I’m in Hollywood

Eric thought that only two Boeing 747s would fly to Long Island, but he did not expect three.

Seeing the striking fox logo on the second plane, Eric remembered that Elizabeth and Julia had also ordered one.

Moreover, before the last plane that the girl took to land, Elizabeth's complaint call came. She and Julia happily ran to Ventura to see their new plane. Unexpectedly, the girl directly took the three planes. It's all coming to the east coast.

While on the phone with Elizabeth, Eric watched the last plane whizzed down the runway and noticed something else.

Eric remembered that the girl said that she wanted to paint her plane a beautiful pink, but at this time, she found that the three planes were all the same blue and white fuselage, except for the 'firefly' and 'fox' on the three planes. ' and 'mgm' icons, the others are not much different from ordinary civil airliners.

The last plane came to a stop, and the girl got off the gangway car with a group of people excitedly. First, she threw herself into Eric's arms and acted coquettishly. Then she hugged Joanna and others separately, and focused on kneading Hawaii. , and then introduced Eric to a few guests who got off the plane with her.

Eric, this is Mr. Ronald Keogh, President of Boeing Utility Services, and his assistants.

Following the introduction of the girl, the polite middle-aged man wearing glasses and bespectacled shook hands with Eric, and took the initiative to hand over a business card, saying, Hello, Mr. Williams, Nice to meet you.

Eric smiled and shook hands with the other party, took the business card and put it away politely.

Ronald Keogh offered to help Eric introduce the basic situation of the three planes, Eric sent the girl to take the woman and children to her plane, while he and Ronald Keogh Go to the plane that landed first.

Enter the cabin along the gangway, turn a short corridor, and enter a modernist living room with a simple design, pure white walls, furniture that is completely integrated with the whole room, and a flat-screen TV hanging on the wall , there is also a mini bar in the corner.

Eric walked slowly into the small living room, admiring the surrounding arrangements with satisfaction.

Ronald Keogh and his assistants just stood at the door with a smile, waiting for Eric to look at them for a moment before opening their mouths: Perfect Bauhaus-style design, simple and exquisite, of course, we don't. Taking credit for it is the work of Miss Barrymore and the team of designers she employs.

Eric nodded slightly, walked out of the room, and continued to walk toward the inside of the airport. At the same time, he said, I understand the basic parameters. Tell me what's so special about this plane?

Of course, I have to say that each of these three planes is unique, Ronald Keogh followed Eric and said, However, I think the most outstanding feature of these three planes is , it should be that she can connect any two cities on the planet.

Eric leisurely admired the design in the cabin, waiting for Ronald Keogh to continue.

Ronald Keogh followed Eric and said, The GM Boeing 747-400 has a full-load weight of 390 tons and a full-load cruising range of 13,000 kilometers. The cruising range can be increased by 30% under no-load conditions. During our testing of the Boeing 747-400 in the 1980s,

Just completed the 17,000-kilometer long journey from London to Heaney many times. However, because it is your personal custom aircraft, this Boeing 747-400 has reduced a lot of unnecessary utilities inside, and even according to the 10-ton manned cargo weight, her take-off weight will not exceed 320 tons. At the same time, the aircraft also uses the latest generation of Pratt \u0026 Whitney 4056 energy-saving engines, with stronger endurance. According to the calculations of our company's engineers, under extreme circumstances, the aircraft's endurance can reach 20,000 kilometers. However, we have not tested this without your permission, and of course, such testing can be done at any time if you feel the need to.

Eric also knows that the most important factor affecting the endurance of the aircraft is the load.

A commercial Boeing 747-400, excluding the weight of the airframe itself and the fuel, may have a passenger and cargo capacity of 60 tons when saturated. Just this, this private jet has a huge advantage. After all, even the 10-ton passenger and cargo capacity Ronald Keogh is talking about is something the plane will rarely be able to achieve. According to Eric's personal travel scale, a team of 20 people, including luggage, can have two tons.

