Chapter 904: Future Situation

Early Saturday morning, Michael Eisner drove to Universal Studios in Burbank.

After more than three months of preparation, the "Titanic" theme exhibition hall in Firefly Studios officially opened today.

Although in some interviews, the top management of Firefly Group has repeatedly stated lightly that this is just a test of the theme park project by Firefly Studios, and it is even more like an image project of the company. But Universal did not dare to take it lightly.

The Universal Studios Park operated by Universal Pictures Group originally did not have a strong competitive relationship with Disneyland, which now belongs to Firefly. One of the two parties is mainly for adult tourists, and the other is a dreamland for children.

But now, the opening of the "Titanic" theme exhibition hall indicates that the Firefly Group has officially started to develop a theme park project for adult tourists over the age of 18.

Although Universal Studios has more than 30 years of profound heritage, but in terms of theme park operations, the Firefly Group, which owns Disney, obviously does not lose to Universal. What's more, the large number of popular movies developed by Firefly in recent years will also provide rich themes for the development of its studio park project. In this regard, Universal Pictures is completely incomparable with the other party.

According to the information obtained in advance, as early as a week ago, the 20,000 tickets limited to the opening day of the "Titanic" theme exhibition hall were sold out, and the tickets for the following week were basically sold out.

Obviously, before the opening, this project has already shown signs of being popular.

Although with the gradual release of "Titanic" on a global scale, the popularity of this film will gradually cool down. A few months later, if only relying on the "Titanic" theme exhibition hall, it would be considered good if the number of visitors to Firefly Studios could be two to three thousand per day. However, as long as the executives of the Firefly Group are not stupid, they will definitely take advantage of the success of the "Titanic" theme exhibition to expand other movie-themed projects, so as to maintain the popularity of Firefly Studios. By then, Firefly Studios will also gradually Developed into a competitor that directly captures customers from Universal Studios.

Michael Eisner walked around the park with the group vice president in charge of theme park operations, and inquired about the booking situation for the next few days. When the park officially opened at 8:30, he watched the crowds pouring into the movie theater. He just relaxed a little bit. But then the management of the theme park convened and held an impromptu meeting on developing new projects in the studio to compete with Firefly Studios.

This continued until noon, when Edgar Bronfman, the CEO of the parent company Seagram, called, and the two made an appointment to have lunch together at the restaurant in the studio.

Edgar Bronfman rushed over half an hour later, warmly hugged Michael Eisner who came out, and the two walked into a restaurant in the studio together.

Also chatting a few words about the opening of the "Titanic" exhibition hall, Edgar Bronfman turned the topic to the movie: "So, how is the box office on the first day of "Air Force One", I will Been busy with other things and haven't seen the data report?"

"Air Force One" is the flagship film of Universal Pictures this summer, starring Harrison Ford. This project originally belonged to Sony Pictures, but Sony put all its resources on "Godzilla", and Universal took the opportunity to grab it.

For this film, Michael Eisner is both excited and a little terrified, because he almost released the film on Independence Day together with "Jedi Men 2" and "Ice Age". "Casino Royale", "Air Force One" is likely to be crushed by "Casino Royale" like "Bad Boys 2".

"The first day was close to 12 million, and it should be able to reach more than 55 million US dollars in the first week," Michael Eisner said, and added with a smile: "There will be no more popular movies in the next few weeks. According to "Air Force No. 1" word-of-mouth, this movie should go out a long line,

North America should be able to get at least 150 million US dollars at the box office. "

Edgar Bronfman also nodded with satisfaction. The production cost of "Air Force One" is 85 million US dollars. If North America can get 150 million, the production cost has almost been recovered, and the film will be enough to make a profit at the box office. .

However, thinking about what I read in the newspaper yesterday, the box office of "Casino Royale" is still as high as 52 million US dollars in the third week of its release, and Edgar Bronfman's just-rising satisfaction suddenly disappeared. Although he just came to Los Angeles from Canada yesterday, Edgar Bronfman is very clear about what happened in MGM Pictures in the past week.

