The Best Director

Chapter 200 The Rise of the New Kingdom of Independent Films

On x and other movie box office sites, the top ten global box office movies released in 2020 are "Lord of the Rings 2: The Two Towers", produced by New Line, second is Warner Bros. 8. The third is Sony/Columbia's 821 million "Spider-Man", these are the three movies with a global box office of more than 800 million in 2002.

Fifth went to Fox/Lucasfilm, eighth to Sony/Columbia, ninth to MGM, and tenth to the film's 368 million My Big Fat Greek Wedding.

The No. 7 position was taken by the same independent film company, which was described by "Fortune" as a "expanding" fire movie.

As the Golden Globe Awards came to an end and the Oscar nominations were announced, "District 9" was shown in more than a dozen theaters in North America again, searching for some missing box offices; and at the beginning of the year, it also appeared on the big screens in mainland China.

Although on the Internet, clear and unclear piracy of "The Ninth District" has long been nothing new. ", Make you scream" and a series of promotional discs, and those who disrupted the market order directly copied a "Wang Yang Movie Collection", which is also 5 yuan.

However, due to the eye-catching "Chinese-American magical director", "All the world agrees", "Special effects blockbuster" and Wang Yang's own high popularity, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television cut off a lot of "does not affect the movie viewing experience Wudong Qiankun Sheng". The king made the holy king, the king will kill the gods at night, the throne of the gods, and the throne of the gods will be the strongest. "The Throne Seeking the Devil, the Audacious Nine Heavens, the Strongest Abandoned Youngster, the Great Zhou Royal Clan's God-Creating General, Killing the Gods at Night, and the God Seal of the Throne, Seeking the Demons, and the Nine Heavens, the Strongest Abandoned Youngster, the Great Zhou Royal Clan", "The Ninth District" with bloody scenes, was collected in mainland China It reached a million dollar mark. "Spiderman" 4.983 million, Zhang Yimou's "Hero" 10,000.

Therefore, the North American box office of "The Ninth District" has risen to 100 million, and the global box office is fourth. On the annual top ten film list of "Film Weekly" in January, its comment stated: "Many people will hate Miracle Yang to death, and it will inevitably become the most popular movie in the next ten, twenty, or a long time. It’s a sci-fi example of both business and art, and it’s that kind of movie.”

The top ten films of the year are must-have lists for many magazines, including "Entertainment Weekly", "Empire", "Vanity Fair", "Time" and other magazines, as well as the top ten selected by well-known film critics in various newspapers, such as Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times, the Ninth District is on these lists.

The box office in North America is 320 million, the sixth place in the world. It is the highest-grossing comedy film in 2002 and the highest-grossing R-rated comedy film in history; the seventh place in the world, it is the highest-grossing netbsp in 2002; "The box office of "The Ninth District" Miracle thanks to creative new viral marketing,

Whether it is virus stations, virus activities, virus posters, or three-dimensional posters, they have all become new trends in the film industry. "The Return of Man" opened a virus station, and "Hulk" opened a virus station... The novelty of film mí about this is declining sharply. ” — Los Angeles Times.

"Two years have made Hollywood smell two gold mines. The huge success of "Spider-Man" has made many film companies focus on superheroes again. The era of big special effects production is coming; , 368 million global box office, "The Hangover" cost 10,000 yuan, 617 million global box office, many independent companies see hope, big companies see a way to reduce investment risk, and there are already 6 R-rated comedy films scheduled to be released on a large scale in 2003 Ministry.”—Empire Magazine.

o In the list of the top ten box office movies in 2019, major studios and independent companies each accounted for 5, of which 3 came from flame movies; and in the total North American box office of 9.25 billion from January 1st to December 31st, Sony / Columbia occupies the list with a market share of 700 million and 15.2%, Disney's brand "Bowei" accounts for 12%, Warner Bros. .7%, Universal 8.5%, and Flame Movie ranks fifth with 8.1%.

After Fox with 8.5%, it is another independent film company. The new line has released a total of seventh films; followed by an independent company with 19 films and 19 films in tenth place, 4% Share MGM.

If we only look at it from the perspective of 2002, Flame Films is already the leader among all independent film companies; in fact, there may be many shortcomings, but there is no doubt that it is constantly growing rapidly...

In the beautiful Santa Monica, in the bright conference room of the Flame headquarters, a board meeting is in progress. Both sides of the conference table are full of high-level executives in suits and leather shoes. Wang Yang, who is in a black suit, is sitting in the chairman's seat. A financial statement, these figures, I have long been no surprise.

