Eric was talking to Emma when Penn Fosterman's cell phone rang.

Giving Eric an apologetic look, Penn Fosterman got up and walked nearby to answer the phone, and a moment later, Penn Fosterman came again, leaned into Eric's ear and whispered, "Eric, Mr. Governor just called and asked if he could invite you to his house?"

Eric asked Emma to take the reluctant Hawaii to play together, looked at the three little guys in the court, and said lightly: "I still have to accompany the children, so I won't go." ”

The governor Penn Fosterman is talking about is obviously Florida Governor Jeb Booth, the younger brother of Booth Jr. The other party was only successfully elected governor of Florida last year, and this invitation is undoubtedly for Xiao Boshi's presidential campaign.

Although he had had tentative contact with the agents of the Bash family in New York last time, Eric had no intention of meeting the core members of the other family directly. The Bash family certainly wouldn't expect Eric to make a statement now.

Payne Fosterman was actually just a messenger, and he knew very well that he was not qualified to influence Eric's decision, so when he heard the boss say this, he nodded, and got up again to speak for the person who had just called.

In the tennis court, the three little ones continued to play for more than an hour, and when the time was about the same, Eric called a stop in time.

Penn Fosterman stood beside him, and when he saw Eric carefully wiping the sweat of the three little ones, tidied up their clothes, and then seemed to be about to leave, he couldn't help but take two steps forward.

However, seeing the three little ones all looking at each other curiously, Penn Fosterman swallowed what he wanted to say again.

Seeing Payne Fosterman's expression, Eric turned his head to look at the girl standing with Max Esenbad not far away, and said with a casual smile: "Help me take care of her." ”

After saying this, Eric took the three little ones and the twins to the outside of the tennis court, and several bodyguards who were originally scattered around also gathered to escort Eric and the others to the two SUVs outside the court.

Payne Fosterman stood at the door of the stadium and watched the two SUVs leave, and Max Esenbad also walked over with Sharapova.

Looking at the two SUVs in the distance, Max Esenbad asked, "What did Mr. Williams say?"

Penn Fosterman did not answer, but said to Sharapova next to her: "Maria, you go to the dormitory first." ”

Sharapova, who was not yet thirteen years old but was already close to one meter seven in height, nodded obediently and politely said goodbye to the two before turning and walking away. Coming to a junction not far away, Sharapova took advantage of the turn to peek at the two middle-aged men who were still standing at the entrance of the tennis court, and saw that the two seemed to be looking at her, so she quickly avoided her eyes.

Walking into another path separated by a green belt, and confirming that the two of them could not see herself, Sharapova finally breathed a sigh of relief, but she couldn't help but raise her hand and press her lips, feeling the almost invisible braces on her lower teeth, and remembering the events of the afternoon again.

Although she couldn't say a word to Eric Williams, she suddenly understood a lot of things when she connected to her recent experience.

When he was seven years old, he was taken by his father to leave Russia for the United States, just for a seemingly slim wish to get ahead. More than five years have passed in the blink of an eye, and although she is not yet thirteen years old, Sharapova has tasted the warmth and coldness of many children's feelings that she may not experience in her life, and she is much more precocious than most girls.

Sharapova still vividly remembers how many nights she and her father ate together, how many people they begged, and how harsh the contracts they signed in order to enter the IMG Academy, and finally barely got the qualification of a sponsored student.

IMG Academy is a private elite sports college, and the tuition fee is higher than most ordinary private schools, and if they can't get the sponsorship qualification, the father and daughter who only brought a few hundred dollars across the ocean with only a few hundred dollars of tuition fees cannot afford to pay tens of thousands of dollars a year.

In the past few years since she entered school, there has basically only been one thing in her life, tennis. On top of that, she doesn't even have much exposure to normal cultural classes, and IMG doesn't care about anything other than her tennis results, just seeing her as a potential investment.

Then, a few months ago, a lot of things suddenly changed.

The girl knew about the IMG Group being bought by Eric Williams. She didn't think it had anything to do with her, but IMG suddenly took her very seriously. Not only did she have the best agent, the best coach was replaced, and even her life began to be meticulous, and she now even has a dormitory of her own.

Originally, Sharapova also felt that because of her tennis results, IMG should focus on cultivating her. But it wasn't until the last time she had orthodontics that the girl realized something different.

