Eric could sense Rowling's nervousness and apprehension, and instead of taking her to the reception room of the villa, he came to the lawn in the backyard.
In London in July, the daytime temperature is only about 20 degrees Celsius. There is a gray blue sky above the courtyard surrounded by green trees. Although it is not as sunny as Los Angeles, it is also less sweltering in midsummer. No unbearable restlessness.
There was a set of tables and chairs for rest on the lawn. Eric sat down with Joanne Rowling. Christina brought a pot of coffee and poured it for the two, then turned and returned to the villa.
The information about Joanne Rowling and "Harry Potter" has been placed on the table in front of him. Feeling Joanne Rowling's emotions, Eric was not in a hurry to talk about the business, and said casually: "JK Luo Lin, J should be your initials, but what about K?"
Joanne Rowling, who just picked up the coffee cup cautiously following Eric's movements, heard his question, immediately put down the cup again, and explained: "K means Catherine, I don't have a middle name, Catherine is my grandmother name."
Eric felt that the poor little woman in front of him must have been overwhelmed by a series of recent events, thought for a while, and said, "You know, Joe, in fact, Hollywood is a place that can easily make people psychologically unbalanced." place."
Feeling that Eric had seen through her nervous thoughts, Rowling was a little embarrassed, and didn't know what to say, so she just nodded slightly.
Eric didn't expect any response from the woman, and continued: "In Hollywood, someone bought a script for 250,000 U.S. dollars, and the production cost of the movie was 15 million U.S. dollars, but the global box office was 120 million U.S. dollars. The income is eight times the production cost, and the name of the movie is "Lethal Weapon"; someone bought a script at a sky-high price of 1.75 million U.S. dollars and produced it with 85 million U.S. dollars, but in the end the box office was a complete failure, and even the production company was almost bankrupt. The movie is Phantom Heroes. And, more interestingly, the same guy wrote both movies."
Rowling listened carefully to Eric's words, feeling as if she understood something, but shook her head again, and said softly, "Mr. Williams, I don't quite understand."
"Call me Eric," Eric took a sip of coffee, and said, "I just want to tell you that in Hollywood, um, or anywhere, if a person wants to make himself easy, he should You should live with confidence. Just like the screenwriter of the two films I just mentioned, his name is Shane Black. The original "Lethal Weapon", relying on the global box office and follow-up video tapes and other channels, the producer Warner Bros. earned at least For 100 million US dollars, Shane Black only received a meager 250,000. Some people may think that he must be sad and want to cry. Then, when Carlock Films bought his "Phantom Heroes" script at a high price of 1.75 million US dollars And because of this, when almost losing money to bankruptcy, some people will think that, as a screenwriter, Shane Black should also feel uneasy. But this is not the case, Shane Black has always had a good life, and he is still Hollywood. Gold medal screenwriter, and continues to cooperate with Warner Bros. "Lethal Weapon 4."
Perhaps it was Eric's words that made a difference. Rowling, who was sitting across from her, sat up slightly. However, after meeting Eric's gaze for a second, the woman quickly dodged away with little confidence. .
Eric smiled and said, "About Harry Potter, in fact, I could have offered you a lower price, for example, £100,000, which is the average price of most scripts or novel copyrights. But I didn't do this, because I was optimistic about this story, and I hoped to make it a well-known fantasy brand under Disney, even like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, so I gave a price that I thought was worth it. In the future, it will not only be limited to novels and movies, this series will also include the entire industry chain of music, toys, theme parks, etc. If successful, the Firefly Group will earn billions or even tens of billions of dollars in profits from this brand. "
Joanne Rowling, who had just picked up the coffee cup, heard Eric's description, couldn't help shaking the hand holding the cup, put down the coffee cup again, and looked at Eric in surprise.
Seeing the woman's appearance, Eric chuckled and said, "Now do you feel that if Firefly really used this novel to make 10 billion US dollars, you can only get 1 million pounds, oh, maybe the whole series You will lose a few million pounds?"
Joanne Rowling just felt that the prospect Eric described was a bit unbelievable. Hearing what he said, she really couldn't help feeling a little bit of a disadvantage in her heart. She instinctively wanted to deny it, but faced Eric's bright eyes, she nodded slightly.
"Look, many things are like this. I just said that if a person wants to live a relaxed life, he should live with confidence, but the most important point is not to blindly overestimate yourself in certain things. importance."
