Hollywood Hunter

At the end of the morning's work, Simon had a meal with several group executives such as Amy Pascal and Mark Belford in the management restaurant at noon.

What everyone talked about at the dinner table was about Disney's recent turmoil.

The thing is still to start with the "Behind the Scenes" directed by Robert Redford last year. Simon used a small trick to deliberately push this project to Disney. The film eventually cost 40 million US dollars, but the final result was Not satisfactory. As a result, Disney not only gave up the high-quality schedule at the end of last year, but also almost lost it to the schedule cemetery in January and February.

Finally, under the mediation of Radford's persistence, "Behind the Scenes" was released on April 1 at the same time as "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3".

Unfortunately, compared to "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3" and the subsequent hit "Detective Plane", the box office of "Behind the Scenes" was only $6.19 million in the first week.

Not only that, but due to the impact of two blockbuster films in the same period, when the film was rushed around the release, the total North American box office of "Behind the Scenes" was only 16.35 million U.S. dollars. The box office share barely offset Disney's announcement costs, considering the local box office losses. The bleak prospects for overseas and peripheral releases triggered by "Behind the Scenes" will bring Disney at least $30 million in net losses.

The failure of "Behind the Scenes" can be said to be a microcosm of Disney's increasingly bleak scene in the past two years, and it has also become a fuse for the outbreak of conflicts within the management of this veteran film studio.

In 1984, they jointly took over Disney. Until now, Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg, who were both under Barry Diller, worked together very well in the early days. Through the high-concept film model inherited from Barry Diller and To explore the commercial potential of Disney's classic animation, Disney was prospering in the second half of the 1980s. It once launched "Three Dads and One Baby", "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", "The Supreme Detective" and other annual lists. Ten blockbuster films, the re-screening of Disney classic animated films and the distribution of video tapes have repeatedly brought huge profits to Disney.

Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg, one is the CEO of Disney, and the other is the chief executive of several studios under Disney. Because of differences in corporate management and personal compensation, the two Shi has already accumulated deep contradictions unknowingly.

For example, in 1988, after Disney experienced a bumper harvest prospect, Michael Eisner received a bonus of 6.8 million US dollars. However, because of the special accounting rules that the studios of the major film companies deliberately made losses in order to avoid taxation, Jeffrey Ka Senberg's bonus number is a pitiful'zero', and the contradiction between the two parties has been made public once.

According to the original agreement, in 1994, that is, this year, Disney's second incumbent, the current president Frank Wells's contract expires, and Katzenberg will become the successor of Disney's president. However, Michael Eisner didn't mean to let Katzenberg take over as the president. Instead, he quietly discussed with President C, Michael Ovitz, who is also his neighbor and friend, about joining Disney.

The Hollywood circle was small, and the news spread unexpectedly, and Katzenberg went directly to Eisner to confront him.

It just so happened that "Behind the Scenes" was lost at the box office. Michael Eisner did not hesitate to buckle "Behind the Scenes" and Disney’s sluggish film performance in the last two years to Jeffrey Katzenberg. As a result, the executive who had worked for Disney for ten years angrily announced his departure.

In past history, the conflict between Eisner and Katzenberg also broke out this year, but the fuse was the accidental death of Frank Wells in a ski helicopter crash during Easter 1994. At that time, Disney's situation was much better than this time and space, but Eisner still did not want to let Katzenberg take over as president, which eventually led to Katzenberg's departure. Disney lost Katzenberg, and the movie business in the second half of the 1990s. The slippery **** eventually led to Michael Eisner being forced to step down.

Now, because of Simon this big butterfly, Frank Wells has not suffered a helicopter accident, but the Disney president’s contract will still expire in August this year, and Wells is 62 years old this year and has not been renewed. About the intention of planning to retire early to enjoy life, Disney still needs to re-select a new company president.

Then there were recent changes.

Disney’s management turmoil is largely due to the rise of Daenerys Entertainment.

