Nowadays in Hollywood, digital technology has become widely adopted. Compared to traditional film technology, digital technology has many advantages, but it also brings corresponding challenges.
Digital movies are easy to store and carry, so how to ensure their security has become a problem many Hollywood companies face.
Even with various encryption technologies, given the rapid development of the computer industry, none of these can be considered foolproof. Fortunately, in recent years, Hollywood has not seen any significant leak incidents.
However, Duke remained very cautious. Previously, Wolverine, The Expendables 3, and The Interview had leaked copies before release due to various reasons. Although their circumstances were entirely different, most films that suffer from leaks will inevitably face negative impacts at the box office.
Duke's team's digital copies have always been handled by Charles Roven, but following Hollywood conventions, a copy would also be stored on Warner Bros.' encrypted servers.
The reason film companies do this isn't for anything else it's to prevent directors or other crew members from tampering with things. Hollywood has a relatively sound system in place. Production and distribution companies do not blindly trust anyone, even the directors and producers they hire; they enforce sufficient supervision and preventive measures.
In fact, this isn't a bad thing. Only an industry with a sound set of rules can develop healthily.
But storing digital copies on company servers also carries certain risks. Even though Hollywood hasn't had a precedent yet, Duke remembers very clearly: the leaked versions of The Expendables 3 and The Interview were both stolen from servers.
According to the regulations of various Hollywood companies, every film under production or distribution contracts must be backed up on the server at each stage. Warner Bros is no exception.
But Duke's status is far from ordinary. He is himself a major shareholder and board member of Warner Bros. To him, these tasks are more of a formality. Moreover, he's always been the type to view North America's highly commercialized society with the worst assumptions in mind. Combined with memories of past incidents, it's only natural for him to take certain precautions.
Even without all that, Duke has experienced an arson attack on set in this life, so he definitely doesn't lack the necessary vigilance.
Time slowly moved into April. The post-production of Iron Man was nearing completion. Although Warner Bros.' policy required Anna Prinz to upload the digital copy of Iron Man to the company server again, no Warner personnel came to review it.
Clearly, to Warner Bros, Duke was a special case.
Although Iron Man's production company was Marvel Studios, Warner Bros. had also invested and was the contracted distributor, having already advanced tens of millions of dollars in promotional expenses. And as the unquestionable apex of the food chain, the distributor held the real power. In many ways, Marvel Studios, being a newcomer, still had to rely on Warner Bros.
Compared to those newbies at Marvel Studios, Duke had far more trust in Warner Bros.
The backup of Iron Man stored on Warner Bros.' servers was no secret.
Every film company in Hollywood was doing the same thing. Anyone could guess it with their toes.
Another day of work ended. Inside a studio on the Warner lot, Duke announced the end of the day. Many people gradually filtered out, with only him and Anna Prinz staying behind.
They took a golf cart out of the lot. Seeing that Duke didn't go into the parking lot, Anna Prinz asked, "You didn't drive today? Want me to give you a ride?"
"No need," Duke shook his head. "Scarlett is coming to pick me up. She should be here soon."
He waved goodbye to Anna Prinz and walked out alone. Standing under the shade by the roadside, he waited just a few minutes when the roar of an engine came closer. A bright red four-door sports car stopped in front of Duke with a crisp braking sound.
The window rolled down slowly. Scarlett Johansson, sitting in the driver's seat, lifted her sunglasses and said, "Darling, get in the car. What are you spacing out for?"
Duke opened the door, sat in the passenger seat, fastened his seatbelt, and asked, "When did you buy this car?"
"Godmother gave it to me," Scarlett started the engine and, knowing Duke's habits, didn't drive too fast. "It just arrived in L.A. yesterday."
The sports car roared past the front of the Warner building. Duke habitually turned his head to glance at it. Clearly, Warner had also reached the end of the workday, as many people poured out of the building.
Many were holding briefcases or document folders standard gear for office workers. Among them, a man carrying a medium-sized kraft paper file folder walked and joked with several colleagues, politely declining their invitation to grab a drink at a nearby bar. He headed to a nearby parking lot and drove off toward his home in East Burbank.
