Chapter 616 The Two of Them

At the end of May, Firefly Group gradually entered the actual distribution stage for the acquisition of the bank's $100 million bonds. Therefore, as the first summer after the completion of the TV network acquisition, this summer is very important for Firefly. .(?.c[o[mOnce the summer movies cannot continue the excellent box office performance of the Firefly movies in previous years, it will seriously dampen investment institutions' interest in investing in Firefly Group bonds.

Although the acquisition of Firefly has been settled, the attention of investors and media on Firefly Group has not diminished in recent months.

Under the attention of a lot of eyes, the three films launched by Firefly this summer have also aroused one-sided doubts. Whether it is the war film "Saving Private Ryan" or the 2D cartoon "The Lion King", they are not favored by the media and investment institutions. . In the same way, because Arnold Schwarzenegger just made a big somersault on "The Last Action Hero" last year, and "True Lies" with Cameron has not been released this year, it has already caused some naysayers. boo.

Moreover, critics have blamed Eric's blindness and arrogance for Firefly's practice of giving up its advantages in cg special effects movies and making 'unpopular' movies, claiming that Eric has been completely overwhelmed by past success. He lost his mind and thought of himself as an omnipotent God. At the same time, many shareholders, including Buffett, have asked Eric for other purposes of handing over popular special effects film projects such as "Men in Black", "Night at the Museum" and "Resident Evil", although these shareholders all use a With a harmless tone of discussion, Eric could still feel a strong distrust from it, and he also understood the subtext of these shareholders asking him not to support 'competitors'.

The originally planned one-week trip to Boston was delayed from May 9th to May 25th. Although many things are still unfinished, the Firefly Group is an important source of funds for Eric's subsequent series of industrial layouts. Therefore, I feel Hollywood As the secret forces of Firefly Group became more and more restless at home and abroad, Eric handed over the cooperation negotiation with Microsoft to Chris and the Yahoo management team and hurriedly returned to Los Angeles to preside over the situation.

As soon as Firefly's business jet landed at Los Angeles' Santa Monica Airport, Eric rushed to Firefly's headquarters in Burbank.

"Beverly Hills 3" in theaters today and "The Mummy" in two days will be serious competitors for "Saving Private Ryan" in a week, Paramount has arranged for "Beverly Hills 3" There have been multiple opening screens. Universal's strategy for "The Mummy" is obviously imitating last year's "Jurassic Park", and the screen even reached home. Another Paramount film, "Star Trek 7" "The release time is close to "True Lies" on June, and the schedule is scheduled for June 17. ╪┠┢┠.<. The cost of this film is only 10,000 US dollars, and the quality can never be compared with "True Lies" However, Paramount also has no box office pressure because of this, and it is very calm in terms of publicity. Moreover, the "Star Trek" series has accumulated decades of popularity. Once this film is upset, it will have a great impact on the box office of "True Lies". Finally, at the beginning of the month, Warner Pictures' "Law Enforcement Warriors" suddenly adjusted its schedule and chose to be released at the same time as "The Lion King" on June 24, and the intention was even more obvious," In the conference room of Firefly headquarters,

Michael Lynn introduced the recent situation with a worried expression.

After listening to Michael Lynn, Eric asked, "What about July?"

Michael Lynn knew that Eric was asking about the situation of the two films "Charlie's Angels" and "Men in Black" in July. These two films were made by MGM and Columbia respectively, but Firefly still occupied them. A large part of the rights and interests: "Charlie's Angels", "Men in Black" and... Fox's "Dumb and Dumber 2" have no comparable competitors in the same period."

original time and space. The reason why "Dumb and Dumb 2" appeared more than ten years later is mainly because the producer Xinxian was after the "Dumb and Dumb" department and could not afford to hire Jim Carrey. With the rights in the hands of the deep-pocketed Fox, of course, this issue is no longer an issue, nor is it surprising to launch a sequel. After listening to Michael Lynn, Eric chuckled and said, "They are quite relaxed."

