Chapter 144: Major Productions to Start the Year

Opening on 2,000 screens -- something he never dreamed of. If he had done it himself, even in the slow season of March, it wouldn't have exceeded 500 screens, focusing mainly on areas with large Chinese populations.

William White was almost mythical; no theater chain would ignore his films.

The marketing budget for this film was moderate. Of course, "moderate" depends on perspective. A $3 million marketing budget was already impressive for such a movie. Spending over $5 million would certainly make the tycoon wince.

You know, William White's influence is quite reliable. According to reports from his team, the ticket sales rate was already close to 50%.

It was a Friday, and this sales rate was quite impressive.

"Don't worry, recouping costs won't be difficult. How much profit we make is up to the gods."

"Ha, never tried 2,000 screens. In Hong Kong, there's only a few dozen, which is already amazing."

"Honestly, there aren't many in Europe either. For movies of this caliber, there are only so many copies. Any more would mean a loss."

Movie prints are not cheap; economically developed regions get them first. Global simultaneous releases only happen in major cities; even second and third-tier cities in the U.S. need to wait.

Though not truly a big production, to the average person, this film was quite good. Most movies were in the million-dollar range, so over ten million was considered impressive.

Eddie Murphy, who transformed into a chatterbox, was quite charming. At William White's insistence, his speech was exceptionally fast, and the difficulty in dubbing it was evident.

The biggest challenge wasn't just speaking quickly but enunciating clearly, which most people found difficult without professional training.

Compared to Beverly Hills Cop, this movie was more watchable. These short guys really were skilled, easily disarming others. These guys feared bullets too, weren't invincible, but there was fighting, gunplay, and humor.

Yeah, it was a decent popcorn flick. Eddie Murphy showed great improvement, and the Asian guy was good too. Hmm, which movie was he in before? Seems like he wasn't.

Nearly six million in opening day earnings was impressive for this time of year, and what mattered most was the word of mouth, which was very positive.

This was crucial because many came for Eddie Murphy and William White. If the word got out that the movie was bad, it would spell trouble.

Jackie Chan's efforts paid off, and from this moment, he entered Hollywood's radar. As for replacing Bruce Lee, well, their styles were different and couldn't be compared.

The worst part was, the movie was a big hit in Europe too. With so few screens, some showings even sold out, which was terrifying.

Looks like it might become a series of movies. If so, the future might not be so easy.

Daring Americans were amazed to find they could perform some of the stunts in the movie, albeit with bruises. But it was just so cool.

"This was parkour, extremely dangerous. Without proper training, it was life-threatening. We don't recommend ordinary people try it, nor do we assume any legal liability." Even with warning subtitles, reckless people ignored them. 

...

"Wow, even a so-called fast-food film by them can be this successful."

"Lucas, what're ya sayin'? How's it a fast-food flick?"

"My friend, that's what William White called it -- cashing in quick by riding the wave without worrying about any art forms."

"Ha, aren't all his movies like that?"

"You underestimate him. Police Academy isn't that type, even if it looks silly. It has something to say. If you don't get it, that's on you."

"Actually, Rush Hour isn't bad either. If things go as expected, it should become a series too."

"There doesn't seem to be any rush to start filming. Besides Home Alone, he only releases a movie every two years. That's such a waste."

Lucas said it was a waste because he didn't have that many IPs. If Star Wars had been in William White's hands, he wouldn't have released them so frequently.

...

Wall Street was quite frustrated, watching this guy rake in the cash while they didn't see much benefit. It was a kind of tangled feeling that couldn't be overstated.

Making this guy go public willingly wasn't easy. White Films wasn't involved in this round of Series A financing, and the reason was obvious: their proposed valuation was absolutely not attractive to Mr. White.

How to make money off this guy was something a lot of people were concerned about.

Fortunately, he had things he liked; otherwise, it would have been difficult to deal with. The French couldn't keep up and could only leave indignantly. He plainly didn't want to play with them. If they wanted to do a solo act, they were welcome, but if they wanted to hitch a ride, that was dreaming.

Disney was a big pit. Anyone wanting to join had to face massive loans first.

This was actually the focal point of the negotiations. Nobody was a fool. If they had to pay off the loans first, Disney wouldn't be sold at all.

Luckily, it wasn't just one bank. If it had been, such a write-down would have bankrupted the bank.

William White's conditions were pretty demanding: a three-year extension with 5% interest. If not, then a discount to settle it all at once.

It was said quite lightly, but asking for a 40% discount was like demanding the banks' lifeblood.

If you accuse William White of making exorbitant demands, he really wasn't. If the terms were too outrageous, they wouldn't have even started the negotiations.

To put it bluntly, discounts were impossible -- the figures wouldn't look good on the books. Accepting a three-year loan at 5% interest would impact the bank's long-term profitability.

You talk about risks?

William White was much more reliable than the original shareholders. After the acquisition, Disney would become a private company. As long as it could get out of its crisis, it would certainly go public again in three years, and then the $1 billion loan wouldn't be a big deal.

By this stage of the talks, White Films stopped making concessions. As for Disney's valuation, there was not much disagreement; if it was too low, they wouldn't sell anyway.

As for General Electric, after all, what they coveted wasn't NBC. Even if diversification was in their strategy, it didn't seem so reliable now.

The main issue wasn't really this one. If they insisted on bundling NBC in the acquisition, they might mess up someone else's big deal. In such a harsh economic climate, making enemies everywhere wasn't very wise.

Although that's the case, grabbing a bit of advantage was necessary. After all, William White had a vast fortune; squeezing him a bit seemed only fair.

The back-and-forth tug-of-war had tired out William White, so he simply handed everything over to Filson to deal with those old fogeys.

*****

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