Chapter 316: Disintegration

Last year, Jobs was diagnosed with a "pancreatic tumor." Fortunately, this tumor was a "pancreatic neuroendocrine tumor," which could be cured with timely surgery. This was the standard treatment method for the disease, and surgery could greatly increase the patient's survival period.

However, no one expected that such a person known for high-tech, a person whose thinking was above the upper echelons of modern civilization, would actually think surgery wasn't the best plan, because Jobs was a devout Buddhist!

As early as the summer of 1974, Jobs had gone on a pilgrimage to India barefoot and in rags, and he had insisted on being a vegetarian for many years. Precisely because of this, Jobs refused the most timely surgery on the grounds that "I don't allow any part of my body to be discarded, and I really don't want them to cut open my body; I think that's a serious violation of me." Instead, he tried to treat it with diet therapy, a strict vegetarian diet, and various mysterious Eastern powers, such as Indian cow dung capsules, mediums, and Chinese acupuncture and herbal medicine.

After tossing and turning for 9 months, Jobs checked again and found that not only was the cancer not cured, but on the contrary, the tumor in his body was growing larger and larger, and it had already begun to metastasize.

By now, Jobs finally accepted reality and planned to have surgery to remove it. But compared to removing only the pancreas 9 months ago, he also had to remove parts of his gallbladder, stomach, and small intestine. Undoubtedly, this surgery carried risks.

Jobs said to Wu Yuchen: "Wu, I'm about to have surgery, and this time the risk will be very high. I'm thinking, I should sell Pixar for a good price. In case there's any accident, I want my family to be guaranteed."

"Moreover, for Pixar, Disney is already the best choice. No company is better at promotion and operation of animation than Disney."

Hearing Jobs' words, Wu Yuchen also understood his mood.

Although he knew that if it followed the development of his past life, Jobs should have successfully overcome the difficulty this time, he still showed a somewhat sad expression: "Steve, I didn't expect your condition to deteriorate so quickly. I sincerely hope you can recover your health!"

Then Wu Yuchen turned and said: "In this situation, I can very much understand your desire to sell Pixar. However, if you ask me to stand from a purely objective perspective and with a professional eye, I suggest you wait a bit longer."

"Hmm?" Jobs waited for Wu Yuchen's explanation.

"Steve, you should know that the market for animated movies has never been small. In my eyes, Pixar is the best animation studio in Hollywood, and even the world, right now. Even DreamWorks, which made the blockbuster *Shi Laike*, is a notch below Pixar."

"So, standing from this perspective, you really don't need to be in a hurry. Pixar can completely wait for a good price, and it should be Disney that is in a hurry."

Jobs looked thoughtful upon hearing this.

Afterward, Wu Yuchen asked Jobs again: "Steve, I heard that Pixar is producing a new animation, is it about Superman?"

Jobs nodded and said: "Yes, *The Incredibles*, it's almost finished and will be released at the end of the year."

"I think you should perhaps wait until *The Incredibles* is released before making a choice."

Wu Yuchen changed the subject and asked again: "Can I ask when your surgery is?"

Jobs replied: "Two weeks later."

Wu Yuchen continued: "If you don't want to wait until the end of the year, then wait for *Shi Laike 2* to be released in a week. It's only a week; this should be able to serve as a reference for you."

Jobs revealed a smile on his face upon hearing this: "I think you're right, it's only a week. I will pay attention to *Shi Laike 2*. Thank you for your suggestion, Wu!"

Wu Yuchen smiled and said: "It's nothing, Steve. I believe your surgery this time will definitely be successful."

Jobs smiled, then asked curiously: "Wu, then will you consider choosing to sell Miracle Pictures?"

Wu Yuchen smiled and shook his head upon hearing this, and asked Jobs in return: "Steve, would you think Apple would head toward failure under your leadership?"

"Of course not!" Jobs answered very affirmatively.

Wu Yuchen spread his hands and said with a smile: "Look, just as you are so confident in your field, I am the same in mine. Miracle Pictures will only become more valuable in my hands!"

Jobs laughed loudly upon hearing this: "Wu, you're right, we are the same kind of guys!"

