When a gossip rag went after the CEO, he retaliated with the brutal, brilliant efficiency he used to build his business empire.

‘He likes people walking around in fear,’ says one worker. ‘He gets off on it.’

Jimmy Lai, a Hong Kong tabloid tycoon, thinks he’s found the future of journalism: an animation assembly line that can crank out clips recreating–or anticipating, or imagining–breaking news.

How a French journalist recruited a posse of Brazilian parking lot attendants and pizza-delivery guys and created Hollywood’s most addictive entertainment product.