Chapter 951： You are the boss

Talking about the movie in the afternoon and eating dinner together, Eric gradually discovered that although there is a refined appearance that makes men feel, Judy Foster is basically a female man, still very cool. .

Moreover, during dinner and chat, Judy Foster's understanding of Eric is far more than Eric's understanding of her, and much of the information is definitely not found in the media. After Eric’s temptation, I realized that when I finished the Silent Lamb, Judy Foster and Julia had always had very good friends. A group of women are together, and the topic of private discussion is self-evident.

After a dinner, the woman said that she would treat Eric as a friend as long as Eric did not succumb to her.

The fireflies signed a contract with Judy Foster, and then Judy Foster took a lot of information about "gravity" from Eric, and began to make films and derivative novels. prepare.

Eric, who is the hero of Gravity, still chose George Clooney.

Prior to participating in "Batman and Robin" last year, George Clooney has announced that he has been off the filming of ABC's hit drama "The Story of the Emergency Room" and intends to concentrate on the development of the film circle.

Then, there is almost no more.

However, the popularity of this always handsome old man in the circle really makes many people unmatched. Eric has not yet sent an invitation to George Clooney, and he has already started to help him match the line. Even Jodie Foster, who just announced that he is a friend of Eric, has called and feels that George Clooney is very suitable for horses. In the role of Te Kołoski, Eric will also push the boat and harvest a small person.

At Los Angeles International Airport, time has come unnoticed to mid-January.

Eric took a few high-level firefly group members, such as Kasenberg, to see off the "The Lord of the Rings" crew.

From childhood to the idea of ​​shooting "The Lord of the Rings" until now, I look forward to thirty years, the film that I dreamed of finally began to shoot, and now Peter Jackson looks radiant and radiant.

Shaking hands with Eric, Kasenberg and others, and vowing to guarantee, Peter Jackson took a charter of nearly 100 people to board a charter flight to New Zealand. I plan to return to Hollywood.

Of course, if the entire trilogy project has a huge budget of 300 million U.S. dollars, if you shoot it, then you really don’t want to go back to Hollywood.

Until now, in addition to Eric’s own support for the filming of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, most of the firefly’s management still have an attitude of anxiety, and the media have never given up on this. Questioning the 'big but not' project.

Until the sky blue Boeing 747 rushed into the sky, Eric took a shot of Kasenberg's shoulder and said: "Jeffrey, and everyone, let's go back. I think you should give more energy. The guy who insisted on a thought for 30 years has a little confidence, not to mention that the fireflies are not losing $300 million now."

Walking with Eric toward the apron, Kasenberger smiled bitterly: "Eric, you know that this is not just a $300 million thing."

The release of the first part of "The Lord of the Rings" is scheduled for the end of next year. Since the project has been finalized, for the next two years, in addition to the production budget of the film, Firefly must also invest a lot of marketing resources to promote it. These marketing resources, as well as the potential time cost, are far more than just $300 million.

Eric naturally understands these reasons. He is too lazy to think about the reasons to comfort several big men. He has transferred the topic: "Is there a actor in "Midnight Ring"?"

Kasenberg swayed: "Kenneth Horn and the Gore Vibinski, who are in charge of the new line, want Johnny Depp to try. However, Johnny Depp has been pulled to the pedicle. In the undecided project of De Burton, Depp has been a good friend with Burton. The kid is not interested in this horror film. He said that if he wants him to participate, unless the fireflies can invest in Burton's new movie."

Eric narrowed his eyes, and if he didn't hear Tim Burton's name, he would only sneer at Johnny Depp's request. Now Hollywood's three major brokerage companies have no ambition to pretend on the firefly group, not to mention an actor.

"What is Tim Burton's new movie?"

Kasenberger thought about it and said: "It is a very old horror novel adaptation film called "Decapitation Valley."

Sure enough.

Eric thought about it and continued: "I have heard of this novel. The subject matter is very consistent with Burton's grotesque style. How can anyone be willing to invest?"

A group of people have already arrived at the parking lot outside the Los Angeles International Airport. Kasenberg and Eric got on a car and waited for the car to start moving towards the Firefly Studios. They said: "Burton's last movie. Do you have an impression?"

Eric didn't remember this. Going back, he remembered only the second "Batman Return" by Burton in 1992. In the next few years, I really didn't hear that Burton had any good films.

Kasenberg sees Eric shaking his head and says: "It's like this. Since the return of Batman in 1992, Burton's film has not been successful in recent years, especially the previous one with Jack Nick. "The Martians play with the Earth", the game invested 70 million US dollars, and the North American box office was only 37 million. After the film failed, Warner completely separated from him. I did not see the project data of "Decapitated Valley". However, I have heard some private conversations with people. The cost of this film may be close to 100 million, and everyone naturally avoids it."

Tim Burton is definitely a geek in Hollywood, because it is a geek, the prospect of the box office of the directed film is very unstable.

However, "Decapitated Valley" is definitely the most classic one in Tim Burton's work. It is still good to want to come to the box office.

Knocking on the knee for a moment, Eric said to Kasenberg: "Jeffrey, let me find the script and budget information of "Decapitation Valley"."

Kasenberg is worried: "Eric, in addition to the Batman series, Burton's previous work at the highest box office "Beetle Juice" is only more than 70 million US dollars, you will not really be interested in "Decapitation Valley" ?"

Eric smiled and asked: "The Beetle Juice is not a film produced by Disney in the past. Do you remember the production budget of this movie?"

