Eric talks to Matthew Perry about "Teddy Bear" at the party that night, and he has no qualms about the film that ruins his childhood, but shows great interest. The two sides hit it off www.biquge.info pen "Fun", so, after a symbolic audition, the male protagonist of "Teddy Bear" was decided.

The male protagonist of "Teddy Bear" has been finalized, and projects such as "The Lord of the Rings", "Iron Man", "Fast and Furious", and "Desperate Housewives" that Eric is personally responsible for are basically ready. When he rushed to New York to spend Christmas with the women and children, the project in his hand was only one "Midnight Bell" heroine still unresolved.

While much of the West is basking in the joy of Christmas, Southeast Asia is still reeling from the financial turmoil.

After resisting with all its might for half a month, South Korea finally gave up its protection of the won, and in just two weeks, the exchange rate of the won against the dollar plummeted, once falling to a ratio of 1756:1, a terrifying 73% drop compared to the highest drop a month ago.

Long Island, East Hampton.

Because the two little ones are almost school age, Joanna and Virginia are no longer moving between East Hampton and Southampton, and now East Hampton is building a brand new elementary school, and when Kevin and Hawaii turn five next year, this private school that was built completely at all costs is almost on track, just enough to enroll the two little ones. Prior to this, Joanna and Virginia unanimously decided to have Kevin and Hawaii receive preschool at home.

It's December 20th, and Eric flew in from Los Angeles yesterday.

Chris's family also came to East Hampton to spend Christmas together this year. After breakfast, Chris came over from their family estate in East Hampton to talk to Eric about Southeast Asia.

The East Coast has just had a heavy snowfall in the past few days, and although it has ushered in a sunny day, the sun has not been warm at all.

Instead of hiding in the study, Eric and Chris sat at the round table by the pool in the backyard, feeling the weak winter sun, and not far away a big girl with three little ones building a snowman: Eva Pakula and Kevin, Hawaii, and Emma.

Mike Teppler of the Apollo Fund didn't know if he cried in private, he chose to short in currencies such as Thai baht and Indonesian rupiah, but this time he bet that the won would not plummet, and it is said that he lost $1.2 billion, and most of the previous gains were basically filled in. Many funds that are not 100% sure of the direction of the won also regret it, but they are lucky, at least they did not make a mistake. Plummeted by 73%, almost everyone didn't expect the won to fall so hard in a short period of time, many people began to settle when the won was 1500:1 against the dollar, if it wasn't for your insistence, I actually planned to do it at that time, but, fortunately, I didn't do it, now the funds in our account are close to 800 million, and after the final settlement, excluding various expenses, the profit is at least 450 million US dollars. ”

Chris said in an excited tone, and Eric was actually a little surprised in his heart, he had thought that the memory of rebirth would not be of much help in this financial crisis, but the truth was also beyond his own expectations.

In the case of the Korean won, if Chris chooses to settle at 1500:1 against the US dollar, the depreciation of the won will be about 50%. The $1.1 billion short position established by Firefly Investment, according to the exchange rate of the Korean won at the time of delivery, can recover about $550 million, excluding the principal of $300 million, and the profit is only $250 million.

But at Eric's insistence, Chris patiently waited until the won fell below 1,700 points before closing, and by this time, the short position in the won that was originally worth $1.1 billion had fallen to $300 million. After the delivery of the short contract, Firefly Investment's book gain was close to $800 million, and the profit after principal was more than double that of the 50% decline in the Korean won.

During the entire Southeast Asian financial turmoil, Firefly invested $700 million in principal, and the whole process increased to $1.8 billion, which also far exceeded Eric's original expectations. However, a large part of this is also due to the fact that Firefly has invested very little money and the ship is small and easy to turn around. If it is a large fund such as a quantum fund that is enough to change the pattern of financial turmoil, it is definitely impossible to achieve such a high return.

