In the first week of June, in the entire North American film market, only "The Matrix" is a heavyweight film on the file, and several other new films are all films with a premiere scale of about 1,000 screens, "The Matrix" can be described as a monopoly, coupled with the film's popular reputation, in the first weekend three days, "The Matrix" won $45.7 million at the box office in one fell swoop, plus the previous screenings and midnight box office data, the cumulative box office reached $51.03 million.

On June 7, the box office of "The Matrix" was released in the first week, with a total of $78.45 million in horror data, far exceeding the box office data of $21 million in the second place "Killing Hour" in the second week, and it won the top spot in the box office list of the week without any suspense.

When the data came out, no one doubted whether the Wachowski brothers had screwed up the project, and instead became Hollywood's most talked-about rookie director, and it was in the limelight for a while.

Burbank, Firefly Group headquarters.

Katzenberg returned from a business trip to New York.

In April and May of each year, it is the period when the major TV networks and cable TV stations in North America determine the start of filming and advertising bidding for new dramas throughout the year, and the ABC TV series, ESPN TV, Disney Channel and AE TV Network of Firefly Group will determine the production plan and advertising bidding for the whole year during this time.

Katzenberg had just returned to his office after attending a new week of film distribution meetings, and his assistant had already placed the Firefly TV business's advertising tender data report on his desk.

After two months of advertising bidding, ABC TV Network has reached an unprecedented $2.3 billion in advertising bidding revenue with ace series such as "Friends", "ER Story" and "Survivor", after the highest year of advertising bidding was in 1992, when it was $1.9 billion.

In addition, several major TV stations such as ESPN, Disney Channel and Lifetime, a subsidiary of AE TV Network, also achieved 1.97 billion in advertising bidding revenue.

Combined, Firefly's television business is expected to generate $4.27 billion in advertising revenue from 1996 to 1997.

In addition to advertising revenue, Firefly Group's TV business also includes syndicated rights distribution, franchising, videotape sales and overseas distribution. According to the data of previous years, the entire TV business segment, advertising revenue accounts for about 30% of the revenue data, so calculated, the total revenue of the TV business of Firefly Group this year will reach 14 billion US dollars, compared with last year, the revenue is expected to increase significantly35%.

Katzenberg is not the kind of blind supporter of a company's listing, and during the Disney period, because Disney, as a public company, Disney had to publish the compensation data of the directors of the board of directors, and Katzenberg, who did not like to expose his financial situation, refused to join the Disney board.

However, looking at the advertising bidding report in his hand at this time, Katzenberg still couldn't help but fantasize about how much stimulation the stock price would be caused by the exposure of Firefly Group if Firefly Group chose to go public, and perhaps, 10% growth was just a very conservative tone.

There was a knock on the office door, and Katzenberg answered, and the secretary pushed the door open, saying, "Mr. Katzenberg, Mr. Coat, and Mr. Wachowski are here." ”

Katzenberg nodded, got up, and greeted Robert Cotter, the producer of The Matrix, and the Wachowski brothers, the directors, as they walked into the office.

After the surprise first week of "The Matrix" came out, the Wachowski brothers couldn't wait to discuss the production plan of the sequel with the Firefly executives, and Katzenberg took it upon himself to show his appreciation for the Wachowski brothers when Eric was filming "Casino Royale" in the Bahamas. After all, any Hollywood film company now has only an eager attitude towards the two brothers, and the Firefly executives will definitely not mind doing some small tricks to buy people's hearts.

After a warm exchange of pleasantries with the three Wachowski brothers, Katzenberg instructed the secretary to make coffee, then pointed to the small conference room next to his office, and said, "Let's go in and talk." ”

A few people sat down at their desks in the small conference room, and the secretary quickly served coffee.

Katzenberg motioned for the three of them to be casual, and took a few sips of coffee himself, before he took the initiative to speak: "So, do you have a complete idea of a sequel?"

Robert Cotter looked at the Wachowski brothers, Andy Wachowski took out the script from the bag he was carrying, and said, "Actually, we originally designed the script according to the idea of the trilogy, and this is the script for the last two, Mr. Katzenberg, you can take a look at it first." ”

"Jeffrey," Katzenberg said, "just call me Jeffrey." ”

Andy Wachowski nodded, watched Katzenberg open the script, and said: "That's the case, Jeffrey, we hope that the next two sequels can be filmed all at once, which can not only save part of the production costs, but also better maintain the coherence and unity of the style and plot of the two sequels." ”

Katzenberg read the script quickly, but it did not prevent him from using two things, with the word-of-mouth and box office performance of the first part of "The Matrix", as well as the box office data feedback of some countries released overseas at the same time, the global box office of this film is expected to be about 600 million US dollars, with a total cost of more than 100 million US dollars in the production and publicity of the film, Firefly can get hundreds of millions of dollars in net profits at the box office, turning the page of the script in front of him again, he said: "Of course, if you can, it is not impossible to shoot two consecutive films." ”

Robert Cotter and the Wachowski brothers both had satisfied expressions on their faces when they heard Katzenberg say this, and seeing that Katzenberg was concentrating on reading the script, they didn't interject too much dialogue, although they also wanted to talk about the sequel's director's salary and so on, but these were not in a hurry.

Katzenberg briskly skimmed through the scripts for the two sequels, his brow furrowing.

