Lone Pine Town is located in a wide canyon between the Sierra Nevada Mountains in western California. It is a typical small town in the western United States. It is surrounded by Gobi, hills, deserts, and mountains. The natural scenery is beautiful. Since the emergence of Hollywood in the early twentieth century, the surrounding area of Lone Pine Town has been the location of many films, especially Western films. Information on filming around town.
The attack on Tony Stark at the beginning of "Iron Man", the escape from the captivity cave scene, and the Jericho missile test were all filmed around the town of Lone Pine.
On a gentle slope in the Alabama hills in the west of Lone Pine Town, Caroline and Melanie stood together on the periphery of the crew, watching Eric stand with his back to the snow-capped mountains in the distance, and announced the big sales tool Jericho Missile impromptu speech.
After Eric finished speaking his lines in high spirits, he spread his arms, and the high-pressure wind cannon placed not far behind him made a muffled sound, stirring up a large cloud of dust, and Eric was also pushed by the air wave. I couldn't help but take a step forward.
This is already the fifth filming. The crew originally wanted to create a shot of Tony Stark standing still and vigorous in the missile shock wave. Naturally, it is impossible to actually launch any missiles in the actual shooting scene. The air wave effect is completely artificial. released.
It's just that the effect of this air wave is too strong. After several attempts, Eric couldn't stand still. However, if the high-pressure wind gun is moved backward, the "effect" of the explosion of the Jericho missile will be greatly reduced.
"It's still the same," Caroline said with a crooked smile, "I can't stand still at all."
"I think this kind of effect is actually pretty good," Melanie expressed her opinion, with a smile on her face, and said, "Didn't you notice what the boss did just now? You staggered from the shock, It's obviously embarrassing, but pretending to be nothing, it's much better than him standing there motionless."
"It's really funny," Caroline nodded, and said with a bit of rationality in her tone, "Eric is really amazing."
Melanie rolled her eyes slightly when she heard what this girl said.
In the venue, Eric and Joss Whedon watched the effect of the shot just now several times, discussed it, and thought the effect was good, so they decided not to reshoot.
This is already the second week of filming in Lone Pine Town, and there is only one scene where Eric is rescued in the desert after escaping from the cave. After filming, all the outdoor scenes of the crew will be basically completed , and then there are only a lot of fragmentary interior scenes left, and basically they will never leave Los Angeles.
Looking at the time, it was already past 4:30 in the afternoon, Joss Whedon announced that work was over, and everyone in the crew began to organize the shooting equipment in an orderly manner, preparing to return to the station in Lone Pine Town.
Eric naturally didn't need to pay attention to these trifles. He took a bottle of water from Caroline and drank it in one go. Then he took the two girls into an off-road vehicle and drove towards Lone Pine Town first.
There are two bodyguards in the front row of the off-road vehicle. Caroline and Melanie squeezed together next to Eric in the back seat. Watching Caroline take out a stack of thick folders from the satchel she carried, Eric He smiled and asked, "Is there any good news today?"
Caroline nodded, and without opening the folder, she skillfully replied: "In the morning, Los Angeles sent a new week's box office data, and the third week of "Ace Powers 2" dropped to 36%. %, received 26.67 million U.S. dollars, and the cumulative box office in three weeks was 141.9 million U.S. dollars. "The Wedding Singer" fell 41% in the second week, closing at 26.71 million U.S. dollars, and the cumulative box office for the two weeks was 71.99 million U.S. dollars. "Alien" fell 39% in the next week, closing 18.91 million, with a cumulative box office of US$50.01 million. In three weeks, the box office of the three films totaled US$260 million, which means that we have recovered all production and distribution costs based on an average share of 55%.
The production cost of the three films, "Ace Powers 2" is 30 million US dollars, "The Wedding Singer" is 18 million US dollars, and "Alien" is 35 million US dollars, plus 50 million US dollars in advertising and marketing expenses, the average cost of the three companies Each company spends about US$3 to US$5 million on distribution expenses such as film copies, and the cumulative expenditure is just over US$140 million.
The total box office of the Easter schedule is 260 million US dollars. According to the average share ratio of 55%, the three companies will recover about 143 million US dollars of box office share. This does mean that the three companies of Firefly, Fox and MGM have recovered all costs.
Of course, when it comes to the three films, "Ace Powers 2" has already made a lot of money, but "Alien" still needs a few weeks to pay back, and "The Wedding Singer" has the highest return on investment ratio.
From the specific data, the single-week box office of the three films has fallen to around 20 million US dollars. In the next few weeks, as the atmosphere of Easter dissipates, it is considered good that the three films can collect another 100 million US dollars in box office. .
After Caroline finished speaking, seeing Eric think for a moment, she just nodded in satisfaction, she blinked, but still didn't take the initiative to say anything.
