The success of "The Purge" invigorated everyone at Seashore Entertainment, signalling the company was on the right track.
Michael quickly tidied up his office and dealt with some documents, including an email from Gray Enrique of Lionsgate informing Seashore Entertainment that the number of theatres showing "The Purge" would increase to around 2,400 by the following weekend.
Due to the limited number of theatres during the opening weekend, Lionsgate and the theatres believed the film still had market potential.
Additionally, Lionsgate planned to increase the promotional budget further and arrange for the main cast and crew to make some media appearances.
Michael forwarded all these to Robert to handle. James Wong, Robert Knepper, Amanda Seyfried, and Mohammed were all willing to make media appearances.
Michael didn't plan to oversee the subsequent promotional activities personally. One person's time and energy were limited, and doing everything himself would be exhausting.
Lionsgate, driven by its interests, would continue pushing the film to maximize its revenue.
Michael checked the time and called Salih.
As soon as the call connected, Salih's voice came through, "Hello, Michael."
"Hello, Salih," Michael responded with a smile. "How are you enjoying Abu Dhabi? Any plans to come back to Los Angeles?"
Salih laughed heartily, "I'm doing great here. I have some good news for you. I met the president yesterday. He praised my work in Los Angeles."
Michael played along, "Are you getting promoted?"
"Yes," Salih sounded delighted, "By next week, I'll be promoted to Deputy Minister of the Investment Bureau. This is thanks to you. The bureau's investment in your film has been well received. Reports from the US have been sent to Abu Dhabi, and Al Jazeera covered it too. The president is very pleased with our success in Hollywood."
"I'm glad to have helped," Michael said, "But it did cause some controversy."
Salih laughed again, "That's a normal reaction." He then asked, "Michael, I watched the film you sent. It's fantastic, much better than just reading the script."
The version sent to the Arab region had been specially edited. Michael replied, "We couldn't have finished this film without the bureau's funding."
Salih asked, "When will you come to Abu Dhabi?"
Michael thought for a moment, "I'll bring the film to Abu Dhabi for a premiere next month."
"Great!" Salih said eagerly, "I'll give you a proper welcome."
He lowered his voice, "I'll show you the splendour of Abu Dhabi."
Michael didn't hesitate, "It's a deal!"
Salih then reminded him, "Brother Mansour wants to bring this film over soon. He has a few representatives in Los Angeles who will probably contact you soon."
Michael raised an eyebrow, hoping they weren't there to audit the accounts, "Are they here just to discuss the film's release?"
Salih replied nonchalantly, "No. Brother Mansour wants to buy a large film company."
Michael switched the phone to his other hand, feeling a mix of relief and caution, "Is there anything I can help with?"
With no apparent concern, Salih said, "You don't need to worry about this. They've contacted the six major studios and some mid-sized companies, but no one is willing to sell. You were right, Michael. Hollywood is strongly resistant to us Arabs."
Michael agreed, "Yes, it's pronounced."
After hanging up, Michael pondered the new information.
Mansour and the Abu Dhabi Investment Bureau wanted to acquire a major Hollywood studio? Fortunately, they hadn't succeeded; otherwise, getting further investments from Abu Dhabi would have been difficult.
This era made it challenging to acquire the major studios, which were all part of large conglomerates. In recent years, the majors have also acquired most mid-sized studios.
The late 1990s saw the major studios in Hollywood establish a strong monopoly. Lionsgate had just been founded, Summit Entertainment was still developing in Santa Monica, and Relativity Media wouldn't appear for a few more years.
Looking at the once-glorious mid-sized companies of the early 90s: Orion and Carolco became subsidiaries of the majors, the Weinstein brothers' Miramax joined Disney early on, New Line Cinema and Castle Rock Entertainment bowed to Warner Bros, PolyGram joined Universal, and TriStar merged into Sony Columbia.
Given the timing, buying a suitable film company was tough, even with money. Besides, if the Arabs really tried to buy a significant studio, Washington might intervene.
Unlimited spending could undoubtedly buy a mid-sized company, but Michael knew the people in Abu Dhabi were not crazy.
Michael deduced that Mansour was making contingency plans. The investment in "The Purge" was small, and their main goal was likely to acquire a large studio. If that failed, Seashore Entertainment was a fallback option.
From Salih's unintentional disclosure, it was clear the acquisition had met significant obstacles.
Therefore, Seashore Entertainment remained the best option for the Abu Dhabi Investment Bureau.
With "The Purge" already released, it would soon be time to visit Abu Dhabi and reconnect with the "Arab brothers."
After all, the "Final Destination" investment hadn't been secured yet.
However, there was a problem.
Michael had considered the financing for "Final Destination" for a while. It wouldn't be easy to involve the Arabs in a film entirely of various gruesome deaths and featuring a high-status entity like Death.
You couldn't cast Arabs as the ones being killed by Death.
James Wong and Glen Morgan were flexible, but making such a change would drastically lower the film's prestige in Abu Dhabi, potentially making financing a problem.
What to do? Michael pondered this until noon without a solution.
In the afternoon, representatives from Mansour arrived at Seashore Entertainment. Michael put his current tasks aside to meet with the five-person delegation to discuss the distribution of "The Purge" in the Arab region.
The meeting was friendly and smooth.
Michael had promised to hand over the film's distribution in the Arab region to Mansour. However, after studying film distribution, Mansour realized it wasn't an easy task for his company to handle quickly. They decided to take only the UAE rights.
Seashore Entertainment signed an agreement that day, granting one of Mansour's companies exclusive rights to the film in the UAE.
For licensing, Michael charged a symbolic one dollar.
By excluding the UAE, the overseas rights were still intact, and with the North American box office booming, they could fetch a reasonable price later.
"The Relic" still had its overseas rights intact. Could they be sold together?
Many Hollywood studios bundle a popular film with a few flops when selling foreign rights.
Bundle? Michael had an idea and noted it down in his notebook.
Could "Final Destination" be paired with another project for which Arabs would like to create a financing package? This bundling strategy was common in post-2008 Hollywood for external financing.
It could work.
The key was finding a project that Arabs would like.
What project? Michael couldn't think of any film with Arab protagonists.
Would he have to alter one drastically?
Instead of making a hasty decision, Michael carefully considered his options.
"The Purge" was the foundation for future plans. The more popular it became, the more attention it would attract from the Arabs.