Chapter 160: An Affair to Remember
Chapter 160: An Affair to Remember
It should have been from a conversation with a friend in his previous life. At that time, a movie called Finding Mr. Right had just been released. The two of them casually talked about that film, and as they kept talking, they began tracing backward. In the end, they discovered that many films, such as Grey Gardens, Sleepless in Seattle, and Love Story, had all drawn inspiration from Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr’s famous An Affair to Remember.
Of course, that was not the main point. What Eric remembered was that his friend had also casually mentioned something else. It seemed that because of the huge popularity of Sleepless in Seattle, the videotape of An Affair to Remember became extremely popular and sold two million copies within a short period of time. For the film company that owned the rights, that was simply an unexpected fortune.
An Affair to Remember was already an old movie from forty years ago. Although its two leads had both been Hollywood superstars at the time, so much time had passed, and this film was unlike something like 007, which could keep filming sequels endlessly. Therefore, it no longer had much commercial value. Perhaps one or two million dollars would be enough to buy out all the rights to the film. Moreover, Eric considered that if he filmed Sleepless in Seattle in the future, he would definitely need to obtain certain authorizations from the rights holder of An Affair to Remember. If the other party learned about that matter, there was no guarantee they would not take advantage of the situation and raise the price on the spot. It would be better to buy all the rights now.
Seeing that Eric seemed to have remembered something and looked slightly excited, the girl could no longer hold back. She scratched at Eric’s chest and hurriedly asked, “Eric, is there some good movie suitable for me? Hurry up and tell me.”
“No movie. But if you want to make some money, there is a decent opportunity.” Eric picked up a pen and wrote down the title An Affair to Remember on a piece of paper. “Do you know this film?”
Drew widened her eyes and looked at it before honestly shaking her head. “No.”
Eric could only patiently explain, “Then you at least remember the next movie I told you about, right?”
The girl pouted toward the direction of Nicole’s room outside the study. “Of course.”
“In that movie’s setting, the female lead, Annie, really likes watching An Affair to Remember. I think that after Sleepless in Seattle is released, sales of An Affair to Remember videotapes will definitely rise sharply. So if you want to make money, you can use the time during vacation to find a way to buy all the rights to this film. It’s an old movie from forty years ago. As long as the price is right, the film company will definitely be willing to sell.”
Drew had a blind trust in Eric. If Eric said this to anyone else, they would probably have doubts. But Drew had no such doubts. Instead, she asked, “But after buying it, where would I distribute the videotapes?”
“Firefly will begin building its own distribution channels soon, including videotape channels,” Eric said. At the same time, he thought of Home Alone and the three-film contract he had signed with Fox, and a trace of helplessness and regret rose in him.
Back then, he had been alone and had only just entered the industry, so he had not considered many things thoroughly enough. Therefore, when signing the agreement, he handed over peripheral film and television rights such as videotapes and television broadcast rights to Fox as agent, while Firefly could only sit back and wait for its share. Although it looked good on the surface, since many films produced by independent film companies were not even qualified for profit-sharing and were usually bought out at a fixed price, while he could still enjoy revenue-sharing treatment, compared with distributing the films himself, handing the agency rights to Fox still meant losing a large amount of income for nothing.
After all, after going through theatrical release, the film’s fame and reputation were already established. If he had his own videotape distribution channels, then even if they were not as comprehensive as those of major companies, the profits he could obtain would still be much greater than the share he received after the giants cut away a large piece of the cake.
Moreover, through what he had learned during this period, small companies with distribution capabilities usually would not transfer peripheral rights such as videotapes even if they handed the film’s distribution rights to those film giants. As peripheral film revenue accounted for an increasing proportion of a film’s total revenue, income from these peripheral rights could very likely become an important source of funding that supported a second- or third-tier film company. For those second- or third-tier film companies, if their film library contained decent film and television resources, the peripheral income earned from them every year could support the company’s daily operations without needing to repeatedly draw funds from box office revenue or investors. As long as there were no massive investment losses, these film companies could continue surviving.
Therefore, Eric urgently wanted to establish his own distribution channels as soon as possible. The peripheral rights to the next three films, The Others, Scent of a Woman, and Steel Magnolias, as well as Friends, definitely could not be handed away again.
“But Eric, I don’t have any money.” Drew blinked her eyes and looked at Eric like a little enchantress.
Eric could not help pinching the girl’s fair, tender cheek. “Don’t you have a card? Just swipe it. If you earn money, it counts as yours...” At this point, Eric paused, remembering that Westerners did not have the concept of a dowry, so he could only change his wording. “If you earn money, it counts as your little private fund. If you lose money, it counts as mine.”
