Firefly disclosed the "True Lies" project as early as last year's acquisition of Disney, and the media has been paying attention to the progress of this matter, and as the "True Lies" project began to prepare, the media has also paid attention to the male protagonists who have been vacant in this project, Mel Gibson, Harrison Ford, Hollywood stars such as Nicolas Cage once became rumored candidates for the leading actor, but many people in the circle know that the fireflies are interested in Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Arnold Schwarzenegger is certainly aware of this. And at the beginning of the year, the two sides had brief contact.

At that time, Arnold Schwarzenegger's worth was 15 million US dollars, and the other party had no intention of backing down, and then the two sides temporarily dragged it down, Schwarzenegger was not in a hurry, because the box office of his previous movies was good, and Arnold did not consider that "The Last Action Hero" would be a tragic Waterloo, however, the other party obviously also knew the gold content of the movie personally selected by Eric, so he never refused, and seemed to be just waiting for Firefly to take the initiative to compromise, after all, Firefly in "Terminator 2" I compromised once during the box office negotiations.

Arnold is not in a hurry, and Firefly is certainly not in a hurry, and no one knows the box office prospects of the movie "The Last Action Hero" better than Eric.

Now that "The Last Action Hero" is out at the box office in its first week, Eric can't even imagine Schwarzenegger's mood right now.

Just as he was about to reply to an email to Firefly's production department, asking them to wait another week to start restarting the salary negotiations with Arnold, the phone rang in the room.

Eric picked up the phone, and a familiar voice suddenly came from the microphone: "Hi Eric, I'm Jim." ”

Eric replied with a smile on his lips, and he could almost guess Cameron's intention to make the call. The two sides chatted about "Jurassic Park". After talking about "True Lies" that Cameron was preparing for a while, Cameron talked about his intention to make this call: "Eric, you must know the box office of "The Last Action Hero", right?"

"Yes, more than $16 million in the first weekend, this data is indeed a bit miserable, and two blockbuster films in a row failed. I think the Germans will definitely calm down for a year or two, and they will not easily throw money at Hollywood. And MGM, I guess Frank Maccasso and John Cali are about to be replaced by Crédit Lyonnais, and maybe MGM will enter the auction process again......"

Hearing that Eric continued to barabarra, Cameron had to fake cough twice and interrupted Eric's words: "Eric, we can talk about these things when we have time, I mean." The actor of "True Lies", as you said at the beginning, you hope that Arnold can play. ”

Eric still had a smile on the corner of his mouth, but his tone was full of embarrassment: "Jim, you were there during that chat, you know that I wasn't too optimistic about the project "The Last Action Hero", and Arnold's salary was too high at that time, so I wanted to wait for the release of this movie to negotiate with Arnold's side about the salary." But I didn't expect a movie with an investment of more than $80 million. The opening weekend box office was only $16 million, and the production cost of "Jurassic Park" was only $75 million. Following this trend, The Last Action Hero is estimated to only end up grossing around $50 million. If this movie is only a slight failure, I won't scruple too much, but Arnold fell too hard this time, and in this case, his next film will definitely be despised by Hollywood. The risk is too great. ”

Cameron over there listened to Eric's words, and immediately said, "Eric, don't talk nonsense with me, don't think I don't know you, you guy must be laughing evilly now." Arnold couldn't contact you, so he called me, $3 million salary, you like to use it or not, don't think about deceiving me about favors. ”

The salary of three million US dollars, compared to Arnold's previous worth of 15 million, is completely a big reward at the price of cabbage. But if it were Eric's turn, he would probably do the same. Hollywood is very cruel, the total cost of the production and distribution of "The Last Action Hero" is more than 100 million US dollars, and with the current situation, the parties involved in investment and distribution are estimated to only recover about 50 million US dollars of investment, although it is not as tragic as "Cut Throat Island" two years ago, but this level of loss is enough to knock a Hollywood superstar into the dust, Kevin Costner in the original time and space is because of the "Future Water World" slumped, from a popular box office superstar in Hollywood all the way down, and finally could only fall to the situation of playing Superman's father.

Therefore, for the current Arnold, a big reward for cabbage prices will give him the opportunity to turn over and squeeze into the ranks of first-line superstars again, which is very cost-effective. If you don't seize this opportunity, it is estimated that in the next year or two, no one will ask him to appear in a movie.

Eric was thinking about it, when Cameron's urging voice rang on the other side of the phone, and Eric had no choice but to say: "Yes, of course I use it, Jim, even if it is for your sake this time, three million is three million......"

"No, I'm just a messenger, you don't have to look at my face. ”

"Well, okay, Jim, but you know, fireflies are my personal business, unlike the deep-pocketed German consortium, which costs an extra 10 million or 20 million like pulling out a hair, so you can take it easy this time. ”

Cameron immediately laughed heartily: "Of course it's okay, Eric, you don't know me yet, I'll spend every penny on the movie." ”

Eric scolded for a while, just because he knew too well.

The two unscrupulous black-bellied guys pulled each other's salted eggs without giving in before they each hung up the phone.

Eric was about to return to his desk to continue reading his email when the phone rang again.

Although it was already evening in London, it was still afternoon in Los Angeles, and Eric was surprised and picked up the phone again. This time, it was Stan Winston, who was calling, with anxiety in his tone. Eric listened to Stan Winston's words, thought for a moment, and said, "Stan, you can send me a copy of the information, and I'll take a look at it first, if necessary." I'll be back as soon as I can tomorrow morning. ”

Something was said again, and Eric hung up.

This time the phone didn't ring again, and half an hour later, Eric received an email from the digital realm.

