Kapitel 450: Chapter 450: DVD Alliance
[Chapter 512 DVD Alliance]
"Philips and Sony's MMCD standard alliance has reached an agreement with Toshiba and Panasonic to form the DVD consortium!"
Arthur was on the phone with Anna Walker, running his fingers through Monica Bellucci's hair.
"Additionally, the DVD consortium established regional coding to prevent illegal copying and protect film copyrights, requiring manufacturers to implement DVD region codes. The codes will be managed by an authorized organization. The regional coding protocol uses a system that divides the world into six distribution areas. This system partitions both the DVD discs and the DVD players. It mandates that each DVD player can only play discs from its designated region!"
As Anna Walker explained, Arthur learned about the global DVD region coding breakdown:
Region 1 – United States, Canada, Bermuda, U.S. territories.
Region 2 – Europe, Japan, Middle East, Egypt, South Africa, Greenland.
Region 3 – Southeast Asia, South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Macau.
Region 4 – Latin America, Australia, New Zealand, Pacific Islands, Central America, Caribbean.
Region 5 – Russia, Eastern Europe, India, Africa (excluding South Africa), North Korea, Mongolia.
Region 6 – China.
"Got it, DVDs are set to revolutionize home entertainment like never before, even more than the introduction of videotapes. The importance of MGM Home Entertainment is clear," Arthur added, "Tell Tom and Amy to keep a close eye on the trends in the DVD consortium!"
With that, Arthur hung up the phone.
...
The next day, Arthur took Monica Bellucci aboard the Black Pearl, which was tied up on the Hudson River.
Meanwhile, the highly publicized film Showgirls, produced by Carolco and distributed by MGM, premiered with an NC-17 rating, earning $8.11 million in its opening weekend.
Directed by Paul Verhoeven, this erotic film depicted Las Vegas showgirls and was met with intense backlash!
Showgirls not only faced relentless ridicule from critics but also lost its connection with audiences and reality, leading many to label Paul Verhoeven a hack director.
It was even dubbed "the worst film of all time" by several newspapers!
The following weekend, Showgirls saw its box office plummet to $3.5 million.
Inside the MGM Building in downtown Manhattan, Arthur was curious, "Is Showgirls really that bad?"
After all, the screenwriter was Joe Eszterhas, who penned Basic Instinct.
Mark Tusk, head of MGM's distribution, shrugged helplessly, "Basically all negative reviews. The director Paul Verhoeven and the new leading lady Elizabeth Berkley are both getting hammered. The main male lead Kyle MacLachlan even refused to promote the film!"
Arthur grimaced, "Looks like its box office total is going to be just over $20 million. Carolco is in serious trouble."
As expected, Carolco was probably on the verge of bankruptcy, unable to wait for the release of Cutthroat Island.
"Showgirls might be able to air on Starz. Who knows, it might provoke a reaction in the future home video market. Just like The Shawshank Redemption, despite the poor theater performance, rental sales have been stable, and it did pretty well on USA Network!"
As for Carolco's other big-budget film, Cutthroat Island, Arthur held no hope for it.
...
That evening, Arthur attended a charity gala organized by George Pataki, one of the candidates for governor of New York at Rockefeller Center.
He was currently campaigning for the upcoming gubernatorial election in New York.
Mario Cuomo, who had served three terms as governor, was stepping down this year!
"Under Governor Cuomo's term, New York City witnessed rampant violent crime amid economic recession and cash shortages. Mario Cuomo staunchly opposed the death penalty and attempted to tackle the recession by lowering taxes and balancing the budget, but the results seem less than satisfactory."
New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani was currently implementing major reforms to improve safety in the city, with noticeable results; Times Square had significantly changed for the better.
Arthur chuckled, "Let's try a Republican governor; I get it!"
Mario Cuomo was a Democrat while George Pataki represented the Republican Party.
However, having Rudy Giuliani as the mayor significantly lowered Arthur's interest in the governor's race. In New York, strong mayoral systems made the mayoral position much more influential compared to weak mayoral systems in places like Los Angeles, where the mayor had little power compared to the state.
In cities like Los Angeles and San Francisco, nobody focused much on who became mayor; instead, they cared about who was running for governor.
But in New York, Chicago, and Boston -- places with strong mayoral systems -- the mayor's position was a hotly contested one between the two parties.
Rudy Giuliani nodded, "People do seem to prefer that."
Arthur patted Rudy on the shoulder, chuckling, "Tonight I'm meeting with Ethan Thomas and Joseph Brown and some other council members. We're heading over to a club in Brooklyn to unwind a bit. Since last year, crime in New York has noticeably decreased, and the city has improved significantly -- all thanks to you; especially with the previous chaotic, filthy Times Square, now it is sparkling anew, attracting a lot more visitors!"
Plus, the Galaxy Center Tower near Times Square was set to be completed next year, and Arthur was looking forward to it.
That was a skyscraper built by Galaxy at the cost of several hundreds of millions of dollars!
*****
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