I’m in Hollywood

Columbia is currently Peter Cooper. After Sony acquired Columbia, it spent another 200 million US dollars to acquire Peter Cooper's production company, and invited the other party to serve as Columbia's helm. The 'meeting ceremony' brought by the seven new helms to Sony is a copyright lawsuit with Warner Pictures. Eric is not very clear about the specific content of this lawsuit, but the result is that Sony is trying to end this lawsuit. The lawsuit, once again paid 800 million US dollars in compensation.

Eric still remembers the original air, because of Peter Cooper's profligacy, Sony-Columbia suffered a loss of up to 2.7 billion US dollars on the book in just a few years. It is rumored that the founder and president of Sony, Akio Morita, stepped down and followed suit. The merger, which caused unprecedented losses, has a lot to do with it.

However, although Peter Cooper has mediocre talents, he is very good at drilling camps and knows how to please the senior management of Sony in Japan to stabilize his position. He knew that after Sony acquired Colombia, what he wanted most was that Colombia could help Sony to become famous as soon as possible. Therefore, after taking control of Colombia, Peter Cooper couldn't wait to launch several large-scale film projects. Last year The Total Recall starring Schwarzenegger in the summer and Captain Hawk, which Spielberg is currently producing, are prompted by Peter Cooper.

Big production, big directors and big stars are Peter Cooper's main policy in making films. As long as it can bring enough influence, whether the investment is rational and whether it can recover the cost is not a problem for the new Colombian helmsman to consider.

When Tom Cruise took the initiative to contact Colombia, hoping to restart the Dark War project, Colombia immediately showed great enthusiasm. after all. Cruise's last Ambition wasn't a success. But it doesn't have much impact on Cruise's status in Hollywood, because for Hollywood A-list stars, there are usually three chances of failure, and if three films in a row fail, their popularity will be damaged.

When Eric learned of this, Columbia had even discussed several preliminary script plans with Tom Cruise.

It was still Amy Pascal who came to discuss the sequel to Dark War with Eric. When Amy walked into Eric's office, Eric was already looking at the project documents delivered by Columbia in advance.

Because it was Tom Cruise taking the lead. In addition, Eric is not very enthusiastic about the sequel to Dark War, and Hanks said that he will not participate in Dark War without Eric. Columbia simply got rid of Eric and Hanks. , intends to develop a prequel to Dark War featuring the robber Andy played by Tom Cruise.

The new script takes place in London, England, where Andy's father Peter died.

At the beginning of the story, Andy hadn't found out that he was ill, and was a bad guy who 'inherited his father's business'. A kind girl was involved in a smuggling business that Andy participated in.

Like many stories, Andy was gradually moved by the girl's kindness. He discovered the fact that he was terminally ill by chance, and finally made the right choice. The story is also interspersed with some foreshadowings of Andy's father Peter being plotted by his students and ending in depression. At the end of the plot, the good guys were rewarded and the bad guys were punished. Andy told the girl a beautiful lie, saying that he was going to Los Angeles to settle some things and left alone in the girl's reluctance.

In Eric's opinion, this story is very good, but strictly speaking, except for Andy, the new story has nothing to do with Dark War, and not many can even reflect the name Dark War. It's completely Tom's personal show. Even if this sequel is successful, the brand of Dark War will completely change its taste, because the fame accumulated by the first plot may also suffer a great loss, and this series may be scrapped.

In Eric's view, even if the sequel is to be filmed, it must be dominated by Sean starring Tom Hanks. Just like Batman, there is a classic villain in each film. The best way to continue this series flawlessly.

After Amy Pascal entered Eric's office, he simply said hello to Eric, and sat quietly on the sofa in the reception area, waiting patiently for Eric to read the document in his hand.

After Amy Pascal drank a cup of coffee, Eric also browsed through the documents in his hand.

Eric, what do you think? Amy waited for Eric to sit down opposite her, and couldn't wait to ask, if Eric would let go, she would be able to take the lead in the project.

Eric did not answer this question, but tentatively asked: Has Sony Pictures signed a cooperation agreement with Cruise?

Amy didn't expect that Eric would suddenly ask this question. Without any mental preparation for a while, there would inevitably be some flaws on his face.

Eric did not pursue it, he just expressed his dissatisfaction with Columbia's negotiation with Cruise without authorization. After all, Firefly owns half of the copyright of Dark War. Columbia's doing so can be said to be an offense to Firefly's rights. , if Eric pursues it seriously, any contract between Sony and Cruise about Dark War will be voided, but he does not intend to do so.

Amy, according to the plan you proposed, this series has completely broken away from the theme of Dark War and has become an ordinary action film, although the accumulated popularity of the first film and Cruise's box office appeal, this series The movie has a good chance of being successful, but because of the deviation, it's not that easy to make a sequel.

Amy Pascal was relieved to see that Eric did not grasp the question just now, and said, Eric, in fact, Columbia still hopes that you and Mr. Hanks can join this film together.

Eric shook his head slightly and said with a smile: I have a general understanding of some things about Captain Hawk, this film Sony not only is responsible for all the investment, but also promised to Spielberg, Dustin Hoffman and Robin Williams share 40% of the omni-channel profits. Firefly owns half of the copyright of Dark War. Do you think that in this case, Hanks and Cruise, me and three How much share should I get?

