America Tycoon: The Wolf of Showbiz

David Fincher was busy with work and left the studio soon.
Experience exclusive tales on My Virtual Library Empire

Seeing no one else present except for Bruce, who was sitting in the corner, Daniel specifically brought up another matter with Martin. "I've seen the three old movies you picked, and they require a high investment to shoot. Do you really see a good prospect for remaking them?"

"At present," Martin said vaguely, "I think their prospects are somewhat better." But he didn't speak with finality. "I'm still researching the others."

There was no difference in Daniel's usual curious demeanor. "Can you tell me why you chose 'Peter Pan,' 'Exodus,' and 'The Wizard of Oz'?"

Because of personnel changes at Warner Bros., the first list Martin picked wasn't actually what he favored.

At this complex moment, he habitually kept some cards close to his chest.

Hearing Daniel's question, Martin seemingly casually glanced over him, possibly due to acting so much. Perhaps after spending time with top-tier actors like Nicholson, combined with a naturally paranoid delusion, he suddenly felt something unnatural about Daniel.

Daniel had been looking at the documents in his hand all the time.

Martin said with a smile, "Actually, it was after considering the current and future movie market situation that I chose these three movies."

Daniel continued to inquire, "Oh? They say you have a knack for choosing films, looks like you've discovered something special."

"There are some findings, though nothing too special," Martin's response was ambiguous. "Choosing 'Peter Pan' and 'The Wizard of Oz' was influenced by Disney's recently released 'Alice in Wonderland,' whose opening weekend box office grossed 116 million US dollars, indicating a market for 3D live-action fairy tale movies in the coming years."

With 'Alice in Wonderland' freshly released, and the example laid out before him, Daniel couldn't help but nod. Indeed, 'Peter Pan' and 'The Wizard of Oz' were even more renowned and had a greater impact.

Still mixing truth and falsehood, Martin said, "'Exodus' and the fantasy elements in it were chosen mainly because of another major project Warner Bros. is pushing."

Daniel thought of it. "'The Hobbit' trilogy?"

"Yes, exactly, the fantasy epic series," Martin said openly. "Ordinary epic movies haven't been doing well these past few years. After 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy sparked a wave of fantasy epics, Disney's subsequent 'The Chronicles of Narnia' series achieved huge success.

Although there were failures, they were mostly due to problems with the films themselves, and the lack of fame of the original works."

He didn't mention the failures by name. "I have confidence in the 'The Hobbit' trilogy directed by Peter Jackson, which will surely be a billion-dollar box office fantasy epic. It will definitely create another surge in this genre, and 'Exodus,' with its magical elements and being a well-known story, could ride on The Hobbit's popularity..."

To Daniel, these points seemed reasonable. Investing in films was hugely risky, and riding on trends significantly reduced that risk.

What was Hollywood best at?

Apart from talking shop in hotel rooms, it was following trends.

After some thought, Martin added, "That's my current thinking, but specific changes will have to be made in the actual operations. No one can guarantee a film's success one hundred percent."

Daniel nodded, left him with a diplomatic remark. "These three films, 'Exodus' doesn't involve copyright, but the latter two are tangled up in copyright issues. You should talk to Warner Bros. about it."

"I will have someone negotiate," Martin said.

He had previously seen in Warner's files that 'Exodus' was from the Bible, naturally there wouldn't be a film copyright dispute.

'The Wizard of Oz' and 'Peter Pan,' thanks to Disney's relentless efforts, benefitted from the copyright extension for works before 1978 in the copyright act, and have not yet entered the public domain.

The movie rights for the former were with Warner Bros., while the latter was authorized by a hospital to both Disney and Warner, which meant negotiations could proceed with Warner.

Of course, what Martin actually didn't want was to negotiate at all.

Daniel asked about several other matters and then quickly took his leave.

After seeing him off, Martin asked Bruce sitting in the corner. "Did you find him a bit off?"

"No, I didn't notice anything," Bruce shook his head and after some thought added, "It's rare for him to discuss the movie market with you."

"That's right," Martin said. "Have Jessica touch base with someone at Warner Bros. If Warner genuinely wants to talk about remake rights with us, the issue might not be big. But if they won't even discuss, then Daniel, or Warner Bros. might be using me as their film picker."

Bruce brought up another matter, "Ellen Horn has resigned."

"She'll soon take up a post at Disney Studios," Martin sighed softly. "Too bad it's a production company, not a distribution company."

Bruce recalled, "Wasn't it true that you randomly picked those three films?"

"Warner Bros. is about to enter a turbulent phase," Martin said. "I'm just being cautious."

Danny returned to the Warner Building and called Kevin Tsujihara.

Kevin Tsujihara, who had just assumed his position, was full of drive and immediately instructed the team at Warner Bros. to engage with Daniel to discuss whether Martin's ideas were feasible.

'The Wizard of Oz' and 'Peter Pan' were relatively neglected at Warner Bros. and the discussion to re-shoot 'Exodus' was heating up.

