Beverly Hills, Eric lived in the girl's mansion in Strausdale Manor for the past two days, he didn't stay up all night like many of Paramount's high-level executives, even though it was Saturday, he still got up on time, washed, exercised, had breakfast, and sat on the terrace of the mansion overlooking the whole of Los Angeles to read the newspaper for the new day. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

As if trying to make some kind of counterattack, Paramount couldn't wait to publish Friday's single-day box office charts in the newspaper.

The twins quietly put away the cutlery on the round table, and the girl sat opposite Eric, also reading a copy of the Los Angeles Times spread out on the table, and said in surprise: "The first weekend is expected to be 40 million in three days, and the first week will not exceed 60 million US dollars, which is similar to the first part, isn't our ban plan a failure?" ”

Eric shook his head with a smile and said, "Usually movies are correct according to your algorithm that a weekday is equivalent to more than half of a weekend, but animated movies are different, especially 2D animation, because most of the audience are children who need to be accompanied by their parents, and the box office ratio on weekdays will be lower." "The Lion King" grossed nearly 70% of its first week in three days over the first weekend, and this sequel is certainly about the same, so it's unlikely that it will exceed $60 million in its first week, and it should be around $55 million. ”

"$55 million in the first week, how much will the total box office be?"

Eric read a review of "Prison in the Air", thought for a moment, and said, "I can't say for sure. The total box office of "The Lion King 2" mainly depends on its box office performance in the first four weeks. After this week, next week is "Godzilla", next week is "Finding Nemo" and "Temp Contact", and then "Batman and Robin", these are all films that can pose a great threat to "The Lion King 2", if these films perform too well at the box office, "The Lion King 2" will definitely be impacted, on the contrary, it is not impossible for "The Lion King 2" to be close to the first part at the box office. ”

In fact, according to the memories of his previous life, Eric already had some details in his heart.

The upcoming films in the next three weeks, "Godzilla" and "Batman and Robin" are very likely to hit the streets, and only "Finding Nemo" is the most direct opponent of "The Lion King 2".

However, the current "Air Prison" seems to have a trend of falling short of expectations at the box office, with $7.7 million on the first day, and probably only about $35 million in the first week. The sluggish performance of "Prison in the Sky" has made Eric less sure about the box office prospects of "Finding Nemo", he has seen the finished 3D animation several times, although it is not inferior to the original, but because it was released six years earlier than the original version, Eric is not sure whether it can still show the amazing box office explosion that it once had.

Hearing what Eric said, the girl lowered her head and flipped through the entertainment version, found the film schedule of the summer file, looked at it for a while, looked up and said: "Then, it seems that the global box office of the summer file may be close to $1 billion, only "Godzilla" and our "Casino Royale" are the only ones." ”

"You are also stimulated by "Titanic", it is so easy to have a global 1 billion, Hollywood is lucky to be able to produce a box office dark horse with a global box office of 1 billion every year, this year, well," Eric hesitated, did not say the name of "Finding Nemo", paused, and said: "There may be this year, but it will definitely not be "Godzilla" and "Casino Royale". ”

"Ah, you don't have faith, huh?"

Eric analyzed: "You see, the global box office of the last "GoldenEye" was $350 million, which is the best result of 007 if inflation is not taken into account, in fact, this also shows the box office potential of 007 in its original form. This time "Casino Royale", my modification of the film form, is not sure if the audience will like it. But based on the 007 brand, my personal box office appeal and the aura of the Agent Cinematic Universe, the global box office of this film is not a big problem, if it explodes a little, it may be able to reach 700 million, but 1 billion will require a lot of chance. ”

The girl's eyes rolled and she said, "Then, by the time the final battle between the three secret service organizations and the Phantom Party comes in, is it possible to reach $1 billion?" ”

Eric remembered that in the original time and space, after the first part of "The Avengers" was released, the box office of "Captain America" and "Thor", the two first series sequels with mediocre box office, almost doubled, and the box office of "Iron Man", which was already very popular, exceeded $1 billion. The reason for this situation is largely because of the assembly of multiple superheroes, which has increased the popularity and box office appeal of the original single hero.

"007", "Mission Impossible" and "Breaking Bad" The three spy movie series were already very popular, and "Casino Royale" happened to be the first film in which the three series achieved plot crossover, and after this film, fans of the three spy series will definitely merge. Even if "Casino Royale" is not as strong as "The Avengers" in the original series, as long as this kind of plot cross-coherence is maintained in the sequel films of the series, perhaps a film with a global box office of 1 billion will appear before the final Ghost Party Armageddon.

"Of course it's possible, and you don't even need to wait until the final battle."

Eric nodded, then suddenly thought of something, put down the newspaper in his hand, created a blank document on the laptop next to him, and said as he tapped on the keyboard: "However, it suddenly occurred to me that you should pay attention to some problems in the next series, and I will write you a memo." ”

The girl leaned over curiously and said, "What? ”

Eric continued to tap on the keyboard and explained: "Regarding the supporting roles, you see, whether it is "007" or "Mission Impossible", as well as "Breaking Bad", there are more outstanding supporting characters, Mrs. M, Dr. Q and so on. After "Casino Royale", it is not a problem to make 10 more films in the Agent Cinematic Universe series, but in this case, if you want to make the protagonists of the three series make cameos with each other to achieve linkage, the production cost will become very high, and at this time, it is very cost-effective to let the supporting characters in the series achieve this interspersed effect. Even, like "Mission Impossible", Kevin Costner's salary is getting higher and higher, and if it is difficult for the two sides to work together in the end, we can even use the original supporting role to continue to lead the "Mission Impossible Department" and continue the "Mission Impossible" series. ”

The girl looked at the memo document that Eric quickly typed out, roughly understood, and nodded with a smile: "Just like you promised Chrissy to star in that flying car movie as Angela Linde in "Casino Royale"?" ”

Eric paused with his fingers tapping on the keyboard, slapped it on the round table, and said, "yes, I almost forgot about this movie, it's all because I've been too busy lately, I've taken the time to write the outline in the past two days, you can find a few suitable screenwriters to fill in the script." ”

"Hehe," the girl smiled, "give it back to us, Liz will definitely be even more angry, maybe Jeffrey will have an opinion." ”

Eric has indeed stuffed too many popular movies into the girl over the years, not to mention the Agent Cinematic Universe, "Wonderful Night at the Museum", "Resident Evil", "Forrest Gump" and other films are all eye-catching hit projects, and the next Thor King Middle-earth epic series is enough to make a film company eat for ten years.

