Chapter 691： Change some money

The city of San Diego, where Qualcomm is headquartered, is located in southern California, less than two hours drive from Los Angeles. After Eric expressed his intention to join Qualcomm to Owen Jacobs, it was convenient to start close consultations.

In the office of Firefly Studios Eric, Kelly, who had just returned from San Diego, handed a memo to Eric, saying: "Chris will also consult with several key Qualcomm shareholders in the afternoon. He will let me first. Just coming back, this is the result of our negotiations in the morning. Qualcomm’s board of directors is only willing to accept half of the amount of capital injection we have made, but their attitude is not so determined. It is only a matter of time before the deal is concluded.”

Eric turned the memo that Kelly handed over and said: "Since the formal contact has begun, this matter will certainly not last long. It will inevitably lead to any change after a long time. I only care about time, one Week, I hope the deal will be finalized in the next week."

Kelly said: "Eric, if the negotiations are compressed to a week, we will definitely be passive."

Eric shook his head and said: "This matter can't be quick and quick, it will cause too many people to pay attention, and we will really become passive. You will continue to go to San Diego tomorrow, and explain the benefits and Qualcomm, at-t just took The spectrum license has announced gsm as its technical standard, and other operators who have obtained spectrum licenses will not hesitate for too long. If they miss the best time for dma lobbying because of hesitation, we will not hesitate. I gave up the deal, so only one week."

The news that Firefly attempted to acquire Qualcomm was transmitted. Not only will it cause a surge in stock prices. It may also cause people to follow up. after all. Firefly's investments in companies such as Cisco, AOL, Yahoo, and Nokia have now paid off very well in recent years, and the capital market has long begun to pay close attention to the trend of firefly investment. If the negotiations drag on for too long, another company that is interested in Qualcomm suddenly emerges in the process, that is the biggest trouble.

Kelly thought for a moment, or nodded: "Well, I will prepare."

Eric read the memo and discussed some precautions with Kelly. He picked up a thick package on his desk. Get up and say: "The Wachowski brothers are here soon, you can come together."

Kelly followed up and was surprised: "Eric, are you really going to let them direct "The Matrix"?"

Eric said: "I haven't decided yet. See you soon."

"I always feel that this is a bit too...outrageous. They are just two little screenwriters that are not known."

Eric smiled and said: "I used to be just a little screenwriter."

Kelly said: "But you didn't direct the budget of such a huge movie at the beginning. The budget of "Little Ghosts" was only one million. Later, there were "Feng Yue Qiao Jia", "Little Ghost 2", "The Dark War" "And the ghosts are gone," you didn't start trying to make a big film until the sixth "Tornado."

Eric explained: "At that time, I was too timid. If I made a big project that invested over 100 million yuan directly. The box office was defeated, and there would be no me."

Kelly still has some doubts. From the point of view that Eric has been a small to big step, he has always been a very rational person, but this time the behavior is somewhat unreasonable.

Because of the great success of Jurassic Park, Firefly has a very high expectation for the film adaptation of Eric's "The Matrix", and the production budget has directly reached 100 million US dollars. Kasenberg and others actually hope that Eric can continue to direct in person, but Eric has an interest in two Hollywood rookies who have not even published a directed work, which is really puzzling.

It is still the small restaurant where Eric often eats lunch near the administrative building. Just entering the door, the two brothers who have been waiting in the restaurant stand up and are accompanied by a studio employee.

Eric sent the responsible **** to leave, and Kelly sat down opposite the Wachowski brothers, looking at the man's Wachowski brothers at this time, Eric inexplicably produced a weird Feeling, perhaps because of cultural differences, Eric is hard to understand the transgender's ideas.

I felt Eric's gaze, looking thin and thin with glasses, but actually my brother's Larry Wachowski looked at Eric's parcel on the table and said: "Mr. Williams, may I ask you? What do we think of our vision of "The Matrix"?"

Eric put away the inexplicable thoughts and pulled out the sub-pictures in the parcel. He said, "You can call me Eric. I think the idea of ​​bullet time and 360-degree rotating lens in your paintings is very cool, however, I feel that you have not adapted to my novel completely, but there are no detailed scripts in these paintings. Can you talk about your specific thoughts about the plot?"