Joanne Rowling shook her head when she heard Eric's implied beating words, and denied, "Ai, Eric, I didn't."
"Hey, if Firefly wants to complete this plan, you need to continue to create the next story, so let me talk about my plan first," Eric ignored the woman's denial, and said, "First of all, HarperCollins Press Taking over the global distribution of the "Harry Potter" series, in order to gain enough popularity for this series before the film production, Firefly Group will try its best to use the media resources in its hands to package this novel. Maybe other novels of the same type sell Hundreds of thousands of copies can be regarded as best sellers, but I hope that the sales scale of the "Harry Potter" series will be tens of millions, or even more. In this process, you will get what you deserve, and the sales of one thousand novels If the sales volume of the entire series reaches 100 million, you will further become a billionaire. But then, the profits from the Harry Potter series of movies, toys and park peripherals will be Firefly deserves it."
Joanne Rowling was not stupid, she understood what Eric meant. If Firefly did not use its own media resources to brand this novel, "Harry Potter" would at most be like those ordinary bestsellers, selling hundreds of thousands of copies and bringing her hundreds of thousands of pounds You may be able to earn some more by selling film and television copyrights, but it will definitely not reach the kind of glory Eric described. After thinking about this, Joanne Rowling began to dissipate some of the imbalance in her heart just now, but she still asked carefully: "Then, Eric, what if, what if it fails?"
Eric shrugged: "Firefly's annual budget for film and television production exceeds 1 billion US dollars, and at least 8% of it is spent on acquiring scripts or the right to adapt novels and comics to film and television, so it doesn't matter if it really fails."
Joanne Rowling no longer struggled with this issue. 1 million pounds may be a huge sum of money to her, but it is nothing to the Firefly Group.
Eric watched Rowling relax, opened the folder in front of him with a smile, and said, "Well, now, let's talk about the content of the novel. I have read your novel outline, and you plan to write five novels, but I think seven is more appropriate, and I have already thought of the titles of the seven novels for you. You have completed the first manuscript, and I hope to split the tens of thousands of words behind it as the second novel According to the content, the first volume should be called "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone"."
Joanne Rowling opened her mouth when she heard that Eric was going to "do a knife" on her novel without asking her opinion at all, and felt that she had to express her persistence as the original author of the novel.
However, seeing Eric looking up, he raised the pencil in his hand and pointed to his side to signal her to sit over. The resistance that had just risen in the woman's heart disappeared, and she obediently picked up the chair and sat down on Eric. Ke side. Although the tone of the man in front of her was always gentle during the conversation with her, the aura of the other party's power and wealth was simply not something she, a little woman, could resist.
In addition to the revision comments for the first book, Eric discussed with Rowling in detail some details that needed to be revised in the outline of the novel based on the movie plot in his memory.
Time passed unknowingly, and when the matter was finished, it was already evening.
"Then, you have one month to revise the first volume of the story, and HarperCollins Publishing will be responsible for the next release, and Firefly will also cooperate." Eric looked at his watch and looked up. Rowling next to her said: "It's getting late, let me ask someone to arrange a guest room for you. It just so happens that Concubine Diana is going to hold a charity reception tonight, so you can go and see it together."
Sitting next to Eric for a long time, the breath from the man made Rowling unavoidable, young, rich, handsome, powerful... almost every feature of this man has a strong attraction to women What's more, she has been single for a long time. Although Eric looked unaware, Rowling couldn't deceive herself, she could imagine that her face might already be flushed, hearing that Eric wanted to keep her in the villa overnight, Rowling finally couldn't hide it With a flustered look on his face, he quickly shook his head and said, "No, no, Eric, I've already booked a flight back to Edinburgh tonight. Jessica is still at a friend's house, so I'm not at ease."
Eric looked at the woman a few times, and seeing her sitting on the chair move back unconsciously, he couldn't help laughing and said, "Well, it seems that I scared you."
Although Rowling knew that Eric was joking with her, she shook her head quickly: "No, really not."
"Oh, in that case, I'll let someone take you to the airport," Eric didn't want to hold back. Rowling could only be regarded as a temperamental woman, and she wasn't his type at all. Rowling, Eric got up and walked out
Rowling held the document in her arms and followed Eric, lowering her eyes slightly, and began to regret that she had refused too simply.