Michael Lynn said: "I have been keeping the public relations department on the lookout for the recent trend of Yulun, and have sent lawyers' letters to six malicious newspapers and TV stations. The publicity department has drawn up an additional $10,000 in promotional costs for each film. plan, I sent someone to your e-mail box last night. Maybe you haven't had time to read it."

Eric nodded first, expressing his affirmation of Michael Lynn's work, but then shook his head and said, "There is no need for additional promotion fees. The average promotion cost for each of the three films is 10,000 US dollars. The advertising effect has reached saturation. It's not worth the gain if you continue to add it. It's not the first time that this kind of thing has happened. There's no need for us to deal with it as soon as someone poses. In fact, you should be able to see that they are betting that fireflies will be in this summer vacation. The file encountered Waterloo. Whether it was the unpopular "Saving Private Ryan", the "True Lies" that failed in the genre, or the "Lion King" that completely changed its propaganda strategy. They all gave them a hint that Firefly is likely to fail. , they are just waiting for this moment to really come, and then make Firefly's failure more thorough." Speaking of this, Eric smiled slightly sarcastically, and said: "But didn't they think about it, maybe, they The imaginary situation will be completely reversed?"

The Firefly Group has developed to the current level. In the competition with other major film companies, some small tactics in private have not played much role. In the final analysis, it is still the competition of film quality, and this point, Eric has the advantage is definitely They are incomparable. Not only that, Eric also decisively handed over the daily management of Firefly Group to more professional Katzenberg, Michael Lynn and others, and devoted most of his energy to film production. The 'advantage' is fully displayed, and the original time and space produced under this circumstance has proved the box office potential. Even if the box office cannot reach the point of the original time and space because of the butterfly effect, there is almost no possibility of complete failure. . ".

Eric's remarks seemed to give everyone here a reassurance. Before that, Michael Lynn and others were influenced by the outside world, and more or less similar concerns appeared.

After calming down, everyone began to discuss the next countermeasures.

The reason for the current situation. In addition to the expansion of Firefly Group's power to squeeze the status of other film companies in the same industry, there are also the influence of other Firefly shareholders and Wall Street capital forces. Now is the most critical moment for Firefly Group's bond bank. Once the bond bank of 100 million US dollars is blocked, according to the additional terms of Firefly's acquisition. Firefly either chooses to increase interest rates; or chooses to reduce the share of bond banks, and the gap will continue to be paid with equity. No matter which of these two results are, investors are happy to see it.

Therefore, Katzenberg, who came back from New York specially, said: "Eric, when I was in New York, Tom Murphy asked me more than once about the cooperation between Firefly and Sony and MGM. We cannot change the established contract. . But I think we should take back the rights of Miss Barrymore's "Mission Impossible", "Night at the Museum" and other films. Given the current situation in Colombia, there should be little resistance. This can also be greatly improved. The confidence of those shareholders and creditors in the company will make us much less resistant to issuing bonds.”

In the past few years, Columbia has been a mess under the management of Peter Cooper. At this time, it is not difficult to find a reason to get the exercise back, but many of Eric's plans will be interrupted: "Columbia will not only undertake These films pay % of the publicity fee, and only take 15% of the box office share. Even if we can squeeze out resources from such films as "Solitary Day" and "Jurassic Park 2", it is impossible for Firefly to offer such conditions. Bar?"

Katzenberg nodded helplessly. With the current average cost of more than 10,000 US dollars for large-scale production films, if Columbia wants to recover the cost from the investment, it needs the film of Huahua Film to guarantee the North American box office of 130 million US dollars. Of course, this time Colombia has obtained the overseas rights. Some profits are made, but the copyrights of video tapes and film and television peripherals are still owned by Huahua Pictures. Of course, Huahua Pictures will choose Firefly to cooperate. After comprehensive calculation, compared with the expected huge profits of hundreds of millions of dollars for these blockbusters. The fat was divided up by Huahua Films and Firefly. Colombia, one of the seven majors, was reduced to a soup drinker, and these 'soup water' would definitely be put into his pocket by Peter Cooper in the form of bonuses and dividends. inside. Katzenberg felt that if he was Columbia's major shareholder. He would absolutely do everything in his power to put an executive like Peter Cooper in jail, but the fantastic reality is that Sony is still very comfortable with this executive, and everyone in Hollywood knows that Columbia's The stall is getting worse and worse.

