American Fame and Fortune Chapter 903

Chapter 903 The era of Warner Tiantuan is over

At the Warner Building, the conference room was eerily quiet.

Not to mention that none of the executives attending the meeting spoke up, even Hamada, Jeff Jones and McDonald, who are members of the Warner Group, said nothing.

For no other reason, the response to "Justice League" was really bad.

The reputation collapsed and the box office was terrible.

Originally, they thought the expectation of US$100 million was low enough, but the figure of US$66.38 million proved that they were still too optimistic.

Joss Whedon killed "Justice League"!

No, Joss Whedon is just an enforcer.

The eyes of the executives fell on Hamada and Kevin Tsujihara one after another. These two island natives must be responsible for this!

Compared to his colleagues, Daniel seemed very calm and not too worried.

The promotion of "Justice League" is the work of Warner Pictures, and they have implemented everything as planned without any shirk or discount.

But these cannot guarantee their own safety. Once the internal struggle fails, it is not uncommon for Xuanfa to shoulder the blame.

"The failure of "Justice League" must have caused some problems at the company's decision-making level. I apologize to everyone for this." Kevin Tsujihara stood up and bowed at a 90-degree angle.

The senior executives are waiting for him to take responsibility and issue a resignation declaration.

But Kevin Tsujihara never mentioned taking responsibility or resigning, and only said a few words.

The executives remained silent.

The production cost is 350 million US dollars, and the publicity expenses are 250 million US dollars. How to recover the total cost of 600 million US dollars in the account? Who bears the responsibility for failure?

No one here wants to take the blame.

A meeting ended in a dull manner, and Hamada followed Kevin Tsujihara into the chairman's office.

On his desk, the newspaper Kevin Tsujihara read before going to the meeting was spread out flat. The number "66.38M" in the headline of the entertainment section looked heart-pounding.

Kevin Tsujihara is well aware of the seriousness of the consequences, but who is willing to just get out?

　　　You have to struggle a lot no matter what you say.

Hamada has been waiting for the boss to speak.

Kevin Tsujihara already had some ideas. He sat on the boss's chair and tapped the armrest gently, saying: "Contact the six leading actors of Justice League and the producer team on the production side to bring Joss Wei to the show." Release the news about Deng's bullying of actors.”

Hamada nodded, understanding that this was a deflection and putting the responsibility on Joss Whedon.

These were definitely not enough. He thought that it was Joss Whedon whom he recommended, and he quickly said: "Enable Joss Whedon..."

ˆKevin Tsujihara waved his hand: “Didn't Jeff Jones recommend him to you?”

Hamada reacted immediately: "Yes, Jeff Jones recommended it to me and pushed hard for him to replace Zack Snyder as the director."

Kevin Tsujihara nodded: “Let's make arrangements as soon as possible.”

Hamada left the office.

Kevin Tsujihara is still thinking that he can lose the following positions. As long as he keeps his position as CEO and chairman, everything else is easy.

If Jeff Jones can't carry it, Hamada can be pushed out to carry it.

Warner Pictures, back in the office, Daniel immediately made a phone call.

The person over there asked: "How was the meeting? What are they going to do?"

Thinking about what happened to him, Daniel said: "Kevin Tsujihara is of Japanese origin. He will definitely bow and apologize to the group. As for taking responsibility, there is no such thing."

He suddenly thought of what Martin had said and some of the things that had happened one after another on the island country.

In the past, islanders promoted their craftsmanship to the world, but developments in recent years have told the world that islanders really have a craftsmanship spirit.

The person over there asked: “Such serious business and decision-making problems have arisen. Isn't Kevin Tsujihara going to take the blame and resign?”

Daniel said with a smile: "Kevin Tsujihara bowed and apologized, how could he resign?"

He stopped laughing and said seriously: "If nothing else happens, he should want to push a few people with enough weight to take the blame."

“The whole Justice League project failed.” The person over there said: “Who can be responsible except Kevin Tsujihara?”

