Era: Starting from divorce from female college student

Chapter 294: arrived as expected, scaring many people to death

In the blink of an eye, it was already 1967.

Many major events happened in the past 1966, but these major events had little to do with Zhao Mancang.

In early January 1966-1967, Zhao Mancang came to Los Angeles. He was on a business trip and there were many companies he needed to understand and inspect, and the companies on Sam's side were the most likely to cause trouble.

Therefore, Zhao Mancang had to watch carefully.

As one of the three giants of the new era of Hollywood, Paramount has delivered very good results in the past sixty-six years.

"Boss, Paramount Pictures achieved an unprecedented $630 million in box office revenue last year, and $320 million in film merchandise sales."

The person in charge, Ferdinand Freud, looked at Zhao Mancang in front of him very respectfully and said.

"Our total profit reached 560 million US dollars"

This is a report on revenue and profit data, and Zhao Mancang was quite happy to hear it.

During the summer vacation in the middle of last year, Paramount released the movie "The Jackal", which kicked off the highly competitive summer season.

The final box office of "The Jackal" reached 169 million US dollars, which did not break 170 million US dollars, and was still more than 30 million short of 200 million US dollars.

Despite this, Paramount still released a movie called "Mission: Impossible" in early August.

This is a spy movie with a significantly different style from MGM's "Dr. No."

The movie "Mission: Impossible" is obviously far superior to "Dr. No" in terms of fighting style and destructive power. After all, the total production investment of the former exceeded 40 million US dollars.

Together with the $20 million in film promotion funds, the total cost exceeded $60 million.

It can be said to be an unprecedentedly high-investment movie in Hollywood history.

With such a high investment, expectations for the movie’s box office are of course even higher.

"Mission Impossible" was released on August 4th. On the first day of its release, the box office broke the record of 20 million, which completely set this summer on fire.

20th Century Fox's "Way of the Dragon" is indeed very powerful, and Universal Pictures' "Jaws" is even more ferocious.

But after Paramount released "Mission: Impossible", it was still beaten.

In just one day, Sam's single-day box office record reached 20.8 million US dollars.

This is an unprecedented height.

From late June to early August, no one expected that Paramount, 20th Century Fox and Universal Pictures would come up with four such awesome movies that would directly set off the entire summer season.

Almost everyone goes to the movies, it's like celebrating New Year and Christmas, it's a carnival for movie fans.

Because "Mission Impossible" has a huge investment, various high-investment shots, such as jumping on trains, traffic accidents with a large number of cars colliding, etc., these are extremely expensive shots.

And at this point in time in 1966, which film production company would dare to spend so much money?

"Cleopatra", which MGM invested more than 40 million to shoot, is indeed an epic movie, but it is too grand and not so popular with the audience.

On the contrary, "Mission Impossible" is very attractive just from the name of the movie, especially when the promotional trailer appeared on TV, many people were excited.

Nowadays, almost every household in North America has a TV, whether it is a black and white TV or a color TV, in short, there is a TV.

Having a television does not mean they can watch movies.

If you don't go to a movie during its release, you won't be able to watch it later.

It’s just because there are no CDs or VCRs now that allow people to watch at any time.

When your friends are all discussing "Mission: Impossible" and you know nothing about it, you definitely have to watch it.

This is one of the reasons why everyone goes to the movies.

During the four days of its release, from Thursday to Sunday, the box office revenue every day was no less than 20 million. After four days, the total box office revenue of the movie "Mission: Impossible" had reached 87.6 million US dollars.

On the morning of the sixth day of its release, the total box office exceeded 100 million yuan.

For a moment, the whole United States was even more shocked. Many people speculated that the total box office of the movie "Mission: Impossible" would definitely exceed 200 million US dollars, and even 250 million US dollars was not impossible.

After all, at this time, the box office of the movie "Enter the Dragon" has reached 195 billion US dollars, and it is certain to break 200 million US dollars.

"Mission: Impossible" finally completed its mission. Half a month after its release, the box office exceeded 170 to 180 million US dollars, exceeded 200 million US dollars on the 20th day of its release, and exceeded 250 million US dollars before it was released. The final box office result was 257 million US dollars.

This movie also became the box office champion of this year and the number one box office in film history.

Due to the perfect performance of "Mission: Impossible" in the summer season, a large number of agent-related movies were released during the following Christmas and New Year seasons.

