The day after skirmishes broke out in the desert region, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial hit the screens, leaving Hollywood dumbfounded as the record set by Speed was effortlessly shattered.
"Congrats, Spielberg! You gotta direct a movie for me. See? Staggering the release dates is the way to go. That's how you maximize profits."
"Sure, as long as the script is right, I'll definitely direct one for you."
"Thanks, don't worry. There'll definitely be a suitable script."
"I'm investing, too."
"Come on, Lucas, it's like I'm telling you, you wouldn't invest in this movie just like I wouldn't put money into Star Wars."
"Sheesh! Are you planning to shoot Jurassic Park?"
"Ha, Lucas, you know I've got my little island in the Caribbean, right?"
"You crazy fool."
"Thanks for the compliment."
The two guys hadn't expected that a simple game of golf would lead them to such explosive news.
"William, shouldn't it be Disneyland?"
"Are you kidding me, Lucas? I'm regretting it big time now. If I could, I'd tear down that new one."
"That might not be possible anymore. No wonder you halted the Paris project. Did it really lose a lot?"
"Don't mention it. If it wasn't for that burden, I'd have started making a profit already."
Talking about profits, everyone understood that to go public and raise funds, while not necessary to have profits, you couldn't expect stellar stock prices without them.
As Hollywood's big talker, whatever Lucas knew, the whole world would know. Everyone who read the book knew the scenes in Jurassic Park.
But to build an entire park for a movie, and one on a remote island, that's a whole new level of extravagance!
Well, the way rich people spend money is something us regular folks find hard to understand.
Just as William White said, the money earned is meant to be spent lavishly. Saving it up is a disgrace.
People generally didn't mind how he splurged; some even found it amusing. As long as it's not a private island, since it's open to the public, the prices probably wouldn't be outlandish.
Even though the movie was just an idea, it had already garnered unprecedented attention, and the book had sold out again, anyway.
The bigwigs in Hollywood sighed, realizing that the world around them truly changed, and Hollywood had become extraordinarily bizarre.
They vaguely remembered two years back, earning over 100 million in box office sales was a miracle. But now, breaking 100 million seemed just the beginning.
This summer, no other movie seemed to stand a chance.
...
Yes, the times were different now. Viewing things with old perspectives was a no-go. If they couldn't keep up with the main crowd, they would be the next United Artists.
Getting acquired wasn't really a problem; aside from the CEO and other executives, it should not cause major upheaval.
But unfortunately, Kerkorian didn't see it that way. MGM had its own setup, and buying United Artists was straightforwardly to strengthen their distribution department, as they used to distribute all their films through United Artists.
As for anything else?
As long as the price was right, it was sell, sell, sell all the way. William White had been excited for a long time over the acquisition of the James Bond franchise, not because it was super profitable, but due to his fixation on the movie libraries of United Artists and MGM.
Previously, MGM, whenever close to bankruptcy, would borrow money to film James Bond movies. The bizarre thing was, they always managed to bounce back.
It's the grandfather of spy movies, whether it's Mission Impossible or Bourne Identity, they all have elements of Bond in them.
Why did they stop filming later on?
It wasn't for lack of scripts, but rather from being overdone. A Bond who drives a Mondeo? That was just too comical. It was more like Johnny English.
William had already thought it through. These two could be cameos for each other, but only occasionally. If done all the time, it wouldn't be a spy movie anymore.
...
The opening weekend box office was over 50 million bucks, which truly startled everyone. If the trend continued, it would easily gross at least 300 million dollars.
And that's just the North American box office. Generally, Americans love movies, and the global box office would roughly match North America's numbers.
Europe couldn't hope to rival Hollywood, not due to poor filmmaking but because the market's potential isn't comparable.
Now, not only is no one saying films aren't profitable, but it's like there's a gold rush, with everyone rushing in like rabbits.
If there was only White Films, then it would be an outlier. But now that there's a second, a third isn't far down the line.
Hollywood had indeed gone mad. Wasn't it just about big productions?
Anyone could do that, and as for good directors, Hollywood wasn't short of them. If you've got a strong script, it doesn't matter. Throw money at it, and you'll get results.
As for William White's plan, they honestly didn't know what to make of it.
Anyway, he has money, so let him do whatever he wants.
...
Lucas gave up on investing, for with Star Wars, he understood how lucrative spin-offs could be. Never mind anything else, just the light sabers alone brought in a considerable amount each year.
Jurassic Park would surely be the same. The stuff was ready-made; wasn't it just selling dinosaurs?
Look at those Transformers; they drove people mad with jealousy.
Of course, the most frustrated had to be Gundam. What seemed like a sky-high price then now looked like pennies -- over a billion dollars worth of wealth vanished just like that.
The lucrative entertainment industry naturally attracted external capital. Not only were European conglomerates making a comeback, but the desert tycoons were itching to join in too.
Hollywood's securitization was thorough. The slow pace of filming actually had much to do with Wall Street.
Producers would secure investments through investment banks, which then converted those investments into bonds. Just think, if they finished filming in two months, those bonds might not even hit the market yet.
Film production would go hand in hand with bond sales; by the time filming was wrapping up, they would sell high and buy low, much like stock trading, but with less stringent management.
There was plenty of money floating around in America at that time. If it weren't for those pesky interest rates, the economy might have recovered long ago.
...
"Dad, still no go?"
"They're not budging. Reagan's already furious. There's clearly no more inflation, yet they continue to tighten credit."
"No point getting angry. They might have bigger plans and wouldn't bother explaining it to a veep."
"Darn idiots. Anyways, Dad, William White doesn't think the economy will get better. I asked him about any good investments, and he told me to buy Coca-Cola stocks."
"Geez, so what are you waiting for?"
Since William White started buying Coca-Cola stocks, they've already doubled. It's been such a short time, yet it's mind-boggling.
Funny enough, those guys on Wall Street always tried to coax William White into investing, perplexed as to why it seemed like they thought he was that gullible.
The truth is, they weren't mainly after his dollars.
Wall Street folks were probably the most superstitious in America. If William White so much as bought a token amount of stocks, it would give them a great promotional angle.
Unfortunately, William White didn't care for those bastards.
*****
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