Chapter 171: Diversification of the Group

Los Angeles, Burbank, Charles Capet arrived at his office early in the morning, specifically to check some newspapers' entertainment and business sections.

The entertainment section of the Los Angeles Times had a critic who was not optimistic about Iron Man, speculating that if Iron Man failed, Capet Entertainment would directly abandon Marvel.

Variety and Empire magazine also had filmmakers expressing doubts about Iron Man, a second-tier character from Marvel Comics.

However, Charles was not worried about the outside skepticism of Marvel Studios under the control of Capet Pictures; he was currently more concerned with the slimming plans being carried out by various Hollywood media conglomerates.

Since the 90s, a wave of mergers between media conglomerates and telecommunications companies in Europe and America had created a number of diversified media empires spanning the world.

Television stations, publishing companies, film companies, record companies, chain theaters, advertising companies, etc. had all started their slimming plans in recent years.

After the merger of Time Warner and AOL, they split again and even sold off Warner Music Group, CD and DVD production companies, and Time Warner's book publishing company last year and this year to recover capital.

Viacom split up and sold off its shares in Blockbuster Video, Simon & Schuster publishing company, and so forth.

Disney also sold off over 400 chain stores in North America this year.

It was clear that the early process of diversified development in media conglomerates, characterized by widespread and varied business strategies, faced challenges.

Although the diversified development of groups indeed brought benefits in integrating internal resources, it also increased human resource costs. The coordination of internal resources to serve the interests of individual subsidiaries posed difficulties.

Nonetheless, diversification remained an overarching trend, as long as the industry positioning was well managed.

Hollywood media conglomerates now mainly abandoned industries like manufacturing, publishing, and chain stores, yet retained their supply chains, magazines, and media channels.

However, Capet Entertainment was still relatively small in scale, especially in cable TV, interactive broadcasting, and news media, it was just an infant.

The Huffington Post was currently the first political website controlled by Capet Entertainment. Even though they knew that print media was declining, newspapers were still crucial news mediums.

"Boss," Phyllis Jones knocked and entered Charles' office, seeing him flipping through newspapers with some confusion.

"What are you looking for? Let me help!"

Charles shook his head and arranged the newspapers in front of him, then asked, "What's up?"

"Oh, the application for Iron Man to shoot at Edwards Air Force Base has been approved. The crew will directly enter the base for filming."

The Edwards Air Force Base was located in California, 150 kilometers from Los Angeles, on a dried-up lake bed in the desert. It was the largest air force base in the U.S. and worldwide!

"Okay, both Iron Man and Transformers are critical projects for us right now; they need a lot of high-tech weaponry and large-scale scenes. Having support from the Department of Defense will save us a lot of trouble," Charles replied. "Anyway, the U.S. has so much military funding each year, with a lot of corruption. Supporting Hollywood also comes with dedicated funds."

Phyllis Jones nodded and added, "Our films Little Miss Sunshine and Walk the Line have gotten excellent reviews in the independent film circles. They are strong contenders for the Oscars."

"If Little Miss Sunshine gets a nomination, we need to release the DVDs then. Walk the Line's theatrical run will continue into next year. Remind the producers and directors to attend more film promotional events. To win an Oscar, we can't slack on promotion," Charles said, though he was really focused on the Coen Brothers' No Country for Old Men, which would be released next month.

Little Miss Sunshine and Walk the Line were excellent as well; post-nomination, both theatrical releases and DVD sales would significantly benefit.

Charles thought for a moment and then reminded, "Keep an eye on Lionsgate's Crash, which focuses on America's long-standing issue of racial discrimination. And it's doing well at the box office, grossing $54 million in North America alone, nearly reaching $100 million with international sales. Lionsgate waited until this year to release Crash in the U.S., and now it has both critical acclaim and box office success. It's definitely an Oscar Best Picture contender."

Phyllis Jones understood, "Boss, you suspect Lionsgate will ramp up its Oscar campaigning because they haven't won a Best Picture award yet!"

"Pretty much. I don't mind other companies campaigning for Oscars; I just don't want situations like Miramax's malicious slander and blackmail from before. I can't tolerate such cowardly tactics. If Lionsgate tries Harvey Weinstein's tricks, I'll lose it," Charles stated.

Phyllis Jones nodded, understanding that the warmly therapeutic family film Little Miss Sunshine was also a strong Oscar Best Picture candidate.

Moreover, Capet Pictures had another critically acclaimed film, No Country for Old Men, undergoing test screenings before its public release next month.

Phyllis Jones realized that her boss was aiming for the Best Picture award this year!

"Also, there's news from France that the preparations for La Vie en Rose are going smoothly. Filming should start within the next two months," Phyllis Jones reminded.

Charles rubbed his face, "So, it looks like we'll release it the year after. What's the producer's take?"

"Since it's a romance, the producer believes that releasing it on Valentine's Day will have great promotional value!" said Phyllis Jones as she began to massage Charles' head.

"Boss, didn't you rest well last night?"

Charles had been up late with Scarlett Johansson, there was no way he slept well.

"Valentine's Day, that's reasonable. It could work well for the promo. After releasing in France, we can expand to the rest of Europe," Charles didn't worry much about such details, confident his distribution team had plenty of ideas.

"Alright, go make me an espresso," he said, patting the woman's shapely butt a few times.

Both Phyllis Jones and Dona Williams maintained their figures well with plenty of exercise!

"Okay!" Phyllis Jones complied obediently. Good secretaries like her were rare indeed.

*****

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