Rebirth In Hollywood

From an animation studio that started with $50 in 1923 to a Fortune 500 company with a market value of $89 billion today, "strong brand and character licensing" has been one of the secrets of Walt Disney's success for nearly 90 years.

The basis of all this comes from high-quality content products - in the early years, they were exquisite and cheerful animated films, and in recent years, they are series of film and television dramas with healthy and positive image temperament or animation, family carnival, adventure or superheroes, just like now Like the virtual characters of Mickey Mouse, Winnie the Pooh and The Lion King, Woody Cowboy, Shrek, Captain Sparrow, Marvelous Peter Parker, Captain America and many other characters have always been popular among teenagers and future generations all over the world. An object of adult petting.

Swallowing Pixar Studios and DreamWorks Animation Studios in succession, not only the motivation of listed companies to be good at playing financial games and handing over beautiful financial reports, but also the business needs of building a three-dimensional, comprehensive entertainment media group.

After all, among the traditional Hollywood studios, Disney is the only one that is self-reliant and has transformed itself from the existing studio structure to a comprehensive media group, while other peers have either become targets of acquisitions and become News Corporation. , Sony Group and other large consortium branches, or just like RKO and MGM, they have no choice but to close the curtain.

Looking back, Ryan chose to sell Miramax Films back to the Weinstein Brothers, which was actually a very wise choice. Although Miramax can also bring a lot of profits through film distribution and audiovisual publishing, However, the company's adult-oriented films and art films are too far from Disney's brand temperament, and have no substantial contribution to Disney's "strong brand and character image", and lack the possibility of "role authorization".

Lucasfilm is not the case. It is roughly in line with Disney and Ryan's production philosophy. If Lucasfilm is successfully won, Disney's film business puzzle is almost complete.

The old animation businesses include Pixar Studios, DreamWorks Animation Studios, and Disney Animation Studios; in terms of live-action movies, the characters and themes that the Marvel Superhero series and the Star Wars series can bring are far more than those of "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "National Treasure". "This category is much richer. A series of movies can be filmed endlessly like a TV series, especially for proven themes with a wide audience base, and the development of product derivatives will increase.

Just like the surprise superhero movies sweeping the world, it is not difficult to imagine that with the support of Disney's huge platform, the new "Star Wars" in the future will be even more popular.

Yes, in the eyes of many people, a movie like Star Wars is simply not worth mentioning, and it is extremely vulgar, but no one can deny it. It is these "daydream" movies that can become popular all over the world.

People like to embrace this kind of experience. On the one hand, it is really interesting. On the other hand, 90% of the audience in the world regard movies as a way of consumption that can provide them with simple or even pure entertainment.

For the sake of the widest possible audience and maximum benefit,

The success model of big groups, big investment and big movies is destined to be the mainstream. If the "Star Wars" series is restarted, it will inevitably be included in this model.

In the subsequent routine board meeting, it didn't take much time, and Disney's board of directors reached a consensus on the acquisition of Lucasfilm. Disney will form a strong acquisition team, and contact Lucasfilm with part of the cash plus stock exchange to promote the acquisition as soon as possible.

This will be a long and arduous work. The level of complexity goes far beyond the acquisition of DreamWorks Animation Studios.

Now can be said to be a good opportunity for Disney to complete this acquisition. Time Warner is still fighting with AOL and has no time to look outside; Viacom has been severely damaged in the financial crisis and has no strength to continue expanding; . Insufficient progress; characters such as Comcast and French Vivendi are not enough to look at in front of Disney.

Twentieth Century Fox and News Corporation, which own part of the copyright of the Star Wars series, are possible potential opponents. Ryan is concerned about Disney itself. Also watching the reactions of 20th Century Fox and News Corp.

For the time being, both 20th Century Fox and News Corporation are relatively calm, with no special movements.

This acquisition is only part of Ryan's work. After entering October, the release date of "Avatar" is getting closer and closer, and Disney's promotional activities are more extensive. In addition to the constant exposure of leading actors and films, James Cameron also counts For the first time, he will appear on the stage in person to promote his latest masterpiece.

"The script of this film was actually formed as early as 1995, but at that time there was not enough film technology to meet the ideal requirements for completing this film. It is precisely because of my insistence on making a 'perfect film' that I put away the script , while developing and testing the technology.”

