Eric was chatting with Emma when Penn Forstmann's cell phone rang suddenly.
After giving Eric an apologetic look, Penn Forstmann got up and walked nearby to answer the phone. After a while, Penn Forstmann came back again and whispered in Eric's ear: "Eric, Mr. Governor just called and asked if he could invite you to his house as a guest?"
Eric asked Emma to go play with Hawaii with a reluctant face. Looking at the three little guys on the court, he said lightly, "I still want to accompany the children, so I won't go there."
The governor Penn Forstman was referring to was apparently Florida Governor Jeb Bush, younger brother of George W. Bush. The other party was successfully elected governor of Florida last year, and this invitation is undoubtedly for Bush Jr.'s presidential campaign.
Although he had tentative contact with the agent of the Bush family in New York last time, Eric did not intend to meet directly with the core members of the other family immediately. The Bush family certainly wouldn't expect Eric to make any statement now.
Payne Forstmann was actually just a messenger. He knew very well that he was not qualified to influence Eric's decision. Hearing what the boss said, he nodded and got up again to answer the caller.
In the tennis court, the three little guys continued to play for more than an hour. Seeing that the time was about the same, Eric called to stop in time.
Payne Forstmann stood by, seeing Eric wipe the sweat of the three little guys carefully, tidy up their clothes, and then seemed to be planning to leave like this, couldn't help but take two steps forward.
However, seeing the three little guys looking over curiously together, Payne Forstmann swallowed back what he wanted to say.
Seeing Penn Forstmann's hesitation to speak, Eric turned his head and glanced at the girl standing with Max Eisenbud not far away, and said with a casual smile: "Help me take care of her." Bar."
After saying this, Eric walked out of the tennis court with the three little guys and the twins. Several bodyguards who were originally scattered around also gathered together, and they protected Eric and went to the two courts outside the court together. a suv.
Payne Forstmann stood at the gate of the stadium watching the two SUVs leave, and Max Eisenbud also walked over with Sharapova.
Looking at the two SUVs going away, Max Eisenbud asked, "What did Mr. Williams say?"
Payne Forstmann didn't answer, but said to Sharapova next to her, "Maria, go back to the dormitory first."
Sharapova, who was less than thirteen years old but already close to 1.7 meters tall, nodded obediently, said goodbye to the two politely, and then turned and walked away. Coming to an intersection not far away, Sharapova sneaked a glance at the two middle-aged men who were still standing at the entrance of the tennis court while turning a corner. Seeing that the two seemed to be looking at her, she quickly avoided her eyes.
Walking into another path separated by green belts, Sharapova was finally relieved after confirming that Forstmann and the two couldn't see her, but she couldn't help but raised her hand and pressed her lips, feeling the pain of her lower teeth. Putting on the invisible braces that I almost didn't notice, I remembered what happened in the afternoon again.
Although she couldn't say a word to Eric Williams, she suddenly understood a lot of things in connection with her recent experience.
When he was seven years old, he was taken away from Russia by his father to the United States. He left home for a seemingly elusive wish to become an adult. More than five years have passed in the blink of an eye, and although she is not yet thirteen years old, Sharapova has already tasted the warmth and coldness of human relationships that many children may not experience in a lifetime, and she matures much earlier than most girls.
Sharapova still clearly remembers how many times she and her father stared at her in order to enter the img academy, how many people she begged, and how harsh contracts she signed, before she finally managed to get a sponsorship qualification.
img academy is a private elite sports academy, and the tuition fees are higher than most ordinary private schools. If they didn't get the sponsorship qualification, the father and daughter who came across the ocean with only a few hundred dollars would not have paid at all. Can't afford tens of thousands of dollars in annual tuition.
In the past few years since entering school, there is basically only one thing in her life, tennis. In addition, she has little contact with many normal cultural courses, and img doesn't care about anything other than her tennis performance, and only regards her as a potential investment.
Then, a few months ago, a lot of things suddenly changed.
The girl knows that the img group was bought by Eric Williams. She didn't think that this matter would have anything to do with her, but img suddenly took her very seriously. Not only has she been equipped with the best agent and the best coach, but she has also taken care of her life. Now she even has a dormitory of her own.
Originally, Sharapova thought it was because of her tennis performance that img would focus on training her. But it wasn't until her last orthodontic treatment that the girl realized something was different.
