[Chapter 33: Taking Initiative]
The next day, the fallout from the incident continued to escalate. Most newspapers condemned Columbia Pictures, and for so reason, they redirected their anger toward Columbia's parent company, Coca-Cola, starting to criticize its managent strategies for Columbia. After all, the past few years had seen Columbia's performances hit rock bottom. Initially, Coca-Cola shrugged off this "minor issue."
To everyone's surprise, after the stock market opened that day, Coca-Cola's stock, which had always been stable, plumted by 1.7%. While this might seem negligible, multiplying it by the company's tens of billions in market value made it a significant concern.
Coca-Cola's COO, Donald Keough, unleashed a tirade against Cohen Blount over the phone, demanding that Cohen quickly resolve the issue, or else he'd be ousted as president of Columbia.
Under the pressure from Coca-Cola's headquarters, at ten in the morning, Cohen personally called a press conference at Columbia, where he offered a subtle apology to Eric and promised to take the contractual agreent seriously moving forward.
...
Naturally, upon hearing the news, Eric was keen to avoid making things worse. He imdiately had his personal lawyer, Edward Lewis, publish a statent of understanding in the Los Angeles Tis. Just as this storm began to brew, it quickly died down.
Perhaps because of this breach of contract incident, Ho Alone, which would typically experience a decline in its second week, shockingly saw its box office numbers rise instead, pulling in $28.76 million and surpassing the $50 million mark within just two weeks.
anwhile, 17 Again, with its $14.73 million at the box office, remained in the second place on the charts. The two films associated with Eric had combined earnings that exceeded 50% of North Arica's total box office for the week, leaving quite an impression on so.
Even with such impressive earnings, the dia's interest in Eric started to wane. After several fruitless days of trying to hunt down useful news, the reporters near Eric's ho began to leave one by one.
...
During that week, Eric mostly stayed at ho, focused on writing the long-awaited adaptation of Resident Evil, a project promised to Michael Krauss. In his previous life, Resident Evil had two versions: one was the storyline from Capcom's video ga, and the other featured Alice as the central character in the film version. Unfortunately, Eric had only played the fourth and sixth installnts of the ga, leaving him a bit out of touch with the storylines from the ga.
The movie adaptation had minimal content to draw from, mainly following Milla Jovovich's over-the-top character as she showcased her skills, completely bypassing deeper storytelling elents.
Consequently, writing the Resident Evil novel was not as easy as crafting Jurassic Park. It took Eric three days to outline a story revolving around Leon, from his joining the police force to the team's struggle to escape the outbreak in Raccoon City.
Eric ingeniously incorporated forr protagonists Chris, Jill, and Wesker into his novel. Of course, he couldn't forget the beloved Ada Wong, whom many gaming fans adored. In a playful turn, Eric wrote the ambiguous relationship between Ada and Leon as that of a pet boy and his queen.
This was not a wholly original concept; fans online had long speculated on the nature of their relationship.
In the ga, the elegant and enigmatic Ada would often save Leon from peril while cheerfully teasing him, leaving behind a rocket launcher stamped with a lipstick print as she floated away.
Every ti players reached these monts, they couldn't help but think of so rather cheeky scenarios: "Co here, little darling... (ruffles hair)... That's it, you're all set now; off you go."
...
Erging from the kitchen with a steaming cup of water, Eric approached Jas Brooks, who was lounging on the couch, reading a draft of Resident Evil.
"Jas, what do you think?" Eric asked as he handed the coffee to him, then took a seat across from him.
"It's incredibly vivid, makes you feel like you're in the scene -- just like watching a movie; very exciting," said Jas.
Eric nodded, appreciating Jas's honest feedback. Due to his previous career, Eric had unintentionally woven a significant amount of montage techniques into his writing, a style that created a strong visual impression.
"What if it turned into a movie?" Eric asked again.
Jas set the manuscript aside and replied thoughtfully, "I don't think this novel would be suitable for a film adaptation right now. There are plenty of zombie fans, but their numbers aren't vast enough. A small or dium budget wouldn't cut it for an effective film treatnt; if it were to be a true adaptation with all the necessary effects, the budget would have to be higher. It would be best if the tech advanced and beca more affordable over the next few years."
No wonder he was a top-tier producer; with just a few words, Jas sketched out the limitations and potential of Resident Evil's adaptation. Fans often complained about the lack of investnt in the Resident Evil film series -- the inadequate special effects, and the recurring the of Milla without a strong supporting cast -- but they didn't understand that if they followed the fans' desires, the film companies would ultimately face significant financial losses due to ratings and audience demographics.
After chit-chatting about Resident Evil, Eric finally inquired about Jas's reason for visiting. "Is it an invitation to the Fox party?" Initially, Eric thought Jas was there regarding the overseas rights to Ho Alone, but it turned out to be about sothing else entirely.
In recent days, Eric had already received several calls and offers related to Ho Alone -- even Michael Eisner, who had initially planned to team up with Columbia to undermine him, reached out personally. Eric had turned them all down, having made up his mind.
Noticing Eric's look of surprise, Jas laughed. "Of course, you thought I was here for Ho Alone, right? A lot of people have extended olive branches to you lately, but I hear you've turned them down. Perhaps you're waiting on Fox to make the first move, huh?"
The surprise in Eric's eyes quickly faded. He had indeed been waiting for Fox to take the initiative, allowing him to seize the upper hand. Given that Jas Brooks, a prominent producer, was extending the invitation, Eric felt it would be petty to deny it.
With a shrug and a smile, Eric replied, "You're right, Jas. I was hoping for that, considering our collaboration was rather pleasant."
Jas said sincerely, "That's why I'm here today. In fact, Mr. Barry Diller wants to et with you to discuss Ho Alone, Jurassic Park, and your... next project."
"Oh, Fox sure is ambitious, aren't they?" Eric remarked.
Jas chuckled, "It's not about greed, Eric; it's business. If Fox doesn't step in, other companies will show interest in these projects. Of course, Fox won't be as short-sighted as Columbia; we want a partnership based on equality and mutual benefit."
Eric knew better than to fall for those words. This was all just talk because Fox hadn't secured the distribution rights to Ho Alone. If they had managed that, they could very well have pulled so shenanigans over the contractual agreent. The leaked scandals from his past life were just the tip of the iceberg regarding the dirty dealings these industry giants engaged in behind closed doors.
However, Eric also realized he had to hitch his wagon to a giant to fend off external threats and protect himself while quietly building up his strength. After careful consideration, he decided to align himself with Fox.
Over the coming years, under Barry Diller's leadership, Fox aid to establish the Fox Broadcasting Company, which would likely divert so of their focus from films. This shift provided Eric, a small player in the industry, with a golden opportunity to garner resources in
their nest.
*****
spatreon/Sayonara816.
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