[Chapter 983: Reunion]
After breaking the awkward relationship with Caroline, the only noticeable changes were that the younger cousin acted more naturally and affectionately around Eric, rarely blushing anymore, and Melanie continuing to exclaim "Oh my God" in a lengthy stream. Everything else seemed pretty normal.
After wrapping up filming in Pinewood, the crew returned to Los Angeles to finish up some interior shots. As May rolled in, the filming schedule indicated that Iron Man would wrap by the end of the month, entering a lengthy post-production phase. With the end of filming, Eric found himself less busy than in the previous two months and began having more time to manage other company matters.
This summer season, Firefly Group only had one blockbuster, The Day After Tomorrow, while several others, such as New Line Cinema's The Ring and Disney's The Parent Trap, could only be considered mid-range budget films.
Nonetheless, the film lineup that Hollywood was set to release was still impressive. Besides The Day After Tomorrow, major productions included MGM's Charlie's Angels 3, Warner Bros.' Lethal Weapon 4, Sony's Patriot, Universal's Scorpion King, Amblin's The Matrix 2, Fox's The X-Files movie, and Paramount's The Truman Show, among others.
Eric's presence may have thrown many well-known Hollywood projects into chaos, but the overall trend toward big investments and large productions in Hollywood had not changed at all. The eight major productions all had an average budget exceeding $100 million. Facing substantial cost pressures, several major studios were wisely beginning to stagger their release dates instead of piling everything into June and July like last year.
Starting the second week of May, summer blockbuster films began hitting theaters. Meanwhile, the Easter release period was also coming to an end, with Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, The Wedding Singer, and Species rapidly scaling back their release sizes.
...
At Firefly Studios, looking at the twins who stood quietly before him, Eric asked, "Why are only the two of you back?"
Natasha replied, "The boss said she was going to to Berlin to visit the Mission: Impossible 3 set."
Eric sighed helplessly. After that phone call, there had been no news for about half a month, and he thought the matter would pass. However, just two days ago, Caroline had suddenly informed him that her aunt would be arriving today.
After some consideration, Eric called the girl who had gone to New York for the Met Gala to come back and take care of hosting, but only the twins returned.
It was easy to understand. Given Drew's upbringing, it was quite difficult for her to feel anything good toward her parents. The only connection she had with her mother was sending each other a check annually. As for her unreliable father, she had officially announced their estranged father-daughter relationship.
Naturally, Eric did not intend to hide the recent encounter with Caroline from Drew. She had always thought she was the closest woman to Eric, and suddenly discovering that the assistant she occasionally teased was actually his cousin inevitably made her feel some apprehension and resistance.
As for his cousin's aunt, well, that feeling of apprehension and resistance was even stronger. Since she expressed her reluctance, Eric didn't push it and said to the twins, "Alright then. She, um, will likely arrive this afternoon. Carly and Mel might also be staying at the estate tonight, so you both go prepare the guest room and dinner."
Natasha nodded and then asked, "Master, do we need to pick her up from the airport?"
"No need. Carly and Mel will pick her up. You just wait at the estate."
"Okay," Natasha nodded again, and seeing that Eric had no further instructions, she left with her sister.
...
After the twins left, Eric absentmindedly flipped through some documents in front of him when he heard the secretary knock on the door. "Mr. Williams, they have arrived."
"Alright, I'll be right there," Eric replied as he closed the folder and headed outside.
Today was May 11th, a Monday, and counting from April 3rd, this had already been the sixth week of the Easter release period.
According to last Friday's data, Firefly's three films from the Easter release period, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me had grossed a cumulative of $168 million after five weeks, The Wedding Singer had reached $101 million, and while Species performed slightly worse, it had still brought in $69.63 million, which meant they had recouped their production costs.
Although all three films had entered the tail end of their weekly grosses under $10 million, collectively, they had brought in $338 million at the box office. With a total investment of $140 million, the three films had generated over $40 million in pure profit for several companies. The upcoming income from overseas releases, DVD sales, and television broadcast rights would undoubtedly yield even greater profits than just the North American box office alone.
Therefore, the heads of the three companies suggested throwing a celebratory party this weekend. However, given the long production duration for films, everyone had already begun preparing for next year's Easter film package during that time.
The meeting Eric was about to attend was for this very purpose.
...
He entered a conference room where Fox's Joe Roth, MGM's Amy Pascal, and Jeffrey Katzenberg were already seated at the table, along with several other high-ranking executives from various production departments.
Taking a seat next to Katzenberg, Eric attempted to clear his mind of other thoughts, glanced at everyone, and said, "Let's get started. Amy, why don't you kick things off with the projects on your end?"
This Easter, MGM's Species boasted the highest investment but had the lowest box office performance, leading Eric to naturally lean slightly toward MGM. Fox was already reaping significant rewards with Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, and Firefly certainly didn't consider MGM as an outsider, so both companies felt Eric's inclination without any displeasure.
In fact, internally, MGM had estimated Species' North American box office at only around $60 million, though now the film appeared poised to surpass $80 million. Despite envying the performance of the other two films, Amy Pascal felt no significant disappointment.
