DreamWorks Headquarters, Glendale, Los Angeles.

The conference room was silent, and everyone was looking at the old man wearing round glasses. The old man always gave people a very gentle image, but now his expressionless face was as cold as if a layer of ice was formed.

"Susan, tell me." Spielberg's tone was plain: "How many box offices were there in the first week?"

After looking at his boss, Susan Arnold said, "The Witch Blair 2, 3,383 theaters, with a box office of $4.68 million in the first week."

A series of discussion sounded in the conference room instantly.

Spielberg said: "Quiet."

The discussion came to an abrupt end.

"How much has this project been invested so far?" Spielberg said.

Susan Arnold dared not delay and quickly replied: "Purchase the copyright of the sequel for $12 million, the cost of shooting and production is $6 million, and the expenditure of publicity and distribution is $16 million. The actual expenditure is currently $34 million."

Spielberg looked at her without saying anything.

Susan Arnold understood what he meant and continued: "Cinema score audiences averaged D, and the North American box office would not exceed $10 million."

There was a faint sound of breath-like sound in the conference room.

All the people who live here are professionals, and it is not difficult for anyone to think that most of the $34 million invested is difficult to recover. Perhaps it is possible after 30 years of offline market operation?

Spielberg is a big shot who is used to the storm. He has failed and is very stable. He said: "Stop all subsequent plans for "Blair Witch"! Stop the loss as soon as possible."

"Yes." Susan Arnold was a little unwilling to give up, but he was unable to fight for it. This film was a complete failure.

But one thing is still hard to understand. With the same pattern and the same operation, why did "Blair the Witch" succeed but the sequel fail?

Screaming? Most successful sequel movies are popular among cursing.

Spielberg said again: "Go back and summarize it. Also, what are the names of those two directors?"

"Daniel Melic and Edyado Sanziz," replied Susan Arnold.

Spielberg made a quick decision: "Dreamworks will not cooperate with these two people in the future!"

This is not only for Susan Arnold, but also for everyone here.

All the senior executives and producers of DreamWorks Studios have all kept these two names in their hearts.

What kind of directors are the easiest to make Hollywood studios remember? The most successful and the most failed.

After the meeting, Spielberg returned to the office, frowning and worried, even his always straight back was bent, as if pressure was pressing on his body like a mountain.

DreamWorks has never been smooth since its establishment.

People outside only see the success of films such as "Save Private Ryan", "American Beauty" and "Gladiator", but they cannot see the problems inside DreamWorks.

The split of senior management... Spielberg felt a headache when he thought of this problem. DreamWorks' business has been divided into three independent parts. David Geffen has plans to withdraw from DreamWorks, and Jerever Carsonberg also wants to make the animation studio independent.

Fortunately, it is still a group at present. As long as you can get out of the predicament and make a way out of the encirclement and suppression of the six major companies, these crises are nothing.

If the development goes smoothly, all problems are actually minor problems.

But thinking of this, Spielberg's head hurts even more. The live-action film department has not been very smooth since last year.

First, the poaching of Polygon Film's distribution department failed, then the Mountain Foundation, which remained in touch, refused to work with DreamWorks again, and then another sequel movie that should have been very safe was defeated.

The lack of issuance departments has led to the fact that DreamWorks' overseas issuance channels still cannot be established in a short period of time, and may even take six or seven years or even more.

The Mountain Foundation gave up its cooperation with DreamWorks, and the two TV series projects were short of funds and were unable to start the project.

A sequel that should be successful easily fails, resulting in an already a little nervous cash flow that will further tighten.

Spielberg felt that his head was almost blown up. DreamWorks, which seemed to be in good development momentum, had not laid a solid foundation at all!

Why do some things that are sure to be successful have accidents? Especially these three things.

As a person becomes an old man, Spielberg analyzed it a little and suddenly found that these three things have one thing in common!

Where did Polykin's distribution department go? Embassy Films!

Which company is the Mountain Foundation working with Hollywood? Shahai Entertainment!

Who bought the copyright of the failed sequel to "Blair Witch 2" from? Relativity Entertainment!

These are three companies, but now Hollywood is well-informed, who doesn’t know that this is a small group of companies!

The company's boss is Ronan Anderson...

Spielberg suddenly took off his disc glasses, his face full of solemnity.

For some reason, he felt like he was stolen from the resources and opportunities that should have belonged to DreamWorks, but was stolen by others.

