Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 499 The Eager Columbia

Cao Yang did not expect that the first people he contacted upon arriving in Los Angeles were neither Disney CEO Robert Iger nor Warner Bros. CEO Barry Mayer.

It was Amy Pascal, co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment and president of Sony Pictures Group.

Cao Yang remembers that when he first came to Hollywood, his first collaborations were with Sony Pictures Classics and Columbia Pictures, both subsidiaries of Sony Pictures Entertainment.

At the time, he was directly liaised with Behrman, who was then at Sony Classics, and Tom Rothman, the executive director of Columbia Pictures.

At that time, Amy Pascal was the president of Columbia Pictures.

After 06, Sony restructured its film and television business, merging Columbia Pictures, TriStar Pictures, and others into Sony Pictures Entertainment Group, and her title was upgraded accordingly, becoming the group's president.

Since then, Columbia Pictures, as a subsidiary of Sony Pictures Entertainment, no longer has a president, or rather, Amy Pascal remains Columbia's president, still fully responsible for the operation of Columbia Pictures.

However, during his collaboration with Columbia, Cao Yang did have some contact with Amy Pascal, but not much. Cao Yang's liaison was always Tom Rothman.

Cao Yang's initial success in Hollywood was not only due to the award-winning and box office success of his films, but also undoubtedly due to the full support of Behrman and Tom Rothman at that time.

Otherwise, if he had encountered those domineering producers when he first arrived in Hollywood and hadn't yet established himself, and they had directly interfered with the filming or post-production, who knows what the final result of the movie would have been?

If even one of Cao Yang's initial films flops, his Hollywood career, if not completely ruined, will at least face significant difficulties.

This is also why Cao Yang continued to cooperate with Columbia University at that time.

Cao Yang never worked with Columbia again until Tom Rothman was "promoted" from Columbia Pictures to become the global vice president of Sony Pictures Entertainment and was no longer in charge of Columbia's business.

Although Cao Yang wouldn't get involved in such internal power struggles within a large company, he could vaguely guess that Tom Rothman's "promotion" was definitely inseparable from Amy Pascal's influence.

After all, Tom Rothman was incredibly popular at the time.

In those years, apart from his first film, "The Dirty Milk," which was a collaboration with Sony Classics, Cao Yang's other films, "District 9" and "Inception," were all collaborations with Columbia Pictures.

Because both of them were so successful.

This has also prompted a discussion within Sony Pictures.

That means Columbia Pictures should have a new president – ​​since Amy Pascal is already the co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment and president of Sony Pictures Entertainment, why is he still clinging to the position of president of Columbia Pictures?

It goes without saying who this president is.

This also reflects the deep dissatisfaction within Columbia Pictures, one of the traditional "Big Six" Hollywood studios, regarding its integration into Sony Pictures Entertainment and subsequent vertical management.

Unfortunately, although Sony Pictures Entertainment was a joint venture between Sony Corporation and CBS, Sony further consolidated its control over the film and television business after acquiring CBS Records, a subsidiary of CBS, in 1988.

With the support of Amy Pascal, co-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment and president of Sony Pictures Group, and Michael Linton, CEO of Sony Pictures Entertainment, he wields absolute power.

Finally, Tom Rothman left Columbia Pictures and was "promoted" to Sony Pictures' global vice president, well, a vice president not in charge of film and television business.

Cao Yang didn't really want to meet Amy Pascal. He could roughly guess Pascal's purpose, which was simply to seek cooperation.

However, when Amy Pascal stated directly over the phone that Colombia played a role in Cao Yang winning the Berlin Golden Bear and becoming one of the three major European Grand Slams.

Cao Yang sighed inwardly, knowing that he could not refuse to meet Amy Pascal.

Indeed, when Cao Yang won the Berlin Golden Bear, the last piece of the puzzle in the three major European Grand Slams, last year, not only did domestic efforts help, but pressure from the national level was also contained.

Disney, Warner Bros., and Columbia Pictures in Hollywood also contributed significantly.

It was only through the combined efforts of Disney, Warner Bros., and Columbia that pressure from certain interest groups in Europe and America was able to overcome, allowing Cao Yang to successfully win the Golden Bear.

