I’m in Hollywood

After the box office explosion of Saving Private Ryan and True Lies in June, the Firefly shareholders and creditors who had all kinds of small calculations in their hearts completely calmed down, The Lion King first weekend three The astonishing box office of more than 46 million US dollars made them start to re-assess the value of the stocks and bonds in their hands.

The production cost of The Lion King is only 45 million US dollars. Although the publicity and distribution expenses have reached the same high level, the estimated box office of 300 million US dollars in North America alone can make Firefly a lot of money. The film's future sequel revenue, overseas box office revenue , videotape sales and peripheral licensing will continue to bring Firefly more than $1 billion in profits. Some people in Hollywood even feel that the golden age of hand-painted animation movies is coming again, and the first reaction of Firefly's minority shareholders and creditors when they hear the news is to hope that Firefly will increase its investment in hand-painted animation, and will use an average of one film every two years. The production speed has increased to one or even more than one a year.

So when the news broke that Eric was about to shut down Disney's animated film division after The Lion King, no one believed it to be true. Because of this, when CNN played the recording of Eric answering a reporter's question at the premiere of The Lion King, the whole world thought that Eric Williams must be crazy.

In the following days, Katzenberg, Michael Lynn and all other senior Firefly executives' offices and personal calls were bombarded with calls from shareholders, creditors and the media. Of course, Eric was even less likely to be let go. However, when some people contacted Eric, the call was directly transferred to his assistant's office. As long as it was about the Disney animation studio, the reply was always affirmative, but there was no explanation.

Emotional minority shareholders even publicly pressured Firefly's executives in newspapers, and Firefly's long-term bond sales began to slow again. The topic of closing Disney's animation division drew worldwide attention in just a few days and spread later. There were even ridiculous claims that Disney was about to go bankrupt.

In Firefly Studios, in the studio preparing for the Victoria's Secret show, Eric, who was worried by many people, was concentratingly discussing the design of a Victoria's Secret Angel costume with a designer in a low voice.

Outside the studio, a brown-haired woman in her mid-thirties wearing a black professional suit came to the entrance. After showing his ID, he was let in. The woman looked for a moment among a group of designers, costumers and fitting models, and after locking in the target, she walked through the busy working crowd and hurried to Eric's side.

The brown-haired woman's name is Kelly Haynes, who was originally an assistant in Eric's assistant office. Although Eric agreed to Caroline and her roommate Melanie Gleeson to work in his assistant's office, the two girls would not be able to join until they had completed their courses at Harvard, and even if they started working, it would take a short period of time. It is also impossible to be qualified for the role of Eric's first assistant, so after returning from Boston, Eric chose this woman as his first assistant at the recommendation of Allen.

I felt the hurriedly approaching figure beside me,

Eric looked up and noticed Kelly Haynes and asked, Kelly, what's the matter?

Kelly Haynes has been working in Eric's assistant office for several years. But suddenly coming to the big boss's side seems to be a little uncomfortable. After calming down a little, he said, Mr. Williams, Mr. Buffett called in person just now. He said that he was in Los Angeles at four o'clock in the afternoon and wanted to invite you to dinner. In addition, Mr. Tom Murphy and David Mr. West will be coming from New York too.

Warren Buffett, Tom Murphy, and State Street Global Fund president David West happened to be on the board of directors where Firefly unexpectedly represented the 25 percent of minority shareholders.

Eric had called and briefly explained it to several people before, but these people obviously did not intend to stop there.

After pausing his work, Eric said, Promise them for me. Also, are the materials I asked you to prepare ready?

Yes, Kelly Haynes took out a document from her bag and handed it to Eric.

Eric smiled and shook his head: Although these documents are not classified as confidential. But you shouldn't take them out of the office unless I ask for them. And I don't have time to read them now, so give them to me before dinner.

Kelly Haines blushed slightly. She wanted to let Eric see the results of her work as soon as possible, but ignored some work rules that she had paid great attention to in the past, and put away the documents again. Kelly Haines Enns said earnestly, Sorry. Mr. Williams, it was my mistake.

It's okay, is there anything else?

Kelly Haynes took out a memo and said: The Hearst Group, Condé Nast Group, News Corporation and Knightridge Group have all made their own offers for the divested print media assets... Having said that, Kay Li Haines suddenly paused, and then looked at the designer beside Eric who seemed to be bent over to draw a drawing intently. The designer didn't have any other thoughts in his mind. He was just curious about Eric's daily life. He didn't take the initiative to avoid it just now, but at this time he keenly sensed Kelly Haynes' gaze, the The designer gave Eric an apologetic look a little embarrassed, picked up the drawing board and walked towards another nearby workbench.

This episode did not have any impact on the communication between the two, Kelly Haynes continued: Currently, the Hearst Group has the highest offer at $1.35 billion, followed by News Corp.'s $1.3 billion, and Condé Nast. At the regular meeting in the morning, Mr. Lynn felt that this was just the first round of testing by the publishing group, and the final price of this asset should be between $1.5 billion and $1.6 billion. between.

Eric nodded, indicating that he knew. Kelly Haynes didn't expect Eric to discuss anything with her. If Eric had any ideas, she would usually only discuss with Michael Lynn and others. She was only responsible for summarizing the information to Eric. Rick.

Turning the memo, Kelly Haynes couldn't help but look up at Eric's expression and said, The head of the animation department, Mr. Peter Schneider, and the art consultant, Mr. Roy Disney, would like to meet you in person. Talk about it, they say this invitation represents 758 employees in Disney's hand-drawn animation department, and I hope you will take it seriously.

