The Best Entertainment Era

At Embassy Pictures, more than a dozen spectators gathered in the pull-up room, and the screening of an animated feature film has come to an end.

Shrek and his friends worked together to defeat the fairy godmother and her son Prince Charming, successfully married Princess Fiona, threw down a super light bulb and a donkey and gave birth to a big winner, a poor donkey, and the super killer who has the super killer of being cute and spoof Puss in Boots, go on honeymoon together...

At the end of the trial session, due to the limited number of people in the filming room, there was sparse applause.

How is it? Garcia-Rodriguez lowered his voice and asked Thomas: How is it better than the first one?

Thomas said truthfully: As far as I personally feel, the quality of the film is slightly inferior to that of the first film, but this is a sequel, and the commercial success is estimated to be higher than that of the first film.

Garcia said slowly, It's about the same as I thought.

After saying this, he turned his head and looked back. Jeff Katzenberg of DreamWorks Animation Studio was standing next to Ronan, and seemed to be discussing the film.

Jeff Katzenberg glanced at the person next to Ronan, and remembered that he seemed to be the head of the 20th Century Fox Animation Studio. , the other party is just a junior among the juniors.

He smiled and asked, Ronan, is this one okay?

All Ronan said was praise: Excellent. Especially the parody style of famous movies is very interesting. Except for the Shrek series, this form has never appeared in previous cartoons, even in other forms. There is absolutely no such concentration in other films, which is refreshing for everyone.”

Jeff Katzenberg said proudly: DreamWorks Animation has found a suitable style and is on the right path of development.

Ronan also agreed with him: DreamWorks Animation's animated feature films will only get better and better.

Although DreamWorks Animation Studio is not as good as Pixar Studios, and the animated feature films produced are mixed, but overall the development is quite good.

He introduced to Jeff Katzenberg: This is Chris Leonard, the head of Sandsea Entertainment's animation studio.

Chris Leonard greeted with a smile: Hello, Mr. Katzenberg.

Hello. Jeff Katzenberg and Chris Leonard shook hands lightly.

He didn't quite understand why this unknown animation producer was valued by Ronan?

Embassy Pictures was originally the most suitable partner of DreamWorks Animation Studio, and Ronan was also his most valued partner. It was not until the establishment of the Shahai Entertainment Animation Studio that he realized that Ronan may not regard DreamWorks Animation Studio as the first priority. Partner.

Among the many animation producers in Hollywood today, Pixar Studios is a well-deserved industry leader, and then other companies, this Shahai Entertainment Animation Studio, if it really wants to develop, it will definitely become a strong competitor of DreamWorks Animation Studio.

Sitting in the current position, you must consider the company, otherwise you might as well retire and step down.

I hope that Spielberg can build a good DreamWorks distribution channel in the next few years.

Although he had a very unpleasant relationship with David Geffen and Spielberg some time ago, but if the conditions are right, he would not mind letting the distribution rights of DreamWorks Animation Studio return to DreamWorks.

Anyway, both belong to the same company.

Jeff Katzenberg casually exchanged greetings with Ronan, then turned to Ronan, and said, The schedule is set for the second weekend in May, can it be released globally simultaneously?

Ronan was full of confidence: There is no problem. This is not the first time that Embassy Pictures has simultaneously released a movie globally. Shrek 2 will appear simultaneously in theaters in more than 30 countries and regions on the second weekend of May. among.

This is the sequel of a super-best-selling movie. It naturally has a strong fan base. It does not need to wait for the North American box office to explode and it will be released overseas, and global synchronization can also effectively avoid box office losses caused by piracy.

Even in North America, a market with extremely strict copyright management, it is difficult to avoid the emergence of piracy. There are an endless stream of ghost-like candid photographers in theaters. Now it is the Internet age. The speed of imagination travels across the world.

Jeff Katzenberg is confident in the distribution capabilities of Embassy Pictures, but he has some doubts about the selected schedule: It will be released on the second weekend of May, Ronan, isn't this schedule a little tight?

Ronan said: This schedule is not bad.

The first weekend was the premiere of Universal Pictures' Van Helsing. Jeff Katzenberg was somewhat worried: The following weekend was Warner Bros.' super epic masterpiece Troy, although Shrek 2 The audience of these two films is different, but will it be affected by being caught between two top giants?

