Since 1984, the "Haunted Street" series, which has been produced at a frequency of one per year, has accumulated a considerable number of regular fans. After Craven will return to shoot the final chapter of the series, it immediately attracted the attention of a large number of fans.

On November 1, Halloween, "The Death of Freddy" was released in more than 1,200 theaters in North America, and won $13 million at the box office in the first three days, while also receiving considerable praise. Although the final box office of the film will probably stay at about $50 million, compared to the production cost of less than 15 million, Firefly can still make a small profit in North America.

In addition to the small start of the Firefly's year-end schedule, Disney's "Righteous Courage", which cost as much as $48 million to produce, announced that it would be postponed to the summer of the following year, as Eric imagined, and the reason given by Disney was that he was optimistic about the box office prospects of the film, hoping that the film could more fully exert its commercial value. But people with a modicum of industry knowledge scoff at this statement.

Although the film was postponed, the creators were either silent or nonsense when they were questioned by reporters. But then The Hollywood Reporter turned a blow to Nicole Brown, the former female lead actress candidate in "The Brave Storm." Kidman's interview seems to reveal some inside information to the public. Nicole didn't make any comments on the film, but said ambiguously that a good friend would not build her to take the movie.

As one of Eric's 'gossip girlfriends', most people can effortlessly guess who Nicole's 'best friend' is who can easily influence her film selection. As soon as the news came out, the media, large and small, suddenly stirred up, and directly classified "Righteous Courage" into the ranks of bad movies. Disney's discernment has also become useless.

But. The turmoil did not have much impact on Disney's stock price. Disney's stock has been slowly climbing for months since Firefly announced its public takeover of Disney, and in early November, Disney's market capitalization had reached $4.7 billion, an increase of 34% in three months.

Under the watchful eye of Wall Street and Hollywood, among others, on November 4, Viacom, which is bidding with Firefly for Disney, officially made a $4.9 billion offer to Disney.

It happened to be Monday, and the fireflies had already gotten some news before that. Eric came to Firefly headquarters early to discuss countermeasures with the acquisition team.

In the three months that Lei Shidong raised funds, in addition to the tug-of-war negotiations with Disney's management and Disney shareholders, Firefly successively won 4% of Disney shares at a high price, and now holds 15% of the shares, becoming the second largest shareholder of Disney.

If the takeover stalemate lasts for a long time, Firefly can still demand a re-election of Disney's board of directors at the next shareholder meeting, thus meddling in Disney's management and even further seizing control of Disney.

And, even the worst-case scenario. Firefly lost the takeover battle with Disney's current share price. Fireflies can also make a profit of no less than $300 million by cashing out their shares.

After Eric arrived in the conference room, the head of the Morgan Stanley team, Bernie. Sanders spoke first: "Based on the information we have received, Summer. Mr. Lei has divested his theatrical business, and Viacom has raised around $5 billion. In addition, Viacom Group also holds a small stake in Blockbuster, and Lei Shidong is lobbying Blockbuster in an attempt to obtain financial support from the other party, and if successful, Viacom's chips will not be less than $7 billion. ”

Eric listened as he flipped through the information about Blockbuster in front of him.

Blockbuster is the largest video rental company in North America, with more than 2,000 stores, and most importantly, Blockbuster, as a retailer-like video rental company, has a huge cash flow in its hands, which is the most worrying point for Eric.

In memory, Lei Shidong and Barry. Deller's hostile takeover battle in 1994 was to acquire Blockbuster, and then obtained $10 billion in assets as collateral, and finally annexed Paramount.

Thinking of this, Eric asked: "Bernie, is it possible that Viacom will first use the funds in his hand to buy Blockbuster, and then use Blockbuster as collateral to get more funds to join the acquisition." ”

Bernie. Sanders thought for a moment, shook his head, and said, "Although this is a very effective method at this time, the possibility is extremely low. Since its change of ownership in 1987, Blockbuster has been expanding rapidly at a rate of 500 new stores per year, with an annual growth rate of more than 30% in market value. ”

Eric was a little relieved, although he didn't know why Viacom was able to buy Blockbuster a few years later, but Bernie. Sanders's analysis is correct.

"What about Viacom, although Lei Shidong currently controls Viacom, Viacom's shareholders shouldn't let Lei Shidong do whatever he wants, right?"

