At the end of May, Firefly Group gradually entered the actual distribution stage of the $8 billion bond issued by ABC in order to acquire it, so as the first summer file after the completion of the acquisition of ABC TV Network, this summer is crucial for Firefly. Once the summer films cannot continue the excellent box office performance of Firefly movies in previous years, it will seriously hit the investment interest of investment institutions in Firefly Group bonds.

Although the dust has settled on Firefly's acquisition of ABC, the attention of investors and the media on Firefly Group has not diminished in recent months.

Under the attention of a large number of people, the three films launched by Firefly this summer have also aroused one-sided doubts, whether it is the war film "Saving Private Ryan" or the 2D animation "The Lion King", which are not favored by the media and investment institutions. Similarly, because Arnold Schwarzenegger just planted a big heel on "The Last Action Hero" last year, and this year's "True Lies" with Cameron has not yet been released, which has already caused some nasty boos.

Moreover, critics have blamed Firefly for giving up his advantage in CG special effects films in favor of making "unpopular" films on Eric's personal blindness and arrogance, claiming that Eric has been completely carried away by past successes and sees himself as an omnipotent god. At the same time, many shareholders, including Warren Buffett, asked Eric to hand over popular special effects film projects such as "Men in Black", "Night at the Museum" and "Resident Evil" to other purposes, although these shareholders used a harmless negotiation tone, Eric could still feel a strong distrust from it, and he also understood the subtext of these shareholders asking him not to support his 'competitors'.

The planned week-long trip to Boston was postponed from May 9 to May 25. Although a lot of things are still not done. However, the Firefly Group is an important source of funds for Eric's subsequent series of industrial layouts. So, sensing the increasingly restless little moves of the shadowy forces inside and outside Hollywood against the Firefly Group, Eric handed over the cooperation negotiations with Microsoft to Chris and the Yahoo management team and hurriedly returned to Los Angeles to preside over the situation.

As soon as Firefly's business plane landed at Los Angeles' Santa Monica Airport, Eric rushed to Firefly's headquarters in Burbank.

"Today's release of "Beverly Hills 3" and "The Mummy" two days later will be serious competitors to "Saving Private Ryan" a week later, Paramount has arranged more than 2,900 opening screens for "Beverly Hills Police 3", and Universal's hairstyle strategy for "The Mummy" is clearly a parody of last year's "Jurassic Park", and the premiere canvas even reached 3,100. Paramount's other film, "Star Trek 7", will be released on June 10, immediately after "True Lies" on June 10, and the schedule is scheduled for June 17. The film cost only $35 million. The quality is definitely not comparable to "True Lies", but Paramount also has no box office pressure, and the publicity is very calm, and the "Star Trek" series has accumulated decades of popularity, and once this film is an upset, it will have a great impact on the box office of "True Lies". Finally, Warner Pictures' "Law Enforcement Warrior" suddenly adjusted its schedule at the beginning of the month, choosing to be released at the same time as "The Lion King" on June 24, and the intention of targeting is even more obvious. In the conference room of the Firefly headquarters, Michael Lynn gave a sad account of the latest situation.

Eric listened to Michael Lynn. "What about July?"

Michael Lynn knew that Eric was asking about the July films "Breaking Bad" and "Men in Black," which were distributed by MGM and Columbia, respectively, but in which Fireflies still had a large stake: "Breaking Bad, Men in Black, and ...... Fox's "Dumb and Agua 2" did not have competitors of comparable strength in the same period. ”

In the original time and space, the reason why "Dumb and Dumb 2" appeared more than ten years later is mainly because the producer New Line couldn't afford to hire Kim Carrey after the first part of "Dumb and Dumb", and now the copyright of "Dumb and Dumb" has fallen into the hands of the wealthy Fox, this problem is of course no longer a problem, and it is not surprising to launch a sequel. Eric chuckled when Michael Lynn had to say, and said, "They're pretty easy." ”

