"On August 1, 2007, Dick Cook, chairman of Walt Disney Studios, announced his resignation."
"According to sources, Dick Cook's departure was related to his violation of an internal care policy within the group last year."
"In July last year, Nina Jacobson, president of Buena Vista under The Walt Disney Company, received a dismissal call from Dick Cook while she was in the delivery room giving birth. After the incident, this rude dismissal severely damaged The Walt Disney Company's brand image. Therefore, The Walt Disney Company decided to give the people involved the punishment they deserved."
"With Dick Cook's departure, Robert Iger, the current president and CEO of The Walt Disney Company, may promote Rich Ross, head of Disney Channel, to serve as chairman of Walt Disney Studios."
"Rich Ross joined The Walt Disney Company in 1996. Over the past decade, Disney Channel, under his leadership, has launched many excellent works. Shake It Up, The Cheetah Girls, and the High School Musical series were all developed under his direction. And his most outstanding achievement was cooperating with Isabella Haywood, currently the world's third-richest person and a world-class celebrity, to bring Hannah Montana, a spin-off series of The Voice, to Disney Channel."
"…"
"On August 2, 2007, John E. Pepper Jr., the current chairman of The Walt Disney Company, announced that he would leave The Walt Disney Company after his term ended next year, because he was born in 1938 and would turn seventy after this year."
"He felt that his current energy was no longer enough to support him in managing a company, so he chose to retire."
"And while announcing his retirement plan, John E. Pepper Jr. also stated that he wanted to nominate Robert Iger, the current CEO of The Walt Disney Company, as the new chairman of The Walt Disney Company."
"…"
"On August 3, 2007, Roy E. Disney, a member of the founding family of The Walt Disney Company and the group's current honorary director, said in a media interview that he respected John E. Pepper Jr.'s choice and supported his recommendation."
"Roy E. Disney said that Robert Iger was one of the most capable entertainment executives he had ever seen, and that he believed The Walt Disney Company would have a better tomorrow under Robert Iger's leadership."
"…"
"On August 6, 2007, according to people familiar with the matter, Paramount intends to restart the Mission: Impossible series, which has been frozen for nearly a year. Paramount chairman Brad Grey still wants to invite Tom Cruise to play Ethan Hunt."
"As for the female lead, Paramount's current targets are Elizabeth Olsen or Kat Dennings."
"These two are both rising stars currently in high demand in Hollywood."
"Elizabeth Olsen's representative work includes Hannah Montana."
"Kat Dennings' representative work includes Nashville."
"And the animated film God of Cookery, in which the two of them participated as voice actors, is also the current blockbuster of the film industry. God of Cookery was released worldwide on the 27th of last month, and as of yesterday, its global cumulative box office has already come infinitely close to 500 million dollars."
"More importantly, it's rumored that Elizabeth Olsen and Kat Dennings are both artists under The Marmot Agency, which is the talent agency owned by world-class celebrity Isabella Haywood."
"In addition, the reason Paramount wants to restart the Mission: Impossible series is said to also be related to how miraculous Isabella Haywood is, because so far, Isabella Haywood has never lost once in investment."
"…"
"Breaking news on August 6: American Home Mortgage Investment Corp., headquartered in New York, filed for bankruptcy in federal court in Wilmington, Delaware. The person in charge stated that they were no longer able to fulfill more than ten billion dollars' worth of mortgage commitments under the company."
"…"
"Major news on August 9, 2007: BNP Paribas, citing 'a complete evaporation of liquidity,' blocked redemptions from three hedge funds under its management related to mortgage products. The total size of these funds exceeded 2.2 billion dollars."
"BNP Paribas' actions may have a severe impact on global financial markets."
"Their lack of credibility is very likely to lead to the collapse of the global real estate market."
"…"
With the release of God of Cookery, Isabella, having finished her external affairs, once again embraced her regular daily life.
She woke up at seven every morning, started work at eight, rested at twelve, continued at thirteen, and finished at seventeen.
Dinner at eighteen.
Home at nineteen.
After that, it was all her private time.
Exercise, reading, learning skills, taking baths—
She was just like Mundo. She did whatever she wanted.
The only red line was ten o'clock every night, because once that time arrived, she had to go to bed.
Uh, all right.
Her current life was indeed quite formulaic. But there was no helping it. Before Order of the Phoenix: Part 2 officially wrapped filming, her life would basically remain like this. And Order of the Phoenix: Part 2 wouldn't finish shooting until early October at the earliest.
So, since this was the path she'd chosen, she shouldn't complain about others.
Then, in order not to become disconnected from society, Isabella would also take some time every day to learn about major world events and listen to the top five headlines from North America's four major broadcast networks, ABC, CBS, NBC, and FOX, as well as Britain's largest broadcaster, the BBC.
Of course, her "listening" didn't mean turning on the television and listening. Because there was a time difference between Britain and America, the programs from different networks weren't easy to gather together and watch. Also, every media broadcast contained nonsense inserted by the media companies, and extracting condensed information took time.
