In August, for a movie in its fourth week of release, Secret War's box office figuring more than $260 million were still strong, with a total number of more than $150 million globally already. Although it depended on luck whether this movie could surpa.s.s Batman in the following show time, there was no doubt that its box office in North America would exceed $200 million.

In addition, "Secret War" in overseas markets was more popular than in North America. Although most overseas countries released it later, some didn't even show it, in those regions where it had been released, "Secret War" had won 12 first-week box office Champions.h.i.+ps altogether. In this case, it was certain that its overseas performance would be much better than domestic.

Colombia invested in the film with no intention of making profits but only to boost its stock price, however the fact was that they could not only recoup investment, but also earned a lot just by ticket sales. Colombia was bound to take a big share in the next video revenue. Although Payback Period was long, this part of the revenue would bring Colombia Pictures hundreds of millions of dollars in the next few years.

For Eric, the project of "Secret War" was also a thing of the past. He only needed to wait to gain his share of profit.

Based on the popularity "Secret War", it was sure to shoot sequels over and over again according to Hollywood conventions. But for investment safety, Eric was not going to partic.i.p.ate in the production of the sequel since the original cla.s.sic was hard to surpa.s.s. For instance, the sequel of the previous "Secret War" hadn't shown any edge.

If the scripts of the sequels were well-written, Eric only intended to involve Fireflies in part of its investment. In case the j.a.panese could give a good price, Eric could even sell them half of the copyright of "Secret War" that belonged to fireflies. After all, without Cruise, Eric, Hanks alone could hardly recreate the brilliance of the original in the sequel of Secret War. With the investment conventions of such films, the cost of the sequels would certainly increase sharply in the future, so it would not be easy to make profit again.

After this project, Eric began his intense work in the second half of the year. First, the first two episodes of Friends needed his partic.i.p.ation. And Fox had already advertised it. Because of the fragment insertion of Friends in Secret War, the public was also looking forward to the play. The second was "Sleepless in Seattle", the penultimate movie of this year, and was actually the last one Eric would make with concentrated attention. Although Fox attached great importance to "Home Alone", Eric couldn't spend much energy on this movie anyway. Besides, he intended to follow the script of its second play, making it easier to shoot.

"Sleepless in Seattle" was only in the early stages of preparation, but the propaganda had begun, the news of the leading role was soon revealed. When the names of the hero and heroine had been decided, many Hollywood actors who wanted to cooperate with Eric were disappointed. Tom Hanks as the leading actor had not been much questioned, but the unexpected Nicole had become the target of the media. With the release of the starring information, Nicole's profile was exposed by powerful paparazzi in just a few days.

An Australian actress, who had won some performance awards, made her debut at the age of sixteen and had no acting experience in Hollywood…

As the information was revealed, the girl quickly became the focus of controversy. Hollywood despised foreign actors, so as the media did. So, except Uta's propaganda papers for the girl, Nicole had received no acceptance, she was showered with one-sided criticism. Most media thought that Nicole didn't deserve the heroine of Eric's new film. From the t.i.tle of "Sleepless in Seattle", the media speculated that Eric might go back to a Romcom like "Pretty Woman". Then the Hollywood media ignored Nicole's current look, and took great pleasure in picking up Nicole's dowdy image in her Australian movies and TV dramas, criticizing her to nothing good.

Of course, this criticism would also be countered. The most intense one was from the Australian media. Although Eric had only a few works and had not been popular for a long time, he acc.u.mulated a great reputation in Australia, no less than those big name directors famous for many years. Therefore, the Australian media are proud that the actresses in their country can act in Eric's new films. So they fought back to Nicole's criticism.

Nicole, who was in the center of the storm, did not feel any pressure at all. She knew that the more the media made fun of her, the more fame she gained.

On August 2nd, Friends quietly started shooting in a huge studio of Fox's.

Among the six main actors, only Aniston had a little fame while the other young people were previously unknown and nameless actors. Eric chose them not only because they had acting skills, but also they were very similar to the images of the main actors in Friends. In addition, as newcomers, these actors were also paid very little, only $5,000 per episode. At first Eric wanted to secretly give Anniston a higher pay. Since the salary was confidential, as long as he didn't tell others, n.o.body would know that. Even if it was known by the other five actors, they would certainly not say anything because Aniston was not only more famous, but also the daughter of the producer and the girlfriend of the director. It would be self-defeating if they really compared themselves to Aniston.

But Eric's kind offer was rejected by the young girl, who only took $5,000 for a film episode like other newcomers. Eric couldn't get over the stubborn girl, so he had deliberately disclosed the news, and it was no surprise that he had a good effect. Like her predecessors, the little girl soon became a real good friend of five other actors. This was very helpful for the shooting of Friends. After all, when they became real friends in reality, they would surely have some tacit understanding in the shooting.

"Everybody, get ready for Scene 5 Act 1, action!"

With the voice of the supervisor, several actors began to chat in the Central Perk Cafe.

The scene was about Ross divorced his wife, carrying an umbrella and showing up in the cafe with a degraded face. In the original version, Ross Geller, played by David Schummond, amazed many audiences when he first appeared. His simple word "hi" made the audience instantly remember the tall and thin figure in a big coat.