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Lights... Camera... ACTION!!: A Hollywood Quest

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    • Magoose said:
    Hi Magoose here one of the guys helping Duke.

    So we have some bad news.

    The quest has been canceled as duke does not want to write it anymore.

    I'm going to ask if I can take over for it, because I like this quest, and it would be a shame to kill it
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    TBF, Mags, you have been doing a lot of the heavylifting for the quest, so this will be in good hands. :)

    To be clear to everyone, this is just me burning out on imagination of the quest, since my muse has been hitting me over the head a lot with so many different ideas that I just can't find myself too interested in this.

    I'll still hang out here, though, since this still does have a sepcial place in my heart.

    I'd like to thank you all for making this a wonderful experience while it lasted.

    I'd also like to thank @Magoose, @Fluffy_serpent, and @Martin Noctis for doing so much to help prepare and write this quest. I couldn't have done it without you all. :D

    I'll see you all around.

    With so many regards, Duke William Of.
     
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    • Plan Clean Sweep is financially a terrible plan.

    Note that it is bidding as a starting bid 2x the minimum for DC comics, 3x the minimum for Warner Animation, and then up to 60 million for Dirty Harry and THX. For a total of $350 million (as a starting bid) + Up to 60 million.. With no Cap. We could severely overpay for DC comics and Warner Animation.
     
    Magoose said:
    []DC Comics: The Heart of the Big Two of the comic industry of America, one of the pillars of Pulp… when they are solely focused on superheroes that is. It is just as much a part of mainstream American culture as everyone else. And among all the others, it has a catalog of some of the most famous superheroes in the world. And everyone is wanting a piece of it. (Minimum bid on the DC Comics must begin at 100 million. Gains the production of Superman, one of the last films Warner is making before it fully disbands. As well as their comics division)
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    Anyone even know what warner was worth irl at this time? I have a hard time seeing any company outside of marvel taking comics seriously and seeing it as not a waste of money at this time. especially pre any historical dc movie no COMIC movie releases.

    also dc is just a small part of warner bros discovery that basically no one should care about. 100 million sounds insane
     
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    Even if I am a proponent of not buying (much) more franchises, we should at the least make a bid for them if only to drive up the price a bit and make it hurt them in the wallet just that slightest bit more.


    [X] Plan Looney Lucas
     
    Tackyseven said:
    Anyone even know what warner was worth irl at this time? I have a hard time seeing any company outside of marvel taking comics seriously and seeing it as not a waste of money at this time. especially pre any historical dc movie release
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    Superman and Batman are still cultural icons at this point in time world wide. The Superman radio show, the Batman 60s tv show, even outside the comics, there's a lot of brand awareness. That in itself has value.

    MysteryCPU said:
    Plan Clean Sweep is financially a terrible plan.

    Note that it is bidding as a starting bid 2x the minimum for DC comics, 3x the minimum for Warner Animation, and then up to 60 million for Dirty Harry and THX. For a total of $350 million (as a starting bid) + Up to 60 million.. With no Cap. We could severely overpay for DC comics and Warner Animation.
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    You're right that's fair. I didn't realize how much extra cost this plan has. How about this instead:

    [X] Plan Fiscally responsible Clean Sweep
    -[X]DC Comics: The Heart of the Big Two of the comic industry of America, one of the pillars of Pulp… when they are solely focused on superheroes that is. It is just as much a part of mainstream American culture as everyone else. And among all the others, it has a catalog of some of the most famous superheroes in the world. And everyone is wanting a piece of it. (Minimum bid on the DC Comics must begin at 100 million. Gains the production of Superman, one of the last films Warner is making before it fully disbands. As well as their comics division). Bid $110 million.
    -[X]Warner Animation (The Loony Toons): The Classic Looney Toons characters are all a packaged deal, just as they were when Schlesinger studios was bought up by Warner when he came in. There is no doubt about it, they are among the most popular cartoon characters in the world. And they carry with them the price tag of success. (Minimum bid on The Loony Toons must begin at 50 million. Gain all the Loony Toons characters, and the rights to their shorts, TV show, and other marketing and promotional material.) Bid $100 million for a starting bid.
    -[X]Dirty Harry: Clint Eastwood crowning Jewel of Urban crime drama, as well as the best action movie in years. It's more of a personal favor for Clint to get his baby back into his hands. And the fact he may owe you a great many favors. Bid 40 million.
    -[X]THX 1138: George has said that he wants his film back, and wants to give it the release it deserves. Also, you think he deserves a nice gift when he comes back from Vacation? Bid 60 million.
    --[X] Pump $100 Million into the Lucasfilms Warchest

    This brings us down to $270 million, which becomes $170 because we're pumping money into the warchest. If we lose out on DC, at least we made it cost a bit more to the people who do take it.
     
