In Beverly Hills, Eric lived in the girl's mansion in Trousdale Manor for the past two days. He didn't stay up most of the night like many high-level executives in Paramount. Even though it was Saturday, he still got up on time and took a shower. , do morning exercises, eat breakfast, and sit on the terrace of the mansion overlooking Los Angeles to read the newspaper of the new day.
Seemingly wanting to make some kind of counterattack, Paramount couldn't wait to announce Friday's single-day box office rankings in the newspaper.
The twins quietly took away the cutlery on the round table, and the girl sat opposite Eric, also reading a copy of the "Los Angeles Times" spread out on the table, and said in surprise: "The first weekend is expected to be 40 million in three days. Isn’t it going to exceed 60 million US dollars, which is about the same as the first film, isn’t our blocking plan a failure?”
Eric smiled and shook his head, and said: "Usual movies are correct according to your calculation that a working day is equivalent to more than half of a weekend. Animated movies are different, especially 2D animations, because most audiences are Children who need to be accompanied by their parents will have a lower percentage of the box office on weekdays. The box office of "The Lion King" in the first three days of the weekend is close to 70% of the first week's box office. Not big, it should be around $55 million."
"With $55 million in the first week, what's the total box office going to be?"
Eric read a film review of "Prison in the Sky", thought for a while, and said: "This is uncertain. The total box office of "The Lion King 2" mainly depends on its box office performance in the first four weeks. After this week, the next Week is "Godzilla", next week is "Finding Nemo" and "Contact", and then there is "Batman and Robin", these are all capable of posing a great threat to "The Lion King 2" Movies, if the box office performance of these films is too good, "The Lion King 2" will definitely be affected, on the contrary, it is not impossible for "The Lion King 2" to be close to the box office of the first movie."
In fact, according to the memory of the previous life, Eric already had some details in his heart.
For the films that will be released in the next three weeks, "Godzilla" and "Batman and Robin" are very likely to hit the street, and only "Finding Nemo" is the most direct opponent of "The Lion King 2".
However, the current "Prison in the Air" seems to have a trend of not meeting expectations at the box office. It grossed US$7.7 million on the first day, and probably only received about US$35 million in the first week. Under the bombardment of blockbuster movies in the next few weeks, will the North American box office finally be able to? Breaking through 100 million is still very hanging. The sluggish performance of "Prison in the Sky" made Eric not so sure about the box office prospects of "Finding Nemo". He has seen the finished film of this 3D animation several times, although it is not inferior to the original, However, since it was launched six years earlier than the original version, Eric is not sure whether it can still show the amazing box office explosive power it once had.
Hearing what Eric said, the girl lowered her head and rummaged through the entertainment section, found the film schedule for the summer file, looked at it for a while, then raised her head and said: "Well, it seems that the global box office of the summer file may be close to 1 billion US dollars. It's just Godzilla and our Casino Royale."
"You are also very excited by "Titanic". It is so easy to make a global box office of 1 billion. Hollywood is lucky to produce a box office with a global box office of 1 billion every year. This year, um," Eric He hesitated for a while, did not say the name of "Finding Nemo", paused, and said, "Maybe there will be this year, but it definitely won't be "Godzilla" and "Casino Royale."
"Ah, you're not confident either?"
Eric analyzed: "Look, the global box office of the last "Golden Eye" was 350 million US dollars. If inflation is not included, this is the best result of 007. In fact, it also shows the box office potential of 007 in its original form. This time "Casino Royale", I am not sure whether the audience will like the modification of the film format. However, combined with the 007 brand, my personal box office appeal and the halo blessing of the secret agent movie universe, this film has a global box office. It is not a big problem to exceed 500 million US dollars. If it explodes a little bit, it may reach 700 million, but 1 billion requires a lot of opportunities.”
The girl rolled her eyes and said, "Then, when the final battle between the three major secret service organizations and the Specter Party is over, is it possible to reach $1 billion?"
