Hollywood starts with an agent

Chapter 673 The Last Member of the Disney Family

A villa in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles.

Michael Eisner and his entourage personally saw Aaron Anderson off, and then sat down on the sofa with the new chairman of Disney Films, Dick Cook, and the president of Disney Animation, Peter Snyder.

"Next, we will suppress DreamWorks' films in terms of screening and publicity. With Dawn and Viacom involved, we will achieve twice the result with half the effort!"

Michael Eisner seemed to be in a good mood.

Since replacing Joe Roth as chairman of Disney Studios, Dick Cook has become Michael Eisner's confidant. At this moment, he offered a reminder: "However, given Jeffrey Katzenberg and Steven Spielberg's experience in both animated and live-action films..."

"American theater chains probably won't target them too much."

Michael Eisner waved his hand, "It's fine, as long as Universal can snipe it during the key release window."

"Besides, these important release dates are Universal's priority anyway, so it's not really a case of targeting them. In Hollywood, no one can compete with Aaron Anderson, not even Steven Spielberg."

As he spoke, Michael Eisner glanced at Dick Cook and sighed, "The problem now is that our Disney productions are terrible, lagging behind in every aspect!"

Dick Cook lowered his head and remained silent. He had previously been in charge of distribution at Buena Vista International and did not have a particularly impressive resume in the film industry.
The main problem is Disney's production department; things have been getting worse year by year.

Michael Eisner shook his head and turned to Peter Schneider. "Peter, what's Roy up to these days?"

Roy Disney Jr., the last remaining member of the Disney family to work at Disney, is the CEO of Disney Animation Group and co-manages the Disney Animation division with Peter Schneider.

"Roy, he wants the board to appoint a new president!"

Peter Schneider began by saying that Michael Eisner now holds all the positions of Chairman, CEO, and President of Disney.
Roy Disney Jr. is not satisfied with the current state of Disney and has been urging Michael Eisner to appoint a new president to help him manage Disney.

Michael Eisner's eyes flashed with disdain. "What's the use of a new president? A president like Michael Ovitz would only be a burden to Disney!"

"Also, the animated feature film 'Fantasia 2000,' which Roy served as executive producer, was released at the beginning of the year and had a dismal box office performance."

At the beginning of the year, Disney released the animated musical film "Fantasia 2000," a sequel to the 1940 film "Fantasia," and Disney's first animated film produced using IMAX technology.

However, Fantasia 2000 cost $8000 million to produce, but only grossed $6000 million in North America. Even including overseas markets, its total global box office was only $9000 million, and its critical reception was not good.

Michael Eisner is also quite dissatisfied with Roy Disney now, as Pixar and DreamWorks are challenging Disney's status in animation!
"Mr. Eisner, animated feature films aren't so easy to make. Take 20th Century Fox, for example. Their 3D sci-fi animated feature film 'Titans Aegis,' produced this summer, only grossed a little over $20 million in North America, and with $14 million overseas, its global box office was just over $35 million."

"For this film, Titan AE, Fox invested $7500 million in production costs, and with marketing and distribution costs, it came to almost $1 million!"

Peter Schneider cautioned, “So, 20th Century Fox is now betting its animation business on a Bay Area animation studio—Blue Sky Studios;” “Clearly, 20th Century Fox is also following Aaron Anderson’s investment strategy with Pixar.”

The director and producer of Titans Aesthetics is Don Bruce, a former Disney animator!
On the other side, Bel Air Villas in Beverly Hills.

Aaron sat on the sofa, put down the phone, and George W. Bush officially selected former Wyoming Senator and former Secretary of Defense Richard Cheney as his running mate.
All that's left is for the two to receive the presidential and vice-presidential nominations at the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia early next month!

At that moment, Christina Yerry walked over and sat on Aaron's lap. "I never imagined that the script for 'The Mummy: The Scorpion King' would be finished on the day the writers went on strike?"

Aaron shook his head and reached out to stroke Christiana Yerry's thigh. "Ha, who knows?"

However, now that the script is finished, the movie can start filming as soon as possible, Dwayne Johnson's first leading role in a movie.

"By the way, who is the female lead?"

Christina Yerry thought for a moment, "Kelly Hu, the Asian actress in Charlie's Angels."

"Hmm, that's good. By the way, when will filming for 'The Others' start?"

"It's estimated to be in September. The current crew is still being prepared. It's not easy to find child actors, but Monica Bellucci has already gone to the UK for rehearsals!"

"What's wrong? Can't I entertain you enough by myself?" Christina Yerry said, then smiled and whispered in Aaron's ear.

"By the way, just now at Mr. Michael Eisner's villa, it seemed that Mr. Eisner's attitude towards DreamWorks was still not very good!"

Aaron tapped the corner of his mouth. "It's more than just bad; it's downright repulsive, especially DreamWorks Animation under Jeffrey Katzenberg's leadership."

"Michael Eisner and Jeffrey Katzenberg's animosity has lasted for years and hasn't changed at all."

Jeffrey Katzenberg's hatred for Disney goes without saying; in fact, he was dissatisfied with Michael Eisner.

But Michael Eisner has been in charge of Disney for 16 years, and his resentment has directly translated into hatred towards Disney!
But DreamWorks was founded relatively late, and the three founders were all selfish and self-serving. What good were their abilities and resources?
DreamWorks has taken such big steps all at once, simultaneously developing movies, television, animation, music, and interactive games.

Look, the interactive games department is the first to close, and the music and television divisions will probably be next. In recent years, DreamWorks Television has only produced one decent series, "The Politicians."
With ABC terminating its $2.5 million contract with DreamWorks Television, DreamWorks no longer has a television network to back it up.

As for Starz, DreamWorks Television, and Tom Hanks's collaboration on the most expensive TV series in history, Band of Brothers, it was mainly Steven Spielberg himself who was involved.
Of DreamWorks Television's 30% share of the profits from "Band of Brothers," at least half will go to Steven Spielberg's Amblin film.

(End of this chapter)