Chapter 366: I Heard You Needed Money

[Chapter 366: I Heard You Needed Money]

"Alright, 80 million it is," Eric quickly understood Murdoch's situation. Although News Corp was firmly under Murdoch's control, the Murdoch family only owned 40% of the shares. If Murdoch intended to pull all the liquid assets away like Eric did with Firefly, he would certainly face strong opposition from other shareholders.

"Eric, I need to withdraw 80 million within ten days, and I must provide a thorough explanation to the shareholders. If you can't repay this money before the end of the year, I expect to convert this funding into Firefly shares. What do you think about 10%?"

"5%. Firefly is worth that much now." Eric was confident he could repay the money within three months but wasn't willing to take any chances.

Murdoch immediately shook his head. "No way, Eric. I can't explain 5% to the shareholders. I heard you opened a shell production company..."

The two bargained back and forth, eventually settling at an agreement of 8%.

...

With the deal confirmed, the older and younger men stepped out of the study. From afar, they heard Elisabeth's laughter echoing through the hall.

"Liz, do you want to use soundwaves to take down my house?" Eric joked as he found the two women sitting by the floor-to-ceiling window.

"I'd like to take you down," Elisabeth, sprawled on the couch looking over a script, sat up and made room for her father to sit while giving Eric a playful eye-roll.

Eric took a seat next to Connelly and asked her, "What were you just laughing about?"

"It's a script mimicking Tom Cruise's Top Gun, but it's definitely taking a comedic route. The storyline is quite... quirky," Connelly tilted her head, struggling to find an appropriate adjective.

Disdainfully, Eric blurted, "Another Top Gun? That film isn't so easy to replicate. It claimed to have a budget of no more than $20 million, but under the military's full support, it effectively served as a recruitment ad..."

As he spoke, Eric suddenly remembered something and turned to Elisabeth. "Liz, let me have a look at the script."

Elisabeth passed the script over. Eric glanced at the title and didn't immediately recognize it. However, after flipping through a few pages, he quickly remembered the film.

The script was for the well-known American absurdist comedy, Hot Shots! He recalled that the film starred Charlie Sheen, the main actor from Two and a Half Men. The movie cleverly crafted a main storyline resembling Top Gun but pushed the parody to extremes, not only mimicking many classic Hollywood films but also incorporating numerous jabs at famous personalities and events from recent years.

In the early 1990s, most Hollywood comedies stuck to traditional scripts, so the radical parody of Hot Shots! caused quite a stir upon its release.

Noticing Eric's change in expression after looking at the script, even Murdoch, who initially seemed indifferent, became curious and leaned in to ask quietly. Elisabeth whispered to her father, "It's a Fox script."

Hearing this, the old fox relaxed and poured himself a cup of coffee, patiently waiting for Eric to continue perusing the script.

"Eric, I saw this script first, you know?" Elisabeth chimed in as soon as Eric looked up.

Eric handed the script to Connelly beside him and said to Elisabeth, "The project is already greenlit. Are you trying to poach Fox's work?"

"Hmph, of course not. But don't forget what you just said. Let me pick a script. I know you hold a 30% stake, so give it to me."

Eric shot her an expression of "Did I say that?" which nearly made Elisabeth jump up in frustration.

...

After lunch, once he saw off the Murdochs, Eric headed to Firefly's headquarters to prepare for the premiere of Ghost later that evening.

Elisabeth had only managed to retort a few times about Hot Shots! before she gave up on seeking Eric's financial backing. Though she had a bit of a spoiled temperament, she proved to be quite savvy and rational when it came to significant matters.

Hot Shots! featured two prominent female roles: one was a psychoanalyst, the lead female role, while the other, nicknamed "The Pilot," was a standout amongst a bunch of musclemen, though she had very few lines. Connelly wasn't particularly satisfied with either role, but having selected the script, she obediently chose to play the lead.

