The current CEO of Colombia is Peter Cooper, and after Sony's acquisition of Cooper, it spent another $200 million to acquire Peter Cooper's production company and invited him to take the helm of Columbia. And the 'meeting gift' brought by the new helmsman of the seven major congresses to Sony is a copyright lawsuit with Warner Pictures, the specific content of this lawsuit Eric is not very clear, but the result is that Sony paid $800 million in compensation again in order to end the lawsuit.

Eric still remembers the original air, because of Peter Cooper's profligacy, Sony-Columbia has a loss of up to $2.7 billion on the books in just a few years, and it is rumored that the reason why Sony's founder and president Akio Morita stepped down has a lot to do with this merger that caused unprecedented huge losses.

However, despite his mediocre talents, Peter Cooper is very good at drilling camps and knows how to curry favor with the top management of Sony Japan in order to secure his position. He knows that after Sony acquired Colombia, what he wanted to see most was that Colombia could help Sony become famous, so after getting the control of Colombia, Peter Cooper couldn't wait to launch several large-scale film projects, and last summer's "Total Recall" starring Schwarzenegger and Spielberg's "Captain Hawke", which is currently being produced, were both prompted by Peter Cooper.

Big productions, big directors and big stars are the main principles of Peter Cooper's zuò films, and as long as they can bring enough impact, whether the investment is rational and whether they can pay for themselves is not a question for the new Colombian helmsman.

When Tom Cruise approached Colombia to restart the Dark Wars project, Colombia immediately expressed great enthusiasm. After all. Cruise's last "Thunder Rush" was not a success. But it doesn't have much impact on Cruise's status in Hollywood, because for Hollywood A-listers, there are usually three chances of failure, and if three movies fail in a row, it will damage his coffee position.

By the time Eric learned of this, Columbia had even worked out a few preliminary script ideas with Tom Cruise.

It was still Amy Pascal who came to talk to Eric about the sequel to "Dark War", and when Amy walked into Eric's office, Eric was already reading the project text that Columbia had delivered in advance.

Because it's Tom Cruise who takes the lead. Coupled with Eric's lack of enthusiasm for the sequel to "Dark War", and Hanks said that he would not participate in "Dark War" without Eric, Columbia simply got rid of Eric and Hanks and planned to develop a prequel to "Dark War" starring Andy, a robber played by Tom Cruise.

In the new script, the film takes place in London, England, where Andy's father, Peter, died.

At the beginning of the story, Andy has not yet found out about his illness, and is a villain who 'inherits his father's business', a kind girl is involved in a smuggling business that Andy is involved in, and like many stories, Andy is gradually moved by the girl's kindness. I found out the fact that I was terminally ill by chance, and finally made the right choice. The story is also interspersed with some foreshadowing of Andy's father, Peter, who is depressed by his own students' plots. In the end, the good guys get good rewards, the bad guys get punished, Andy tells a beautiful lie to the girl, saying that he is going to Los Angeles to settle some things, and leaves alone in the girl's reluctance.

In Eric's opinion, this story is very good, but strictly speaking, except for Andy, the new story has nothing to do with "Dark War", and there are not even many that can reflect the name "Dark War", which is completely Tom's personal show. Even if this sequel is successful, the brand of "Dark War" will completely change its taste, because the fame accumulated by the first plot may also suffer a lot, and the series may be scrapped.

In Eric's opinion, even if a sequel is to be filmed, it must be dominated by Sean starring Tom Hanks, just like "Batman", there is a classic villain in each part, which is the best way to continue the series perfectly.

After Amy Pascal entered Eric's office, she said a brief hello to Eric, and sat quietly on the sofa in the reception area, patiently waiting for Eric to read the text in his hand.

Amy Pascal finished a cup of coffee, and Eric also took a general look at the text in his hand.

"Eric, what do you think?" Amy waited for Eric to sit down across from her, and asked eagerly, if Eric let go, she would be able to take control of the project.

Eric didn't answer the question, but asked, "Has Sony Pictures signed a partnership agreement with Cruise?"

Amy didn't expect Eric to ask this question suddenly, and for a while, without any mental preparation, her face inevitably showed some flaws.

Eric didn't chase after him, he just expressed his dissatisfaction with Colombia's unauthorized negotiations with Cruise, after all, Fireflies own half of the copyright of "Dark War", and Colombia did this, which can be said to be an offense to Firefly's rights, if Eric seriously pursues it, any contract signed by Sony and Cruise on "Dark War" will be nullified, but he doesn't intend to do so.

"Amy, according to the plan you proposed, this series has completely departed from the theme of "Dark War" and has become an ordinary action movie, although the popularity accumulated by the first part and the box office appeal of Cruise, this movie has a high chance of success, but because of the deviation, it is not so easy to make a sequel. ”

Amy Pascal was relieved to see that Eric didn't grasp the question just now, and said: "Eric, in fact, Columbia still hopes that you and Mr. Hanks can join this film together." ”

Eric shook his head slightly and smiled: "I have learned a little about Captain Hawke, this movie Sony is not only responsible for all the investment, but also promised Spielberg, Dustin Hoffman and Robin Williams a 40% share of the omnichannel profits. Firefly owns half of the copyright of "Dark War", how much do you think Hanks and Cruise and I should get in this case?"

