Chapter 343: Another Dud

[Chapter 343: Another Dud]

When Joanna returned to Los Angeles, she immediately parted ways with Eric. Though he hoped she would move into the mansion at Point Dume for a while, Joanna was unwilling; in her words, she didn't want to run into any awkward situations again.

However, she did accept the charming little villa Eric bought for her in Beverly Hills. This was the second house Eric had gifted his women. Previously, Famke Janssen had also chosen a villa near Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills, but it was quite far from Eric's initial luxury home and instead close to West Hollywood.

Given Eric's wealth at the time, a villa worth around a million dollars was nothing special. He eagerly anticipated the day he could upgrade Joanna's living situation to something comparable to Howard Hughes.

...

The first order of business upon returning to Los Angeles was the release of The Silence of the Lambs. Over the previous two weeks, Hollywood had not seen any box office standouts. In contrast to the nearly $50 million earned during the same period last year by the Indiana Jones sequel, only one film, Total Recall, which premiered on June 1, showed decent box office numbers. Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, Total Recall was the first major production released by Sony Pictures after its establishment, and they were quite ambitious about its success.

Despite earning $36 million in its opening week, Total Recall still fell short of Sony's expectations since its production cost was a hefty $65 million and marketing expenses exceeded $30 million. It needed nearly $200 million at the North American box office just to break even.

From its initial performance and the response following its release, it was clear that Total Recall lacked the potential to reach that $200 million milestone.

Another film, Back to the Future Part III, saw its earnings drop by 49% in its second week, bringing in only $14 million, leaving it with no hope of crossing the $100 million mark. As for a certain dud from Disney's Buena Vista films, it's better left unmentioned; it took a considerable amount of effort for Disney to shift public attention away from its male lead.

...

The release of The Silence of the Lambs was low-key. Besides Eric, the main cast included Jodie Foster, Anthony Hopkins, and a few others. Notably, the film's three producers were Elisabeth Murdoch, Julia Roberts, and... Drew Barrymore.

Under Eric's questioning, Drew revealed details about her involvement with TG Films. He discovered that she held a 30% stake in the company. Furthermore, she had invested 3 million in The Silence of the Lambs, which certainly came from money he had given her on a credit card. Previously, Carolyn Elliott, who managed Eric's finances, had noted unusual spending on Drew's card, but Eric hadn't worried much, trusting that she wouldn't misuse it.

Now, however, he found himself pleasantly surprised by the situation.

If The Silence of the Lambs followed its expected trajectory and won Best Picture, it would be quite the buzz, as that award was typically presented to the three main producers, and this film's credits fit that profile perfectly: three women.

The Silence of the Lambs premiered in 1500 theaters on June 8 and its three female producers became Hollywood's hottest topic for days. A gory horror film about cannibalistic maniacs with three glamorous female producers was quite a shocking contrast, especially with Jodie Foster headlining the cast.

With this striking buzz and the film's impressive quality, The Silence of the Lambs grossed $14 million on its opening weekend. Given its R-rating and the restrictions on theaters, this was a remarkable achievement; box office analysts anticipated that the film could approach $20 million in earnings that week. With its positive word-of-mouth, the potential for it to surpass the $100 million mark in the long run was promising.

...

This situation prompted a comparison to another unfortunate film, Disney's other dud, The Rocketeer.

This film had been in development for several years, with Disney reportedly investing in a special camera rig for certain shot effects. Thanks to Eric's butterfly effect influence, The Rocketeer was rushed into production a year early. While the male lead remained the same -- an unknown actor named Bill Campbell -- the female lead had changed from Jennifer Connelly to Bette Midler. Given the boost in fame from the previous year's Encounter, Bette's role may have been limited, but her pay was three times that of Bill Campbell.

Unfortunately, despite the substantial investment of over $40 million, with marketing expenses exceeding $20 million, the film only opened to a meager $900,000 at the box office over its first three days, destined for failure.

While Sony and Universal had both seen their big productions underperform compared to last year's box office hits, they could at least recoup losses through international markets and succeed with home video. Disney, however, faced guaranteed financial loss with their back-to-back flops, especially given the dismal domestic performance of The Rocketeer. The overseas prospects looked grim as well, particularly for that first billing.

As a result, Eric reviewed Disney's other films set to release over the summer, and aside from the collaboration Ghost, he hardly recognized the rest. It seemed that Disney's financial reports for the upcoming quarter would be quite dismal. He wondered how Michael Eisner would react.

...

Following The Silence of the Lambs, their next film, Sleeping with the Enemy, ramped up its promotional campaign. Of course, this was all handled by Robert Shea, and due to his animosity towards Robert, Eric chose to disengage from the situation, knowing the film would undoubtedly succeed and he would just sit back and collect his checks.

Though he wasn't concerned about Sleeping with the Enemy, Eric hardly found himself with free time. He had promised Katharine Bigelow, Cameron's current wife, to personally produce Point Break, so he had to focus on this film now.

*****

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