บท 945: Chapter 947: Trouble
[Chapter 947: Trouble]
The streets of Manhattan could create a remarkable sense of time and space distortion. Walking down the street, one moment you could pass an old, crumbling red brick building with perhaps a century of history, and with the next step, a modern skyscraper of seventy or eighty stories would pop up in front of you.
Vera Farmiga walked beside Eric, following his gaze at the scattered lights in the late-night streets. Noticing that Eric hadn't spoken for a while, she took the initiative to ask, "Eric, what are you thinking about?"
"This is Hell's Kitchen, right?" Eric mused aloud without waiting for Vera to respond. He turned to glance at the woman beside him and added with a smile, "I was going to ask you where you live since I planned to take you home."
The two had left the August Theatre and had walked quite a ways along West 52nd Street. Vera, feeling a bit anxious about where Eric Williams was taking her, quickly replied, "I live on West 55th Street, just go north from the Tenth Avenue."
Eric nodded, his hands in the pockets of his overcoat. He noticed the mix of confusion and hope in Vera's eyes, and he smiled as he said, "I almost forgot to mention something important. There's a movie I want you to audition for."
Feeling Eric's casual tone, Vera suddenly lost some of her initial excitement and asked, "Eric, is it a movie you're directing?"
"No," Eric shook his head. "The director is Gore, the guy you just saw."
Vera nodded, mimicking Eric's casual posture as she put her hands in her puffer jacket pockets. Her steps lightened a bit as she hesitated before asking, "So, Eric, why did you come by tonight?"
Eric explained, "Even though I'm not directing it myself, this is a very important project for Firefly. I wanted to see your performance since I plan on having you play the lead."
"My performance is okay, right?" Vera's eyes lit up for a moment, but then she asked a bit uncertainly.
Eric chuckled and nodded, "If it wasn't, I would've left early! Someone will contact you about the next steps."
Vera replied with an "mm-hmm" as they reached the corner of Tenth Avenue and turned north. Glancing casually, she noticed a black car shadowing them on the street. Understanding it was Eric's bodyguard, she suddenly said, "Eric, now that you came personally, my upcoming days are going to be troublesome."
Eric laughed and asked, "What trouble?"
Vera replied, "I don't know yet, but the competition on Broadway can be fierce."
Upon hearing Vera's hint, Eric quickly realized. Vera had suddenly found a great opportunity, but jealous colleagues at the theater would likely make things difficult for her: "Well, in that case, why don't you quit your job tomorrow?"
"I can't do that. I at least need to wait for Andrew to find a replacement for me, and besides," she glanced at Eric and said, "I still don't know if I can actually handle this role. I definitely still need to audition, right?"
"Of course! But your acting skills are fine, and you've got the right look. Unless you ask for an exorbitant fee, that role will likely be yours."
"Ha, I don't have the standing to demand a high price. In the last TV series I was in, I only earned $2,000 per episode."
"That was for Roar, right? I just saw you in that show yesterday. Weren't you the lead? Why was the pay so low?"
"It was more of an ensemble piece, and I was just one of the two female leads. Also, since I'm a newcomer, $2,000 isn't bad at all." Vera explained, then added with a smile, "But from what you just said, this TV show brought me good luck. I would have been willing to do it even without any pay!"
...
As they were chatting casually, they had unknowingly arrived outside a red brick apartment on West 55th Street.
"This is where I live," Vera pointed at the apartment. She lightly kicked the ground with her platform boots and, with a twinkle in her eye, asked, "Eric, would you like to come up for a bit?"
With a smile on his face, Eric responded, "Aren't you afraid I might stay longer than you want?"
Vera's face flushed slightly, avoiding Eric's eyes, she replied softly, "Well, with what we talked about today, you're only allowed to stay for a bit."
"As much as I want to pretend I didn't understand, okay, it's a pity."
Vera shyly lowered her head and said, "In a few days, it will be the New Year. If you have time, you can give me a call."
"Ha, let's talk about it then," Eric chuckled. He planned to leave Manhattan for East Hampton the next day and would definitely spend the New Year with his kids. "Well, I should head back now. You go on up."
"Okay, goodbye," Vera nodded. Just as she went up the stairs to her apartment, she turned back, rummaged through her bag, and handed Eric a business card, saying, "I almost forgot; this has my cell number on it."
Eric took the card and tucked it away, watching Vera enter her apartment before turning to get back into his car.
...
The opening week of Jurassic Park III crossed into the New Year, ultimately grossing $86.61 million in its first week, slightly higher than the Thanksgiving release of Night at the Museum 2, yet showing a noticeable drop compared to its two predecessors.
Impacted by several new releases, including Jurassic Park III, Rush Hour 2's second-week box office plummeted 55%, earning just $45.22 million.
