I am Hollywood

[Chapter 871: Last Chance]

Beverly Hills. Eric had been staying at the mansion belonging to Drew at Trausdale Manor these past few days. Unlike many of the high executives at Paramount who stayed up half the night, he woke up on time on this Saturday morning as well. He went through his usual routine of washing up, exercising, having breakfast, and reading the day's newspaper on a terrace that overlooked all of Los Angeles.

It appeared that Paramount, eager to make some sort of counterattack, couldn't wait to publish Friday's single-day box office rankings in the papers.

The twins quietly cleared the table of dishes. The girl sat across from Eric, also perusing a copy of the Los Angeles Times spread out on the table. She exclaimed, "The opening weekend is expected to be 40 million; isn't that going to push the first week past 60 million -- almost the same as the first movie? Doesn't that mean our plans to suppress it have failed?"

Eric smiled and shook his head. "Your method of calculating the weekday box office as half of the weekend for typical movies isn't wrong, but animated films are different, especially 2D animation, since most viewers are children who need their parents' company. The box office on weekdays is even lower. The first weekend of The Lion King raked in almost 70% of the first week's total, so this sequel will likely follow suit. It probably won't surpass 60 million in its first week but should be around 55 million."

"55 million for the first week? What will be its total box office then?"

Eric read a review of Con Air and thought about it. "That's hard to say. The total box office of The Lion King 2 will mainly depend on its box office performance over the first four weeks. After this week, we have Godzilla next week, followed by Finding Nemo and Contact the week after. Then there's Batman & Robin later on -- all movies that could pose a significant threat to The Lion King 2. If those films do incredibly well, The Lion King 2 will surely be affected. Conversely, if they don't perform well, it wouldn't be impossible for The Lion King 2 to come close to the first film's box office."

In fact, Eric had a gut feeling based on his knowledge from his past life.

The upcoming films over the next three weeks, Godzilla and Batman & Robin, had a high likelihood of flopping. The only real competitor to The Lion King 2 was Finding Nemo.

However, as for Con Air, it seemed to be trending towards underperforming at the box office, pulling in 7.7 million on its first day and likely to finish around 35 million for its first week. Given the barrage of blockbuster releases in the following weeks, it was doubtful whether its North American box office would even hit the 100 million mark. The poor performance of Con Air made Eric question the box office prospects of Finding Nemo as well. He had seen the completed 3D animated version several times; while it was no less impressive than the original, being released six years earlier posed uncertainty regarding its ability to generate the same explosive box office it once did.

Hearing Eric's thoughts, the girl looked down at the entertainment section, flipped through it until she found the summer movie release schedule. After a moment, she looked up and said, "Well, it seems like the only films that might reach nearly 1 billion globally this summer are Godzilla and our Casino Royale."

"Seems like you've also been a bit swayed by Titanic, huh? Reaching a billion globally isn't easy at all. If Hollywood manages to churn out one surprise hit making a billion each year, that's lucky. This year... hmm," Eric hesitated, not mentioning Finding Nemo, before pausing again and adding, "This year, maybe there will be some, but it definitely won't be Godzilla or Casino Royale."

"Ah, you don't have confidence either?"

Eric analyzed, "Look, the last Bond film, GoldenEye, pulled in 350 million globally, and without accounting for inflation, that was the best performance for 007. This actually demonstrates the franchise's potential. As for Casino Royale, I'm uncertain if audiences will appreciate the changes we made to the story structure. But considering the 007 brand, my personal box office draw, and the allure of the spy movie universe, this film likely won't have much trouble exceeding 500 million globally. If it does achieve some explosive results, it might even reach 700 million, but hitting a billion would need quite a stroke of luck."

The girl's eyes sparkled. "So, is there a chance it could reach a billion when the three main spy organizations face off against the Spectre?"

Eric recalled that in his original timeline, after the release of the first Avengers film, the sequels for Captain America and Thor, which had mediocre box office results, practically doubled their intake, while the already popular Iron Man crossed the billion mark. This occurrence was largely attributed to the gathering of multiple superheroes, boosting the box office potential of each individual hero.

The popularity of the Bond franchise, Mission: Impossible, and Charlie's Angels was already high. Casino Royale managed to be the first film where all three franchises had intersecting plots, ensuring that fans from the three series would likely merge after this film. Even if Casino Royale didn't enhance the original series as much as the Avengers did, as long as the following sequels maintained cohesive story connections, it was very possible they could see a billion-dollar film before the final showdown with Spectre.

"Definitely possible, and we might not even need to wait until the final showdown."

Eric nodded, suddenly striking upon another thought. He set down his newspaper and opened a blank document on his laptop, typing away as he spoke. "However, I just remembered; for the upcoming series, you guys should pay attention to some issues. I'll write you a memo."

The girl leaned over, curious. "What about?"

Eric kept typing, explaining, "About supporting characters. Look, whether it's 007, Mission: Impossible, or Charlie's Angels, each has standout supporting characters like M, Q, and so on. After Casino Royale, creating another ten films in the spy movie universe isn't an issue, but managing to have main characters from the three series cross over will ramp up production costs significantly. At that point, having supporting characters fulfill these crossover roles would be much more cost-effective. Moreover, in Mission: Impossible, Kevin Costner's fee keeps rising. If it comes to a point where collaboration becomes unmanageable, we could always utilize originally popular supporting characters to continue leading the series."

