I’m in Hollywood

Whether or not to fully enter the field of digital music sales is related to the fundamental business strategy of several major record companies.

Eric didn't expect the two sides to reach an agreement at the first meeting, and continued to test each other with Edgar Bronfman and Doug Morrison, and agreed on the timing of the next meeting. Say goodbye and leave.

After personally sending Edgar Bronfman and Doug Morrison out of the administration building, Eric returned to the office and picked up the phone to discuss with Firefly Electronics CEO Victor McNally just had a conversation with Edgar Brown The result of the contact between the two men.

In fact, while Eric was in contact with Universal, Bill Olson, president of Firefly Electronics, had personally flown to Europe with a prototype of the mini music store to lobby EMI and BMG.

Similar to the previous two years, the release time of the new generation of fireflyer players is also scheduled for Easter in April this year, which is only about a month away from now.

In the face of the pressure brought by electronic manufacturers who have announced their entry into the field of digital music players, considering that the success of the mini music store plan will play a strong role in maintaining the dominant position of the fireflyer player market, in the next month, Firefly will The main focus of both the electronics and Yahoo is to reach a close cooperative relationship with at least one of the five major record companies, so as to obtain the music copyright resources of the other party and make up for the short board of the mini music store in terms of content.

As long as one of the five major record companies is opened, compromises from other record companies can be expected in the future.

Among the five major record companies, Sony Records, which is owned by Sony, is undoubtedly the most difficult part due to its own music player products. Warner Records is a subsidiary of Time Warner. AOL and Time Warner have just announced the merger. At this time, the management system of Time Warner’s internal disputes will become more chaotic and complicated. The chances of a record reaching a cooperation are also close to zero.

Next, only Universal Records, EMI Records and BMG Records are left.

Among the three, Universal Music, which just merged with Polygram last year to further consolidate its status as the world's largest record group, is undoubtedly the best choice. Although Eric did not disclose any trump cards in his statement just now, as long as he can He definitely doesn't mind paying a certain price to facilitate this cooperation.

Of course, Eric didn't put all his expectations on the Universal Music family, so Bill Olson flew to Europe.

After discussing with Victor McNally on the phone for more than half an hour, Eric hung up the phone, looked at his watch, there was still some time left before get off work, so he opened a document on his desk and picked it up next to him. pencil.

The action of holding the pen in the right hand inevitably affected the bite marks on the outside of the arm that had begun to scab and heal, so he couldn't help but lift his sleeves and glance at the gauze wrapped around his arm.

After what happened that afternoon, because the children were frightened and the shocking bite mark on Eric's arm, Virginia scolded Eric indiscriminately, even Joanna had a rare opportunity. Expressed dissatisfaction.

Back in Los Angeles, the scene was even more lively, and women rushed to watch the 'tragic state' of Eric being bitten.

turn out.

The girl expressed her envy and wanted to take another bite on Eric's arm to leave her mark.

The chick's attention was entirely on how Eric had provoked the girl named Carmen Keith.

Elizabeth threw out two words directly, deserved it.

Julia looked very distressed, but the little eyes seemed to want Eric to look at her too.

Nicole carefully checked Eric's wound, and was very sympathetic, but 'accidentally' pulled off a blood scab that had just formed, ignoring Eric, who was in pain, and looked innocent. Claims to have OCD.

Famik felt that the bite mark was a bit off, and it might look better if it could be bitten in the center of the outer side of the arm.

All right.

They are all unscrupulous.

Only Caroline showed a very distressed look after seeing the bite mark on Eric's arm, and called Olivia to tell Olivia, and then of course she was concerned about it from the UK.

Unconsciously, I thought of the girl with a petite face and decisive eyes. The Paris Fashion Week opened today, and she should have started to walk the catwalk by now.

Thinking like this, after reviewing a few more documents, the secretary knocked on the door, indicating that Kenneth Horn was coming.

Some doubts let the other party in, Kenneth Horn walked into the office with a very excited expression, and couldn't wait to say: Eric, I received a call from several theater managers in the afternoon. Guess the Witch Blair How's the attendance?

