Chapter 203: Chapter 203: Empty Promises - Part 2
Moments later—
Ethan Jones, slightly tipsy, began belting out the song with a loud "Hey—"
"What's the matter with your head? Yeah—"
His howling performance drew laughter from the audience.
After the song, Ethan put down the guitar, waved his hands, and bowed out.
"How was my singing?" Ethan boasted with a smirk.
"Yeah~ Yeah~ Yeah~" the crowd responded, still amused by the performance.
Ethan nodded continuously, his cheeks flushed with excitement as he made a gesture that would be quite unsettling to Korean men decades later, "Awesome! But you're still a bit behind compared to me!"
"Oh! Sxxt!" Ethan expressed his dissatisfaction, "Although I wasn't there when you guys started performing, I heard everything towards the end. What was that you were singing? Was any note on key?"
"But it was still better than yours, wasn't it?" countered the young man, not willing to back down. "You were just screaming. It didn't capture the essence of Redbone's lead vocals at all!"
As the argument seemed to escalate, another student quickly intervened to mediate.
"Okay, okay, George, Ethan did a good job. The lead singer of Redbone has a raspy voice, and Ethan doesn't smoke. It's already impressive that he could belt it out—"
He also turned to Ethan and asked, "Where had you been just now?"
"Did someone pull you aside to discuss a collaboration?"
Before Ethan could reply, the young man chimed in again, "Oh Ethan—there are many scammers in Hollywood. You must be very careful. If it's just money they scam from you, you might get it back. But if they scam your heart...hahaha..."
Clearly, he had had too much to drink.
Ignoring the drunken ramblings, Ethan nodded towards George, indicating he was still somewhat sensible, then tilted his head to ask if he could speak to him privately.
The party had been going on for two hours by then, and most of the necessary socializing had already been done. After signaling to a Fox employee to take good care of the young man, George set his drink down and followed Ethan and Evelyn into a side room next to the banquet hall.
As soon as they entered the room, George ripped off his necktie and took off his suit jacket.
"It's damn hot." Then he asked, "Who approached you?" He guessed, "It looks serious. Was it some movie studio executive?"
George was only half-joking, but Ethan nodded earnestly.
After Ethan shared his recent experience, Spielberg immediately performed a face-changing act right in front of them. "Roy Disney approached you?"
"To make a game?"
"And the deal he offered was to develop your game characters into animations?"
"Oh—his offer was really generous!"
"I'm even tempted!"
"But..."
"His current situation isn't good..."
"What?" Evelyn curiously asked, "Steven, do you mean Roy Disney has problems?"
"Yeah~" Spielberg said with a smile, "Roy Disney indeed has problems, or rather, Disney now has big problems..."
Disney was founded in 1923 by Walt Disney and his brother Roy Disney. Their collaboration brought animated films to their peak, so during their lifetime, Disney was an unbeatable force, and no one dared to counter their will.
However, after their deaths, the vast animation kingdom fell into other hands. In 1971, Don Tatum became Disney's CEO and chairman of the board, the first person outside the Disney family to lead the company.
Such transitions are common unless a company aggressively pursues a son-in-law adoption policy, as large corporations can't always be led by founding family members. The world's most uncontrollable factor isn't the success of a project or the results of scientific research, but whether descendants will prove competent.
No one can guarantee their children will be able to take over the family business.
In such cases, bringing in outside executives is a necessary step.
"At first, when Don Tatum took over, there wasn't much objection within the Disney family, as it was a choice made by Walt Disney and Roy Disney themselves. No one wanted to go against the will of their father or uncle."
"And Don Tatum actually did quite well."
"But in the last two years, something significant happened at the company."
"That is, Don Tatum was preparing to step down and let a guy named Ron Miller take over."
"Who is Ron Miller? You might not be familiar with him. But if I mention his wife's name, you'll understand the situation. His wife is Diane Disney, Walt Disney's daughter."
Spielberg paused there.
Ethan and Evelyn looked enlightened.
"Steven, are you saying that members of Walt Disney's lineage want to take over the company?" Ethan asked, "And the Roy Disney who came to us today, Walt Disney's nephew, son of the old Roy Disney, thinks the company should be passed on to him?"
"Yeah~" Spielberg nodded, "It's always like that in big families—"
"There's never a shortage of palace intrigue."
Indeed, as a legitimate member of the Disney family and a longtime Disney employee, Roy Disney always felt the company should belong to him.
But he hadn't expected his brother-in-law to suddenly emerge as a rival!
To prevent this scenario, he voiced his concerns within the company.
Unfortunately—
Once a company goes public and absorbs public investors, the founding family's influence is significantly diluted due to share dilution and the corresponding reduction in voting power.
Not to mention—
Now, Disney was witnessing an internal struggle between two factions of the founding family.
As Walt Disney's son-in-law, Ron Miller, garnered a large base of supporters openly declaring his intention to take over, the younger Roy Disney, even in his frustration, was caught off guard.
This also explains why Roy Disney didn't manage to take Atari away from Warner in 1975—not because he didn't want to, but—
"He suddenly realized he was out of money," Spielberg explained. "The situation developed so quickly that he had no choice but to reluctantly let Warner take Atari."
"Although hindsight has proven that not buying Atari was the correct decision, as they're nearly bankrupt now thanks to your efforts, it doesn't mean Roy Disney was content with how things turned out. After his attempts to resist failed, he resigned from all his positions at Disney this year, retaining only his leadership role in the Disney Feature Animation department."
"I don't know what he was thinking, why he decided to relinquish those positions, but since he approached you, it means he still wants to return to the corporate management."
"Or rather..."
"He wants to bring the corporation back under his control."
"And the reason he didn't offer you funding for game development is because he really couldn't afford it."
"The animation production proposal he made was the only chip he had to play."
"As for the operation of the theme parks?"
"If the video game you create for him sells well, he'll definitely return to the corporate sphere at rocket speed! Investors would be on their knees begging him to take charge of the company!"
"Because you're just too good at making money, right?"
"By then, he naturally would be able to fulfill his promises."
"But if the video game you make for him fails..."
Spielberg stretched his voice and shrugged, "I'm not trying to stir up trouble, but I think you won't get anything."
Upon hearing this reality, Ethan and Evelyn exchanged looks.
Well then—
No wonder Roy Disney was so generous in front of them!
No wonder he offered Disney's most powerful animation department to negotiate with them!
Turns out, this was all about a family feud and empty promises.
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