While chatting, the twins came over with a pot of hot coffee, and the two stopped talking for a while, Eric subconsciously glanced at the twins' white necks, and noticed that the silver necklace had the word 'e' hanging on it, which should be her sister Eve.

After Eve left, Chris picked up the coffee she had just poured for the two of them and said, "Eric, don't you think you have more women around you?" ”

"It's been my dream for two lifetimes," Eric said with a smile as he picked up his coffee and gestured to Eva Pakula, who wasn't far away. ”

Chris glanced at Eve's back as she left, and said, "So, forget the rest." ”

"Yes," Eric nodded unabashedly, whether it was a man's possessiveness or inferiority, although he had never intended to eat the twins, Eric had no intention of giving it up.

Chris only asked half-jokingly, and did not continue the topic, "Speaking of which, there is a fund manager party in Manhattan next weekend, do you want to go over and have a look?" ”

"You can do it yourself, I don't have much in common with them," Eric shook his head, he really didn't have much interest in the group.

"But Soros will also go," Chris said with encouragement in his tone: "The last time I met him, he said that he liked your comments about him very much, and I hope to have a chance to talk to you." ”

Eric wondered, "What's the comment, I don't remember meeting him, do I?" ”

"It seems that a few sentences of ancient Chinese, he just mentioned them casually at the time, and I didn't ask in detail."

Only then did Eric remember that it was probably after he first read Soros's book "Financial Alchemy" that he wrote on the title page of that book: "Heaven and earth are furnaces, and creation is work; Yin and yang are carbon, and all things are copper', he felt that it was very appropriate to use these two sentences in "Peng Niao Fu" to describe Soros's turbulent clouds and rains in the international financial market.

Eric remembered that he had given "Financial Alchemy" to Katzenberg with those few sentences written on it, and it was thought that the incident must have reached Soros's ears from Katzenberg. Katzenberg is a native of New York, and he often returns, and Soros is said to have traveled extensively, so there is still a good chance that the two of them will meet.

"I'm almost remembered," Eric nodded, he was actually quite curious about Soros, so he said, "Next weekend, if you have a chance, then go and have a look." ”

While the two were chatting, Eric's cell phone rang, and he couldn't help but laugh when he looked at the caller ID, and just remembered Katzenberg, he called.

Raising his phone to signal to Chris, Eric didn't dodge, leaning back in his chair and pressing the connect button.

After a few pleasantries, Eric asked, "Jeffrey, it should still be past six o'clock in the morning in Los Angeles, is there anything urgent?" ”

“……”

Katzenberg on the other side of the phone said something, Eric shook his head, and said: "I read some newspaper reviews in the morning, the reputation of "Rush Hour 2" doesn't seem to be as good as "Starship Troopers", but I haven't seen the box office information yet, you should have come out there, right?" ”

Yesterday was December 19th, Friday, which is also the beginning of the Christmas schedule, and Firefly Group's New Line Pictures' "Rush Hour 2" and Sony Pictures' "Starship Troopers" were released on a large scale yesterday.

The time zone in Los Angeles is three hours behind New York, which is already past 9 a.m., and Los Angeles is just after 6 a.m., far from working time. Eric didn't pay as much attention to box office information as he did when "Titanic" was released last year, and in this case, the Firefly distribution department in Los Angeles will probably send yesterday's single-day box office information to Eric's email after work.

Eric had already read some movie reviews of "Rush Hour 2" and "Starship Troopers" when he had breakfast, and overall, "Rush Hour 2" could only be regarded as barely passing in terms of film reviews, but "Starship Troopers" was much better, with a comprehensive evaluation of more than 7 points.

Hearing that Katzenberg specially called to mention "Rush Hour 2", Eric thought that this film might also fail at the box office, and he had already made some psychological preparations in advance, but as Katzenberg said a few more words, Eric immediately straightened up: "$23.1 million on the first day, you can't be mistaken, right?" ”

“……”

"And what was the box office of "Starship Troopers" on the first day?"

