Hollywood Hunter

After receiving Spielberg and other tasks, Michael Ovitz left the CAA headquarters at 11 o'clock and rushed to Universal Studios Burbank on the other side of Beverly Hills.

Today I asked Simon to have lunch together, and discuss the LinkedIn social networking site that will be launched at the end of June.

After the project was finalized in February and the venture capital of Igret was obtained, in recent months, the project was mainly responsible for Eisner.Because they are neighbors and are shareholders, the two friends often gather together after dinner to discuss various details of the website. This lunch was an invitation by Eisner to Westeros, and finally according to Simon’s schedule Identify the in-house restaurant at Universal Studios Burbank.

Worrying about early departure in case of traffic jam, arriving at Universal Studios, the time is only 11:40.Make a phone call to Eisner and learn that the other party has also arrived in advance and is at the Universal Cinema with Westeros inside the studio.

Park the car nearby in a parking lot next to Kirk Douglas Avenue in the north of the studio. Michael Ovitz walked to the Universal Theater on foot and looked at the tourists traveling around. The feeling is inexplicable. .When I thought about it, Owitz's first job in Hollywood was to be a tour guide in Universal Studios. At that time, Spielberg was just a stunned young man who skipped classes and came to Universal Studios to do odd jobs.

Everything has changed now.After the acquisition of MCA by Daenerys Entertainment, Universal Studios, which covers an area of ​​200 hectares, is more and more inclined to a more pure theme park. Most office departments have turned to Malibu Daenerys Studios, even if it is set up here. Daenerys on the side produced the popular "Desperate Housewives" Wisteria Street set and the "Friends" studio, which will also be regularly opened to tourists. The office space that was reserved for many Hollywood big coffee fans has also become a favorite spot for fans. .

In the early years of Hollywood, in order to make a famous filmmaker, it often reserved an office for the other party in the studio. Spielberg's An Berlin company originally had a small building built in Universal Studios.

CAA's habit of keeping offices for its big cafes is actually inspired by Ovitz's experience as a tour guide at Universal Studios.

Daenerys Entertainment still retains this custom.

Now, in addition to Spielberg, who has quietly moved the headquarters of Amber Berlin, in recent years, there have been more big coffee offices in Universal Studios and Malibu Studios.Universal Cinema is located in the middle of the cinema and is actually a large multi-hall cinema for tourists.Unlike Disneyland, Universal Studios Burbank is more like a large commercial center. In addition to a variety of attractions, the Studio’s in-house restaurants, hotels, theaters, shopping malls and even hospitals are not lacking.

Michael Ovitz came here, and a staff member took him to a screening hall in the theater that was being renovated.

Entering the projection hall, in the dim light, Ovitz first noticed the ghost image on the big screen in front, and vaguely distinguished that this should be a fragment of "Jurassic Park 2".

3D.

The name flashed in Ovitz's mind for the first time.

Due to work reasons, Ovitz, who was not in Los Angeles some time ago, did not participate in the premiere of "Jurassic Park 2" held in the Holy Civic Auditorium on May 31, but he also heard that the film premiered in IMAX. The shock effect of the method is also rumored in the circle, and Daenerys Entertainment will then promote generously this new form of movie playback.

Ovitz, who likes to find out the truth, immediately asked the assistant to find the IMAX information afterwards. After researching, he felt that IMAX was not easy to promote because the cost of this playback system was too high.

However, it is not impossible to gather the power of the entire Hollywood.

Now seeing the 3D version of "Jurassic Park 2" in this projection hall of the Universal Theater, Ovitz realized that, just like the original CG special effects,

The staff handed over a pair of 3D eyes. Owitz thanked each other and came to an empty seat in the middle of the theater. He took advantage of the light in the screening room to look at the 3D glasses in his hand. It was not in memory. I have seen the red and blue 3D, put on the glasses and looked at the big screen, which happened to be the scene where the dinosaur army leveled the poacher base. The shock that came from the face seemed to be irreplaceable.

It's a pity that what was shown on the big screen is obviously not the whole story, but only a clip.

In less than five minutes, the clip was completed and the lights in the auditorium lighted up again.

Simon, Eisner, and others were sitting in the front row, the lights were on, and Ovitz got up and walked over, greeted Simon, and exclaimed: "Simon, I just saw the future of Hollywood, right?"

"of course."

Simon nodded with a smile, said a few of the Daenerys entertainment executives around him, and took Girl A to get up and walk out with Ovitz and Eisner.

Meals are arranged in the internal restaurant in the north of the studio.