Therefore, the broadcasts Isabella heard were all completed by the "carbon-based repeater," Margot Robbie.
For example, right now—
Margot, wearing a plaid shirt on top, black suit pants below, air glasses, and a little bun tied on her head, was sitting beside Isabella, reading her today's world news summary.
As for Isabella, having already taken a bath, she was wrapped in a bathrobe, leaning against the sofa, holding a notebook and drawing and writing in it.
Although she looked very serious—
"Hey! Isa! Are you really not messing with me?"
"I really think this daily news time thing you came up with is kind of boring!"
"Are you actually listening to what I'm saying?"
After finishing today's major news, Margot deliberately glanced at Isabella.
Then her mentality kind of collapsed.
Because she discovered that the major news she'd read didn't seem to have received Isabella's attention at all. Before she read the news, Isabella had been leaning there with her brows slightly furrowed, writing something. After she finished reading the news, Isabella was still leaning there with her brows slightly furrowed, writing something.
This completely unchanged reaction made her feel like she was doing useless work every day!
"Huh? What are you saying?"
As soon as Margot's complaint fell, a curious voice came out of Isabella's mouth.
That obvious "I wasn't listening" attitude made Margot roll her eyes wildly. Just as she was about to repeat what she'd said earlier, Isabella, who hadn't even raised her head and had only asked casually, suddenly reached out to her and beckoned. "Come here. Look at this thing I drew. What do you think?"
The sudden interruption left Margot somewhat helpless. She sighed and shook her head slightly. Although she really wanted to talk to Isabella about the topic she'd brought up, at this moment, she still followed Isabella's meaning and leaned over. Then she saw a square-shaped—
Drawing?
Although the drawing was very simple, since Isabella's drawing skills weren't very good, Margot could still tell that what Isabella had drawn was a kitchen.
And the whole kitchen design was very interesting.
On the far left side of the kitchen was the ingredients area. Inside, Isabella had used boxes and words to write bread, vegetables, meat, and cheese. Beside all the ingredients, there was also a chopping board represented by a box.
Any normal person could understand that what Isabella wanted to express here was "take ingredients and cut ingredients."
In the middle of the kitchen was the operation area. Inside, there were four pots and four plates. The pots were definitely used to cook food, and the plates were definitely used to hold food.
On the far right side of the kitchen was the function area. Isabella had used boxes and arrows to mark out a conveyor belt for serving dishes, and below the conveyor belt was a sink enclosed in a box.
When this pattern—
Ah, no!
It should be called a design!
When this design appeared, Margot's eyes immediately narrowed. After she saw that the lower left corner of the kitchen had a score marker, the lower right corner had a time marker, and the upper left had a dish marker, her brows furrowed even more tightly. "This is—"
"A game interface?"
"Yeah~ Margot~ you're really amazing~ you could tell at a glance that this is a game interface!"
Isabella laughed and nodded.
Margot's mouth twitched. "I'm not stupid—"
"What?"
Isabella raised an eyebrow, not understanding what Margot meant.
Margot pointed at Isabella's draft and said, "When a design has points and a countdown timer on it, other than a game, I can't think of what else it could be."
"Even though I don't play games."
"Oh, then can you guess what game this design is for?"
Margot's helpless look made Isabella smile and wrinkle her nose.
The boring question made Margot shrug and spread her hands. "I guess this is a design draft for a God of Cookery spin-off game?"
"You want Take-Two to make a game according to your ideas?"
"Bingo!"
Isabella snapped her fingers. "Congratulations, you got it right!"
The next second, she happily leaned toward Margot.
"So your reward is to say what you just said one more time! What were you asking me just now?"
When Isabella shamelessly asked again about the topic she'd just thrown aside, Margot immediately started grinding her teeth.
"Psycho!"
"You're messing with me, aren't you?"
She pushed Isabella away with a look of disgust.
That was right.
Isabella hadn't really been listening to Margot's "broadcast" just now, because she'd been fully focused on her own work, borrowing memories from her previous life to make this life's God of Cookery game.
And the game she was borrowing from was called Breakup Kitchen.
Ah, ptooey.
It was Overcooked!
Overcooked was a management simulation game. In the game, the player played as a chef. At the start of each round, the player would receive a task list filled with all kinds of orders. What the player needed to do was complete a series of tasks within a limited time according to the targets on the list, including preparing ingredients, cooking, serving dishes, and cleaning up afterward, making as many dishes as possible.
Because the game's scoring standard was that completing each dish would grant a certain number of coins, only by collecting as many coins as possible within the limited time could one possibly receive three stars in the final rating.
And the reason Overcooked was called Breakup Kitchen was because the game had two modes: single-player and multiplayer.
The former, single-player mode, was also called orphan mode, because this game was all about cooperation and mutual victory. If you played single-player mode, one person had to control two chefs, switching back and forth between them.
The latter, multiplayer mode, was also called couple mode. Because when Overcooked first came out, it didn't have online multiplayer. And its release year was 2017.
