After the box office explosion of "Saving Private Ryan" and "True Lies" in June, the Firefly shareholders and creditors who had all kinds of small calculations in their hearts completely calmed down, and the astonishing box office of more than $46 million in the first three days of "The Lion King" made them start to re-evaluate the value of their stocks and bonds.

"The Lion King" cost only $45 million to make, and although the publicity and distribution costs are at the same high level, the expected $300 million box office in North America alone is enough to make Firefly a lot of money, and the film's sequel revenue, overseas box office, video sales, and peripheral licensing will continue to bring Firefly more than $1 billion in profits in the future. Some people in Hollywood even feel that the golden age of hand-drawn animated films has come again, and the first reaction of Firefly's minority shareholders and creditors when they hear the news is to hope that Firefly can increase its investment in hand-drawn animation, increasing the production speed of the original average of one every two years to one or even more a year.

So when the news appeared in the newspapers that Eric was about to close Disney's animated film division after The Lion King, no one believed the news to be true. Because of this, when CNN played a recording of Eric answering a reporter's question at the premiere of "The Lion King", the whole world thought that Eric Williams must be crazy.

In the days that followed, the offices and private phone calls of all the Firefly executives, including Katzenberg and Michael Lynn, were flooded with calls from shareholders, creditors and the media, and of course, Eric was even less likely to be let go. It's just that when some people contact Eric. The call was directed to his assistant's office. As long as I asked about Disney Animation Studio, the reply was always yes, but I didn't get any explanation.

Agitated minority shareholders even openly put pressure on Firefly's top management in the newspapers, and Firefly's long-term bond sales began to slow down once again. The topic of closing Disney's animation division attracted worldwide attention in just a few days, and later, there was even ridiculous talk that Disney was about to go bankrupt.

In Firefly Studios, in the studio preparing for the Victoria's Secret show, Eric, who was 'worried' by many people, was concentrating on discussing the design of a Victoria's Secret Angel costume with a designer in a low voice.

Outside the studio. A brown-haired woman about thirty-five years old in a black professional suit came to the entrance and showed her ID before being let in. The woman searched for a moment among a group of designers, costumers, and try-on models, and after settling on her target, she hurried to Eric's side through the busy crowd of workers.

The brown-haired woman, Kelly Haynes, was originally an assistant in Eric's assistant office, and although Eric promised Caroline and her roommate Melanie Gleason to work in his assistant's office, the two girls would not be able to join until they had completed their classes at Harvard, and even if they did, they would not be able to take on the role of Eric's first assistant anytime soon. So after returning from Boston, on the recommendation of Allen. Eric chose this woman to be his first assistant.

Sensing a hurried figure approaching beside him, Eric looked up at Kelly Haynes and asked, "Kelly, is there something wrong?"

Kelly Haynes had been working in Eric's assistant office for a few years, but suddenly came to the big boss and seemed a little uncomfortable. After calming down a little, he said: "Mr. Williams, Mr. Buffett has just called in person, and he said that he is in Los Angeles at four o'clock in the afternoon and wants to invite you to dinner, and Mr. Tom Murphy and Mr. David West will also come from New York. ”

Warren Buffett, Tom Murphy and David West, president of State Street Global Partners, happen to be members of the board of directors who accidentally represent the 25% of minority shareholders.

Eric had already called a few people to explain briefly, but they clearly didn't intend to stop there.

Pausing his work, Eric said, "Promise them for me, and besides, have I prepared the materials you have prepared?"

"Yes," Kelly Haynes pulled a document out of her bag and handed it to Eric.

Eric shook his head with a smile and said, "Although these documents are not classified as confidential, you shouldn't take them out of the office at random without asking for them." And I don't have time to look at it now, so give it to me before dinner. ”

Kelly Haynes' face was slightly red, she wanted Eric to see the results of her work for the first time, but she ignored some of the work rules that she had paid attention to in the past, and put the documents away again, Kelly Haynes said seriously: "Sorry, Mr. Williams, this was my mistake. ”

"It's okay, is there anything else?"

Kelly Haynes pulled out a memo and said, "The Hearst Group, Condé Nast Group, News Corp., and Knightreed Group have all made their ......own offers for the print media assets divested by ABC," and at this point, Kelly Haynes suddenly paused, and then looked at the designer next to Eric, who seemed to be bending over to draw. The designer didn't have anything else in mind, he was just a little curious about Eric's daily life, and he didn't take the initiative to avoid it just now, but at this time, he keenly felt Kelly Haines's gaze, and the designer made an apologetic look at Eric a little embarrassed, picked up the sketchpad and took the initiative to walk towards another workbench nearby.

The episode did not have any impact on the communication between the two, and Kelly Haynes continued: "At the moment, the Hearst Group has the highest offer of $1.35 billion, followed by News Corp. at $1.3 billion, Condé Nast at $1.28 billion and Knightreed at $1 billion. At the morning meeting, Mr. Lynn and the others felt that this was just the first round of testing by the publishing group, and that the final price of the asset should be between $1.5 billion and $1.6 billion. ”

Eric nodded, indicating that he understood. Kelly Haynes didn't expect Eric to discuss anything with her, and if Eric had any ideas, she would usually only consult with Michael Lynn and others, and she was only responsible for aggregating the information to Eric.

Flipped a page of the memo. Kelly Haynes couldn't help but look up at Eric's expression. "Peter Schneider, head of the animation department, and Roy Disney, art advisor, would like to speak with you in person. They said the invitation represented the 758 employees in Disney's hand-drawn animation division, and they hope you will take it seriously. ”

"I can't help but jump out of Roy Disney, he really thinks that Disney is too emperor. Eric smiled a little sarcastically, whether it was the information in his memories or the impression of real people after being reborn, Eric did not like Roy Disney, a guy who likes to play with power.

