Chapter 309: Complete Disappointment
Chapter 309: Complete Disappointment
Eric listened to Robert Shaye's arguments impassively, making an effort to conceal his urge to sneer. Robert proclaimed to be without ulterior motives and presented a facade of fairness. But Eric was certain that Michael Eisner must have negotiated with Robert in private, offering him some incentives, which was an undeniable fact. Otherwise, Robert would not so obviously try to hand over the overseas distribution rights of the "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" to Disney.
Thanks to a string of successful films, Eric was no longer the novice he once was in Hollywood, and his ambition was growing by the day. He had told more than one person that his goal was the entire Hollywood. In this context, it was inevitable that he would recruit talented individuals for his own benefit, and he didn't mind distributing power to those who could help him quickly rise to prominence.
"This is also one reason for Eric's tolerance towards Robert; even during the recent controversy, Robert clearly 'took advantage of the fire' and took away 10% of the Firefly shares again, Eric still tolerated it. To know that at that time, the end of the year for Firefly, all five films had great success, Firefly has produced five highly successful film copyrights, and the 10% shares are not just 60 million US dollars.
But as long as Robert can fully and sincerely manage Firefly, Eric feels that these sacrifices are nothing.
Now that New Line and Firefly have completely merged, the profits generated by the film "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" will be distributed at the end of the year according to each person's share ratio. Eric will take more than 70% of the profits. Robert, the biggest contributor, can only receive 25% of the bonus. In this case, it is understandable that Robert is not well balanced.
Therefore, Robert just played some tricks in the film "Sleepless in Seattle", and Eric also allowed it."
Upon hearing that Robert Shaye is going to hand over the overseas distribution rights of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" to Disney, Eric has become thoroughly disappointed in Robert Shaye.
He had not failed to mention to Robert Shaye his own plans for Firefly.
Despite merging with the new line, Firefly's distribution capability is still relatively weak.
Like with "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," with Eric's endorsement, Firefly invested 2 million dollars into making the movie a theatrical release. This, however, was Firefly's limit, as the release of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" resulted in a small production movie that was originally slated to be released being postponed because Firefly was unable to allocate any theater resources.
Compared to any of the seven major movie companies, if necessary, they could all raise more than 5 million dollars to support the simultaneous release of two to three big budget movies, of course, generally movie companies would not do this, as it would only form a vicious competition.
Eric initially intended to leverage the next few years with the advantage of having box office hit films from Firefly to expand domestic and international markets.
As long as a complete distribution channel can be established, it doesn't matter if it makes a little less profit in the meantime because having a complete and powerful distribution channel is the fundamental survival of a large film company.
After all, as everyone knows, relying on the distribution channels of other film companies is not a long-term plan.
Now, with just the accidental success of a "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" film, Robert Shaye's mentality has become so unbalanced. As Firefly grows and develops, the internal turmoil of Firefly is almost inevitable. Firefly is Eric's most important cornerstone in his foray into Hollywood, and he will not allow this situation to occur. Therefore, the only solution is to remove Robert Shaye.
Although resolute in his mind, Eric is aware that the present is not an opportune time to take such actions, as the integration of the new line and Firefly has just been completed, and most of the current department heads are still Robert Shaye's lineage. If Robert Shaye is immediately ousted from the company, it is uncertain if those individuals, under the influence of other forces, would leave with him.
In the event of such a scenario, the distribution channels of the new line integrated from Firefly would quickly paralyze, something Eric does not want to see under any circumstances.
"Eric, are you listening to me?" Robert Shaye, noticing Eric's daze, tapped the table gently with a displeased expression.
"Oh, right, where did you just leave off?" Eric raised his head and asked impassively.
"I'm saying, what if we entrust the overseas release of "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" to Disney? I've had someone calculate it, and based on Michael Eisenstein's offered profit split, we could at least earn an additional 10 million dollars."
Eric shook his head: "Robert, I disagree."
"Why," Robert raised his voice.
Eric said: "Robert, have you ever considered why Michael Eisenstein would offer us such favorable terms?"
"It's...a win-win situation," Robert hesitated before saying.
Eric immediately shook his head: "No, Robert, based on Firefly's current overseas release capabilities, if we were to personally release it, the overseas box office might only be 60% of what it was during the Big Seven release, or even lower. But, as I previously discussed with you, even though we may earn less money, we can use this opportunity to expand our channels and establish a distribution network overseas. If we follow Michael Eisenstein's proposal, we may temporarily earn a bit more money, but we will never be able to establish our own distribution network."
"Eric, don't you think the cost of expanding the distribution network is too high? I believe that we can use low-cost, low-budget productions to expand, so that we don't lose too much money. And using a successful blockbuster like "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" to expand the channels is too much of a waste." Eric pressed his right hand slightly on the conference table in front of him, as if suppressing something that arose in his heart, but soon, he took a deep breath and continued, "Robert, if a low-cost, low-budget film can't sell well overseas, it won't make much money. If it can't make money, then those overseas distributors are not going to do charity work. Why would they help distribute it? You know that many Hollywood films with box office receipts below 50 million US dollars are basically sold directly to overseas distributors. Even the big seven movie companies are too lazy to do global distribution."
"Eric," Robert Shea looked into Eric's eyes and said seriously, "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles" is a movie I led, and I hope it can maximize its profits. I think the main task of Firefly now is to make money. Once we have the money, I believe that expanding the channels will be a breeze."
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