In early May, *Spider-Man 2* arrived, and in its first weekend, it bombed with a box office of $138 million, even surpassing the first one. The media also gave quite a few good reviews, especially on the design of the villain, Doctor Octopus. Of course, the protagonist was still Peter Parker, and the little spider swept the world again.

A few days later, *Shi Laike 2*, which Jobs was paying attention to, was released. This animation chose to premiere on Wednesday. With a box office of $20 million on Wednesday and Thursday, word-of-mouth fermented, and the box office broke $100 million in the first three days of the weekend, achieving a good result of $130 million in 5 days of release. You know, the lifespan of an animated movie is longer than that of a live-action movie. The industry predicted that this *Shi Laike* sequel would achieve a box office result of at least $700 million.

After Jobs saw the box office of *Shi Laike 2*, he decided to follow Wu Yuchen's suggestion, pause the negotiations with Disney, wait until *The Incredibles* was released and achieved success at the end of the year, gain more initiative, and then restart negotiations.

As for whether his surgery this time would be successful, he believed Buddha would protect a devout believer!

Wu Yuchen was also paying attention to Jobs' surgery. After all, this was a worker who was going to help him make a lot of money. Whether Apple could logically become a behemoth with a market value of over $3 trillion would all depend on Jobs in the next few years.

Fortunately, no accidents occurred. On the second day of the surgery, Wu Yuchen received the news on the phone that Jobs' surgery was successful, which also made him breathe a sigh of relief.

Just when Jobs was having surgery, Spielberg's *The Terminal* was also released. Even with his fame as a big director, even with the blessing of big Tang Mu, even with the British rose Zeta-Jones, and even though quite a few media outlets sang praises for the movie, it still couldn't change the fact that it only achieved a low box office of $19.05 million in its first 3 days of the weekend.

Spielberg sighed: "I think my era might really be outdated."

Wu Yuchen comforted him: "*The Terminal* is a movie of a literary type. It will achieve good results with long-term distribution."

Wu Yuchen had an impression that this movie with a production cost of $60 million, eventually relied on the fame of the big director and big Tang Mu. Although the North American box office stopped at $70 million, overseas regions were very supportive, eventually raising the global box office to $200 million.

Spielberg shook his head: "Wu, you don't need to comfort me. Tang Mu and I together only had this first-weekend box office; the numbers say everything. From now on, I will shift more energy to being a producer."

Spielberg felt emotional. He had indeed fallen behind the trend of the times. After all, he would be 60 in two years. Once a person gets old, their sensitivity to some emerging things and the market will inevitably decline, and their creative passion will never be what it was when they were in their prime.

Spielberg looked at Wu Yuchen, who was not yet 30, and felt a strong sigh again. Youth is really good! He had a premonition that with Wu Yuchen's age, the world film industry would be his era for the next 20 years!

Wu Yuchen didn't try to persuade Spielberg much about his statement of wanting to retreat behind the scenes to be a producer. Anyway, it had nothing to do with him; he was just being symbolically polite.

Afterward, Spielberg calmly said an unsettling sentence to Wu Yuchen: "Wu, perhaps DreamWorks is going to fall apart."

Wu Yuchen was full of question marks upon hearing this: "What?? What do you mean DreamWorks is going to fall apart?"

Spielberg crossed his hands together and said somewhat exhaustedly: "David Geffen isn't playing anymore. He has already reached an agreement with Universal to sell DreamWorks Records to Universal."

"Wait, can David decide this kind of thing by himself?" Wu Yuchen asked.

"He can. In fact, when the three of us came together, I was responsible for movies, Katzenberg was responsible for animation, and David Geffen was responsible for music and records. It was very independent in itself. We all had decision-making power in our respective fields. But now the record industry is at sunset; the impact of the Internet on records is too great. Katzenberg no longer intends to continue wasting energy; he chose to quit and enjoy life."

Hearing this, Wu Yuchen was also somewhat emotional. Back then, these three top figures in their respective fields came together to form DreamWorks, shocking the entire Hollywood. Several major studios even united to suppress them secretly.

