Chapter Eight Hundred and Thirty-Eight Overseas Box Office Outbreaks
Strictly speaking, Forbes magazine's valuation of Eric's net worth at $98.7 billion this year is relatively accurate.
Eric's current assets mainly include Firefly Group and Firefly Investment.
The Firefly Group, which controls more than 20 subsidiaries in the fields of film, television, amusement parks, comics, music and special effects, has reached 50 billion US dollars in fixed assets alone. In 1996, Firefly's actual annual revenue was $31.3 billion, almost five times the combined revenue of Time Warner and Viacom. The market value of Time Warner and Viacom were $24.3 billion and $288. $85 billion, then Forbes' valuation of Firefly Group of $85 billion is not an exaggeration in any way.
Eric's stake in Firefly Group is 7%, and this part of the stock is worth $62.7 billion.
On the other hand, Firefly invests heavily in companies such as Cisco, Nokia, and America Online. Because most of them are listed, the asset value is easier to estimate. According to various public data, the value of this part of Eric's assets is probably in $36 billion.
Adding the two together is exactly the $98.7 billion given by Forbes.
Westerners generally admire miracles and individual heroism. But when certain miracles are far beyond what they realize, doubts often arise.
Eric's personal net worth of $98.7 billion is a full $62.3 billion higher than the second place Bill Gates' $36.4 billion. This disparity in data has caused a strong sense of unreality to too many people. , so questioning is almost inevitable.
In order to defuse the risk of antitrust investigation that Forbes magazine might bring about by portraying Firefly Group as a 'media oligarch', Eric used this doubt and skillfully turned the media topics in the following days to himself.
After the latest "Forbes" magazine was published, those financial reporters and critics who could only publish articles criticizing Eric's overestimation in professional journals or second- and third-tier newspapers with low circulation have received mainstream daily newspapers in North America. and magazine articles, hoping they can discuss their views on the latest issue of Forbes magazine's rich list.
Of course, it is impossible for these media people to know that it is Eric himself who is driving this matter behind the scenes. Publishing articles is also the best way to expand personal influence, so they are racking their brains, and a detailed article will be released soon.
There are also some people who are aware of the close relationship between the media platforms that have asked for them and the Firefly Group or Eric himself, but as media people who want to pursue freedom of speech at least on the surface,
They certainly won't easily change their views just for a chance. When many people submitted commentary articles that they thought might be with these media platforms hoping to turn their opinions to the left, they even made up their minds to argue with the other side to show their strength. Unexpectedly, these articles were published without hindrance.
For a time, most of the media in North America appeared articles that questioned the accuracy of Forbes magazine's data and criticized Eric Williams' personal net worth being seriously overestimated.
"$98.7 billion, a grandstanding numbers game."
"Severely overvalued Yahoo Networks."
"The profit margin of the IT industry is generally low, and the valuation of Firefly Investment Company at US$36 billion is in a serious bubble."
"The net profit is 600 million US dollars, and the net profit margin of Firefly Group has shrunk seriously."
"..."
Under the sudden and powerful Yulun offensive, in order to maintain its own credibility, Forbes Group naturally fought back. For a time, the two sides quarreled in print media, TV and even online platforms, and most news topics focused on AI. How much money does Rick have.
Because the opponents of Forbes magazine's data appeared too loud, in the end, most ordinary people unknowingly accepted the opposition's point of view, and regarded the "Forbes" magazine's data as a grandstanding joke. Under the repeated bombardment of information, in the general perception of most people, Eric's actual personal net worth is also locked at the scale of 60 to 70 billion US dollars, although it is still much higher than the second place on the list, but more than It is relatively easy to accept a figure close to 100 billion US dollars.
This is exactly what Eric wanted to see.
After being noisy for a week, the topic naturally began to cool down, but few media have paid attention to the "media oligarch" rhetoric thrown by Forbes magazine.
Even if some media-savvy people are aware of traces of manipulation, they are bound to find little direct evidence.
After all, Eric's way of manipulating Yu Lun this time is very clever, just to let people who already hold certain views make more voices in the media, and then cause the entire media circle to follow suit and hype. There are always too many people in this world who do not know what their opinions can achieve.
In the blink of an eye, a new weekend of the week has arrived.
A brand-new explosive message swept into the corner the last shreds of media interest in Forbes magazine's rich list, and quickly focused on the matter.
This is the new week's box office data for "Titanic".
"Titanic" was released to this day, with a series of miraculous box office data refreshing many people's cognition of traditional movie box office data, news about this film has gone beyond the category of film and television entertainment and has become a social topic.
After another week of reflection, because the Oscars ceremony will be held next Monday, North American "Titanic" fans are looking forward to the moment when the film's domestic box office exceeds 500 million US dollars. Therefore, compared with last week, "Titanic" North America In the 13th week of its release, the box office fell again, reaching 23 million US dollars, and the cumulative box office reached 9.2 billion US dollars, only one step away from 500 million.
But what attracted all the media attention was not the North American box-office data, which was already surprising and numbing, but the overseas box-office data.
Last week, after several months of strong publicity, the number of overseas release countries and regions for "Titanic" increased by 17, and the total number of overseas ticket warehouses reached 46, including France, Germany and Japan. The most important overseas ticket warehouse countries.
Obviously, under the circumstance that "Titanic" in North America has created a series of miracles in terms of box office and award nominations, the expectations of these newly released overseas countries have reached the highest level.
So, after a new week, "Titanic" has reached an eye-popping $7.9 billion at the box office in 46 countries and regions overseas.
