For Dunn, Spider-Man 2's stellar box office was just the appetizer for this summer. The real feast? Vivendi!
After years of plotting, it was finally time to reel in the catch.
Universal Pictures, Universal Music—these entertainment assets were must-haves for Dunn!
This trip to France was all business, no fluff. Even when big-shot director Luc Besson tried to set up a meeting to talk about a potential EuropaCorp and Dunn Pictures collab, Dunn shot it down.
It wasn't just Dunn making the trip, either. He brought the whole crew: Dunn Pictures' President Bill Mechanic, VPs West Cotton and Tosca Musk, CFO Brandy Norris—a full-on executive posse.
And then there was Michael Ovitz, the heavyweight, rolling in right behind them.
Talk about a power move!
The Vivendi board had known for a while that Dunn Pictures was gunning to buy Universal Pictures.
Right now, Vivendi was split down the middle: the French faction versus the American faction.
The French crew was still ride-or-die for Chairman and CEO Jean Messier, convinced he could turn Vivendi's fortunes around. The Americans? They were straight to the point—fire Messier, shift gears, offload the debt-ridden entertainment assets, and save Vivendi from bankruptcy.
Dunn's team holed up at the Cousen Golf Club in Paris for two days, meeting with some key Vivendi board members.
The big fish? Jean Paul, a financier with serious political and business pull in France.
Paul was French but firmly in the American camp, pushing hard to oust Messier.
Back in May, he'd teamed up with the Bronfman family to try and topple Messier's reign. It flopped, though—thwarted by the fierce loyalty of French players like Arnault.
Jean Paul rolled out the red carpet for Dunn's crew, even inviting Dunn over for a fancy French dinner at his place.
After a few days of schmoozing, Dunn had a crystal-clear read on Vivendi's mess. "Vivendi's a storm waiting to break!"
In the guest room, he huddled with his team, digging into the details.
His words carried weight—and a hint of smug sarcasm.
Bill Mechanic shook his head. "The board's still got more muscle behind Messier. He's the gatekeeper—the biggest roadblock to us snagging Universal."
West Cotton chimed in, "Yeah, as long as he's in charge, there's no way he'll let those entertainment assets go. They're his babies—his proudest achievements."
Tosca Musk kept it cool and blunt. "If it were me, I'd back Messier too. When he took over in '94, Vivendi was just a French water utility—a small fry. Now? It's a global media giant!"
Dunn smirked, brushing it off. "That was then, this is now!"
Back in the day, 38-year-old Jean Messier stepped in as CEO of that sleepy water company and flipped it on its head—fast.
He teamed up with Vodafone to jump into mobile telecom, bought CanalPlus, Universal Pictures, and Universal Music to storm TV, film, and music markets, snapped up Houghton Mifflin and its subsidiaries to hit publishing and gaming, partnered with Sony for an online e-commerce site selling audio-visual stuff, nabbed mp3.com and other sites to break into the internet, grabbed USA Network to beef up cable TV, and even took a stake in Echostar for satellite TV…
In just seven or eight years, Messier turned Vivendi into a powerhouse, with a market value once flirting with $100 billion—second only to Time Warner as the world's biggest media empire.
That's some impressive work!
But those nonstop, debt-fueled leveraged buyouts? Way too risky!
French shareholders, riding a wave of national pride, stuck by him as he expanded the turf. The American investors, though? They were done gambling.
Of course, Messier's inability to charm the U.S. crowd didn't help his case.
Either way, Vivendi's tangled mess was playing right into Dunn's hands.
Michael Ovitz, ex-agent extraordinaire with a razor-sharp read on people, grinned like a Cheshire cat. "Relax, something's about to go down."
"Oh?"
Everyone perked up.
Ovitz smirked. "These past few days, we've been meeting Messier's loyalists. But haven't you noticed? Their resolve's starting to crack. Vivendi's sky-high debt—even needing to sell assets just to cover interest payments—is finally sinking in with the French."
Dunn leaned in, intrigued. "Break it down for me."
Ovitz laid it out. "Right now, the key player is Vice Chairman Arnault—head of BNP Paribas, Vivendi's money lifeline. If he buckles, the whole French faction collapses. The American investors are working him hard. But that's not even the main thing."
"Then what is?"
"Cold, hard cash!"
Ovitz's lips curled, his gaze icy as he snorted. "They all know Dunn Pictures' financials—we can drop over $10 billion in cash like it's nothing! I don't speak much French, but capitalists are all the same. All we need is a juicy offer to stir up Vivendi's infighting even more—give the American shareholders more ammo and leverage."
Dunn mulled it over, nodding slowly. "That… could work!"
Bill Mechanic jumped in. "We know Universal Pictures' financials inside out. Let's start with an offer for them—test the waters!"
An acquisition offer hinges on the target's books.
Universal Music and Blizzard Entertainment? Those would have to wait until Messier was out and Dunn Pictures could dig into formal talks with Vivendi.
For now, Universal Pictures was the opening shot!
…
June 24th: Dunn Pictures lobbed an offer at Vivendi—$5.8 billion to buy Universal Pictures and all its assets!
June 25th: Messier and the board's top brass shot back fast—rejected!
June 27th: Arnault, BNP Paribas chairman, Vivendi vice chairman, board member, and Messier's biggest backer, announced his resignation and walked away from Vivendi's board!
June 28th: Hollywood's media circus went nuts again!
Dunn Pictures' bid for Universal was business news—small potatoes on the entertainment pages.
Entertainment headlines? That's all about stars, directors, and big movies!
And that day, a massive story broke.
After Titanic, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, Spider-Man, and Never Sinking, the fifth film in history to cross $1 billion globally was born.
And once again, it couldn't escape one name.
Yup—Dunn Walker!
His produced Spider-Man 2, after eight weeks in theaters, hit $510 million in North America and $490 million overseas, breezing past the $1 billion global mark!
Of those five billion-dollar movies, three were directed by Dunn, and two were produced by him.
Suddenly, "Dunn Walker" was basically shorthand for "box office gold"!
With Dunn's boost, Ridley Scott—this low-key British director—finally hit the big time, becoming a hot name in film industries worldwide.
Especially in the UK film scene—Ridley Scott was their pride and joy in Hollywood!
That day, Dunn landed on the cover of Time magazine again. Dressed casually in navy jeans, even with black-rimmed glasses, he couldn't hide his youthful vibe.
Next to him, a bold, eye-catching headline: "The Godfather of Commercial Cinema"!
For Dunn, honors like that were just icing on the cake.
His focus now? France. Vivendi. Nothing else.
The big show was on!