Chapter 939 Crazy Beginning

After several years of operation, the Victoria's Secret show has completely established the status of the 'Super Bowl in the fashion industry'.

On the second day of the big show, countless media began to spontaneously report on it, raising the highest expectations for TV broadcasts a week later.

A newspaper under the Forbes Group also released the '1997 Supermodel Income Ranking' in a timely manner a few days later. This supermodel income ranking, which is comparable to the annual income list of Hollywood actresses, naturally caused several heated discussions. , and even caused a rise in ltd's share price.

After the Victoria's Secret show, Eric turned his attention to the upcoming Amazon.

On December 1, Amazon officially landed on the Nasdaq market. The final opening price of 30 million shares with an issue price of $15 reached $20.55, an increase of 37%. Until the close of the day, Amazon's stock price remained at a high of $20.13, which made Amazon's market value on the day of listing to 6.65 billion. Dollar. The 90 million Amazon shares held by Firefly Investments also appreciated to more than $1.8 billion on the day of the Amazon IPO, which is more than six times the amount of money Firefly invested in Amazon before and after.

According to Amazon's stock price on the day of its listing, the company's price-earnings ratio has exceeded 60 times. Although the bubble in the Nasdaq market in recent years has caused the stock's price-earnings ratio to be generally high, the price-earnings ratio of Amazon's stock price is still twice the market average. , which inevitably caused the media to worry about the stock market bubble again.

Eric remembers the craziest time for Nasdaq technology stocks. Some companies' P/E ratios even exceeded 1,000 times. Amazon's 60-plus P/E ratios are just the beginning. The next two years will be the craziest time for the Nasdaq market. .

Entering December, Thanksgiving has passed, and although Christmas is still three weeks away, the festive atmosphere across the United States is even more intense.

After Eric attended Amazon's IPO, he didn't immediately rush to Long Island to spend Christmas with the women and children. Instead, he flew back to Los Angeles quickly and threw himself into his busy work at the end of the year.

During Eric's stay in New York, MGM's "Night at the Museum 2" was also released on November 28, with a box office of $54.17 million in the first three days and only $79.8 million in the first seven days. At MGM's $85 million to $90 million first-week forecast.

As a special effects blockbuster whose production cost has soared to $120 million, its first weekend was less than expected, and the film's total North American box office may also stop at between $150 million and $200 million, far lower than the first North American box office of $250 million. , the corresponding overseas box office is likely not too ideal.

Compared with "Night at the Museum 2", "Monsters, Inc." performed extremely well at the box office.

Following the $76.59 million box office in its first week, "Monsters, Inc." dropped only a meager 24% in its second week, and it collected $57.02 million, bringing the two-week box office total to $133 million. Judging from the box office and word of mouth of "Monsters, Inc.", the North American box office of this 3D animated film is likely to exceed $250 million. As the first work of the new Disney animation studio, the production cost of this film is relatively low, so just North America, the Firefly Group will get huge profits.

MGM's Century City headquarters.

Eric flipped through the audition actress profiles of "Desperate Housewives" in his hand, and also chatted with Amy Pascal about the box office of "Night at the Museum 2".

The first part of "Night at the Museum" cost only $70 million to make, and the global box office is close to 600 million. Now that the production cost of the sequel has soared to $120 million, the global box office estimate is likely to be only $400 million. Even so,

MGM's profitability is still very secure, but the production of the third sequel needs to be done carefully.

"So, Amy, the actual box office in the first week is 10 million lower than expected, and the word of mouth is not as good as the first one. Where do you think the problem should be?"

Amy Pascal glanced at Eric who was casually flipping through the cast information. She didn't know if Eric had already made his own judgment, but she still answered seriously: "I think this should be "" "Night at the Museum" series is not an orthodox special effects blockbuster, it is more inclined to a comedy. The box office of the sequels of comedy films has always been very unstable, because the audience's taste for comedy sequels is difficult to judge, and a comedy can sometimes have many sequels. It's still very popular, and some people just get bored with the second film."

