Chapter 288: is too immoral
"Eric, we all know the situation, why do you have to..."
Eric interrupted Murdoch directly and asked, "Who initiated this? I want to know. I know it wasn't Fox, not just because of the cooperation between us, but Fox has gained enough benefits, and even if you wanted to do something, you would not choose the beginning of the year, the box office of Seattle Nights was greatly affected by this incident. So, who was the one that started it?"
Murdoch was stunned for a moment and said, "Eric, even if you know it, what does it matter? This time the means were a bit fierce, but it's just a normal industry competition."
"Who?" Eric asked coldly again.
Eric, Nicole, Julia and Jennifer all know the situation, but Jennifer was the one who initiated it.
Elizabeth, who was originally just listening out of boredom, slammed the utensils in her hand onto the table and gave Eric an angry glare, displeasedly saying, "Hey, Eric, how can you talk to my father like that? He's an elder after all!"
The tense atmosphere was immediately broken by her low chuckle.
Murdoch really wanted to pat his daughter's head and compliment her, but he knew she had grown up now and so simply smiled, raising his glass of red wine and taking a sip.
Eric helplessly looked at Elizabeth, but the girl was still unfaltering and stared back.
These girls were so meddlesome, how can a man even talk!
Eric took a deep breath, making his tone softer, and said "Mr. Murdoch, 'Home Alone 2' was still a great success in terms of box office, although not as high as the first one, it has already made more than 300 million dollars globally, and according to Stewart's age it can still be made into at least three sequels. What do you think?"
"Michael Eisner," Murdoch replied without hesitation.
Elizabeth looked at her father in shock. Is he really selling out his teammates? I just helped him out of the situation.
She glanced at the two 'annoying' men before her, and with a blushing face she picked up the red wine and drank it all with one gulp. She swore to herself that no matter what happens next, she won't say anything.
However, Eric didn't notice the girl's action, he was only shocked at the moment.
Recently, he had thought about it more than once. Behind the scenes, it could have been Warner, Universal, Columbia, or even Paramount, which is not doing so well now. But Michael Eisner of Disney was the least suspected, and even Disney's suspicions of manipulating the situation were placed behind Fox.
After all, although he had not been in contact with Michael Eisner many times, Michael Eisner had always shown his appreciation in front of him. Moreover, Disney had been sincere in cooperating with the movies "The Others" and "Steel Magnolias".
Seeing Eric's face of disbelief, Murdoch said, "Eric, if you don't believe it, you can verify it. This is all in the past and I have no need to lie. From the beginning, it was Michael Eisner taking the lead and many things were under his control, while the other companies only did their best to cooperate."
"How could this be..." Eric muttered in disappointment.
Murdoch thought for a moment and then said slowly: "The three professional managers who left Paramount back then, Barry Diller was the most practical one. He thought that as long as he kept working hard, he would definitely get enough returns, so I think he was also the most naive. So I was relieved to let him take over Fox. Jeffrey Katzenberg was the most devoted to film making. He put his main energy into movies. Therefore, he was not suitable to be the helmsman. As for Michael Eisner, he was the most unscrupulous, he could do anything to develop his career. So, I think these three people in the future, Michael Eisner must achieve the most, but I know I can't control this person, so I never even thought of recruiting him."
Eric sighed and shook his head, "I just find it too unexpected."
Michael Eisner, for some reason, couldn't help but defend himself: "Eisner just did what a typical businessman should do."
"Yes, a typical businessman," Eric smirked.
"So, Eric, about the Little Devil series..."
"Firefly can sign a future distribution contract with Fox for the next three Little Devil series. I won't be directing myself anymore, but I'll be a producer."
Murdoch showed a mixed expression of joy and worry: "Eric, why didn't you come yourself?"
After producing two consecutive films, Eric was feeling a bit burned out and wanted to save time to make other movies. Plus, the signature of Home Alone was Macaulay Culkin, so as long as they kept the same style of the film, it didn't matter who directed it.
Eric replied that this was also part of the reason, but the primary reason was that the first two Home Alone films had been successful, but the third one, due to Macaulay Culkin growing up, had flopped.
Although this timeline had the right cast due to Eric's casting, as Macaulay Culkin was only nine this year, they could continue to shoot, but Eric had no confidence in the future of the series, so he generously signed a distribution contract with Fox for the next three.
After hearing Eric's explanation, Murdoch couldn't find any reasons to refute it either, and for directors at Eric's level in Hollywood, most of them didn't like making sequels. Therefore, he easily accepted Eric's explanation.
Eric nodded: "I'll definitely be involved in this."
At this point, the dinner in front of the three people had already been eaten, and the waiter took away the tableware and replaced it with coffee.
Now that Eric had gotten the answer he wanted, Murdoch began to discuss with Eric about several programs of Fox Television. After all, Firefly was a shareholder of Fox Television, so Eric readily agreed to personally supervise the production of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire", ensuring that it would be broadcast successfully by the end of this month. In fact, the preparation of "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" had already been very perfect, and even the question bank had been almost designed. If it had not been for this incident, it would have been officially released in early March. The situation of "X Files" was also similar. The first episode should have been completed by now.
Although the Firefly's procrastination violates the contract both parties agreed to sign, Fox originally thought that if Firefly complied, he could get the full copyright of several programs, so he didn't respond too much to Firefly's breach of contract. Now that the two parties have reconciled, Fox can't pursue this matter anymore, but just skip it in a few words.
After discussing the important matters, Murdoch picked up the coffee and took a few sips before asking casually: "Eric, do you have any plans for your movies this year, are you going to make a few?"
Elizabeth, who was originally inattentive, also cast a curious glance at the question.
Eric slowly took a sip of coffee and thought for a moment, then said: "Two, one has been confirmed, but the script is still in a stalemate. The scriptwriter's price is a bit outrageous, plus the recent events, I haven't had time to talk about the script."
Elizabeth couldn't help but ask, "Is it the script about the ghost?"
Eric looked curiously at the girl, had the news spread so widely?
Under Eric's gaze, the girl's face flushed a little, she said, "I heard that you...like this script, so I asked around a bit."
Eric could tell that Elizabeth had obviously tried to buy it, but it seemed that she hadn't been successful.
Embarrassed by being seen through, the girl became even more embarrassed, but continued, "But when I had someone contact the scriptwriter, Bruce Joy Robin, they said that the script had already been sold."
Eric suddenly stood up in surprise, looking at Elizabeth: "It was sold?"
"Yes, isn't it you who bought it?" Elizabeth raised her face and looked at Eric doubtfully.
"Sorry, I need to make a few calls," Eric said to the two of them, picking up his mobile phone and walking to the corner of the room.
Looking at Eric, who was standing not far away holding his mobile phone and dialing continuously, a little agitated, Murdoch asked his daughter: "Liz, what script is it?"
The girl looked at Eric's figure and said to her father with some Schadenfreude: "It's a love story script. I didn't see the whole story. I just heard about it roughly. It seems that a bank employee was murdered by his colleague and became a ghost, then protected his girlfriend and avenged. Anyway, that's roughly it."
Murdoch looked at Eric, his eyes flashing, not knowing what he was thinking.
After a while, Eric returned to his seat with a disappointed look on his face.
Murdoch continued to drink his coffee without saying a word. Then Elizabeth spoke up: "Eric, who bought it?"
"Michael Eisner," Eric said reluctantly, naming a person.
The lady asked again: "What are you going to do?"
Eric could almost imagine what he could do. Michael Eisner was too smart to let Disney shoot the script directly, but planned to collaborate with him.
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