Chapter 536: Another Change for Hollywood

[Chapter 601: Another Change for Hollywood]

"I wouldn't have believed it, but the re-release of Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope by 20th Century Fox grossed $138 million in North America, add another $22 million from overseas, making it a worldwide total of $160 million!"

In downtown Manhattan, at the MGM building, Arthur sat on the couch, a bit surprised.

MGM's head of distribution, Mark Task, smiled. "This is just a prelude to shooting the Star Wars prequel, The Phantom Menace. The global re-release of Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back brought in $78 million, while Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi made $45 million in the U.S. and $43 million overseas, totaling $88 million."

This year alone, 20th Century Fox had released three classic films.

"Yeah, George Lucas is over in the UK filming The Phantom Menace," Arthur leaned back on the sofa. "But man, the competition this summer is going to be intense."

It was already late May, and Galaxy MGM's There's Something About Mary and Tomorrow Never Dies from MGM were already released, making waves at the box office. But the newly released Universal sequel, Jurassic Park: The Lost World, raked in $73 million on its opening weekend.

Upcoming releases included Warner Bros.' Batman & Robin;

Galaxy's Con Air and Dumb and Dumber 2;

Columbia's Air Force One and Men in Black;

Disney's live-action Tarzan and animated Hercules;

and Paramount's Face/Off, among many others, all scheduled for summer release.

...

That evening, at a business cocktail party at the Carlyle Hotel in New York, Arthur unexpectedly ran into Stanley Kubrick, who was visiting New York.

Arthur asked about the progress on Eyes Wide Shut, "How's it going, Stanley? I heard this movie hasn't been going well?"

Stanley Kubrick chuckled, "It's just a bit slow going, but the filming's been fine."

"Alright," Arthur nodded, patting Stanley on the shoulder, "I've got a good relationship with Archbishop Roger Mahony of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. If you need any religious assistance, you can reach out to him."

Eyes Wide Shut involved many religious elements, and Arthur understood what Stanley was trying to express. However, this project was beyond someone at his level, he just wanted to offer some tangible support.

Stanley Kubrick looked seriously at Arthur, visibly intrigued. Arthur Smith had become one of the elite power players in America. His wealth had accumulated quickly, and he held significant political connections, with tight ties to Washington. What he lacked was depth and time.

The theme of Eyes Wide Shut addressed issues of class and religion, exposing the dirty side of high society?

"Thanks," Stanley Kubrick didn't believe Arthur would actually choose to support someone from his class. Perhaps this was just crocodile tears or overflowing pity and sympathy?

Arthur smiled and didn't say much more. "I heard your health isn't great; make sure to take care of yourself!"

...

Before long, Arthur bumped into David Komansky, the current chairman and CEO of Merrill Lynch, who became CEO last year and chairman this year. Former CEO and chairman Dan Tully was now the honorary chairman.

"Congratulations, David," Arthur had previously interacted with Dan Tully often, and had worked with David Komansky on numerous projects. After all, David Komansky had also been the president and COO of Merrill Lynch.

"Thanks," David Komansky hugged Arthur. "I thought you had gone to the Far East."

Arthur shrugged, "Soon, I'm bound to go over there. After all, I've invested quite a bit of money."

David Komansky laughed silently. In the Indonesian market, Arthur had already made at least $200 million. Now, while Thailand, Malaysia, and the Philippines hadn't reached the same level as Indonesia, his investment had become even larger.

"It really is a good time for arbitrage," David Komansky said, pointing to a middle-aged man nearby, "Frank Guasta, a Canadian mining financier. I heard he's really interested in films. He just recently started a film preparation company to enter the film industry."

Arthur kept a stoic face. David Komansky added, "He was also a supporter of Clinton."

Arthur wasn't concerned; there were plenty of Clinton supporters. "Galaxy has United Artists and Orion to distribute independent films; did Merrill Lynch invest in his film company?"

Arthur thought he might be seeking collaboration, considering it was all minor business.

David Komansky shook his head. "His tagline is to change Hollywood, to produce real cinema. He says that today's Hollywood films aren't real films."

Arthur shook his head; he had heard far too much of this kind of talk.

"By the way, a Canadian mining investor?" Suddenly, Arthur thought of something and looked directly at David Komansky. "Is this guy a victim of the recent Canadian mining collapse?"

Just two months earlier, the Canadian mining company Bre-X had been embroiled in the largest fraud scandal in the country's history. The Bre-X mining company had faked gold deposits in Indonesia, causing its $6 billion market value to vanish in an instant.

Because of the Bre-X scandal, the Canadian stock market faced a mining collapse.

"Yeah, because of the Bre-X gold scandal, many investors pulled out of Canada's mining sector," David Komansky replied, glancing at Arthur.

"Former Indonesian president Suharto also had shares in that company. It was later taken over by an American firm, which sent people to investigate the mineral reserves' gold supply last year. But after testing the newly collected rock samples, it turned out there was no gold at all. It turned out that Bre-X's founders mixed gold into the rock samples to fake the results."

Arthur had heard of it last year; after all, it was sensational, claiming to be the world's largest gold mine, located in the Borneo region of Busang, not on Java Island, making it hard to get involved.

And Arthur didn't remember any news from his former life concerning Indonesia discovering thousands of tons of gold mining, so he hadn't bothered with the matter.

"These guys really are talented," Arthur couldn't help but chuckle, how such a simple and naive trick could fool the world's most seasoned analysts and company executives.

*****

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