After several years of operation, the Victoria's Secret show has fully established the status of the 'Super Bowl in the fashion industry'. Pen | fun | pavilion www. ｂｉｑｕｇｅ。 ｉｎｆｏ

On the second day of the show, countless media outlets began to report on it spontaneously, raising the expectation of a week's most anticipated TV broadcast.

A newspaper under the Forbes Group also released the '1997 Supermodel Income List' in due time in the following days, which is comparable to the annual income list of Hollywood actresses, which naturally caused several heated discussions, and even caused the stock price of LTD to rise.

After the Victoria's Secret show, Eric set his attention to the upcoming Amazon.

On December 1, Amazon officially landed on the NASDAQ market. The 30 million shares with an issue price of $15 finally opened at $20.55, an increase of 37%, and until the end of the day, Amazon's stock price remained at a high level of $20.13, which made Amazon's market capitalization reach $6.65 billion on the day of listing. Firefly Investment's 90 million shares of Amazon also increased to more than $1.8 billion on the day of Amazon's IPO, which is more than six times the amount of money Firefly Investment has invested in Amazon.

According to Amazon's stock price on the day of its listing, the company's price-to-earnings ratio has exceeded 60 times, and although the bubble in the Nasdaq market in recent years has caused the stock price-earnings ratio to be generally high, Amazon's price-to-earnings ratio is still twice the market average, which inevitably raises media concerns about the stock market bubble again.

Eric remembers that the NASDAQ technology stocks were at their craziest, with some companies even trading more than 1,000 times P/E, and Amazon's P/E ratio of more than 60 times was just the beginning, and the next two years were the craziest moments for the NASDAQ market.

As we enter December, Thanksgiving is over, and although Christmas is still three weeks away, the holiday spirit is even stronger across the United States.

After participating in Amazon's IPO, Eric did not immediately rush to Long Island to spend Christmas with the woman and children, but quickly flew back to Los Angeles to devote himself to the busy work at the end of the year.

While Eric was in New York, MGM's "Fantastic Night at the Museum 2" also hit theaters on November 28, grossing $54.17 million in the first three days and $79.8 million in the first seven days, below MGM's first-week forecast of $85 million to $90 million.

As a special effects blockbuster whose production cost has soared to $120 million, the first weekend is less than expected, and the film's total North American box office may also stop at between $150 million and $200 million, far lower than the first $250 million North American box office, and the corresponding overseas box office is likely not to be too ideal.

Compared to "Night at the Museum 2", "Monster Electric Company" performed extremely well at the box office.

After the first week box office of $76.59 million, the box office of "Monsters" fell by only a very modest 24% in the second week, and another $57.02 million was collected, bringing the total box office to $133 million in two weeks. Judging by the box office and word-of-mouth of "Monsters, Inc.", the 3D animated film is likely to exceed $250 million at the North American box office. As the first production of the new Disney animation studio, the film is also relatively inexpensive to produce, so in North America alone, the Firefly Group will be very profitable.

MGM's Century City headquarters.

Eric flipped through the audition actress profiles for "Desperate Housewives" and chatted with Amy Pascal about the box office of "Night at the Museum 2".

The first part of "Night at the Museum" cost only $70 million to make, and the global box office was close to 600 million. The sequel's production costs have soared to $120 million, and the global box office is expected to be only $400 million. Even so, MGM's profitability is still very secure, but the production of the third sequel needs to be done with caution.

"So, Amy, the actual box office in the first week was 10 million lower than expected, and the word-of-mouth was not as good as the first part, where do you think the problem should be?"

