"$20 million and 15% of the North American box office, heh, Fireflies can't make this kind of offer," Eric smiled and shook his head, looking at Roland who was sitting on the other side. Emmerich said.

It was July 7th, and the two were having breakfast in a breakfast room in Beverly Hills. Emmerich unreservedly told Eric about Sony's offer for him to direct Godzilla. Howard. Stringer was also a smart guy who wanted to bring Roland. Emmerich poached Sony Pictures to direct "Godzilla", and did not directly choose to contact Firefly, but for Roland. Emmerich made an offer that he had a hard time refusing, and then gave him the job of obtaining the Firefly's forgiveness.

If the future box office level of "Godzilla" can be on par with the current "Solo Day", reaching about $300 million in North America, then, Roland. Emmerich will be able to take $65 million out of the project. Even if it was a box office fiasco, Roland. Emmerich's income was also able to maintain more than $20 million, which was guaranteed by drought and flood anyway. Under such conditions, fireflies will definitely not bloom.

Of course, Fireflies are not stingy, "Alone Day" was a box office hit, in addition to the original fixed salary of 8 million US dollars, according to the corresponding sharing agreement, Roland. Emmerich can also get more than $20 million from the follow-up income of "One Day of Independence", and after calculation, a "One Day of Independence" can also bring him $30 million. The director who can earn $30 million in a film can be counted on one hand in the whole of Hollywood.

This is also the way of cooperation that Eric has always advocated, suppressing fixed salaries. Bundle the benefits of the main creator with the box office revenue through an appropriate sharing method. Share the risk. Like Sony. The movie has not yet raised an eyebrow of $20 million, and attached a high box office share, which is simply messing around with wealth.

Rowland. Emmerich was not angry when he heard that he was going to make a film for Sony, and he still had a faint smile on his face, and he was a little relieved.

Although he had never seen the young man angry, he was not naïve enough to think that Eric was a temperamental man. On "Heaven and Earth Collide" and "Solo Day", Roland. Emmerich and Firefly were both happy to work with, and he knew it was both films. Pushing him to his current position, he is not the kind of person who is ungrateful, and normally, he would be more than willing to continue working with Firefly even without a contract, but this time, Sony's offer really made it difficult for him to refuse.

"Anyway, I'm sorry, Eric, I'm afraid I won't be able to direct 'The Day After Tomorrow.'" Rowland. Although Emmerich was relieved in his heart, he still had a regretful expression on the surface. Although the fireflies are already in full swing, Eric's influence in Hollywood is still increasing. Emmerich definitely didn't want to anger Eric, and after thinking about it, Roland. Emmerich said: "Eric, everyone is looking forward to your new work, and perhaps, it would be a good choice for you to direct "The Day After Tomorrow" in person." ”

"It depends," Eric said with a smile, noncommittal.

Sony has ambitions to make Godzilla at least a trilogy. Emmerich won't be able to direct Firefly again for years.

Eric was still a little uncomfortable with this matter, Roland. Emmerich gave up directing "The Day After Tomorrow", and Firefly's film shooting plan had to be adjusted accordingly.

But when Roland was invited. When Emmerich directed "Heaven and Earth", Roland. Emmerich only signed a two-part contract with Firefly. After the completion of "Solo Day", the contract between the two parties has been fulfilled, although Firefly has the right to renew the contract first, it is absolutely impossible to offer a sky-high salary similar to Sony, blocking people's money is like killing parents, in this case, it is difficult for Firefly to forcibly keep Roland again. Emmerich.

Of course, the reason why Eric would let Roland go so easily. The main reason for Emmerich's departure is to lay out the plan for a few years later.

Right now, representatives from Crédit Lyonnais have arrived in Los Angeles and are working with Amy Lyonnais, who is in charge of Flower Pictures. Pascal is negotiating an acquisition, and once he wins MGM as a distribution platform, Flower Pictures will expand rapidly.

On the other hand, although it has the strong financial support of Sony, it has been because of Peter. In the case of Cooper's operation with huge losses, Sony will never be able to continue to operate Columbia-Samsung at a loss. If Sony's ambitious Godzilla series fails again, it will be devastating to Sony's confidence in continuing to maintain the film business, and when the time comes, Flower Pictures can take advantage of the situation and complete Eric's plan to further expand its Hollywood footprint.

Rowland. Emmerich didn't know what Eric was thinking, and he was a little ashamed to see him let himself go so easily.

Therefore, the atmosphere of breakfast inevitably began to be awkward, and the two chatted without being salty or light, and hurriedly finished breakfast. Emmerich took the initiative to settle the bill and left the restaurant.