After half an hour, Katzenberg looked up again, looked at the Wachowski brothers, shook his head, and said, "To be honest, Andy, Larry, I didn't get it. ”

The two brothers were stunned, and Andy Wachowski said, "Jeffrey, maybe it's just that you're watching too fast." ”

"No," Katzenberg shook his head, a staunch advocate of high-concept films, advocating the plot of a movie that could tell a story in one sentence, but when he read the script in his hand, Katzenberg didn't understand what the Wachowski brothers were trying to say, and if I had to put it in a less polite word, it would be a trick. Some things that can be explained in Katzenberg's opinion, but the Wachowski brothers deliberately left suspense, and even some of the behaviors of the male protagonist Neo in the plot make people look cloudy, and I don't know why these plots are inserted: "I mean, the story of the sequel is too ...... Esoteric. ”

"But the audience likes it, doesn't it?" Robert Cotter began, "Jeffrey, everyone is praising the philosophical elements implied in the first part, so I think that the sequel's script deepens the plot a little bit in this regard, and it doesn't say anything bad." ”

"I don't think it's deepening, the one that is being released contains just the right amount of philosophical elements, and the audience is mainly watching the innovative shooting techniques and those hot gunfight scenes in the film. Katzenberg shrugged and said, "Although the script of the sequel has these elements in it, the whole story is completely mysterious, and I think you need to revise the script." ”

With Katzenberg's fiery and tough character, patiently saying these words can be regarded as very restrained. He's not a guy who doesn't know how to deal with people at all, otherwise he would have used words like 'bullshit' just now.

However, the Wachowski brothers, who have been enthusiastically pursued by the media in recent days, are still a little unhappy, Andy Wachowski said: "Jeffrey, I think maybe I should show Eric the script first, he will definitely appreciate the script." ”

Whether it is a government department or an enterprise group, it is very taboo for different levels of management to report to each other, which will not only interrupt the management order of a department or company, but also affect the personal authority of the corresponding management. Andy Wachowski said in front of Katzenberg that he wanted Eric to judge the script himself, almost like punching Senberg's face in person.

Robert Cotter's face changed slightly when he heard Andy Wachowski say these words recklessly, and he thought to himself that even if you were to give the script to Eric Williams, you wouldn't have to say it in front of Katzenberg. As a producer within the Firefly Group, Robert Cotter knew very well that Katzenberg was not the kind of boss who was good at communicating with his subordinates in a pleasant manner.

However, Robert Cotter's expected outburst did not come, and Katzenberg instead showed a strange smile on the corner of his mouth, and said, "Of course it's no problem, I can ask the secretary to pass the script to Eric now." ”

After working together for so long, Katzenberg has a clear understanding of Eric's film concept, although his boss also likes to make some innovative film projects, and occasionally has some unexpected investment behaviors, but in the mainstream films of Firefly, Eric's insistence on high-concept films is not much worse than him, in the final analysis, the reason why Firefly has been able to rise rapidly over the years is inseparable from the company's firm concept of adhering to high-concept commercial film production.

Although in Hollywood, the status of art films that can win the Oscar is often regarded very high by ordinary people, in fact, whether it is a large film company or a solo production company, the most important thing has always been the commercial film that is 'not high-style' in the eyes of those critics.

If the Wachowski brothers don't touch a nose of dust, Katzenberg is willing to burn the script in his hand and swallow it.

Seeing that the three of them didn't say anything for a while, Katzenberg took the initiative to exchange for a secretary and personally instructed in front of them: "Sally, fax this script to the Bahamas immediately." ”

"All right, Mr. Katzenberg," the secretary took the script and exited the small conference room.

Katzenberg wouldn't have gotten too stiff with the trio, after all, although he didn't approve of the Wachowski brothers' script, he also knew that after the script was revised, the sequel would need to be shot by two brothers.

"So, it's almost noon, there's a nice restaurant nearby, why don't we have lunch together?" Eric has been busy lately, and it may take two or three days to reply to messages, so you might have to be patient. ”

Before the Wachowski brothers could react to Katzenberg's actions, Robert Cotter had already gotten up and took the initiative to slow down: "Of course, Jeffrey, how about I come for a treat?"

"No, of course I'm here," Katzenberg said, looking at the Wachowski brothers......

The Wachowski brothers were suddenly rejected by Katzenberg because they had been too smooth recently, and they subconsciously wanted to use Eric to press Katzenberg, but they were not stupid people with negative emotional intelligence, and they regretted doing so not long after they said what they just said.

Seeing that Katzenberg didn't mean to be angry, the two brothers finally reacted, and along the steps given by Katzenberg, Andy Wachowski said, "Of course, it's our honor." ”

……

Bahamas, Paradise Island.

Eric hasn't seen Ivanka for almost three years, the former tsundere Lori is a fifteen-year-old girl this year, inheriting her mother's model genes, the girl is close to 170CM tall at this time, although there is still a little baby fat on her face, but standing between Giselle, Alexander and Miranda, the three later supermodels, the momentum is not weaker than the other three women.

"Casino Royale" has been filming for a week, and such a large crew is too extravagant to follow the normal weekend system, and it is not the United States after all, so the agreement signed by the producer with the crew and actors is to work six days and one day off.

Giselle's three daughters arrived in the Bahamas on a plane at the same time as Ivanka's mother and daughter two days ago, and after a rest day for the crew, Eric arranged a short shot of the four girls today.

As anyone grows older and has more experience, Ivanka no longer has the arrogance of the year in front of Eric, but looks shy, a girl from a wealthy family must understand the energy and power represented by Eric's huge wealth better than ordinary children.

Eric looked unaware of this, and took the props that had been prepared for Ivanka from the hands of the production assistant, as if he wanted to deceive and coax him as usual.

At this time, outside the Paradise Island Ocean Park Club, the crew was probably ready, but most of the staff watched with great interest as Mr. Director coaxed the exclusive 'mascot' in his film, and even Ivanka's mother nearby was a fresh and lively look. (To be continued.) )