Hollywood (我就是好莱坞) Part I

Chapter 78 - First day at the box office

Eric nodded, said goodbye to Jeffrey and the others, and walked with Steve Jobs to a nearby coffee shop.

"It was a country full of devotion, I saw millions of pilgrims, so I was drawn to shave my head, without any discomfort or resistance. Instead, I followed the flow of people, walking all the way to the sh.o.r.e of the Ganges River. But at the same time I saw the backwardness and ignorance of that country."

"Later I thought, Perhaps Thomas Edison's contribution to mankind far exceed those philosophers and artists. When i returned to California, I no longer pursued the illusory philosophy of life, instead, I chose the electronics industry as my lifelong goal. A year later, in an abandoned garage, I and several friends set up Apple ... ... "

In a coffee shop, Eric gently stirring his coffee, patiently listening to Steve Jobs talk, this opportunity is not easy to meet, although Eric does not like Steve Jobs character, but he admires his talent.

After more than 10 minutes, Eric finally could not help but say: "Steve, have you ever reflected on yourself?"

The sudden interruption left a trail of displeasure on Jobs face, who asked: "reflect, why should I reflect?"

"For example, why were you driven out of apple?"

Steve Jobs with a solemn face corrected:

"No, Eric, I wasn't driven out of apple, I gave up apple voluntarily."

Eric shrugged and said: "Look, this is a flaw in your personality, you're not willing to compromise, which also led to a bottleneck in the development of both you and Apple. If you had made an appropriate compromise with Apple board of directors a few years ago, perhaps you can continue to stay in apple. With your strength, getting the leadership of Apple back again is a piece of cake."

Steve Jobs retorted: "If I made the first compromise, Those guys will force me to do it a second time, then a third time or even more compromises."

Eric chuckled and shook his head, He understood that it is absolutely impossible to convince this paranoid young man. And now that he's taking Pixar, he didn't know if Steve Jobs will ever return to Apple in the future.

In the past, Steve Jobs was able to achieve such dazzling achievements, in addition to his talent and perseverance, Luck also accounted for a large part.

If he had sold Pixar before, there will be no dazzling successes story after the release of 《Toy Story》, and he himself is more likely to be the target of ridicule. In that case, perhaps the desperate Apple would rather file for bankruptcy, then invited Steve Jobs back.

Eric didn't want to persuade Steve Jobs either, shifting the subject to the topic the
too of them meet for today: "Let's talk about Pixar, Steve, since you've found me, that mean you're taking my offer, right?"

Steve Jobs hesitated for a moment, The reason why he arranged this meeting, is he wanted to meet Eric face to face, so he can persuade him to rise the price, he was quite confident in his eloquence.

Unfortunately, he just said so much, the young man didn't interrupt him, but he showed an unmoved appearance. Eventually, he knew that if he said a word about increasing the price, The other party will act like last time on the phone, he will directly walk out on him.

"Eric, I agree with the $20 million offer, but all the money must be paid in one go."

"No problem," Eric put down his cup of coffee, and happily snapped his fingers.

Steve Jobs was looking calm until Eric suddenly showed his excited expression, for that moment, he felt that perhaps he unknowingly made a huge mistake.

But since the decision has been made, he will not go back on his word, He is a man who seldom regret his decisions. then Steve Jobs asked again: "Eric, are you interested in personal computers?"

Eric quickly understood the meaning of Steve Jobs: "Do you want me to invest in your NeXT computer company?"

"Yes, PC's are a very promising electronic products, look at the past few years, IBM personal computers business development data is known, just last year ... ..."

"Stop, Steve, I'm not interested in those professional figures. All I ask is, if I buy NeXT, would you accept my advice on the company's business?"

"This ... ... Eric, you only need to invest five ... ... no, thirty million, plus Pixar twenty million, I would have enough money to implement a good idea I had before. I'm sure that will bring you enough profit."

"That is to say, I am only responsible for investment and dividends, and has no power to intervene in the management of the company?"

Steve Jobs nodded, after experiencing the Apple incident, he will not give up the absolute leadership of his company again: "Eric, you are an excellent director, but I think, in the field of electronic technology, I known much more than you."

Originally, Eric still had some hope. However, after Steve Jobs answer, Eric could only shake his head: "Well, I refuse!"

"Well, Eric, I have a project proposal here, maybe you can have a look at it first, in fact ......"