Daniel proposed: "I suggest holding the board of directors and shareholders' meeting as soon as possible. Such good opportunities are rare. If Kevin Tsujihara is allowed to get through this, we will be very uncomfortable in the future."

The other side said: "It takes time to follow the procedures. If I want to avoid this, I need a sharp knife."

Daniel promised: "It will happen."

The two quickly hung up the phone.

Daniel thought for a moment and dialed a number: "Is the knife we talked about a few days ago ready?"

Martin on the other side said: "The knife is sharpened and sharpened."

Daniel said, "Give it to me."

In the office of Davis Studio, Martin opened the filing cabinet at the back and took out a homemade saber.

He pulled it out, glanced at the blade, closed it and threw it to Bruce: "Find someone to send it to Daniel's office."

Bruce said: "You really gave him a knife."

Martin said: "Where's the other knife?"

"Ivan has sorted everything out and the video is very clear." Bruce said specifically: "Charlotte Kirk and Kevin Tsujihara are too entangled. Ivan is worried about alarming Kevin Tsujihara and dare not contact rashly. Find out And he bribed Charlotte's best friend Emma, and obtained many key videos and recordings through Emma's secret photos.”

Martin nodded and said, "Go and give it to Jody."

“I'm going to go there right now.” Bruce left the office.

Martin suddenly wanted to laugh at Lao Bu, a **** who always said no with his mouth, but his body was very honest. This kind of work could only be done by Ivan, but he had to do it himself.

why?

At noon, Bruce's car parked at the entrance of the TMZ office building.

Jody came out, opened the door and got into the passenger seat, and said, "Go to my house."

Bruce took out a USB flash drive and handed it to Jody: "I'm here to give this away, and I don't have time to mess around with you."

Jody took the USB flash drive and got down to business first: "About Kevin Tsujihara?"

“Kevin Tsujihara and British actor Charlotte Kirk.” Bruce prompted: “That's what I told you in detail before.”

"Justice League" failed miserably at the box office and in terms of word-of-mouth. Jodi knew that this was a hot news story that could shock the United States, so he immediately put away the USB flash drive.

But her mind was not on that for the time being. Instead, she stared at Bruce and said, "Old Boo, you don't want the news to be unable to be sent out, and the USB flash drive is broken again."

Bruce asked: "What do you want to do?"

Jodi said: "Drive, go to my house, right now!"

Bruce stared at Jody.

Jody directly pressed the electronic ignition button.

The car started and Bruce drove towards Jodi's house. On the way, he made a phone call to make an appointment with a masseur in New Chinatown to soothe his injured pelvis.

In the afternoon, Martin met with an interview team from Vanity Fair magazine and accepted an exclusive interview about the "Joker" movie.

The awards season has begun, and he is also fully launching publicity and public relations.

The crew did not apply for the best actor award for the film, and the main goal was the best director.

After the interview with "Vanity Fair" ended, Martin rushed to the next event. There was also a screening party for "Joker" in the evening.

Many directors, including Spielberg, David Fincher, Soderbergh, Ridley Scott, Villeneuve and Nolan, came to participate.

Like the Best Actor and other acting awards, all professional Oscar awards are voted on by members of professional branches.

As long as Martin can get the first-place vote of 300 votes, he will definitely win the award.

Hence, the main public relations target of the crew is the directors.

As for Best Picture, this is the only one among all official awards that is voted on by all Academy members. It doesn't matter to Martin if he can get the best. If he can't get it, it doesn't matter.

The commercial income of "Joker" is high enough, and almost all the market potential has been squeezed out. An Oscar for Best Picture statuette has almost no effect.

Leonardo and Nicholson also came to the scene.

Martin finished the social circle and came to the rest area to sit next to the two of them and take a breath.

Leonardo pointed to the distance: "You have a girlfriend who can really help you."

