Remember [??] in one second, providing you with wonderful novels to read.
Eric was chatting with everyone, and a few more people appeared at the backstage entrance, but they walked towards him directly.
The reason was a Japanese man in his fifties, who was Nobuyuki Idei who was about to take over the eo position of Norio Ohga Sony Group. Columbia's eo Peter Cooper and president John Peters and other company executives followed him, but However, Eric found that it was not Peter Cooper or John Peters who was following Nobuyuki Idei, but another middle-aged white man with a strange face.
Eric knew that Sony had started to intervene in Columbia's affairs a few months ago, but he didn't expect Nobuyuki Idei to appear here suddenly. Before he had time to think about the reason, Nobuyuki Idei had already come to him, stretched out his hand with a smile on his face and said in proficient English: "Mr. Williams, nice to meet you, I am Nobuyuki Idei."
The English pronunciation of Japanese names is very weird. Eric couldn't tell the difference between the names of the other party, so he shook hands with the other party and said in full: "Hello, Mr. Idei Nobuyuki, welcome to the screening of Mission: Impossible present."
"It should be my honor. The movie that Mr. Williams personally selected must be very exciting," Nobuyuki Idei complimented, and before Eric could thank him, he signaled to the middle-aged white man next to him. Eric said: "This is Mr. Howard Stringer. He has accepted Sony's invitation and will soon be the EO of Sony's American branch, in charge of all Sony's industries in the United States."
Eric heard Nobuyuki's name, and then he was sure who the middle-aged white man wearing glasses was. The first non-Japanese eo of the Sony Group after Nobuyuki's resignation in time and space: "Hello, Sterling Mr. Greg."
After Nobuyuki Idei introduced Howard Stringer, he didn't mean to introduce Peter Cooper and John Peters, but other people who were present expressed their interest half-truthfully.
Eric had no choice but to introduce them one by one. When it was Amy Pascal's turn, Idei Nobuyuki did not hide the regret in his tone, and said: "Miss Pascal, losing you is really Columbia's biggest loss. I hope you can seriously consider returning to Columbia. matter."
Amy Pascal was a little surprised by Nobuyuki Idei's straightforward invitation, but she only responded politely.
After a brief conversation among the crowd, the screening time came soon, and the staff began to guide the guests backstage to the screening room.
Eric deliberately lagged behind. When the guests had almost left, the female assistant next to him took the initiative to explain Eric's doubts: "Nobuyuki Idei arrived in Los Angeles a week ago, and the news we got here is that Nobuyuki Idei personally brought An audit team is currently checking Columbia's financial information. In addition, another purpose of Nobuyuki Idei's coming to Los Angeles should be to find the next helm for Columbia."
Eric nodded, remembering the middle-aged man wearing glasses that Nobuyuki Idei had specially introduced to him, and asked, "Do you know Howard Stringer?"
Kelly said: "Howard Stringer has been the president of BS in recent years, and he just resigned a few months ago. He was a very good reporter at the beginning. When he was the head of the BS news department, BS Evening News was the third It has the highest ratings among the big TV networks, it may be due to the internal instability of bs in recent years, but it did not make any outstanding achievements during its tenure as the president of bs."
Eric thought about it. Asked: "So how does he compare to Robert Iger?"
Kelly shook her head: "I only have some basic information on him here. If you need a detailed evaluation, I will ask someone to do it tomorrow."
Eric didn't have a strong interest in Howard Stringer, and he didn't refuse the female assistant to collect more detailed information. He ordered: "By the way, let's collect information about Nobuyuki Idei."
Compared with Sony's decline, Eric is more interested in Idei Nobuyuki, the leader who brought Sony from its peak to its decline. [ㄨ]
Since Nobuyuki Idei suddenly appeared, his and Eric's positions were naturally arranged together. Eric has watched the new version of Mission: Impossible several times, but he didn't pay much attention to the screen, and Nobuyuki Idei's mind was obviously not on the movie either. People came and went to test a few times. Eric also almost understood the intention of Nobuyuki Idei, and Nobuyuki Idei obviously understood Eric's attitude.
After the screening, Nobuyuki Idei took the initiative to invite Eric when he left: "Eric, I will stay in Los Angeles for a while. I wonder if I have the honor to take the time to chat?"
Eric knew that since Nobuyuki Idei appeared in Los Angeles, it was inevitable for the two parties to have a formal meeting: "Of course no problem, Idei, just ask someone to contact my assistant to confirm the time."
Idei Nobuyuki agreed with a smile, and got into the car after saying goodbye to Eric.
After driving a certain distance, Nobuyuki Idei's face in the compartment had already darkened.
these days. In the process of reviewing the detailed information on Colombia, Idei found that the problem in Colombia was much more serious than the headquarters imagined. In the past few years of running Columbia, Peter Cooper and Jon Peters have never made any decisions that are beneficial to Columbia Films. The funds spent on the company's exhibition were squandered on personal enjoyment. In the past few years, the total cost of Columbia's office decoration, private jets and luxury yachts has reached as high as 170 million US dollars, and other messy expenses are too numerous to enumerate.
If Peter Cooper and Jon Peters were hard at running Columbia, these costs wouldn't hurt the roots of the established studio. But the two never put their minds on running Columbia. In the past five years, the only achievements Columbia has achieved are some film cooperations with Firefly, but these cooperations are also not so simple. Sony has discovered that because of the "cooperation" between Firefly and Columbia, Columbia's overseas travel network Already in a semi-paralyzed state. [ㄨ]
Thinking of the final negotiations between the old rival Panasonic Group and the Canadian Seagram Group on the Universal Pictures deal, Idei Shinzhi also inevitably felt some withdrawal. But with Colombia's current situation, Sony has no way out, because Colombia's current stand is not even much stronger than MGM. Sony spent a huge sum of US$5.5 billion to acquire Columbia. If Columbia is forcibly sold now. Even if the original purchase price is halved, no one may be willing to take over, and even if someone is willing to take over, Sony is under strong pressure from all parties. Nor did they dare to 'sell cheap' Colombia.
