"Fortunately, we got rid of it early, otherwise we would have lost a lot this time."

As always, Duke and Tina? Fei was eating lunch together, and no one else came to disturb her, and the female assistant simply talked about the news she had just received in the morning, "Last week, the market fluctuated once, but many people comforted themselves that this is a market adjustment, and the market will continue to rise, but since the day before yesterday, the NASDAQ index has plummeted, and two days have passed, and there is no intention of stopping......"

"There must have been signs before, right?"

In addition to keeping Apple's shares, it took Duke nearly a year to get rid of other stocks until the end of last year, and the impact of the stock market crash on him was already very small.

Tina? Fei swallowed the lettuce in his mouth and said, "There are signs, but most people believe that the stock index can hold out until the second half of the year." ”

Putting down the knife and fork, Duke picked up a tissue and wiped his mouth, "I thought it would collapse at the beginning of the year, but I didn't expect it to persist until now." ”

In his vague memory, the collapse of IT stocks was at the turn of the millennium, and the specific time was not known at all, but he did not expect it to drag on until March 2000.

"If the stock market continues to fall, it will still have an impact on us." Tina? Philip also ended his lunch, reminding Duke that "Apple's stock price has also taken a hit, with its market value falling below $8 billion." And Google, which you invested in, because of the general decline in IT stocks, there are two investment institutions that have the idea of divesting. ”

"Let David stare at them." "If someone really wants to divest from Google, we'll take over, but be careful about the shareholding ratio and don't upset Google's internal balance," Duke advised. ”

Those two founders of Google are definitely not fools.

Duke thought for a moment, then said, "Sue David." Staring at Apple's sell order, IT stocks have plummeted, Apple will definitely be impacted, there may be people selling Apple's stocks, I have only one principle, he can see all the sell orders. ”

Although it is not known if anyone will sell Apple shares in bulk. But according to the general situation, this should be a good opportunity to eat into Apple stock.

"One more thing." Tina? Fei picked up the cup and drank the water that has not changed for thousands of years, "After Ivanka returned to the University of Pennsylvania, she made a business plan, and sent one to you and David respectively, and I put it on your desk." ”

"I'll look at it when I have time."

After the evening shoot, Duke saw Ivanka's proposal, but he was not well-versed in business. After waiting for a few days, I got a reply from the investment team - this plan has some viability.

However, in view of the current sharp decline in IT stocks, David does not build a Duke investment, and the profitability of companies on the market, including Yahoo, which is purely a website, are worrying.

But Duke had a phone call with Ivan and decided to take a chance. After all, an upfront investment of $300,000 is really nothing to him.

If it succeeds. The future benefits can be imagined.

During the phone conversation, Duke also learned that Ivanka? Mr. Trump would probably come up with a similar amount of money, some of which would be the pocket money she had saved up for years, and the other part would come from her family.

As Ivanka said, the site will initially be based on the Wharton School and the University of Pennsylvania, and eventually it will spread to the Ivy League schools. Now it's all unknown.

The gloomy stock market, which has not gotten as much as most people hoped, has become more volatile, and this has actually affected Hollywood, which has long been the most important investment destination for Hollywood stars and directors. In recent years, there will be no shortage of people who have invested in IT stocks, such as Ian in the crew? McLean lost a lot, and asked Duke for leave to go back to North America.

From March to April, the North American stock market drove the global economic turmoil, and there were some problems within the crew of "The Lord of the Rings".

This is not only due to the stock market, but also after more than half a year of filming, the crew inevitably suffered from burnout, after all, most of the staff and actors are from the United Kingdom and the United States, and they have been stuck in New Zealand for a long time, which will inevitably cause emotional fluctuations.

As Duke said, many things, such as continuous work, can be endured by him as a director, but the actors and crew members below may not be able to.

What's more, most of the remaining shots of the crew are scattered, except for the scenes in the studio, they often have to run around New Zealand non-stop, sometimes busy all morning, just to shoot only a few minutes of shots.

Time is slowly approaching May, the crew is really tired after continuous travel, Duke finally took a long vacation for the crew again, he also has something to leave New Zealand, the upcoming premiere of "Mission Impossible 2" needs to attend, before attending the premiere, he has to go to the United Kingdom, Robin? The crew of "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" led by Grande is ready to start auditioning actors after more than two months of vigorous hype.

