After swiftly dealing with various trivial matters, Laila finally revealed the true reason she had rushed back so urgently.
As Louise looked at the project proposal in her hand, her shock grew with each passing moment, causing her heart to race.
"Laila, are you serious?"
"Do I look like someone who would joke about something like this?" Laila raised an eyebrow.
Of course, Louise knew she wasn't joking, but she was struggling to accept the impact of the proposal. "If we're going to proceed according to the plan here, we might need to invest at least $100 million or more! And that's just for the initial investment; we might need at least $50 million more afterward."
Laila admired her calculation skills internally. Indeed, if she planned to succeed, $150 million was the minimum budget required. For someone who had been concerned about spending a few thousand dollars not long ago, suddenly dealing with a budget in the millions was undoubtedly startling.
"I did say we're preparing for a major production!"
Louise's voice trembled as she muttered, "It's qualified to be a major production. But... are you sure this is okay?"
"You've never tried, so how do you know if it'll work?"
Louise was torn, uncertain about whether to reveal the situation to her. But if not telling her led to a loss of millions for the company, she would feel even guiltier.
"In 1995, the independent production company Carolco released a pirate-themed film called 'Cutthroat Island,' directed by Renny Harlin. The investment at the time was said to be over $92 million, but the box office was only around $9.5 million."
When the film was released, Laila was bedridden, so it wasn't surprising that she wasn't aware of this. Louise gave her a detailed account of the situation at the time, hoping she would understand that investing heavily in a pirate movie wasn't a good idea.
"Carolco has produced many successful films, such as 'Terminator 2' and 'Basic Instinct.' To make 'Cutthroat Island' a success, they opted for practical shooting. Just the pirate ship in the movie required a budget of $5 million. However, the final result was that the entire company went bankrupt, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer acquired them."
Laila listened silently until Louise finished. Then, she looked straight into her eyes and asked, "So, do you think I can't make a successful pirate movie?"
"Well..." Louise hesitated. Saying "yes" was a difficult judgment, considering Laila's track record of consistently achieving box office miracles. However, saying "no" would be ignoring the downfall of pirate movies.
In the past, there had been many popular pirate films that were beloved by fans, like "Captain Blood," "Captain Hook," and "Treasure Island." Pirate films have enjoyed decent box office success for a long time.
As Roy had put it, pirates were the romantic figures of men. Which boy hadn't draped a sheet over his shoulders, wielded a stick, and imagined himself as a pirate sailing the seas?
However, "Cutthroat Island" and its massive loss silenced the filmmaking industry. Even now, several years later, no production company showed the slightest interest in pirate films. Not even the major Hollywood studios were willing to invest $80-90 million.
Laila didn't need to see her struggle any further. She casually lifted her hand and said, "I know the 'Cutthroat Island' you're talking about. I also know that the director, Renny Harlin, who shot 'A Nightmare on Elm Street 4,' is a very accomplished director. But I'm even more aware that the failure of that movie was due to its genre. The script is the fundamental issue."
Ironically, this movie that the independent studio Carolco had staked everything on, this movie they valued so much, actually had a script so terrible that they couldn't even finish filming it.
In their haste, they hired four more writers to continue the script. What resulted was four writers arguing with each other for over two years, unable to agree, and the movie was only completed with great difficulty.
Even with this kind of mess being put on screen, Laila would have been surprised if it didn't fail. In the end, Carolco went bankrupt due to the colossal loss from "Cutthroat Island." To her, it was a classic case of "if you don't court death, you won't die." When one monk carries water, two monks share the work, and three monks go thirsty, yet they dare invite a fourth monk? Isn't that just asking for chaos?
This was common sense even children understood, yet they managed to trip over it. It was truly exasperating.
"We're not Carolco, and I'm not Renny Harlin. If there's someone who can't make a failed movie, it's me!"
What would be a boastful statement from anyone else, when uttered so naturally by Laila, whether it was Louise or Demi, they couldn't help but believe it.
It was an incredible thing, but not surprising. One of the first impressions they had of her was that she was Hollywood's "Know-It-All," and her extensive network of connections had provided her with many sources of insider information.
"Do you know what movie is being planned recently? It's directed by John McTiernan, the one who directed 'Die Hard,' and the writer is Michael Crichton, the one who wrote 'Jurassic Park.'" She remembered what Prince Al Nadeem had told her.
Louise paused for a moment. "I have indeed heard about this news."
Laila wasn't surprised by Louise's well-informed status. From the beginning, one of the impressions she had of her was being Hollywood's "Information Maven," with decades of connections that granted her access to many sources of insider information.
"Do you know what kind of movie it is?"
"The title seems to be 'The 13th Warrior.' Apparently, they've found an investor recently, and the final investment might exceed $150 million."