Hollywood New Century

Because of the financial tsunami triggered by the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States, ten days after the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual Bank, the sixth largest bank in the United States, also declared bankruptcy.

Simon Pike just got up from Jessica Alba early in the morning when he got a call from his assistant.

"Amy Pascal's invitation, well, I'll go at night!" Simon, who was sitting on the balcony after washing up, agreed to meet with the chairman of Sony Columbia's film and television group.

The 37-story Sony Building at 550 Madison Avenue in Manhattan is the headquarters of Sony America, the former American Telephone and Telegraph (ATT) building.

Sony Pictures Entertainment's Eastern Distribution Division is of course also in the building, and Amy Pascal, one of Sony Pictures Entertainment's two co-chairs, also oversees Columbia Pictures, and his immediate boss is Sony Chairman and CEO Howard Skin. grid.

In the small conference room, Amy Pascal was meeting with the company's production manager Michael DeLuca and distribution manager Jeff Black.

"Is it possible to buy the script from Xinghai Pictures? After all, the investment in this movie is not small, and they have a lot of projects currently underway," Amy Pascal asked about the script of "He Comes Tonight". However, it has been renamed by Xinghai Pictures, called "National Superman Hancock"!

Michael DeLuca, the manager of Columbia Pictures' production department, shook his head and said helplessly: "It's difficult, what Xinghai Pictures said, it was acquired by Simon Pike before, and they have been preparing for a long time. Well, it seems to be ready to develop now!"

Michael DeLuca also discovered this project under the reminder of the producer, but it was in the hands of Xinghai Pictures.

"Simon Pike!" The distribution manager Jeff Black gave a wry smile and continued: "Simon Pike's vision is now synonymous with making money. Since he wants to acquire the script himself, it is indeed difficult to intervene."

"There are a lot of movies to be released by Xinghai Pictures, and the schedule for next year is almost full. They have no other investment funds and bank support, and they mainly rely on Simon's own funds!" Amy Pascal has already Having been in the industry for more than 20 years, someone like this who relies entirely on their own investment to make movies is really not playing cards according to the routine.

"Not enough, even if he invested a lot of money before, but according to the practice of Xinghai Pictures, their investment in distribution is unambiguous," Amy Pascal went on to explain,

"Especially for a commercial blockbuster, the production and distribution require too much money. Even if Xinghai Film has a bank loan, it will be a bit difficult."

""2012", think about it, Xinghai Pictures will cooperate with us? They want the North American market, we want the overseas market, and everyone gets what they need."

"It does make sense. For a commercial blockbuster with an investment of more than 100 million US dollars, the overseas market is also very important. The current overseas distribution of Xinghai Pictures has just begun, and it is absolutely unsupportable," Jeff Black nodded in agreement. After all, this project is not the hero in Marvel that Simon bought with all his might, right?

Like "Iron Man" and "Thor", Xinghai Pictures does not allow external intervention because Simon himself attaches too much importance to Marvel.

"I invited Simon Parker to the banquet in the evening, and I will chat with him alone at that time." Sony Columbia Pictures, as one of the six majors, does need big production projects at present, and this year's economic crisis, Sony also reduced production.

Now, there is a promising big production project, although it is cooperating with Xinghai, it is definitely worth fighting for, who will have a hard time with money?

At night, in the ballroom of the Marriott International Hotel in Manhattan, a reception hosted by MGM, a subsidiary of Sony Entertainment, was going on.

When Simon came over, the reception had already started for some time.

"Looking at this situation, MGM is holding a financing reception?" Simon looked at the surrounding people who were investment funds, and asked Amy Pascal with some playfulness. After all, MGM is still Sony Columbia Holdings. The movie company is not.

"Simon, it seems that in the entire Hollywood, only Xinghai Pictures has no worries about funds, let alone financing?" Amy Pascal certainly doesn't have to deny it, after all, let alone MGM now, even Sony itself needs to vigorously look for funds. support.

Simon smiled and shrugged in response: "If Sony's shareholders can support the film industry like me, you don't need to worry about cost control!"

"And, last month, Sony didn't buy the other half of Sony Bertelsmann Records. Now Sony Music Entertainment is the world's largest music group. Film and television entertainment is more important than music, right?"

Amy Pascal certainly understands that Simon is saying that Sony has a lot of capital now.

"Okay, Simon, this time while you are in New York, I specially invited you to come over, I want to discuss with you the current project of "Superman Hancock" by Xinghai Films. We have already cooperated with the disaster film "2012" , it would be very good to cooperate with another big production." Although Amy Pascal has reduced the number of films due to the economic situation of the group, but because of the new agreement signed with Relativity Media this year, the funds are still guaranteed. .

""Superman Hancock"?" Simon thought for a while, the film has indeed started now, Charlize Theron is the heroine has been determined, and Will Smith has also begun to contact.

However, the production budget is a bit large. Now Xinghai Pictures needs to invest a lot of money in the projects that have been prepared, and there will be a lot of movie releases next year, and the cash flow required is also huge.

"We are very sincere, and the cooperation method is still the same as "2012". Xinghai Pictures is responsible for the North American market, and Sony is responsible for the overseas market," Amy Pascal stated the purpose very directly.

"In terms of investment share, we will give satisfactory figures. Moreover, we know that Xinghai Pictures is currently setting up a distribution network in Asia, especially the Chinese market. Sony has taken root in the Chinese market for a long time. In this regard, we can give Xinghai Pictures. Provide some convenience!”

"Haha," Simon smiled, too perfunctory, and said: "It sounds good, but for "Superman Hancock", Xinghai Pictures is fully capable of operating independently. As for overseas distribution, when the film is released It's already 2010, and Xinghai Pictures at that time is not Xinghai Pictures now!"

Is there anyone who knows the Chinese market better than me? Need Sony to provide convenience, what convenience? Introduce a few local film companies? no point.