Bernie. Sanders nodded: "Lei Shidong may raise more than $7 billion, but when the acquisition offer for Disney exceeds $6 billion, Lei Shidong will be more and more resisted by Viacom." Once the offer breaks through the psychological limits of the other shareholders, Viacom will even have infighting, and then we will be able to win the acquisition lightly. But what this limit is, we don't know. ”

There was a low discussion in the conference room, and Eric quickly thought about whether there was a way to get Lei Shidong to take the initiative to withdraw from the competition. But moments later, Eric was disappointed to see that this scenario seemed impossible. Lei Shidong is a typical dictatorial tyrant, with a strong personal will, and will not listen to other people's opinions at all, not to mention that the two sides are still competitors now.

During the hostile takeover of Viacom a few years ago, Lei Shidong insisted on pressing his own qiē, increasing the offer for Viacom from $2.25 billion all the way to $3.4 billion. After the completion of the acquisition, in the face of resistance from Viacom's management, Lei Shidong did not hesitate to pay a high severance pay. Replaced all of Viacom's top management. This shows his arrogant and lonely character.

Such a person once a decision has been made. Unless you reach the end of your rope, the chance of taking the initiative to back down is basically zero.

On the day of Viacom's offer, Firefly immediately increased the price to $5 billion, a difference of just $100 million, leaving followers of the acquisition speculating that it was just a test between Firefly and Viacom.

For the next week, there seemed to be little movement on either side. But only those who were personally involved know that Viacom and Firefly's acquisition team had more frequent contacts with Disney during this time.

At the same time, a lot of people are aware. The next two months of Thanksgiving Christmas will have a decisive effect on the acquisition, mainly because Disney's management has not given up lobbying shareholders to boycott the acquisition, if Disney's performance improves in the past two months, or if the Firefly has a serious change, Disney management is likely to win the support of considerable shareholders again.

Although the total box office of the year-end schedule is much lower than that of the summer season, the fierce competition is not weak at all.

On November 22, the first week of the year-end holiday file, led by Fox's "Home Alone 3", including Disney's "Beauty and the Beast". Firefly's "Dumb and Dumb", Paramount's "The Addams Family" and Universal's "American Rat Tan 2" are released on a large scale at the same time.

Although there was a gap of a year in between, no sequel was developed. But "Home Alone 3" has not diminished in the slightest, winning more than 27 million box office in more than 2,500 theaters in the first three days of the weekend, and won the three-day box office championship of the weekend without any suspense. This achievement surprised Eric, but he did not regret transferring the sequel development rights to Fox. After all, this sequel costs more than $50 million, and Fox doesn't have much room to make money.

Home Alone 3 was followed by Paramount's The Addams Family, a family fantasy comedy that grossed $24 million in more than 2,400 theaters.

Firefly's road comedy "Dumb and Dumb" came in third, and Eric arranged 1,900 theaters for the film, which just hit 20 million in its opening weekend.

Although this achievement is far inferior to the previous two works, "Home Alone" and "The Addams Family" have already accumulated a lot of fame through the previous works or TV series, while "Dumb and Agua" is a completely new work, without any popularity accumulation, coupled with the very low cost of the film, the results achieved have attracted more attention.

On the day of the first weekend's results, Hollywood studios were already researching the film, trying to find the comedy's success and imitate it. They also quickly found the key, which is the actor of the movie, Kim. Kerry. But when it was learned that Kim. After the contract signed by Kerry and TG, most people broke their minds.

In addition to these three films, Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" has received a good reputation, but it is limited to less than 1,000 releases, and the box office is only ranked fifth, even behind Universal's "Cape of Terror", which has been in theaters for a week. Directed by Scorsese, Robert Brown. Starring De Niro.

As for Universal's other "American Rat Tan 2", co-developed with Spielberg's Abelin Pictures, it only earned a measly $3.4 million at the box office in 1,700 theaters, becoming the first box office dud in the year-end schedule.

In the face of the open and secret battles with Viacom and the small actions made by Disney management from time to time, Eric did not rest throughout Thanksgiving, and even ate Thanksgiving dinner with Jeffrey and others.