Everyone said that they went out of the theater together with a smile, and there were not many tourists at noon. Simon still put on a pair of sunglasses and quickly got on a battery car to the north administrative district.

Until sitting down in the restaurant, Simon and Eisner's topics were still around 3D and IMAX.

Whether it is 3D or IMAX, it has a history of decades.The main reason why it has not been promoted is not cost, but unnecessary.

Before the 1990s, there were very few sci-fi blockbusters such as the "Star Wars" series. Even "Star Wars", although it used a lot of new technology, it was not actually known for its visual effects. It was mainly George Lucas. A brand new science fiction world created.

In addition, most Hollywood movies are very traditional genres.

Whether it’s Sylvester Stallone’s First Blood series or Spielberg’s Treasure Hunter series, the viewing experience on such 2D and 3D screens will not be much different. The same is true of IMAX and ordinary screens.

Since there will be no subversive changes in the movie viewing experience, there is naturally no need for promotion.

It is different now.

As the CG special effect technology becomes more mature, more and more visual spectacle movies created by using a large number of special effect technologies are more and more, like the "Jurassic Park" series, just like the DC movie universe series, these movies, in 2D screen and 3D The viewing experience on screen or IMAX is completely different.

Therefore, it is the right time to start promoting technologies such as 3D and IMAX.

The promotion of any new film technology is inseparable from the content and channels. In the final analysis, it is still capital.For Daenerys Entertainment, who is riding the dust in Hollywood, these are not problems. Even if other studios do not cooperate, Daenerys Entertainment has even been able to complete the reform of this movie projection mode by itself. .

Simon is actually planning to do the same.

The first person to eat crabs may take a lot of risks. However, the pioneers can often reap greater profits by confirming the huge commercial potential contained therein.

No one knows the market potential of 3D and IMAX better than Simon.

During the lunch, Simon was not completely confessed to Eisner and Owitz, but he didn't hide his thoughts too much. He outlined his thoughts.In recent years, due to the renaissance of the entertainment industry worldwide, the number of theaters has continued to increase. Taking advantage of this shareholder style, Daenerys Entertainment happened to promote these two new technologies.

First of all, it can be promoted from Daenerys Entertainment's own cinema line.

The original merged MCA was far more than a Universal Pictures industry. It was a series of very large portfolios of assets, including a 40% stake in Cineplex Odeon, a large theater chain in North America. It was the asset purchased by MCA after the government relaxed control of the entertainment industry.

After the development in recent years, Oden Cinema not only has a total of 379 theaters in the United States and Canada, and the number of screens has reached 1863, but also quietly developed its business to overseas markets such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Italy, New Zealand, and Ukraine.

Because franchise theaters are basically in prime locations in major cities, in 1994, as a subsidiary of Daenerys Entertainment, Oden Cinemas won an 11% box office share with about 6% of screens in North America .

Ordinary people always focus on the most dazzling movie business of Daenerys Entertainment, so it is inevitable to doubt whether Daenerys Entertainment is worth the bubbles in the market value of the other hundreds of billions of dollars in Hollywood. The fact is that Dany Lisi Entertainment Group already belongs to the comprehensive super entertainment giant that has leading advantages in many aspects such as movies, TV, music, games, cinemas, video chains and so on.

Now, Simon plans to use the Oden cinema line of Daenerys Entertainment as a basis to carry out a reform of film projection technology. Once successful, it will inevitably further strengthen Daenerys Entertainment's advantages in the entire entertainment industry.

During the meal, I talked about 3D and IMAX, and the topic soon turned to LinkedIn, which is about to go online.

This company is just a seed that Simon sowed at random.

At the beginning, the acquisition of 20% of LinkedIn's shares with 5 million US dollars was actually a bit high. Simon was more concerned about Eisner and Ovitz, otherwise, 5 million US dollars, at least 30% of the shares.However, for LinkedIn, the time cost given by Simon will only be a discussion of occasional dining together.

Throughout the Westeros system, Simon has too many things to take care of, and he also tries his best to avoid the facts.

The two sides discussed one hour for LinkedIn's core functions and potential business models. At one o'clock in the afternoon, lunch ended. Simon continued to convene several Daenerys entertainment executives in the morning to discuss the promotion of 3D and IMAX. The agenda for this matter It's not anxious, it's really spread out, and it is expected to take another two years.

After finishing the day's work, Simon set off for Europe in the evening and went to Italy again to visit Sofia in pregnancy.

