At 6:30 in the afternoon, Eric walked out of the studio where the Victoria's Secret Studio is located. He has too many things to do. If he hadn't made a dinner appointment with Buffett and others, Eric might have Work overtime until eight o'clock.
The driver and the newly promoted assistant Kelly Haines were already waiting outside. Eric and Kelly Haines got into his car together. The driver consciously started the car and drove towards the appointed restaurant.
"Mr. Williams, here are the documents you need. I have already made four copies," Kelly Haines handed the document from the morning to Eric again.
Eric thanked him, took the folder and focused on looking through it.
Although it has been Eric's assistant for a few weeks, this is the first time that Kelly Haines has been in the same car with Eric. It took several minutes for the female assistant to relax and glance at him inadvertently. The young boss next to him was suddenly in a daze.
After the box office of "The Lion King" was released, Kelly Haines, like many people, felt that Eric must be crazy when he heard the news that Eric was about to close Disney's hand-drawn animation department.
But in recent days, under Eric's orders, after Kelly Haines led the team to sort out the document in Eric's hand at this time, she suddenly felt that if it was herself, she would definitely transfer Disney's documents. The hand-drawn animation department was closed, because the persuasiveness of this document was too strong, and she couldn't find a reason to refute it.
At the same time, Kelly Hines was also extremely shocked by the keen insight of her big boss. You must know that many data in this document do not have much connection at first glance, but when combined, they form a A very strong chain of evidence.
Kelly Hines couldn't help thinking that maybe it was this keen insight that allowed him to make one super hit movie after another.
Eric read the document in his hand, and at the same time as the strong smell of Chanel No. 5 perfume came from beside him, he also felt that this female assistant with a good face and a great figure had been staring at him for at least a minute , which made him a little uncomfortable. Eric is not so narcissistic that he thinks he has the charm to make a mature man fall into a nympho.
Moreover, the problem in Kelly Haines' mind is nothing to Eric. If Eric is not a reborn, then it is difficult for him to see the decline trend of 2D animation. But with the memory of his previous life in his mind, he can make reverse inferences based on the results, which is enough for him to discover the reasons why a series of 2D animation movies are bound to decline.
After reading more than half of the sorted documents, Eric finally couldn't help the gaze of the woman beside him, and moved his body. He turned his head and glanced at Kelly Hines' left hand, but found no wedding ring.
Eric's sudden movement also woke up Kelly Hines, she looked away in a panic, realized what she had just done, and was inexplicably flustered.
Eric felt the woman's panic. In order to avoid embarrassment, he turned his eyes to the document again and said casually, "Kelly, I'm asking a rather abrupt question. Are you married?"
Kelly Hines blushed slightly. Subconsciously wanted to refute that you knew it was very abrupt and still asked, but the words turned into other answers: "I got married once, but divorced, and now I live with my daughter, her name is Nina, this year Seven years old."
"Sorry for delaying your dinner with your daughter."
Kelly Hines shook her head and said with a smile, "It's okay, Nina is very sensible, and she is accompanied by a nanny."
A simple conversation resolved the slightly awkward atmosphere between the two. Eric could feel the female assistant's embarrassment, and in order to avoid another silence in the car, he asked, "Do you like Chanel No. 5?"
Kelly Hines didn't expect Eric to be able to directly say the name of the perfume she used, and remembered some of the subconscious motives when she first chose this perfume. His face was a little unnatural again: "I, a good friend recommended it, and I just started to try it recently, and I think it's okay."
Kelly Haines tried her best to make her tone look natural, and Eric didn't hear anything unusual. Said: "Although Chanel No. 5 matches your temperament very well, this perfume is most suitable for use at parties. In daily work, in fact, a light perfume will be more appropriate."
"I will consider your suggestion, Mr. Williams," Kelly Haines replied in a low voice, feeling a little shy and apprehensive in her heart. Since Eric knows this perfume so well, he must also be aware of it. Some special effects of this perfume, such as... Cui Qing.
Eric never took his eyes off the document in his hand, just chatting casually, so he didn't notice the strange flash of Kelly Haines's expression just now, and felt the female assistant's voice lowered, thinking that she was concerned about him. There was some resistance to the suggestion, so I looked up at her and said, "Sorry, I just said it casually, you don't have to worry about it, just keep using it if you like it."
