Chapter 251 250. Six major moves, the first battle begins!
"MGM is just like crazy, first supporting Mel Gibson, and then wanting to do streaming media. I still don’t understand what streaming media means."
Charlie Sheen complained while drinking at a private party.
Elton John sighed, "Charlie, I thought you were hosting another party like last time and flew back from abroad to attend it, but it turns out it's just drinking and chatting."
"Well, I originally hired a dozen girls from the San Fernando Valley, but now that everyone is talking about this, they are no longer interested and have sent them back."
It is well known in the industry that Charlie Sheen likes to hold hentai parties. A group of bad friends can always have a great time. Isn't it just for this hobby that everyone likes to be friends with a scumbag like you? You are still not doing it. You don't know how to put yourself in the right position!
Elton John shook his head and cursed inwardly, "You're not interested, but I am. Don't look at my age, but I have medicine and I still want to fight for 300 rounds."
James Franco was lying on the sofa, puffing away and grinning. Ever since he became famous for playing the Green Goblin Harry Osborn in Spider-Man, he received an invitation to join this secret party.
He has a bad career and is a complete bad boy at heart, but he has only been famous for a short time and has hidden it very well, at least he has not been exposed yet.
At Charlie Sheen's party, everyone had to hand in their phones, recording was not allowed, and absolute confidentiality was required. Here, James Franco completely let himself go and showed his bad nature.
"Hahahaha. Eric Cooper, a guy who is resting on his father's credit, this kid must be mentally ill."
"Crappy Lionheart Network, crappy streaming media. All I saw was that he offended the six major companies and all the TV stations in the United States at the same time. He is finished, and MGM is almost finished too."
"Can you imagine? This idiot is totally out of his mind. If I were the president of MGM, I would do much better than him."
John Mayer gulped down a glass of brandy and looked at James Franco sarcastically: "I think you are just jealous. He didn't give you the leading actor in Transformers, but gave him to an unknown person."
"I heard that you were the most promising person among those who auditioned that day, but you lost to Chris Evans. Now he is not only Sam, but also Captain America, and you are still the Green Goblin."
"Frank, so you're upset, am I right?"
James Franco blew a puff of tobacco at the other person: "Shut your stinky mouth John, he even won a Grammy!"
"And that guy is a musician? It is said that he can't even read sheet music, but he can beat you professionals. You should be ashamed!"
"Okay, stop arguing and help me think about this problem." Charlie Sheen paced back and forth anxiously.
"What's the problem?"
"The question I just mentioned."
"Charlie, you haven't said a damn thing yet."
"Huh? Fuck! My head is getting more and more confused. MGM has several big productions coming out recently, and my agent got an audition spot."
"But now Eric Cooper has made it clear that he wants to bring the company to the crematorium. Should I still interview? If I participate in MGM's movie, will the Big Six bear a grudge against me and affect my future development? I am very conflicted now."
Elton John rolled his eyes, thinking, everyone knows what a mess you are in. How could anyone hire you?
However, since Charlie Sheen participated in Sony Columbia's sitcom "Two and a Half Men" last year, his superb acting skills and funny plots have indeed made this bad guy popular again. His salary once approached one million US dollars, which is considered the top salary in the American drama circle.
James Franco waved his hand and said, "If it was mine, I would never audition again. I would just find a reason to turn it down."
"On one side is MGM, and on the other side are the six major American TV stations. Even a fool should know how to choose."
"James, but we are actors. This is a fight between film and television companies. Neither the guild nor the agency has expressed support for either side. I think even if I participate, it won't have much impact. There is a role I really like."
Looking at Charlie Sheen's conflicted look, James Franco vomited in disgust.
"Wake up, Charlie Sheen. I received a message. It's top secret information that will not be made public."
"It's not announced to the public, so how did you know?"
"Well"
"Okay, tell me now."
"The top executives of the six major companies held a meeting a few days ago to launch a sniper attack on MGM. They must let Eric Cooper know how powerful he is. This plan has a code name, called Operation Rio. Do you know what it means?"
