Chapter 588

"Future Water World" is similar to a "Mad Max" on the water, and it is also a wasteland world after the collapse of civilization, except that one is set in the distant future after a nuclear war in which resources are depleted, and the other is set in a distant future where the land is submerged by the ocean.

Compared with "Cut Throat Island", which has a huge investment but has become a box office dud, the global box office of more than 200 million in "Future Water World" is not too much of a failure.

However, the production situation of this film is similar to that of "Titanic", all because of a series of overruns in the filming process that made it difficult for investors to ride the tiger, in order to avoid the early investment and had to continue to inject funds into the crew, the final production cost of "Future Water World" was 175 million US dollars, plus the total investment of publicity and distribution costs exceeded 200 million US dollars, which was the highest cost film before "Titanic".

It's just that the endings of the two movies are very different, "Titanic" has created an unprecedented box office record, and "Future Water World" has a global box office of more than 200 million, but compared to the huge investment, it still caused huge losses to the producer.

From a bystander's point of view, Eric still likes the story setting of "Future Water World" very much, and if this film can follow the low-cost production route of "Mad Max", Eric will definitely not hesitate to win the project. But now, as the owner of Firefly Pictures, if he can anticipate the future prospects of this film, Eric will never touch this project.

And, in Kevin. With Costner already interested in starring in the "Mission: Impossible" series before "Future Water World", Eric hopes that "Future Water World" can repeat the mistakes of the past, so that they can take the initiative in the salary negotiation for the sequel to "Mission Impossible".

Both Amy and Drew could clearly sense that Eric was a little absent-minded as he flipped through the script of "Future Water World". Drew knew that this was often the case when Eric read the script. But that doesn't affect his judgment of a script. Amy. Pascal felt that Eric's absent-mindedness may be due to his lack of optimism about the film.

Sure enough, Eric quickly flipped through the script, his expression did not have the slightest excitement when he saw a good script, and said to Amy: "You and Kevin about this project. Did Costner talk about it? ”

Amy shook her head and said, "Not yet, I'm in a relationship with Kevin. When Costner was negotiating over "Mission Impossible", he asked Kevin. Kostner's personal production company was in contact with the project, Kevin. Kostner's agency, WMA, intends to package the project to the big studios. ”

Eric frowned slightly when he heard the word 'packed', although now the three Hollywood agencies of CAA, WMA and ICM are in full swing. But because of his original article, the other two companies have mimicked CAA's packaging strategy, and "Captain Hawke," which damaged Spielberg's director Godhead three years ago, was CAA's packaging project.

When he first entered Hollywood a few years ago, Eric only felt that the packaging strategy of the agency made the agent's power overextended according to his memory, and at the same time made the star's salary and film production cost higher and higher. But there is often not much room for choice, which also causes the main creator of a film project to be often not suitable for the film. In the end, the film failed, and Spielberg's "Captain Hawke" is the most classic example.

The failure of huge investments is the biggest damage to studios, and as film investments grow, so does the impact.

Just like "Future Water World" in his hand, if you want to make this water wasteland-style movie, there is no doubt that the most suitable director is George, who made a name for himself with the "Mad Max" series. Miller, "Future Water World" in the original time and space is a complete imitation of "Mad Max" from the costumes to the set, and the result is that only one shell is imitated.

The director of this film in Eric's memory is Kevin. Reynolds, and the filming dragged on until the end, Kevin. Reynolds was unable to control the situation, and he had a hunch that "Future Water World" might be finished, so he just picked it off. It is conceivable that if the right director was chosen at the beginning, the ending of "Future Water World" would definitely not be so bleak.

"Since it's a packaging project, let's not get involved, Flower Pictures can't afford any failure now," Eric handed the script to Amy, and said, "Just assume that this didn't happen, and concentrate on preparing 'Mission Impossible'." ”

Amy raised her eyebrows slightly when she heard the word 'failure', thinking that Eric really wasn't optimistic about the project. However, she quickly realized something else in Eric's words, and smiled knowingly.

If "Future Water World" fails, it will definitely save a lot of money for the sequel to "Mission Impossible".

Looking at the time, it was almost twelve o'clock, Kevin. Costner was about to come over, and Amy hurriedly stuffed the script for "Future Water World" into her bag.

Kevin. Costner soon came to the restaurant with his agent, although he knew that the incident of "Dances with Wolves" was manipulated by Eric behind the scenes, but a few years have passed, and things have faded, after all, Hollywood is a gamble, everyone buys and leaves, admits to losing the bet, and if you are obsessed with a success or failure, it is impossible to survive in Hollywood.

The two sides used their lunch time to finalize various details of "Mission Impossible", although Brian was recommended to Eric. Morality. Parma, the horror film director, had some doubts, but no one in the room was stupid enough to doubt Eric's vision.

Considering Kevin. Costner's age, for this time and space's "Mission Impossible", Eric also only plans to make three, after all, after three, unless Kevin . Costner took the initiative to reduce his salary, otherwise with the increase in the salary of the leading actor in the Hollywood series of movies, the film company would be tantamount to working for the star.

However, as long as the copyright of the "Mission Impossible" series is in hand. After the trilogy. Shelved for ten years and eight years. et kevin. Costner's influence on the series has faded, and the project can still be restarted again, and by the way, you can also play the sentimental card or something.

