hunt hollywood

The worldwide gross figure reached $9.67 million.

Although it is a pity that it failed to break through the US$10 billion mark, it also left behind the global box office data of US$1982 million in 7.9, and became the highest-grossing film in Hollywood history before 1991.

This time, under the joint operation of Warner Bros. and Daenerys, "Batman: The Dark Knight" will be released simultaneously in 21 countries and regions around the world.

It is very common to start painting simultaneously on a large scale around the world after more than ten years.But in the early 90s, it was still a rare pioneering work, so it can be seen that the two companies have strong confidence in "Batman: The Dark Knight".

You know, this sequel to the DC movie universe has been set at an unprecedented budget of 8000 million US dollars from the very beginning, which is equivalent to the huge production cost of the film.

This also means that the North American box office of "Batman: The Dark Knight" needs to reach about $3 million before the two companies can rely on domestic box office to recover costs.

Of course, everyone knows that although the box office figures of the "Batman" series are astonishing, the peripheral revenue is actually even greater.

According to public figures, in just one year in 1990, the sales of peripheral derivatives of "Batman: Beginning of War" reached a huge US$20 billion.

According to the profit margin of peripheral derivatives of about 15%, the sales of derivatives of 20 billion US dollars is equivalent to a pre-tax profit of about 3 million US dollars.

Because of the original contract, most of the income went to Daenerys Entertainment.

Therefore, it is not difficult to imagine why Daenerys Entertainment was able to achieve an astonishing annual net profit of US$1990 billion after a series of big moves in 11.3.

Earlier in early May, one month before the opening of "Batman: The Dark Knight", the video tape of "Batman: Beginning of War" was officially released worldwide.

In the first week of its release, sales in North America alone reached 560 million boxes.

As the release date of "Batman: The Dark Knight" is approaching, according to the latest statistics, in less than a month, the global sales of video tapes of "Batman: Beginning of War" have exceeded 1300 million boxes, with sales approaching $4 million.

According to this sales trend, next, the total global video tape sales of "Batman: Begins" is expected to set a sales record of more than 3000 million boxes, and the sales are expected to exceed 9 million US dollars.Even, even hitting the $10 billion mark is not impossible.

In the agreement signed between Hollywood studios and major guilds, only 20% of videotape sales will be shared as profits.

In fact, the gross profit margin of a $30 videotape in this era is not much lower than the box office share.

"Batman: Beginning of War" is expected to sell more than 3000 million video tapes. Except for the distribution share due to Warner Bros., most of the proceeds will still belong to Daenerys Entertainment, and the profit scale is conservatively estimated to be 3 million US dollars.

According to statistics, only calculating the global box office, video tape sales and derivative products revenue, the profit brought by a "Batman: Beginning of War" within three years of the film's release will reach the level of 10 billion U.S. dollars, and this does not include the subsequent TV broadcasts. Income and subsequent long-tail income from various channels.

The DC movie universe has achieved such amazing commercial results at the beginning, which is why the two companies dare to invest a total of 1.6 million US dollars in production and publicity budgets for "Batman: The Dark Knight".

The premiere of "Batman: The Dark Knight" is scheduled for Wednesday, June 6.

Tomorrow is the premiere of Batman: The Dark Knight.

Simon spent all day today at the Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank.

Or being forcibly dragged at Warner Bros. Studios by Terry Semel. These days, Semel calls Simon every day to ask him to find time to juggle the release of "Batman: The Dark Knight", "The Lightning Hero" and other cooperation films between the two parties.

Just looking at the profits created by "Batman: Beginning of War", there is no need to repeat the importance of the DC movie universe to Time Warner.

There was another reason why Terry Semel was such a stalker.

After completing the merger of Time Inc. and Warner Bros. early last year, Time Warner failed to meet industry expectations in terms of performance or stock.

However, in order to prevent Paramount Communications from sniping acquisitions of Time Inc., the two parties changed the initial share-for-share merger into a cash-plus-stock transaction, which suddenly increased the total liabilities of the two companies, which originally had only more than $20 billion in liabilities. to the level of tens of billions of dollars.

After a year of trying to pay off, as of now, Time Warner's total debt amount still reaches 106 billion US dollars.

Steve Ross is the kind of person who doesn't like selling company assets very much. Therefore, since last year, Ross has started to prepare for an equity issuance, intending to issue an additional 30 billion US dollars of stock to repay the next one or two years. Warner's debt due.

