Thanksgiving Day in 1995 happened to be November 23. One week after Eric returned to Los Angeles, the end of the year officially entered Thanksgiving Week.

On November 17, in addition to the Jim Carrey comedy film that is still being released, Firefly's "The Jedi" and MGM's "Scream" were officially released. In addition, the new films released this week include Warner's "Good Things in Two" and Sony's "White House Love". You can tell by just the name that these are two romantic comedy films that are in line with the festival.

As the end of the year approaches, various conferences such as summary planning and outlook of Firefly Group emerge in a row. As a media group with business scope involving movies, television, paradises, music and consumer goods, although the film department is the one with the highest exposure rate, its share of the group's operating income has dropped to about 20%. After returning to Los Angeles, Eric began to be busy dealing with the complicated company affairs accumulated over the past few months. Therefore, he did not care too much about the release of these two low-cost films. He just casually looked through the box office data of the next two films after the first day of the release, and threw this matter aside.

However, unlike Eric's confident and plain reaction, the media's attention to the two movies was beyond everyone's expectations.

With the popularity brought by directing the second Victoria's Secret show and the full promotion and support of Firefly Group, Michael Bay's film "The Jedi Men" exceeded everyone's expectations. This crime action film with a budget of only $19 million won a box office of $26.6 million in three days on the first week, squeezing the Jim Carrey comedy of the second week.

Criminal action movies with two male protagonists have almost been filmed in recent years. Not to mention popular series such as "Beverly Hills Police Detective" and "Deadly Weapons", there are countless similar films that are unknown. The ideas that can be used in this type of film have basically been exhausted, and it is difficult to shoot any new ideas.

However, while achieving an excellent box office, "The Jedi Men" has been praised by many media abnormally. Although the plot of the two male protagonists who have obvious personality contrast in this film exchange of identities is considered a small innovation, the media and critics praised Michael Bay's shooting style.

"Dark car chase scenes, sharp editing style, and hot action scenes, Michael Bay deserves to be the director of the MTV that won by visuals. He made a $19 million low-cost crime action film with a visual impact of $50 million. Although the plot is not out of the genre film, it is still a popcorn film that can satisfy the audience's visual enjoyment."

"The right slow motion, a wide-angle scene full of visual shock, has a special beauty everywhere. As a director's neodymium work, Michael Bay undoubtedly gave the producer and the audience a satisfactory answer."

“…”

I have to say that Michael Bay has an excellent control over the visual senses of the camera to the extreme, but when Eric saw these comments in the media, he couldn't help laughing out loud.

As a "experienced person", what Eric remembers most is the "three-pronged" shooting technique that Michael Bay was repeatedly criticized by film critics in his previous life.

At this time, most of the media praised Michael Bay's views, which were exactly what they later used to criticize Michael Bay. Most directors have a strong personal style. For film critics, many directors often like or hate the shooting techniques at the beginning. Few Michael Bay's like this, from liking to hate, and then to extreme disgust.

However, as long as it can bring huge profits to the producer, then, the opinions of the film critics, haha, who cares?

Because one of the protagonists of "The Jedi" is no longer Will Smith, but another black Rap singer, this time there is no such thing as "The Jedi" after "The Jedi", because Will Smith is in an embarrassing situation where the sequel cannot be started because of its reputation as other movies.

After the box office of "The Jedi Men" was released on the first weekend of the box office, Firefly's production department began to discuss the development plan for the sequel with Michael Bay.

On the other hand, "Scream" produced and published by MGM, produced by Flower Pictures and released by MGM, had a box office of $12.15 million in the first three days of the first weekend due to the complete integration of MGM. However, this data only ranks third in the weekly box office rankings, trailing Jim Carrey's comedy of $21.35 million by nearly $8 million. As a thriller horror film by Garce during the Thanksgiving family holiday, this result is already very good, but it doesn't seem to be anything special.

The critics' comments on "Scream" are also polarized. Some people think that the film is very fascinating in the suspense setting, but many people also think that this film is a hodgepodge of old horror movies that uses many horror movies.

Although Eric privately hinted that Drew could let go of the release of "Scream", he was not very clear about why the movie was successful.

After the box office of $12.15 million on the first weekend, the following working days, "Scream" once again received more than $6 million in box office, with a total box office of 18.63 million in the first week.

Therefore, after the first week of screening, combined with the first week of box office data and the reputation of the movie, the film company roughly made a total box office estimate for several new films released.

Because it's just a popcorn film after all, and another black comedy, although directing the second Victoria's Secret show made Michael Bay famous, most institutions have given a forecast of $100 million for "The Jedi Men". Compared with the production and promotion costs of about $30 million, there is no doubt that Firefly will make a very generous profit at the North American box office alone.

As for "Scream", according to the first week of the film's box office and polarized reputation, the total box office data given by the agency is predicted to be only US$50 million, and the box office decline in the next week will be between 30% and 50%, and the total box office figure is far lower than Eric's memory of the box office of more than US$100 million.

Just when Eric wondered if this was because of the butterfly effect caused by his rebirth, time came to the next week.

Jim Carrey's comedy, Firefly's "The Jedi" and even two romantic comedy released by Sony and Warner that did not cause any waves, all showed corresponding box office losses according to the normal box office trends as predicted, but the box office of "Scream" on the next weekend was a big surprise.

