The next morning, Firefly Burbank headquarters. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

As a magic film project that Disney Pictures will focus on in the next ten years, Eric has already sent the first manuscript of "Harry Potter" back to Los Angeles in advance when he was in the UK, and distributed it to several core executives of Firefly, hoping that they can understand the content of this novel in advance.

At the same time, Eric has also personally communicated with Murdoch several times, and News Corp.'s Harper Collins Publishing House, which has a distribution network all over the world, will release the first part of the series "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" in the United Kingdom, the United States, Australia and other English-speaking countries at the same time in early September.

Although the film project will not be officially approved until the "Harry Potter" novel is determined to have enough influence, however, because Katzenberg, Frank Wells and others who have read the novel are very optimistic about this story, everyone unanimously decided to hold a special meeting to discuss and make a detailed film and television and theme park development plan in advance.

"Different from traditional fairy tales such as Snow White, Cinderella, and mermaids, one of the great advantages of the Harry Potter series is that it is easier for people to feel immersed. The setting of the novel takes place in real-life London, which can give readers the illusion that the story is happening around them, which can attract their interest in the story to the greatest extent. But at the same time, it's about an interesting adventure in the wizarding world, and unlike the bizarre Alice in Wonderland, this story is more relatable, because there are countless rumors about wizarding magic and the like that have been circulating around us since we were young. ”

In the conference room of the office building of the administrative district of the studio, Eric was briefly explaining why he was optimistic about this story, and the door of the conference room was suddenly knocked a few times.

Interrupted in his thoughts, Eric looked over with some displeasure to see his female assistant, Kelly Haynes, apologetically pushing open the door and making an urgent gesture at him. Peter Ritchie has arrived at FFM for a new job, and Kelly has temporarily taken on the role until a new personal assistant is chosen.

Eric nodded and motioned for everyone to wait, walked to the door of the conference room, and asked, "Kelly, what's wrong?"

Kelly shoved her phone over and explained, "Amy called." ”

Eric put his phone to his ear and said hello, and Amy Pascal on the other side said something in an eager tone.

After listening to Amy quietly, Eric frowned, but did not hesitate too much, and said, "In that case, let's do what I said yesterday, you call Yahoo and ask them to make an announcement...... There's nothing to talk about, I'll explain it to Barbara...... Heh, Amy, it's Hollywood, we've got the final say. After you make the announcement, contact Kapoor and ask him to start looking for a new Bond candidate. Kevin Costner seems to be on the CAA's side, in this case, the script of "Disc 3" needs to continue to be adjusted to add supporting roles that may replace Ethan Hunter, so I'll hang up first. ”

Kelly listened to the conversation between Eric and Amy, and guessed what was going on, took the mobile phone handed over by Eric, saw him standing in place and lost his thoughts, and said carefully: "Eric, do you really want to replace Brosnan?"

Eric cleared his thoughts and nodded, "yes, you heard that, too." ”

Kelly's tone was obviously worried: "But, isn't the impact of this too great?"

"There will definitely be an impact, but it's not as serious as you think. The Agent Cinematic Universe has been built, and now the audience is not much less interested in the story of the series itself than in the protagonists. Eric explained, seeing that the melancholy on Kelly's face did not decrease at all, he smiled and said: "Think about it, if I agree to Brosnan's salary conditions, if I want to continue to complete several major series of intersperse, the salaries of several other people will also rise, and even, the production cost of the next few films is likely to be close to 200 million US dollars, in addition, in addition to the fixed salary, the profit share asked by several leading actors is estimated to be no less than 30% of each movie." In this case, even if the next six films all maintain a global box office of $1 billion, we will not make much profit, not to mention, this expectation is unrealistic, and even, if one of them fails at the box office, the entire series will not be able to continue. Now, by replacing Brosnan, who is the least risky, and showing MGM's determination, the protagonists of the other two series will not be so fearless until the lion opens his mouth. ”

In fact, there was a deeper reason for Eric's decision, and he just suddenly thought that maybe this incident would be an opportunity. Because, within the Firefly system, Hollywood's traditional rules of profit distribution are no longer suitable.

In addition to the Firefly system, several other major film companies are either listed companies or controlled by consortia that do not actually have much control over Hollywood, which also leads to several major film companies launching a movie, and the company's executives and the main creative team of the project do not consider the interests of shareholders and investors at all.

For example, Warner's ongoing production of "Lethal Weapon 4" is produced by Joe Silvo's production company, and the high budget of $140 million comes mainly from the speculative hot money that has poured into Hollywood in recent years.

As a result, this film, which is expected to have a global box office of only about $300 million, was starred by Mel Gibson and took a sky-high salary of $30 million. Producer Joe Sylvo also enjoys a base salary of $8 million plus a box office share in the later period, and other main creators such as directors, screenwriters, and supporting actors are also paid handsomely. In the end, Warner Bros. will definitely not want to make a penny at the box office, and can only hope to recoup some profits from the DVD and TV broadcast rights in the later stage. Moreover, under Hollywood's special financial system, whether external investors can recover their $140 million investment is another matter, let alone even think about making money, as far as Eric knows, Wall Street's film funds, which are responsible for guiding European and Asian hot money to invest in Hollywood films, have an average annual return of less than 10%, and losses abound.

In the end, as far as the whole project is concerned, Mel Gibson has made a lot of money, Joe Sylvo has also made a lot of money, the director, screenwriter and other main creators have also made money, and Time Warner's senior management in charge of this project will definitely get enough salaries and bonuses, and the box office of the movie can also make Time Warner's revenue and financial report more beautiful, and everyone is happy. Only Time Warner's shareholders and the investors who provide the production budget for the film do not get any benefit, because they do not belong to Hollywood and cannot get their share of the 'cake' from Hollywood's chain of interests.

