Hollywood Hunter

Time Warner headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, New York.

The time is December 16.

In the meeting room, Time Warner Group’s board of directors, core management and important shareholders gathered together, and the dispute has lasted for a whole afternoon.

When Terry Semel opposed Gerald Levin's request to immediately take over Time Warner Group, Levin immediately pointed the finger at Semel.

"Regarding DC, Terry, this is definitely one of the biggest mistakes made by the film department. We could have owned the entire DC movie universe because of your own stupidity. The copyrights of Superman, Batman, and Wonder Woman are all owned by Daenerys With entertainment in our hands, we don’t even have the initiative to intervene in production."

Terry Semel is the chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Pictures and does not have direct jurisdiction over DC Comics.

Seriously, I shared the DC movie universe with Daenerys Entertainment. Except for Superman, who was bought at a high price by the other party in advance, the group leader Rose personally made the decision. However, Terry Semel could not push the responsibility on Steve Rose at this time. At the moment, the blow to Rose’s prestige is tantamount to weakening their senior executives of Rose’s takeover of Time Warner’s power. possibility.

"Jell, I cannot agree with you at all. DC has been established for more than half a century. If the DC movie universe is so easy to build, why has no one had similar ideas in the past few decades? So, with Daenerys Entertainment in The cooperation on the DC Cinema Universe project is one of the smartest decisions made by our film department, and it is by no means a mistake. In recent years, the DC Cinema Universe project has contributed almost half of the profits of the Warner Film industry."

Gerald Levin did not back down, staring at Terry Semel and said, "But we could have gotten more, didn't we?"

Terry Semmel met Levin's gaze and said with a cold expression: "If you plan to mess around, I have nothing to say."

"Are I messing around, everyone should know," Gerald Levin said, scanning for a week, turning his eyes back to Semel, and said: "If you lose the three superman, Batman and Wonder Woman The copyright of the heroes is understandable, but what did you do afterwards? If I remember correctly, in the original plan, the DC Cinematic Universe should be produced twice a year. What about now? It's all Simon Wei You can do what Strow says. And, in order to cater to Daenerys Entertainment, you also deliberately suppressed the development of other superhero movies. If I were to control the film department, I would never let this happen. Not only In this way, after the success of the DC Cinematic Universe, Green Lantern, Aquaman, Shazam, Martian Manhunter, etc. can actually start preparations, and the copyright is still in our hands. As a result, you have nothing to do with it."

After Gerald Levin's words, many people in the conference room couldn't help but nod their heads.

Simon re-adjusted the development rhythm of the DC Cinematic Universe, and delayed the original two-year development plan to two-year three or even one one a year, which caused dissatisfaction among many senior executives within Time Warner, even if it was history. Tiff Rose himself didn't quite agree.

Only because Daenerys Entertainment has too much initiative in the DC Cinematic Universe project, coupled with Simon's own strength, things are finalized.

At this time, Gerald Levin suddenly brought up old things and talked about a large number of other DC projects that were completely copyrighted by Time Warner but could not be developed, which immediately resonated with hatred from the top.

Terry Semel noticed the expressions of the people around him, his mind moved slightly, and said to Gerald Levin: "I think you should understand that the excessive development of copyright will only cause the audience to quickly become bored, Jair. Moreover, the DC Cinematic Universe project involves our contract with Daenerys Entertainment. I don’t think it’s just a few words from you that will make Simon Westero make concessions."

"We have the distribution rights for the five major superhero movies that have been developed, and the four series are in our hands." Gerald Levin obviously considered this matter seriously and immediately said: "If Daenerys Entertainment does not want these projects If they are thrown into the unpopular period, if they want to get a timely share settlement, they must make a concession."

Big studios delaying the box office share of independent film companies are in fact like false reporting of distribution costs. It is a long-standing Hollywood practice. This practice is often used as a ‘weapon’ for movie giants to suppress competitors.

The five superhero movie series involved in the DC Cinematic Universe, Superman, Batman, Wonder Woman, Flash, and Steel Bones. Except for the "Wonder Woman" series, which is distributed by Daenerys Entertainment, other projects are distributed. Warner Bros. Pictures is responsible.