I didn't think Roy Disney couldn't help but jump out. He really regarded himself as the emperor of Disney. Eric smiled slightly mockingly, whether it was the information in his memory or his impression of the real person after rebirth. , Eric doesn't like Roy Disney, a guy who likes to play tricks.

original time and space. In the mid-1980s, the joint shareholders of Roy Disney kicked out Walt Disney's son-in-law, completely erasing the influence of Walt Disney's blood branch on the Disney company; Katzenberg's departure in the mid-1990s , Michael. Ovitz's resignation incident, all have the figure of Roy Disney; the beginning of the new century. Roy Disney launched a shareholder vote again and drove away Michael Eisner. It can be said that after the death of Walt Disney in the original time and space, Roy Disney was present in every turbulence of Disney. Although some of these events have also brought positive effects to the Disney Group, since this time and space Disney has become an asset of Firefly. Of course Eric would not allow the instability of Roy Disney to continue.

Therefore, not long after the acquisition of Disney, and after the situation stabilized, Eric removed his position as head of Disney's animation department on the grounds that Roy Disney was too old, and only symbolically reserved the title of an art consultant for him. .

After thinking for a while, Eric said, Tell them that at nine o'clock tomorrow morning, I will be waiting for them at the studio's personal office.

Kelly Haynes listened to Eric's casual tone, and even had some doubts that the big boss didn't know the chaotic situation in the outside world, and he stopped for a moment. She still quietly recorded the matter on the memo, and then said, Mr. Williams, there are only these things for now. Is there anything you need us to do here?

No, just arrange a car to pick me up for the banquet at night, Eric shook his head and was about to let Kelly Haynes leave, but then he thought of another thing and asked, I Haven't had time to read last weekend's box office report, how much was Warner's Law Enforcement?

Kelly Haynes: $7.5 million. The film was No. 5 at the box office last weekend, after 'The Lion King', 'True Lies', 'Star Trek 7' and 'Saving Private Ryan' After that, the reputation of the movie also declined. The agency expects the film's total box office to be between 25 million and 30 million US dollars. In total, the cost of publicity and distribution, Warner will bear the loss of 70 million US dollars in the short term, and the detailed report has been sent to you. in your e-mail.

Eric didn't hear anyone mentioning this to him, he had already anticipated the end of Titan of Law Enforcement, and said with some schadenfreude: Warner will definitely not have any expectations for Western movies now.

Kelly Haynes said: Yes, Warner's total box office this year is temporarily behind Firefly and Universal. However, Warner's annual film distribution plan is 29, one more than Firefly, and the follow-up box office is The accumulation is likely to rank second, because all the other major film companies are in a state of reducing production. After Firefly, Universal is 16, Paramount is 15, Fox is 13, Columbia and MGM are 10. Below, the other second- and third-tier film companies have released a lot of films, but they have not performed very well at the box office.

It seems that you are sensitive to numbers, Eric smiled and said, I like women who are sensitive to numbers.

Thank you, Mr. Williams, Kelly Haynes found herself facing the smile of this young man ten years younger than her, and she felt a little flustered, and said quickly, If there is nothing else...

Eric found that he had crossed the line again without knowing it. If Kelly Haynes was married, then this slightly teasing remark would be too abrupt. After cleaning up, Eric said: You Go back to work and I'll contact you if you need it.

...

At the premiere of The Lion King last Thursday, Eric Williams, chairman of the Firefly Group's board of directors, suddenly confirmed a rumor that has been circulating in Hollywood for a long time. Firefly Group will close Disney Animation Studio. It is reported that this is because Firefly It was planned to fully digitize the animation production. But then, the dramatic change of this incident exceeded everyone's expectations. The first day of the release of The Lion King, which was not so popular, not only set the first-day box office record of Disney animation It has more than tripled, and it has also received an astonishing box office of more than 46 million US dollars within three days of the first weekend, breaking a number of Disney 2D animation box office records in one fell swoop. The 3D animation Toy Story and A Bug's Crisis. Subsequently, the reporter of this station called Michael Lynn of Firefly Group, and the result was that Firefly will continue to implement the established animation production transformation plan. Then, this incident will affect Firefly. And what is the impact of other Hollywood film companies, let us invite Mr. James Hilt, a professional film critic from Variety magazine...

On the TV, a host of a financial program stood up to meet the guests who entered the studio, while David West, president of State Street Global Fund, who was sitting in front of the TV, couldn't help sighing. Tom Murphy said: Young man, you are always so willful. Tom, do you think we can make that little guy Eric Williams change his mind?

Tom Murphy turned his head to look at the clouds outside the porthole of the private jet, shook his head and said, If he insists on doing this, no one seems to be able to stop him. I had a phone call with Warren last night, and he seems to have received a message from Eric. I heard something there, and it seems like I'm starting to be undecided.

This is an animation department that can produce 300 million movies. Even if Williams really made this decision and cancels the original plan now, no one will accuse him. I don't think it is necessary at all. It's too hard to accept that you're sticking to your wrong plan.

Tom Murphy suddenly asked, What are you going to do if he goes his own way?

David West was stunned for a moment, then shook his head with a wry smile and said, What can I do, can I file a lawsuit in the federal court to prohibit him from doing this?

The stake in Eric's hands also means that he has absolute control over Firefly, and he can adjust his business at will without breaking the law. Closing down its hand-drawn animation department because it is not optimistic about the development prospects of 2D animation, although it will cause controversy, it does not violate the law.

Both of them fell silent, although they knew that they had another option, which was to sell the Firefly stocks in their hands to cash out. If they planned to do this, both Eric and Wall Street would be 100% willing to take over their hands. of Firefly Group stock.

But now that Firefly Group has surpassed Time Warner to become the largest media group in North America, only the most short-sighted people would be foolish enough to sell their stocks.

Listening to the arguing between the host and the guests on the airborne TV, Tom Murphy said, I hope Eric Williams can give us a reasonable reason. (To be continued.)

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