Hollywood Director 1992.

Chapter 414 Diana is back, Toy Story is showing.

After he left London, Ms. Spencer called to apologize, saying that her previous actions were inconsiderate and had caused him and the crew a lot of trouble, which was her responsibility.

She said she would apologize to him in person and explain the reason next time he came to London.

Link didn't know why Diana did this, or what her difficulties were, but whatever the reason, it was none of his business. He was busy and didn't want to waste too much time and energy on this matter.

After the film crew moved to the Irish set, he devoted himself entirely to the film and stopped paying attention to anything outside of it.

By the end of November, the data for movies released in the previous weeks was released.

In November, Guess What Films will release a new movie, Toy Story, produced by Pixar Animation Studios.

This is an animation made entirely by computer.

The main characters are Woody, a toy cowboy sheriff, and Buzz Lightyear, a space ranger, and their adventures in the human world.

The idea for this film came from Pixar Animation Studios' 92 animated short film "Tin Toy," which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film in 91.

Starting in 94, Pixar Animation Studios began working on expanding Tin Toy into a feature film, a process that took two years and encountered problems such as funding shortages and technical deficiencies.

But under the leadership of Steve Jobs and director John Lasseter, the animators overcame numerous difficulties and finally completed the production of the animated film Toy Story in early 96.

In the second week of November, Toy Story opened in 2471 theaters in North America, grossing $4183 million in its opening week and becoming the top-grossing film of the week.

The second place went to the thriller crime film "Ransom Storm," which was released at the same time and starred Mel Gibson, Renée Russo, and others. It was directed by the famous Hollywood director Ron Howard.

The production company is Touchstone Pictures, a subsidiary of Disney, and it is distributed by The Walt Disney Company. The production cost is 6500 million.

Before the film's release, all the media believed it would top the weekly box office, and also took the opportunity to speculate on the animated film being distributed by the film studio.

But no one expected that Toy Story, released at the same time, would be so enthusiastically received by audiences, with box office revenue increasing day by day and word-of-mouth continuing to rise. In just one week, it grossed more than 40 million dollars in North America.

"Ransom" only grossed $2462 million, which isn't too bad for a November movie release, but "Toy Story" did better at the box office during the same period.

In comparison, this box office figure seems unremarkable.

After this week's box office results were released, all the Hollywood film studio bosses were stunned and couldn't recover for a long time.

Everyone is wondering why this movie became such a big hit?
Last year, when Guess What Movies acquired Pixar Animation Studios, nobody was optimistic about the acquisition.

On the one hand, most mainstream animated films are hand-drawn animations produced by Disney, and audiences prefer this type of animation. In the past two years, some film companies have tried to produce computer animations, but the box office results have been mediocre, and most of them have lost money.

People don't think that Guess the Movies' "Toy Story" will be a success.

On the other hand, Guess What Film Studio mainly started by producing and distributing live-action films. They are unfamiliar with the animation field and do not understand the audience's preferences. If they release this animated film so rashly, the probability of losing money is extremely high.

But no one expected that the film would gross $4183 million in its opening week.

"Toy Story had a production cost of only $30 million, but grossed over $40 million in its opening weekend. It is expected to gross no less than $200 million in North America and $300-400 million worldwide. Guess what kind of bargain the film studio got this time?"

In the Warner Bros. Pictures president's office, Miguel Goss made this remark three times after seeing the box office figures for "Toy Story".

The first reaction was shock, finding the data unbelievable; the second reaction was envy and jealousy, envying that another film from the film company was a huge hit.

The third regret is that Warner Bros. Pictures had considered acquiring Pixar Animation Studios to improve the company's animation film production capabilities and standards, but Jobs' asking price was too high, and the group company did not agree.

Later, Guess what happened: the film company invested $3 million and acquired a 10% stake in Pixar Animation Studios.

Many people believe this is an unreasonable acquisition, and guess what? The film company will suffer a huge loss on this project.

The top executives of the seven major film studios are waiting to see them make a fool of themselves.

But now that Toy Story is a huge hit, guess how much the studio can earn from the box office revenue and merchandise alone? At least $2 million.

If they release one or two more blockbuster animated films, guess what? It's like the film company got a hugely promising animation production company for free.

Miguel Goss deeply regrets that his company didn't acquire Pixar, so much so that even after Toy Story became a huge hit, he could only sigh repeatedly while looking at the newspaper.

“I think the most helpless people at this moment should be Michael Eisner and Ovitz. Animated films are Disney’s territory. Now that Pixar’s computer animation has achieved great success, Disney’s hand-drawn animation may be eliminated by the market. If they can’t find a breakthrough, Disney’s market share of animated films may be slowly swallowed up by Guessing Pictures.”

Richard Fox said.

Miguel Goss nodded. Richard was right. Disney had secured a place in the global film market with its animated films, a feat unmatched by any other film company.

Pixar's computer animations are now well-received by audiences and are box office hits.

With this shift in momentum, Disney's box office revenue in the animated film sector is bound to decline significantly.

The Disney Company's development is facing serious challenges.

Whether Disney can defeat Guess Movies in the animation field and maintain its competitive advantage in the next few years remains to be seen.

Even if they manage to maintain it, they will likely suffer heavy losses.

At this point, Michael Eisner and Ovitz must be having a real headache, but Miggos isn't happy either, because Guess Movies is already very strong in live-action films, and now they're making a big splash in the animated film field.