In order to avoid thinking and crashing, Eric’s "The Matrix" novel version, in addition to the name and mainline concept, did not follow the path of the film version in memory, nor did it have esoteric philosophical thinking, but mainly the actor Nio accident. After discovering that you live in illusion, join your partners to fight against the mother to return to reality.

When I heard Eric’s question, Larry Wachowski said: “Eric, in fact, I and I have had similar ideas before, but they have always been some scattered ideas. It wasn't until we saw your novel that we decided to script our story, so the sub-pictures you saw were drawn by Andy and your novel and some of our own ideas. We think Compared with the novel version, such a story should be able to explore and explore deeper, about reality and illusion, about the roots of life, etc., and should not be just a science fiction novel."

Eric nodded and said, "So, completely let go of my story, talk about your ideas?"

"Of course, no problem," Larry Wachowski said: "Our idea is this, in the fantasy of the mother. Nio should be a programmer who is proficient in hacking techniques. One day. A mysterious person suddenly contacts he……"

The Wachowski brothers began to express their own story ideas with enthusiasm. Eric put in a few words from time to time. Unconsciously, even Kelly was gradually attracted to the discussion.

Until two o'clock in the afternoon, several people think of eating lunch, simply filling their stomachs, Eric began to ask the Wachowski brothers specific shooting ideas, so until the evening. The Wachowski brothers left the Firefly Studios.

Eric asked the waiter to remove the coffee on the table, ordered dinner, and then asked Kelly next to him: "What do you think of them?"

Kelly thought about it and said: "Two people who are very thoughtful, but if you shoot according to their ideas, this film is likely to have some... Hey, if you make a low-cost ult film, it might become a classic. But as a big production with hundreds of millions of investments, it is difficult to guarantee at the box office."

Eric nodded. The female assistant’s eyes are still very sensitive.

In the original time and space, in order to pull the investment of "The Matrix." The Wachowski brothers are still very convergent in the script, just combining the philosophical thinking and business elements that they want to express, so the audience sees a sci-fi blockbuster that is cool but not lacking in connotation. The advent of the first part of "The Matrix" immediately caused a sensation. Not only did the box office have a good harvest, but it also made the original Worthowski brothers become the first-line director of Hollywood. Hollywood has a very simple and rude rule. As long as you can make a box office movie for a film company, you can get everything you want. Therefore, after the first success, the two brothers became the first-line director of Hollywood, and they also gained full control over the sequel production. The film maker Warner also had no choice for the two brothers, so the brothers Beginning to unrestrainedly add his own ideas to the film. The sequel is dark and embarrassing while unrestrained and swaying. The disastrous consequences of this extreme inconsistency are that fans are waiting anxiously for four years. After that, I finally saw two sequels, and after the second part of "Reloading", the word-of-mouth of the series was basically exhausted, the fans directly swayed the disappointment on the third part, making it supposed to be The end of the series of peaks has fallen into the most bleak part of the entire series of box office and word of mouth.

Recalling these things, Eric told the female assistant: "I will personally check the script, and certainly will not let them mess around as they please."

"Eric, but they don't have any directing experience after all. According to the approximate film production cycle, if everything goes well, "Matrix" will take about three months of shooting time and the same four months of post-production. It will take three months, and it will not add up to a year. From now to next summer, we still have one and a half years. In the future, the announcement can be carried out at the same time as the later period. The time card is tight, so they can use it. In the first half of the year, I will first direct a low-cost film to exercise."

Eric nodded: "This is a good idea, um, one and a half years...the amount, one and a half years, eighteen months, six months, 1995, 1997..."

Kelly saw Eric talking and said, her face suddenly changed constantly, strangely muttered to herself, and stood up in dismay: "Eric, what's wrong with you?"

Eric calmed down, smiled reluctantly, reached out and patted Kelly's small hand on his shoulder and said, "I'm fine, just suddenly thought of something."

"How is it all right?" Kelly still had some concerns, and put her hand on Eric's forehead. Except for some fine sweat, she didn't feel anything different.

Eric smiled and caught the female assistant’s small hand and kissed him on the lips. “It’s really okay, just suddenly thinking that I might have overlooked something.”