When relationships in human society had already been smashed into atoms by technologies such as the mobile internet in the second decade of the twenty-first century, a cooperative game without online multiplayer was obviously meant for players to enjoy with family, right?
There was no helping it. Who told the people living in this fast-paced era that they could no longer be like the people from the early days of gaming, huddling together with their best bros every day, with one playing Mario, the other playing Luigi, and then going off to fight Bowser?
And the reason Isabella chose to copy Overcooked now was simple.
First, it was because she'd long had the idea of making games. After she decided to make a film related to food, Overcooked appeared in her mind. In her view, Overcooked was the best video game spin-off for the God of Cookery film.
Second, it was because Microsoft was using games as an excuse to stretch its black hand into her heartland. So, as long as she wanted to occupy the moral high ground in her counterattack, she had to make every part of the process look clean and proper.
Throwing out 2.5 billion dollars to acquire Take-Two was only to show the enemy her attitude of fighting to the death! Taking out an excellent game like Overcooked was the killing move she'd use to shut the mouths of the other Marvel shareholders!
This logic should be easy to understand, right?
At present, she hadn't yet proven herself in the video game field. So, if she wanted Marvel's shareholders to close their eyes and let her use the group's resources, just like the shareholders of Warner and Disney did, the most legitimate thing she could do was produce an excellent spin-off in the gaming field.
Yes.
The sales of Overcooked were excellent. In 2024, when the developer of Overcooked released another game, it stated that the entire Overcooked series, namely Overcooked, Overcooked 2, and Overcooked! All You Can Eat, had already reached a cumulative global sales volume of 40 million copies before 2024.
What kind of concept was that?
Before Epic downgraded Hogwarts from a university to a vocational college, the total global sales of Hogwarts Legacy were 40 million copies.
Breakup Kitchen was indeed a small game, but it was the HP of small games!
To put it in even more exaggerated terms, even if Isabella didn't play the IP stacking game of Overcooked plus God of Cookery right now, the Overcooked IP alone could beat the shit out of Microsoft Games.
Mm.
Since Microsoft insisted on provoking her, her goal was to beat Microsoft to death!
"So, uh, are you planning to wait until this game is made before talking to Marvel about cooperation?"
"Or rather, are you planning to wait until this game is made before responding to Microsoft's attack?"
Since Margot knew everything about Isabella's current situation, since she'd already signed her life away, the moment she saw the game idea Isabella had drawn, Margot immediately understood what she was thinking.
But precisely because Margot could see Isabella's move clearly, she now had even more doubts in her heart.
In her view, wasn't there something wrong with Isabella's setup? Because making a game required time. But an enemy's punch didn't need to wait.
So, if Isabella wanted to show real muscle to the other Marvel shareholders, then Microsoft and Marvel's chairman, Isaac Perlmutter, could completely make the first move!
Right?
And this—
"Oh, Margot, it seems you're still suffering from your lack of education."
Isabella laughed. "Who said I have to use a game to respond to Microsoft's attack?"
"Huh?"
Margot was shocked!
She widened her eyes and stared at Isabella in complete confusion!
She admitted, at this moment, she truly didn't understand what Isabella was saying!
Because Isabella had already launched an acquisition offer for Take-Two! After Isabella had already thrown 2.5 billion dollars into the gaming field, she was actually saying that she wasn't planning to go head-to-head with Microsoft using games???
This—
This—
This—
"Are you joking with me?"
Margot pursed her lips. She somewhat struggled to voice the doubt in her heart.
Perhaps it was because her brain was running at high speed? Her CPU was heating up rapidly?
While Margot stared at Isabella in astonishment, a blush appeared directly on her pretty face. Her fair skin flushed with red, looking especially beautiful.
Isabella chuckled, raised her hand, pinched that delicate cheek, and tugged it. Then she shook her head and said, "Idiot."
"Margot, I feel like you've never been in a fight in your life."
"When two people are fighting, if one side throws out their left leg, what do you think the other side should do most?"
"Throw out their right leg and kick against them?"
"How could that be?"
"Kicking each other hurts too much!"
"And there's a risk of injury!"
"At that moment, what the other side should do most is distract the attacker while kicking the attacker's supporting leg, or simply raise a knee and smash the attacker's crotch. So—"
"Give Nathan Bailey a call."
"Tell him I'm looking for Barry Meyer."
Isabella's lecture left Margot stunned.
After she took out the phone she'd only changed to this month and, according to Isabella's instructions, dialed Nathan Bailey's number, her eyes instantly lit up!
Because Isabella's real plan immediately appeared before her with perfect clarity.
The 2.5 billion acquisition of Take-Two was only a feint! The real punch was to have Warner go after people offline!
To go after Facebook's people.
"Barry? Has the investigation been cleared up?"
"Can the infringing groups currently on the market be wiped out all at once?"
"Yeah~ I know arresting people in more than a dozen states at the same time will make this blow up particularly big, but—"
"So what?"