The richest actor in Hollywood.

In the Disney headquarters, within the office area belonging to Disney Studios, Matthew walked down a corridor and entered a large conference room. He greeted Sean Daniel and Sophia Coppola, who were sitting by the long conference table, and then took a seat next to David Ellison.

"I heard you've run into some trouble?" David Ellison asked with concern.

The news had already spread, so there was no need for Matthew to deny it. "Yeah, someone's been threatening me."

David Ellison, also an investor in *Fast & Furious 4*, was well aware of the incidents the crew encountered on the U.S.-Mexico border. "Was it the Tijuana drug dealers?"

Matthew couldn't be certain. "It's very likely."

"Need any help?" David Ellison whispered. "A few small-time drug dealers…"

Matthew smiled. "If I need it, I won't hesitate to ask."

He glanced across the table where Sophia Coppola, Sean Daniel, and the producer in charge of publicity were having a quiet discussion. In contrast, he and David Ellison were relatively idle.

Suddenly, David Ellison asked, "Is it true that Walt Disney is looking to acquire the entire Marvel Comics?"

"They've already started the process," Matthew replied after a moment's thought. "I own a small stake in Marvel, and Disney has already approached me. Helen's team is currently negotiating with them."

Since Robert Iger's initial contact, two business negotiation experts from Angel Agency had begun discussions with Disney.

The negotiations were progressing well. Walt Disney was set to acquire his 4% stake in Marvel through a stock swap based on Marvel's year-end stock price.

Marvel's stock price had been steadily rising, so selling at this price didn't seem particularly favorable for Matthew.

However, the reason Matthew agreed was that he had secured another significant benefit during the negotiations.

If the Marvel acquisition goes through, in addition to recognizing Matthew's existing investment agreement with Marvel, Walt Disney would also grant him the option to invest in six future Marvel superhero films.

In other words, beyond his current stake, Matthew could select six additional Marvel superhero movies to invest in.

This future-oriented revenue potential would undoubtedly yield greater benefits for him.

Of course, Matthew understood why Walt Disney was willing to make such an offer. Hollywood studios often rely on outside investments to fund film production, not just their own capital.

Attracting investment from Thirteen Films was also advantageous for Disney.

"Disney really goes big," David Ellison remarked with admiration. "Robert Iger is quite ambitious."

Matthew nodded. "I think Robert Iger wants to make Disney the top entertainment media group in the U.S., if not the world, during his tenure."

Just then, the door to the conference room opened, and Bill Felton, the head of distribution for Disney and Buena Vista Pictures, walked in. After politely greeting Matthew and the others, he began the meeting on the promotion and distribution of *Twilight*.

The major Hollywood studios are highly experienced in their traditional promotional tactics. Bill Felton first had copies of the marketing plan distributed to everyone in the meeting and then briefly discussed some conventional promotional methods.

These included standard soft promotions and hard advertisements, which were nothing particularly novel.

"I want to emphasize one point," Bill Felton shifted the topic, "*Twilight* is not a mainstream movie! The promotion and marketing must be targeted!"

Matthew nodded slightly in agreement. *Twilight* was a pure teen romance film, not something most adults would enjoy.

Bill Felton continued, "The key to film marketing is to identify the core message of the movie and then effectively convey this message to the target audience, rather than simply informing them about the film. This means addressing both content and channel dimensions to enhance marketing efficiency."

"Everyone hopes for a miracle when making a movie," Bill Felton added, "but a miracle means your target audience is the general public, which means losing focus. Developing a film marketing strategy is about identifying the core audience: if a film doesn't first reach the people who will like it, it won't generate any buzz."

Finding the core audience requires a clear understanding of the film's tone and message, and then creating a suitable public opinion environment in the channels where the core audience is engaged. Bill Felton believed this was a crucial step in film marketing.

Matthew remained silent, listening intently. Bill Felton was known in Hollywood as an expert in marketing to teenage audiences and was always involved in crafting strategies for promoting teen films for Disney.

Clearly, he was a perfect fit for *Twilight*.