Flame Group is currently mainly composed of 5 parts, FF Company, Fm Company, Flame Home Entertainment, Blue Sky Studio and Image Engine. The profits returned by Blue Sky Studio and the image engine are not much. After all, the investment costs are almost the salaries of special effects artists and animators. This is the reason why many companies cannot support animation companies and special effects companies.

The main business of the group is still the film market. FF production has a high cost of high-quality products, Fm has a small and medium cost, and home entertainment is responsible for the TV business. The business policy is divided into two parts, "showing movies in theaters" and "home DVD market". The former has box office and various post-production peripheral income; the latter relies on small markets such as leasing, copyright taxation, and TV on demand, which is the "film and television library" plan.

"Sweetheart" 1. District Nine, "The Hangover"... "Mr. Hughes" 160 million... dVd, original sound CD, copyright... Allocated 175 million to Blue Sky to produce "Ice Age 2", "Kung Fu Panda" , 22 episodes of "Prison Break" 10,000 yuan production fee, "Rage" 10,000 yuan production fee, "The Hangover 2" 10,000 yuan production fee, "T-21-Team" 10,000 yuan production fee...

"Hmm..." Wang Yang looked at the income and expenditure item by item. The company naturally had to pay taxes and administrative expenses, and it paid dividends to shareholders at the beginning of the year. Now the cash flow in the company account is more than 384.5 million, while his There are more than 100 million in the account. Before that, he invested 100 million to set up a charity fund, which was managed by a special person. There was no specific rescue target, but it was mainly out-of-school children all over the world, and sudden disasters.

The Flame Group obviously not only has the 384.5 million in cash, but also a studio worth 100 million, all subsidiary assets and businesses, and movies in production... The entire group is worth about 100 million, and it has no debts and is not listed.

But today's meeting is not a financial report meeting, otherwise Wang Yang would not "specially" run back from Las Vegas. After half a month of filming, the crew has finished their work in Boston and moved to Las Vegas, the casino city. After nearly a week of filming, the time has entered March. Wang Yang came back this time because the company had negotiated a big deal and acquisition, and he just waited for him to make a final decision.

It's not the acquisition of 11ge, a women's station, that project is still under negotiation; the target of the acquisition this time is Artisan Films, with a price of 160 million US dollars.

"As long as we nod and agree, we can get the film library of Artisan Company, many of them." Mark Slant sat in the seat on the left, his face flashed with excitement, looking at his smiling colleagues and Wang Yang , and said in an emphatic tone: "Plus our own department, Warner Bros. only department, and Universal department..."

In the past few years, Flame Films has always adhered to the film and television library plan, buying film copyrights all over the world, and naturally there are Chinese films in mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Last year, "Infernal Affairs" was called "the work of saving the market". The North American copyright belongs to Flame, including its adaptation rights.

"With this movie, it is expected that the 'home video market' will generate 200-300 million cash every year." Mark Slanter paused, his eyes full of a sense of accomplishment, and he said with a smile: "This money is enough to pay for the company all day-to-day operations."

Movies are like the big mushrooms in "Super Mary" and the fruits in "Pac-Man". After eating them, the film and television library plan will quickly get on track... ", the situation of 5 years ago vaguely appeared in front of his eyes. At that time, he took a deep breath and walked into the gate of the artisan proudly. Nicole Weaver, Stephen Thomas...

"Buy it." Wang Yang nodded, glanced at everyone, and said, "Buy it."

Although this was expected, otherwise the chairman would not have agreed to carry out the acquisition plan, but there was still excited applause in the conference room, and everyone laughed and cheered. Mark Slant, who proposed the plan, was especially happy. He laughed loudly and said: "This is crazy, our company's development has been fast for 5 years." Wang Yang raised his hands with a smile, and shouted: "The rocket has already lifted off, everyone hold on tight, Let's-"

After the contract is signed, the 160 million acquisition funds can be transferred to Jiangye immediately to complete the acquisition; and the remaining 224.5 million in the Flame Movie account is enough to make a good release plan for this year. 4 films will be released on a large scale, including "Chain Saw", which attracted attention at the Sundance Film Festival at the beginning of the year, and it will be released in April; FF is currently confirming to release three films, and "T-21" at the end of July in the summer vacation -Team", "Dancing Out of My Life" in the weak season of October, and "The Devil Wears Prada" in the Christmas schedule.

