Chapter 193: Bargaining Chip
Chapter 193: Bargaining Chip
“I hope we’ll have a pleasant cooperation from now on, Eric,” Robert Shaye said with a beaming smile after signing the thick contract.
Eric stood up as well and shook the hand Robert Shaye extended toward him. “That’s a certainty, Robert.”
On the last day of August, after nearly a month of negotiations between both sides, Eric’s Firefly Films finally acquired the veteran Hollywood film company New Line Cinema for the price of 15% equity and 60 million dollars in cash.
The scale of both companies was nowhere near that of the Hollywood giant Columbia Pictures that Sony intended to acquire, nor did they involve the same degree of competing interests and power struggles as Columbia. In addition, both sides had a relatively strong desire to cooperate, so once the price was settled, everything naturally fell into place.
As a suddenly rising Hollywood newcomer and a long-established second-tier film company, the merger between Firefly and New Line attracted considerable media attention. After the signing ceremony, both sides naturally complied with the media’s requests and held a brief press conference, followed, of course, by a celebratory party.
Eric did not particularly enjoy this sort of socializing. Compared to that, he preferred quietly staying in his study. However, since he lived in this kind of country, parties were unavoidable. If he had not already rejected countless invitations, with his current status, he could practically receive invitations to all kinds of cocktail parties every single day.
“Eric, I heard that the screening of the film you wrote, The Others, was very well received, right?”
“Yes,” Eric nodded. “But you probably also know that I already signed a distribution contract with Disney before this. Both The Others and Steel Magnolias went to them together. Disney offered an extremely high revenue-sharing deal. It was hard to refuse.”
He briefly explained the situation at the time to Robert.
Eric assumed Robert Shaye had set his sights on the distribution rights for The Others, so he patiently explained the matter. Since the contract had already been signed, Robert Shaye was now considered one of their own. He would serve as CEO of the newly formed Firefly Films and, together with Jeffrey, who had transitioned to the role of president, would comprehensively integrate the businesses of both companies over the coming months.
“No, I think you misunderstood me.” Robert Shaye shook his head. “I’m not asking for the distribution rights to The Others. Actually, since The Others was so well received, I assume you’re also quite skilled at writing horror scripts. So I was wondering whether you could personally handle the next script for A Nightmare on Elm Street. What do you think?”
Hearing Robert’s request, Eric recalled the materials on A Nightmare on Elm Street he had reviewed earlier.
As one of New Line’s most important horror franchises, Firefly had gathered much more detailed data during negotiations. The information was far more accurate than the vague memories in Eric’s mind. Although the first A Nightmare on Elm Street film had only earned around 25 million dollars at the box office, because its production cost had been extremely low, New Line had still made a substantial profit. The next three installments, though their production and distribution costs gradually increased, had also ultimately remained profitable.
However, the situation with the latest installment, A Nightmare on Elm Street 5, was not optimistic. The film had premiered on August 11th, and after three weeks had only earned a little over 16 million dollars at the box office. Its final box office would probably only reach around 22 million. After the theaters took their share and after deducting roughly 10 million dollars in production and distribution costs, New Line essentially made no money at all.
After thinking carefully for a moment, Eric said, “Robert, the horror style of A Nightmare on Elm Street has already become fixed. I definitely can’t come up with any new tricks for it either. In my opinion, judging from the latest film’s box office numbers, this series should probably be put on hold for now. Since audiences are already tired of Freddy killing people in dreams, if we force more sequels out, we’ll only lose more than we gain. If we shelve it for a few years, wait for a new generation of young audiences to grow up while the older audiences develop nostalgia for it, then restarting the franchise would be the best choice.”
As Robert Shaye listened to Eric’s words, his expression subtly shifted several times.
A Nightmare on Elm Street was New Line’s signature horror franchise. Rationally speaking, he understood that what Eric said made perfect sense, but emotionally he still felt uncomfortable. They had only just signed the merger agreement, and Eric already intended to cut off future Elm Street sequels. It reminded him of ancient kings who, after annexing another country, would purge the forces within the newly conquered territory and erase all traces of the previous regime.
Eric had lived through two lives, so when he noticed the changes in Robert Shaye’s expression, he immediately understood what the man was thinking. He had no desire to plant cracks in their cooperation over a low-budget horror film, so he quickly added, “But Robert, these are only my personal opinions. You know I’m still just a newcomer in Hollywood, so there are definitely many things I haven’t considered thoroughly enough. So if you think it’s necessary, A Nightmare on Elm Street sequels can absolutely continue. As far as I know, both the third and fourth films earned over 40 million dollars at the box office. Maybe this latest installment was just an accidental failure.”
Robert Shaye’s expression softened somewhat. He also realized Eric was compromising with him. Since Eric had taken a step back, he naturally would not stubbornly refuse to move forward as well.
“Then let’s do it your way, Eric. But I don’t think ending it immediately would be ideal either. Next year we’ll produce one final chapter… hm, we’ll call it A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Ultimate Nightmare. We’ll temporarily give the series a conclusion. I believe the gimmick of a final chapter will definitely bring in a pretty good box office.”
“That really is a good idea,” Eric admitted, somewhat impressed by Robert Shaye’s quick thinking. Then he followed up with a small promise. “Maybe I can also help contribute some ideas for the script of the final installment.”
“Really?” Robert Shaye could not help confirming it again. Earlier, he had assumed Eric’s response was essentially a direct refusal. In Hollywood, the value of Eric’s scripts was universally acknowledged.
“Of course.”
Eric nodded decisively, while mentally adding another sentence: naturally, without participating in the credited writing. He did not care about the small amount of fame or profit attached to A Nightmare on Elm Street.
But if his name were attached and the final installment turned out poorly, criticism would be inevitable. Among a large creative team, even if he were only the screenwriter, he would definitely be the most eye-catching figure and become the primary target of angry fans.
While it was true that “if you often walk by the river, eventually your shoes will get wet,” Eric did not want to become associated with a bad movie after only one or two years near the riverbank.
The unbeatable box office record of the films he produced was currently the sharpest bargaining chip in his hand. If the value of that important bargaining chip were weakened because of one or two bad films that had little to do with him, the losses would far outweigh the gains.
At the same time, this was also the reason why Eric was still only copying and reproducing classic films from his memories instead of filming movies that completely belonged to himself according to his own wishes.
Perhaps a few years later, when everything had settled into place and his position in Hollywood had become completely unshakable, he would finally produce several films that had never existed in his previous life but which he himself was extremely interested in.