"Of course not," Kelly Haines shook her head and said, "I also think this perfume is a bit too ostentatious, and I plan to change it soon."
Eric closed the last page of information and said: "Oh, that's good, actually, I prefer women's natural body fragrance, which is the inherent charm of women. Just like you, I think you Now I don’t need any perfume, it’s even more..." Eric said casually, this time he finally noticed that Kelly Haines’s face turned red, and quickly stopped the topic, saying: "I’m really sorry, I’m not harassing you ,only… "
Seeing Eric's slightly embarrassed expression, Kelly Hines suddenly became bold, and then Eric said, "...is it just a natural habit of playboys to coax women?"
Eric nodded with a wry smile, and realized something, and said, "It seems that I have been talking about an unpleasant topic just now."
Kelly Hines smiled and said, "You finally realized it. I thought it was a genius' inherent flaw in emotional intelligence."
"I'm not a genius," Eric shook his head, and was about to continue talking when the car stopped in front of an ordinary Italian restaurant. Eric looked at the restaurant outside the window and asked, " is it here?"
Kelly Hines took out the memo, confirmed it, and said: "Yes, it's here," noting Eric's doubts, Kelly Haines explained: "This should be chosen by Mr. Buffett, He's always been more... thrifty."
Eric knew that the word Kelly Hines really wanted to use was 'stingy', because the whole world knew Buffett's stingy character.
Get out of the car with the document. Eric looked at the female assistant who was still sitting in the car, and suddenly asked, "Why don't you come together, if you're not in a hurry to go home with your daughter?"
Kelly Hines was a little moved. But looking at his serious business suit, he shook his head and said, "I still can't, my current outfit is not suitable for a dinner party."
Eric pointed to the food stall-level Italian restaurant behind him, and said with a smile: "Do you think the old man who can choose such a restaurant will care what the guests wear?"
Kelly Hines laughed and got out of the car generously.
The two walked into the restaurant. Eric looked around for a week. Fortunately, he did not see the three of Buffett in the lobby. You must know that it is time for meals, not to mention the need for confidentiality of the topic to be discussed next. Eric believes that if you eat in the lobby , If you can't finish this meal, you will be surrounded by reporters who have heard the news.
After a few words with the waiter who came up, the two were taken to a box.
Warren Buffett, Tom Murphy, and David West saw Eric come in, stopped talking and stood up.
Eric shook hands with the three of them respectively, and said, "I'm really sorry, everyone. I've been too busy with work recently, so I couldn't go to the airport to pick you up in person."
"It's okay, work is the most important thing," Buffett said with a smile, Tom Murphy and David West both nodded in agreement.
Eric introduced Kelly Hines to several people, and the five people sat down.
The waiter didn't recognize the three old men of Buffett at first, thinking they were just ordinary guests, but it was absolutely impossible for him not to know Eric, and even recalled Buffett's identity, looking at the few big men sitting in front of him. The waiter was a little excited, and at the same time couldn't help thinking about how much tip he would get next, and said eagerly: "Gentlemen, do you want to order now?"
None of Buffett finished talking. Look at Eric together.
Eric smiled at the waiter: "Sorry, can we order in fifteen minutes, do we have something to talk about?"
"Of course, of course, no problem, Mr. Williams, anytime." The waiter was flattered by Eric's tone of discussion, nodded with a smirk, and voluntarily left the box.
After the waiter left, Eric took out the folder he was carrying with him. Kelly Haines got up and put the tableware on the table aside, and then sat down quietly beside Eric.
Handing the copied documents to the three of them, Eric said with a smile: "In order to have a more enjoyable dinner, I think we still have to solve this problem first."
Among the three, the fifty-five-year-old David West is the youngest. As the president of a large foundation, he is also the most sociable, so he laughed along with Eric's joke, while the other two old men couldn't wait After opening the document and reading it, Tom Murphy put on his reading glasses solemnly.
Eric looked at Buffett who had quickly turned over the first page, and said, "I believe that after reading these materials and data, everyone will be able to understand some things, but let me explain it myself, it will be simpler and clearer."