Amy Pascal glanced at Eric, who was casually looking through the actors' profiles, she didn't know if Eric already had her own judgment in mind, but she still replied seriously: "I think this should be a special effects blockbuster that is not an orthodox special effects blockbuster in the "Night at the Museum" series, it is more inclined to be a comedy." The box office of sequels to comedy movies has always been very volatile, because it is difficult for the audience to judge the taste of comedy sequels, a comedy can sometimes make many sequels and still be very popular, and some just make a second part and the audience gets tired of it. ”

Eric nodded, and the main character of Night at the Museum was Ben Stiller. At present, the name of Hollywood's Bad Boy Gang has not yet risen, but a group of comedy stars led by Ben Stiller have begun to gather, "Wonderful Night at the Museum" is actually not an exaggeration to say that it is a bad boy comedy, and the Bad Boy Gang drama generally has the characteristics of weak sequels,

After thinking about it for a moment, Eric ordered: "Regarding the third part, don't start it again within two years, and spend more time polishing the script." In addition, Ben Stiller's salary must not be increased. ”

Amy Pascal nodded yes, and while the two were talking, there was a few knocks on the office door, and Amy Pascal's assistant pushed the door in and said, "Mr. Williams, Ms. Pascal, it's audition time." ”

Eric and Amy Pascal packed up their documents and headed for the audition room.

After MGM's preliminary work, the four heroines of "Desperate Housewives" have been basically determined, except for Terry Hatchell, who plays Susan, the other three housewives Eric have chosen others, this time only he intends to see the live auditions of several actresses in person.

Terry Hatcher also made a cameo role in Casino Royale. Although the global explosion of "Casino Royale" has given Terry Hatcher some fame, she is 33 years old this year, and it is impossible to develop much as a film actor after the golden age of actresses, plus "Desperate Housewives" is the idea conceived by Eric himself, MGM sent an invitation, and Terry Hatcher immediately accepted the role.

However, Eric's choice of Terry Hatchell to play Susan actually had other considerations.

In the past, after the fire of "Desperate Housewives", the housewives foursome originally planned to follow the example of the "Friends" six-member group and band together to ask ABC for a million dollars for a single episode. It's just that during the salary negotiation, Terry Hatcher put aside the other three actresses and signed a contract with ABC privately, and the alliance that jointly pressured ABC naturally collapsed.

Eric doesn't know the details, but the disagreements within the former "Desperate Housewives" crew are well known, and Terry Hatcher's 'misfit' can actually guarantee that the "Desperate Housewives" foursome will not be able to unite this time.

Walking into the audition room, the four actresses who were already waiting in the room all stood up, and Terry Hatcher, who was more familiar with Eric, walked over first and hugged Eric warmly.

As Eric hugged Terry Hatcher, he felt the woman's fingers lightly running behind his back, and just smiled. Although he didn't have much information in his memory, he knew that this was definitely a difficult woman, and Eric didn't want to get into such trouble.

Let go of Terry Hatchell before Eric turned to the other three.

Of the remaining three women, Eric only knew one, Elizabeth Perkins, and the other two were unimpressed, completely selected by MGM's television department.

Elizabeth Perkins is also an actor candidate that Eric deliberately intervened in, and Eric has seen Elizabeth Perkins' performance in "Single Mom", and he thinks it is only fitting that Elizabeth Perkins plays Bry Van Dikan, who has a perfectionist obsessive-compulsive disorder in "Desperate Housewives". Elizabeth Perkins has a very elegant but similar temperament to a good wife and mother.

Since the roles have been basically finalized, Eric has also watched the audition videos of several actresses in advance, and there is nothing unsatisfactory, so this audition is more like a script reading meeting with a relaxed atmosphere.

However, only Eric himself may have this mentality, but the four actresses are all cautious and cautious.

Since it is "Desperate Housewives", although Eric deliberately set the age of several housewives to be younger, so as not to be like this time, several housewives are desperately playing Botox in order to maintain their appearance. But except for the 27-year-old Latino actress named Vanita Krone, the other three girls are all over 30 years old, and the current TV series is almost the last chance to turn around in their careers.

The loose audition lasted only an hour and a half, and Eric was on his way to Firefly Studios for a year-end meeting, where he briefly watched a few performances and chatted with a few actresses about what they thought of the show.

However, before leaving, Eric casually handed a card to Amy's assistant and asked her to pass it on to Elizabeth Perkins.

During the exchange, Eric suddenly had a lot of feelings for Elizabeth Perkins, a mature woman with a beautiful face and quite a temperament, so he did not hesitate to make a move. Having laid a huge foundation in Hollywood, Eric naturally regarded this territory as his hunting ground, and never intended to let go of the prey he was interested in.