Although Howard. Stringer also wanted him to talk to Eric about entrusting the digital realm with Godzilla's special effects, but Roland Brown. Emmerich was already quite ashamed in his heart, and this kind of thing was even more difficult to say, and he made up his mind to leave this headache to Sony to deal with.

Rowland. After Emmerich left, Eric was in no hurry to get to the company. He instructed the waiter to remove the dishes, asked for a cup of coffee, and leisurely read today's newspaper.

In the Los Angeles Times Entertainment Edition's weekly box office rounding, the first place was "Alone Day" with $85 million, followed by Universal's new film, the famous "Apollo 13", although the actor is no longer Tom. Hanks, but with the excellent quality and reputation of the film, it still got more than $43 million at the first-week box office, ranking second.

Calculated to sum up, despite the turmoil of acquisitions at the beginning of the year, Universal Pictures still maintained good box office results in the summer file, and the cost of "Ghost Pony Elf" and "Apollo 13" at the end of May is not too high, although the results are far from being comparable to Firefly, but it is enough to make Universal's summer box office performance very good. Michael. Although Eisner's strong and fickle personality is not likable, after joining Universal and starting over, it seems to be inspired by the sharp spirit of running Disney in the 80s, Eric remembers that in the next ten years, Universal Pictures will continue to be turbulent in the process of repeated changes of ownership, but he does not know that he can withstand several major changes in Universal.

"Apollo 13" was followed by "Batman Forever" in its second week of release, with a box office of $42 million, ranking third. Next, "Forrest Gump" is still a very solid box office of more than 28 million US dollars, with a slight box office decline of 20%, ranking fourth, and the total box office in four weeks has reached 150 million US dollars. "Toy Story 2" has just reached $28.02 million at the box office, ranking fifth, with a total box office of $130 million, and it has also started a long-term journey, but it is certainly not as strong as "Forrest Gump", and the total box office is expected to be around $200 million.

In addition, after the cumulative box office of "Jurassic Park 2" reached 280 million US dollars in four weeks, the box office in the fifth week was only more than 14 million, and the cumulative box office is expected to exceed 300 million US dollars next week, but at the same time, the weekly box office will also fall to the million level and enter the sweeping stage.

In just one month, the weekly box office slipped from 140 million to $14 million, and it was inevitable that there would be remarks in the newspapers that Firefly had made a mistake in its distribution strategy, believing that Firefly discharged 3,500 screens in its first week, which excessively consumed the box office potential of "Jurassic Park 2".

For this kind of comment, Eric just laughed it off, anyone with a discerning eye can find that in recent years, Fireflies have occupied almost the entire June schedule, in order to avoid head-on confrontation with the movies released by Firefly, several other major film companies have adopted an early or postponed release strategy, if it weren't for Fireflies need to make "Alone Day" cater to the American Independence Day on July 4th, this film will definitely be a week earlier, and because of this, Warner dares to put "Batman Forever" placed on June 23, which should have belonged to the last 'box office bomb' of the Firefly summer file.

It is precisely because of Firefly's behavior of occupying the June schedule that other film companies have put their main films in July, starting from Universal's "Apollo 13" and "Solo Day" on June 30, throughout July, there are two major new films released almost every week, such as Foxskin on July 7. Kerry starred in "The Big Talk" and Time Warner's "Future Water World", "Magical Night at the Museum" and "Evaporation Order" on July 14, and "007: GoldenEye" and "The Line of Fire" on July 21. Under the bombardment of such intensive new films, if Firefly does not dig into the box office of "Jurassic Park 2" in June as much as possible, it will still be quickly squeezed into the living space by a large number of new films in July.

Eric hurriedly scanned several of today's major newspapers and noticed that Kevin. Costner's "Future Waterworld" is due to be released today, so I picked up my phone and dialed Amy. Pascal's phone call reminded the other party to pay attention to the movements of "Future Water World" and choose the right time to communicate with Kevin. Costner opens salary negotiations for "Mission Impossible 2".

Although the finished film was not seen, Warner's $175 million water wasteland movie ticket was destined to end dismal. Counting last year's summer file, the more street-fighting western "Law Enforcement Warrior", Kevin. Costner has already failed two big-budget films, and in this case, Flower Pictures will have a very big initiative in the salary negotiation of "Mission Impossible 2".

Although there is strong support from Eric, in the process of acquiring MGM, Flower Pictures must still have to solve part of the financing by itself, the first part of "Mission Impossible" exceeded $500 million at the global box office, the results are very impressive, and the finalization of the contract for the sequel to "Mission Impossible" will undoubtedly add more financing chips to Flower Pictures.

(To be continued.) )