Eric also remembered some information about "Much Ado About Nothing". Since this movie is aimed at the Oscars, it seems that the first one went wrong. I don't know who came up with the idea of releasing it in May. , now that it's released, if it doesn't cause too much impact, then the popularity of awards season movies should have almost dissipated.
Eric estimated that the production company wanted to take advantage of the popular summer vacation to recover some of the box office. However, he didn't think of any connection between this movie and the Oscars. It is estimated that there was no splash at the box office and nothing was won in the awards.
However, these are not Eric's concern.
After Michelle Simmons finished speaking, Eric got up and thought for a moment, and said, "Well, I will send you some script clips later, and you ask the two of them to record some audition videos, and then send the video tapes to I'm here."
Although Michelle Simmons realized that Eric was more optimistic about these two actresses, she still asked: "Mr. Williams, I brought back a total of eight girls. I think it might be possible to make them all Participate in an audition."
Eric heard Michelle Simmons' hesitant tone, and immediately realized the difficulty of the other party. The girls brought back by Michelle Simmons must have acquaintances in the movie circle in Europe Entrusted to her, if the other party came all the way to Los Angeles, but failed to attend even one audition, it would be very difficult for Michelle Simmons: "Okay, let them all attend the audition."
"Mr. Williams, perhaps, I can take them to New York. You can see for yourself?" Michelle Simmons made another suggestion.
Eric froze. He smiled and said: "Michelle. You should know about my recent situation. It's not convenient for me to show up. You can do it yourself. In addition, you can arrange this audition with Drew. She will be in charge of "Charlie's Angels" in the future. Production, you can familiarize yourself with it in advance.”
"Okay, then I know," Michelle Simmons said no more. After talking for a few more words, they hung up the phone.
Two days later, the audition tapes of a group of girls were delivered to Eric. Eric spent a few hours watching the tapes. He didn't see the talented girl whose acting skills were too amazing, so he made his original The decision was sent to Michelle Simmons in Los Angeles. Later, through the introduction of John Wu, Firefly found the Yuan Jiaban martial arts instructor in the original version from the other side of the ocean, and was responsible for training the three women.
Time always flies by, and it is already late May in a blink of an eye, and all the movies in the summer file have entered the final promotion period. Although the main publicity of "Jurassic Park" is a line of actors in the movie, but. Eric, the director, did not attend any occasions during the entire promotion process, which is too much, at least Jeffrey and others think so. In a call, Jerry Bruckheimer also complained about some Most of the publicity occasions that Ke attended were replaced by him as a producer, and he jokingly asked Eric to raise his salary.
For two months, Eric basically only communicated with the outside world through phone calls and emails, and even seldom went out. People often come to visit, but everyone knows Eric's scruples, they are cautious when they come to visit, and the original small manor is empty, the paparazzi think Eric has brought With the woman leaving Long Island, Eric's residence has never been photographed by the paparazzi.
However, as the release date of "Jurassic Park" is getting closer and closer, Eric has to rush back to Los Angeles to preside over the final stage of the film's publicity. Moreover, the film's premiere, Eric, the director, cannot absent.
Peter Guber got out of the car, took his assistant all the way into the headquarters building of Firefly Pictures, and after notifying the front desk, he quickly walked into the elevator and walked all the way to Eric's office on the top floor.
After greeting the assistant outside Eric's office, he knocked on the door and pushed open the door of Eric's office, seeing the young man sitting behind the desk, Peter Guber seemed to see his relatives , walked over with a smile on his face: "Eric, you are finally back."
Eric smiled at Peter Guber, said a few more words on the phone in a hurry, and then got up and said with a smile: "Peter, I have heard what you just said more than a hundred times in the past two days."
"Haha, that just shows how much everyone misses you. By the way, have you received the gifts I gave to the little ones?" Peter Guber and Eric hugged and asked.
"Of course, thank you, they like it very much, let's sit there." Eric pointed to the reception sofa, pressed the phone and asked the secretary to help him make coffee, and then sat down on the sofa with Peter Guber .
After the secretary delivered the coffee and exited the office, Peter Guber couldn't wait to say: "Eric, the global release of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" is coming to an end. We really can't wait any longer. When you leave, But you told me that you will consider our next few film projects."
"Of course, Peter, I have always kept this matter in mind," Eric picked up the coffee, blew gently, and said, "Don't worry, try the coffee first."
Peter Guber had been dragged out of his temper by Eric, so he had to take a few sips of coffee pretendingly, and quickly put down the coffee cup: "Eric, I heard that you are currently preparing "Charlie's Angels" "The film version of ", if you have no other projects for the time being, I think this film is also possible, you know, we still have four film contracts, but the time is less than two years left."
Eric heard Peter Guber say this, put down his coffee cup and said, "Peter, "Charlie's Angels" is definitely not acceptable. I have other arrangements for this movie."
Peter Guber was just testing it out. Seeing that Eric disagreed, he said, "Then, how about asking Wu to prepare the sequel to Mr. and Mrs. Smith immediately? We can't just do nothing, right?"
"Don't worry, Peter, wait a moment," Eric said, got up and found a folder next to the file cabinet, walked over and handed it to him: "I said, I will take this matter to heart. Look. I've found the project."
Peter Guber saw that things were finally taking shape. Can't wait to open the folder Eric handed over.
""James of the Brave", what type is this?" Peter Guber asked, flipping through the information, and after reading a few pages, he didn't know how to say: "Here, the children in 1981 Literary works, uh, why didn’t I know that Columbia’s copyright library still has the right to adapt such a work?”
Eric couldn't help rolling his eyes when he heard Peter Guber say that. This guy is thinking about getting benefits from Columbia all day long, so he has no time to pay attention to this kind of thing.
