Los Angeles International Airport.

Disney CYO Sandy Litwatt and CEO Bill Michanik are waiting in a VIP room.

Seeing Litwat hang up a phone call, Bill Michanik asked, "Simon must have refused, right?"

"That happened a few days ago. How could Simon agree to attend a party to welcome the French guys?" Sandy Litwatt smiled indifferently, put away his cell phone, picked up a cup of coffee next to him and took a sip, and said, "Anyway, we just need to finish what we should do, just like Peter Gupla's many celebrities who entertained Akio Morita and made the Japanese happy."

Bill Michanik had a little regret and self-deprecating: "It's a pity that we are not as good as Cooper and Peters."

"At least for a short time, donkeys will not step on pits at the same place twice. We just didn't encounter a good time," Sandy Litwatt shrugged and smiled, glanced at the airport runway outside the glass window of the VIP room, and suddenly said: "Have you had contacted Michael recently?"

Michael, of course, is his former boss, Michael Eisner.

Bill Michanik did not hide it, nodding and said, "I had breakfast together two years ago. Michael's linkedin workplace social website is doing a good job and he also tests whether I am interested in going to work together."

When Sandy Litwat heard Michanik say this, he was a little disappointed that Eisner did not contact him.

But it was also relieved soon.

Sandy Litwatt was a lawyer and was once the head of Disney's legal department. Although he managed the business he was in charge in an orderly manner during his tenure, he did not have much excellence, and he was not familiar with the emerging Internet industry at the moment.

What's more, Littwatt also knew that Michael Eisner also pulled former president Frank Wells, who retired from Disney as legal counsel to Linkedin. Frank Wells is also from the legal background and was also Sandy Littwatt's direct boss. Since he had this top spot, Eisner would certainly not think of him again.

Bill Michanik is different.

The former head of Disney's family entertainment department successfully operated the videotape release of a series of Disney's old animated films in the 1980s, not only creating sales miracles, but also directly provided a large amount of funds for Disney's development in the 1980s and prompted a sharp rise in Disney's stock price.

In short, Michanik is a practical talent who is very good at business development and marketing. If he switches to Linkedin, it is very hopeful to help Eisner improve the business model of this workplace social networking website. This is a problem that many Internet companies urgently need to solve at this stage.

Thinking of this, Sandy Litwatt asked, "How did you reply to Michael?"

Michanik shook his head and said, "I refuse."

"Why, I think this is a good opportunity?"

Bill Michanik said: "The Internet industry is so crazy now, I can't understand it. Moreover, I think this bubble wave, well, last for another year at most. If you go to linkedin, you may not get started yet, and you will face the crisis of undervalued bubble bursting. In comparison, it is more stable for me to stay in Hollywood."

Sandy Litwatt half-jokes: "If that's the case, you might have missed hundreds of millions of dollars."

Michanik shook his head and said, "Now, whether it is Wall Street or Hollywood, many people are trying hard to squeeze into Silicon Valley. How many people can really make a fortune? Once the Internet bubble burst, do you think these people can easily return to the realm of the reason? Moreover, in my opinion, the monopoly pattern of the Internet industry has taken shape, and the Westeros system has occupied most of the interests. Unless another change comes, fewer and fewer people will dig gold mines from this field."

Litwatt thought about Michanik's words and had to nod, but couldn't help but say, "I heard that linkedin is already preparing for iPo?"

"Yes, it will be listed at the beginning of next year. Michael has revealed that the valuation can reach about $500 million. Compared with the investment of the website, this is a considerable number," Michanik said, and said, "However, this is also the reason why I don't go. If I chose to join the franchise at the beginning, I can get more stocks. Now I will only get some future options. You must know more about this than me. Once the bubble bursts, those options will only be worthless."

In fact, I was also wondering whether I would use my savings over the years to fight in Silicon Valley. After listening to Michanik's analysis, Litwatt rubbed the coffee cup in his hand, and was somewhat depressed, giving up some thoughts.

After all, both of them are already middle-aged.

Can't afford to toss.

