In April, Xiang Nan started filming "John Wick 2, 3, 4", filming as many as three films in one go, which also brought the series to a successful conclusion.
In addition, he also released rumors that he wanted to change hands of Universal Pictures.
On the one hand, he also has a "Fast and Furious 8". After filming, he will choose to retire. After retiring, he certainly hoped to leave everything alone and be a farmer at home.
On the one hand, Tranquility has no plans to take over, and Ning Jian is still very young, so I don't know how long it will take for her to take over. There is no one to take over, so it is natural to change hands as soon as possible.
As soon as this news came out, it immediately caused a strong commotion in the industry, because no one expected that Xiang Nan would actually change hands of Universal, which really exceeded everyone's expectations.
You must know that Universal Pictures is a chicken that lays golden eggs. Its Marvel Cinematic Universe, Harry Potter Wizarding Universe and Monster Universe are all well-known IPs, with an annual profit of more than six billion US dollars, enough to be compared with Coca-Cola.
Such a company is going to change hands now, and naturally many people hope to get it in their pockets. However, not everyone can afford the money.
After all, the market value of Universal Pictures is 220 billion U.S. dollars, and Xiang Nan holds more than 50% of the shares, which is more than 111 billion U.S. dollars. Which company can afford so much cash. Therefore, although fatty meat is delicious, not everyone has such a good appetite.
What's more, Universal Pictures' success depends on Xiang Nan's leadership. Before being acquired by Xiang Nan, Universal Pictures was heavily in debt, with annual losses of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Therefore, after Xiang Nan changes hands, Universal Pictures' profits are bound to decline, and it will definitely not be worth 220 billion U.S. dollars by then. Therefore, everyone also hopes to reduce the price.
In this regard, Xiang Nan made a promise that even though Universal Pictures changed hands, he would continue to serve as the honorary chairman of Universal Pictures. He would be responsible for finalizing the shooting of new films for Universal Pictures every year for at least five years.
In this way, the buyers were given more confidence. In the end, many consortiums sent people to negotiate with Xiang Nanshang. One of the most active is Apple.
Apple is no longer a company that only knows how to sell hardware devices. In fact, software resources are its most profitable business. For example, ITUNES has an annual profit of 15.8 billion US dollars, which is higher than that of Universal Pictures in two years. In addition, Apple TV also provides video subscription services.
So it needs content very much, and Universal Pictures has a huge film library of nearly 10,000 movies, and also has well-known IPs such as the Marvel Movie Universe, the Harry Potter Magic Universe, and the Monster Universe.
Therefore, if Universal Pictures is won, not only can they obtain massive resources, so that they will not be strangled by other content suppliers, but they will also have sufficient self-healing ability.
At that time, Apple will definitely not be weaker than YouTube and Netflix in terms of streaming media. And this will also become another profit point for Apple, so Apple is very interested in it.
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Xiang Nan sent someone to talk to them while making his own movie.
The negotiations went fairly smoothly. After all, one party really wants to sell, and the other party really wants to buy. The only difference is the price and payment method.
Although Apple has a lot of cash now, it still wants to pay in the form of stock plus cash. After all, with more than 100 billion US dollars, it is indeed a bit embarrassing to take it out.
Xiannan said yes.
After all, Apple's stock price is still strong. And he is also one of Apple's major shareholders. As early as the end of the 1990s, before Steve Jobs returned to Apple, he had quietly absorbed nearly 30% of the stock.
At that time, Apple’s market value was only US$6 billion, and 30% of the shares were only US$2 billion. Today, these 30% stocks have risen to nearly 400 billion U.S. dollars, a huge increase of two hundred times.
Xiang Nan bought Universal Pictures back then, but only spent more than three billion US dollars. In the past 20 years, the price has increased by more than 40 times, which is considered a good business.
A large-scale acquisition like this cannot be completed within a month or two. In fact, acquisitions often take several months or even years, and it is not a matter of a day or two for accountants to check the accounts alone.
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In May, "Guardians of the Galaxy 2" was released, telling the story of Star-Lord's murder of his father.
The "Guardians of the Galaxy" series is different from traditional super-English movies. Compared with the bitterness and hatred of other heroes, the heroes of the Guardians of the Galaxy are more funny, so its style is more funny and more interesting.
In addition, director Gunn personally likes nostalgia, so the "Guardians of the Galaxy" series also has a lot of nostalgic eggs.
Sony WALKMAN in the first part, as well as classic songs from the 1970s and 1980s; in the second part, "Knight Rider", David Hasselhoff and Microsoft's ZUNE player.
Therefore, this series of movies, favorite movie fans can't put it down. Movie fans who don't like it scoff at it, and their opinions are very divided.
But even so, there are still more people who like it. That's why "Guardians of the Galaxy 2" has achieved a box office of 280 million US dollars in North America and 860 million US dollars in the global box office. The results are quite impressive.
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In June, Universal Pictures released "Jumanji: Fight to the Peak".
The original version of this movie was not successful. It only earned more than 500 million US dollars at the global box office, which is nearly half of the previous film, and its reputation has also declined sharply.
It fails in many ways, starting with the complete failure of characterization.
In "Game of the Brave: Battle in the Jungle", the school belle becomes a fat man, the bookworm becomes a strong man, the strong man becomes a weak chicken, and the ugly duckling becomes a beautiful woman...Everyone realizes their own shortcomings and strengths through this transformation, Achieved character growth.
And this kind of contrast also created a lot of contradictions and jokes, which enriched the audience's viewing pleasure.
But in "Game of the Brave: Battle to the Peak", although there is a contrast, it is only regarded as a joke. The motives of everyone's characters are inexplicable, and the logic of behavior is completely broken, reducing it to a brainless movie that can only watch special effects.
Secondly, the main line is not clear.
In the first part, the protagonist and the villain are all fighting for gems, and the main line is simple and clear. In the second part, although the levels are one after another, the audience is dizzying, but the level and the task are not closely connected.
Because of this, although the protagonist group encountered many dangers in the process of breaking through the level, the audience could not feel a sense of crisis, and the movie-watching experience was naturally greatly reduced.
Xiang Nan re-arranged these shortcomings.
In the last movie, Xiang Nan left a foreshadowing on the easter egg, the game console that was smashed by the protagonists is recovering by itself. So at the beginning of the movie, the protagonists hear the familiar drumbeat again, and are then sucked into the game again.
Secondly, the main storyline has been rearranged, and the villain is more vicious, more vicious, and more like a big villain. The villain who didn't want to miss the original is simply an idiot.
Through these changes, "Game of the Brave 2" cannot be said to be perfect, but at least it is much better than the original version.