Eric nodded. The protagonist of "Night at the Museum" is Ben Stiller. At the moment, the reputation of the Hollywood Bad Boys has not yet emerged, but a group of comedy stars headed by Ben Stiller has begun to gather. "Night at the Museum" is not an exaggeration to say that it is a bad boy comedy, and a bad boy drama. Generally has the characteristics of weak sequel,

After thinking about it for a moment, Eric ordered: "As for the third part, don't start it again within two years, and spend more time polishing the script. In addition, Ben Stiller's salary must not be increased any more. "

Amy Pascal nodded and said yes, the two were chatting, the door of the office was knocked a few times, Amy Pascal's assistant pushed the door and said, "Mr. Williams, Ms. Pascal, it's time for the audition. ."

After hearing this, Eric and Amy Pascal packed up the materials in front of them and walked towards the audition room.

After MGM's preliminary work, the four heroines of "Desperate Housewives" have been basically determined. Except for Teri Hatcher who plays Susan, the other three housewives Eric have all chosen others. This time It's just that he intends to see the live auditions of several actresses for himself.

Teri Hatcher also had a cameo role in Casino Royale. Although the global explosion of "Casino Royale" has given Teri Hatcher some fame, she is 33 years old this year and has passed the golden age of actresses. It is impossible for her to develop much as a film actor. In addition, "Desperate Housewives" was an idea conceived by Eric himself, and MGM sent an invitation, and Teri Hatcher immediately accepted the role.

However, Eric had other considerations in choosing Teri Hatcher to play Susan.

In the past, after the fire of "Desperate Housewives", the Housewives quartet originally planned to follow the example of the "Friends" six-member group and joined forces to ask abc for a million-dollar salary for a single episode. However, during the salary negotiation process, Teri Hatcher signed a contract with abc without the other three actresses, and the alliance that jointly pressured abc naturally collapsed.

Eric doesn't know the detailed inside story, but the incompatibility of the former "Desperate Housewives" crew is well known. Teri Hatcher's "misfit" can actually guarantee the fourth "Desperate Housewives". The group of people couldn't unite this time either.

Walking into the audition room, the four actresses who were already waiting in the room all stood up. Teri Hatcher, who was familiar with Eric, came over first and hugged Eric warmly.

When Eric hugged Teri Hatcher, he felt the little movement of the woman's fingers gently sliding behind him, and he just smiled. Although there is not much information in his memory, he knows that this is definitely a difficult woman, and Eric doesn't want to get into such trouble.

Release Teri Hatcher before Eric turned to the other three.

Of the three remaining women, Eric only knew one, Elizabeth Perkins, and the other two were unimpressive, completely self-selected by the MGM TV department.

Elizabeth Perkins is also an actor candidate that Eric deliberately intervenes. Eric has seen Elizabeth Perkins' performance in "Single Poisonous Mom", and he thinks, let Elizabeth Perkins play "Desperate Housewives" Bree van Dijkan, who has perfectionistic obsessive-compulsive disorder, is a perfect fit. Elizabeth Perkins herself has a very elegant but similar temperament to a good wife and mother.

Since the role has been basically finalized, Eric has also watched the audition tapes of several actresses in advance, and there is no dissatisfaction. Therefore, this audition is more like a relaxed script reading meeting.

However, among the few people at the scene, perhaps only Eric himself had this mentality, but the four actresses dealt with it carefully.

Since it is "Desperate Housewives", although Eric deliberately set the age of several housewives to be younger, so as not to be like this time, several housewives are desperately playing Botox in order to maintain their appearance. . But except for the 27-year-old Latina actress named Vanita Crown, the other three women are all over 30 years old, and the current TV series is almost the last time they have turned over in their acting careers. Chance.

This loose audition lasted only an hour and a half, and Eric had to rush to Firefly Studios to attend a year-end meeting, briefly watched a few performances, and chatted with a few actresses about the TV series. view, and left in a hurry.

However, before leaving, Eric handed a card to Amy's assistant and asked her to pass it on to Elizabeth Perkins.

During the exchange, Eric suddenly had a feeling for Elizabeth Perkins, a mature woman with a beautiful face and a temperament, so he shot without hesitation. Having laid a huge foundation in Hollywood, Eric also naturally regards this territory as his hunting ground, and never intends to let go of the prey he is interested in.

