In the next few days, "Braveheart" attracted more and more attention in Hollywood. After learning that Mel Gibson did not immediately accept the conditions proposed by Firefly Pictures, several other major film companies studied "Braveheart" Braveheart script, and then swarmed to Mel Gibson.
Because "Braveheart" and the sensational "Ben-Hur" 30 years ago are both epic films, and there are many similarities in the plot. What's more coincidental is that the screenwriter of "Ben-Hur" is named Lu. Wallace, and the screenwriter of "Braveheart" is Landau Wallace. The two have the same surname. After some rumors, some people have even begun to compare "Braveheart" to Hollywood's second "Ben-Hur".
"Ben-Hur," released in 1960, earned more than $70 million at the box office at a ticket price of 50 cents at the time. Based on the average ticket price of about $4 in 1993, it was equivalent to $560 million at this time. At a time when entertainment forms are becoming more and more diverse, the major Hollywood film companies at the North American box office of US$560 million are still unthinkable for the time being, but even if it is only half of US$560 million, it is enough to make all Hollywood film companies crazy about it.
Eric didn't expect that things would develop to the following point. Perhaps stimulated by the joint pursuit of the media and Hollywood, Mel Gibson's self-confidence swelled, and he proposed to the negotiators sent by the Firefly production department such as increasing the salary and share, A series of harsh conditions such as increased investment and absolute control of the film. A big production with an investment of more than 50 million US dollars is mainly for making money. The Oscars are just icing on the cake on the basis of profits. In the original time and space, "Braveheart" did not have any outstanding box office. Eric would only agree to Mel Gibson's conditions if his brain burned out. In the event of fruitless negotiations. Eric simply gave up on following up on the project.
As for Sophie, Eric called her again on the day he learned that the news had been exposed, and told Sophie frankly that something had changed. Sophie also expressed her annoyance very simply, and laughed at Eric, but there was always a bit of a lover's coquettish meaning in her tone.
Although "Braveheart" is a sweet pastry for other film companies, it is just a casual episode for Eric, and he has too many things to pay attention to.
early august. Catherine Bigelow personally prepared "Saving Private Ryan" for a long time and officially launched in Ireland. Although Eric can't go to Europe in person, he still pays attention to this film. He will have a phone call with Catherine every two days to discuss Shooting problems.
At the same time, "True Lies" also started filming in Washington. The quality of Cameron's film is absolutely guaranteed. Eric will only routinely beat him when he burns too much money. Of course, it is basically useless.
In addition, more than half of the production progress of the 2D animation "The Lion King" that Katzenberg has been in charge of has been completed. Although if there is some rush work, it can be released at the end of the year. But Eric insisted on putting the film next year.
These are the main films planned for the summer of 1994. At the end of the year, "Aeroplane 2", "Interview with the Vampire" and Quentin's "Pulp Fiction" are all being produced in an orderly manner.
In addition, the second part of "Jurassic Park" was naturally included in the production plan of Firefly. After Roland Emmerich finished "Clash of Heaven and Earth", he also began to prepare for "Independence Day". Rick also needs to pay attention to the remaining few films in cooperation with Sony Pictures from time to time. Finally, the newly established DreamWorks Film Company, "Charlie's Angels" has confirmed three leading actresses and directors, and has begun auditions for secondary actors Work.
Although 90% of the work does not require Eric to do it himself, the total investment of these projects exceeds one billion US dollars, and the accumulation of things that require Eric's personal attention still keeps him busy every day. land.
Apart from movies, after a few days of consideration, Murdoch had no choice but to agree to most of the conditions in the withdrawal plan proposed by Firefly Pictures. The two sides began to argue about the last few details. In order not to be eye-catching as much as possible, this matter was carried out very low-key, and neither Murdoch nor Eric participated in the negotiations in person.
Sitting in the office of Firefly Films headquarters, Eric was talking on the phone with Chris who was far away in Northern Europe.
