Kensington Gardens is considered to be the most private community in London. Although Elizabeth, who was far away in Los Angeles, excitedly called to gossip about the ins and outs of Eric throwing Princess Diana out of the gate that night, it was only a matter of time. It will spread in a small circle and will not cause any waves.
Perhaps because she calmed down, Diana didn't do anything outrageous afterwards, but quietly flew to Eastern Europe to continue her mine banning career. The only thing that appeared in the media was the news that the Princess of Wales had suddenly lost her love. Although some tabloids inevitably published some suggestive articles, several of the most influential gossip newspapers were basically vague about the reasons for Diana's lovelorn, and this matter did not have any impact on Eric.
Simon Fuller called the next day and agreed to Firefly's acquisition of 19 Entertainment, which he founded.
Although it has been established for 12 years, 19 Entertainment has no valuable assets, and some singers who have signed contracts have ended in failure. Eric does not have any expectations for this company. He sees It is only Simon Fuller's creativity and experience accumulated in the recording industry.
After asking the Firefly UK branch to conduct a brief evaluation of 19 Entertainment, Eric offered a price tag of 3 million US dollars, of which 1 million US dollars was used to acquire the entire equity of 19 Entertainment, and the other 2 million US dollars was used as the initial capital to create the Spice Girls , At the same time, Eric gave Simon Fuller a five-year cumulative 10% company option in the contract.
Knowing that he had no room to bargain with Eric, Simon Fuller did not bother with these details, not to mention, the 10% option reward also made him very satisfied.
Although it is nominally affiliated with Firefly Records, Firefly Records does not have much business in the UK or even Europe. 19 Entertainment merged into Firefly Records, which is almost equivalent to the European branch of Firefly Records. As long as it can get the full support of Firefly Group, 19 Entertainment will definitely develop and grow rapidly. At that time, the 10% option will also increase in value to a very considerable wealth.
Compared with the huge size of Firefly Group, this $3 million acquisition seems a bit insignificant.
But when the news of the deal was announced, and it was learned that Eric was behind the push, the entire European record industry turned its attention to 19 Entertainment, which was originally unknown. No one would believe that Firefly would start record business in Europe. It's just a small fight, and some mainstream media have also discussed the purpose of Firefly or Eric's move. Simon Fuller even found that he had suddenly become a celebrity in the industry. Those veteran record company bosses who had never paid attention to him in the past called him in person to inquire about the news, and there was an endless stream of people looking for cooperation .
To be honest, the acquisition of 19 Entertainment and the plan to create the Spice Girls are indeed just a small matter of Eric's rest, but most people obviously don't think so, especially since "Casino Royale" still exists With the world raging at the box office, his influence in the entertainment industry has reached an unprecedented level even if he doesn't mention the huge wealth he owns. Not only Katzenberg personally called to ask Eric's detailed plan, but Barry Weiss, president of Firefly Records, wanted to come to the UK in person, but was stopped by Eric.
After two days of preliminary discussions with Simon Fuller on the plan to create the Spice Girls, 19 Entertainment quickly published the news on the Times that it was openly recruiting girls aged 18 to 23 to form a girl group.
Unlike Firefly’s acquisition of 19 Entertainment, which is only influential in the professional field, the recruitment notice on The Times immediately excited countless girls who were expecting to become famous. In just three days, 19 Entertainment received more than 1,000 With a resume, some record companies even wanted to directly insert their newcomers into this group. For a while, the entire British entertainment circle was boiling.
San Francisco, U.S.
Firefly Electronics is located in the Fireflyer player assembly factory in the north of Oakland. Jeff Kleber, vice president of Firefly Electronics supply chain construction and product production, who was transferred by Eric from Nokia three months ago, felt that someone patted himself. He straightened up suddenly, only to realize that he had fallen asleep lying on the desk at some point.
Today is July 10th, the day when the planned Fireflyer player is officially open for sale.
In order to ensure nothing goes wrong, Jeff Kleber has been guarding the factory almost every step of the way in recent days. And a week ago, he just flew back from Malaysia. In addition to the two product assembly factories in the United States, Firefly Electronics also started the construction of a larger Fireflyer factory in Southeast Asia with a monthly production capacity of 500,000 units. It will take another three months to start production, and the production capacity also needs a slow climbing process.
Rubbing his face in confusion, Jeff Kleber could see clearly the two people standing in front of him, Victor McNally and Bill Olsen, and Victor McNally was still smiling and handing over a Breakfast was handed over.
After getting along for a few months, the three of them were already very familiar. Jeff Kleber was not polite, tore open the packaging bag, took a bite of the sandwich, and swallowed it randomly. Then he raised his wrist contentedly, looked at his watch, and said: "It's a quarter past eight."
