America: Starting with the acquisition of MGM

Chapter 199 The bell rings for listing, and the layout of the Marvel universe begins

Ha ha ha ha

"Have you seen the expressions on my classmates? I'm afraid they are crazy with envy?"

In a private cafe, Eric and Liu Yifei sat face to face.

After finishing the CCTV6 program, he turned down the invitations of Zhang Yimou and Lou Ye and made an appointment with Liu Yifei here. The latter found the place. It seems that she is very experienced.

In total, today is the first time the two of them have gone on a date alone. Although they met in the past and contacted each other privately via mobile phone, Liu Xiaoli was always watching eagerly when they met.

She slept with her mother, and the little girl was only 16 years old, no, she was about to turn 17.

Anyway, he was too embarrassed to act openly, so he only teased each other when chatting in private.

Liu Yifei's response was also very positive. She went to the United States when she was 10 years old. Although she was not as open-minded as the 17-year-old Olsen sisters, she could pick up on general topics.

But every time Liu Xiaoli is around, she usually becomes silent and talks less, mainly because her mother is very strict.

"Haha, let them be envious. I just think these people look down on Huang Bo, so I did it on purpose."

"Eric, you're such a good guy."

"Uh... don't say that. What I don't like the most is the good guy card."

"Good guy card? Why?"

"Because when a girl says you are such a good person, it often means that she has rejected you emotionally."

Hearing this, Liu Yifei's heart skipped a beat and she couldn't help but secretly rejoice.

"Is he teasing me by saying this? It's so damning, why do you always say such inexplicable things, hehe?"

"Eric, what movie do you plan to let Huang Bo star in?"

"Eastern MGM's upcoming project is a shark disaster movie. Spielberg called it "Jaws" and it's called "The Meg."

"There will be many Chinese characters in the movie. Let Huang Bo play one of the supporting roles and give him a funny way to die. Whether he can shine or not depends on him."

"Hahahaha, Huang Bo's words should be ok. Although he and I are not familiar with each other, it's interesting to hear others discuss this person. Also, are there any roles suitable for me in the movie?"

Eric shook his head slightly: "No, the supporting role only lasts a few minutes and doesn't have many lines, so don't get involved."

"The protagonist is a divorced scientist with children. Your age and temperament are not suitable for you, so don't consider it."

"When the "Transformers" thing is over, MGM will open a new movie "The Hunger Games". You can play a supporting role with more scenes, which is more promising than "The Meg"."

Liu Yifei was a little disappointed: "Eric, when can I play the leading role?"

Eric patted her head: "You have only been in one or two dramas and you want to play the leading role. Your popularity has not accumulated. Be careful that your reputation will collapse. No one will dare to use you again in the future."

"Just listen to my arrangements, especially if you practice your kung fu well, I will arrange brilliant action scenes for you in "The Hunger Games"."

"There will be a battle between dragons and tigers between you and the heroine. You may even be stronger than her, chasing each other all the way."

"Although you are defeated in the end, it is not a defeat by force. You will be besieged and die in a sneak attack."

"What kind of character is easier for people to remember? It's this kind of character. The strong force value is the most eye-catching label of the character."

"Your character will make the audience feel sorry for them, rather than just passing it by and walking out of the theater without a memory."

Liu Yifei's eyes lit up: "I know, just like Lu Bu in "The Romance of the Three Kingdoms", although he didn't appear much, a scene in which the three heroes fought against Lu Bu made him shine, and everyone knows about it."

"Yes, this is the route I have planned for you. You have lived in the United States and you should know the limitations of yellow skin. Start with supporting roles and play steadily, and then playing the leading role will be much less controversial."

"And you have a huge advantage, you know?"

"What?" Liu Yifei looked at Eric curiously.

"Age, age is your advantage. Just like Huang Bo, who is almost 30 years old and is still in school, you have already been waiting for Xiaoyingping."

"Then don't be impatient and give yourself more time to grow. I will turn you into a world-class female star in the future."

Liu Yifei's anxious heart calmed down: "Okay, then I will listen to your arrangement, and you must be responsible for me."

"Career responsibility or emotional responsibility?"

"Eric, you're being annoying again!"

Although she said she was disgusted, Liu Yifei still added in her heart that of course it was an emotional responsibility.

However, there are many scandals about Eric. Although none of them have been confirmed, Liu Yifei does not believe that for such a powerful figure like him, there is no woman around him. Maybe those scandals are true.