Guess who can stop this film studio from dominating the North American film market?
"If I had known that Pixar's animated films would be so popular, I would have definitely suppressed those shareholders who voted against it and tried to acquire Pixar first," Michael Eisner said grimly at Disney.

Ovitz across from him frowned, his expression also unpleasant.

In fact, Disney was the first company to consider acquiring Pixar Animation Studios.

The purpose of acquiring Pixar was twofold: first, to expand the company's advantage in the animation field, and second, to eliminate competitors in advance.

However, Pixar Animation Studios' asking price was relatively high, and acquiring Pixar would inevitably weaken the equity held by some shareholders again, leading many shareholders to oppose the deal.

Furthermore, Disney's revenue has declined significantly in the past two years due to competition from Guess Movies, and acquiring Pixar would increase the company's financial burden.

Ultimately, at the board meeting, two-thirds of the shareholders voted against the proposal.

Disney's plan to acquire Pixar was also forced to fall through.

Pixar's first computer-animated feature film is now a huge success, severely eroding Disney's foundation. In the coming years, Disney will become even more passive in the face of competition from Guess Movies.

"Link is such a lucky bastard. He doesn't understand animated films at all, but he blindly entered this field and was able to succeed so easily. Damn it, God must be protecting him."

Ovitz cursed angrily.

Eisner shook his head, sighed, and said, "There's no use talking about this now. What we should be thinking about is how to deal with the current situation."

With the huge success of Pixar's animated films, people have realized that using computer technology to create animated films requires relatively little investment but yields extremely high returns.

Because of the profit-seeking nature of capital, more film companies will inevitably enter this field in the future, and there will be more animated films on the film market. Disney's traditional animated films will face a great challenge.

At this point, they must come up with a solution to overcome the current difficulties; otherwise, Disney's presence in the film industry will become weaker and weaker, and their power and annual revenue will also decline significantly.

"Perhaps we should talk to Link and buy Pixar back at a high price. Guess what? Although Pixar has capital, good ideas, and distribution channels for animated films, it's only mediocre in the related industries and can't realize the true economic value of animated films. Only by making Pixar a subsidiary of Disney can it make more money in the market."

Ovitz said.

“Buying back Pixar Animation is one option, but Toy Story has just been a huge success. Guess what? The studio won’t sell easily. Even if they do, they’ll ask for an extremely high price, which we might not be able to afford.”

Eisner took a drag of his cigarette and said slowly, "Mike, next you will personally contact Link and ask him if he intends to sell Pixar Studios. If he does, a price under 10 billion is acceptable. If Link has no intention of selling, we will change our strategy from acquisition to cooperation."

The collaboration includes co-releasing the film, manufacturing and selling related merchandise, and building theme parks. "We at Disney are number one in the world in the animation industry, which can help Link earn more money. He should accept our offer."

Ovitz nodded. "But guess what? The film company is going to make a lot of money this year."

Eisner didn't say anything, he just frowned and puffed on his cigarette.

Toy Story grossed $3625 million in 2676 theaters across North America in its second week of release, retaining its title as the highest-grossing film in North America, bringing its total North American box office to $7808 million.

Total Cinema magazine predicts the film will gross no less than $200 million, making it Guess Movies' fifth film to break $100 million at the North American box office this year.

In addition, the thriller "Scream," which was released in October, has grossed $9464 million in North America after six weeks of release and is expected to break $100 million in its eighth week, with a projected North American box office of no less than $120 million.

Total Cinema magazine marvels at the unstoppable momentum of the film industry's rapid development, predicting that the next seven major studios should prepare to be eliminated.

"Boss, now many media outlets are jumping out to promote the 'Guess the Movie' threat theory, saying that our company has driven the Big Seven studios and other film companies to the brink of collapse."

Lewinsky reported on her work with a smile on her face, her eyes filled with admiration and affection.

Link looked through the box office data and nodded. "It's not bad, but the media hype is generally exaggerated. Let's guess. Although the film company has developed rapidly and made some money, it is still more than ten years behind old-school film companies like Disney, Warner Bros., and Universal Pictures. For example, in terms of film inventory, merchandise development, and film IP rights, we still need to work hard and cannot be too satisfied with the status quo."

"Should we have our public relations department refute these claims?"

"No need. Our company's films have been selling very well one after another. Our performance is too strong. Even if we try to do something about it, it won't be very effective. So we don't need to worry about it. We just need to focus on promoting the films and getting more box office revenue. Let others talk about what they want."

"it is good!"

Lewinsky finished her report and prepared to leave.

Just then, her phone rang. She answered it, listened for a few minutes, and then hung up hesitantly. "Boss, Diana is here. She's asking when you're free. She wants to invite you for coffee."

"Diana? What's she doing here?"

Link was helpless.

The previous scandal has not completely subsided, and the media continues to speculate about the relationship between the two.

At this time, Diana came to visit the set again. Was she captivated by her own charm?

"Diana said she came alone, without anyone with her, and was not followed by paparazzi. She hopes to meet you and explain some things to you in person."

Lewinsky asked.

Link shook his head. He was too busy with work to deal with these things, but out of politeness, he asked Lewinsky to see Diana and persuade the woman to go back to London and stop causing trouble.

He doesn't want to be targeted by 007 or Mr. Bean.

(End of this chapter)