After opening it for a moment, Eric's brow furrowed again.

Once again, there has been a wave of resignations in the digital space.

The last time was when "Tornado" was released last year, because I saw the huge box office prospects of special effects movies. Several major Hollywood film companies have begun to increase investment in film special effects, and have set up their own special effects departments, and at the same time, because of market demand, Hollywood has also sprung up many small special effects companies, or special effects studios are more appropriate.

However, because Hollywood still underestimated the commercial prospects of special effects films last year, it did not spend too much money to dig into the corners of the digital field, and the digital field was not greatly affected. But this year is different. The record-breaking box office of "Jurassic Park" in its first week greatly stimulated several other major Hollywood studios. In order to be able to catch up with this development trend, this time the poaching efforts in the digital field can only be described as costless, not only the computer special effects artists in the digital field, but also the software research team led by Ed Carmore has been greatly affected, Eric left Los Angeles for a week, the digital field received more than 120 resignation applications, at first Stan Winston thought it was a repetition of last year's scene. I didn't take it too seriously, and I disposed of it completely according to last year's experience. But in the past two days, more and more resignation requests have been received, and Stan Winston can't be more calm.

After reading the letter, Eric's originally anxious mind calmed down a little, and he first called his assistant to help him arrange the plane tomorrow morning, and then silently thought about how to deal with this crisis.

Obviously, with the increasing proportion of special effects movies in Hollywood films. It is conceivable that with the scale of the digital field, even if it is doubled, it is impossible to cover all the special effects projects of Firefly, let alone the broader special effects film market in Hollywood. Since you can't stop the expansion of the special effects industry, you can only choose the plan that is most beneficial to you.

In the process of establishing the digital field, Eric considered this kind of plan, but he didn't expect that the original plan would be implemented more than three years earlier than he expected.

I pondered the details of these things over and over again, and before I knew it, the whole night passed, and when Eric reacted, the window was already lit up.

Looking at the time, it was only five o'clock in the morning.

Anyway, there was enough rest time on the plane, Eric had no intention of catching up on sleep, and after washing up, he walked out of the hotel room alone to have breakfast in the restaurant, because the plane would not leave until eight o'clock London time, and there was nothing to do for the time being, so Eric opened today's newspaper.

"A young Hollywood tycoon falls in love with the daughter of an English aristocracy, and the two sides visit the Thames intimately. ”

In the News of the World, a clear photo was published on the front page, the photo was taken yesterday afternoon when Eric was holding an umbrella for Caroline, and the paparazzi captured it quite cleverly, just the moment when the two people looked at each other. Eric could vaguely remember that at that time, Caroline should be thanking herself, but the newspaper characterized the situation as two people looking at each other affectionately.

Smiling helplessly, Eric suddenly remembered that "News of the World" was also a newspaper owned by News Corp., and it was also the fuse of the famous 'eavesdropping door' in the original time and space.

Aside from this, Eric suddenly remembered that he had made an appointment with Caroline to continue his tour of London today, and now he must not be able to continue. Eric had wanted the branch staff to explain to the girl afterwards, but there was nothing to do at the moment, and Caroline's place wasn't too far away, so Eric decided to go there himself.

The hotel lobby manager asked for a car, and Eric directed the driver towards Caroline's accommodation.

A few minutes later, the car pulled up in front of Caroline's apartment, and Eric had just gotten out of the car when he felt a spotlight flashing nearby. I looked over unexpectedly, only to find that there were also paparazzi guarding here.

Eric was about to walk into the apartment in disregard when he remembered that he didn't know exactly what floor Caroline lived on. Looking at the paparazzi not far away, Eric thought about it and walked over.

Which paparazzi saw Eric walking towards him, without the slightest sense of panic, and greeted Eric with a smile.

"Mr. Williams, did you come to pick up Miss Wilson so early?"

Instead of answering, Eric asked, "Which newspaper are you from?"

"News of the World," the paparazzi did not hide it, and added: "But if there is any breaking news, of course, which one bids the highest price and sells it to which one." ”

Eric smiled and asked, "Do you know which room Caroline lives in?"

"Room 203 on the second floor," the paparazzi blurted out without hesitation.

Eric thanked him and turned to walk back towards the apartment, where he heard a few slight clicks as soon as Eric entered.

It was still early, and he went up the somewhat old staircase to the second floor, and Eric didn't touch anyone.

Coming to the door of 203, Eric knocked lightly, but there was no response, and knocked a few more times before a somewhat lazy female voice sounded: "It's only seven o'clock, who is it?"

Eric was a little surprised to hear that the girl's voice was not Caroline, but he still said, "Hello, Miss, I'm Eric Williams, I have something to do with Miss Wilson, can I open the door?"

There was a soft cry of surprise, and Eric estimated that the other party was observing him through the cat's eye, and he didn't dodge.

Then the door was opened.

A girl in pale blue pajamas appeared in front of him.

Eric saw the girl's appearance clearly, and a look of surprise appeared on his face.

It's a small world.

"You...... Hello, Mr. Williams, please come in," the girl did not notice the surprise on Eric's face, but let him into the room in a little panic, and said, "Mr. Williams, sit down, I'll call Caroline to get up, she, she's not up yet." ”

"Thanks," Eric nodded, and sat down on the couch, "So, I don't know your name yet?"

"I, my name is Rachel Weisz, Mr. Williams, you can call me Rachel. ”

Eric smiled at the girl's somewhat flustered appearance and nodded, "Hello, Rachel, you can also call me Eric." ”

"Well, of course, yes," Rachel said, smiling at Eric and heading straight into the other room. (To be continued......)