If DreamWorks wants to develop, it naturally cannot do without various projects, not only projects that it invests in and produces, but also cooperates with other companies to invest.

Projects labeled by Wayne Greenberg have been regarded as a guarantee of success by people in the circle. From "The Walker of the Insular" to this year's "Charlie's Angels" and "The Matrix", so far, the success rate of projects invested and produced by Greenberg Studio has remained 100%.

"A friend inside Warner Bros. told me that Zach Schneider had the chance to get the Superman's guide and finally gave up for some reason."

Speaking of Warner Bros., Jeffrey Carsonberg shook his head gently and said casually with a wine glass. As we all know, there is no secret in Hollywood. Just after Wayne submitted the project plans for "Superman" and "Wonder Woman", similar rumors began to spread in the circle.

As the former head of Disney animation department, Jeffrey Carsonberg has been in the circle for decades and has no shortage of channels to learn about related news.

The DC superhero project has always been the focus of all companies. Basically, every little move of Warner Brothers will be placed under a microscope for observation and analysis by film companies in the circle.

"Everyone says Zach Schneider is a genius, especially with the success of the "Matrix" trilogy, the media and insiders almost praised him." George Lucas was not surprised when he heard this news, but instead curled his lips and said without hesitation:

"What a good opportunity to take charge of a top project like Superman? But he chose to focus on stability and gradually improve his position."

There is no way, this is how human nature is. When you have nothing, you are never afraid of betting on everything you have and seeking a chance to succeed. But once you achieve a little success, most people will lose the courage to bet on everything and try their best to fight.

"Do you know what the gap between Zach Schneider and Wayne?" George Lucas shrugged and continued to say unceremoniously: "He is not as crazy as Wayne is! A person should never be too self-reflective, rational, and thoughtful, and only works when making small decisions.

As for things that change your life, you must take the risk to fight. Significant success will always be accompanied by various coincidences. Only things that are not important and will not change your life will use a comprehensive plan."

There is no doubt that George Lucas admired Wayne entirely because he saw some temperament in him. But similar temperaments also exist in the Father of Star Wars.

The filming of "Star Wars" was performed when North America was not optimistic. George Lucas bets on everything, which led to the emergence of the world's largest IP.

"George, you can't expect everyone to be geniuses like you and Wayne." Smiling and touched the wine glass with his old friend, Steven Spielberg raised his head and drank a sip of wine.

But before a sip of wine was swallowed, the old Jewish man seemed to have thought of something, immediately turned his head, looked at his old friend seriously, and asked: "No, George, why do you care about DC movies? In this..."

"Damn it, Wayne's crazy film has become a regular program that starts in the summer season every May!" Without any embarrassment, George Lucas tilted his head to the two and said in anger:

"The Nova War is about to complete all the work. The initial release plan given by 20th Century Fox proposes to arrange "Star Wars" until mid-May!"

As soon as the father of Star Wars finished speaking, Jeffrey Carsonberg instantly reacted and widened his eyes in disbelief. "Shit, 20th Century Fox's idea is to use Star Wars to get the Warner Brothers, right?"

"I don't think so." Steven Spielberg was calm, and he thought for a moment, saying: "The relationship between Twentieth Century Fox and Warner Bros. is pretty good, and the cooperation between them and Wayne is also very pleasant."

Jeffrey Carsonberg had no affection for the Six Majors and immediately blurted out. "Don't be stupid, Steven. As long as the Six Majors of Hollywood involves interests, they all want other companies to die together!"

"It's not that easy to use Star Wars as a knife."

George Lucas savored the wine and said, "I will communicate with Twenty Century Fox, and then bring in the executives of Twenty Century Fox to communicate with Warner Bros. DC superheroes collided with Star Wars. As long as they were normal people, they knew that this was a war without a winner, and there was no need to compete with each other."

"I'll go back and ask you for Bruce Rosenblum." Steven Spielberg nodded. "You're right, this is a meaningless collision."

When it comes to this, the old Jewish man feels uncomfortable. At the beginning of the summer season in 1997, he encountered a similar situation.

Universal Pictures was ambitious at that time. Even when facing the opposition of Steven Spielberg and other main creators, they would insist on sniping Warner Bros. But what was the final result? They encountered the more perverted competitor "Batman: The Dark Knight".

To be honest, if Universal Pictures had not been the one who insisted on playing a sneak attack, if it was not for Universal Pictures to act like a sneak attack, if the schedule of "Batman: The Dark Knight" was staggered, the box office of "Jurassic Park 2" would definitely be at least 100 million US dollars more than it is now!

Even this unexpected collision was exaggerated by the media as a battle of the transfer of new and old scepters by the Hollywood Jewish director.

"George, if I were you, I'm looking forward to Twentieth Century Fox now, and don't be burned by the success of "X-Men"." Jeffrey Carsonberg looked at the father of Star Wars and joked with a smile.

"If they are not awake, then I will help them wake up!"

George Lucas waved his hand and muttered with a pointing voice.

