionally stands on the side of its customers and protects the interests of customers as much as possible that more and more top stars are willing to join this talent agency.

Since you can't be a friend, then be an enemy.

Daenerys Entertainment is so strong, it will definitely seriously damage the interests of traditional Hollywood big film companies. A few days ago, after his attempt to reconcile with Daenerys Entertainment was rejected, Ovitz tested the directors of major Hollywood film companies. He wanted to know if the seven major players could unite to suppress Daenerys. entertainment.

The answer is no.

Among the seven major players, Warner is cooperating with Daenerys Entertainment in "Batman" and "Flying Through the Innocence". At this time, it is impossible to be an enemy of Daenerys Entertainment.

Disney also holds a director's contract with Simon Westeros. Judging from the box office results of "Running Laura" and "Pulp Fiction", the film directed by Simon Westero has the potential to exceed 100 million at the box office. Big, Disney is obviously reluctant to confront Daenerys Entertainment and lose a project that is likely to exceed 100 million at the box office.

Then there is Fox. The collaboration of the three consecutive films "Butterfly Effect", "Reaper Is Coming" and "Instinct", plus the origins of the Murdoch family and the family of Westeros girlfriend Johnston who are Australians, Fox The probability of confronting Simon Westeros is also very low.

Going to the third of the seven, it has become an illusion to work together to suppress Daenerys Entertainment.

For the remaining Paramount, Universal, Columbia and MGM, Paramount has been doing very well in the past two years and has no intention of being an enemy of Daenerys Entertainment. Colombia is busy selling itself and has no intention of doing so.

MGM was placed in the "Rain Man", but with this kind of thought, but in the current state of MGM, it is completely powerless.

In the last world, Michael Ovitz knew that the "Scream" rating incident was mainly driven by Lou Vasalman behind the scenes. But for some reason, Universal didn't take any other actions.

All in all, it is impossible for the seven major Hollywood studios to join forces to suppress the rise of Daenerys Entertainment. Outside of the Seventh Congress, Orion's second and third-tier film companies have no capital to confront Daenerys Entertainment.

Michael Ovitz also understands that, in the final analysis, there is still a lack of profit drive. In other words, although Daenerys Entertainment's share of Hollywood's box office is very large, it has not yet reached the point where other film companies feel unable to survive.

In this case, traditional Hollywood forces can only counterattack instinctively in certain areas.

For example, the next awards season.

Oscar statuettes represent interests. In order to win awards, traditional forces will definitely suppress Daenerys Entertainment.

In addition, it is probably a project that may be successful directly from Daenerys Entertainment.

Thinking of this, Michael Ovitz bowed his head again and found the two scripts "Rocket Expert" and "Firebird Attack" from a pile of materials.

In the last few days, Ovitz has read the two scripts several times, and has also inquired in detail about the process of Paramount getting the two scripts.

Paramount President Sidney Garnis bought Simon Westero's secretary, thus cutting off the two scripts. This kind of thing is actually not uncommon in Hollywood, and it can't be said to be glamorous.

However, Ovitz felt that this matter seemed not as simple as it seemed.

Because Simon Westero’s reaction was too calm, Daenerys Entertainment only fired the secretary afterwards, and did not make any attempt to redeem these two projects. Compare Daenerys What the entertainment and CAA did in the "Rain Man" incident is abnormal.

Michael Ovitz has considered many possibilities.

Or is Simon Westero confident enough that these two projects will not succeed in the hands of others?

Or is this a trap thrown by Simon Westero?

It's just that these two guesses don't seem so reliable.

Michael Ovitz has always believed that as long as the film company is serious enough and devotes enough resources to a project, then the film cannot fail too much, at least it is difficult to fail.

In addition, because a movie has too many links to go through from script to film, Hollywood is unlikely to have a script that is inherently destined to fail. In most cases, it is just the creator who messed up the script during the filming process.

I don't know how long it took, the sound of the announcement in the cabin reminded the plane that it was about to land, and Michael Ovitz woke up from thinking.

Perhaps, I am really a bit suspicious.

Daenerys Entertainment currently has two comics projects in the film being developed, namely "Batman" and "Angel Godslayer". Warren Beatty, under the CAA, is also currently negotiating with Disney about a comic adaptation screenplay "The Supreme Detective".

Then, look at the "Rocket Expert" in your hand, maybe the comic change movie is really the trend in the next few years.

As for "Firebird Attack", he personally promoted Tom Cruise's appearance in "High Ambition". Now, such a film trying to replicate the successful case of "High Aspirations", as long as it is done seriously, it is obviously impossible to fail too much.

Moreover, it is said that Matt Dillon, represented by Jonathan Friedman, is trying to win the actor of "Firebird Attack." The relationship between Jonathan Friedman and Simon Westero is self-evident, which is enough to rule out the possibility that the script is a trap.

When the plane began to land, Michael Ovitz packed up the information in front of him, fastened his seat belt, and had made up his mind to let the CAA artists try their best to fight for the dominance of these two projects. Cruise should be reluctant to repeat similar roles in "Top Rising Clouds", so the actor in "Rocket Expert" is still very suitable for him.

So thinking, got off the plane all the way.

Just sitting down in the saloon that the company dispatched to pick up the plane, Ovitz’s assistant told him something that had happened suddenly in the past two days.

Kirsty Avery, a leading TV drama actress under CAA, has suddenly announced that she has moved to WMA in recent days. Kirsty Avery's reputation in the TV industry is still very large. If a star of this level insists on hopping, it is usually difficult for the agency to retain it.

CAA didn't care, and simply let the other party leave.

Then, just this morning, Daenerys Entertainment suddenly announced the news that Kirsty Ally officially joined the crew of "Flying by the Innocence", replacing Meg Ryan’s role as the number one female Molly Ubud. Rica.

After listening to the assistant's narration, Ovitz, who has always been well-trained, couldn't help but yell in the car.

Ovitz doesn't care if it's just a star hopping.

However, Daenerys Entertainment's sudden arrival may send Hollywood a very unfavorable signal to CAA: If you want to join Daenerys Entertainment's films, you must quit CAA first.

It is conceivable that if this view spreads, if Daenerys Entertainment's box office miracle continues, CAA will definitely face a brain drain disaster.