America achieves both fame and fortune

Chapter 647 Advanced Business Warfare

Annapurna Films, in the president's office.

Megan Ellison, a powerful female CEO, is on the phone with a real powerful CEO.

"I just reviewed the investment report you sent over," Larry Ellison asked on the other end of the phone. "Why the sudden need to move over two hundred million dollars?"

Megan Ellison said, "I have my eye on two film projects that require a large investment. Annapurna Films is a newly established company, and the market lacks confidence in us. It's not easy to raise funds from other sources."

Larry Ellison questioned, "Two projects with an investment of over $200 million?"

Megan said, "The total production budget was actually $3 million, and I still have over $1 million on hand."

Larry Ellison asked, "I remember you wanted to go for low-budget art films?"

"Initially yes, but now the opportunity is rare, and both projects are widely regarded as promising in the industry." Megan briefly mentioned Seventh Son and Transcendence, as well as Martin Davis's background.

Larry Ellison paused for a moment, then cautioned, "Observe for a while longer; be careful with such a huge investment."

Megan seems to be listening to her father and wondering if they should be more cautious about their investments.

She hung up the phone and suddenly heard hurried footsteps outside.

Holding a Spanish newspaper, Dreit hurried down the corridor to the president's office, looking slightly flustered.

Megan Ellison looked up from behind her computer screen and said, "What happened? You need to keep a composed demeanor at the office!"

Dreit tried to remain calm, but the contents of the newspaper made him uneasy, and he quickly said, "President, those Mexicans are dead!"

He was distraught: "They're all dead!"

Megan, the domineering female CEO, frowned: "What Mexican?"

"Those who provided us with information about the script," Dreit said, placing the newspaper on his desk. "They were all riddled with bullets and died in Tijuana."

Megan glanced at the newspaper, which was written in Spanish, which she couldn't quite understand, but the pictures were clear. In the large pictures, six bodies lay in blood, and bullet holes could be seen in the walls.

The six individual images are photographs of the faces of six dead people.

Dreit was truly terrified. Why were they being shot to death?

Megan closed the newspaper and tossed it aside.

Dreit, from a well-off family and a graduate of a prestigious university, had never experienced anything like this before. His voice trembled as he said, "It must have been Martin Davis! Absolutely! President, what should we do?"

Wasn't this supposed to be a business war? Why are they completely deviating from the expected path? Who uses guns in business warfare?!

"That's right, this is definitely related to Martin Davis." The female CEO's thinking is completely different from that of ordinary people. While Dreit saw a threat to personal safety, Megan saw a business opportunity in it!

She pondered and said, "The fact that Martin Davis resorted to such ruthless tactics out of anger and humiliation tells a story."

Dreit's legs trembled uncontrollably.

He had an air of superiority when facing those Mexicans.

But after seeing photos of Mexican corpses, all I felt was utter dread.

Megan's thoughts became clearer: "Martin Davis is so impressed with the scripts for Seventh Son and Transcendence that he's so angry that he's resorting to this method of revenge."

Dreit paused for a moment, but then thought about it and realized that it did seem to be true.

He couldn't help but say, "This is a retaliatory tactic used only after suffering enormous losses."

Megan nodded slightly, then glanced at Dreit and said, "Don't worry, this is Los Angeles, not Tijuana."

Dreit felt a little relieved.

Megan thought for a moment and said, "Keep an eye on Martin Davis. Logically, after losing those two projects, he'll definitely be actively looking for new ones!"

A scene from the Oscar nominees' luncheon flashed before her eyes: "The key to winning projects is funding! When it comes to money, who are we afraid of?"

Dreit quickly agreed.

After her subordinates left, Megan thought it over carefully, then dialed her father's number and explained the situation in general terms.

Larry Ellison has experienced real business battles, clashed with Bill Gates, fought with Microsoft executives, sent corporate spies, and had security forces besiege opposing shareholders within Oracle.

He knew that the most sophisticated business battles often took place using the most primitive methods, and said, "I will send a team of bodyguards over there to keep watch over you 24 hours a day."

Megan, who had been used to having bodyguards by her side since childhood, didn't refuse and asked, "What about the investment?"

Larry Ellison, unfamiliar with Hollywood, asked David Ellison the same question directly: "How confident are you?"

Megan said, "Seventy percent."

Larry Ellison is daring and willing to take risks: "Don't even mention 70%, 50% is enough to give it a try."

Megan added, "If we're going to do it, we'll do it the best. I plan to increase the investment, bringing the total production budget for the two projects to $3.5 million."

This matter was now completely settled.

