Eight Hundred and Ninetieth Chapters Live Confidently

Eric could sense Rowling's nervousness and anxiety, and did not take her to the reception room of the villa, but to the lawn in the backyard.

In London in July, the daytime temperature is only about 20 degrees Celsius. Above the courtyard surrounded by green trees is a gray-blue sky. Although it is not as sunny as Los Angeles, it is also less sultry in midsummer. No unbearable restlessness.

There was a set of tables and chairs for rest on the lawn. Eric sat down with Joanne Rowling, Christina brought a pot of coffee and poured them over, then turned and returned to the villa.

The information about Joanne Rowling and Harry Potter have been placed on the table in front of him. Feeling Joanne Rowling's emotions, Eric was not in a hurry to talk about business, and said casually: "..Rowling, it should be It's your initials, so what?"

Joanne Rowling, who had just raised the coffee cup with Eric's actions, heard his question, and immediately put down the cup and explained, "It's Catherine, I don't have a middle name, Catherine is my grandmother's name. ."

Eric felt that the poor little woman in front of him must have been overwhelmed by a series of recent events, thought for a while, and said, "You know, Joe, in fact, Hollywood is a place that can easily make people unbalanced. place."

Feeling that Eric peeked through her uneasy mind, Rowling was a little embarrassed. She didn't know what to say, but nodded lightly.

Eric did not expect any response from the woman, and continued: "In Hollywood, someone bought a script for $250,000, and the production cost of the movie was $15 million, but it received $120 million at the global box office. The revenue is eight times the production cost. The name of the movie is Lethal Weapon, and someone paid a sky-high price of 1.75 million US dollars to buy a script and used 85 million US dollars to make it. In the end, the box office was a complete failure, and even the production company almost went bankrupt. Phantom Heroes. And, more interestingly, the same person wrote both films."

Rowling listened carefully to Eric's words, feeling as if she understood something, but shook her head and said softly, "Mr. Williams, I don't understand too much."

"Call me Eric," Eric took a sip of his coffee and said, "I just wanted to tell you that in Hollywood, um, or anywhere, when a person wants to make his life easier, he You should live more confidently. Just like the screenwriter of the two movies I just mentioned, his name is Shane Black. The original Lethal Weapon, with the worldwide box office and subsequent video tapes and other channels, the producer Warner Bros. made at least 100 million US dollars , Shane Black only got a paltry 250,000, and some people may think that he must be sad and want to cry. Then, when Carlock Pictures bought his Phantom Hero script for $1.75 million and almost lost money to bankruptcy At times, some people think that as a screenwriter, Shane Black should also feel uneasy. But this is not the case. Shan Black has always had a good life. He is still a gold medal screenwriter in Hollywood, and continues to work with Warner Bros. Brotherly Collaboration Lethal Weapon 4."

Perhaps Eric's words played a role, and Rowling sat upright slightly, but, after meeting Eric's eyes for a second, the woman quickly ducked out of lack of confidence. .

Eric smiled and said: "As for Harry Potter, in fact, I could have offered you a lower price, for example, 100,000 pounds, which is the average price for most screenplays or novel copyrights.

But I didn't do it, because I liked the story, and I wanted to make it a well-known fantasy brand under Disney, even like Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck, so I gave a price that I thought was worth it. In the future, this series will not only be limited to novels and movies, but will also include a whole industry chain such as music, toys, theme parks, etc. If successful, Firefly Group will earn a billion or even tens of billions of dollars in profits from this brand. "

Joanne Rowling, who had just lifted the coffee cup, heard Eric's description, her hand holding the cup couldn't help shaking, she put the coffee cup down again, and looked at Eric in surprise.

Looking at the woman's appearance, Eric chuckled: "Do you think that if Firefly really made $10 billion from this novel, you can only get £1 million, oh, maybe the entire series You will lose a few million pounds?"

Joanne Rowling just felt that the prospects depicted by Eric were a little unbelievable. Listening to him say this, she couldn't help but feel that she was at a disadvantage. She instinctively wanted to deny it, but in the face of Eric's bright eyes, she nodded lightly.