However, Paramount, 20th Century Fox and Universal Pictures did not release any movies related to agents or killers. Instead, they all focused on the areas they were good at and released three movies, including "Gangsters", "Chen Zhen" and "Christmas".

The three new Hollywood giants are all very smart. They did not blindly follow market trends, but instead found new ways to make money at the box office.

So throughout 1966, the revenue and profits of Paramount's three film companies were very considerable.

After listening to Ferdinand Freud's work report, Zhao Mancang nodded and said:
"New Year, New Atmosphere. We at Paramount need to make some changes this year. Otherwise, we may not have an easy time this year."

"I currently have $900 million in my account. I'm going to spend it all. I'm going to buy a piece of land in the Strange Country and set up a branch there."

"We also need to set up a branch office in Hong Kong Island, Tokyo, and London. When Paramount needs to film in these cities in the future, we can ask these branches for help."

"Also, our Hollywood headquarters must establish an investment company specifically to acquire technology companies to serve our special effects technology company."

hiss!
When Zhao Mancang announced these major moves, Ferdinand Freud and others all took a breath of cold air, and their expressions became very interesting.

They were all very excited because the big boss's investment meant more opportunities for advancement.

Nine hundred million US dollars, the boss said to take it out and he took it out.

Is this really the beginning of a golden age for movies?
How could Zhao Mancang not know whether this is a golden age for movies?
In short, in short, Zhao Mancang is about to take big action.

Paramount has always focused on gangster movies, which is the foundation of the company, but it is impossible to survive by digging deep into this subject, right?

Therefore, it may take about one to five years before a gangster movie is released.

Therefore, since the appearance of "The Godfather", the market has been flooded with a large number of gangster movies, and Paramount Pictures alone has produced many of them.

For example, "The Emperor of Chicago", "Wushuang", "Money Laundering", "Gangster Thugs", etc.

Next, Zhao Mancang no longer plans to continue consuming the market potential of this theme. He must slow down and let the market calm down.

If Paramount doesn't make gangster movies, what style of movies will it make?
First, shoot a modern version of the treasure hunt film, such as a film about searching for Genghis Khan's tomb, or an adventure film.

This type of movie has fierce fighting scenes, thrilling treasure hunts, beautiful scenery, etc., and there will be no shortage of selling points and funny moments.

The second is epic blockbusters, such as The Lord of the Rings, which tells the story of the wars between countries in the Middle Ages.

Zhao Mancang will also come up with a few novels to cultivate the market in this area first, and then start filming when the time comes.

The third is a vampire-related blockbuster, which involves a lot of special effects technology, so the dependence on special effects will reach an unprecedented level.

Based on this, Zhao Mancang increased investment and developed special effects technology.

Now that vampires are out, there will definitely be no shortage of zombie movies.

There must be more horror novels with zombies as the theme on the market to cultivate the market first and then reap the box office revenue from the film market.

This is Paramount's film plan for the next five to ten years, and several blockbusters are already ready.

"Indiana Jones", "The Quest for the Lost Ark", "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring", "The Originals", "Zombies vs. Vampires", etc.

Ferdinand Freud and others only saw two movie scripts: Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Fellowship of the Ring!
The scripts for other movies haven’t been finalized yet, so we can only wait.

But even so, they were already excited after seeing "Indiana Jones" and "The Lord of the Rings and the Fellowship of the Ring".

The filming rights to the novel "The Lord of the Rings" had already been acquired by Zhao Mancang, who arranged for Ferdinand Freud to obtain them.

"These two films have an investment of over 200 million US dollars and are scheduled to be released next year or the year after, so our main task at Paramount will be to develop these two films."

Zhao Mancang raised a finger and said:
"Everyone, be prepared! If anyone leaks information about the movie, expect compensation. Remember what you signed in the confidentiality agreement."

To be honest, Zhao Mancang didn't really trust the moral integrity of this group of people, but he would scare as many as he could.

Ferdinand Freud immediately patted his chest and said:
"Boss, don't worry. I will keep this a secret. If they dare to leak it, I won't need you to ask me to do anything. I will kill them first."

If anyone dares to stop him from making money, he will of course be the first to kill that person.

Paramount made so much money in the past sixty-six years, with a total profit of $560 million, and Ferdinand Freud received a year-end bonus of $15 million.