"No" Eric waved, interrupting Steve Jobs words: "Steve, I know you're a man of great ideas, I also believe in your talent. But I will not put my money into a project that I can not control. Like you stubbornly believe in your own ideas, I am also a stubborn person, when our ideas are inconsistent, like a few years ago, a conflict like what happened at Apple could erupt again."

Jobs stopped taking out the papers from his briefcase. He thought that, by virtue of his eloquence, convincing a 18 years young boy, should be a breeze. Unfortunately, Eric didn't listen to him at all, this made Steve Jobs feel a trace of anger.

"Well, that's a pity." Jobs managed to calm his anger: "Eric, do you need to go to Pixar for a visit? I hope our deal can be done as soon as possible."

Eric thought for a moment, said: "Tomorrow is not empty, 《Pretty Woman》 will be officially released tomorrow, the day after tomorrow I will fly to New York, for my girlfriend's birthday ... ..."

In Steve Jobs mind, the release of the film can be considered a major event, but a girlfriend birthday, how can such a thing delay the deal with Pixar: "Eric, perhaps, you can directly send a gift to your girlfriend, it seems like you have more than one girlfriend Anyway."

Eric looked at Steve Jobs silently for a moment then said: "Maybe, I will be busy the day after tomorrow too."

Steve Jobs immediately patted the table, interrupting Eric's words: "Well, the day after tomorrow then, a girlfriend birthday is still very important!"

When Eric said that the next day was not empty, in fact, Eric has nothing to do personally, he was Just anxious like every other director when they release a new work, he was temporarily in no mood to shift his attention to Pixar.

Fox has arranged everything, because the size of the critics film premiere was much bigger than expected. The second day the film critics in newspapers 《Pretty Woman》 begun to show some multi-polar development.

In addition to the newspapers he was subscribed to, Eric bought more than 10 newspapers early in the morning, read all the film reviews about 《Pretty Woman》, a total of seventeen newspapers, there are nine praising the movie, five both praise and criticizing, and the remaining three were all blunt criticism.

Eric calculated in his head, the ratings should be at 7.5 points. In previous life film review sites grades, The score should be relatively high.

Eric let go of his worry's, now all they need to do is maintain good word of mouth. After breakfast, Eric drove to Fox's headquarters in Century City. Because now is not the busiest movie schedule time, Fox easily raised more than 1900 screens for 《Pretty Woman》, this number of screens has reached the level of the big movies of this era.

In his previous two films, Eric got the box office data only a week later. But now, he has reached the level where he can get the box office data of the first day directly from within Fox.

Early in the morning, Eric, Jeffrey, and several executives from Fox waited nervously in the conference room, Even Barry Diller, the president of Fox have come down. Even if the meeting room is large, and the windows were open, the room was drifting thick with cigar smoke. Meanwhile, outside the conference room, seven or eight staff members were quickly calling and recording the box office data.

A little while later, the box office data was finally out, a statistician handed the data to the hands of several executives, where everyone gathered together to see.

Carter Hunt was the first to see the data: "Wow, $4.36 million, It's another 《Home Alone》."

Eric saw the 4.36 millions data on the report, and finally breathed a sigh of relief calming his heart down.

Jeffrey after some contemplating said: "In that case, the box office will be a little higher tomorrow, it may reach the $5 millions mark, and maybe at the end of this three days weekend the film will get $15 million at box office. Adding next Tuesday is Valentine's day, there will probably be an explosion at the box office, plus in the Working days the film is most likely to get us another $10 million."

Carter Hunt retorted smilingly: "Jeffrey, you're a bit conservative in your calculations, Valentine's day will definitely exceed the weekend's box office, I think the first week at the box office exceeding 《Home Alone》 is not a problem."

Eric sees those overly excited people set their goal on 《Home Alone》, but he knows, this is obviously impossible, maybe because of the great publicity before, the box office will be high for the first week, but it won't last for another week.

Thinking of these things, Eric could not help but say: "The key is that next week's box office decline is sure to be big, now after all is not a holiday schedule. So don't compare it with 《Pretty Woman》, 《Home Alone》 has grossed more than $20 million for six consecutive weeks."

The people present were all professionals, They certainly know that what Eric is telling is the truth.

Barry Diller said: "Eric, you concentrate on preparing the next movie, if you need any help, Fox will fully support you. "

Eric pretended not to understand that Fox wants to intervene in his next movie, He smiled and said: "If so, the celebration party will be given to Fox to arrange."

Barry Diller did not mind that Eric was pretending to be stupid, he smiled and said: "Haha, Fox will be very happy to pay for the party. Next week, maybe at The Beverly Hilton Hotel."