“Then I’ll go do it.” Drew leaned her face over and rubbed against Eric’s cheek. Just as her little mouth was about to nibble toward Eric’s lips, it was still blocked by a large hand in front of her. She did not mind at all and stuck out her little tongue to lick Eric’s palm.
“You were definitely a cat in your previous life, liking to lick people’s palms so much.” Eric moved the girl off his lap. “Alright, now you have something to do and money to earn. Can you go to sleep now?”
“Eric, you haven’t held me to sleep for a long time,” the girl said with a resentful expression.
“I’m a law-abiding citizen.” Eric reached out with a look of “disgust” and pushed the girl toward the study door. “Besides, there’s an outsider here.”
When Drew heard the word “outsider,” she seemed to become very happy. She pounced over and forcibly kissed Eric on the cheek before finally leaving.
Eric looked at the closed study door, smiled, and shook his head. Then he shifted his attention back to the monitor and began finishing the script for Friends. Barry Diller had personally called to remind Eric to pay attention to the filming progress of Friends. Although American dramas were filmed and aired at the same time, and Friends was no exception, it was already nearly August. The series would premiere in September, so Eric only had one month left.
“Eric, these are today’s newspapers.” Early the next morning, after Eric finished his routine workout, took a shower, and returned to the living room, Nicole thoughtfully placed the newspapers on the coffee table in front of him.
“Thank you, Nicole.” Eric admired with interest the new pink maid outfit the woman had changed into before picking up the newspaper and reading. Nicole also returned to the kitchen to continue busying herself.
A moment later, Eric saw the name of a movie in the newspaper. This film happened to also be distributed by Columbia. He had not expected its performance to be fairly good. The title was When Harry Met Sally, starring Billy Crystal, who had hosted the Oscars multiple times, and Meg Ryan, the original female lead of Sleepless in Seattle.
Eric quite liked this actress with the very sweet smile. However, it seemed her acting career was very bumpy. In summary, perhaps it could also be said that this sweetheart had terrible judgment in choosing films. It seemed her two more successful films were both collaborations with Tom Hanks. One was Sleepless in Seattle, and the other was You’ve Got Mail several years later. The rest did not include many outstanding works.
The reason her judgment was said to be poor was because this sweetheart had brushed past a series of explosive hits. It seemed rather miraculous. Starting from the nineties, she successively rejected Pretty Woman, rejected Ghost, and even rejected Basic Instinct, which launched the previously unknown Sharon Stone to fame overnight. The reason, of course, was that she refused to undress. But after the new century arrived, in order to transform her image, this sweetheart began undressing without hesitation. She even wanted to imitate the success of Basic Instinct and starred in a similar type of film, In the Cut. Unfortunately, that film did not have the same good fortune as Basic Instinct had back then and flopped completely.
Looking at the box office figures for When Harry Met Sally in the newspaper, Eric estimated that this would make the sweetheart somewhat popular for a while. Because of Eric, Hollywood’s history had already greatly deviated. He did not know whether this sweetheart would still be as unlucky as ever in this timeline.
“Nicole, can you come here for a moment?” Looking at When Harry Met Sally in the newspaper, Eric thought of Meg Ryan’s image in Sleepless in Seattle from his memories, so he called out to the woman busy in the kitchen.
“What is it?” Nicole quickly came out, still holding a small spatula in her hand.
“Actually, never mind. You go ahead and finish what you’re doing first. We’ll talk after breakfast.”
“Oh.” The woman turned around and walked back in confusion.
At the dining table, Drew finished breakfast noisily, pulled out a tissue to wipe her little mouth, and hurriedly stood up, wanting to leave.
“Come back. Sit down. Finish your milk.” Eric pointed at the half-full glass of milk and glared at the girl. “Are you rushing back to Mars? Why are you in such a hurry?”
The girl unwillingly sat back in her chair and explained, “I’m going to find someone to buy that movie’s rights.”
“Finish breakfast properly first,” Eric repeated, ignoring Drew’s explanation.
“Hmph.” The girl sniffed, picked up the milk, tilted her head back, and gulped it down in a few mouthfuls. “Is this okay now?”
“Alright. Go crazy.”
“Annoying.” Drew pulled out another tissue, wiping her mouth as she walked out. When she reached the dining room door, she suddenly turned back and glared at Nicole, then shifted her gaze to Eric. “When I’m not home, you two aren’t allowed to fool around.”