Chapter 029: The Suspicious Compensation Agreement
Chapter 029: The Suspicious Compensation Agreement
Looking around through the dense crowd, Eric saw that the Runkel house to the west was already empty. Less than three days after Home Alone was released, the Runkel couple had hurriedly taken Stuart away from the promotional crew. Supposedly, someone had offered a high price for Stuart to shoot commercials.
While Eric was away, information about the family had already appeared in the newspapers. Because of Home Alone’s massive success, Stuart had earned several million dollars in just a few days through various endorsements and commercials. There was also news that the whole family had moved into a mansion in Beverly Hills.
Although Eric hoped the Runkel couple would not be as money-grubbing as Macaulay Culkin’s parents in his previous life, judging from the current situation, this couple seemed no different from that pair. Eric could only hope Stuart would not follow Macaulay Culkin’s old path. After all, the Home Alone sequels still needed this clever little guy. In his previous life, the third Home Alone film lost Macaulay Culkin, and its box office directly plunged from the second film’s 170 million to 18 million.
As he thought wildly inside the reporters’ encirclement, more than ten minutes finally passed. Someone noticed Eric’s predicament and called the police, and only then did Eric get rescued from the crowd by the officers.
Driving with a long tail behind him, he arrived at Columbia headquarters. The two receptionists recognized Eric at a glance. They did not know the complicated feelings Columbia’s executives had toward Home Alone’s box office. They only knew from various news reports that Eric was about to become Hollywood’s youngest billionaire.
So after notifying the president’s office, the two girls began finding all kinds of ways to get close to Eric. If this young, handsome, and wealthy man took a fancy to them, they would instantly rise to the top.
Eric was also happy to flirt with the two pretty vases. He even made a few slightly dirty jokes, making the two girls giggle. Before he realized it, he had two little cards in his hand, both carrying the scent of perfume and their contact information.
“Hey, Eric.”
Just as he was chatting with the receptionists, Eric suddenly heard Blount Cohen’s voice nearby. Turning around, he saw Blount Cohen had already spread his arms. Eric also walked forward warmly and hugged Blount Cohen.
“Mr. Blount, why did you come down personally? You could have just sent someone to bring me up.”
Blount Cohen smiled. “What, are you blaming this old man for interrupting you young people flirting?”
“Of course not,” Eric quickly denied.
Blount Cohen said, “Home Alone achieved such beautiful box office results. It’s only right that I personally come to receive you. Let’s go. Finish discussing business first before thinking about dating girls. Young people should still put their careers first.”
Eric nodded, waved the pink cards in his hand at the two girls, and followed Blount Cohen toward the elevator.
Watching Blount Cohen and Eric enter the VIP elevator, the more petite receptionist asked the other girl with some expectation, “Milia, do you think Eric will ask me out?”
Milia, the tall blonde, leaned close to her ear and whispered, “Who knows? Maybe Eric will ask both of us out at the same time. Would you be willing?”
“Ah? How could that... how could that be okay?” Thinking of certain possible scenes, the petite girl’s face grew slightly hot.
Milia suddenly laughed. “Alright, Lisa, stop dreaming. Judging from the way Eric Williams spoke just now, he’s clearly an experienced player. Even if the two of us were added together, we’d definitely be played by him until nothing was left.”
“How is that possible? He’s only eighteen.” Although Eric had flirted with her just now, the girl named Lisa had a very good impression of him.
That was how the world worked. If an ordinary person flirted with them, he would definitely be beaten up by security and thrown out of Columbia headquarters. But if it was a handsome, young, rich man, it instead made the two girls feel flattered and develop goodwill.
“Correction, he’s an eighteen-year-old handsome guy who’s about to become a billionaire. Someone who can achieve this much at such a young age isn’t someone the two of us can catch, even together. And didn’t you notice? When Mr. Blount Cohen left just now, he glared at us. He was obviously warning us. So, Lisa, be realistic. Come to the nightclub with me tonight. I’ll introduce you to a couple of handsome guys.”
Lisa nodded in disappointment, but she still could not help glancing at the VIP elevator not far away.
...
Inside the Columbia president’s office, Blount Cohen warmly invited Eric to sit on the sofa. Then he personally went to the wine cabinet and took out a bottle of wine.
“Eric, let’s have a small celebration first. Once Home Alone leaves theaters, I’ll definitely hold a grand victory banquet for you. This bottle of white wine was produced at my own winery in Burgundy. It’s the last bottle left.”
Eric picked up the wine glass and skillfully smelled it. The amber liquid released a fresh pineapple fragrance.
Blount Cohen had looked into Eric’s background and knew the young man in front of him could not possibly have come into contact with such top-tier wine before. Thinking Eric was only putting on an act, he asked with interest, “How does it feel?”
Eric nodded and praised, “Excellent wine. It’s not easy for Burgundy wine to produce a pineapple-like fragrance.”
Blount Cohen was somewhat surprised. “Eric, I didn’t expect you to know about wine.”
