"They went to the Warner building yesterday, and today they’re visiting the headquarters of Twentieth Century Fox in Century City."
Inside the chairman’s office at Disney’s headquarters in Burbank, Cook Dick frowned deeply and said to Michael Eisner, "Our people made contact with them, but they rejected our invitation."
Michael Eisner’s fingers tapped slowly on the desk in front of him. "The situation is unfavorable for us."
"It certainly is," Cook Dick considered the feedback from across the Pacific and said, "Initially, our contact with them went smoothly, but everything changed after Ti Warner and News Corporation jointly proposed the Warner-Fox World concept."
Obviously, aside from the Disney the park’s famous brand na, Walt Disney currently couldn’t compete with Ti Warner and News Corp on any front.
"If we lose this project," Michael Eisner also furrowed his brow slightly, clearly having no good solution for breaking through the current predicant, "it will be extrely disadvantageous to Disney’s future and to ours."
Such an investnt is a contest of public relations capabilities and overall strength. In both aspects, Walt Disney is at a disadvantage.
Cook Dick understood this as well and also recognized the significance of the the park project to them.
Today’s Walt Disney Company is no longer the place where Michael Eisner held all the power like ten years ago. The Disney family, led by Roy Disney, has beco the biggest opposition force. With their support and that of so mysterious interest groups Robert Iger has been making moves within the company, bringing considerable trouble.
Ten years ago, they could’ve easily pushed Robert Iger out. But now, with part of the voting shareholders backing him, it’s no longer easy to get rid of him. Moreover, losing Pixar Animation Studios has caused many shareholders to beco extrely dissatisfied with both him and Michael Eisner.
These shareholders’ positions are gradually shifting. Although they still had many supporters, winning over those leaning toward neutrality was now a top priority.
How could they win those people over? Cook Dick knew very well—their stance was simple. Whoever could bring returns to the shares in their hands, they would support.
Looking across North Arica and even the Western world, Walt Disney is rely a newly risen dia group hardly able to compete head-to-head with those long-established companies. With Pixar gone, its most well-known animation division has lost its foundation, its market competitiveness has dropped drastically, and erging markets have beco a lifeline.
That’s why they were aggressively expanding across the Pacific, hoping to fully launch their products there.
But now, this plan was facing serious threats and might even collapse completely.
The chairman’s office fell into a brief silence as Michael Eisner carefully considered how he should respond in the event the Disney the park project fell through.
Very few people knew that his ultimate goal wasn’t just to transform Walt Disney into a world-class dia conglorate. From the mont Roy Disney brought him in during the 1980s, he had been consistently using financing and stock expansion to achieve two goals: raise the capital needed for expansion and dilute the Disney family’s shares.
After twenty years of effort, he had finally created the current situation the Disney family’s stake had dropped below six percent!
Walt Disney was no longer the Disney family’s Disney but Eisner’s stake was just over five percent, so it wasn’t his Disney either.
Many years ago, Michael Eisner had a vision to beco the true owner of a dia empire, like Rupert Murdoch or Sumner Redstone!
To this end, he created a long-term plan, tightly controlling the chairman’s seat at Disney, and used every opportunity from stock expansion to option incentives to obtain as many shares of Disney as possible even creating a plan that would take decades to complete.
But in recent years, this plan had suffered setback after setback, the worst of which was the departure of Pixar Animation Studios. Now, if the the park project failed, it would be a blow no less than or perhaps even greater than losing Pixar.
Faced with this predicant, even soone as tough as Michael Eisner felt a sense of helplessness. He knew exactly who was behind this who was orchestrating and pushing it all. If it were only Duke Rosenberg and Ti Warner, he and Walt Disney could still compete. But now that News Corporation had been brought in, it was clear they didn’t want Disney to have any chance at all.
Just as the rumors in Hollywood said Duke Rosenberg was never just a director. Behind his calm face was a deeply calculating heart.
Strictly speaking, there wasn’t much intense competition between the two sides in the beginning. But Pixar was far too tempting—this piece of cake was big enough to turn anyone against one another. It was perfectly normal business behavior for Duke Rosenberg and Ti Warner to reach for it.
"So we’re just going to give up?"