"That's right," Victor McNairy nodded, pulled up two chairs with Bill Olson and sat down, and said, "We came over at seven o'clock, and we didn't wake you up because you were sleeping soundly. "
"Oh, then you must have already been to the assembly workshop." Jeff Kleber took another bite of his sandwich before saying, "Last night was really bad. One equipment robot broke down and was repaired at four o'clock in the morning. I must have a good talk with Epson’s Hamada about this matter today, if he can’t give me a satisfactory answer, they don’t want the order of 100 equipped robots from Malaysia.”
Victor McNairy and Bill Olsen were a little envious of the young man in his early thirties who regained his energy after taking a few bites of a sandwich.
Three months ago, when they saw Jeff Kleber for the first time, both of them doubted whether this young man, who was full of energy but had a somewhat detached personality, would be qualified for the job of managing Firefly's electronic supply chain and product production. But now they no longer have any original scruples. Under the management of Jeff Kleber, in just three months, the component supply chain and product production line of Firefly Electronics have undergone a radical transformation.
Bill Olsen listened to Jeff Kleber complain and said with a smile: "Jeff, this is not what we need to focus on today."
"Of course," Jeff Kleber nodded, and said, "Amazon will open the pre-sale at ten o'clock, and there are still one hour and forty minutes left."
Although it is decided to open the purchase from today, it will definitely take some time for Fireflyer to distribute goods through physical channels.
In this case, Amazon's online store sales data is undoubtedly a very good way to test the actual market demand of Fireflyer after three months of hunger marketing. Therefore, Amazon will open the pre-sale of Fireflyer at ten o'clock in the morning on the West Coast today. After the user places an order online, Amazon will arrange delivery within the next 7 to 15 days.
Seeing Jeff Kleber's relaxed expression, Victor McNairy said, "Aren't you nervous at all?"
"Why are you nervous, and you two don't seem too nervous," Jeff Kleber looked at the two with a smile, and said, "In the first half of the year, PC sales in North America reached 14.3 million units. The annual PC sales are likely to be close to 30 million units, and these consumers who buy PCs are all potential consumers of Fireflyer. According to this standard, the potential sales volume of Fireflye can reach at least 30 million, which is equivalent to 2.5 million units per month And even if the factory in Malaysia is put into production, our production capacity will only reach 1 million units per month, which is simply not enough for the North American market, not to mention the even larger overseas market.”
Victor McNairy watched Jeff Kleber wolf down his breakfast, got up and said, "Okay, since this is the case, let's go for a walk, the air outside is good."
"Of course, I just want to read today's newspaper," Jeff Kleber said. "Speaking of which, today is Friday. Last week's box office data should be out. Guess the box office of our BOSS movie this week How much will it be?"
Bill Olsen laughed: "Unfortunately, I have already seen it, don't guess, it is..."
Jeff Kleber immediately raised a finger: "Stop, don't tell me, I'll see for myself."
"Ha ha."
The three of them talked and laughed, and left Jeff Kleber's office together and walked outside.
Los Angeles, Santa Monica.
In the restaurant, Bernard Weinlab, husband of Amy Pascal, looked at the "Hollywood Reporter" in his hand and kept shaking his head: "It's unbelievable, it's unbelievable, the decline is only 34%, which is more than what almost all analysts predicted. According to this trend, the North American box office may even exceed 350 million U.S. dollars."
Amy Pascal sat on the other side of the dining table, with a newspaper also spread beside her.
In the second week of its release, the box office drop of "Casino Royale" was lower than many people thought. In the end, it was only 34%. Affected by "Casino Royale", "Ice Age", which was originally predicted to have a box office of 60 million US dollars in the first week, regrettably stayed at 57.23 million US dollars in the first week.
Another new film "Jedi Men 2" was even more affected. The box office in the first week was only 23.15 million US dollars, which was 12 million US dollars less than New Line Films' original forecast of 35 million US dollars in the first week. It failed to get the third place at the box office, but fell behind "Finding Nemo", which was released in its fourth week.
As for "Batman & Robin," which came out the week before "Casino Royale," it's now a nightmare for Warner Bros.
Due to poor word-of-mouth, after "Batman and Robin" earned US$59.47 million in the first week, the box office fell by 65% in the second week to only US$20.81 million. But this is not over. Originally, the industry thought that the box office decline of "Batman and Robin" in the third week would start to narrow, but under the impact of "Casino Royale", the box office decline of "Batman and Robin" in the third week still plunged Generally reached 61%, leaving only a pitiful $8.11 million at the single-week box office.
In the three weeks since its release, the cumulative box office of "Batman and Robin" has reached 88.39 million US dollars, but according to the current decline, if the box office is cut in half again next week, there will be less than 4 million US dollars left in the single-week box office. It will only stay at around 95 million U.S. dollars. In the end, it is still the same sentence. If Warner wants to make a box office of over 100 million, he can only pay for it himself.
