Chp 19 : Fast Forward?

"Now I proclaimed you as a husband and wife. Now you can kiss your bride." Priest said.

Al got the signal and ready to unveil the bride. Suddenly he realized that he didn't know who the bride was.

He search for his surrounding, there he saw Mrs. K, the older version of the kids, Steven Spielberg and the entire E.T. crew, grown up Drew.

He also saw Mary, 'So not Mary' he thought. 'Is it Jodie Foster?' He thought happily.

But suddenly the church's door was opened and he saw Jodie Foster walking to one of the church seats, she then said with embarrassment, "I'm sorry there's a traffic jam, please continue the ceremony."

Al who saw her sitting there felt a bit disappointed, so he opens the bride's veil and saw that his bride is Annie!! And then she suddenly screams, "Wake up Al, or I will flip the bed!!"

Al suddenly wake up and scream, he saw it was Annie who wake him up and giving gratitude to her or else he will really marry her in the dream.

'Just a dream.' He thought. He always had a dream about Jodie Foster since that kiss.

A month has passed since the premiere, <E.T> took almost $12 million for the first-week premiere of North American box office.

Their rival is <Grease 2> starred Michelle Pfeiffer got $4.5 million opening weekend box office but it got a bad response.

Movie experts predict the final box office of <E.T.> will be $200 million in North America and a total of $400 million worldwide release.

Al now has become the number one child star with Drew. Now CAA's senior agent began to approach him and Drew.

Too bad he slammed the door in front of their face. He preferred to work with Ari who really a friend to him rather than old guys.

Ari also really happy to hear that but he thinks that now, he will have a bad relationship with some senior agents.

For Ari, his name become famous in the agency circle for finding a talented newcomer.

His close connection in Jews communities also helping him get his reputation.

He also got 2 new clients, Denzel Washington who just had his first big-screen appearance in the film <Carbon Copy> and Sharon Stone, who got recognition for her role as "pretty girl in a train" in Woody Allen's film in 1980.

When he met Sharon Stone, he remembered her famous appearance in the future, ice pick and super sexy one-piece dress.

The preparation of <Sixth Sense> was going well. Spielberg has convinced Universal Pictures and they agree to join the investment and distribute it.

The contract sign held in Universal headquarters, accompanied by Jessica, Ari, and James Norman. This is the first time Mary won't join him in any contract signing.

Al got paid $350,000, an Investment ratio of 35% from Muspelheim Films, Amblin Entertainment 45%, and Universal 20% plus their distribution fee of 40% box office.

Distribution companies usually take 40-60% of the box office share and from then, they split the income again with the theatre owners.

The theatre owners then get their share of about 40-50% of the first week then the percentage going up every week until a fixed share of 70%.

This means that the longer film was screened, the more profit theatre owners get.

So, is the theatre owners and distribution company is the most profitable business in Hollywood?

Wrong, for distribution company they are in charge of the promotion and other activity beyond producing and the cost, is almost half to two times more than the film budget.

Take an example of <Avengers>, their film budget is almost $200 million but the promotion is $150 million. Another example <Blair Witch> which has a $60,000 budget and their promotion about $21 million.

As for theatre owners, everyone forgets about their rent cost, film printing cost, maintenance cost, etc.

For Robert Zemeckis's pay, because he screwed up box office before, he only got paid $90,000 with 1.5% North America box office share, and because this is his last chance to survive in Hollywood, he happily agreed.

You screw once you okay, twice you need to be careful, thrice.... haiya you fked up, Uncle Roger will smack you out from Hollywood like he smacks his niece and nephews.

(Tribute to Uncle Roger, Nigel Ng hahaha)

Ari got Sharon Stone to play as Dr. Malcolm's wife and Sigourney Weaver who was famous for her role in <Alien> to play as his mother. Stone paid $50,000 as a newcomer and Weaver paid $250,000.

So we can see Al has the highest paid in this crew as an actor and screenwriter. Steven Spielberg as producer only got friendship pay of $1 and a limited edition of Ms. Pac-Man arcade that Al got from Atari directly and Spielberg also can get 45% income from this film from his investment.

Guess who the actor is?

The one and only, Tom Hanks!!

This 26 years old actor began his debut in 1980. Robert Zemeckis decided to give him the role when he saw his audition, Al couldn't agree more, he really suitable to play Dr. Malcolm.

These two guys, Tom Hanks and Robert Zemeckis are maybe destined to be partners and work on big projects together. So even though Al changed Robert Zemeckis's route now, he will still see them achieve success earlier.

Butterfly effect theory my ass.

In the future, Tom Hanks also join the Steven Spielberg faction and mostly starred in his movies.

But now because he still counted as a newcomer, he was paid only $100,000 as the main lead.

Tom has the same image as he would have in the future. A kind of gentle person who always smiles and greets anybody who passed him when he walks.

Al was glad that Tom had the same personality as the media have told him in his previous life.

Many celebrities living their life as an actor in and out of the set, so maybe 40% of them is what are they truly are and the rest may be just a setting.

The rest of the crews are from Amblin Entertainment and they use some no-name actors for the rest of the cast.

The filming will begin in mid-September in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on the east coast.

Shooting will take at least 3 months with another 3 months post-production. This film has little special effects and not too big a scene so the post-production and shooting process could be done earlier than scheduled.

And the film will be screened in summer 1983. The bad news is <Star Wars> sequel will also be screened next summer.

But, fortunately, because Spielberg and Lucas have made a deal in the past, they will try to avoid their schedule as far as possible so at least, <Sixth Sense> will be screened in late summer.

This will be Al's first time leaving California since his transmigration and Jessica & John will accompany him there.

Both of them are doing a good job, Jessica is a quick-thinking girl and finished all the tasks she assigned very quickly.

She even can cook and do chores, Al was sure if Jessica is having her annual leave, he won't survive for a day.

John, let's just say he is always ready, and quick too. How even possible he move that fast with that body, he thinks at least he weighs around 240 pounds (at least 120 kg).

Al packs things up, and take a plane to Philadelphia. As always, he loves doing recce (go to set a day before filming) and there he meets with Tom Hanks, Sharon Stone, Sigourney Weaver, and also Robert Zemeckis.

He's really a good director, the shooting went well. All of the scenes handled well and even he talks about directorship with him a couple of times.

He got good chemistry with other crews.

Sigourney Weaver is a talented actress. She works so well with Al and has to build a good relationship with him.

She also fond of children, so far she always got a role as a mother in her past films, and it's kinda stuck with her.

When they both do the mother & son talk final scene in the film, it caused a great impact on the set.

Such a heartwarming scene almost made the filming crews think that they are both a real mother and son.

As for Tom, their role as doctor and patient went really well. Even Robert said that this is the best rivalry play he had seen in his 10 years of directorship.

He even told them that if this situation can be maintained until the end, the shoot will only take 2.5 months.

To Be Continued.....