However, due to a strong opening, the $70 million-budget film had amassed $149 million in just two weeks, meaning Firefly had already recouped the film's entire cost due to their tiered ticket sales agreement.
Additionally, Firefly's Thanksgiving release of Monsters, Inc. was in its sixth week, and while its weekly gross had dipped to $8.04 million, it successfully crossed $200 million in total, becoming the third film in 1997 to achieve box office earnings exceeding $200 million. Both Rush Hour 2 and Jurassic Park III had the potential to surpass the $200 million mark, but as of December 31, 1997, neither film had yet crossed that milestone.
MGM's Night at the Museum 2 had been in theaters for five weeks, with its weekly earnings also falling into the $10 million range, bringing its total to $159 million. Given the current trend, chances of breaking the $200 million ceiling appeared slim.
...
As the New Year began and the newest weekly box office figures came in, the media also began tallying the total box office for 1997, leading to a box office report that caused quite a stir in Hollywood.
The entire year of 1997 saw that even by December 31, the Firefly Group had three films, Finding Nemo, Monsters, Inc., and Rush Hour 2, making it into the top ten box office rankings, not counting Jurassic Park III, which had expected North American earnings around $200 million.
MGM's Casino Royale and Night at the Museum 2 also made the top ten, while Fox's animated film Ice Age and Julia's romantic comedy My Best Friend's Wedding joined the list as well.
Thus, by December 31, 1997, Firefly Group's three major film companies claimed an astonishing seven spots in the North American yearly box office top ten.
Movies outside of the Firefly Group included Universal's Air Force One, Paramount's The Lion King II, and Sony's Godzilla.
Warner Bros' Batman & Robin, once highly anticipated by Time Warner, barely crossed $100 million at the North American box office due to behind-the-scenes maneuvers, ranking a disappointing 13th for the year and even falling behind MGM's Scream 2. However, the production cost of Batman & Robin was five times that of Scream 2's.
...
In recent years, Hollywood found itself at a pivotal moment in its global rise. Faced with the powerful Firefly Group, other major movie companies began stepping up their expansion efforts. Against Firefly's current position, unconventional competitive tactics revealed little effectiveness, leaving rivals to replicate the Firefly model as best they could.
In the remarkable year of 1997, the top ten box office chart included four animated films, prompting an influx of funds from film industries in Europe and Southeast Asia to abandon previous strategies of big stars and huge productions. Instead, they enthusiastically invested in special effects blockbusters.
Eric remembered how, in the past timeline, Disney's film business became increasingly dominant following a series of acquisitions of Pixar Animation, Marvel Entertainment, and Lucasfilm. Disney often occupied half of Hollywood's yearly box office ranking but also earned the nickname "Toxic Disney" due to its extreme commercialization. At one point, the entire Disney Group's market value crossed $300 billion, far surpassing old rivals like Time Warner and Viacom, which barely maintained valuations in the tens of billions.
However, given the current situation, it was still the late 90s, and the Firefly Group had already completed the kind of strategic planning that Disney would not finish until many years later.
A recent article by Businessweek projected the Firefly Group's valuation at $100 billion, a figure widely accepted by Wall Street.
In contrast, companies like Time Warner, benefiting from the technology wave, and Viacom, which had recently acquired CBS Group, maintained their market value below $50 billion, less than half of Firefly Group's worth.
As Businessweek disclosed its valuation of the Firefly Group, many media outlets turned their focus back to predictions for Eric's net worth.
Eric maintained a stake of 73.7% in the Firefly Group, which meant his shares alone were valued at $73.7 billion, an increase of $10 billion from the previous year.
Moreover, under the continued influence of the technology wave, Eric's other major venture, Firefly Investments, had multiple high-tech companies experiencing significant increases in their market values.
Yet Eric had no time to dwell on the media stories. After the New Year, he quickly returned to Los Angeles.
Although media valuations for the Firefly Group soared, Eric's significant investments in the Nasdaq market throughout the year, totaling over $3 billion, substantially pressured the company's profitability. This situation inevitably raised concerns among some shareholders of the Firefly Group.
Last year, Eric's investment in technology stocks had already reduced the Firefly Group's annual profits, and this year, although the business was robust, Eric's heavier investments in tech stocks could leave expected profits hardly exceeding a few hundred million dollars.
After all, not everyone shared confidence in the Nasdaq's upward trajectory, with several shorts funds actively betting against it on Wall Street.
Over two years, Eric had invested $5 billion in the Nasdaq market. Although this capital had yielded substantial returns, it remained volatile wealth on paper. If the Nasdaq were to crash, the value of the Clover Fund's stocks might plummet to zero within days.
Just days after Eric returned to Los Angeles, Warren Buffett arrived as a representative of other shareholders to discuss the Clover Fund's substantial holdings in technology stocks with him.
*****
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