"Look, a lot of things are like this. I just said that if a person wants to live a relaxed life, he should live with confidence, but the most important point is not to blindly overestimate yourself in certain things. importance.”

When Joanne Rowling heard Eric's implied knocking, she quickly shook her head and denied: "Ai, Eric, I didn't."

"Hey, if Firefly wants to complete this plan, it still needs you to continue to create the next story, so let me talk about my plan first," Eric ignored the woman's denial and said, "First of all, HarperCollins Publishing House will Taking over the global distribution of the Harry Potter series, in order to give the series enough popularity before the film is made, the Firefly Group will also use the media resources in hand to package this novel as much as possible. Perhaps other novels of the same type will sell a few 100,000 copies can be considered a bestseller, but I hope the Harry Potter series will sell tens of millions or more. In the process, you will get what you deserve. The novel sells 10 million copies, you You can become a multi-millionaire, and if the entire series reaches 100 million sales, you will further become a billionaire. But then, the profits of the Harry Potter series, such as movies, toys and park peripherals, are what Firefly deserves. ."

Joanne Rowling is not stupid, she understands what Eric means. If Firefly hadn't used its own media resources to brand this novel, Harry Potter would have only sold hundreds of thousands of copies like those ordinary bestsellers, bringing her hundreds of thousands of pounds in royalties. , maybe you can make some more money by selling film and television copyrights, but it will definitely not reach the kind of brilliance described by Eric. After thinking about this, some of the imbalances in Joanne Rowling's heart just began to dissipate, but she still asked carefully: "Then, Eric, what if, if it fails?"

Eric shrugged: "Firefly's annual budget for film and television production exceeds 1 billion US dollars, of which at least 8 is spent on the acquisition of script or novel comic film and television adaptation rights, so even if it really fails, it doesn't matter."

Joanne Rowling is no longer entangled in this issue. One million pounds may be a huge sum of money for her, but for Firefly Group, it is nothing.

Eric watched Rowling relax, opened the folder in front of him with a smile, and said, "So, now, let's talk about the content of the novel. I have read your novel outline, and you plan to write five novels, but In my opinion, seven seems to be more suitable. I have already thought of the titles of the seven novels for you. The first manuscript you have completed, I hope to split the following tens of thousands of words as the second novel. The content of the first part, according to the content, is called Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone."

Joanne Rowling heard that Eric would take action against her novel without asking her opinion at all, and opened her mouth, feeling that she had to express her persistence as the original author of the novel.

However, when Eric looked up, raised the pencil in his hand and pointed to his side to signal her to sit over, the resistance that had just risen in the woman's heart disappeared, and she obediently picked up the chair and sat down to Eric. beside K. Although the tone of the man in front of her was always gentle during the conversation with her, the aura that the other party cultivated in the power and wealth was not something that a little woman could resist.

In addition to the revision opinions of the first book, Eric discussed with Rowling in detail some details that need to be revised in the outline of the novel based on the plot of the movie in his memory.

Time passed unknowingly, and when things were over, the time had come to evening.

"Then, you have one month to revise the first volume of the story, and the next distribution will be handled by HarperCollins Publishing House, and Firefly will also cooperate." Eric looked at his watch and raised his head. Rowling next to her said: "It's getting late, I'll ask someone to arrange a guest room for you. It just so happens that Princess Diana is holding a charity reception tonight, so you can also go and see it together."

Because of sitting next to Eric for a long time, the breath from the man made Rowling a little distracted. Almost every feature of young, rich, handsome, and powerful has a strong attraction to women. , what's more, she has been single for a long time. Although Eric seemed to be unaware, Rowling could not deceive herself. She could imagine that her face might have been flushed. After hearing that Eric wanted to keep her in the villa for the night, Rowling was finally unable to hide it. Di showed a flustered look, and quickly shook his head: "No, no, Eric, I have already booked a flight back to Edinburgh tonight, and Jessica is still at a friend's house, so I'm not at ease."

Eric looked at the woman a few times, and saw that her body sitting on the chair moved back unconsciously, he couldn't help but smile: "Okay, it seems that I scared you."

Although Rowling knew that Eric was joking with her, she hurriedly shook her head: "No, really not."

