Rebirth of America, this is my era

Chapter 152 Blank Check
To be honest, when Roy Disney sat up straight and cast a sparkling look at the two of them, Ethan Jones, who caught those passionate words, was very moved.

There is no way. Who can make Ethan Jones understand that the derivatives that Roy Disney is talking about now are the future intellectual property operations, or IP operations?
In the era before he traveled through time, anyone who was engaged in creation would always talk about IP development.

Those who write novels hope that their stories can be made into film or TV series.

Those who work in animation are eager to create games and sell peripheral products.

Gamers are even wilder, because those who can make achievements in this industry are not short of money. Square Enix paid for CG movies in the 1990s, and the first one was called "The Spirits Within"; Nintendo was actually earlier, as early as 1993, it brought Mario to the screen with "Super Mario Bros.", and in 1923, it also launched "Super Mario Bros. The Movie", which is also the pain in Ethan's heart, because he traveled before the movie was released, and he didn't see whether the plumber defeated King Bowser again and saved Princess Bitch; in addition to these, there are "Tomb Raider", "Uncharted", "Warcraft"...

There are countless.

But even though there were many actual cases in his previous life, when Ethan Jones decided to enter the game industry, he did not have a complete plan for the development of game peripherals, or in other words...

The old man has never thought about this matter at all.

And the reason is very simple.

The IP development business seems to be booming, but most people are just losing money to gain publicity.

Everyone who writes novels hopes to be like JK Rowling (the version that wasn't expelled from the novel by her fans), but there is only one broken ball who can achieve huge box office and good reputation in the film and television industry.

Who in animation doesn’t want to copy Mickey’s success? But it’s impossible!

And those who make games...

Forget it, this industry has always been the representative of stupid people with a lot of money who come quickly.

They are the ones who suffered the most money.

When these bloody facts were placed in front of Ethan Jones, if he was not a fool, he would not invest his money in the development of game peripherals. Wouldn't it be better to invest in some technology with this spare time? At worst, buy some land! There is no need to spend money on a project that has no end in sight, right?
As for why in his previous life, there were so many IP development companies that wanted to make money from this industry? It was because Walt Disney was so successful!

Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck brought them the most successful amusement park in history. Derivative products such as toys and clothing directly crushed the profits of movies. According to Bloomberg statistics, for every dollar Walt Disney invested in animated films, he would earn back those expenses exponentially in the next two years with a net profit of no less than ten dollars. This return on investment is actually similar to that of video games.

When this kind of money-making speed that is more addictive than drugs appears...

Everyone wants to be Disney!
but--

No one can be Disney!
Because of its success, it was achieved by riding the tide of the times!

Mickey's success is not because of his excellent appearance. The first version of him was just a mouse, but because the "Steamboat Willie" with him was the world's first animated film with sound.

Before Walt Disney created it, all kids saw were silent movies.

When Walt Disney brought sound to cartoon movies, the shock that Steamboat Willie brought to children was the Star Wars of that era!
The subsequent "Flowers and Trees" became the first Best Animated Short Film in Oscar history.

With the blessing of the Oscars, it spread across North America.

Then, the first feature-length animated film in history, "Snow White", and the first stereoscopic movie in history, "The Adventures of Pinocchio", directly blew up the imagination of children of that era!

As tens of thousands of children grow up under the baptism of such historical firsts again and again, the name of Walt Disney becomes a brand renowned in North America and around the world!
When Walt Disney reaped the benefits of the times again and again, he could develop the peripheral products of animation characters with his eyes closed and achieve success! Because what he sold was not peripheral products at all! Instead, while selling products to children, he told the parents of those children, those big children who had witnessed countless histories, about their own beautiful feelings!

And this thing...

Who can copy the special code?

Therefore, even though Ethan Jones knew that IP development could be very profitable, he still suppressed his desire, because "Snake" was not the first in history, and "Pac-Man", the first AI game in history, was not something that ordinary people today could understand.

When the performance and expression of game characters cannot be simply described in words, it is a waste of time to develop IP. But now, Walt Disney's nephew Roy Disney said that their Disney company can exchange products with Destiny Game, and after mutual development...

Ethan Jones' eyes really lit up.

There is no one who doesn't crave a sense of Disney's history.

No one can resist the sense of nostalgia that Disney has built over the years.

However, even though Ethan Jones' heart was pounding, he had no intention of agreeing immediately.

This kind of cross-industry cooperation requires careful consideration. He needs to calm down and make an evaluation instead of agreeing to Roy Disney's conditions in a hot-blooded manner.

So, after smiling and saying that he would think carefully about it, Ethan and his sister left the living room.

As they returned to the venue, he also asked quietly in the elevator, "How do you feel?"

"That's wonderful." Evelyn said bluntly, "Walt Disney is the king of animation. If they are willing to do their best to create a movie for our game characters..."