Time Warner shareholders are naturally not reconciled to their shareholding ratio being diluted at will, and they don't want to spend money to subscribe for additional shares. The outside world is not very optimistic about Time Warner's prospects.

Therefore, this additional stock issuance can be described as a lot of resistance inside and outside Time Warner.

Coupled with the continued decline in the North American stock market in the second half of last year, the matter almost disappeared.

Fortunately, the United States has won the Gulf War in the Middle East, which has caused the North American stock market to rise sharply in recent months, and Time Warner's stock price has also benefited. Now the market value has finally returned to more than 100 billion US dollars.Coupled with investors' optimism about Warner Bros.' upcoming "Batman: The Dark Knight" and "The Flash" at the end of the year, the issue of additional stock has ushered in a turning point.

The time is roughly determined in August.

So, even with full confidence in "Batman: The Dark Knight" and the release of "The Flash" must be after the stock issuance, Terry Semel still tried to pull Simon to Burbank as much as possible, just to give The outside world creates an impression of close cooperation between the two parties.

In order to achieve this goal, the two sides have recently negotiated another cooperation project outside the DC movie universe, which is one of the other two cooperation films that Daenerys Entertainment owes Warner Bros.

Simon happened to be busy with these three things in Burbank all day today.

Accompanied by Terry Semel in the morning, he was busy in the post-production of "The Flash" in the post-production center of Warner Studios in the morning, and there were two consecutive meetings in the afternoon.

Because of work, Simon has not been able to spare time to meet Anthony Johnston who will come over today.

These days, the Johnston family officially took over 30% of MGM shares from other MGM Australian shareholders who exchanged bonds for equity, becoming the largest shareholder of MGM.

Although it has not achieved absolute control, as the largest shareholder, coupled with the support of other shareholders in Australia, the control of MGM basically falls into the hands of the Johnston family, or in other words, falls into the hands of Simon.

Anthony came here this time just to discuss the next development of MGM.

Here at Warner Bros., two meetings in the afternoon.

From 2 to 4 o'clock, it is the release meeting of "Batman: The Dark Knight".

From 4 o'clock to 5 o'clock is the production meeting of the cooperative film determined by both parties.

The newly confirmed film is called "The Last of the Mohicans".

This is an adaptation of an American novel written in 1826 by James Cooper.

The content tells that during the colonial war between Britain and France for the control of America in the late 18s, the last three warriors of an Indian indigenous tribe named the Mohicans rescued a pair of kidnapped daughters of a British colonel and escorted them. Back to the story of the British base.

Like Revenge of the Prince, because the story mode of "The Last of the Mohicans" is very similar to the knight saving the princess, it is favored by Hollywood.

Since 1920, "The Last of the Mohicans" has been continuously adapted into movies, TV series and even cartoons, and the last time was in 1987.

This time, the reason why they chose to restart the filming of "The Last of the Mohicans" was actually influenced by the double harvest of "Dances with Wolves" at the box office and awards.

The themes of the two films are both related to the colonial war in North America, and both involve the entanglement between native Indians and white colonists.

To put it bluntly, this is a follow-up.

In Simon's memory, "The Last of the Mohicans", released in 1992, was directed by Hollywood director Michael Mann and starred Oscar winner Daniel Day-Lewis.

Although I don't remember the box office clearly, Simon can be sure that this is a very popular work.

Michael Mann was the director of the later famous "Fire Wire". He had previously cooperated with New World Entertainment on a police drama "Ultimate Police Network". After confirming this project, Daenerys Entertainment contacted Michael Mann , the other party quickly gave a positive response, and also hoped to complete the script by himself.

As for the leading actor, Mel Gibson is still the first thing Warner Bros. thought of.

No way, from the original "Mad Max" to the continuing "Lethal Weapon" series, Mel Gibson has almost become a queen actor of Warner Bros. like Clint Eastwood.

Even in "Lethal Weapon 3," which will be released next year, Mel Gibson will take most of the profits by relying on a high pay-sharing clause, because of the guarantee of the box office, Warner is still used to using the other party.

Simon actually agreed with Warner's suggestion.

In my memory, Mel Gibson's "Braveheart", which also received a lot of box office awards, is enough to prove that the other party is fully capable of supporting such an ancient costume action movie.

