Director’s Legend

After doing some publicity for the crew, Shao Shuaijun withdrew from the crew, gathered the actors and staff, held a mobilization meeting, and assigned the tasks one by one. A few days passed in a blink of an eye, and December 18th came. The premiere of Summit Entertainment's highlight of Christmas this year, "The Hangover".

The Hangover is a low-budget comedy, but with its funny content and creativity, the company has placed great expectations on it.

As an independent production company, in addition to participating in a small proportion of investment in some big productions, Summit Entertainment is producing low-budget films, hoping to make a comeback with a small cost. It doesn't matter if you lose one or two, as long as one becomes popular, you can dance for a while.

For example, the old neighbor Lionsgate Films produces countless terrible horror films every year, but there are often one or two successful ones, such as "saw", this series is enough for Lionsgate Films for several years.

Summit Entertainment cannot compare with Lionsgate in terms of the number of productions. Fortunately, Summit Entertainment now has two major series, "Twilight" and "Dancing Out of My Life", plus a series directed by Shao Shuaijun, and the upcoming The "Sherlock Holmes" series, which started filming, is enough for the company to support it for several years without declining. Even if the other films are made into bad films, it will not hurt.

But to rank among the top eight in Hollywood, Summit Entertainment is still a little short, and needs more blockbuster series.

The Hangover is here to fill that void.

For this reason, Summit Entertainment held a grand premiere ceremony in Hollywood, and invited all kinds of celebrities, celebrities, celebrities and entertainers. Even Shao Shuaijun, a boss who rarely shows up, also came to the premiere ceremony in person. This year's Christmas file is much inferior to the summer file. There are almost no blockbusters, so it's a good time to flex your muscles.

The premiere was quite a success, and the movie theater was filled with laughter.

Don't think about what kind of movie "The Hangover" is. The value of its existence is to make people laugh. As long as you get laughter, it is a successful movie. Facts have also proved that "The Hangover" is a success.

On the first weekend before Christmas, "The Hangover" was a dark horse, opened in 3,269 theaters, and won a box office of 45.68 million US dollars. Became the champion of the week.

"'The Hangover' is a hilarious family comedy. Great flavor." - Rolling Stone.

"The Hangover was a surprise movie, relative to the anticipation it had before it was released." --Entertainment Weekly.

"Contributed a nice trailer, that's all." -Chicago Tribune.

Media reviews were so-so, but that didn't detract from The Hangover's power. second weekend. The number of theaters showing shows increased to 3355 theaters. It got a box office of 33.54 million US dollars. While achieving two consecutive championships, the total box office accumulated to 118.95 million US dollars, exceeding 100 million in two weeks. Summit Entertainment can celebrate as much as it wants.

"Shao, "The Hangover" is a big hit, and our road to the listing of Summit Entertainment is brighter than ever, haha." Facing the soaring box office, Mitchell laughed excitedly.

"Are you sure it will be listed in the New Year?"

"Of course, riding on this momentum, the price of the stock can be expected to exceed ten times, or even twenty times! Who said that we are the only one that is favored, and as an independent film company, hit the ranks of Hollywood's top eight. Oh, Now it should be said that it is the Sixth National Congress, and MGM has already collapsed."

In the golden age of Hollywood, the eight most outstanding film companies almost dominated the annual box office, making it almost impossible for some independent small film companies to survive. These big companies include MGM, Paramount, Columbia, RKO, 20 Century Fox, United Artists, Warner, Universal.

After several twists and turns, RKO switched to the TV industry, United Artists merged into MGM, Columbia was acquired by Sony, and 20th Century Fox was acquired by News Corporation. The twists and turns are too numerous to count. Now that MGM has closed down, the Big Eight back then have become the current unconfirmed Big Six, Warner Bros., Walt Disney, Sony Pictures, Paramount, 20th Century Fox, and Universal Pictures.

Warner Bros. relied on "Harry Potter", as well as last year and this year's "Batman", to firmly lock in its dominance. Its DC comics adaptation department began to make efforts, trying to use "Harry Potter" to North America The superheroes of DC, one of the two major comic overlords, set off another storm.