Occasionally, on his way home, he would stop by a small pastry shop for coffee and snacks. Today was one of those days.
Parking by the roadside, the man, folder under his arm, entered the shop, ordered his usual coffee and pastry, and casually found a window seat. Sitting down, he gazed at the sun slowly sinking below the horizon over the sea while leisurely enjoying his food, looking very relaxed.
From every angle, this man appeared to be an ordinary office worker.
As usual, he stayed in the shop for about fifteen minutes. After finishing his dessert and coffee, he picked up a napkin to wipe his mouth, left a generous tip, then stood up and walked out of the pastry shop.
He never looked back, simply got into his car and drove off, as if the document folder left lying on the seat had never been brought in by him.
This shop was small, with very few staff. The dishes left behind often took a while to be cleared. During this brief window, someone else carrying their coffee looked around, didn't mind the uncleared table at all, and walked over to that spot. After quickly finishing the coffee, the person very naturally picked up the document folder and left the pastry shop confidently.
After getting into a car parked by the roadside, he opened the document folder, checked its contents to confirm there was no mistake, then took out his phone and dialed a number. "Got the stuff. When do we make our move?"
"Wait for my word."
A slightly hoarse voice came from the other end. "Don't act on your own."
"I understand." The man closed the document folder and added, "Since I've taken your money, I'll do exactly as you say."
Ending the call, he started the car, which drove onto a road leading eastward, gradually disappearing into the twilight of the setting sun.
The sun beyond the sea had completely dropped below the horizon. Night gradually fell over Greater Los Angeles. In this city where America's entertainment and media industries are the most developed, nighttime is merely the beginning of many lives.
In a mansion in North Hollywood, a small-scale party was in full swing. As the host, Cook Dick constantly raised his glass with the guests. He seemed to be in a very good mood, appearing completely unaffected by the recent setbacks faced by Disney.
But what the truth was, only Cook Dick himself knew.
The bad news wasn't only coming from across the Pacific. The departments over there not only leaned toward Warner-Fox World, but a negotiation team made up of professionals from Warner Bros. and 20th Century Fox had also flown over. The two sides were about to begin formal negotiations, and the chances left for Walt Disney and Disneyland were growing fewer and fewer.
Cook Dick was fully aware that unless a miracle occurred, Walt Disney was bound to lose this competition.
Without Disneyland, Disney's products could still enter that market, but the far side of the Pacific was never a free market. Without policy support and a green light, even someone like him — an American — knew it was a completely different story.
Disney's products entering that market on a large scale would inevitably be bound by numerous restrictions.
Setting everything else aside, just the delayed movie releases alone would practically reduce Disney's profits from that market to near zero.
And that was a market of over 1.3 billion people!
While Cook Dick was thinking this, his assistant entered the banquet hall and whispered a few words into his ear. Cook Dick apologized to the guests and followed the assistant upstairs to the study.
"Just got the news…" The assistant's voice was not loud, as if discussing something highly confidential. "The item has been retrieved, but the version has some issues. We…"
Cook Dick suddenly raised his hand to interrupt the assistant. "It doesn't matter what version it is. From start to finish, this matter has absolutely nothing to do with us or with Disney. This is merely the spontaneous action of some fanatical movie lovers and Iron Man fans."
"Yes." The assistant curled up a faint smile. "It has nothing to do with us."
To a certain extent, that was indeed true. No matter how the matter was investigated, it would not trace back to them.
There were far too many shady dealings in Hollywood; this was merely one among them.
Besides, with the internet a medium with extremely high degrees of freedom and sharing speed there was no need to push things further from behind the scenes.
"That's the end of it," Cook Dick instructed. "Don't bring it up again."
"I know what to do."
After saying this, the assistant turned and left the study to handle the final clean-up.
Everything has two sides — the internet included. While it brings convenience, it also produces many negative effects.
For Hollywood's film industry, internet piracy has always been a major headache. Even with a sound copyright protection law and the MPAA watching like a hawk, ready to sue anyone stepping over the line into utter ruin, online infringement cases still emerge endlessly.
In mid-April, yet another internet infringement incident related to Hollywood suddenly exploded.
.....
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