Moreover, because it is not a sequel to a blockbuster film like "Lethal Weapon 3", as the first original film, Mel Gibson's salary will not be too high.

However, in addition to the ongoing filming of "Lethal Weapon 3", Mel Gibson has already accepted two other film contracts, and the schedule is scheduled for 1993.

Simon does not lack the patience to wait until two years later, but it is impossible for Warner Bros. to do so.

In the end, I contacted the original Daniel Day Lewis based on Simon's memory, and the two parties are still negotiating.

After a busy day, Simon returned to Cape Dumei Manor in the evening, and the Shell Villa was very lively.

Anthony Johnston also brought his family here this time.

Because Anthony's eldest son, Brandon Johnston, who is the same age as Simon, is actually a loyal fan of the "Batman" series. Last time, he asked Simon for a Bat motorcycle through his cousin.Since tomorrow is the premiere of "Batman: The Dark Knight", Brandon naturally hopes to get a sneak peek.

Also joined are Anthony's wife, Betty Johnston, and their two daughters, Sylvia Johnston, 19, and Chloe Johnston, 11.

Brandon has just started working in the family business, and this time it is considered a desertion.

Sylvia and Chloe both go to school in the UK, and it happens to be summer vacation in the northern hemisphere, so they were able to find time to come to Los Angeles.

Chapter 415 iCam (Revision)

Everyone had just had dinner, and Brandon Johnston couldn't wait to leave Point Dume Manor.

Janet has put him in touch with a party in Hollywood.

Moreover, although he is a fan of the "Batman" series, Brandon is not a fan of Simon, and he is obviously uncomfortable staying with this little uncle.

Obviously, because the two are the same age, Brandon should have received a lot of "other people's XXX" in private.

The mother and daughter of Betty Johnston did not go out, and Janet visited Shell Villa.

Simon and Anthony stayed in a living room on the first floor of the villa to discuss business.

"Probably seeing the rapid growth of the Internet industry in North America, Telstra has made some concessions and is willing to reduce the shareholding ratio of the joint venture company to 30%. At home, my father said that 20% of the shares is enough for us. There's still 50% to distribute if you want."

Since last year, Simon has been preparing to enter the Australian telecommunications market, including legal lobbying for restrictions on Australia's telecommunications industry and cooperation with Australian local telecommunications companies.

Before the 90s, the Australian telecommunications industry was dominated by state-owned enterprises.

Now Australia's largest Australian telecommunications company is very similar to ATT in the United States before 1984. This company has almost monopolized Australia's fixed-line telephone, cable TV and mobile communications industries.Some other second- and third-tier telecommunications companies are basically state-owned enterprises.

Because of the huge interests involved in the telecommunications industry, capital forces have been lobbying the Australian government to open the telecommunications industry to the private sector over the years.

Thanks to the joint efforts of all parties, in January this year, the Australian government finally lifted the ban on the telecommunications industry, allowing private investors to participate in Australia's local telecommunications investment.As a result, the Westeros system was able to start its own layout.

The telecommunications business that Simon plans to develop in Australia is mainly mobile communication and Internet access services, and also cooperates with Eaglet's portal business.

If you want to start an ISP business, the fastest way is naturally to choose to cooperate with local operators like America Online.

The Australian telecommunications company, which monopolizes the entire Australian telecommunications network, is basically the only choice.

Telstra is well aware of its own advantages, and has not made the mistake of Bell Atlantic's cooperation with AOL. It insists on obtaining 50% of the shares of "Australia Online" registered in Australia by Westeros, which is similar to AOL.

In recent months, the Johnston family, which has confirmed that it will take a stake in Australia Online, has been negotiating with Telstra.

In fact, Simon had already known what Anthony just said in advance, and had thought about it. At this time, he said: "I thought, in this case, we should simply abandon Australia Telecom. Whether it is Internet access services or mobile communications, it is still not available. It is an emerging industry in the early stage of development. Even if we cooperate with companies like Telstra, we still need to face the problem of infrastructure upgrades. The initiative in this regard is in the hands of Telstra, and we will still be greatly constrained in the future.”

Because they signed an exclusive agreement, they were unable to take a share in the emerging Internet field. During this period, Bell Pacific and NYNEX seemed to be more and more passive in cooperating with AOL, which to a large extent restricted AOL's participation in the two companies. expansion of the region.