Kelly was kissed by Eric on the back of her hand, feeling the strange gaze of the waiter not far away, her face flushed back slightly, and sat down again, but forgot to ask why Eric had just lost his mind.

Eric’s expression quickly returned to normal, but she did not let go of her thoughts.

Because of Kelly's unintentional reminder, Eric suddenly thought of the production cycle of "Titanic". In the original time and space, after the "Titanic" created the box office miracle, many production details were smashed out by the media. Eric clearly remembers that the Titanic in the original time and space began preparations in the second half of 1995 and officially began shooting in 1996. Fox had intended to release the 1997 summer file. As a result, Cameron delayed the production cycle. It was finally released until the end of 1997, and the entire production cycle will be nearly two years.

Although I approved the $150 million production budget for the Titanic from the beginning, Eric has already had the mental preparation that Cameron will definitely overspend, as long as it can bring the same classic as in the original time and space. Eric did not mind that Cameron once again raised the budget to $200 million. However, he has inadvertently ignored it. Cameron will not only overspend on the budget, but will also overdue production.

Because of the auction of Disney's hand-painted animation department last year, the fireflies will have a break in the animated film of the year in the summer of next year. If the "Titanic" can no longer be released as scheduled, the 1996 Firefly Summer file may only have the film "The Matrix."

In the past few years, the profits generated by several of the main projects of the Firefly Summer have accounted for about half of the profits of the year-round movie business, which shows the importance of the summer file to the Firefly movie business. If the size of the summer file last year suddenly shrinks to a third of the previous year, the Firefly Group movie business will inevitably be greatly affected.

This kind of thing, staring at Cameron is definitely not effective, and in the end it is only possible to make him a bit higher in the roar of the roar.

Eric quickly made up his mind, or prepared in advance.

And, fortunately, it is only just in early 1995. If you realize this in the second half of the year, you want to prepare for the film that will set off the summer program in 1996. Time is definitely too late.

......

The director of "The Matrix" was selected by Eric in person and quickly identified the Wachowski brothers.

Eric also, according to Kelly's suggestion, in the pre-stage of the "Matrix", let the Wachowski brothers shoot a low-cost film in advance to honing the director's skills.

The Wachowski brothers are scriptwriters, and there is just a script written in the hand called "Stunning Flower", but the script has been sold to a company that is affiliated with Warner, and is in Eric. In the case of coordination and fireflies agreeing to jointly invest, Warner quickly responded to the director's power to the Wachowski brothers.

Negotiations with Qualcomm continued, and the news was inevitably leaked in the next few days. Several major telecom operators expressed close attention, and even the top-level executives called Warren Buffett to ask Ereli. The intention of grams.

Although Qualcomm's share price has skyrocketed, Qualcomm's shareholders and board of directors began to compromise under the tough attitude of Firefly.

Hollywood, the Golden Globe Awards ceremony is just around the corner. Eric has paid little attention to this matter. In order to avoid the delay in the summer of the Cameron "Titanic", Eric began to busy picking up the script.

"Mr. Williams, the story is like this. A Marine Corps officer, led by his dissatisfaction with the attitude of the American government to the fallen soldiers, led his subordinates to take a batch of gas bombs and hijacked them on a prison island that was converted into a tourist attraction. A group of tourists took hostages, threatening the US government to pay a $100 million ransom to compensate the fallen soldiers. The abandoned prison was once known as the 'Alcatraz', known as the guardian of the guard. In the process of saving the hostages, it was discovered A former British agent was the only criminal who had successfully escaped from the Alcatraz island. He forced the executive to deceive the agent. He will be subject to the US government's ****, provided that the special forces are led into the Alcatraz to save the hostage... ”

In Firefly Studios, in Eric’s office, a thin middle-aged man told Eric about his script idea, and from time to time he gestured, Eric quietly listened and sat on the other side. Jerry Bruckheimer kept on the head and waited for the middle-aged to end the narrative and said, "Eric, how about David's idea, is it great?"

Eric smiled uncontrollably and said to the thin middle-aged man: "Mr. Weissberg, go back first. If there is a result, someone will inform you."

