Chapter 102: Award Presenter
Chapter 102: Award Presenter
As March arrived, the 61st Academy Awards ceremony drew closer and closer. As Hollywood films gained greater influence across the world, the Oscars also attracted increasing public attention.
Although the awards at this year’s Oscars were destined to have little to do with Eric, no one could possibly ignore this eighteen-year-old youth who had risen to prominence in less than half a year.
Among the films connected to him, Back to 17 and Home Alone had already entered their fifteenth week in theaters since November 18 of last year. Although Back to 17 did not possess the same explosive momentum as Home Alone, after four months of screenings, its box office had still reached 107 million dollars, becoming the sixth film of 1988 to surpass 100 million dollars at the box office.
If it were not being compared to Home Alone, those numbers would already be considered extremely impressive. By now, the box office potential of Back to 17 had been completely exhausted. Each week, it could only earn two to three hundred thousand dollars from fewer than three hundred screens and could leave theaters at any moment.
At the same time, however, Home Alone, which had opened alongside Back to 17, had already approached 240 million dollars at the box office. Even now, on more than 1,200 North American screens, it could still rake in roughly 5 million dollars per week.
In Hollywood during this era, 200 million dollars in domestic box office revenue was the dividing line for a true blockbuster. Only George Lucas’s Star Wars series could easily achieve that. Even Steven Spielberg’s Indiana Jones series did not possess that kind of confidence.
As for 300 million dollars in domestic box office revenue, that could only be called legendary. The previous and only film to achieve that feat was E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial in 1982. Six years later, the suddenly emerging Home Alone once again possessed the potential to touch the threshold of legend.
Under such circumstances, Columbia Pictures, which had already begun acquisition negotiations with Sony, no longer cared about how much profit-sharing it could obtain through the gambling agreement. Instead, it was considering how to push Home Alone’s North American box office past the 300 million dollar mark. Everyone knew that once Home Alone surpassed 300 million dollars, it would trigger another explosive surge in Columbia’s stock price.
“What? You want me to present the award for Best Supporting Actress?” Eric looked at Amy Pascal, who had suddenly come to visit him, in surprise. “Can Columbia decide something like this?”
“We’ve already communicated with Allan Carr, the producer of this year’s Oscar ceremony. With your current influence, you’re completely qualified. Eric, as long as you nod your head, the invitation will arrive very soon.”
Eric hesitated somewhat. His exposure was already high enough, and his private life was constantly being harassed by reporters and paparazzi because of it. But he could also understand Columbia’s intentions. Whether for the still-screening Home Alone or for the summer release of Running Out of Time, appearing at an awards ceremony with forty to fifty million viewers would be extremely beneficial.
Although ever since Blount Cohen left the company and Columbia began acquisition negotiations with Sony, Columbia’s attitude toward Eric had made a complete one-hundred-eighty-degree turn, and they had started actively promoting Home Alone.
But by that time, Home Alone had already missed the far more manageable Golden Globe Awards, and the Oscar nominations had already been announced. Home Alone had only received a rather insignificant nomination for Best Original Score. Everyone knew this was merely a consolation nomination given by the Academy both to attract public attention and because of the film’s dazzling box office performance.
If Columbia had actively campaigned from the beginning, Home Alone might have secured several additional nominations and perhaps even brought home an Oscar statuette in the end.
But it was already too late to talk about such things now. Leaving aside the fact that there were less than two weeks left before Oscar voting closed, making campaign efforts at this stage held little meaning. And purely in terms of musical quality, if Home Alone could defeat excellent films like Rain Man, Gorillas in the Mist, and Dangerous Liaisons to win the Oscar, it would somewhat insult the audience’s intelligence.
In the end, Home Alone was only a low-age-oriented children’s comedy without any artistic depth.
After brief consideration, Eric nodded in agreement.
Although Columbia was doing all this for its own interests, Eric could also gain many benefits from it. As long as he cooperated with Columbia as much as possible, the chances of Home Alone surpassing 300 million dollars at the box office were very high. Once that goal was achieved, Eric’s profit share would reach 120 million dollars.
Amy had also conveyed a promise from Columbia’s upper management to Eric: once Home Alone left theaters, Columbia would fully pay Eric’s share within one month. This could greatly ease Eric’s financial situation. Not long ago, for the smooth production of Scent of a Woman and The Others, as well as the construction of his Malibu mansion, Eric had once again borrowed a massive fifty million dollars from the bank. He was currently carrying a full one hundred million dollars in debt. In Hollywood, he was undoubtedly the individual with the highest debt burden.
“Since you’ve agreed, I’ll notify Allan Carr as soon as possible to send you an invitation,” Amy said with satisfaction after taking a sip of coffee. Then she asked, “Eric, I heard your negotiations with Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks have reached a deadlock. Do you need Columbia to step in?”
Eric shook his head and refused. This deadlock was something he had expected from the start, and he was also certain it would not last more than a month.
Because during Easter, Richard Gere’s decision to abandon the male lead role in Pretty Woman in favor of starring in Road House from United Artists was about to reach theaters. Eric had no memory of that movie from his previous life, so he had specifically asked around about it. The result was that even the most optimistic box office projections within United Artists only estimated around 30 million dollars.
With Richard Gere’s example right in front of them, even though Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks were both Hollywood A-list superstars, they would never make the same foolish decision of refusing to star in Eric’s new film.
The bigger the superstar, the more cautious they became when choosing scripts. Accidentally stepping into a terrible film could cause immeasurable damage to their reputation.
Four years earlier, Al Pacino had been forced into a four-year hiatus because a disastrous Warner Bros. box office bomb with a 30 million dollar investment collapsed under massive public criticism. Before that, Al Pacino had already received five Oscar nominations and was an unquestionable Hollywood A-list superstar.
Meanwhile, the films Eric had participated in had already achieved three consecutive major successes, making him one of the strongest guarantees of box office and reputation in Hollywood. Moreover, after reading the script, both Cruise and Hanks had unanimously acknowledged the box office potential of Running Out of Time.
The reason the two allowed Creative Artists Agency to intentionally create obstacles and stall negotiations was because they wanted greater benefits for themselves. But once CAA’s actions truly caused the negotiations to collapse, the two actors would definitely step in immediately to stop it. From the script discussion that day, Eric already knew they had decided to star in the film. Otherwise, they would never have spent four hours discussing the script with him.
“There’s no need, Amy. Within a month, CAA will loosen its stance,” Eric said, unwilling to owe Columbia a favor for no reason. “I can use this time to complete the film’s preparations. Compared to the less-than-one-month production schedules of the previous two films, Running Out of Time has plenty of time. There are still more than four months before its July release.”