Michael Lynn said: "I've been keeping the PR department on the latest trends, and I've already sent lawyers' letters to six newspapers and TV stations that have been viciously attacked. The publicity department has drawn up a plan for an additional $10 million in promotional expenses for each film, and I had it sent to your email last night, so you may not have had time to watch it. ”

Eric first nodded, expressing his affirmation of Michael Lynn's work, but then shook his head and said: "There is no need to add additional publicity expenses, the average publicity cost of each of the three films is 40 million US dollars, and the advertising effect has reached saturation, and it is a bit worth the loss to continue to add, this kind of thing is not the first time it has been encountered, there is no need for others to pose and we have to deal with it in a hurry." In fact, you should be able to tell that they are betting that the Fireflies will encounter Waterloo this summer. Whether it's the unpopular "Saving Private Ryan", the genre failed "True Lies", or the completely changed publicity strategy of "The Lion King", they all give them a hint that Fireflies are likely to fail, and they are just waiting for this moment to really come, and then make Firefly's failure more complete. Saying this, Eric smiled confidently and slightly sarcastically, and said, "But didn't they think about it, perhaps, the situation they imagined would be completely reversed?"

The Firefly Group has developed to the current level, and the competition with several other major film companies, some small means in private have not played much role, in the final analysis, it is still the competition of film quality, and this, Eric has an advantage that is absolutely incomparable to them, not only that, Eric also decisively handed over the daily management of the Firefly Group to the more professional Katzenberg, Michael Lynn and others, and invested most of the energy into the production of the film, so to speak, it will be their own 'Advantage' is used to the fullest, and the film produced in this situation has proven its box office potential in the original time and space. Even if it's because of the butterfly effect. The box office did not reach the point where it was in the original time and space. But the likelihood of complete failure is also almost none.

Eric's words were like a reassurance to everyone present, and before that, Michael Lynn and others were more or less affected by the outside world, and similar worries had arisen to a greater or lesser extent.

After settling down, everyone began to discuss the next countermeasures.

The reason for the current situation is that in addition to the expansion of the power of the Firefly Group, which squeezes the status of other film companies in the same industry, there is also the influence of other shareholders of Firefly and the capital forces of Wall Street. Now is the most critical time for Firefly Group's bond issuance, once the $8 billion bond issuance is blocked. Under the terms attached to Firefly's acquisition of ABC, Firefly would either choose to raise interest rates or reduce the share of the bond issuance, and the shortfall would continue to be paid for with equity. Either of these two outcomes is something that investors like to see.

Therefore, Katzenberg, who rushed back from New York, said: "Eric, when I was in New York, Tom Murphy asked me more than once about the cooperation between Firefly and Sony and MGM, and we can't change the established contract. But I think we should get back the distribution rights of Miss Barrymore's films such as "Mission Impossible" and "Night at the Museum", and with the current situation in Colombia, there should be little resistance. Doing so would also greatly increase the confidence of those shareholders and creditors in the company, and there would be much less resistance to our issuance of bonds. ”

A few years passed. Colombia was already in shambles under Peter Cooper's stewardship, and there was little resistance to finding a reason to get the distribution rights back. But many of Eric's plans will be interrupted: "Colombia will not only bear 50% of the publicity and distribution costs of these films, but also only take 15% of the box office share, even if we can squeeze out distribution resources from films such as "Solo Day" and "Jurassic Park 2", Fireflies can't offer such conditions, right?"

Katzenberg nodded helplessly, with the current average distribution cost of more than $40 million for big-budget films, if Colombia wants to recover the cost from the investment, it needs Flower Pictures' film to guarantee a North American box office of $130 million, of course, this time Colombia got the overseas distribution rights, and it can also earn some profits, but the copyright of the videotape and film and television peripherals is still owned by Flower Pictures, of course, Flower Pictures will choose Fireflies for cooperation, and after comprehensive calculation, compared to the hundreds of millions of dollars expected by these blockbusters, the fat has been divided between Flower Pictures and FirefliesAs one of the seven majors, Colombia has been reduced to a soup drinker, and these 'soups' will definitely be put into his pocket by Peter Cooper in the form of bonuses and dividends. Katzenberg felt that if he were the majority shareholder of Columbia, he would absolutely do anything to put a manager like Peter Cooper in jail, but the fantastic reality is that Sony is still very comfortable with the executive, and everyone in Hollywood knows that Columbia's mess is getting worse and worse.