Charlie Sheen shook his head. He lived in a daze every day. Apart from drinking, taking drugs and having sex, his brain could no longer accommodate much else.
"Stupid, you are from the 1960s, don't you know what the name Leo means? MGM, Leo, don't you know?"
"That lion, I mean that lion!" Charlie Sheen finally realized it belatedly.
It is well known that MGM's opening logo is a roaring lion, but many people don't know that in the early days, this lion was not a special effects synthesis, but a real shot.
You couldn’t do special effects in the 1920s, so to create this title sequence, the company had to rent a real lion and film the moment it roared.
It is said that the lion's stomach was about to burst because the photographer had changed several times. Of course, this is a joke.
MGM used a total of seven lions for the opening credits, and they all had their own names. For example, the first one was called Cairbre, and later it was renamed Slats.
The second lion was named Jackie and the third was named Telly , but MGM referred to them collectively as Leo, which is also the symbol of the company.
James Franco nodded: "Yes, it is the lion of MGM. Although the Big Six have not issued any further statements, it is obvious that Eric Cooper's protection of Mel Gibson and the Lionheart Network have angered them. Now it is six against one, and they are targeting this lion!"
"And I heard that the TV stations are also in the process of negotiating. I'm afraid they will give a result soon. Man, now is really not a good time to get close to this lion."
"Well, if your information is accurate, now is indeed not a good time."
James Franco's so-called top-secret news was certainly not top-secret. The Big Six intentionally released it, and it not only spread within the entertainment industry, but soon even the audience knew about it.
Two days later, Disney took the lead in announcing that many of its films would be rescheduled.
This year, Mickey Mouse's carefully crafted ace animation "The Incredibles" was postponed from the original August 5 to December 7, and its target is obviously the Christmas season's "Inception".
The adventure blockbuster "National Treasure" starring Nicolas Cage has been rescheduled to June 11, more than two months earlier, and its target is "Frozen".
"A Different World", adapted from the best-selling children's literature, has also been moved to September 17, sniping "Hold Your Breath 2".
The sequel to Anne Hathaway's famous work "The Princess Diaries 2" has been postponed to September 24, also sniping "Don't Breathe 2".
Even movies like "The Chronicles of Narnia", "Superman High" and "Magic Twins", which were originally scheduled to be released next year, have been changed, and it has been announced that the production speed will be accelerated and they will be released this year as much as possible.
After Disney announced a large-scale rescheduling of its films, Warner quickly followed suit.
The release date of the super IP "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" has been postponed from August to November, and its target is Gadot's "The Hunger Games".
"The Polar Express", a film produced by the great director Robert Zemeckis, was rescheduled to May 21, competing against "The Purge 2" and "Million Dollar Baby".
The epic blockbuster "Troy", which was carefully filmed for more than a year and brought together Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom, postponed its release date from May to June 17, jointly competing with "National Treasure" for "Frozen".
Subsequently, Universal Pictures also announced plans to reschedule the film.
First, the genre-blending blockbuster "Alien vs. Predator" was postponed from April to September, sniping MGM's "Happy Death Day 2", a battle of soldiers against soldiers.
Then, the ace IP "Jason Bourne" was moved up from July to June, and also joined the army of sniping "Frozen".
The release date of the popular comedy "Meet the Fockers 2" has been cancelled, perhaps in preparation for the release of "The Hangover 2".
"Van Helsing" starring Hugh Jackman was postponed from May to November, aiming at "The Hunger Games".
"Fast & Furious 3" was also announced to be produced ahead of schedule, and it is obvious that it is aimed at "Drive", which is also about racing.
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Sony's blockbuster "Spider-Man 2" was moved from the summer schedule to the Christmas schedule, and together with Disney's "The Incredibles" it will compete with "Inception".
20th Century Fox's blockbusters such as "The Day After Tomorrow" and "I, Robot" have also been rescheduled.
Paramount's films such as "The Princess Diaries", "A Nice Guy", "Tomorrowland", and "Suspect Zero" have also joined the battle.
These are just part of it. Just like MGM still has movies in production that have not announced release dates, the Big Six also hold a lot of cards in their hands waiting for MGM to make a move.
