Chapter 111: Market Trends

Los Angeles, Burbank, Capet Pictures.

Charles was in his office watching Kobe attend a press conference with his wife.

"5 million dollars!" Charles scoffed. "Spent 5 million dollars just like that."

After more than a year of litigation, last month Kobe wrote a 5 million dollar check to the waitress as compensation and publicly apologized.

The woman then chose not to testify in court, ending the civil lawsuit with economic compensation, and the prosecution also dropped the criminal charges against Kobe. Both parties opted for an out-of-court settlement.

"Boss, the new NBA season starts at the end of this month. We could catch a game at the Staples Center," suggested Dona Williams, who was standing behind Charles and massaging his shoulders.

"Shaq isn't there anymore, sigh!" Charles complained, noting he was a fake basketball fan, and hadn't really watched many of the games featuring the Shaq-Kobe duo.

Dona leaned close and whispered in Charles' ear, "Kobe said Shaq did the same. What about Shaq?"

"Dona, who knew you could be so bad!" Charles said, standing up and turning off the TV.

This was a reference to something Kobe Bryant had privately mentioned during questioning last year: Shaquille O'Neal had paid a woman over $1 million in hush money for a similar situation. Kobe didn't expect his private remarks to get reported.

"By the way, did Martin Scorsese drop out of the The Departed project?" Charles asked, getting back to business.

Dona nodded, "Yes, both Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio have withdrawn!"

"Did we send the script to Ridley Scott?"

"Yes, Ridley Scott is currently in post-production for his medieval epic Kingdom of Heaven, but he is indeed interested in gangster films!"

"Kingdom of Heaven!" Charles nodded.

The success of Gladiator and the Lord of the Rings series had brought a wave of epic war films to Hollywood.

Troy had a production budget of 175 million and earned 130 million in North American box office and 360 million overseas.

King Arthur had a production budget of 120 million but only earned $51 million in North America and 150 million overseas.

This year, there would be another epic, Alexander, with a production budget of 155 million, set for a December global release.

"Capet Pictures really shouldn't be developing such massive war films," Charles admitted, scared by the box office flops, except for Brad Pitt's Troy, which seemed like it might break even.

Movies like King Arthur and Alexander had been commercial failures, and Kingdom of Heaven wasn't doing well either.

"There are not many successful war films. DreamWorks' Saving Private Ryan and Gladiator were exceptions with both critical and commercial success," Dona Williams agreed, mentioning, "Modern war movies like Black Hawk Down, Pearl Harbor, and Windtalkers have not been financial successes either!"

"It really is a lot," Charles realized. Whether modern warfare or medieval war films, most had indeed been commercial flops.

"Black Hawk Down was also directed by Ridley Scott. This year he's directing another medieval knight film, Kingdom of Heaven. He really likes directing war films!" Charles decided that in the future, he would steer clear of war movies.

"Paramount and DreamWorks' Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events is releasing this year, right?"

Dona thought for a moment and replied, "Yes, it's releasing worldwide!"

"Disney's children's fantasy movie The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe will be released next year. Warner Bros. Harry Potter series has made many people envious! This is Hollywood's market trend."

Daniel Handler's children's book A Series of Unfortunate Events was actually comparable to J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter, albeit darker in tone.

As for C.S. Lewis' children's fantasy series The Chronicles of Narnia, it was a masterpiece. Even J.K. Rowling was influenced by The Chronicles of Narnia when writing Harry Potter.

The rights for movie adaptations of both The Chronicles of Narnia and A Series of Unfortunate Events had gone through fierce bidding wars.

"Disney announced it would adapt all seven books of The Chronicles of Narnia. The first one, The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, had a production budget of $180 million. Disney estimates the total budget for the seven films will be at least $1.5 billion!"

Listening to Dona, Charles chuckled. If he remembered correctly, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was indeed a big hit, but the second film, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, did not meet expectations.

Disney eventually sold the rights for the third movie to 20th Century Fox, and Fox's The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader failed even more.

Thus, the fate of the series was regretfully sealed.

"What about the two films I asked you to keep an eye on, Million Dollar Baby and Crash?" Charles asked about the Oscar-caliber films.

"Million Dollar Baby will be released by Warner Bros. Crash is distributed by Lionsgate. It had its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival last month and has been released in Canada but not in the U.S. Strange!" Dona Williams was also puzzled.

"Regarding racial issues, Lionsgate is probably aiming for an Oscar push. They likely think the competition is stiff this year. If they release it next year in the U.S., it can compete for next year's Oscars!" Charles didn't mind, seeing it as Lionsgate working the Oscar rules.

"What about our Brokeback Mountain? The test screenings have received a lot of praise from critics!" Dona Williams reminded.

"There's a chance!" Charles didn't want to dampen her enthusiasm.

Independent film companies put too much emphasis on Oscars. Look at the big six studios; Oscars were just a marketing point for them. They never devoted too much effort to it.

However, with Brokeback Mountain set to release this year, could Ang Lee win Best Director, just as in the parallel timeline?

As for Best Picture, it was unlikely. In the parallel timeline, Crash had won over Brokeback Mountain anyway, and now with Million Dollar Baby also in the mix, it would be even harder to win.

Besides, it was still 2004. The Oscars committee was quite conservative and unlikely to award Best Picture to a film about a homosexual relationship.

*****

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