In the affluent area of Mountain View Manor, halfway up the northern part of Santa Monica, Eric's car stopped outside a mansion and was greeted by Amy Pascal and her husband, Bernard Wamlab. Pen, fun, pavilion www. biquge。 info

"Good evening, Amy, and Bernard," Eric hugged Amy Pascal lightly, shook hands with Bernard Wamlaub, and then explained to Amy with a smile, "Drew said there was something else to do tonight, so she should have said hello to you, right?"

Amy Pascal nodded knowingly and said, "Eric, let's go in." ”

The girl originally made an appointment with Eric to come over, but the cocktail party was completely different from other entertainment-based parties, especially tonight's business-type cocktail party, there was no lively music, no dancing crowd, everyone just got together to talk about things seriously, the girl was originally very uninterested, and happened to receive the year-end carnival invitation of the girlfriend group, so in the afternoon, a few words on the phone directly released Eric's pigeon.

After traveling in London and New York for more than half a month, returning to Los Angeles, Eric couldn't avoid these things.

Today is Monday, November 30th.

MGM's blockbuster film "Mission Impossible 3" at the end of the year has just experienced its second weekend of screenings.

After several years of complete fermentation in the Agent Cinematic Universe, coupled with MGM's careful care, "Mission Impossible 3" was a big hit again with almost no suspense.

In the first week and seven days, "Mission Impossible 3" earned $115.35 million on more than 3,200 screens in the United States. With the good word-of-mouth of the media and audiences, although there are good new films released before and after, the box office decline of "Mission Impossible 3" in the next weekend and three days still remained strong at 37%, collecting another $47.23 million.

Ten days after its release, the total box office of "Mission Impossible 3" has reached $162.58 million.

Eric and Amy enter their mansion together.

Implicitly complimentary, the New York Times interview caused a stir, and the topic quickly turned to the movie, Amy said: "The most surprising thing is "Teddy Bear", the data I saw this morning has a total box office of more than $160 million, only one million dollars less than "Mission Impossible 3". In the coming period, there will definitely be a lot of people in Hollywood who are going to toss other children's toys. ”

"Teddy Bear", which was released a week ahead of "Mission Impossible 3", reached $88.65 million at the box office in the first week.

Under the super high topic, although facing the impact of "Mission Impossible 3" in the second week, the box office of "Teddy Bear" still fell by only 43%, and it collected another $49.19 million. This past weekend, the box office decline of "Teddy Bear" narrowed again, falling by only 31%, with a three-day box office of $23.49 million and a cumulative box office of $161.33 million.

Although it was released a week in advance, "Teddy Bear" was able to get a box office comparable to "Mission Impossible 3" at this time, which also amazed many people.

After all, the production budget of "Teddy Bear" is only 50 million US dollars, and the North American box office of more than 160 million US dollars in just two and a half weeks is enough for Firefly to recover all the production and publicity costs.

Comparatively speaking, the production cost of "Mission Impossible 3" is 150 million US dollars, and the two sides are even more incomparable in terms of the overall publicity scale.

Although the profit scale of "Mission Impossible 3" in the future will definitely be much higher than that of "Teddy Bear", but counting the countless resources invested by MGM in "Mission Impossible 3", the film will definitely not make as easy money as "Teddy Bear".

The three of them walked across the villa to the backyard, Eric smiled: "This kind of alternative theme, it's okay to do one or two films once in a while, if it's too flooded, the audience will quickly become disgusted, and I'm now thinking about whether to start a sequel to "Teddy Bear" in the short term." ”

Bernard Wainlabb quipped: "With such an interesting film, the audience must be very much looking forward to seeing the sequel as soon as possible." ”

With that, the three of them were already in the backyard.

The courtyard covering an area of more than 1,000 square meters is brightly lit, but the atmosphere seems very quiet, about forty or fifty guests are scattered scattered all over the courtyard, chatting in groups.

