Chapter 704: All Ears

[Chapter 704: All Ears]

After spending some time mingling with the guests, Edgar Bronfman and Michael Eisner moved away from Eric Williams, heading to another side of the party hall.

Watching Eric still surrounded by a group of admirers, Edgar felt the shift in the atmosphere beside him. It was noticeably quieter. Despite knowing that he couldn't catch up with Firefly Group in the near term, he couldn't help but feel a strong sense of envy. He turned to Michael Eisner and said, "Michael, after paying off the acquisition cost, Seagram Group has around $1.5 billion left in cash. Which direction do you think we should expand next?"

The funds for Seagram Group's acquisition of MCA mainly came from the $9 billion obtained from selling DuPont shares. After paying Panasonic $7.5 billion, they were left with $1.5 billion in cash.

Originally, Edgar had no plans to invest this money in Hollywood immediately. However, seeing Eric's shining presence stirred a desire within him to expand Seagram's reach in the Hollywood industry quickly. Michael Eisner could sense Edgar's emotions. He felt similarly, replying, "Edgar, you know that Fox and Firefly recently jointly acquired Blue Sky Studios, right? With Firefly already owning Pixar and Disney animation studios, they are still actively nurturing animation companies outside Firefly. Last year, Viacom spent a fortune acquiring Disney's hand-drawn animation team from Firefly. All of this shows the promising future of animated films. I think we should first establish Universal's animation department."

Edgar nodded, "Do you have a detailed plan ready?"

"We could mimic what they did with Blue Sky Studios and acquire a decent special effects studio. CG effects and 3D animation are similar in many aspects. Then, we could poach some skilled animators from Firefly's two studios. Although Pixar and Disney pay very well, if we offer competitive salaries and treat them well, I'm sure we can attract some key talent," Michael said, having thought this through thoroughly. However, this plan would require a significant investment, and Panasonic had been reluctant to spend that money in the past two years.

Michael added, "But, Edgar, I should mention that making animated films isn't easy. We might need to invest hundreds of millions up front, and I can't guarantee that our first animated feature will be a hit. We need to build up to it."

Edgar was not lacking in vision for long-term growth. Since much of Hollywood was focused on developing animated films, Universal certainly couldn't afford to be blindsided by it. He replied, "Funding isn't an issue. You can start preparing a proposal."

...

Meanwhile, Eric remained unaware of the conversation between Edgar Bronfman and Michael Eisner. Even if he had known, he wouldn't have been too concerned.

A successful 3D animated film relied on numerous factors. Creativity, technology, team, funding, and time were all crucial. In his past life, after the success of Pixar's Toy Story, several major studios had attempted to produce 3D animated films. Yet, aside from Disney, only Blue Sky Studios could be considered to have a modest success over the next decade or so.

The long production cycles and high costs associated with animated films were significant barriers to other studios venturing into this business. Even Time Warner quietly abandoned their attempts after investing in several unsuccessful animated films.

Fox, spurred by Toy Story's success, established its own animation department years ago. Elisabeth had even brought it up with Eric.

After the Blue Sky Studios deal was completed, Elisabeth suggested merging Fox's animation team with Blue Sky Studios. Initially, Eric did not object, but after seeing clips from Fox's animation film, titled Frozen Planet, he completely scrapped that idea.

Frozen Planet had nothing to do with Ice Age; it told the story of humanity entering the space age after a nuclear war, where a space military academy faced an attack from alien forces. The premise was interesting, but the quality of the animators' work was severely lacking. In Eric's view, the completed animation clips were below Disney's television standards. Upon hearing Eric's critique, Elisabeth promptly disbanded the entire animation department, resulting in a wasted few million dollars.

Fox's animation department faced similar issues as other studios attempting to launch animation films without a solid foundation.

With a glass of red wine in hand, and patiently engaging with overly enthusiastic guests around him, Eric realized that his presence had rather ungraciously overshadowed the host of this party.

Firefly's Burbank headquarters was just two miles from Universal Studios, separated only by a freeway. Eric had been discussing project details with the Matrix team at the Firefly headquarters until a bit past seven in the evening. When he left, he decided to pop by and join the festivities after receiving a personal invitation from Edgar Bronfman a few days earlier. He never expected to walk into this situation.

After about ten minutes, the crowd surrounding him gradually dispersed.

...

Diane Kruger had been anxiously waiting for the moment and, seeing that the bigwigs beside Eric had finally left, took a deep breath and forced herself to smile, lifting her skirt slightly as she made her way over.

However, just as Diane made her move, four other "mermaids" circulating the party simultaneously approached Eric. Their current high status had been built by none other than Eric himself. With so many people around just moments ago, they couldn't squeeze through, but now was the perfect time to greet him.

Seeing the five most glamorous women in the room embrace Eric and greet him, some of the ordinary guests, who thought it was their turn to get familiar, slowed their pace, resigned to wait.

"Hey, Eric, good evening."

"Linda, that outfit looks amazing on you tonight."

"Cindy, your black gown is fantastic, too."

"Oh, and Christy..."