"Eric, since the main issue right now is to ensure the smooth issuance of corporate bonds, I think all we need is some good news that can really stimulate the market. After Michael Lynn said this, everyone in the meeting looked at Eric.

Eric, of course, knew what this group of people were thinking, and said with a smile: "It just so happens that I have recently written a good script, and I plan to invite Julia Roberts to be the heroine, maybe I can release this news tomorrow." ”

"It's not enough," Frank Wells said at this time, "Eric, you're better like "Pretty Woman", directing it yourself, since last year's "Jurassic Park", everyone is concerned about what your next film will do. ”

Eric spread his hands and said helplessly: "But you know, I have other things to do, it's a big deal that I'll be the producer myself." ”

Katzenberg said, "Eric, I remember you said that the plans for The Matrix would have been better if the project had been announced at the same time. ”

Eric thought about it, and "The Matrix" could also be put on the agenda at this time, and said: "No problem, you can go and prepare the press release later, and I won't participate in the press conference." In the next few days, I need to check on the progress of all the projects I have in hand. ”

After determining the matter, Katzenberg gave a brief account of the progress of the restructuring of the ABC television network, and the heads of various departments reported on some trivial matters, and the meeting was considered to be over.

On the way back to Sharp Corner Manor, Eric accidentally fell asleep in the car, and when he opened his eyes, he found that he was still leaning on the back seat of the car, but next to him, he was leaning on the soft body of Xiao Nizi, and the two of them were covered with a blanket.

Thinking that every time he returned to Los Angeles, Drew was always the first to be by his side, and a warmth flowed through Eric's heart.

It should be in the garage, but it must have been dark outside, and he was inexplicably a little tired, Eric was too lazy to see what time it was, and he didn't mind that he was in the car, and he was going to continue sleeping with Xiao Nizi in his arms, but perhaps sensing his movements, Drew woke up.

Eric ...... lazily screamed, and the girl rubbed against him as usual, and then shouted dissatisfiedly, "It's dark, Natasha, turn on the light." ”

Eric couldn't help but smile in the dark, and was about to remind him that it was in the car, when there was a soft sound, and the lights came on in the car. Eric was surprised to find two identical figures sitting in front of him, and this was not the Mercedes he had been riding in when he returned, but another SUV with a wide compartment. Eric is not in the habit of collecting cars, but Xiao Nizi often buys some luxury cars and comes back, and unknowingly saves them, and there are more than 20 cars parked in the underground garage of the manor, and most of them are new because they are rarely driven.

Looking at the smiling little Nizi who wanted to be coquettish, Eric pinched her little ears and said, "How do you let them sit in front?"

Drew grinned, "Do you want them to sit in the back row too?"

"yes, and then you go to the front seat and drive. Eric said helplessly, then pushed the car door and got out of the car, and Nizi and the twins also got out of the car.

Eric looked at another unfamiliar SUV in front of him, kicked the tires, and asked, "Is this a Humvee, when did you like this kind of car?"

"I bought it for you," Drew said as he grabbed Eric's arm, "Birthday present." ”

Eric then remembered that he had just passed his 24th birthday, shrugged his shoulders indifferently, walked outside, and said, "I'm not digging coal, what do you want a Hummer for." ”

Drew didn't understand what the coal digging was about, and Eric pouted dissatisfiedly: "This is military, it's very strong." ”

"And then ......"

Drew blinked, seeming to notice ...... However, it didn't work, Eric rarely drove his own car now, let alone drove around in such a military car with the appearance of Zhang Yang: "If you don't like it, forget it, just change it for a birthday present." ”

Eric pretended to be curious and asked, "Oh, and the backup, tell me?"

Xiao Nizi pointed to the twins who were quietly following behind her: "Na, the two of them." (To be continued.) )