Inside the MGM Building's conference room, the number of people had significantly dwindled.
A moment later, someone walked in carrying a large stack of scripts: "Boss, these are the movies currently in production and those we intend to produce next year."
Eric picked up one and started flipping through it, seeing a title like "The Groom on the Wrong Bed," a light urban comedy. He'd never heard of it, so it was definitely a money-loser. He tossed it aside.
He picked up the second one, titled "Alien Dog," aimed at the youth market. He hadn't heard much about it either, so it was likely another money-loser. Toss it!
The third was a movie called "Out of Time," starring Denzel Washington. The contracts were already signed, and filming was about to begin.
Eric had some impression of this movie, but not a good one, because it wasn't a box office success.
Instead, Denzel Washington's domineering and diva-like behavior was widely complained about by the entire crew, making it into entertainment news. Filming wasn't smooth, so how good could the result be?
He sighed, casually threw the script aside, and then flipped through several more. Finally, his eyes lit up when he saw "legally blonde 2."
Although "legally blonde 2" had double the investment, with an estimated cost of up to $26 million, he remembered it grossing over $100 million at the box office. Plus, with revenue from the disc market, TV stations, and other sources, it was sure to make money, making it a high-quality asset.
But that was it. Among dozens of scripts, besides it and a co-invested James Bond film, almost all the rest were garbage.
For such a large MGM, their cinematic and market sense was simply terrible.
Seeing Eric's unpredictable expression, the mid-level managers knew things were bad and dared not speak, staying rooted to their spots.
Sighing, Eric threw the "legally blonde 2" script back: "Continue with this one, but focus on cost compression. $26 million is a bit high; try to compress it to within $22 million. All the others are scrapped."
"???"
The conference room immediately fell into a suffocating silence, even his father, Xia Li Cooper, looked utterly bewildered.
"Eric, isn't your decision too arbitrary? Some of these movies have already started filming, and some contracts are signed. We'll lose tens of millions of dollars!"
Eric smiled: "Dad, trust my judgment. Those are just a bunch of garbage. Better to cut our losses now than to invest further and lose even more. What we need now is a victory, a huge hit movie. Trust me!"
Seeing his son's firm gaze, Xia Li Cooper was silent for a moment, recalling their agreement.
He was in charge of the New MGM, the captain of this big ship, but Eric had absolute authority in the choice of film production until his first project failed.
"Everything will be done according to Eric Cooper's wishes. Regardless of whether filming has started or contracts have been signed, all these scripts are temporarily put on hold."
Though Xia Li Cooper's heart was bleeding, he still gave the order in an unquestionable tone. He had won a gamble of ten million dollars before, and this time he surely could too.
Moreover, his son had just joined the company, and to establish his authority, he had to support him all the way.
The others looked at each other, not daring to say anything more. Anyway, it was their family's company, so they could mess around as much as they liked, as long as they paid their salaries on time.
Judy then asked: "So, the only films the company has waiting for release this year are "red dragon" and "barbershop," and next year's plan only includes "legally blonde 2." Do we need to add new plans?"
"Of course we do, and I've already identified the target. This year and next, MGM's flagship project will be transformers!"
Eric had thought for a long time about what the first movie should be. He originally thought it was pretty good to have transmigrated to 2002, but after recalling the best-selling movies, he immediately felt like he had lost out. If he could have arrived a few years earlier, it would have been perfect.
For example, the pirates of the caribbean series, with 5 movies grossing $4.5 billion, an average of $900 million per film. But unfortunately, the first one is set to be released next year, and Disney has been producing it for over a year, so it's impossible to intercept it now.
The harry potter series: J.K. Rowling had already sold the rights to Warner Bros., and the first movie was released in 2001.
the fast and the furious series: It could be said to be the only successful racing movie on the market, raking in billions at the box office. Unfortunately, the first one was also released in 2001.
The Jurassic series: a masterpiece of the last century.
The star wars series: also a masterpiece of the last century.
The Lord of the Rings series: like the fast and the furious, it was released in 2001, and Tolkien's rights had long been sold.
In short, almost all the major series films he could think of had their first installments released one or two years ago.
Now you know why transmigration often happens around the turn of the millennium, right?
After much thought, Eric set his sights on one of the few overlooked properties—transformers.
While the later transformers films did falter, their money-making ability was undeniable, with an average box office of over $800 million per film.
