Heads Up Hollywood

Speaking of which, Chris Meledandri and Bill McNick are still very close.

Back then, Bill McNick was in charge of Twentieth Century Fox. After Pixar achieved great success, he reused Chris Meledandri and asked him to build the Twentieth Century Fox Animation Department and produce his own CG animations.

The CG animation studio is largely a technology company dressed in film, and Pixar is headquartered in Silicon Valley.

After several years of exploration, Chris Meledandri found that it was unrealistic for 20th Century Fox to set up a CG animation department, and then he fell in love with Blue Sky Studios, which was in bankruptcy at the time, and advocated the acquisition. .

Blue Sky Studios founder Chris Wedge and Pixar head John Last had a great relationship. After the success of Pixar, he also wholeheartedly launched his own CG movie, so he cooperated.

Then, the two parties worked together to launch "Ice Age", which laid the foundation for the success of Blue Sky Studios. Together with Pixar and DreamWorks, they are also known as the three major animation studios in Hollywood!

However, troubles followed.

Blue Sky Studios is part of the 20th Century Fox animation division and is managed by Chris Meledandri.

The founder is Chris Wedge, but he hopes to have full creative freedom like his friend John Last.

Pixar's big boss is Jobs, but he doesn't care about things at all. Everything is in charge of John Last. Chris Wedge is envious of this model, and he doesn't want Chris Meledandri to intervene in the affairs of Blue Sky Studios.

This naturally leads to contradictions.

After Tom Rothman's ruling, Blue Sky Studios was required to continue to be under the jurisdiction of the Animation Department, that is to say, Chris Wedge had to obey the leadership of Chris Meledandri.

Chris Wedge had no choice but to swallow this breath.

Now, "Ice Age 2: Meltdown" is out and has been a phenomenal success, even beating Marvel's superhero movie "Thor" at the box office!

Not to mention the 20th Century Fox shock, the entire Hollywood is shaken!

This time, Chris Wedge has even more confidence!

His showdown to Tom Rothman!

He no longer wants to be led by Chris Meledandri!

He asked for sufficient creative freedom, as well as the dominance of Blue Sky Studios, directly responsible to Tom Rothman!

For Twentieth Century Fox, the biggest contributor to the success of the animation department is undoubtedly Chris Meledandri.

If it weren't for his insight and talent, 20th Century Fox would never have acquired Blue Sky Studios.

Blue Sky Studios also did not have the financial strength to produce "Ice Age".

However, the cunning rabbit is dead, and the lackey is cooking.

The current Blue Sky Studio is strong enough, the global box office of "Ice Age 2"... is expected to reach about 700 million US dollars!

This is completely at the level of Pixar and Dreamworks Animation, Disney Animation is not good!

Besides, Chris Wedge said a very touching sentence.

The comparison between history and reality can best illustrate the problem.

When there was no Blue Sky Studios, the CG animation "Frozen Planet" launched by the 20th Century Fox Animation Department encountered a box office nightmare, and Chris Meledandri almost took the blame and stepped down.

With Blue Sky Studios, 20th Century Fox really has a place in the animation market.

In other words, the success of Twentieth Century Fox in the animation industry is because of Chris Wedge, not Chris Meledandri!

Jeffrey Katzenberg, John Last and Chris Wedge are the three famous gods in the Hollywood animation industry!

Created DreamWorks, Pixar and Blue Sky Animation Studios, respectively.

What is Chris Meledandri in comparison?

Just a middleman.

In short, the contradiction between the two has been irreconcilable.

With the great success of "Ice Age 2", the power struggle between the two in the 20th Century Fox animation business has become more and more intense, and they are incompatible.

"How did Fox deal with it?"

"Definitely keep the frame of Blue Sky Studios."

Tang En breathed a sigh of relief and secretly smiled.

In fact, this is also very normal. For Tom Rothman, Blue Sky Studio has achieved such a great success. It is impossible for him to give the management of Blue Sky Studio a big change at this moment.

The success of "Ice Age 2" is really remarkable.

As a company decision maker, he understands the power of cartoons all too well.

How profitable is Ice Age 2? In contrast, the wealth created by "Ice Age 2" for 20th Century Fox is far higher than that of "Star Wars Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith"!

