Chapter 024: They Jumped into the Trap
Chapter 024: They Jumped into the Trap
Amy Pascal, seated at the far end of the conference table, felt that this matter was not as simple as it appeared.
Although she had only interacted with Eric for a few hours, she had already sensed that the boy possessed a steadiness difficult to find among his peers. Someone with that kind of personality definitely would not impulsively propose a gambling agreement with such slim odds of success.
That meant this gambling agreement was most likely something Eric Williams had carefully considered.
Amy Pascal ignored the overwhelmingly one-sided support for the gambling agreement from everyone else. After thinking for a long time, she finally said, “Mr. Cohen, I think we should be more cautious. There’s no such thing as a free lunch. We can slightly increase the buyout price and negotiate further with Eric Williams. If that still doesn’t work, signing a profit-sharing agreement is fine too. After all, given this film’s box office potential, we’ll definitely make a profit regardless.”
“Amy, I think you’re being too conservative. Even that kid has more courage than you.”
Lester Reed, who had spoken first earlier, rebutted her.
“Do you understand this film’s potential? If we completely acquire all rights to this movie, then aside from the box office revenue, the videocassette rights, television broadcasts, and all kinds of merchandising and licensing afterward could earn us at least tens of millions more in profits. Not to mention we can produce sequels.”
“If we choose a profit-sharing agreement, the rights will still remain in that boy’s hands. We’ll have no choice but to continue giving him huge shares in future operations.”
Amy Pascal replied, “We can also raise the buyout price. Perhaps fifteen million dollars. That boy would definitely agree.”
“Based on the potential of low-budget comedies like this in the past, under normal circumstances, fifty million dollars is already considered a breakout hit. Most high-quality ones only make around twenty million at the box office.”
“So when there’s over an eighty percent chance to obtain all rights to this film for free, why should we pay more than ten million dollars for it?”
“That boy was willing to propose such a crazy gambling agreement despite having less than a twenty percent chance of winning. Are we seriously lacking even that much courage to gamble?”
“But...” Amy Pascal looked at the greed and fanaticism in her colleagues’ eyes. Her feminine intuition made her feel that this matter was even more inappropriate.
“Enough, Amy.”
Blount Cohen interrupted Amy Pascal and said, “Although Jeffrey Hansen and that Eric Williams may be your friends, you must understand that you are now an employee of Columbia. You must prioritize the company’s interests.”
Blount Cohen’s words stunned Amy Pascal.
She indeed counted Jeffrey Hansen as a friend, but as a professional manager, she had always strictly adhered to professional ethics.
And now, merely because she had cautiously expressed her opinion, she was being suspected of betraying the company and helping outsiders fight for benefits.
The intense humiliation caused Amy Pascal’s right hand gripping the pen to tremble slightly.
Finally, Amy Pascal abruptly stood up and coldly said, “Mr. Cohen, since you’ve already formed such an opinion of me, I believe I am no longer suitable to participate in this project. I’ll take my leave now. Goodbye.”
After speaking, Amy Pascal pressed her lips together tightly, quickly gathered the documents in front of her, and silently turned to leave the office.
The entire office fell into brief silence.
“Women...”
No one knew who let out that sigh first.
As a woman occupying a high-ranking position, Amy Pascal naturally faced all kinds of discrimination in this male-dominated society. It was impossible to tell exactly what emotions were hidden behind that sigh.
Blount Cohen felt slightly regretful about what he had said.
Amy Pascal’s work ability and professional ethics were obvious to everyone. Otherwise, as a woman, she would never have been able to sit in this office.
However, although Blount Cohen lacked decisiveness in company management, he was extremely stubborn and self-opinionated.
He felt that although his words had been somewhat inappropriate, Amy Pascal leaving the meeting room like that was also a challenge to his authority.
As a result, he naturally placed all the blame on Amy Pascal.
After the office remained silent for more than ten seconds, Blount Cohen finally spoke again.
“Alright. Since everyone agrees to this gambling agreement, we’ll end things here today. Lester, starting tomorrow, you’ll be fully responsible for the Home Alone project.”
Under the envious gazes of the others, Lester Reed excitedly accepted the assignment.