Martin glanced over there, where Elizabeth Olsen was engaging in lady diplomacy, mingling with the directors' female companions.

Nicholson looked at Leonardo: "Except for Gisele Bündchen, the other female companions are of no use at all."

Martin returned to the topic and asked: "Have you identified your competitors?"

Leonardo is full of self-confidence: "As long as you don't apply for the Best Actor award, nothing else is a threat."

He gave examples one by one: "As far as the current situation is concerned, Ryan Gosling in "Manchester by the Sea", Andrew Garfield in "Hacksaw Ridge", Viggo Mortensen in "Captain Fantastic" , it is more likely to be nominated for Best Actor.”

Martin remembers that the former leading actor in "Manchester by the Sea" was Casey Affleck, and he also won the Oscar for Best Actor for this film.

But now Cassie is picking up soap with Ben in the state prison, and her acting career has long been over.

Martin reminded: "Watch the film Manchester By the Sea."

Leonardo kept it in mind and said: "The director of this film, Kenneth Lonergan, wanted to compete for the best director. I worked with him before. He was the screenwriter and assistant of "Gangs of New York" at the time. The director himself has certain abilities.”

Martin nodded: "I've been paying attention to him."

Nicholson interjected at this time: "The Revenant does not apply for the Oscar for Best Director. Leo, how can you handle it?"

Leonardo nodded: "Alejandro Iñárritu has opinions, but it's not important. He won an Oscar for Best Director. I am the employer. As long as I disagree, he can only tolerate it."

The Mexican director won the best director for "Birdman" last time, but the best picture went to "Boyhood".

Martin said: “In this case, my main competitors are Kenneth Lonergan who directed 'Manchester by the Sea', David Mackenzie who directed 'Dead or Fire', Denzel Washington who directed 'Fences', And Mel Gibson in "Hacksaw Ridge"..."

After listening to Martin mention six or seven names, Leonardo interrupted him and said: "Except for Mel Gibson, the other directors are not even second-tier."

Martin reminded: “I am also a new director.”

“Are you considered a novice? Are you kidding me?” Leonardo said, “You are obviously well-prepared for choosing this year to compete for the prize.”

Nicholson knew more: "I remember Louise mentioned that Martin's studio has been collecting basic information on projects with investment of more than one million yuan in the industry in the past two years. The selection time for winning the prize must have been carefully studied. ”

Martin admitted: "Winning an Oscar depends not only on yourself, but also on your opponents. There are only two truly powerful films this year, not counting "Joker", "The Revenant" invested by Leo and "The Revenant" directed by Mel Gibson. "Hacksaw Ridge."

Nicholson continued: "Leo is a producer and investor and can control award submissions. Mel Gibson? You all know the matter. Although he publicly apologized and expressed his sincere regret, it would be good to get a nomination. Won an award? Daydream didn't do that. As for Denzel Washington, there was such a big disturbance in the last black film, and it was impossible for a black person to win the four major awards.”

He chuckled: "Unless each of the other directors spends tens of millions of dollars, how can they compete with this **** Martin? Not to mention whether they can afford it financially, the production company behind them is not willing to spend such a large amount of money. The price is a bonus and you can't even get your investment back.”

Leonardo looked at Martin: "No wonder you keep saying you won the award upright..."

Martin asked rhetorically: "Just tell me, is this an upright approach?"

Leonardo couldn't deny it, because in order to compete for the prize this time, he also learned Martin's method and eliminated his biggest competitor - Martin himself - in advance.

Sure enough, before I met Martin, I always failed when trying to win prizes. It was not because I had no public relations, but because I focused too much on myself and ignored my competitors.

As long as your competitors are not strong enough, you can easily win!

Similarly at night, several offices in the TMZ headquarters office building were brightly lit.

Two teams directly under Jodi are working overtime urgently.

An entertainment news that can shock the United States is about to land on the homepage of TMZ.

At 8:30 in the evening, Jodi opened the editor's backend, reviewed and approved the news that had just been edited, and mentioned the headline on the homepage of the website, which was made black and bold.

