As Richard Lovett expected, MGM's stock price fell 6.8% throughout the day on Tuesday on the news of Brosnan's replacement. Pen & Fun & Court www.biquge.info Because MGM never took any remedial measures, by the end of the day, MGM's market value had fallen from its peak of $12.3 billion to $11.5 billion.

Early on Wednesday morning, when major newspapers in North America were discussing whether MGM's stock price would fall sharply again today, reporters who had been guarding MGM's headquarters in Century City suddenly broke the bombshell news that at about 9:20 a.m. local time in Los Angeles, James Bond actor Pierce Brosnan suddenly appeared in Century City, and hurriedly entered the MGM headquarters building under the escort of a group of assistants and bodyguards. The photo appeared on the Yahoo portal homepage almost at the same time.

In this case, even a fool can guess that Brosnan's removal has taken a major turn for the better.

Although MGM still did not announce any news to the public, on the New York Stock Exchange on the East Coast, MGM's stock price, which had fallen again since the opening of the day, suddenly rose sharply, and in just half an hour, MGM's market value returned to a high of $12 billion.

Then, at ten o'clock, MGM finally made another announcement through the Yahoo portal, but the content had nothing to do with the secret agent cinematic universe that the media and fans are closely watching.

The announcement stated that in order to alleviate the cash flow crunch and minimize investment risks, MGM decided to transfer the production rights of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy to Firefly Pictures, and the company only retains the global theatrical distribution rights of the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

As soon as the news came out, MGM's rapidly rising stock price suddenly stagnated, and even showed a short-term downward arc.

Rumors that MGM is about to produce the Lord of the Rings trilogy at once have not stopped in the past two years, and in recent times, there have been frequent rumors in the industry that the project has entered a substantial preparatory stage.

Rookie director, 300 million budget, nameless cast, and huge risk are words that are very unfavorable to the whole project, and often appear in the analysis articles of major media.

Many media also speculated that if Eric Williams, who controls MGM behind the scenes, is really optimistic about this project, he will definitely let Firefly Pictures participate in the investment. But if Firefly doesn't participate at all, then the project is likely to be a big gamble that even Eric himself is not sure of.

Therefore, the sudden announcement caught everyone off guard.

Instead of co-working on the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Firefly took almost the entire project. MGM's so-called global theatrical distribution rights will only receive about 15% of the global box office share of the "Lord of the Rings" series in the end. The lucrative videotape/DVD distribution, TV rights revenue, and peripheral product revenues in the later period obviously had nothing to do with MGM.

Until the dust settles, even the most well-informed media will not be able to straighten out the various power games that have taken place inside and outside MGM in and out of recent days. But that doesn't stop them from speculating about what the announcement represents.

Soon, the boldest and most serious speculation came out, and it quickly landed on Yahoo's trending topic list: MGM and Williams parted ways!

After MGM announced the removal of Brosnan yesterday, the relevant inside story was quickly leaked, and it was Eric Williams himself who made the decision. Subsequently, MGM's stock price fell 6.8% throughout the day, and Pierre Trucker, the spokesperson for MGM's European shareholders, rushed from New York to Los Angeles to contact MGM executives.

Along these lines, MGM's European shareholders will not be able to tolerate the impact of Brosnan's removal on MGM's stock price, and although there has been speculation that Drew Barrymore, who owns the largest stake in MGM, is a puppet of Eric Williams, there is no indication of this. Eric Williams' stake in MGM is only indirectly controlled through the 8.4% stake in MGM through the LTD group. If Drew Barrymore and MGM's top brass are unhappy with Eric Williams' decision, add to that the support of the European shareholders represented by Pierre Trucker. It is not impossible for several major shareholders to unite to turn against Williams and completely get rid of each other's control.

Then, this morning, Brosnan re-entered MGM's headquarters, and MGM abandoned the risky "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, all of which were contrary to Eric Williams' will.

After such speculation, it seems completely reasonable for MGM and Eric Williams to break up completely, and the two sides parted ways.

Due to the speculation about MGM's transfer of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the stock price fluctuated very volatile for the next hour.

As the heart of the Secret Service Cinematic Universe, Pierce Brosnan is certainly important, as evidenced by the sharp drop in MGM's stock price yesterday.

But if the company's investors were to choose between Eric Williams and Pierce Brosnan, most people wouldn't hesitate too much.

Anyone knows that MGM's resurgence in recent years is entirely due to Eric Williams alone. The projects that have brought MGM huge profits in recent years, including the Secret Agent Cinematic Universe series, the "Night at the Museum" series, the "Resident Evil" series, etc., are all led by Eric.

Perhaps these projects have entered a stable period of profitability, but the slightest sensible investor will not think that Eric Williams is irrelevant. After all, although it has begun to recover, MGM is still the weakest of the seven major film companies, and the company's development is still limited to the traditional film business, which is far less established than the other major media groups that have been integrated into large media groups. If the support of the Firefly Group is completely lost, or even suppressed by the Firefly Group after the two sides tear their faces apart, MGM will definitely suffer an impact countless times more serious than the loss of Pierce Brosnan.

As a result, the situation took a sharp turn when the news of MGM's complete break with Eric spread and was accepted by more and more people.

At around 11 a.m. Western time, the New York Stock Exchange on the East Coast was only an hour and a half away from the day's close.

But in just one and a half hours, MGM's stock price curve was like a gravitational shot put, and when the closing moment came, MGM's stock price finally stopped at $22.82, which not only completely offset the boost brought by Pierce Brosnan's re-entry into MGM's headquarters, but also compared to $26.45 at the opening, the day's decline reached a shocking 13.7%, and MGM's overall market value fell back to the $10 billion range, leaving only $9.92 billion.