Of course, most of the profits of "Star Wars Episode 3" were taken away by Lucasfilm. But even if this part of the benefits is included, it may not be much higher than the profit of "Ice Age 2"!

Disney spent more than 2 billion U.S. dollars to acquire Sillywood Animation Studio from New Universal. You must know that Sillywood Animation only made a well-received "Bone Treasure Adventure".

Sillywood animation can sell 2 billion US dollars, what is the current valuation of Blue Sky Studio?

Let alone $4.5 billion!

This valuation is higher than that of Lucasfilm!

The great success of "Ice Age 2" has brought great joy to Tom Rothman. He really thinks that Chris Wedge is an animation talent, as famous as Jeffrey Katzenberg and John Last !

In this situation, it is definitely necessary to maintain the stability of Blue Sky Studio and maintain the inherent management and creative team.

As for Chris Meledandri, the chairman of the 20th Century Fox animation department... I'm sorry, I can only leave.

No one in the industry is surprised by Tom Rothman's decision.

Hollywood is a content industry.

Creators should be more important than managers.

But, is Chris Meledandri really just a Barry Mayer-style executive?

Big mistake!

Twain, the foresight, saw everything very clearly!

With the success of "Ice Age 2", the industry seems to be full of praise for Chris Wedge's achievements, praising him as an animation master alongside Jeffrey Katzenberg and John Last.

But in fact, is this really the case?

In the previous life, after 20th Century Fox fired Chris Meledandri, the animation industry quickly fell into a decline, and it got worse and worse.

The efficiency of Blue Sky Studio was getting lower and lower, and later it fell into a state of loss.

In the past few years, it was still able to rely on the "Ice Age" series to support it, relying on the money earned from this series to make up for the losses of other new animated films.

Until "Ice Age 5", the audience finally didn't buy it. The cost of the film was US$110 million, and the North American box office was only US$65 million.

The last trump card of Blue Sky Studios also fell!

It's over!

Later, Disney acquired 20th Century Fox at a sky-high price of more than 70 billion U.S. dollars. How to deal with Blue Sky Studios?

layoffs!

95% of the employees of Blue Sky Studio are all facing careers, and the remaining 5% of the elite are included in Pixar and Disney studios in batches.

Blue Sky Studios is at risk of closing its doors, and Chris Welch's animation career is over.

What about Chris Meledandri, who left 20th Century Fox?

He chose to start a new business!

He founded the Illumination Entertainment Animation Studio. In the following years, popular cartoons such as "Despicable Me", "The Secret Life of Love", "Minions with Big Eyes", and "The Voice of Joy" were sold all over the world.

The rapid rise of Illumination Entertainment is in stark contrast to the decline of Blue Sky Studios.

Chris Meledand used practical actions to slap those who looked down on him in the first place.

There are three animation gods in Hollywood?

indeed so!

Jeffrey Katzenberg and John Last are undisputed to occupy two of the spots, and the other spot is not Chris Wedge, but Chris Meledandri!

Under the atmosphere of funny DreamWorks animation, warm Pixar animation, and cool Disney animation, Chris Meledandri struggled to survive in the cracks, and finally found the territory of lighting entertainment - cuteness!

Relying on cute cartoons, Illumination Entertainment has risen rapidly.

Together with Pixar Animation and Disney Animation, they form the Big Three of the new Hollywood animation forces.

Cartoons are really profitable.

The total peripheral value of the six "Star Wars" is more than 10 billion U.S. dollars, and the peripheral output value of one of Pixar's "Cars" exceeds 5 billion U.S. dollars.

It makes sense that Blue Sky Studios is currently valued higher than Lucasfilm.

Twain would definitely not let a talent like Chris Meledandri go.

He has been following it for several years.

Now, the power struggle of 20th Century Fox's animation department is so big, it gave Twain an opportunity.

"How about Meledandri?" Dunn asked.

Tosca Musk said: "It's not clear yet. But... it is said that he doesn't want to leave Fox. After all, he has worked there for ten years and brought the animation business of Twentieth Century Fox to its peak. He has achieved such great achievements. Success, he is not willing to leave."