“……”

Eric patiently listened to Katzenberg report some numbers, nodded from time to time, and chatted a few more words before hanging up the phone, but his expression was a little complicated.

Chris sat next to him and had already heard a rough idea, but still asked curiously, "What $23.1 million?" ”

"Rush hour 2, you should have watched the first part, right?"

"Well, it's a very interesting movie," Chris nodded, but after hearing and seeing it for so long, Chris still knows a lot about Hollywood, and was surprised as soon as he finished speaking: "You mean, the first-day box office of this movie is $23.1 million?" ”

Chris has the impression that "Rush Hour" can only be regarded as a low-budget action comedy. The box office of the first part also seemed to be good, but the sequel's box office reached 23.1 million on the first day was unexpected. You must know that according to the first-day box office data, "Rush Hour 2" also has a three-day guaranteed box office of $60 million in the first weekend, and the box office in the first week is likely to exceed 80 million.

In Hollywood, the box office that can exceed $80 million in the first week is basically a super big production in the hands of the seven major film companies, because these films have more publicity and marketing resources. The blockbuster film of Firefly's Christmas schedule should be "Jurassic Park 3", although "Rush Hour 2" is also very optimistic, but it will definitely not reach the level of attention of "Jurassic Park 3", if it was expected in advance that the box office of "Rush Hour 2" would be so good, Firefly would definitely not put this film in "Jurassic Park 3", because this will definitely cause internal competition.

Eric looked at Chris's surprised expression, nodded, and said, "Everyone didn't expect that the best box office estimate of the new line for the first weekend of "Rush Hour 2" is $30 million, that is, the single-day box office should be around $10 million. But the actual figure was more than double what was expected. It's Sony Pictures' "Starship Troopers", which is somewhat in line with our expectations for "Rush Hour 2", I originally thought that this film would suppress "Rush Hour 2" again, but in fact, it only grossed $8.3 million on the first day, less than half of "Rush Hour 2". ”

Chris said: "So it seems that next week's Jurassic Park 3 should be affected a bit, right?" ”

"It's definitely going to have an impact," Eric nodded with a wry smile, "Seriously, I wasn't sure if Jurassic Park 3 would reach $80 million at the box office in the first week, after all, this is the third installment, and now the situation may be even worse." Originally, the first week of "Rush Hour 2" was expected to be around $50 million, so the box office would drop to less than $30 million in the second week, which would not have any impact on "Jurassic Park 3". But now, if "Rush Hour 2" exceeds $80 million in the first week, the box office decline in the next week will still be $50 million, which is almost a quarter of the total box office in North America in a single week. ”

Chris listened to Eric and said, "Anyway, it's always a good thing. ”

"Yes, anyway, as the boss, I definitely hope that the box office of Firefly's movies is as high as possible."

Eric can only say this, but he has once again made up his mind to expand the new movie schedule, at least to avoid the films in the Firefly system from affecting each other.

However, this kind of thing is easy to say, but when it comes to implementation, the trade-offs will be more complicated. Which films should be placed on a slightly less popular schedule, and which films should be transferred to the best schedule to maximize their box office potential, these are not easy things to decide.

After all, most of the time, Eric can only know the approximate box office prospects of some films, and as Hollywood's development trajectory deviates more and more from its original track, some of the help brought by Eric's memories of his past life will gradually be weakened.

Chris could also feel the depression in Eric's expression.

In fact, he also knows that if Fireflies choose between "Rush Hour 2" and "Jurassic Park 3", Fireflies will definitely be more inclined to "Jurassic Park 3", because as a special effects blockbuster, the overseas box office prospects of "Jurassic Park 3" far exceed those of North America, even if the local box office performance in North America is slightly weaker, the global box office volume can still easily crush most Hollywood blockbusters.

"Rush Hour 2" is different, the box office of this series is limited to North America, and the overseas box office performance can only be regarded as average compared to North America, and the income of the "Rush Hour" series in terms of peripheral derivatives cannot be compared with the "Jurassic Park" series. (To be continued.) )