Chapter 905 Kinship

At 6 o'clock in the afternoon, the first day of business of the "Titanic" theme exhibition hall ended. 』『

According to preliminary statistics, in addition to the $100,000 income from 20,000 tickets, the daily income from other consumer items such as souvenir shops, restaurants, and bars in the park also reached $570,000. That is to say, the entire theme exhibition hall operates throughout the day. Revenue was $670,000. If this heat can be maintained, the annual operating income of the exhibition hall will exceed 200 million US dollars, and the funds invested by Firefly for the entire exhibition hall will be less than 1.5 million.

Of course, it is unrealistic to want the "Titanic"-themed exhibition hall to remain popular. Since it is a single movie-themed project, the ticket price of the venue is only $5, which is less than one-tenth of Universal Studios. However, since it has such a good start, it is logical to continue to expand the scale of the theme park of Firefly Studios. .

As night falls, although the movie-related exhibition areas on the ship have been closed, places such as restaurants and bars will remain open until late at night, and the ship's grand banquet hall will also host various parties in the future.

To celebrate the opening of the "Titanic" themed exhibition hall, Firefly held a grand celebration party on the big ship today. Eric didn't intend to join in the fun, but he was forcibly pulled over by the girl.

"The problem now is that the studio is north of Barona Canal, south is a dense residential area, and west is Lincoln Avenue. If the theme park wants to expand, it can only go east, which is exactly the same as "Titanic". The exhibition halls are connected together. However, in recent years, the east side has gradually developed into a residential area. If the news of our expansion of the theme park spreads, the residents of the east side will definitely raise their prices. This is not without precedent. I have been to this kind of problem, and the land price was fired up several times due to the leak of the plan ahead of time.”

On the top deck of the big ship, Katzenberg and Eric leaned against the railing together, looking at the carnival crowd all over the big ship, and discussed the expansion of the studio.

Eric turned and glanced to the east. In the night, compared to the desolation when Firefly Studios was just established, there are indeed a large number of lights there.

The original purchase of this land was basically based on the price of the wasteland. In order to promote Firefly Studios to be located in its own tax zone, Playa Vista also gave a lot of discounts.

But now, if the studio wants to expand to the land that has formed a residential area in the east, it is absolutely impossible to follow the original price of cabbage. Even, considering the current strong capital strength of Firefly Group, no one will miss the opportunity to take advantage of the opportunity to make a fortune.

Withdrawing his gaze and continuing to lie on the railing, Eric pointed to the dark area on the west side of Lincoln Avenue: "Jeffrey, where is it?"

Katzenberg looked at Eric's guidance and said, "I also had people collect information over there. Lincoln Avenue goes west to the sea, and there are about 160 hectares of free land, which is larger than the size of a movie theater. It should be big. However, if you buy it and open a theme park there, the "Titanic" exhibition hall here and some other tours planned to open in the studio will be divided into two pieces by Lincoln Avenue. And , even without considering the segmentation factor of Lincoln Avenue, from the "Titanic" exhibition hall where we are now to the seaside beach, the straight-line distance is more than 4 kilometers, and tourists are too willing to run back and forth this far."

Eric thought for a moment, then said: "So, Jeffrey, you first contact the Playa Vista District government to get the land to the west, and let the theme park team try to plan it, even if it doesn't work, we It is also possible to build a large parking lot on the west side, and the theme park will definitely not work without a spacious parking lot.”

Katzenberg nodded, buying the 160 hectares of land on the west side would not cause any financial pressure on the Firefly Group: "Eric, what about the east side?"

"Let's come together, buy as much as we can, but we can't take advantage of it. If the tenants ask for too much, it's fine.

Having said that, Eric added: "In addition, people can also release fake news that the theme park will be built in the west, so that it should be easier to buy land. "

...

In the crowded banquet hall, Melanie Gleeson had just left and returned with two cocktails when she saw two boys chatting with Caroline.

Speeding up and walking over, Melanie Gleeson inserted directly between Caroline and the two boys, glaring at each other with a bit of saucy in her tone, and said, "Hey, guys, my sister is only twelve. Oh, you'd better stay away from her,"

Although the two boys were a little dissatisfied, they didn't dare to make trouble here, they looked at the petite girl like a doll with nostalgia, and then walked away reluctantly.

Perhaps because of the lively atmosphere around her, Caroline's face was a little rosy, and she took the cocktail from Melanie, but she was a little dissatisfied, and said, "Mei, how can I be so small, you didn't pay me back last time. Say I'm fourteen?"

"Little bastards are getting bolder now, fourteen years old is no longer useful," Melanie leaned over and kissed Caroline's face roguely, watching the girl shrank coquettishly Neck, smiled: "Let's go, let's go around first, and then meet Mr. Boss, who you have been thinking about day and night."

"You're embarrassing me again," Caroline protested, and then looked around regretfully, and said, "It's a pity that Rachel has returned to England, otherwise she would definitely come over today."

"Let's think about yourself first," Melanie said. "Are you really going to follow Eric?"

"I, um, I think, this is a good opportunity," Caroline said, her long eyelashes drooping, her tone inexplicably sad, "And, like Peter, working by Eric's side I'll probably go to work elsewhere for a while."

Melanie sighed, she also knew that this girl actually knew a lot of things. Although Caroline always looks like a petite little doll, every time Melanie uses the guise of a girl as a minor to help her stop a conversational person, she has a hard time trying, but in fact, she is 26 years old this year, and it is impossible after all. Then there was the little girl who had just left the ivory tower.

Reaching out and carefully hugging Caroline in her arms, Melanie said, "That's it, anyway, every girl who wants to grow up has to meet a few bastards."

Caroline patted Melanie lightly and said, "You're making fun of him with lines from Eric's movie again, he's not an asshole."