"Jumanji" is the work of the famous American children's literature writer Chris Osberg in 1981. It tells a magical board game similar to Monopoly. This board can transfer various characters, animals, etc. from another time and space. Summoned out, which triggered a series of magical stories.
A few years after the novel was released, the then Columbia Film Company bought the right to adapt the film. However, because the film required a lot of special effects, the Columbia Film Company’s operating conditions were not very good, and the special effects technology was very poor. Immature, management wouldn't dare to risk spending huge sums of money on making a movie like this. So the copyright has been put on hold.
When Peter Guber urged Eric more than two months ago, Eric asked for their copyright reserve from Columbia. So I discovered the adaptation rights of this novel, together with "Game of the Brave", and another comic adaptation rights.
Seeing Peter Guber flipping through the pages slowly, Eric said directly: "Peter, this is just the first project, there is another one below."
"Anything else?" Peter Guber flipped down in surprise, and soon found the title of another movie: "Men in Black, I think I've heard of this. It's a comic from two years ago. ..." At this point, Peter Guber finally showed a bit of embarrassment on his expression: "Unexpectedly, the copyright of this comic is also here in Columbia."
Eric stopped urging Peter Cooper this time, and let the other party read the information slowly, before saying: "Peter, according to the agreement we signed at the beginning, the copyrights of the five films are shared by both parties, so if you want to produce For the two projects, you need to sign a copyright sharing agreement in advance."
Peter Cooper was stunned for a moment. The adaptation rights of these two works are exclusively enjoyed by Columbia Pictures, and if we want to say that according to the original agreement, the copyright has become Firefly in the blink of an eye, and in a few years If there is no sequel, Columbia's copyright will even automatically return to Firefly.
This kind of thing that is very disadvantageous no matter how you think about it, makes Peter Guber feel very uncomfortable. Looking up at Eric who picked up the coffee again and was drinking slowly, Peter Guber had the idea of making these two movies alone without Firefly.
However, this idea just flashed through his mind, and soon, Peter Guber was a little discouraged. According to the information just seen, these two films are projects with a large proportion of special effects, a monster beast Running rampant everywhere, another alien is running all over the ground. If you leave out Firefly, then the digital field will probably no longer participate in the special effects production of these two movies. In Hollywood, I want to find someone who has enough technical strength to make these two movies. It’s not that easy for a special effects company. Even ILM, which was thriving a few years ago, may not be able to do it. In the past two years, everyone in Hollywood knows that because of the rise of the digital field, ILM has begun to go. downhill. Especially in terms of computer cg, Industrial Light and Magic was left a few blocks behind by the digital field.
Moreover, if Firefly is thrown away, Eric will definitely not give any pointers to these two projects. Then, it is not certain whether it will be successful at that time. But it is still a topic that many people in Hollywood 'talk about'.
Although Eric pretended to be indifferent, he was always paying attention to the changes in Peter Guber's expression from the corner of his eye. Seeing that Peter Cooper's expression gradually relaxed, Eric said in a timely manner: "Peter, the copyright of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" could have been exclusive to Firefly, but I took it out without hesitation. Besides Well, as long as you can give Sony headquarters a beautiful financial report with "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" like last quarter, your position will be more stable, presumably Sony headquarters will not care about these trivial matters."
Peter Guber knew that Columbia must be sure of this boring loss, but after hearing Eric's words, Peter Guber also realized that anyway, these losses eventually fell on the Japanese.
When he was hired at the beginning, Sony headquarters specially set up a reward fund with a total amount of 50 million US dollars. Because of the excellent performance of "Mrs. Then, in the next few years, Peter Guber will be able to honor these rewards one after another. Coupled with the large amount of benefits he has obtained privately with the shell of Colombia, even if he leaves Colombia in a few years, he can almost use these savings to retire early and enjoy life. As for what happens to Colombia next, that has nothing to do with him.
"Okay, Eric, I will arrange someone to discuss the relevant contract as soon as possible, but it is already the end of May, and according to the fastest production schedule, these two films should also be released in the summer of next year, right? In that case, we won’t have any co-movies this year?”
Seeing that the copyrights of the two series "James of the Brave" and "Men in Black" have been obtained, Eric also knew that "reciprocity is reciprocated", and he said straightforwardly: "In this case, let John Wu make another gunfight movie Well, I will personally take charge of this matter, you know, Director Xiangjiang has always been very fast in making movies, and with the addition of non-special effects movies, there will definitely be no problem releasing them at the end of the year."
Eric just remembered John Wu's most successful films in Hollywood.
Hearing what Eric said, Peter Guber grinned unabashedly and said, "Since the three movies have been confirmed, Eric, why not take this opportunity to make the last movie It’s okay to finalize it, you Firefly have so many projects that are incubating, it’s nothing to let go of one. Moreover, if all four films are confirmed, then I can make an announcement immediately, which can also give investors some confidence.”
Eric didn't think of a suitable movie for a while, and the projects in the Firefly Project couldn't be easily handed over to Colombia. After thinking about it, Eric said: "If this is the case, then you can just announce it directly to the public. In addition to a sequel to Mr. and Mrs. Smith, anyway, the other three are true, and when the time comes, it is said that the plan for the sequel has died due to various reasons, and the public will not doubt anything.”
"Good idea," Peter Guber clapped his hands: "But, Eric, why don't you just actually make a sequel to Mr. and Mrs. Smith?"
"Alright, but I don't have time to conceive the script for the sequel, so I need to find another screenwriter and try to write the script for the sequel. If the script satisfies me, I will start the production of the sequel. (To be continued...)