That being the case, Sony can only grit its teeth and continue to insist on running Colombia. Although Firefly was severely tricked during the original cooperation process, at present, the copyrights of several films such as Men in Black, Mr. The rights to the three films Forrest Gump and Wonderful Night at the Museum are undoubtedly the most valuable resources in Columbia's hands.
Although Idei Nobuzhi hated these Hollywood profiteers extremely. But he also knows that if he wants to maintain Colombia, he must make full use of these resources. In particular, the filming of the sequels of Men in Black and Mrs. and Mrs. Smith, both of which have grossed more than 500 million US dollars at the global box office, relying on the word-of-mouth accumulated by the first film, starting the sequel will definitely bring very considerable benefits to Columbia.
Nobuyuki Idei's attendance at today's Mission: Impossible screening is to test Eric's attitude towards the two films. Without the cooperation of Firefly, unless legal means are used, it will be difficult for the Men in Black and Mr. and Mrs. Smith's sequels to start. But Columbia is in trouble now, and Idei doesn't want another lawsuit.
only. Thinking of Eric Williams' ambiguous attitude during the screening, Nobuyuki Idei couldn't help rubbing his temples again.
This matter could not be resolved for a while, and Nobuyuki Idei remembered the matter of the next leader of Colombia, and raised his head and asked the assistant sitting in the front passenger seat: "Fujita, have you replied to Michael Ovitz's invitation?"
"Yes, President, Mr. Ovitz has promised to meet with you next Monday."
With a wonderful plot and excellent marketing methods, Mission: Impossible won a box office of 3.85 million US dollars in more than 2900 theaters in three days over the weekend. The author gave very positive comments, and the Los Angeles Times even praised "Mission: Impossible completely broke through the shackles of the TV series version." The plot is exciting, the scenes are eye-catching and atmospheric, and Kevin Costner vividly portrays the image of a tough agent who survived a desperate situation'.
With the excellent word-of-mouth and box office of the three-day weekend, the evaluation agency made a forecast of US$160 million to US$180 million for Mission: Impossible in North America.
Because another secret agent film Bodyguard starring Kevin Costner has a global box office of 410 million US dollars. Mission: Impossible is superior both in terms of work quality and marketing efforts. Therefore, box office evaluation agencies are more optimistic about the global box office of Mission: Impossible. Most agencies predict that the global box office of Mission: Impossible is no less than 500 million. Dollar.
The production and marketing costs of Mission: Impossible were controlled within US$110 million, of which US$4,000,000 in marketing expenses were jointly borne by Flower Pictures and Columbia. However, according to the global average box office forecast of US$500 million, Huahua Films can collect about 130 million in revenue at the box office alone. TV broadcasting rights income will be even more lucrative.
In the new week, at Universal Studios in Burbank, Michael Eisner still sat in the office early, reading the weekend box office report just sent by his assistant with a touch of envy.
After reading the contents of the report on Mission: Impossible, Michael Eisner continued to look for the box office rankings, and he landed on the little guy who was running at the same time as Universal, which was personally operated by Michael Ovitz after he became the president of Universal. One of the projects, this family comedy featuring a man's pregnancy as a gimmick grossed only $7.68 million over the three-day weekend. Although it squeezed into the top five box office charts, it didn't even make a fraction of Mission: Impossible's box office.
Of course, Michael Eisner would not expect such a comedy with an investment of only 100,000 US dollars to reach the level of Mission: Impossible at the box office. He just thought of Michael Ovitz's idea for this film, and he actually wanted to invite Arnold Schwarzenegger plays the leading role. With Arnold Schwarzenegger's worth after True Lies, once Arnold Schwarzenegger is invited, the film's production and marketing budget levels will also be raised at the same time. Just the production cost may reach 60 million US dollars. When the project of the little guy was confirmed, although Michael Eisner was still recovering after heart surgery and needed Michael Ovitz to help him manage Universal's affairs, he still The attitude strongly rejected Michael Ovitz's proposal, and the two even had a dispute in private, and the decades-old friendship also had cracks at that time.
But right now, looking at the box office data in his hand, Michael Eisner doesn't regret his original decision, but feels a little rejoiced.
The weekend box office of the little guy is only 7.68 million, and the agency's total box office forecast for this film is only 0 million. However, although this figure is still pitifully inferior to the weekend box office of Mission: Impossible, but through peripheral channels such as overseas trips and video tapes, the little guy will definitely bring good profits to Universal.
But if Michael Ovitz's suggestion of a big star production was adopted, this project would definitely cause a huge loss to Universal.
Thinking of this in his heart, Michael Eisner couldn't help but counted in his mind a series of ideas that Michael Ovitz put forward since he took office, which seemed to him to be "big and inappropriate", and couldn't help shaking his head.
Negotiations between Japan's Panasonic and Seagram Group have entered the final stage.
Michael Eisner once again made up his mind to take advantage of this negotiation to kick Michael Ovitz out of Universal, even though the golden parachute agreement signed with Michael Ovitz under his leadership made Michael Eisner felt like he was in a cocoon, but thinking of Sony’s secret contact with Michael Ovitz recently, and Panasonic’s eagerness to get rid of Universal, Michael Eisner has become more and more sure of kicking Michael Ovitz out of Universal. high.
The assistant's knock on the door awakened Michael Eisner who was in deep thought: "Mr. Eisner, Mr. Bronfman from Seagram has arrived." (To be continued.) ◆