In the following days, "Braveheart" became more and more popular in Hollywood, and when it was learned that Mel Gibson did not accept the conditions proposed by Firefly Pictures at the first time, several other major studios studied the script of "Braveheart", and then began to contact Mel Gibson.

Because "Braveheart" and the sensational "Ben Hur" thirty years ago belong to the same epic film, there are many similarities in the plot, and what is more coincidental is that the screenwriter of "Ben Hur" is named Lou Wallace, and the screenwriter of "Braveheart" is Landau Wallace, the two have just the same surname, after some false rumors, some people have even begun to compare "Braveheart" to Hollywood's second "Ben Hur".

Ben Hur, released in 1960, grossed more than $70 million at the 50-cent ticket price at the time, equivalent to $560 million at the time at an average of about $4 in 1993. At a time when entertainment forms are becoming more and more diverse, the $560 million North American domestic box office of Hollywood's major Hollywood studios is still unthinkable for the time being, but even if it is only half of $560 million, it is enough to make all Hollywood studios crazy.

Eric didn't expect things to go any further, perhaps spurred on by the media and Hollywood's joint popularity, and Mel Gibson inflated his self-confidence and put forward a series of harsh conditions to the negotiators sent by the Firefly production department, such as higher salaries and shares, increased investment, and absolute control of the film. The big production with an investment of more than $50 million is mainly to make money, and the Oscars are just icing on the cake on the basis of profits, and there is nothing outstanding about the box office of "Braveheart" in the original time and space. Eric would only agree to Mel Gibson's offer when his brain burned out. In the event that negotiations are inconclusive. Eric simply gave up on following up on the project.

As for Sophie, on the day the news was exposed, Eric called her again and told Sophie very frankly that things had changed. Sophie also expressed her anger very dryly, and laughed at Eric, but there was always a bit of love in her tone.

While "Braveheart" is a sweet spot for other studios, it's just a casual episode for Eric, and he has so much to focus on.

Early August. Kathryn Bigelow's long-awaited "Saving Private Ryan" was officially launched in Ireland, and although Eric could not travel to Europe in person, he still kept an eye on the film, and he would talk to Catherine on the phone once every three days to discuss the filming.

At the same time, filming of "True Lies" also began in Washington, D.C., and the quality of Cameron's films was absolutely guaranteed, and Eric would only routinely beat it when he burned too hard, of course, basically to no avail.

In addition, the production progress of the 2D animated film "The Lion King", which has been under the responsibility of Katzenberg himself, has also been completed more than halfway. Although if you rush to work, it can also be released at the end of the year. But Eric insisted on putting the film on next year.

These are the main films planned for the summer of 1994, and "Detective Plane Nose 2", "Interview with the Vampire" and Quentin's "Pulp Fiction" are all in production at the end of the year.

In addition, the second part of "Jurassic Park" is naturally included in the production plan of Firefly, after Roland Emmerich completed "Heaven and Earth", he also began to prepare for "Alone Day", Eric has to pay attention to the remaining films with Sony Pictures from time to time, and finally the newly established DreamWorks Films, "Breaking Bad" has already confirmed the three heroines and directors, and began auditions for minor actors.

Although 90% of the work was not done by Eric, the total investment of these projects was more than a billion dollars, and the accumulation of things that required Eric's personal attention still kept him busy every day.

Outside of the movie, after a few days of consideration, Murdoch still had to agree to most of the conditions in the divestment plan proposed by Firefly Pictures, and the two sides began to negotiate on the last details, and it is expected that the entire equity transaction will be completed in mid-September.

Sitting in his office at Firefly Pictures' headquarters, Eric was talking on the phone with Chris, who was far away in Northern Europe.

After a month of negotiations, Nokia's acquisition has entered the final stage, and Chris successfully acquired a 51% stake in Nokia's mobile communications division for $420 million, achieving absolute control. Although the premium is more than 20%, in Eric's opinion, the deal is definitely not a cabbage.

