I am Hollywood

[Chapter 859: This is Different]

In the original timeline, Marvel was frequently criticized for its actors' compensation, mainly due to the stingy CEO Isaac Perlmutter. There were even jokes circulating in the industry that the furniture in the Marvel Entertainment offices was second-hand.

Before Ron Perlman took over Marvel, Isaac Perlmutter was part of the Marvel board. When Firefly Group fully acquired Marvel, the original board was naturally disbanded, and Eric did not extend an olive branch to Isaac Perlmutter. As a boss, Eric certainly wanted the upper management to save costs as much as possible to generate more profits for the company, but he also believed it was unnecessary to be so harsh; that would only backfire.

Rather than focusing on the minutiae, Eric was more concerned with the overall cost control during the production of Marvel films, which was fundamental for the stability and continuity of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Therefore, during those two weeks in New York, discussions on the compensation plans for Marvel's leading actors took up most of everyone's time. The core of the final plan was essentially two points: contract duration and tying compensation to box office performance.

The preliminary plan required core actors participating in Marvel superhero films to sign contracts for at least six movies. As long as the box office was stellar, Marvel could guarantee them A-list salaries, but it would not pay exorbitant sums like $50 million for a single film.

While chatting casually about these matters with Stuart Ronkel, they inevitably reminisced about some past events, feeling a bit nostalgic. The expectant glances from nearby guests made Stuart realize that Eric didn't appear as free-spirited as he seemed. After about ten minutes of discussion, where Stuart stated he would seriously consider whether to take part in Spider-Man, the young man took his leave and walked toward his parents and sister, who were waiting nearby.

...

Eric remained leaning against the railing, signaling to a passing waiter. He took a glass of champagne from the waiter's tray just as a couple approached him. The man had gray hair, dressed sharply in a suit, and wore glasses, giving off quite the university professor vibe. However, anyone familiar with his work would not have held such a notion; this man was Hollywood horror master William Friedkin, and the middle-aged woman on his arm was his wife, the current CEO of Paramount, Sherry Lansing.

Eric also noticed that there was a hint of reproach in Sherry Lansing's expression. Clearly, her presence at tonight's party was not as innocent as it seemed. By convention, even if they didn't refuse, Firefly could never openly invite the heads of competitors like Paramount to such events, indicating Mrs. Lansing was uninvited.

Pretending not to notice Sherry's look, Eric straightened up and greeted William Friedkin warmly, "Hi, William, good evening."

"Good evening, Eric. This is truly a moment worth celebrating," William Friedkin responded, seemingly unconcerned by his wife's mood, or more likely masking it. He continued, "A worldwide box office of $1.8 billion is indeed miraculous. But, Eric, I'm curious why you chose this figure to celebrate; wouldn't $2 billion be better?"

Eric casually offered an excuse, "Sometimes you do things on impulse. Being bound by habitual thought isn't good."

William Friedkin chuckled in agreement.

But Sherry Lansing interjected, continuing Eric's line, "However, Eric, don't you think Firefly has been a bit excessive in some areas?"

William Friedkin seemed caught off-guard by his wife's directness and coughed awkwardly.

From Sherry's aggressive comments, Eric was almost 100% certain of her intent. Given Firefly and Fox's joint strategy to squash The Lion King 2, Paramount must have felt cornered.

Summer Redstone had made bold claims in the media that The Lion King 2 would crush Finding Nemo and Ice Age. However, since the promotional phase for summer movies began at the end of March, The Lion King 2 had virtually disappeared from Firefly and News Corp's media network. Yahoo, along with other media related to Firefly Group and News Corp, rarely mentioned The Lion King 2 in any story.

Due to factors like audience targeting, animated movie marketing relied much more on TV advertising compared to live-action films. The Lion King 2 lost more than half of its TV advertising platforms in North America and faced joint suppression in ad placements on NBC and CBS by Firefly and Fox. Nearly all marketing efforts over the past month had fallen flat.

In contrast, the promotions for Finding Nemo and Ice Age were thriving. With a powerful combination of TV, newspapers, online, and traditional posters, the influence of these animated films spread rapidly among the public like a virus.

Knowing the intent behind Sherry Lansing's words, Eric decided to drop his act and shrugged, "Sherry, I don't think Firefly has done anything overly excessive. If I remember correctly, MTV also refused the trailer for Titanic last year."

"That's different, Eric," Sherry Lansing countered, "Firefly is out to destroy us, and that's no good for either side. Don't forget, Firefly still retains the merchandise rights for The Lion King. If The Lion King 2 flops, neither of us will stand to benefit."

Eric threw up his hands, "Sherry, these points are meaningless. While the big six studios are never short of collaboration, we invariably choose what benefits us most."

"But the television networks should be a public service sector, Eric. What you're doing could even be deemed illegal, that's unfair competition."

"You're mistaken, Sherry. The four major networks have always been private entities. ABC is mine, Fox belongs to Murdoch, CBS to Larry Tisch, and NBC to General Electric. Just last week, I saw Jack Welch's live speech on NBC that seemed to last almost an hour. Do you think if NBC didn't belong to General Electric, Jack Welch would get a whole hour of airtime for a personal show? So, let's all just listen to the brass words. If people take them seriously, that would be foolish."