Moreover, the film and television rights hadn't been bought by Paramount yet. Approaching Hasbro now, he was confident he could secure the rights.
As for the biggest difficulty in filming transformers, it would certainly be the special effects technology. MGM's special effects department couldn't handle this, so they would have to find professional teams like Industrial Light & Magic or Weta Digital.
The original transformers started production in 2005, and by the time they started filming, it would probably be 2003. A two-year difference meant the special effects technology could definitely meet the standards.
Actually, if we talk about the most profitable film project, the peak should be the Marvel series.
Although 20th Century Fox had already produced the X-Men series, and Sony had just released the first spider-man, the true beginning of the superhero movie era was actually 2008's iron man.
From iron man to Avengers 4, for 11 years, superhero blockbusters swept the globe, greatly suppressing the survival space of other types of films.
However, after 11 years of glory, while Avengers 4 was dazzling, it was more like the afterglow of a sunset, followed by a cold, dark night and the collapse of superhero movies.
There are many reasons for the failure of superhero movies, such as the pandemic, political correctness, and the terrible decisions of DC and Marvel executives. However, in Eric's view, none of these are the fundamental reasons.
The root cause is aesthetic fatigue, especially Marvel's popcorn formula, which has been unchanged for 11 years. Global audiences are tired of it, and the viewing potential has been exhausted.
This situation can only be remedied by time. We must wait until a new generation of viewers grows up before superhero movies can hope for a resurgence. Any other method will be ineffective. Even if one or two blockbusters emerge later, they will only be isolated phenomena.
However, although the period of glory was not long, the money earned was substantial. At worst, they could transition later. Eric was definitely going to get a piece of this lucrative pie early.
DC had already been acquired by Disney in the last century, but Marvel was still independent, though in a dire situation, so dire that it had to sell off its properties to survive.
spider-man and his friends, along with Ghost Rider, were sold to Sony. The X-Men series was sold to 20th Century Fox. hulk was sold to Universal. Black Widow was sold to Lionsgate.
Even iron man was sold to Universal, and later Universal, thinking it had no potential, resold him to 20th Century Fox.
20th Century Fox also felt this second-tier hero was difficult to adapt, so they sold him to New Line Cinema.
New Line Cinema held onto him for a few years, also unsure how to make a movie about this metal lump, and finally just sold him back to Marvel.
Marvel, betting everything, mortgaged all its assets to the bank and finally produced iron man, coming back from the brink of death.
In short, given Marvel's current miserable state, it was definitely a great time for an acquisition.
However, having just acquired MGM, immediately launching a new merger made Eric worried that even his father might not support him.
Others lacked foresight; the current Marvel was a mess, completely worthless.
Once he achieved some success, that would be the moment to acquire Marvel. Eric set the timeline in his mind for next year.
"Mr. Volvo, you go ahead and contact Hasbro. It's best to secretly secure the rights before announcing it. I don't want any unnecessary complications."
Volvo was a talent his father had scouted, having worked at a small film company for twenty years with rich experience.
"Don't worry, I'll contact Hasbro as soon as possible."
Eric hummed: "Besides that, I also plan to start a TV series, a zombie-themed one. It's about a sudden global infection, leaving only a few survivors struggling to survive in a post-apocalyptic world."
The TV series Eric was referring to was naturally "the walking dead." Compared to movies, TV series are also a lucrative area that cannot be overlooked, as are variety shows.
However, the choice of TV series is more complex because revenue is highly affected by ratings, and the statistics for ratings in America are completely different from China. Not all TV series are compared together because, like movies, American TV shows also have classifications, divided into public and cable channels.
Public channel TV series are free to watch. In 2002, the more widely covered public channels were CBS, ABC, Fox, NBC, WB, UPN, and PBS.
Among them, PBS is special; its content is mainly educational and children's programs, such as "Sesame Street," which is theirs, and it has nothing to do with American dramas.
As for The CW, which is often mentioned in China, it was formed in 2006 by the merger of WB and UPN; it hasn't been established yet.
Public channels are strictly regulated; generally, you won't see nudity or vulgar language, and even some sensitive words will be censored, equivalent to PG13 in movies. For example, Eric's favorite "friends" is from NBC.
Cable channels are subscription channels, so the scale is naturally larger. After all, I've paid my subscription, are you still going to show me SpongeBob?