In the latest film footage, Cameron introduced the origin of the film, "In the past 10 years, I have tried "Terminator 2: 3D Version of the Battle of the Sky", filmed "Titanic", "Abyss" "Ghost", "Alien in the Deep" and so on, but the idea of ​​"Avatar" and the exploration of 3D technology have never stopped."

"Until 2005, Ryan and I believed that the time was ripe, so we joined hands with Jon Landau, the producer of "Titanic", and started the "Avatar" shooting plan, which took more than 4 years."

It also includes a passage from Ryan, "This is an unprecedented experience of cooperation. James not only creatively created an unprecedented new world - 'Pandora Planet', but also developed a new set of language and culture for it. , the uniqueness of the Na'vi and other creatures living on the planet is even more beautiful, in my opinion, James is a perfect 'inventor'!"

The heroine Zoe Saldana even bluntly expressed the common aspirations of the crew, "I will always keep in mind that I participated in a Hollywood film revolution!"

Compared with the massive "Avatar", "The Hurt Locker" was almost completely submerged. This film did not do much work in advertising. The main promotional work of the film was aimed at the Oscars. As for the market acceptance, I think If you think about the theme of the movie, you can predict the box office of the movie.

Even if a film of this kind is filmed by James Cameron, it is only a niche film, and the subject matter of the film will directly affect the box office more than any other aspect.

Ryan created too many favorable situations for this film. Even though the film only opened in North America with 4 theaters in November, he still held a premiere for the film.

The scale of the premiere was not large, but there were quite a few people who came to support it. Apart from those famous Jews in Hollywood, Sidney Gannis, the rotating chairman of the Academy, also invited many Oscar judges to the scene, which was not against the Academy The established Oscar rules.

People entered the theater one after another. When the film was about to start, Steven Spielberg, George Lucas and Francis Coppola came together. Ryan shook hands with the three of them one by one, and then He beckoned to Sofia Coppola, who was by his father's side, and walked towards the screening hall with the three directors first.

Natalie and Sofia Coppola were a step behind.

"I have some good news for you, Nat." Sofia Coppola leaned close to Natalie and whispered, "George, Stephen and my dad were in the car when they came. They have already said they will support you."

They have seen the sample of the film a long time ago, and now that there is a film with sufficient quality, it will undoubtedly make many people make their final decisions.

"It's really enviable." Sofia Coppola's mouth was obviously sour.

Natalie just smiled, saying anything now is superfluous, although her relationship with Sofia Coppola is good, but it is far from the level with Scarlett, and some words are not suitable to say now .

"After making "The Hunger Games,"" Sofia Coppola probably sensed that something was wrong. After smiling, she let go of the jealousy on her face and said, "I'm going to turn to literary films, too. Too much has been pulled down."

Speaking of which, she is the first American woman to be nominated for an Oscar for best director, and many people even think that she will definitely become the first female best director. Who knows that it has only been a few years, and the situation has turned upside down However, she has gained the title of the world's number one female director at the box office, but she falls far behind the girls around her in the Oscars.

No one can tell the gains and losses in it.

In terms of directing talent alone, Sofia Coppola thinks she is no worse than Natalie. Why does this happen?

Her eyes naturally fell on the person walking in front. The biggest difference between the two lies in Ryan. Natalie has Ryan's full support. Without Ryan, she can go to where she is now. height, that also takes more time.

Speaking of it, I am also lucky. I have won the support of Ryan since the 1990s. Ryan also put a lot of thought into the first Oscar nomination. The female director with the world's number one box office was almost given to me by the other party. .

Although I was extremely tempted for a while, I finally endured it and did not go with him, otherwise...

Sighing softly, Sofia Coppola let go of these wild thoughts, took a few steps to catch up with her father, and entered the screening hall with them.

When sitting on the seat, Ryan felt that his hands were a little numb. There were too many people who came to say hello. Most of these people were Jewish. In recent years, Ryan has been maintaining Jewish groups. Many substantive actions have been taken, and more sincerity has been brought into their attitudes.

"What did they say to you?" Ryan asked Natalie.

Along the way, many people whispered a few words to Natalie. (To be continued..)

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