I’m in Hollywood

Chapter 828

So far, the North American box office of Titanic has successfully exceeded 300 million US dollars, but the box office trend of this phenomenal blockbuster is still strong. Box office analysis agencies generally predict that Titanic only depends on the North American box office. It is possible to recover the entire huge investment of 265 million US dollars, and the overseas box office of Titanic is likely to reach an eye-popping figure. The film industry's just emerging reflection on the big-budget movies in recent years has also changed. Too vulnerable, major Hollywood film companies have begun to look for their own super blockbuster projects. Under such circumstances, the Firefly Group suddenly announced that it would stop the external cooperation in the digital field of its special effects company, which is tantamount to pouring a basin of cold water outside the Firefly system. all the Hollywood studios.”

According to Jeffrey Katzenberg, chairman of Firefly Group, Firefly Group will increase its annual 'blockbuster' films from three to six in the next few years, at least half of which will be featured CG If the digital field continues to maintain the original open operation model, it will be difficult to meet the needs of Firefly Group itself.”

It is reported that the digital domain special effects company currently has the top computer CG special effects technology in Hollywood. Since 1991, the digital domain has produced excellent special effects in films such as Terminator 2, Tornado and Jurassic Park. , has won the Academy Award for Best Visual Effects for 4 consecutive years. At the same time, there is the industry's largest rendering farm in the digital field, and in recent years, it has undertaken more than 50% of Hollywood's special effects rendering work.

Relevant analysts predict that because the digital field has a large number of unique CG special effects technologies in Hollywood, such as the large-scale war scene design in The Mummy 2, the sudden stop of the digital field's foreign cooperation may even make it impossible to use the digital field. The technological Hollywood film company has formed a 'fault' for several years in special effects blockbusters, which will undoubtedly have a strong impact on the film business of Time Warner, Paramount, Sony and other companies. The market share of MGM and 20th Century Fox will increase significantly. Affected by this news, the stock prices of Time Warner, Viacom and other companies have all dropped slightly in the last week. MGM, which is most closely related to Firefly Group Pictures, shares rose further, up more than 9% in a week.

Michael Eisner, throwing away the latest issue of Premiere, stood up in distress and walked to the window, thinking about what to do next.

In addition to this analysis article, this issue of Premier magazine released the latest annual Hollywood power list, in addition to Eric Williams occupying the top position without any suspense, Firefly Group's CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg did not follow the practice of previous years and was ranked first alongside Eric as the controller of the Firefly Group. Instead, he was listed separately and took the second place. The change undoubtedly shows Eric's increasingly aloof status in Hollywood. The third place still has nothing to do with Universal, but MGM, which was the most popular last year. Drew Barrymore and Amy Pascal were tied for third place, and it was Michael Eisner's turn in fourth place.

I don't know if it was intentional or doubtful,

In the top ten of this year's Hollywood power list, in addition to the executives of big film companies and top directors and producers, Stan Winston, the CEO of the digital field, has suddenly appeared. That is to say, the Firefly Group has already In the top ten of the Hollywood power list, it occupies three places. If you count the list of MGM and Fox, the Firefly system has basically controlled half of Hollywood, which is almost the same as the influence of the Firefly Group in reality. Consistently, even if the market share is simply calculated, because of the unexpected outbreak of Titanic, which was not favored by everyone, Firefly, MGM and Fox will have a share of the Hollywood box office market this year. 50%, while the four major film companies, Warner, Paramount, Universal, and Sony Pictures, can only share the remaining 50% with countless other second- and third-tier film companies.

Plans can never keep up with changes.

Michael Eisner sighed in his heart, remembering his own thoughts before the release of Titanic, and smiled involuntarily.

However, there are looming problems to be solved for now.

In the past week, after Firefly announced that it would stop external cooperation in the digital field, Industrial Light and Magic, which had almost reached a cooperation intention with Universal, suddenly changed its mind. Microsoft can almost be regarded as a swift response to the outside world and said that it will invest another 100 million US dollars. , which is used for the technical research and development of industrial light and magic in cg special effects.

Although Industrial Light and Magic has been far inferior to the digital field in recent years, the special effects accumulated over the past 20 years is not comparable to other small special effects companies that have just been established in Hollywood. Obviously, Microsoft is also due to the box office success of Titanic. Seeing the huge application prospects of special effects technology in Hollywood, some other thoughts have arisen, and Universal is no longer willing to intervene.

In response to the news announced by Firefly, this week, in addition to Microsoft's generous injection of funds into Industrial Light and Magic, Sony, Paramount and Time Warner also announced the establishment of their own film and television special effects departments.

Although Universal's board of directors also began to discuss related issues, Edgar Bronfman, chairman of the parent company Seagram Group, also called specifically to ask about it.

But Michael Eisner knew that setting up a dedicated special effects department would simply not work. He still clearly remembers what Eric said last year when everyone competed for the copyright of the Transformers movie. Just relying on the rendering farm built by Digital Domain costing $100 million in Florida, it is not something that other second- and third-rate special effects companies can easily. It can catch up, and over the years, in order to develop various CG special effects technologies, how much has been invested in the digital field, although there is no specific data, it is conceivable that this number is also very terrifying.