The production cost of Van Helsing was as high as 160 million US dollars, Troy was an exaggerated production budget of 175 million US dollars, and the production cost of Shrek 2 was 75 million US dollars. Not a little bit worse.

Ronan said calmly: The summer schedule is very crowded every year, and there are heavyweight movies released every weekend. The successful movie will still be successful without much impact, and we can't find a more suitable one. It's time.

This schedule was originally selected by Ronan at the request of the Embassy Films. Looking at the entire month of May and June, is there a better schedule than this?

The one in the front is a super hit, and the one in the back, although not hit the street, is not much better.

Brad Pitt also passed Troy, proving that his commercial appeal is really not that strong.

Jeff Katzenberg thought for a while and said, Well, you are an expert in this area, so I won't comment much.

Ronan smiled and said, Don't worry, Jeff, this sequel should do better than the first one.

I hope so. Jeff Katzenberg didn't stay long, and said, The company still has something to do, so I'll take my leave first, and we'll meet again when I have time.

At the end of the preview meeting, Ronan simply asked about the coordination between the embassy film industry and the theater company, and left the embassy film industry.

For online distribution, the number of theaters directly determines the box office.

Not only Shrek 2 released on the second weekend of May, but also Resident Evil 2 to be released by Embassy Pictures in early April, all need to win as many theaters and screens as possible from the theater chain.

Ronan's request was very clear, Shrek 2 had to be opened in about 4,000 theaters in North America, and Resident Evil 2, even if it was an R-rated film, had to be premiered in more than 3,000 theaters.

Of course, the embassy film industry is able to win as many theaters as possible.

Chris Leonard followed Ronan out of Embassy Pictures and got into Ronan's Rolls-Royce Phantom.

Ronan asked: Will Despicable Me be finished this year?

Chris Leonard promised: There will definitely be an internal preview before the end of the year.

DreamWorks Animation Studio will not cooperate with Embassy Pictures for too long. Ronan sees it very clearly: After the five-year period, the cooperation between the two parties may end, so the business of animated feature films still depends on us. itself.

He didn't need to talk to Chris Leonard about Pixar's plans.

And unlike DreamWorks Animation Studios, Pixar Studios must retain a certain degree of independence if they want Pixar's hookers to continue to hang out.

Chris Leonard said: I understand that as long as Despicable Me goes well, we will launch the Minions animated movie.

Ronan nodded, he also thought about the situation of Jeff Katzenberg and DreamWorks Animation Studio, especially in the past few years, Jeff Katzenberg rarely talked with him and Will. Bill Smith and Tom Cruise walked together, and the previous golf quartet has gradually become an iron triangle.

Many of the reasons are not difficult for him to understand.

This time, taking advantage of the opportunity of Artisan Pictures to promote the comprehensive cooperation between Embassy Pictures and DreamWorks Animation Studio in the next five years, it can also be said to be a win-win situation.

Outside of the Big Six companies, there is currently no distributor that is stronger than Relativity Entertainment, and the distribution commission given by Embassy Pictures is much lower than that of the Big Six.

As for Jeff Katzenberg and the three of them drifting away, Ronan did not have any complaints or complaints. Jeff Katzenberg represented not only himself, but also the entire DreamWorks Animation Studio, among which Involving dozens of shareholders and hundreds of employees, Jeff - Katzenberg must be responsible for them.

Business has always been complicated, business competition will not affect personal friendship, it can only be said that there are very few.

Shopping malls are like battlefields, and Jeff Katzenberg obviously made his own choice.

Ronan closed his eyes and thought for a while, then said, Chris, last year the British children's author Gressida Cowell published an adventure book.

I saw this on the information collected by Connie. I didn’t think much about it at first, but this time gradually made him make up his mind: “The title of the book is Little Viking Heroes: How to Tame Your Dragon. It roughly tells the story of a Viking teenager who becomes a Viking warrior by training his dragon, I think it is very suitable to be adapted into an animated film, you take the time to watch it.”

Chris Leonard said: I'll go back and buy a copy.

Ronan nodded, and said: After reading it, if you think it's okay, you can directly contact Robert Li at the head office and ask him to come forward to purchase the relevant copyright.

Okay. Chris Leonard responded.

Ronan sent Chris Leonard back to Sandsea Entertainment, and asked the driver David to rush to the newly renamed Relativity Building. Christopher Nolan, who completed Batman: Beginning of War, has already started the preparatory work for the new film project , the two made an appointment a few days ago to meet today.