At this moment, Amy Adams felt flattered when he heard Eric take the initiative to greet him.
The two had only had a brief exchange a few days ago when she just started working. Amy knew very well what the name Eric Williams meant in Hollywood, although she felt that Eric was right when she first contacted her. Her attitude was a little different, but it still didn't occur to her that Eric would even remember her name.
"Very, um, it's like dreaming," Amy hugged the menu that Eric just handed back to her chest, looking a little incoherent, staring at the man in front of her eyes, and said: "Wei, Mr. Williams, I have always been a fan of your movie."
Kenneth Horn waited patiently for his boss to finish chatting with the waitress before ordering his own lunch. Watching Amy leave who was a bit erratic, he showed a knowing smile on his face and praised: "A very special pair Eye."
"Yeah," Eric nodded with a smile.
In fact, Amy's eyes are not beautiful as a whole, but the pair of eyes that are sometimes light blue and sometimes green under different light are easy to leave a deep impression on people.
After chatting casually for a few words, Kenneth Horn quickly turned the topic to work.
Before I knew it, it was Monday, December 14th.
In the past weekend, the last movie "Tea Boy" under the Firefly Group in 1998 also landed in North American theaters.
Although Adam Sandler's "The Wedding Singer" in the Easter schedule successfully achieved a box office of over 100 million in North America, the company did not pay attention to his "Tea Water", which imitated some elements of "Forrest Gump". "Boy" had too many expectations, because the plot of this film is a bit too bullshit in most people's opinion.
But it turns out that North American audiences really like Adam Sandler's silly and silly movie style with these little warmth and little love.
In the first three days of the weekend, the film earned $33.91 million in box office in North American theaters, far exceeding the original expectations of the new line distribution department.
According to the box office results of the first weekend, the film's estimated box office of about 50 million US dollars in the first week is enough to recover the production cost of 23 million US dollars. The first week started with 50 million US dollars. In the following consecutive popular Christmas weeks, it is almost certain that the box office of "Tea Boy" will exceed 100 million in North America. After all, no matter how popular "Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace" is, it is impossible Occupy the entire market.
In comparison, the 2D animated film "Mulan" released by Paramount Pictures at the same time, only received a box office of 22.75 million US dollars in more than 2,800 theaters in North America in the first weekend, which is more than 10 million US dollars lower than "Tea Boy". Dollar. "Mulan," on the other hand, cost more than $70 million to make, more than three times as much as "Tea Boys."
The response from critics and audiences to this animated film can only be regarded as mediocre. At this time, the industry has finally gradually felt that, against the backdrop of several consecutive 3D animated films that sold well at the box office, 2D animated films have inevitably shown a trend of falling away from the mainstream and declining.
Eric didn't have the mind to pay attention to Paramount Animation anymore.
For the Firefly Group, after the dust settled for the year's release plan, everyone was surprised to find that it was originally thought to be a relatively sluggish year for the Firefly Group's film business, but the actual situation was far beyond everyone's expectations.
Moreover, this reversal of the situation all comes from several mid-to-low-cost dark horse works under New Line Films that have sold well at the box office.
The most surprising of these is naturally the summer movie "Midnight Ring". This horror film that created a phenomenon-level movie-watching craze has not been completely released in the North American market until the end of November. It lasted for more than four months. After the screening, the final box office of the film reached 286 million U.S. dollars, ranking second only to the 322 million U.S. dollars of "Charlie's Angels 3" on the current North American box office list in 1998.
At the same time, on November 13th, "Teddy Bear", which is still released by New Line Cinema, has accumulated a North American box office of 195.43 billion US dollars as of the past weekend, which is only one step away from 200 million.
"Midnight Ringer" and "Teddy Bear" broke 200 million box office in North America, "The Wedding Singer" and "Tea Boy" broke 100 million box office in North America. Only these four films of New Line accounted for a total box office of 700 million US dollars in North America. In 1998, it accounted for 10% of North America's annual box office share.
