Thinking of this possibility, and then contacting Paramount's precarious situation, Martin Davis could no longer suppress the anger in his heart. He slapped the tableware on the table and accused: "Eric, I wasted more than one dollar in Kauai Island." Week time, you can't just throw me such a perfunctory answer like this."
Eric was a little surprised at first, then smiled coldly and said: "Martin, did you make a mistake? I'm not your subordinate, please don't speak to me in this tone. And, from a From the beginning, I never promised you anything."
"You..." Martin Davis stared at what Eric was about to say, and suddenly thought of the current situation: "Well, Eric, what do you want?"
Eric shook his head slightly: "It's not what I want, but what you want, Martin, you want to keep Paramount, but the current situation is that other shareholders of Paramount have The company's performance keeps slipping, and it wants to cash out its shares. Therefore, to dissuade those people from selling the company, what Paramount needs most is a good news that makes people full of confidence in the company's prospects, not just It’s a collaboration of one or two films.”
"good news?"
"Yes, for example, Firefly Pictures took a stake in Paramount," Eric said without hiding his "9, destination."
This sentence made Martin Davis fall into silence. With Firefly's outstanding performance in the film, Martin Davis knew that this proposal would indeed be of great help to Paramount's current situation, but on the other hand, Martin Davis had another vigilance that his territory was violated by outsiders.
After thinking about it for a while, Martin Davis tentatively said, "Eric. If Firefly and Paramount exchange shares to form a cooperative alliance, I can promise you."
"Sorry. Martin, Firefly has no plans to introduce external shareholders. I mean to buy part of Paramount's equity by paying cash."
Martin Davis wanted to shake his head almost immediately, but suppressed the impulse, and asked again: "How many shares do you plan to buy?"
"Not much, 20%," Eric gave a figure.
Martin Davis almost cursed out loud. Twenty percent is not much
"Eric, you know that it is impossible for me to agree to you. Moreover, you have already controlled Firefly Pictures, and the Federal Trade Commission will not approve the acquisition of 20% of Paramount's shares so easily."
"Martin, why are you so absolute? Everything can be discussed."
Eric's tone didn't change at all, but Martin Davis had no intention of continuing the conversation, if it was an exchange of shares with Firefly. Don't say 20%, even if it is more. Martin Davis was also happy to agree. After all, Firefly Pictures, which holds a series of high-quality assets such as Disney, Pixar, and Digital Domain, is an investment target that any capital force would covet.
However, he would not agree to the method of cash acquisition, because the sale of this share was equivalent to handing over a large part of Paramount's power to Firefly, but he did not get any bargaining chips to restrain Firefly. Although after selling 20% of Paramount shares, he is still the largest shareholder, but the shareholding gap with Firefly is similar. As long as Firefly wants to, he may even unite with other shareholders to oust him at any time.
"Eric, since you are so insincere, I don't think we need to talk anymore," Martin Davis said, straightening up.
Eric also showed a regretful look: "Then I can only say sorry, Martin, I thought this would be an opportunity for Paramount."
Martin Davis almost couldn't stand Eric's nonsense, but he only saw that this was an opportunity for Firefly. This young man did not have the childishness that a young man of his age should have at all. Thinking about taking advantage of the fire.
After sending Martin Davis away, Eric returned to the tent, and Alan noticed the situation here and followed him.
"I thought you would cooperate with Paramount again," Allen said with a smile, remembering Martin Davis' disappointed expression when he left.
Eric ate the lunch in front of him and said vaguely: "I want to cooperate, but unfortunately he didn't agree to the conditions I gave."
Allen could think that Eric must have offered an unacceptable condition, and he was not too interested in it. Instead, he asked: "Eric, among the film projects of Paramount, there is really no Can you see it?"
"There really isn't any one at the level of "Tornado". As for the level of "Fighting Condor", there is absolutely no need to waste time."
Allen showed a look of surprise. Based on the box office trend of "Tornado", the global box office of this movie is at least 600 million. Eric's request seems to be too high, but he also quickly realized that , If it is not a film of this level, there is no need for Firefly to cooperate with each other, and then cooperate to develop a film of the level of "Fighting Condor", it will only compete with Firefly's films of the same level.
