The streets of Manhattan can give people a very strange sense of time and space, walking on the street, you may be next to a dilapidated red brick building that may be 100 years old, and a modern building with 70 or 80 floors will appear one step further. Pen, fun, and www.biquge.info

Vera Farmiga walked beside Eric, followed his gaze at the scattered lights around him in the middle of the night, felt that Eric had not spoken for a while, and took the initiative to ask, "Eric, what are you thinking?"

"This is Hell's Kitchen, isn't it?" Eric retracted his thoughts and said casually, but before Vera Farmiga could answer, he turned his head to look at the girl next to him and smiled, "I said I was going to take you home, I just forgot to ask, where do you live?"

The two had already walked along West 52nd Street for quite some time after leaving the August Theater. Vera Farmiga was still a little apprehensive about where Eric Williams was going to take him, and when he asked, he quickly replied, "I live on West 55th Street, and I go north from Tenth Avenue in front. ”

Eric nodded, put his hands in the pockets of his trench coat, noticed the doubts and hopes in the eyes of Vera Farmiga beside him, smiled, and said, "Forget to get down to business, there is a movie I want you to try." ”

Sensing Eric's understatement, Vera Famiga suddenly lost much excitement and asked, "Eric, is it the movie you directed?"

"No," Eric shook his head and said, "The director is Gore, the guy you just saw." ”

Vera Famiga nodded, followed Eric's example and put her hands in the pockets of her down jacket, but her steps were inevitably lighter, and she hesitated, "Then, Eric, why are you here tonight?"

Eric explained: "I didn't direct it myself, but this is a very important project for Firefly, and I'm going to have you as the lead actress, and of course I'm going to come and see your performance. ”

"I'm okay, right?" asked Vera Farmiga, her eyes lit up and she was a little unconfident.

Eric smiled and nodded: "If it doesn't work, I will definitely leave early, and someone will contact you about the next thing." ”

Vera Farmiga hummed, and the two of them came to the intersection of 10th Avenue and turned north. Inadvertently seeing a black sedan following the road next to the two, Vera Farmiga knew that it was Eric's bodyguard, remembered something, and said, "Eric, you come here in person today, I will be in trouble for the rest of my life." ”

Eric smiled and asked, "What's the trouble?"

Vera Farmiga said: "I don't know yet, but the competition on Broadway is fierce. ”

Eric understood when he heard Vera Farmiga's hint. Vera Famega suddenly had a good opportunity, and her colleagues in the theater were jealous that they wouldn't give her any shoes to wear: "In that case, why don't you just quit tomorrow?"

"I can't do that, I'm at least going to have to wait until Andrew finds a replacement actor, and," Vera Farmiga said, looking at Eric, "I don't know if I'm going to be able to do the role, sure, I'm going to have to audition, right?"

"Of course, however, your acting skills are fine, and your image is no problem, if you don't ask for a sky-high salary, this role is probably yours. ”

"Hehe, how can I be qualified to ask for a sky-high salary. The last time I participated in the TV series, I was only paid $2,000 per episode. ”

"It's the "Roar", I saw you on that TV show yesterday. Aren't you the heroine, why is the salary so low?"

"This is a group drama, and I'm just one of the two heroines, and I'm a newcomer, so $2,000 is not low. Vera Farmiga explained, and said with a smile: "However, listening to what you just said, this TV series can bring me good luck, even if I was not paid at the beginning, I am willing to act." ”

chatting so casually, the two had unknowingly arrived outside a red brick apartment on West 55th Avenue.

"I'm going to live here," Vera Fhamiga said, gesturing her flat-soled boots on the ground, her eyes flashing, "Eric, do you want to go up and sit?"

Eric smiled and said, "Aren't you afraid that I'll sit for a while and refuse to leave?"

Vera Farmiga's face suddenly turned a little rosy, and she didn't dare to look into Eric's eyes, and said in a low voice, "Today, you can only sit for a while." ”

"I'm tempted to pretend I don't understand, but, well, that's a shame. ”

Vera Famija hung her head in shame and said, "It's the New Year in a few days, if you have time at that time, you can call me." ”

"Well, let's talk about it then," Eric smiled, he was leaving Manhattan tomorrow and returning to East Hampton, and he must be with the children for the New Year: "Well, that's it for today, you go up, I should go back too." ”

"Well, goodbye," Vera Fhamiga nodded, just walked up the steps to the door of the apartment, turned back, took a business card from her bag and handed it to Eric, "I almost forgot, I had my mobile phone number on it." ”

Eric took the business card and put it away, watching Vera Farmiga enter the apartment before turning to get in the car and leave.

The first week of "Jurassic Park 3" spanned the New Year, and the final box office in the first week was $86.61 million, which was a little higher than "Wonderful Night at the Museum 2" on Thanksgiving, but compared with the previous two films, there was still a significant decline.

Hit by several new films, including "Jurassic Park 3", "Rush Hour 2" fell by 55% at the box office in the second week, collecting another $45.22 million.

However, because of the strong first-week box office, the cumulative box office of this film with a budget cost of $70 million has reached $149 million in two weeks, because of the tiered box office sharing contract with the theater chain, which means that Firefly has recovered all the cost of "Rush Hour 2" in two weeks, and the next North American and overseas box office, as well as other channel revenue, have entered the net profit stage.

In addition, "Monster Electric Company", which was released on Firefly Thanksgiving Day, entered the sixth week, and although the box office fell to $8.04 million in a single week, the cumulative box office also successfully exceeded 200 million, becoming the third film to exceed $200 million at the box office in 1997. "Rush Hour 2" and "Jurassic Park 3" both had the potential to hit the $200 million box office in North America, but as of December 31, 1997, both films had kept their box office under $200 million.

