Chapter 1307 Hot

Los Angeles, this place is called heaven by those who like it, and a rural metropolis by those who hate it, because it is further south, and it is warmer than Silicon Valley.

Ron Mayer, vice president of Universal Pictures, was wearing a suit, standing outside a studio with one hand on his waist, and he also felt warm.

Of course, this was not because of the sun shining on him.

Looking at the photo on the wall outside the studio, the smile on Ron Mayer's face was as bright as the sun today.

In that photo, Ben Stiller was a little nervous with his hands in his pockets, and two handsome old men stood behind him.

On one side was Dustin Hoffman wearing a Hawaiian-style floral shirt with upturned corners of his mouth, and on the other side was Robert De Niro wearing an orthodox blue suit with downturned corners of his mouth.

After four years, they once again started the "Meet the Fockers" series, and the second one is currently being produced in this studio.

Although critics had some complaints about the first one in 2000, saying that there was no chemistry between the big-name actors, and that humor had become funny, etc., Ron Mayer did not take it too seriously.

Those guys are just like that.

After this period of attention, he is very confident about the second film, which still uses the original cast.

Otherwise, he would not insist on scheduling this film in the Christmas season.

The film company arranges some films to be released in the Christmas season for one purpose, which is to attract the attention of Oscar judges.

The Oscars at the beginning of each year are selected for films that were released in the United States from January 1 to December 31 of the previous year (excluding the selection of the best foreign language film), so many films have to be released before the end of the year in order to be eligible to compete for the Oscar.

Just like the finale of the show, which always leaves a deep impression on people, films released around Christmas often leave a deeper impression on Oscar judges, and therefore are usually more likely to be nominated for Oscars than films released at the beginning of the year.

However, by scheduling such a comedy in this period, Ron Mayer and Universal are not aiming for the Oscars, they are aiming for the box office.

After entering the new century, with the increasing investment in American films, the summer season can no longer meet the increasing demand for films. Like the Chinese New Year season, the American Christmas season is also the golden season that these film companies attach the most importance to.

More and more of the most profitable films come from the Christmas season.

And making money is more important than art for Universal Pictures now.

Universal Pictures, which has been established for nearly a hundred years, does not have the good luck of Disney. Since 1936, when the founder Laemer sold the company to outsiders because he could not repay the loan, the former Hollywood No. 1 studio has changed several owners.

The acquisitions by film companies, record companies or music companies were relatively reliable. For example, in the early 1960s, when it was merged by the American music company MCA and renamed MCA Universal, it was once expected to return to the ranks of first-class film companies, but it ultimately failed.

In 1991, in order to raise more funds for broadcasting and cable TV businesses, MCA sold Universal to RB Matsushita, which was determined to follow Sony, at a high price of US$6.1 billion.

However, the successors of the "God of Management" Konosuke Matsushita were not as capable as him, and they simply could not run an authentic American film company. The huge cultural differences made the owner and employees very uncomfortable.

After five years, Matsushita stopped the loss and sold Universal to the next successor, which seemed even more unreliable, the Canadian brewing giant Seagram.

Seagram, who got Universal, said, I have a dream that one day I will become the king of the entertainment industry.

For this reason, he also acquired PolyGram and several other entertainment companies, but the brewing giant, who was not familiar with the entertainment industry, soon found that it was really a dream with a huge price.

So at the beginning of the new century, Universal changed its owner again. This time, it was the French Vivendi Group with the "French logo" and "French glory". But just when Universal was still adapting to the new owner, the arrogant Vivendi Group was exposed to a huge loss of 23.3 billion euros in 2002!

The newly appointed president Jean-Renaud Fortu once again took action against Universal.

As a senior executive, Ron Meyer is very clear about this matter. General Motors is currently in frequent contact with Vivendi, and the theme is to acquire Universal.

Ron Meyer can be sure at this time that it will not be long before the company has to change its name again, from Vivendi Universal to NBC Universal.

General Motors, which owns the National Broadcasting Company (NBC) of the United States, will undoubtedly incorporate Universal into NBC.

For his own future, Ron Meyer really needs this comedy to bear fruit. From a comprehensive analysis of the current situation, he believes that this goal can still be achieved.

The story this time is more exciting, and because of the foundation of the last time, these big names are obviously more tacit and the effect is better this time. He believes that there is no reason why the performance of this movie will not be better than the first one.

Perhaps in the United States, it can break through the box office of 300 million US dollars.

The extended Cadillac drove over smoothly, and the secretary trotted to open the door for him, "Mr. Meyer,"

After getting in the car, he glanced at the secretary, "What's the problem?"

"Sir, do you remember the lady who called you that day?" The secretary asked carefully.

"Who?" Ron Meyer looked at the secretary with some displeasure. How could he ask such a question?

The secretary also realized that his sales pitch was not particularly suitable, "It's the content director of YouTube, Ms. Ma Ling,"

Ron Meyer shook his head, "No impression,"

In addition to the production company, he is also responsible for the operation of Universal Studios. He is so busy with official duties that he cannot remember all the people who have spoken to him, especially those who are unknown.

"The one who wants us to put the trailer of the new movie, or the filming behind-the-scenes, or the video of them interviewing our creative staff, on their website,"

It seems to have some impression.

"I also want to talk to you about Netflix's purchase of the DVDs of our film and television works,"

When he mentioned this, Ron Meyer immediately thought of it, because it was related to money, "Oh, is it the website launched by Feng Xin from China?"

"Yes, that's the content director of that website,"

"I seemed to have hung up on her at that time?" Ron Meyer now remembered that as soon as the unknown girl mentioned discussing Netflix's account split, he hung up the phone impatiently.

No matter how much they sell, Universal is still a very important company in the film industry. How can small downstream companies like Netflix, which rely on them for survival, have any room to bargain with themselves?

Besides, it would be pretty much the same if Feng Lai had to talk to him about this matter.

"Yes," the secretary nodded, "you were very busy at the time,"

"So, what's the problem now?" Ron Meyer asked.

"This website is currently developing very rapidly," his secretary said thoughtfully. "In just a few days, the number of daily views of this website has been close to 30 million, and it is expected to reach 50 million times per day soon. There are more than 10,000 videos uploaded,”

Even if he doesn't know much about the Internet, Ron Meyer can tell from these numbers that this is really a very good project, and that Feng really has a good eye.

"Are you saying it's necessary for us to put our trailer on their website, or any other video they want?"

"Yes," the secretary said, "it's a good platform,"

“Has any company already taken action?”

"Yes, Disney has uploaded trailers for their movies to be released this year, such as "The Incredibles", "National Treasure", and "Princess Diaries 2" on the website this morning,"

"The trailer of "The Incredibles" has been played more than 500,000 times,"

Because of the relationship between Jobs' Pixar and Disney, and because of the success of the last group buying cooperation, Disney President Michael Eisner was the first studio president in Hollywood to quickly choose to believe in Feng Yiping.

So sometimes the basics are important.

"More than 500,000 times?" Ron Meyer's eyes widened.

"Yes, this is still the result of less than 5 hours of uploading,"

"Then why don't you contact Ms. Ma Ling quickly?" Ron Meyer looked at the secretary angrily, "Of course, the release of trailers and the splitting of Netflix's accounts must not be discussed together,"

"I've already contacted her," the secretary said, and I'm not stupid. "It's just that I haven't been able to contact her. They said she was very busy."