"Eric, since the main issue at the moment is to ensure the smooth running of corporate bonds. I think all we need is some good news that can really stimulate the market." Everyone looked at Eric.

Of course, Eric knew what this group of people was thinking, and smiled: "Just now, I wrote a good script recently. I plan to invite Julia Roberts to be the heroine. Maybe we can announce this news tomorrow."

"It's not enough," Frank Wells also said at this time: "Eric, you'd better direct it yourself like "Pretty Moon", since last year's "Jurassic Park", everyone has been Concerned about what your next film will be."

Eric spread his hands and said helplessly: "But as you know, I have other things to do. The big deal is that I will be the producer myself."

Katzenberg said: "Eric, I remember you said that for the "Matrix" plan, if you can announce this project at the same time, the effect will definitely be better."

Eric thought for a while, "The Matrix" can also be put on the agenda at this time, and said: "No problem, you can prepare the press release later, I will not participate in the conference. I will not participate in the next few days. Need to check the production progress of all the projects in hand.”

After confirming this matter, Katzenberg outlined the progress of the reorganization of the TV network, and the heads of various departments reported some trivial matters, and the meeting was over.

On the way back to Jiaojiao Manor, Eric accidentally fell asleep in the car. When he opened his eyes, he found that he was still leaning on the back seat of the car, but next to him was leaning on the soft body of the little girl. Also covered with a blanket.

Thinking that every time he returned to Los Angeles, Drew would always be by his side for the first time, a warm feeling flowed in Eric's heart.

It should be in the garage, but it must have been dark outside, and I felt a little tired in my heart. Eric didn't bother to see what time it was, and didn't mind if people were in the car. Feeling his movements, Drew woke up.

"Eric..." cried lazily, the girl rubbed against him as usual, and then shouted dissatisfiedly: "It's so dark, Natasha, turn on the lights."

In the dark, Eric couldn't help but smile. He was about to remind him that he was in the car. After a light sound, the lights in the car turned on. Eric was surprised to find two identical figures sitting in the front row, and this was not the Mercedes-Benz he was sitting in when he came back, but another off-road vehicle with a wide compartment. Eric does not have the habit of collecting cars, but Xiao Nizi often buys some luxury cars whenever she wants, and saves them without knowing it. There are more than 20 cars parked in the underground garage of the manor, because they rarely drive. Because of this, most of them are new.

Looking at the little girl who wanted to act coquettishly with a smile on her face, Eric pinched her ears and said, "How do you let them sit in the front?"

Drew smiled hilariously: "Do you want them to sit in the back row too?"

"Yeah, then you drive in the front row." Eric said helplessly, then pushed the door and got out of the car, and the little girl and the twins also got out of the car.

Eric looked at another unfamiliar off-road vehicle in front of him, kicked the tires, and asked, "Is this a Hummer? When did you like this kind of car?"

"I bought it for you," Drew said, grabbing Eric's arm, "a birthday present."

Eric just remembered that he had just passed his 24th birthday, shrugged indifferently, walked out, and said, "I'm not a coal digger, why do I need a Hummer."

Drew didn't understand what was digging coal, so he pouted in dissatisfaction with Eric and asked for credit: "This is for military use, and it's very strong."

"and then……"

Drew blinked his eyes and seemed to realize... but it was of no use, Eric rarely drives by himself now, let alone wandering around in such a military vehicle with Zhang Yang's appearance: "You don't like it. Forget it, change it for a birthday present."

Eric pretended to be curious and asked: "Oh, there are backups, talk about it?"

Xiao Nizi pointed to the twins who followed quietly behind her: "Hey, the two of them." (To be continued.)

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