It must be excellent, Eric put down the pencil, changed the pen to sign his name at the end of a document, and smiled: Otherwise, you wouldn't be able to run over in such a hurry.

It's not very good, it's very good, Kenneth Horne said, pulling up a chair opposite Eric, The manager of the regr theater told me that they have 50 theaters that are scheduled to be available all day. Almost all of them are sold out, and tomorrow’s movie tickets have also been sold out. The same is true for several other theaters, and the other party suggested that we immediately increase the scale of the film.”

Eric nodded and said, Then increase, you can arrange these things yourself.

Firefly is naturally different from the former artisans. In addition, it is the off-season for movies. If necessary, if you want to increase the scale of the show, it only takes a week to get it done.

Hey, Eric, you don't seem to be excited at all, Kenneth Horne said with a deliberately dissatisfied expression, You know, a movie with a $32,000 investment, even with post-fix repair costs, It’s only $60,000. If all 200 theaters are full in the next week, we can definitely create a box office miracle.”

We've created enough miracles, Eric put down the pen with a smile, raised his head, and said, Well, since you're so excited, I'll give you a chance to invite you for dinner tonight. You can call Jeffrey and the others. Of course, if you haven't made an appointment with your family to go back for dinner.

Kenneth Horn nodded depressedly, and then gossip: Today is Friday, don't you have any plans?

No.

Eric moved his wrist slightly. After the women watched for a while, he was in a state of deliberately snubbing him recently.

The two were talking when Eric's personal cell phone rang, glanced at the call, and answered the call directly in front of Kenneth Horn: Hi, Warren, long time no see... Of course, how about you? ...I'm still in Firefly Studios, and I'm planning to invite everyone to dinner, do you want to come... Oh, tell me where you live, and I'll have someone pick you up.

After a few chats, Eric hung up the phone.

Seeing that Eric didn't hide himself, Kenneth Horn asked, Warren, Warren Buffett?

Eric nodded and said, It should be for the Clover Fund.

Although Kenneth Horn does not have the right to directly access the financial data of the Clover Fund, this matter is not a secret to a group executive of his level, so he asked curiously: Speaking of which, the Clover Fund The value of the stock should be $30 billion now, right?

It crossed the $30 billion mark just last week.

I don't know much about stocks, Kenneth Horn said with a somewhat amazed expression: However, Eric, I heard that the Nasdaq index has been shaky, everyone is selling technology stocks now, you should also be more Be cautious.

Although Eric would not easily change his decision, he would not refuse to accept other people's well-meaning advice, nodding and saying, I understand, oh, call Jeffrey and the others, since Warren is here, everyone will Let's entertain together.

I think you just want us to be there so Buffett can't talk to you about selling your stock.

Kenneth Horne pierced Eric's intentions with a smile, but still took out his phone and started calling.

Although Berkshire Hathaway's stake in Firefly Group is only 5%, the stock valued at more than 30 billion US dollars, if it can be fully cashed out, even after deducting various fees and taxes, Berkshire Hathaway Still able to get at least $1 billion in dividends.

$1 billion is a sum of cash that cannot be ignored for any business.

However, once the Nasdaq collapses, the stocks held by the Shamrock Fund are likely to be stuck for a long time.

In the case of the overall decline of the Nasdaq stock market, even if you want to leave the market, because there are not enough receiving institutions, it is impossible to cash out much cash in the short term.

As a conservative and cautious investor in his bones, Warren Buffett obviously does not want to see this situation happen, so he rushed from Omaha to Los Angeles, hoping that Eric can sell the technology stocks held by the Clover Fund as soon as possible .

However, at the dinner party in the evening, no matter how the old man persuaded, Eric did not intend to sell the shares of the Clover Fund in advance.

Now that things have developed, Eric is actually gambling.

As long as the Nasdaq index can successfully cross the 3,000-point threshold without collapsing in advance, according to the previous upward curve of the Nasdaq, the scale of cash cashed out by the Clover Fund in the future is likely to reach 40 billion or even more than 50 billion US dollars.

At that time, even after paying various taxes, the Firefly Group can still keep about $30 billion to $35 billion in cash.