Walt Disney started with Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, and now, with the help of "Pirates of the Caribbean" and Pixar animation, it is sitting on the second floor. After the success of Warner Bros.' Batman, Walt Disney has begun negotiating acquisitions with Marvel Comics, the future Marvel Comics, to create another superhero sequence to fight Warner Bros.

In the past few years, Sony Pictures had a good performance, and a "Spider-Man" made a lot of money. Unfortunately, after "The Da Vinci Code", it fell into a slump. But there is no need to doubt that Sony already holds the film copyright of MGM, an immortal classic series 007, which can save Sony Pictures at any time.

Paramount, which was originally in decline, has begun to rise in recent years. The two iron warriors of "Iron Man" and "Transformers", plus "Star Trek", will definitely escort Paramount for many years. However, there is also a crisis, that is, once Marvel Comics is acquired, the copyrights of Paramount's Iron Man and other superheroes are likely to be withdrawn.

Twentieth Century Fox, which was acquired by News Corporation, announced the collapse of the Star Wars series after George Lucas, the father of Star Wars, took a "vacation". Fortunately, he developed "Horror Night at the Museum" and launched "Ice Age", Barely maintain the identity of the Sixth National Congress.

Universal Pictures, the last train of the six major companies, also has blockbuster movies under its umbrella, such as "King Kong", "The Bourne", and the "Fast and Furious" series. But "Fast and Furious" has obviously gone downhill. Without the support of other series, the six major identities of Universal Pictures are in jeopardy.

With "The Twilight Saga: New Moon", "Dancing Out of My Life 2", "Inception", "500 Days of Summer", and the burning "The Hangover", Summit Entertainment's market this year The share is definitely beyond Universal Pictures and even Twentieth Century Fox.

Whether it's Shao Shuaijun, Mitchell Bruce, or financial professionals who are concerned about the Hollywood film industry. They are all waiting for the listing of Summit Entertainment. Once it goes public to raise money and expand the scale of capital, Summit Entertainment will inevitably pick one of the six big ones and become a Hollywood film giant.

This is not just a reshuffle in the entertainment circle, but also a feast in the financial circle. It seems that in the air, countless greedy capitalists are sharpening their knives, wearing scarves, and picking up knives and forks. He opened his bloody mouth wide and prepared to eat. certainly. Their eating was also the beginning of Summit Entertainment's gorgeous transformation with the help of this feast.

"The status of the Big Six is ​​not achieved by one or two movies, Mitchell. Even if we go public, the market value has increased greatly. Our most urgent thing is to find a new supporting series. Whether it is "Dance My Life", or "Twilight", or "The Hangover", has its cyclical lifespan. We must try our best to maintain the continuation of this brand, and at the same time, we must find alternative brands and brands that are not old." Shao Shuaijun's eyes flashed flash.

Mitchell calmed down his excitement a little bit: "The new brand is not so easy to find, Shao, you are the boss, and also the discoverer of Twilight and Hangover, we need your guidance."

"A person's vision always has an end. Don't count on me for everything. My creativity is almost exhausted. However, I have a big idea...I can't explain it clearly on the phone. I'm going to San Mony now Ka, you call the executives of the company, and we have a meeting."

Because of the preparations for listing, almost all the executives of Dream Chasing Entertainment Group, Dream Chasing Golden Harvest and Summit Entertainment are in Santa Monica. After Shao Shuaijun arrived, the conference room was already full of people. Li Xiuxiu, Yi Jianmei, Wang Ziwen, David Joe Cole, Mitchell Bruce, etc., a total of 13 executives who enjoy real shares instead of options and dividends.

"It's not a formal meeting, everyone can sit down casually. Just now I talked with Mitchell about going public on the phone. Mitchell is very ambitious and wants to hit the ranks of the top six. Do you have this idea?" Shao Shuaijun signaled everyone to relax.

"I think with our current strength, it's time to attack the top six, the entire Hollywood, and the box office market share. Maybe we don't have an advantage because of the small number of movies. But we are definitely the company with the highest profit ratio. The independent film department Everyone is on fire." David Joe Cole first said that he was the general manager of the original Twilight Entertainment Company, and after Twilight was merged into Summit Entertainment, he served as the company's vice president.