That's right, the long-term publisher of the project Lucas Pictures invested in and produced is Twentieth Century Fox. There are special historical reasons for this. In the early years, George Lucas held the film of "Star Wars" and when major Hollywood film companies hit a wall, it was Twentieth Century Fox, which gave Star Wars the opportunity to debut in North America.

There are also some copyright issues involved, such as the first part of "Star Wars", which is part of the copyright in the hands of Twentieth Century Fox.

But today, George Lucas is no longer the little person who was ignored in the 1970s. He is the richest man in Hollywood. Even if he cannot breach the contract to change the publisher of "Star Wars", he still has a significant say in the release time of the new "Star Wars".

In fact, in the heart of the father of Star Wars, he also agreed with the initial release plan given by 20th Century Fox. "Star Wars Prequel: The Ghost Threat" was released in mid-May, which is the beginning of the summer season, and there is no problem.

But in recent years, Wayne has directly occupied this period. Nowadays, major Hollywood film companies have gradually become accustomed to it. They try to stay away from this golden period as much as possible even if they are released in July and August, even if they are released in the more crowded July and August, they instinctively want to stay away from that dark madman.

The reason why he was upset was not that George Lucas was also afraid of competing with Wayne, who had never missed the game.

The Father of Star Wars can be said without hesitation that he is not afraid of anyone in the North American theater market, and Star Wars is not afraid of any opponent's challenges.

But as he said himself, there is no need to do this when two ips of huge size collided together. No one is a child anymore, and there is no competition for a long and short period. Such meaningless collisions will only lead to a loss-win situation.

You should know that "Star Wars" is completely different from Steven Spielberg's "Jurassic Park 2". This film naturally has common attributes with the DC series superhero movies, which means that there will be a large number of cross-border groups for fans. Once they collide, there will be no hope for fans to be diverted by the film type.

George Lucas sighed. "At least in "Save Private Ryan", Warner Brothers did a great job. If it weren't for being tied up by the damn copyright, I would have......"

"George!" Steven Spielberg shook his head and signaled that he would better not think too much.

Speaking of "Saving Private Ryan", the old Hollywood man not only did not smile, but also frowned deeply.

Of course, he is not dissatisfied with Warner Bros. On the contrary, at least in the project "Save Private Ryan", Warner Bros. did a great job. Since the release of the film, the box office in North America has reached 207 million US dollars, and the global box office has reached 469 million US dollars!

To put it another way, if the film is handed over to other film companies for distribution, the achievements will definitely not be as good as it is now. This is related to Warner Bros.'s increasingly perfect distribution channels in the past two years, and also to the booming promotion and promotion scale. Objectively speaking, Warner Bros.'s distribution department may be second only to Walt Disney in today's Hollywood.

The reason why he frowned was DreamWorks.

"Dreamworks needs to build its own distribution system as soon as possible, otherwise, if it continues for a long time, DreamWorks will definitely become a content producer of Warner Bros., and will even be regarded as Warner Bros.'s second film and television production department!" Jeffrey Carsonberg shrugged and explained to George Lucas.

"That's right." Steven Spielberg nodded. "At least we must improve the distribution channels in North America first."

For next year, DreamWorks will invest and produce about four to five projects. Now the three giants have already started an internal meeting, hoping to leave one or two films and hand them over to DreamWorks' own distribution department to operate.

It will be about to get on this day sooner or later, and this is also the reason why the three giants choose to rely on Warner Bros. At least Warner Bros. agreed happily that after DreamWorks has its own issuance channel, it can terminate its long-term issuance contract at any time.

Speaking of the issue of distribution, George Lucas didn't bother to put down the wine glass, and slapped the bar in front with one hand, turned his head and looked at his old friend seriously and said, "Listen, I'll give you a suggestion, which should be of great use to DreamWorks."

"suggestion?"

“What?”

Facing the puzzled eyes of the two giants, the father of Star Wars said directly: "If I were you, I would definitely set up an Internet marketing department, just like the Internet department under the Warner Bros. Distribution Department."

Although Lucas Pictures did not do that, George Lucas had a very keen sense of business. If Lucas Pictures had not involved in distribution, he would have established his own Internet marketing department long ago.

"The global box office of X-Men is about to reach the threshold of 400 million US dollars. The media is singing hymns wildly. Twentieth Century Fox is playing hard to increase publicity and marketing. But everyone has ignored it. The reason why DC superheroes have achieved so well every time is that behind it is a group of surprise soldiers who control the thoughts and public opinion of young people in North America!"

Speaking of this, George Lucas had no laughter on his face and looked at his two old friends seriously. "If Twentieth Century Fox had the same voice as Warner Brothers, the box office results of "X-Men" would not be the same as that!"

Recalling every movie released by Wayne in recent years, Steven Spielberg stared at the wine glass in his hand, and various online marketing methods kept popping up in his mind, and sighed involuntarily. "Yes, the "water army" department under the distribution department of Warner Bros. has indeed played a huge role."

Jeffrey Carsonberg also nodded. "The Internet represents the future..."

The Internet represents the future. This sentence was already clamored in North America a few years ago. However, only Warner Bros. has been the only company that really uses the Internet to promote and market movies on a large scale.