Although there are several new films such as "Money Train" and "Club" that do not have outstanding box office performances but still occupy a lot of market share, "Scream" was beyond everyone's expectations. The box office not only did not fall, but instead rebounded. Although the counter-decline rate was only a slight 7%, the box office in three days still reached 13.1 million US dollars. This anti-decline trend chart beyond everyone's expectations indicates that the total box office of this film will far exceed the media's original prediction of US$50 million, and may even be comparable to "The Jedi Men".

Whether it is the media or Hollywood film companies, the reaction to the box office dark horses is always surprisingly quick. After all, the media wants news, while the film companies want markets.

Therefore, in the following days, the reason for the magical box office trend of "Scream" was quickly discovered.

The reason seems to be surprisingly simple.

"The teenage audiences who were interviewed said that their classmates and friends were discussing the movie, and they thought the thrilling horror movie was very exciting. At the same time, the setting of the film's story taking place in the high school group also made them feel immersive. A boy interviewed said: They are tired of the performances of screen action tough guys such as Bruce Willis and Mel Gibson. What they want to see is a movie that is more in line with their lives, even a horror movie."

"Hollywood often classifies audiences between 18 and 34 years old as a unified young audience. Through the movie craze triggered by "Scream", we should find that this age classification rule may change from then on. A professor at the University of Southern California said that the deeper reason why "Scream" was popular is affected by the baby boom echo period. After World War II, the United States began its first baby boom, with an average of more than 10 million children born every year. The babies of that year grew up in the 1960s and 1970s and 1970s.

After the 1970s, it once again brought a baby boom to the United States. This baby boom was affected by the first baby boom, so it was called the baby boom echo period. According to estimates, the total number of babies born in the 1970s reached 60 million, and these teenagers aged 16 to 25 will undoubtedly become a group of separate film consumers. The success of "Scream" is undoubtedly largely because it accidentally caters to the movie viewing needs of these teenagers who are in a rebellious period."

On the top of Beverly Hills, Elizabeth, wrapped in a white bathrobe, sat on the early morning terrace. After reading the Los Angeles Times, who analyzed the success of the box office of "Scream" in his hand, looked up at Eric sitting opposite him: "Hey, I suddenly regret it."

Eric didn't raise his head, drank the coffee in his hand, and asked while reading the newspaper, "What's wrong?"

"The God of Death is Coming" should be considered a teenager movie. I suddenly regretted changing to you "The Big Ace Spy". To be honest, the more I watch this script, the worse it gets."

Eric smiled and said, "Yes, I think it's very bad, so I'm going to change it with you."

"You bastard," Elizabeth glared at him and tentatively said, "Then have you started making it?"

"The new line is planned to be released in the summer next year. The casting has begun. It's too late to change it back now," Eric raised his head and smiled. "So, you should just make this bad movie honestly, but no one said bad movies don't make money."

"Hey, you know that helping her, any low-cost horror movie can get such a high box office, and you don't say you can help me pick a few scripts."

Eric shook his head and said, "It really has nothing to do with me this time. Drew chose the script himself, so I didn't interfere at all."

"She...hum..." Elizabeth looked obviously disbelief.

Eric shrugged: "That's the truth. Just ask for it. Girl is smarter than you. $500,000, and you can buy out five scripts of the screenwriter at one time. I regret it for the screenwriter. If he hadn't signed a package contract for the $500,000, he would have bought a good luxury house in Beverly Hills after this movie. Now, he can only buy a small apartment at the foot of the mountain with the $500,000."

Elizabeth showed a cunning expression on her face and said, "Eric, are you hinting me to dig up the screenwriter? The contract of $500,000 will not be too much."

Eric just made a joke. "Scream" was a big success. Kevin Williamson would naturally receive dividends from MGM privately, and the final income would definitely be far more than $500,000. Moreover, no screenwriter could guarantee that his script would be successful all the time. The chances of a horror movie being a hit at the box office were pitiful. Even if a film company was willing to pay a liquidated damages to help Kevin Williamson terminate the contract, the other party would not agree as long as he was a little smarter.

He glanced at Elizabeth and Eric said, "You can try it. As long as you are not angry, you can dig it up and count your ability."

After all, I have been in the movie circle for a few years, and Elizabeth also understood the rules. He sighed and said, "It seems that I have to choose some teenager movie scripts recently. Well, Eric, what are you busy with recently?"

"Have a meeting and discuss the company's departmental budget and development plan for next year."

Elizabeth blinked, knowing that it was not convenient for him to inquire about these things, but asked curiously: "How much can Firefly's operating income this year?"

"It's about 24 billion, a little better than originally expected."

"Wow, it's better... it's twice as much as my family. The tone of your words is so irritating," Elizabeth said a few times, and couldn't help asking, "According to the previous 11% net profit margin, Firefly's net profit this year is about $2.6 billion."

"Well, but there is also the late balance of the animation department and paper media assets sold last year, which is about $1.25 billion."

"Tsk tsk," Elizabeth smashed her mouth enviously, grabbed the silver knife from the breakfast plate next to her, and waved it: "Hey, don't move, rob."

Eric turned the newspaper in front of him a page, smiled and held up his right hand on the table and shook it: "I surrender, sir, but it's too easy to be caught in broad daylight. Why don't I give you tens of billions to the bedroom?"

"Ah," Elizabeth was stunned for a moment, then spat with a blushing face, got up and tidy up the tableware of the two on the round table, held it in her hands and walked towards the villa, and said, "I'll go and call Julia to wake up. Oh, it's all you used to, and you're lazy."

Eric looked at Elizabeth's leaving figure and said, "She obviously lives with you, how can I be spoiled?"

Elizabeth didn't look back and said in a tough tone: "It's all your fault anyway."
Chapter completed!