Since 1984, the "Ghost Street" series, which has been produced at a frequency of one movie every year, has accumulated a considerable number of regular movie fans. When Fireflies announced that Wes Craven, the pioneer of the "Ghost Street" series, would return to the end of the series, it immediately attracted the attention of a large number of movie fans.

On Halloween, "The Death of Freddy" was released in more than 1,200 theaters in North America. It won $13 million in the first three days of the first week, and also received quite good reviews. Although the final box office of the film will probably remain around $50 million, Firefly can still make a small profit in North America compared to the production cost of less than 15 million.

In addition to the small start of Firefly's end-of-year schedule, Disney's "Yi Dan Fengyun", which costs $48 million, announced it will be postponed to the summer season of the following year as Eric imagined. Disney gave the reason that it is optimistic about the box office prospects of the film and hopes that the film can fully utilize its own commercial value. But people with a little industry knowledge sneer at this statement.

Although after the film was postponed, the main creators either kept silent or talk nonsense when facing reporters' questioning. However, the interview with "Hollywood Reporter" of the former heroine candidate Nicole Kidman seemed to have revealed some inside information to the public. Nicole did not comment on the film, but just said ambiguously that a good friend would not recommend her to take the movie.

As one of Eric's "rumored girlfriends", most people can easily guess who the "good friend" in Nicole's mouth can easily influence her film. As soon as the news came out, media, big and small, suddenly became hyped up, directly attributed "The Story of the Lord" to the ranks of bad movies, and Disney's distinction became useless.

However, this storm did not have much impact on Disney's stock price. Since Firefly announced the public acquisition of Disney, Disney's stock has been slowly climbing for several months. In early November, Disney's market value had reached US$4.7 billion, an increase of 34% in three months.

Amid the close attention of Wall Street and Hollywood, on November 4, Viacom, which bid for Disney with Fireflies, officially made a $4.9 billion offer to Disney.

It happened to be Monday, and Firefly had already received some news before that. Eric came to Firefly headquarters early to discuss countermeasures with the acquisition team.

During the three months of Redstone raising funds, in addition to tug-of-war negotiations with Disney's management and Disney shareholders, Firefly successively won 4% of Disney's shares at a high price. The current shareholding has reached 15%, becoming Disney's second largest shareholder.

If the acquisition has been stalemate for a long time, Firefly can still request a re-election of Disney's board of directors at the next shareholders' meeting, thereby interfering in Disney's management and even further seizing Disney's control.

Moreover, even if the worst case happens, Firefly lost in this acquisition battle. With Disney's current stock price, Firefly cashes out its shares and can make a profit of no less than US$300 million.

After Eric arrived at the conference room, Bernie Sanders, the head of the Morgan Stanley team, said first: "Based on the information we have received, Summer Redstone has divested the theater business. Viacom has raised about $5 billion. In addition, Viacom Group also holds a small amount of shares of Blockbuster. Redstone is lobbying Blockbuster to obtain financial support from the other party. If successful, Viacom will not have less than $7 billion in chips."

Eric listened and opened the information about Blockbuster in front of him.

Blockbuster is the largest videotape rental company in North America, with more than 2,000 branches. Most importantly, Blockbuster, as a videotape rental company similar to a retailer, has huge cash flow in hand, which is what Eric is most worried about.

In my memory, Redstone and Barry Diller's malicious acquisition war in 1994 was that after acquiring Blockbuster, he obtained $10 billion in capital through asset mortgage, and eventually annexed Paramount.

Thinking of this, Eric asked: "Bernie, is there such a possibility? Viacom first uses the funds in his hands to acquire Blockbuster, and then uses Blockbuster as collateral to get more funds to join the acquisition."

Bernie Sanders thought for a moment and shook his head, "Although it was a very effective method at this time, the possibility is extremely low. Since Blockbuster changed hands in 1987, it has been expanding rapidly at the rate of 500 new stores a year. The annual market value growth rate exceeds 30%. As long as shareholders keep their shares in their hands, they can double in less than three years. In this case, it is impossible to sell them."

Eric felt a little relieved. Although he didn't know why Viacom was able to acquire Blockbuster in a few years, Bernie Sanders' analysis was also correct.