Such a large amount of money is enough for him to live a happy and fulfilling life for the rest of his life. But human desires are insatiable.

Ferdinand Freud used to have very low requirements, as long as he could have an annual salary of $100,000.

But now?
After receiving a year-end bonus of 15 million US dollars, he wanted to continue to receive such rewards.

Therefore, he doesn't care what his subordinates think. He must ensure that he can get so much year-end bonus this year, next year, and even in the next few years.

On the contrary, he no longer cares about the annual salary of 800,000 yuan.

The eyes of the other managers in the meeting room were all shining, and none of them would be traitors.

Because they can still tell the difference between one meal being full and the next.

Staying at Paramount, they could ensure they had enough to eat, but if they became traitors, that was no guarantee.

why?
Clint Richard and Rolf Curry, who were previously fired by Zhao Mancang, went to work at Warner Bros. Pictures. However, in less than half a year, the box office performance of their new movies did not exceed 30 million.

Jack, the major shareholder of Warner Bros., was very angry and almost fired the two men on the spot.

Although Clint Richard and Rolf Curry did not lose their jobs, their salaries were greatly reduced.

If the two of them were still at Paramount, then given Zhao Mancang's generosity towards his subordinates, their bonuses would definitely be considerable.

Of course, life will be very comfortable.

Besides, working at Paramount, I can hold my head high even when I'm out there.

On the contrary, working at other Hollywood giants such as Warner Bros. has become an object of contempt.

Everyone can still tell which is better and which is worse.

After the meeting, Zhao Mancang immediately changed into his disguise and went to 20th Century Fox for another meeting.

Compared with Paramount, 20th Century Fox's revenue and profits in the past year were also not low, and its account funds have now exceeded one billion US dollars.

One billion US dollars is a huge amount of money.

At the meeting, Zhao Mancang pointed out that all of this money must be spent, and a large part of the expenditure will be used for the development and investment of new film technology.

We will cooperate with Robot Computer Company to order a large number of computers for the development of film technology.

What kind of movie is this investment? It would cost 500 million US dollars to start a movie special effects technology company?
Soon, the management knew what Zhao Mancang would do next, because the movie he was about to shoot was "Jurassic Park".

When the management saw the title of this movie, they were quite confused because they didn’t quite understand it.

When they learned that a dinosaur movie was going to be made, everyone opened their mouths wide. Can this movie be made?
However, Zhao Mancang said that since he invested so much, he must be sure that he could make such a movie.

Therefore, for a movie like this, special effects come first.

But the investment for a movie like this will be unprecedentedly terrifying. Can it be earned back?

Because the investment in "Jurassic Park" reached 120 million US dollars, there is a high probability that the investment will continue to increase in the future.

If calculated based on last year's box office-high-grossing film "Mission Impossible," it would only be possible to recover the cost.

But it is almost impossible to make a profit.

The era of Hollywood blockbusters is about to begin, and Zhao Mancang naturally cannot simply wait for the market to develop slowly. If he wants to promote Chinese culture, he cannot simply rely on shooting kung fu movies.

Take out these special effects technologies and train these teams.

Anyway, the US dollars earned by the three Hollywood giants are not even a fraction of what the Robot Computer Company earns, so money like US dollars is not that important to him.

On the contrary, if the film market is cultivated well, there will be more opportunities to make money in the future.

Would Hollywood giants like Warner Bros., Disney, MGM, Columbia, and United Artists dare to invest in such a blockbuster with special effects technology?
Even if they dare to invest, can they come up with so much money?
Once they invest, can they be 100% sure that they will get their money back?
Didn’t they notice that in the past few years, Zhao Mancang not only recovered his costs but also made a fortune in most of the big-investment movies produced by the three giants of Paramount?

Film giants like Columbia do not have the channels of Paramount and other film companies, such as movie peripherals.

Take the movie "Enter the Dragon" released last summer for example. It is a very pure Chinese martial arts movie, starring a Chinese like Bruce Lee, and the box office performance is very impressive.

But the peripherals of this movie are amazing.

With the popularity of the movie, celebrity posters, similar pillows, similar wooden stakes, etc. can all be sold for a lot of money.

In the future, when "Jurassic Park" is released, dinosaur peripherals will become the best-selling products, which is an imaginable profit point for peripherals.

And this kind of surrounding will continue for a long time.

