Chương 1000: Chapter 1002: The Beginning of Decline
[Chapter 1002: The Beginning of Decline]
When Eric arrived in London this time, aside from meeting with the management team at Virgin Records, which he had recently acquired, he was primarily there to attend the celebration party for the Spice Girls' debut album, Spice.
After six months of building anticipation with several hit singles, Spice was released in April alongside Fireflyer's second generation. The album was launched with both physical and digital copies simultaneously, a strategy that many in the company had worried would harm sales of the physical version. However, that wasn't the case at all. Since its release, Spice had blazed through the album sales charts in Europe and America.
Now in its eleventh week on the charts, the album had already surpassed an astonishing 20 million copies sold globally by its ninth week, drawing the attention of the entire music industry. In the UK, it sold 2 million copies in just eight weeks, breaking the record set by The Beatles for the fastest album to reach that milestone in British history.
In the United States, the world's largest music market, Spice also easily crossed the 10 million mark, reaching 13.5 million sales by last week. Even two months later, sales continued to soar in countries like France, Germany, and Spain, as well as in the East Asia, Japan, Korea, and Singapore, where Spice held strong positions on the charts.
As the mastermind behind the Spice Girls, Eric not only produced the music video for their first single, Wannabe, but also contributed half the songs on their debut album. With such dazzling achievements, the media and the higher-ups at Firefly Records unanimously credited him for their success. The celebration party, initially scheduled for last week, had been moved to this weekend to accommodate Eric's schedule.
...
Eric visited Virgin Records' headquarters in the afternoon, where he met with the company's management team at the invitation of Simon Fuller, who had since been promoted to president of Virgin Records. The group's record subsidiary did not have a CEO; Barry Weiss held the position of president of Firefly Records, overseeing all music-related operations under the Firefly banner, while Simon served as the head of Virgin. The group aimed to retain the Virgin brand rather than abandon it, planning to consolidate all overseas music business resources into that company. In the future, Virgin would take charge of all Firefly music operations outside North America, including Europe, East Asia, and Latin America, while Firefly Records would focus on the North American market.
London's summer days were long. The party was set to begin at eight in the evening at the Albert Hotel, near Kensington Gardens. This location was chosen not to accommodate Eric, but because many upscale hotels were concentrated in that area.
Since the party started late, Eric had a dinner with Simon Fuller and then returned to his mansion on Garden Street. Just before the party was about to start, he headed to the Albert Hotel with Mayer.
Simon Fuller had organized a truly grand party. Alongside the executives and artists from Virgin Records, he had also invited numerous celebrities from the British entertainment industry. A red carpet had been laid outside the hotel, packed with media reporters from both the UK and overseas.
...
Stars like the Spice Girls, The Rolling Stones, Elton John, Hugh Grant, and Rachel Weisz lit up the red carpet, making the atmosphere star-studded. Eric stepped out of the car with Mayer at the end of the red carpet, instantly prompting a frenzy of flashing lights from cameras.
Although he had been briefed beforehand, the sight of Mayer still led reporters to shout out questions as they rapidly clicked their shutters.
"Mr. Williams, is this young lady your new girlfriend?"
"Mr. Williams, can you introduce this young lady?"
"Mr. Williams, have you seen The Matrix 2?"
"Mr. Williams, how does Firefly plan to handle the disputes with the America Online management team?"
"Mr. Williams, it's been said that the casting for Bond 19 is still ongoing. Will this film still make it for next summer's release?"
"..."
Eric ignored the questions from both sides, simply smiled, waved at the crowd, and quickly led Mayer into the hotel.
...
Upon entering the party hall with the waiting Simon Fuller, Eric noticed the guests flocking towards them like iron filings to a magnet. Mayer felt a bit uneasy; she wished she truly was Eric's girlfriend even if just for tonight. However, she knew she was simply there to adorn him like a trophy.
This realization was rather disheartening. Mayer even considered making a hasty exit and couldn't help but feel a twinge of resentment towards Eric. He was so warm with other women, even tangled up with his cousin, while he treated her with complete indifference. It was infuriating.
Eric had no time to dwell on his assistant's feelings. He greeted each of the five girls from the Spice Girls with hugs, congratulating them one by one, before exchanging pleasantries with other guests for a while until he found himself free.
...
Standing by the buffet table, Simon Fuller and Eric each poured a glass of champagne. Simon raised his glass and said, "Eric, I've given careful thought to that reality show you mentioned seeking singers this afternoon, and I think it has a high feasibility. But if it's just held in the UK, won't the scale be a bit limited? Why don't we produce it directly in North America?"
"I certainly plan to bring this reality show to North America, but right now, both ABC's Survivor and Fox's Who Wants to be a Millionaire are performing quite well. These two channels have also been introducing other reality shows in recent years, so they're not short on this type of programming for now," Eric took a sip of his champagne and smiled. "Plus, I don't want to hand this reality show over to NBC or CBS, so I'm planning to get it started here in the UK first. You'll have plenty of time to refine the format."
Simon nodded in understanding. "But, seriously, I doubt this kind of music reality show can really produce a super popular singer. Balancing viewership with absolute fairness is tough; some exceptional contestants will likely be eliminated too early, earning the label of 'loser' that's hard to shake off later."