The thin middle-aged man looked at Jerry Bruckheimer and was somewhat reluctant to say to Eric: "Mr. Williams, you can imagine that the role of the old British agent is played by Sean Connery. The first 007 acted as a British agent and was full of gimmicks. The chemist could hand it over to Nicolas Cage. The director chose John Wu. His directorial style is very suitable for this script. The film is shot with this kind of card. The movie will definitely be big. Sell ​​it. And..."

Eric still has nothing to say, Jerry Bruckheimer frowned frowning impatiently, saying: "David, listen to Eric, you go back first, I will call you in the afternoon."

David Weissberg felt the disappointment of Jerry Bruckheimer, did not dare to entangle, and got up and left the office.

Wait until the office door is closed. Jerry Bruckheimer told Eric: "Eric, can you talk about your thoughts now?"

"Jerry," Eric spread his hand and smiled. "You know my rules. I don't want the incident of the "cut throat" script to happen again."

It was learned that Eric was looking for a script, and in just a few days, the fireflies received a large number of scripts delivered by the script broker. However, drawing on the lessons of the past and trying to send the script to Eric, everyone in the script needs to sign a strict contract of intent with Fireflies. After confirming that Eric selected the script, the writer will not be willing to sell the script to other film companies.

Nowadays. Jerry Bruckheimer suddenly rushed to the door with a screenwriter, saying that there was a good idea to recommend to him, so there was the situation.

Jerry Bruckheimer said: "Of course I know, and I still think that the original thing was originally the pit you dug for Michael Eisner. I guess it?"

Eric shrugged, and even if everyone guessed it, he wouldn't admit it.

Jerry Brooke laughed silently and then explained: "I have already bought this script, so let go, as long as the fireflies promise to invest, the rest will not be a problem."

"Jerry, you seem to have ignored a problem. Until now, I still don't know the name of this script."

"Forehead, this is what I ignored, but the name of the movie at the play stage is often undecided. Of course, David has given this story a name, "Don't kill the island."

"Well, "Don't kill the island," Eric followed, and smiled. "That, David Weissberg just said, Sean Connery, Nicolas Cage, John. Wu, oh, and your gold medal producer. In this case, have you calculated the budget for the movie?"

Eric didn't know how much Shawn Connery had paid in "The Courageous Island" in the original time, but he just happened to know that Sean Connery was in the following "The Trap". I got my first 20 million remuneration, but now it is lower, it will not be much lower. Cage’s current pay is also around $15 million. John Wu has experienced three big-selling films, and the director’s pay is also no less than $10 million. Jerry Bruckheimer’s gold medalist, no more than 10 million. Certainly not. Then, this film is only the main salary, it will not be less than 50 million.

Jerry Bruckheimer calculated for a moment and said: "Eric, the film's starring spending is a bit higher, but the film does not have much special effects and big scenes, so the budget should be able to control within 80 million. ”

Eric didn't know how many box office he got in the previous life, but this film was the earliest batch of imported films at that time. It is definitely not too bad to come to North America and the global box office. Knocking on the armrests for a moment, Eric nodded: "Well, Jerry, only 80 million, and you know, the fireflies have not signed the habit of adding money to the agreement, so these 80 million are all the producers. expenditure."

When Jerry Bruckheimer reported the budget, it was actually a bit higher. According to his estimation, the film will be about $75 million. Eric did not deliberately take out a master or compress one or two million budgets for the producers, and made him feel very comfortable, like the top executives of the film companies he had worked with. He nodded, "No problem, Eric, I am very familiar with Sean Connery, I can help persuade him to join the project, Cage and John Wu, you better come out and say hello."

The two discussed the project in detail, and Jerry Bruckheimer was about to leave. Eric joked: "Jerry, in recent days, you can leave one or two script ideas in this office. You don't Will you plan to leave like this?"

Jerry Bruckheimer laughed and remembered that there was nothing urgent about him to leave. Eric said, he sat down again and said with a sigh of relief: "I really have a script here. It’s just a bit old-fashioned. It is a criminal action film that imitates the two models of the "Fatal Weapons". I originally planned to sell it to Colombia for a small amount of money. The budget is not high, only 19 million. Are you interested in listening? ?"

Eric narrowed his eyes and smiled. He said, "Oh, what is the name of the script?"

"The Jedi Police." (To be continued.)