"Mr. Katzenberg has already started your plan at one of the Group's affiliated private equity funds, and Hathaway, State Street Global, and Firefly Investments are also following suit, and if we want to avoid being detected by Marvel, it will take us about a month," Kelly handed over the next document, saying, "Also, several newspaper groups have made a second round of offers for our print media assets, and the highest bid is currently $1.4 billion from Condé Nast." ”

Eric quickly read the document in his hand and said, "Let Jeffrey start the acquisition negotiations, Yahoo Network and AOL need a lot of money, tell Jeffrey that there is no need to worry too much about the price." As long as the price reaches the projected $1.5 billion, but I want the buyer to pay cash as soon as possible. ”

Kelly nodded, jotted down the memo, and then looked up and said, "That's all there is to it......

Eric looked at the closed office door and joked, "Do you want to do something unorthodox here?"

Kelly gave him a blank look, handed the last document to Eric, and said, "This is from Miss Murdoch, the New York Post was supposed to publish tomorrow, but she stopped her." She said that she could stop the New York Post story but not any other newspaper, and that she had a copy of the dossier related to the press release. ”

Eric glanced at the headline of the press release, "The Dark Past of a Genius Girl", and his eyes narrowed.

Seeing Charlize's name in the article, Eric had almost guessed the general content. After reading the article roughly, Eric was sure of his judgment.

In the original space-time. Charlize was nominated for the Oscar for Best Actress for "The Devil". In the media PR war that followed. When Charlize was fifteen years old, the news that his biological father was shot dead by her mother for drunken violence was once again hyped by the media, and Charlize, who was originally a simple victim, was even far-fetched by the unscrupulous media to the word "patricide". Eric didn't pay much attention to that scene, and his own result, that is, Charlize still won the Oscar without any problems.

Right now, maybe it's because Fox's "Dumb and Agua 2" is about to be released, but the box office momentum of "Breaking Bad" has not weakened in the slightest, and the New York Post doesn't know where to dig up this news, so it has a similar idea to those media in the previous life. However, it may be that the fireflies are on their side, and the article does not deliberately distort the facts as in the original time and space, but the tendentious hints between the lines will still lead to reverie.

"Since this matter has been dug up by the media, it must be impossible to hide it," Eric thought about it for a while, tore off a piece of sticky note paper and wrote a line, handed it to Kelly, and said, "You personally communicate with ICM, and let the public relations department try to cooperate." Follow this guideline, and I don't want to see any messy news pop up. ”

Kelly took the note from Eric. Seeing that it read, 'Regrettable family tragedy, a strong girl who came out of the shadows', he nodded, and said: "MGM's CEO Frank Macacso didn't know the phone here, and called me, I want to make an appointment with you to talk about "Breaking Bad", and MGM hopes to start two sequels to "Breaking Bad" at the same time." ”

"Let them go to Jeffrey and discuss ......these things," Eric said halfway, looking up and asking, "Did something happen?"

Kelly was about to speak, when Eric suddenly said, "Oh, it must be Penny and the three of them." ”

Kelly nodded, "The head of DreamWorks wants to sign a contract with Miss Cruze and the three of them for the next two sequels at once, but Ms. Michelle Simmons from ICM has not responded. ”

Eric said: "I'll help ask the three of them what they are thinking, so that MGM can do the release with peace of mind." ”

……

In the following days, with the cooperation of Firefly's public relations department, ICM agency, and MGM, news about Charlize began to appear in the media as a girl, but most of the information expressed full sympathy for Charlize from the perspective of the victim, and at the same time fully publicized Charlize's experience of going to Hollywood alone, completely shaping the girl into a self-reliant girl who came out of the dark shadows smoothly.

The first impression effect of ordinary people is very powerful, and since such a concept is instilled in them in the first place, then the appearance of articles smearing Charlize in the media in the future will only cause disgust among most people. At the same time, Charlize, who originally had a relatively weak presence in the trio of "Breaking Bad", has also risen in popularity a lot due to a blessing in disguise.

In the second week of July, Fox's "Dumb and Dumb 2" was also officially released, but it was affected by the box office reversal of "The Lion King" and "Breaking Bad", "Dumb and Dumb 2" only received more than 33 million box office in the first three days of the first weekend, which was $4 million lower than "Breaking Bad", and the box office is expected to stop within 45 million in the first week. However, compared to "Breaking Bad", which cost more than $80 million to produce, the biggest cost of this vulgar comedy is only Jim Carrey's salary, and the total production budget is less than $40 million, so Fox is still very profitable on this film.

