Chapter 871： Last chance

Beverly Hills, Eric lived in Shantou’s mansion in the Trausdale Manor for the past two days. He didn’t spend most of his nights like many of Paramount’s tops, although on Saturday, he still gets up on time and washes. Morning exercise, breakfast, reading a new day's newspaper on the terrace overlooking the entire Los Angeles mansion.

It seems that he wants to make some counterattacks, and Paramount can't wait to announce Friday's single-day box office list in the newspaper.

The twins quietly took away the cutlery on the round table, and sat down on the opposite side of Eric. They also read a Los Angeles Times published on the table. They were surprised: "The forecast is 40 million for the first three days of the first week. Not more than 60 million US dollars, similar to the first one, is our ban plan not a failure?"

Eric smiled and shook his head and said: "The usual movie is exactly the same as your weekend, which is equivalent to more than half of the weekend. Animated movies are different, especially 2d animation, because most of the audience are Children who need to be accompanied by their parents will have a lower percentage of box office on weekdays. The first three days of the "Lion King" box office is close to 70% of the first week. This sequel is certainly similar, so its possibility of more than 60 million US dollars in the first week. Not big, it should be around $55 million."

"There will be $55 million in the first week. How much will there be in the total box office?"

Eric read a film review of "Air Prison" and thought about it. "This is not allowed. The total box office of "Lion King 2" is mainly based on the box office performance in the front four weeks. After this week, Zhou is "Godzilla", next week is "Floating Story" and "Time and Space Contact", followed by "Batman and Robin", these are all able to pose a great threat to "Lion King 2" In the film, if the box office performance of these films is too good, "Lion King 2" will definitely be affected. On the contrary, it is not impossible for the "Lion King 2" box office to be close to the first one."

In fact, according to the memory of past lives, Eric has already had some details in his heart.

In the next three weeks, the film "Godzilla" and "Batman and Robin" are very likely to hit the street. Only "Nemo" is the most direct opponent of "Lion King 2".

However, the current "Air Prison" seems to have a box office that does not reach the expected trend. The first day will be 7.7 million US dollars. The first week will probably only receive about 35 million US dollars. In the next few weeks of bombing, the final North American box office will be able to Broken billion is still very hanging. The sluggish performance of "Air Prison" made Eric's box office prospects for "The Story of the Sea" not so sure. He has seen the 3D animations several times, although it is not inferior to the original. However, because it is six years ahead of the original launch time, whether it can show the amazing box office power, Eric is not sure.

Shantou listened to Eric, saying that he looked down on the entertainment version, found the summer file schedule, looked at it for a while, looked up: "That, it seems that the summer file global box office may be close to 1 billion US dollars, Only Godzilla and our Royal Casino."

"You are also stimulated by the Titanic. The global billion is so easy. Hollywood is able to produce a global box office of 1 billion at the box office. It is lucky this year, um," Eric After hesitation, he did not say the name of "Nemo", and he paused. "This may be there this year, but it will definitely not be "Godzilla" and "Royal Casino."

"Ah, you have no confidence?"

Eric analyzed: "Look, the last box office of "Golden Eyes" is $350 million. Excluding inflation, this is the best result of 007. In fact, it also shows the box office potential of the original form of 007. This time, "Royal Casino", my modification of the film format, is still not sure whether the audience will like it. But the comprehensive 007 brand, my personal box office appeal and the aura of the special movie universe, this film global box office The problem of more than 500 million US dollars is still not big. If it breaks out a little, it may reach 700 million, but 1 billion will need a lot of opportunities."

Shantou’s eyes turned and said: “Well, when the final battle between the three major agents and the Ghost Party is reached, is it possible to reach $1 billion?”

Eric remembers the original time and space. After the release of the first part of The Avengers, the two sequels of the first box office of "Captain America" ​​and "Raytheon" have almost doubled, and the popularity is very high. The "Iron Man" box office broke through $1 billion. The reason for this is that it is largely due to the assembly of multiple superheroes, which has increased the popularity and box office appeal of the original single hero.

The original "Three Stars" series of "007", "Mission Impossible" and "Jiao Jiaowa" are already very popular. "Royal Casino" happens to be the first series of three series to achieve the first episode of the film, after this film, Fans of the three major series will definitely be merged. Even though the Royal Casino has not been as powerful as the Avengers in the original series, in the next series of sequels, as long as the cross-coherence of this plot is maintained, perhaps before the final Ghost Party finals, It’s also possible to have a global box office of 1 billion.

"Of course it is possible, you don't even have to wait until the final battle."

Eric nodded his head and suddenly thought of something. He put down his newspaper and set up a blank document on the laptop next to it. He tapped the keyboard and said: "However, I suddenly thought of the next series. You should pay attention to some issues, I will write a memo to you."

Shantou curiously came over and said: "What?"

Eric continued to knock on the keyboard and explained: "With regard to the supporting role, you see, whether it is "007" or "Mission Impossible", and "Jiao Jiaowa", which have a relatively strong supporting role, Mrs. m, q Dr. and so on. After "Royal Casino", it’s not a problem to shoot 10 more in the movie cosmic series. But in this case, if you want the main characters of the three series to be linked to each other, the production cost will become Very high, this time, let the supporting role in the series to achieve this interspersed effect, the price is very high. Even, like "Mission Impossible", Kevin Costner's pay is getting higher and higher, if eventually It is difficult for the two sides to cooperate again. We can even use the original supporting role to continue to lead the 'impossible mission department' and continue the "Mission Impossible" series."

