Chapter 533: Happiness Came Unexpectedly

[Chapter 598: Happiness Came Unexpectedly]

With There's Something About Mary opening to a strong $17 million and accumulating $40 million at the North American box office within ten days, "America's Sweetheart" Jennifer Aniston showcased her sexy beauty and comedic talent to the fullest in the film.

At the Galaxy Center, it was game one of the first round of the 1996-97 NBA playoffs with the Galaxy facing off against the Timberwolves; the regular season standings in the West were filled with the Jazz, Supersonics, Galaxy, Rockets, Trail Blazers, Timberwolves, and then the Suns and Lakers.

Arthur and Jennifer Aniston were seen courtside at the Galaxy Center. "Spent some money, but we're seeing results," Arthur commented.

"Don't you love Jordan?" Jennifer laughed, sitting beside him.

Arthur touched his mouth thoughtfully. "Not that there isn't, unless the Galaxy makes it to the Finals; then we could go up against the Bulls in the playoffs!"

As he spoke, his gaze kept drifting to the Timberwolves' Kevin Garnett, who clearly looked destined to be eliminated by the Galaxy. During the offseason, that guy would certainly be asking for an outrageous contract extension from the Timberwolves.

"Arthur, have you noticed that there are a lot more Galaxy fans these days?" Jennifer pointed out, nudging him. "A lot of celebrities are starting to support the Galaxy."

Arthur smiled slightly. "The past few years have seen the Galaxy improve; the Lakers only made the playoffs this year as the eighth seed. Now, the Galaxy is stronger, and once Shaquille O'Neal gets fully integrated, they'll be contenders for the championship, so drawing more fans is only natural."

Plus, the Galaxy Center was now the most luxurious sports arena in the nation. Why wouldn't stars come and boost their visibility?

Michael Jackson, Tom Cruise, Sylvester Stallone, Jack Nicholson, Brad Pitt, and others had all made appearances courtside.

In the end, the Galaxy won game one of the playoffs with a score of 112 to 95, a victory achieved without much fuss.

...

That evening, at a villa in Santa Monica, Arthur lay in bed, holding the stunningly sexy Jennifer Aniston. "There's Something About Mary is performing really well at the box office; it's bound to cross the $100 million mark in North America, no question about that."

"Yeah," Jennifer kissed him softly on the chest, "this is going to be the highest-grossing film I've starred in."

There's Something About Mary had a production budget of only $26 million, a true low-budget comedy; it was similar to the romantic films Jennifer had been in before.

"From now on, you're going to have more and more projects."

As he said this, Arthur leaned in for a soft kiss with the leading lady.

...

At the same time, acclaimed Hollywood director Stanley Kubrick announced that Tom Cruise and his fiance, Denise Richards, would star in Eyes Wide Shut; given Kubrick's declining health, this could very well be his last film, making many stars eager to work with him closely on the project.

At Galaxy MGM headquarters, in Arthur's office, he mused, "It's a good thing we signed Harrison Ford for The Sixth Sense."

Amy Pascal chuckled, "Kubrick is incredibly meticulous in his filmmaking; he focuses heavily on details; filming Eyes Wide Shut is going to take a considerable amount of time for Tom Cruise."

Tom Cruise had won Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy at the Golden Globe Awards back in January for Jerry Maguire; the film's box office results had been fantastic, raking in $150 million in North America and $120 million overseas, for a global total of $270 million.

This repeatedly demonstrated Tom Cruise's prowess and box office pull.

Hearing Amy Pascal's comments, Arthur chuckled. "Looks like Mission: Impossible 2 isn't going to premiere anytime soon."

Then he handed her a copy of the New York Observer weekly, "There's a columnist, Candace Bushnell, who wrote a novel called Sex and the City; it's quite good. Though it's her debut work, Sex and the City paints a picture of four elite women in Manhattan and their romantic and sexual entanglements; reading it is pretty engaging -- definitely enough to reach out to Candace Bushnell about adapting it for Galaxy Television."

Amy Pascal glanced at it and gave her opinion, "Serialized lifestyle novels aren't always easy to adapt into movies, right?"

Arthur smiled back, "Let's adapt it for television; Galaxy Television should buy the rights for adaptation. Besides, the content is a bit risque and would probably fit better on USA or Starz."

If he recalled correctly, Sex and the City would later end up being adapted by HBO into a highly-rated series spanning several seasons.

HBO and Showtime didn't care about boundaries when it came to content, and Starz was established to compete with the two. Starz was a joint venture between Galaxy and Liberty Media, with Liberty primarily investing and participating in the management, while Galaxy retained all content creation rights.

Plus, Starz had produced some television movies of its own, and with Galaxy MGM's library accessible to it. Arthur felt confident they could compete with Showtime and HBO.

...

In the afternoon, Kate Beckinsale walked into Arthur's office and handed him a book, "Take a look at this first, Arthur?"

Arthur took it and his eyes widened, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone!

An hour later, after finishing the novel, Arthur was very much impressed. He inquired, "Has this novel been published yet?"

Kate Beckinsale shook her head, "Not yet; Galaxy Publishing bought the English and American rights, planning to release it two months from now. This novel had been rejected by many publishers, or else it wouldn't have come to Galaxy Publishing for recommendation."

Well, Galaxy Publishing ranked around twenty in the U.S., and Galaxy UK Publishing had just barely made the top ten; after all, Galaxy Publishing was established based on Mirror Group and after acquiring them, Arthur launched Galaxy Publishing into the book publishing business.

Arthur smiled and pulled Kate Beckinsale into his embrace, kissing her passionately several times.

"Galaxy Publishing really struck gold with this one! But that's not enough; we need to secure the adaptation rights and merchandise rights for the novel directly," Arthur was keen to avoid any unexpected turns.

In fact, now that Galaxy Publishing was responsible for publishing the book, once it became a hit, the adaptation rights wouldn't likely be snagged by any other company.

"Yeah, I understand," Kate Beckinsale kissed him on the cheek, "I just happened to discover how great this novel is; weren't you just recently worried that CBS Family Channel can't compete with Disney Channel, Nickelodeon, and Cartoon Network? Pixar doesn't have many animations, and MGM's early animations belong to TBS; we lack children's film and television material. So, I've been paying close attention to children's novels and books!"

"That's great," Arthur wrapped his arms around her; sometimes, happiness just came so unexpectedly.

*****

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