The girl watched him type the memo with swift strokes and finally understood, nodding cheerfully. "Just like how you promised Christina that Angela Lynd's role from Casino Royale would star in that car racing film?"

Eric's fingers paused momentarily on the keyboard as he smacked the table. "Exactly! I almost forgot about that movie. I've been so busy lately, I'll find some time in the next few days to write the outline. You can go find a couple of suitable screenwriters to fill in the script."

"Hehe," the girl chuckled. "You're still giving us some, huh? Liz will surely be more upset. I bet Jeffrey will have his opinions too."

Eric had certainly pushed too many blockbuster projects onto her over the years. Not to even mention the spy movie universe, with hits like Night at the Museum, Resident Evil, and Forrest Gump attracting everyone's attention. The upcoming LOTR franchise could keep a production company afloat for a decade.

It appeared that Drew herself hoped Eric would stop being so obvious in his favoritism.

He pecked her cheek affectionately and said, "Let's set all that aside this time. You keep that going. I hope this racing series can connect with the spy movie universe. While it might be possible to have plot crossovers with other studios, given the notable divergence in themes, it could seem forced and lead to convoluted copyright issues. The Firefly Group never lacks projects. Over at Fox, they're currently working on the Star Wars prequels, Miramax has been performing remarkably as well, and with Julia as the box office queen backing them, their projects are nothing lacking compared to yours -- minus a few major productions, of course. Besides, Fox has a much stronger foundation than MGM."

Fox had been under the ownership of News Corporation for over a decade. While their film business wasn't stellar during those years, the solid backing of News Corp ensured Fox's operations remained stable.

In contrast, MGM's business still relied predominantly on films. Although it had begun to regain its vitality thanks to a slew of popular blockbusters, its overall strength still ranked at the bottom among the majors.

The girl knew well that Eric hoped for MGM to grow stronger and have a larger role in the Firefly media network.

Nodding, she refrained from refusing again. "By the way, Eric, Amy mentioned she wanted to discuss something with me. We actually have a chance to acquire a cable television network."

To further progress, MGM would definitely need to expand into television. Eric's initial idea had been for MGM to acquire CBS and Columbia Pictures from Sony, but due to the resurgence of new technologies, CBS's value had soared past 20 billion, and Sony was also unwilling to part with its film division, making both ideas currently unfeasible.

Therefore, expanding into the cable television industry became a promising option. For the next twenty years, public television in North America was expected to decline, while the cable television sector was poised to thrive.

Eric sent the memo he had just drafted to MGM CEO Amy Pascal's inbox and asked the girl, "Which network is it?"

"E! Entertainment."

Eric raised an eyebrow, instantly recalling that in the original timeline, it was the channel featuring the Kardashian family.

Nodding, Eric said, "Ah, I've heard of that network, though I didn't pay much attention to it."

The girl elaborated, "I've seen the materials; E! is primarily focused on programming related to fashion, movies, television, and music. Oh, and Hollywood gossip too."

Instinctively, Eric asked, "They don't do reality shows?"

She tilted her head. "It seems not, but if we buy it, we can definitely produce our own reality shows."

"A network like this, not airing reality shows would be a waste of resources -- but it needs a solid plan," Eric replied, then inquired, "Who's holding ownership of E! currently?"

"It's a bit complicated. E! was initially founded by a consortium of Comcast, Continental Cablevision, Cox Cable, TCI, and Warner Cable. Over the years, they've integrated several times, with Continental and TCI stepping out. Now, Time Warner is looking to exit as well and is searching for interested buyers. We might be able to buy about 40%, but the word from Comcast is that if we take over the shares of Warner Cable, we could secure the operating rights of E! Entertainment."

Cable television in North America really began to rise in the 1980s, and to mitigate investment risks while pooling resources effectively, most ventures were formed as consortia -- similar to how Firefly and Hearst Group still co-owned A&E and ESPN to this day.

"Let's buy 40% first. We can look to acquire the whole network later."

"However, I feel it might be expensive. E! and a few sub-channels currently have less than 50 million subscribers, last year's revenue was only 370 million, and it lost 13 million dollars. The price for less than 40% is quoted at 750 million; Amy said we could negotiate, but it will ultimately not be below 600 million."

For a pay cable network, around 50 million subscribers should see shareholders rolling in profits, but E! clearly relied on advertisements and operator sharing as its main source of revenue.

In recent years, much like CBS, whether public networks or cable stations have seen surging prices due to the influence of new technology.

If this were a few years ago, based on the current financial status, E!'s total value wouldn't exceed the 750 million that Warner Cable quoted. However, now that Warner's 40% stake in E! was being asked for at that price, it wasn't wholly outrageous. Time Warner's financial health had suffered too over recent years, and it appeared Warner was aiming to cash out at a high point along with shedding burdens.

"Let's try to acquire it as much as we can," Eric contemplated before saying to her, "In a few years, even if we wanted to buy, others might not be willing to sell."

Recently, the North American media industry was nearing its final moments of integration. Once everything settled, the development momentum for cable networks would only grow stronger. The giant media conglomerates would certainly not part with their holdings easily. It could be said that these years were essentially MGM's last chance to expand into the television sector.

The girl had no doubts about Eric's judgment and nodded. "Okay, I'll call Amy right now."

Just then, Natasha came out of the villa, holding a cordless phone, and handed it to Drew. "Boss, it's a call from Miss Hudson."

*****

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