Eric recalled that in the original time and space, after the first release of "The Avengers", "Captain America" and "Thor", two series sequels with mediocre box office at the first box office, almost doubled their box office. The original popularity was very high. The box office of "Iron Man" broke through 1 billion US dollars. The reason for this situation is largely due to the gathering of multiple superheroes, which has increased the popularity and box office appeal of the original single hero.
The three spy movie series "007", "Mission: Impossible" and "Charlie's Angels" were already very popular. "Casino Royale" happened to be the first film of the three series to achieve the plot crossover. After this film, Fans of the three secret agents series will definitely also see fusion. Even if "Casino Royale" does not enhance the original series as strongly as "The Avengers", in the next series of sequels, as long as this plot cross-coherence is maintained, perhaps before the final Spectre showdown, Maybe there will be a movie with a global box office of 1 billion.
"Of course it's possible. You don't even need to wait until the final battle."
Eric nodded, and suddenly thought of something, put down the newspaper in his hand, created a blank document on the laptop next to him, and said while typing on the keyboard: "However, I suddenly thought that in the next series, You should pay attention to some problems, let me write a memo to you."
The girl leaned over curiously and said, "What?"
Eric continued typing on the keyboard and explained: "As for the supporting roles, you see, whether it is "007", "Mission: Impossible", or "Charlie's Angels", there are quite outstanding supporting roles, such as Mrs. M, Q Doctor, wait for these people. After "Casino Royale", it is not a problem to shoot 10 more films in the Agent movie universe series, but in this case, if you want the protagonists of the three series to interact with each other, the production cost will become It is very expensive. At this time, it is very cost-effective to let the supporting roles in the series achieve this interspersed effect. Even, like "Mission: Impossible", Kevin Costner's salary is getting higher and higher. It is difficult for the two parties to continue to cooperate, and we can even use the original supporting role to continue to lead the "Mission Impossible Department" and continue the "Mission: Impossible" series."
The girl looked at the memo document that Eric typed out quickly, and she roughly understood, she nodded with a smile: "It's like you promised Chris to play the role of Angela Linde in "Casino Royale" in that speeding movie Is that so?"
Eric's fingers tapping the keyboard paused, took a picture on the round table, and said: "Yeah, I almost forgot about this movie, it's all because I've been too busy recently, I took the time to write the outline in these two days Come out, you can find some suitable screenwriters to fill in the script."
"Hehe," the girl smiled, and said, "Give it back to us, Liz will definitely be even angrier, and maybe Jeffrey will have an opinion too."
Eric has indeed stuffed the girl with too many popular movies over the years, not to mention the Agent movie universe, "Night at the Museum", "Resident Evil", "Forrest Gump" and other films are all extremely eye-catching The hit project, the upcoming Thor King Middle-earth epic series, is more than enough to feed a film company for a decade.
It seems that Drew himself hopes that Eric will stop being so obviously partial.
Smiling and kissing the girl on the cheek, Eric said: "Forget it this time, you continue to hold it, I hope this racing series can be linked with the agent movie universe, if it is placed in other film companies, although it is still possible Realize the intersection of plots, but because of the relatively large difference in themes, doing so will appear too deliberate, and will also cause a lot of unclear copyright disputes. Firefly has never been short of projects. Fox, they are now working on "Star Wars" "Before the War", Miramax's performance in the past two years is also very eye-catching, and Julia, a box office star, supports the show. Except for the lack of some big productions, the film business there is not much worse than yours. Besides, Yes, Fox’s foundation is much stronger than MGM’s.”
Fox has been taken over by News Corporation for more than ten years. Although the film business in these years has not been very good, with the support of News Corporation's strong strength, Fox's operating conditions are still very stable.
In comparison, MGM's current business is still limited to movies. Although stimulated by a series of popular blockbusters, its vitality has begun to recover, but its overall strength is still at the bottom of the top seven.
Of course, the girl also knows that Eric hopes that MGM will become stronger as soon as possible and play a greater role in Firefly's media system.