Although Eric's arrival attracted everyone's attention, in this very formal reception, everyone did not rush over to greet them, but some guests inevitably moved their steps, hoping to appear on Eric's trajectory and take advantage of the situation to chat a few words.

Entering the backyard, Bernard Weinlabb and Eric whispered a word of greeting and left to entertain the other guests.

Amy and Eric fetch two drinks together and start introducing some guests to him.

"Eric, this is Kevin, Kevin Williamson," Amy enthusiastically introduced to a middle-aged man in his thirties in a dark checked suit, "Kevin just told me about his latest script idea, maybe you can also listen to it." ”

Kevin Williamson is the screenwriter of the "Scream" series.

Speaking of which, the surname gap between Williamson and Williams is similar to that of Hansen and Hans, and Eric has become accustomed to seeing all kinds of duplicate names and surnames over the years.

Although he became famous with the "Scream" series, Kevin Williamson also understood the energy and status of the young people in front of him in Hollywood, and shook hands with Eric respectfully, and after a few pleasantries, he began to take the initiative to introduce his latest script idea: "Mr. Williams, the story goes like this: Ann lives in a lifeless, old-fashioned town, and her biggest wish is to get a full scholarship to college and leave the place far away. It's just that when she was about to graduate, she had to face the rebuke of the history teacher who was very harsh on her. During an exam, her history teacher, Ms. Tingle, suspected her of cheating and held on to the matter. If she is labeled as a cheater, Ann's scholarship will undoubtedly be lost, so she privately approached Ms. Tingle to try to seek reconciliation, but the conflict between the two sides unexpectedly intensified during the exchange, and by mistake, Ann kidnapped her history teacher by mistake, so things became more and more out of control, and for the next period of time, Ann had to cover up the matter as much as possible in front of her family, friends, and police officers who came to question......

Eric patiently listened to Kevin Williamson finish the general outline of the script before asking, "Kevin, what is your positioning for the subject matter of this movie?"

Kevin Williamson thought for a moment and said, "This is a thriller and suspense film with some teen horror elements. ”

Eric smiled and said, "So, Kevin, you're obviously well aware of your strengths, but it seems to be a constraint on you. I'll admit, it was a brilliant idea, an accidental kidnapping, and a painstaking cover-up. But if you think about it, such an idea is more suitable for making an absurdist black comedy, and just imagine some of the plots in it, which is full of dramatic conflicts that are enough to make people laugh. ”

After Eric finished speaking, seeing Kevin Williamson's thoughtful look, he stopped there.

Being able to point out a few words from Kevin Williamson is also due to the fact that he brought the "Scream" series to MGM, as for whether the other party can go further, or whether he is willing to go further, it is not within Eric's consideration.

After the "Scream" series, except for "I Know What You Did Last Summer", which was barely good at the box office in the summer, Kevin Williamson no longer has any representative works.

The production cost of $30 million for "Deadly High School", which was released at the same time as "Teddy Bear" two weeks ago, is considered the main hit of Columbia Pictures at the end of the year, but so far, the box office of the film is only more than $26 million, which is completely different from the 160 million of "Teddy Bear". Because the box office was far lower than expected, the Colombian side has abandoned the overseas distribution plan of "Deadly College" and decided to sell out the rights directly.

Away from Kevin Williamson, Amy slowed down, stopped by the pool, and said, "Kevin just mentioned to me that he would love to direct this movie himself." ”

"You should have watched "Deadly High School", right?" Eric shook his head slightly, and said: "Kevin can't find a direction at all now, if he can't settle down and get rid of the influence of "Scream" one step further, after his popularity is exhausted, he will be eliminated by Hollywood soon." ”

Amy's expression was a little hesitant and she said, "So, this movie?"

Eric smiled and said, "You can decide for yourself, such a small production won't affect anything." However, if Kevin continues like this, there will be no need to cooperate again in the future. ”

From Kevin Williamson's account, Eric understands that the cost of the film will not be too high, and it can still be easily controlled within $15 million, and MGM will not be able to allow the production budget of a low-budget horror film to be doubled to $30 million like Sony Pictures did before.