Amy said calmly: Eric. As long as you can join this movie. Any conditions are not impossible to negotiate.

But that will definitely not meet my psychological expectations. Eric smiled: Moreover, my work plan for the next few years has been fully determined, and I still need to take care of the firefly business now. There's no time to juggle a big-budget movie anymore.

Amy just showed a faint look of regret, but she didn't have any regrets in her heart.

In fact, at an internal meeting in Columbia, she raised this question. With Firefly's current status in Hollywood, Eric is the absolute owner of Firefly. I am still too busy with my company's affairs, and it is unlikely that I will direct films for other film companies, even if the possibility of cooperation is extremely low.

Eric, in fact, like Mr. Spielberg, you can just name one producer. You don't need to do anything, and you can get a lot of money. Do you think it's okay?

Spielberg has an average of four or five film titles a year, making him one of Hollywood's highest-grossing producers, but most are just a title. The movie was never part of it, and Spielberg made fun of it. But Eric didn't plan to do this. Although Spielberg has a very high status in Hollywood, this way of naming a producer has also attracted a lot of negative influences for him. Many things obviously have nothing to do with him. Pielberg is the most famous, and once the movie goes wrong, the culprit will be detained on his head without any accident.

After thinking for a moment, Eric did not express his idea of ​​starting a series with Hanks as the mainstay. For a celebrity like Cruise or Hanks, once any movie shoots more than three sequels, it will be a big deal. Some of the profits will fall into the hands of these big names, and the film company is equivalent to working for the other party. Even if Eric and Hanks have a good relationship, it is impossible to force Hanks' remuneration. Therefore, many Hollywood movies often can only last until the trilogy. When restarting again, in order to reduce the cost as much as possible, most of them will replace the leading role, or keep the leading role, and replace all the other supporting roles.

Well, Amy, Firefly will not participate in this production, but I have two cooperation plans, one is a single license, 30 million US dollars. The other is that Firefly will copyright half of Dark War for 100 million Dollars sold to Colombia.

After Eric finished speaking, he picked up the coffee in front of him and drank it slowly, giving Amy Pascal some time to think.

Although the temptation of buying out is great, it is also very risky. So far, there are only a handful of film series that Hollywood can produce with more than three sequels. A low-cost horror movie, even if a big-budget movie has the potential to produce more than three sequels, the time span is often more than ten years. In comparison, it is more cost-effective to buy a single license for $30 million.

Amy didn't think about it for a long time. If she had the right to decide, she would choose the former plan proposed by Eric without hesitation, so as to avoid risks to the greatest extent. The box office results achieved by a film, the price of 30 million is also very cost-effective.

But unfortunately, although she is already in the position of vice president of Columbia, involving tens of millions of dollars of investment, Amy does not have any decision-making power.

And Amy Pascal vaguely felt in her heart that Eric seemed to have taken this into consideration. She even quickly thought that Eric's throwing out such a plan was actually equivalent to giving Columbia a bait to use Peter Cooper. character, Amy was certain that Peter Cooper would choose the latter buyout option.

Eric, most people are very optimistic about this sequel project. With the results achieved by the first Dark War, even if the cost of the sequel exceeds 50 million US dollars and the box office performance has shrunk by 30%, it can still bring considerable benefits. profit, why choose this plan?”

I don't have the energy to take care of this project, Eric said. And Firefly is just a little short of funds, so I plan to cash out the copyright of Dark War.

Although Eric received nearly 8 billion US dollars from the futures market, in order to achieve the effect of buying Disney by surprise, Eric does not intend to use the money too much unless it is necessary, so the operation of Firefly still needs to be Rely on the profits generated by its own films.

Although Toy Story has not been released yet, but because of his strong confidence in 3D animation, Eric has asked Pixar to start the preparations for the next animated film. These all cost money, coupled with the recent integration of the company Expansion, the construction of the company's photography base, the removal of Robert Shea's funds, the announcement of Toy Story and Terminator 2, and the upcoming shooting of Tornado, Firefly's original funds were quickly consumed.

Amy Pascal remembered a series of recent big moves by Firefly, and realized that Firefly's funds might be in tension. In this case, the price may be lowered a little, but she immediately dismissed the idea. Although Eric is young , But he has become a well-known hardliner in Hollywood. His biggest characteristic is that he does not like to have protracted negotiations with people. Once Eric has the advantage, he will not even negotiate at all.

It can be seen from a lot of information that Firefly does not lack movie projects, and Eric even has a dispensable attitude towards the copyright of popular movies such as Dark War, which means that Eric is unlikely to Compromise on price, and Sony-Columbia is different. Peter Cooper is in urgent need of big production projects to expand the influence of Sony Pictures and consolidate his position. If he learns the terms of Eric's offer, win The mood of copyright must be very urgent, so don't think about any loosening in price.

Eric, I don't have the authority to decide this matter. I need to go back and ask Mr. Cooper.

No problem, I'll wait for your good news, Eric stood up and sent Amy Pascal out of the office.

Sony-Columbia didn't think about it for too long, as Eric thought, and planned to negotiate with Firefly for the second option. Before the close Oscar, Firefly's negotiation with Colombia over the copyright of Dark War directly stole a large chunk of Oscar's limelight. (To be continued..)

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