This feeling is very bad.

But if you think about it carefully, opportunities actually slip away from DreamWorks.

The matter between Polykin Pictures was that he didn't know what he knew and ignored Albert Hoffman's old habits, which led to an accident.

The Mountain Foundation, DreamWorks, has been hesitant and has repeatedly refused Indians to invest in major projects such as "Gladiator". Even himself, he feels that DreamWorks lacks sincerity.

The copyright of the sequel to "Blair the Witch" was bought by Susan Arnold from Relativity Entertainment.

Spielberg knew very well that the power to use people, do things and make decisions was in his hands.

"Can't I do it?" Spielberg's rare self-doubt: "I'm old? I can't even compare to a young man in his early twenties?"

Ronan Anderson, Relativity Entertainment...

These two names keep circling in Spielberg's mind, especially Relativity Entertainment, which has complete North American distribution capabilities. After taking over the distribution department of Polygon Film, it is actively developing and building overseas distribution channels. It is said that the channels have been fully deployed, and it is just a matter of trying to release movies.

That is an overseas distribution channel, an overseas distribution channel that even DreamWorks does not have!

Spielberg pressed the phone and called the assistant in: "You go and check, what is the recent film released by Embassy Pictures?"

The assistant is very familiar with the industry trends and directly replied: "I heard someone say some time ago that Embassy Film has no plans to release films in the first half of the year. The recent movie to be released is "Human Clearance Plan 2" released during the Halloween period."

Spielberg asked, "Where is the overseas release of this movie?"

The assistant thought about it and said, "It should be an agency distribution for the Embassy Film Company."

"You go and check it, confirm the news, and then summarize it to me." Spielberg thought for a moment, and then ordered: "People pay more attention to the news about Relativity Entertainment, Embassy Films and Shahai Entertainment."

"Yes." The assistant responded immediately: "I'll let someone do it."

Spielberg sat in the office, once again falling into thinking.

Overseas distribution channels are too important for DreamWorks. He made a huge mistake before, and there should be a chance to make up for it next.

If Embassy Pictures can successfully release videos overseas...

The failure of "Blair Witch 2" is even more miserable than Ronan expected. When he saw the box office data of this film, he discovered something.

It seems that I have a special fate with DreamWorks in the past two years.

Unfortunately, "Brothers", which I have been paying attention to for a long time, never found a chance to intervene. I can only watch this mini drama that can obtain countless benefits in the future.

However, Ronan did not have any regrets or other similar emotions.

After all, DreamWorks obtained the copyright very early, and the original author even served as an advisor to "Save Private Ryan", and had a good relationship with Spielberg and Tom Hanks, and would give priority to working with these two people.

Ronan knew very well that even the reborn person could not take all the good things.

Greed is good, but it should be moderate.

He never forgot this sentence.

Greed is like a ecstasy pill. It can destroy all people's reason. When you are full of your mind and want to make a fortune, it is like "Come and lie to me" on your forehead, and it is particularly easy to be used.

At the end of June, Robert Lee finally returned to Los Angeles from overseas.

"Danny Donald stayed in the East for the time being." Robert Lee told Ronan: "With him there, it is easier to do a lot of work. The style of Oriental people is very different from ours."

Ronan looked through the work log brought back by Robert Lee and asked, "Is the work going smoothly there?"

Robert Lee said: "I encountered a lot of trouble at the beginning, but Polykin's channels played a big role. They had established a certain network of personal connections there before, which helped a lot."

Ronan asked: "Have the information of "Spy Shadows" been submitted?"

Robert Li immediately said: "It has been handed over to China Film Group and relevant departments. China Film Group is interested, but it will only be discussed whether to introduce it after watching the finished film."

"Okay." Ronan said: "We'll wait for the news."

Robert Lee wondered: "Ronan, I have been there on the spot. The film industry over there is very backward. Not only are there few theaters, but they also go bankrupt on a large scale, and the box office share is also low. Is it necessary to open up the market?"

Ronan briefly explained: "Do you know there is a population of 1.3 billion over there? And the economy is developing rapidly. How big will this market be in the future? The North American film market is also developing step by step. Be prepared in advance. Once this market develops rapidly, we can enjoy huge dividends."

Robert Lee said: "Ronan, you see farther than me, I'll listen to you."

Ronan smiled and said, "Let's rest for a while."
Chapter completed!