"Where is Viacom, although Redstone currently holds control of Viacom, Viacom's shareholders should not let Redstone do whatever they want, right?"

Bernie Sanders nodded: "Redstone may have raised more than $7 billion in funds, but when the acquisition price of Disney exceeds 6 billion, Redstone will be subject to greater resistance from Viacom. Once the offer breaks through the psychological limit of other shareholders, Viacom will even have internal strife, and then we will be able to win this acquisition easily. However, we don't know what the limit is."

A low voice sounded in the conference room, and Eric quickly wondered if there was a way to get Redstone to withdraw from the competition voluntarily. But after a moment, Eric was disappointed to find that this situation seemed impossible. Redstone is a typical dictator with a strong personal will and will not obey other people's opinions at all, not to mention that both sides are still competitors now.

When he maliciously acquired Viacom a few years ago, Redstone Dong insisted on suppressing everything he had, increasing his offer to Viacom from US$2.25 billion to 3.4 billion. After the acquisition was completed, facing resistance from Viacom's management, Redstone Dong did not hesitate to pay high severance fees and replaced all of Viacom's senior management. This shows his arrogant and lonely personality.

Once a person makes a decision, unless he reaches the end of his own path, the chance of actively giving in is basically zero.

On the day Viacom's quotation, Firefly then increased its price to $5 billion, a difference of only $100 million, which made followers of this acquisition speculate that this was just a test between Firefly and Viacom.

In the next week, there seemed to be no movement between the two parties. But only those who participated in it personally knew. During this period, Viacom and Firefly's acquisition teams became more frequent with Disney.

At the same time, many people realize that the Thanksgiving Christmas will play a decisive role in the acquisition in the next two months, mainly because Disney's management has not given up on lobbying shareholders to jointly resist the acquisition. If Disney's performance improves in the past two months, or if there is a major change in Firefly, Disney's management is likely to win the support of considerable shareholders again.

Although the total box office of the year-end period is much lower than that of the summer period, the intensity of competition is not weak at all.

On November 22, the first week of the end of the year holiday, five new films, including Disney's "Beauty and the Beast", Firefly's "Dude and Agua", Paramount's "Adams Family" and Universal's "American Rat 2", were released on a large scale at the same time.

Although there was no sequel to be developed for a year, the momentum of "Home Imperial 3" has not diminished at all. It won more than 27 million yuan in more than 2,500 theaters in three days on the first weekend, and won the three-day box office championship without any suspense. This result surprised Eric, but he did not regret transferring the sequel development rights to Fox. After all, the cost of this sequel exceeded 50 million US dollars, and Fox has not much profit margin.

Following "Home Imp 3" is Paramount's "The Adams Family", which has won $24 million in more than 2,400 theaters.

Firefly's road comedy "Ah Du and Agua" ranked third, with Eric arranging 1,900 theaters for the movie, and the box office in the first weekend just reached 20 million.

Although this achievement is far inferior to the previous two works, "The Little Imperial" and "The Adams Family" have accumulated a lot of fame through their previous works or TV series. "Ah Dai and Agua" is a completely new work without any popularity accumulation. In addition, the film's very low cost, the achievements have attracted more attention.

On the day the first weekend's results were released, Hollywood film companies had already begun to study the movie, trying to find the success elements of the comedy and imitate it. They also quickly found the key, which was the protagonist of the movie. However, when they learned about the content of the contract signed by Jin Carrey and TG, most people had lost their minds.

In addition to these three movies, although Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" has gained a good reputation, it is limited to less than 1,000 releases, and it only ranks fifth in the box office, even lagging behind Universal's "Horror Corner" which has been released for a week. The movie is directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Robert De Niro.

As for another Universal film, "American Rat 2", co-developed with Spielberg's Abelin Pictures, it only earned a pitiful box office of $3.4 million in 1,700 theaters, becoming the first box office dud in the end of the year.

Faced with open and secret battles with Viacom and the small actions made by Disney management from time to time, Eric did not rest during Thanksgiving, and even ate Thanksgiving dinner with Jeffrey and others.