So, rather than saying that "Jurassic Park" is a movie, it would be more like a promotional video for dinosaur products.

There is no other way. Zhao Mancang has already designed many products related to dinosaurs. He even plans to build a dinosaur theme park in big cities such as Los Angeles and New York, collect tickets, sell peripherals, and make a lot of money.

For Zhao Mancang, he only needs to come up with ideas, and his subordinates will naturally run the show, plan, and market.

Of course, making money is easy for him.

In addition to investing in "Jurassic Park", 20th Century Fox will continue to explore traditional musicals, kung fu films, road movies, etc.

And sports car movies like "The Fast and the Furious."

This is Zhao Mancang’s positioning and planning for 20th Century Fox.

Anyway, one "Jurassic Park" is enough for 20th Century Fox to sweep away all opponents.

In the conference room of Universal Pictures, Zhao Mancang also called a meeting of all management, including several producers.

The big boss Zhao Mancang is decisive and swift. He lays off employees without any mercy.

Therefore, the management team is very respectful and afraid of the big boss.

"We currently have $870 million on our books, which isn't a lot of money, so we can't take the same risks as Paramount and 20th Century Fox."

"We need to be more stable. This year we will continue to follow the path of making high-quality films with small investments but big returns."

Blood-soaked films have always been Universal Studios' signature product. Of course, they must continue to make such films and also serve these movie fans well.

Therefore, we can appropriately add some elements such as zombies and vampires. Movies such as Old Man of the Hill, A Quiet Place, and Sadako can all be used.

Especially in Sam's home country, where television has become an essential entertainment tool for every household, Zhao Mancang feels that it would be absolutely thrilling to bring out a movie like Sadako at this time.

Shooting a horror movie like "Sadako" is not only low-cost, but also very fast.

Maybe "Sadako" could have been released even if Zhao Mancang hadn't left Sam yet.

In the conference room, the meeting is still going on.

Universal Pictures doesn't have any big productions, which is definitely not good and is not conducive to long-term development.

So Zhao Mancang planned to have the company start shooting some hardcore science fiction films, focusing on cultivating the market first, such as "The Truman Show"

The current Hollywood special effects technology is still very good. As long as you are willing to invest money, the technology will not be bad.

After the relevant plans were arranged, Zhao Mancang went to inspect other companies, such as Robot Computer Company, Wall Street Wolf and other financial companies, Mayflower Media Group, Wanjia Supermarket, Mario Airlines, Stephen Farm Group, Fairchild Semiconductor Company, Computer Manufacturing Laboratory, etc.

All these companies are controlled by different aliases, which means that Zhao Mancang can have so many clones, but as the companies gradually expand, he must devote more time and energy to dealing with these matters.

This doesn't even include some of the companies he acquired or secretly merged, such as the three major grain giants Archer Daniels Midland, Bunge, and Cargill.

Of course, companies like Bunge are not his private companies yet. He has only acquired them through the black market and has not yet completely incorporated them into his business empire.

In addition to owning a large number of companies on Sam's side, he also has companies such as Rolls-Royce Group in Great Britain, and also has many companies in Southern Africa, Australia, Tokyo, etc.

While he was busy inspecting these companies, the horror movie "Sadako" was quietly released.

Universal Pictures doesn't take it very seriously because of the blood-thirsty films, and Universal Pictures releases many horror films every year.

But no one expected that after "Sadako" was released, two people were scared to death on the spot.

And on the second day after the movie was released, the news reported that residents in several cities suddenly smashed their televisions.

Many people were confused when they saw the news in the newspaper. What kind of movie is so scary?
After seeing this sudden situation, Universal Pictures immediately obtained relevant information from the cinema, and learned that the two fans who were frightened to death had a history of heart disease, which was why they were suddenly frightened to death.

The scene in the cinema was very terrifying. According to fans who watched the movie at that time, when the movie finished, the lights in the cinema came on and they turned around to see such a horrifying scene. The terrified and pale faces of the two corpses were very scary.

Taking advantage of the popularity of this news, Universal Pictures did not hesitate to push the news to a new level and increased the scale of its release in theaters.

At the same time, a huge slogan was posted in the most conspicuous place at the entrance of all cinemas: People with a history of heart disease are not allowed to buy tickets to watch movies, otherwise they will bear the consequences themselves.

But foreigners love to commit suicide!
(End of this chapter)