I am Hollywood

[Chapter 1146: The Follow-Up]

After returning home in the evening, Olivia couldn't wait to ask about Eric's discussion with Robert Cromwell. Once she received a positive confirmation, she expressed her joy along with several reminders.

Caroline didn't stay over that night. Olivia was the early to bed, early to rise type. After dinner, she watched some TV with Eric before heading upstairs to rest shortly after nine o'clock.

As usual, Eric wasn't feeling sleepy. After seeing Olivia off, he called the twins to his side.

By the glass wall, looking at the girls seated side by side on the couch -- like two beautiful, quiet lotus blossoms -- Eric couldn't help but reflect on the years they had spent together.

In the wave of immigration following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the twins were almost brought to America like cargo, then purchased by their boss as if they were buying female slaves.

When Eric first learned about their background, he found it hard to believe and even suspected that the twins might be Russian spies; the reputation of the KGB "swallows" was too notorious. For this reason, he had privately hired detectives to investigate the girls' backgrounds in Russia not just once but several times.

After five different detective agencies confirmed that the twins' identity was clean, Eric finally felt reassured.

Now, six years had passed in the blink of an eye.

Looking back, those two girls who had just turned eighteen and couldn't even speak English well were brought to North America amidst national turmoil, seeing no future ahead -- it was probably like two chicks freshly hatched from their eggs.

At this time, that remarkable creature named "Boss" appeared, and the two chicks followed her cluelessly, recognizing their identities and refusing to leave thereafter.

Beautiful girls always bring delight. After admiring the twins for a moment, Eric finally asked, "So, what have you been learning recently?"

Over the years, Drew had kept the girls constantly learning a wide array of skills, from flying planes to opening safes, seemingly determined to mold them into extraordinary female agents capable of anything.

Perhaps due to the simple lifestyle and their focused mindset, the twins learned new skills at an astonishing rate. This was also why Eric had suddenly come up with the idea of having them study under Robert.

Instead of aimlessly learning, why not find the best teacher to instruct them?

Although Natasha didn't understand why Eric had suddenly asked about this, she replied, "Skydiving."

Eric couldn't help but chuckle, saying, "What if you both jump out of the plane while piloting it?"

Natasha shook her head earnestly, "That won't happen."

"Alright, it was just a joke," Eric clarified. "As you heard during dinner, I'm planning to hire someone to help Firefly establish its own security company. He's supposed to be a remarkable person, but he's sixty-seven years old, and he can't work for Firefly for much longer. So I want him to teach you two, and you can take over his role in the future."

The twins listened attentively. After Eric finished speaking, Natasha responded, "We will do whatever the master says."

Eric made a gesture and said, "This could greatly impact your futures; I think you should consider it a bit more."

Natasha nodded, "Okay."

So, the room fell silent for a moment.

A few seconds later, Eric waved his hand and said, "Alright, you don't need to think about it. It's settled."

Natasha nodded again, "Mm-hmm."

"Then it's decided. I'll take you to meet Robert tomorrow. He'll definitely appreciate students like you," Eric finished, looking at Natasha's sister Eve beside her. "Eve, you should go rest now. Natasha and I have some things to discuss."

Such words, which even children can't ignore, made both girls blush at once.

Despite that, Eve obediently got up to leave.

...

Once Eve's patient figure disappeared, Eric gently addressed Natasha, who had lowered her gaze, "Come here."

Not expecting much, Natasha stood up and walked over. However, instead of sitting on Eric's lap as he had anticipated, she unexpectedly took his hand and led him upstairs.

But instead of taking him to the master bedroom on the top floor, Natasha brought Eric to another room on the second floor.

This was the twins' living space in the villa.

As some suggestive thoughts just started to arise, Natasha opened the door and simply pushed Eric inside. She then pulled the door shut behind her, giving no indication of wanting to enter.

Suddenly, that thought shattered.

Inside was a suite -- a living room with closed floor-to-ceiling windows leading to a terrace, next to which was a bedroom.

The bedroom door stood open. Once in, Eric immediately saw Eve standing in front of the wardrobe.

Eve clearly spotted Eric right away, and she froze like a little creature trapped in a snare, clutching a nightgown, her face flushed.

Seeing Eve in this state, Eric could only point behind him and say, "Your sister let me in."

After a moment of silence, Eve barely nodded, putting the nightgown back and quietly sitting at the edge of the bed, not daring to look up.

He couldn't shake off the feeling that this situation seemed somewhat familiar but lacked something vital.

So, he walked over.

He closed the bedroom door and approached the girl.

Gently cupping Eve's face, he looked at her rosy, slightly flushed features with closed eyes and fluttering lashes. He suddenly understood; it lacked a bridal veil, or perhaps an entire set of wedding attire.

However, that hardly mattered.

Leaning down, he pressed his lips against Eve's, savoring her timid response. After a while, Eric gently pushed the girl onto the bed.

Then he realized.

Compared to Natasha, Eve exhibited surprising submissiveness.

She complied as Eric unfastened her clothing, allowing him to peel her like a little lamb, eagerly letting him admire her flawless figure under the light.

Caught in a moment of arrogance, he wondered if he would spoil this younger twin even more in the future. He even overlooked the fact that her long legs were wrapped around his waist.

So, tragedy struck once again.

When the sharp cracking sound echoed, resembling broken joints, accompanied by searing pain, Eric only had time to think: indeed, they were sisters.

Then he decided it would be better to faint slowly.

And he truly passed out.

...

Illness.

Taking leave.

Not working anymore.

This time, the situation was even worse than the last. To avoid being the laughingstock of the mind-bending Hollywood natives, he remained at home for the next few days.