Because Kevin. Costner is anxious for the production of "Future Water World", the schedule card is very tight, "Mission Impossible" quickly entered the production stage after finalizing a series of main creators, and Columbia also decided to put the schedule of the "Mission Impossible" series at the end of the year.

Arrange "Mission Impossible", Eric while keeping an eye on the ABC acquisition negotiations. He also focused most of his energy on a series of films that were about to be made and entered the final production.

Among the three films in the summer file, "The Lion King" has been completed, and the other two films Catherine. Bigelow's "Saving Private Ryan" and Cameron's "True Lies" are both in the final editing stage, and Eric is very comfortable with Cameron, so he doesn't interfere too much with "True Lies". Before the filming of "Saving Private Ryan", Eric had seen a lot of footage shot by Catherine and was very satisfied, and the all-important Normandy landing was even more powerful than the original with the support of the top special effects technology in the digital field. It's just that Catherine's directing style is very different from the original, so Eric has to be in the editing room often. Therefore, it also caused Catherine's resentment from time to time, and the woman was not because of Eric's meddling in the editing. More often than not, she complained about Eric's distrust, and occasionally there were small resentments in her tone that she didn't even realize about.

These are all upcoming films of Firefly, and Eric also has to pay attention to the preparation of "Jurassic Park 2" and "Day of Alone", which are expected to start shooting in the second half of the year, because Eric does not plan to continue directing the "Jurassic Park" series, so the director's choice took a lot of work.

In addition to the film of Firefly itself, "Men in Black" in cooperation with Colombia has also entered the final stage, and the schedule is also in the summer, and another film "Game of the Brave" was placed at the end of the year because of the relatively large amount of special effects engineering.

DreamWorks' "Breaking Bad" is almost finished with the final production, DreamWorks plans to launch three films this year, and this year will be able to complete the plan of ten films in three years, so Eric also had to allocate enough energy for that side, take the time to select the other two works, and write the story outline of "Resident Evil", and hand it over to the screenwriters to complete the script. At the same time, he also gave some advice for MGM's upcoming sequel to "007", since Sophie had gone to Ireland with the crew of "Braveheart", Eric gave the idea of "007: GoldenEye" in the normal order, but Famick. Jensen was definitely going to shoot "The X-Files" during the filming of "GoldenEye", and Eric did not give her the role of the villain heroine.

In between these trifles, the time quickly came to March, and this year's Oscars were scheduled for March 21, much earlier than in previous years.

However, at the beginning of March, Hollywood's main focus was not on the upcoming Oscars, and people were attracted to another thing.

Last night because of the "Alone Day" affair with Roland. Emmerich was late talking, and with the recent rush, Eric had planned to sleep in today, but it was just eight o'clock, and Eric was woken up by Elizabeth, who had broken into the bedroom.

"Eric, hurry up, look at this issue of Forbes magazine, and the newspaper......" Elizabeth's tone was a little hurried, and there was a little excitement.

Eric woke up in a daze, stretched out his hand to rub the girl in front of him, and said, "Don't make noise, I'll sleep a little longer." ”

"You're the richest man in the Federation now, and you're still sleeping!" Elizabeth punched Eric a few times.

Eric knew what was going on when he heard about Forbes, and about the latest issue of the Forbes rich list, Eric and Steve Richard knew what was going on. Forbes discussed it several times on the phone before finally deciding on a number, and although this time it was still not Eric's real worth, it was the most beneficial for Firefly Pictures' acquisition of ABC TV networks.

"19.7 billion, I can't imagine that you have so much money, and more than the second-place Warren. Warren Buffett is a full $10 billion higher. Elizabeth saw that Eric was on the bed, so she had to lie down beside him and said.

"Do you believe the numbers on this?" Eric said, leaning over to the side.

Elizabeth was stunned and said, "What do you mean?" ”

Eric said, "This number is me and Steve. Forbes discussed it, so it wasn't accurate, and you followed the fool and helped me make breakfast. ”

"Breakfast is ready," said Elizabeth, pushing Eric hard, "and you say, how much money do you have?" ”

Eric saw that he couldn't continue to sleep, opened his eyes and took the Forbes magazine in front of Elizabeth, looked at it, and said: "Look, didn't it say above, because of the outbreak of the film and television industry, of the $19.7 billion in assets, $190 belongs to Firefly Pictures, and only $700 million in other assets." If there really is only so much, do you think Chris will still be able to play hostile takeover LTD now? ”

Elizabeth had heard about Chris's acquisition of LTD in New York, and if Firefly Investment attracted money to the public, then it would definitely have to set up a board of directors, but Firefly Investment never did this, which means that most of Firefly Investment's money should be Eric's. At present, Chris has offered a price of more than $2 billion in New York for the acquisition of LTD, even if this is a leveraged buyout, there is not enough capital, Chris will never dare to play like this, hearing Eric say this, Elizabeth came to be interested, and asked with interest: "Then tell me, how much money do you have?" ”

Elizabeth had heard about Chris's acquisition of LTD in New York, and if Firefly Investment attracted money to the public, then it would definitely have to set up a board of directors, but Firefly Investment never did this, which means that most of Firefly Investment's money should be Eric's. At present, Chris has offered a price of more than $2 billion in New York for the acquisition of LTD, even if this is a leveraged buyout, there is not enough capital, Chris will never dare to play like this, hearing Eric say this, Elizabeth came to be interested, and asked with interest: "Then tell me, how much money do you have?" (To be continued.) )