Now that Disney is in charge, even if it can only be a puppet of the French, they are still the seven leaders of Hollywood. Although the Frenchman has harsh control over Disney, they were not treated unfairly in order to stabilize people's hearts.

After waiting for more than ten minutes, an assistant came over to inform him. The two got up and took several entourages to a tarmac inside the airport for private jets to take off and land.

The new chairman of the French Vivendi Group and Ceo Jean-Marie Messier and his party came from France.

Jean-Marie Messil recently took over the veteran corporate giant with a market value of more than US$30 billion from Guy Djovani, the former leader who has been in charge of Vivendi Group for 20 years.

Vivendi previously focused on water, transportation, energy and other fields. During his tenure as president, Jean-Marie Messier began to enter the media field. Vivendi's acquisition of Disney was a project promoted by Jean-Marie Messier himself. With the qualifications accumulated in this acquisition, Messier defeated other competitors in one fell swoop and became Vivendi's new leader.

Just as he completed his position transfer last week, Messier couldn't wait to arrange this trip to North America.

Even though Disney's current performance is a bit lukewarm, after all, the time is still short, and this transaction is far from being labeled as a failure. The global media and entertainment industry is recovering at the moment. Acquisition of Disney is just the beginning for Messier, who is ambitious to transform into a media and entertainment giant.

After getting off the plane, Jean-Marie Messier, who came to Hollywood with a large group of subordinates, did not go to the hotel to rest, but rushed directly to the Disney headquarters in Burbank.

Interior of a large conference room at Disney headquarters.

Sandy Littwatt sat on one side with a group of Disney executives, looking at the executives of the Fourth French TV station under Vivendi on the other side of the conference table, the famous French Gormeng Film executives, and the French director Luc Besson, who is also famous in Hollywood, and others, feeling a little strange.

Does the Frenchman want to counterattack Hollywood?

Jean-Marie Messil also looks decisive and decisive. Everyone sits down and briefly introduces each other, and goes straight to the topic, saying that he will personally promote Disney to focus on building a number of blockbuster projects to compete with other Hollywood film companies. At the same time, in order to share risks, Disney will also strengthen cooperation with major French media and entertainment companies.

After asking Sandy Litwatt about the progress of the copyright negotiations for "Terminator" and expressed his affirmation, Jean-Marie Messil announced on the spot that he would cooperate with France's Gomon Films to jointly develop the science fiction blockbuster "Fifth Element" series that French director Luc Besson has been preparing for many years.

Messil also personally introduced that this is a science fiction series created by Luc Besson since he was young with a perfect worldview. It currently has the complete concept of a trilogy, and it is not impossible to develop into a fifth element movie universe series similar to the DC movie universe in the future.

Sandy Litwatt and others did not express dissatisfaction with the sudden attack that the Frenchman had no prior notice.

But it’s inevitable to complain in my heart.

Another movie universe, doesn’t the movie universe cost money?

Moreover, attracting a large number of French filmmakers to cooperate with Disney has made Disney executives even less optimistic. It would be strange if the French film style can adapt to Hollywood.

Just like Luc Besson, although "The Blue Sea and Blue Sky" created a box office miracle of French movies, the director, at least currently, showed any potential to adapt to Hollywood. The movie "This Killer Not Too Cold" two years ago only had a good reputation in North America and could not make any box office success.

The meeting was held in such a thrilling afternoon, and at the same time, the contract for "Terminator 3" was finalized. On the third day of arriving in Los Angeles, Jean-Marie Messier personally hosted a grand press conference at the headquarters of Disney in Burbank, announcing the Disney new stage of film development plan led by "Terminator 3" and "Fifth Element".

This day is Friday, June 21.

A box office week in North America just ended. The topic of "007: Ghost Party" was in full swing, but I didn't expect to be attracted by Disney's big moves.

However, this does not completely cover up the sharpness of "007's Ghost Party".

From June 14 to June 20, the first week of "The Ghost Party of 007" was opened in the North American market, but the screen size of the painting was 3,346 yuan, and it won a box office of 89.17 million US dollars. Even if the inflation factor is calculated, this is the highest box office in the 007 series since its inception.

