Chapter 248: Goodbye, Rules

“No, no, no—you’re wrong!” Xiao Ran saw through Turner’s attempt to put pressure on him at a glance and secretly smiled. This was exactly the tactic he had used before: “The rules weren’t made by you, so I don’t need to learn them from you. Let me tell you—what Time Warner has, Universal has too. And don’t forget, I own the entire East!”
Turner felt a chill. He couldn’t ignore the fact that all films distributed overseas by Time Warner had to be shown in theaters under Phantom’s banner, which was precisely why he was trying to negotiate amicably with Xiao Ran. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have even bothered—just think of Sony’s fate.
Hollywood was ultimately different from Hong Kong. In Hong Kong, with just a slight call from Xiao Ran, all the staff and stars would unite to reject other film companies. But in Hollywood, it wasn’t so easy—though of course, if they really wanted to do it, it wasn’t impossible either.
In fact, Xiao Ran was also hesitating about how to approach his competitors now that he was in charge of Universal. He knew this would happen—even if they agreed to Phantom’s presence at Universal, they would still try to assert dominance. Otherwise, the Big Seven could never have held their ground for so long.
Turner smirked coldly. If Xiao Ran really didn’t intend to compromise, he wouldn’t hesitate either. He moved slightly, slamming his glass on the table. “That’s in the East. In Hollywood, you have to follow our rules!”
Should he be more assertive? Xiao Ran rarely hesitated like this, but now he really couldn’t decide. He wasn’t afraid of business attacks; he was afraid of political implications. With that in mind, he finally sighed deeply and said, “Mr. Turner, whatever you say it is!”
Turner smiled satisfactorily. Defeating this super-rich man was incredibly satisfying. He raised his glass and stepped toward Xiao Ran. “It’s simple—I want the North American distribution rights for Jurassic Park!”
Before his words faded, Turner sensed something was wrong. The charming smile on Xiao Ran’s face gradually turned into a mocking expression—utterly detestable. Xiao Ran tried to control his anger. Damn these Americans—they were so greedy. Jurassic Park could generate hundreds of millions in profits in North America, yet they wanted to take it from him.
Xiao Ran couldn’t hold back any longer, especially since he didn’t need to compromise in the first place. From production to distribution to release, Universal had it all. He leaned forward slightly, his eyes filled with mockery. “Mr. Turner, if you’re dreaming, it’s time for you to wake up. Jurassic Park belongs to me. No one can take anything from me, not even you!”
Startled, Turner sneered calmly. “Is that so? Well, we’ll see if anyone can take anything from you!” With that, he stood up and left.

Xiao Ran quietly watched the old man’s retreating figure before suddenly smiling, a truly hearty smile. He hadn’t expected the war between Phantom and Hollywood to start so quickly. Perhaps what Xiao Ran needed now wasn’t Hollywood as a whole, but just Warner—only he himself didn’t realize it yet.
That wasn’t a big deal. If Xiao Ran, after preparing for so many years, still couldn’t handle the current situation, then things would be terrible. After pondering for a moment, he thought this matter might need to be resolved at the political level.
Not long after Turner left, another person arrived. After scanning the café for a while, they found Xiao Ran and approached him. The newcomer was an extremely famous and powerful director who had dominated Hollywood for twenty years and was poised to become a highly influential figure in the future.
A smile appeared on Xiao Ran’s face. He stood up, waved at Spielberg, shook his hand, and introduced themselves before getting down to business. Spielberg wasn’t quite sure why Xiao Ran wanted to meet him, especially someone as wealthy and powerful as him.
Xiao Ran smiled gently, his fingers tapping rhythmically on the table like a dance: “Stephen, may I call you that? Good. Stephen, I remember you’re Jewish, right?”
“Mr. Xiao, you’re correct!” Spielberg found it even more strange. It was well-known that he was Jewish, yet Xiao Ran had specifically asked. Despite his confusion, he proudly said, “I’m proud to be Jewish. Mr. Xiao, I assume you don’t hold any prejudices against Jews?”
“Of course not. Jews are a wise people, just like the Chinese, aren’t they?” Xiao Ran gradually steered the conversation in the direction he wanted: “You know, I’ve always felt sympathy for the Jews, especially their tragic experiences during World War II!”
Spielberg was almost dizzy. Xiao Ran was discussing this with him, and in such a serious manner. Seeing Xiao Ran’s solemn expression, he clenched his fist and said, “During World War II, both the Chinese and Jews were victims. The only difference is that the Chinese were harmed by the Japanese. That’s why I’ve long wanted to invest in a film that can fully depict these two tragedies!”
Old Steve’s eyes suddenly lit up. He shared the same desire as Xiao Ran—he had always longed to make such a film. Unfortunately, he’d never found the right script to express these feelings, leaving them bottled up inside him.
“Phantom happens to have the perfect script—about the Jews during World War II. I’ve been eager to find the right director, and now I’ve found you.” Xiao Ran grew increasingly excited, as if thrilled by this “great” discovery: “That director is you, Stephen! No one else can do it!”
Old Steve’s eyes weren’t just bright—they were almost desperate as he wanted to reach out and strangle Xiao Ran to force him to hand over the script: “Really? Mr. Xiao, do you have the script? If it’s good enough, I’ll definitely direct it! It’s been my greatest dream all along.”