You know, ordinary orthodontics can be done with a pair of steel braces for a few hundred dollars, but img chose the top-level invisible braces worth $8,000 for her. Counting other expenses, it only took a few dollars for just one correction. Ten thousand U.S. dollars.
Based on her understanding of img's behavior, if there is no other special reason, how could they spend so much extra money for her!
Then, her manager, Max Eisenbud, hinted at something to her. Coupled with seeing Eric Williams today, the girl finally understood the ins and outs of the matter.
As the richest man in the world, even if he doesn't care at all, he can hear too much information about that man on weekdays.
For one thing, he's a playboy, it's pretty much a well-known thing.
So, at this moment, Sharapova realized that she had been spotted by that man.
I don't know what I feel in my heart, but when I think about the changes in my life, I don't have much resistance. During this time, with the help of img, her mother was able to move to the United States, and the family was finally reunited.
Obviously, if it weren't for that man, img would definitely not be willing to do these superfluous things.
but.
Although he played tennis with his children all afternoon, he didn't say a word to himself.
Thinking of this, Sharapova suddenly became inexplicably worried.
Is he not satisfied with himself
Thinking of this, when she returned to the dormitory, she hurried to the full-length mirror and looked at the girl in the white tennis suit in the mirror.
Apart from being tall, it seemed, it seemed, that there was really nothing special about him.
Then I couldn't help worrying about gains and losses.
If he is not satisfied with himself, will he return to the life he had a few months ago in the future
She didn't know how long it had been since she was so dazed, when the knock on the door broke her thoughts.
Hastily walked to the door, opened the door, and her agent, Max Eisenbud, stood at the door.
Thinking of her guess just now, she suddenly panicked, subconsciously did not dare to look at Max Eisenbud's expression, lowered her head and said in a low voice: "Mai, Mr. Eisenbud, what's the matter?" So saying , reacted, and quickly turned sideways again, saying: "Please come in."
Max Eisenbud didn't enter the door, looked at the girl's appearance, and said, "Didn't you tell me to call me Mike?"
"Well," Sharapova nodded quickly, hesitated, and said, "Mike, Mr. Williams, he, will he come tomorrow?"
"No, Mr. Williams should leave Bradenton tomorrow." Max Eisenbud looked at the girl's appearance and paused. Although he was familiar with the world, he was not very good at guessing the little girl's mind , at this time, she interpreted her reaction as resistance, and her expression became a little more serious, saying: "Mary, I know you are a smart girl, so you should already know how you got your current life of."
This is going to be gone.
Thinking dejectedly in her heart, Sharapova gave a low hum like a mosquito.
Max Eisenbud obviously misunderstood the reaction of some girls at this time, and even said with some sternness in his tone: "Then, you should know that you have got so much, and you must pay the corresponding price. I think you, and your family, definitely don't want to go back to Russia, do you?"
Sharapova was about to nod like a puppet, but she suddenly reacted, raised her head abruptly, looked at Max Eisenbud and shook her head: "Mike, no, I'm not, I," I didn't know what to say for a while She paused before saying, "I'm still looking forward to seeing Mr. Williams again."
Max Eisenbud was taken aback when he heard the girl say that, but soon realized that he had just misunderstood. The expression eased, and after carefully examining the girl's state at this time, Max Eisenbud nodded with satisfaction, and said, "Well, that's it. I'm just here to chat with you. By the way, you can take a day off tomorrow. .”
Sharapova nodded, seeing that Max Eisenbud was about to leave, thought for a while, took another step forward, and said: "Mike, I, I want to go to see Mr. Williams' " Gravity, you, can you buy me three tickets?"
Bradenton is only a small town with a population of about 50,000. Although there is no shortage of movie theaters, there is only one 3D screen, and an IMAX screening hall is even more impossible.
During this period of time, with the popularity of "Gravity", the supply of 3D screening halls with only more than 100 seats was completely in short supply, which actually showed the uneven distribution of the 2,000 3D screens. It is said that many people, especially those who want to watch the imax version, even drove to Orlando, more than 100 kilometers away.
Max Eisenbud stopped and looked at the twinkling eyes of the girl, but he understood in his heart that what the girl said was not to watch a movie, but more like a statement, so he nodded with a smile : "Okay, I'll have someone deliver the ticket to you tomorrow."
Although it is a vacation, it is impossible to let go of all work after all.
After dinner, returning to the mansion in a closed community in the west of Bradenton, and leaving the children in the care of the twins, Eric came to the temporary study.