Eric has been staying in Lone Pine Town for the past half month and devoted himself to the filming of "Iron Man", so he doesn't know how much the box office results of these three films have caused waves in Hollywood.
"Kings Powers 2," "The Wedding Singer" and "Alien" totaled $140 million, roughly the budget of a big-budget film.
However, according to the current box office trend, the three films may recover US$360 million in box office just in North America, which is definitely a miracle.
You know, the annual box office champion in North America last year, that is, "Casino Royale 007" directed by Eric himself, had a North American box office of only 370 million US dollars. If the cumulative US$360 million of the three films belongs to one film, it is absolutely 90% likely to book this year's North American box office champion.
This year's Easter schedule, also because of the successful marketing of the three companies, almost all of them exceeded 100 million US dollars in a single week in three weeks. In previous years, the weekly box office of the Easter schedule was only about 70 to 80 million US dollars at best. .
Therefore, during this period of time, almost all film companies in Hollywood are studying the three companies' Easter movie packages in detail, trying to learn from them in order to replicate this box office miracle.
Caroline didn't speak, and Melanie, who was sitting by the car door on the other side, noticed Eric's indifferent reaction, but said: "Eric, the total North American box office of the three films is expected to reach 360 million US dollars, if this is A movie may be the annual box office champion in North America."
Eric could naturally understand what Melanie meant, and said with a smile: "But after all, they are only medium- and low-cost productions. Although they can achieve such success in North America, they are not qualified for large-scale global distribution. North America has a box office of 360 million US dollars, but their overseas total box office can reach 200 million US dollars, and the global box office is only 500 to 600 million US dollars. In comparison, the global box office potential of big-budget films with the same budget cost Bigger ones, such as the "Jurassic Park" series, the "Men in Black" series, or MGM's Agent Movie Universe series, just one film, the global box office can easily reach 700 million or more, and, The profitability of peripheral products of big-budget films is far from what these medium- and low-cost productions can match.”
Melanie retorted: "However, big productions are more likely to lose money. If a company loses a big production, it may go bankrupt."
"This is undeniable, but the future of Hollywood is dominated by blockbuster movies, and this is also an irreversible trend. If you always think about using small things to make big gains, it is like trying to win more with less in war. The possibility is very high. Low."
Melanie nodded slightly, pretending that she was persuaded, and stopped arguing with Eric. She knew that she would definitely not be able to compete with Eric.
Caroline was caught between the two, listening to their conversation, and seeing Melanie's expression at the end, she knew what her best friend was thinking.
Blinking again, Caroline still wanted to say something, the car had already driven into Lone Pine Town, and soon arrived at the hotel where the crew stayed.
Watching Eric get out of the car and walk towards his room, the two women are aware of his habits, knowing that Eric must go back to the room to take a shower. In the past, the two women would automatically retreat at this time, but this time, May Lannie took Caroline and followed Eric to the suite where he lived.
Although Eric is very resistant to living in hotels and hotels and other places, it is obviously impossible for Lone Pine Town, which has only 2,000 residents, to provide Eric with a better place to live, and Eric does not want his cleanliness to gradually develop. To the point of sickness, so this time I chose to live in a hotel with the crew, and all I did was replace all the bedding and the like in the suite with new ones.
All the way into the room, seeing Melanie abnormally pulling Caroline to follow, Eric wondered: "Is there anything else?"
"Of course, work," Melanie nodded confidently, and said, "Eric, there are a few documents that need your signature today."
"Well, wait until I take a shower, okay?"
Melanie said, "You can take a bath before going to bed."
Having said that, Melanie has dragged Caroline into the room, sat down on the sofa, and opened the stack of folders that Caroline just took out of her satchel.
It's just that no matter how smart a guy is, he can't stop the negative BUFF bonuses from pig teammates.
Seeing Caroline sitting next to Melanie with an obvious guilty conscience, Eric is not stupid, how could he not know what's wrong with it.
Smiling and sitting opposite the two women, Eric said, "Hey, don't use work as an excuse. Is there anything I can do for you?"
Melanie shook her head solemnly: "No."
Eric looked at Caroline: "Carly, tell me."
Caroline blinked quickly a few times, then shook her head: "No, no."
Melanie no longer has any expectations for the girl next to her, as long as she doesn't tell herself.
Seeing that Caroline did not lose the chain at the critical moment, Melanie was relieved. In the past few years, she has figured out Eric's character. If she doesn't admit anything, Eric will not drive them out. room to go.
Passing a folder to Eric, Melanie said: "Eric, this is a copy of the contract for Firefly's acquisition of Viking Records. You need to read and sign it yourself, and it will be sent back to Los Angeles tomorrow."
Eric looked at the appearance of the two women, just smiled, and decided not to pursue further. He took the file and flipped through it, and asked casually, "How is the sales of Fireflyer2 this week?"