After returning to Los Angeles from Boston at the end of May, after more than a month of intense busyness, Eric checked most of the film projects that needed to be taken care of personally, and his schedule gradually relaxed.

In the studio of the Victoria's Secret show, Eric had just sent away the head of the Firefly music department who had sent a stack of singer tapes, and the three girls who had just returned to Los Angeles after a European and East Asian tour walked into his office with Penelope's sister Monica, and Penelope and Kate each held a gorgeous set of angel wings.

After greeting Eric, Penelope couldn't wait to compare a set of butterfly wings behind him and said, "Eric." Are these the angel costumes to wear at the Victoria's Secret show? ”

Eric smiled as the two women put angel wings on their bodies. "You must have taken it on that shelf next to my office door." These are scraps to be disposed of, and the angel wings that are really chosen are kept in the vault. ”

Kate asked curiously, "These are already so beautiful, those who have been selected must be even more amazing, can we take a look?"

Eric shook his head and said, "I'll give you a few tickets when the time comes, and no one can look at them now." ”

Kate stuck her tongue out at Eric and said, "That's stingy. ”

Eric didn't answer, and looked at Charlize, who had been very quiet and obviously worried since he came in. Joked, "Charlie, are you planning to steal Kate's role in the sequel?"

"No, of course not," Charlize quickly shook his head.

Eric was just about to continue to say something, Penelope heard Eric mention the film, and he couldn't wait to hug Kate and gossip: "Eric, you don't know, when we went to Tokyo, Japan to promote, a man saw Kate at the scene and cried on the spot. He was crying and wowing and trying to rush to the stage, which scared us out. ”

Kate disgruntled and pushed Penelope away. "Why do you think he's coming for me, maybe he wants to pounce on you." ”

Penelope laughed, "Although I can't understand that guy's Japanese, everyone at the scene can hear the pronunciation of 'Selena' clearly." ”

Eric said: "I've read in the newspaper that Kate is now the most popular Western actress in Japan, how does it feel?"

Kate shook her head and said, "It's not good, people in that country always feel weird." ”

"It's because of cultural differences, different countries and different nationalities will have this feeling when they look at outsiders, otherwise there would be no racial discrimination and so on. Eric explained briefly, and then said, "Don't talk about this, someone asked me to ask, what are the plans of the three of you for the sequel?"

The three girls looked at each other a few times and didn't speak for a while.

Eric gestured at Penelope, "Penny, you come on." ”

"Eric, we don't mind making a sequel, but we don't want to rush the two sequels so hard, if we do one a year, we will definitely be stereotyped by the characters. ”

Eric remembered that MGM wanted to add the two sequels to DreamWorks' ten-film project, which was planned for three years, and heard Penelope's answer, Eric almost understood.

Gently knocking on the table and thinking about it for a while, seeing the three girls looking at him more and more worried, Eric suddenly smiled and said, "I don't have confidence in me, and you're worried that I will sell you?"

Although Eric is very gentle in life, he is often very strong when it comes to movies, and the three girls are really worried that Eric will force them to make one film a year, hearing Eric say this, Kate, who has the most brain, has relaxed and laughed: "Who made you so bad." ”

Eric laughed, "Looks like I'm going to find a time for you to help me remember all the bad things I've done." ”

Kate was stunned, and the little brain quickly recalled, and didn't recall anything for a while, but she still snorted unconvinced.

Eric didn't care, and patiently explained: "You must be thinking too seriously, since this is the case, it is better to change it to one every two years." In fact, the production plan of any Hollywood film company is not fixed, involving tens of millions or even hundreds of millions of dollars of investment, and the production process cannot be overstated, and it is normal for all kinds of changes to occur during the period. Although the original agreement was to make ten films in three years, if it was not completed for various reasons, the remaining projects would either be abandoned or postponed, just like Spielberg, who still owes Universal several film contracts, which are said to be more than ten years ago. ”

Penelope rolled his eyes and asked, "And what about our salary?"

"Your salary doesn't have much to do with me," Eric laughed again, "Although Firefly has a 30% interest in DreamWorks, the film production is funded by Europe, so just let Michelle talk about it for you, as high as you can, but don't go too far, be careful that everyone breaks up." ”

Kate asked, "How much do you think we can offer?"