The driver drove Rowling out of the villa. Christina, who was standing next to Eric, looked at the door that closed automatically, and then turned to Eric.
Eric reached out and rubbed the girl's head, and said, "What are you thinking about?"
"Hehe, no." Christina hugged Eric's arm and said, "It's getting late, Eric, I helped you choose the dress."
"It's only six o'clock, what's the rush?" Eric shook his head and smiled, "Let's go get something to eat first. If you go there on an empty stomach, you will definitely be hungry all night. The North American box office data should have been sent yesterday. I'll go to take a look."
Christina obediently went to the kitchen to prepare food after hearing this, while Eric returned to the study, turned on the computer and started checking emails.
Yesterday was Friday, and the release of "Casino Royale" entered its second week. At the same time, the super high box office of 117 million US dollars in the first week also made the whole Hollywood look sideways. Even Eric himself did not think of the first week of "Casino Royale". The box office will be so bad.
But then came the problem.
Two new films released this week, Bad Boys 2 and Ice Age, both have very close ties to Firefly. The reason why such a schedule was arranged in the first place was also considering that the box office of the 007 series in North America in the past was not too high, and there would not be too strong competition between the several parties.
But now, including Eric, many people feel a little tangled.
On the one hand, everyone expects that the next week's decline of "Casino Royale" can be as low as possible. Due to the continued reputation of the film among the media and audiences this week, the possibility of "Casino Royale" maintaining a relatively low decline is still very high . But on the other hand, the box office of "Casino Royale" has reached as high as 117 million U.S. dollars in the first week, even surpassing the total box office of the previous "GoldenEye" at 106 million U.S. dollars in North America. So, the box office drop of "Casino Royale" is too low. The two new films "Bad Boys 2" and "Ice Age" will be directly impacted.
Shaking his head with a wry smile, Eric opened the box office statistics email from Los Angeles.
On yesterday's Friday single-day box office list, "Casino Royale" unsurprisingly topped the list with a box office of 18.61 million US dollars, a year-on-year decrease of only 39% compared to last week.
These data were sent by Eric's assistant office, with professional annotations.
In the accompanying analysis, because the topic of "Casino Royale" has been rising along with the box office and word of mouth, the box office ratio of weekdays has also increased significantly compared to other films. According to the box office data of the first day of the second week of "Casino Royale", this week's film The overall decline will remain at around 35%. This means that the box office of "Casino Royale" in the second week will still be as high as 76 million US dollars.
The beginning of July is the explosive period for the box office in North America, and the box office in North America has reached about 200 million US dollars in a single week. But now, although "Casino Royale" is already in its second week of release, one film still takes one-third of the total box office. Without looking down, Eric can guess the performance of other films, especially live-action films. Box office numbers aren't too good.
117 million in the first week and 76 million in the second week. In two weeks, the total box office of "Casino Royale" will exceed 190 million US dollars. Although live-action blockbusters cannot maintain the long-lasting screen vitality of animated films, even with an average weekly decline of 40%, the final North American box office of "Casino Royale" is expected to reach between 300 million and 350 million US dollars.
The average ticket price in North America in the 1960s was around US$0.8, and the average ticket price in 1997 was US$4.6, equivalent to 5.7 times that of the 1960s.
Calculated in this way, in 1964, "Goldfinger", which was once known as the highest-grossing sequel in 007 history after accounting for inflation, had a box office of more than 51 million US dollars in North America at that time, and now it is only 290 million US dollars. "Casino Royale" is expected to have a North American box office of 300 million to 350 million US dollars, even if the inflation factor is calculated, it will definitely replace "Goldfinger" and become the sequel with the highest box office in North America in the history of 007.
As for overseas, due to the difficulty of statistics, the box office data last week was delayed by one day to get the preliminary results.
Although Eric's last film was four years ago, the record of "Jurassic Park" breaking through 1 billion US dollars for the first time in the world is still vivid in my memory. Simultaneously released, the film's final overseas synchronous ticket warehouse reached 36.
Last week, led by the record-breaking 21.3 million pounds (equivalent to 31.95 million U.S. dollars) in the UK, the cumulative box office of 36 simultaneous releases overseas also successfully broke through the 100 million U.S. dollar mark, reaching 136.1 million U.S. dollars. Although the overseas box office market is affected by various factors, and the box office data is difficult to predict, there is no doubt that "Casino Royale" will be Eric's next film after "Jurassic Park", which is expected to impact the global box office of 1 billion US dollars. Movie.
