American fame and fortune

"Hi, Steven."

After getting off the Escalade, Martin saw Spielberg at a glance. He went over to shake hands with the old man and said, "It seems like this is my first time coming to DreamWorks."

Spielberg said: "Shall I show you around?"

It was still early, so Martin asked the host as he pleased: "It's not what I asked for."

The two went directly to the DreamWorks exhibition hall.

The entire DreamWorks campus is very large. When it was first established, it involved all aspects of film, television, music and media, and was known as the seventh largest giant in Hollywood.

Like many conglomerates, the partners can work together when things go well, but fall apart when times get tough.

As the Big Three of DreamWorks turned against each other, DreamWorks fell apart. David Geffen took the lead in leaving with the music and media businesses. Then DreamWorks Animation Studio was separated by Jerry Ford-Katzenberg, and Spielberg controlled it. DreamWorks' film and television production arm was struggling, even abandoning independent distribution in order to survive.

Of course, these losses are all the company's money.

Spielberg remains the second-richest person in Hollywood, behind George Lucas.

Walt Disney has offered a high price of $4 billion to acquire Lucasfilm.

This does not include Industrial Light \u0026 Magic.

Martin simply took a look in the exhibition hall. Spielberg was busy with the post-production of "Lincoln" and he was embarrassed to waste the old man's time too much.

Coming out of the exhibition hall, led by Spielberg's assistant, Martin came to the DreamWorks Theater where the preview of "Seventh Son" was held.

Along the way, Martin met Erickson from Disney Pictures and Claude from 20th Century Fox, and they went along for the ride.

With Spielberg's assistant around, Martin and Bruce entered the theater very smoothly.

Perhaps due to the negative impact of the box-office failure of "Transcendence" and "The Lone Ranger", not many people came to attend the preview of "The Seventh Son" today.

Martin and Eriksson were familiar with each other and sat in the middle together.

Erikson knew that Martin and Megan Ellison had many conflicts, and asked curiously: "Why are you here?"

Martin said with a smile: "Everyone in the industry knows that I was originally optimistic about the project "The Seventh Son". Later, the safe in my office was stolen, and then someone suddenly jumped out to steal the project from me. I didn't have anyone with strong funds, and the project copyright It fell into someone else’s hands.”

This incident has already spread throughout Hollywood, and many people looked here after hearing about it.

Martin added: "Now that the project has been filmed and produced, let's see how I can give up. After all, this is a movie that just passed me by."

"Did the movie still fail?" Claude laughed and said, "The other two movies that Annapurna Pictures snatched failed."

Another person chimed in: "It still failed miserably. Can you get back 20% of the money you invested?"

Erikson said seriously: "Maybe after ten years of offline operations, it can be done."

The big productions produced by other companies failed miserably. In addition to enjoying the melon, everyone here felt an inexplicable sense of joy in their hearts.

Claude asked: "Martin, you have always had a good vision, and the projects you selected yourself are basically a great success. These projects are not intentional, right?"

"Are you kidding? Before a movie is released, who can guarantee its success?" Martin shrugged: "A good script is only the foundation of a good movie. Are there too few good scripts that turn into bad movies? My studio shoots and produces, with It’s not a concept when other people shoot and produce it.”

Next to Claude, someone suddenly whispered: "Pay attention to Martin for a moment. He knows this project very well. If he pays a high price, we will consider following up."

These words touched Claude's heart. Apart from the producer Annapurna Pictures, the person present who knew the "Seventh Son" project best was definitely Martin Davis.

Not just them, many people were secretly observing Martin.

In the box on the second floor of the theater, Megan Ellison saw Martin and asked, "Who invited him here?"

Derrett said next to him: "I looked at the invitation list, and there is absolutely no Martin Davis on it."

He took out his cell phone and made a call, then said, "The people from DreamWorks brought him here."

Megan Ellison looked ugly, but said nothing.

This is the territory of DreamWorks, and since people are already here, it is impossible to go down and drive people away in public.

Drette asked: "Boss?"

Megan Ellison believes that she is not afraid of Martin and does not intend to change her plans for a certain person. She said: "The pre-production meeting and subsequent expressions of interest will proceed as normal to allow Wilson to prepare."

Derrett went to the screening room next door.

Megan Ellison sat at the front of the box, staring blankly at Martin below, and suddenly remembered something.

When she first entered Hollywood, her plan was to take the artistic route to win awards, and the first film she participated in investment in, "The Hurt Locker," was also of this type.

But with the scripts of "Seventh Son" and "Transcendence" in front of her, and the reputation of Martin Davis, she changed her strategy without hesitation and chose a more profitable commercial production.

result? The result is today's dilemma.

