Chapter 421 Warner Compromises

"What's up?"

"Anna called, Bob Weinstein wants to talk to me."

Link put down his phone and smiled.

"What does he want to talk to you about?"

Ivaka said, forking a piece of strawberry with a fork.

"That's what I'm curious about, so I agreed to it. I prefer dealing with a profit-seeking businessman like Bob to an arrogant and irritable guy like Harvey."

"I heard from Catherine that after "The Scandal Project", "Bridesmaids" is a big hit again. Now many production companies want to cooperate with Palm Beach Pictures. Maybe Weinstein also has this intention."

Ivaka guessed.

"Will it happen?"

Link thought about it, not sure, so he simply put down his work and accompanied Ivaka to dinner. He just looked at her cold and dignified face and rosy and sexy lips, and couldn't help but hold her face and kiss her.

"Don't make trouble, we're eating."

Ivaka rolled her eyes at him coldly.

Link smiled gently, took out a box and placed it on the dining table, pushing it in front of her. It was a relatively large box, and it was obviously not a diamond ring, but a watch.

"Why buy such a boring thing."

Evaka took a look and asked lightly.

"I also thought about giving you a diamond ring, but it seems not solemn and romantic enough to give it on this occasion, so I will give you a watch first. Don't be cold-faced. Anyway, I have been wandering around Zurich for a long time before I decided to buy it for you. Take a look."

Link said.

Evaka opened it and took a look. It was a gold watch with an elegant and simple shape that looked very expensive.

She picked it up and put it on her white jade wrist, which made her arm look even whiter and more delicate. It matched her beautiful hand shape, which was a perfect match, like a work of art from the Palace of Versailles.

"Your taste in buying gifts is a little better than last year."

Evaka curled the corners of her lips and showed a faint smile on her face.

"Learn from you!"

Link raised the juice glass and clinked it with her.

Ivaka smiled gently, blinked her eyelashes and looked into his eyes and asked, "Will you be angry when you see in the newspaper that you relied on me to make a fortune?"

"Of course not, you are a princess-like woman, beautiful, intelligent, noble and generous, unique in the world. It is my honor that you can tolerate my shortcomings and accept me as your boyfriend. From the comments of the media and netizens, I can feel their strong envy and jealousy. Not only will I not be angry, but I will also think it is very cool."

Link shrugged and smiled.

Ivaka smiled at him and took the initiative to lean over and kiss him.

Link felt that it was not enough, so he put his arm around her waist and kissed her lips passionately, with a sweet and moist strawberry flavor, which was more mellow and wonderful than tasting the classic Lafite red wine.

But every time she asks me do I look okay

I say

When I see your face

There's not a thing that I would change

Cause you're amazing

Just the way you are

When the two were kissing passionately, a pleasant music came from the living room. It was Link's version of "Just the way you are", which was also Evaka's cell phone ringtone.

"Let me go, someone is calling."

Evaka pushed him away with a rosy face, and raised her soft jade hand to cover his lips to prevent him from continuing to kiss her neck.

Link reluctantly took his hand away from her waist and said, "Why don't you just ignore it, it must be nothing serious."

"You can't do this. We are the person in charge of the company and are in charge of the overall situation. Generally, small things won't come to us."

Evaka kissed him, straightened her messed up skirt, and got up to answer the phone outside.

Seeing her graceful back, Link felt a little helpless. After having been with more than ten excellent women, he believed that he understood women more deeply than ordinary people, and his attraction to women had reached an extremely high level.

Generally, as long as he showed a little pheromone for courtship, women would eagerly rush over, offer everything, and let him do whatever he wanted.

Few women could remain calm and rational when being intimate with him, including strong women Marion Goliath and Beyonce.

Even if they look strong and mature.

But in this kind of thing, they will eventually become a puddle of water, obey him in everything, and even agree to break the bottom line for him that they were unwilling to try before.

The only opponent before was Taylor. Even if Taylor's body turned into a puddle of water during his attack, he could still remain rational and calm, and would not completely follow his wishes.

Sometimes, even if the body cannot move, it is necessary to firmly grasp the initiative, like a woman whose body and soul are separated.

And now he has met another one. Evaka will be very devoted when making love, and her whole body will become soft and boneless, but once she encounters external interference or touches her bottom line, she will immediately wake up and deal with everything rationally.

Link thought that if he married her, his married life would probably be a protracted war.

"It's a call from Catherine. Guess what it is?"

Evaka walked into the restaurant with a swaying figure, and the corners of her beautiful lips slightly curled up.

"Is it good news?"

"Yes!"

"I think about it, Catherine should be preparing to hold a press conference at the company at this time to see if other victims have contacted her and are ready to support us."

Link asked.

"It has something to do with Warner Pictures, but it's not other studios that support us, but Warner Pictures president Toby Emmerich just called Catherine to agree to the conditions we proposed before and re-arrange people to discuss compensation. , I hope we can cancel this reception.”

Ivaca chuckled.

"That's good news indeed."

If we go to court with Warner Pictures, the final result may be that both sides lose.

To be precise, Palm Beach Pictures' losses will be greater.

