Traveling through the Tokyo bubble era

Chapter 852 Who to take? Who not to take?

In an Americanized Japanese restaurant in Century City, Los Angeles, Hideki Hanyu, Alan Horn, and Fred Webber, three of the top executives of Cloud Pictures, were dining in a private room.

Of course, eating is secondary.

The main thing is to leave the messy company and find a place to have a quiet conversation.

Thinking of the office scene when he left, Hanyu Hideki asked, "Why are you in such a hurry to move to Burbank? The construction is probably not finished yet."

Alan Horn opened his mouth to answer.

"According to the previous design, the largest of our three plots of land in Burbank will be built into a state-of-the-art studio, and the smallest will be used to build a film art museum. The middle plot of land will be where the headquarters office is located.

The construction of the studio is the slowest because some new technologies need to be considered.

The construction progress of the headquarters office area is the fastest. Without considering expanding the staff size for the time being, the already built part is sufficient to meet office needs.

As for the rest, it depends on how you consider it, boss."

When Hanyu Hideki heard this, he first asked in confusion, "How should I think about it?"

But he soon realized that Alan Horn was referring to the acquisition of MCA Universal.

If the acquisition is successful, the two companies will inevitably have to integrate. Even though Cloud Pictures is developing well now, it is still far behind MCA Universal.

By then, the company's operations will definitely be based on Universal, and Yunshang Pictures will probably become an independent production studio under the "New Universal".

This is also why Alan Horn said that he is not considering expanding the staff size for the time being.

MCA Universal also has its own headquarters at 100 Plaza Avenue in Universal City between Burbank and Los Angeles.

When the integration and reorganization begins, Alan Horn will definitely focus a large part of his energy on Universal's affairs, and he will probably work there.

Thinking of this, Hideki Hanyu told the two of them about the party that evening.

“Then do as you wish, MCA Global will not keep you waiting too long.

I will be holding a party tonight at the Red Maple Manor in Beverly Hills, and I will be inviting guests from Hollywood, including Lou Wasserman and other shareholders of MC Universal.

You two can come along tonight and chat with them with me.

We must close the deal as soon as possible, and I also need you to split and reorganize Universal as soon as possible after the deal is reached, and then cooperate with the parent company to integrate Cloud Pictures and some of the parent company's businesses."

After hearing what Hanyu Hideki said, Fred Weber said with relief, "It sounds very troublesome. Fortunately, Allen is in charge now."

As he spoke, he reminded Alan Horn, "It seems that the design of the Burbank Museum of Motion Picture Art needs to be revised. After all, it is very likely that the Universal logo will be hung on it, and the design of the theater chain will definitely not be suitable."

"Looks like I have one more job."

Alan Horn said with a wry smile, "There are so many things piled up recently that it gives me a headache just thinking about it.

The company is relocating, Menahem Golan's affairs need to be dealt with, and the schedule for this year's movies has just been roughly determined, and related publicity and promotion need to be arranged.

The main thing is that our contract with Colombia will expire next month, but we can't renew it with them, which means a lot of work can't be done in advance."

The more Alan Horn spoke, the more bitter his expression became.

After all, if the acquisition of MCA Global can be accelerated, many companies will have time to prepare.

But if the acquisition goes not smoothly, then the work of splitting, reorganizing and integrating, together with the promotion of the new movie, will basically be even busier.

Hanyu Hideki asked, "What movies are scheduled to be released this year?"

“Only counting the projects we have invested in, there are a total of six films that will be released in theaters.

Two of them have already signed distribution deals with Columbia: the live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, which opens next weekend, and Peter Jackson's Black Rain, which opens on April 13."

After Alan Horn mentioned the names of the two movies, Hideki Hanyu asked in surprise.

"The live-action Ninja Turtles movie is about to be released? I just saw the plan on Genie Entertainment last year."

After the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" series was taken over by him through "plagiarism", he only created the beginning, then wrote the outline of the story from memory, and then became a hands-off boss.

Later, he became busy with his work and never participated in the creation of comic content again.

Although TNNT Studio, which owns the copyright of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles", is controlled by Yunshang Culture, it is Elf Entertainment that mainly controls the direction of the comics.

Although the sales of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" comics are high and the cartoons are also very popular, the most profitable ones are actually games, toys, and peripheral derivative products. Over the past few years, they have helped Hideki Hanyu make a lot of money in North America.