Eric was holding the microphone and talking to Chris about setting up a company in Ireland to avoid taxes, the office door was suddenly pushed open, Eric looked up and saw Elizabeth with red eyes and Drew with a tight face, Tina Fay bent her neck behind the two women, noticed Eric looking at her, Tina Fay squeezed her eyes at Eric, as if to hint at something.

In fact, even without hinting, watching Elizabeth and Drew walk to his desk, one left and one right, far away from each other, Eric could almost think of what was going on.

After a few words with Chris, he hurriedly hung up the phone, and before Eric could speak, Elizabeth pointed at Drew aggrievedly and said, "Eric, you tell her if you have talked to my dad about TG." ”

As soon as Eric nodded, Drew said angrily: "I also know that we have talked about it, but Eric didn't agree to your father's conditions at that time, and you lied to me." ”

Elizabeth snorted aggrievedly and looked at Eric suddenly, "You obviously acquiesced. ”

After that morning, Xiao Nizi disappeared for a few days in a row, and Eric thought that the matter had been resolved, but he didn't expect that the two of them were getting into a fight.

To say that the call at that time, Eric neither agreed nor objected, no matter how you understand it, at this time, looking at the other two pairs of eyes are firmly fixed on him. Eric doesn't want to take sides. I could only get up and pull the two girls together to sit on the sofa in the reception area. Said: "What is your situation now, let's talk about it first?"

Drew immediately raised his little face and complained: "She won't admit to lying to me." ”

"Why do you say I lied to you, Eric obviously acquiesced," Elizabeth also became excited.

"You damn liar," Drew teased again.

Perhaps because of the extreme grievances in her heart, Elizabeth couldn't hold back any longer, and jumped up and threw herself at Drew.

Seeing this, Eric hurriedly stepped forward to separate the two women, and watched the two women being separated by himself, and did not forget to stretch out his little paws to grab each other. Eric said with some tears and laughter: "It's okay to fight, don't scratch your face, it's all mine." ”

As soon as this sentence fell, Elizabeth opened her little white teeth and bit Eric's arm, and Xiao Nizi was immediately unhappy, and she was reluctant to bite it, why did you bite it first, so she also grabbed Eric's arm and gnawed it.

There was a scream in the office that seemed very miserable, and after a few moments, Eric sat down on the couch again. The sleeves of his shirt were rolled up, and he looked at the red crescent moon on his left and right arms. sighed, ignored Tina Fey, who was still covering her mouth and snickering next to her, and looked at the two women who were already a lot more honest sitting opposite: "Okay, this matter is my mistake, I didn't make it clear at the time, don't make trouble, just follow the plan I discussed with Rupert at that time, do you still have any opinions?"

Drew just pouted, turned his little head and didn't speak.

Elizabeth shook her head, looked at the red tooth marks on Eric's arm with some guilt, and suddenly lowered her head again, she was already a little weak in her heart, in fact, she also realized that this matter was the old man of her own family who cheated herself, but in the face of Xiao Nizi's interrogation with a gun and a stick, Elizabeth, who has always been strong, is even more unlikely to admit that she lied, but as a daughter, she can't point the finger at her father, so she was so deadlocked, and after a few days, she finally had to run to Eric to 'confront'.

"Since it's okay, that's it, Drew, Tina, you two go back first, I'll talk to Liz about something. ”

Xiao Nizi snorted lightly, stood up indignantly and walked out, although Tina Fei felt a little reluctant, but quickly followed.

As soon as the office door closed, Elizabeth whispered, "Eric, I'm sorry, I didn't know my dad would do this. ”

"Forget it, I'll settle accounts with your dad slowly in this matter," Seeing Elizabeth suddenly raise her head, Eric smiled and added: "Don't worry, it's definitely not a physical reckoning." ”

Elizabeth quickly remembered the question that Eric had asked herself before, smiled, but no longer pleaded for her unscrupulous father, anyway, when it came to the capitalist class at the top of the pyramid like them, even if they were in a hurry, it was unlikely to reach the point of bankrupting the other party, and after snorting, Elizabeth looked at Eric's arm and asked weakly, "Are you...... Does it still hurt?"

