Eric also remembered some information about "Much Ado About Nothing", since this movie is going for the Oscars, now it seems that the first part went wrong, and I don't know who came up with this idea of releasing it in May, and if it is released now, if it does not cause too much impact, then the popularity of the movie in the annual awards season should almost dissipate.

Eric estimates that the production company wants to take advantage of the hot summer schedule to recoup some box office. However, he didn't think of any connection between the film and the Oscars, probably because there was no splash at the box office and nothing in the awards.

None of this is Eric's concern, though.

After Michelle Simmons finished speaking, Eric got up and thought for a moment, then said, "Well, I'll send you some snippets of the script later, and you can ask the two of them to record some audition videos and send the tape to me." ”

Michelle Simmons, while realizing that Eric was more optimistic about the two actresses, asked, "Mr. Williams, I've brought back eight girls, and I think maybe I can get them all to audition." ”

Eric heard Michelle Simmons's hesitant tone, and immediately realized the other party's difficulties, these girls brought back by Michelle Simmons must have been entrusted to her by acquaintances in the European film industry, if the other party came all the way to Los Angeles and failed to participate in even one audition, then it would be difficult for Michelle Simmons to do: "Okay, let them all participate in the audition." ”

"Mr. Williams, perhaps, I can take them to New York. See for yourself?" suggested Michelle Simmons.

Eric was stunned. Laughing: "Michelle." You should know my recent situation, it's inconvenient for me to show up, you can do this thing, and you can also find Drew to arrange this audition together, she will be in charge of the production of "Breaking Bad" in the future, you can familiarize yourself with it in advance. ”

"Well, then I got it," Michelle Simmons said no more. After a few more conversations, he hung up the phone.

Two days later, a group of girls audition tapes were sent to Eric, who spent hours watching the tapes and didn't see a talented girl with too amazing acting skills, so he sent his original decision to Michelle Simmons in Los Angeles. Subsequently, through the introduction of John Wu, Firefly found the original Yuan Jiaban martial arts instructor from the other side of the ocean, and was responsible for training the three women.

Time always flies, and in the blink of an eye, it is late May, and all the movies in the summer file have entered the final publicity period. Although the main promotional force of "Jurassic Park" is a line of actors in the movie, but. In a phone call, Jerry Bruckheimer also complained that most of the promotional occasions that Eric was supposed to attend were replaced by him as a producer, and jokingly asked Eric to give him a raise.

For two months, Eric was basically only in contact with the outside world by phone and email, and rarely even went out. There are often people who come to visit, but everyone also knows Eric's scruples, and they are all cautious when they come to visit, plus the original small manor is empty, and the paparazzi think that Eric has left Long Island with the woman, so Eric's residence has never been photographed by the paparazzi.

However, as the release date of "Jurassic Park" is getting closer and closer, Eric has to rush back to Los Angeles to host the final stage of the film's promotion, and it is impossible for Eric, the director, to be absent from the premiere of the movie.

Peter Cooper got out of the car, walked his assistant all the way into the Firefly Pictures headquarters building, and after letting the front desk inform him, he quickly walked into the elevator and went all the way to Eric's office on the top floor.

After saying hello to the assistant outside Eric's office, he knocked on the door and pushed open Eric's office door, and saw the young man sitting behind the desk, Peter Cooper walked over with a smile as if he saw his own relative: "Eric, you are finally back." ”

Eric smiled at Peter Cooper and hurriedly said a few more words on the phone before getting up and laughing, "Peter, I've heard that more than a hundred times in the past two days. ”

"Haha, that shows how much you miss you, by the way, did you receive my gift for the little ones?" asked Peter Cooper as he hugged Eric.

"Of course, thank you, they love it, let's sit over there. Eric pointed to the reception couch and pressed the phone to ask the secretary to help make coffee, before sitting down on the couch with Peter Cooper.

When the secretary brought the coffee and left the office, Peter Cooper couldn't wait to say: "Eric, the global release of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" is almost over, we really can't wait any longer, when you left, you told me that you will think about our next few film projects." ”

"Of course, Peter, I've always had this thing in mind," Eric picked up his coffee, blew it lightly, and said, "Don't worry, how about you try the coffee first." ”

Peter Cooper had been dragged out of temper by Eric, so he had to take a few sips of coffee and pretend to take a few sips, and quickly put down the coffee cup again: "Eric, I heard that you are now preparing the film version of "Charlie's Angel", if you don't have other projects for the time being, I think this movie is okay, you know, we still have four films on the contract, but there are less than two years left." ”

When Eric heard Peter Cooper say this, he put down his coffee cup and said, "Peter, Charlie's Angel is definitely not going to work, I have other arrangements for this movie." ”

Peter Cooper was only tentative, and when he saw that Eric disagreed, he said, "So, how about Wu prepare a sequel to Mr. and Mrs. Smith right away, we can't do nothing, right?"

"Don't worry, Peter, wait a minute," Eric said, getting up and finding a folder next to the filing cabinet, and walking over to hand it to him, "I said I would take this matter to heart." You see. I've found the project. ”

Peter Cooper saw that things were finally coming to an eyebrow. I couldn't wait to open the folder that Eric had handed over.

"Jumanji, what kind of genre is this?" asked Peter Cooper as he flipped through the information and didn't know what to do after just a few pages: "This, 1981 children's literature, uh, how did I not know that there was an adaptation of such a work in Colombia's copyright library?"

Eric couldn't help but roll his eyes when he heard Peter Cooper say this. This guy spends his days thinking about getting benefits from Colombia, and he doesn't have time to pay attention to this kind of thing.

