Heads Up Hollywood

"In 1994, a series of outstanding films emerged, which was the most grand award-giving 'big year' in the past 20 years, including "Forrest Gump", "The Lion King", "Pulp Fiction", "The Burning Years", "The Shawshank Redemption", "Lies Behind the Scenes", "Niell's Heart" and a series of films that are still fresh in my memory."

"Fortunately, in the past 2002, we once again saw this kind of good movies springing up like mushrooms after rain. Not only "Star Wars Episode 2", "Spider-Man 2", "Signs", "Harry Commercial blockbusters like Potter and the Philosopher's Stone also have many excellent art films. This year's awards season will be full of excitement, attracting worldwide attention, intense and passionate!"

"Just look at the great productions from this past year, "The West," "The Hours," "About Schmidt," "Adapted Play," "Chicago," "The Pianist," "Far From Heaven"... There is also the majestic "Lord of the Rings 2: The Two Towers"! There is no doubt that this year's awards season will be very competitive and full of suspense..."

Tang En looked at the "Entertainment Weekly" in his hand and shook his head amusedly.

This year's awards season is indeed unprecedented.

But is there really suspense?

He deeply disapproved.

The four films of New Universal, "The West", "Chicago", "The Pianist", and "The Hours", can sweep away all ghosts and monsters!

Every film is eligible for the Grand Prize!

For now, Tang En is more concerned about MGM!

MGM's current share price is $13.02, with a market capitalization of $3 billion.

However, it is obviously impossible to acquire MGM for US$3 billion.

Gambling tycoon Kirk Cokerian is ruthless. At the age of 85, he can still play financial leverage handily.

The current MGM, despite year after year of deficits and poor performance, has no debt pressure because Kirk Kerkorian invests a large amount of money every year to maintain the stability of the stock price.

Since he acquired MGM for the third time with US$1.3 billion in 1996, he has invested another US$1.7 billion in the past six years.

In other words, after Kirk Kerkorian bought MGM for the third time, he has already invested a full US$3 billion!

With Kirk Kerkorian's greedy nature, it is absolutely impossible to sell at a "low price" of US$3 billion.

Otherwise, in the past six or seven years, wouldn't he have been busy in vain?

Such a huge amount of money, even if it is deposited in the bank, after so many years, the interest will still be 400-500 million US dollars.

From a businessman's point of view, from Kirk Kerkorian's point of view, he did the right thing. Anyway, everyone can see the value of MGM. There are so many companies vying for quotations. He just needs to delay Enough.

Now is the golden age of video discs, and the massive film library is the guarantee of maximizing the value of video discs.

MGM has a film library of nearly 4,200 movies and 10,600 TV episodes, as well as the crown jewel "007" series, as well as the "Rocky" and "Hannibal" series.

These are Kirk Kerkorian's greatest confidence!

It has already spread in the industry.

The definition and resolution of traditional DVDs in the past can no longer satisfy the appetite of movie fans. The latest playback devices also need higher-definition picture support, not only DVD players, but also Sony's PS3 and Microsoft's Xbox game consoles.

In this case, Microsoft and Toshiba will cooperate to launch the HD-DVD high-definition format standard, and Sony will launch the BD Blu-ray high-definition format standard on its own.

This "standard" competition is very fierce. Although HD-DVD has not been officially launched yet, and the research and development of Blu-ray has just started, the two parties have already launched a market competition.

The most important direction, of course, is movies!

The DVD production medium of Hollywood movies is the core of promoting high-definition "standards"!

Because Sony is very enthusiastic about MGM, and Microsoft, a technology company, is also organizing a team to investigate MGM and want to acquire it.

Such news is very unfavorable to Tang En.

The more competition there is, the more it will cost to buy MGM.

"Ring ring ring..."

The office phone rang, and when Dunn answered it, it was Michael Ovitz.

"Tang En, Lei Shidong has made a move!"

Tang En frowned, "What action?"

"I also just got the news that Redstone came forward and contacted Merrill Lynch to set up Melrose Private Equity Fund in the name of Bank of Merrill Lynch and Paramount." Michael Ovitz was a little heavy.

Tang En also understood, and opened his eyes wide, "You mean...assortment investment?"

Michael Ovitz said: "That's right! This is a foundation that focuses on platter investment!"

Tang En sneered, "This old guy, he still doesn't give up. Do you really think that the platter investment can save Paramount? This Melrose Foundation is even more ridiculous. It cooperates with Hollywood film companies, and no insiders participate in the operation of the project." , Sooner or later there will be no bones left! In this respect, Paramount is notorious."

Michael Ovitz shook his head and said: "The Melrose Foundation is a small matter, but this is probably the beginning. Wall Street private equity funds and venture capital banks have recently paid close attention to Legendary Pictures' financial statements. I think...except for Melrose In addition to the Ross Fund, more platter investment funds will enter Hollywood, and even... may imitate the management model of Legendary Films!"