Kasenberger nodded: "About 15 million US dollars, um, so the profit is still very rich."

"The Beetle Juice is a grotesque horror story, which is exactly what Burton is good at, so he can shoot well and get recognition from the market. You can listen to the name "Martians play with the earth" I haven't read this film, but just listen to the name. We can't help but guess that this is a comedy. Let a horror film genius shoot a comedy. How likely do you think it is to succeed? Now, "Decapitated Valley, this is exactly the back to what Burton is best at."

"However, Eric, the movie's budget is $100 million, and it's still a horror film."

"This way, Jeffrey, when you return to the studio, you first find the information about "Decapitated Valley", then call Johnny Depp directly, and say that I can help Tim Burton, let He signed the contract with the "Midnight Ring". When I saw the script, if we feel good, we will shoot it ourselves. If not, we will release the news that Eric Williams is very optimistic about this project and let others rush. beat."

Kasenberg has no choice but to say: "I always feel that you have made up your mind to shoot."

"Don't you believe my vision?"

"Of course I believe that the key is that you have not seen the script yet."

"Don't you believe my instinct?"

Kasenberg surrendered and raised his right hand: "Well, you are the boss."

When I returned to the studio office, the time was just past 9 am.

In January, when the entire Firefly Group was the busiest, a lot of financial information, summary planning, and personnel transfer were concentrated during this period. Eric recently formed a fixed schedule for the morning of dealing with corporate affairs in the morning.

Eric walked into the office and Caroline followed up with several documents.

Put a stack of folders in front of Eric, Carolyn said: "Eric, we just received news from Europe, the Seagram Group and the Philips Group have just reached an acquisition agreement for PolyGram Records. The transaction amount is $10.6 billion."

The negotiations between the Seagram Group and the Philips Group on the acquisition of PolyGram Records have been open for half a year. Eric did not feel too surprised. He picked up a folder that Caroline had just put down and asked: " Anything else?"

“For the time being, the Philips Group just released a very brief press conference before the local time in the Netherlands today.”

Eric nodded, remembering what he had talked about with Kasenberg when he came back. He planned to let Caroline collect the information of "Decapitated Valley", but thought that he had already told Kasenberg. There is no more than one move.

After Caroline left, Eric just flipped through the 16 films that were planned to be produced or released this year. Kasenberger personally knocked on the door.

"Eric, this is the script and budget plan of "Decapitated Valley", there is Tim Burton's contact information. If you have any questions, you can call him at any time," handing a paper bag to Ai Rick, Kasenberger took a chair and sat down opposite Eric. "I just heard that Seagram has just reached an agreement with Philips to acquire PolyGram."

"Carolyn has told me," Eric nodded and smiled. "So?"

"The babes you created in Europe, Barry Weiss and I have talked several times. The "Wannabe" single is only in the UK, and the sales have exceeded 1 million. Although the development of the babes is not focused. North America, but because of your songwriter, "Wannabe" singles sold more than 1.6 million copies on the US side. However, because the distribution channels of Firefly Records are not perfect, except for the United Kingdom and the United States, this first single The sales data of Qu in other European countries and Southeast Asia is very unsatisfactory. Therefore, Barry said that even if we do not intend to expand the global market, we should acquire a record company with at least a complete distribution channel in Europe, so that our record business can be completely Covering the whole of Europe and America."

In order to create a young pop singer, Eric has dug up the music producer Barry Weiss, who once had a red-hot backstreet boy, Britney and others, from a small record company owned by Sony. In the past few years, the work of Barry Weiss has indeed been satisfactory. At present, there are already several popular pop stars in the hands of Firefly Records.

Now in 1998, with the further outbreak of global Internet users, this year will also be a watershed in the record industry. Even if the MP3 player does not appear in advance, due to the rapid proliferation of Internet pirated music, the physical record industry will also see a very significant recession in the next few years.

Eric's positioning of fireflies records has always been to promote the 'supporting facilities' of MP3 players. However, since Barry Vis has been raised more than once, Eric also realized that if the fireflies still want to continue to retain this talent, they must act on the record business.

Although it achieved very brilliant sales in North America last year, the Fireflyer player is still in the early stage of promotion. If you leave the Firefly Record and continue to launch the support of excellent records, Firefly Electronics will be more passive in the promotion process. Eric does not want Barry. · Weiss left the firefly record at this time.

Thinking of it, Barry Weiss is the most favorite of the Polaroid who has just been taken by Seagram. If the record giant is acquired, the Firefly Group will immediately have a global record distribution network, but this is obviously It's impossible. Eric will never spend more than $10 billion to buy a company that is destined to decline.

After thinking about it for a while, Eric asked: "Is there a suitable acquisition target in Barry Weiss?"

Kasenberg replied: "Viking record, have you heard of it?"

Eric nodded. He deliberately collected information from many record companies last year: "If I remember correctly, Viking Records should be a subsidiary of EMI?"

"Yeah, Barry actually wants us to buy EMI."

Eric shook his head and smiled: "Then he can only think about it."

"I told him that too," Kasenberg said with a smile. "So, secondly, Barry took a fancy to Viking Records. The record company was bought by EMI in 1992 for $1 billion. However, Since the acquisition, Viking Records has not cultivated any pop stars in the past few years, and its performance is not too warm. Now it has become the burden of EMI. Barry has contacted a director of Viking Records. Say that if the firefly is interested, he can coordinate and help us complete the acquisition."