"More than 12 million on the first day, a good start, but yesterday Saturday's box office should have risen, but it fell to 9.5 million, if nothing else, it will fall today, it's a pity that such a good series of themes, although the first week with the appeal accumulated in the previous film, the box office may break 40 million, but the next week's decline is destined to exceed 50%, or even more," Paramount CEO Frank Mancuso said half sighing and half gloating in the banquet hall of the Hilton Hotel.

Warner President Robert Daley glanced at Jon Peters, who was holding a charming woman not far away, and sneered: "Only those two idiots will let Tom Cruise tamper with this project at will, the main line of the "Dark War" series should be Tom Hanks to take the lead and match Joe Pesci's witty supporting role, and each film will look for a criminal with a clear image, so as to continue the series in the safest way, rather than being changed into a ridiculous action movie, Tom Cruise is still the safest to make a literary film. ”

"He was so bent on his own that Paramount had to terminate his contract, and Paramount barely recouped the cost of the "Thunder" two years ago until now, Robert, I heard that Eric Williams will be the executive producer of Warner's "The Bodyguard?"

Robert Daley knew that Frank Mancuso said this, and he must have wanted to get involved, but the cost of the movie "Bodyguard" is not too high, and with the participation of Eric and Kevin Costner, who just won the Oscar with "Dances with Wolves", the film has almost no possibility of losing money, and Warner certainly can't involve Paramount: "Yes." However, the film will not cost more than $30 million. Warner coped more than enough. ”

Frank Mancuso didn't expect much. Of course, he was not disappointed, turned his head to look around, and said: "Eric Williams has not appeared until now, and the young people are really getting bigger and bigger." ”

Robert Daly didn't echo Frank Mancuso's words, but he did know that even though it was the weekend, Eric was still busy with Jurassic Park.

What an energetic young man.

Thinking of getting some news about "Jurassic Park" from some sources, Robert Daley was a little envious. With the level of special effects that the digital realm showed on Tornado, Robert Daly knew that Jurassic Park was likely to be a visual spectacle once again.

Tonight's "Tornado" celebration banquet, according to the convention, there would not have been so many seven high-level leaders on the scene, but everyone also saw the huge potential of special effects companies in the digital field, so they rushed over, this scene is like "Star Wars" came out more than ten years ago.

Prior to this, Eric had produced a series of high-grossing films, but those genres were more than capable of being produced by the other major studios.

But now the technical level of special effects shown in "Tornado". It's no longer possible for the special effects departments of several other companies to produce in-house. Because Eric has successively handed over all the epoch-making special effects films such as "Terminator 2", "Jurassic Park" and "Tornado" to the digital field, relying on the technical accumulation of these films. The digital realm has far surpassed ILM in computer CG special effects.

Although after the release of "Tornado", the media about the arrival of the computer CG era is still only a speculation, but the keen sense of smell Hollywood studios have realized from the disaster film series and the "Jurassic Park" series planned by Firefly Films that a new era is coming, and the status of industrial light and magic is destined to be replaced by the digital field.

There was a commotion at the door of the ballroom, and Robert Daly knew that Eric had finally arrived, but instead of rushing up to the small characters, he changed a glass of champagne without hurrying, and after a while, when Eric had finished dealing with the people around him, he walked over with Frank Mancuso.

"Eric, congratulations, oh, and this Miss Pakula," Robert Daly and Frank Mancuso greeted Eric.

"Thank you," Eric smiled as he held Joanna Pakula around his arm, holding up the champagne.

The four of them raised their glasses to their lips and took a sip, and Robert Daley spoke first: "Eric, I heard that you are going to make a documentary about the Los Angeles riots, if you need CNN information to support you, you can call me at any time." ”

Eric nodded his head and thanked him again, not rejecting Robert Daly's kindness, and Eric also knew that Robert Daly was not being polite to him, but genuinely wanted to show favor to him. Because Warner CEO Steve Ross is critically ill, the two co-presidents, Robert Daley and Terry Semele, are competing for the position of CEO.

The reason why Steve Ross has been able to sit firmly in the position of Warner CEO over the years is by attracting well-known Hollywood filmmakers such as Steven Spielberg, Clint Eastwood and Tim Burton.

Robert Daley is courting himself at this time, presumably to follow the path of Steve Ross.

Now that Steve Ross is completely out of charge with Warner's day-to-day affairs, at this time, if Eric makes clear his support for Robert Daley, and then reaches some film cooperation with Warner with Robert Daley, Robert Daley will definitely be able to defeat Terry Semel and become CEO. After all, although Warner and Firefly have a competitive relationship, with Firefly's business performance in movies so eye-catching, Warner shareholders will not be at odds with their interests anyway.

However, Eric will certainly not agree to help Robert Daley because of a small gesture of kindness, after all, from the perspective of the big picture, the more Warner's civil unrest is, the better it is for the other major studios.

After chatting with Robert Daly for a while, Eric did not snub Frank Mancuso: "Mr. Mancuso, I heard that Lei Shidong and Barry Diller are both paying attention to Paramount. Really?"

Frank Mancuso is Paramount's CEO. But in terms of power. It's not even as good as Robert Daley, the president of Warner, of course, not because Paramount is not as big as Warner, but because Frank Mancuso has been pressed by Martin Davis, Paramount's majority shareholder and chairman of the board, and can't stretch at all.