However, as long as he can complete the long journey from London to Heaney, Eric is already very satisfied. In fact, for trans-Pacific and trans-Atlantic flights, the journey is basically about 10,000 kilometers, and the flight in North America will not exceed 4,000 kilometers. The performance of this aircraft is more than enough most of the time.

As for testing the flight limit of this plane, Eric has little interest. Due to the high energy consumption, private jets in the West have always been one of the main targets for many people to criticize the luxury life of the rich. Don't stop.

Continuing to visit the layout of the various cabins, Eric asked again: What about the network and communication equipment?

Our Boeing Connectivity company provides you with a full range of Internet, TV and telephony communications equipment, so you can connect to the Internet, make phone calls or conduct video conferences anytime, anywhere, said Mr. Williams, CEO of our company. Mr. Philip Condit is currently in his office and he said he would like to chat if you are free.

In addition to its own performance, Eric's most important thing is the communication network function of this aircraft, which is what he was most dissatisfied with the Boeing 767 he often flew in the past few years. Hearing that the CEO of Boeing Group was online, Eric did not refuse, just to see the effect of the video call, so he nodded and said, Okay.

Then, please come with me.

Ronald Keogh made a gesture of please and took Eric to a conference room in the middle of the plane.

Got a signal, Ronald Keogh's assistant skillfully turned on the video call device, and a moment later, a tall middle-aged man appeared on the 32-inch video call screen on the wall. It was the CEO of Boeing Group far away in Seattle. Officer Philip Condit.

Eric and Philip Condit greeted him and were chatting casually when he heard a faint whistling sound outside the cabin.

Looking through the porthole, the girl's plane was slowly crossing the runway.

A bodyguard came in and knocked on the door.

Eric looked over and pointed out the window with a questioning expression.

The bodyguard nodded and replied, Miss Barrymore said they were going to Orlando and would be back tomorrow.

Have the lady and the children gone?

Yes.

Eric reluctantly spread his hands to Philip Condit, who was listening to the movement here on the screen, and said to the bodyguard: They should be going to Disneyland to play, you ask Carter to call over there and ask them Make arrangements.

Okay, Mr. Williams.

Just as Eric was about to let the bodyguard leave, he suddenly remembered something, and quickly stopped the other party: By the way, who flew the plane?

Miss Sokolov.

Eric was a little puzzled. After the first two planes landed, the pilots took the initiative to come and meet him, but on the girl's plane, there were only her, the twins, and Ronald Keogh and her party.

Eric, the twins, has personally experienced the helicopter pilot, and he is relieved, but driving such a large Boeing airliner is a bit of a nonsense, right?

Thinking in his heart, Eric directly instructed Ronald Keogh's assistant: Connect me to that plane and let them come back.

Ronald Keogh's assistant, who was somewhat unclear, explained: Mr Williams, you need to absolutely maintain contact with the ground command center during takeoff and landing, and it is not suitable for communication. However, if you feel it is necessary, you can Have the navigator contact the pilot.

Eric was about to say something, Ronald Keogh said: Eric, are you worried about the piloting skills of those two Miss Sokolovs? I don't think it is necessary at all. The test of these three planes Miss Sokolov was heavily involved in the early stages, and I think their piloting skills are no less than that of any experienced professional pilot.

It's the Russian twins? On the video that was still open, Philip Condit also added with a smile: Those are really two very good girls, I happened to meet them, Eric, no problem. of.

All right.

Eric nodded with a wry smile.

But I couldn't help but complain in my heart, how can these two quiet goblins know anything, they are not really black widows, it seems that they need to take a good time to interrogate them.

After this episode happened, Eric didn't have much thought to continue to appreciate the layout in the cabin, and chatted with Philip Condit for a few more words, hung up the video, and Eric exited the cabin.

Elizabeth and Julia were still waiting eagerly in Ventura. Anyway, they could see the layout sooner or later. Eric did not board the plane of the two women, and sent the pilot to take off directly back to California. The airport on Long Island was all that was left in the blink of an eye. This Boeing.

More than two hours later, the girl called from Orlando International Airport, saying that the group had arrived successfully, and Eric was relieved.