The current Daenerys Entertainment is similar to the Disney in Simon’s memory twenty years later. At that time, Dibao through the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Disney Animation, a live-action adaptation of fairy tales, and several ace in the Star Wars series, almost every year at the annual box office in North America. Half of the share of the top ten list was shared, and other major Hollywood film companies were suppressed to no arrogance. In the end, the seven major film companies became six, the six major became five major, Lionsgate, Summit and other seemingly rising second-tier film companies, and more It was a flash in the pan.

Relying on his own prophetic advantage, Simon has now done this, and, by careful comparison, Daenerys Entertainment is now stronger than Disney in Simon's memory at its peak. The result of this strength is that the living space of other major Hollywood studios and second- and third-tier film companies has been continuously compressed, and a series of domino effects have been triggered.

Once Disney in the early 1990s, relying on blockbuster animations such as "Beauty and the Beast" and "The Lion King" and blockbuster films such as "Pretty Girl" and "The Supreme Detective", it can be said to be in the limelight in Hollywood.

Because of the emergence of Simon, many blockbuster projects that originally belonged to Disney were acquired by Daenerys Entertainment. In addition, other films developed by Disney did not perform well, which led to the rapid rise of Disney in the late 1980s. In the last two years, it has gone downhill.

The entire Hollywood has the same fate, obviously not just the Disney family.

The seven giants of Hollywood at this stage can be described as vibrant at this time. One is Daenerys Entertainment and the other is Time Warner Group. Even MGM, which is personally supported by Simon, is still in the stage of recovery. As for the remaining four Disney, Paramount, Columbia, and Fox, in recent years, they have found that the Hollywood film market has been recovering rapidly, but business is getting worse and worse.

As for Miramax and New Line, which should have shined in the original time and space in recent years, they completely disappeared from the field of vision of Hollywood circles.

Several old Hollywood studios have existed for more than half a century, and it is very difficult to completely eliminate them.

Simon's short-term goal is to knock down a few Disney companies into the actual second-tier film companies. For the time being, Hollywood only needs Daenerys and Time Warner to stand side by side.

Tolerating Time Warner’s side by side with itself is due to the DC movie universe on the one hand, and antitrust considerations on the other. After all, if there is a super-strong pattern in Hollywood, then the other companies will only point all their fingers at Daenerys entertainment. Now, with one more Time Warner, it can also share a portion of the firepower.

However, this is only temporary.

Simon’s ultimate goal is still the tripartite he has considered. The two big tripods are still Daenerys and Time Warner. The last one is either MGM, which Simon himself has supported, or Bessie, who has quietly planted the seeds. Da Entertainment, the rest of the other big players, will truly become a second line that cannot stand up at all, or even disappear completely.

In the management restaurant of Daenerys Studios.

Nancy Brill’s question interrupted Simon’s thoughts: "Boss, do you think Michael Ovitz will choose to join Disney?"

Simon nodded: "It should be, but this may not be good news for Disney."

Everyone saw it. Robert Iger, who came to the West Coast yesterday, said: "Eisner and Ovitz are very good friends. I think the two should work together well."

Simon shrugged and said: "In the absence of direct use of conflict, personal friendships can be easily maintained. The key issue is that Eisner and Ovitz are both strong characters who are used to being top leaders. Even Katzenberg, who is actually not that strong, can't tolerate it. How can he allow Ovitz to enter Disney to share his power?"

Amy asked: "In this case, why does Eisner ask Ovitz to join Disney?"

Simon said: "It's very simple. He needs a strong enough excuse to squeeze Katzenberg out of Disney. If promoted from within Disney, it will be difficult for everyone except Katzenberg to convince the crowd. Ovitz created C, the implementation of the project packaging mechanism, and a large number of top Hollywood stars as behind-the-scenes fans, these can be reasons for Eisner to convince the board of directors."

Amy asked, "What then?"

Simon replied: "Then Eisner should find that in order to consolidate his power, he had to find a way to remove his former good friends from the company."

Nancy glanced at a few people around him suddenly and said: "I said, our boss is a very distrustful guy, always thinking about the worst."

Simon looked at his little senior executive: "Should we make a bet?"

Nancy is not to be outdone: "What about the stakes?"

Simon smiled and said: "I happened to buy a batch of Mi-24 helicopters some time ago. If Ovitz does not fight Eisner after joining Disney, I will give you one."