Hearing this question, Frank Mancuso just shrugged his shoulders, a little embarrassed and helpless: "Mr. Davis is in charge of these things, and I am only responsible for the day-to-day management of Paramount." ”

Eric was only curious. It didn't mean to poke Frank Mancuso's sore feet, so he quickly changed the subject.

After all, the cocktail party is not a place to talk about business, and on this occasion, if the two sides can really reach some cooperation intentions, they will only agree to discuss in detail at another time, so Eric chatted with Robert Daly and Frank Mancuso for a few words, and then walked towards Joanna with his arms, except for his own people, the other six executives were all there.

"Michael. I'm glad you were here tonight," Eric looked at him with some speculation. Towards Michael Eisner.

Michael Eisner smiled and nodded at Joanna before saying, "You're not going to diswelcome me, are you?"

"How is that possible," Eric shook his head with a smile.

The two chatted very familiarly for a while, and when they left, Joanna whispered, "Eric, the people at the banquet don't seem to like him very much?"

Eric said: "It's not that I don't like it, but it's showing my attitude, the fireflies are the main characters tonight, and I must have some entanglements with Michael Eisner." ”

Thinking of Michael Eisner being alone just now, Eric attaches more importance to Michael Eisner in his heart, not everyone has the courage to appear on such an occasion that is destined to be left out. According to him, in the past few months, Michael Eisner has been talking about cooperation with Industrial Light and Magic, and has flown to Japan more than ten times in a row, and has received no less than $500 million in film investment for Universal from Panasonic.

Joanna couldn't think of so much in her heart, listening to Eric's words, she nodded as if she didn't understand, and saw Virginia not far away waving to her, Joanna let go of Eric's arm and said, "Vicky is calling me, I'm going to her." ”

"Well," Eric asked with a smile as he looked at the figure of the little woman not far away, "You two haven't been on a diet lately, have you, how do I think you've lost some weight?"

"We've got the same nutritionist, isn't it nice to be thinner?" asked Joanna with a smile.

Eric raised his hand and wanted to touch Joanna's cheek, but after realizing the occasion, he still put it down: "Of course Vicky looks good if she is thinner, don't follow her to learn to diet, if you are too thin, your face will be slightly concave, giving people a look that the whole person is sullen all the time." ”

"It can't be that serious, right?" Joanna touched her cheek without hesitation, and quickly said, "Okay, I'll listen to you." ”

Watching Joanna leave, Eric looked around, but found no other women in his body, and before he knew it, the women had divided into small circles, and they were distinct.

"Good evening, Eric," a voice sounded in his ears, Eric turned around and saw Qiang Peters who was smiling and raising a glass to him, however, to Eric's surprise, it was the sexy girl leaning next to Strong, Eric couldn't help but look at each other a few more times, and the sexy girl with a slightly darker complexion noticed the change in Eric's eyes, and generously reached out: "Hello, Mr. Williams, my name is Catherine Zeta-Jones." ”

"Hello, Miss Catherine, you are so beautiful," Eric gently shook the other's small hand.

Strong Peters knows Eric's character very well, and when he saw the woman next to him 'interacting' with Eric, he subconsciously reached out and grabbed the girl's waist and said, "Eric, Peter asked me to take him to you to say sorry, he has something to go to Europe and can't come over today." ”

Feeling the hand on her waist, Catherine Zeta-Jones's body stiffened slightly, but the smile on her face did not change at all, and she took a small step back without a trace, leaning back to Strong's side again.

"Of course it doesn't matter," Eric said with a glance back from Catherine Zeta-Jones, responding to Jon Peters.

Although there is nothing abnormal on the surface, Eric has some emotion in his heart, not because he met a beautiful girl in his memory again, but because of the personal experience of the actress Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Strong Peters, Steven Spielberg, Michael Douglas, these three names, no matter which one of them is a powerful figure in Hollywood, although Strong Peters is recognized by many people in Hollywood as a straw bag, but the identity of the president of Columbia Pictures is definitely the object of many middle- and low-level figures in Hollywood; not to mention Steven Spielberg, and Michael Douglas was born in an acting family, although he is only an actor, but with the accumulation of several generations, he also has strong connections in Hollywood.

And these three people are at the top of the Hollywood pyramid, but they are inserted in their lives by the same girl from an ordinary family in Wales.

Although Catherine Zeta-Jones has the beauty that many people envy, in Hollywood, beauty is the most lacking, so while Eric admires this woman's methods, he is also extremely curious about how this woman is related to these three powerful people in Hollywood.

Jan Peters looked at Eric's somewhat distracted appearance, but there was a strange pride in his heart, and his hand around Catherine Zeta-Jones involuntarily tightened again, and smiled: "Eric, what's wrong with you?"

"It's nothing, something suddenly came to mind," Eric looked at the smiling expression on Peters' face, realizing that he must have been seen by the other party just now, and at the same time there was some misunderstanding. However, Eric didn't mean to explain, so he casually made an excuse and went over.

"By the way, about Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Eric, have you been to their set recently, I've been there twice, I don't know why, I always feel that the Hong Kong director's shooting method is a little strange. ”

Eric nodded: "There is still a big difference between Hong Kong and Hollywood, but don't worry, I've been paying attention to this movie, and there will be absolutely no problems." ”

"In that case, I'm relieved," said Jr. Peters, who seemed to be genuinely relieved. (To be continued......)