Chapter 263 The dust has settled
Chapter 263 The dust has settled
Wang Hao's words against Amy Pascal and Avi Arad are not without reason.
In his previous life, before he became famous, these two people cooperated with each other and created an "Amazing Spider-Man" series for Sony Pictures.
However, anyone who has seen this movie will definitely be wondering.
The youthful "Amazing Spider-Man" does not have any big-name stars and there is only one villain, but its cost is only slightly lower than the 3 million yuan of "Spider-Man 2.5" and more expensive than the 2.25 million yuan of "Avengers" in the same year. The special effects are not much higher. Where did the money go?
It’s very simple, because Sony Pictures is very rich!
Ever since Sony spent $1989 billion to buy Columbia Pictures, one of the eight major Hollywood film studios, in 34, officially entering Hollywood on behalf of Japan, the future of this foreign-funded enterprise has been paved with money.
After all, at that time, the arrogant Japanese claimed that they could buy the entire United States, and the wealthy Sony Corporation, in order to demonstrate its "national self-esteem", spent money lavishly on making movies after taking over Columbia Pictures.
In those years, works such as "Men in Black", "Jumanji", and "Air Force One" were all synonymous with big productions. The soaring budgets of these films shocked even Hollywood, which has always regarded luxury as a virtue.
However, those listed here are just a few successful cases of Sony Pictures with good returns, and there are countless more failed big productions.
It is not entirely true to say that these big productions and large investments are due to Sony Group’s arrogance and wealth.
After all, Japan’s bubble era only lasted until 91.
After that, Japan's economy began to go downhill, and the financial situation of Japanese companies such as Sony also began to become tight.
Under such circumstances, it is extremely abnormal for Sony Group to continue to increase its investment in the film industry.
Especially in 1994, Sony lost 32 billion US dollars in one quarter alone, becoming the largest loss case of foreign investors in the United States.
Even so, Sony Pictures still doesn't stop. If you say that everyone inside is a fool, Wang Hao would be the first one who doesn't believe it.
So what is the reason why Sony Pictures continues to spend lavishly despite years of losses?
After ruling out the most unlikely reason and combining it with his observations after contacting Sony Pictures, Wang Hao made a bold guess.
Perhaps Sony, as a Japanese company, has never been integrated into Hollywood.
Even if they bought Hollywood film and television companies, the main people in charge would still be Americans like Amy Pascal.
For these people, they should spend Sony's money as much as they can and make as much money as they can, because the losses are not theirs anyway.
As for the reputation in the circle, it’s just a joke. It’s just a scam for the Japanese. If you kick your own dog a few times, will anyone say anything?
But they can do such things, but they can't say them. Even if they are true, they can't say them.
So when Wang Hao spoke, it was equivalent to putting the unspoken rules on the table. Sony's white executives like Amy Pascal and Avi Arad naturally looked extremely unhappy.
However, since Wang Hao decided to cooperate with Sony, he had considered everything beforehand.
Of course, at that time he didn't know about the twists and turns within Sony Pictures.
But it is easy to imagine that in the entire Hollywood, Sony Pictures is the only Japanese company. According to the wisdom of our Chinese ancestors, of course they have to unite the weak to defeat the strong.
After coming into contact with Sony Pictures and learning about its internal factional struggles, Wang Hao knew even more clearly which side he should stand on.
"boom!"
Amy Pascal slammed the table and was about to explode when Keita Miyamoto, who had been silent, finally spoke up. "Ms. Pascal, this is a meeting!
I think Director Wang’s plan is very good and is a reasonable suggestion from the perspective of Sony Pictures.”
He nodded to Wang Hao and continued:
“Whether these two projects are feasible and which one we should choose is something we will discuss later.
But when it comes to the position of chief planner for Spider-Man Cinematic Universe, I think Director Wang Hao is fully qualified for the job.”
After Keita Miyamoto expressed his opinion, the next person to speak was Katsumi Ihara, who is also from Japan.
The reasons given by the Sony Group's chief financial officer have added extremely important leverage to Wang Hao's appointment.
"As you all know, since Howard Stringer took over as CEO of Sony Group, he has been promoting a cost-cutting and efficiency-enhancing strategy.
And as Director Wang Hao just said, the current North American financial market is facing a huge storm, which will inevitably affect Sony Group's business in the future.
Therefore, the head office has made a decision that the financial support for Sony Pictures will be gradually reduced in the next few years.
At this point, I think Director Wang Hao’s plan may be more suitable for Sony Pictures’ future business direction.”
It is said that if you want to control a company, you must first control the purse and then control the personnel.
Now that Sony Group’s chief financial officer has said so, it seems that Wang Hao is really the only option for Sony Pictures, which will no longer have large amounts of financial support to sustain its losses in the future.
At least many centrist senior leaders at the scene began to lean towards Wang Hao and Miyamoto Keita, and in the subsequent raising of hands to express their opinions, they also voted for Wang Hao.
In the end, the minority obeyed the majority, and Wang Hao became the project chief planner of Sony Pictures' "Spider-Man Cinematic Universe" with more than two-thirds of the votes.
Of course, this is just an internal appointment at Sony for now. It will not be announced to the public until the new Spider-Man movie begins its early project promotion.
By then, Wang Hao’s joining will surely make everyone drop their jaws.
However, amid the sparse applause and the ugly expressions of Amy Pascal and others, Wang Hao expressed his thoughts on the position in advance.
As for the contract, Wang Hao would have to let someone take a look at it after Sony Pictures' legal department drafted it. How could he sign the contract now?
But even if the contract is not signed, everything has been settled.
After the meeting, Amy Pascal and others left the scene without looking back. As for Keita Miyamoto, he stayed with Wang Hao and introduced him to the centrists among the executives of Sony Pictures one by one.
After greeting these people and exchanging business cards, Wang Hao discussed with this collaborator in Keita Miyamoto's office for a while and determined the follow-up plans before leaving Sony Pictures.
During this process, Keita Miyamoto actually wanted to invite him to his home for dinner.
However, it was still early, and Wang Hao didn't want to wait that long, so he temporarily declined the family dinner.
As for what you will do after leaving Sony Pictures?
When you come to Hollywood, of course you have to enjoy different services.
In order to achieve excellence, the two chapters will be combined into one. At the same time, the update time is too late in the early morning, so it will be adjusted to 10 pm in the future.
(End of this chapter)