    [X] Plan Fiscally responsible Clean Sweep

    Guess I'll change my vote for a safer version of it.
     
    [X] Plan Get Em' Cheap if We Can...If Not Bleed Universal
    -[X]DC Comics: Up to 200 million
    -[X]Warner Animation (The Loony Toons): Up to 100 million
    -[X]Dirty Harry: Up to $60 million
    -[X]THX 1138: Up to $10 million (Call George if it goes above this and see how strongly he feels. If it is strong, we can go up to $30 million).
    -[X] Pump money into Lucasfilm from Bruce to cover 50% of cost up to $150 million.

    My thought going in to this is that we should at least put some bid in DC comics so that the company that if another company buys it (such as Universal) then they are going to have to pay more. Bleed them a little. And, if we get it at 150% 200% of minimum, that's not a bad purchase. Note that Superman in 1978 made 300.5 million (with a 55 million budget). So, if we can match that, even a $200 million dollar purchase would pay for itself in a year.

    Warner Animation would be nice, so went up to 3x 2x the minimum bid.

    Dirty Harry has made $30 million per movie. But that does not include inflation (and thus it is a decreasing film series)- if Universal has any business sense, they wouldn't bid more than $30 million. Only reason I would go up to $60 million (and that is pre actually putting a budget in the movie) is that it's Clint. And, not only has he been a close friend, but we owe him.

    THX 1138 would be nice to have. But, it made $4 million in a month when most movies don't stay significantly longer. Its more a vanity purchase, which is fine if George feels really strongly about it

    Edit: Upped DC Comics up 50 million, and dropped Warner $50 million.
     
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    overmind said:
    First, the Price. 200 Million in order to get DC, and I'm not sure if that's the maximum but let's say it is. We could buy the Comics, we could make the movies, that's all true, but at the same time we're taking away 200 million from our warchest (which as we've seen is closer to 495 million so in a single purchase we've already slashed our warchest in nearly half) and that's without taking into account the rest of our purchases which would take up the rest of said warchest leaving us with a shoestring budget for the kind of movies we want to make unless we limit the amount of movies which will piss off our directors, Mike, etc.
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    I think the Warchest is bigger as there's the money from Rocky. Unless I'm mistaken.
    overmind said:
    Second, Future plans. We're about to being our budget plans for the future decade of Lucasfilms, with the movies that we want to make like The Kung Fu Kid, Marathon Madness, Conan, Solomon Kane, Moonlight Diner, etc. These movies cost money, money which we won't have after such extravagant purchase. Money which aside from movies could have very well served us in establishing an Animation Department, or perhaps a Television Studio, perhaps giving more help to Mike's Merchandising guys who're already running themselves ragged. And That's without mentioning how perhaps a sudden crisis/opportunity may appear and need us to shell some cash.
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    None of these movies should cost more than $25 million(probably less) each, and with each release we'll earn back more. Remember Star Wars cost us like $15 million to make, I doubt those movies will cost us more.
     
    CoreBrute said:
    Superman and Batman are still cultural icons at this point in time world wide. The Superman radio show, the Batman 60s tv show, even outside the comics, there's a lot of brand awareness. That in itself has value.
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    Yeah sure but how much money do you think anybody think the film rights would mean for the future company? 100 million is crazy to me as a serious valuation for a starting bid they don't even own the entirety of dc at this point. that happened in 89 if google doesn't fail me
     
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    @CoreBrute Thank you. That is kind of you to say. My main concern for your modified plan is that it still has a minimum bid of 2x the minimum bid for Warner Animation and no cap. A cap is needed if you want to be safe (lest we buy Warner Animation for all our warchest). But, I am also against just putting a massive bid and potentially overpaying.
     