MGM's "Night at the Museum 2" was released five weeks ago, and the box office also fell into the $10 million range in a single week, with a cumulative box office of $159 million, and according to the current decline, it is unlikely to hit $200 million.

Just after the New Year, with the latest week's box office data released, the media also began to count the annual box office data for 1997, and then, a box office data that caused an uproar in Hollywood also appeared in front of everyone.

Throughout 1997, even with the deadline of December 31, only the Firefly Group's top 10 movies that squeezed into the annual box office list included "Finding Nemo", "Monsters, Inc." and "Rush Hour 2", not counting "Jurassic Park 3", which is expected to be about $200 million at the North American box office.

MGM's "007: Casino Royale" and "Night at the Museum 2" also made it into the top 10 at the box office, while Fox's 3D animated film "Ice Age" and Julia's romantic comedy "My Best Friend's Wedding" also made the list.

As a result, as of December 31, on the data list of the top ten box office in North America in 1997, only the three major film companies of the Firefly system accounted for as many as seven.

The only non-Firefly films on the list are Universal's "Air Force One", Paramount Pictures' "The Lion King 2" and Sony Pictures' "Godzilla".

"Batman and Robin", which was pinned on by Time Warner, was secretly operated by Warner Bros., and the North American box office barely exceeded 100 million US dollars, temporarily ranking only 13th on the annual list, and even behind MGM's "Scream 2". However, "Batman & Robin" is five times more expensive to produce than "Scream 2". Two movies with similar box office data, one suffered miserably and the other made a lot of money.

In recent years, it has been a critical moment in the global rise of Hollywood, and in the face of the strength of the Firefly system, several other major Hollywood studios have also begun to increase the pace of expansion. In the face of the current fireflies, some unconventional competitive means have no effect, and what other major film companies can do is to imitate the development model of the firefly system as much as possible.

As four animated films emerged in the top 10 of the annual box office in 1997, stimulated by huge profits, Time Warner, Universal and Sony all increased their investment in the animation department that they did not pay much attention to, and once again began to wield hoes and poach people from several animation studios in the Firefly system. In the end, even MGM couldn't calm down, and after a few talks between Amy Pascal and Eric, MGM began to form its own 3D animated film department.

In terms of live-action films, with the support of several other major studios, Hollywood special effects companies have also sprung up. In 1997, the box office failure of special effects blockbusters such as "The Fifth Element", "Godzilla", and "Starship Troopers" did not hinder the development of the special effects industry in the slightest.

After all, in addition to the emerging animated films, in this year's box office list, films such as "Wonderful Night at the Museum 2" and "Jurassic Park 3" also appear to shine.

Moreover, even if North America can't distance itself from popular non-special effects films such as "Rush Hour 2" and "My Best Friend's Wedding", in terms of global box office, the overseas box office of special effects blockbusters usually far exceeds that of North America, and the videotapes and peripheral products of special effects blockbusters are also more popular than ordinary non-special effects movies.

For these reasons, in the recent period, the hot money that has poured into North America from Europe and Southeast Asia has also abandoned the strategy of big stars and big productions in the past, and has begun to invest in special effects blockbusters.

Eric remembers that in the original time and space, with a series of acquisitions of Pixar Animation, Marvel Entertainment, and Lucasfilm, Disney's film business became more and more powerful, often occupying half of Hollywood's annual lists, and even earned the nickname "Cancer Di" because it was too commercial. The market value of the entire Disney Group was once close to $200 billion, far exceeding that of old rivals such as Time Warner and Viacom, which only had a market value of tens of billions of dollars.

However, judging from the current situation, it is only the end of the nineties, and Firefly has completed the layout that Disney would only complete in more than ten years.

In a recent issue of BusinessWeek's article on Firefly Group, the valuation of Firefly Group has reached $100 billion, and this valuation data is also generally recognized by Wall Street.

In comparison, whether it is Time Warner, whose stock price has begun to soar with the new wave of technology, or Viacom, which has just annexed CBS Group, its market value still remains within $50 billion, less than half of Firefly Group.

With the disclosure of the valuation data of Firefly Group by Business Week, many media can't help but turn their attention to Eric's net worth forecast again.

Eric's shareholding in the Firefly Group remains at 73.7%, which means that Eric only has the shares of the Firefly Group in his hands, which is worth $73.7 billion, an increase of $10 billion compared with last year.

Moreover, as the new technology wave continues to ferment, the market value of many high-tech companies under Firefly Investment, another important industry of Eric, has also risen sharply.

Eric didn't have time to care about the media, and he quickly returned to Los Angeles after the New Year.

Although the media valuation of Firefly Group has reached a new high, the company's profit position this year has been significantly reduced due to the more than $3 billion invested in the Nasdaq market around this year, which inevitably causes concern among some other shareholders of Firefly Group.

Last year, Eric's investment in technology stocks has significantly lowered the annual profit of Firefly Group, and this year, although Firefly Group's business is stronger, because Eric has increased its investment in technology stocks, Firefly Group's expected profit for the whole year may even be only a few hundred million dollars.

After all, not everyone is optimistic about the continued upward trend of the Nasdaq market, and there have been many funds on Wall Street that are short the Nasdaq index.

Eric's total investment in the NASDAQ market in two years has reached $5 billion, although the shares purchased by this money have basically received very good returns, but after all, this is only a very volatile book wealth, once the NASDAQ market crashes, it may only take a few days, and the shares held by the Clover Fund may become worthless.

Burbank, Firefly headquarters, and a few days after Eric returned to Los Angeles, Warren Buffett, as a representative of the other shareholders, rushed to discuss with Eric about Clover's large holdings of technology stocks. (To be continued.) )