Eight Hundred and Ninetieth Eight Chapters Opportunity to Change

The next morning, Firefly's Burbank headquarters.

As a fantasy movie project that Disney Pictures will focus on in the next ten years, Eric had already sent the first manuscript of "Harriet" back to Los Angeles in advance when he was in the UK, and distributed it to several core executives of Firefly. Hope they can get an idea of ​​the content of this novel in advance.

At the same time, Eric has personally communicated with Murdoch several times. Harper Collins Press, a publishing network under News Corp., will release the first book of the series in English-speaking countries such as the UK, the US and Australia in September at the same time. "Harriet and the Falcon" will continue to be promoted to non-English speaking countries after it has gained enough influence. The Firefly Group will also invest enough media resources to promote this novel.

Although the film project will not be approved until the novel "Harriet" has achieved enough influence, but since Katzenberg, Frank Wells and others who have read the novel are very optimistic about the story, everyone agrees Decided to hold a special meeting to discuss and make a detailed film and theme park development plan in advance.

"Different from traditional fairy tales such as Snow White, Cinderella, Mermaid, etc., one of the great advantages of the "Harriet" series is that it is easier for people to feel a sense of substitution. The setting of the novel takes place in real London, which can give people a sense of immersion. Readers have the illusion that the story is happening on their side, so as to maximize their interest in the story. But at the same time, it is telling an interesting adventure in the legal world, and the bizarre "Alice in Wonderland" It's different, this story seems to be more close to the people, because from childhood to adulthood, there have been countless rumors about witchcraft and so on."

In the conference room of the administrative district of the studio, Eric was briefly explaining why he was optimistic about this story, when the conference room door was suddenly knocked a few times.

The SI thread was cut off, and Eric looked over with some displeasure. Seeing his assistant Kelly Haynes pushed open the door apologetically, he gave him an urgent gesture. Peter Ritchie has rushed to the TV station, and Kelly has temporarily assumed this position until a new post assistant is elected.

Eric nodded to signal everyone to wait a moment, walked to the door of the conference room, and asked, "Kelly, what's the matter?"

Kelly put the phone in her hand and explained, "Amy is here."

Eric put the phone to his ear and said hello, and Amy Pascal on the other side said something eagerly.

After listening to Amy quietly, Eric frowned, but without much hesitation, he said: "In this case, just do as I said yesterday, you call Yahoo and ask them to issue a notice. ...Nothing to talk about, I'll explain from Barbara's side...Board of directors? Oh, Amy, this is Hollywood, we're in charge. When you're done, contact Kapoor and let him start a new term German candidate. Kevin Costner seems to be on the aa side, in this case, the "Disc 3" script needs to continue to be revised, adding supporting roles that may replace Ethan Hunter, and that's it, I'll hang up first."

Kelly listened to the conversation between Eric and Amy, and guessed what happened, took the phone that Eric handed over, saw him standing in the same place and fell into the SI cable, and said carefully: "Eric, Are you really going to replace Brosnan?"

Eric sorted out his thoughts, nodded and said, "Yeah, you heard that too."

Kelly's tone was obviously worried: "However, is the impact of this too great?"

"It will definitely have an impact,

But it's not as serious as you might think. The Agent Cinematic Universe has been built, and now audiences are not much less interested in the series' storybooks than in a few protagonists. Eric explained, seeing that the worry on Kelly's face did not diminish at all, he smiled and said, "Think about it, if I agree to Brosnan's salary conditions, if I want to continue to complete several major series of wear. , the remuneration of several other people will also rise, and even the production cost of the next few films is likely to be close to 200 million US dollars. In addition, in addition to the fixed remuneration, the profit share requested by several leading actors will not be less than each film. 30% of the movie. In this case, even if the next six films all maintain a global ticket of 1 billion US dollars, we will not have much profit, not to mention, this kind of expectation is unrealistic, even if one of them loses the ticket, the entire series will be lost. It is impossible to continue. Now, by swapping out Brosnan, who was the least risky, and showing MGM's determination, the other two series' protagonists won't be so reassured before the lion opens his mouth. "

In fact, Eric had a deeper reason for making this decision. He just suddenly thought that maybe, this incident would become an opportunity. Because, in the Firefly system, Hollywood's traditional rules of benefit distribution are no longer suitable.

In addition to the Firefly system, the other major film companies are either listed companies or controlled by consortia that actually have little control over Hollywood. The main creative team will not consider the interests of shareholders and investors at all.

Take Warner's "Lethal Weapon 4", which is being produced by Joe Silver's production department. The high budget of $100 million mainly comes from the speculative hot money that has poured into Hollywood in recent years.

As a result, this movie with a global ticket estimate of only about 300 million US dollars, Mel Gibson took the astronomical salary of 30 million US dollars as the starring role. Producer Joe Silver also enjoys a base salary of $8 million plus a late ticket share, and other main creators such as directors, screenwriters, and supporting actors also receive generous remuneration. In the end, Warner Bros. will definitely not earn a penny through movie tickets, and can only expect to recover some profits in the later DVD and TV broadcasting rights. Moreover, under the special financial system of Hollywood, the investment of 100 million US dollars is another matter. If you want to make money, don’t even think about it. As far as Eric knows, Wall Street is responsible for directing European and Asian hot money to invest in Hollywood movies. The average annual rate of return is basically below 10%, and losses abound.