After Cindy Crawford hugged Eric, she smiled and said, "Eric, why do you only compliment our outfits? Don't you think we're pretty?"

"Of course not, you are all my perfect selections," Eric said with a smile, clearly enjoying chatting with gorgeous women rather than being surrounded by a bunch of guys.

After greeting Linda Evangeline, Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington, and Tyra Banks, Eric noticed Diane Kruger standing a bit off, seeming somewhat nervous. He reached out, asking, "Diane, what's wrong? Aren't you going to hug me?"

Diane quickly stepped forward for an embrace but realized that although Eric's attitude towards her remained friendly, just being friendly wouldn't make her stand out among the other four. In that brief moment, she made a bold decision. As Eric released her waist, she subtly shifted, wrapping her arm around his.

During the production of the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, Cindy and the others had sensed Eric giving special treatment to Diane. Seeing her affectionate actions now didn't surprise them at all, but Eric raised an eyebrow, keenly taking notice.

Cindy Crawford, aware that she couldn't reach the same level of intimacy with Eric as Diane, felt a tinge of jealousy. She looked at Eric and playfully asked, "Eric, why did you come alone?"

Eric had decided to drop by the party on a whim, initially wanting to bring his female assistant along, but Kelly had to rush back home for dinner with her daughter, so he came by himself.

He had expected to bump into his woman there, like Nicole.

Due to their collaboration on The Mummy, Nicole maintained a solid relationship with Universal, and missing an event like this was unlikely. However, Eric missed the mark; Nicole had already attended a party a few days earlier and couldn't show up to every single event. Naturally, she wasn't there today either. Aside from Nicole, he had just scanned the room and hadn't spotted any other familiar faces.

But this was something Eric couldn't disclose to Cindy. Instead, he simply wrapped his arm around Diane Kruger and said, "Isn't she my date?"

Cindy, feeling bold, stepped up and linked her arm with Eric's other arm. "In that case, I'll be your date too."

Eric raised an eyebrow playfully and replied, "Sure, you all can be my dates."

Such an obviously double-edged statement elicited some playful pouting from the women, but none of them moved away.

...

In the midst of the crowd, Hasbro's CEO Alan Hassenfeld had not yet approached Eric. He stood patiently, waiting for the right moment.

However, after witnessing the close interaction between Eric and Diane Kruger, he began to piece together a few things.

After pondering for a moment, Alan grabbed a drink from a server's tray and made his way over to Eric.

The surrounding women noticed Alan making his way over and, while feeling slightly annoyed by his lack of social awareness, they made way for him. Diane tightened her grip on Eric's arm as he approached.

Alan nodded slightly towards Diane and extended his hand to Eric, saying, "Hello, Mr. Williams."

"Hello, Mr. Hassenfeld," Eric replied, shaking his hand.

Hearing Eric casually say his last name, although he had anticipated it, still surprised Alan. "Mr. Williams, you know me?"

Eric grinned and said, "I'm not in the habit of pretending not to know someone."

Alan chuckled heartily but was quickly calculating in his mind. If Eric Williams knew him, then the rumors were likely true.

Recalling Edgar Bronfman and Michael Eisner's little maneuver earlier, Alan turned to Diane Kruger. "Miss Kruger, I apologize. I didn't realize your relationship with Mr. Williams earlier. When Edgar and Michael introduced you to me, I thought you were single."

Diane, taken aback by Alan's sudden remark, responded politely, "That's alright, Mr. Bronfman."

Diane's surprise didn't mean Eric was also oblivious. Meanwhile, Cindy, who heard Alan's words, sensed the implication, even without knowing who Alan was. Edgar Bronfman and Michael Eisner had clearly introduced Alan to Eric's women in hopes of stirring up conflict.

Eric felt slightly displeased that Michael Eisner had stooped to such petty tactics to create a rift between him and Alan Hassenfeld. However, he remained composed. Michael hadn't successfully pitted him against Alan, but Alan's comments also seemed aimed at instigating conflict, potentially benefiting Hasbro if a tussle erupted between Firefly and Universal over the Transformers rights.

Those who managed to attain CEO positions at major corporations were rarely fools who would rush into action at the slightest provocation.

Alan Hassenfeld wasn't one of those fools, neither was Michael Eisner, and certainly, Eric wasn't either.

Seeing Eric's expression remain unchanged, Alan was unsure whether he was oblivious to the implications of his previous words or simply unaffected. After thinking for a moment, he probed again, "Mr. Williams, since you know me, I assume Firefly has been keeping an eye on Transformers for quite some time now?"

Eric replied, "Transformers, huh? It's indeed an interesting toy series. I played with Transformers when I was a kid."

"Oh? How do you view the prospects of developing a live-action film for this toy series?" Alan pressed further.

Eric shrugged, "I don't think there's much movie development value for Transformers right now."

Alan furrowed his brow, "Mr. Williams, can you elaborate on your reasoning?"

"Reason?" Eric chuckled, "Once I heard that someone was vying for the Transformers rights, I became very interested and had our tech team conduct some assessments. Do you know what the results were?"

"Please tell me," said Allen Hassenfeld, looking all ears.

*****

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