Eric's conservative box office estimate for "Dumb and Dumb" was around 80 million, and as long as it can achieve this result, Eric will be satisfied, after all, before this, pulp comedy has not cultivated enough audiences in Hollywood. But the potential of this movie is fully hopeful of breaking 100 million, and Eric is no longer too worried about the box office of the next "Spicy Police Flower".

However, although "Dumb and Dumb" has achieved outstanding results, it has been attacked by Disney, and the second day after the release of "Dumb and Dumb", Disney accused the film of being incompatible with Disney's business ideas, and if the two companies merge, this kind of vulgar comedy will undoubtedly damage Disney's healthy and upward brand image.

In the face of Disney's accusations of some nonsense, Eric directly made people make a tough response. After the completion of the acquisition, Disney will become a brand owned by Firefly. A subsidiary. And it's not that fireflies are dominated by Disney. Therefore, the accusations of the current management of Disney are completely nonsense, and the works developed between different subsidiaries will not affect each other, after all, Disney's Touchstone Pictures has also produced a considerable number of R-rated films in recent years.

After four weeks of Thanksgiving, the box office of "Home Alone 3" has reached $80 million, because the next is Christmas, and Fox estimates that the film's follow-up response will still get the same box office amount, because of the competition of the same genre of "Home Alone 3". "Beauty and the Beast" grossed just over $30 million in four weeks, and although the film had a good reputation, it was not destined to do much at the box office. However, the box office of "Dumb and Dumb" reached 65 million, and there was no suspense at all when the box office exceeded 100 million.

Spielberg is destined to be a hurdle that no one in Hollywood can get around, and while most of the attention is focused on Firefly and Disney films, "Captain Hawke", which Sony Pictures has high hopes for, boldly set a release date for December 6.

Although the script of the film was greatly revised with Eric's participation, adding the role of the little fairy played by Nicole, it still failed to save the film's reputation, and it was booed in the media two weeks before its release. Sony Pictures had expected the film to grossing more than $40 million in its first week, but in reality. The film only got 17 million in its first week, and although the weekly box office increased as Christmas approached, it didn't break the $30 million mark in any week. The $70 million production is destined to recoup its costs by consuming Spielberg's personal reputation.

"Dances with Wolves," which was released at the same time as "Captain Hawke," was even more unremarkable, and although the small-scale film was a big hit, the film's four-hour duration also kept most of the audience out.

On December 20, the first week of Christmas, Firefly's "Spicy Hand Police Flower" and Disney's "New Father-in-law" were released in 1,900 theaters at the same time. "The New Father-in-law" is a remake, and the publicity focus relies on the original Elizabeth. Taylor's accumulated fame, but although the original version is a classic, it has been 40 years since then, and the influence has long been gone, so the film only got more than 14.4 million box office in the first week.

Compared with the old-school comedy style of "New Father-in-law", "Spicy Hand Police Flower", which takes the same vulgar comedy route as "Dumb and Dumb", has made a large number of audiences shine, although the film has not received a good reputation from critics, but it still got $21 million at the box office in the first three days of the weekend. Nicole plays a serious but somewhat cute female detective and Rosie. O'Donnell's rough and fat policewomen partner up with each other to give the audience a 100-minute hilarious movie-watching journey without peeing on the movie. And Nicole's subversive performance in "Spicy Hand Police Flower" even made many people interested in the little fairy played by Nicole in "Captain Hawke", which unknowingly drove the box office of "Captain Hawke", but most of the interviewed fans also said that they preferred Nicole's performance in "Spicy Hand Police Flower".

The last day of 1991 passed quickly, and with the arrival of the New Year, the total box office statistics of the major Hollywood studios for 1991 were also released, and at the same time, it seemed to hint at a final competition that was about to come.

Although some movies are still being released, according to the box office and audience reputation that the movies have accumulated, the final box office of most of the movies released can be roughly counted. Because of the war, the total annual box office in North America in 1991 was only $4.8 billion compared to 1990.

Time Warner is still firmly in the position of Hollywood's big brother, releasing 21 films throughout the year, with a cumulative box office of $750 million and a market share of 15.6%.

Even if you don't want to admit it, everyone can see that Firefly's name appears very glaringly in the second place, with "Terminator 2", "Toy Story", "The Death of Freddy", "Dumb and Dumb" and "Spicy Police Flower" These five films, Firefly got a total of $660 million at the box office, occupying 13.7% of the market share in North America.