Iron Man had already been released, and the busyness had yielded results, allowing Eric to take a little break. Although the entire Firefly system still required his personal attention, sometimes having too many tasks felt like having none at all. A few days of doing nothing wouldn't cause a catastrophe.

However, he soon regretted not leaving the house.

...

The next day, seeing that Eric even walked a bit awkwardly, Olivia was clearly very concerned.

While Eric couldn't possibly disclose what had happened, Olivia nonetheless made her own conclusions. Then came her gentle, soft-spoken admonitions for Eric to take it easy, like a mother cautiously providing sex education to her teen son, creating a level of awkwardness that was beyond measure.

Unable to step out, he invited Robert Cromwell to the estate for a visit.

...

After getting acquainted, Robert expressed great satisfaction with the twins Eric had recommended as students, and the matter was decided right then and there.

...

Due to his back injury, Eric did not attend the Iron Man celebration party on Saturday. For someone else, that wouldn't have been proper, but as a boss, not wanting to participate meant nobody could say anything. Who would dare dock the boss's pay?

However, higher-ups like Katzenberg continued calling, and since Olivia was present, Eric used her as an excuse.

Even though Eric didn't appear at the Iron Man celebration, it didn't affect the film's box office momentum at all.

After breaking the $100 million mark in its first weekend, with four days of weekdays added in, Iron Man's earnings reached a staggering $135.75 million during its first week.

Then came the second weekend.

Compared to its opening weekend, Iron Man saw only a 36% decline during the second weekend's three days, grossing an additional $62.11 million. Over ten days, the cumulative box office reached $197.86 million. Although it was regrettable that it couldn't cross the $200 million mark, this figure still garnered significant attention from all of Hollywood.

In the wake of Iron Man's resounding success, Paramount's poorly reviewed film, The General's Daughter, suffered a dismal box office performance, earning just $15.17 million in its opening weekend.

Based on the film's reputation and opening figures, The General's Daughter would likely end up with around $60 million in North America. Moreover, as a very localized suspense drama, its performance in overseas markets was even less promising. With a production budget of $95 million, its global box office wouldn't likely reach such a level.

The underwhelming box office performance would significantly impact subsequent revenue streams, leading to considerable losses for Paramount on this project.

However, Paramount's misfortune was far from over.

...

On May 17, the new week began, and Firefly Group held a press conference announcing shocking news.

Due to Blockbuster's concealment of rental and sales data for film tapes and DVDs under Viacom, Firefly Group decided to temporarily suspend the supply of tapes and DVDs until Blockbuster accepted Firefly's financial audit and compensated for damages, at which point Firefly would consider resuming collaboration.

In reality, although the North American film industry had a very sophisticated system in place, with stringent regulations governing both the theater market and home entertainment market, the vast interests involved meant that underreporting box office numbers and concealing sales data had always been an ongoing issue.

Hence, this time, Firefly didn't need to cook the books; all they did was have their accounting department conduct a thorough audit of the sales data Blockbuster had provided, easily exposing the loopholes.

Everything thus fell into place.

After Firefly released its statement, MGM, Fox, and Columbia followed suit, simultaneously announcing a halt on collaboration with Blockbuster.

Suddenly, Hollywood was in a flurry.

Usually, when issues arose, film companies only pursued accountability and compensation in small circles for the sake of the bigger picture; this sort of outright ban on a large video rental chain had never happened before.

Therefore, even outsiders could easily understand that Firefly's intentions were far from simple on the surface.

...

Meanwhile, Viacom naturally responded immediately.

Summer Redstone personally condemned the four major film companies, claiming they were undermining market order, engaging in malicious monopolistic behavior. Viacom would not succumb to Firefly's system and would take legal measures to protect its rights.

...

Firefly quickly countered Redstone' remarks on the Yahoo portal.

Firefly wasn't involved in the retail business of video tapes and DVDs, and thus had no direct competitive interests with Blockbuster. Therefore, Mr. Redstone' monopolistic accusations were utterly unfounded. This was entirely Viacom's fault; Blockbuster should address its serious issues and cooperate with Firefly's audits, while providing compensation.

...

The two sides began a media spat, while the major film companies under Firefly showed no hesitation. Their home entertainment distribution departments promptly cut off supplies to Blockbuster.

Soon, this dispute spread to the stock market.

Many rumors in the industry had never been considered secrets. When Firefly suddenly targeted Viacom, most people quickly grasped the reasoning behind it.

Considering Eric Williams' strong stance during the previous online gossip incident, the industry generally held a pessimistic view of Viacom.

Thus, although Blockbuster's market cap of $3 billion was only one-twentieth of Viacom's recent $70 billion valuation, within just a day, Viacom's stock plummeted by 11%. Its market value dropped from $73.1 billion at opening to $65 billion, equivalent to losing two and a half Blockbusters.

Simultaneously, rival video rental chains like Movie Gallery and Hollywood Video saw their stock prices surge significantly.

The very next day, Movie Gallery seized the opportunity to announce that it would secure $1 billion in financing to open 1,000 new locations across North America within a year.

Once the expansion was completed, Movie Gallery's number of stores would reach 2,500. Although that was still a considerable gap compared to Blockbuster's 4,000 plus locations at that time, both chains had clearly reached comparable scales. Furthermore, compared to Blockbuster, which was consistently declining, Movie Gallery's operational condition was far superior.

Consequently, buoyed by this good news and the decisive measures taken by Firefly after its statement, Movie Gallery's stock soared another 17% the next day, reaching a market value of $4.6 billion, and even exceeding industry estimates for Blockbuster by more than 50%. Other competitors' stock prices continued to rise, while Viacom's stock failed to halt its downward trend even after the dramatic first-day plunge.

*****

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