Hollywood New Century

Warm Pacific landscape with golden sunlight shining through the clouds over the blue Pacific Ocean.

"James Parker is the son of Kelly Parker, the former richest man in Australia?" Simon sat at the table looking for information on the so-called investment partner of Jessica Alba.

"Yeah, the family business, Australia's TV 4 and some magazines and newspapers, as well as real estate investment, Crown Casino Group, those are his main businesses," Jessica Alba explained, putting her arms around Simon's back. .

"This guy seems to focus on casino hotels now. XN, Melbourne and Perth have Crown Resorts." Simon has never paid much attention to Australia. The large companies in Australia are basically all kinds of mining companies. of mineral resources support Australia's economic development.

Closing their laptops, Simon and Jessica Alba came to sunbathe on the outside deck of the yacht.

"How did you get involved with James Parker?" Simon asked, lying flat on the deck.

Jessica Alba, who is applying sunscreen, responds: "He has a film production company in the US with a producer I've worked with before, and they made one of my films last year;"

"Then I heard that I opened a children's products company. After I learned about it, I heard that I was looking for a partner. James Parker was also very optimistic, so he invested;"

"You know, he was worth more than $1 billion last year!"

"I see." Simon doesn't know this guy anyway. I'll have a chance to see if there is a possibility of cooperation in the future. I just need to send Richard Gere, the bastard, to the San Ferlando Valley, northeast of Los Angeles.

Simon spent two days with Jessica Alba on a private yacht off Santa Monica before leaving.

The studios of Burbank Xinghai Entertainment are crowded with people, and the studios are either used for their own use or rented out to other crews, and they have been perfected day by day.

The newly renovated Universal Entertainment Building is the original Xinghai Film Building, and a Universal Iconic Earth has been re-established outside.

To the northwest is the headquarters of Xinghai Animation's main building, Lighting Entertainment, a four-storey building with a large area.

"Now, Illumination Entertainment is producing one animated feature film a year. The animated feature "Saving the Bunny" released in early April also has a box office of more than 180 million US dollars, and "Despicable Me 2" will be released next year, "Universal Pictures In the flat lounge on the third floor of the Industrial Building, Nina Jacobson and Simon stood together in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, admiring the production area.

"If you want to develop Universal Studios Resort well, animation IP is indispensable, and the cost budget of Lighting Entertainment is also well controlled. This is also good." Simon can't do anything about it. After all, how long has Lighting Entertainment been established, and this achievement is very good. now,

"Fortunately, now we have a lot of live-action movie IPs that can be flooded. There are indeed too few self-owned IPs in Universal Studios. Many popular project transformations are authorized by other companies."

Nina Jacobson is also helpless. Universal Studios is definitely not comparable to Disney. Not to mention the lack of cartoon characters, the IP of live-action movies has to pay a lot of licensing fees every year.

"What do you think of DreamWorks Animation? Their distribution contract with Paramount is going to expire next year, find a time to chat with Jeffrey Katzenberg, and then hand over the distribution to us Universal! ' said Simon.

"DreamWorks Animation, it's really good, it can supplement our share in the children's market, but can we try to acquire DreamWorks Animation?" Nina Jacobson reminded.

"Oh, the idea is good, but you don't know Jeffrey Katzenberg. He is very ambitious now. He hopes to build a media group based on DreamWorks Animation, and an industrial group that combines film and theme parks. It is very difficult to acquire DreamWorks Animation now.” What Simon hasn’t said is that DreamWorks Animation is now entering a period of weakness, the box office will continue to be sluggish in the next few years, and it will be heavily indebted.

Doncaster, who should have learned from his previous life, acquired it when DreamWorks Animation couldn't support it, and enriched Universal Studios' cartoon IP.

Nina Jacobson nodded. DreamWorks Animation is an animated feature film production company comparable to Pixar, and there must be several companies competing for the distribution rights.

Don't worry about Disney, Paramount should not be a competitor, after all, there is no idea of ​​renewing the contract. However, Warner Bros., Twentieth Century Fox, Sony Columbia, are all competitors.

"I'll talk to Jeffrey Katzenberg first and listen to his thoughts and opinions. DreamWorks Animation is listed on Nasdaq. He is the chairman and CEO. He will welcome him if he is convinced. It's hard to understand," Nina Jacobson also has to consider the number of movies Universal is releasing each year now and so on.

"As for the Barbie series, Universal and Mattel have worked together for so many years, and there are a lot of animations about the Barbie series. Let's see if we can link it up with Lighting Entertainment in the future." Simon doesn't really like Mattel. If you don't let it go, it lacks innovation and momentum.

"Mattel has always hoped to obtain the authorization of the animation IP under Illumination Entertainment, but unfortunately before we acquired Universal, our partner was Hasbro, the toy authorization of the Marvel series in Europe and the United States, and now it has created a lot of profits for them, Marvel Now the influence is getting bigger and bigger,” Nina Jacobson is also sighed, Mattel still regards toys as a subsidiary derivative of the movie without seeking flexibility, and Hasbro made the movie a toy through the “Transformers” series The derivation of the movie, the box office promotion of the toy market, Hasbro's profit in the toy market is not comparable to the release of the movie "Transformers" by Paramount and DreamWorks.

"Mattel, don't worry about it, their focus is still on the girls market. Disney's princess series is their focus. Universal Pictures doesn't have any images that girls like," Simon said casually, and then he remembered something and asked. road,

"Has Lego also collaborated with us on some real-life toys?"

Nina Jacobson nodded and responded: "The Twilight Saga, Superman Hancock, etc. are licensed by LEGO. Since last year, LEGO's market share has been increasing and is catching up with the United States. Taihe Hasbro, thanks to their new block building box!"

"Lego is good, but they can deepen some cooperation, or develop Lego series of animated movies, etc. They should be interested," Simon suggested. The cake in the toy market is definitely not small.