Well-known cable channel representatives include FX, AMC, CNN, HBO, Showtime, etc. These are further divided into basic channels and premium channels. Basic channels will still consider teenagers appropriately and will also moderately include some advertising elements. Premium channels generally have no ads, and the scale is even higher.
For example, AMC, a basic channel, has representative works like "Mad Men," "breaking bad," "Better Call Saul," and "the walking dead." The premiere of "the walking dead" Season 5 even set a viewership record for a basic cable channel drama series.
Among the premium channels, HBO has representative works like "Game of Thrones," "the sopranos," "True Blood," "band of brothers," and "sex and the city." Each is a powerful representative. HBO even made an advertisement for itself, with the slogan "It's not porn, it's HBO."
And even on competitive cable channels with many excellent works, "the walking dead," while not the highest-rated or highest in overall viewership, was indeed the most profitable, and it had a good reputation. Eric naturally wanted to secure such a good show first.
It wouldn't be too late to develop high-rated dramas like "breaking bad" after making money, because although "breaking bad" is the ceiling for American drama ratings, the first three seasons and even the first half of the fourth season did not have high viewership and were almost canceled.
Mainly, after the plot reached its climax, many viewers who hadn't seen the previous episodes paid to watch the earlier seasons, which brought in the ratings. But the cost-effectiveness of "breaking bad" is far inferior to "the walking dead."
"Billy, you and the marketing and legal departments should first conduct an investigation, especially in the comic field. I don't want to fight copyright lawsuits later. Give me an answer within three days."
Billy understood this was his first test and immediately solemnly stated that it was no problem.
Eric then looked at the creative department: "George Martin, do you know this person?"
A mid-level manager quickly replied: "I know him. He's a writer and screenwriter, but his screenwriting skills aren't great. He worked in Hollywood for a few years and didn't create any famous works, but his novels are well-regarded."
"Yes, I want the rights to his novels. 'A Song of Ice and Fire' is a great work, and we need to acquire it earlier than other companies."
"Also, keep an eye on horror film scripts in the market, collect them, and send them to my office. For now, that's all for the plan."
Seeing Eric finish speaking, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. The company hadn't stabilized yet, and taking too big a step could lead to trouble.
Afterward, Xia Li Cooper arranged some more matters, and everyone gradually left the conference room.
"Judy, wait a moment."
Hearing Eric's voice behind her, Judy couldn't help but turn around, pulling back the leg she had already stepped out the door with.
"What is it, Bo~~~ss?"
Without others present, Judy immediately became mischievous, drawing out her words in a strange tone.
"Stop messing around. I want to ask you something. I remember you're Jewish, right?"
"Yes, what about it? Do you dislike Jewish People? But it's too late to say that now."
Eric thought to himself, 'Even if I really hated Jewish People, I wouldn't dare say it. Look at Mel Gibson, how many stars have been blacklisted for saying the wrong thing?'
"It's good that you're Jewish. I have something I need to ask you to do."
Judy's face immediately broke into a smile: "Warren and the Keith brothers have all been assigned tasks, and only I've been left idle. So you had a secret mission for me."
"Ahem, what secret mission? It's all for work. First, take a look at this."
Eric took out a magazine, opened it to a page, and pointed to a smiling, cheerful girl, asking: "What do you think of her?"
Judy's eyes lit up. She snatched the magazine, examined it carefully, licked the corner of her mouth, and said: "What a vibrant beauty. Wait, when did you start paying attention to the fashion world?"
"I happened to see her recently. This girl is Gal Gadot, an Israeli Jewish woman. I think she's very good, with big screen potential."
Judy chuckled: "There are many models who want to enter the film and television industry, but few truly succeed. I admit this girl is very beautiful, but how do you know she has potential? Just by her looks?"
"Yes, purely by her looks!"
"Uh..."
Judy was speechless. After a moment, she asked: "Alright, what do you need me to do? Help you with a conquest?"
"Don't put it so harshly. It's all for work. Find out Gal Gadot's address and contact information, and sound her out about her willingness to develop in Hollywood. I'll give you certain authority; you can appropriately promise her some things."
Judy shrugged: "No problem. I'm good with women, especially beautiful women. Just to confirm, you're really not interested in her? Because if not, I might make a move!"
Eric: "Don't mess around; she's still underage."
"Is she? Then I'm even more interested!"
"..."