Because most of its resources were bet on "Cut Throat Island", Disney only released 12 films throughout the year, and the most highly anticipated "Cut Throat Island" failed miserably at the box office, with director Disney grossing only $380 million for the year, and its market share slipped to the lowest 7% in five years.

Not only that, because up to $2 billion in liabilities are subject to interest and principal dues. Disney posted a $120 million loss. Stimulated by this number jù. Disney shares fell for the first time in more than five months.

Disney shareholders, who had a glimmer of hope for Disney's management, have finally given up. Started taking the Firefly and Viacom acquisitions seriously.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Bass, it's a shame we couldn't reach an agreement, and I hope to have the opportunity to work together next time," Eric said goodbye to the two middle-aged men in front of him, standing in the parking lot of Sharp Corner Manor.

The two men who were about to get in the car and leave were named Sid. Bass and Roy. Disney, Sid. Bass is the current helmsman of the Bass family, which owns the most shares in Disney. Disney goes without saying. The people of the Disney family, Walt. Disney's nephew.

"I hope so," said Sid. Buzz took another deep look at Eric and got into his silver car. Disney's lips moved, as if she wanted to say something, but she ended up in the car.

Waiting for the other party's car to leave the Sharp Corner Manor, Chris who had been standing quietly beside Eric couldn't help but say, "Eric, I think the other party's conditions are not bad, if you agree." Viacom is no longer a threat to us. ”

Sid. Bass and Roy. Disney's visit represents a large part of Disney's shareholders. It is hoped that the shares in hand will be exchanged for shares in the company after the merger of Firefly and Disney, rather than a sum of cash.

As long as Eric agrees, this part of Disney's shareholders will unite to help Firefly complete the acquisition, but Eric still chooses to refuse.

Hearing Chris's words, Eric glanced at Bernie on the other side. Sanders: "Boni, what do you think?" ”

Pawnee. Sanders shrugged and said, "I'm just the introducer, actually Sid. When Bass contacted me, I didn't have much hope. I know you've already made up your mind to pay attention. ”

Eric smiled, led the two of them back, and said, "You should have heard, Barry. Diller is leaving Fox in February. ”

Both nodded at the same time, and they were both quite concerned about the news in Hollywood during this time.

Barry. The news of Diller's imminent departure caused a stir in Hollywood, and Murdoch, as an outsider, was still focused on running the newspaper industry in Australia and the United Kingdom. If it weren't for Barry. With Diller's assistance, it is impossible for Murdoch to enter the mainstream circle of Hollywood, and the development of the Fox television network is impossible. Therefore, Barry. The inside story of Diller's sudden departure from Fox has become the object of much speculation. Eric meets Elizabeth at Christmas and asks about it, and the girl doesn't hide it from her.

Eric said, "Barry. Diller is a very talented person, Fox has risen over the years, and Barry. Diler took most of the credit. Mr. Murdoch also retained him, but probably in September of last year, Barry. Diller said to Murdoch that he didn't want to be a part-time worker anymore, he wanted to be a master, and you know how Murdoch answered? ”

Both Chris and Bernie looked curious.

Eric didn't sell it either, saying, "Murdoch said that Fox can only have one owner. ”

Chris and both fell silent.

Eric added, "Fireflies are the same, they can only have one owner. Murdoch can certainly be aware of Barry. Diller's departure would have had a big impact on Fox's development, but he didn't consider the second option in the slightest, even if it wouldn't affect his control of Fox in the slightest.

Many investors always instill in the owners of enterprises a concept that they cannot eat alone and share benefits in order to develop, in fact, this is just an excuse for them to seize the control of the enterprise, and the people who sell their shares in exchange for development funds are often just people who do not have many choices.

If there were sufficient funds, I don't think the owners of Microsoft, Oracle, or Cisco would have chosen to go public to raise funds. And after most people succeed, they are desperately trying to increase their holdings in an attempt to achieve the goal of regaining control. Firefly is lucky, I now just have enough funds to take a completely different path from other entrepreneurs, although it is a little more difficult and the price to pay is a little more, but I think it is worth it. I would never choose a relatively easy path that lays a lot of hidden dangers for the future of fireflies. (To be continued......)

PS: The website server crashed, hey, it was only a client before, and now even the main site is like this, it's late to upload, sorry.