More importantly, if the special effects company wants to accumulate enough technology, it needs to be obtained through practice in the production process of a large number of CG shots. According to the news revealed by Firefly, Firefly Group will feature three films with CG special effects every year in the future. Then, even if MGM and 20th Century Fox are added together, they will have as many as Firefly. The three companies can provide digital services every year. Six special effects movies have been ordered, and there are countless other movies that require a small number of special effects scenes, which provides a sufficient technology accumulation platform for the digital field. This is impossible for Time Warner, Paramount, Sony, or even Universal itself.

Of course, the first thought in Michael Eisner's mind was to unite, but from the reaction of Industrial Light and Magic supported by Microsoft after Firefly announced the news, it can be seen that everyone has their own small abacus in their hearts and wants to unite. easier said than done.

While thinking about things, someone knocked on the office door, Michael Eisner responded, and his assistant pushed the door in and said, Mr. Eisner, I have inquired, Eric Williams is here. Went to San Francisco for two days, seemingly for a music player that Firefly was secretly developing.

Music player? Michael Eisner asked suspiciously. Although the mp3 player was developed at the end of last year, Firefly Electronics has been preparing for various preparatory work in recent months, so it is still basically is kept confidential.

Michael Eisner's assistant nodded and said, It's a brand new digital audio player. It's a coincidence that you asked me to participate in the company's contract with Miss Nicole Kidman about the renewal of The Mummy last week. I happened to see Miss Kidman using this player, which is only slightly larger than an old-fashioned lighter. It uses a micro-hard drive as a storage medium, and it can store hundreds of songs in mp3 audio format, without the need for tapes and discs. These external media. By the way, I just specifically called the record company, and they also received an invitation from Yahoo Network to sell songs in the Yahoo Music Store at the end of last year, and the two sides are still negotiating.”

The eyes of Michael Eisner, who had been listening intently, immediately lit up, and he had just faintly realized a problem.

If everything is as the assistant said, then, if this music player wants to be popularized, it will definitely need a lot of genuine music resources as support. The reason why Sony bought Columbia Records was in this regard. Obviously, music copyright resources are precisely the shortcoming of Firefly Group. Although Firefly Records has successively launched some good singers in recent years, in terms of background, Firefly Records is compared with the old giants such as Universal Music, Warner Records and Sony Records. Still a hundred and eight thousand miles away.

You did a great job, he praised the other party without hesitation, and Michael Eisner added: In addition, prepare a copy of the negotiation materials between the record company and Yahoo, and help me make an appointment with Doug. Morris.

Doug Morris is the CEO of Universal Music. The mca group that Seagram took over from Panasonic mainly includes Universal Pictures and Universal Music. However, Michael Eisner is not in charge of Universal Music's business.

...

fireflyer, this is the most suitable name we finally discussed, fireflyer is actually a conceited but sincere and loyal elf in the fairy tale Peter Pan, it was born because of the laughter of a baby in Renton, In the story, fireflyer and Tinkerbell eventually became a couple. It can be said that this is a character with some minor shortcomings, but the flaws are not concealed. Our mp3 player product is also pursuing the same experience as a close friend. , which just fits the character of fireflyer, and at the same time, fireflyer can also be regarded as an extension of firefly.

In an office building in Oakland, San Francisco, Eric, Chris and a group of Firefly Electronics executives sat in a conference room, quietly listening to the explanation of Bill Olson, President of Firefly Electronics.

Bill Olson is an executive Chris hired from Apple. He was originally a vice president of product marketing at Apple. Originally, even with the backing of Firefly Group, Bill Olson is still It is unlikely that Firefly Electronics is a small company that has just started, but because of the decline of Apple in the past two years, the management has switched jobs to find him, and Eric and Chris have promised enough salary. And the option reward, Bill Olsen was willing to come over as the president of Firefly Electronics, mainly responsible for the marketing of mp3 players.

After listening to Bill Olson, Eric said: The name fireflyer is really good, but since you mentioned tinkerbell, Bill, don't you think that we can also apply for this trademark as a mp3 player. Another brand, maybe, for women or something?

Bill Olson smiled and said, Eric, your suggestion was actually mentioned by Victor at the original naming meeting, but after our discussion, we temporarily dismissed the idea.

Eric looked at Victor McNally, the CEO of Firefly Electronics. Victor McNally graduated from Stanford University with a Ph.D. in electrical engineering. Victor McNally is in charge of product development and production at IBM. Although his position is not too high, his professional ability is also very good. Chris asked the headhunting company to find it for three months before deciding selected Victor McNally.

Victor McNally was a chubby middle-aged white man with a beard and a beard. Seeing Eric looking at him, he smiled and gestured to Bill Olson, saying with a smile: Eric, let Bill talk to you, he's the expert on this.

Eric looked at Bill Olson again.

Bill Olson didn't sell the lawsuit, saying: That's it, Eric, under the current situation, we only have a product like fireflyer, maybe we can name the pink one as the tinkerbell you said, but this way It will definitely dilute the brand image of the player and be detrimental to the promotion of the product.

...

...

Victor McNally was a chubby middle-aged white man with a beard and a beard. Seeing Eric looking at him, he smiled and gestured to Bill Olson, saying with a smile: Eric, let Bill talk to you, he's the expert on this.

Eric looked at Bill Olson again.

Bill Olson didn't sell the lawsuit, saying: That's it, Eric, under the current situation, we only have a product like fireflyer, maybe we can name the pink one as the tinkerbell you said, but this way It will definitely dilute the brand image of the player, which is not good for the promotion of the product. (To be continued.)