Nodding her head, she didn't refuse again. The girl said, "By the way, Eric, last time Amy discussed with me. We happened to have a chance to buy a cable TV station recently."
If MGM wants to go further, it will definitely need to expand into the TV industry. Eric’s original idea was to hope that MGM could acquire CBS and Columbia Pictures in the hands of Sony, but due to the rise of new technology waves, the value of CBS has now exceeded 20 billion US dollars, Sony also has no idea of getting rid of the film business, and these two ideas are temporarily unfeasible.
Then, expanding to the cable TV industry has become a good choice. In the next two decades, the North American public television network is doomed to decline, and the cable industry will enter its heyday.
Eric sent the written memo to the mailbox of MGM CEO Amy Pascal, and asked the girl, "Which TV station is it?"
"E! Entertainment."
Eric raised his eyebrows slightly, and immediately remembered that it was the TV station that was broadcast in the original time and space and... oh no, the TV station that was walking with the Kardashians.
Nodding, Eric said: "I've heard of this TV station, but I just don't pay much attention to it."
The girl introduced: "I have read the information, E! Entertainment mainly broadcasts fashion-related movies, TV, music and other programs, oh, and Hollywood gossip."
Eric asked subconsciously: "Is there no reality show?"
The girl tilted her head: "It seems, no, but if we can buy it, we can definitely make a reality show by ourselves."
"For this kind of TV station, it would be a waste of resources not to broadcast reality shows, but it also needs to be carefully planned," Eric said, and then asked: "Which company owns the ownership of E! now?"
"This is a bit complicated. E! Entertainment was originally established by five companies, Warner Cable, Comcast, Telecom, Continental TV, and Basic Cable. They have been integrated several times over the years. Both Continental TV and Basic Cable Withdrew. This time, Time Warner also wants to withdraw and is looking for interested buyers. We can buy about 40% of the shares at most. However, what Connast means is that if we take over the shares held by Warner Cable , should be able to get the right to operate E! Entertainment."
Cable TV in North America only began to rise in the 1980s. At that time, in order to avoid investment risks and make full use of various resources, they were basically in the form of joint stock partnerships, just like the AE TV network still jointly owned by Firefly and Hearst Group. Like ESPN TV.
"Then let's buy 40% first, and then have the opportunity to eat the entire TV station in the future."
"But I think it's a bit expensive. E! Entertainment plus a few sub-channels, the current subscribers are less than 50 million, last year's revenue was only 370 million, and a loss of 13 million US dollars. Less than 40% of the shares, Warner Cable quoted 750 million dollars, and Amy said that this price can still be negotiated, but it will not be less than 600 million dollars in the end."
If it is a paid cable station, about 50 million subscribers will definitely make shareholders earn money, but E! Entertainment is obviously based on advertising and operator sharing as the main income of cable stations.
In the past two years, just like CBS, whether it is a public television network or a cable TV station, stimulated by the wave of new technologies, the prices have skyrocketed.
If it was a few years ago, based on the current financial situation, E! The overall value of entertainment will not exceed the $750 million quoted by Warner Cable, but now, Warner has a lot of money for E! The US$750 million offer for 40% of Entertainment's shares is not too outrageous. Time Warner's financial situation has not been very good in recent years.
"Buy it as much as possible." After thinking about it, Eric said to the girl: "In a few years, even if you want to buy it, no one else will buy it."
In recent years, it is the last moment of the integration of the North American media industry. When all the dust settles, the development momentum of cable television stations is getting better and better. The major media groups that have already formed giants will definitely not easily let go of their holdings. It can be said that the last few years are almost the last chance for MGM to expand into the TV industry.
The girl didn't doubt Eric's judgment at all, nodded and said: "Okay, I'll call Amy now."
Just as she was talking, Natasha came out of the villa with a cordless phone in her hand, and handed it to Drew, "Boss, it's Miss Hudson's number." (To be continued.)