Everyone is numb! For a while, the market was filled with tension, and small and medium-sized companies such as Lionsgate and New Line were in a state of panic, and they also announced the postponement of the release date one after another.
Although they secretly reached an agreement with Eric, they announced to the outside world that they would remain neutral and would not take sides or stand in line.
The schedule was changed to avoid the fierce competition, but after looking around, I found that there was no good schedule. There was fighting in almost every schedule, so I could only choose to join the weaker battlefield.
DreamWorks has three big productions released this year, including "Shrek 2" and "Shark Tale", which have been carefully prepared for more than two years, as well as Spielberg's "The Terminal".
"Shark Tale" was urgently moved up from August to April 15th, which is coming soon; the ace "Shrek the Monsters 2" was withdrawn from June and moved to October.
"The Terminal" has been hesitating for a long time, but found that it really couldn't get involved, so it could only announce that the release date is to be determined.
Unlike small and medium-sized companies that are trying to survive in the cracks, movie fans are screaming with excitement.
Although the release dates of some movies have been postponed, there are more good movies to watch overall this year.
The theaters are also very happy. The more movies there are, the hotter the market will be. They won’t care about your competition as long as they can make more money.
And just after the Big Six sounded the clarion call for attack, the long-awaited reaction across the United States finally came, and major TV stations jointly issued a statement.
This statement is almost identical to that of the Big Six, and it also openly points the finger at Mel Gibson, making it hard not to suspect that the two sides have communicated privately.
"Given the huge controversy caused by The Passion of the Christ, which has had a very bad social impact, Mel Gibson has shown strong racist and anti-Semitic tendencies."
"This kind of thinking is undoubtedly dangerous, and even more threatening and offensive to a television station that is a public voice."
"So after discussion, we have decided not to establish or continue any working relationship with Mel Gibson in the future. We hereby declare!"
The signature is a long list of TV station names, but you don’t need to pay attention to the local little ones at the end. The key is to just look at the first two lines.
They include public stations such as CBS, ABC, FOX, NBC, WB, UPN and cable stations such as FX, AMC, CNN, HBO, Showtime, etc.
From now on, neither Mel Gibson nor MGM will be able to run an advertisement again, nor will they be able to see positive reports about themselves on TV.
Eric had nothing to say about this, and he still issued a statement in response, saying that whoever is a coward is a grandson!
At the MGM building, Eric did not go to the set these days. He handed over the filming to Neil and went to get off work and came to work as usual in the company every day.
There is no way. People's hearts are a little unstable. Only I can stabilize the morale of the army.
"Thank you, thank you very much Eric, you are my benefactor."
On the phone, Mel Gibson kept expressing his gratitude. When everyone abandons you, you can only repay the person who is willing to lend a helping hand.
"I won't abandon my friends. You don't have to worry, Mel. If you can't go on TV, then don't go on TV. There are still ways online, right?"
"YouTube can be used for promotion just like Facebook, and it can also allow you to make your voice heard. The box office of The Passion of the Christ is so good that those guys can't stop it."
Mel Gibson sighed: "Eric, you are so stable, it's hard to believe that you are only in your 20s."
"Can I ask you something? Aren't you worried at all? To be honest, our situation is not very good now."
Eric chuckled, "Since I did it, I thought about this day. Now I just need a big victory to boost morale!"
Mel Gibson didn't say anything because he didn't know how to win this battle.
On Saturday, March 31, Lionheart.com was officially launched.
As it was the weekend, millions of users flocked to the website, and the interface designed by Eric himself immediately shocked many people.
Unlike the simplicity of Facebook, Lionheart.com is just the opposite. It is rigorously classified and very gorgeous, similar to the interface of more than ten years later. Just one interface shows a trend of dimensionality reduction.
Among these users, quite a number of them went straight to the variety show section and clicked on the first recommended show, "The Voice of America".
Because today is also the day when the second season of Fox's "American Idol" is broadcast, everyone wants to see who will win and who will lose.
MGM vs Fox, the first battle begins! (End of this chapter)