After a month of negotiations, the acquisition of Nokia has entered the final stage. Chris successfully obtained 51% of the shares of Nokia's mobile communications department for US$420 million, realizing absolute control. Although the premium is more than 20%, in Eric's view, this deal is definitely a must for cabbage.
Eric was holding a microphone and talking to Chris about setting up a company in Ireland to avoid taxation. The door of the office was suddenly pushed open. Eric looked up and saw Elizabeth rushing in with red eyes. Drew with a sullen face, Tina Fey shrank her neck and followed behind the two women. Noticing Eric looking at her, Tina Fey winked at Eric, as if hinting at something.
In fact, even without hints, watching Elizabeth and Drew walk to his desk, one left and one right far away from each other, Eric can almost think of what happened.
After a few words with Chris, she hurriedly hung up the phone. Before Eric could speak, Elizabeth pointed at Drew aggrievedly, and said, "Eric, tell her, have you talked to my dad about tg?" .”
Just as Eric nodded, Drew said angrily: "I know we talked about it, but Eric didn't agree to your father's conditions at that time, you lied to me."
Elizabeth sniffed aggrievedly, and suddenly looked at Eric: "You obviously acquiesced."
After that morning, Xiao Nizi disappeared for several days in a row. Eric thought that the matter had been resolved, but unexpectedly, it seemed that the two of them had become even more tense.
Speaking of the call at that time, Eric neither agreed nor objected, no matter how he understood it, he was looking at the other side with two pairs of eyes fixed on him. Eric is not good at leaning either way. He could only get up and drag the two women to the sofa in the reception area to sit down. Said: "What is your situation now, let me tell you first?"
Drew immediately sued with a small face upright: "She will never admit that she lied to me."
"Why do you say that I lied to you, Eric clearly acquiesced," Elizabeth also became excited.
"You bloody liar," Drew teased again.
Perhaps because of her extreme grievance, Elizabeth couldn't bear it anymore, jumped up and rushed towards Drew.
Seeing this, Eric hurriedly stepped forward to separate the two women, watching the two women being separated by him, he still didn't forget to stretch out his little paws to grab each other. Eric said dumbfoundedly: "It's okay to fight, but you are not allowed to scratch your face, it's all mine."
As soon as this sentence fell, Elizabeth opened her small white teeth and bit Eric's arm. The little girl immediately became unhappy, and she couldn't bear to bite herself. Why did you bite first, so she also grabbed Eric. The arm gnawed up.
There was a cry in the office that seemed to be very miserable. After a while, Eric sat on the sofa again. The sleeves of the shirt were rolled up, looking at the red crescents on the left and right arms. Sighing, ignoring Tina Fei who was still covering her mouth and snickering next to her, she looked at the two girls sitting across from her who had become much more honest: "Well, this matter is my mistake, I didn't make it clear at the time, and you also Stop making trouble, just follow the plan that Rupert and I discussed at the time, do you have any comments?"
Drew just curled his lips, turned his head away and said nothing.
Elizabeth shook her head, looked at the red tooth marks on Eric's arm with some guilt, and suddenly lowered her head again. She was already a little guilty in her heart, but she also realized that her old man had tricked her in this matter , but in the face of Xiaonizi's questioning with a gun and a stick, Elizabeth, who has always been so strong, is even less likely to admit that she is lying, but as a daughter, she can't point the finger at her father, so she just stalemate and dragged on for a few days. Tian eventually had to go 'confront' Eric.
"Since there is no objection, that's it. Drew, Tina, you two go back first, and Liz and I will talk about something."
Xiao Nizi snorted softly, stood up indignantly and walked out. Although Tina Fey felt a little bit reluctant, she followed quickly.
As soon as the office door was closed, Elizabeth whispered like a mosquito: "Eric, I'm sorry, I didn't know my father would be like this."
"Forget it, I will settle this matter with your father slowly." Seeing Elizabeth suddenly raised his head, Eric smiled and added: "Don't worry, it is definitely not a physical settlement."