Due to the outstanding performance of New Line Cinema, Firefly Group's annual film market share will still reach more than 20%.
What's even more rare is that the four New Line Pictures films with a box office of more than 100 million yuan are all small and big. " and "Tea Boy" totaled just over $40 million. The total cost of the four films is 120 million US dollars, but in North America alone, it will bring close to 700 million US dollars at the box office,
New Line Cinema has been able to achieve such outstanding results for several consecutive years. Although it is inseparable from a series of ideas given by Eric, it is also inseparable from Kenneth Horn's excellent management ability. After all, Hollywood has never been short of studio execs who played their cards right to the brim.
Coincidentally, Kenneth Horn's contract is about to expire next year. Before ESPN TV CEO Steve Bernstein quit, Eric was very sorry. He naturally didn't want another member of the group to leave.
However, the solid management structure of the Firefly Group also makes it impossible for Eric to promote Kenneth Horn in the short term.
"Kenneth, you are very clear about the internal situation of the company." Since he couldn't avoid it, Eric also acted calmly, saying: "In the short term, it is impossible for me to make too many adjustments to the management, so, although you You have done a great job at New Line in the past few years, but I have no way to make further adjustments to your position. I have communicated with Jeffrey and the others. If you are willing to stay in New Line, the conditions I can give are: , your next salary standard, on the basis of the basic salary, enjoys 5% of the annual profit dividend of the New Line Film Group as a whole. In addition, you will no longer be under Jeffrey's control in the future, and will be directly responsible to me personally."
As the CEO of Firefly Group, Katzenberg's salary contract is based on the basic salary, and enjoys 2% of the annual profit dividend of the entire Firefly Group. According to Firefly Group's current annual net profit of more than US$3 billion, Katzenberg's annual salary is around US$60 million.
Naturally, the size of New Line Cinema cannot be compared with that of the entire Firefly Group. Although the business performance in recent years has been very impressive, in fact, the various revenue data of New Line Film still only account for the entire Firefly Group. About 15%, even in this relatively good year, this figure is actually not more than 20%.
However, Eric gave Kenneth Horn 5% of the annual profit dividend of New Line Film Group, which still seemed full of sincerity.
The annual profit that New Line Pictures can contribute to the parent company is about 500 million US dollars, and 5% of the annual profit dividend is equivalent to 25 million US dollars, which is already the salary standard for the heads of the seven major Hollywood studios. This number will undoubtedly be much higher if several dark horse works break out in succession like this year.
In all fairness, Kenneth Horn did not think about leaving the Firefly Group.
After all, although the remuneration is generous, but only in charge of a subsidiary of the Firefly Group, in any case it is not as good as running a large studio alone.
Moreover, he also knows that within the Firefly Group, the possibility of him becoming the president of the group is far lower than that of Robert Iger. Like many group executives, he was even able to clearly feel that Robert Iger was almost Eric's default candidate for the next president of the group, and even Katzenberg's successor in the future.
However, after thinking about it for a while, Kenneth Horn found that with the current structure of Hollywood, there was no suitable place for him at all.
Steve Bernstein was born in the TV industry, and he could switch to the Comcast Group, which is closely related to the industry. However, since he graduated from college, he has been working in the Hollywood circle, so he knows very well, After leaving Hollywood and the film industry, it is difficult for him to be as comfortable as he is now.
As for Hollywood, the Firefly system already controls four of the seven major studios. For the other three companies, Time Warner's internal factions were full of disputes. He was an outsider who jumped to the past. Under the constraints of many parties, he was unable to display his talents at all. Universal Pictures is already firmly in the hands of Michael Eisner, and he doesn't want to follow in Michael Ovitz's footsteps. As for Paramount, Redstone's strong desire to control the entire Viacom will also not give him much room to play.
Perhaps, within the Firefly system, he can still compete for the top position of Columbia Pictures. He believes that if he proposes it, Eric will not hesitate too much. After all, Bill Michanik cannot be regarded as a direct executive of Firefly. He wants to control Columbia in the past, and Eric may even like it.