"Oh, since that's the case, let me send you to the airport," Eric didn't hold back. Rowling can only be regarded as a temperamental woman, not his thing at all. She packed up the stacks of documents in front of her and handed them over to her. Rowling, Eric got up and walked out

Rowling held the document in her arms and followed behind Eric, her eyes slightly lowered, and she began to regret that she had just rejected too simply.

The driver took Rowling out of the villa, and Christina, who was standing beside Eric, looked at the door that closed automatically, and turned to Eric again.

Eric reached out and rubbed the girl's head, "What are you thinking about?"

"Hehe, no," Christina hugged Eric's arm and said, "It's getting late, Eric, I've picked a dress for you."

"It's only six o'clock, what's the hurry?" Eric shook his head and smiled, "Let's do something to eat first. If you go there on an empty stomach, you will definitely be starved for a night. The North American box office data should have been sent yesterday. I'll go. take a look."

Hearing this, Christina obediently went to the kitchen to prepare food, while Eric went back to the study, turned on the computer and started checking emails.

Yesterday was Friday, and the release of Casino Royale entered its second week. At the same time, the ultra-high box office of $117 million in the first week also attracted the attention of the entire Hollywood. Even Eric himself did not expect that the first week of Casino Royale would be so reversed. sky.

But then came the problem.

The two new films released this week, Jedi Men 2 and Ice Age, both have a very close relationship with Firefly. The reason why such a schedule was arranged at the beginning was also considering that the North American box office of the 007 series was not too high in the past, and there would not be too strong competition between the several parties.

But now, including Eric, many people are in a bit of a tangled mood.

On the one hand, everyone expects that the next week's decline of Casino Royale can be as low as possible. Due to the continuous fermenting word of mouth of the film among the media and audiences this week, it is very likely that Casino Royale will maintain a low decline. But on the other hand, the first-week box office performance of Casino Royale has reached as high as 117 million US dollars, even surpassing the total box office of the previous Golden Eye of 106 million US dollars. Then, the box office decline of Royal Casino is too low, Jedi Men 2 and Glacier The two new films of Times will be directly impacted.

Shaking his head with a wry smile, Eric opened the box office statistics email from Los Angeles.

On yesterday's Friday single-day box office rankings, Casino Royale unsurprisingly topped the list with $18.61 million, down only 39 percent from last week.

These data were sent by Eric's assistant office, with professional annotations.

In the accompanying analysis, since the popularity of Casino Royale has been increasing along with the box office and word of mouth, the proportion of the box office on weekdays has also increased significantly compared to other films. Keep it around 35. This means that the box office of Casino Royale will still be as high as $76 million in the second week.

The beginning of July is the outbreak period of the North American box office, and the North American box office volume reached about 200 million US dollars in a single week. But now, although Casino Royale is in its second week of release, a film still has to take one-third of the total box office share. Without looking down, Eric can guess the box office data of other films, especially live-action films. not too good.

117 million in the first week and 76 million in the second week, the total box office of Casino Royale will exceed 190 million US dollars in two weeks. Although live-action blockbusters can't maintain the long-lasting screen vitality of animated films, even with an average weekly decline of 40, Casino Royale's final North American box office is expected to reach between $300 million and $350 million.

The average fare in North America in the 1960s was around $0.8, and in 1997 the average fare was $4.6, equivalent to 5.7 times that of the 1960s.

In this way, in 1964, it was once known as the gold finger of the highest-grossing sequel in the history of 007 after inflation. At that time, the box office of more than 51 million US dollars in North America was converted into 290 million US dollars. Casino Royale's North American box office forecast of $300 million to $350 million, even if inflation is factored in, will definitely replace Goldfinger as the highest-grossing sequel in 007 history in North America.

As for overseas, due to the difficulty of statistics, last week's box office data was delayed by a day before the preliminary results were obtained.

Although Eric's last movie was four years ago, the record of Jurassic Park breaking through $1 billion for the first time in the world is still vivid in my mind. The final number of overseas simultaneous ticket warehouses reached 36.