Elizabeth quickly remembered the question that Eric had asked herself before, and smiled, but she no longer pleaded for her unscrupulous father. Anyway, at the top of the pyramid like theirs, even if they are in a hurry, they are not too worried. It might be to the point of ruining the other party's fortune, and after muttering, Elizabeth looked at Eric's arm and asked weakly, "Are you... still in pain?"
Eric reached out and rubbed a tooth mark, and said with a smile: "It's okay, I'll get a rabies vaccine later."
Elizabeth chuckled and wanted to find something to throw at Eric, but there was no pillow on the sofa in the office, so she could only give Eric a blank stare: "You quit the Fox TV network, are you planning to buy a TV Internet cafe? "
"Well, the plan has been determined long ago. The launch of the Fox TV network is just to avoid legal troubles."
Firefly maintains a stake in the Fox TV network, and the relationship between the two parties will always be closer. At this time, Firefly withdrew. Although Elizabeth felt a little bit reluctant, she also knew the reason for this, and said somewhat disappointedly: "Now TG is also separated. Doesn't that mean we won't have any relationship in the future?"
Eric smiled and said, "Why, are you going to dump me?"
Elizabeth's eyes were somewhat resentful: "You have so many women, I heard that you often go to that pair of Spanish sisters recently, do you still need to care about me?"
Eric said without hesitation: "Of course, I care about every one of my women."
Elizabeth's heartbeat seemed to speed up a bit, but she said not to be outdone, "Your words are really shameless."
"I won't deny it, you all know it anyway." Eric shrugged: "What about you, Drew said you would go to Twentieth Century Fox as the vice president, what exactly do you do?"
"The performance of the film company has been unsatisfactory in the past few years. My father asked me to be in charge of the production and continue to serve as the CEO of tg."
Speaking of tg, Eric remembered the big trouble that had been entangled with tg, and asked, "Is there a deal with Jim Carrey?"
"Well, it's been negotiated. He has signed three film contracts again, with a salary of 15 million US dollars plus 5% profit sharing."
Over the past few years, more and more top stars in Hollywood have begun to ask for film sharing treatment. Eric is not surprised at this price. If it is other first-line superstars, although the film company will be willing to give a similar high price, it will definitely not be once. Sex signed three parts. However, Jim Carrey's box office appeal is very stable. Although it has reached its peak since the beginning of "The Masquerade", it is still at the peak of its career in the past two years. In addition, the cost of Jim Carrey's movies has been relatively high Low, signing such a price, Fox will not take too much risk.
Eric thought about these things and asked again: "I haven't heard about "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" for a long time. How are you going to arrange this TV series?"
"Maybe it will premiere on September 28." Elizabeth thought for a while, then nodded again: "It is indeed September 28, because this is a vampire movie with a relatively small theme, although some people think It can be divided into youth campus fantasy dramas. It is proposed to use "Friends" as the leading episode, but in the end it is decided to use "X-Files" as the leading episode, which is more secure. Eric, how much do you think this TV series can get? ratings?"
The original version of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" was broadcast on the small-scale WB TV station under Time Warner, and it created a trend of watching the show. At this time, it was broadcast on the Fox TV station that has covered the entire United States, and has the audience base cultivated by "X-Files". , it should not be a problem that the ratings are equal to "X-Files".
But Eric didn't dare to guarantee it, and said: "Joss Whedon's script is very good. If you didn't make random changes like the movie version during the filming process, the ratings should be guaranteed. As for how far it can reach , I dare not say."
Elizabeth heard the uncertainty in Eric's tone, and didn't take it too seriously. After all, TV dramas with high ratings don't appear that way. The four major TV stations have three hours of prime time every day, except for some variety shows and holiday specials. On average, no less than ten TV dramas are broadcast every week, but there are often only one or two that support the ratings.
Putting this matter aside, Elizabeth asked: "You just said you have something to talk to me about, what is it?"
"It's nothing, just chatting casually, I haven't been to your place for a long time, how is tonight?"
"Julia's not at home," Elizabeth just blurted out this sentence, and immediately realized what was wrong, her face turned red, and she didn't dare to look into Eric's eyes again. (To be continued... )