Many in Hollywood had a penchant for epic films, with big productions debuting every year only to flop, but successors kept coming regardless.

And this time, it was further backed by 'The Hobbit' as a precursor.

With Ellen Horn's departure, the Warner producers and executives, who had been suppressed by her for a long time and who had "genius-like creativity," began to let their imaginations run wild.

Without strong personalities to hold them back, the executives at Warner could soar to the sky.

Not only did this group believe that making a magical version of 'Exodus' was feasible, but they also thought that Christian Bale, who often collaborated with Warner, was very suitable to play Moses.

They even put together a lengthy list of directors, with Hollywood's epic film specialist Ridley Scott at the top.

The thought processes of these people were initially baffling to Martin.

But he soon realized, wasn't this Warner Bros.'s typical puzzling behavior after 2010?

What others found bizarre, was the norm at Warner.

Jessica's interaction with Warner Bros. had been put off for a while and eventually came to nothing.

Afterward, Warner Bros. brought up Peter Pan and The Wizard of Oz for discussion, because after the huge success of "Alice in Wonderland," many Warner executives thought they could be made into 3D live-action films.

Exodus was the most discussed and also received backing from behind-the-scenes Jewish forces; by late January, Warner Bros. had pushed it into the review committee and successfully got the green light.

Warner Bros. contacted Christian Bale once again.

...

Inside a sound stage at Warner Bros. Studios, where the "Horrible Bosses" crew was located,

when Martin visited Aniston, she also mentioned this project.

"Steven Zaillian, who had worked as a screenwriter on 'Mission: Impossible' and 'Gangs of New York,' was hired by Warner to lead the writing of the screenplay,"

Sitting outside the sound stage on a rest chair, Aniston handed a bottle of water to Martin and said, "Warner Bros. has launched a fundraising campaign for plan B, aiming to raise no less than 150 million US dollars for the production."

Martin marveled, "150 million US dollars, truly worthy of the great enterprise that is Warner."

Aniston naturally said, "You, the successful man, any advice?"

Martin had some principles, "Hollywood throws huge amounts of money into epic films every year; just look at me, whenever I come across such movies, I instantly walk the other way."

Aniston understood, "You don't have faith in this genre?"

Martin opened the water and handed it to her.

Taking a sip of water, Aniston said, "I'll also walk the other way when I encounter epic films in the future."

As they were talking, suddenly a black-skinned woman came around from the sound stage.

Seeing Martin and Aniston, she ran up to them like an excited fan.

On seeing Bruce appear, she quickly said, "Jennifer, I'm Megan, Megan Markle."

Martin asked, "You know her?"

"Not at all," Aniston shook her head directly.

Megan reminded, "I work with you on the 'Horrible Bosses' crew; we're colleagues."

Aniston had some recollection, "Seems like it."

Martin waved Bruce off.

Bruce had just stepped aside when Megan opened her bag, took out an iPhone, and asked, "Can we take a photo together?"

Martin, who was always kind to minor actors, got up with Aniston, "Sure."

Megan handed the phone to Bruce, "Thanks."

She was smart, and stood on Aniston's side, warmly linking her arm with Aniston's.

Bruce took three pictures in succession.

"Thank you," Megan thanked Martin and Aniston, took her phone back from Bruce, and left the place.

After walking some distance, she opened Twitter on her phone, preparing to post a fresh tweet.

Megan first selected the photo she had just taken with Martin and Aniston, then she started crafting the text.

"Entering Hollywood these past few years, the biggest gain has been making a lot of good friends. Today, I unexpectedly ran into friend Martin Davis when he came to visit the set, and I chatted with him and another friend Aniston for a long time, discussing the development of Hollywood movies in the coming years and the current Oscar situation, among other things."

After composing, Megan sent it out.

The previous tweet on her Twitter was a selfie with Aniston in the background, with the caption: "It's so much fun to co-star in a movie with a friend."

Megan left the studio, drove back to her rented apartment, opened her phone and glanced at Twitter, where she had very few followers.

For an ordinary actor, getting attention is too difficult, even on social media.

Megan returned to the main page of Twitter to see what the hottest news was.

At the top of the hottest news came from Harvey Weinstein, who was officially being sued by over 120 victims.

Megan opened the news page, read it carefully, and tried to identify the characteristics of a hot topic.

Images of one victim after another, wearing Mitu pins, appeared on the news page, and suddenly Megan realized something significant—there wasn't a single black person among the victims!

She faintly grasped the code to viral content.

Megan first commented under the news and then captured Weinstein's image and news link to retweet, repeating her comment as a tweet.

"Harvey Weinstein is not only implicated in sexual crimes but is also a racist, as none of the people he harmed are black!"

By the next day, not only had the tweet soared to the hot search on Twitter, but it was also reposted by many websites and media outlets.

Megan Markle's name suddenly shot to fame.