"Sony is willing to reduce the price of projector equipment by 11% on the original basis, and enjoy a 40% supply share of the reald system. Barco in Belgium and nec, another company in Japan, will share the other 60% equally. However, this The equipment of the two companies needs to undergo technical transformation to adapt to the reald system, which will take about two months." Katzenberg reported to Eric the work results of the past few days in a video call, and continued: "According to According to the established plan, by next summer, North America will have 6,000 reald systems, and the number overseas will reach 8,000. After completing this layout, it will be difficult to have a 3D projection system that can compete with reald in the market.”
Eric leaned on the leather chair behind the desk, nodded in satisfaction after listening to Katzenberg, and asked, "How's the buyout agreement negotiation over there?"
In order to promote 3D movies, Firefly Group signed an annual box office guarantee agreement of US$300,000 for a single screen with theaters. This agreement can be said to be very unfair to the Firefly Group. You must know that the current average annual revenue per screen in North America is only 200,000 US dollars.
The detailed agreement stipulates that if the annual income of a single screen is less than 300,000 US dollars, Firefly Group will make up for it.
But if it exceeds, then, in addition to the guarantee of 300,000 US dollars, 80% of the box office share belonging to the theaters will be counted as the cost of reald system equipment, which will be owned by the Firefly Group for a period of three years.
However, in addition to the agreement, Firefly Group also agreed that once the promotion of 3D movies is successful, in order to allow the initial 2,000 screens to have the same competitive environment as the latecomers, the theater chain can propose a one-time buyout agreement and give up the original guarantee contract .
Based on the reald system's cost of about 250,000 U.S. dollars, each 3D screen earns about 500,000 U.S. dollars in annual box office, and Firefly Group can recover the equipment cost.
Originally, even within the Firefly Group, they felt that this was almost impossible. The company only hoped that this cooperation would not lose too much money.
But now, the facts are far beyond everyone's expectations.
With the box office momentum of "Gravity", just this movie, the North American box office may exceed 600 million U.S. dollars, and there is little suspense over the box office of "Titanic" which just reached 600 million U.S. dollars.
Due to the strong performance of imax theaters being fully sold out for two consecutive weeks, the box office of "Gravity" in 100 imax theaters in North America may reach 200 million US dollars, so, counting on the 3D screen, there is still 400 million US dollars.
With a box office of 400 million U.S. dollars and an average of 2,000 3D screens, this can already bring in a box office of 200,000 U.S. dollars per screen, and this cycle is only two months.
But a year is 12 months, plus the ability to make 3D versions of movies, almost all potential super box office bombs. Well, obviously, at least in the first few years of 3D movies and their popularity, the revenue from a single 3D screen will far exceed the $500,000 expected by Firefly Group.
Therefore, in order to avoid the continuous extraction of profits by the Firefly Group, and to gain more control over the initiative of the 3D theaters, the major theater chains have already put forward the request to implement the original subsidiary buyout agreement.
Hearing Eric mention this matter, Katzenberg also showed a bit of a smug grin, and said: "The regr family proposed to implement the buyout agreement based on our equipment price of 500,000 US dollars. However, since we have already assumed The risk is gone, and now we have to get compensation. Reald is negotiating with the theater chain, and the final buyout price should be around 600,000 US dollars. We now have the initiative of 3D movies, and the theater chain can only compromise with us. "
Eric also showed a smile on his face. Based on the unit price of 600,000 US dollars, only the 2,000 3D screens in North America, the Firefly Group can recover 1.2 billion US dollars. This is more than half of the Firefly Group's initial investment in 3D and imax movie promotion.
The situation in the overseas market is more complicated. The cooperation models between Firefly and various ticket warehouse countries are different, but as long as the cost of more than 1,600 sets of reald system equipment that has been deployed overseas can be fully recovered, even if the high price of US$600,000 in North America is not reached, But it is also enough for the Firefly Group to fully recover the full cost of the initial investment.
The remaining 200 imax theaters with more lucrative profits, and some of the real estate under the name of imax theaters, are almost tantamount to making money for nothing.
It can be said that just for this item, the resources and energy that the Firefly Group has invested in the promotion of 3D and imax in recent years have been worthwhile. The company has not only entered the basic projection equipment market, but also fully mastered the promotion of 3D and imax movies Initiative, the potential benefits of which will be even greater.