The successful listing of Water World Animation on the stock market truly made many people envious, jealous, and even resentful, with some even turning red-eyed with eagerness.
As Thanksgiving approached, when Kyle was invited to attend the premiere of "Toy Story 2," the overwhelming sourness was palpable!
Indeed, at the venue, two middle-aged men were whispering to each other.
"Hey, hey, hey, did you see him? That's Kyle Page," said a middle-aged man with large eyes.
"I saw him. If his Water World Animation can be listed on the US stock market, it's not impossible for our Blue Sky Studios to do the same in the future," the man wearing a baseball cap said confidently.
The middle-aged man with large eyes was named Chris Wedge;
The man wearing a New York Yankees baseball cap was named Carlos Saldanha;
Both of them are animation directors, animators, and producers, currently working at Blue Sky Studios.
Blue Sky Studios is a company that started with computer special effects, founded in the 80s, and later gradually shifted its focus, abandoning computer special effects business to concentrate on 3D computer animation, which is quite similar to Pixar Animation.
In 1998, Blue Sky Studios produced and released the 7-minute short animated film "Bunny," which won an Oscar for Best Short Film, breaking the monopoly of large companies on animation awards, and thus became famous overnight!
Chris Wedge and Carlos Saldanha are both directors and high-level executives at Blue Sky Studios. Although their fame is not particularly widespread at the moment, in the future, the animated film "Ice Age," which they co-directed and produced, will be renowned worldwide.
"Ice Age" animation is definitely one of the best animated films of the 21st century!
Moreover, the most dazzling star in the film is undoubtedly the little squirrel.
Although it has no lines and only responds to various severe injuries with grunts and squeaks, its persistent fight for its acorn and strong mental fortitude are admirable. The little squirrel appears first in the film, serving as a connecting character, and due to its spectacular scene-stealing performances, it leaves a deep impression every time.
The little squirrel is an absolute star animated character.
What many don't know is that the voice actor for the little squirrel is none other than Chris Wedge, one of the film's directors.
The well-known animated films "Rio 1" and "Rio 2"
were also directed by Carlos Saldanha.
"You're right, if Water World Animation can succeed, our Blue Sky Studios will definitely succeed in the future," Wedge said in a deep voice.
"Hahahaha, that's great, my friend!"
Saldanha laughed: "With the box office failure of the movie 'Frozen Planet,' Fox Pictures laid off its animation department, kicking Melland and his team out of Fox Pictures; President Murdoch then began to support our Blue Sky Studios, and not long ago, he invested 10 million US dollars to acquire a stake in Blue Sky, and will invest more in the future. I believe we will be even better in the future."
"...Hi, Kyle, congratulations, congratulations on the successful listing of your Water World Animation on the US stock market. My God, in just over half a month, its market value has exceeded 1.5 billion US dollars, which is truly astonishing."
Jeffrey Katzenberg, the head of DreamWorks Animation, immediately approached Kyle to chat as soon as he saw him.
"Thank you. I believe that once your DreamWorks Animation goes public, its market value will definitely not be low," Kyle said with a smile.
"Huh?"
As soon as these words were spoken, Jeffrey Katzenberg's smiling face immediately fell.
"Old friend, what's wrong with you?" Kyle raised an eyebrow.
"DreamWorks Animation listing on the US stock market? What a load of crap!" Katzenberg said angrily.
Of course, his anger was not directed at Kyle, but at the other two giants of DreamWorks, Steven Spielberg and David Geffen.
Katzenberg looked around, then whispered: "As early as May last year, I proposed to list DreamWorks Animation as a subsidiary of DreamWorks Inc. on the US stock market, but it was rejected by Spielberg and David. I don't even know what to say."
Undoubtedly, Katzenberg was very jealous of the successful listing of Water World Animation!
He also wanted to list his DreamWorks Animation, but he couldn't!
The other two of the DreamWorks Big Three, Spielberg and David, wanted to surpass the Hollywood Big Six, so their plan was for DreamWorks to go public as a whole, rather than a single animation or music subsidiary going public, which was quite ambitious.
Even now, both of them insist on DreamWorks going public as a whole!
However... it was precisely because of the obstruction of Spielberg and David that DreamWorks Animation missed the best time for listing. After all, an internet bubble that swept the world lasted for several years and never recovered.
"So, Spielberg and David are indeed a bit short-sighted," Kyle said, following the conversation.
"Hmm!"
Katzenberg nodded heavily.
To be honest, Katzenberg was very dissatisfied with Spielberg at the moment.
After chatting for a while, the two parted ways.
Stephen Sollenberger smiled at Kyle and said, "Boss, it seems DreamWorks is also full of internal conflicts!"
Kyle nodded and said, "You're right, their internal strife is extremely serious right now. Shareholders versus shareholders, executives versus executives, the board of directors versus management—they've been fighting quite fiercely this year. But... you also shouldn't take Katzenberg's words too seriously."
"Uh... Boss, do you mean that Katzenberg is intentionally misleading us?" Stephen Sollenberger wasn't a fool either.
"Hehe!"
Kyle laughed: "Katzenberg is such a cunning fellow. Don't let the severe internal strife at DreamWorks fool you; when it comes to DreamWorks Animation, Katzenberg is absolutely the boss, and what Spielberg and the others say doesn't count for anything."
Katzenberg was intentionally misleading Kyle, secretly harboring malicious intent!
...The animated film "Toy Story 2," as a sequel to "Toy Story" and Pixar Animation's third feature-length theatrical animation, naturally attracted much attention.
However, many people expressed doubts about it.
Especially the owners of film merchandise chain stores across America, and distributors in various regions, expressed deep concern.
"Last year, with 'A Bug's Life' animation, Pixar and Disney really screwed us over. I hope it won't be like that this year," a distributor from Chicago said through gritted teeth.
"My 7 merchandise chain stores in New York lost 1.5 million US dollars last year, all because of 'A Bug's Life'," an angry middle-aged man said.
It's no wonder they were worried, after all, they were badly screwed over last year.
Last year, before the animated film "A Bug's Life" was even released, Pixar Animation as the producer and Disney as the distributor made a whopping 117 million US dollars from merchandise licensing in North America alone.
The film's release did not meet expectations; the sales of peripheral products were far below market estimates.
Last year, no fewer than 11 merchandise chain stores went out of business because of "A Bug's Life."
"Tsk tsk tsk ~"
Kyle looked at John Lasseter and smiled, "Did you hear that? They're talking about how you guys screwed them over last year."
Upon hearing this, Lasseter shrugged and whispered, "Is it my fault? Buddy, I'm not Steve Jobs; I'm just an animation director."
Kyle smiled, then laughed again, "I heard from Andrew that you also bought shares in my Water World Animation?"
Lasseter immediately smiled without speaking.
As soon as Water World Animation was listed, he bought quite a few shares, and in just over ten days, he made a small profit of nearly 500,000 US dollars.
Steve Jobs, as the boss, was not present at today's premiere of "Toy Story 2" because he was at Apple Inc., plotting a major event.