Warner Pictures is large and can withstand hardships. After this incident is over, Warner's board of directors only needs to fire a few executives involved and use its media to do some positive publicity to calm the dispute and restore its reputation.

Palm Beach Pictures will not only lose tens of millions, but will also have a strong enemy, which is not a good thing for a new company.

Now Warner Pictures has proactively proposed a settlement and promised to compensate for the losses.

Palm Beach Pictures can not only recover its losses, but also establish an image in the industry as not to be messed with.

If other cooperative companies want to take advantage of Palm Beach, they will probably think twice about whether it is worth it.

The ones who played the biggest role in this matter were undoubtedly Ivaca and Catherine.

In an era when large studios and independent studios coexist, many independent production companies and independent producers have suffered losses at the hands of several major film companies, and have had their box office stolen by the big six or seven. Movies that were originally profitable , but when settling the accounts, a large amount of six large sums of money had to be paid.

To go to court to sue, you first need to have enough evidence.

The major theater chains are closely linked to the six major movie studios and will not hand over real evidence easily to avoid offending the six major movie studios. If the theaters do not have movies to show, their profits will drop significantly.

Even if there is evidence, the process of litigating a lawsuit is very expensive. The money is even more than what was swallowed up by the Big Six.

After Ivaca and Catherine heard about this incident, they decisively arranged for an investigation. They were not afraid of wasting money and only demanded fairness and justice. Their attitude was very tough.

This attitude is probably one of the reasons why Warner Pictures took the initiative to seek peace.

Link thought for a moment and suddenly discovered something strange.

"Catherine and I analyzed before that a lot of scandals about you suddenly broke out in the media today. It was probably the work of Warner Pictures. They wanted to use this method to disrupt our layout. But as soon as the matter started, Warner Pictures proposed reconciliation. Their attitude seems to have changed a little too quickly.”

Iwaka nodded and said: "When I saw the news in the morning, I thought it was the handiwork of Warner Pictures, but after thinking about it, I felt it was wrong. Stealing box office is negative news, and Warner should find a way to cover it up, not Take the initiative to expose the news that the two parties are negotiating, let alone use this kind of thing to hype up the scandal and aggravate the situation.

Thinking about it now, there should be other forces involved behind this incident, perhaps Warner's competitors, who want to detonate this incident to damage Warner's reputation. "

After hearing her analysis, Link felt that there was another possibility. The main focus of this scandal was his relationship with Ivaca. The person who caused the trouble seemed to want to see him and Ivaca break up, and at the same time, he would be hurt. reputation.

From this point of view, love rival Kunas is the most suspect, because he and Ivaca broke up, and the other party benefited the most.

——

As for the speculation about Ivaca and Link, Pam Abdi, who was attending the aftermath in the conference room of Palm Beach Studios, had different ideas.

He looked across the conference table with a sullen expression.

There, Kathryn Baker, president of Palm Beach Pictures, was reading carefully a contract that Warner's legal department had rushed out more than two hours ago.

The contract fully complies with the requirements put forward by Palm Beach Pictures, filling the box office shortfall of more than 56 million, and paying 2 million in investigation fees.

This is the first time Warner Pictures has issued such a contract, and it will be an indelible black spot in his career.

Originally, they had no intention of compromising with Palm Beach Pictures. Even if it went to court and the case lasted for three, five, or ten years, they would not admit it.

But Palm Beach Pictures was too cunning. During their negotiations, they actually arranged for people to secretly take photos, and then used the scandal to hype it up, turning a small matter into a major event that attracted national attention.

When all the media were paying attention to the scandal, Ivaka used the "Hollywood Reporter" reporter to expose the "box office stealing incident", attracting more people's attention and putting pressure on Warner.

Although Time Warner is a media giant that owns dozens of TV stations, newspapers, and magazines, it is unable to influence current public opinion when it comes to hot social events. To eliminate the negative impact of these public opinions, the cost will be even greater.

Warner Pictures executives felt the pressure and did not want to be blamed by the board of directors, so they sent him over for peace talks.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but lament that Palm Beach Pictures handled this matter very cleverly. They were keenly aware of Warner's mentality of not wanting to make a big deal out of it, and went in the opposite direction to make the matter bigger, leaving no room for error.

This desperate style of doing things also makes Warner jealous.

only

Pam Abdi touched her chin and looked at Catherine opposite, as well as "Bridesmaids" producer Kristen Wiig, and three lawyers, secretly guessing whose idea it was?

Katherine is an agent. She has been in the industry for a long time and is well-informed. She knows the influence of Warner Pictures in the industry.

If she confronts Warner, she should adopt a more tactful way to deal with this matter.

As for Kristen Wiig, she is only a second-tier actor in the industry and will not have this courage.

Other executives of Palm Beach Pictures should not have this either.

Then the remaining answer is Link or Evaka. Considering that Link attended the Cannes Film Festival some time ago and was not deeply involved in the company's affairs.

This matter can only be the handiwork of Evaka.

Thinking of Evaka, Pam Abdi narrowed his eyes. Even though he was married and had experienced many beautiful women, he couldn't help but secretly admire Evaka when he saw her.