Tang En said: "Yeah, who would be willing? However, he will definitely leave. I know Tom Rothman, and his style is very cautious. There was a big change in management.”

After all, Chris Wedge is the founder of Blue Sky Studios, and most of its employees are his direct descendants. Once Tom Rothman chooses Chris Meledandri, there will definitely be a large number of employees leaving with Chris Wedge, which will plunge Blue Sky Studios into turmoil.

Tosca Musk said: "In the short term, he will definitely fight for it. If the power struggle fails...it will take a long time to process the contract. It will take a long time to invite him to join New Universal time."

Tang En said: "No matter what, send someone to get in touch with him first! Invite him to join New Universal!"

Tosca Musk frowned, "How do you want to arrange him?"

New Universal does not have an animation department. Its two animation studios, Pixar and Lego Animation, are headed by John Last and Tosca Musk. In name, it belongs to the Film and Television Entertainment Department, but in fact it has a high degree of freedom and is directly responsible to Tang En.

If a chairman of the animation department is arranged to take charge of the two animation studios, wouldn't that put a curse on their heads?

Who agrees?

John Last certainly disagrees!

Jobs didn't care about him back then, and Tang En didn't care about him. Suddenly, a deserter from 20th Century Fox came to manage him. Is it possible?

Tosca Musk is even less likely.

She is the assistant to the chairman and enjoys the level and treatment of the vice president of the group.

Can a small chairman of the animation department manage her?

Twentieth Century Fox's mistake, Twain will definitely not make it. He waved his hand and said, "Blue Sky Studio succeeded, but he failed. We want to provide him with an opportunity to prove the success of Blue Sky Studio." It's because of him, not the so-called Chris Wedge!"

Tosca Musk opened his eyes wide and understood what, "You mean... also set up an animation studio for him, each in charge of his own, without interfering with each other?"

Tang En smiled and said: "Of course! When the time comes, the three major animation studios under New Universal will compare and see who is more powerful! But in my opinion... your LEGO animation is the most unreliable."

Tosca Musk's face darkened, "You look down on me?"

"It's not that I look down on you, it's that they are too powerful." Tang En shook his head and pondered for a while, "It's really impossible. When Lego Studio is almost done, we can offer a price and sell it to others."

Lego is a toymaker, Hasbro is a toymaker, and these two are competitors.

Now, both Lego and Hasbro have cooperation with New Universal, and there will definitely be some conflicts. Especially after the "Transformers" movie is popular all over the world, Hasbro will definitely protest.

It doesn't matter, it's a big deal to sell.

Sillywood Animation was sold to Disney for more than $2 billion.

Lego Animation can be sold to Warner Bros., and the price is not too bad.

...

"Mulan" was released, and the North American box office reached 44 million US dollars in the first week, which is not too bad.

According to this trend, the North American box office can reach 100-120 million US dollars.

This is higher than Tang En imagined.

After all, this is a blockbuster film with an all-Chinese cast.

But the box office in China is too high.

The box office directly exceeded 100 million in the first week, breaking the box office records of all Chinese movies!

Jeter Lee, Gong Li, Miss Zhang, Zhen Zidan and other Chinese stars starred in this Chinese blockbuster.

Coupled with China Film's promotion and promotion, it became extremely popular and became the most popular movie during the Spring Festival.

Three weeks after its release, the box office of "Mulan" in China has exceeded 200 million yuan!

You know, last year's mainland box office champion "The Promise" had a box office of 180 million, and the runner-up "Mythology" was only 97 million.

The most important film of the China-US cooperation this time, it is no surprise that it has achieved great success!

How much money you make is actually secondary.

The key is to have enough influence!

Especially in China and the United States, the popularity is very high, and that's enough!

The political role has been achieved.

Having tasted the sweetness of Sino-US cooperation, on this day, New Universal received another co-production application from China Film, which was adapted from a true story.

In 1990, Iraq invaded Kuwait. The war was about to break out, and China immediately dispatched naval forces to launch an evacuation operation. After experiencing all kinds of complicated and dangerous incidents, the Chinese navy finally successfully evacuated 4,885 overseas Chinese from the war in Kuwait within 48 hours.