Cao Yang doesn't need to repay favors to Disney and Warner.

After all, Cao Yang still has a series of collaborations with Disney, including the "New Pirates of the Caribbean" series and subsequent Marvel series.

On Warner Bros.' side, Cao Yang had just collaborated with them on "Batman 6," "Joker," and "The Hangover." Throughout 08 and the first half of 09, Warner Bros. earned the most and reaped the greatest rewards in Hollywood.

Warner Bros.' help to Cao Yang is, in effect, helping themselves.

There will definitely be follow-up collaborations for "Batman," and "The Hangover" is also a major franchise; Warner Bros. is well aware of this.

As for "Joker," Cao Yang has no plans to make a sequel for the time being.

If there's one person Cao Yang owes a favor to, it's Colombia—the cooperation was very pleasant in the past, but that was several years ago, and there has been absolutely no cooperation with Colombia in recent years.

Therefore, if Colombia helps without any vested interest, then we owe them a favor.

Since Amy Pascal brought this up, Cao Yang was determined to meet with her and have a talk with her.

Before meeting Amy Pascal, Cao Yang checked the movies currently showing and those about to be released during the summer season.

As expected, Columbia Pictures was arguably the biggest loser among the Big Six this summer.

"Angels & Demons," which Columbia Pictures had high hopes for and whose production cost alone reached $1.5 million, did not perform too badly at the box office, but it was not high either, falling far short of expectations.

It's worth noting that this film is not only a sequel to "The Da Vinci Code," which grossed $7.6 million worldwide, but it also stars Tom Hanks and is directed by Ron Howard, who won an Academy Award for Best Director for "A Beautiful Mind."

This combination of elements and a major IP should have been a box office hit from any perspective, but the box office performance was lackluster, with the North American box office not even reaching the production cost.

It will probably be able to recoup its costs gradually through global box office revenue and subsequent merchandise sales.

This summer, another film that Columbia Pictures has high hopes for is a remake of the 1974 film "The Hijacking of the Subway," also known as "The Subway," with a production cost of $1.2 million.

The cast of this movie is no less impressive than that of "Angels & Demons".

The main cast includes Oscar winner Denzel Washington, Golden Globe winner John Travolta, and Cannes Film Festival winner John Turturro.

The director is Tony Scott, who has directed films such as Top Gun, Dale Rex, and Enemies of the State.

On paper, it's a remake of a successful movie with a strong cast, so the chances of it failing should be very small, right?

But so far, the movie has been in theaters for three weeks and has grossed 6100 million.

Even including global box office revenue, it's questionable whether it can even cover the production cost of $1.2 million.

As for recouping costs, who knows when that will be? Even with subsequent merchandise, it might take a long time before costs are recovered. Cao Yang checked Columbia Pictures' upcoming films for the rest of this summer season, including "Julie & Julia" and "The Ugly Truth."

"Julie & Julia" seems to be aiming for the Oscars, and neither of these films looks like they'll be big box office hits.

It's fair to say that Colombia had a rough time this summer.

Cao Yang estimated that this was one of the reasons why Amy Pascal wanted to see him.

As for the other reason, it's actually quite similar to the first one.

That is, Columbia desperately needs a movie that can be a box office hit.

The reason is also very simple.

As one of the six major Hollywood studios, each has its own flagship films.

Warner Bros. has the Harry Potter series, the Lord of the Rings series, and DC comic book adaptations, especially the Batman series.

Disney initially focused on animated films, but after acquiring Lucasfilm, it created the Star Wars series and the current Pirates of the Caribbean series. As for the Marvel series, it is still in its infancy.

Universal Pictures owns the Jurassic Park series, the Fast & Furious series, and the Minions series.

Paramount has the Godfather series, the Transformers series, the Star Trek series, and the Mission: Impossible series.

20th Century Fox owns the early distribution rights to Star Wars, the Home Alone series, the Alien series, and the X-Men series. More importantly, other film companies are tied to the James Cameron franchise, a situation that makes one wonder whether to envy or ridicule them…

Sony Columbia, however, also has its own trump card.