If you want Kadanilis Entertainment’s neck, Warner can indeed take measures such as ‘giving junk schedules’, ‘using Hollywood books to falsely report budgets’, and ‘delaying the box office and other channels’ revenue sharing settlement’.

But, can Simon Westero compromise by doing so?

Terry Semel almost immediately thought of the "Bodyguard" soundtrack incident of the previous two years.

Because Alista Records, which was responsible for the distribution of the original soundtrack of "Bodyguard", tried to swallow up the record revenue, Daenerys Entertainment directly stopped the distribution of the original soundtrack, completely disregarding a record that was expected to reach tens of millions of sales. The huge potential loss that may be brought.

The interests involved in the DC Cinematic Universe of course far exceed those of the original soundtrack of "Bodyguard". However, based on Terry Semel’s knowledge of Simon, he felt that if Warner dared to play with his wrist on the DC Cinematic Universe project, it would still be possible. Daenerys Entertainment will usher in the toughest counterattack.

The thought that Terry Semel had just started was to guide Gerald Levin to say the words just now.

Now that the goal was achieved, he didn't bother to talk too much nonsense with the other party.

Anyway, today's meeting is destined to have no results.

Gerald Levin saw Terry Semel no longer refuting himself, but did not stop there, and continued: "As long as everyone agrees that I will take care of this company, I will immediately start the entertainment with Daenerys The film department may be very dependent on the DC movie universe. Daenerys Entertainment is actually the same. Moreover, even if the worst result occurs, the two sides are temporarily stalemate, and what we lose is only Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman. It’s just a superhero. Without these three superheroes, DC would still be able to develop superheroes such as Flash, Steel Skeleton, and Green Lantern."

In the conference room, Robert Daly, another executive of the Warner department who belongs to the same camp as Terry Semmel, couldn’t stand it. He mocked: “Gerald, you don’t even know that losing the Big Three means DC what."

Gerald Levin was suddenly interrupted, a little displeased: "Of course I understand. I'm just saying that Time Warner can have more initiative and share more benefits in this matter, instead of being constantly affected. The restraint of a hairy boy in his twenties."

After a whole afternoon of unproductive quarrels among the senior officials of Time Warner in the conference room of the East Coast headquarters, on the West Coast of the United States, today happened to be another blockbuster film "Jurassic Park" at the end of Daenerys Entertainment's end. Premiere.

Hollywood Walk of Fame.

In the afternoon on the West Coast, a large number of fans gathered near the Chinese Theater. Daenerys Entertainment was not stingy in the announcement of "Jurassic Park". A long red carpet was spread outside the theater.

At six o'clock, guests began to appear one after another.

Fans on both sides of the road called out the names of Robert Redford, Julia Roberts, Robert De Niro, Nicole Kidman, Bruce Willis, Demi Moore and more.

When the time was approaching seven o'clock, Steven Spielberg, Sam Neal, Renee Russell and other "Jurassic Park" major creators appeared, which once again caused commotion and screams from fans.

The red carpet ceremony ended and the film premiere officially opened.

In addition to a large number of celebrities and media reporters, hundreds of lucky fans were invited to watch this special effects dinosaur blockbuster tonight.

When many people in this city spend an ordinary night as usual, the audience in the Chinese Theater experienced a wonderful visual journey that lasted two hours.

Even though the DC movie universe project in recent years has made many audiences feel the great charm of movie CG special effects, however, when ancient creatures that could only exist in books, albums or imagined appear on the big screen, everyone still feels the same Very shocking.

The next day was Thursday. Out of confidence in "Jurassic Park," Daenerys Entertainment lifted the ban on media reviews the day before the film was released.

The "Hollywood Reporter" praised "Jurassic Park" as "a monster movie in a monster movie. The film once again made people appreciate the powerful charm of film technology."

The Los Angeles Times also praised ‘Spielberg once again created a milestone in a monster movie after Jaws. The resurrected dinosaurs in "Jurassic Park" are shocking, awe-inspiring and exciting.

In addition to "Hollywood Reporter" and "Los Angeles Times", other mainstream media such as "Variety", "New York Times", "Washington Post" and other mainstream media have almost given "Jurassic Park" unanimous praise. The comprehensive media score reached 9.3.