After passing the audition, Elizabeth Perkins finally breathed a sigh of relief. She originally thought that Eric Williams would be a little domineering when she was a young man, but throughout the audition process, the young Hollywood tycoon gave her a very gentle feeling.

However, just as she was about to leave, Amy Pascal's assistant called out to her, handed over a card, and whispered, "Ms. Perkins, this is given to you by Mr. Williams." ”

Elizabeth Perkins was stunned, noticing the jealous and disdainful look in the eyes of Terry Hatcher, who was obviously pretending to be rummaging through his handbag, and quickly nodded to the assistant, tucked the card into his coat pocket and hurried out.

It was not until she came to the parking lot and sat in the car that Elizabeth Perkins took out the card with trepidation, although she had expected it, but when she saw that the card had an invitation to dinner and a phone number, she was still a little at a loss. She wasn't a young girl who entered Hollywood on her first day, so she knew what that kind of invitation meant.

Driving away from MGM headquarters, aimlessly onto Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, I unknowingly stopped my car and found that it happened to be a women's clothing store on the side of the road.

After hesitating for a while, Elizabeth Perkins got out of the car and went into the women's clothing store to pick out the latest new clothes, thinking to herself that this was a reward for getting the role.

After buying clothes, she suddenly ran to buy a pair of Manolo high heels as if she was a little self-defeating, this is a more popular high-heeled brand after the broadcast of "Lust City", she was reluctant to buy it before, although the "Flying Over the Future" with Tom Hanks many years ago made her popular for a while, but that was ten years ago, and then she did not receive any influential movies, and now she can only star in TV series.

She had been wandering the streets of Los Angeles until nightfall, watching the lights on both sides of the road gradually begin to light up, before she stopped at a roadside phone booth and dialed the number on the card.

It wasn't Eric Williams who answered the phone, he just asked where she was, and then said he would send a car to pick her up.

Elizabeth Perkins hung up the phone and tried to get into the car, but after thinking about it, she stood on the side of the road and waited.

After waiting for about twenty minutes, a black sedan pulled up on the side of the road, and the driver got out of the car and pulled the door to look at her, and Elizabeth Perkins realized that it was here to pick her up.

When I got into the car, I found that Eric was also sitting in the back seat.

Eric watched Elizabeth Perkins sit down next to him and smiled, "I thought you wouldn't call me." ”

Elizabeth Perkins was a little unwilling after all, and asked with a little light, "If I don't make this call, will that role be gone?"

Eric shrugged his shoulders and said in a somewhat hateful tone, "Perhaps, you know, a big man like me usually has a hard time being rejected. ”

Elizabeth Perkins could sense Eric's joking tone, and couldn't help adding, "And she doesn't say anything nice to please a woman." ”

Hearing this, Eric turned his head up and down to look the woman next to him carefully, only to find that she had changed into a set of clothes, nodded and praised, "You are beautiful tonight." ”

Elizabeth Perkins subconsciously raised her chin: "And ten years older than you." ”

Elizabeth Padkinston regretted this not-so-brainered remark, and she didn't think that someone like Eric would put up with her slightly provocative words over and over again.

Eric was not angry at all, but laughed even more hateful: "It seems that the whole of Hollywood knows that I like more mature women." ”

Elizabeth Perkins opened her mouth, but this time she couldn't say anything more, just gave Eric a blank look.

Eric looked at the woman's appearance, remembered something, and asked, "I suddenly remembered another thing, are you married?"

Elizabeth Perkins turned her head, "Do you still care about that?"

"Of course," Eric nodded, "I actually have a little bit of principle, if you get married, I'll send you back now." ”

Elizabeth Perkins stared at Eric for a few seconds, and when she saw him with a serious look, she shook her head and said, "Once it was over, it was a long time ago. ”

"Oh, it seems there's a story, maybe we can talk about it later. ”

Elizabeth Perkins felt that Eric's tone was hateful again, but she only rolled her eyes again, she had not heard the words that life was like that, and if you can't resist, you can enjoy it. However, she also found out that Eric is actually a guy who is very good at pleasing and even accommodating women, and after a dinner, she felt that tonight's experience was actually quite good, so many things became natural. (To be continued.) )