The production cost of this 007 movie is only $75 million.

The first week is 89.17 million US dollars. According to the step-by-step accounting rules signed by MGM and theaters, the issuer can obtain 90% of the box office revenue of the theater after deducting operating costs in the first two weeks before the opening of the painting. The actual conversion is about 70%. For this item alone, the share of about US$60 million in the first week will allow MGM to recover most of the costs.

In short, although the total cost of the project production and promotion reached US$125 million, it is only locally released, which is expected to make MGM a good profit. Therefore, "007: The Ghost Party" is likely to become the most profitable 007 movie in these years.

Due to the impact of "007: Ghost Party", the box office of other films during the same period showed a significant drop in the box office.

The second-place "Mission: Impossible 2" lost 51% in the third week of its release, and continued to earn $27.98 million. However, in three weeks, the cumulative box office of the action blockbuster adapted from the TV series, which is also a special agent theme, has reached $161.24 million.

Moreover, because "007: Ghost Party" is too strong, except for "Mission Impossible 2", which ranked second, which has maintained a box office of more than 10 million US dollars, all other films this week have been knocked down within the range of tens of millions of dollars. Moreover, even "Romeo and Juliet", which has been performing strongly since the start of the painting, has seen a box office drop of up to 46% in the past week.

In fact, this is also a manifestation of the beginning of exhaustion of box office potential in "Romeo and Juliet".

After all, since its release, including the $6.76 million box office in the past week, this low-cost romance film with a production cost of only $15 million has successfully exceeded 100 million box office, successfully entering the ranks of 100 million box office clubs with a total box office of $106.43 million.

On June 21, a new box office week will begin.

According to the ups and downs of this summer season, there are still no heavyweight new films this week.

First of all, "Police Empire" produced by Gaomen Pictures, a subsidiary of Daenerys Entertainment. This crime drama starring Sylvester Stallone was delayed from the end of last year to the release of this summer. The production cost was only 10 million US dollars, and the number of screens to be opened is 1,697 yuan.

Immediately afterwards, Disney's 2D animated film "The Clock Tower Monster", which is adapted from the cartoon "Notre Dame" and has 1,297 screens.

Compared to "The Police Empire", it is a bit unimportant.

Due to the rise of 3D animated films, 2D animated films in recent years have become less and less expected by the audience. Although "The Clock Tower Monster" has a world-class super IP foundation like "Notre Dame", in fact, such an adult-oriented subject is very attractive to audiences of all ages, especially the key children's audiences targeted by animated films.

Disney also mentioned the topic of revitalizing animated movies in a grand press conference held on Friday. Unfortunately, due to various factors, almost no one is optimistic that Disney can do this.

Finally, there is also a movie called "The Furious Locking of Tide".

This is a black-themed film adapted from the director, directed by the famous Spielberg, with a production cost of $30 million and released by Paramount.

Compared with "Jurassic Park", "ET Alien" and even "Schindler's List", "The Furious Break" is almost unknown in Spielberg's director list. Almost not many people have heard of this movie in the original time and space.

Actually, this is a project that DreamWorks Film and Paramount collaborates.

And it is a very important project in the planning stage.

Unfortunately, Spielberg did not have the halo of never losing his skills. This project was disliked by Paramount during the project establishment. It was only because of Spielberg's status in Hollywood and the other party's insistence that the project was not allowed to be developed. It was also in an important period like June 21, and Paramount also gave the opening scale of 1,956 screens.

In fact, Paramount and DreamWorks hope that this movie will become the second "Schindler's List"

However, everyone was careful about "Schindler's List" at the beginning, and many people were still buying tickets for various purposes, which allowed the Holocaust movie to be sold at hundreds of millions of dollars in the world.

Although this time, "The Furious Lock" is also a sensitive racial theme, there is no need to be careful this time. Moreover, black people have limited consumption power, and there is almost no possibility of getting a box office like "Schindler's List".
Chapter completed!