It seems that Drew himself wants Eric not to be so overtly partial.

Smiled and kissed the girl's face, Eric said: "Forget it this time, you continue to hold it, I hope this racing series can be linked with the Agent Movie Universe, if it is placed in other film companies, although the plot can still be crossed, but because the subject matter is relatively different, it will seem too deliberate, and there will be a lot of unclear copyright entanglements." There has always been no shortage of projects on the Firefly side. On Fox's side, they are now working on "Star Wars Prequel", Miramax's performance in the past two years has also been very eye-catching, and Julia, the box office actress, is not much worse than you in the film business over there, except for the lack of some big productions, besides, Fox's foundation is much stronger than MGM. ”

Fox has been taken over by News Corp for more than a decade, and although the film business has not been too good in recent years, Fox has been operating very steadily with the support of News Corp's strong strength.

In contrast, MGM's current business is still limited to movies, although stimulated by a series of popular blockbusters, the vitality has begun to recover, but the overall strength is still at the bottom of the seven.

Of course, the girl also knew that Eric wanted MGM to become strong as soon as possible and play a greater role in the media system of Firefly.

Nodding her head, she didn't refuse again, and the girl said, "By the way, Eric, Amy discussed it with me last time, and we recently had the opportunity to buy a cable TV station." ”

If MGM wants to go further, it definitely needs to expand into the television industry, and Eric's original idea was to hope that MGM could buy CBS and Columbia Pictures in the hands of Sony, but due to the rise of the new wave of technology, CBS is now worth more than $20 billion, and Sony also has no idea of getting rid of the film business, both of which will not work for the time being.

Then, expanding into the cable TV industry has become a good choice. Over the next two decades, North American public television networks are doomed to decline, and the cable industry will enter its heyday.

Eric sent the memo to MGM CEO Amy Pascal's email and asked, "Which TV station is it?" ”

“e！ Amusement. ”

Eric raised his eyebrows slightly, and immediately remembered that it was the original time and space playing and the big ...... Oh no, the TV station that traveled with the Kardashians.

Nodding, Eric said, "I've heard of this TV station, but I don't pay much attention to it." ”

The girl introduced: "I've read the information, e! Entertainment is mostly streaming fashion-related movies, television, music, and the like, oh, and Hollywood gossip. ”

Eric subconsciously asked, "Isn't there a reality show?" ”

The girl tilted her head: "Like, no, but if we can buy it, we can definitely make our own reality show." ”

"It's a waste of resources for this kind of TV station not to broadcast reality shows, but it also needs to be well planned," Eric said, and then asked, "Now e!" In the hands of that company? ”

"That's a bit complicated, e! Entertainment was originally established by Warner Cable, Comcast, Remote Communications, Continental Television and Basic Cable, which have been integrated several times over the years, and Continental TV and Basic Cable have withdrawn, this time Time Warner also wants to exit, looking for interested buyers, we can buy about 40% of the shares at most, however, Connor's meaning, if we take over the shares in the hands of Warner Cable, we should be able to get e! The right to operate the entertainment. ”

Cable television in North America only began to rise in the 80s, when in order to avoid investment risks and make better use of various resources, it was basically in the form of joint shares, just like the AE TV network and ESPN TV station, which Firefly and Hearst Group still jointly own.

"Then buy 40% first, and have a chance to eat the entire TV station in the future."

"But I think it's a little expensive, e! Entertainment plus a few sub-stations, now has less than 50 million subscribers, last year's revenue was only 370 million, and it also lost $13 million. For less than 40% of the shares, Warner Cable offers 750 million, and Amy said that the price is still negotiable, but in the end it will not be less than 600 million US dollars. ”

If it is a paid cable station, about 50 million subscribers will definitely make shareholders make money, but e! Entertainment is apparently based on advertising and operator sharing as the main revenue of cable stations.

In the past two years, just like CBS, whether it is a public television network or a cable television station, it has been stimulated by the new wave of technology, and prices have skyrocketed.

If it was a few years ago, according to the current financial situation, e! The overall value of entertainment will not exceed the $750 million quoted by Warner Cable, but now, Warner's interest in e! The $750 million offer for a 40% stake in Entertainment is not too outrageous, Time Warner's financial situation in recent years has not been very good, and Warner Cable is estimated to be cashing out at a high level while getting rid of the burden.

"Buy as much as you can," Eric said to the girl, "In a few years, if you want to buy it, no one else will buy it." ”

In recent years, it is the last moment of the integration of the North American media industry, and when all the dust has settled, the development momentum of cable TV stations is getting better and better, and several major media groups that have formed a giant will definitely not easily get rid of some cable TV stations, so to speak, the last few years are almost the last opportunity for MGM to expand into the TV industry.

The girl didn't doubt Eric's judgment in the slightest, and nodded, "Okay, I'll call Amy now." ”

As she spoke, Natasha came out of the villa, holding a cordless phone in her hand, and handed it to Drew, "Boss, it's Miss Hudson's phone." (To be continued.) )