"David is right. The Big Six is ​​just a very vague name. Except for some good people, many people don't care about this status. But to put it bluntly, we are not competing for the Big Six. We are making sure that we have reached the level of a top Hollywood company. , Obtaining a seat in the Sixth National Congress is a recognition of us and can make an impact." said Wang Ziwen, who is now the vice president of Dream Chasing Golden Harvest.

Shao Shuaijun nodded and asked, "You all think so, Mr. Li?"

Li Xiuxiu said with a smile: "Everyone has this idea."

"It's not our decision about the Sixth National Congress of the Communist Party of China. We can only try our best to expand the company and let others judge. But our company has reached a certain height. We must maintain this height before others will recognize us. How To maintain? We have blockbuster movie series, but we don’t have our own studio, we don’t have our own global channels. We need a complete system to ensure that the company can make money from making movies continuously, instead of relying on one or two blockbuster movies Accidental rise."

Shao Shuaijun waved his arms: "The direction of our future efforts will be to improve our production pipeline. We need to gather a group of excellent screenwriters, cultivate a group of excellent stars, cooperate with excellent directors, and establish our own studio and channels. Of course, you must have thought of these issues long ago, I just want to strengthen them. What I really want to discuss today is that I have a new plan!"

Seeing that everyone was looking at him curiously, Shao Shuaijun cleared his throat: "This plan is to intercept Walt Disney! We, Summit Entertainment, will buy Marvel Comics, take back Marvel's superheroes, and let us shoot superhero movies. !"

"Acquire Marvel Comics?"

"That's right, it's the acquisition of Marvel Comics!"

Mitchell was taken aback: "Shao, the market value of Marvel Comics is at least four billion U.S. dollars, and the copyrights of some superheroes have already flown outside. As far as I know, "Daredevil", "Soul Chariot", "Blade Warrior" , Punisher, X-Men, Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Thor have all been sold. Can we buy, and Does the acquisition make sense?"

"Why not?" Shao Shuaijun asked back, "Why did Walt Disney buy Marvel Comics? It's not because they are also interested in the superheroes under Marvel Comics. Indeed, Marvel Comics, as one of the two major comic book giants in North America, has a market value of more than forty. Billion dollars, or even more, have sold a lot of superhero copyrights one after another over the years. So what?"

"What does the chairman mean?"

Shao Shuaijun propped his hands on the table and scanned the audience: "What I mean is very simple. As the special effects technology becomes more and more sophisticated, the superhero style that could only be realized in comics before can be realized on the movie screen. In this era, superhero movies will continue to be popular. We should and must catch up with this opportunity. The superhero copyright of Marvel Comics can be negotiated and taken back one after another, whether it is high price recovery, compensation acquisition, or litigation. We are going to gather the superheroes of Marvel Comics and create a super team belonging to Summit Entertainment!"

"It will take a big risk to acquire Marvel Comics, with our current strength..." Yi Jianmei said unconfidently.

"We all overlooked one point. Summit Entertainment is about to go public, and our market value will definitely surpass Marvel Comics. We don't need to pay much to acquire this comic company. We can exchange shares and cash acquisitions. After completing a merger and acquisition, what I want is not to run comics, but what I want is its superheroes.”

The income of comics cannot be compared with that of movies. Even if dozens of issues of comics are sold, the benefits generated by a movie and its peripherals are not as great. As for Marvel Comics, whether it is the Avengers or the X-Men, the superheroes in these teams are a single play, and they are also a play together. Can think of, then package a good story, this is money!

Warner Bros. has seen the future of superheroes and is fully committed to developing DC Comics superheroes. Walt Disney also saw it, so they wanted to buy Marvel Comics.

This is a big investment. After all, it is too expensive to buy a Big Mac.

But Shao Shuaijun, who has the vision of future generations, knows that in just a few years in the future, after Marvel Comics is renamed Marvel Comics, its superheroes will immediately rule the world. DC has Superman and Batman, and Marvel has Iron Man and Avengers. Not only can you shoot by yourself, but you can also team up with the two heroes to come and shoot.

All in all, this is a huge resource that needs to be tapped.

Summit Entertainment is not to be missed. (to be continued..)