"Yes, yes," Melanie echoed, remembering some interesting things Rachel had chatted with her, and continued with a smile: "He's a badass."

Caroline blushed suddenly and said, "It's so annoying, Rachel even told you this."

Eric chatted with Katzenberg about the expansion of the studio, and entertained some more important guests. He noticed that Caroline and Melanie had already arrived on the top deck, so he beckoned the girls to come over.

Melanie pushed Caroline, and the girl walked over alone and greeted politely, "Good evening, Eric."

"You too," Eric complimented Caroline's knee-length tunic with a smile, "you're so pretty tonight."

"Thank you," Caroline nodded, watching Eric lying relaxed on the railing, stepping forward a little, standing beside Eric reservedly, looking at the distant night scene together.

After thinking about it for a few days, Eric made up his mind completely. Looking at Caroline, who was standing beside him obediently, he didn't rush into the topic, and casually said, "So, how are you doing recently?"

"Very good," Caroline said, instinctively wanting to stay by Eric's side for a while, so she took the initiative to find a topic and said, "My aunt came to see me in Los Angeles last week."

Eric felt that something suddenly flashed in his heart: "Your aunt?"

"Yeah, it's the first time I've seen her, Eric, haven't you forgotten, I even showed you her picture when we met at Harvard that year."

Eric suddenly remembered, and at the same time another figure appeared in his mind, the woman in a black shirt that he met at the London screening of "Casino Royale".

When they met at Harvard a few years ago, Caroline showed herself a photo of her aunt. Although the light in the corridor was dim at the time, after Caroline reminded Eric, Eric was 100% sure that the woman It was Caroline's aunt.

It's just that why the other party appeared at the "Casino Royale" screening, I remembered that Caroline said a few years ago that her aunt mentioned herself in the letter. Thinking of it this way, the other party may have deliberately rushed to 'see' her boyfriend for his niece. This kind of thing is in line with some customs of his previous life.

However, carefully recalling the expression of the woman at that time, Eric felt inexplicably that things did not seem to be as simple as he imagined.

"Then, Caroline, do you have your aunt's picture on you now?"

Caroline didn't understand why Eric asked this, but nodded, took out a wallet from her handbag, flipped it twice, showed it to Eric, and said, "Hey, this is my aunt and I last week. Taken together on the Walk of Fame."

Eric took the girl's wallet and looked at the woman in the photo who was hugging Caroline intimately. Once again, he had a completely unknown feeling in his heart. After struggling for a while, he couldn't tell the truth. where is the problem.

Caroline saw Eric staring straight at the photo for a long time, remembering that the T-shirt she wore that day was a little short, as if her waist was exposed, her face was a little red, and she wanted to get the wallet back. But I was embarrassed, so I had no choice but to find something to say: "But, um, Eric, I feel that your eyes look like my aunt's."

Caroline's words were completely unintentional, but like a bolt of lightning, Eric's chaotic thoughts were pierced through. He only felt that the girl's delicate pink wallet had fallen off when he loosened his hand.

A woman, if she is just guarding her boyfriend for her niece, will definitely not show an expression similar to guilt.

However, if you think along a certain line of thought, many details seem to make sense. Moreover, Eric finally understood that the strange feeling in his heart was called deja vu.

When the wallet fell, Eric instantly came back to his senses, and quickly apologized to the girl, and instructed a waiter on the lower deck to throw the wallet up, hand it to the girl, and said, "I'm so sorry, I accidentally dropped it. ."

"It's okay," Caroline shook her head, put the wallet back in her bag, raised her head, only to see Eric looking at herself again, smiled shyly, and said, "Eric, what's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing," Eric said, reaching out and rubbing Caroline's shoulder: "There's a head here."

"Um... ah," Caroline just wanted to nod, but she already felt her head tense, and tilted her head along with Eric's strength. The girl saw that Eric retracted his hand casually and put it into his pants pocket at will. , wrinkled his little nose dissatisfied: "Eric, you are really bad."

Eric looked at the girl's little expression that was clearly angry but made it more cute no matter how he looked at it, hesitated, and gestured towards Melanie, who had been standing not far away, and waited for her to come over before saying: " So, Melanie, you and Caroline will follow me in the future."

Caroline and Melanie suddenly looked at each other.

In fact, Melanie originally had this idea, but she also knew that she couldn't be by Caroline's side forever. What's more, if Eric needs two assistants at the same time, in terms of ability and qualifications, it may not be her turn.

Eric didn't explain anything further. Seeing that the two girls had no objection, he said, "That's it, let Kelly help you arrange it next week. Let's go play now, I still have some things to do."

After the two girls left, Eric leaned on the railing to finish a glass of red wine in silence, left the top deck, and found Katzenberg, who was discussing the preparatory work for Spider-Man with Cameron. The two went to an office in the cabin together, and Eric handed Katzenberg a paper bag simply folded with a napkin, and said, "Jeffrey, do me a favor, besides, I know about it. The fewer people the better.”

Seeing Eric's serious expression, Katzenberg nodded solemnly and took the paper package, but there was doubt in his eyes.

Eric took the initiative to explain: "There are two heads here. I need you to find someone to do a kinship test."

Katzenberg clearly didn't understand the term Eric said: "Kindness?"

"It's DNA identification. Let someone check. The owners of these two heads are, um, cousins."

Eric said this, and Katzenberg immediately understood.

Although he was more curious, Katzenberg also knew that Eric would give him this kind of sex-related matter out of trust, so he resisted the thought of finding out the root cause, took out his wallet and carefully took out the paper. Putting away the bag, he nodded and said, "Don't worry, Eric, I'll have someone do it right away, and I'll give you the results on Monday."