The news is several videos and recordings, all related to current Warner Bros. CEO Kevin Tsujihara.

Part of it is the video and recording of Kevin Tsujihara secretly getting along with actress Charlotte Kirk, and the other part is the appearance of the latter's best friend Emma.

The news text content is not much, but it is scary enough.

“Hollywood is reproducing the Harvey Weinstein-like incident. Warner CEO Kevin Tsujihara cheated on his wife during marriage and engaged in power and **** deals with British actress Charlotte Kirk and others, using sexual services to help him get roles!”

There are also some text message contents, which are also secretly collected by Charlotte's best friends.

This part of the content is carefully reserved by Charlotte. Before the first transaction between the two parties, Kevin Tsujihara promised Charlotte in the form of a text message that she could trade **** in exchange for performance opportunities.

That night, the news about Kevin Tsujihara hit the Internet.

This explosive news spread as quickly as possible.

Countless people inside and outside the circle are waiting to see the show.

In recent years, under the leadership of Kevin Tsujihara, Warner Bros. has fallen all the way from the top of Hollywood's performance list. All kinds of stupid tricks have emerged one after another, and they have been beaten to pieces by one-handed bombs.

At his mansion in Malibu, Kevin Tsujihara got the news immediately.

Both he and his wife were relatively calm.

The latter knew Hollywood quite well and expected this kind of thing. He was not surprised at all. He just said quietly: "Problems at work?"

Kevin Tsujihara said: “Yes, there was a problem at work.”

“Let's solve it as soon as possible.” The wife entered the bedroom alone.

Kevin Tsujihara picked up the phone and dialed Charlotte's number: "I want to see you, right away."

Half an hour later, the two met in a Burbank hotel room to discuss a unified statement.

But the next morning, before Kevin Tsujihara could clarify, he received a call from Time Warner.

"Kevin, the situation is very complicated now. You have an unshirkable responsibility for the recent events at Warner Bros." The person on the other side said directly: "Save some face for yourself and the group company, and handle the work at hand as soon as possible. Take the initiative to resign.”

Kevin Tsujihara was stunned for a moment and sighed secretly: "Is this the only way we can go?"

“The board of directors and shareholders' meeting will be held in advance next month, so don't make it impossible to end.”

"I see."

Kevin Tsujihara hung up the phone and took the newspaper aside.

His news is on the front page of almost every newspaper.

Media across the United States are frantically reprinting the relevant news, and this has become the hottest event in the United States.

TMZ also dubbed it the "cheating scandal."

　In the past, this kind of thing was nothing, but the Harvey-Weinstein incident has made this kind of thing quite sensitive.

The most critical thing is that both Time Warner and Warner Bros. have great opinions on Kevin Tsujihara and his management team.

The failure of the entire "Justice League" plan caused Warner to face huge losses.

The fight within the group has begun again. The person who supported Kevin Tsujihara last time chose to give up.

Shortly after December, Warner Bros. held a press conference. Kevin Tsujihara bowed and apologized again, announcing that he would voluntarily resign as CEO and chairman of Warner Bros.

Hands who resigned together with him include DC co-chairman Hamada and vice president Jeff Jones.

Warner Group basically bid farewell to Warner Bros., and their era is over.

Daniel Love, the president of Warner Pictures, became the winner of this internal fight and will officially take over the positions of CEO and chairman after Warner's shareholder meeting.

British actress Charlotte Kirk has been blacklisted by various Hollywood production companies, and her acting career is over.

After Daniel took over, he immediately approached Zack Snyder and invited him to produce the director's cut version of "Justice League."

The film's performance in theaters was disastrous. After Christmas, the theater's single-day revenue fell below one million U.S. dollars. The North American box office totaled 182 million U.S. dollars, with no hope of exceeding 200 million U.S. dollars.

(End of this chapter)

Chapter end

Report