Buffett has super-speed reading and data mental arithmetic abilities beyond ordinary people. However, after quickly reading the first article "Comprehensive Distribution Trend of Hollywood Movies", Buffett did not see anything related to Eric's upcoming closure of Disney's hand-drawn animation department. Hearing Eric's words, Buffett decisively stopped turning the page, looked at Eric with confidence, and the other two followed Buffett's actions and paused.
Eric sorted out his thoughts and said: "First of all, I would like to declare that "The Lion King" is an 'event movie' similar to "Star Wars", "ET Aliens" and "Home Alone". , "Feeling that the three of them expressed doubts about the term 'event movie', Eric could only continue to explain: "The so-called event movie is a movie whose box office is far from the movie company's previous forecast. The appearance of this kind of movie It is full of chance, and you may not be able to meet one in ten or twenty years. Strictly speaking, even my "Jurassic Park" last year cannot be regarded as an event movie. "Jurassic Park" The success of the film can only be regarded as the inevitable development trend of the expansion of the global box office market and the popularity of large-scale CG special effects films by audiences. In the next few years, there will definitely be CG special effects films with a global box office of more than 1 billion US dollars."
David West asked: "Eric, since you said that "Jurassic Park" is an inevitable trend of market development, why can't "The Lion King" be regarded as a normal expression of the market's demand for animated films?"
"Because before "Jurassic Park", we have already seen clues from the box office market reaction of special effects films such as "Terminator 2" and "Tornado". The global box office of "Terminator 2" is 500 million US dollars. The global cumulative value of "Tornado" should be close to 700 million U.S. dollars?" Eric's last words were looking at Kelly Hines beside him.
Kelly Haines had been watching Eric's talk with a little moodiness, seeing him suddenly turn to herself, inexplicably remembered Eric's sentence in the morning 'I like women who are sensitive to numbers', instantly It felt like her heart was beating faster, but the female assistant still reported a number without hesitation: "According to the final statistics, the global box office of "Tornado" has accumulated to 688 million US dollars, a difference of 12 million to less than 700 million."
Eric nodded, turned to the three people on the opposite side, and said: ""Terminator 2" has 500 million worldwide, "Tornado" has 700 million worldwide, and immediately, "Jurassic Park" has 1 billion worldwide. These data should be able to prove the market's However, in terms of 2D animation movies, I have not seen this trend at all, and there is a corresponding analysis in this document, and you can see it later.”
Although David West, who asked the question, was a little unwilling, he found that he could not refute. Warren Buffett nodded slightly, and motioned to Eric: "Eric, please continue."
"So, to confirm that "The Lion King" is an event film that is difficult to replicate, let's first look at an important change in Hollywood's film distribution model in recent years."
Eric said, opened the document in his hand, and said: "After the first saturated distribution model appeared in "Jaws" in 1975, it has gone through 20 years. Although this distribution model has been recognized by Hollywood, but in Before the 1990s, the modes of saturated distribution and long-term distribution still coexisted in commercial films, which you can see in the statistical table in the document."
Leaving a few people some time to look at the data, Eric continued: "But with the advent of the 1990s, an upgraded version of the saturated distribution strategy rose rapidly, and in recent years there has also been a proprietary term—full distribution. This distribution model is more radical than the traditional saturated distribution. The film company invests a huge amount of money in the early stage for large-scale advertising. The one-week screening reaped about 80% to 90% of the total box office share. Ten years ago, taking Universal's "Back to the Future" as an example, the film's eight-week cumulative box office was only 57% of the total box office. It is because of the word-of-mouth accumulation of the first part. In the second part, "Raiders of the Lost Ark 2", which adopted a similar full-scale release model, only 77% of the eight-week box office. The screen time of "Back to the Future" and "Raiders of the Lost Ark 2" It is also a very interesting number, "Back to the Future" played for a total of 37 weeks, while "Raiders of the Lost Ark 2" only played for 20 weeks. We can see from the documents that in recent years, the film that has been fully released has a showtime that is comparable to Compared with the 1980s, it has been significantly shortened. The greatly shortened show time means that theaters can free up more time and canvases, and arrange more movies. The rapid rise of Hollywood's box office in recent years is consistent with this model. Therefore, full distribution will be an inevitable trend of Hollywood's future film distribution model." (To be continued.)