Moreover, there is Liu Xiaoli's reason, so even if Liu Yifei has a good impression of Eric, it is still too early to accept him.

The two met and had something to eat in a cafe at noon. She flew back to the United States in the afternoon.

She asked for leave from the crew behind Liu Xiaoli's back, and she only had one day.

As a newcomer, no one knew her background. Liu Yifei did not want to publicize her relationship with Eric in a big way for the time being, so she hurriedly flew back to China and then back to the United States.

As you can imagine, after returning home, Liu Xiaoli will inevitably be greeted by a storm.

In the evening, Eric and Gadot jointly participated in the recording of "A Date with Luyu". Since its launch, this program has achieved great influence across the country and has very good ratings.

Although all the spoofs and dark history of Lu Yu were spread on the Internet in later generations, the social influence of the program in that era cannot be denied.

"Lu Yu, your program is great, but I heard that you are not majoring in hosting."

"Yes, I studied journalism."

"Really?"

"Of course it's true. You can check it out at my university."

"I do not believe!"

After two busy days, Eric and Gadot stopped recording the show.

They visited Wangfujing, visited the Ming Tombs, and climbed the Badaling Great Wall.

During this period, as the show was broadcast, the popularity of the two increased greatly, especially as Gadot, as the heroine of the movie, was too easy to recognize.

During this period, there was a one-stop process of signing autographs, taking photos, and group photos. The main focus was to be close to the people. These things were once again featured on the entertainment pages of Sina, Sohu and other websites, which had a positive effect on box office growth.

After staying in China for nearly four days, the two got on a plane to Australia and began the last leg of their journey.

On the other side of the ocean, the box office war in the United States is still fierce.

"The Last Samurai" only took in $24.4 million at the box office in the first three days of its first weekend. This figure surprised many Tom Cruise fans and analysts, and Warner Bros. also didn't expect it.

That is Tom Cruise, the hottest international action star in the world today, and it invested US$400 million. It was an absolutely large-scale production, but it only received 24.4 million box office, which is the same as "Polar Expedition". Tom Cruise and Russo It's hard to work anymore.

Even among the newly released movies this week, it only ranked second in box office performance.

Even stronger than it is "Magic Cat" invested by Universal, a children's family movie.

Although the movie was criticized for being shoddy, it still took in a box office of US$40.1 million thanks to its G-rated rating, far surpassing "The Last Samurai".

Ranked third is Universal's "Dirty Dancing," starring the sweet beauty Jessica Alba.

The upper limit of the youth dance genre is not high, but Alba's beauty can attract a group of people to the cinema, and it earned US$14 million at the box office in the first three days.

If we turn our attention to old movies, films such as "Kill Bill" and "The Haunted Mansion" continue to be suppressed. The one sitting on the top of the throne and laughing maniacally is still "Transformers".

After taking in US$97 million in its second week, "Transformers" grossed another US$52.5 million this week, with a total North American box office of US$3.7 billion.

Overseas, more than a dozen new countries were released this week, injecting new vitality.

The overseas box office took in 95 million U.S. dollars, and the total overseas box office was 6.3 billion U.S. dollars.

The global box office of "Transformers" has reached 0.4 billion U.S. dollars, officially breaking the 700 million U.S. dollar mark. It took only three weeks to realize Eric's bold words.

At the same time, "Transformers" also defeated "Pirates of the Caribbean" with $5.4 billion and became the third highest-grossing movie in 2003.

What stands in the way now is the US$3.9 billion for "The Matrix 2", but everyone knows that even the savior cannot hold it back and will inevitably be broken through next week.

After flying out for more than a week, the two returned to Los Angeles. Gadot wanted to play for a few more days, but Eric really couldn't spare the time.

Chris Evans and Ryan Reynolds haven't finished their European tour yet, but AK Film and Television is already urging them.

During this period, Warren called Eric, hoping to bring Ryan Reynolds back as soon as possible, because Christmas was approaching, "Sharknado 2" was about to be released, and he needed to promote it.

At the same time, the Olsen sisters have been urging Eric to come back, because "The Life of Adele" will be released in half a month, and he must come forward as the director.

Theron also asked several times when she would be back. On the one hand, she missed Eric, and on the other hand, "The Devil Wears Prada" was about to start filming.

That means "La Vie en Rose" won't be released until next year, otherwise Nicole would have to ask.