Megan called Wilson again: "You're well-informed in Hollywood, keep an eye on Martin Davis's situation."

Wilson understood what she meant and replied, "Yes."

…………

The Disney Studios is an office building next to the Disney Studios building, which is completely occupied by the crew of "The Martian".

Louise Meyer is producing, Ridley Scott is directing, and Martin Scorsese is starring in a new film that has already begun development.

They are also the three key figures in this production team.

The new film has a total production budget of $1.2 million, making it the largest investment project in the history of Davis Studios.

Pacific Pictures, Disney Studios, and Grey Pictures all participated in the production investment.

In the recently concluded negotiations for the male lead, Thomas secured a lucrative acting contract for Martin.

Gone Girl has essentially finished its North American run, with a cumulative box office of $2.28 million.

The overseas screenings are still ongoing, and the global box office has now exceeded $4.5 million.

Coupled with the huge success of "Inception," last year's two films solidified Martin Scorsese's position as a director who had just entered the $20 million club.

Martin's contract with The Martian crew included a base salary of $2000 million, plus a tiered share of the North American box office revenue.

The revenue share threshold is $120 million from the production cost. If the North American box office reaches $120 million, Martin will receive 2% of the revenue share. For every additional $30 million, the revenue share will automatically increase by 1 percentage point, with a maximum cap of 10% of the North American box office.

This is what is commonly referred to as a 20+10 contract.

There is also a 5% share of the offline gross profit, including DVDs, online streaming, and television rights.

This is an absolutely single-lead film, and the second highest-paid actor is Menez.

However, Hollywood supporting actors are paid far less than leading actors; Menez only received $300 million plus a share of the profits.

This is considered a high price for a supporting actor in Hollywood.

The total salaries of all the other supporting actors combined didn't even equal Menez's individual salary.

Jessica Chastain has already participated in a dress audition, and Lois Lane and Ridley Scott have unanimously decided to cast her as the ship's female commander.

The remaining roles are also being auditioned.

"Several of my assistants have already traveled to the Middle East and Australia to find suitable filming locations." Compared to David Fincher, Ridley Scott is a serious director who is particularly efficient. In recent years, regardless of the size of the investment, he has maintained a production speed of about one film per year.

He looked at Martin: "I expect you to dedicate the next two months to preparing for the role. You will be playing an astronaut living on Mars, which requires a series of intensive physical training."

Martin said, "I will."

Louise said, "Ever since I've known Martin, he's maintained a high level of training, including running, boxing, strength training, and firearms handling."

Ridley, the old-school director, immediately caught on and said, "As people get older, their memory sometimes gets worse. I almost forgot, you're the most athletic actor in Hollywood."

He then changed the subject: "One more thing, find a farm or agricultural company and learn how to grow potatoes."

This is one of the key plot points and selling points of the film, and Martin replied, "I've already prepared for that."

He hadn't learned how to grow potatoes from anyone; it was a skill from his previous life.

Martin, who was also born in the early 80s, came from the countryside. In those days, it was common for children to help with farm work, using farmyard manure to grow potatoes, vegetables and sweet potatoes. I don't know how many times he did it.

To be honest, he has more experience using farmyard manure than many professional farmers in the United States.

The three spent most of the day discussing various issues related to the filming and production of the project. The entire crew was managed by Louise, and Ridley Scott was a master at shooting science fiction films, even if he himself never thought so.

The crew's preparation efficiency was astonishing. According to Ridley's plan, the pre-production preparations had to be thorough so that filming could begin in mid-to-late May, be completed in two months, and all post-production could be finished by the end of October, allowing the film to be released in November.

Then, he took a month off before collaborating with 20th Century Fox again. The new project, a new Alien movie, has been finalized.

At the end of the three-person meeting, Ridley suddenly asked Martin and Louise, "Do you have any suitable epic film projects in mind? We can continue to collaborate."

Sure enough, epic films are his true love, but Martin didn't want to jump into that trap, saying, "I've just encountered some changes on my end, and there aren't any suitable ones available at the moment."

Ridley had heard about it, but didn't say anything more.

After leaving the small meeting room, Martin chatted with Louise for a few minutes before leaving the film crew's studio.

Bruce came over from the other side and said, "Annapurna Pictures issued a statement this morning saying they are increasing their investment in two projects, Seventh Son and Transcendence. The production budget for the former has been increased to $1.8 million, and the budget for the latter has been increased to $1.7 million."

Martin was somewhat surprised: "Interesting, the domineering female CEO actually made an additional investment."

(End of this chapter)