Chapter 86: The First Person to Hit on Him
Chapter 86: The First Person to Hit on Him
After the champagne was opened, the party officially began.
As a film project that, together with surrounding revenue streams such as videotapes, could bring Fox profits exceeding one hundred million dollars, even Fox’s current president, Barry Diller, had no choice but to personally attend the Pretty Woman celebration banquet.
And besides the Pretty Woman cast and crew, Fox had also invited dozens of celebrities of varying fame to show support. The banquet hall glittered with stars.
However, with so many important figures present, the hundred-plus guests in the hall remained orderly. Small groups gathered together, each discussing their own topics.
“Eric, regarding the Super Bowl trailer, the publicity department really was too conservative. I promise that when your next movie is released, Fox will fully cooperate with you.”
Not next time. You could reimburse me for this one too and count it as publicity expenses.
Eric inwardly grumbled, but kept a smile on his face.
“Mr. Diller, let’s not bring that matter up anymore. The 1.5 million dollar Super Bowl advertising fee really was a huge expense. Fox being conservative about it is understandable.”
Barry Diller chuckled and truly did not mention it again.
What an old fox.
The topic quickly shifted to Eric’s next film.
After Pretty Woman, although Eric’s next movie did not even exist yet, Fox had already naturally scheduled it for the summer season.
This year’s summer lineup was packed with blockbusters.
Warner’s Batman, Paramount’s Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Columbia’s Ghostbusters II—all of them were destined to be major box office hits.
Meanwhile, because Fox had diverted too much attention toward developing its television network, the studio would only produce and distribute a little over ten films this year, ranking near the bottom among the six major studios.
In order to avoid ending up last in film performance, Fox was destined to fully support Eric’s movies, especially after the massive success of Pretty Woman.
And with so many blockbusters crowding the summer season, achieving a high box office was not going to be easy.
Eric naturally could not throw the now-famous Home Alone sequel into the summer battlefield against those giants.
After thinking for a long time, he finally decided on an idea he had considered before.
“I already have a preliminary story outline for my next movie. I plan to invite Tom Hanks and Tom Cruise. It’ll be a film centered around two male leads.”
Barry Diller’s eyes narrowed slightly.
If successful, then with the box office pull of the two Toms plus Eric himself, the film would have a guaranteed floor of at least one hundred million dollars.
Combined with Home Alone 2 at the end of the year, Fox would have three major hit films in one year. At that point, nobody could criticize Fox’s film performance anymore, and he could comfortably focus on developing the television network.
“Eric, if you’re inviting both Toms, their salaries alone will exceed ten million dollars, right? What’s your budget estimate?”
Eric thought for a moment.
“Probably no more than thirty million. It’s a drama film. No big action scenes, no special effects. It’ll rely entirely on the performances of the two male leads, so a thirty-million-dollar budget is already very generous. There’s a good chance we won’t even spend all of it.”
“I heard you just spent a huge sum buying Steve Jobs’ studio?”
Although Barry Diller’s question seemed unrelated, Eric immediately understood what he meant.
Fox still wanted a piece of the investment.
“That’s right. I previously had Pixar create a logo intro for my film company, and I was very satisfied with the result. I heard Pixar had fallen into financial trouble and was looking to sell, and since I happened to be very interested in animated films, I bought it along the way.”
“But animated films take a very long time to produce, and 3D animation is still in the exploratory stage, so there’s no telling when the first animated feature will actually be completed.”
Eric completely ignored the faint helplessness on Barry Diller’s face.
Fine, you want to speak in circles? Then I’ll drift right along with you.
Listening to the little fox in front of him ramble nonsense, Barry Diller finally decided to speak plainly.
“Eric, what I mean is this. If your next film runs short on production funds, Fox can handle part of the investment. That would also reduce the risk.”
“And don’t worry. Fox will not tie the investment money together with the publicity and distribution costs. The profit-sharing agreement we previously signed will remain unchanged.”
Now that Barry Diller had laid everything out openly, Eric could no longer reject him outright.
Of course, he also had no intention of handing over profits that rightfully belonged to him.
The things Barry Diller could think of, Eric could think of as well.
If he successfully invited the two Toms, then with the box office appeal of those three people alone, the film would practically be impossible to fail.
In the end, Eric could only respond vaguely.
“No problem, Mr. Diller. If I need outside investment, Fox will definitely be my first choice.”
Barry Diller could tell Eric was brushing him off and understood that the odds of Fox participating in the investment were practically zero.
Still, he would not commit foolish mistakes like Columbia had before.
Both sides were currently in the honeymoon phase of cooperation. Although Eric earned slightly more than Fox under their previous agreement, Fox had still seized enough enormous profits to make everyone else envious.
After discussing several more topics, the two finally separated and went off to socialize with other guests.
The moment Barry Diller walked away, Eric felt numerous gazes instantly focus on him.
Alright, ladies, come throw yourselves at me. Whoever comes over first to hit on me tonight gets a role in my next movie.
A somewhat ridiculous thought surfaced in Eric’s mind.
At the same time, he very much enjoyed this feeling of being the center of attention.
In the end, he really did receive his first approach.
Bald.
Towering and broad-shouldered.
A vulgar smile plastered across his face.
And the most unbelievable part...
It was a man.
“Eric, you finally came back. I want to know what exactly you were thinking. I thought several of Julia’s film offers were pretty good, yet you rejected every single one.”
Just as Eric had finally decided to indulge himself a little, he was helplessly dragged aside by Kapoor.
“Kapoor, do you feel like you’re being pierced through by thousands of arrows right now?”
“Hm?”
“Look around.”
Kapoor suspiciously glanced around and quickly noticed several beautiful women nearby glaring at him with poorly concealed hostility.
Though Kapoor was a workaholic, he was extremely skilled in social situations. Otherwise, he could never have become an agent.
Shrugging, he said, “Sorry, Eric. I interrupted your hunting. But if you don’t explain this matter clearly to me, I can’t relax.”
Eric really wanted to explain things clearly to him.
Most of the successful films Julia starred in during his previous life had been romantic comedies. Since she had just finished filming Pretty Woman, it was definitely unsuitable for her to immediately film another movie of the same type.
That meant he temporarily could not bring out those future films yet.
The movie he felt suited Julia best was Steel Magnolias, the film that earned her a Golden Globe nomination. It had been both a box office and critical success.
Unfortunately, after checking, he discovered that Tri-Star Pictures had not yet started that project.
Either it had disappeared due to the butterfly effect, or it simply had not entered production yet.
Nor could he simply write the script himself again.
With his previous three films, he had only used them after confirming with absolute certainty that the original scripts either had not appeared yet, or that even if they had, they bore little connection to his own versions.
But with this film, he could not guarantee that.
“Kapoor, wait a few more days. I plan to visit the Writers Guild and see whether there are any registered scripts worth picking for Julia.”
Kapoor’s mouth twitched.
“Eric, do you know how many registered scripts the Writers Guild has? Tens of thousands. What you’re saying sounds like, ‘I’m going to San Francisco to pan for several tons of gold.’ Is that even possible?”
If you already knew where the gold was buried, then of course panning for it would be easy.
Eric simply wanted to check whether the writer of Steel Magnolias had already registered the script.
“Trust me, Kapoor. Be patient. I’ll give you an answer very soon.”
Eric had already made up his mind.
If he could not find Steel Magnolias, then he would simply pick another high-grossing movie from his memories for Julia.
With Julia’s current fame, as long as the role suited her image and she herself wanted to participate, no production crew would reject her.
Many studios would probably even be willing to increase their budgets for her sake.