Chapter 81: Sincerity
Chapter 81: Sincerity
Without a doubt, the actor who benefited the most was Julia Roberts. As Pretty Woman continued screening, Julia felt as though she had entered an entirely new world. In that new world, everyone treated her with respect, courtesy, and exceptional politeness, practically regarding her as a princess.
While recording a talk show at ABC, the entire production team revolved around her. The program director carefully consulted her opinion on every detail of the recording process.
At the same time, lucrative film offers, advertising contracts, endorsement deals, and all kinds of invitations came pouring in. Following the release of the opening weekend box office numbers, her salary directly soared to five million dollars, a figure many male stars could only look up to in envy.
Al Pacino also completely cast off the shadow of the failure from four years ago. He became spirited and full of confidence again. Old friends from the industry who had not contacted him for a long time suddenly reappeared, and parties and gatherings came one after another.
Of course, where some people prospered, others suffered. Richard Gere, who had already begun promoting his new United Artists film Road House, was undoubtedly the most disappointed one.
His agent had previously praised the Road House project to the heavens while belittling Eric’s new film as utterly worthless. Although Richard Gere knew why his agent had done that, he felt that rejecting Eric’s invitation would earn him a favor from Michael Ovitz. So he chose Road House.
If Pretty Woman had not achieved such tremendous success, even if it had merely become a modest box office hit, Richard Gere would not have felt much. Unfortunately, Pretty Woman succeeded, and it succeeded spectacularly. Its first week alone earned more than the total box office of many films. Seeing all this, Richard Gere could no longer remain calm.
This agitation made him forget that giving up Pretty Woman had largely been his own decision. If an actor personally insisted on accepting a film role, CAA could not forcefully stop him. Thus, all of Richard Gere’s resentment ended up directed at Michael Ovitz. He felt he had become a victim sacrificed for Michael Ovitz’s abuse of personal power.
At Coca-Cola’s headquarters in Atlanta, a meeting of critical importance to Columbia was underway.
At this moment, Coca-Cola president Goizueta held documents regarding Home Alone and Pretty Woman in his hands as he questioned Columbia president Brant Cohen one point after another.
“The profit-sharing agreement was your first mistake. Of course, thanks to the profits from Home Alone, Columbia’s stock price rose from twelve dollars to fourteen dollars, so this mistake can be considered offset by merit.”
After saying this, Goizueta picked up another document and continued:
“But afterward, your erroneous actions directly led to Eric Williams defecting to Fox. According to institutional estimates, Pretty Woman’s North American box office may reach two hundred million dollars, while overseas box office may exceed fifty percent of the domestic market. Box office revenue alone could bring Fox at least eighty million dollars in profit. All of that should originally have belonged to Columbia.”
Brant Cohen did not dare offer a single rebuttal. He quietly waited for Coca-Cola’s board to announce its final decision. In truth, he had already known what his outcome would be.
Studio executives appeared glamorous on the surface, but very few people understood the immense pressure behind their positions.
Investments often reached tens of millions of dollars. Every film release could trigger executive reshuffling. Some people suffered huge losses and were directly kicked out, never recovering again. Others succeeded with a project and were immediately promoted to higher positions, enjoying greater power and benefits, though they still had to anxiously face the next project afterward.
Brant Cohen also knew that although Eric Williams was the trigger—or rather the excuse—for his current condemnation, the real reason was that he himself opposed Coca-Cola selling Columbia to the Japanese.
According to information leaked through certain channels, Coca-Cola’s board had already officially decided to begin acquisition negotiations with Sony of Japan.
Under such circumstances, whether he remained president or not no longer mattered. The company would soon belong to the Japanese anyway.
However, in order to protect his own position, he had contacted many people beforehand, hoping to unite opposition against the deal. Naturally, Coca-Cola’s upper management could not have remained unaware of this.
Had he succeeded, no one would have said anything. But failure naturally brought consequences.
