Hollywood Hunter

Long Island, in the manor near the sea in Sandpoint City.

Sophia Feixi entered the dining room with breakfast in person, and while sharing the meal, glanced at the man sitting at the dining table flipping through a document, and said with a smile, "There must be a bunch of girls who hated me last night."

Feeling the refreshing fragrance coming from around him, Simon stretched out his hand to wrap around the woman's slender waist and caressed it. His gaze remained on the document in front of him, and he said, "So this is the benefit of men. Other women only hate you, not me."

Sophia thought that this was really the case, and she couldn't help but roll her eyes. After sharing the meal, instead of sitting down beside him, she followed the strength of the man's hand and sat sideways on his lap, curiously asking: "What are you looking at?"

Simon showed the woman the cover of the document: "Daenerys' plan to establish a premium cable network."

Sophia also has a good understanding of the TV industry in the United States, and said, "The HBO kind?"

"yes."

"HBO is now the mainstay of Warner's income. If you do this, the relationship with GM should be tense."

"That has to be done." Of course Simon understood this, and said, "Daenerys has such a wealth of content resources, it can't be cheaper than hbo, showtime and other TV stations."

Sophia thought for a while and said, "Why not buy it, it shouldn't be easy to start from scratch?"

"Hbo Warner will definitely not sell the several potential acquisition targets that I am looking at. There is also Viacom's Showtime. In fact, I hope to buy the entire Viacom. This media company owns Showtime, MTV It can complement Nickelodeon and Daenerys, but unfortunately, I have contacted Lei Shidong a few times, and the old man is very stubborn and does not intend to sell."

"Compulsory acquisition?"

"Dual shareholding, you may also encounter multiple poison pills, it's not easy," Simon shook his head, and said: "Moreover, the greater potential resistance is still in the official, Daenerys' current scale is too large, Washington can't It is very likely that this acquisition will be approved, and Blockbuster is still stuck."

Sophia is also regretful: "Then we can only do it from scratch. However, I remember that America Online just started the cable TV business some time ago, which happens to be able to help."

"Yes, this is also the basis for Daenerys to start this plan, otherwise it may take some time."

Outsiders look at the United States and always think that the media is free and it will be easy to set up a TV station, but it is not.

As far as paid cable stations are concerned, if there is no basic cable TV operator platform support, it will be difficult to do so.

For example, hbo, the key reason why it is so successful is that Warner itself operates a large-scale cable TV platform, Warner Communications. Its own channels are not only easy to control costs, but also easier to promote its own TV stations, and can even snipe competitors. develop.

If Daenerys does not have AOL's platform and wants to compete with HBO as a paid cable channel, Warner Communications will inevitably respond negatively. In order to avoid accusations of unfair competition, you may agree to Daenerys’ paid cable channels to enter the channel, but there are too many ways to handle this, and you will eventually retreat from the ‘difficulty’.

After chatting for a few words, Simon closed the file, and Sophia also got up and sat next to him, and began to eat.

The topic naturally turned to the fashion industry: "The jewelry brand made by Melania has been very popular recently, which reminds me of a report by Igret that discusses the impact of information fragmentation on future society. For the fashion industry, I wonder if mainstream fashion brands will be more and more impacted by various personalized mini-brands, and there will also be a trend of fragmentation?"

Simon thought for a moment and said, "Maybe, but the impact should be limited."

"Um?"

"You should know better than me," Simon said with a smile: "The top fashion brands need to be settled. Which one of Melisandre's main products has a history of tens or hundreds of years? So, the mini brand with personality may It will carve up a part of the market, but it will not affect the status of the mainstream fashion giants, unless they themselves reach the scale of the giants, then it will be competition between the same level again."

In my memory, ten or twenty years later, all kinds of messy luxury brands have indeed sprung up, but in terms of scale and popularity, the old brands are still dominant.

Sophia nodded in agreement with Simon's opinion, but said: "I still plan to make some arrangements in advance."

"No problem, but it's best not to change the current industrial structure of the 'aircraft carrier battle group'. This has proven to be a very effective long-term strategy for Melisandre."

"I know," Sophia did not deny: "In addition, Melisandre's scale is getting bigger and bigger, and I am already preparing to divide the original two major industrial clusters of clothing bags and jewelry watches into more aircraft carrier battle groups. , so that it can be more detailed, and the ability to resist risks and long-term changes in the industry will be stronger."