“I only heard about it by chance,” Eric said honestly.
Blount Cohen did not probe further. He raised his glass and said, “Then, to the success of Home Alone. Cheers.”
“Cheers.”
After drinking, Blount Cohen had his assistant clear away the wineware, returned to his seat, and said, “Eric, let’s talk business now. These are last week’s box office figures for Home Alone. Take a look first.”
Eric took the document and opened it. The file contained not only Home Alone’s box office figures, but also the box office data for every film currently showing that week. Home Alone’s 27.55 million dollars hung high at the top of the list. Back to 17, in second place, had dropped directly to 13.12 million dollars. Although that figure was already quite good, compared with Home Alone, it looked much dimmer.
“Here’s the situation, Eric.” Blount Cohen straightened slightly, his face carrying a hint of shame. “There is one matter for which we need your understanding. It concerns the number of screens showing Home Alone this week.”
Looking at Blount Cohen’s expression, Eric vaguely felt that something was wrong. He nodded for Blount Cohen to continue.
Blount Cohen said, “According to our gambling contract, Columbia should increase the number of screens this week to 2,000. Unfortunately, because Home Alone’s box office far exceeded Columbia’s expectations, our preparations were not sufficient. As a result, this week, we can only add 500 screens.”
Although Blount Cohen’s reason sounded very reasonable, Eric still keenly sensed there was a problem.
“Then, Mr. Cohen, what does Columbia plan to do?” Eric asked calmly.
“Eric, Columbia values the agreement between us very much. But this matter was, after all, beyond everyone’s expectations. The theater chains also can’t leave screens empty just to accommodate our wager. So Columbia has already discussed a compensation agreement.”
Eric became slightly alert. “A compensation agreement?”
“Yes, Eric. Please don’t worry. The original gambling agreement will not change in any way. On top of that, because our insufficient prediction caused losses, starting next week, based on the agreement, we will add an extra 100 screens and continue doing so until the film leaves theaters. I think this should be enough to show Columbia’s sincerity, right?” Blount Cohen said with a smiling face.
Eric subconsciously nodded. If that were truly the case, this compensation agreement was indeed acceptable. Still, Eric sensed something suspicious.
Seeing Eric nod, Blount Cohen took out the prepared compensation agreement and pushed it in front of Eric. “This is the compensation agreement, Eric. You can take a look. If there are no problems, just sign it.”
Eric picked up the agreement and read it. The agreement was very short, with only a few clauses. The language was also very straightforward. On the surface, there were no contractual traps. However, Eric still said cautiously, “Mr. Cohen, may I show this to my lawyer? If there are no problems, I’ll sign it and send the contract back.”
“Of course, no problem.” Blount Cohen nodded generously, then continued, “Then let’s talk about Home Alone’s overseas distribution, Eric. Given the film’s current explosive momentum, the earlier it is released overseas, the higher its box office will be. Once it misses the holiday season, overseas box office will be reduced by at least half. So we want to acquire Home Alone’s overseas rights for 16 million dollars, or 8% of the overseas box office share. What do you think?”
“Mr. Cohen, 8% is a little low.”
Blount Cohen shook his head. “Not low at all, Eric. After deducting the local theater chains’ share and high film taxes from overseas box office, we can only get around 20%. You don’t need to pay any cost and can still receive 8% of the box office. That’s already very reasonable.”
Eric inwardly snorted. What did he mean by “without paying any cost”?
Without Home Alone, Columbia would not have a single film this entire year that could earn 50 million dollars in North American box office profit alone. In fact, throughout all of 1988, fewer than ten films could earn 50 million dollars in North American box office profit. Solely relying on Home Alone’s share, Columbia’s yearly performance among the six majors would directly jump from the bottom to the top three. If calculated properly, Columbia was the one getting the huge advantage.
“Sorry, Mr. Cohen. I need to consider it.”
Eric shook his head and rejected Blount Cohen’s proposal. He would not give up benefits he should rightfully receive just because he was already earning a lot from the gambling agreement. In Eric’s values, what belongs to you can be yours, but what is mine must be mine.
As if he had expected Eric’s answer, Blount Cohen nodded. “Alright then, Eric. Go back and think it over. But please give me an answer as soon as possible.”
After leaving Blount Cohen’s office, Eric happened to run into Lester Reed, who was responsible for the Home Alone project.
“Hi, Lester. Good morning.”
Lester had not expected to run into Eric so coincidentally. His expression was somewhat unnatural as he said, “Hello, Eric. Congratulations on Home Alone’s success.”
“The same to you, Lester. You’re in charge of Home Alone, so you’ll definitely receive a generous year-end bonus, right?”
More like a brutal scolding, Lester grumbled inwardly, though he did not show it on his face and only gave an awkward smile.
“By the way, Lester, may I ask where Ms. Pascal’s office is? If she hadn’t helped recommend Home Alone back then, it wouldn’t have succeeded so smoothly. I want to thank her in person.”