Unlike the "Jurassic Park" that year, before the release of "Casino Royale", Eric's box office expectation for this film was only about 600 million US dollars. Now, the film suddenly shows the potential of 1 billion in the world. If you say that you are not a little excited, it must be a lie.
However, after glancing at the box office data of the next few films, Eric couldn't help thinking that the high-level executives in his company must not be in a good mood. Last week, the first weekend box office of "Casino Royale" had just been released. When Eric and Frank Wells in Los Angeles were discussing the upcoming opening of the Titanic exhibition hall on the phone, the other party intentionally or unintentionally mentioned "Casino Royale" , the tone seemed very resentful.
Regarding this week’s two new films, before the release, the industry is generally more optimistic about the first popular "Bad Boys 2". Under the operation of New Line Pictures, the global box office of the first film is close to 200 million US dollars . As a result, the cost of "Jedi Men 2" has risen from the first $19 million to 60 million.
However, on the first day of Friday, the second place was not "Bad Boys 2", but "Ice Age" by Blue Sky Studios.
This animated film has already accumulated a good reputation before it was released, and was rated as the "animated version of "Three Dads and One Baby"" by the industry. You know, "Three Dads and One Baby" was the North American box office champion in 1987. "Ice Age" can get this kind of evaluation, which also indirectly shows the popularity of this animated film in the test screening stage.
The plot of the first part of "Ice Age" did draw on the idea of "Three Dads and One Baby" to a large extent. Moreover, this plot mode has not only been praised by the critics, but also recognized by the audience. On the first day of its release, "Ice Age" got a box office of 13.46 million US dollars. Although it cannot be compared with the box office of "Finding Nemo" which exceeded 20 million US dollars on the first day, the box office data on the first day exceeded that of "The Lion King 2" a month ago. "'s $12.8 million.
According to estimates, the box office of "Ice Age" in the first week will be close to 60 million US dollars, which will also exceed that of "The Lion King 2" in the same period.
In Eric's view, the quality of "The Lion King 2" is actually better than the more adult "Ice Age". The box office on the first day was overtaken by "Ice Age". "The reason for the joint promotion of Firefly and Fox. Viacom began open acquisition negotiations with CBS at the end of June. Obviously, Redstone is determined to make up for Viacom's shortcomings in TV channels.
After "Ice Age", the first-day box office of "Bad Boys 2" was only 6.52 million US dollars, barely ranking third. The reason why it is said is reluctantly, because the fourth place "Sea Metropolis Story" has entered its fourth week of release, but its single-day box office on Friday is still as high as 6.29 million US dollars, and the difference between the two box office figures is only more than 200,000 US dollars.
The $6.52 million on the first day indicates that the box office of "Jedi Men 2" will only be around $25 million in the first week, and the actual box office figure is even a full $10 million lower than New Line's original expectations.
Obviously, the difference of 10 million US dollars is mostly due to the strong box office of "Casino Royale" in the next week. The two films are both action films, and their audiences overlap to a large extent. The word-of-mouth and box office of "Casino Royale" both exploded, and the popularity of the topic has skyrocketed. However, "Bad Boys 2" is a film with a black protagonist. There is no suspense at all about which one the audience will choose.
If there is no "Casino Royale", even if the box office of "Casino Royale" is not so bad, with the reputation and popularity accumulated in the first film, it is not a big problem for "Bad Boys 2" to break through 100 million at the North American box office. But now, according to the forecast of 25 million US dollars in the first week, the North American box office of "Bad Boys 2" can only go up to 70 million US dollars. Due to the shortcomings of the overseas market of films with black protagonists, even if the overseas box office can maintain the last one Compared with the $60 million production cost and the $20 million publicity budget, the possibility that the company wants to recover the cost at the box office is not too great. If you want to make a profit, you can only look forward to future income from video tapes and TV broadcasting rights.
It is not difficult to imagine that even though everyone understands that MGM is almost a part of the Firefly system, it is still very difficult for the senior management of the Firefly Group to accept this reality. Thinking of this, Eric couldn't help but shook his head again. Although he didn't have any thoughts about the next movie yet, in order to calm everyone's emotions, he must release the news that his next movie will definitely return to Firefly. (To be continued.)