You know, ordinary orthodontics can be done with a few hundred dollars wearing a pair of steel braces, but IMG chose a top-of-the-line invisible braces worth $8,000 for her, and counting other expenses, it cost tens of thousands of dollars just to do one orthodontic.

With her knowledge of IMG's way of doing things, how could they spend so much extra money for her if there was no other special reason!

Subsequently, her agent, Max Esenbard, also hinted at something to her. Coupled with meeting Eric Williams today, the girl finally understood the ins and outs of the matter.

As the richest man in the world, even if you don't care at all, you can hear too much about that man on weekdays.

One of them, he's a playboy, it's almost a well-known thing.

So, at this time, Sharapova realized that she was favored by that man.

I don't know what to feel in my heart, and when I think about the changes in my life, I don't have much to resist. During this time, with the help of IMG, her mother was able to move to the United States, and the family was finally reunited.

Obviously, if it weren't for that man, IMG wouldn't be willing to do these things.

But.

Although he played tennis with his children all afternoon, he didn't say a word to himself.

Thinking of this, Sharapova suddenly felt a little inexplicably worried.

Is he not satisfied with himself enough?

Thinking so, when she arrived at the dormitory, she hurriedly ran to the dressing mirror and looked at the girl in the white tennis uniform in the mirror.

Aside from being tall, it seems, as if, there's really nothing special about it.

Then I can't help but suffer from gains and losses.

If he is not satisfied with himself, then after that, he will not be in the same life as he was a few months ago.

She didn't know how long it had been, when there was a knock on the door, breaking her thoughts.

Hurriedly walked to the door and opened the door, where her agent, Max Esenbad, was standing.

Thinking of her guess just now, she suddenly panicked, and subconsciously didn't dare to look at Max Esenbad's expression, hung her head and whispered: "Mai, Mr. Esenbad, what's the matter?" ”

Max Esenbaard didn't enter the door, looked at the girl's appearance, and said, "Didn't you say it's good to call me Mike?"

"Well," Sharapova nodded hurriedly, hesitated, and said, "Mike, Mr. Williams, he, will he come again tomorrow?"

"No, Mr. Williams should leave Bradenton tomorrow," Max Essenbad paused as he looked at the girl's appearance, although he was familiar with the world, he was not very good at guessing the little girl's thoughts, but at this time he understood her reaction as resistance, his expression became a little more serious, and said: "Mary, I know that you are a smart girl, so you should already know how you got your life now." ”

It's going to be gone.

Thinking dejectedly, Sharapova hummed in a low voice.

Max Esenbaard obviously misunderstood the reaction of some girls at this time, and even had some sternness in his tone, "Then, you should know that you will definitely have to pay the corresponding price for getting so much." I don't think you, or your family, want to go back to Russia, do you?"

Sharapova was about to nod her head like a puppet, but suddenly reacted again, raised her head suddenly, looked at Max Essenbad and shook her head, "Mike, no, I'm not, I," she didn't know how to express it for a while, she paused, and then said: "I'm still looking forward to seeing Mr. Williams again." ”

Max Esenbaard was stunned when he heard the girl say this, but he quickly realized that he had just misunderstood. After softening his expression and carefully examining the girl's state at this time, Max Esenbad nodded with satisfaction and said, "So, so be it." I'm just here to talk to you, and by the way, you can have a day off tomorrow. ”

Sharapova nodded, seeing that Max Esenbad was about to leave, thought about it, took another step forward, and said, "Mike, I, I want to go to see Mr. Williams's gravity with my parents on the weekend, you, can you buy me three tickets?"

Bradenton is a small city with a population of about 50,000, and although there is no shortage of movie theaters, there is only one 3D screen, and the IMAX screening room is even more impossible.

During this time, with the popularity of gravity, the 3D screening hall with only more than 100 seats was completely in short supply, which actually shows the uneven distribution of the 2,000 3D screens. It is said that many people, especially those who want to see the IMAX version, even have to drive to Orlando, which is more than a hundred kilometers away.

Max Esenbaard stopped and looked at the girl's flickering eyes, but he understood in his heart that the girl said this not to watch a movie, but more like a statement, so he smiled and nodded: "Okay, I'll have someone send you the ticket tomorrow." ”

Although it is a vacation, it is impossible to leave all the work behind.