Tossing and turning all night, although occasionally thinking about it, it's a big deal to break up with MGM. But as the day dawned, overlooking Los Angeles in the early morning from the Beverly Mid-Levels mansion that he had just acquired, Pierce Brosnan finally decided to accept MGM's offer of salary. Richard Lovett is actually right, losing 007, he has struggled for more than ten years to just get all this in Hollywood, fame, glory, money...... All will disappear, and even, because of the complete tearing of his face, he may be suppressed by Fireflies, MGM and even Fox, then he will basically not be able to continue to gain a foothold in Hollywood.

However, although it was decided to compromise on the salary, such as the personal treatment on the set, whether to cooperate with MGM for advertising placement, Whether it was Brosnan himself or Richard Lovett, who came to the negotiation in person, showed a kind of attitude of being in charge of the negotiations, MGM did not dwell on details such as the treatment on the set, but did not back down on the terms that might affect the quality of the film, and the two sides went back and forth in the MGM conference room all day, until nightfall, when the contract was finally finalized.

During this period, the news that MGM's stock price fell sharply again could not be hidden from anyone present, and it was inevitable that there would be some stirring within the company.

Knowing the details of the cause and effect of the matter, Drew, who was sitting at the conference table and personally involved in the negotiations, took a posture of allowing the stock price to fall, and even stopped Amy's proposal to release some clarification news. It's not just because she knows better than anyone that the rumors outside are completely false, and with proper clarification, MGM's stock price is sure to recover again.

Moreover, the girl is even happy to see this situation happen.

Just one rumor that Eric might break with MGM can cause MGM's stock price to plummet, which can also make many people with dissenting thoughts completely see Eric's influence and importance to MGM. After some heart-to-heart last night, the girl decided to let go of her hands and help Eric grab MGM in the palm of her hand, but she didn't intend to give the impression that Eric's influence on MGM would be reduced as a result.

However, the girl also knew the truth of moderation, and allowed MGM's stock price to go on a rollercoaster ride for a whole day, which stimulated some people, and that night, MGM began to take action to save the stock price's decline.

After officially signing the contract with Brosnan, MGM announced the news on the Yahoo portal that night.

The four films were packaged for about $60 million, and as soon as the news came out, it shocked a lot of eyeballs again. This obviously can't be because the average $15 million for each film is too high, but too low.

For most Hollywood stars, an average of $15 million per film may be out of reach. However, compared to the expected box office of "Casino Royale" and the huge revenue brought to MGM by the entire Secret Service Cinematic Universe, as the core star, Brosnan's four-part $60 million package contract is simply a complete cabbage price. Prior to this, many media speculated that Pierce Brosnan's next film contract with MGM would not be paid less than $60 million for a single film.

After the shock, some people began to realize that if the deal was real, MGM had clearly won the pay dispute with Pierce Brosnan, and it was a frenzied victory.

So, in this case, will Eric Williams, who has led the suppression of Brosnan's salary and even did not hesitate to remove the other party, really break with MGM as most media speculated? After all, without Eric Williams' strong insistence, MGM wants to sign a four-film contract with Brosnan, let alone $60 million, even if it is $160 million, it may not be able to win.

Moreover, this victory has a very positive impact on the overall advancement of the next phase of the MGM Agent Cinematic Universe, whether it is the trio of "Breaking Bad" or Kevin Costner of "Mission Impossible", it is impossible to be confident when negotiating with MGM for the salary.

In the midst of the chaotic comments and speculation, the next day, MGM gave the media and the public an answer in disguise through another way.

MGM is about to launch casting for a new racing film series, Fast & Furious, written and produced by Eric himself. At the same time, if the film receives a good market response, MGM will incorporate the series into the Secret Agent Cinematic Universe in the future.

At 9:30 a.m. Eastern time, the New York Stock Exchange opened, Pierre Truck, CEO of Havas Group, announced that he would resign as a director of the MGM Group board of directors due to work reasons, and his successor would be jointly nominated by MGM management and major shareholders.

At this point, even the most unresponsive person realizes that Eric has never lost control of MGM from beginning to end. Not only did he dominate the pay negotiations between MGM and Brosnan, but he also ruthlessly expelled Pierre Truck, the European shareholder advocate who tried to meddle in MGM's management, from MGM's board of directors.

Although it is still not clear why Eric would transfer all of the risky "Lord of the Rings" trilogy to Firefly Pictures, this does not prevent the capital market from rekindling confidence in MGM. After all, the most important thing for investors is always profit, and although Eric's recent strong moves have caused turmoil at MGM, there is no doubt that these measures are undoubtedly very beneficial to MGM's development.

As a result, on Thursday, MGM's stock price rebounded strongly back to a high of $27, reaching a market value of $11.74 billion.

Then, on Friday, stimulated by a week of news about the possible replacement of Pierce Brosnan, the popularity of "Casino Royale" climbed again, and a large number of fans walked into the cinema in order to "remember" the departing Pierce Brosnan.

In the end, in the third week of its release, the box office decline of "Casino Royale" narrowed again, to only 32%, and collected another $52.73 million, and the cumulative box office in three weeks has reached $247 million, although it has not been able to exceed the $263 million in the fifth week of "Finding Nemo" in the fifth week of release. But compared to the same period of "Finding Nemo", "Casino Royale" grossed $8 million more in its third week. In this way, the North American box office of "Casino Royale" will definitely exceed that of "Finding Nemo", and some analysts have even raised the final North American box office expectation of "Casino Royale" to 370 million, while the industry's North American box office expectations for "Finding Truth" are generally within $330 million.

After the box office data was released, further good news brought yesterday's positive aftermath, so that MGM shares broke through the $30 mark on Friday, and finally stayed at a high of $30.37, based on MGM's total share capital of 435 million shares, MGM's market value had reached $13.21 billion at the end of the week. (To be continued.) )