Chapter 309: Completely Disappointed
Chapter 309: Completely Disappointed
Eric listened expressionlessly to Robert Shaye’s explanations, doing his best to suppress the urge to sneer on the spot.
Robert Shaye kept claiming he had no selfish motives and maintained an upright, open appearance on the surface. But Eric was certain that Michael Eisner had absolutely held a “heart-to-heart” conversation with Robert Shaye and promised him certain benefits.
Otherwise, Robert Shaye would not be so blatantly betraying Firefly from within by wanting to hand the overseas distribution rights of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles over to The Walt Disney Company.
With the success of one film after another, Eric was no longer the inexperienced rookie who had first entered Hollywood a year ago. His ambitions had also grown larger and larger.
Moreover, Eric had openly told more than one person that his target was the entirety of Hollywood.
Under those circumstances, gathering talented people for his own use was unavoidable. He did not mind sharing power with people capable of helping him rise quickly.
That was also one of the reasons Eric had been relatively tolerant toward Robert Shaye.
Even during the turmoil some time ago, when Robert Shaye had clearly “taken advantage of the fire to rob the house” and seized another ten percent of Firefly’s shares, Eric had endured it.
One had to remember that by then, Firefly’s five year-end films had all achieved tremendous success. Firefly had gained the rights to five blockbuster films, meaning that ten percent stake was worth far more than a mere sixty million dollars.
But as long as Robert Shaye wholeheartedly managed Firefly, Eric felt those sacrifices were acceptable.
Because now that New Line and Firefly had completely merged, when the profits from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles were distributed at the end of the year according to share percentages, Eric would take away over seventy percent of the profits, while Robert Shaye—the greatest contributor—would only receive twenty-five percent.
Under those circumstances, it was understandable for Robert Shaye to feel somewhat unbalanced inside.
That was why, earlier, Eric had simply let Robert Shaye play his little tricks regarding Sleeping with the Enemy.
But now, after hearing Robert Shaye propose handing the overseas distribution rights of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles over to Disney, Eric had become completely disappointed in him.
It was not as though Eric had never told Robert Shaye about his plans for Firefly.
Although it had merged with New Line, Firefly’s distribution capabilities were still comparatively weak.
Take Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for example. Because Eric had personally approved the film, Firefly had managed to secure two thousand opening screens in one go. But that was already Firefly’s limit.
Because of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles’ release, a small-budget film left over from New Line’s previous slate had been forced to delay its release because Firefly simply no longer possessed any available theater resources.
By comparison, any one of the Seven Major studios, if necessary, could gather more than five thousand screens and support the simultaneous release of two or three major productions.
Of course, studios generally did not do that, since it would only create vicious internal competition.
From the very beginning, Eric had planned to use the next several years to expand Firefly’s domestic and overseas markets by relying on the studio’s advantage in possessing outstanding commercial films.
As long as they could establish complete distribution channels, earning slightly less money temporarily did not matter.
Because possessing complete and powerful distribution channels was the true foundation for a major film studio’s survival.
After all, everyone knew that relying on another company’s distribution network was never a long-term solution.
Yet now, after only the accidental success of a single Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film, Robert Shaye’s mentality had already become this distorted.
Then as Firefly continued growing stronger in the future, internal turmoil within the company would practically become inevitable.
Firefly was the most important cornerstone of Eric’s advance into Hollywood. He absolutely would not permit such a situation to occur.
Therefore, there was only one solution:
Remove Robert Shaye.
Although he had already made up his mind internally, Eric also understood that now was not the right time to act.
New Line and Firefly had only just completed their integration. Most of the department heads currently in place were still Robert Shaye’s loyalists.
If Robert Shaye were immediately forced out of the company, there was no telling whether those people would leave alongside him under the encouragement of outside forces.
If that happened, the distribution channels Firefly had just integrated from New Line would rapidly collapse.
That was something Eric absolutely did not want to see.
“Eric, are you listening to me?”
Seeing Eric distracted, Robert Shaye lightly tapped the table with visible dissatisfaction on his face.
“Oh, right. What were we talking about again?” Eric raised his head and calmly asked.
“I was saying, what do you think about handing the overseas distribution of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to Disney? I had people calculate it already. Based on the percentage Michael Eisner offered us, we could earn at least ten million dollars more.”
Eric shook his head. “Robert, I disagree.”
“Why?” Robert Shaye’s voice immediately rose.
Eric replied, “Robert, have you ever considered why Michael Eisner is offering us such favorable terms?”
“This is… a win-win situation,” Robert Shaye hesitated before answering.
Eric immediately shook his head.
“No, Robert. With Firefly’s current overseas distribution capabilities, if we distribute the film ourselves, the overseas box office might only reach sixty percent of what the Seven Majors could achieve, or perhaps even less.
“But I already discussed this with you before. Although we would earn less temporarily, we could use the opportunity to expand channels and establish our own overseas distribution network.
“If we follow Michael Eisner’s proposal, we might make more money for now, but we would never be able to establish our own distribution network.”
“Eric, don’t you think the cost is too great?” Robert Shaye countered.
“If we want to expand distribution channels, I think we can use low-budget productions to do so. That way, even if we fail, we won’t lose much money.
“But using a massively successful blockbuster like Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles to expand channels is simply too wasteful.”
Eric placed his right hand on the conference table and subtly pressed downward, as though suppressing something rising inside him.
Soon afterward, he slowly exhaled and continued:
“Robert, if low-budget productions fail to become major hits, they practically can’t make money overseas at all.
“And if they can’t make money, why would overseas distributors bother helping us distribute them? They aren’t charities.
“You know perfectly well that many Hollywood films with box office totals under fifty million dollars are directly sold outright to overseas distributors nowadays. Even the Seven Major studios themselves can’t be bothered handling global distribution for those films.”
“Eric,” Robert Shaye stared directly into Eric’s eyes and said seriously, “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles was a film led by me. I want its profits maximized.
“I think Firefly’s main task right now is still making money. As long as we have money, I believe expanding channels will become an easy matter.”