"This is all your business, let go and do it."

"Well, you just need to be responsible for the girls in the fashion circle."

"Actually, I prefer the entertainment industry."

"uh-huh."

Sofia left in a hurry after breakfast.

I'm going to Los Angeles today.

Visit the two little guys, take care of Jennifer for a few days, let the female assistant come to New York, check the decoration of the Weijia penthouse in Westeros Building, and go back to the parents' house for a few days. However, before leaving, I went back to Greenwich. I didn't go back last night because of the two-person world. I will leave for the west coast soon, and I have to explain to my parents and a pair of children here.

Simon also rushed to the city.

Although it is Sunday, there are still work arrangements.

The main reason is that I read the proposal about Daenerys’ establishment of a paid cable station before breakfast. In the morning, the TV team on the east coast specially organized a meeting to discuss the detailed plan. The meeting was arranged on Sunday, also to accommodate Simon’s schedule.

In addition to various details, the conference and the name of the paid cable station have also been confirmed.

dho (daenerys-home-online), Daenerys home online.

The main reason is that the current concept of "online" has begun to be sought after again with the recovery of the Internet. In addition, it can be considered as a pit for entering streaming media in the future.

The main body of streaming media in the plan is of course Blockbuster Online.

However, again, don’t put all your eggs in one basket. After all, it’s impossible for hbo to eat up all of this cake just like this time when it enters paid cable channels. It is also possible for Star Online and dho to compete with each other internally in order to carve up more of the streaming media market.

As for the possibility of internal friction, Simon is not too worried.

Because the main development goal of dho is still traditional TV, and it is only by the way that it will enter streaming media in the future. And Blockbuster Online must be the main streaming media. Just like in the past, after the full acquisition of Fox, Disney is actually equivalent to owning two major streaming media platforms, Disney+ and Hulu.

After the general plan is finalized, dho will start marketing at the end of the month and officially launch at the end of October. And then, when the end of the year came, the plan happened to be an opportunity for dho.

The TV team came up with a counter-season marketing plan.

As we all know, summer vacation and the end of the year are TV off-seasons, especially at the end of the year, during the standard winter break, most popular dramas will be suspended, and major cable channels will also slow down the introduction of content. From another perspective, this also happens to be a new A good opportunity for Jin TV to enter the game.

Dho intends to seize this opportunity.

In addition to dho, there are also the past 1998 summer film business summary and the year-end schedule announcement plan.

First of all, "Jurassic Park", which is the main feature of this summer, was released on June 5th. The first part of Jurassic Park earned $356 million, ranking second in the series.

Overseas, the release of "Jurassic Park 3" is still going on, and the overseas box office is expected to be between 700 million and 800 million US dollars. The global box office is expected to exceed 1.1 billion US dollars, which is comparable to the second film.

It is rare for a Hollywood series to be so stable at the box office, so it is a perfect ending to the trilogy.

Then there is "Rush Hour 2", which became the only film in this summer after "Jurassic Park 3" to break the domestic box office of 200 million US dollars. It has also declined, with a total North American box office of 213 million US dollars. Overseas distribution is also continuing, and is expected to be around 250 million US dollars, and the global estimate is more than 460 million US dollars.

Of course, the overall revenue volume cannot be compared with "Jurassic Park 3", especially the peripherals. However, compared with the huge expenditure of "Jurassic Park 3", the production cost of "Rush Hour 2" is only 55 million US dollars, 460 million worldwide, also a great success.

The third place is "The Hangover", which surprised everyone.

From July 10th to the present, as a popcorn movie, it has been released for more than two months. It has also entered the final stage of box office with only a few hundred thousand dollars. The current cumulative box office has reached 178 million U.S. dollars. question.

Because North America was too successful and popular, "The Hangover" successfully broke the curse of Hollywood's local comedy overseas weakness. Judging from the current distribution trend, the film's overseas box office can also exceed 200 million U.S. dollars, and the global total box office is expected to reach 100 million. Can exceed 400 million US dollars.

