The next day, "Iron Man" ushered in the premiere of North America.

Compared with premiere in overseas cities such as Tokyo and London, the Los Angeles premiere of "Iron Man" is even more impressive.

Firefly Group has spared no effort to prepare for this premiere, especially after the online gossip incident a few days ago, in order to deal with possible emergencies, the group specially added an additional security budget for this premiere.

Fortunately, the entire premiere went very smoothly.

Since "Iron Man"'s reputation has been widely recognized, the media even focused more on the lineup of guests comparable to the large-scale movie awards ceremony on the second day of the premiere, which once again increased the popularity of the topic of "Iron Man".

For most movie fans, from Wednesday's premiere to Thursday's midnight show and even Friday's massive release, it was almost fleeting in just two days, but Eric's work schedule is still full of arrangements.

Culver City.

Inside an internal screening room at Columbia Cinema.

Eric and Columbia Pictures CEO Bill Michanik are waiting for representatives of France's Gormont Company while talking about the company's affairs.

Last year, Luco Besson once again directed another big production film, "Joan of Arc", a war epic that cost 390 million francs, equivalent to nearly 80 million US dollars, which is another big production attempt by Gaomeng Film Company after "The Fifth Element".

After the success of "Brave Heart", although the number of epic films has increased significantly in recent years, there are not many successful cases. Major film companies have gradually realized the high risk of epic films, so their enthusiasm for investing in such films has greatly cooled down.

"The Gladiator", which Ridley Scott has started to produce, was abandoned by Spielberg's Amberlin Films in this context and transferred to Fox under the help of Eric.

Compared to "The Gladiator", which has achieved even better results in box office and awards in memory than "Brave Heart", Eric has no impression of "Joan of Arc". He only vaguely remembers that the heroine of this film was Mira Jovovich.

However, due to the changes in Hollywood history, the still unknown Milla Jovovich did not have any intersection with Luc Besson. Whether it is "The Fifth Element" or "Joan of Arc", the heroine has been replaced by other actresses.

"Warner Bros. has signed Wu's "Windler", but the attitude towards this film is also very cautious. Warner Bros. will only undertake 30% of the investment, and the other 70% of the investment is handled by a German film fund."

Eric was somewhat disappointed when he heard Bill Michanik say this.

MGM once made a desperate bet on "The Wind Whisperer" and alone took on all the production and distribution costs of the film. "The Wind Whisperer" failed miserably at the box office, and MGM also went to the brink of bankruptcy.

However, this disappointment just flashed away, and things could never work exactly according to your own ideas.

What's more, even if it only accounts for 30% of the investment, Warner Bros. will definitely have to undertake the distribution of "Wind Whisperer", which will not only consume a lot of money again, but will also occupy a high-quality period. This is a complete multiple loss of time and money.

If Will Smith's other "The Storm Men" imitating "The Man in Black" also messed up, next year would be a disaster for Time Warner's film business.

Thinking of this, Eric asked again: "Where is "The Storm Men"?"

"The Wind Men" was completely produced by Warner alone, and no collaborators were introduced," Bill Michanik said, and said, "Eric, I watched a sample of "Joan of Arc" in advance. To be honest, I think this video is very bad and has no selling points."

Eric also had no expectations for "Joan of Arc" and said: "In this case, if the failure of two consecutive major films will be made, Luco Besson will definitely part ways with Gaomeng Film Company. He will come later. All you have to do is to win him over."

Bill Michanik was a little confused. Luco Besson screwed up two major productions in a row, and Columbia Pictures still wanted to win over each other?

Eric saw Bill Michanik's thoughts and explained: "Luco Besson is a very talented director, but in fact, what I value more is his screenwriter and production ability in action films. Although the box office of the films he directed is not outstanding, the action films such as "Nikita" and "Tait Express" that participated in the screenwriter and production are very successful, and the cost is not high. You can work with him in this regard, and you can even remake these films into the American version."

As he was speaking, the door of the screening room was pushed open, Anne Hathaway timidly leaned into the room, and when he saw Eric, he immediately smiled and walked in with a restrained expression.

Anne wore a knee-length white trouser dress today, showing off her figure.

When she got closer, Anne greeted quietly: "Eric, and Mr. Michanik."

Eric looked at the girl with a delicate and tender look, smiled and patted his knees, and said, "Come on, I heard that the crew of "The Soul-Edit Girl" was filming in the cinema studio, I think you should be here."

Anne looked at Bill Michanik, sat on Eric's lap with a shy expression, but hugged the man's neck intimately: "Eric, I thought you forgot me."

Since meeting at the "Midnight Bell" celebration banquet last year, Anne has not seen Eric for a few times in the following six months. Although sometimes she occasionally feels that it seems inappropriate to accept Eric's card, more often, the girl is nervous that Eric will forget herself.

"Of course not, but you know, I'm very busy. I heard you received another romance film called, um, "On the Side of Heaven", and you're going to film in the Bahamas?"

Annie didn't expect Eric to know her things well and was a little surprised, but then she felt relieved. This man controlled most of Hollywood.

Nodding, Anne said, "Carl thinks this role is very suitable for me, Carl Franco, my agent, Eric, do you remember?"

"Remember," Eric smiled and said, "Then make it well. In addition, if you need help with movies in the future, you can directly find Bill without calling my assistant's office. They are not very good at dealing with these."

Anne was immediately embarrassed. She got the heroine of "On the Side of Heaven". Although this was just a low-cost video from a single production company, if she wanted to get this role, she would definitely not be able to do without some external assistance. So she contacted his assistant office through the phone number Eric gave her.

Eric's assistant office, of course, cannot be bad at clearing the problem of a movie character.

But Anne called there, which meant that Caroline and Mayer both knew about this, and then they couldn't help but have a resentful look.