Due to the closed financial operation system, Firefly plays the role of shareholders and investors, the latter two excluded from Hollywood's interest chain.

In the original time and space, even after more than ten or twenty years, although batches of unjust bosses threw money at Hollywood one after another, because they never got enough power to change the rules, most of them returned after being pit with a bloody face, and Sony Pictures, which barely survived in Hollywood, is basically just the ATM of Hollywood big names such as Will Smith and Adam Sandler, who often log in to the list of the least cost performance.

Now, with a firm grip on the two major Hollywood studios, a strong influence over the other studio, Fox, and enough power to change the rules, Eric is unlikely to let this continue.

The first thing to change is naturally the increasingly unreasonably high remuneration of Hollywood stars, and perhaps in the process of changing the rules, there will be a situation of self-loss of 800, but if it is not changed and the situation continues to develop, Firefly will not only lose more and more profits that should belong to the film company, but also cannot fundamentally gain control over Hollywood.

As for stars, many people may have forgotten one thing, all Hollywood's first-line big names are created by big studios through film investment. What's more, the Firefly system, which focuses on special effects films and animated films, is far less dependent on stars than other major film companies.

On the same morning, the Sunset Tower Hotel in Beverly Hills.

Piers Brosnan is at a new show for Omega Watches, and he has just recently won the endorsement of the Swiss watch brand.

After the fixed process such as product display is completed, enter the media Q&A session, and the topic naturally cannot escape the questions of "Casino Royale" and the next 007.

"Regarding the plot of "Bond 19", I haven't seen the script yet, and even if I do, I definitely can't reveal it at will, haha, let's ask some other questions. ”

On the simple stage, Brosnan and the host sat in a simple chair, holding the microphone, smiling, personable but very skillful to deal with the reporter's questions.

Although the contract for the sequel was still being negotiated, he never thought he would give up the role, even if he had to make some concessions in the end. After all, since his first appearance on the big screen in 1980, he has worked hard for more than ten years to reach the peak of his career today, how could he give up, not to mention, he will soon be forty-five years old, although the career of Hollywood male stars is far greater than that of female stars, but at his current age, outside of Bond, there are not many mainstream blockbuster roles suitable for him.

After answering a question, the host next to Brosnan was about to pick the next questioner, as if suddenly, at least ten mobile phones rang abruptly in the conference hall, and the rather monotonous and even harsh ringing of this era instantly filled the entire event hall.

Brosnan was taken aback, and the host was even more embarrassed, holding the microphone and reluctantly joking: "Okay, maybe the Martians have attacked the earth, but before the earth is destroyed, let's finish this press conference first, right?"

In a burst of laughter, the reporters whose mobile phones rang took the initiative to turn off their mobile phones. However, the other staff in the venue did not have such scruples and avoided answering the phone.

So, as soon as the host picked the next questioner and handed over the microphone, Brosnan's public relations manager named Sarah Lindellt rushed to the stage with a panicked look, completely ignoring the stunned eyes of others, attached to Brosnan's ear and said a few words quickly, and then Brosnan also stood up suddenly.

Although he immediately realized his gaffe, Brosnan didn't care about anything else, just said sorry and hurriedly left the stage.

At this time, the group of reporters in the audience also realized that the phone call just now must be related to Brosnan, and something must have happened, so they took out their mobile phones again and dialed back.

In the corridor outside the conference hall, Brosnan walked quickly towards the elevator, and Paul Darrick, president of Omega North America, who also received a phone call, followed him and asked quickly: "Pierce, what the hell is going on, if you don't plan to play Bond again, you shouldn't sign with us, you are a fraud, we have the right to cancel the contract and demand compensation." ”

Brosnan walked into the elevator with his PR manager, frantically pressed the button a few times, and said to Paul Darrick, who was chasing after him, with the same embarrassed face: "Sorry, Paul, I don't even know what's going on right now, can you give me some time?"

Paul Darrick was still about to ask, but noticed that Brosnan also had a confused expression, so he had to say, "Okay, but you have to give me an answer as soon as possible." ”

Brosnan nodded, reached out and pressed the elevator button a few more times, suddenly remembered something, and without waiting for the elevator door to close, he slammed his public relations manager out of the elevator and said, "Sarah, call Rick, immediately." ”

"Okay, okay," Sarah Lindellt quickly pulled out her phone from her satchel again, and at the same time handed Brosnan's mobile phone, which she had just kept for Brosnan in order to avoid disturbing the activities just now.

It's just that when I took out my phone, both phones rang almost at the same time.

Maybe it's not messy enough, before the two have time to connect their mobile phones, the group of reporters who were originally at the Omega event have already chased them out frantically.

"Mr. Brosnan, is the announcement just made by Yahoo Portal true?"

"Pierce, did you really turn down MGM's $100 million package contract?"

"Pierce, you seem to have just gotten this message, is there anything hidden in this?"

“……”

"Get out of the way, get out of the way. ”

"Sorry, we don't have anything to say about this at the moment. ”

"Please give me a moment, we will give the media an answer as soon as possible. ”

Half an hour later, Brosnan finally arrived at CAA's headquarters in Century City with his public relations manager, and by this time, MGM's announcement through the Yahoo portal that "Brosnan has dropped the show, and Bond 19 will be recast" has spread throughout Hollywood. (To be continued.) )