Megan Ellison is wondering if Annapurna Pictures would have dominated the awards season if it had insisted on pursuing the artistic award-winning route of "The Hurt Locker"?

On the first floor, Bruce reminded Martin: "Megan Ellison is watching us on the second floor."

Martin said: "It's okay. Come here this time, I prepared a gift for her."

He will never allow Annapurna Pictures to use inferior products like "Seventh Son" to harm their Hollywood colleagues.

At this moment, Martin decided to protect the entire Hollywood film industry.

Boycott "Seventh Son"!

The big screen lit up and the preview began.

The film was different from the script Martin had seen.

In addition to fantasy, witchcraft, adventure, and monster fighting, it also adds elements of love, and strives to make the movie look darker and crueler.

The effect is like superfluous.

This is a typical magical epic film produced by the Hollywood assembly line. The special effects scenes are very gorgeous, and most of the investment is spent on special effects.

Ten years ago, if it had such a level of special effects, this film might have attracted attention.

But over the years, audiences have been dazzled by the fancy computer special effects. Especially the emergence of "Avatar" has brought CG special effects to a peak and raised the audience's threshold for special effects films.

Including Martin, none of the film viewing experts and senior buyers present were moved by the special effects.

When the credits ended and the theater suddenly fell silent, Ericson suddenly asked Martin: "What do you think of this film?"

"It's not as good as "The Lone Ranger."" Martin said his true opinion: "Except for the "Lord of the Rings" series, it seems that there has been no successful magical epic film in the industry for a long time, right?"

The people attending the preview were all concentrated in the middle area. The theater was quiet now, and most people heard these words.

Wilson came from the backstage at this time, stood on the small stage, waved to everyone, and said: "Guys, it's been a long time no see. This movie is doing well."

Claude responded: "No wonder I haven't seen you for a long time. You went to Annapurna Films to be a producer."

Wilson waved his hand at him and said in response: "This film is well-made and has strong commercial elements. Annapurna is ready to transfer the copyright. If you are interested, please contact me."

Martin gave Bruce a look.

Bruce suddenly raised his hand and said: "Davis Studio is willing to purchase all the rights to this film for US$30 million."

The eyes of everyone present fell on Bruce, and then turned to Martin.

Martin smiled and nodded.

If Annapurna Pictures is really willing to sell it to him for $30 million, he can make a fortune by selling it to Netflix.

Crowder from Twentieth Century Fox reacted very quickly and immediately followed up: "$35 million."

Others did not actively participate. Instead, they frequently looked towards Martin, waiting for him to bid again.

This film cost 30 to 40 million U.S. dollars, and if they released it on the market, it would be possible to make a profit.

Martin shook his head and said to Bruce: "Old Boo, let's go."

The two got up and entered the passage, heading outside the theater.

Eriksson followed without any hesitation.

Claude came with them, and regardless of the previous quotation, he got up and left.

As soon as the people from these three families left, the others couldn't sit still and followed them one after another.

Soon, there were only two or three kittens left in the theater where nearly twenty people were originally seated.

The buyer from Lionsgate Pictures said at this time: "Wilson, $40 million, if you sell it, we will sign the contract today."

Wilson looked towards the lights on the second floor. Megan Ellison in the box didn't say anything. He said bravely: "$40 million is a joke, it definitely won't work."

The buyer from Lionsgate Pictures turned around and looked around. No one from the six major companies was left.

Thinking that Martin Davis, who knew more about the project, was only willing to pay $30 million, he sighed, picked up his bag and walked out.

Wilson looked at the two families that hadn't left yet.

One of them waved his hand, indicating that he was just enjoying the fun.

The representative of another company quoted a price: "30 million US dollars. If you agree, we will sign the contract and pay immediately."

Wilson thought, are you crazy? He held back his anger and said, "Your offer is too low. Someone just quoted $40 million."

"But the person who quoted 40 million US dollars left." The representative of this company pointed to the direction of the theater door: "If you go to him now, he won't even offer 30 million US dollars."

Although the other party was right, Wilson couldn't help but said: "You don't have to speak if you can't speak."

The man stretched out five fingers: "30 million US dollars! 5! 4! 3..."

When it came to 1, he turned around and left.

Judging from the market conditions of "Transcendental Hacker" and "The Lone Ranger", US$30 million also carries certain risks. After all, buying the copyright is only a basic investment, and then publicity and distribution are required to achieve sufficient output.

These all require money.

The theater was empty, and Wilson looked around and could only see Megan Ellison on the second floor.

The preview and prospective trade fair failed.