    HanShot1st said:
    I think the Warchest is bigger as there's the money from Rocky. Unless I'm mistaken.
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    Here.
    HanShot1st said:
    None of these movies should cost more than $25 million(probably less) each, and with each release we'll earn back more. Remember Star Wars cost us like $15 million to make, I doubt those movies will cost us more.
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    You don't know, and besides that these are just the sample. Our Directors will surely want to make their own movies aside, and they will probably cost more.
    MysteryCPU said:
    @CoreBrute Thank you. That is kind of you to say. My main concern for your modified plan is that it still has a minimum bid of 2x the minimum bid for Warner Animation and no cap. A cap is needed if you want to be safe (lest we buy Warner Animation for all our warchest). But, I am also against just putting a massive bid and potentially overpaying.
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    Or, we could just not buy it and just focus on what's important at the moment (In this case; THX, Dirty Harry and the Looney Toons).
     
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    overmind said:
    Or, we could just not buy it and just focus on what's important at the moment (In this case; THX, Dirty Harry and the Looney Toons).
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    If we could purchase DC comics for a good price, why would we want to give it to our enemy: Universal? Better to try and get it at a cheap price and, if that fails, make them pay for it.

    I think DC is a more important purchase than Looney Tunes. As a source of profit, what is Looney Tunes worth? Most of their movie releases are in the past- and have not been huge earners in the recent past. Their major value as income is as a Saturday Morning cartoon. Which, in 1990's earned 8-10 million a year (in 1977 money is approximately $3.5-4 million a year if we get the same deal with Networks). DC comics is, itself, a profitable initiative and has the rights to a currently in production Superman movie that may (if right rolls and actions) make over $200 million itself.

    So, why pay up to $150 million for Looney Tunes...which may take decades to pay for the purchase over DC comics which may make a profit in a year?
     
    MysteryCPU said:
    @CoreBrute Thank you. That is kind of you to say. My main concern for your modified plan is that it still has a minimum bid of 2x the minimum bid for Warner Animation and no cap. A cap is needed if you want to be safe (lest we buy Warner Animation for all our warchest). But, I am also against just putting a massive bid and potentially overpaying.
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    Right I missed out on putting a cap, I meant those as max bids.

    I'm just gonna go with your plan, it looks good to me

    [X] Plan Get Em' Cheap if We Can...If Not Bleed Universal
     
    Thanks. Just so you know, I changed my plan slightly. Upped DC $50 million to up to $200 million and dropped Looney Toone $50 million to $100 million. Basically, x2 the minimum for both.
     
    Okay so I want to announce a change to the docket. I added a bunch of movies in line with Overmind's suggestion to get some stuff for passive VHS/DVD and residual money. For most of them they are under 10 mil save for Cassablanca which is Bruce's favorite movie and Enter the Dragon and we want to get that to honor Bruce Lee and have his legacy in good hands. There are two reasons why I added all those movies. First is the passive money, second is to pun intended send Universal and the other studios on wild goose chases.

    One major part of Lucasfilms' reputation is that it has an insanely gifted eye for talent where it can spot diamonds covered in a pile of shit and make them ten times their value. We took stuff that people had no faith in like Josey Wales and Taxi Driver and turned them into box office hits and critical and public beloved masterpieces. If we buy a bunch of these old films and are willing to bid high, then Universal thinks we're playing 6d chess and overshoots us. So Sidney is wasting all this money on established films and thus even though we lose them, we bleed our opponents dry and hit the jackpot with our primary targets.

    Also for those worried about fiscal irresponsibility, keep in mind that the price tags listed are the maximum bids that Lucasfilms is willing to pursue. I highly doubt that Universal is going to force us to go to the max price for every single one of them, so there's a good chance the final bill is half or less of what is listed. We'll still have hundreds of millions left for the Lucasfilms war chest and Bruce can put in more money. Not to mention we and the company are going to get major paydays soon with Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Five Dates.

    One last thing, do people think we should buy the Warners lot or let the other studios fight over it and create our own movie lot?
     
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