The North American distribution of Ghost was powered by Disney and Firefly, making it a grand affair. The film opened in an impressive 2,300 theaters and held a lavish premiere at the Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

Before 6 PM, celebrities had already begun appearing on the long red carpet outside the theatre. Although just a few blocks away was the premiere of Die Hard 2, the Ghost premiere was clearly more star-studded. Besides the stars invited by Disney and Firefly, the families of the lead actors from Ghost were also in attendance. The Coppola and Fonda families exerted considerable effort to support their younger generation, and their connections alone were enough to fill a good portion of Hollywood.

...

"Wow, Al Pacino and Robert De Niro are here together!"

"If Jack Nicholson and Dustin Hoffman show up, that would be wild."

"That's hard to come by; just having two is already great."

...

"Look, Jodie Foster!"

"Still so beautiful; it's a shame I heard she's a lesbian now."

"Just rumors."

"After that Hinckley incident, it had to hit her hard. If it were me, I'd probably change my orientation too."

...

"Is that James Cameron? I heard Terminator 2 is in the works. Can't wait! The woman next to him, is she his wife?"

"She's beautiful and classy; she must be an actress."

...

"Wow, Cher's here too!"

"She worked with Nicolas Cage on Moonstruck three years ago. I hear they're good friends."

"I still prefer her singing."

"...."

"...."

On the red carpet, filmmakers frequently spotted unexpected stars, prompting loud gasps and discussions from the audience.

Originally, only a few hundred fans lined both sides of the red carpet, but within less than half an hour, news of the event spread rapidly, and the street was flooded with fans. In fact, many fans who initially attended the Die Hard 2 premiere made their way over, creating an awkward situation for Fox.

...

As the director, Eric barely made it onto the red carpet before he was swamped with guests coming to support the film. At this point, the fans dazzled by the Hollywood spectacle likely wouldn't even notice whether their director appeared on the red carpet.

"Eric, I made a special trip to see the screening. The film is superb, particularly how the music bookends the film, elevating its theme to new heights," Francis Ford Coppola praised, having rushed over from the set of The Godfather Part III, clapping Eric on the shoulder.

Eric glanced at Nicolas Cage, who stood quietly beside Coppola and said, "Nick's performance exceeded my expectations. Perhaps soon, the Coppola family will see a new Academy Award winner emerge."

"Haha, that's a given," Coppola replied proudly. 

...

After greeting the Coppolas, Eric quickly wove through the crowd to acknowledge others. Just as he was about to find a corner to rest for a moment, he felt large hands pressing down on his shoulders. Turning around, he saw a stern James Cameron and a smiling Kathryn Bigelow.

"Jim, Kate, how are you? Thanks for coming," Eric quickly greeted.

James Cameron, however, wore no smile from the red carpet and asked tightly, "Eric, where's the money? They've already started casting for Terminator 2, but the Black Ant's finance department tells me we're out of funds. How can I make a deposit and sign contracts with the union? Plus, Stan informed me you suddenly withdrew all the liquid assets from Digital Domain."

"Weren't there still a few hundred thousand?" Eric instinctively asked.

Cameron felt an impulse to throttle Eric. "What good is a few hundred thousand? Tell me!"

"Fine, fine, Jim, don't panic. I need the money for a month. After that, you can have as much as you want?"

Cameron was about to ask what they would do for that month, but upon realizing the implications of Eric's words, he quickly altered his request. "I want to raise the budget, at least... at least another 20 million."

"Sure," Eric nodded readily but quickly added, "No more than that."

"Okay, but what about this month?" Cameron finally inquired.

Eric explained, "Take your time with casting. You can work with Stan on how to realize the liquid robot. I heard they developed a transformation software for that purpose. Oh, and Kate, we might have to push back Point Break a bit."

"I'm fine with that," Kathryn Bigelow smiled. "After all, delaying it means it would only release at next year's Easter slot, and the loss falls on you."

"Kate, you're so reasonable. Jim, you should learn from your wife," Eric teased subtly, prompting a glare from her.

Due to the overwhelming number of stars attending the premiere, the ceremony started twenty minutes later than scheduled.

Eric finally took his seat and watched a bit of the film when he noticed Michael Eisner calling Coppola over to him, taking a seat next to Eric. "Eric, I heard you needed money recently?"

*****

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