In the mid-80s, Roy Disney co-shareholders kicked out Walt Disney's son-in-law, completely erasing the influence of Walt Disney's bloodline on the Disney Company, and in the mid-90s, Katzenberg and Michael Ovitz left. At the beginning of the new century, Roy Disney once again launched a shareholder vote to drive out Michael Eisner, and it can be said that after the death of Walt Disney in the original time and space, Roy Disney has been present in every turmoil of Disney. Although some of these events have also had a positive impact on the Disney Group, since Disney has become an asset of Firefly on this plane, Eric will certainly not allow Roy Disney to continue to be an unstable factor.

So, not long after the acquisition of Disney, after the situation stabilized, Eric took off Roy Disney's position as head of Disney's animation department on the grounds that he was too old. Only symbolically reserved for it the title of an artistic advisor.

After a moment's consideration, Eric said, "Tell them." Tomorrow morning at nine o'clock I will be waiting for them in my personal office in the studio. ”

Kelly Haynes listened to Eric's casual tone, and even had some doubts that the big boss was not clear about the current chaotic situation in the outside world, and after a moment of wanting to speak, she still quietly wrote down the matter in the memo, and then said: "Mr. Williams, there are only these things for the time being, is there anything we need to do on your side?"

"No, it's okay to arrange a car to pick me up for dinner in the evening," Eric shook his head, just about to let Kelly Haynes leave, but then remembered something else and asked, "I haven't had time to read last weekend's box office report, how much did Warner's "Law Enforcers" gross?"

"At $7.5 million, the film ranked fifth at the box office last weekend, and after "The Lion King", "True Lies", "Star Trek 7" and "Saving Private Ryan", the film's reputation is also declining, and the agency expects the total box office of this film to be between $25 million and $30 million, and the total cost of publicity and distribution, Warner will bear $70 million in the short term, and the detailed report has been sent to your email." ”

Eric didn't hear anyone specifically mention this to him, and he had already predicted the fate of "Law Enforcement", and some schadenfreude: "Warner will definitely not have any expectations for Westerns anymore." ”

Kelly Haynes said: "Yes, Warner's total box office this year is temporarily behind Firefly and Universal, however, Warner's annual film release plan is 29, one more than Firefly, and the subsequent box office accumulation is likely to rank second, because the rest of the major film companies are all in a state of reduced production, after Firefly, Universal is 16, Paramount is 15, Fox is 13, Columbia, MGM has less than 10 films, and although the rest of the second- and third-tier film companies have released a lot of films, they have not performed too well at the box office. ”

"It seems that you are sensitive to numbers," Eric smiled and said, "I like women who are sensitive to numbers." ”

"Thank you, Mr. Williams," said Kelly Haynes, who found herself smiling at the smile of a young man ten years younger than herself, and hurriedly said, "If nothing else......

Eric found himself unconsciously crossing the line again, if Kelly Haynes was married, then this slightly teasing words seemed too abrupt, and after collecting his thoughts, Eric said, "You go back to work, I will contact you if necessary." “

……

At the premiere of The Lion King last Thursday, Eric Williams, the board of directors of Firefly Group, suddenly confirmed a long-standing Hollywood rumor that Firefly Group would close Disney Animation Studios because Firefly intends to fully digitize animation production. But then, the dramatic change in this event was beyond everyone's expectations, and the first day of release of "The Lion King", which was not so popular, not only increased the first-day box office record of Disney animation by more than tripled, but also got an astonishing box office of more than $46 million in three days in the first weekend, breaking a number of Disney 2D animation box office records in one fell swoop, and the total box office is expected to far exceed the two 3D animations "Toy Story" and "Bug Crisis" that Disney has already released. Subsequently, our reporter called Michael Lynn, CEO of Firefly Group, and the result was that Firefly will continue to implement the established animation production transformation plan, so what impact will this incident have on Firefly and other Hollywood studios, let us invite Mr. James Heerter, a professional film critic from "Variety" magazine, to ......

On the TV, the host of an NBC financial program got up to greet the guests who walked into the studio, and David West, president of State Street Global Funds, who was sitting in front of the TV, couldn't help but sigh and said to Tom Murphy next to him: "Young people, they are always so willful. Tom, do you think we're going to be able to change that little guy from Eric Williams?"

Tom Murphy turned his head to look at the clouds outside the porthole of the private jet, shook his head, and said, "If he insists on doing this, no one seems to be able to stop him, I had a phone call with Warren last night, and he seems to have heard something from Eric, and he seems to be starting to hesitate." ”

"This is an animation department that can produce 300 million level films, even if Williams really made this decision at the beginning, and now cancels the original plan, no one will blame him, I don't think there is any need to stick to his wrong plan, it's too unacceptable. ”

Tom Murphy suddenly asked, "What are you going to do if he insists on going his own way?"

David West was stunned, shook his head with a wry smile, and said, "What can I do, can't I file a lawsuit in federal court to prohibit him from doing this?"

Eric's shareholding means that he has absolute control over Firefly, and he can adjust his business at will without breaking the law. The closure of its hand-drawn animation division because of the lack of optimism about the development prospects of 2D animation will cause controversy, but it does not violate the law.

Both of them were silent, although they knew that they had another option, which was to sell their Firefly shares and cash them out, and if they were going to do so, either Eric or Wall Street would be 100% willing to take over their Firefly shares.

But now that Firefly has surpassed Time Warner to become the largest media group in North America, only the most short-sighted person would be stupid enough to sell his shares.

After listening to the arguing chatter between the host and the guests on the onboard TV, Tom Murphy said, "I wish Eric Williams could give us a reasonable reason." (To be continued.) )