Amy said quietly, "Eric. As long as you can join this movie. No condition is negotiable. ”

"But it certainly didn't live up to my expectations. Eric smiled: "Moreover, my work plans for the next few years have all been decided, plus I still need to take care of the firefly business, so I don't have time to juggle a big production zuò movie anymore." ”

Amy just showed a faint look of regret, but there was no regret in her heart.

In fact, at the internal meeting in Columbia, she raised this issue, with the current status of Fireflies in Hollywood, Eric as the absolute owner of Fireflies. I can't keep my company busy, and it's unlikely that I'll be directing films for other film companies, and even the possibility of cooperation is extremely low.

"Eric, in fact, you can be like Mr. Spielberg, just name a zuò person, you don't have to do anything, you can get a lot of money, do you think that's okay?"

Spielberg averages four or five films a year, making him one of Hollywood's highest-grossing producers, but most of them are just names. The movie was not involved from beginning to end, and Spielberg laughed at himself for it. But Eric didn't plan to do this, although Spielberg's status in Hollywood is extremely high, but because of this way of nominal system, it has also attracted a lot of negative effects for him, many things obviously have nothing to do with him, but because Spielberg is the most famous, once the movie is in trouble, the black pot will be deducted from his head without accident.

After thinking for a moment, Eric didn't say what he had just said about starting a series with Hanks as the main thing, for a coffee like Cruise or Hanks, once any movie shoots more than three sequels, most of the profits will fall into the hands of these big names, and the film company is equivalent to working for each other, even if Eric and Hanks have a good relationship, it is impossible to force Hanks's salary because of this. Therefore, many Hollywood movies often only last until the trilogy, and when they are restarted again, in order to reduce the cost as much as possible, most of them will replace the leading role, or keep the leading role, and replace all the other supporting roles.

"That's it, Amy, Firefly won't be involved in this production, but I have two cooperation plans, one is a single authorization, $30 million. On the other hand, Firefly sold half of the copyright of "Dark War" to Colombia for $100 million. ”

After Eric finished speaking, he took the coffee in front of him and drank it slowly, giving Amy Pascal some time to think.

So far, there are only a handful of film series that Hollywood can produce more than three sequels, and even if there are, they are basically those low-budget horror films that can make one sequel a year, and even if a large-scale movie has the potential to produce more than three sequels, the time span often reaches more than ten years, in comparison, it is more cost-effective to buy a single license for $30 million.

Amy didn't think about it for long, if she had the right to decide, she would not hesitate to choose the former plan proposed by Eric at this time, which can avoid risks to the greatest extent, and compared to the box office results of the previous film of "Dark War", the price of 30 million is also very cost-effective.

But unfortunately, although she is already in the position of vice president of Columbia, involving tens of millions of dollars in investment, Amy does not have any decision.

And Amy Pascal vaguely felt in her heart that Eric seemed to have taken these things into account, and she even quickly thought that Eric's throwing out this plan was actually equivalent to giving Colombia a bait, and with Peter Cooper's character, Amy was sure that Peter Cooper would choose the latter buyout plan.

"Eric, most people are very optimistic about this sequel project, with the results of the first part of "Dark War", even if the cost of the sequel exceeds $50 million and the box office performance shrinks by 30%, it can still bring considerable profits, why choose this plan?"

"I don't have the energy to take care of this project anymore," Eric said, "and Firefly happens to be a little short of funds right now, so I'm going to cash out the rights to Dark Wars." ”

Although Eric received nearly $8 billion from the futures market, in order to achieve the effect of a surprise acquisition of Disney, Eric did not plan to use this money too much unless it was very necessary, so Firefly's business still needs to rely on the profits generated by its own films.

Although "Toy Story" has not yet been released, because of his strong confidence in 3D animation, Eric has asked Pixar to start the preparation of the next animated film, which will cost money, coupled with the recent integration and expansion of the company, the construction of the company's photography base, the removal of Robert Shea's funds, the announcement of "Toy Story" and "Terminator 2", and the upcoming start of filming of "Tornado", Firefly's original funds are quickly depleted.

Amy Pascal remembered the Firefly's recent series of big moves, and realized that the Firefly's funds might be tight, so maybe the price could be lowered a little, but she immediately dismissed this idea, although Eric is young, he has become a well-known hardliner in Hollywood, and his biggest characteristic is that he does not like to negotiate with people for a long time, and once Eric has the advantage, he will not even negotiate at all.

It can be seen from a lot of information that Firefly is not short of film projects, Eric even has a dispensable attitude towards hot movie rights like "Dark War", which means that Eric is unlikely to compromise on price, and Sony-Columbia is different, Peter Cooper is now in urgent need of a large-scale project to expand the influence of Sony Pictures and consolidate his position.

"Eric, I don't have the authority to make a decision on this matter, I need to go back and ask Mr. Cooper. ”

"No problem, I'm waiting for good news from you," Eric said, standing up and escorting Amy Pascal out of the office.

Sonny Colombia didn't think about it for long, and just as Eric thought, he planned to negotiate with the Firefly with the second option. Before the Oscars were close at hand, the negotiations between Firefly and Colombia over the rights to "Dark War" directly stole a large chunk of the Oscar limelight. (To be continued......)