Traveling through the Tokyo bubble era

Chapter 696: Yunshang Films, which has no shortage of projects

A celebration party for "A Fish Called Wanda" is being held in an old garden mansion in Bel Air.

Perhaps it is out of habit, old-school Hollywood professional managers like Alan Horn do not like to hold events in hotels, but prefer relatively private places like this.

Hideki Hanyu, who just arrived in Los Angeles today, is standing by the swimming pool in front of the garden mansion.

He looked towards the swimming pool, where a number of hot bikini beauties were happily playing in the water in front of everyone.

Since it is a Hollywood industry queue, beautiful women are naturally indispensable as embellishment to liven up the atmosphere of the entire event.

There are plenty of companies in Hollywood that can provide this service if you're willing.

Whether it's a beautiful girl or a handsome guy, they can be delivered to your door with just one phone call, and they even carry medical examination reports with them to ensure that if someone is interested on the spot, there will be no worries.

However, although Hanyu Hideki was looking at the beauty, he was listening to the discussion of the people next to him.

Although today is the celebration of "A Fish Called Wanda", because Yunshang Pictures has not developed much in the past two years and because of Alan Horn's own relationship, there are still many powerful Hollywood figures who come to support it.

For example, the person who is chatting with Alan Horn, CEO of Cloud Pictures, is none other than Martin Davis, President of Paramount.

Also standing next to them was Shirley Lansing, former president of 20th Century Fox and current founder of Jaffe Lansing Pictures.

This strong woman is the first female professional manager in Hollywood history to control the Big Eight, and she has a close relationship with Alan Horn, who once worked at 20th Century Fox.

The two men's leaving 20th Century Fox to start their own businesses was more or less related to Murdoch.

However, Hideki Hanyu knew that in the near future, Shirley Lansing would become the president of Paramount and would be in charge of Paramount for twelve years.

Of course, in addition to these two people, there were also senior executives from other Hollywood companies.

It’s just that these three people have a good personal relationship, so they got together to chat after the social event was over.

Of course, you want to ask Hideki Hanyu?

As the big boss behind the scenes and a capital tycoon, the scumbag is simply aloof from the world.

Even his attendance at the celebration banquet today was not officially notified to the public.

Otherwise, there would be more people joining the party just for him than just the few here.

He had just finished entertaining the creative team of "A Fish Called Wanda" and sent away the screenwriter and director John Cleese. When he was about to look at the beauties by the swimming pool, he overheard the casual chat of three people next to him and stood beside them out of interest.

"It seems the news is true." This is the voice of Alan Horn.

"Sony is not satisfied with buying Columbia Records." Shirley Lansing's female voice sounded.

"I don't quite understand why Sony wants to buy Columbia."

Martin Davis directly stated the news that has been circulating in the upper echelons of Hollywood recently: after Sony acquired Columbia Records, it officially took action against Columbia Pictures.

And according to accurate information that has been circulated, the transaction has reached the final stage.

But this is also what puzzles everyone the most.

The acquisition of Columbia Records can also be seen as a supplement to Sony Music, and it is a means for Sony to promote CDs and Walkman.

But what about Columbia Pictures?

Sony has never been engaged in the film and television related industry before.

After Martin expressed his doubts, the three people who were speaking all looked at Hideki Hanyu next to them.

Although ordinary people in America don't care about things outside of America.

For example, the Cloud Entertainment Group, founded by Hideki Hanyu, started in Japan, radiated throughout Asia, and is now extremely famous around the world.

Its Crescent Cinema Line is one of the largest cinema groups in the world.

But as top figures in Hollywood, the three people in front of them naturally know Hanyu Hideki very well, and know that the power Hanyu Hideki controls in the Japanese entertainment industry is no less powerful than Sony.

If anyone can guess why Sony acquired Columbia Pictures and entered a completely unfamiliar industry, Hideki Hanyu is definitely the one who has the most say.

After all, the only person who understands you can be your opponent.

Feeling everyone's gaze, Hanyu Hideki spread his hands, a helpless smile appeared on his handsome face and he said, "Why are you looking at me? I have only met Morita Akio a few times."

"Sir, don't you have any guesses at all?" Shirley Lansing asked unwillingly.

"guess?"

Hanyu Hideki pretended to recall the past, then slowly shook his head and said, "I really don't know."

How to say it, even in later generations, Sony's motive for acquiring Columbia remains a huge mystery.