That's largely why Simon no longer plans to work with Telstra.

Because of the negative constraints of Bell Pacific and NYNEX, AOL has to start to accelerate the construction of its own line network in the service areas of Bell Pacific and NYNEX.

Simon doesn't care about the 30% stake that Telstra insists on, he just doesn't want to be subject to similar constraints like AOL in front of Bell Pacific and NYNEX.

Parasitic on the network of another company, even if the other party cooperates, it is still better to build the network by yourself after all.

Moreover, even if it cooperates with Telstra, it is impossible to launch business across the whole of Australia at one time, and it must still conduct trial operation in a certain area, and then continue to expand.

In this case, the advantages of working with Telstra are not so obvious.

After all, with Bell Atlantic and America Online, Westeros does not lack the support of corporate operations and technical teams.

What needs to be invested is only the investment in the construction of the basic operation network.

If the service is only launched in a certain area, such as Melbourne, or a state of Victoria, the cost consumption in this regard will not be too great.

Build a network by yourself, and you can also fully gain the initiative.

"Actually, Dad also means the same thing," Anthony nodded after hearing what Simon said, "However, even if you don't plan to cooperate with Telstra, I think this company still needs to give up some of its shares, which will make the company's future in Australia Development has reduced a lot of resistance. After all, our family’s influence is mainly in mining resources.”

Simon nodded, shook his head, and said, "In the next one or two years, there will only be our two joint ventures. After the situation is opened, we will sell some shares through financing. In addition, since we do not plan to cooperate with Telstra, the Internet access In terms of access services and mobile communications, there is no need to set up two companies, and you can directly set up a Bell Atlantic Australia branch. Oh, by the way, I am planning to change the name of Bell Atlantic to Verizon Communications (Verizon Communications) recently. Let’s call the company Verizon AU.”

AU is the country abbreviation for Australia.

The reason why it is Verizon AU instead of AOL AU is mainly because Simon holds 100% of Bell Atlantic's shares and only 75% of AOL's shares.

While AOL will still be involved, this time it will be dominated by the soon-to-be-rebranded Bell Atlantic.

Anthony Johnston has no problem with that either.

The two continued to discuss some details, and Anthony finally decided to end MGM's affairs and go to the Bell Atlantic headquarters on the east coast to meet with Raymond Smith in person.

After discussing this matter, the two talked about MGM again.

"For $3 million to buy a 30% stake in MGM, although my father agreed with his lips, he was actually a little reluctant in his heart. He was very pessimistic about this company," Anthony said with a smile: "So, take It's up to you to come down. If you really lose money, the old man will definitely lose his temper."

The Johnston family's previous purchase of Australia's Seventh Television Network is definitely a high-quality investment with very good prospects. In addition, it can get involved in the media field, so the $8 million is very willing to spend.

Investing in MGM is basically just to match Simon's ambitions in Hollywood.

MGM is a mess, it's well known.

If the company wants to recover, it is not something that can be done in a year or two.

Simon also smiled and said: "The end of the war in the Gulf, coupled with the turmoil in Europe in recent years, will definitely prompt capital from all over the world to flow into the United States, and the improvement of the federal economic situation is inevitable. Even if MGM's The operating conditions are still poor, and these shares have been held for several years, and they can be resold for a good profit, and many big companies in Japan and Europe are eyeing the big Hollywood studios."

Anthony smiled and said, "Let's talk about your specific plans for MGM?"

"My general plan is first to explore the potential of MGM's film library. In recent years, Disney has distributed classic animation film videos such as "Cinderella", "Pinocchio" and "Sleeping Beauty" in the era of founder Walt Disney. Each of them has achieved very good success. Among them, "Cinderella" sold 600 million boxes in just one year of release, creating a revenue of 1.8 million US dollars. This was a work in 1950. Although MGM is not famous for animation Movies are good, but the potential is actually greater. You know, a large number of excellent films such as "Gone with the Wind", "The Wizard of Oz", "Singin' in the Rain", "North by Northwest", "Ben-Hur" and so on produced in the golden age of MGM, Even decades later, they are all classics. It just so happens that Daenerys Entertainment still owns Blockbuster, the largest video chain store in North America. We can use a method similar to Disney to release these classic movies. Videotape."