Chapter 317: Disney's Choice

At the end of September, Bellman called and said that the talk with Disney was almost done, and they agreed in principle to the tiered revenue-sharing model.

And he said that Disney CEO Robert Iger wanted to talk to Cao Yang in person.

Cao Yang thought about it and agreed.

After getting off the plane in Los Angeles, Bellman was already waiting for him.

"What's going on with Warner Bros.?"

Cao Yang got into Bellman's car, not asking about Disney first, but asking about Warner Bros.

It wasn't that Cao Yang wanted to cooperate with Warner Bros., but just pure curiosity about Warner Bros.

At first, it seemed that Warner Bros. was full of sincerity. They were very interested in *Gravity*, which had a production cost of over 100 million USD, and even suggested raising the production cost to 150 million USD.

Additionally, regarding *Gravity*, they offered a 10% total box office share right off the bat, which was quite sincere.

It's just that what Cao Yang found strange was that Bellman had been talking for so long, but *Batman* from Warner Bros. had some progress, while *Gravity* had no progress.

"I learned through internal personnel at Warner that the one who wants to invest in *Gravity* is their vice president, Ian Howard, who also manages Warner's production work and has great power.

Supporting the shooting of *Batman* is Jeff Robinov, who leads Warner's distribution work and part of the production work, and is the number two figure at Warner Bros."

Bellman briefly explained the situation at Warner Bros. and said again: "It is said that Time Warner has questions about the production cost of *Superman Returns* and is investigating this matter.

Ian Howard, as the vice president in charge of the production department, bore the brunt of it. He has been busy and overwhelmed during this time, so he hasn't been paying much attention to *Gravity*."

So that's it.

Cao Yang nodded. No wonder *Gravity*, which had the most hope of reaching cooperation, had no movement.

Ian Howard is indeed awesome. A production cost of 270 million USD for *Superman Returns*—anyone who sees this film would have questions, okay?

Cao Yang had a little expectation before for what *Gravity* with 150 million USD could be shot like. It doesn't seem very reliable.

Sometimes Americans are really fucking dark when they get dark.

"Will Ian Howard be in trouble?"

Cao Yang asked curiously.

"How is that possible."

Bellman said with a smile while driving:

"Warner Bros. isn't decided by Ian Howard alone. Above him is CEO Barry Meyer. Maybe Jeff Robinov will even help Ian Howard on this matter.

The result of the investigation will definitely be that everything is reasonable and legal, and every penny has a source. However, this counts as a warning. The leadership of Warner Bros. won't be so unscrupulous for a period of time."

"Oh."

Cao Yang nodded. It turned out to be a "gang" crime.

Also, in a company, even if a person has great power, they definitely can't do this so blatantly. To put it bluntly, these people are just senior employees. Even if it's the CEO, the power in their hands isn't unlimited.

But as long as these senior managers collude, it's different. There are too many things they can do "reasonably and legally."

Fine, Cao Yang didn't know the purpose of Warner Bros.' senior management doing this. Maybe they were doing it for the better development of the company.

Departing from Los Angeles International Airport, after more than forty minutes, Bellman drove Cao Yang to the house in Arcadia, east of Los Angeles.

Cao Yang rested for a day. The next day, at the agreed location, Cao Yang met Disney CEO Robert Iger.

According to the news Bellman gave, Robert Iger is considered a "native" Disney person.

After graduating from university, he joined the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) under Walt Disney and worked there for more than twenty years.

Until last year, which was 2005, Disney CEO Michael Eisner was driven away, and Robert Iger took over his position, becoming the new CEO.

Robert Iger made big moves after taking office. Just in January this year, he presided over the acquisition of the famous Hollywood Pixar Animation Studios, spending about 7 billion USD.

However, Disney is not the behemoth of Hollywood in the future yet. They didn't have that much cash flow, so they used the stock exchange method to acquire Pixar Animation Studios.

Disney used 13% of its shares to acquire Pixar Animation.

This also made the actual controller of Pixar Animation, Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, become the largest individual shareholder of Disney in one fell swoop, possessing a little over 6% of Disney shares.

Before Disney acquired Marvel, live-action films were always relatively lagging. They were more famous for animated films.

So acquiring Pixar Animation, a new upstart in the field of animated films, can be considered a strong combination.

However, in Robert Iger's plan, live-action films are also an important part of development, especially films with Disney's distinct characteristics, which have even more symbolic significance.