As an important long-term meal ticket in the future, and also serving as a producer, Duke also needs to go to London.

"Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone" has been confirmed Chris? Columbus as a director, and he and Robin? Grande and Joanna? Rowling formed the triangular power structure of the project, and although Duke had the name of making the Zuò people, the crew was basically dominated by these three people, except for the heavy affairs.

Of course, the most powerful of them all, will never be the original author, but Robin, the agent of Duke and Warner Bros.? Grande.

It's a ten-day holiday, and almost all of the main members of the crew leave New Zealand, except for the left-behind personnel on duty.

However, before leaving, Duke summoned the main cast and crew to the large dining room on the set and gave some advice and admonition.

"I know that with the recent economic turmoil, you are so distracted that you can't fully focus on filming."

As a director who rarely gets angry, Duke's voice is now very strict, "I can understand you, so I give you ten days off to deal with personal matters, and when the crew gathers in Wellington again in ten days, I ask you to return to the state before March, what I need is dedicated people!" ”

He finally said, "If you are still in the same state after ten days, then I can only say sorry. ”

In the busy set of the past, the flow of people quickly dispersed, gradually regained quiet, and the entertainment reporters gathered at the door of the set also chased their respective interests to go, since the beginning of filming, the "Lord of the Rings" book fan protests, just like the filming of the crew, temporarily came to an end, a large number of hardcore book fans receded like a tide, accumulating the energy of the next outbreak.

Duke was one of the last to leave the set, flying directly to London from his private tarmac at Wellington International Airport on his own business jet.

Before the plane, Tina? Faye received a phone call, and when the plane was in the sky and had entered a steady flight, she said to Duke, "News from Nancy, Marvel Comics invites you to the premiere of Twentieth Century Fox's X-Men in mid-July. ”

"X-Men?" Duke unbuckled his seat belt and thought for a moment before saying, "Sue Nancy, don't give an answer for the time being." ”

It's still early, and Duke isn't sure if he'll have time.

However, not counting the extremely limited influence and regarded as a B-grade film, "X-Men" can be said to be the beginning of Marvel Comics' real success in terms of cinema, and after the release of this film, although the situation of Marvel Comics will not be particularly noticeably improved, it will make their executives realize the value of their superheroes.

It is no exaggeration to say that he was able to invest in Marvel Comics, which was completely stuck in the last chance, otherwise it would be dozens of times more difficult to get such an opportunity when "X-Men" was released.

And that little spider, which will make the whole of America realize the cinematic value of Marvel Comics.

"A cup of coffee, a glass of water, thank you."

Ask the flight attendants for a drink, Tina? Faye pushed the coffee in front of Duke, who put the cup in the card slot and asked, "Tina, do you know what's going on at Sony Columbia Pictures?" ”

"Huh?" Tina? Fei obviously doesn't know where to start, after all, there are too many things related to big film companies.

"They invest in the production and distribution of films." Duke reminded, "Big system zuò." ”

"Sony Entertainment's $140 million investment in "Spider-Man" has entered the preparatory stage. Tina? Phylline recalls and says, "The director is Sam, the director of the Evil Dead series? Neil, who is said to be compiling a script for Peter? Parker and Mary? Jane looks for the right actor. ”

Sure enough, "Spider-Man" is also on the agenda of Sony Columbia Pictures.

Sighing secretly, Duke couldn't do anything either, he noticed that the time period of Marvel Comics was too late, and Spider-Man was taken by Columbia Pictures in the late eighties and wanted to take it back, unless the Japanese had water in their heads or the film suffered a miserable failure.

Neither is likely to be in the near future.

Duke just thinks about it, the world is so big, it can't be all good things fall on one person.

There are some things, even if you know them in advance, many times you can't do anything.

Picking up the coffee cup, Duke took a sip, the bitter taste dispelled the unreliable delusions in his heart, once the copyright that Marvel Comics and Walt Disney could not recover when they joined forces, he can do it as a director?

"One more thing, Sony Entertainment is in the lead."

Related things keep coming from Tina? "I've heard people mention that Sony Entertainment is negotiating with Hasbro to buy the rights to a movie adaptation of one of its toys. ”

Duke looked up and looked at Tina? Fei, "Which toy?" (To be continued......)

PS: I'm busy today and I'm dizzy and depressed