Chapter 505: Negotiation and what it brings

During the time when Ryan stayed in New York, the crew of The Lord of the Rings ended the North American publicity plan, and started overseas publicity in two ways.

A group headed by Peter Jackson, Naomi Watts, and Cate Blanchett rushed to the other side of the Pacific including New Zealand and Australia.

European actors such as Orlando Bloom, Elijah Wood and Ian McKellen returned across the Atlantic.

From the day Ryan was able to make a certain voice in Hollywood, he has been committed to the global simultaneous release plan of major commercial productions. Although it has not been realized until today, many years of hard work have brought a lot of results. Jenkins Films Big-selling commercial films produced by the industry, the release time in some overseas markets, and the time to land in North America are getting shorter and shorter.

This minimizes the impact of piracy on the film, which is also common in the West, if not as rampant as in some places.

After being popular for two consecutive weeks, The Lord of the Rings did not create the miracle of Titanic at the beginning, and the number of viewers dropped significantly from the third week. The film The Battle of the Planet of the Apes squeezed to the second place on the box office list.

However, with a score of over 200 million US dollars in three weeks, Lord of the Rings is already eye-catching enough.

In the following two weeks, The Lord of the Rings continued to hold the second place in the box office list, earning more than 28 million US dollars and more than 21 million US dollars respectively. The Matrix 3: Reloaded has temporarily become the highest-grossing movie in North America this year.

After entering August, as crews and movies landed in overseas markets one after another, there has been a wave of The Lord of the Rings craze around the world, although it is not as good as Titanic back then. However, wherever the film crew goes, it will become the focus of the media, and the film has received unanimous praise in the Western world, where the original work has great influence.

In countries such as Japan, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico and Australia, the first-week box office all exceeded $4 million. A veritable box office killer.

Especially in a tiny place like New Zealand. The premiere box office also exceeded one million US dollars, breaking a series of local records from audience to attendance to box office.

Actually. Since the release of The Lord of the Rings, New Zealand has been used as the location of the film, and its magnificent scenery has become the focus of another media report. Queenstown has appeared all over the world along with the film. The reputation gradually resounded all over the world.

The local government is also quite smart, and quickly reached a relevant licensing agreement with Ryan, and the Lord of the Rings parade has become an indispensable tourist item in Queenstown.

so,

Successful movies are not just movies.

Leaning on Natalie's smooth back, Ryan moved gently. Natalie turned her face, although her breath was a bit heavy. But I really enjoy this feeling of floating in the clouds while chatting with my lover, Ryan, don't stop. Continue.

After kissing the back of the girl's neck, Ryan naturally understood the pun, and continued, You know, Nat, Pixar's profit from A Bug's Life in 1998 to now is as high as 3.5 billion US dollars.

A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, and Monsters, Inc. don't even account for one-third of the box office profits. Ryan gradually used his strength, and Natalie bit slowly. He closed his lips, as if he didn't want to make any noise, Nate, if the film companies only rely on box office profits, all the film companies in Hollywood will go bankrupt.

In fact, among the four animated films produced from the birth of Pixar to the present, the box office revenue only accounts for 23.7% of the total revenue, which is less than a quarter. Subsequent home video and TV station copyrights and peripheral products are the most profitable. .

Probably because she was pressed for too long, Natalie felt a little uncomfortable, twisted her body a few times, got rid of the entanglement below, turned over and pressed Ryan below, and after finding a good place to sit down, The whole person curled up on his strong chest.

No wonder Disney wants to acquire Pixar. Natalie hesitated for a while with blurred eyes, but finally said nothing.

Although she didn't want to admit it, deep down in her heart, she still hoped that the two of them would have a complete falling out.

Disney is pressing on me every step of the way. Ryan suddenly held the girl's slender waist and helped her move, Well... how should I put it, I'm going to give up.

That...that's not your character, Natalie gasped.

Do you know how Michael Eisner threatened me? Ryan seemed to be talking about something totally irrelevant to him, He thought he had kidnapped the core of Pixar, and as long as a large number of key personnel were encouraged to leave, Pixar's stock price would plummet. , the shares in my hands have become waste paper...

Is there any more...

He used to expose me and Nicole...

As soon as the name was blurted out, Ryan's mouth was tightly blocked by Natalie, and then the two of them were completely immersed in madness.

