PS: This is chapter 507, and I accidentally typed the wrong chapter number.

"Are you not going to participate in this year's Golden Globe Awards?" Looking at the analysis of the 50th Golden Globe nominations for The Hollywood Reporter, Elizabeth sat at the table with her long legs crossed, and asked with some schadenfreude.

The Golden Globe Awards do not have technical awards, and Eric's "Tornado" last year only has the strength to win awards in terms of sound and special effects.

"It depends on the mood," Eric pushed aside the newspaper he had finished reading, and slowly drank the milk in front of him.

Although "Tornado" did not receive any nominations, the Golden Globe Awards dinner still sent an invitation to Eric, but Eric has not yet decided whether to go or not, this kind of awards ceremony is better to say, once you attend, you have to abide by the rules of the awards ceremony, and with his current influence, being 'taken care of' by the camera must be very frequent, and it is actually very tiring to smirk for two hours with the atmosphere of the scene.

Elizabeth also knew that Eric's attitude towards the Golden Globes and Oscars was not too enthusiastic, so she put down "The Hollywood Reporter" and took another copy from Eric's newspaper at random and opened it, reading the headlines of the entertainment edition, while asking, "Then you really don't plan to fight for the Oscars in the future?"

"Spielberg has become a first-line director from 1975's "Jaws", but until now, he has been nominated so many times, and those old men refuse to give him a golden man for best director, and since they hold it, I don't need to deliberately put it on. ”

"Speaking of which, this time in "Schindler's List", Spielberg will definitely be able to get the little golden man, right?"

"Of course. His biggest competitor this year is Clint Eastwood's Unforgiven. But "Unforgiven" is a western. And "Schindler's List" is a biopic, not to mention that it still depicts the past of the Holocaust suffered by the Jews, with the influence of Jews in Hollywood, "Unforgiven" is no better than "Schindler's List" in any case, and the reason why "Ben Hur" was able to set a record for the number of Oscar nominations and awards was mainly because it was singing the praises of the Jews," Eric said, suddenly stopping: "Hey. Liz, are you Jewish?"

Elizabeth bent the corners of her mouth, shook her head and joked: "No, so whatever you want to say, just say it, I won't expose your racism." ”

Eric breathed a sigh of relief and secretly reflected for a moment, he still hadn't fully integrated into the world, and he was a little too casual about the topic of race. Americans are very sensitive to racial discrimination, and even legislated specifically for this, and now it's just fine in private for two people. If in a public place, or just across from yourself doing a Jew. Some of his words just now will definitely arouse suspicion and disgust from the other party.

Although Americans are very fond of self-deprecation, racial ridicule is a minefield that can explode if you are not careful, and Jews react more violently to racial discrimination than vulnerable blacks, as illustrated by the unfortunate experience of Mel Gibson in the original plane.

Elizabeth saw Eric's sudden silence and stopped mentioning what had just happened, compared to Eric, Elizabeth, who has lived in the United States for many years, like ordinary Americans, rarely takes the initiative to mention the topic of race.

Americans have always been silent about racial discrimination.

After eating breakfast leisurely, Elizabeth saw that Eric was not in a hurry to work, so she brought up another news she had just read in the newspaper: "The contract for the directional sale signed by Paramount and Viacom was declared null and void by the Los Angeles Superior Court, and QVC also made its first offer, $7.8 billion, which is so much higher than your acquisition of Disney last year, and it is estimated that this deal will end soon, right?"

"No, Hollywood movies rose by 15 percent last year, and they will certainly continue to grow at similar rates in the coming years. If I hadn't won Disney at a high premium last year, I wouldn't have been able to get $6.5 billion this year. Martin Davis may not be very good at running a film company, but as a shrewd businessman, he can certainly see that since he can't keep Paramount, the longer the deal drags on, the better it will be for him. ”

Elizabeth listened to Eric say this, and suddenly remembered the incident last year, and said: "When you were filming "Jurassic Park" last year, didn't Martin Davis go to Kauai, why didn't you get involved in this matter, didn't Lei Shidong cause you a lot of trouble when you bought Disney?"

"It's an interesting topic," Eric laughs, "Let's say you're racing on the track with a bunch of other people, and if you're already ahead, do you stop and set up some obstacles for the opponents who are behind, or do you keep running and throw your opponents farther away?"

"Of course keep running," Elizabeth said without hesitation, "but I feel that these are two different things, you will definitely not benefit from stopping and setting obstacles for your opponent, but working with Paramount is definitely different." ”

"In the Japanese acquisition of Columbia and Universal, Firefly cooperated with them because in that case, both Columbia and Universal would give a higher share of the share, and Firefly itself was not strong enough at that time. But now if I have a good idea, I can completely digest all the benefits with Firefly's own channels, and there is no need to give a part of the benefits to Paramount just to put up a little obstacle for Viacom. And there is another point, the Japanese are outsiders, not too familiar with the operating mechanism of Hollywood, seeing that the big sales of film companies have raised the stock price, they can only pay honestly, but Viacom is different, Lei Shidong has been involved in Hollywood since ten years ago, and is very familiar with the rules of the game. ”

After Eric finished speaking, he saw Elizabeth's thoughtful expression, smiled, got up and put away the dishes briefly, and asked, "I'm going to Preavista later, how about you?"

Elizabeth came back to her senses and said, "I'll go back to Beverly Hills first." ”

……

Firefly Studios' digital domain special effects center.