After passing the audition, Elizabeth Perkins finally breathed a sigh of relief. She had thought Eric Williams would be a bit domineering as a teenager, but throughout the audition, the young Hollywood mogul felt very gentle to her.

However, when she was about to leave, Amy Pascal's assistant stopped her, handed over a card, and whispered, "Ms. Perkins, this is given to you by Mr. Williams."

Elizabeth Perkins froze for a moment, noticing the jealous and disdainful look in Teri Hatcher's eyes, who was obviously pretending to rummage through her handbag, Elizabeth Perkins hurriedly turned to the The assistant nodded, stuffed the card into his jacket pocket and hurried out.

All the way to the parking lot and getting into the car, Elizabeth Perkins took out the card in an uneasy mood. Although she had expected it, she saw an invitation to dinner and a series of phone numbers written on the card. , was still a little helpless. She wasn't a young girl who entered Hollywood on her first day, so she naturally knew what this invitation meant.

I drove away from the MGM headquarters, turned aimlessly to Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills, and unknowingly stopped the car and found that there happened to be a women's clothing store on the side of the road.

After hesitating for a while, Elizabeth Perkins got out of the car and went into the women's clothing store to pick out a new set of the latest clothes, thinking that this was a reward for her role.

After shopping for clothes, she suddenly ran to buy a pair of manolo high heels as if she was giving up on herself. This high heels brand has become more popular after the broadcast of "Sexy City". She used to be reluctant to buy it, although many years ago and The "Flying Beyond the Future" with Tom Hanks made her prosperous for a while, but it was ten years ago, and she has not received any influential movies since then, and now she can only star in TV series .

After wandering between the streets of Los Angeles until night fell, watching the lights gradually light up on both sides of the road, she stopped at a roadside phone booth and dialed the number on the card.

It was not Eric Williams who answered the phone. The other party just asked her where she was, and then said that a car would be sent to pick her up.

Elizabeth Perkins hung up the phone and wanted to get into the car. After thinking about it, she stood on the side of the road and waited.

After waiting for about 20 minutes, a black car stopped by the side of the road. The driver got out of the car and opened the door to look at her. Elizabeth Perkins realized that this was coming to pick her up.

When I got in the car, I found that Eric was also sitting in the back row.

Eric watched Elizabeth Perkins sit down beside him and smiled: "I thought you wouldn't call me anymore."

Elizabeth Perkins was a little unwilling after all, and asked a little lightly, "If I don't make this call, will that role be gone?"

Eric shrugged, his tone was a bit hateful, and said, "Perhaps, you know, a big man like me usually has a hard time being rejected."

Elizabeth Perkins could feel Eric's joking tone, and couldn't help adding: "And he doesn't say anything nice to please women at all."

Hearing this, Eric turned his head and looked up and down carefully at the woman next to him, only to realize that she had changed into a suit, nodded and praised: "You are very beautiful tonight."

Elizabeth Perkins raised her chin subconsciously: "And ten years older than you."

Elizabeth Parkinston regretted this sentence that didn't come out of her mind. She didn't think that someone like Eric would endure his slightly provocative words again and again.

Eric was not angry at all, but smiled even more hateful: "It seems that the whole of Hollywood knows that I like more mature women."

Elizabeth Perkins opened her mouth, but this time she held back and said nothing, just gave Eric a blank look.

Eric looked at the woman's appearance, remembered something, and asked, "I suddenly remembered another thing, are you married?"

Elizabeth Perkins turned her head: "Do you still care about this?"

"Of course," Eric nodded and said, "I actually still have some principles. If you get married, I will send you back now."

Elizabeth Perkins stared at Eric for a few seconds, and when she saw his serious look, she shook her head and said, "It was a long time ago."

"Oh, there seems to be a story, maybe we can talk later."

Elizabeth Perkins felt that Eric's tone was hateful again, but she just rolled her eyes again. She had never heard the words that life is like that, enjoy it if you can't resist. However, she later found out that Eric is actually a guy who can please and even accommodate women. After dinner, she felt that the experience tonight was not bad, so many things became natural.