Tang En pondered for a while, then nodded, "Well, Michael, the listing plan must be launched immediately!"

"Well, I have already discussed with investors and obtained their approval. If possible, in August...or September this year, Legendary Pictures can go public."

"Okay! Then I will wait for the good news!"

After hanging up the phone, Tang En sat there for a while, then smiled coldly.

This Lei Shidong is still trying to die?

...

The nominations for the Golden Globe Awards have been announced. New Universal's four award-winning films, "Chicago", "The Hours", "New York City", and "The Pianist", have become the biggest hits, with a total of 22 nominations. nominate.

On this day, Barry Diller sent back good news: "Kevin Turner promised!"

Tang En was very excited and wanted to fly to Bentonville immediately.

Barry Diller said, "He's in Los Angeles right now!"

...

Dunn met Kevin Turner again at the Beverly Hills Country Club, along with Barry Diller and Reed Hastings.

In this meeting, Kevin Turner did not have the repulsion of being thousands of miles away in the past.

After several months of contact, he felt the sincerity of New Universal.

"Actually, the most crucial point that made me want to join New Global was the latest acquisition." He said.

A few old men are swimming shirtless, not even accompanied by a beautiful woman, it is not at all like a business negotiation in the entertainment industry. Fortunately, Kevin Turner is a technical talent, he thinks it is normal.

"Acquisition?" Tang En's eyes lit up, "You mean the IMDb website?"

Kevin Turner said: "Yes, it is the website. Of course I am not interested in this website, but I am shocked by the combination of IMDb and Netflix."

"Oh? How do you say it?"

Everyone in the room was very interested in what he said.

Especially Reed Hastings.

As the founder and head of Netflix, he hopes to hear more "high theory". Tang En's combination of IMDb and Netflix has already made his eyes shine.

Kevin Turner said with a smile: "I think about it from the perspective of Wal-Mart. In terms of sales and management, Wal-Mart has no rivals. The e-commerce is booming. To be honest, it will only make Wal-Mart stronger and stronger. However, Netflix It made my eyes shine. This is actually an e-commerce, but not an e-commerce in the traditional sense. This membership sales model based on movies is commendable."

"During this time, I have been paying attention to the entertainment news, and through Mr. Diller, I got some first-hand information about New Universal and Viacom. In my opinion, the future of the rental market must belong to Netflix! As for Blockbuster...the traditional record industry is gradually sinking, how long can Blockbuster last?"

"I also watched Netflix. The business model is very advanced, and with IMDb's information consultation, it will greatly increase the stickiness and attractiveness of users. However, there are also some minor problems, such as video-on-demand services, which are useless; video downloads, It will nourish the birth of piracy; the cost of DVD mailing business is too high, the single postage is 30 cents, and the round trip is 60 cents, which is a huge expense.”

Tang En was a little speechless.

Unexpectedly, what attracted New Universal to Kevin Turner was not its superior film and television business, but Netflix...

But that's good too. He was in charge of the "online-offline" docking business at Wal-Mart, and he came to New Global, just in time to be in charge of this area.

Reed Hastings shook his head and said: "The most ideal film dissemination mode is naturally to push the pictures and sounds of movies and TV dramas directly to the audience in the form of data streams directly through the Internet, as long as the devices that can display Receiving and playing. But for now, the network carrier is still unable to quickly complete the transmission of huge amounts of information in a short period of time."

The current Internet speed still belongs to the "narrowband" era.

Downloading a DVD-quality movie that takes less than 3 hours takes a full 16 hours!

And the 16 hours of internet... $10.

You know, Netflix's monthly membership fee is only 20 US dollars.

In this case, Netflix's video-on-demand and video download services naturally appear to be tasteless.

This is not Netflix's problem, but the network operator's problem.

Kevin Turner said sternly: "No! There is a solution!"

"Unless the bottleneck of network bandwidth can be broken."

"That's something operators should think about."

"Oh?" Reed Hastings frowned.

Kevin Turner also knew that after he joined New Universal, he would be the vice president of the group, concurrently the chairman and CEO of the interactive entertainment department, and he would be the immediate boss of Reed Hastings.

At this time, it is necessary to show off a little knowledge and show your ability to be worthy of the name "leadership".

"I haven't got the specific financial statements of Netflix, but I know that besides the necessary copyright fees, the biggest expense of Netflix is ​​the shipping fee of the video disc!"

Reed Hastings nodded.

In the past year, Netflix’s revenue exceeded US$600 million, of which US$150 million was spent on shipping, accounting for a full 25%!

This is a huge expense.

However, it is impossible to charge shipping fees to monthly membership users, right?