That includes the Spider-Man series and the James Bond series, which is shared with MGM.

And then there's the Charlie's Angels series, which can be considered a bit of a stretch.

Of course, the Hollywood Big Six have many classic or profitable films, but there is a consensus in Hollywood that the overall revenue from a film series is far greater than that from a film that does not become a series.

Cao Yang listed the series that Sony Columbia made money from.

The three leading ladies of Charlie's Angels are all getting old and can no longer perform the action scenes, so restarting the franchise would be extremely difficult.

Besides, this series isn't actually that profitable.

In the James Bond series, "Quantum of Solace" was released in November 2008. It had a budget of $230 million, but its North American box office was less than $170 million, and its global box office was $590 million.

Don't be fooled by the seemingly large global box office of 5.9 million. This 5.9 million includes the distribution rights bought out overseas, as well as the revenue share from other countries, many of which is not very high.

In other words, relying solely on box office revenue, "Quantum of Solace" did not recoup its costs.

Therefore, it will take at least two years for the sequel to be released.

The most profitable film, Spider-Man, is currently the real problem for Columbia Pictures.

After Spider-Man 3 was released in 07, although it grossed nearly $9 million worldwide, it received mixed reviews. In particular, director Sam Raimi was very dissatisfied with the producers forcibly adding characters such as Venom.

Although Spider-Man 4 was greenlit last year, director Sam Raimi has been fighting with Columbia Pictures for the production rights and they have been unable to reach an agreement.

The lead actor, Tobey Maguire, is already 35 years old and has strong opinions about continuing to play Peter Parker in the age range of high school or college students.

He has stated outright that he will not act in a script if it does not suit his actual age.

But Spider-Man has always been a movie aimed at young people, so how could Spider-Man be over 35 years old? If so, who would still watch it?

Colombia certainly won't take the risk.

Even if director Sam Raimi reaches an agreement with Columbia, he certainly won't risk making a film that fits Tobey Maguire's age group.

Therefore, the three parties could not reach a consensus, resulting in a stalemate, and it remains uncertain whether Spider-Man 4 will ever be made.

Therefore, as I said before, Columbia desperately needs a movie that can make money.

Otherwise, Amy Pascal might not be able to hold onto her current position.

In all of Hollywood, there are only a handful of directors who can guarantee that their films will make money.

The best choice, of course, is Cao Yang, who has never failed before, has a decent relationship with Colombia, and owes Colombia a favor.

“Director, I know you have very little free time, but we are old friends with a good working relationship. Columbia Pictures would love to work with you again, and that is what I’m hoping for as well.”

After exchanging pleasantries, Amy Pascal got straight to the point.

Cao Yang paused for a moment and then said, "Amy, you should know that I reached an agreement with Disney at the beginning of the year, and we even held a press conference at that time."

Because of my doctoral dissertation and graduation project, it has been delayed by half a year, but this is the limit.

I'd also love to work with Columbia Pictures, but the sequel to *Pirates of the Caribbean* is already in pre-production, the actors' schedules are set, and filming will begin no later than August.

“I am well aware of these things, so what I need is a release window after Pirates of the Caribbean.”

Amy Pascal spread her hands and said with a smile, "That's why I immediately asked you out after I heard you were back in Los Angeles. I didn't want to be outmaneuvered by someone else again."

Cao, we're old friends. When you first came to Hollywood, didn't you have a great working relationship with Columbia? Columbia didn't interfere with the films you directed at all. I think you know very well that was Columbia's greatest trust and respect for you.

Cao, Columbia Pictures also did its best to help you at last year's Berlin Film Festival. You know, I'm not a racist; on the contrary, I have great respect for China.

But not everyone is like me. You should know very well how difficult it is for a Chinese person to win all three European Grand Slam titles.

Cao Yang fell silent.

You're trying to build connections and are clearly asking for favors, how am I supposed to refuse?

Of course, relationships are relationships, personal connections are personal connections, and cooperation is cooperation; they cannot be confused, especially with these Americans.

In other words, I can agree to cooperate to repay a favor, but the conditions for cooperation must also satisfy me.

(End of this chapter)