Heads Up Hollywood
/ Heads Up Hollywood Chapter 598
Published at 24th of July 2023 08:24:32 AM
Steve Burke told Dunn a lot of nice things at the Vanity Fair party after the Oscars.
Even secretly said a lot of "secrets".
However, how could such an elite businessman be telling the truth?
In the last week of March 2003, a group quietly gathered for a meeting at the Marriott Hotel near Philadelphia Airport.
These include current Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts, president Steve Burke, and three other Comcast executives.
In order to prevent people from being noticed, the nominal purpose of this meeting is to discuss the telecom operation business that Comcast will focus on next.
But this is obviously not an ordinary meeting.
In addition to many Comcast executives, the meeting included two investment bankers and Steve Ratner, chairman of the Foursquare Group.
When Steve Burke left Disney and joined Comcast, the cable operator had only 4.5 million subscribers. After several years of unremitting efforts, Comcast's subscribers have approached 30 million, making it the largest cable TV operator in the United States!
More than 10 million users more than Time Warner, which ranked second.
Despite widespread skepticism on Wall Street, under the leadership of Steve Burke, Comcast has managed to integrate AT&T's widespread cable business, and its stock price has more than doubled since 2002.
Comcast is seen as a master of mergers, and after successfully integrating the at&t business, it can prepare for new operations.
Of the largest cable companies in the U.S., only Comcast is a pure "distribution channel" company, the kind that Michael Eisner derided as being from another planet compared to content companies like Disney. Weird company.
Regardless of what Steve Burke and Dunn said that day, they swore that Comcast would focus on developing telecommunications operations, but in fact, it was dark and dark.
The general perception in the TV industry is that as long as the number of users exceeds 20 million, a profitable cable TV channel can be established.
Comcast has nearly 30 million subscribers, which means that Comcast is fully qualified to launch its own content programming with its own cable system.
Channels are easy, what's missing is content!
When Brian Roberts poached him from Disney, he was not asked to run TV operations or telecom operations, but to help Comcast develop the coveted film and television entertainment industry!
Reach out to the content!
With the operation of Steve Burke, this is the party that it is today.
He is the chief planner and executor of this operation!
There are only a few entertainment content providers in the United States that deserve attention: Twentieth Century Fox, New Universal, Sony Entertainment, Disney, Viacom, and Time Warner.
These companies are "none for sale" and have insurmountable hurdles.
As for Lionsgate, DreamWorks, and MGM, it's not worth considering at all.
Last year, Disney was turbulent. Roy Disney and other veterans launched the "Save Disney" movement, intending to force Michael Eisner to step down. The whole Disney was in chaos.
That was the perfect time to start.
However, Michael Eisner survived with tenacious will, and with the help of Dunn Walker, Disney's stock price has continued to rise.
Buying Disney is no longer possible.
Comcast can only find new targets.
Coincidentally, in the blink of an eye, in 2003, the pattern of the film and television entertainment industry seems to have undergone new changes!
New Universal and Disney join forces to fight Viacom!
Seeing that Viacom's stock price continues to decline, Blockbuster's first-quarter performance this year has fallen by 30% year-on-year, which is disappointing.
Redstone has begun to go to the doctor in a panic, and the conflict between him and the president Kamasin has become more and more clear.
Inside Viacom, people are panicking.
This is just one of them.
And the other two!
New Universal has signed an agreement with Toshiba, and time Warner joined forces to join the ranks of the hd-dvd format, against Sony's hugely funded research and development of Blu-ray DVD.
Sony Entertainment wants to buy MGM, expand the movie library, increase the strength of Blu-ray DVD.
Dunn is eyeing MGM.
New Universal and Sony seem to have a lot of disputes.
New Universal is a vibrant new company, while Sony is an old company. What will be the result of the collision of these two companies?
If it is in the field of electronics, New Universal is by no means Sony's opponent.
But in Hollywood...the Japanese can play around?
So, the choice is simple.
Comcast refused Sony's alliance application without hesitation, and instead extended its cooperation hands to New Universal to help New Universal acquire MGM.
MGM is helpful to Comcast, but New Universal is even more helpful!
As long as New Universal beats either Viacom or Sony Entertainment, Comcast can make a timely move.
Either buy Viacom or buy Sony Entertainment.
Only with the help of Dunn can Comcast overcome the insurmountable difficulties and get involved in the film and television entertainment industry.
This is the focus of the discussion at this meeting.
Comcast's key target, is Viacom in the end? Or Sony Entertainment?