You must know that before this, "Titanic" has been released in overseas countries and regions. Although the release date is uncertain, the cumulative box office has only reached 400 million US dollars in the 12 weeks from the same period in North America. In just one week, with the help of 17 newly opened box office countries, in just one week, the overseas single-week box office of "Titanic" is close to half of the cumulative box office of the previous 12 weeks, which is definitely a miracle.
Among these newly released countries, it is no surprise that the box office performance of France, Germany and Japan is particularly eye-catching.
The box office in France reached 28 million US dollars in the first week, Germany was 26 million US dollars in the first week, and Japan, it reached an astonishing more than 49 million US dollars, just these three ticket positions, one week for "Titanic" total. Box office figures contributed $103 million. Although the remaining 43 countries and regions provided an average of more than 1.7 million US dollars at the box office, the overall box office of 76 million US dollars still far exceeds the average data of the previous 12 weeks.
Considering that France, Germany, and Japan, the major overseas box office cities, may come out of the box office curve similar to that of North America, and that there will still be released in 22 countries and regions in the next period of time, many box office agencies have boldly predicted that "Titanic" will be released in the next week. , With the help of the Oscars ceremony and the new opening of the ticket warehouse, the overseas box office is likely to exceed the miraculous 200 million US dollars in a single week.
In this era, 99% of Hollywood films may not have a total overseas box office figure of 200 million, but "Titanic" may achieve this feat in a week.
At this time, stimulated by the overseas box office explosion of 7.9 billion US dollars, the global box office of "Titanic" has exceeded 1 billion 71 million US dollars. If the overseas box office of "Titanic" can maintain the scale of around 200 million US dollars a week in the next few weeks, the total global box office of "Titanic" will reach 2 billion US dollars, which is no longer an unattainable number.
The global box office is 2 billion US dollars. Just the box office data will bring a net profit of 500 million US dollars to the Firefly Group. The seven major movie businesses in Hollywood, not to mention a movie, most of the time, the total net profit of the movies released throughout the year. , are not necessarily able to reach 500 million US dollars.
And, box office revenue is just the beginning. Because the box office data is too high, although the peripheral income such as video tapes and soundtracks in the later period cannot be calculated according to the traditional income ratio, it is conceivable that this part of the income will still be a terrifying astronomical figure. In the entire profit cycle of "Titanic", through the operation of the entire industry chain, it is not impossible for Firefly Group to recover a profit of 2 billion US dollars equivalent to the box office figure.
This weekend, Eric can finally rest for a while.
However, it is impossible to completely relax. After all, next Monday will be the Oscars ceremony. This time, because he was nominated for the best original song at the Oscars with "My Heart Will Go On", Eric will definitely still attend.
It's interesting to say that, from 1988 to the present, Eric has made many movies, but so far, he has not won the best director award, but won the best screenplay and the best original song. Nominated, and the former golden statuette has already been obtained, this time it is no surprise that he will definitely get another golden statuette.
In a living room of the Corner Manor Villa, Eric stretched out his arms and let the identical twins help him put on a dress, and asked the girl who was standing side by side with an account manager of the Givenchy store with great interest: " Baby, you see, I have already won the Best Original Screenplay Award, and this time I won another Best Original Song Golden Man, it shouldn't be a big problem. Then, will I keep winning these peripheral awards, the best Special effects, best editing, best soundtrack, etc., all the awards one by one, oh, how do you say that, Grand Slam?"
The girl laughed and said, "It's definitely impossible for you to win the Grand Slam because you are a man."
"Well, I mean," Eric also remembered that the best heroine and supporting actress would definitely be impossible for him in his life, and continued: "Those I can get."
"You can't get the Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor either," the girl raised the corners of her mouth. Of course she knew what Eric was thinking, and continued to 'strike'.
Everyone laughed lightly.
Sister Natasha buttoned the black dress on Eric and stood beside her quietly.
Eric has no natural interest in trying on clothes. He is more used to buying a stack of identical clothes and wearing them all the time. However, this time the girl wants to walk the red carpet with Eric, and insists that he try a suit that matches her dress.
Eric couldn't figure out anyway, what was the need to try on these black suits that looked similar.
The girl obviously saw Eric's impatience, came over and looked up and down, whispered a few words with the nice female account manager of Givenchy, and said, "Okay, let's do this, Na. Take off your clothes, Tasha, the sleeves still need a little modification."
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The girl laughed and said, "It's definitely impossible for you to win the Grand Slam because you are a man."
"Well, I mean," Eric also remembered that the best heroine and supporting actress would definitely be impossible for him in his life, and continued: "Those I can get."
"You can't get the Best Actor and Best Supporting Actor either," the girl raised the corners of her mouth. Of course she knew what Eric was thinking, and continued to 'strike'.
Everyone laughed lightly.
Sister Natasha buttoned the black dress on Eric and stood beside her quietly.
Eric has no natural interest in trying on clothes. He is more used to buying a stack of identical clothes and wearing them all the time. However, this time the girl wants to walk the red carpet with Eric, and insists that he try a suit that matches her dress.
Eric couldn't figure out anyway, what was the need to try on these black suits that looked similar.
The girl obviously saw Eric's impatience, came over and looked up and down, whispered a few words with the nice female account manager of Givenchy, and said, "Okay, let's do this, Na. Tasha, take off your clothes, and the sleeves need to be changed a little." (To be continued.) Mobile phone users, please browse and read for a better reading experience.