If they won the gamble, this achievement would definitely count toward his record. Promotion and a raise would naturally follow in the future.
“No problem, Mr. Cohen. I’ll do my best to handle this matter.”
The next day, Eric received notice that Columbia had accepted the gambling agreement.
At the same time, Jeffrey had also contacted the firms Eric needed. After evaluating the value of Jurassic Park, the two firms agreed to send teams to assist Eric in drafting and supervising the execution of the gambling agreement.
On October 31st, although he was quite interested, Eric still failed to participate in his first Halloween parade since being reborn.
Instead, he spent the day inside a conference room at Columbia headquarters with a bunch of boring middle-aged men and women, drafting the detailed terms of the gambling agreement.
Based on the conditions Eric had proposed, the contents of the agreement gradually became increasingly detailed.
To ensure Columbia fully committed itself to the publicity and distribution of Home Alone, the agreement even specifically listed details such as how many promotional soft articles had to be published in newspapers of varying levels of fame.
There were also clauses regarding how many screens needed to be added or reduced depending on theater attendance rates, the number of daily screenings in theaters, screening schedules, and countless other details.
Furthermore, if Columbia violated the agreement, varying penalties were established depending on the severity of the breach.
By the time the dozens-of-pages-long contract draft was completed, even Eric himself was stunned after reading it.
He could not help admiring the professionalism of the accounting and legal teams Jeffrey Hansen had found.
On Columbia’s side, Lester Reed, who was responsible for the Home Alone project, already believed that Home Alone was practically Columbia’s property.
As a result, he did not pay much attention to the dozens-of-pages-long contract and instead somewhat mocked Eric for making such a fuss.
The fees for the two teams Eric hired alone were estimated to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. What a waste.
Lester Reed believed that no matter how detailed the contract was, Home Alone’s box office potential still had its limits.
Even the boldest prediction among Columbia’s executives did not exceed the current yearly box office champion, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, which had earned only 150 million dollars in North America despite its perfect blend of animation and live-action.
Columbia’s original plan had been to release Home Alone during Christmas season in December.
Eric firmly opposed this.
No one understood more clearly than he did how brutally crowded December’s high-grossing film schedule was.
Within a single month, three films from the year’s top ten box office rankings would be released.
Moreover, in Eric’s previous life, Home Alone had achieved its astonishing box office performance through a long theatrical run lasting more than two months after releasing in November.
In the end, Columbia compromised and finalized the release date as November 18th, the same day as Back to 17.
This was also Eric’s proposal.
With two films connected to him releasing simultaneously, the different genres and target audiences would not cannibalize each other’s box office performance. Instead, they would mutually promote one another.
To make room for Home Alone, Columbia even postponed the drama film New Horse originally scheduled for November 18th until December, freeing up approximately one thousand screens for Home Alone.
From the number of screens alone, one could see Columbia’s contradictory mentality.
Under normal circumstances, only films expected to perform well at the box office would open on more than a thousand screens.
Thus, this number showed that Columbia held high expectations for Home Alone’s box office performance.
However, because of the gambling agreement, Columbia also did not want Home Alone to exceed fifty million dollars.
That way, they could not only monopolize all of Home Alone’s box office profits, but also obtain every right related to Home Alone, including sequel rights.
Therefore, the screen count still did not exceed one thousand.
Eric was not dissatisfied by this.
It was completely normal for Columbia’s executives to have such a mentality.
Moreover, within the dozens-of-pages-long gambling agreement, it was explicitly stated that once the box office reached certain figures, corresponding additional screens had to be added.
If Columbia refused to comply, then they could prepare for a lawsuit.
Eric believed that the profits from a single movie were still insufficient for a giant like Columbia to completely tear apart its commercial reputation.
After the gambling agreement was signed, because neither side intended to keep the agreement secret and instead hoped the wager would spread as widely as possible, news of it quickly spread throughout all of Hollywood.
Under the operations of Columbia Pictures’ publicity department, the entertainment headline of the Los Angeles Times the next day featured an article regarding the wager:
“Genius Youth Bets Against Giant Columbia: Madness or Stupidity?”