In the process of New Universal cracking down on Viacom and Sony Entertainment, in what form does Comcast secretly help?
Dunn is like a sharp knife in Hollywood.
Comcast wants to borrow a knife!
...
Dunn's economics book "The Theory of Exploding Money" has sold 380,000 copies in North America and 770,000 copies in overseas areas since its listing.
To be honest, sales were flat.
Compared with those top theoretical experts, there is a big gap.
But his other best-selling novel, The Gone Lover, is another story entirely.
Looking at the best-selling books in the world today, there is only the "Harry Potter" series of tens of millions of novels, but there are only two sets of 5 million novels - "The Lord of the Rings" series and "Gone Lover"!
Since the release of "Gone Lover", sales in North America have approached 2.3 million copies, and overseas sales have also sold 3 million copies.
Dunn's fame and appeal are vividly displayed through this novel.
Royalties, even if Dunn and Ella Fisher shared, he also received a full 22 million US dollars!
In the previous life, at the best-selling stage of the "Harry Potter" series of novels, there was only one book that could keep pace with "Harry Potter" - the masterpiece "The Da Vinci Code".
This book has sold 7.5 million copies in North America and 65 million copies worldwide, which is almost crazy!
The book went on sale in mid-March this year, and it hasn't caught on yet.
Dunn has notified the copyright department, requesting that the film copyright be included in the bag.
"Gone Girl" is an excellent novel, but compared to "The Da Vinci Code", it is still a little worse.
Even with the blessing of Dunn's halo, it is difficult to replicate such a magical skill.
However, with the release of the movie "Gone Lover", it can always drive a wave of novel sales!
Reaching the tens of millions level should not be a problem.
Take a look at the creative lineup of this film based on the novel "Gone Lover" -
Producers: Dunn Walker, Katherine Kennedy, Reese Witherspoon;
Director: David Fincher;
Actor: Mel Gibson;
Actress: Nicole Kidman.
With the halo of the new Oscar-winning actress alone, the film will surely attract countless fans to watch the movie.
Wednesday, April 2.
The film adaptation of the famous best-selling novel "Gone Lover" has finally met its fans.
The film opened in 2,865 theaters and landed in the North American market!
The awards season is over, and the two super blockbusters in the Christmas season have also begun to shrink the market.
"Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" grossed $310 million in North America, $640 million overseas, and $950 million worldwide;
"The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" earned $330 million in North America, $580 million overseas, and $910 million at the global box office.
There is a trend of approaching the $1 billion mark!
However, it is only a trend.
The two films have been released for almost half a year, and even if they continue to harvest part of the market, it will be difficult to break through the $1 billion mark.
Fans who "love the new and hate the old" have turned their attention to new movies - Rose Pictures' "Gone Girl", Fox Pictures' "Sniper Phone Booth", Sony Pictures' "Anger Management", Disney's "Somewhere in the World", etc. ~www.novelhall.com~ Do you really think that an R-rated film will surpass a comedy at the box office? "
Jack Nicholson was invited to Universal's in-house screening room by Down, along with Martin Scorsese, William Monaghan, Leonardo Ricaprio, Marco Wall Berg, Martin Sheen and other "Departed" crew members.
Martin Sr. intends to cast Jack Nicholson as the villain "Frank Castro" in The Departed. But the veteran actor has played too many villains and doesn't want to accept this role.
Only then did Tang En invite him over to use the opportunity of watching the movie to communicate his feelings.
"'Gone Girl' is an R-rated film, but it has an Oscar winner. And Mel Gibson is in charge. In the past ten years, he has made more than 20 films, and none of them have failed at the box office!"
Jack Nicholson looked displeased, "Dawn, are you comparing an action actor to me?"
Dunn smiled, "Mel is not a simple action movie star, his acting skills are not bad at all."
Jack Nicholson snorted coldly and said lightly, "Let's watch a movie!"
He starred in Sony Pictures' comedy "Anger Management", which happened to collide with Rose Pictures' "Gone Lover" on schedule.
The two films were of similar investment size, with the former costing $70 million and the latter a budget of $65 million.
The key point is that the former is an entertainment comedy, and the latter is an R-rated crime suspense.
Can "Gone Girl" really blow up "Anger Management" at the box office?
Jack Nicholson doesn't believe it.
What's more, Dunn also talked about his acting skills.
In terms of acting skills, he has not convinced anyone yet!
He is the most Oscar nominated actor ever in Hollywood!
(Sanqi Chinese)
Chapter end
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