Shantou looked at the memo document that Eric quickly knocked out, and he understood it roughly. He smiled and said: "It’s like you promised Chris to star in the movie as Angela Linde in The Royal Casino. Is that like that?"

Eric hit the keyboard and paused. He took a picture on the round table and said, "Yeah, I almost forgot the movie. I blame it too busy recently. I took the time to write the outline. Come out, go find a few suitable scriptwriters to fill the script."

"Oh," Shantou smiled and said: "Give us back, Liz will definitely be more angry, maybe Jeffrey will have opinions."

Eric has indeed sent too many hot movies to Shantou in these years. The special movie universe will not be said. The films such as "Museum of the Museum", "Resident Evil" and "Forrest Gump" are all very eye-catching. Popular projects, the next Tolkin Chinese-European epic series, is enough to make a film company eat for ten years.

It seems that Drew himself hopes that Eric will not be so obvious.

Laughing and kissing on the girl's face, Eric said: "This time, even if you continue to hold, I hope that this series of cars can be linked with the agent movie universe. If you put it in other film companies, you can still Realizing the crossover of the plot, but because the subject matter is quite different, it will be too deliberate to do so, and there will be a lot of unclear copyright entanglements. There is no shortage of items in the firefly. Fox is now doing the star. Pre-war biography, Miramax's performance in the past two years is also very eye-catching, and Julia is the box office to support the field, the film business over there is not much smaller than the big production, not much worse than you, then say Fox's base is much stronger than MGM."

Fox has been taken over by News Corp. for more than a decade, although the film business in these years is not too good, but with the support of News Corp., Fox's operating conditions are still very stable.

In comparison, MGM's current business is still limited to movies. Although stimulated by a series of popular blockbusters, the vitality began to recover, but the overall strength is still in the bottom of the seven.

Shantou certainly knows that Eric hopes that MGM will become stronger as soon as possible and play a greater role in the firefly's media system.

Nodded, no more refused, Shantou said: "Right, Eric, last time Amy also discussed with me, we recently had the opportunity to buy a cable TV station."

MGM wants to go further and definitely needs to expand into the TV industry. Eric’s original idea was to hope that MGM could acquire the Colombian film in bs and Sony’s hands, but now that the new technology wave has risen, the value of bs has now exceeded For $20 billion, Sony also has no idea of ​​going out of the movie business. These two ideas will not work for the time being.

Then, the expansion to the cable industry has become a good choice. In the next two decades, the North American public television network is destined to decline, and the cable TV industry will enter its heyday.

Eric sent a written memo to the mailbox of MGM ame Amy Pascal, and asked the girl: "Which TV station is it?"

"e! Entertainment."

Eric raised his eyebrows and immediately remembered that it was played in the original time and big... Oh no, the TV station with the Kardashian family.

Nodded, Eric said: "This TV station, I have heard, just don't pay much attention."

Shantou introduced: "I have read the information, e! Entertainment is mainly to play movies, TV, music and other programs related to fashion, oh, and Hollywood gossip."

Eric asked subconsciously: "Is there a reality show?"

Shantou licked his head: "It seems, no, but if we can buy it, we can make a reality show ourselves."

"This kind of TV station, it is too wasteful to play the reality show, but it needs to be well planned," Eric said, and asked: "Now the ownership of e! is in the hands of that company?"

“This is a bit complicated. E! Entertainment was originally established by Warner Cable, Comcast, Telecommunication, Continental TV and the basic cable companies. It has been integrated several times in these years. Continental TV and basic cable are all Withdrew, this time Time Warner also wants to quit, looking for interested buyers, we can buy up to 40% of the shares, but Conners means that if we take over the shares in Warner Cable , should be able to get the right to operate e! Entertainment."

Cable TV in North America began to rise in the 1980s. At that time, in order to avoid investment risks and make full use of resources, it was basically a form of joint stock, just like the fireflies and Hearst Group still hold the ae TV network. Like espn TV.

"Then buy 40% first, and have the opportunity to eat the entire TV station in the future."

"But I feel a little expensive, e! Entertainment plus a few sub-stages, now less than 50 million subscribers, last year's revenue was only 370 million, and a loss of 13 million US dollars. Less than 40% of the shares, Warner Cable quoted 750 million, Amy said that the price can be talked about, but in the end it will not be less than 600 million US dollars."

If it is a paid cable station, about 50 million subscribers will definitely let shareholders earn money, but e! Entertainment is clearly divided by advertising and operators into the basic cable station as the main revenue.

In the past two years, like bs, whether it is a public television network or a cable TV station, the price has been soared by the wave of new technology.

If it was a few years ago, according to the current financial situation, e! The overall value of entertainment will not exceed the $750 million reported by Warner Cable, but now, Warner is on e! The 40% stake in entertainment 750 million US dollars is not too ridiculous, Time Warner's financial situation in recent years is not very good, Warner Cable is also estimated to be high-end cash and the idea of ​​getting rid of the burden.

"Buy it as much as you can," Eric said to Shantou. "In a few years, I want to buy and estimate that others will not buy it."

In recent years, it is the last moment of the integration of the North American media industry. When all the dust settles, the development momentum of cable TV stations is getting better and better. The major media groups that have formed the Big Mac will definitely not be able to take off. Cable TV stations can be said that in recent years, MGM has almost the last chance to expand into the TV industry.

Shantou did not doubt Eric’s judgment and nodded: “Well, I will call Amy now.”

As he said, Natasha walked out of the villa, holding a cordless phone in his hand and handed it to Drew Road: "The boss, Miss Hudson's phone." (To be continued.)