After dinner, he went to a mansion in a gated community west of Bradenton to leave the children in the care of the twins, and Eric went to the makeshift house.

"Sony is willing to reduce the price of projector equipment by 11% on the original basis, and enjoy a 40% share of the supply of reald systems. Belgium's Barco AG and NEC, another company in Ben, will share the other 60% of the shares. However, the equipment of the two companies needs to be adapted to the RealD system, which will take about two months. Katzenberg reported to Eric on the video call on the results of the work in recent days, and continued: "According to the established plan, by the summer of next year, there will be 6,000 realD systems in North America, and the number overseas will be even more, reaching 8,000 sets." With this kind of layout, it will be difficult for a 3D projection system to compete with RealD on the market. ”

Eric leaned back in the leather chair behind the table, listened to Katzenberg, nodded with satisfaction, and asked, "How is the buyout agreement negotiation over there in the theater?"

At the beginning, in order to promote 3D movies, Firefly Group signed a guaranteed agreement with the theater chain for a single screen with a box office of $300,000 per year. This agreement can be said to be very unfair to the Firefly Group, considering that the average annual revenue per screen in North America is only $200,000.

The detailed agreement stipulates that if the annual revenue of a single screen is less than $300,000, the Firefly Group will make up for it.

However, if it is exceeded, then, in addition to the $300,000 guarantee, 80% of the excess box office share belonging to the theater chain will be counted as the cost of reald system equipment, which will be owned by Firefly Group for a period of three years.

However, in addition to the agreement, Firefly Group also agreed that once the 3D movie is successfully promoted, in order to let the initial 2,000 screens have the same competitive environment as the latecomers, the theater chain can propose a one-time buyout agreement and give up the original guaranteed contract.

According to the cost of the RealD system of about 250,000 US dollars, each 3D screen gets about 500,000 US dollars at the box office per year, and the Firefly Group can collect the cost of equipment.

Originally, even within the Firefly Group, they felt that this was almost impossible, and the company only hoped that this cooperation would not lose too much.

But now, the truth is far beyond everyone's expectations.

With the gravitational box office momentum, just this movie, the North American box office may exceed 600 million US dollars, which is almost not much suspense than the original Titanic box office that just reached 600 million US dollars.

Due to the strong performance of IMAX theaters for two consecutive weeks, the 100 IMAX theaters in North America may bring a box office of $200 million due to gravity, so counting the 3D screen, there is still $400 million.

$400 million at the box office, an average of 2,000 3D screens, which is already enough to bring in $200,000 per screen, and this cycle is only two months.

But it's 12 months a year, and the ability to make a 3D version of the film is almost all a potential super box office bomb. It is clear, then, that at least in the first few years of 3D cinema and its popularity, the revenue from a single 3D screen will far exceed the estimated $500,000 cost of the Firefly Group.

Therefore, in order to avoid being continuously extracted by the Firefly Group, and in order to grasp more of the initiative of 3D theaters, major theater chains have put forward requirements for the implementation of the original subsidiary buyout agreement.

Hearing Eric mention this, Katzenberg also showed a slight smug smile and said, "The regr companies have offered to execute the buyout agreement according to the price of our equipment of $500,000. However, since we have already taken the risk, and the D side is negotiating with the theater side, and the final buyout price should be around 600,000 US dollars, we now have the initiative to 3D movies, and the theater side can only compromise with us. ”

Eric also had a smile on his face, according to the unit price of $600,000, just for the 2,000 3D screens in North America, the Firefly Group could collect $1.2 billion. This is more than half of the Firefly Group's initial investment in the promotion of 3D and IMAX films.

The situation in the overseas market is more complicated, and the cooperation model between Firefly and various ticket warehouse countries is not the same, but as long as the more than 1,600 sets of realD system equipment that have been rolled out overseas can be fully collected, even if it does not reach the high price of 600,000 US dollars in North America, it is enough for Firefly Group to completely collect all the costs of the initial investment.

The remaining 200 more lucrative IMAX theaters, as well as some of the real estate under the name of IMAX theaters, are almost equal to making money for nothing.

It can be said that just this one, Firefly Group in recent years for the 3D and IMAX promotion of resources and energy has been worth the money, the company not only entered the basic projection equipment market, but also fully grasped the initiative of 3D and IMAX film promotion, the potential benefits of which will be even greater.

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