Eric originally had the conservative box office of "Ah Dai and Agua" estimated to be around 80 million. As long as this result was achieved, Eric would be satisfied. After all, vulgar comedy had not cultivated enough audiences in Hollywood before. However, the potential shown in this movie was full of hope for exceeding 100 million, and Eric was no longer too worried about the box office of "The Hot Police Flower".

However, although "Adai and Agua" achieved outstanding results, it was attacked by Disney. On the second day of the release of "Adai and Agua", Disney accused the movie of being incompatible with Disney's business ideas. If the two companies merge, this vulgar comedy will undoubtedly damage Disney's healthy and uplifting brand image.

Faced with Disney's unreasonable accusations, Eric directly made people make a tough counterattack. He said that after completing the acquisition, Disney will become a brand and a subsidiary of Firefly. Instead of Firefly, it is not mainly Disney. Therefore, the accusations of Disney's current management are completely nonsense. The works developed between different subsidiaries will not affect each other. After all, Disney's Touchstone Pictures has also produced a considerable number of R-level movies in recent years.

After four weeks of Thanksgiving, the box office of "Home Imperial 3" reached 80 million US dollars, because the next Christmas time is next. Fox estimated that the subsequent reaction of the film will still get the same box office, because of the same type of competition in "Home Imperial 3". "Beauty and the Beast" has only a box office of just over 30 million US dollars. Although the movie has a good reputation, it is destined to have a great achievement in the box office. However, "Ah Dai and Agua" has a box office of 65 million, and there is no suspense at all.

Spielberg is destined to be a hurdle that no one in Hollywood can get around. When most people focus on Fireflies and Disney films, "Captain Hawk", which was highly anticipated by Sony Pictures, boldly set its release date on December 6.

Although the script of this movie was greatly modified with the participation of Eric, adding to the role of the little fairy played by Nicole, it still failed to save the reputation of the movie. It was booed in the media two weeks before its release. Sony Pictures originally expected the first week of the movie to have a box office of more than $40 million, but in fact, the film only received 17 million in the first week. Although the weekly box office increased as Christmas approached, it did not exceed the $30 million mark in any week. This $70 million production was destined to recoup the cost by consuming Spielberg's personal reputation.

"Dancing with Wolves", which was released at the same time as "Captain Hawk", is even more inconspicuous. Although the reputation of a small-scale movie is overwhelming, the four-hour duration of the film also blocked most of the audience outside the door.

On December 20, the first week of Christmas, Firefly's "The Soldiers" and Disney's "The New Father-in-law" were released in 1,900 theaters at the same time. As a remake, "The New Father-in-law" relies on the reputation accumulated by the original Elizabeth Taylor, but although the original is a classic work, it has been 40 years apart from now, and its influence is almost gone. Therefore, the movie only won more than 14.4 million box office in the first week.

Compared with the old-school comedy style of "The New Father-in-law", "The Lady Police Flower", which is like "Ah Dai and Agua", has made a lot of audiences' eyes shine. Although the film has a bad reputation among critics, it still earned $21 million in the first three days. Nicole's serious but a little cute female agent and Rosie O'Donnell's rough fat female police partnered with each other, giving the audience who entered the cinema a 100-minute hilarious movie viewing journey without any urine. Nicole's subversive performance in "The Lady Police Flower" even made many people interested in the little fairy played by Nicole in "Captain Hawke", and unconsciously led to the box office of "Captain Hawke". However, most of the movie fans interviewed also expressed that they prefer Nicole's performance in "The Lady Police Flower".

The last day of 1991 passed quickly. With the arrival of the New Year, the total box office statistics of major Hollywood film companies in 1991 were also released one after another, and it seemed to suggest a final competition that was about to come.

Although some movies are still being released, most of the final box offices of the movies that have accumulated and the audience reputation can be roughly counted. Because of the war, compared with 1990, the total annual box office in North America in 1991 was only US$4.8 billion.

Time Warner still firmly holds the position of Hollywood big brother, with 21 films released throughout the year, with a cumulative box office of US$750 million and a market share of 15.6%.

Even if you are unwilling to admit it, everyone can see that the name of Firefly appeared in the second place in a very dazzling manner. With the five films of "Terminator 2", "Toy Story", "Freddy's Death", "Daily and Agua" and "The Soldiers", Firefly won a box office of US$660 million, occupying a market share of 13.7 North America.

