The
Hollywood Economist
The numbers behind the industry
[In
Order of Submission].
1.
Edgar Bronfman Jr.'s disastrous trade
of Universal's television assets to Barry Diller's company.
2. Blockbuster Entertainment's kamikaze rejection
of the offer of a DVD rental window.
3.
Paramount and Universal's euthanasia of UIP, the dominant
international distributor that they jointly owned.
4.
Lew Wasserman's 7 year litigation aimed at blocking the
VCR (which then turned out to by Hollywood's cash cow)
via Universal
vs Sony.
5.
MGM's failure to include international distribution rights--the
crown jewel-- in its purchase of United Artists.
6.
Warner's fire sale of MTV and Nickelodeon to Viacom to satisfy
a dissident shareholder.
7.
Fox giving half of Titanic, , the most successful
movie in history, to Paramount in return for Paramount merely
paying the budget overage ( $60 million.)
8.
Paramount CEO Frank Mancuso gifting George Lucas the entire
Paramount historical archives after the opening of Indiana
Jones.
9.
Fox giving away Star War's toy licensing rights to manufacturers
to publicize the original episode.
10.
Michael Eisner's 1995 short-lived recruitment of Michael
Ovitz as President of the Walt Disney Company.
11.
Miramax's passing on the chance to make The Lord Of
The Rings trilogy.
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