Although a large number of model effects were used during the filming of "Jurassic Park", the special effects artists in the digital field have never given up on the development of computer CG special effects technology. After nearly a year of technical research. Dinosaur footage that requires the use of digital special effects has reached a level where it is difficult to distinguish between real and fake.

Because there is plenty of time. Eric also didn't rush the digital realm to speed up production, and this meticulous attitude has only made Jurassic Park 70 percent complete in post-production so far, and it will take at least two months to fully complete the film.

Eric checked the progress of the previous work with Stan Winston, and watched a shot of a Tyrannosaurus rex roaring in the sky several times, Stan Winston had excitement and pride on his face, even two years ago, he could not have imagined that one day he would have the opportunity to produce such a realistic shot of an ancient beast.

"Eric, you're really not going to put a trailer for Jurassic Park at this year's Super Bowl. I think it would surprise the world if this behemoth could be on the Super Bowl?" Stan Winston expertly operated the computer in front of him, turning to ask Eric, who was sitting next to him.

Eric was discussing some camera details with a special effects artist, and when he heard Stan Winston ask, he said, "That's why I don't want to release the trailer so early, let the dinosaur image be revealed in advance, and the surprise level will definitely be reduced when the movie is officially released in the future." ”

"But even if the trailer doesn't show at the Super Bowl. You always have to show a trailer on TV before a movie is released, right?"

Eric replied confidently: "The publicity department has already made a corresponding plan, and when the trailer is made in the future." It will be based on Professor Hardmond's explanation, using appropriate suspense techniques, the dinosaur will appear, but not the whole picture. ”

"This is indeed a good method, by the way, the later stage of "Heaven and Earth Collision" has been completed, do you want to take a look first?"

"Alright," Eric agreed, and the two of them made their way to another workspace in the digital realm.

The script of "Heaven and Earth" has been repeatedly revised, removing the scandalous plot and adding the portrayal of humanity at the moment of disaster, and at the same time, with the strong technical support of the digital field, Roland Emmerich boldly added special effects scenes, which not only made the plot of the film more compact, but also made the special effects scenes more shocking than the original in Eric's memory.

"After this summer, Hollywood will completely enter the era of special effects films," Stan Winston couldn't help but sigh as he sat down in the studio's lounge area.

If "Terminator 2" and "Tornado" in the previous two years were just a glimpse of the huge potential of special effects movies, as long as the two consecutive "Jurassic Park" and "Heaven and Earth Crash" can be a big success at the box office this summer, then Hollywood will fully realize the huge commercial prospects of special effects movies.

Eric and Roland Emmerich sat down on the other side, and Eric smiled and said, "In that case, the digital world will definitely have to expand again." ”

"Then the studio won't fit now," Stan Winston said, gesturing to the finished Firefly Studios outside the glass window.

Roland Emmerich said to Eric: "I've heard that there is still some unplanned idle land around that has been bought by Fireflies, so why not build a separate corporate campus in the digital realm?"

With the development of Firefly Studios and the surrounding environment, in order to provide a stable living environment for the thousands of employees and their families working in the studio, the other third will be used to build the Preavista community, which will be rented and sold to these people, and the remaining third will be temporarily kept by Firefly as a backup.

But while the digital sector is sure to grow again, Eric is hesitant to build a digital corporate campus specifically in Los Angeles. Because the tax rates of various states in the United States are different, the labor costs are also different, as one of the most economically powerful states in the United States, California's tax rates and labor costs are undoubtedly very high, although at present as one of the top special effects companies in Hollywood, the profitability of the digital field is very strong, but Eric has to consider the future era of special effects companies, and the biggest magic weapon for special effects companies to survive in ten years is to transfer to other states with low tax rates or even abroad.

Eric briefly explained his concerns to Stan Winston, who thought for a moment and said, "If that's the case, we'd better be able to plan ahead of time, set up branches in other states, and recruit employees from the local area to Los Angeles for training, and this measure to increase local employment can earn us more tax benefits." ”

Eric thought for a moment and said, "Don't be too anxious, after this year's summer file, let's see how the two movies react." ”

Roland Emmerich laughed, "Eric, don't you have confidence in your Jurassic Park? ”

"Of course not, I'm just worried that I won't live up to my expectations. ”

Stan Winston was also interested, curious: "What do you think Jurassic Park should be at the box office?"

Eric's hands on the table were raised at the same time, and ten fingers were stretched towards the two of them.

"A billion dollars?" Stan Winston asked cautiously, lowering his voice, and Roland Emmerich looked surprised.

Eric explains: "Yes, but I mean the total box office worldwide. ”

"Even on a global scale," Stan Winston looked at Eric, as if to make sure he wasn't crazy, "and the highest box office record now doesn't exceed 800 million." ”

"'E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial,' $790 million," Roland Emmerich echoed.

"Since "ET the Extra-Terrestrial" was able to get nearly $800 million at the global box office ten years ago, what is impossible about the global billion in ten years," Eric said, looking at the two people who were still a little dull in expression, and smiled: "Or, let's make a bet?"

For some reason, when they heard Eric make a bet, Stan Winston and Roland Emmerich immediately remembered the sensational bet between the eighteen-year-old boy and Columbia Pictures about Home Alone a few years ago, which Colombia lost and Columbia's CEO at the time, Bront Cohen, lost control of Colombia.

After a few moments, Stan Winston and Roland Emmerich shook their heads almost in unison: "No betting. ”

Eric laughed, "Don't do that, I haven't bet anyone in a long time, and I really don't have 100% confidence this time." (To be continued......)