Many people at MGM are also waiting for his return, and many projects require his signature to go through the formalities.

As for Marvel, Avi Arad is also looking for him. It has been a month since the two parties completed the share swap.

But Eric has been busy with "Transformers" and doesn't have much energy to take care of Marvel for the time being. Avi Arad waited and waited, but never got attention.

So he began to worry about gains and losses, and was very worried that Eric would become another Perelman, only treating Marvel as a financial toy, and he was already waiting impatiently.

In addition, there is one most important thing, which is the re-listing of MGM.

In particular, the issue of interest distribution before listing is the key.

Since the Coopers and their sons took over MGM, the company has entered a stage where everything is waiting for improvement.

Everyone has worked hard with you for more than a year, and it’s natural to not fall behind when it comes to dividing the cake.

Especially when people left their original companies and followed you because of their trust, why did they abandon their stable jobs and enter a new environment with an uncertain future? Is it a dead salary?

People work hard and are waiting for this time, waiting for dividends.

Being willing to give up profits is the ability and character that a qualified boss should possess, and only benefits can firmly unite others around you.

In addition to dividing the pie, equity also needs to be nested to ensure that even after MGM is relisted, power can still be firmly in Eric's hands.

For this important matter, he postponed the launch of Lionheart.com and YouTube.

Avi Arad hurried into Eric's office early Wednesday morning.

After seeing Eric, he finally breathed a sigh of relief: "Mr. Cooper, I finally see you. This is not easy."

Eric smiled and asked Chen Xing to make him a cup of coffee.

"Sit down, Avi. I know you are impatient, so the first person I see after returning home is you."

After taking the coffee and thanking him, Aviarad was not in the mood to drink it at all.

"Eric, regarding Marvel, now that you are the largest shareholder, what are your plans?"

"I mean, it's been over a month, I have to do something."

"Avi, if you have something to say, just say it directly. Don't beat around the bush. You just want to go the film and television route. I agree with this strategy."

"Currently, the only valuable character copyrights we have are Thor, Captain America and Ant-Man. The other characters are not worthy of independent movies."

"I have already thought about it during this period, and I will shoot "Captain America" ​​as my first film."

Hearing this, Avi Arad suppressed all the words he originally wanted to say. He thought he would have to spend a lot of words to get the job done, but he didn't expect it to be so easy.

But then he asked cautiously: "What's the investment amount?"

"Don't worry, I know better than you how expensive a superhero movie is. It won't be less than 200 million US dollars."

"Yes!"

Avi Arad pumped his fist excitedly. He could actually do such an action at his age. He is indeed a child at heart, true love!

"I haven't finished speaking yet. You can wait a while before getting excited."

"What?"

"I plan to create a Marvel superhero cinematic universe, not just Captain America, he will only be a good start for this cinematic universe."

"Then we will gradually bring Thor, Iron Man, Ant-Man, Black Widow, Ghost Rider, Doctor Strange and other characters to the big screen."

"At the same time, we want these characters to make guest appearances in other people's movies, and use a main line to connect all the characters together."

"I have already thought of the main plot, and I will use six infinity stones, one for each main character."

"Then we set up the biggest villain, Thanos, which is quite suitable. His powerful equipment in the comics is the Infinity Gauntlet."

"In order to collect the infinity stones, there was a conflict with the heroes of the earth. When the major characters were put on the big screen, that's when Thanos left the factory."

"That's about it, can you understand?"

Avi Arad is a fan of his own comics. The various multiverses in American comics are messier and more complex than what Eric described, so he understood it instantly.

After understanding this, I became even more excited. It turned out that Eric had a plan, and it was more far-reaching than his own.

He is also obsessed with making a movie to test the waters, and people have already mapped out the plan for the next ten years.

No wonder he brought MGM out of the quagmire within one year. He was indeed a great strategic master.

"It's good if you can understand it. I will write the script myself during this time."

"Boss, what do you need me to do?"

"Your task is even more difficult. Try your best to find ways to get the copyright back from the major companies."

Avi Arad sighed with a heavy face: "Selling the copyright was my most painful memory. I will do my best."

"Well, and do you have any talents who are proficient in the film industry?"

Avi Arad thought for a while: "It seems that there is a young man who is pretty good. He is currently working at Beechcraft Toys, and we can get along quite well."

"What is your name?"

"Kevin Feige."