Evaka not only has top looks and a superb figure, but also her elegant conversation, shrewd and capable style of doing things, and her cold, dignified and inviolable aura.

These are like drugs to men and have a fatal attraction.

In the previous negotiations with her, he had to concentrate and not stare at her, so that he could behave normally in the conversation with her.

Once he focused on her appearance and conversation, he would be deeply attracted to her and fall into her trap without knowing it.

That is really a dangerous and beautiful woman.

Fortunately, she is not here today.

Pam Abdi thought secretly.

"President Abdi, I suggest adding a time limit to this compensation agreement. After signing the contract, Warner Pictures needs to pay the first batch of box office shares within 15 days after the end of the screening period of "Bridesmaids", and the other shares need to be settled within six months. In addition, the 2 million investigation fee needs to be settled immediately when the contract is signed. Do you agree?"

Catherine put down the contract and said.

Pam Abdi sighed and responded with a gloomy face.

He did not feel ashamed of this "box office theft incident", but felt helpless.

It is common for large film companies to secretly divert part of the box office when releasing movies from independent production companies. This is a routine operation, but this time there were many problems.

The first is that the box office of "Bridesmaids" exceeded expectations.

At the preview, the distributor's assessment of the box office potential of this film was A-, and the North American box office is expected to exceed 100 million.

When telling Palm Beach Pictures, only 70 to 80 million were said, and the rest was the room for maneuver.

Because the North American box office of "Bridesmaids" far exceeded expectations, the theater chain took a bigger action.

In the first three weeks, it almost swallowed up half of the box office. The action was too big and the traces were too heavy, which was easy to be found out.

The second is that there was a problem with the cooperation between Warner Pictures' distribution department and the marketing department.

When "Bridesmaids" was first released, Warner Pictures got all the distribution rights in North America. Later, the distribution department did not notify the marketing department and arbitrarily transferred the distribution rights of more than 20 states to Lionsgate.

At the time of release, the box office in the areas where Lionsgate released was high, and the box office in the areas where Warner Pictures released was generally low, and the problem appeared all of a sudden.

If the distribution department and the marketing department had acted in unison, they would not have been easily caught.

Third, Warner Pictures encountered a very tough opponent this time.

Link is not short of money, and Evaka is not short of connections. The two of them are not afraid of not winning the lawsuit together. In addition, the two are very well-known in the United States. Even if the matter involving them is small, it will become a big deal after being reported by the media.

After comprehensive consideration, the senior management of Warner Pictures decided to compromise and make a big deal out of a small matter.

Pam Abdi recalled the whole thing and felt that she was too unlucky. If she had been more careful and changed a film company, everything would have been different.

"President Abdi, do you have any questions?"

Catherine signed the contract and looked at Pam Abdi with a complicated expression and asked.

"President Baker, after the contract is signed, we hope that Palm Beach Pictures will destroy all the information to avoid information leakage."

Pam Abdi said seriously.

"No problem, our Palm Beach Pictures is an honest company, and all the terms printed in the contract will be strictly enforced."

Catherine said calmly.

Pam Abdi's mouth twitched, and she understood what Catherine meant. This was a satire on Warner Pictures' failure to comply with the contract agreement.

If Warner kept its word, it would have strictly followed the contract when signing the film distribution agreement, and all film revenues would have been distributed according to the prescribed ratio, and there would have been no box office theft.

He didn't want to refute this matter, and quickly signed the contract and took his people away from Lionsgate.

Catherine also issued a notice to all media through the public relations department, postponing the press conference originally scheduled for 3 pm, and the specific time will be announced next time.

After receiving the news, the reporters also left the Palm Beach Pictures office building disappointedly.

Originally, the "box office theft incident" had the opportunity to become a hot topic for some time in the future.

Now that there has been a sudden change, the media have speculated that Warner Pictures should have reached some kind of compensation agreement with Palm Beach Pictures, so Palm Beach Pictures did not continue to expose this matter.

From this perspective, Warner Pictures did steal box office revenue when distributing "Bridesmaids", and was caught by Palm Beach.

Many reporters saw that this news had the potential to be a big hit and were ready to continue digging, but under the interference of Warner Media Group, it ended up in vain.

Only those in the film industry are still paying attention to this matter. Their focus is not on Warner Bros. stealing box office, but on "Bridesmaids" and the production company Palm Beach Pictures.

One month after the release of "Bridesmaids", the global box office has accumulated to 228 million US dollars.

This is the data after part of the box office was stolen.

It is rumored that the real box office is more than 300 million US dollars.

The production cost of this film was only 32.5 million. After one month of release, it has earned 200 to 300 million US dollars in box office worldwide, and entered the top 15 in the annual box office rankings.

There is no doubt that this is another box office dark horse movie, and it is also the second best-selling movie invested and produced by Palm Beach Pictures.

At this time, not only Weinstein Pictures thought of cooperating with Palm Beach Pictures, but other film companies were also jealous of the film projects that Palm Beach was preparing, hoping to make a fortune together.

For a time, Palm Beach Pictures became a hot commodity in Hollywood.