But the most reliable statement comes from an interview in later years by Shiro Koriyama, who was then the head of Sony's business strategy department.

This is what Shiro Koriyama said at that time.

"We certainly want Columbia's films to make money, but that's not why we bought Columbia Pictures."

"What Sony wants to do is have software and hardware coexist."

"If you want to integrate Sony into America, becoming the boss in Hollywood is the shortcut."

Because of these words, Hideki Hanyu recalled that he was once invited to a so-called "upper class" banquet in New York, where he unexpectedly met Akio Morita, the founder of Sony.

At that time, Akio Morita was accompanied by a famous Hollywood actress.

When the other party saw him appearing at the banquet alone, he immediately said in a reluctant yet envious tone.

"The Japanese media all commented that I was an international businessman. I led Sony to develop in America very early. I tried hard to integrate into the upper class society in New York, but I could only receive invitations to important banquets when I brought Hollywood actresses with me.

So I don’t understand why you, Hanyu-san, are being treated so kindly even though you didn’t do anything.”

Hanyu Hideki remembered that when he heard these words, he replied apologetically, "I'm sorry, I don't know the answer to Mr. Morita's question."

But what he really wanted to say was.

"Maybe it's because I don't care."

This is not only what Hideki Hanyu wants to say, but also what Hideki Hanyu is doing.

He is different from Akio Morita.

Akio Morita was a Japanese from the inside out, with a deep admiration for America in his bones.

While doing business, Akio Morita also longed to gain recognition from America and to use commercial means to improve diplomatic relations between America and Japan.

He even longed to integrate into America, while at the same time writing books like "Neon Can Say No". He seemed to be in a quantum state, so twisted that it was difficult to understand.

But Hideki Hanyu is not like that. Influenced by the soul of his previous life, he does not approve of Japan in his heart, and has never thought about integrating into America.

From the beginning to the end, he did not think that America was so great that he could do business in America without any obstacles as an international capitalist.

Because of this, he never had any emotional purpose in America, so he was able to maximize the power of capital. Of course, there is another point, that is, in addition to being a businessman, he also has titles such as writer, painter, and artist that are recognized in Europe and look quite gimmicky to the nouveau riche in America.

Looking back, if Hanyu Hideki had to guess the purpose of Morita Akio's acquisition of Columbia, the explanation would be very simple.

Akio Morita found that if he wanted to enter the "high-class" activities in New York, no matter how much he did, it would not be as convenient as inviting a Hollywood actress.

Now that Akio Morita wanted to enter the larger "upper-class activities" in America, it was natural for him to use his previous experience.

If there are not enough Hollywood female stars, then just buy a Hollywood company.

It sounds ridiculous, but maybe it's true?

However, he couldn't possibly tell this speculation to the people in front of him.

What he really cared about was the exact news of Sony's acquisition of Columbia.

In the previous life, this transaction was not completed until the next year.

But in this time and space, Sony may have been stimulated by him and started to take action against Columbia Pictures early on.

After all, from "Working Girl" to "Die Hard" and now "A Fish Called Wanda", Yunshang Pictures has achieved continuous success in Hollywood in a short period of time since its establishment.

Related news was constantly reported by Japanese media, which completely promoted Yunshangxi to be a successful representative of the Japanese entertainment industry's entry into the United States.

Although Hideki Hanyu doesn't care at all, after all, judging from the content of these movies, they have nothing to do with Japan.

But judging from Sony’s reaction now, the success of the cloud system has obviously stimulated Sony a lot.

It seems that their thirty years of operation in America are not as good as a few movies produced by Cloud Pictures.

What Sony didn't know was that their eagerness to acquire Columbia was actually playing into Hanyu Hideki's hands.

After all, in another time and space, Sony's acquisition of Columbia caused quite a stir in America.

Then, after Sony has gotten through all this, Panasonic's subsequent acquisition of Universal Pictures will undoubtedly be a lot easier, and few people will pay attention to it.

Even many domestic movie fans don’t know that Universal Pictures was once affiliated with Panasonic.

Panasonic was very upset about this because the acquisition was too "low-key" and did not bring them the influence increase they most wanted.

But for Hideki Hanyu, the influence of the company is not important at all. With the big guy like Sony to protect him from the wind and rain, the most important thing is that he can make a fortune quietly.

"It seems that sir really doesn't know."