“Then this will be a great collaboration.”

Evelyn emphasized her accent on the phrase 'with all her heart'.

Ethan nodded, understanding what she meant. "What do you think?" he asked again.

“Ask Steven and George.” Evelyn answered this question more decisively.

Not only that, Ben was staring at the elevator door, and she tilted her head slightly, focusing her eyes on Ethan's handsome face, and asked back: "We need the opinions of professionals, don't we?"

"Hahaha——" Ethan laughed.

Yes! Now he really wants to seek professional advice!

With a crisp 'ding' sound, Ethan and Evelyn walked out of the elevator.

Then they discovered that during the time they were away, Xiao Lu and Xiao Si had actually occupied the stage with red faces and ears, beating drums and singing...

The chaotic and unclear voice won countless applause.

This also made Ethan shake his head in surprise.

"How much did you drink?"

Evelin asked curiously, looking at the two people whose figures were swaying and seemed like they could fall at any time.

"I don't know—" Ethan shrugged. He could understand. "Be happy—"

"Then let's ask them again in a few days?" Evelyn suggested.

"I think so," Ethan agreed.

However, just as Ethan raised his hand to say hello to them and indicated that he was going back to the hotel to rest, Spielberg saw him and suddenly stood up from his seat on the stage.

Loudly said——

"Oh Ethan! Where have you been!"

"They were yelling at us to put on a show, and we wanted to ask you to come up and play guitar, but when we turned around to look for you, you were gone!"

"Now we've both embarrassed ourselves on stage!"

"It's your turn now—"

"Come up, come up, come up quickly!"

Ethan didn't know whether to laugh or cry when hearing these urging words. Although he hadn't played the guitar for a long time, since the host invited him, he couldn't spoil the fun, right?

He climbed onto the stage and took the guitar from the band.

In an instant, he knew what he wanted to sing.

"You know Redbone, right?"

"Yeah yeah yeah~" The band members nodded one after another.

""Come and get your love"?"

"Okay~Okay~" Everyone in harmony quickly indicated that there was no problem.

After a while——

Ethan Jones, who was also a little drunk, shouted at the top of his voice: "Hey——" "What is the matter with your head? Yeah——"

The ghostly and howling singing caused the audience to burst into laughter.

After the song was over, Ethan put down his guitar, waved his hand, and walked off the stage.

"Did I sing well?" Ethan said with a cocky look on his face.

"Yeah~Yeah~Yeah~"

Student Lu nodded continuously, and with his cheeks flushed, he made a gesture that would make Korean men very uncomfortable decades later, "Very good! But it's still a little bit behind me!"

"Oh! Sxxt!" Ethan was dissatisfied. "Although I wasn't there when you just went on stage, I heard the whole ending. What was that you just sang? Was there a single note in tune?"

"But that's better than you, isn't it?" Xiao Lu said unconvincedly: "You just roared, and you didn't show the essence of the vocals of the lead singers of the Redbone band at all!"

Seeing that the two were about to quarrel, Xiao Si hurriedly tried to stop them.

"Okay, okay, George, Ethan sings well. The lead singer of Redbone has a smoker's voice. Ethan doesn't smoke, so it's enough that he can sing out--"

At the same time, he turned to look at Ethan and asked, "Where did you go just now?"

"Is there anyone trying to talk to you about cooperation?"

Before he finished speaking, Xiao Lu continued, "Oh Ethan - there are a lot of scammers in Hollywood, you must keep your eyes open. If you are just cheated of your money, you can still get it back, but if you are cheated of your heart...hahahaha..."

He was really drunk.

Not paying attention to Xiao Lu's nonsense, he nodded at Xiao Si. Seeing that this guy was quite normal, Ethan tilted his head and asked him if he had time to talk to the side.
The party had been going on for two hours now, and everyone had almost finished drinking and talking. After saying hello to Lu and signaling the Fox staff to take good care of him, Stoudemire put down his glass and took Ethan and Evelyn to the lounge next to the banquet hall.

As soon as he entered the room, he tore off the tie around his neck and took off his suit.

"It's so hot." Then he asked, "Who is looking for you?" At the same time, he guessed, "Seeing how cautious you are, are you the boss of a film company?"

Xiao Si was just joking, but Ethan nodded seriously.

After he told them what happened, Spielberg performed the famous Sichuan opera skill - face changing - in front of them. "Roy Disney is looking for you?"

"Looking for you to play games?"

"And the deal is to develop your game characters? Make them into animations?"

"Oh - the conditions he offered are really fucking generous!"

“I’m so moved!”

"but……"

"His current situation is not good..."

"What?" Evelyn asked curiously, "Steven, do you mean that there is something wrong with Roy Disney?"

