Rebirth in America

After Christmas, the spring of 1955 came quickly. At this time, "The Sound of Music" had been in theaters for several consecutive months, and its box office was getting higher and higher. It is said that it has surpassed the box office of "Gone with the Wind" of US$198.67 million. DreamWorks employees were so excited that they asked to hold a celebration banquet.

This matter should have been handled by Morris, the new president of DreamWorks. Alex wanted to gradually let other people handle the matter, but suddenly someone suggested that it should be done together with Parker and Hepburn's engagement party. After all, the two got engaged while filming "The Sound of Music," a movie that means a lot to them.

After the matter was reported to Alex, he specifically asked Pike and others for their opinions. Unexpectedly, Parker and Hepburn were very interested after hearing this, and they both happily agreed.

The banquet was arranged in the Empire State Building. Both Parker and Hepburn invited relatives from their respective families. Some people could come, and some could not. These were invitations distributed by Parker and Hepburn respectively. A total of more than 150 invitations were sent out, and about 140 people came in the end.

Basically all the employees of DreamWorks were present, especially the crew of "The Sound of Music", who came to celebrate without any hesitation. The person in charge of issuing invitations on their side is Morris. He has now officially taken charge of DreamWorks, and Alex has completely delegated power.

"Wait, send an invitation to one more person." Alex seemed to think of something when Morris confirmed the invitees.

"Who are you inviting?" Morris felt a little strange. He thought that no one had been missed.

"Howard Hughes, if it weren't for his plane, our movie would have been delayed for a while."

Alex didn't want to come across as ungrateful. As for whether Mr. Hughes would come after receiving the invitation, that was none of his business.

His original understanding of Howard Hughes was through a movie called "The Aviator." It was a biopic about Mr. Hughes, a sensitive and obsessive man. Due to the plane crash in 1946, he suffered serious physical injuries, and since then he has become increasingly eccentric and incomprehensible. He hates being in crowded places, and in this regard, he is a bit similar to Alex.

Fortunately, Alex was sane and able to suppress his bad side, while Howard Hughes was not so lucky. Before Hughes was injured, he was relatively normal. At best, he was a sensitive person who pursued perfection. After the injury, he locked himself in the house for a long time and did not want to see anyone. It wasn't until his girlfriend who loved him deeply helped him overcome his psychological barriers that he could appear in public more normally.

"Howard Hughes? He will definitely not attend our banquet. You must know that he rarely appears in public now. As the first billionaire in the United States, his attendance will make our banquet popular around the world. Reporters surrounded him." Morris thought so too, and he quickly shook his head, feeling that Alex couldn't invite Mr. Hughes.

Alex shrugged his shoulders and said, "It doesn't matter to us whether he comes or not. However, there can't be any mistakes in etiquette. After all, we were able to successfully complete the film with the help of Mr. Hughes." ."

Morris thought for a while and finally nodded in agreement.

Of course, the Carpenter family was also invited. Bart and Angel had long wanted to see Parker and Hepburn in person. They are fans of these two people and have absolutely no problem attending the banquet.

Maria and the children of the Terpura family are also invited. This movie is about their story, so of course the prototypes must be invited one by one. There are also a few places for Maria to decide by themselves, and they can invite friends to come with them.

In the end, Mr. Hughes did not come, not even a message, and no one explained why he did not come.

Under Alex's suggestion, this banquet was held in a more relaxed, enjoyable and fashionable atmosphere. Everyone who attends the event will receive a special commemorative gold coin when they leave. On the front is the logo from the opening animation of the DreamWorks movie, a boy sitting on the moon fishing. On the back are the words "The Sound of Music" and the year "1955".

This small gift does not seem very expensive, but it is of great significance. But when they learned that it was not gold-plated, their eyes were full of surprise.

There were so many gold coins that everyone could have one, and even the waiters present received a gold coin as a tip. Ten thousand gold coins were produced at that time. Each gold coin weighed about 6 grams, and a total of 6 kilograms of gold was spent. Including manufacturing costs, the total cost was $250,000.

To Alex, this amount of money was nothing, but to others, it was really a big deal. Especially Morris, who kept mumbling that $250,000 could make a good low-budget movie.

"Alex, you actually take these gold coins as tips?" When Morris saw Alex casually giving a gold coin to the waiter, he suddenly felt dizzy. How wasteful this must be.

"Yeah, what's wrong?" Alex looked at him innocently.

"A gold coin is worth almost 8 US dollars! 8 US dollars! This is their salary for a week." Morris stretched out his finger and gestured to Alex. If the manufacturing cost is included, the value of a gold coin is certainly not less than 10 US dollars.