Nancy didn't feel that she shouldn't mess with the murder weapon that had swept away tens of thousands of African soldiers in Rwanda not long ago. She nodded and said, "Okay, I lost. Please have a meal."

Simon suddenly expressed dissatisfaction with such an insincere condition that you could even speak out.

Everyone laughed.

Nancy did not show any weakness in front of her boss, saying: "Your bet is yours. Of course, I have to open my own terms. Moreover, you didn't say that our two bets must be equal."

Simon raised his hand depressedly, indicating that he agreed.

In fact, when talking about Disney's infighting, everyone just thought of Daenerys Entertainment itself, but it quickly became clear to them.

With Simon, a powerful boss in person, there is no soil for high-level infighting in Daenerys Entertainment. Simon has been promoting Daenerys Entertainment’s internal collaboration over the years, and at the same time unknowingly turning Daenerys Entertainment into A flat enterprise structure in which each department is relatively independent.

Everyone has their own hills, and most of them are directly responsible to Simon the boss. There is no strong conflict of interest between each other, so there is no soil for infighting.

After all, once there are signs of internal friction, Simon's strength will surely quickly extinguish the dispute in the cradle. This young owner of his own seems to be very fancy to everyone, but it is definitely not the case. If a certain executive is required to leave to ensure the internal stability of Daenerys Entertainment, he will do so without hesitation.

The flat corporate structure of Daenerys Entertainment also brings some hidden worries. The most important point is that once a strong boss like Simon is missing, it will be difficult to have a second leader with sufficient power and prestige. The huge Daenerys entertainment is firmly condensed together.

However, Simon is only 26 years old this year. Compared with some old businessmen who built a conglomerate just before retirement when he was in his 50s and 60s, what he lacks most is time, so he has enough experience to handle many things.

With a few jokes about Simon and Nancy’s bet, Amy said another thing: "David Geffen has been trying to unite some of his good friends in recent years to establish a new big studio, Jie Fury is also one of his lobbying targets, as well as Steven. In this way, the establishment of this big studio should be a certainty."

In the past history, Hollywood billionaire David Geffen joined Steven Spielberg and Jeffrey Katzenberg to establish DreamWorks, and he was no different in Hollywood for a time. And in the late 1990s, a large number of blockbuster films were continuously produced.

Unfortunately, because the foundation is not solid, it’s just that the DreamWorks studio lacks perfect film distribution channels. The result is not good. Most of the profits of many blockbuster films are either drawn by the major studios responsible for the distribution or by history. The creators of Steven Spielberg were divided up, and what was left to the investors who initially invested heavily in this'big film company' was just a mess of constant losses.

Daenerys Entertainment's rise time is relatively short compared to traditional Hollywood major productions, but from the initial small workshop to the acquisition of New World Entertainment to improve its own production and distribution team, to the final acquisition of MCA, it was completely promoted to Hollywood Seven One of the biggest, every step is steady and steady.

The DreamWorks of the three David Geffins is equivalent to building a large castle directly on the beach without even hitting the foundation. It looks powerful on the outside, but it is vulnerable in its bones.

Simon didn't intend to mix it up, feeling the movement in Amy's tone, and said: "We don't need to pay attention to this matter, just do our own work."

Amy said: "Simon, I mean, maybe MGM can work with this new studio."

Simon shook his head and smiled again: "Even if we are willing, do you think Steven will agree to cooperate with us?"

For the "Jurassic Park" series, although everyone seems to be easy to get together, but in fact, the whole Hollywood knows that Steven Spielberg was directly expelled by Daenerys Entertainment as a seventy It’s a strange thing to continue to cooperate with the Westeros system under the tone of Spielberg, who has been the star of Hollywood since the beginning of the decade.

Moreover, even if the other party agreed, Simon would not agree.

Simon's arrangement for MGM is also steady and steady, re-cultivating his own team by personally producing and distributing films. If a cooperation is reached with the studios of Spielberg and others, MGM can only reduce production to adapt to each other. The end result is that the studios of Spielberg and others may eventually become a mess. MGM will eventually become a mess. It is still lame in both'production' and'distribution'.