Chapter 338: Dud
[Chapter 338: A Damp Squib]
At the end of May, filming for Ghost came to a close in Manhattan, New York. Eric returned to Los Angeles with the crew to start post-production.
As schools in North America began their summer break, the summer box office season for 1990 officially kicked off. On May 25, Universal Pictures' Back to the Future Part III and Disney's Fire Birds released by Buena Vista International were released in more than 2,000 theaters respectively.
Back to the Future Part III experienced a rushed production. After all, Back to the Future Part II had just hit theaters at the end of last year. The reason was similar to Columbia's reboot of the Ghostbusters series after a five-year hiatus. Universal's parent company, MCA, was in the final stages of negotiations with Japan's Panasonic group for a buyout. To secure a good price, Universal needed strong performance at the box office.
Due to the tight schedule, although Back to the Future Part III was produced by Steven Spielberg and directed by Robert Zemeckis, it received criticism from many film critics upon its release. Even with a considerable support base from die-hard fans of the series, the film managed only a $19 million box office over the three-day opening weekend.
In comparison, the performance of Disney's Fire Birds was less than stellar. The film told the story of American military Apache helicopter pilots. Despite the ongoing controversies regarding the quality of Back to the Future Part III, Fire Birds, after extensive marketing, turned out to be a dud with little excitement upon release.
Critics occasionally compared Fire Birds to Tom Cruise's blockbuster Top Gun that grossed $350 million worldwide. Most reviews simply tagged it as a "poor imitation of Top Gun."
Also opening in 2,000 theaters, Fire Birds only earned a pitiful $6 million at the box office. This disappointing performance left theater managers, who had signed a two- to three-week run contract with Disney, grumbling. After three weeks, this $30 million investment was on track to be pulled from theaters. Considering distribution costs, the film would incur at least a $30 million loss for Disney.
...
Disney's summer blockbuster had fizzled out, and Eric should have felt a sense of schadenfreude. However, due to the film's lead actor, he couldn't find any joy in it at all. The star of this $30 million production was Nicolas Cage, who played the lead in this version of Ghost.
On the morning of May 29th, as Eric and a few key creatives from Ghost exited Los Angeles Airport, they were met by a swarm of paparazzi, who bombarded him with questions about Fire Birds. Having just rushed to the airport for a flight back to Los Angeles, Eric was completely unaware of the situation with Fire Birds and had no opinions to offer, especially since the questions were loaded with traps. In the end, he could only hurry away in silence, flanked by his bodyguards.
However, his silence proved to be counterproductive. The following day, tabloid headlines blared about "Williams' Cold Shoulder on Fire Birds." The article mentioned Eric's comments regarding Nicolas Cage and quickly pivoted to the ongoing post-production of Ghost.
Considering the disappointing box office of Back to the Future Part III, many media outlets began to question the quality of Ghost. While the situation gained momentum, Eric had already left Los Angeles for San Francisco.
After all, such matters should be managed by the publicity departments of Firefly Films and Disney. Eric only needed his agents to issue some statements. He trusted that Disney, having just experienced a box office flop, would be cautious with Ghost.
...
The flight from Los Angeles to San Francisco isn't that long; it takes just over an hour. However, Eric had been busy and hadn't been to San Francisco in over a year. His last visit was regarding the acquisition of Pixar.
Over the past year, Eric had handed over Pixar's operations to John Lasseter. Most of their communication occurred over the phone, and when face-to-face discussions were necessary, John usually traveled to Los Angeles.
Thanks to Eric's unhesitating financial backing, Pixar was no longer the shabby animation studio tucked away in Richmond near San Francisco Bay. The headquarters had moved to a small town called Emeryville near Berkeley, and the workforce had doubled to over 300 employees, with more than 100 engineers dedicated to technical support for 3D animation. This was a far cry from the modest operation it had been just after Eric's acquisition.
"John, compared to Jobs, I'm practically an angel as a boss, right?" Eric said as he embraced John Lasseter upon stepping out of the Pixar building.
John recognizing Eric's playful jab, after shaking hands with Allen and Joanna, he said, "Of course, let's go in."
As they entered the office, Eric feigned displeasure, saying, "But for Toy Story, I originally only agreed to invest $30 million, and now your expenditures are nearing that amount, and I haven't seen a single frame of animation."
Even though John understood Eric wasn't blaming him, he felt a bit sheepish. The original Toy Story was completed under extremely challenging circumstances, leading to a budget of just $30 million, which resulted in many rough details.
After receiving substantial funding support from Eric, John's perfectionism as an artist came into play, and going over budget became almost inevitable. As of now, only two-thirds of the animation was completed, yet costs had already approached $30 million. Thankfully, John was more restrained in his spending than someone like Cameron, knowing he didn't have complete faith in 3D animation. In his effort to minimize potential impacts and losses from future failures, John exercised caution with the budget.
In the past, the success of the original Toy Story led to the second installment's budget skyrocketing to $100 million and the third to a staggering $200 million. Clearly, in pursuit of perfection, John, as a director, was cut from the same cloth as James Cameron, just not quite as reckless.
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