On the other hand, this box office week opened today, under the pressure of "Jurassic Park 2", only one major new film was released in the North American theater. This is a love film of Fox Pictures, called "Pregnancy in September" ", the film starred by Hugh Grant and "Actress" series heroine Julian Moore, who became famous last year with "Four Weddings and One Funeral", and only 1461 pieces of screens were drawn.

This new film failed to pose a threat to Jurassic Park 2.

On the second day, "Jurassic Park 2" routinely announced the single-day box office on June 9, compared with the $29.87 million on the first day of the painting last week. The box office of the film fell only 39% year-on-year on the first day of the next week. Ten thousand U.S. dollars.Because the box office data on the first day of last week still has midnight data, judging from the box office data on the first day of the following week, the Daenerys Entertainment Propaganda team expects that the "Jurassic Park 2" will be released next week and the drop is likely to be 35. %about.

In the first week, 129 million US dollars were received. The next week's decline was not less than half, but it could still maintain 35%. The possibility of the Jurassic Park 2 local box office breaking through the 400 million threshold was again greatly increased.

The final box office from June 9 to June 15 was as expected, and the final decline was 36%, accounting for US$ 82.63 million.

Two weeks after its release, the cumulative box office of "Jurassic Park 2" easily exceeded US$200 million to reach US$211.76 million, which surpassed the Easter period of "Rebel Stars 3" in one fell swoop, second only to the Valentine's Day of the beginning of the year. This man is from Earth", temporarily ranked second in the annual list.

Everyone also found that the three brands of Daenerys Entertainment Group, "This Man From Earth" by Gaomen Pictures, "Jurassic Park 2" by Daenerys Pictures and New World Pictures "Anti-intellect 3" temporarily occupied the top three in the 1995 annual list.

Counting the "Broken Arrow", "Red Fan District", "McMalen Brothers", "Under Zipper" and other projects that achieved good results in the first half of the year, Simon initially evolved into three brands under Daenerys Entertainment gradually evolved into In fact, the plans of the three major Hollywood studios have unconsciously begun to take shape.

On June 15th, two other new films for the summer, Paramount Pictures' "Brave Heart" and Disney's 2D animated film "Pocahontas" were released.

Mel Gibson's $72 million self-directed epic blockbuster "Brave Heart", although snatching the DreamWorks "Ghost Horse Elf" schedule, but Paramount is clearly not enough for this movie Confidence, in the first week, only 2055 open screens were given.

By comparison, Disney’s Pocahontas has a higher number of screens of 2,569.

Probably because of the ambition of just taking over Disney, Vivendi Group has spared no effort in supporting this Hollywood studio.

On the other hand, on the same day of June 15th, Igret was delayed for a month compared to expectations, and finally submitted its first prospectus to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), which mainly disclosed Iraq to investors. Grete's corporate profile, operating performance, equity distribution, fundraising scale and other data.

After surpassing US$10 billion in revenue for the entire year of 1994, the industry generally expects Igrid’s revenue growth to slow.

The same is true.

However, the results are still beyond the expectations of most industry analysts.

In the first quarter of 1995, Igrid’s revenue growth was still as high as 67% year-on-year, far exceeding the industry’s previously predicted 30% to 50% increase. Such a growth rate of performance inevitably pushed IG again. Reiter's IPO valuation.Therefore, in the first version of the prospectus submitted to the SEC this time, based on the preliminary determination of the share capital data and the issue price, the valuation declared by Eaglet has reached US$130 billion.

If the revenue growth in the next two quarters is still the same as the growth rate in the first quarter, before the real listing, Igerett can actually increase the issue price to a certain extent.

At that time, the valuation of this company may break through 150 billion US dollars.

Considering that the total size of the IPO’s financing reached US$20 billion, in order to avoid risks as much as possible, in the prospectus, Igrid also revealed that it will launch the over-allotment option program used by Nokia in North America listing, that is, green Shoe mechanism.

If the stock price falls short of expectations after listing, Igerit will use the funds raised from this listing to repurchase stock equivalent to 15% of the IPO issuance to support the stock price and protect the interests of investors.

The green shoe mechanism is actually two-way.

If market feedback exceeds expectations, Igreat will continue to provide investors with an additional 15% of the IPO issuance stock at the issue price, which is considered a kind of feedback. Igreut can also obtain additional funds.After the success of the IPO, Simon's shareholding in Igret will be reduced to below 60%.

With the transfer of more than 40% of the shares, the Westeros system has basically completed the plan to integrate Igret into the US economy and even the global economy. Next, if someone wants to find this technology giant that still has many suspected monopolies The first thing to consider about the trouble of Big Mac is whether or not many investors behind this company agree.