As for the word-of-mouth of "Point of Fright", because the anarchist political views expressed in the film are very unpleasant, the evaluation of film critics is not very high, but they only expressed their appreciation for the exciting visual scenes of surfing and skydiving in the film. approval. As such, the film is also doomed to fail in awards season.
No matter what the external media commented, after Christmas, Firefly started the merger and reorganization work in an orderly manner according to the plan.
After detailed planning, Eric will successively merge Pixar Studios, Digital Realm and Black Ant Films into Firefly Films, because these assets are all non-listed companies under Eric’s absolute control, so the merger The process went very smoothly.
After the merger and reorganization, Firefly will follow the model of a large studio. In addition to film and television production, it will also include specialized publicity, legal affairs, market research, strategic planning and other departments, and will also have a relatively independent Pixar studio. , Black Ant Films, New Line Films, Blossom Films, Digital Realm and other subsidiaries. In addition, Firefly also holds a 10% stake in Fox Television Network.
After more than four months of planning with the Playa Vista community, just after the New Year, Firefly’s studio base in Playa Vista officially broke ground.
≧, Although it is a non-listed company, outsiders cannot obtain the detailed information of Firefly, but the series of actions of Firefly have not been hidden from many people.
The attention of entertainment-oriented media is still focused on Eric's personal wealth, while professional Hollywood magazines such as "Variety Show" are much more professional in their analysis of Firefly. Facing the integration and expansion of Firefly. Most professional media are pessimistic.
after all. Eric just experienced a "failure" in "Ghost Detective" and "Point Riot" at the end of the year. The total box office of these two films released by Firefly at the end of the year is likely to be only a little over 100 million US dollars. The film dominates the "grand occasion" of the box office champion in the holiday season at the end of the year. This year's performance of Firefly is really poor.
Moreover, the evidence cited by the media that maintains a pessimistic attitude is not just the box office at the end of the year. While the performance of "Point Delight" did not meet the expectations of media people, it was because they did not know that the Cameron couple had divorced. As Catherine Bigelow's 'husband', "Terminator 2" which Cameron is producing has also caught the attention of the media.
The media soon discovered that the production cost of this film, which took more than three months and was just completed a few years ago, has exceeded 70 million. As a special effects film, the post-production of the film will still cost With a large amount of funds, the cost of this film is likely to reach an unprecedented height, and it may become the first film in history to cost more than 100 million US dollars.
If that's all it is, there may be some hope of recovering the cost. After all, the quality of the films produced by Cameron is still very guaranteed, and the public investigation is underway. Fans' expectations for the sequel to "Terminator" are also very high.
But many people think that the film's schedule is another fatal flaw.
In November last year, the coalition forces of 34 countries assembled in the Middle East issued an ultimatum to the Saddam government. Judging from the current situation, this war is definitely inevitable, and the time is likely to be at the end of January. Moreover, so far, not many people think that this war will end in the short term.
Therefore, since the second half of last year, in the face of the possible impact of the war on the film and television industry, the seven major film studios have begun to formulate production reduction plans. Except for "Terminator 2", there are currently no other major production movies scheduled for the summer vacation. Even Warner's "Batman", which earned more than 200 million US dollars in box office last year, has postponed the sequel to the summer of 1992 in order to avoid the edge of the war. It is conceivable that if "Terminator 2" is released, if The war is still going on, and the box office of this blockbuster will definitely be strongly impacted.
Once such a blockbuster fails, it will be a very big blow to the ambitious Firefly.
Because of this concern, even Cameron himself hinted at Eric in a meeting that it is best to postpone the schedule of "Terminator 2", even if it is postponed until the end of the year.
Eric reassured him, but did not agree with Cameron's words. No one in the whole world knows more about the progress of the Gulf War than Eric, so it is best to put "Terminator 2" in this summer file. A good choice, even if some big-budget films were released in advance due to the early end of the war, it is impossible for this summer file to compete with "Terminator 2", which has sufficient preparation and guaranteed quality.
Not only "Terminator 2", Eric also plans to release "Toy Story" that Pixar Studio has completed in the summer. I believe that the box office results of this 3D animation will definitely surprise many people. For this reason, Ai Rick not only invited Tom Hanks to voice the cowboy Woody according to the original version, but also released a trailer for "Toy Story" at this year's Super Bowl.
The first two weeks of the new year passed without knowing it. On January 15, the date of the ultimatum of the United Nations army, the Iraqi army did not have the slightest intention to withdraw from Kuwait. Instead, it once again carried out a large-scale increase in troops on the border of Saudi Arabia.
Eric put down his work and came to New York again. After two months of deployment, Chris has established a large number of short positions in crude oil futures with the 2 billion US dollars in his hands according to the originally negotiated plan. Both of them are nervously waiting for the arrival of the war.
Although Eric felt that his little butterfly might affect the course of the war, he obviously overestimated his influence. At two o'clock in the morning on January 17, the United Nations army launched an attack on the Iraqi army just like in his previous life. Intensive carpet bombing lasted for dozens of hours. Facing the absolute air superiority of the United Nations Army, the Iraqi army had no room to fight back, and it was completely defeated.
At the end of January, the United Nations Army wiped out all the Iraqi troops in Kuwait. Iraq lost 100,000 troops, while the United Nations Army only suffered a few hundred casualties. While the war shocked the world, international crude oil prices also began to plummet. Because of the expectation that the war will be protracted, many oil trading companies bought a large amount of crude oil futures contracts before the war. The war has only lasted for two weeks, and countless companies' crude oil futures trading departments have announced their liquidation and closure. It is said that because of this big loss, many companies have never opened their futures trading departments for the next 20 years. How much damage has been done to these companies by going long at scale. (To be continued..)