Eric reached out and rubbed a tooth mark, and smiled, "It's okay, I'll get a rabies vaccine later." ”

Elizabeth chuckled and wanted to find something to throw at Eric, but there were no pillows on the sofa in the office, so she could only give Eric a roll of the eyes: "You quit the Fox network, are you planning to buy the TV network café?"

"Well, the plan has been set for a long time, to launch the Fox network, just to avoid legal trouble. ”

Firefly maintains a stake in the Fox TV network, and the relationship between the two sides will always be closer, and Firefly withdraws at this time, although Elizabeth is a little reluctant in her heart, she also knows the reason for this, and says with some loss: "Now that TG is also dispersed, doesn't that mean that we will have nothing to do with each other in the future?"

Eric laughed, "What, you're going to dump me?"

Elizabeth's eyes were a little resentful: "You have so many women, I heard that you have been going to that pair of Spanish sisters a lot lately, do you still need to care about me?"

Eric said without hesitation, "Of course, I care about every woman I have. ”

Elizabeth's heart seemed to beat a little faster, but not to be outdone, she said, "Your words are really shameless. ”

"I won't deny it, you all know anyway. Eric shrugged: "What about you, Drew said you would go to Twentieth Century Fox as a vice president, what exactly do you do?"

"The film company's performance has not been satisfactory in the past few years, and my father asked me to be in charge of production, and he continues to serve as the CEO of TG. ”

Speaking of TG, Eric remembered the big trouble that had been pestering TG and asked, "Is it okay to negotiate with Jim Carrey?"

Well, it's been negotiated, and he's signed three more film contracts, $15 million plus a 5% profit share. ”

In recent years, more and more top superstars in Hollywood have begun to ask for film share treatment, and Eric is not surprised by this price, if it is other first-line superstars, although the film company will be willing to give a similar high price, but it will definitely not sign three films at once. But Jim Carrey's box office appeal is very stable, although it has reached its peak since the beginning of "Strange Jack in Disguise", but these two years are still in the heyday of his career, and the cost of Jim Carrey's movies has always been relatively low, signing such a price, Fox will not take too much risk.

Eric thought about these things and asked, "It's been a long time since I've heard about Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and you're planning to arrange this TV series like this?"

"It's probably going to premiere on September 28th," Elizabeth thought for a moment and nodded: "It's indeed September 28th, because this is a relatively niche vampire movie, although some people think it can be divided into youth campus fantasy dramas, and propose to use "Friends" as the prelude, but in the end, it was decided to use "The X-Files" as the preamble, which is more secure, Eric, how many ratings do you think this TV series can get?"

The original version of "Vampire Slayer Buffy" can form a trend of drama chasing when it is broadcast on Time Warner's very small WB TV, and at this time, it is placed on Fox TV, which has covered the whole United States, and has the audience base cultivated by "The X-Files", and the ratings should not be a problem with "The X-Files".

But Eric didn't dare to pack the ticket, saying: "Joss Wheddon's script is very good, if you don't change it like the movie version during the filming, the ratings should be guaranteed, as for how far it can go, I dare not say." ”

Elizabeth heard the uncertainty in Eric's tone, and she didn't pay too much attention to it, high-rated TV series are not like that after all, the four major TV stations have a three-hour prime time every day, except for some variety shows and holiday specials, an average of no less than ten TV series are broadcast every week, but there are often only one or two that support the ratings.

Leaving the matter aside, Elizabeth asked, "You just said you had something to talk to me about, what was it?"

"It's nothing, it's just a casual chat, I haven't been to you for a long time, how about tonight?"

"Julia isn't at home," Elizabeth blurted out when she immediately realized that something was wrong, and her face turned red, not daring to look at Eric's eyes again. (To be continued......)