In the end, as far as the entire project is concerned, Mel Gibson has made a lot of money, Joe Silver has also gained a lot, and the directors, screenwriters and other main creators have also made money, and Time Warner's senior management in charge of this project will definitely get enough. The salary and awards, movie tickets can also make Time Warner's revenue report more beautiful, everyone is happy. Only Time Warner's shareholders and the investors who provide the film's production budget will not get any good, because they do not belong to Hollywood and cannot get their share of the 'cake' from Hollywood's chain of interests.

Due to the closed financial operation system, Firefly plays the role of shareholders and investors, which are excluded from Hollywood's interest chain.

In the original time and space, even after more than ten or twenty years, although groups of people who took advantage of them have poured money into Hollywood one after another, but because they have never been able to gain enough power to change the rules, most of them have been slapped with blood. After all, Sony Pictures, which has barely survived in Hollywood, is basically just the ATMs of Hollywood's big names like Will Smith and Adam Sandler, who often log in to the lowest price list.

Now, since he firmly controls the two major Hollywood film divisions, maintains a large influence over another film division, Fox, and has enough power to change the rules, Eric naturally cannot allow this situation to continue.

The first thing to change is, of course, the increasingly unreasonable high remuneration of Hollywood stars. Perhaps in the process of changing the rules, there will be a situation of self-destruction. But if you don’t change it and let the situation continue to develop, Firefly will not only lose more and more More and more profits that should belong to the film studio, but also unable to gain control over Hollywood at the root.

As for stars, many people may have forgotten one thing. All the big names in Hollywood are created by big studios through investment in a movie. What's more, the firefly system of main special effects films and animated films is far less dependent on stars than other major film companies.

That same morning, at the Rita Hotel in Beverly Hills.

Pierce Brosnan is attending a trade fair for Omega watches, and he just recently won the endorsement of the Swiss watch brand.

After the fixed course such as product display is over, we enter the media Q&A session. Naturally, the topic cannot escape the problems of "Casino Royale" and the next 007.

"About the "Bond 19" drama, I haven't seen the script yet, and even if I see the script, I definitely can't reveal it at will, haha, let's ask some other questions."

On a simple stage, Brosnan and the host sat on a simple back chair, holding a microphone, smiling, and coping with the reporter's questions with a graceful but very skillful manner.

Although the contract for the sequel is still in the process of negotiation, he never thought he would give up the role, even if some concessions eventually need to be made. After all, since he first appeared on the big screen in 1980, it took him more than ten years to reach the pinnacle of his career. How could he give up, not to mention that he will soon be forty-five years old, although the Hollywood actor's The career is far more than Star, but at his current age, outside of Bond, there are simply not many major blockbusters suitable for him.

After answering a question, the host next to Brosnan was about to choose the next questioner. It seemed that suddenly, at least ten mobile phones in the conference hall rang suddenly, and the ringtones that were quite dull and even harsh in this era were instantly flooded. the entire event hall.

Brosnan was taken aback, and the host was even more embarrassed. Holding the microphone, he reluctantly joked: "Okay, maybe the Martians attacked the earth, but before the destruction of the earth, we still hold this press conference first. Are you done?"

In a burst of cooperative laughter, the reporters whose cell phones rang off the stage took the initiative to turn off their phones. However, the other staff in the field did not have such scruples, and avoided answering the phone one after another.

So, just as the host had just picked up the next questioner and handed over the microphone, Brosnan's manager named Sarah Lindelt rushed to the stage in a panic, completely ignoring the surprise of others. His eyes were attached to Brosnan's ear and he quickly said a few words. Immediately, Brosnan also stood up abruptly.

Although he immediately realized his loss, Brosnan didn't care about anything else, just simply said sorry, and hurriedly left the stage.

At this time, the group of reporters in the audience also realized that the call just now must have something to do with Brosnan, and something must have happened, so they took out their mobile phones and called back.

In the corridor outside the conference hall, Brosnan quickly walked towards the elevator, and Paul Darrick, president of Omega North America, who also received a call, followed him and asked quickly, "Pierce, what the hell is going on? If you don't play Bond again, you shouldn't have signed with us, you are a fraud, we have the right to cancel the contract and ask for compensation."

Brosnan walked into the elevator with his manager Guan, frantically pressed the button a few times, and said to Paul Darrick, who was chasing him, with the same embarrassed face: "Sorry, Paul, I don't know what happened now. What's the matter, can you give me some time?"

Paul Darrick wanted to ask further questions, and noticed that Brosnan also had a look on his face, so he had to say: "ok, but you must give me an answer as soon as possible."

Brosnan nodded, stretched out his hand and pressed the elevator button a few times, suddenly remembered something, and before the elevator door closed, he suddenly pulled his manager Guan out of the elevator and said, "Sarah, call Rick, immediately ."

"Okay, okay," Sarah Lindelt hurriedly took out her mobile phone from her shoulder, and handed Brosnan's phone over. In order not to be disturbed by the activities just now, she had just kept it for Brosnan on the phone.

Only, when I took out the phone, the two phones rang almost at the same time.

Perhaps it was not enough chaos, the two had not had time to connect the mobile phone, and the group of reporters who were originally at the Omega event had frantically chased them out.

"Mr. Brosnan, is the report just released by Yahoo Portal true?"

"Pierce, did you really turn down MGM's $100 million salary contract?"

"Pierce, you seem to have just received this news. Is there anything hidden in it?"

"..."

"Get out, get out."

"Sorry, we have no comment on this matter at the moment."

"Please let me know, we will give the media an answer as soon as possible."

After a while, Brosnan finally brought his manager Guan to the headquarters of aa in Century City after half an hour. 19" will be cast again' has spread all over Hollywood.