Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 455 The Loser Paramount

Paramount is probably the worst off of the Big Six.

It once topped the charts, but its performance has declined in recent years. DreamWorks' move to Fox has cost Paramount a significant amount of revenue.

Paramount finally found Marvel and made a fortune by releasing "Iron Man," "Thor," and "Captain America," but then Marvel was acquired by Disney at lightning speed, leaving Paramount with nothing.

Paramount actually has a lot of cards to play. The Mission: Impossible series was successfully rebooted, and Transformers 4 swept the globe this year.

But this still cannot change Paramount's overall decline and its severe financial pressure—Paramount is out of money.

In particular, Lantern Entertainment has risen rapidly in the last two years. The Hunger Games series almost saved Universal and brought Lantern Entertainment into the mainstream Hollywood spotlight.

If it weren't for Transformers 4 saving the day last year, Paramount's performance and market share would probably have fallen out of the top six again, and been replaced by Lantern Entertainment.

As an aside, Paramount fell out of the top six in 12 and 13, while Lantern Entertainment entered the top six in North America during those two years.

Paramount is envious of Universal. They agreed to be losers together, but now you're making a fortune by investing in and distributing Lantern Entertainment's films (Universal usually covers 20%-30% of the production costs for Lantern Entertainment's films), while ignoring your brother's plight.

After losing both DreamWorks and Marvel Cinematic Universe awards, Paramount also wants to collaborate with Lantern Entertainment.

Otherwise, if performance continues to decline, not only will the CEO be dismissed, but Paramount might also be sold off again.

However, Lantern Entertainment and Universal have a cooperation agreement, so Paramount can't just step in whenever it wants.

However, it seems that the agreement between Lantern Entertainment and Universal is about to expire. After the release of "The Hunger Games" in 2012, the two companies signed a five-year cooperation agreement, during which all of Lantern Entertainment's films were distributed by Universal.

The profits that Global made from this agreement may not be enough to make its peers envious, but it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that they were extremely jealous.

With two years remaining on the agreement, it's almost time to discuss renewal. Lantern Entertainment has its grievances; over the three-year partnership, the Lantern Entertainment executives, led by Michael Lynn, generally believe that Universal has enjoyed benefits exceeding its contributions.

Please translate this: What do you mean by saying that the success of "The Hunger Games" was due to your efforts at Universal?
The development of Lantern Entertainment is entirely due to Universal's assistance.

So you made money off me, and I'm now begging on my knees?

Paramount is trying to poach Universal's talent, while Lantern is looking to negotiate a more favorable contract. The two companies can be said to have a certain foundation for cooperation.

However, the collaboration between Lantern Entertainment and Universal is not over yet. It's fine to flirt with Paramount, but it's not good to openly get together with them.

So Paramount wants to sell their unfinished film, Arrival, to Lantern Entertainment. The project has already been assembled and is in the crucial casting stage.

This film is also intended to compete for awards. It's a science fiction film with a focus on humanities and linguistics, which sounds niche and obscure, making it very likely to win awards.

However, internal strife broke out among executives at Paramount's parent company, Viacom, with some wanting to kill the project, believing that Arrival was too obscure and wouldn't resonate with mainstream audiences.

Viacom demanded that the production team reduce the budget or they would not support it, but Paramount withstood the pressure and pushed the project forward to this day.

But there are always times when things can't hold up. After the New Year, Paramount decided to find a partner for "Arrival" or simply sell the project to raise funds for the development of "Transformers 5".

Therefore, they took the initiative to contact Lantern Entertainment, expressing their willingness to give up a share of "Arrival" as a prelude to possible future cooperation between the two parties.

Li Qiutang really likes "Arrival," a rare example of humanistic science fiction where liberal arts students save the world.

Films that are contenders for awards are not so easy to find. A film like "Arrival" can at least get a nomination, which is not a bad choice.

Li Qiutang wanted to buy it, but Paramount was unreasonable and demanded $5000 million in cash, to be received within a month.

With this kind of greed, how can they possibly pave the way for future cooperation?

Now they're trying to squeeze every last drop of profit, right? 5000 million in cash, plus the cost of using the funds—it seems Paramount isn't trying to lose any money by getting rid of this burden; they want to make a profit!
Paramount dumps projects, and Lantern Entertainment still needs to audit and evaluate them; it's not a matter of how much you say you'll get.

Li Qiutang is interested in buying it and laying the foundation for future cooperation, but you can't treat me like I'm stupid.

The first meeting ended unhappily, and Li Qiutang got nothing but a stack of materials for "Arrival" and the original English novel of "Story of Your Life".

Li Qiutang also complained to Liu Yifei on the phone about Paramount, saying that they had no manners of a big company: "It's a century-old company, but they are so stingy in their dealings."

Liu Yifei wasn't interested in Paramount, but she was curious about that linguistic science fiction film: "Is it published in China?"

"There should be some, you can look for them." Li Qiutang wasn't sure either. Ted Chiang was a big name in the science fiction world, but not so well-known among domestic readers. It wouldn't be easy to find his published works now.

"What have you been doing these past few days?" Li Qiutang asked Liu Yifei about her recent situation.

Liu Yifei then explained the embarrassing situation where many people came to her house to deliver gifts, and she and Liu Xiaoli couldn't tell who was who.

"I don't know any of them, such as Mr. Wang from XX Company, Mr. Zheng from XX Media, or Section Chief Ma from XX Department."

Li Qiutang could match these people up one by one, and laughed, "It's okay, I know who they are."

"Later, I brought my mom to Shanghai. There was a magazine shoot here, and we also wanted to visit Tang Yan on set." She got excited as she said this, "Let me tell you, I saw Luo Jin again on the set of 'Diamond Lover.' How many times has he worked with Tang Yan? This is the second time, I think."

"The third time, it's 'Gone with the Wind' and 'Agent X,' and then it's this one, 'Diamond Lover.'"

"What was that line you said again? Cooperating once is normal, twice is a coincidence, but what about three times?"

“There must be something going on between them after three collaborations,” Li Qiutang added. “With so many productions and so many actors every year, it’s so hard to find the same male and female leads. By the second time, marketing is everywhere, and by the third time, the audience will start to suspect that there’s something going on between them. You see, Tang Yan and Luo Jin are very suspicious of each other.”

"Do you know something? Tell me." She didn't care about other people's gossip, but she had to know about her future bridesmaid's gossip.

"I can't tell you anything I know. You have no sense of propriety. Who will take responsibility if you mess things up?"

"It's just the same old stuff about love between men and women, do you think I'm stupid?"

"As long as the message doesn't leave through me, it's fine," Li Qiutang said.

Liu Yifei asked Li Qiutang when she was going back to China, to which Li Qiutang shamelessly replied, "Miss me?"

"You..." Liu Yifei, who was thinking of her husband, wouldn't say it.

"It will take a while. There are too many things to do in the US, including lawyers, finance, and all sorts of company matters. In a few days, I'm going to see the special effects for 'Mojin: The Lost Legend,' some of which were done in the US."

"Don't tell me that, I don't understand it." Liu Yifei was too lazy to listen.

Li Qiutang said sarcastically, "Can't you fall asleep every night without me holding you?"

"Don't give me that. Shu Chang will finish filming in a couple of days. I need her to keep me company. I don't need you."

"You're saying we don't need you anymore since we haven't even gotten married or had children?"

"You're shameless!" Liu Yifei cursed.

Li Qiutang chuckled.

(End of this chapter)