The same 400 million+ box office, even if the total box office is slightly lower than "Rush Hour 2", but considering the production cost of only 25 million US dollars, and there is no main creative profit sharing clause, the expected profit of "The Hangover" is far higher than " Rush Hour 2

In addition to "The Hangover", two dark horses "High School Musical" and "Magic Mike" also appeared in this summer file. The production cost of one was 15 million US dollars, and the other was 7 million US dollars. They were not very noticeable at first, but they both broke 100 million locally. .

"High School Musical", which opened on June 26, has also been released, with a domestic box office of 135 million US dollars. The overseas release is still expected to reach about 1.6 US dollars. The global total box office is expected to be around 300 million US dollars, reaching the production cost. 20 times. As the leading actress, Christina Aguilera was promoted to the world's most popular teenage idol in this summer file.

Daenerys Records therefore deliberately accelerated the release of Aguilera's first record.

Furthermore, Steven Soderbergh's "Magic Mike" is the most surprising of Daenerys' three dark horses this summer, compared to the success of "The Hangover" and "High School Musical". To some extent, there is still a clue to follow. Even Simon himself is still a little confused about the popularity of "Magic Mike".

On August 7th, the filming quietly started at the end of the summer season, and the box office earned 27.32 million US dollars in the first week. Of course, it cannot be compared with films such as "Jurassic Park 3", but it directly recovered all production and publicity costs.

Next, after the team of New World Pictures quickly increased the scale of the screening, this small film also made a surprising long run. Of course, a big reason is that there are no competitors in the second half of the summer vacation.

In short, the previous September 4

In the fifth week from September 10th to September 10th, "Magic Mike" continued to earn more than 10 million US dollars in a single week at the box office of 11.55 million US dollars, pushing the film's total local box office to 89.38 million US dollars.

Breaking through 100 million is imminent.

According to the current trend, the domestic box office of small films here is expected to be between 120 million and 130 million US dollars.

Even if Daenerys' recent overseas release failed to make a splash, it is estimated that the overseas market will earn about 50 million at most, which is considered a failure, but it cannot conceal the huge success of achieving a box office of over 100 million at an overall cost of 7 million US dollars.

While the three dark horses were successful, they also brought some troubles to Daenerys.

Question about the sequel.

Even though Daenerys Entertainment has become a common practice to sign packaging contracts, but because the three films are too successful, if you want the main creators to devote themselves to the creation of the sequel, it will definitely not work without bleeding.

Simon's attitude towards this is, do it if you can.

If you can't, then procrastinate.

This is also an absolute decision made some time ago, to suppress sequel movies, try to support originality, and prevent Hollywood from losing its vitality prematurely.

In addition to the three dark horses, the performance of other films such as "LA Confidential", "Saving Private Ryan", "Haunting in the Mortuary", and "The Horse Whisperer" are all within expectations, needless to say.

Finally, there is a "hero".

It will be released on July 31, and it has already begun to wrap up.

In the most recent box office week from September 4th to September 10th, in the sixth week of its release, "Hero" earned $3.63 million, and the cumulative box office exceeded the original expectation of 60 million to 80 million, reaching $83.06 million. According to the current trend , there will be about 5 million in the follow-up, and the total box office in North America is expected to be around 88 million US dollars.

It's still not as good as last year's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", but it's not far behind.

What's more, "Hero" opened in China on July 9, and it also lasted for two months. It ended smoothly on September 9, and the total box office in mainland China reached 320 million yuan, equivalent to 37 million US dollars.

The two markets combined, the total box office has reached 120 million US dollars.

The production budget of 30 million US dollars, as well as other publicity and distribution investments, have all been recovered and turned profitable.

Not only that, because of the participation of a group of Chinese actors with global influence, such as Jeter Lee, the performance of "Hero" in other ticket warehouses such as Europe and Asia is also outstanding. Although the current release is still going on, the most conservative estimate can Another 100 million US dollars will be collected, which means that the global box office of "Hero" will be more than 200 million US dollars, exceeding the previous global total of 170 million US dollars.

It can be said that the successive successes of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and "Hero" have directly raised Chinese-language films to a whole new level in one fell swoop from the previous ones that could only gain reputation at major film festivals.

This actually proves that Chinese-language films can gain their place in the global commercial film system.

It's a pity that the Chinese-language filmmakers did not keep such an excellent start.

This time, what will happen next is still a question mark.