It’s precisely because we knew in advance this was the film you’d always wanted to direct that we brought you on as director! Xiao Ran secretly laughed inside, but on the surface, he shook his head regretfully: “I’m sorry, Stephen. I didn’t expect to meet you so soon, so I left the script in Hong Kong.”
“That’s really too unfortunate!” Old Steve was unwilling to give up. If it was indeed such a good script, he really wanted to see it: “Can you bring it over as soon as possible? Maybe you can tell me the story first!”
Xiao Ran nodded. Since Old Steve was so cooperative, he felt bad for keeping him in suspense, so he briefly recounted the story of Schindler’s List. Old Steve was filled with emotion; he didn’t even realize Xiao Ran had told the story in such an enticing tone.
Suddenly, Old Steve remembered—wasn’t this the movie that Phantom’s North American branch had announced it would produce? It just hadn’t started filming yet! Xiao Ran chuckled inwardly. He had already instructed the North American branch to publicize the story to prevent Old Steve from filming it first. Otherwise, there wouldn’t be such an outcome now.
After further discussion, Old Steve confirmed that as long as the script was fine, he would definitely take on the project. As Old Steve left, Xiao Ran gave a faint smile before quickly suppressing it: “Stephen, it’s best not to announce this outside until a contract is signed. You know, Phantom has just joined Universal, and that will naturally attract a lot of criticism! I don’t want this film to be ruined by those attacks.”
Old Steve froze for a moment, then nodded in agreement. It wasn’t until he stepped out of the café that he trembled slightly. He thought he understood Xiao Ran’s intention—Xiao Ran wanted to use this film to ward off attacks from Hollywood peers. Because of the Jews, who held absolute influence in North American cinema, a film like Schindler’s List would suffer greatly if Turner dared to stop it.
Seeing Old Steve hesitate at the door, Xiao Ran smiled mysteriously. He thought Old Steve had understood his apparent motive. It was only apparent because Xiao Ran wanted to please the Jews, or rather, the United States.
Whether in business or politics, the status and influence of Jews in the United States far exceeded people’s imagination. It’s no exaggeration to say that Jews had the power to shape any industry in the U.S., even politics.
Most importantly, although Jews made up a small racial group in the U.S., they were mostly part of the upper class and dominated various industries. Their unity was well-known—offending one of them could mean being excluded at any time. In the film industry as well, Jews had enough power to change the landscape.
At this point, we can fully understand why Xiao Ran deliberately seized Schindler’s List and went through all that talk with Old Steve, who was Jewish. He knew very well that to establish a foothold in Hollywood safely, building relationships with Jews was a shortcut—just as in Hong Kong, to succeed in the entertainment industry, one had to build ties with Xiao Ran and the other three giants.

Seizing this opportunity to show goodwill toward the Jews would surely earn him some support from the industry and even the entire upper class—this was Xiao Ran’s goal. Anyway, the most important thing was to establish a firm foothold in Hollywood. In the following days, Xiao Ran attended several high-society parties and met with some politicians. Just a few days later, Time Warner spread word within the industry that it intended to punish Universal Pictures for not following the rules. Xiao Ran merely sneered at this news; if someone like Warner dared to boss him around, he might as well return to Hong Kong. He wasn’t unaware of Hollywood’s situation—precisely because of its volatile nature had he carefully planned to enter at this moment. His earlier decision to lower his profile was merely to buy some time. Since Warner dared to make threats, he was willing to confront them head-on. Right now, Disney was at its peak and was very upset that Phantom Company’s Chinese-language animations were taking away its market share. Yet Disney CEO Michael Eisner had to admit that Phantom Company’s animated films, thanks to titles like “The Lion King,” had established a very solid position in Europe and Asia. What annoyed Michael even more was that Phantom Company was fully committed to developing theme park businesses. In addition to children’s theme parks derived from its animations, films like “Jurassic Park” and “The Fast and the Furious” also served as bases for theme parks. Most frustratingly, Phantom Company planned to invest in a theme park in Tokyo, which could likely steal 20-30% of Disney’s theme park business! So, Xiao Ran knew that his old classmate was eager to take action against Phantom Company. However, no matter how far Disney’s reach extended, Phantom Company’s position in Asia was rock-solid these past few years, and they couldn’t be moved. The only option was to target Universal, according to Xiao Ran and Wei Dongling’s deduction. As for MGM’s attitude, it was harder to judge. To Xiao Ran’s surprise, the Mafia still controlled MGM, rather than selling it at a loss as history had shown. It was difficult for Xiao Ran to predict how MGM would treat Universal. But he believed MGM didn’t care if things became even more chaotic. Paramount was too busy dealing with its own problems. Viacom’s president, Sumner Redstone, was currently competing with his friend and rival, media magnate Barry Diller, for Paramount. Paramount couldn’t even focus on dealing with Universal, let alone protect itself. As for Columbia, Xiao Ran didn’t even need to think about it. Columbia was already lucky to not have been ruined by those two fools; it certainly didn’t have the strength to compete with Universal. Moreover, from any perspective, Columbia had to side with Universal to stay afloat. The tricky one was Fox—after being acquired by Murdoch, the company had been in the red. Calculating the situation, Xiao Ran thought it was time for old Murdoch to step in and secure benefits for Fox. Of the seven major studios, five were in some form of chaos or restructuring. If Murdoch didn’t take this opportunity to help Fox, it would be foolish of him.

The current situation is absolutely the best time to take advantage of chaos. As long as they can get through this, the fate of the Seven Giants will be largely decided. Once Phantom secures its position, Xiao Ran won’t fear any company that dares to challenge them.

In Phantom’s headquarters’ Creative Department (separated from the planning department), there are currently over thirty top-notch screenwriters who draw on various creative ideas from the public. With just Xiao Ran’s order, at least ten excellent scripts can be produced within a week.

As for directors and other film professionals, Phantom has signed on many top experts, enough to form four or five creative teams at once. If Xiao Ran wishes, he can have these teams come to the United States at any time!

To hell with those stupid rules. In Xiao Ran’s eyes, the rules of the entertainment industry can only be set by him—whether in Hong Kong or Hollywood…