Chapter 577

After some communication with Amy Pascal, Eric temporarily let go of the matter on the side of Flower Pictures.

After Halloween, the time entered November 1993, and the total global box office of "Jurassic Park" was getting closer and closer to $1 billion, which also caused a heated discussion in the media again after breaking the box office record of "ET".

These days, Eric spends his busy life shuttling between different sets and studios, checking the preparation or production progress of the big-budget films involved in Firefly, taking care of the process of TV network acquisitions, and occasionally attending party invitations that cannot be excused.

Fortunately, Firefly's film publicity department is very mature and perfect, and under the control of Michael Lynn, Katzenberg and others, Eric does not need to worry about the distribution of films scheduled at the end of the year, otherwise he will be even busier.

After another day's work, Eric watched the filming of "Men in Black" and walked out of Columbia Pictures' studio in Culver with Peter Cooper laughing, just about to get in the car and leave, when the mobile phone he carried with him rang.

The call was made by Michael Lynn, and after the two briefly said something on the phone, Eric dismissed the idea of going back to Malibu and told the driver to go to Firefly Pictures headquarters in Burbank.

Walking into a conference room at Burbank Firefly headquarters, Eric found that Michael Lynn, Jeffrey Katzenberg and other major Firefly executives had already appeared here.

However, Eric was keenly aware of the faint joy on the faces of these people, so he let go of his original worries. Simply said hello. Eric sat down in his seat. He smiled and asked, "Is there any good news?"

Michael Lynn, who was sitting next to Eric, handed a document to Eric. "The latest box office statistics have come out, and the latest box office figures for "Jurassic Park" are $1 billion and $2.3 million. Eric, your prophecy has come true. Because today is Wednesday, the box office data for this weekday will not be counted until Friday, so most people in the outside world don't know this data yet, but we can make a public announcement tomorrow. ”

Eric flipped through the file and saw the box office data for more than fifty countries in the table, as well as the eye-catching 1 billion data at the end of the table. Nodding with satisfaction, he put the papers aside and asked Michael Lynn, "I guess it's not just this thing that you called me over in such a hurry, right?"

"Let Jeffrey talk about it," Michael Lynn said, gesturing at Katzenberg.

Katzenberg handed over an envelope: "Eric, this is a handwritten letter from Warren Buffett that we just received this afternoon, you can take a look at it first." ”

Eric wasn't too surprised to hear Buffett's name, whose Berkshire Hathaway is one of the majority shareholders of ABC TV. With more than 25% of ABC in their hands, Firefly wants to buy ABC. In any case, it is certainly impossible to bypass Buffett's hurdle.

When I opened the envelope, there was only a simple piece of stationery inside, and the content was also very simple, and Buffett wanted to invite Eric to Omaha to talk about ABC.

The envelope was not sealed or postmarked, and it was clear that the letter had been forwarded by someone else and had not been sent by postal means.

After reading the text message, Eric looked up and said, "You've all seen it, right?"

Michael and the others nodded at the same time.

Katzenberg, who was in charge of the ABC takeover, said: "From this letter, it can be seen that Buffett should have discovered our intentions. ”

Eric folded the letter back into the envelope and asked, "Jeffrey, how are you doing here?"

"To avoid drawing too much attention, we also have shares in the secondary market from the three major TV stations, and we currently have about 7% of ABC shares, while the other two have a smaller share, both of which are under 5%," Katzenberg said. In addition, ABC's share price has also risen from $43 three months ago to $47 now, with a total market capitalization of $9.67 billion. ”

Firefly originally planned to buy about 10% of ABC's stock and join the ABC board of directors after making public the news, but now that Buffett has noticed this, it will certainly not be so easy to implement the original plan.

Eric thought for a moment and said: "Sell all the shares of the other two companies as soon as possible and cash out, announce the news that the box office of "Jurassic Park" will break 1 billion tomorrow, and send a reply letter to Mr. Buffett, inviting him to participate in the celebration of "Jurassic Park" breaking $1 billion at the global box office." ”

"Eric, this may not be able to grasp the initiative," said Frank Wells, who had not spoken for a while, "Although Berkshire Hathaway only owns 25% of ABC shares, but at this time ABC Chairman Tom Murphy is also a major shareholder and a good friend of Warren Buffett, I think if we are interested in buying, it is better for you to go to Omaha yourself." ”

After Frank Wells finished speaking, although several executives over the age of 50 in the conference room did not speak, Eric could still see the look of approval on the faces of Jeffrey, Michael Lynn and others, for their generation, Buffett is a legend of wealth, and Eric can also feel their admiration for Buffett.

But Eric has other considerations, during this time, a large part of Eric's energy is focused on the acquisition of TV networks, and it is impossible for Eric not to know anything about Buffett, who directly controls a large number of shares in ABC.

Warren Buffett is definitely a person who makes up his mind, and if he doesn't have any decision in his heart, Eric believes that he will never receive this invitation letter from Warren Buffett today. At the same time, Warren Buffett has absolute rationality in investment, and Eric believes that the opponent will not easily change his attitude towards him because of the change of home court.

In addition to these, Eric certainly has some intention of grasping some initiative, although Michael Lynn and others are not optimistic. Eric, on the other hand, didn't fail to try.

"Alright. So let's decide. Let's get ready, everybody. Eric waved his hand lightly, and the matter was completely settled.

The Firefly announced the news that "Jurassic Park" broke a billion at the global box office the next day, but the celebration was scheduled a week later, mainly to give enough time for NBC and CBS stocks.

At the same time, after receiving a reply from the firefly, Buffett was as Eric expected. Accepted the invitation to the Jurassic Park celebration party.