"Batman and Robin" has a total investment of 125 million U.S. dollars, plus a 50 million U.S. dollar publicity budget equivalent to "Casino Royale". Even if the final global box office exceeds 200 million, Warner Bros. can only recover about 90 million U.S. dollars. The box office is divided into. The word-of-mouth of the film has completely collapsed, and the income from videotapes and TV rights in the later period will also be greatly reduced. Taken together, Warner's direct losses on this project may reach 80 million US dollars, but this is not the most important thing. The more serious consequence is that the brand of Batman has been completely smashed this time. Without ten or eight years, it will be difficult for Warner to restart this superhero series.
Looking at the box office statistics in the newspaper and thinking about these things, Amy Pascal responded: "So, what you said last week, the continuous impact of bad movies will instead stimulate the market's hunger for high-scoring commercial movies. The degree of thirst. It really makes you right, and many people now feel a little unbelievable."
Bernard Weinraub nodded and said, "So, the next 007 should start immediately?"
Hearing her husband mention this, Amy Pascal paused her hand touching the jam on the bread, and said with a wry smile, "I'm afraid it's not that easy."
"That's right," Bernard Weinlab said with a smile: "According to Williams' personality, he will definitely not continue to film the next 007. You want to find a director who can take over this series, but it will take a lot of money." A lot of work. Williams has put together such a good situation, it would be a shame if the next sequel's lack of directing ability caused the series to suffer."
"The point is not the director," Amy Pascal shook her head, and said, "The problem lies with Brosnan."
"About the salary?"
Amy Pascal nodded and said, "This matter is very troublesome now. You should know "Mr. and Mrs. Smith"?"
"certainly."
Amy Pascal explained: "Before Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Pierce could barely be regarded as a second-tier actor. In order to participate in the mainstream blockbuster Mr. The contract stipulates that the salary increase of each film shall not exceed 50%. In "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", Pierce's salary is 3 million US dollars. Then, under Eric's push, in order to let Pierce play Bond, the option contract was Transferred to MGM. Due to the very good box office of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", Pierce's salary in "Golden Eye" was slightly relaxed, but it was only 5 million US dollars. Next is "Casino Royale", his The paycheck is $7 million."
Listening to his wife's narration, Bernard Weinraub also understood. According to the salary standards of Hollywood stars, Pierce Brosnan should be worth $10 million after Mr. and Mrs. Smith. However, due to contract restrictions, he received low pay for two films in a row. Now, the global box office of "Casino Royale" is pointing at one billion, pushing the 007 series to an unprecedented glory, and Brosnan has just completed the original three contracts, although everyone knows that the great success of "Casino Royale" is basically Eric's credit, but this does not prevent Brosnan from talking about the next sequel's salary.
Putting down the newspaper in his hand, Bernard Weinlab couldn't help asking curiously, "Then how much does he want this time?"
Amy Pascal said: "20 million US dollars plus 20% of the global box office dividend."
There are various box office sharing rules signed by Hollywood superstars and studios. Bernard Weinraub was also a little confused, and continued to ask: "What are the specific rules?"
"20 million US dollars is very simple. 20% of the global box office dividend is the 20% of the company's global box office share minus the production and distribution costs. The box office share we get is about $400 million, minus the total cost of $165 million, the profit is $235 million, and Pierce wants to take 20% of this profit."
Bernard Weinraub did a simple calculation, and couldn't help taking a breath: "If the next sequel can reach the level of "Casino Royale", it will be almost 70 million US dollars, tsk tsk, how dare he Speak."
Amy Pascal also smiled helplessly, and said: "According to the story line of the secret agent movie universe planned by the company, the second part of 007 is still a big success in the entire series. How many."
Bernard Winlow preached: "So what are you going to do?"
Amy Pascal shrugged and said: "Continue to negotiate, such a high salary is definitely impossible. Eric set the rules at the beginning. If you want to share, the fixed salary cannot exceed 10 million US dollars. It is said that Cameron The "Spiderman" contract signed with Firefly did not break through this limit, and MGM must follow suit. It depends on whether Pierce will choose to directly take 20 million or 10 million US dollars plus a share. After all, even if it is a share , It is absolutely impossible for us to give him 20%. Moreover, we are not without leverage."
"Oh, what is it?"
Amy Pascal said: "Pearce signed three films with Columbia Pictures, and similarly, the 007 film contract signed with MGM is also three films. He can't accept other films because of the film contract. If there is a stalemate, it will not benefit everyone."
Bernard Weinlaub added: "But even so, after the next one, the agent movie universe should not be over yet, right?"
"Yeah," Amy Pascal recalled Eric's memo last month, and said, "We have been discussing this issue recently, and there must be a solution." (To be continued.)