Sherry Lansing gripped her wine glass tightly, momentarily at a loss for words in rebuttal.

Seeing his usually eloquent wife rendered speechless by this young man, William Friedkin intervened to ease the tension, "Eric, Sherry, there's no need to let it get so tense, is there? How about we find a place to sit and chat? There's always a solution to every problem."

"William, that won't be necessary. I'm glad you could make it tonight and enjoy yourselves," Eric lifted his glass to William Friedkin, then turned and walked away.

Had Hollywood managed to maintain the stable coexistence of the Big Six as it had in the past, Eric would have been more inclined to foster a state of competitive cooperation.

Now, with Firefly's rise, that coexistence was shattered. Eric didn't see any reason for reconciliation, knowing that reconciliation meant compromise, and he truly couldn't think of any reason Firefly should compromise at this point.

With the rapid development and growth of Firefly, the non-Firefly movie companies and media groups would certainly face strong impacts, even survival threats. In that event, competition could escalate to a life-and-death struggle.

In such intense commercial competition, seeking reconciliation or sympathy from rivals was utterly unrealistic, and giving competitors opportunities was also unwise.

...

Perhaps in light of the impasse, after the Titanic celebration party, as May rolled in, Paramount took the initiative to raise the topic of The Lion King 2's suppression by Firefly and Fox in the newspapers.

Summer Redstone personally appeared on NBC's morning news talk show, fuming as he accused Firefly and Fox of their unfair competitive practices, even vowing to file a lawsuit with the U.S. Justice Department.

Perhaps sensing a media war was about to erupt, numerous newspapers across the nation quickly jumped on the story, reporting it extensively and eagerly anticipating Firefly and Fox's response.

Yet, despite all of Viacom's provocations and Redstone's furious outbursts, the upper management of Firefly and Fox remained silent on the matter. Their media outlets produced no stories regarding the alleged suppression of The Lion King 2, as if the issue didn't exist in the minds of Firefly and Fox.

Eventually, after being hounded by eager media reporters for over a week, Katzenberg finally "could not hold back" and made a statement, but it was merely one sentence: "You can't force McDonald's to advertise for KFC."

That statement was incredibly powerful.

Anyone could see that as two world-class fast-food chains, McDonald's and KFC were undeniably rivals.

Similarly, Firefly Group and Viacom were also unquestionable competitors.

Refusing to advertise for a rival on one's own media platforms was a perfectly reasonable stance, wasn't it?

Initially, many aggrieved media outlets had aimed to seek "justice" for Paramount, but Katzenberg's comment brought a calm to that fervor. While some newspapers felt Firefly had been overly harsh, it's true that The Lion King ultimately belonged to Disney under Firefly's banner. However, as Firefly essentially ignored the catcalls from its rival, the original uproar surrounding the issue quickly fizzled out. Even if Viacom remained reluctantly inciting discord, it was hard to spark the media's interest again.

Of course, the whole debacle did give The Lion King 2 some limited exposure in the public eye, but as the film's primary audience consisted of children aged 6 to 12, it was unlikely that anyone felt this would affect them.

As for teens or adult viewers, there were so many other films to anticipate that summer: Godzilla, Batman & Robin, Casino Royale, Scream 2, and Rush Hour 2, among others. Even in animated features, despite differences in promotional intensity, audiences were likely to prefer Finding Nemo and Ice Age after being exposed to Pixar's 3D animation, rather than the traditional 2D animation of The Lion King 2.

...

After the celebration party, from April 25 to May 15, Titanic went on to earn an additional $163 million at the global box office.

On May 16, Firefly officially announced that Titanic's worldwide box office had surpassed $2 billion, totaling $2.015 billion.

This time, Firefly did not hold a centralized celebration but organized interactions with fans in the main ticket markets worldwide. While these events could not boost Titanic's box office potential, they did drive significant sales of Titanic-themed merchandise.

Since its release, Titanic's accompanying merchandise had already racked up sales exceeding an astounding $600 million, and with more merchandise hitting the overseas market, that number was set to grow rapidly.

Firefly's merchandise operation department estimated that just from Titanic's themed products alone, the movie could generate no less than $1.5 billion in sales over the next several years -- an amount nearly half of the total revenue from Firefly's merchandise sales last year. In 1996, Firefly's total revenue from merchandise was just $3.3 billion.

This series of monumental success figures spurred nearly all movie companies in Hollywood to begin feverishly searching for projects that could rival Titanic. Even within Firefly itself, during the few weeks Eric returned to Los Angeles, he had received four or five "blockbuster" scripts.

Clearly, Titanic's success had created a false impression throughout Hollywood, leading many to believe that now that the first film had crossed the $2 billion mark, there would soon be a second, third, or even more films following suit.

Eric certainly wouldn't let such success cloud his judgment; he continued to direct most of his energy toward the establishment of Marvel Studios and the preliminary preparations for Spider-Man, Iron Man, and other projects.

*****

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