After several months of intensive publicity by Daenerys Entertainment, the word-of-mouth confirms that the audience's expectations for "Jurassic Park" have reached the highest level.

On the same day, along with a lot of news about Jurassic Park in the media, another piece of news that attracted Hollywood's close attention appeared in the New York Times.

The headline of the news is "Time Warner or Daenerys may renegotiate the DC Cinematic Universe contract."

The article begins with the usual “inside sources” breaking the news, telling that Time Warner’s vice chairman Gerald Levine said in a high-level meeting yesterday that Time Warner is working with Daenerys on the DC Cinema Universe. It has always been too passive. Levin will re-negotiate cooperation with Daenerys Entertainment on the DC Cinema Universe after taking over the company.

Moreover, if Daenerys Entertainment does not agree to make enough concessions, Time Warner would rather shelve the development of the Big Three projects of "Superman", "Batman" and "Wonder Woman", throw away Daenerys Entertainment and use its own There are superhero copyrights to create a DC movie universe exclusive to Time Warner.

As of "Wonder Woman" in the summer, DC Cinema Universe has only released four films, but these four films have already generated more than $10 billion in gross revenue in the box office, video tapes, peripheral products and other channels. It is conceivable that the full implementation of the entire plan will bring huge benefits to the two companies.

Therefore, the article in the "New York Times" ignited public opinion almost immediately. A large number of media reporters called the executives of the two companies to find out more inside stories. Countless fans of the DC Cinema Universe also responded by phone, letters and emerging Internet platforms. This incident expresses strong concern.

Faced with the sudden articles of the "New York Times" and the inquiries from the media, and of course the downturn in Time Warner's stock price after the opening of the day, Gerald Levin could only try to explain that he was not stranded. The intention of the Big Three project, and accused the "New York Times" of misinterpreting their remarks.

However, this is tantamount to acknowledging the fact that the other party intends to renegotiate with Daenerys Entertainment.

On the other hand, the Eaglet portal published a personal response from Daenerys Entertainment CEO Amy Pascal in the headline that morning. Pascal said that he did not understand the details of the matter, but Daenerys Entertainment Regrettably to Gerald Levin’s remarks trying to disrupt the good cooperative relationship between the two companies.

However, under this very official response on the Eaglet portal, there was also another piece of news next to it, about the latest video sales data of the "Spiderman" animated film in the first half of the year.

The 2D superhero animation film released during Easter in April, as of December, the global sales of video tapes have exceeded 8 million boxes. In the next few years, it will only be a matter of time before long-tail sales achieve 10 million sales.

As long as you are not a fool, you can realize Daenerys Entertainment's attitude when you see these two news that are close to each other.

Daenerys Entertainment is not afraid of getting into a deadlock with Time Warner.

Without the DC movie universe, Daenerys Entertainment can develop the Marvel movie universe in a blink of an eye.

However, if the Big Three of DC superheroes, Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, are lost, can the DC Cinema Universe be called the DC Cinema Universe?

Because of the sudden article in the New York Times, this day is destined to be very lively.

After the Eaglet portal responded, other online media on the same network platform also expressed their views on this matter.

Many media believe that Daenerys Entertainment is more likely to bluff.

Just looking at the huge profits from the previous DC movie universe projects that have been released, Simon Westeros should not fall out with Warner as long as he is a little sensible.

The DC Cinema Universe is very important to Warner, and the same is true for Daenerys Entertainment.

After all, who can guarantee that the start of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will definitely achieve the success of the DC Cinema Universe?

Moreover, DC Cinema Universe is undoubtedly Daenerys Entertainment's long-term series with the lowest risk and the most stable return. Apart from this plan, Daenerys Entertainment has no other similar heavyweight super blockbuster.

There are only two kinds of movies in Hollywood, DC Cinematic Universe and other movies. This kind of statement is not just talking.

Although Daenerys Entertainment has had no shortage of blockbuster movies in recent years, there is still no revenue volume that can reach the DC Cinema Universe project. Even the "Home Alone" series is far from enough to compete with DC movie universe films.

Just as the outside world was talking about it, on Friday, December 18th, "Jurassic Park" officially registered on the North American theater line with an opening scale of 3,153 screens.