The women had all left, and Eric was not alone in East Hampton. After seeing off Ronald Keogh and his party, Eric returned to Manhattan.

The week that followed was a lively Easter, followed by the children's birthdays.

While spending time with the women and children, Eric spent most of his private time discussing with Carter Moen the establishment of a security team dedicated to the Williams family.

At the same time, there are plans to expand two private airports on the east and west coasts. It is not to continue to build runways, but Eric intends to eat the surrounding plots and reserve the construction of aircraft warehouses that may be needed. A whole private territory surrounded by trees is formed around it, preventing outsiders from peeping as much as possible.

After all, three large Boeing 747 private jets appearing at the airport in a row like that day is still too conspicuous. Eric can even imagine that after hearing the news, some environmental groups may hold signs to protest outside his airport, which is not uncommon in the West.

But it would be much less troublesome if the airport was completely closed off and surrounded by private land.

Later, the girl explained that she didn't paint her plane with a striking pink color, in order to keep a low profile as much as possible. Although the interior decoration of the Nizi airport was not low-key at all, Eric was still very satisfied with the girl's approach.

While Eric was in East Hampton, Hollywood's Easter schedule was still lively going on.

Of the three new films released in the first week of March 26, only Lola Run barely stood out, with a box office of $11.17 million in the first week, almost close to Warner's buyout price.

Universal Pictures' Ed's Private Channel hit the streets without any suspense. The box office was only $8.25 million in the first week. Compared with the investment of $80 million, the box office data is simply appalling.

As for Paramount's Sweeping Three, it was even more silent, grossing just $5.57 million in its first week.

In comparison, Blair Witch, which was released in the fourth week of its release, still easily won the box office championship in the single-week schedule from March 26 to April 1 with a box office of 17.62 million US dollars despite a 39% decline in the cumulative period. The box office reached 129.3 million US dollars, and continued to guide the envy, jealousy and hatred of countless people.

Then, on April 2, Firefly's blockbuster film Public Enemy was released with several other films, finally knocking Blair Witch out of the weekly box office champion.

However, the first-week box office of Public Enemy was only $46.3 million. Compared with last year's box office dark horse Ace Power Spy and the just past Blair Witch, this result can only be regarded as quite satisfactory, although North American There is no suspense at the box office breaking 100 million, but the performance is definitely not outstanding.

With the $90 million investment in Public Enemy, the company can only expect subsequent overseas releases to pay for itself.

Perhaps because of the constant box office dark horse in recent years, Firefly's management is not very satisfied with the box office performance of Public Enemy, but Eric has no such idea.

Although MGM and Fox's two films American Pie and One Kiss both had very good box office results in the following week, relative to the production costs of the two films, the performance was even more limited. To describe it as excellent, but Eric didn't regret putting Enemy of the People on the Easter schedule.

After all, Eric's main purpose is to use Public Enemy to cultivate the market, and if the Easter schedule has always been low-cost horror and comedy, then the audience will gradually form a habit. The first few years were fine, but in the long run, if there are no blockbusters to stimulate the market, just a bunch of low-budget films, once the quality of these films declines collectively and there are no blockbusters to stimulate the market, the entire Easter period will also be silent.

Moreover, through overseas distribution, it is no problem for Public Enemy to get a global box office of about 300 million US dollars, which has also reached its return line.

After the birthdays of the two little guys, Eric was supposed to devote himself fully to the promotion process for the upcoming Iron Man.

However, Firefly Electronics suddenly heard news that Universal Music, which had been negotiating with Firefly Electronics, suddenly refused to cooperate with Firefly Electronics in digital music stores due to the collective pressure of Seagram's creditors.

The reason given by the other party is that creditors are worried that Universal Music’s shift to digital music sales will further hit the physical record sales that have already begun to fall into a downturn, affect the overall earnings of Seagram Group, and threaten the interests of creditors.

Eric quickly understood that this spoiler was obviously a test by Wall Street on Firefly Electronics or the entire Firefly system after the remarks by Goldman Sachs CEO Henry Paulson at the Hearst house party last time.