Because most of the resources were betting on "Cut Throat Island", Disney only released 12 films throughout the year. The box office of "Cut Throat Island", which is most highly anticipated, has suffered a crushing defeat in the box office, resulting in Disney's annual box office of only US$380 million. The market share has dropped to the lowest 7% in five years.

Not only that, Disney suffered a loss of $120 million due to debts of up to $2 billion, which required interest and principal due. Stimulated by this data, Disney's share price fell for the first time in more than five months.

Disney shareholders, who had a glimmer of hope for Disney's management, finally gave up completely and began to take the acquisition of Firefly and Viacom seriously.

"Sorry, Mr. Bath, I'm sorry we didn't reach an agreement and hope to have a chance to cooperate next time," Eric stood in the parking lot of the sharp corner manor and said goodbye to the two middle-aged people in front of him.

The two people who were about to get on the car were named Sid Buss and Roy Disney Sid Buss, who owned the most shares in Disney, are the current helmsman of the Bath family. Needless to say, Roy Disney, the person of the Disney family, Walt Disney's nephew.

"I hope," Sid Buss once again looked at Eric deeply and got into his silver sedan. Roy Disney's lips moved, as if he wanted to say something, but he finally got on the sedan.

When the other party's car left the sharp corner manor, Chris, who had been standing quietly beside Eric, couldn't help but say, "Eric, I think the conditions raised by the other party are pretty good. If you agree, Viacom will no longer pose a threat to us."

The visit of Sid Bass and Roy Disney represents a large number of Disney shareholders, hoping to exchange their shares for the shares of the company after Firefly merged with Disney, rather than a sum of cash.

As long as Eric agrees, this part of Disney's shareholders will unite to help Firefly complete the acquisition, but Eric still chose to refuse.

Hearing Chris' words, Eric glanced at Bernie Sanders on the other side: "Boni, what do you think?"

Boni Sanders shrugged and said, "I'm just a referee. Actually, when Sid Bass contacted me, I didn't expect anything. I know you've already made up your mind."

Eric smiled and took the two back. He said, "You must have heard that Barry Diller is leaving Fox in February."

The two nodded at the same time. They were very concerned about Hollywood news during this period.

The news that Barry Diller was about to leave has caused a great shock in Hollywood. As an outsider, Murdoch still focused on newspaper operations in Australia and the UK. If it weren't for Barry Diller's assistance, Murdoch would never have entered the mainstream circle of Hollywood, and the development of Fox TV was even more untold. Therefore, the inside story of Barry Diller's sudden resignation from Fox became the object of speculation by many people. Eric met Elizabeth during Christmas and asked this question, but the girl did not hide it from her.

Eric said: "Barry Diller is a very talented person. For Fox's rise over the years, Barry Diller has taken over the majority of the credit. Mr. Murdoch also tried to keep him, but it was probably last September. Barry Diller told Murdoch that he didn't want to be a migrant worker anymore. He wanted to be a master. Do you know how Murdoch answered?"

Chris and Bernie both showed curious expressions.

Eric didn't keep it a secret and said, "Murdoch said Fox can only have one master."

Both Chris fell silent.

Eric said again: "The same is true for Fireflies, there can only be one master. Murdoch must have realized that Barry Diller's departure will have a great impact on Fox's development, but he did not consider the second option at all, even if this choice would not affect his control over Fox at all.

Many investors always instill in the idea that they cannot eat alone and can only develop by sharing benefits. In fact, this is just an excuse for them to seize control of the company. And those who sell their shares in exchange for development funds are often just people who do not have many choices.

If there is sufficient funds, I think neither Microsoft, Oracle, or Cisco's owners would have chosen to go public for financing. Most people have tried their best to increase their holdings in order to achieve the goal of re-control. Firefly is lucky. I just have enough funds to take a path that is completely different from other entrepreneurs. Although it is a little harder and pays a little more, I think it is worth it. I will never choose the path that is relatively easy but has laid many hidden dangers for Firefly's future." (To be continued)
Chapter completed!