Shirley Lansing said this regretfully, and obviously didn't intend to pay any more attention to Sony's affairs. She turned to ask Alan Horn.

"Alan, does Yunshang Pictures have a new movie coming out recently?"

Alan Horn said, "Are you talking about Bloody Night 2?"

Shirley Lansing said, "Yes, it's the sequel to that low-budget movie that did well at the box office."

Alan Horn replied, "Today is November 2nd. In fact, the movie was released two days ago, on October 31st. We scheduled it for Halloween."

"The issuing company is still..."

Shirley Lansing finished speaking and her eyes fell on the other side of the party, where a fat man was holding a glass of wine and socializing with other guests.

Alan Horn followed the other person's gaze and nodded, "Yes, we are still cooperating with Harvey's Miramax Films. After all, they were the ones who released the first film."

Shirley Lansing quickly said, "If there is a plan to make a sequel, can you consider my Jaffe Lansing Films?"

"I can't confirm this for now. After all, the box office data of the movie has not been compiled yet, and we don't even know if there will be a sequel."

Alan Horn's refusal was a tactful one.

After all, Yunshang Pictures and Miramax Films had a pleasant cooperation on the "Bullet Night" series, and Miramax Films also participated in the investment of the second film.

If the third film is to be shot, Miramax Films will definitely be given priority.

Moreover, this movie is positioned as a medium-budget film, so it is difficult to get a bigger piece of the pie.

But Shirley Lansing was not going to give up and continued to ask, "What about your previous Castle Rock Pictures? I heard that they are also producing new movies."

As a result, before Alan Horn could speak, Martin, the president of Paramount, said, "Shirley, Castle Rock Pictures is a partner of Paramount."

Shirley Lansing pretended to be helpless and said, "I'm sorry, I was too anxious. It's true that the business of Jafei Lansing Pictures has been a little sluggish recently."

After hearing what Shirley Lansing said, Alan Horn hurriedly said, "Cloud Pictures does have some projects on hand. If Shirley is interested, we can go to Century City to discuss it another day."

Shirley Lansing said quickly, "No problem, I think tomorrow will be good..."

Next to him, Hideki Hanyu heard that Alan Horn was going to work with Shirley Lansing. Even though he knew that some of those projects were sure to make money, he didn't say much.

In Hollywood, new projects always seek partners for co-investment in order to share the risk.

Although with his current financial resources, there is no need to do so.

But every industry has its own rules, and sharing profits is one of them.

Yunshang Pictures still has a long way to go in Hollywood, and the big projects that can really make money are still in the works.

Even though Yunshang Pictures is doing well now, in Hideki Hanyu's eyes, it's just an appetizer that he picked up casually and made a little effort on, and it's not worth mentioning.

Think about the copyright of "Jurassic Park" that has already been acquired, the "Lord of the Rings" and "Silmarillion" series whose first games are currently being produced, the Marvel comics that are building the game universe under the guidance of Genie Entertainment, and the Monster Universe that has officially begun to be built.

Of course, he will not forget Pixar Animation Studios, which has been making him lose a lot of money.

As for his own popular works, such as "Home Alone", "The Princess Diaries", "Brigitte", etc., they are also gold mines waiting to be mined.

What's more, he had previously bought the copyright of the original novel of the "Bourne" series of films.

Finally, Joanna Rowling, a British female writer who had just gone to Manchester to work, would write to him whenever she had nothing to do.

With this relationship, he would naturally not let the future Harry Potter with a lightning scar on his forehead fall into the hands of others.

He forgot that his Elf Entertainment, with its numerous game copyrights, is also an inexhaustible treasure trove of super copyrights.

With such a rich "foundation", not to mention the continuous purchases by this time traveler, Yunshang Pictures will not have to worry about a lack of projects in Hollywood in the future.

Therefore, what Hideki Hanyu should worry about is not that Yunshang Pictures has no profitable projects, but how to share the profits reasonably to avoid becoming a target of public criticism.

But he doesn't have to think about these things in the short term.

Therefore, when he saw Alan Horn chatting with the other two about the project, he immediately lost interest in listening and left by making up an excuse.

There is a beautiful woman with a good figure in the swimming pool in front of him, and the scumbag plans to flirt with her to have some fun tonight.

But who would have thought that before he got close to the swimming pool, he heard a girl's voice nearby.

"Mr. Hanyu, I didn't expect to see you here."

(End of this chapter)