Chapter 719: North American Box Office

"Did MGM want to acquire The Weinstein Company?"

Charles Capet and Steve Burke arrived at the banquet hall's lounge area where Steve Burke shared his thoughts.

Steve Burke shrugged, "You should know, Charles, The Weinstein Company had a distribution partnership with MGM. The Weinstein Company has a lot of scripts in storage that haven't been developed, and now Bob Weinstein can only use the Dimension Films label to develop some horror and thriller titles."

"That's no problem. MGM can totally acquire The Weinstein Company and develop them themselves," Charles didn't see any issue. "If you're worried that the Weinstein brand is already tarnished, you could use the MGM or United Artists label instead."

Steve Burke nodded, "That's what I was thinking too, but I'm not sure if some of the creators from The Weinstein Company would have any issues related to the Harvey Weinstein scandal. Will it matter?"

"It's been 3 or 4 years, and everything has been handled. What could be the problem?" Charles patted Steve Burke on the shoulder.

"It's no big deal, even Mel Gibson can make a comeback now, why worry about those hidden rules? As long as you avoid hiring those actors with bad reputations, a good script will surely yield good returns."

Steve Burke chuckled, "We are also looking to increase MGM's film library, and The Weinstein Company has the rights to dozens of films. Just like your previous acquisition of Icon Productions!"

Charles wouldn't be concerned with these minor details; MGM wasn't qualified to be a competitor against him now.

"The News Corporation's split plan is to combine its film and TV entertainment businesses into a standalone public company called 21st Century Fox, right?" Charles suddenly brought this up.

Steve Burke nodded, "That's right. The rest, like The Times, The Sun, The Wall Street Journal, and HarperCollins Publishers will continue to be called News Corporation. Charles, with News Corporation's split, the gap between you and them will widen!"

...

After the celebration party for The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn - Part 2, Charles brought Kristen Stewart and Alexandra Daddario back to the Capet estate in Beverly Hills!

With Christmas approaching, Charles stayed in California with his son, Dashiell. Britney Spears also returned to the ranch estate after her concert in Las Vegas.

In the bedroom, Charles lay on the bed, and Britney Spears was kissing his chest.

Charles was satisfied, caressing Britney. Finally, he held her tightly.

After a bit, Megan Fox emerged from the covers, breathing heavily. Charles pulled her to the other side, "Sweetheart, you're amazing!"

Britney Spears bit Charles's shoulder and laughed, "You're so bad!"

"Charles, Skyfall made $88 million in its opening weekend and $200 million overseas!" Megan Fox, lying beside Charles, traced her hand over his abs and said.

"Capet Universal's North American box office this year should have surpassed $2 billion, right?"

Charles smiled, "It surpassed it early on. This year's box office for Capet Universal is even higher than 2009, when we had over $2 billion in the North American market. I haven't seen the exact figure, but it's definitely over $2.3 billion!"

"Darling, you are incredible. Capet is undeniably number one now," Britney Spears kissed Charles on the cheek.

Considering the North American market's total of over $10 billion, Capet's market share now exceeded 20%.

In the future, Charles aimed to ensure that Capet Universal's minimum standard in the North American market was a 20% share. He remembered that in his previous life, Disney once had a year with a 30% share!

However, Capet Universal performed better than Disney in the overseas market. While Disney's animations performed well in North America, Capet Universal's countless other works were stronger overseas!

With 2012 coming, it was time to summarize 2011. There was nothing much to say about Hollywood; after all, Capet Universal Group was the most dazzling presence throughout 2011.

With 18 films released, and a total yearly box office for the North American market being 2.3 billions of dollars, Capet Universal commanded 23% of the North American market and claimed the top spot.

Additionally, the 2.3-billion-dollar North American box office was a new record, giving tremendous confidence to the stock market as it was the first year Capet went public!

...

Los Angeles, The Peninsula Beverly Hills.

Senator Gavin Newsom and his wife attended Capet's banquet.

"Capet's shares are now $110 each, and the market value has reached $93.5 billion. Congratulations, Charles, Capet's market value will soon exceed $100 billion," Gavin Newsom clinked glasses with Charles.

"Back then, when Time Warner merged with AOL, the market value exceeded $200 billion," Charles chuckled, seemingly unfazed.

Of course, that was during the tech bubble!

Gavin Newsom reminded, "Charles, some Jewish capital seems to want to support Hillary Clinton in the presidential race; what do you think?"

Charles said calmly, "Then the news about Hillary supporting Bush to wage war back in the day will be all over the news. People will remember Obama took down Bin Laden last year, ha-ha."

Gavin Newsom laughed. Right now, Hillary's biggest public drawback was her strong stance on supporting the war back then.

The war was a taboo for the Democrats, just like racism. You could start a war, but you could not overtly support it!

"The Jewish capital is overthinking," Charles pointed out the window toward Hollywood, "Here, I don't have the power to make them support the Republicans. But, among the Democrats, whoever gets the most support is up to me!"

"Tell those people to stop wasting their efforts," Charles disdainfully curled his lips.

"I've even prepared the movie Zero Dark Thirty about killing Bin Laden to support the election. If they don't step up their game, things will get tougher for them. Now in Hollywood, even if Rupert Murdoch switched to the Democrats, I still wouldn't fear him. News Corporation is splitting like Viacom did, and only Disney can face off with me directly now!"

Time Warner was very divided now; CNN's Ted Turner was a hardliner against the Jewish community.

*****

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