"Juman's Game" is a 1981 work by the famous American children's writer Chris Osberg, which tells a magical board game similar to Monopoly, which can summon various characters and animals from another time and space, resulting in a series of magical stories.

A few years after the release of this novel, the adaptation rights of the film were bought by Columbia Pictures at that time, but because the film required a lot of special effects, and Columbia Pictures' business situation was not very good, and the special effects technology was very immature, the management did not dare to risk spending a lot of money to make such a movie. So the copyright has been put on hold.

When Peter Cooper urged Eric more than two months ago, Eric asked for their copyright reserve from Columbia. So I found the adaptation rights of this novel, and along with "Jumanji", there was also the adaptation rights of another manga.

Looking at Peter Cooper slowly flipping through the pages, Eric said directly: "Peter, this is just the first project, and there is another one below. ”

"And?" Peter Cooper flipped down in surprise, and soon found the name of another movie: "The Man in Black, I seem to have heard of this, this is a comic from the previous two years, I can't think of ......" Speaking of this, Peter Cooper's expression finally showed a trace of embarrassment: "Unexpectedly, the copyright of this comic is also here in Colombia." ”

Eric stopped urging Peter Cooper this time, and let the other party read the information slowly, and then said: "Peter, according to the agreement we signed at the beginning, the copyright of the five films is shared between the two parties, so if you want to make two projects, you need to sign the copyright sharing agreement in advance. ”

Peter Cooper was stunned, the adaptation rights of these two works are enjoyed by Columbia Pictures alone, and if it is said that according to the original agreement, the copyright will become the majority of Fireflies in a blink of an eye, and if there is no sequel within a few years, Columbia's part of the copyright will even automatically return to Firefly.

This kind of thing is very disadvantageous no matter how you think about it, which makes Peter Cooper feel very unhappy. Looking up at Eric, who was picking up his coffee again and sipping slowly, Peter Cooper had the idea of making the two movies separately without Firefly.

However, this idea only flashed in his mind, and soon, Peter Cooper was a little discouraged, in the information he just saw, these two movies are special effects account for a large proportion of the project, a monster beast is rampant everywhere, and an alien is running all over the ground, if you put aside the fireflies, then, the digital field is likely to no longer participate in the special effects production of these two films, in Hollywood to find a special effects company with enough technical strength to produce these two movies, it is not so easy, even a few years ago was a standout industrial light and magic may not be able to play, in the past two years, everyone in Hollywood knows, because of the rise of the digital fieldIndustrial Light & Magic has already begun to decline. Especially in terms of computer CG, ILM has been thrown a few streets away by the digital field.

Moreover, if the fireflies are thrown away, Eric will definitely not give any more guidance to these two projects, so it is not certain whether it will succeed at that time, and the disastrous box office failure of "Cut Throat Island", which entered the Guinness Book of Records, is still a topic that many people in Hollywood 'talk about'.

Although Eric pretended to be nonchalant, he kept an eye on Peter Cooper's expression. Seeing Peter Cooper's expression gradually relaxed, Eric said at the right time: "Peter, the copyright of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" could have been exclusively enjoyed by Firefly, but I still took it out without hesitation. Besides, as long as you can give Sony headquarters a beautiful financial report with "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" like last quarter, your position will be more secure, and Sony headquarters will not care about these small things. ”

Peter Cooper knew that this loss must have been settled on Colombia, but after hearing Eric's words, Peter Cooper also reacted, anyway, these losses ultimately fell on the Japanese.

When he was hired, Sony headquarters set up a reward fund with a total amount of $50 million, because of the outstanding results of "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", Sony headquarters cashed out a part of the rewards, and as long as the next movies can still do well, then, in the next few years, Peter Cooper will be able to cash in these rewards. Coupled with the large number of benefits he has reaped from the shell of Colombia in private, even if he leaves Colombia in a few years, he will almost be able to use these savings to retire early to enjoy life. As for what happens to Colombia next, it doesn't matter to him.

"Okay, Eric, I'll arrange someone to negotiate the relevant contract as soon as possible, but it's already low in May, and according to the fastest production schedule, these two films should also be released in the summer next year, so we won't have any collaborative movies this year?"

Eric saw that the copyrights of the two series "Game of the Brave" and "Men in Black" were in hand, and he also knew that he would 'repay the favor', and said very happily: "In this case, let John Wu make another shootout film, I will personally take care of this matter, you know, director Xiangjiang has always made movies very fast, plus it is a non-special effects film, there will definitely be no problem with the release at the end of the year." ”

John Wu's most successful Hollywood films, Eric just remembers.

Hearing Eric say this, Peter Cooper grinned unabashedly and said, "Since the three movies have been decided, Eric, it is better to take this opportunity to finalize the last movie, you Firefly have so many projects that are being hatched, it is nothing to let one out." Moreover, if all four films are confirmed, then I can make an announcement immediately, which can also give investors some confidence. ”

Eric didn't think of a suitable movie for a while, and the project in the Firefly plan couldn't be easily ceded to Columbia, thinking about it, Eric said: "Since that's the case, then you can just announce it directly, plus a sequel to "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", anyway, the other three are true, and when the time comes, the plan for the sequel will die for various reasons, and the public will not suspect anything." ”

"Good idea," Peter Cooper clapped his hands, "But, Eric, why not actually make a sequel to Mr. and Mrs. Smith?"

"It's fine, but I don't have time to think about the script for the sequel, so I'm going to find another screenwriter and try to write a script for the sequel, and if the script can satisfy me, I'll start the production of the sequel. (To be continued......)