MDS (Midas) Pictures.
It was a film company specializing in film production, distribution, and DVD distribution, located in Burbank, just a street away from the Page Pictures building.
"Mr. Brandon Midas, our Golden Dawn Group has come with sincerity."
Taro Hashimoto looked solemnly at the worried man in front of him.
Brandon Midas, 27 years old this year, was the second-generation heir of MDS Pictures. Five years ago, he took over MDS Pictures from his father. Fresh out of school, he was ambitious, intending to expand the MDS Pictures his father left him.
However!
His ambition was sky-high, but his fate was as thin as paper.
He successively messed up several major projects, causing heavy losses for MDS Pictures.
"Mr. Hashimoto, please let me consider it again. The film library of MDS Pictures is, after all, my father's hard work over many years," Brandon said in a deep voice.
"I understand you!"
Taro Hashimoto said, "But the bank will never understand you and your company. If you don't sell the film library, are you going to sell the company directly? That would truly be letting down your father in heaven."
For a moment, Brandon fell silent.
The pressure from the bank truly made him breathless.
In this day and age, anywhere in the world, if you owe money to the bank, those damned banks will undoubtedly chase after you relentlessly.
Of course, the premise is that your company is in a very bad state.
Otherwise, facing those large, well-developing companies, those banks would be eager for you to borrow more money, even begging you to borrow money.
After a long while.
Brandon spoke, "Mr. Hashimoto, besides the film library, our MDS Pictures also has film distribution channels. We are wondering if our entire company can be sold to your company?"
Selling the entire company?
Haha!
Page Pictures currently doesn't lack distribution channels.
Well, at least not distribution channels in the American region!
"Mr. Brandon, you need to understand one thing: for your MDS Pictures, we are only interested in the copyrights of the 65 films in the MDS Pictures film library. As for the rest, I'm afraid I can't help you," Taro Hashimoto said bluntly.
"..."
Brandon fell silent again.
Two days later.
Brandon, who had received multiple debt collection calls from banks again, finally compromised.
In desperation, he could only sell his film company's film library.
Taro Hashimoto paid 2.8 million US dollars and acquired the ownership of 65 films from MDS Pictures.
In the following days, Taro Hashimoto led his team, constantly traveling between second and third-tier film companies in Hollywood, seeking to purchase film copyrights from their film libraries to enrich Page Pictures' film library.
What?
Why not approach the Hollywood Big Six, you ask?
Haha!
The Hollywood Big Six are all wealthy; they don't lack that bit of money. Furthermore, they are all backed by large media groups, with their own television platforms, home entertainment divisions, and even entertainment cities like Disney and Universal.
They can maximize the use of their vast film copyright libraries.
Every year, those film libraries bring them a stable profit of tens of millions of dollars. So, how could they possibly sell them?
Therefore, Taro Hashimoto could only seek out second and third-tier film companies to collect those film copyrights.
Of course, stores that provide DVD rental services were also one of the important targets.
Blockbuster Group was the largest DVD and video rental and sales chain in America. At its peak, it had 9,000 stores and over 60,000 employees nationwide, with a market value of over 30 billion US dollars.
Of course, Blockbuster wasn't the only chain providing DVD and video rental and sales in America.
In America, there were also countless other DVD and video chains.
But now, Blockbuster dominates, and other companies are trembling, suffocated by the pressure. Bankruptcies, closures, and store reductions are happening every day.
However, you shouldn't underestimate them.
A lean camel is still bigger than a horse; they possess a considerable number of film copyrights and ownerships... By the end of January, Taro Hashimoto and his team had already collected copyrights and ownerships for as many as 1,400 films.
"Boss, the current number of films in our library, even among all Hollywood film companies, is only second to the Hollywood Big Six and MGM, ranking 8th," Taro Hashimoto reported.
Kyle nodded with satisfaction.
However, Kyle also felt a bit of regret.
"These 1,400 film copyrights, while numerous, their quality is truly a headache!" Kyle said with a laugh.
Taro Hashimoto: "Boss, the copyrights of excellent films are all in the hands of major companies, and also Blockbuster. There's not much we can do."
"Hmm, I know you've done your best."
Kyle also had nothing more to say.
If the quality isn't good, make up for it with quantity.
The copyright of an excellent film might be worth tens of millions of dollars.
While the copyright of a low-quality film might only cost a few hundred thousand dollars. Of course, even lower, a few thousand US dollars could secure it.
The expensive ones are prohibitively expensive;
The cheap ones are so worthless that no one would even take them for free;
"It's fine!"
Kyle said loudly, "It doesn't matter if those trash film copyrights don't make money. At least they enrich our film library. Furthermore, we can earn double from DVD manufacturers like Sony and Toshiba in the future."
Kyle didn't feel like he was losing money at all.
You know, the further into the future, the more valuable film copyrights become!
Especially after 2010, when internet online video and streaming media websites emerged, even the copyrights of trash films could bring substantial returns to the company.
Our classmate Kyle would never do a losing business!
"By the way, how much has been spent so far?" Kyle asked.
"Boss, a total of 60 million US dollars has been spent so far. It's not that I don't want to spend the entire 100 million, it's just that many films are too mediocre and completely lack any valuable merit," Taro Hashimoto said with a wry smile.
"Hahaha ~!"
Kyle waved his hand and said, "It's okay, just keep spending money until you've spent all 100 million. Even the trashiest film copyrights will have their time to make money. Go ahead and do it boldly!"
"Yes, boss."
As Kyle said, the copyrights of these trash films also brought extremely generous returns to Kyle in the future.
It could be said to be a huge profit... At the same time.
Paramount Pictures.
CEO Sherry Lansing looked at Jordan and asked, "You said the Golden Dawn Group is aggressively collecting film copyrights. What is their purpose?"
Hearing this, Jordan shook his head.
"Boss, logically speaking, their collection of copyrights from various small and medium-sized companies in Hollywood is intended to enrich their film library, which is understandable for the newly established Page Pictures."
"But!"
"The strange thing is that they are indiscriminate."
"Whether it's the copyrights of excellent films or those of trash films, they don't let any go, which makes me very puzzled."
"After all, the copyrights of those trash films are completely useless."
Jordan said in a deep voice, "Kyle Page is such a cunning person. Logically, he should know that the copyrights of those trash films are useless. But this current situation, I really don't understand."
Sherry Lansing was also extremely puzzled at this moment.
"Hmm~~"
Sherry Lansing pondered, "Alright, don't worry about him for now. Didn't they say Page Pictures has two new movies coming out? Pay more attention to them recently."
"Okay, boss."
Although the collaboration between Paramount and Page Pictures has ended, Paramount still harbors a malicious intent towards Page Pictures, hoping to acquire it someday.