Time flies.
In an instant, it was May 3, 1998.
Golden Dawn Entertainment Group.
As the chief assistant to the group chairman Kyle, Alexander is currently fulfilling his duties and reporting to Kyle in detail about the situation of each subsidiary in the last quarter.
"Boss, first of all, Page Pictures."
"From January to the end of April, Page Films released a total of three films."
"One of them is Wrong Turn 2, which was released on April 10 and has already grossed $61 million in North America and $49 million overseas in just one week."
"The other two films were purchased by the company's copyright department from the Berlin Film Festival. The total cost of copyright fees, publicity, and printing costs was $3.5 million. Since their release, they have grossed $2 million and $4.1 million respectively, resulting in an overall loss of $970,000."
Alexander reported the revenue situation seriously.
A loss of $970,000?
Kyle frowned and said, "I remember that last year, we bought as many as nine movies from overseas and distributed works by small Hollywood film companies. The first half of this year is almost over, and besides our own films, how come we have only released two movies?"
Alexander hesitated to speak.
"Snort!"
Kyle snorted coldly, "I see. They're afraid of serious losses, which will lower their performance scores and affect their option rewards next year, right?"
Alexander nodded helplessly.
In the Hollywood field, those who work purely in film production will never be as good as those who work in distribution!
Because after investing money to complete the film production, the film production company cannot guarantee that it will win market recognition. In Hollywood, many companies go bankrupt every year due to the failure of the film. Even if you have a successful film, you cannot guarantee that every film in the future will be successful.
However, the situation is different for companies that distribute movies.
Basically, it can be described as "guaranteed income regardless of drought or flood", it's just a matter of how much you earn.
But....
The distribution industry that is guaranteed to make a profit regardless of market conditions refers to the Big Six in Hollywood!
Hollywood's medium and small film distribution companies still have to tread carefully, fearing that the costs they invested in publicity and promotion will not be recovered due to the failure of the film at the box office.
Those that do well are, for example, Yijiang Entertainment Company!
It spent only a few hundred thousand dollars to acquire the "Blair Witch Project" movie with a production cost of only $60,000, but it was bold enough to invest tens of millions of dollars in "deceptive" and "viral" marketing and promotion.
Huge profit in one fell swoop!
It achieved an impressive box office record of $140 million in North America and $248 million worldwide.
I have to say that Yijiang Entertainment Company made a lot of money!
However...
In fact, most medium and small film companies don't dare to do such a big thing!
Because they invested tens of millions of dollars, and basically, unsurprisingly, suffered...huge losses!
It is true that Page Pictures' distribution network has completed its North American layout and is expanding overseas. However, this does not mean that Page Pictures can be compared with the Big Six Hollywood studios and DreamWorks in the North American distribution market.
The reality is that the gap is still large.
Therefore, when considering choosing a film distribution company, the vast majority of medium and small film production companies, as well as independent film producers, will still tend to choose the Big Six in Hollywood. Even if they ask for a higher share of the profits, the publicity and promotion effects are indeed very impressive.
Since the establishment of the Page Pictures distribution network, it has released fewer than three films produced by other Hollywood producers.
There are very few!
Moreover, the distribution of these films often fails to generate profits, and may even result in losses.
"Alexander, in my name, call Kevin Feige, vice president of Page Pictures, and call the copyright purchasing department of Page Pictures and tell them that if they continue to act in this hesitant way, then forget about option bonuses and dividends, and get the hell out of here!" Kyle cursed angrily.
"Yes, boss!" Alexander responded quickly.
"I hate those cowardly mediocre people more than those arrogant people!"
Kyle criticised without hesitation.
In the following time, Alexander reported on the problems of UPN TV Network.
"You mean, Ms. Donna proposed to acquire Warner's WB Television Network?" Kyle asked in surprise.
"That's right."
Alexander responded: "In the work report submitted by Ms. Donna, it is clearly stated that the scale of the UPN television network should be further expanded."
Kyle nodded: "You can find the specific documents for me later."
"Yes, boss."
....
That night.
After finishing his meal, Kyle picked up the work report submitted by Donna and started to read it.
In this work report, Donna Langley made extremely surprising judgments about the future of American limited television and public television.
She said in the copy: "With the further improvement of the Internet, satellite and electronic communication technology, the field of cable television is bound to achieve remarkable development in the future."
"Just like HBO!"
"With its wealth of talent and ample funding, HBO is bound to become a leader in the cable television industry, even able to compete with giants like ABC, NBC, and CBS in terms of TV series and movies."
"However!"
"In areas like variety shows and news programs, public television stations have advantages that cable television cannot match. They will continue to dominate the entire television landscape, and their profits will definitely increase gradually."
A long time.
Kyle sighed, "I have to say, Donna Langley's vision is indeed impressive. No wonder she was able to become the president of Universal Pictures, one of the six major Hollywood companies, as a woman in the original time and space."
HBO, a limited television channel under Time Warner Group, is also known as the "pornographic and violent" TV station because of the extensive scale of the films and TV series it produces and broadcasts.
After entering the 21st century, it has participated in the production and broadcast of high-quality TV series such as "Band of Brothers", "The Sopranos", "Sex and the City", "Six Feet Under", "Westworld", and "Game of Thrones", and has a large audience in the United States and around the world.
Its annual profit is extremely astonishing!
Well, even the six major Hollywood film studios can't compare to it in terms of profits from film production and distribution alone.
Let's look at public television.
As of 2020, there are only five major public television networks left in the United States.
They are ABC (Disney's), NBC (Universal), CBS (Columbia's), FOX (Fox), and CW (jointly owned by Warner and Columbia).
These five major public television networks occupy an absolutely dominant position in the production and broadcasting of variety shows, news, finance and other programs. Even HBO cannot compare with them. After all, their main business directions are different.
Of course, the profits it generates are much higher than HBO.
"Donna proposed acquiring the WB Public Television Network to make UPN stronger and make up for its shortcomings in the public television field outside of the cable television field."
"In fact, variety shows like 'Got Talent' and 'WWE', once on public television, would generate far more revenue than UPN currently generates on cable television."
It is worth mentioning that the WB Television Network, which Donna proposed to acquire, was merged with the UPN Television Network in the original time and space in the future to form the CW, one of the five major public television stations.
Do you support the acquisition?
"If it can make more money and further expand the group's territory, why should I object?" Kyle couldn't help but smile.
A few days later.
That is, on May 11, two days before the official opening of the 51st Cannes Film Festival, Kyle, Nolan and his party set off for Cannes.
"Get out of the way, I'm here to show off!" Kyle narrowed his eyes.