Last week, led by the UK’s record-breaking £21.3 million, equivalent to US$31.95 million, the cumulative box office of 36 simultaneous overseas releases also successfully exceeded the US$100 million mark, reaching US$136.1 million. Although the overseas box office market is affected by various factors, the box office data is difficult to predict, but there is no doubt that Casino Royale will be Eric's next film after Jurassic Park, which is expected to hit the global box office of 1 billion US dollars.

Unlike Jurassic Park that year, Eric's box office forecast for the film was only around $600 million before its release at Casino Royale. Now, the film suddenly shows the potential of 1 billion in the world. If there is no excitement in my heart, it must be false.

However, after glancing at the box office data of the next few films, Eric couldn't help but think that the executives within his company would definitely not be in a good mood. Last week, the first weekend box office of Casino Royale was just released. When Eric and Frank Wells in Los Angeles discussed the upcoming Titanic exhibition hall on the phone, the other party mentioned Casino Royale intentionally or unintentionally. is resentment.

As for the two new films this week, before the release, the industry is generally more optimistic about the first film, Jedi Men 2, which is the first popular film. Under the operation of New Line Pictures, the first film has a global box office of nearly 200 million US dollars. As a result, the cost of Jedi Men 2 has skyrocketed from the first $19 million to $60 million.

However, on the first day of Friday, the second place was not Jedi Men 2, but the Ice Age of Blue Sky Studio.

This animated film has already accumulated a good reputation before it was released, and was rated as three dads and one baby in the animated version by the industry. You know, three dads and one baby were the box office champions in North America in 1987. The fact that Ice Age can get this kind of evaluation also indirectly shows the popularity of this animated film in the trial screening stage.

The plot of the first part of Ice Age did draw on the idea of ​​three dads and one baby to a large extent. Moreover, this plot mode has not only been praised by the critics, but also recognized by the audience. On its first day of release, Ice Age grossed $13.46 million at the box office. Although it can't compare to Finding Nemo's over $20 million on its first day, its first-day box office data surpassed The Lion King 2's $12.8 million a month ago.

According to estimates, Ice Age's first week box office will be close to 60 million US dollars, which will also exceed the same period of The Lion King 2.

In Eric's opinion, the quality of The Lion King 2 is actually better than the more humanized Ice Age. The box office on the first day was overtaken by the Ice Age. In the final analysis, the Lion King 2 was jointly promoted by Firefly and Fox. due to constraints. Viacom began to open and launch acquisition negotiations at the end of June. Obviously, Redstone is determined to make up for Viacom's shortcomings in TV channels.

After the Ice Age, Jedi Men 2 had only $6.52 million at the box office on its first day, barely placing third. The reason why it is said to be reluctant is because the fourth-ranked Haidu General Mobilization, although it has entered its fourth week of release, its single-day box office on Friday is still as high as 6.29 million US dollars.

$6.52 million on the first day, indicating that the box office of Jedi Men 2 will only be about $25 million in the first week, and the actual box office figure is even a full $10 million lower than the original expectations of New Line.

Obviously, most of the $10 million difference was affected by the continued strong box office of Casino Royale the following week. The two films are both action films, and the audiences overlap to a large extent. The reputation and box office of Casino Royale have both exploded, and the topic level has skyrocketed. Jedi Men 2 is a movie with a black protagonist, and the two are competing. There is not much suspense at all as to which one the audience will choose.

If there is no Casino Royale, even if the box office of Casino Royale is not so defiant, with the reputation and popularity accumulated by the first film, it is still not a big problem for Jedi Men 2 to break through 100 million at the North American box office. But now, according to the forecast of $25 million in the first week, the box office of Jedi Men 2 in North America can only reach about $70 million. Due to the shortcomings of the overseas market of black protagonist movies, even if the overseas box office can maintain the level of the previous one , relative to the $60 million production cost and $20 million publicity budget, the possibility that the company wants to recover the cost at the box office is not too great. If you want to make a profit, you can only look forward to future videotape and TV rights revenue.

It is not difficult to imagine that even if everyone understands that MGM is now almost a part of the Firefly system, it is still difficult for the top executives within the Firefly Group to accept this reality. Thinking of this, Eric couldn't help shaking his head again. Although he didn't have the idea of ​​the next movie yet, in order to appease everyone's emotions, he must have recently released the news that his next movie will definitely return to Firefly. To be continued.