However, being a strong-willed woman at heart, Amy had devoted considerable thought into today's meeting. Upon hearing Eric's words, she gestured to a high-ranking executive in MGM's production department beside her. The executive stood and addressed everyone, "Mr. Williams, everyone, Easter is traditionally the spring break for high school and college students. Clearly, none of our three films this year have specifically targeted this demographic. Thus, MGM is preparing a coming-of-age teen sex-comedy for next year. The story revolves around a group of soon-to-be high school graduates who agree to help each other find dates for the prom..."
As the executive spoke, the secretary in the conference room distributed the project's summary materials to everyone.
Eric caught sight of the script title that nearly made him laugh out loud.
Well, it was the outrageous American Pie.
Why outrageous? Because Eric had an indelible memory of the scene in which the male lead Jim "violated" an apple pie.
Clearly, Amy and her team saw the success of Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me and wanted to output a similarly raunchy comedy next Easter, one even closer to the holiday's themes for teens.
After flipping through the project materials, Eric went over the basic premise, and the executive finished explaining American Pie before sitting down again.
Eric lifted his head and said, "So, does anyone have opinions?"
Joe Roth, sitting across from him, closed his folder and replied, "Amy, first, I must clarify that the projects Fox is planning for next year is also a similar raunchy comedy like Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, but I still have to say that since this is a story about graduation season, perhaps it would be better suited for the summer release."
Amy Pascal smiled and shook her head, "Joe, I know what you are concerned about. However, even if MGM chooses to withdraw, several other companies will still release raunchy comedies next Easter to compete with Fox. As for the story itself, we cannot only cater to the small demographic of twelfth graders about to graduate. We are targeting the broader teenage audience who all have their own expectations and memories, so the release timing isn't an issue."
Sensing a bit of tension brewing between the two, Eric quickly interrupted, "Joe, let's just take a look at your script."
Joe Roth signaled the secretary to distribute the materials and personally explained, "This is a, uh, script related to teenage memories. At a high school prom, a mortifying incident causes Ted to miss his chance with the girl he has a crush on, and years later..."
Just hearing Joe Roth begin his tale, Eric could roughly guess the name of the script and thought to himself, perhaps truly great scripts simply can't hide away.
Opening the folder, Eric saw the project cover printed with a lengthy title: There's Something About Mary.
Once Joe Roth finished, Eric couldn't help glancing toward Katzenberg: "Jeffrey, we aren't also preparing a raunchy comedy, are we?"
"To be honest, there is one," Katzenberg shrugged slightly and retrieved a script from his assistant, handing it to Eric. "This is a script personally written by Adam Sandler. He signed a two-film deal with us, and this will be his second film after The Wedding Singer. The plot follows a similar structure to The Wedding Singer while featuring a male lead reminiscent of Forrest Gump."
Eric looked at the script titled The Waterboy, which he hadn't heard of before. After a quick glance at the story summary, he understood why it hadn't crossed his radar; it was a tale about football. Seeing Eric's helpless expression, Katzenberg grinned widely, "I suspected this situation might arise, and New Line plans to strike while the iron is hot and release this film by the year's end. So, it certainly won't be our film for next Easter. You mentioned wanting to launch a big production for Easter? The project that Jerry has been brewing for a while may fit perfectly. They've already singled out the lead, that's Will Smith, and he is interested in joining."
Eric naturally knew of the projects under Firefly. Hearing this, he responded, "You mean Enemy of the State?"
Enemy of the State was a project Jerry Bruckheimer had been developing for years, telling the story of a lawyer who found himself unintentionally caught up in a murder case and doing everything possible to clear his name. The entire script feels like a blend of The Fugitive and The Bourne Identity. However, due to various reasons, the project had progressed very slowly.
Additionally, prior to this, Bruckheimer had been busy working on The Day After Tomorrow with Michael Bay, so Eric hadn't heard any news about this film in a long time.
Katzenberg nodded, "I've already spoken with Jerry about this. This project has been brewing for so long, once it begins shooting, we should be able to complete production before next Easter. However, Will Smith's casting will require your personal approval, as they want to sign a bundled deal for Men in Black 3 and Enemy of the State. Bill Mechanic at Sony has also contacted me several times. Eric, Sony stated that if we continue to delay, they would likely press charges."
"Then let's go with Enemy of the State. We can discuss the other matters later," Eric agreed, nodding. He glanced at Joe Roth and Amy Pascal while tearing a corner off the paper in front of him, scribbling something down as he said, "Now, there can't be two raunchy comedies in the Easter film package, so you two should draw lots. Those with words go, while those without should switch genres. I know you both have prepared alternate projects. As for the original scripts, both of these stories look promising and have great potential for the summer season."
After speaking, Eric crumbled the paper he had in hand into two balls and handed one to Amy Pascal.
Amy hesitated but eventually took one of the little balls from Eric's palms, leaving the other one for Joe Roth.
The two slowly unwrapped their paper balls. Ultimately, Amy's paper read 'YES,' so that settled it. Although Joe Roth felt somewhat reluctant, he made no further comments. He didn't dare challenge Eric's authority, so accepting his fate, he pulled out Fox's second option, a romantic comedy named Never Been Kissed.
*****
https://www.patreon.com/Sayonara816.