As the Thanksgiving holiday of the new year approaches, and the Thanksgiving-Christmas schedule also opens, Firefly released its last film with Jim Carrey on November 19, "Detective Plane 2", which surprisingly grossed nearly $30 million in the first three days of the weekend. and "Interview with the Vampire", which is mainly responsible for the Oscars, and Quentin's "Pulp Fiction" are scheduled for December.

Columbia Pictures also released Wu Baige's second Hollywood director's film "Broken Arrow" in the same week, which did not perform as well as last year's "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", but also affected by last year's "Mr. and Mrs. Smith", White Pigeon Wu has accumulated a good box office base in North America, and "Broken Arrow" also got $32 million at the box office in the first three days of the first weekend. Because the cost of this film is relatively low, as little as $50 million. Therefore, there is no problem at all in recovering costs.

However, to the surprise of many people, the box office dark horse at the end of this year is not any films such as "Detective Plane Nose 2" and "Broken Arrow", but "My Fair Daddy" launched by Twentieth Century Fox with a cost of only more than $20 million The Robin Williams-starring family comedy grossed nearly $20 million in three days of its release, and the word of mouth was so good that box office statistics agencies gave a staggering $200 million North American box office estimate based on the film's first-week box office curve and audience word-of-mouth, several of which are ten times the production cost of the film.

Because of this incident, Elizabeth involuntarily raised her chin when she saw Eric during this time, looking proud and small, until she was cleaned up by Eric.

On November 22nd, near evening, although the celebration party had not yet begun, and the Sharp Corner Manor was already crowded, Eric took Jeffrey to hide next to a seat in the open field outside the villa, joking: "Jeffrey, I think it was your biggest mistake to insist that I put the Jurassic Park celebration in the Sharp Corner Manor, you know, Warren Buffett is a very frugal person, and he hates the extravagance of the rich the most." Maybe he won't want to sell us ABC when he sees this. ”

"Charlie Munger, Buffett's good friend and partner, not only owns his own private jet, but also owns a private island, and I haven't seen Buffett break up with him. As far as I know, Warren Buffett is indeed a frugal man, but he doesn't force others to do the same. Okay, Eric, I know you don't like to party on your estate, it's different today, isn't it, even if there is no Warren Buffett, but today is a celebration of "Jurassic Park" breaking $1 billion at the global box office, and even that, it's worth a serious celebration. ”

While the two were chatting, Drew in a beautiful red dress walked over with Amy Pascal, and Little Nizi hugged Jeffrey affectionately and came to Eric's side.

Gerfrey, sensing that Amy Pascal seemed to want to talk to Eric, got up and walked away.

Eric motioned for Amy Pascal to sit down and asked, "Amy, is there anything wrong?"

Amy Pascal said: "We recently approached Cullock Pictures, the company that owns the rights to Spider-Man, but they didn't agree to transfer the rights to us. ”

Eric reminisced and asked, "Mario Casal is still in charge of Carroch Films, right?"

Amy Pascal nodded and said: "Since the box office failure of "Bear Peak" and "The Last Action Hero" in the summer, Carlock Pictures has been in a state of semi-bankruptcy in the past six months. However, when I approached Mario Casal, he rejected our intention to buy the rights to Spider-Man as soon as I said my intentions. ”

"Is that all?" asked Eric.

Amy Pascal said: "Of course not, he said he could work with us on Spider-Man, but he would never sell us Spider-Man. ”

"He'll guess you're behind this," Nizi smirked as she rubbed Eric on top of her.

Eric pulled Xiao Nizi's ears and pushed the girl away, thought for a moment, and said, "What form did Carllock buy the rights to Spider-Man?"

"It seems that I bought it for five years, from 1990 to 1995, but I also found some ancillary clauses that within five years, if Kallock Pictures develops the Spider-Man movie, then the copyright will automatically extend for five years. Also, the copyright transfer contracts for "Captain America" and "Fantastic Four" are similar to those for "Spider-Man". ”

It's a lot of trouble.

Eric thought about it, he remembered that Carlock Pictures probably went bankrupt around 1995, and then the copyright of "Spider-Man" automatically returned to Marvel Comics, and because Marvel Comics happened to be in an extremely difficult period, it had to be sold to Sony Pictures again, and since then, because of the success of the big movie developed by Sony, the return of "Spider-Man" has become far away.

Eric quickly thought of something else and asked, "Where is the main stake in Carroch Films right now?"

"I don't know much about that, but the controlling stake should be in the hands of some Wall Street fund, Eric, and I'm worried that if Mario Casal reveals this, it will probably lead to other studios fighting for the rights to Spider-Man, and Marvel Comics may also have trouble on the other side. ”

Instead of answering Amy's concerns, Eric asked, "How much would it cost if we bought Cullock?"

"Probably, tens of millions of dollars, although Carlock Pictures has produced and released a lot of movies in recent years, it has not been very successful, otherwise there would not be a version bankruptcy now. ”

"You gather the information, and if Mario Casal insists on not letting go, then buy Carlock Films as a whole, and I think the Wall Street folks are more than happy to cash in on this mess right now. ”

Amy asked the question again: "But what if they realize that you fancy the copyright of Spider-Man?"

Eric shook his head and smiled: "Don't worry, now is not the time to develop "Spider-Man" at all, otherwise, do you think the seven major film companies will let the superheroes of Marvel Comics fall into the hands of second- and third-rate film companies, so even if it is robbed by other film companies, it is not a big trouble, and it is a big deal to launch another acquisition at that time, I still have a lot of years." (To be continued.) )