The sound of rushing water in the bathroom stopped, and Ryan wrapped Natalie in an extra-large bath towel, and carried her out. Just as she was put on the fabric sofa, the mobile phone rang.

This is a call from George. After saying a few words, Ryan hung up, walked to Natalie, and gently kissed the girl's forehead.

It's time for me to go back to Los Angeles.

Disney? Natalie asked.

Well. Ryan pinched the girl's face, It's time to give in.

After packing his things, Ryan gently stroked his wet brown curly hair, Nate, don't forget, I will send someone to pick you up at Harvard next month.

Then I'll wait for you. Natalie nodded slightly.

After leaving the small villa, the car was already waiting outside. After Ryan got in, George drove directly to Kennedy Airport.

Ryan dragged Michael Eisner for two months, and the Disney tyrant's patience was about to wear off.

Through this period of contact, Ryan has fully shown resistance and an attitude of accepting reality for the sake of profit, and is ready to make compromises with Disney.

From 2000 to the present, Disney's stock price has been declining. Although Ryan and Michael Eisner are secretly increasing their holdings, the rate of decline in the stock price is much slower than in the previous life, but in less than two years Today, Walt Disney's overall market value still fell by nearly ten percent.

The decline in the stock price is nothing, as long as the performance is good enough, it will rise soon. The problem is that Disney’s revenue has not been good in the past two years. Whether it is animated movies or live-action movies, there is a lack of powerful works. The income from other aspects such as theme parks is almost on the same level as that of MGM and Sony Pictures.

In the previous life, the business income related to Pixar once accounted for more than 60% of Disney's income after 2000. This shows that a successful animation studio can stimulate companies like Disney.

After Ryan returned to Los Angeles, he had several more interviews with Michael Eisner. In front of the other party, he was neither a Hollywood superstar nor a brat, but an investor who puts interests first.

In Hollywood, as long as there are enough interests, everything can be discussed.

Just a few days after Ryan returned to Los Angeles, Disney officially announced that it had reached a preliminary agreement on equity issues with Pixar's largest shareholder.

So far, in the eyes of industry insiders, the annexation of Pixar Studio by Walt Disney is unavoidable, and the rest is nothing more than the issue of price.

On the day the news was announced, Disney's stock price rose in response, and rose by 4 percent at the close, while Pixar's stock price fell again, falling 2.9 percent, closing at $58.97 on the Nasdaq stock market.

Being able to get the most urgently needed animation studio is definitely good news for Disney.

But this acquisition was downplayed by many professionals, who believed that the transaction would end in the deep sea like most large-scale media mergers and acquisitions.

And their misgivings are double, either that Disney is ravaging Pixar's ingenuity, or that Pixar's animators are like spoiled brats constantly laughing at their new employer.

In fact, most corporate marriages in this industry can only create civil wars on a grand scale.

Even the well-known financial commentator David Price publicly wrote, The vast majority of mergers and acquisitions, especially those in the media and entertainment industry, will destroy value instead of creating value. Pixar lost what Ryan Jenkins gave After the greatest support—freedom—there is a real possibility that the way forward will be lost.”

The attitude of Wall Street seems to be a bit ambiguous, and then there is news that Disney’s loan plan to Wall Street has suffered setbacks, and the sources of funds raised are lower than expected figures, and Credit Suisse, known as one of the world’s most professional evaluation agencies According to observations, Disney can at most come up with $1.4 billion in liquidity in this M\u0026A case, otherwise the capital chain will face the danger of breaking.

The subsequent news was completely unfavorable to Disney. From the next day, Disney's stock price fell all the way. In just a few days, the overall market value shrank by 9%.

The pressure from the stock market is directly reflected in Disney's actions. In order to get rid of the unfavorable situation, they are bound to speed up the pace of annexing Pixar.

On the one hand, Disney continued to raise funds, and on the other hand, it accelerated negotiations with Ryan, hoping to complete the acquisition before September.

On Ryan's side, he insisted on the conditions and did not let go, fully displaying the image of a speculator who does not recognize his relatives for the benefit of his family, and even met with Michael Eisner twice in a row.

Just when the negotiations were at a stalemate, Viacom and News Corporation issued statements one after another, announcing their intention to negotiate with Ryan on the Pixar equity in their hands.

It is said that after the news came out, there was the sound of an ashtray falling to the ground in Michael Eisner's office. ()