In Cook Dick’s view, whether it was the situation in Los Angeles or the news coming from across the Pacific, Disney had almost no chance of winning. If they rashly invested more resources, it would be even more unwise. Rather than wasting ti and energy on a hopeless project, it was better to clench their fists and focus all efforts on dealing with the Disney family and Robert Iger, and first stabilize Disney’s internal situation.
But the market on the other side was too big, and the future market potential was too alluring. How could Michael Eisner be willing to just give up? After thinking for a mont, he said, "If sothing could seriously distract Duke Rosenberg and Ti Warner, maybe we’d have a chance to turn the tables."
After all, this involved a massive investnt project. The other side couldn’t possibly make a final decision imdiately. Disney wasn’t without hope.
Cook Dick pinched his chin with one hand, his mind racing. After half a minute, he suddenly proposed, "Duke Rosenberg, Warner Bros., and Marvel Studios have planned a massive project. Iron Man is the beginning of the entire plan. If this beginning encounters trouble..."
He paused slightly, then added, "Why don’t we move Pirates of the Caribbean 2: Dead Man’s Chest up to early May, and use a sequel from a box-office hit series to compete with a brand-new film..."
It was well known that, under normal circumstances, the competitiveness of a sequel from a box-office hit was sothing a new film simply couldn’t match.
But Michael Eisner shook his head in refusal without even thinking about it. "We can’t take any risks with Pirates of the Caribbean. It’s Disney’s only flagship in live-action films. Besides, from the day the sequel was launched, all the publicity has revolved around a July release this year."
His expression gradually turned serious. "Don’t forget, Cook the director of Iron Man is Duke Rosenberg. There aren’t many people in the world nad David Ellison."
Hearing this, Cook Dick could only let out a bitter smile. The towering figure of Duke Rosenberg in Hollywood over the years was just too imposing.
However, there were still people bold enough to challenge him. For example, David Ellison, who had lost miserably on Flyboys, was reportedly actively planning a new project, intending to challenge Duke Rosenberg once again.
"We’re just going to watch them steal the Disneyland project?" Cook Dick asked with great reluctance.
"Watch?" Michael Eisner’s mouth curled into a sneer. "Don’t forget, it was Duke Rosenberg who first reached out and snatched Pixar Studios, and then secretly orchestrated the Warner-Fox World. How could we just sit back and watch them succeed?"
Cook Dick could see now that Michael Eisner already had a plan in mind.
"If they want to escalate the competition," Michael Eisner said in a slightly sinister tone, "then we’ll compete with the most intense thods."
In Hollywood, there were also plenty of tactics that stayed behind the scenes.
Michael Eisner whispered a few words to Cook Dick, who, after leaving the chairman’s office, imdiately pulled out his phone and made several calls in succession.
Duke knew that with Michael Eisner’s personality and style, Walt Disney would definitely retaliate. He also considered the possibility of the other side using underhanded tactics and had taken many precautions.
But that wasn’t the focus of his current work. While busy with Iron Man’s post-production, Duke also extended an invitation to Zuo Shandiao, who had co to Los Angeles with the inspection delegation, inviting him to formally visit his Duke Manor.
"You seem to value him and the market behind him quite a lot?"
In the living room of the eye-shaped villa, Scarlett watched as housekeeper Emma led the servants in busy preparations for a small banquet hall and asked Duke, who was standing nearby, "I’ve seen the overseas reports for Taken and Batman Begins. If converted into U.S. dollars, the box office over there didn’t even reach $50 million, and the actual share received would be even less."
"My dear." Duke gently patted her back. "This is called having an eye on the future."
In the past, he could completely ignore that side, but now the explosion of that market was getting closer and closer. The U.S.-China WTO morandum of understanding on films and other cultural products was about to take effect. It was already ti to seize the market.
While the North Arican market was large, it could no longer show significant growth. The market across the Pacific was undoubtedly the biggest slice of cake in the future.
Indeed, due to various reasons, the film revenue over there heavily depended on box office. But North Arica had also gone through such a stage. Consur habits and awareness among audiences are always cultivated slowly. No market starts out as a mature market.
When the sun moved westward, news ca from the entrance of the manor the car carrying Zuo Shandiao had already entered the estate. As the host, Duke, with Scarlett on his arm, walked to the entrance of the villa.
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