These days, many investors like David Ellison have entered Hollywood, attracted by the allure of the film industry. However, many of them only had a superficial understanding of the film market and its products, often focusing solely on the "how" of marketing while neglecting the "why" behind it. Yet, film is a complex product that combines business, art, culture, and society.

Many people think that film marketing is just about being energetic and creative. In reality, it's more about having a deep respect for the film and market, conducting thorough research, and implementing creative marketing plans with professionalism.

Extracting the core message of a film is crucial, and doing this requires accumulated market knowledge and extensive thought and communication.

This is why Matthew never tries to personally devise marketing strategies. At most, he offers a few ideas, but turning those ideas into actionable plans requires professionals like Bill Felton.

Of course, some small and mid-sized distribution companies in Hollywood also outsource their marketing and publicity.

Bill Felton continued, "*Twilight* is a typical teen idol romance movie. Our first priority is to appeal to the teenage audience. So, in addition to traditional promotional methods, we need to allocate resources appropriately to social media."

"Since the rise of social media in 2006, traditional media outlets like TV, print, and portal websites are no longer the primary traffic centers. Media has become more vertical and fragmented, making it increasingly difficult to capture the audience's attention."

"In the age of social media, everyone is a traffic source. Facing this change, our focus is on how to integrate media channels based on user preferences, which is what we call precision marketing…"

Bill Felton then provided a detailed overview of numerous marketing strategies targeting teenagers, including partnerships with other brands.

For example, collaborating with McDonald's, where a majority of customers are teenagers, to sell co-branded products could generate revenue while also exposing the audience to the film's information—a win-win situation.

This also involves finding new value-added services beyond box office sales.

Movies are too captivating to just make money from ticket sales.

The meeting didn't last long, wrapping up in under an hour. At the end of the meeting, Bill Felton emphasized that Disney and Buena Vista would handle the distribution of *Twilight* in North America and overseas, respectively.

Matthew had no objections to this. Having collaborated with Disney multiple times, he knew that this had been Walt Disney's standard distribution approach since the new millennium.

Previously, Disney mostly handled production, rarely getting involved in distribution. However, their strategy had been shifting in recent years.

As everyone knows, U.S. law mandates the separation of film production, distribution, and exhibition in Hollywood.

For instance, Walt Disney has studios, Disney Pictures, and Touchstone as production companies, and it also has the renowned Buena Vista Pictures, which specializes in distribution.

Buena Vista can distribute Disney's films as well as films from other companies. Legally and financially, it operates independently of Disney's studios.

In fact, Disney Studios has often lost money, but Buena Vista Pictures has been highly profitable.

As for the separation from "exhibition," that's even more crucial.

The U.S. has antitrust laws, and MGM was the first to be penalized under these laws.

At the time, MGM owned its own theaters, studios, and distribution companies, controlling the entire chain from production to exhibition. This monopolistic practice eventually caused problems: MGM's theaters only showed MGM films, squeezing out other theater chains. In the end, only MGM made money.

Thus, the U.S. courts enforced the separation of production and exhibition, requiring MGM to split into three entities.

Today, antitrust laws strictly regulate the separation of production and exhibition. Production and distribution companies and exhibition companies cannot have overlapping board members or cross-shareholdings, preventing any one company from becoming an uncontrollable giant.

Promotion is crucial for commercial films in Hollywood. The timing of official trailers, media interviews, and the launch of viral websites are all carefully planned.

Likewise, media relations and public relations are also carefully managed, with distinct strategies for using different media outlets—whether high-level mainstream media like *The New York Times* and *The Los Angeles Times* or gossip sites like TMZ.

Disney's promotional plan for *Twilight* was systematic and well-organized.

In addition, Buena Vista Pictures was negotiating with companies across the Pacific to ensure the film entered that rapidly growing market.

Many people have speculated that the market across the Pacific has changed Hollywood, but based on Matthew's observations over the past few years, such speculations are nothing more than idle chatter.

Hollywood may adapt to those markets, but fundamentally, it still views emerging markets across the Pacific and in India as cash cows, rarely altering its established rules of the game.

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