The reason why such a scene occurs is related to the traditional conservatism of large Hollywood film companies and is also related to the fact that everyone is still in the exploration stage.

"Almost every new Wayne film will have a large-scale discussion on the Internet." Steven Spielberg raised his head and took a sip of red wine, agreeing with his old friend's point of view.

"It's just like his first time, and he posted a trailer for a new film on the Super Bowl midfield commercial show. Wayne has never been a director who only knows how to shoot. In fact, his marketing methods are more diverse than everyone else!"

"Steven, we must also have our own network department." Jeffrey Carsonberg breathed a sigh of relief and said seriously: "Wayne's kid not only changed the black films to the mainstream, but also continued to promote the Hollywood movie marketing model..."

Compared to George Lucas and others who are quite leisurely, Wayne is so busy that he wants to fly up during this period.

After the project plan for "Superman" and "Wonder Woman" was submitted to Warner Bros., he immediately started working on the new project of Greenberg Studio under the arrangement of Nina. In front of him, the first one was "Quick Chase" tailored for Li Guohao.

Compared to before the "Matrix" trilogy, Lee Guohao has become a big star resounding in North America at this time. Although he still cannot reach the top position, after the "Joker's Return" and "Matrix" trilogy, his status in the circle has also risen rapidly.

Especially the "Matrix" trilogy, which is the absolute protagonist, made him completely accepted by mainstream audiences. Hollywood has always been like this. Even his previously discriminated against Chinese descent was ignored by everyone at this time.

In the project "Quick Chase", we naturally cannot sign a cheap starring contract with him like "The Matrix".

However, there is no dispute between the two sides' negotiations. Li Guohao happily signed his name on the three-part movie contract. The first movie of this contract, which has started the preparation of "Quick Chase", has started. His salary does not involve the later share, and he will only get $9 million that suits his value.

For his current status, this number basically meets the market price. As for other subsequent projects, everything depends on the market performance of this "Quick Chase".

The director of the film, under the recommendation of Warner Bros., Wayne decided Wolfgang Peterson without hesitation. Although this German director has a bad reputation, he has received great praise in the circle. His previously directed "Flane" and "Air Force One" are all very outstanding.

"Speed ​​Chase" has a total investment of $25 million. Just like the previous "The Matrix", Warner Bros. and Greenberg Studio jointly invested in the production. Contrary to outside speculation, this film is not actually a big production. You should know that even the original film in Wayne's memory costs only $20 million.

There was also a Warner Bros. producer who joined Warner Bros. Investment in the account of a third-party insurance company. Wayne had no choice in this regard. After all, his Greenberg studio is strictly just a shell company and there is no talent in this regard.

He didn't have the energy to pay too much attention. The crew of "Quick Chase" started to prepare in a low-key manner. He met David Lynch through the relationship between Bruce Rosenblum.

However, Wayne's plan failed this time. David Lynch has already started to produce "Mr. Strategy's Story" and politely rejected his invitation.

Just when he was worried about the director's candidate, Warner Bros. once again helped. Roland Emmerich, who had just fallen into a big frustration in "Godzilla", accepted Warner Bros.'s invitation without hesitation and will serve as the director of the project "King Kong".

"What do you say over Wayne?"

On Monday in late September, Jeff Robinoff asked Bruce Rosenblum in a large conference room before the routine high-level meeting began.

"He has no objection to Roland Emmerich."

In the big conference room, more and more executives and shareholder representatives entered. Bruce Rosenblum speeded up his speech and replied: "But, should we be more cautious? Roland Emmerich just messed up a big project with investment of over 100 million yuan!"

Jeff Robinoff shook his head slightly. "He is suitable for this type. Is there anyone better than him?"

“That’s right…”

There is no way, they can't be careless about the project "King Kong". This project is completely different from "Quick Chase", with a production cost of up to 160 million US dollars. Not to mention Warner Bros., even if it is placed in the entire Hollywood, it is a first-line production.

In fact, in the face of such a high investment, Warner Bros.'s senior executives had hesitated when reviewing the project, but in the face of the broker Jimmy's words, "If Warner Bros. does not participate in the investment, Greenberg Studio will raise funds and shoot it on its own", which immediately dispelled all the senior executives' concerns.

The lessons of "Charlie's Angels" are right in front of you. You should know that Wayne also proposed co-production of this film at the beginning, but unfortunately, Warner Brothers personally gave up the opportunity to make money.

Whenever hesitated, Jeff Robinoff and a group of senior executives would involuntarily think of the "Matrix" trilogy. This project jointly produced by Warner Bros. and Greenberg Studio has achieved good box office results for three consecutive years.

Especially the movie peripheral products released simultaneously with the film are not like the value that an R-level film can create. Let’s talk about "The Matrix 3: Matrix Revolution". From the release to the present, rough statistics of the peripheral products of various types of movies have reached about 260 million US dollars worldwide.

The "Matrix" series, for Warner Bros. and Greenberg Studios, is like a stable money printing machine, and it keeps printing money every year!
To be continued...