Alex knew that Morris was heartbroken about DreamWorks' money, and he said comfortingly: "Okay, okay! It won't be used much. Of these 10,000 gold coins, it would be good if 3,000 of them can be given out. Isn't there still that much left?" Well, I will give you a few more coins to collect. If you look at them in a few years, the value of these gold coins will definitely rise to more than 100 US dollars."

After all, Morris is a smart-minded person. When he heard what he said, he immediately reacted: "Are you planning to print this kind of commemorative gold coins when we hold celebration banquets in the future?"

Alex gave him a thumbs up and said: "As expected, he is the boss of DreamWorks. You will understand it as soon as you hear it. Yes, in the future, as long as DreamWorks' movies are successful, we will hold a celebration banquet. As long as there is a celebration banquet, We will print 10,000 of these gold coins as a commemoration. You see, these gold coins will become valuable but marketless goodies in the future."

After hearing this, Morris quickly said: "Oh, why didn't you tell me earlier? I have had people destroy the molds used to print gold coins. If I had known, I would have printed tens of thousands more coins."

Alex smiled and shook his head and said: "It's better to destroy it. If you print too much of this kind of thing, it will become worthless."

The banquet was in the form of a buffet and started as an engagement ceremony between Parker and Hepburn. This was not a wedding banquet, so it wasn't very complicated. It was just a few words of congratulations expressed by relatives and friends of both parties, and then engagement rings were exchanged. This is the completion of the ceremony.

Pike raised his glass and said to everyone: "Before I drink this glass of wine, please let me say a few words of thanks to Alex. If he hadn't pushed me from behind, I wouldn't have the courage to express my gratitude to Alex." Miss Hepburn proposes. If you have any relationship problems, I think you might get a good result by consulting him."

After hearing this, everyone laughed and looked at Alex. They all also knew about Pike's proposal. At that time, Alex's song for Pike had already been published in the newspapers. Many people had heard the song and thought it was very beautiful.

Hepburn also raised his glass and smiled at Alex: "Thank you, Alex. If you hadn't written the song, I might not have agreed to Parker's proposal."

Alex smiled and said nothing. He felt a little embarrassed.

Pike finally said: "Well, let's drink together!"

Everyone cheered and drank together, and the scene was full of joy. The waiters were constantly flowing among the crowd, handing various drinks to those who needed them. As for the food, they had to go to the table next to them to get it.

Morris stood up next. He first said his blessings to Parker and Hepburn, and then turned the topic to the movie "The Sound of Music". When he announced that the movie’s box office had reached US$248.67 million! Everyone was shocked by the news when it was $50 million higher than the $198.67 million box office of "Gone with the Wind" in 1932.

When the celebration banquet was planned, "The Sound of Music" had already been screened in major theaters in the United States. The final box office had not been calculated yet. People only knew that it would be higher than "Gone with the Wind". As for how much higher, it was not very clear. Only on the day of the banquet did Morris and Alex get the accurate data, which they did not tell anyone.

Alex didn't even mention it to his family, let alone anyone else. The people present at the meeting that day were all shocked by the news and could not recover for a long time. They were talking among themselves, and the whole hall was filled with a buzzing sound, which was all their whispers.

"In this way, UU Reading www.uukanshu.net DreamWorks can get hundreds of millions of dollars for one movie? How terrible! Hundreds of millions!"

"It's not DreamWorks, it should be Alex. This film company belongs to him!"

"I heard that they only invested US$7 million, but they made so much money in one fell swoop. This much money can last a lifetime."

"If they made a few more movies like this, wouldn't the Carpenters become the richest family in no time?"

"Dream, after so many years, only "Gone with the Wind" and "The Sound of Music" have made so much money. Is it possible to make a movie like this? You have to be lucky."

Morris saw that everyone was talking and kept talking, which made him unable to continue, so he said loudly: "Quiet, quiet, please be quiet!"

It wasn't until after a while that people calmed down from this excitement, and they continued to listen to Morris.

Morris was able to take control of the situation again. He began by saying thank you to Maria and the Trapp family, and thank you for this and thank you for that. Finally, he mentioned Alex, and he praised highly: "He is the smartest and most talented person I have ever met. It was his persistence and hard work that made this movie that set a box office record."

Everyone's applause sounded like thunder, and everyone's eyes turned to Alex. At the beginning, Alex felt as if he was standing under a billion-degree incandescent lamp, with heat all over his body. The light in the space became brighter and brighter, giving him a dizzying feeling. It took him a long time to get used to such a highly anticipated occasion, and then he realized that he should say a few words at this time.