Coupled with the gimmick of Kevin Williamson, who created the "Scream" series, the possibility of the film losing money is not high, but if Kevin Williamson shoots according to the script style he just narrated, an alternative teen campus drama that is neither scary, nor bloody nor funny is almost zero at the box office.

Amy nodded and said, "By the way, Jenner is also here, we have been discussing whether to prepare "New York Wife" or "Manhattan Girl" first, you can help us with the staff." ”

Eric was about to walk with Amy to Chrissy Jenner, who was not far away, when Penelope Cruz, who was wearing a burgundy low-cut dress, walked over and raised his glass and greeted, "Hi, Eric." ”

Both of them had wine glasses in their hands, and Eric just shook Penelope's hand and said, "Good evening, Penny, are you the only one coming?"

Penelope's gaze was a little resentful: "Kate and Charlize have their own business." ”

"You misunderstand me, I mean," Eric smiled and raised his arm, "I happen to be here alone." ”

Penelope immediately understood, and wrapped himself around like a cat, holding Eric's arm affectionately.

Seeing Eric and Penelope talking, Amy gestured to Chrissy Jenner and walked over first.

Eric and Penelope continued to stand by the pool and whisper to each other, feeling the delicate body of the girl next to them, Eric suddenly remembered something else, and said, "By the way, what has your sister been doing lately? I met her in New York last year, and we had a few conversations. ”

At a party at New York Fashion Week last year, Eric met Monica Cruz and promised the girl to introduce her to a few movies, but Eric quickly forgot about it afterwards. Now that I suddenly think about it, I am still a little embarrassed, and I don't know if the girl will be a villain to prick herself in private.

Penelope heard Eric mention his sister, but obviously misunderstood something, and his little expression became resentful again, but he still said: "She got a resident role in the new season of "Black Angel of the Last World" this year. ”

Eric nodded and said, "That sci-fi film supervised by Jim, it's a good opportunity." ”

Penelope whispered in response, relieved to see that Eric didn't continue.

After chatting for a few words, Eric took Penelope to Amy and Chrissy Jenner, and talked for a while about the development of new spin-offs of MGM's two major cable stations that focus on reality TV series, and after socializing in the crowd, Eric temporarily sent away the Latin girl next to him, and stood with Amy in no one to continue the initial topic of "Mission Impossible 3".

Judging from the current situation, the North American box office potential of "Mission Impossible 3" should be between $260 million and $280 million, which is about $40 million lower than the summer file of "Breaking Bad 3". Overseas, the box office potential will probably be around $600 million to $700 million, which is also lower than the summer season of "Breaking Bads 3" and last year's "007: Casino Royale". The global box office will probably be fixed at less than $900 million, and it is unlikely to exceed $1 billion. ”

Amy's tone was a little regretful, and if other Hollywood studio executives heard that Amy regretted a movie that grossed nearly 900 million worldwide, they would definitely have an urge to cry. But it is undeniable that the "Mission Impossible" series, which was originally the best box office among the three series, has been surpassed in popularity and box office by the 007 series and the "Breaking Baby" series.

Eric listened to Amy's words and said, "I've also read the analysis report done by the distribution department, this sequel is the first time Ethan Hunter and Bond have teamed up, and the audience's joint reaction to the two top agents is obviously not as popular as the previous male and female pairing. We can make adjustments to that next, though, I didn't see Kevin Costner tonight, isn't he in Los Angeles?"

"Kevin flew to participate in the publicity," Amy said, "However, he should be watching now, so he deliberately avoided us." ”

Eric was a little puzzled: "Wait and see?"

Amy nodded and said, "Kevin's agent has been delaying negotiations with us about the next sequel salary recently, and they should be waiting for the box office situation of the "Fast and Furious" series. ”