Thinking of the powerful influence that Eric Williams had shown in the whole incident without actually going to the stage, Edgar Bronfman was filled with envy. In fact, it was also the reason why he finally made up his mind to come to Los Angeles.

Noticing the change in Edgar Bronfman's expression, Michael Eisner immediately realized what was in his mind, and his original good mood suddenly sank a lot.

It's really nothing to be proud of.

Perhaps, compared to Sony and Warner's situation this year, Universal's situation is definitely much better, but Michael Eisner has never been the kind of person who likes to compare himself with guys who are not as good as himself.

As a very orthodox American-themed film, even if "Air Force One" can succeed in North America, the overseas box office will not be very good. Even if it can get 300 million in the world, it is not even as good as the North American box office of "Casino Royale", let alone compared with the global box office of "Casino Royale".

Think about "Casino Royale" again. In just three weeks of release, the North American box office of this film has reached 247 million US dollars.

At the same time, the film's overseas box office performance was stronger. In the first week, 36 countries opened simultaneously, and "Casino Royale" won an overseas box office of 136 million US dollars in one fell swoop. With the gradual increase of the box office of the release, the overseas box office fell by only 27% in the next week, and it received another 99.28 million US dollars. The overseas box office also reached 68.5 million US dollars in the most recent week.

In three weeks, "Casino Royale" raked in US$303 million in overseas markets. It is expected that the overseas box office of "Casino Royale" will reach more than US$450 million with ease.

Although roughly synchronized in many ticket warehouses, overseas, there are also many countries, out of various considerations such as protecting their own film markets, deliberately ranked "Casino Royale" behind the summer schedule.

In other words, "Casino Royale" will start its second stage of larger-scale release after September. By then, "Casino Royale" will continue to earn another 200 to 300 million US dollars in overseas box office. This means that before the end of the year, "Casino Royale" is destined to break through the $1 billion global box office mark, becoming the second consecutive film in Eric Williams' directing career to break through the $1 billion global box office.

$1 billion.

In comparison, "Air Force One" is completely worthless.

Taking a sip of the soda water brought by the waiter, Michael Eisner put aside these depressing thoughts, and said to Edgar Bronfman: "Ed, do you still remember the "We are making" The Scorpion King, right? That special effects movie derived from the "Mummy" series?"

"Of course," Edgar Bronfman nodded and said, "Why, is there something wrong?"

"No," Michael Eisner shook his head, and said, "I've been thinking about this issue for the past few weeks. Since MGM can make an agent movie universe, maybe we can also make a mummy universe around Egyptian mythology. ?”

Edgar Bronfman paused, nodded immediately, and said, "This is a good idea, why not. By the way, do you have a detailed plan now?"

"I haven't figured it out yet, but, well, it's almost the same."

Speaking of this, Michael Eisner responded somewhat vaguely.

In fact, the plan in his heart is relatively mature, but it is not that simple to implement it.

The main problem is the leading actors.

Two consecutive "Mummy" series have been successful, and all the leading actors in the film demanded a substantial increase in their pay. The two most important male and female protagonists were completely negotiated. At the same time, they reported a high price of 20 million U.S. dollars plus profit sharing. It must be difficult for Universal. Therefore, the salary negotiations for the third part have been at a stalemate.

The "Mummy" series is considered to be the only project that can bring stable and huge profits to Universal in recent years. Michael Eisner thinks that he absolutely does not have Eric's confidence to break up with Pierce Brosnan. Therefore, This matter has not been resolved until now. If the leading actors cannot handle it, the so-called mummy universe will definitely not be implemented smoothly.

Edgar Bronfman was unaware of the difficulties Michael Eisner encountered, the more he seemed to think his plan was feasible, so he said: "In this way, I will also stay in Los Angeles for a while, everyone Let’s take some time to discuss it together.”

