December 22, 2000, Saturday.
By this day, the movie Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone had been showing in major North American theaters for a full week, achieving a box office result of over 125 million USD.
This result was particularly remarkable!
It continued to suppress films like someone like you, the emperors new groove, chocolat, Vertical Limit, and others, dominating the top of the Christmas season charts.
A crowd of Hollywood film companies gnashed their teeth in jealousy, yet they were powerless to stop it.
"I thought about using media publicity to trigger negative reviews to suppress the box office of the Harry Potter movie, but we couldn't do it. Page Pictures' parent company, Golden Dawn Entertainment Group, has gradually grown into a giant media enterprise with broad influence in the America, Europe, and other regions. It's definitely not something that can be easily toppled through the media."
The person saying this was none other than Moonves, an executive at Sony Columbia, one of the Big Six in Hollywood.
Moonves was no ordinary figure.
He was one of the executives at Columbia who had rendered distinguished service. In the future, he would serve as the CEO of CBS Television Station; however, in 2018, he would be dismissed and sued for allegedly taking advantage of his position to harass multiple women.
It wasn't just Moonves who intended to curb the Harry Potter box office; every single one of the Big Six Hollywood companies wanted to target Kyle.
Especially Warner and the Disney Group!
The conflict between the two of them and Kyle wasn't a matter of a day or two; it was a long-standing dispute over interests.
However!
This time, even if they used their respective media capabilities, they could not effectively curb the box office growth of Harry Potter.
Kyle's current power in the media field, while not yet equal to theirs, certainly didn't make him a pushover.
Herta, the Editor-in-Chief of the California Entertainment News, once asked Kyle privately about this matter.
"Aren't you worried that Warner and Disney will use the media to suppress Harry Potter, or even point the finger directly at you personally?" Herta asked.
"I'm really not worried!"
Kyle spread his hands,
Smiling, he said, "I admit, whether it's television, radio, print media, or even the internet, there is indeed a significant gap between Golden Dawn Entertainment Group's media strength and that of Warner and Disney in terms of publicity channels."
"But I can fight them to the bitter end!"
"However, do they dare?"
Undoubtedly, Kyle had hit the nail on the head.
Golden Dawn Entertainment Group was founded by Kyle single-handedly, and its subsidiaries were also established by him. In terms of decision-making power, Kyle could have the final say and suppress all opposing opinions.
Once Warner and the Disney Group used their media power to suppress Kyle on a large scale, Kyle would certainly not sit idly by and would absolutely choose to fight back!
And it would be a counterattack regardless of the cost!
But could Warner and Disney do the same?
No!
Even if the top leaders of both companies agreed, other shareholders and their representatives would never concur. Moreover, both were public companies; once a large-scale war with Kyle began, their stock prices would inevitably be affected.
"Haha, in a word, they can't do a thing to me. At most, they'll use some petty tricks to annoy me. But if they really want to get serious, just let them try—at worst, we'll both go down together," Kyle said firmly.
Herta, the Editor-in-Chief of the California Entertainment News, was immediately amused.
Consequently, after accepting this interview, Herta, as Kyle's die-hard lackey, quickly produced a series of praising and flattering articles, lauding Kyle thoroughly.
Shortly after... someone from the Los Angeles Entertainment News arrived as well.
In their boss's words: "As fellow die-hard lackeys of Mr. Kyle, we can't let the guys at the California Entertainment News hog all the glory."
...Developments unfolded exactly as Kyle had expected; the Big Six Hollywood studios would at most use minor tactics and would never dare to be overly presumptuous.
Thus, the Harry Potter movie continued its triumphant advance!
On this day, following the signing of a 150 million USD exclusive marketing rights deal for beverages with the Coca-Cola Company, Golden Dawn Entertainment Group finalized several more contracts.
And it was multiple contracts at once.
The three World-class toy giants—Mattel, Lego, and Hasbro—paid a huge price for various Harry Potter licenses.
First was Mattel.
Mattel's flagship product was the barbie doll doll!
In the doll market, Mattel's barbie doll and Kyle's bratz dolls dolls were now in an irreconcilable rivalry. Logically, the relationship between the two companies should have been very poor, but there were still business dealings between the enterprises.
Indeed, Mattel was very envious of the various Harry Potter licenses.
After several days of negotiations, Mattel finally finalized a cooperation agreement with Golden Dawn Entertainment Group.
Mattel obtained the image licensing for Harry Potter series pencil cases, school bags, and stationery, paying a price of 30 million USD for a four-year term... Next was Lego.
Headquartered in Denmark, the toy giant Lego is famous worldwide for its toys, in addition to the Lego Movie series.
For example, the World-renowned building block toys were invented by Lego.
In this round of Harry Potter peripheral licensing, Lego obtained the manufacturing rights for magic hats, magic wands, and magic supplies.
Of course, the price paid was also not cheap, totaling 45 million USD... Finally, there was Hasbro.
Hasbro's transformers, toy soldiers, G.I. Joe, and other toys are naturally World-famous, and their toy images have been made into movies many times.
For example, the transformers movie series.
This time, Hasbro successfully secured the manufacturing rights for Harry Potter series plastic action figures, with the licensing fee reaching a full 100 million USD!
In the office, Chief Assistant Alexander said with a beaming smile, "Boss, this time, from just the three peripheral licenses of stationery, magic supplies, and character action figures, we've netted 175 million USD! Tsk tsk, Harry Potter is truly a goose that lays golden eggs."
Kyle nodded happily.
Wasn't it just!
Well, to be precise, Harry Potter was a gold mine.
In the original timeline, Warner brought in 7 billion USD in revenue from Harry Potter peripheral licensing in just ten years, with a net profit of at least 4 billion USD.
In fact, Kyle's own toy factory could produce stationery, magic supplies, clothing, and other peripheral products even without cooperating with toy companies like Mattel, Lego, and Hasbro.
However, such production capacity was far too low and could not maximize profits. Therefore, Kyle naturally chose to make money together with them; besides, keeping all the profits for oneself would lead to being ganged up on.
That was how it was now!
If it were back when he first crossed over, Kyle was the type who would rather make less money just to keep it all to himself.
"Alexander, notify Victor to finalize the Harry Potter theme park matter with the local government in London, Britain as soon as possible. That is where the real money is,"
Kyle said solemnly.
"Yes, boss!"
Undoubtedly, under Kyle's deliberate planning, the entire industry chain for the Harry Potter full-copyright operation was expanding rapidly.
The speed was staggering!
This would be a ten-year plan! Just as Charlie, the Editor-in-Chief of the New York Times, speculated, the value of the entire Harry Potter industry chain—from books, movies, and peripherals to theme parks—would reach 100 billion USD, or even 200 billion USD, becoming a miracle in the film industry.
And Kyle, as one of the beneficiaries, would naturally occupy the most delicious slice of this magnificent cake.