Hearing Eric say this, Bill Michanik tactfully handed over a business card and smiled: "Miss Hathaway, if you have any problems in the future, you can call me."

Although he is the head of a large film company with the weakest strength in the Firefly system, he is still one of the seven leaders after all. No one can ignore the energy of such an executive in Hollywood.

Anne took the business card, put it away carefully, and said, "Thank you, Mr. Michanik."

After explaining this, Eric patted the girl on her waist and said, "Then, I still have some things to do, so you can do it first."

Anne was reluctant to leave, rubbed Eric, and didn't care too much, so she came over and said, "Eric, are you free tonight?"

"Yeah," Eric nodded: "I'll have someone pick you up after get off work."

After sending Anne away, several representatives from Gaomeng Company arrived soon, and Luc Besson also came to Los Angeles.

After a while, everyone started watching the sample film of "Joan of Arc".

Then, although Eric had no expectations for "Joan of Arc", he realized after watching it that the film was worse than his lowest expectations. Luc Besson was completely in any talent for shooting epic films.

Although the film does not lack large scenes, it gives Eric almost the same word.

The bigger the scene, the more chaotic it gives people, making people feel completely unable to understand the beauty that the lens composition should have.

Although the new heroine Alice Taglioni is also very beautiful, her acting skills are not satisfactory. The movie has not shown the deafening cultural connotation such as the "Freedom" in "Brave Heart".

An epic film that cannot make people feel excited or think, except for the word "failure", Eric really couldn't think of a more appropriate adjective.

If it weren't for the politeness and the intention of winning over Luc Besson, Eric would probably have stood up and left halfway.

"Joan of Arc" has been confirmed to be released in European countries in October, and the schedule of popular movies in Europe is basically similar to that of North America. Therefore, from the schedule, Eric can roughly realize that Gaomeng Film Company does not have much expectations for this film. The coldness and distantness between Gaomeng and Luc Besson who attended today is even more easily felt.

After watching the video, Eric did not have much thought of discussing the movie, but just communicated with Luc Besson about his intention to develop in Hollywood.

Luc Besson obviously knew the upcoming defeat of "Joan of Arc" and messed up two major production movies in a row. He would definitely not have a good life in the French film circle in the next few years. He was naturally quite moved in the face of Eric's personal recruitment and promised it on the spot.

After working for a day, I took Anne to a restaurant on Venice Beach for dinner after get off work, and then returned to Malibu.

However, Eric was somewhat absent-minded tonight.

"Iron Man" will be released on a large scale tomorrow, and the midnight show tonight is also a very critical data for the film.

It was already night on the East Coast. At around 10 o'clock in the evening, emails related to "Iron Man" were sent to Eric's newly replaced BlackBerry phone.

The specific midnight box office information of the film will be released one after another after the early morning of the West Coast.

Although Eric really doesn't need to care too much about the gains and losses of a film compared to his current wealth. But when things really come, he realized that due to the habits he has formed over a long time, it is not easy to be relieved.

And, obviously, it is difficult for many Firefly Group executives tonight to rest.

Eric's plan for the Marvel Cinematic Universe is too huge. Once successful, Firefly Group will be able to maintain considerable advantages in the film business in the next twenty or even thirty years.

The bigger the cake is, the more you will be worried about gains and losses. In addition, the expectation brought to everyone by the success of the MGM Agent's movie universe, it will be difficult for everyone to calm down without confirming the box office data information of "Iron Man" as soon as possible.

Women's minds are always the most sensitive. Anne obviously also felt Eric's absent-minded mood, so she became more and more gentle and obedient, looking cautious and trying her best to please her.

Before we knew it, it was still past twelve o'clock in the morning.

The girl on the big bed had already fallen asleep. Eric took a shower, but simply came downstairs.

I made a pot of coffee for myself, sat on the sofa beside the glass curtain wall and looked through a document to kill time, and occasionally looked at the dark night outside the curtain wall.

After one o'clock in the morning, the BlackBerry phone next to her and the email prompt sounded at the same time.

Eric took the laptop over, opened the unread email I just accepted, and directly looked for the specific midnight box office numbers.

$7.6 million.

My thoughts suddenly became a little confused.

The $7.6 million midnight box office is definitely excellent compared to most films.

However, Eric just happened to be browsing the midnight box office information of big production movies in recent years.

Compared to the $7.6 million midnight box office of "Iron Man", "Mission Impossible 3" has a $9.2 million midnight box office, "Matrix 2" has a $9.95 million midnight box office, "Charlie's Angels 3" has a $12.5 million midnight box office, and "Star Wars Prequel: The Ghost Threat" has a $16.5 million midnight box office.

Of course, Eric naturally knew that films such as "Mission: Impossible 3" had accumulated a huge group of loyal fans, and the Star Wars series has formed an American cultural phenomenon. Fans of these series can't wait to watch the movies as soon as the film is released, so they create a series of high-level midnight box offices.

In comparison, Iron Man can only be regarded as Marvel's second-tier superhero, and his popularity among Marvel superheroes is much lower than that among Spider-Man, Hulk, X-Men and other characters. What's more, this is just the opening work of "Iron Man", or even the opening work of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Although under the large-scale publicity offensive of Firefly Group, "Iron Man" has reached the national level, it has not yet formed a core fan group that will watch the movie as soon as possible.

As for the factors that Eric himself participates in, although it can bring wider popularity to the film. But Eric also knows that since his personal works have never had a unified and distinctive style and have not formed a large group of loyal fans, this factor will not have much effect on the midnight box office.

However, even though these are reality that has to be faced, looking at the midnight box office data of "Iron Man" with only $7.6 million at this time, Eric still finds it difficult to be satisfied.
Chapter completed!