Michael Eisner nodded, and asked curiously, "Is there anything important about your stay in Los Angeles recently?

"Yeah, I just met with Doug Morris this morning. Speaking of which, maybe you can give me some advice on this matter."

Doug Morris is the CEO of Universal Music, and Michael Eisner usually dealt with him no less than he asked, "About the record company?"

"That's it..."

Just as Edgar Bronfman was about to speak, the waiter brought up the lunch for the two of them. He paused for a while, and continued after the waiter left: "I plan to continue to increase the number of media under Seagram. The proportion of the business is just right, recently news came from Europe that Philips intends to sell Polygram Records, I think this may be a good opportunity to further expand the business of Seagram Records.”

Michael Eisner, who had already picked up the cutlery to eat, frowned slightly when he heard Edgar Bronfman say this, put down the cutlery again, and said seriously: "Ed, I don't think this is a good idea. You must Do you know the firelyer player from Firefly Electronics? Now everyone is discussing the topic that online digital music may seriously impact physical records. If this trend comes true, buying Polygram now is equivalent to taking over a big burden."

"I don't think so," Edgar Bronfman shook his head and said with a smile, "Michael, I should know more about this than you. Over the past few decades, from vinyl records to cassettes, Players, and CD records that appeared in the past few years, although every time someone said that the new playback carrier might affect the sales of records, in fact, this situation has never happened, and the record industry as a whole is still thriving Yes. The reason why there are so many rumors this time is actually very simple. It is just that Japanese electronics manufacturers are worried that firelyer players will affect their market position in the field of traditional portable players, so they make so many alarmist remarks. "

Michael Eisner didn't know much about the record industry. Hearing Edgar Bronfman speak clearly, he realized that he had actually made up his mind. He didn't intend to persuade him anymore. After thinking about it, he said: "I think if Polygram wants to find a buyer, Firefly Group should be more suitable. They want to promote firelyer players. They must not have enough music copyrights. So, Ed, maybe you can wait a little longer, If the Firefly Group is completely unenthusiastic about this matter, Seagram had better be more cautious."

"Speaking of this," Edgar Bronfman looked around deliberately, and lowered his voice seriously, and said, "I just heard some news. The last time Williams went to England, he had a relationship with Polaroid. Jin has contacted him. Although there is no news about it yet, you should also know that if there is any news in the media, then Firefly must have already talked about it with Philips, and there will be no chance for us to make a move. "

Michael Eisner was stunned for a moment, and asked in a cautious tone: "Ed, where did you get the news from? Aren't you afraid that it was specifically revealed to you by Polygram?"

"Haha, don't worry, I found this out with great difficulty. The source of the news must have nothing to do with Polygram. What I have to do now is to reach an agreement with Philips in advance before Firefly officially makes a move." Edgar Bronff After Man finished speaking, he smiled triumphantly.

Michael Eisner smiled approvingly, and asked again: "Then, how much will it cost to buy Polygram?"

"About 10 billion U.S. dollars," Edgar Bronfman said, "I plan to sell the rest of the company's beverage business. By the way, you must also cooperate, and then Seagram will issue another 5 billion U.S. dollars. Bonds around the dollar, roughly enough."

The total size of Seagram Group is about 30 billion US dollars. Due to the continuous expansion in recent years, the media industry including Universal Pictures and Universal Music has accounted for more than 70% of Seagram's total market value. Buying PolyGram would presumably transform Seagram into a media conglomerate.

However, Michael Eisner suddenly realized that after buying PolyGram, half of the entire Seagram Group’s business would be the record business, and now it was going to issue another 5 billion dollars in bonds to further increase the Seagram Group’s assets. Debt ratio, once the recording industry really declines with the rise of digital music as analyzed by the media, the situation that Seagram Group will face in the future will be very bad. (To be continued.)