Last year, Hideki Hanyu saw the plan for a live-action version of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles". The project was initiated by Genie Entertainment, and its main purpose was to use the live-action movie to sell games and peripherals.

However, when Hideki Hanyu saw the plan, it was almost September.

Therefore, he had no idea that the live-action version of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" would be released so early.

Alan Horn explained, "Although we are the main investor of this film, the main controller is actually Elf Entertainment. They selected a production company from Hong Kong to cooperate with the film. With the cooperation of the Hong Kong production company, the film was completed in just two months."

Upon hearing this, Hanyu Hideki thought that the Hong Kong producer that Elf Entertainment had found might be Boss Zou's Golden Harvest, just like in his previous life.

In other words, he had not met Boss Zou in Hong Kong before, otherwise he would definitely have heard about the cooperation from him.

But now that the filming has been completed, there is no point in worrying about who to collaborate with.

Moreover, Hideki Hanyu is relatively confident in the content management of Genie Entertainment, so the quality of this live-action "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" movie is still worth his expectations.

If it comes out next week, he can go to the cinema to watch it.

After learning about the live-action Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie, Hanyu Hideki asked, "What about the schedules for the remaining four movies?"

Alan Horn replied, “The third one is Anne & Alina, directed by Kathryn Bigelow. It is our opening film of this summer season and is tentatively scheduled to hit theaters in mid-May.

The fourth film is the sequel to Die Hard, which will also be released in the summer, tentatively scheduled for early July.

The fifth film is Bloody Night Part 3, which will be released at the end of October, focusing on the Halloween schedule.

The last one is Home Alone, which is an adaptation of the picture book by Boss Ni, and is tentatively scheduled to be released in the Christmas season in December.

After hearing these names, Hanyu Hideki, with the help of his past life experience, was able to basically determine that four of these six films had the potential to be successful.

That is, Kathryn Bigelow's "Anne & Alina" and Peter Jackson's "Black Comedy" did not exist in another time and space, making it difficult for Hideki Hanyu to judge.

Of these, Peter Jackson's Black Rain is the most risky.

It’s not that Hideki Hanyu doubts Peter Jackson’s ability and the quality of Black Comedy. After all, he hasn’t seen the movie yet.

The reason for the high risk is mainly due to the cooperation issues between Yunshang Pictures and Sony Columbia.

The movie will be released in April, and the distribution contract between the two parties will also expire in April.

It's hard for Hanyu Hideki not to wonder whether Sony Columbia will be angry with this movie and eventually make trouble with its distribution.

Even if Sony Columbia did something, Hanyu Hideki couldn't do anything about it. After all, Sony is a big company, and he couldn't do anything about it in Japan.

Columbia is a Hollywood giant. Not to mention that it has not yet acquired MCA Universal. Even if it did, they would still be on an equal footing.

If anything does happen, it will be Peter Jackson's bad luck.

After all, the future of Cloud Pictures and Universal Pictures is obviously more important than the success or failure of a mid-budget movie.

It is impossible for Hideki Hanyu to give the distribution contract of Cloud Pictures to Columbia when he has already decided to acquire MCA Universal.

At this point in the conversation, Alan Horn finished talking about Cloud Pictures' work arrangements for this year, and Fred Weber followed suit.

"I've been contacted recently by Steven Spielberg, who wants to work with us on a new film."

Hanyu Hideki asked, "Is it Michael Crichton's new book that hasn't been released yet?"

Fred Weber replied, "Yes, fortunately, boss, you negotiated the copyright early on. Now too many Hollywood companies are eyeing this movie."

Hanyu Hideki said, “I was already providing inspiration and ideas for Michael’s book before he even started writing it, so it’s impossible for anyone to get there earlier than me.

However, I don’t plan to start this project right now, at least I have to wait until the physical book is available and the acquisition by MCA Global is completed.

The better the performance of the physical book, the more confident we will be in negotiating with Spielberg.

Universal has a strong relationship with Spielberg, so it is more convenient to negotiate in the name of Universal."

Fred Weber responded, “Okay, I get it.”

Hanyu Hideki looked at his watch and said, "I have also invited Spielberg to the party tonight. Fred, please help me with the socializing and delay it."