Eric didn't care about Alan's expression, and continued: "Paramount's current situation is mainly caused by Martin Davis himself. He obviously doesn't understand movies, but he firmly holds the power of Paramount, causing Professional talents have become puppets, and the director or producer who has a high-quality project in their hands often hates working with this kind of layman."
"There are not many bosses who are willing to hand over power to professional managers with confidence," Allen said with a smile, while looking at Eric meaningfully.
"So I still admire Murdoch very much. He can skillfully find a balance between decentralization and control. If he restrained Barry Diller's hands and feet like Martin Davis did, he will now There will be no 20th Century Fox Film Company and Fox Network. And when Barry Diller wanted to turn back, Murdoch would not hesitate to part ways with each other. So, although the media often compares Murdoch and Thunderstone East for comparison, but Murdoch's achievements are destined to surpass Redstone, who is similar to Martin Davis," Eric said, looking at the assistant who was lost in thought, and said with a smile: "Alan, You have been with me for four years, right?"
"It's only five months to four years, and that was when "Pretty Woman" was filmed. I was originally your assistant director, but Mr. Hansen said that he hadn't found a suitable person for the time being, and I did a good job, so I let you I've temporarily served as your secretary assistant, and I've come here before you know it," Allen said in a slightly lamented tone, when he applied for a job at Firefly, a company that had just made a splash with "Home Alone", he originally aimed to become a director.
"Have you ever thought about being a department head?"
Allen remembered that Eric had been talking to him recently about topics that he would never mention before, as well as vague temptations, and finally understood Eric's intentions. Of course, Alan was very moved by Eric's proposal. Although the salary was high with Eric, it also restricted his development: "Of course I thought about it, Eric, you now have a suitable secretary assistant Is there a candidate?"
"Not yet, but..." Eric seemed to think of something, and laughed: "But your next successor must be a woman, and she must be beautiful, have temperament, and have outstanding abilities."
"It's not easy to find," Allen laughed, and suddenly thought of a person: "But there is a good ready-made candidate."
"Let's forget it," Eric immediately understood who Alan was referring to: "Even if Liz agrees, she won't last long. Her identity is there. Anyway, I won't let you go immediately, slow down." Just look for it slowly.”
Allen nodded, was about to leave, and asked again: "By the way, Mr. Davis has left, should I continue to pay attention to Paramount's affairs?"
"Of course, it's a big deal for Hollywood after all."
…
Martin Davis's return empty-handed did not surprise many people. The reason why Barry Diller did not rush to Hawaii was because he had guessed this result. He was very clear about the situation of Paramount and knew Martin Davis Davis definitely can't afford Columbia's price, and Eric will not be so similar.
However, because Redstone disclosed its intention to acquire Paramount, Paramount's stock price, which was stimulated by the possible cooperation with Firefly, did not fall back, but continued to rise. Although Barry Diller did not explicitly disclose the acquisition intention of qvc, he made a series of actions that clearly indicated his purpose.
While Eric was silently watching the situation in Hollywood, the filming of "Jurassic Park" was still going on in an orderly manner. After returning to Los Angeles, Martin Davis had several phone calls with Eric, but they failed to reach any agreement. protocol.
As July passed, the North American summer file officially came to an end, and the two blockbuster films of Firefly’s summer file have entered the final stage. However, on Disney’s side, something happened to "The Nun is Crazy" released by Bowei, because Eric Because of being optimistic about this movie, Disney has increased its release efforts, but this movie has the same release scale as "Ghost in Disguise", but the box office in the first week is only half of that of "Ghost in Disguise". When he heard the news, Ai Rick himself almost thought that the movie had deviated from the original track. However, in the second week, the box office of "Crazy Nuns" not only did not drop as much as Firefly executives worried, but rebounded due to word-of-mouth fermentation. Although the rate was only a negligible 2%, compared to those in the second week The drop in half at every turn, this achievement has already made many people overjoyed. Although it is limited to black comedy themes, it will not perform very well overseas, but its box office trend may even surpass "Grandmaid in disguise" in North America.
So far, in just one summer vacation, Firefly Pictures has won 10% of the estimated total box office in North America for the whole year. Many media have begun to predict whether Firefly will surpass Warner this year. (To be continued..)