And now, David Geffen selling DreamWorks Records and choosing to quit meant that DreamWorks was beginning to disintegrate. This was what the big studios wanted to see most. David Geffen's departure would inevitably hit the morale of the other two. Would they continue to persist?

If they couldn't persist, then they could only choose to sell assets. This was a good time for the big studios to start swallowing and harvesting.

Wu Yuchen immediately asked Spielberg: "Steve, what about you? What are your plans?"

After hearing Spielberg's depressed sigh just now, Wu Yuchen had a bad premonition. He was worried that Spielberg would also sell DreamWorks Pictures.

Spielberg smiled and said to Wu Yuchen: "Wu, to be honest, if it weren't for you and the *Pirates of the Caribbean* series, perhaps I would also consider quitting."

Wu Yuchen breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing this. Spielberg saying this meant he didn't intend to sell the company.

In his past life, DreamWorks Pictures sold itself to Paramount for $1.6 billion next year, in 2005. But now, because of the *Pirates of the Caribbean* series, Spielberg couldn't bear to let go. After all, just this one movie series could earn back all the money lost by all other projects and still have a surplus. This damn thing is a cash cow!

Afterward, Wu Yuchen asked again: "What about Katzenberg? What's his reaction?"

Spielberg smiled and said: "*Shi Laike 2* achieved such good results, he is full of fighting spirit now! DreamWorks Animation will be listed independently this year, and Katzenberg also wants to chat with you."

Wu Yuchen revealed a puzzled look: "Chat with me?"

"Yes, he wants to chat with you about a new project for DreamWorks Animation."

"Hey, Wu! What do you want to have? Coffee? Tea? Or juice?" Katzenberg's big bald head was shiny, and the light flashing made Wu Yuchen feel that he was in a very good mood.

"A cup of tea, thank you~ Jeffrey, I heard from Steve that you were looking for me?" Wu Yuchen also got straight to the point.

Katzenberg served Wu Yuchen a cup of black tea and then smiled: "Yes, I want to chat with you about our new project because this is a project full of Chinese elements, with Chinese landscapes, scenery, and most importantly, pandas!"

Wu Yuchen immediately knew what he was talking about. It was exactly that *Kung Fu Xiong Mao* that became popular all over the world!

The *Kung Fu Xiong Mao* trilogy harvested nearly $2 billion in box office worldwide, accumulated a large number of fans, and was a very successful animated movie series!

"Jeffrey, you want to produce an animated movie with a panda as the protagonist?" Wu Yuchen asked immediately.

"Bingo! Wu, I knew you would guess it as soon as I mentioned it. You are the best director in China. I believe in your vision. Can you give us some suggestions regarding the location shooting for this animation?"

Chinese elements have been very popular in recent years, and the panda, China's national treasure, is even more popular abroad. It really melted a bunch of foreigners and is a must-see for children when they go to the zoo.

Therefore, DreamWorks Animation choosing to produce an animated movie with a panda as the protagonist and full of Chinese elements at this time is really a very good market choice.

However, animation cannot rely purely on the brain to YY; it also needs to refer to real objects as much as possible for creation, such as scenery. That's why Katzenberg came to Wu Yuchen to seek advice.

Wu Yuchen immediately smiled and said: "Of course! There are really many beautiful sceneries in China. I can introduce many to you. No matter what style you want, you can find it in China!"

*Kung Fu Xiong Mao* has a positive and active role in promoting Chinese elements and culture. Wu Yuchen is naturally willing to facilitate it.

"Jeffrey, I am very willing to invite you to be a guest in China. At that time, I will find a guide to take you to visit one by one. And the Chengdu Xiong Mao Base, you must go. That is the home of pandas! You will definitely choose a protagonist that satisfies you!"

Afterward, Wu Yuchen said again: "Jeffrey, do you need me to create a script for you?"

Katzenberg revealed a surprised expression: "Wow! Of course, I can't ask for more! But Wu, can you also do animation scripts?"

"Hehe, don't worry, I know the tastes of children very well~"

At this moment, Wu Yuchen smiled very brightly. He decided to let the country organize some potential animators and let them join the *Kung Fu Xiong Mao* project as consultants to learn the ropes! ===== CHAPTER 317 =====