At this time, Amy Adams heard Eric take the initiative to greet him, and immediately felt flattered. Pen Fun Pavilion wWw. ｂiquge。 ｉｎfo

The two only had a brief exchange when she first started working a few days ago, and Amy knew very well what the name Eric Williams meant in Hollywood, although she felt that Eric's attitude towards her was a little different when she first met, but she still didn't expect Eric to even remember her name.

"Very, well, it's like a dream," Amy hugged the menu that Eric had just handed back to her chest, looking a little incoherent, staring at the man in front of her, "Will, Mr. Williams, I've always been a fan of yours." ”

Kenneth Horn patiently waited for his boss to finish talking with the waitress before ordering his own lunch, and watched Amy, who was a little erratic, leave, with a knowing smile on his face, and praised: "Very special eyes." ”

"yes," Eric smiled and nodded.

In fact, Amy's eyes are not beautiful as a whole, but those eyes that are sometimes light blue and sometimes green under different lights are easy to impress.

After a casual conversation, Kenneth Horn quickly turned the conversation to work.

Before you know it, it's Monday, December 14th.

This past weekend, the last film of the 1998 Firefly Group, "The Tea Boy", also appeared in North American theaters.

Although Adam Sandler's "The Wedding Singer" in the Easter schedule successfully achieved a good result of the North American box office of more than 100 million, the company did not expect much from his "Tea Boy", which imitated some elements of "Forrest Gump", because the plot of this film seems to most people to be a bit too nonsense.

But it turns out that North American audiences are very fond of Adam Sandler's simple and silly movie style with these little warmth and love.

In the first three days of the opening weekend, the film grossed $33.91 million in North American theaters, far exceeding the original expectations of the new line distribution department.

According to the box office results of the first weekend, the film is expected to grossed about $50 million in the first week, which is enough to recover the production cost of $23 million. The first week started with $50 million, and the next consecutive hot Christmas week, "Tea Boy" broke 100 million at the North American box office is almost a certainty, after all, "Star Wars Prequel 1: The Phantom Menace" is unlikely to dominate the entire market even if it is popular.

In comparison, Paramount Pictures' 2D animated film "Mulan", which was released at the same time, only earned $22.75 million at the box office in more than 2,800 theaters in North America in the first three days of the first weekend, which is more than $10 million lower than "Tea Boy". On the other hand, "Mulan" cost more than $70 million to make, more than three times that of "Tea Boy".

The reaction of critics and audiences to this animated film can only be considered mediocre. At this time, the industry has finally gradually felt that under the backdrop of several consecutive box office hit 3D animated films, 2D animated films have inevitably shown a trend of detaching themselves from the mainstream and declining.

Eric, however, didn't have the heart to pay attention to Paramount Animation anymore.

On the Firefly Group's side, after the dust settled on the annual distribution plan, everyone was surprised to find that they originally thought it was a relatively sluggish year for the Firefly Group's film business, but the actual situation was far beyond everyone's expectations.

Moreover, this reversal situation all comes from several low-budget dark horse works under New Line Pictures.

The most surprising of these is naturally the summer file "Midnight Bell", this horror film that created a phenomenal movie-watching craze persisted until the end of November before it was completely removed from the North American market, and after more than four months of screening, the final box office of the film reached $286 million, ranking second only to "Breaking Bad 3" at the current 1998 North American box office list with $322 million.

At the same time, on November 13, "Teddy Bear", which is still distributed by New Line Pictures, as of the past weekend, the cumulative box office in North America has reached 1954.3 billion US dollars, which is only one step away from 200 million.

"Midnight Bell" and "Teddy Bear" broke 200 million at the North American box office, and "Wedding Singer" and "Tea Boy" broke 100 million at the North American box office, just these four films of the new line, the total box office of 700 million US dollars in North America accounted for 10% of the annual box office share in North America in 1998.