“Yeah~” Spielberg said with a smile: “Roy Disney does have problems, or rather, Disney now has big problems…”

Disney was born in 1923 and was created by Walt Disney and his brother Roy Disney. Because the cooperation between the two brought animated films to the peak, when they were alive, the entire Disney was like an iron army and no one dared to refute their opinions.

But with the passing of the two, the huge animation empire fell into the hands of others. In 1971, Disney senior executive Dawn Tatum became Disney's CEO and chairman of the board, becoming the first non-Disney family member to lead the Disney Company.

Although this kind of thing is very common, unless the system of adopting sons by sons-in-law is vigorously promoted like Benzi, it is impossible for the chairman and CEO of a large group to always be members of the founder's family, because the most uncontrollable factor in the world is not the success or failure of a project, nor the results of a scientific research, but whether the future generations of human beings can become successful.

No one can guarantee that the child they give birth to will be able to take over the family business!

In this case, in order to ensure that wealth can be passed on, it is imperative to introduce senior executives.

"In fact, when Dwayne Tatum first took office, there were not many objections from the Disney family, because this was a joint choice made by Walt Disney and Roy Disney when they were alive, and no one would go against the will of their father or uncle."

“And Dwyane Tatum is actually doing a pretty good job.”

"But in the past two years, something very big happened in their company."

"That's when Dwyane Tatum is ready to step down and let a guy named Ron Miller take over."

"Who is Ron Miller? You may not know him. But if I mention his wife's name, you can guess the details. Because his wife is Diane Disney, the daughter of Walt Disney."

At this point, Spielberg paused.

Ethan and Evelyn's faces showed a look of sudden enlightenment.

"Steven, do you mean that members of Walt Disney's lineage want to take over the company?" Ethan asked. "And Roy Disney, who came to us today, is Walt Disney's nephew and the son of old Roy Disney. Does he think the company should be passed on to him?"

"Yeah~" Spielberg nodded and said, "Big family——"

"There is never a lack of palace fighting."

That’s right! As a legitimate member of the Disney family, Roy Disney, who had worked at Disney for a long time, always felt that the company should be his own!
But he didn't expect that his brother-in-law would suddenly appear!

In order to prevent this from happening, he raised his voice in the company!
But it's a pity——

When a company goes public and when it absorbs public investors, the power of the founding family, whose shares are diluted and whose voting rights are correspondingly reduced, is very limited.

Not to mention--

Disney is currently still divided between the two founding families.

When Walt Disney's son-in-law Ron Miller had gained a large number of supporters and publicly stated that he would take office, even if Roy Disney Jr. was angry, it was too late.

It was precisely because Roy Disney’s power was weakened that he did not snatch Atari from Warner in 1975. It was not because he did not want to, but because——

"He suddenly found himself without money," Spielberg said. "It happened so suddenly that he had no choice but to give Atari to Warner."

"Although the facts have proven that not buying Atari was the right decision, because they are now almost bankrupted by you, this does not mean that Roy Disney can accept all this. After his resistance failed, he resigned from all his positions in the Disney Group this year and only retained his leadership in Disney's feature animation department."

"Although I don't know what he was thinking and why he wanted to give up those positions, since he has come to you, it proves that he still wants to return to the group's management."

"Or..."

"He wants to bring the group back under his control."

"And the reason why he didn't give you money to make the game is because he really couldn't afford it."

"The animation production plan he proposed is the only bargaining chip he can bring out."

"As for the park's operation?"

"If the video game you made for him sells well, he will definitely return to the group at rocket speed! Those investors will kneel on the ground and kowtow to him to take charge of the company!"

"Because you guys are so good at making money, right?"

"When the time comes, he will be able to fulfill his promise."

"But if the video game you made for him fails..."

At this point, Spielberg stretched out his voice, shrugged, and said, "I'm not trying to stir up trouble. I just think you won't get anything."

When this fact came to light, Ethan and Evelyn immediately looked at each other.

Okay——

No wonder Roy Disney was so generous to them!

No wonder Roy Disney would use Disney Group’s most powerful animation department to negotiate with them!
After all this, it turns out to be a family feud and a blank check!
Note: ① The founders of Disney are Walt Disney and Roy Oliver Disney, and Roy Disney’s son is also called Roy Edward Disney. This is not a typo. ② Roy Disney and his brother-in-law, Walt Disney’s son-in-law Ron Miller, did fight over the company’s management rights in the 1970s. In reality, in order to fight for power, he asked his lawyer and financial advisor, Stanley Gold, who is also the manager of the Disney family’s Clover Fund, to introduce Michael Eisner to Disney. He is the Disney tyrant who cannot be avoided when writing about American Entertainment. When he found that he could not control Eisner, he replaced Eisner with Robert Iger, who was in charge of Disney twice.

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(End of this chapter)