During this period of time, Lauren Weisberg, the author of "The Devil Wears Prada", has reached an agreement with Flame to sell the adaptation rights. Flame Movie immediately started the preparations for the production, and immediately announced the heroine Ender. Leah will be starred by Jessica Alba. Now it is rumored in the media that Magic Yang will adapt and direct it himself, but the flame official has not responded yet.

This is also a means of marketing, let the market guess first, make movie fans curious and interested, and then announce this 99% certain thing with certainty, and get more attention than if everything is clearly stated at the beginning high.

After the meeting, all the executives laughed and left the meeting room. Wang Yang walked to the chairman's office and said to Mark Slanter next to him: "Mark, I'm going to start a music record company first. You know a TV station. How about They all need some music, mv and so on. We can also cooperate with the soundtrack CD business of Flame Movie." He said with a smile, and said, "Robert Downey Jr. can sing, and I told him to make a CD for him. "

Mark Slante knew what he meant by starting his own business, which had nothing to do with the financial affairs of the flames; besides, a music record company is really rare for a person with a net worth of billions. Many film and television stars and sports stars have their own record companies. With its singers, of course, it's just a matter of cooperating with big companies in the industry. So there is nothing to persuade or suggest. Mark smiled and said: "Yang, you can make your own disc. If you sing well, the sales must be good."

"Me? Going to sing with tone deafness, it seems interesting?" Wang Yang looked interested, and then he waved his hands dullly and said, "Forget it now, I'm so busy that my ass sucks."

"Boss, to be honest, I really hope you make 12 movies a year." Mark Slant smiled like he was about to drool, his glasses flashed brightly, and smiled as he walked: "One every month, Then there is no need to think about this issue." After speaking, he said seriously: "After the initial completion of the film and television library plan, we can consider increasing production."

Wang Yang thought for a while, increasing production means that the snowball will roll faster, and it also means increased risks, as well as financing and borrowing. He thought about it: "Anyway, I don't agree that it is unwise to borrow money to increase production under the condition of financial health. We are already very fast now. The most important thing is to be able to stand firm and not retreat or fall. One step at a time"

"I didn't say borrowing money to make a movie. The interest rate is too high now, and the rate of return is hard to guarantee." Mark Slanter shrugged, and Wang Yang hummed, why is it not good to borrow money? DreamWorks has always relied on a large amount of financing to start filming, and its debts have piled up. According to a little information in his mind, it will eventually be acquired by Paraméng. Appropriate financing can increase the pace, but excessive reliance will only dig your own grave.

Mark continued: "But borrowing money will allow us to continue to make big strides in acquisitions and mergers, and expand the film and television library. The risk of this project is not high."

"Let's talk about it, we haven't acquired Artisan yet." Wang Yang turned his head and looked at this. The company's rapid development in the past two years has something to do with the movie's big sales, and it's also related to the work of the company's senior management. He smiled Say what you have thought a long time ago: "Mark, at the end of this year, I plan to adjust the company's equity, and everyone will be rewarded."

"Oh, what a surprise!" Mark Slant immediately smiled when he heard the words. No one doesn't like rewards. This is very exciting. He sighed, "It seems that Christmas this year is full of surprises." Wang Yang clapped vigorously She touched his shoulder and said with a smile: "This is not a Christmas present. By the way, do you really think I sing very well?..."

Within two days, a piece of film business news came out. Flame Films completed the acquisition of Artisan for $160 million. Just like a-x at the beginning, this was a complete acquisition. Flame got everything from Artisan. A broken chair at corporate headquarters is no exception. Flame Films announced that it will cut and reorganize the original Yijiang employees, and that Yijiang's films will no longer use the original brand, and all of them will use Flame.

That means not a bailout takeover, but an annexation. Many commercial media are puzzled. It is worthless to invest in a bankrupt company, so what is the point of annexing it? Flame Movie didn't explain it, it was a commercial secret, and countless competitors and peers speculated about Flame Movie and Miracle Yang's thoughts.

According to the inference, it is actually very easy to get the result. The flames are definitely not for that chair. What they fancy is the copyright of the many movies, but the fact is that those are basically "garbage movies". The highest box office is in o2 The released cartoon "The Adventures of Vegetable Baby" has a production cost of only 10,000 yuan at the global box office. Isn't the flames satisfied with "Ice Age"?

In any case, the new acquisition of Flame Film once again makes people see its unstoppable pace and ambition, and a new kingdom of independent films is rising.

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ps: Wow, thank you for your blessings, thank you very much