Due to the outstanding performance of New Line Pictures, Firefly Group's annual film market share will still reach more than 20%.

What's even more rare is that the four films of New Line Pictures that have exceeded 100 million at the box office are all small and big, with the production cost of "Midnight Bell" costing $30 million, "Teddy Bear" costing $50 million, and the total of the two films "Wedding Singer" and "Tea Boy" is just over $40 million. The four films cost a total of $120 million, but North America alone will bring in nearly $700 million at the box office.

New Line Pictures has been able to achieve such outstanding results for several years in a row, although it is inseparable from a series of ideas given by Eric, but it is also inseparable from Kenneth Horn's excellent management ability. After all, there's no shortage of studio executives in Hollywood who play a good hand to the point.

It just so happened that Kenneth Horn's contract was about to expire next year, and Steve Bernstein, the CEO of ESPN TV, had already made Eric very sorry, and he naturally did not want another member of the group to leave.

However, the solid management structure of the Firefly Group also made it impossible for Eric to promote Kenneth Horn in the short term.

"Kenneth, you are very clear about the situation within the company," since he couldn't avoid it, Eric also behaved very calmly, and said: "In the short term, I can't make much adjustments to the management, so although you have done a good job in the new line in the past few years, I can't make further adjustments to your position." I communicated with Jeffrey and them, if you are willing to continue to stay in New Line, the condition I can give is that your next salary standard is based on the basic salary, and you can enjoy 5% of the annual profit dividend of New Line Film Group as a whole. In addition, you will no longer be under the control of Jeffrey in the future, and will be directly responsible for me personally. ”

As the CEO of Firefly Group, Katzenberg's salary contract is based on the basic salary, and enjoys an annual profit dividend of 2% for the entire Firefly Group. Based on Firefly Group's current net profit of more than $3 billion per year, Katzenberg's annual compensation level is around $60 million.

Although the operating performance in recent years is very bright, in fact, the various revenue data of New Line Pictures still only accounts for about 15% of the entire Firefly Group, even in this year's better year, this data does not exceed 20%.

However, Eric's 5% annual profit dividend for Kenneth Horn is still full of sincerity.

The annual profit that New Line Pictures can contribute to the parent company is about 500 million US dollars, and the annual profit dividend of 5% is equivalent to 25 million US dollars, which is already the salary standard of the heads of the seven major Hollywood studios. If there will be several consecutive dark horse works like this year in the future, this number will undoubtedly be much higher.

To be sure, Kenneth Horn didn't think about leaving the Firefly Group.

After all, although the salary is lucrative, it is only in charge of a subsidiary of the Firefly Group, and in any case it is not as good as running a large studio alone.

Moreover, he also knew that within the Firefly Group, the possibility of him being able to further become the president of the group was far below Robert Iger. Like many group executives, it was even clear that Robert Iger was almost the next president of the group, and even Katzenberg's successor in the future.

But, after a little consideration, Kenneth Horn realized that with the current Hollywood landscape, there was no place for him.

Steve Bernstein came from the television industry and could have moved to the close-knit Comcast Group, but he has been in Hollywood since he graduated from college, so he knows very well that it is difficult for him to be as comfortable as he is when he leaves Hollywood and the film industry.

As for Hollywood, the Firefly system already controls four of the seven major studios. In the other three, Time Warner's internal factions are full of disputes, and he is an outsider who has jumped ship in the past, and under the constraints of many parties, he is unable to display his talents at all. Universal Pictures is already firmly in the hands of Michael Eisner, and he doesn't want to follow in Michael Ovitz's footsteps. As for Paramount, Lei Shidong's strong desire to control the whole of Viacom also won't give him much room to play.

Perhaps, within the Firefly system, he can also compete for the position of the top of Columbia Pictures, and he believes that if he brings it up, Eric will not hesitate too much. Bill Michanik isn't a Firefly executive after all, and if he wants to take control of Colombia in the past, Eric might even like to hear about it.