However, although it is still one of the seven major studios in name, only a fool would jump into the mess of Columbia.
You must know that although it is only a subsidiary of Firefly Group, the current comprehensive strength of New Line Cinema has far surpassed that of Columbia Pictures. Of course, the scale of its film library and its hidden status in Hollywood are still incomparable. However, if the two companies are listed separately, the market value of Columbia Pictures will never exceed US$5 billion, while New Line Pictures can easily exceed US$10 billion.
Considering all aspects, Kenneth Horn couldn't think of any other better choice besides staying in New Line Films.
What's more, Eric's salary terms are absolutely sincere. Although his specific position has not been improved, the adjustment that he only needs to report to Eric personally is equivalent to bringing him to the same position as Katzenberg.
"Eric, I'm looking forward to continuing this job," Kenneth Horn said after hesitating for a moment, "However, I also hope that the company can relax some restrictions on New Line Pictures." Due to the limitation of the type of production, I think I still have the ability to try a big-budget film.”
Although Eric was very generous in terms of salary and treatment, he did not intend to back down when it came to the fundamental business route of the new line, saying: "Kenneth, I can't promise you this, and you should be able to see Over the years, New Line's production strategy positioning has been very successful. Moreover, for series like "Jedi Men" and "Rush Hour", I will not restrict you on the production budget of the sequels. .But in terms of fundamental business strategy, I still hope that the new line can always stick to the current operating route.”
Noticing Kenneth Horn's disappointed expression, Eric still didn't intend to change his mind, but still gave a 'sweet date' that he had prepared a long time ago, and said: "However, Kenneth, you know, the firefly system In recent years, the scale of the TV business has become larger and larger. If the TV programs are only self-produced and sold, it is difficult to produce too many high-quality products. Therefore, I hope that New Line will get involved in TV program production in the future, and provide services for ABC, FOX, as well as cable networks owned by several companies, provide television programming."
In fact, New Line Films originally had a TV production department, but the scale has always been small. In recent years, New Line has been focusing on the film business.
Hearing what Eric said, Kenneth Horn also understood that this is Eric's hope that New Line can become one of the program suppliers of the major TV brands in the Firefly system, and at the same time stimulate healthy competition among major TV brands, so that Make better TV shows.
The TV program market in North America is comparable in size to the movie market, but it has always been in a closed operating system, and it is difficult for the outside world to obtain specific data as easily as movies.
Although Eric did not let go of New Line Films' restrictions on the type of production, but with Eric's support in developing the TV business, Kenneth Horn could not have more extravagant demands.
After chatting for a few more words and confirming some specific details, Amy Adams brought the lunch for the two of them, and Kenneth Horn took the initiative to turn the topic to recent events.
"There is no doubt that this year is another small year for the Oscars. So far, in Hollywood, there are only two awards season hits, "The Horse Whisperer" and "Elizabeth", and other films can only be regarded as accompanying. Moreover, although the film critics have a good reputation Not bad, but I let people know in private that most of the academy judges don’t think much of "The Horse Whisperer" and "Elizabeth" is very likely to win an important Oscar this year. "Ring Ring" is also an Oscar hit, just like "The Exorcist" was."
Eric shook his head and smiled: "If "Midnight Ring" is an original script in North America, or adapted from a Western horror novel, it may be possible. But it is adapted from a Japanese horror novel. What do you think? Will those proud old men in the academy take a fancy to a work with Japanese culture embedded in its core?"
"Oh, I also know that this is unlikely," Kenneth Horn smiled, obviously thinking about this matter.
Eric continued: "Also, "The Horse Whisperer" means a lot to the Harvey Brothers, so they will never give up easily for this film to hit the Oscars. I think that even if the judges don't Like, the Harvey brothers may use all the resources and connections they have accumulated over the years to force "The Horse Whisperer" to the top of the Oscars, so don't be so optimistic."