Eric thought for a moment and said, "The two sequel contracts are packed with $12 million each, don't mention the achievements." There are three of you after all. The average salary of $18 million for starring roles is already sky-high. The producer also has to invite other actors, and the total expenditure of the actor's salary may be 25 million. If you ask too much for the filmmaker, you can only compress the shooting budget, which will definitely affect the quality of the sequel, which will be harmful to you. ”

Eric said it lightly, but even Charlize, who has always been a little worried, couldn't help but be speechless, after all, their salary in the first part was only two or three hundred thousand dollars, and they suffered so much. Now that his worth has suddenly skyrocketed to the tens of millions level, he really never thought that he would be able to earn so much money in the past.

After being surprised, Kate quickly thought of something and said: "More than 45 million, I heard that Nicole Kidman can almost earn more than 30 million with a "Mummy". ”

"The Mummy" is very hot at the North American and overseas box office, and it is expected that the combined revenue of various revenues will bring nearly $400 million to Universal Pictures in the next few years, and Michael Eisner also easily regained control of Universal from Michael Ovitz after heart surgery because of the box office explosion of "The Mummy".

But. The biggest personal profit of this film is undoubtedly Nicole, the original 8% omni-channel sharing contract. will bring Nicole an income of no less than $30 million, which also makes her the highest-paid actress in Hollywood, and it is estimated that it will be difficult to be surpassed in the next ten years.

Just like Jack Nicholson's super high salary in "Batman", Nicole got so much this time, it was just an accident, Universal probably regretted it to death, they only needed to spend $10 million to hire Nicole, but now they have paid three times the price. Moreover, Nicole will participate in the next sequel, and she will definitely have to get a fixed salary honestly. ”

Penelope said, "Then we'll talk according to the number you gave." ”

Eric nodded, glanced at the angel wings next to him, and said with a smile: "These look good when you wear them, there is a fitting room next to them, go put them on and show me." ”

Kate immediately glared at Eric with a red face, but Penelope picked up his wings with a grin, pulled Kate and walked out: "Kate, let's try, we don't have to show it to someone." ”

The two girls had already left the office as they spoke, and Eric looked at Monica, who was blinking with big eyes, and pointed to the door: "You go too, help your sister change her clothes." ”

"Hmm...... Well," the little girl, who was getting more and more watery, seemed to realize something, and walked out in a panic with her head down.

When the office door closed, Eric asked Charlize, "Is something wrong?"

"No," Charlize shook his head, hesitated, and added, "Michelle told me, and I saw the note you wrote, I ...... I just wanted to thank you. ”

"Oh," Eric nodded, jokingly, "You know, I'm a capitalist, and you've made money for me, so of course I'm going to cover you." ”

Charlize bit her lip, struggled for a moment, and said, "I, I don't want to owe you anything." ”

Eric laughed, "As much as I'd love to say that you don't owe me anything, you know, men have vanity. So what I'm actually trying to say is, if you feel like you owe me something, just keep owing it, and I feel very satisfied when I think of some beautiful woman who feels like she owes me something. ”

Charlize finally couldn't hold back, and laughed for the first time since arriving in this office, but the girl quickly retracted her expression, glared at Eric with light anger, and said, "You, is that how you coax girls in private?"

"Not necessarily, it depends on the person, for example, you have to do the opposite, to use a term in the Eastern art of war, it is called wanting to capture the old and indulge," Eric pointed out the door with a smile on his face, and continued to 'talk': "For Kate, this kind of proud little girl, you have to be appropriately strong, what about Penny...... You don't need to do anything. ”

"You're such a bastard," Charlize couldn't help laughing again, but before the girl knew it, she had moved to the door.

Then, in Eric's surprised gaze, Charlize reached out and locked the office door, and then walked towards Eric 'menacingly', Eric was about to get up in confusion, but was pressed by Charlize on the wide leather chair, and then, the girl's slender body bullied up, reached out and pulled Eric's tie, like a kitten that suddenly went crazy, but the panic hidden in the girl's expression betrayed her completely.

As soon as Eric was about to say something, Charlize had already put the ripped tie in front of Eric as an eyepatch.

Then, the slightly cool thin tunics kissed awkwardly.

When the thin lips that trembled with nervousness left him, and two small hands tugged at his shirt indiscriminately, Eric subconsciously joked again: "Charlie, you know, in America, some crimes are not only against men. ”

However, as soon as these words fell, Eric suddenly felt a hard bite on his shoulder.

In the man's gasping voice, the girl whose voice trembled slightly still said with hatred: "Let you, you have been deliberately ignoring me." ”

"Your Excellency, this is the office, why don't we go home, don't worry, I won't let ......you go."

"Shut up and don't move. ”

……

*PS: I watched Casino Royale today, and then I had this chapter......

(To be continued.) )