But while it's still nominally one of the seven studios, only a fool would jump into that Colombian mess.

You must know that although it is only a subsidiary of Firefly Group, the current comprehensive strength of New Line Pictures has far exceeded that of Columbia Pictures, of course, the scale of the film library and its own hidden position in Hollywood are still incomparable. But if the two companies are listed separately, Columbia Pictures' market value will never exceed $5 billion, but New Line Pictures can easily exceed $10 billion.

All things considered, Kenneth Horn couldn't think of any better choice than staying at New Line Pictures.

What's more, the salary conditions offered by Eric are definitely sincere. Although his specific position was not improved, he only needed to report to Eric personally for adjustments, which was equivalent to promoting him to the same status as Katzenberg.

"Eric, I'm looking forward to continuing this job," Kenneth Horn said after a moment's thoughtful pause, "but I also hope that the company will loosen some restrictions on the production genre of New Line Pictures, and I think I can still try my hand at big-budget films." ”

Although Eric is very generous in terms of salary and package, he does not intend to back down when it comes to the fundamental business route of the new line, saying: "Kenneth, I can't promise you this, and you should be able to see that over the years, this kind of production strategy positioning of the new line has been very successful. Moreover, for series like "Jedi Men" and "Rush Hour", I will not limit you in terms of the production budget of the sequel. However, in terms of the fundamental business strategy, I still hope that the new line will always stick to the current operating route. ”

Noticing Kenneth Horn's disappointed expression, Eric still didn't plan to change his attention, but he still gave a 'sweet date' that had been prepared a long time ago, and said: "However, Kenneth, you know, the scale of the firefly system in the TV business has become larger and larger in recent years, and if TV programs are only produced and sold by themselves, it is difficult to have too many high-quality products, so I hope that the new line will be more involved in TV production in the future, providing TV programs for ABC, FOX and the cable TV networks of several companies." ”

New Line Pictures actually originally had a TV production department, but the scale has always been small, and the main focus of New Line has been on the film business in recent years.

Hearing Eric say this, Kenneth Horn also understands that this is Eric's hope that the new line can become one of the program suppliers of the major TV brands of the Firefly system, and at the same time stimulate healthy competition among major TV brands in order to produce better TV programs.

The TV market in North America is about the same size as the film market, but it has always been in a closed operating system, and it is difficult to obtain specific data from the outside world as easily as movies.

Although Eric was not allowed to let go of the restrictions on the production types of New Line Pictures, with Eric's support to develop the TV business, Kenneth Horn could not have more luxuries.

After a few more chats and confirmation of some specific details, Amy Adams brought the two lunch, and Kenneth Horn took the initiative to turn the conversation to recent events.

"There is no doubt that this year is another Oscar year. So far, Hollywood only has "The Horse Whisperer" and "Elizabeth", two awards season favorites, and the other films can only be regarded as accompaniment. Moreover, although the reputation of the film reviews is very good, I have privately let people know that most of the college judges do not attach much importance to "The Horse Whisperer", and "Elizabeth" is very likely to win an important Oscar this year, and I am even wondering if I can make "Midnight Bell" also impact the Oscars, just like "The Exorcist" back then. ”

Eric shook his head and smiled: "If "Midnight Bell" is an original script in North America, or adapted from a horror novel by Westerners, maybe it is still possible. But it's an adaptation of a horror novel, do you think the proud old men of the academy will fancy a work with a culture embedded in it?"

"Oh, I know it's unlikely," Kenneth Horn smiled, apparently thinking about it.

Eric continued: "Also, 'The Horse Whisperer' means a lot to the Harvey brothers, so they will never give up on making this film an Oscar attack easily. I think that even if the judges don't like it, the Harvey brothers will probably use all the resources and connections they have accumulated over the years to force "The Horse Whisperer" to win the Oscars, so you should not be so optimistic. ”