This is also why Robert Iger, seeing that comic-adapted films have a trend of exploding today, felt that Disney has so many classic animations and amusement projects, so can they also be adapted into live-action films?

After careful consideration, he felt that the *Pirates of the Caribbean* project launched by his predecessor Michael Eisner and gold-medal producer Jerry Bruckheimer was relatively representative.

The *Pirates of the Caribbean* adventure game project is very suitable for adaptation into a live-action film, making people know it's Disney at a glance.

It's a pity that this project was messed up.

Since gold-medal producer Jerry Bruckheimer didn't work, then find a more successful filmmaker.

Robert Iger decided to reboot this project and set his sights on a "more" successful filmmaker in Hollywood.

After layers of screening, he even eliminated top Hollywood big shots like Spielberg.

The reason is that Spielberg was very successful before, but in recent years, the quality of his films has been a bit unsatisfactory, and the quality decline is a bit serious.

More importantly, Spielberg is one of the bosses of DreamWorks Animation, and he is considered a competitor with Disney and Pixar Animation, so cooperation is unrealistic.

Then, Cao Yang became Disney's best choice.

"Hello, Director Cao Yang."

"Hello, Mr. Robert."

Robert Iger didn't meet Cao Yang in the office, but chose a small conference room that looked like it had a schedule.

"Call me Robert. Friends all call me that. I think we will also become friends, good friends."

After Robert Iger shook hands with Cao Yang, he signaled Cao Yang to sit down.

"Okay, Robert, you can also call me Cao Yang, or call me Cao."

This was the first time Cao Yang met the new head of Disney. Robert Iger gave him the first impression that this person had no airs, and his personality seemed very cheerful.

"Cao, I know this surname. There was a great politician in ancient China called Cao Cao. That was an amazing person. I think you will also become the most amazing director in the world."

Robert Iger knows how to praise people.

"Robert, believe me, you will also become the most successful CEO in Disney's history. You successfully merged Pixar Animation at the beginning of your tenure. This is a very correct decision and has great strategic significance for Disney."

Fine, Cao Yang also knows how to praise people.

Robert Iger laughed, seemingly very pleased with Cao Yang's words.

"Cao, do you know, I want to reboot *Pirates of the Caribbean*? I originally intended to hire Bruckheimer as the producer.

But he was a bit resistant to rebooting this adapted film, saying that even if it's re-shot, even if it's Director Cao Yang, it would be very difficult to succeed. So, I gave him up without hesitation.

I have thought about things carefully, so I definitely won't change my mind because of his words. So, Cao, as a successful filmmaker, a young big director, what do you think of this matter?"

A person who is very aggressive under a cheerful appearance.

This was Cao Yang's second impression of Robert Iger.

"Robert, to tell the truth, before a film is released, even if you do a lot of research, you dare not guarantee that this film will be absolutely successful."

Cao Yang glanced at Robert Iger and continued:

"*Pirates of the Caribbean* failed, but it also had a certain impact. If I take over this film, I will definitely perform major surgery.

Abandoning traditional narrative, putting effort into characters, and shaping a pirate with great personal charm—this is my plan.

But precisely because of the previous impact, I dare not guarantee whether such changes can succeed. To tell the truth, this is the only film I've shot since I started shooting films that I don't have much certainty about. There is too much uncertainty."

Robert Iger nodded. He could understand Cao Yang's words. This wasn't shirking, especially for a director like Cao Yang who hadn't failed yet, it was even more impossible.

The original producer of *Pirates of the Caribbean*, Jerry Bruckheimer, is a famous gold-medal producer in Hollywood. When Robert Iger found him and said he wanted to reboot *Pirates of the Caribbean*, he also said similar words.

A failed film is harder to re-shoot than shooting an original film.

However, on the other hand, if it weren't difficult, as a mature IP, who would be willing to spend a lot of money to find you?

"How much certainty do you have?"

Robert Iger asked.

He believed Cao Yang wouldn't speak nonsense; it still came back to that point: as a director who hadn't failed yet, this reputation was extremely "valuable" in Hollywood.

For example, originally they might give you an 8% box office share, but because you are a director who hasn't failed yet, they might give you a 10% share.

This reputation is worth at least two percentage points.

Actually, Hollywood isn't superstitious about this, but if it were you, an unknown film, but the director is someone who hasn't failed yet, wouldn't you feel more at ease? Wouldn't you have more expectations for this film?

Robert Iger believed that if Cao Yang took over, he would definitely be like him, attaching importance to this rebooted *Pirates of the Caribbean*.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 318 =====