Today is April 24th. Fireflyer2 officially opened for sale on the Easter weekend on April 11th. The sales volume in North America and Europe reached 670,000 units in the first week. If this sales speed can be maintained, there will be more than eight months left this year. Time, just Fireflyer2, global sales may exceed 22 million units.
However, many people are not sure about the sales prospect of Fireflyer 2. Some people think that the sales volume of 670,000 units in the first week is just due to the demand explosion caused by the launch of new products and early publicity, and the sales volume may drop later. Some people think that with the further popularization of the Internet, the market capacity of Fireflyer players will be further expanded, and the sales volume of Fireflyer players this year may even reach 30 million.
Therefore, after the first week, if you want to know the demand trend of Fireflyer2, the sales data in the next few weeks is still very important.
"There is no statistics yet," Melanie shook her head. Today is only the last day of the second week of sales of Fireflyer2. If you want to get the approximate sales data, you need to wait another two or three days: "However, from San Francisco Judging from the feedback from the side, this week’s sales should still be able to remain above 600,000 units, because users’ feedback on this new product is very good.”
Compared with the first generation, Fireflyer 2 is naturally not just an increase in capacity. Firefly Electronics has made great efforts in terms of battery life, operation optimization and even appearance design. Although the price has increased a lot, it is different from the first generation. Compared with the first generation, it is still very good value for money.
Eric turned the page of the document in his hand and continued to ask, "What about the Nokia M-100?"
Melanie doesn't have Caroline's flash memory. Hearing Eric's question, she looked through the information in her hand. After a while, she found a data report, glanced at it, and said: "The data of the three operators AT-T, Verizon and Sprint has not yet come out, but Amazon has sold more than 11,000 bare-bones units in two weeks."
Since the era of analog signals, the mobile phone market in North America has been dominated by several major communication operators. The contracted phones of operators accounted for more than 90% of the mobile phone sales in North America. This situation was not broken until the appearance of the Apple mobile phone. Some.
Due to consumption habits, mobile communication users in North America rarely buy bare metal.
In addition to the Amazon online platform, Nokia M-100 has not been arranged to be sold in physical stores other than operators.
Then, according to the sales ratio of 9 to 1, Amazon's music phone sales volume is 11,000 units, and the total sales volume of Nokia M-100 should be around 110,000 units, which is less than one-tenth of the two-week sales volume of Fireflyer2 players.
Eric knew that Nokia only prepared 50,000 units of supply at the beginning, and the only thing he is satisfied with now is that he has not heard news of out of stock. In this regard, Nokia's supply chain is undoubtedly much stronger than Firefly Electronics. In addition, the average weekly sales of about 50,000 units is indeed far from meeting Eric's expectations. If Nokia can pay more attention, the sales of M-100 will definitely not stop there.
However, Eric is not in the mood to pay attention to these things now. After reading the copy of Firefly’s acquisition of Viking Records, he signed his name, and was pestered by Melanie to deal with other documents until night fell. I took Eric to have dinner together.
It wasn't until after nine o'clock in the evening that Eric returned to his room again.
After closing the door and shrugging his shoulders lightly, Eric walked to the bathroom, intending to go to bed early after taking a shower.
The room of Melanie and Caroline is next to Eric. In the room, Melanie sneaked on the wall and listened for a while. When she felt the sound of rushing water, she immediately dragged Caroline After leaving the room, he took out the spare room card of Eric's suite, opened the door softly, and dragged Caroline, who was somewhat shy, to tiptoe to Eric's bedroom.
Caroline's face had turned into a red apple at this time, and she wanted to break away from Melanie's grasping hand, and said softly: "Mei, I think, I think, or, don't do this?"
"I knew you would be like this," Melanie glared at the girl, stopped talking, and forcibly pressed Caroline on Eric's bed, and stripped the girl until only her body was left. Little coat. Pulling the quilt to wrap Caroline up, Melanie lowered her head and kissed the girl's face who was already too shy to open her eyes, and said, "Hey, I can only help you so far."
After speaking, Melanie picked up some of Caroline's clothes, and tiptoed out of the room again.
Seeing her best friend take away her clothes, Caroline also lost the motivation to escape, and obediently curled up in the bed, her little nose twitched, feeling Eric's aura, and her face became more rosy.
After taking a comfortable hot bath, Eric was wearing a bathrobe and wiping his wet hair with a towel. As soon as he walked out of the bathroom, he couldn't help being stunned.
Caroline, who was curled up on the big bed like a kitten, just glanced at Eric, was startled, and immediately retracted into the bed.
Eric was stunned for a while before he finally understood why the two girls were so abnormal today, or, Caroline had been so abnormal during this time.
With a helpless smile, Eric walked to the edge of the bed and sat down, gently pulled the quilt, a pair of small hands holding the quilt resisted, and quickly let go, followed by a red face with eyes closed .
Gently pinching Caroline's delicate face, Eric sighed softly: "Silly girl."