Eric replied, "If you put in the effort, I believe there will still be some good candidates among the earlier rounds. Also, it might be wise to focus on contestants' songwriting abilities. I forgot to mention this when you picked the Spice Girls; they had great singing and dancing skills, but their songwriting fell short. Thankfully, they've found outstanding producers to write songs for them now."
Simon acknowledged his point with a nod.
Historically and moving forward, successful artists or groups in the music industry usually had solid songwriting skills. However, as the music industry declined, artists with significant creative ability were likely to stand out more, given that the industry's downturn would lead to a reduction in available resources, making it less frequent for record companies to organize teams to package singers who only had good voices or looks but no creative talent.
...
While Eric conversed with Simon, he casually glanced around and happened to notice Barbara Broccoli, the producer of the 007 series, looking towards him. Standing across from her was a tall woman in a light purple backless evening gown that Eric didn't recognize. However, Barbara's gaze had a hint of urgency, so Eric greeted Simon and walked over.
Barbara Broccoli was a staunch advocate of singlehood. Eric initially thought she might have been caught up with some woman, but upon entering the conversation, he realized the woman across from her was Demi Moore.
Demi noticed Barbara's changing expression, turned around, and saw Eric, immediately displaying a surprised look as she reached out, saying, "Oh, Eric, I was just saying I wanted to greet you, but I saw you were chatting with Mr. Fuller."
As Demi reached out her hands, Eric had no choice but to smile and embrace her for a moment, feeling her body lean against him without reservation. He couldn't help but pity Bruce Willis for three seconds; poor guy had to deal with such a wife and probably wondered how many times he had been cheated on. But at this point, it seemed like both were playing their own games.
"So, Demi, what brings you to London?" Though they weren't close, they had run into each other at parties before. Eric didn't quite like her, but he kept the conversation polite. After releasing the hug, he asked courteously.
"I'm in London filming a movie called Notting Hill," Demi pointed to Hugh Grant not far away and continued, "He's the male lead, and it's a love story set in the Notting Hill area."
Eric immediately recalled that Julia had turned down this script when Universal acquired Polygram's rights after Seagram made the acquisition, not expecting that it would end up with Demi Moore.
"Notting Hill; I happen to know that script. It's a good story," Eric complimented.
With the success of Four Weddings and a Funeral, Hugh Grant had solidified his status as a box-office star. Additionally, history had changed, allowing him to narrowly escape a scandal. It could be said that Hugh had been quite popular as this charming Englishman in recent years.
After Julia dropped out, Polygram Pictures had reportedly approached Meg Ryan to take her place, but she ended up taking the Warner film You've Got Mail. Ultimately, they settled on Demi Moore as the leading lady despite her popularity being far less than Julia's, likely due to confidence in Hugh Grant's star power.
Remembering You've Got Mail made Eric somewhat frustrated. That film was a product of Warner's collaboration with America Online. Clearly, both parties had already begun to tangle with each other. Because of the differences in development paths, America Online hadn't even mentioned You've Got Mail to Firefly, becoming evidence of the recent disputes between America Online and its major shareholder, Firefly.
"Didn't expect this at all; this is quite surprising," Demi said, a bit astonished that Eric was familiar with the Notting Hill script. It was just a regular romance movie with a production cost of under $30 million. However, she quickly recalled who had handed her this opportunity, and feelings of envy towards Julia Roberts and Eric's close relationship crept into her expression. She looked at Eric with a hint of eagerness, asking, "Eric, may I ask you to dance?" As she said this, Demi smiled at Mayer, who was trying her best to play the part of a trophy beside Eric. "Surely this young lady won't mind if I borrow you for a moment, will she?"
Mayer politely nodded, all while silently scoffing to herself, wondering how much her opinion actually mattered.
Eric, however, simply smiled and turned down the request. "Sorry, Demi; I have something to discuss with Barbara."
"Oh, that's fine; I can wait a bit," Demi replied without showing disappointment or giving up, raising her hand. "You go ahead and chat for now."
...
As soon as Demi walked away, Eric asked Barbara, "What just happened?"
"Nothing," Barbara Broccoli shook her head, smiling. "They're still casting for Bond 19, and she's involved too."
Eric nodded, somewhat understanding. "Speaking of which, reporters were just asking me about it. Given the current situation, looks like Bond 19 won't be able to start filming this year, huh?"
Barbara wore a slightly reproachful look. "Yeah, you boosted the last film's box office so high, and now you're just leaving us to deal with the pressure."
Eric smiled back, retorting, "I haven't ignored you; I've carefully reviewed every version of the script you've sent me."
Bond 19 was originally scheduled to release in the summer, but following the massive global success of Casino Royale, everyone at MGM was exceptionally cautious, treating the burgeoning spy movie universe with great care. The script for Bond 19 had taken a full year to polish, and coordinating the contracts for the three main characters also required considerable effort.
Looking at the current situation, it seemed Bond 19's release would need to be pushed back a full year. However, for a blockbuster like Bond, a production gap of three years wasn't too alarming. No one would risk compromising the good reputation newly established for the entire spy movie universe just to meet a release deadline.
*****
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