“…Therefore, I now formally announce the board’s resolution: Mr. Brant Cohen is hereby dismissed from the position of president of Columbia-TriStar Motion Picture Group, effective immediately.”
After finishing the board resolution, Goizueta discussed several other matters before finally adjourning the meeting. As president, Brant Cohen was at least granted a measure of dignity. Security was not sent to escort him back to Columbia’s Los Angeles headquarters to pack his belongings.
Brant Cohen left with a desolate expression, but Goizueta himself did not leave. Instead, he headed to another reception room.
“Mr. Goizueta, hello.”
As soon as he pushed open the door, the woman sitting on the sofa stood up and greeted him warmly with an outstretched hand.
Goizueta shook hands with her and smiled.
“Sorry to keep you waiting, Amy.”
“It’s alright. I only just arrived myself.”
This woman was none other than Amy Pascal, who had resigned from Columbia in anger not long ago.
“My assistant already explained my intentions to you beforehand, right, Amy? What do you think?”
Amy Pascal asked, “Mr. Goizueta, I don’t think there’s any reason for me to return to Columbia now. Even though I resigned, I still heard some news. Columbia is about to be sold to Sony. In that case, what would I go back for? To wait a few months and get laid off again?”
“Of course not. Amy, you are a very talented professional manager. Even if the Japanese take over Columbia, they would not dare make overly drastic changes to senior management.”
“I looked into the circumstances surrounding your departure from Columbia. If Brant Cohen had listened to your opinion back then, there would never have been that profit-sharing agreement that caused Columbia to lose tens of millions in profits. Nor would Eric Williams have defected to Fox afterward.”
Amy Pascal said, “Mr. Goizueta, there’s no point discussing those things anymore. What I really want to know is the real reason you want me to return to Columbia.”
Goizueta glanced at Amy.
“Amy, you know Eric Williams, right?”
So that was it.
Amy Pascal confirmed her suspicions and nodded.
“Yes, but we only met a few times. Eric probably doesn’t even remember me anymore.”
“Heh, how could that be? Without your help, how could Home Alone have achieved its box office miracle?”
Although Amy Pascal had gained nothing from the matter and had even lost her job because of it, she still felt a trace of pride hearing Goizueta mention it.
“Mr. Goizueta, if you want me to persuade Eric Williams to return to Columbia, that’s impossible. Everyone knows Eric signed a three-film contract with Fox this year. And by next year, Columbia will already belong to Sony.”
Goizueta shook his head.
“Of course not. I also had someone review that contract. In truth, it isn’t especially strict. Because Fox originally only wanted the distribution rights to Home Alone 2, they did not prohibit Eric Williams from collaborating with other studios while working with Fox.”
“Now that negotiations with Sony have begun, Columbia needs some positive news to stimulate its stock price. For example… a blockbuster film.”
“But…”
“Don’t worry, Amy. I understand your concerns. To ensure smooth cooperation with Eric Williams, the board has already removed Brant Cohen from the presidency of Columbia.”
Amy Pascal said in surprise, “Really?”
Goizueta nodded.
“Of course. Otherwise, given Brant Cohen’s connections, the board would not have wanted to make such a major move. After all, he would not have remained in that position much longer anyway.”
“When you make contact with Eric Williams, you may reveal this matter to demonstrate our sincerity.”
Amy Pascal thought of another issue.
“I think Eric Williams shoots films very quickly, but three films a year should already be his limit, shouldn’t it? If there are more than that, how could quality be guaranteed?”
“We’ll place his new film in the summer schedule. With his current reputation, as long as the film isn’t terrible, earning one hundred million dollars at the summer box office won’t be a major problem.”
“And…”
Goizueta lowered his voice slightly.
“I’ll provide a sufficient budget. As for the second film owed to Fox, we can even find someone else to shoot it for him. He only needs to focus on producing the movie for us.”
Amy Pascal hesitated briefly before finally nodding.
“I’ll do my best to try.”