Fred Weber said helplessly, "Boss, you're giving me another tough challenge."

Hanyu Hideki said confidently, "It is your duty to share the boss's worries. Besides, I have also invited Kathryn Bigelow and her husband, and I need to have a good talk with them."

"It's the copyright of the Terminator, right? When you asked me to contact Hemdale, they were already negotiating a copyright deal with Carloco.

But because of our involvement, Hemdale is now trying to sell the copyright, and Mario Casal, the owner of Carloco Business, is very angry and has threatened to make me look bad. "

It can be seen that Fred Weber was annoyed by Mario Casar, the owner of Carloco Business, and took the opportunity to complain to Hideki Hanyu.

"A lucky guy who rose to prominence through action movies, with no distribution channels, no peripheral profitability, and only relying on box office revenue to recover costs, yet still dares to continuously invest in big productions, is nothing more than a second Cannon Pictures."

Hanyu Hideki said this with a disdainful tone, then turned and looked at Fred Weber with a smile.

"I dare say that Carloco Pictures will be finished in a few years. When the time comes, we will discuss the acquisition. Fred, you will be the person in charge. No matter how arrogant he is today, you will pay him back double."

"I hope that day will come." Fred Weber said with longing in his eyes.

Hanyu Hideki said firmly, "I promise there will be."

In another time and space, after Carloco Films acquired the copyright of "Terminator", it made a lot of money thanks to the blockbuster "Terminator 2".

But even so, it couldn't stand up to the huge flop like "Cutthroat Island".

At this moment in time, Hideki Hanyu is determined to snatch the copyright of "Terminator".

Without "Terminator" to recover, Caroco Films will probably fail even faster.

After Hollywood entered the 1990s, with the decline of traditional action films and the rapid increase in actor and production costs, it has become difficult for independent production companies to get involved in big-budget movies.

The failure of "Cutthroat Island" is a good example.

If a big production fails, even the six major studios will cry out in pain. How can a small production company without even peripheral and distribution channels possibly withstand it?

The reason for the failure of Carloco Pictures was that its owner Mario Casal was still running the company according to the thinking of the 1980s, and bankruptcy was inevitable.

Hideki Hanyu is happy with this outcome.

After all, he is still very interested in the film library of Carloco Pictures and some of the film IPs.

Next, the few of them continued to talk while eating.

In addition to talking about business, we also talk about things in the circle.

Soon, when Alan Horn mentioned the Oscars ceremony on the 26th of this month, he asked about Hideki Hanyu.

"Boss, Driving for Miss Daisy has received nine nominations at this year's Oscars. The Academy has provided us with several spots to attend the ceremony. Do you want to go and watch the awards ceremony?"

Hideki Hanyu, who had only seen the Oscar winner on TV in his previous life, instantly became interested when he heard what Alan Horn said.

"Is it just to attend the award ceremony? Can't I walk the red carpet?"

Alan Horn said, "If the boss wants it, then it can be done."

In Alan Horn's view, it is a complete honor for the Oscars that a figure like his boss is willing to walk the Oscars red carpet.

As long as Hanyu Hideki is willing, how could the academy refuse?

Hanyu Hideki immediately said, "Then help me get an invitation to walk the red carpet."

Alan Horn asked, "Boss, are you going alone or with a female companion?"

"This one……"

Alan Horn's words made Hideki Hanyu feel troubled.

It is certainly a good idea to bring a female companion.

After all, just the excuse of going to the Oscars ceremony is enough for him to easily hook up with a Hollywood beauty.

But the problem is, there seem to be a few too many women in Hollywood who have relationships with him.

Sherilyn Fenn, Jenny Wright, Naomi Watts, Nicole Kidman, Brooke Shields, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Jennifer Connelly…

Even if we exclude those friendly match players who he hasn't contacted for a long time, it is really a difficult choice for him which one to bring and which one not to bring.

Moreover, the Oscars ceremony has too much exposure, and if he takes people to walk the red carpet, the news may spread all over the world the next day.

Although he didn't care, he didn't want to appease the jealous women one by one.

Thinking of the troublesome consequences, he made a decision immediately.

"Forget it, I'll just not bring anyone with me."

"I'm the only one participating," Hanyu Hideki told Alan Horn.

(End of this chapter)