Chapter 1955 1957 [MGM]

   "Start?! What started?" the host asked a little puzzled.

  Xiang Nan didn't talk much, and brought Liv Tyler into the theater.

  The host became more and more confused when he saw this.

   But later, when "Titanic" made a box office of 1.8 billion US dollars, he knew what Xiang Nan meant by "beginning".

   But what he didn't understand was, Xiang Nan said that, did he have confidence in the movie, or did he know that "Titanic" would definitely create a box office miracle because he had the ability to predict? !

   It's really scary to think about.

  …

  The Oscars ceremony will be held immediately.

   This year's awards ceremony is mainly dominated by "Braveheart". This movie has both a magnificent epic, a lingering love, and a man's will not to fight, so it is very popular with the judges.

   Naturally, as expected, it has successively won several major awards such as best film, best director, best sound effect, and best photography.

   Mel Gibson directed a movie for the first time, and he has such achievements, which is really quite good. Comparable enough to Kevin Costner.

  Xiang Nan also expressed grand congratulations to him.

  …

   At the party after the awards ceremony, Xiang Nan finalized several projects.

  One is Steven Spielberg's "Saving Private Ryan"; the other is the cartoon "Prince of Egypt" also produced by Steven Spielberg.

  The reason why Spielberg is still looking for investment is mainly because after the establishment of DreamWorks, the financial situation is not as good as expected.

  Although the three giants of DreamWorks, Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg, and David Geffen, are all rich, Hollywood pays attention to making movies without using their own money.

   Either obtain financing from bank loans or raise funds from other investors, which can minimize risks and maximize the use of funds.

  For example, if the production company has 100 million US dollars in its hands, it could have made three medium-production films. But after financing, they can make six or even nine medium-production films. As the output goes up, the income also increases.

   And, in case any of them flopped at the box office. Because the money is used by others, the worst case is to bankrupt the company. In this way, you don’t have to pay back the money owed, so as not to lose your own money.

  That's why most Hollywood film companies do things like this.

  Of course, if the movie they make becomes popular, it is reasonable to say that a large part of the box office will be divided.

  However, Hollywood is not a philanthropy, and it will not be so easy for people to share the cake.

  First of all, they will not easily attract investment for popular movies and movies that tend to sell well; secondly, even if the box office is a big hit, they can also turn the originally big-selling movie into a loss through accounting.

  But this is also for whom.

   For Xiang Nan, who has great influence in Hollywood, and who stomps the entire entertainment circle, they dare not play so many tricks.

  Besides, the films that Xiang Nan invests in are all distributed by Xiang Nan, and the money is handed over to him first. So how to allocate, naturally he has the final say.

  So Xiang Nan dares to invest, but for others, it is not recommended to invest indiscriminately. Otherwise, there may be no hair left.

  …

   Just like the recent troubles of Crédit Lyonnais and MGM.

  In 1995, Credit Lyonnais believed in the evil of MGM boss Kirk Kerkorian, and spent a lot of money to buy MGM Pictures, saying that it wanted to diversify its operations.

   As a result, this group of laymen can't compete with these old foxes in Hollywood. After Lyon Credit Bank took over MGM Pictures, it suffered huge losses for two consecutive years. Not only did it not make a dime, but it also paid a billion dollars every year.

  Credit Lyonnais had a hunch that there was something wrong with it, but after a year of investigation by people, there was no result. In the end, they had to sell MGM Pictures to avoid being deceived again.

   But it is easy to buy, but difficult to sell. Because MGM Pictures has almost nothing valuable except 007 has some value.

   After all, Kirk Kerkorian sold MGM once in the 1980s. Its films before 1986, some films of United Artists, and films of RKO and Warner Pictures before 1950 were all sold.

  So now its movie library seems to be full, but in fact those movies are all produced by small factories, and the quality is not very high. Bad movies, there is not much value at all.

  Credit Lyonnais didn't want to suffer a loss, so it marked up MGM Pictures for a sky-high price of 1.3 billion U.S. dollars to sell.

  Besides fools, who else in Hollywood would take this job? !

  Xiang Nan is interested in 007, but 1.3 billion US dollars is really a bit expensive. After all, he doesn't like other IPs either. So he is sending someone to talk to Crédit Lyonnais, just want to take over the 007 series.

   However, the negotiations have not yet progressed. After all, Crédit Lyonnais is not all fools. They also know that MGM's most valuable is 007. If it is sold, the others will be even less valuable.

  So the negotiations are still at a stalemate, and it depends on who will make concessions first.

  …

  After the Oscars, Xiang Nan began to prepare for a new project.

   Luke Cage, Heroine, Rush Hour, 30 Mary Mad, American Beauty, The Truman Show, Enemy of the State, and Jumanji.

"Luke Cage" is the second movie in the universe of "The Defenders". It tells the story of the African-American male protagonist who participated in the super-soldier experimental transformation while serving his sentence in prison. Afterwards, he became a chivalrous hero.

  Xiang Nan is going to invite African-American movie star Jamie Foxx to play the role. His acting skills are very outstanding and he once won the Oscar for Best Actor. Moreover, he is also an R&B singer who has won Grammy awards many times, which can be said to be a rare talent.

   "Peerless Catastrophe" tells the story of a small comet rushing towards the earth at a rapid speed. In order to protect the safety of the earth, a group of oil drilling workers were ordered to board the comet, use drilling technology to send nuclear bombs into the comet, and blast them in advance...

  The original version starred Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, and Liv Tyler. Xiang Nan still continues the old lineup this time, and I believe it will create miracles at the box office.

   "Rush Hour" tells the story of Xiangjiang police officer Li and American police detective James Carter working together to solve the kidnapping case, not only rescue the hostages, but also bring the criminals to justice.

  The original version starred Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker, but Xiang Nan didn't like Chris Tucker.

   On the one hand, Chris Tucker's acting skills are not high, and he has no box office appeal. Except for the "Rush Hour" series, there are almost no works that can be presented. His cooperation with Jackie Chan did not help Jackie Chan, but was a hindrance.

   On the one hand, Chris Tucker is not an easy-going guy. He once owed more than 14 million U.S. dollars in taxes within seven years and faced bankruptcy at any time.

  In the United States, tax evasion is a very serious crime, and it proves that there is a problem with character. Xiang Nan doesn't want to get himself into trouble.

  (end of this chapter)