"Eric, you little rascal! I knew a Cooper Family man wouldn't be knocked down so easily!"
On the hospital lawn, Eric was strolling with his mother when his older brother, Joshua Cooper, appeared out of nowhere and punched him in the chest.
"Joshua, you'll hurt him!" His mother glared.
"Don't worry, Mom, I didn't use much force."
Eric looked at the burly man in front of him with some surprise: "Joshua, weren't you training in San Francisco? How did you end up here?"
Joshua Cooper, the Cooper Family's eldest son, was 23 years old this year.
Unlike his younger brother, Joshua's academic performance was only mediocre, but his physical fitness was superior.
From high school, Joshua was a member of the football team, a role he continued into college.
After graduating from college, he went to San Francisco and now plays for the 49ers. Although he isn't a core starter, he usually gets playing time in most games.
Joshua Cooper pointed at his mother and said, "Why am I here? Of course, it's our dear mother. I got a call last night and immediately drove back early this morning."
"Did the team approve your leave? It should be during the season now."
Joshua smiled mysteriously: "Mrs. Brown from the management department and I have a good relationship, so I got three days off."
After saying that, he gave Eric a knowing look.
Eric hadn't spoken yet, but his mother's expression had already changed. As a relatively traditional woman, Emily's tone carried a hint of anger.
"Joshua, if you dare to mess around outside, even though I can't spank you, you'll never be allowed through the Cooper Family's door again!"
Joshua waved his hands and retreated repeatedly: "Whoa, whoa, what are you doing, Mom? It's as if I've committed some heinous crime."
Emily snorted coldly: "You know what I'm talking about."
"Alright, Mom, Mrs. Brown and I have a good relationship because I always bring her donuts and hot dogs. She loves them, and that's all there is to it."
As Joshua spoke, he put his hands behind his back and made a vulgar gesture at an angle only Eric could see, forming a circle with one hand and inserting his middle finger from the other hand.
Indeed, it was just donuts and hot dogs.
Eric slapped his forehead: "Alright, Joshua, I don't think you need to explain. Instead of wasting time explaining, why don't you do me a favor?"
Joshua wrapped his arm around his brother's neck: "Of course, just say what you need. As your older brother, it's my duty!"
"A party, help me throw a party."
Joshua understood instantly: "That's why we're brothers; our thoughts align. After going through such hardship, you really need to relax."
Then he leaned close to Eric's ear and whispered, "I'll find the location, and there will be plenty of hot girls!"
Eric looked at his cheap older brother speechlessly, wondering if Americans always thought of such things when they mentioned parties.
Unfortunately, as a Chinese man at heart, he wasn't really into fast food; he felt it was a bit dirty. He preferred home-cooked meals because they were clean and exciting.
"Joshua, let's have the party at home. I don't care who you invite, but I'll give you a list. These guys absolutely must be informed."
"What are you up to? So mysterious. Who are they?"
"My best college classmates. Anyway, I don't object to you inviting girls, as long as Mom agrees."
Beside them, Emily Cooper stood with her arms crossed, looking like, 'You handle it.'
Joshua immediately made a bitter face: "Then I guess we should forget it. Watching movies, eating barbecue, and drinking beer is pretty good too."
Ever since Eric realized the current time, he knew something was amiss, because the movie "windtalkers" was coming soon.
"windtalkers," John Woo's last film in America, was released in June 2002, if he remembered correctly.
However, this heavily invested war film almost bankrupted MGM, practically losing its shirt.
After that, John Woo's reputation, built by "Face/Off" and "Mission: Impossible 2," collapsed.
The following year's "Paycheck" also lost money, though not as disastrously as "windtalkers," but no one in Hollywood was willing to invest in him anymore.
Unable to make a living, John Woo could only return to China, leveraging his title as an international director to persuade companies like China Film Group, Galloping Horse, and Youzu Pictures to invest in films like "Red Cliff" and "The Crossing."
However, his outdated film concepts and models could no longer keep up with the demands of the times. The audience's aesthetic standards were constantly improving, meaning they were no longer easily fooled.
The result was unsurprising: all the films flopped. "The Crossing" even accelerated Galloping Horse's acquisition, leading to a complete defeat.
But MGM losing its shirt wasn't the most terrifying part. More seriously, several MGM executives also resigned due to this, as he remembered.
However, everyone focused on the directors and actors. Besides industry insiders in Hollywood, no one paid attention to who the resigning executives were back then. He never expected his cheap old man, Harry Cooper, to be one of them.
No wonder his father had been working overtime at the company recently and looked so preoccupied. It seemed MGM's internal assessment of "windtalkers" had already taken place, and the result was self-evident.
Once Harry Cooper failed and resigned, it would have a huge impact on the entire family, especially on his own future plans. His path in film would likely become rough and difficult, so he absolutely could not let his father resign.
Eric had been contemplating countermeasures. After a day of thinking, a sudden thought struck him: Why am I so fixated on preventing my father from resigning?
The purpose of not letting Harry Cooper resign was to facilitate his own filmmaking, as film was what he was most proficient in and a business he was sure could succeed.
And since the goal was for him to make movies, what could be more convenient than starting his own film company?
And since he was going to start his own film company, what could be more suitable than acquiring MGM?
As one of the existing seven major Hollywood film studios, MGM, though the weakest, was still stronger than Lionsgate, Dimension Films, New Line Cinema, and others, especially since it was only 2002. This giant, though in its twilight years, had not yet fallen.
Moreover, compared to the complex equity structures of other companies, most of MGM's shares were held by one person, and that person had no interest in filmmaking at all. The acquisition would be relatively easy, as long as the money was in place.
So, the remaining key questions were: figuring out how much money was needed to acquire MGM, and where he would get that money?
He remembered that before his transmigration, Amazon seemed to have acquired MGM for over 8 billion US dollars, but debt accounted for half or even more of that amount.
In 2002, MGM's assets and liabilities weren't so exaggerated. He could inquire about this from his father; he estimated it would be around three to four billion.
And getting billions in a short time was not simple.
Stocks, futures, Bitcoin, etc., were all too slow. He couldn't wait, and he hadn't paid attention to those areas in his previous life, so he couldn't do them.
So Eric's attention turned to illicit methods, specifically the upcoming Korea-Japan World Cup.