Such a huge amount of money, coupled with the cash reserves of Firefly Investments, was enough for Eric to take the opportunity to further expand the economic empire of the Firefly system when the North American economy fell into a downturn after the collapse of the Nasdaq.

The lobbying was ineffective, and Buffett had to leave Los Angeles the next day in disappointment.

At the same time, although the weekend has not yet passed, news of the possible box office miracle of Blair Witch has been pouring out across North America, and a large number of media have published photos of long queues of fans outside the theaters of Blair Witch.

Moreover, countless professional film critics also joined in and began to discuss the phenomenon of Blair Witch enthusiastically.

Although most of the film critics ruthlessly criticized Blair Witch, they also unceremoniously through various professional analysis, revealing that Blair Witch is definitely just a human-made film rather than an adventure documentary. fact.

But in fact, things have developed to such an extent that the public no longer cares about the truth of the Blair witch incident at all.

Everyone is just curious, what is this movie that seems to be discussed all over the world.

So, three days after the first weekend, the box office data for the new week was released. The breathtaking box office data of Blair Witch once again added a hot topic to the film.

$11.2 million.

This is the three-day box office data for the opening weekend of Blair Witch.

It’s just over ten million at the box office. For many blockbusters, if such a result is achieved within three days of opening, it can definitely be said to be a box office fiasco.

But at this time, when a series of data was revealed, the three-day box office of Blair Witch in the first weekend can only be described as a miracle in everyone's eyes.

Because the shooting cost of Blair Witch is only $32,000.

Even including the quality restoration that Firefly Group did to make the copy, the total cost was only $60,000.

With a budget of $60,000, that's only second.

What's even more rare is that the film's screening scale is only 200 screens, which is equivalent to three days in the first weekend, and the box office of each screening hall has reached 56,000 US dollars.

Without comparison, naturally there is no harm.

Mel Gibson's crime-action blockbuster Dangerous People, released the previous week, grossed $14.37 million the following weekend, seemingly $3 million higher than Blair Witch.

However, the screen size of Dangerous People is more than 2,700, and the box office in a single hall during the same period is only over $5,000, which is less than one-tenth of Blair Witch. Moreover, the production cost of Dangerous People reached 90 million US dollars, which is equivalent to 1,500 times the entire production budget of Blair Witch.

One is a production budget of $60,000, 200 screens, and an opening box office of $11.2 million.

One is a production budget of $90 million, 2,700 screens, and a box office of $14.37 million.

With such a disparate production cost and the scale of the release, the box office of Dangerous Man only exceeded Blair Witch by a mere $3 million. In any case, it can only be described as a failure.

Of course, there is another problem here.

Why is Mel Gibson, a big-budget movie with an investment of $90 million, thrown into a cemetery-like March schedule?

the reason is simple.

Because this film was entirely financed and filmed by Mel Gibson's personal production company, Icon Entertainment, without any major studio involved in the production.

Although the film is distributed by Paramount, Paramount will naturally only reserve the highest quality schedule and distribution resources for its own films. As for the films of other independent film companies, even if there are big stars and big investment, but without their own participation, they cannot make enough profits. Paramount will not only not fully invest in distribution, but will even actively suppress them.

In all fairness, Dangerous Man's film quality and media reviews are not bad.

It's a pity that Mel Gibson's ambitions were too big. He wanted to leave the big studios alone to make a fortune, but was hit with a sap in the head.

Speaking of which, after Columbia gave up taking over the distribution, Adam Sandler's Dad Rush, which was cooperating with the independent filmmaker alone, although Warner Bros. was finally determined as the distributor, the release date was also determined by Warner at the same time. In mid-August at the end of the summer schedule, the schedule was only slightly stronger than the hapless Dangerous People.

In recent years, the Hollywood film industry has become more and more prosperous, but with the completion of the integration of media groups, the monopoly of media resources has become more and more concentrated. It will be more and more difficult for outside capital to enter Hollywood and grab a share. Wanting to put aside the seven majors and set up another mountain, it can only be a kind of wishful thinking.