Chapter 193 - The Premiere of Jessica's "Transformer"

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Although Garnett is an interior player, he does not like playing the center position, which is different from Duncan. During his time with the Celtics, Garnett mainly played as a power forward, leaving the center position to the hard-working Kendrick Perkins.

Even in retrospect, Garnett was the perfect center for small-ball lineups, a luxurious and improved version of Draymond Green. However, Wang Chong still planned to let Garnett play the power forward position, so Marc Gasol could remain the starting center.

In the original 2007-08 season, Gasol couldn't sign with the Lakers due to poor weight control. He was traded to the Grizzlies as trade bait mid-season before having a chance to land in the NBA.

In the 08-09 season, Gasol officially signed with the Grizzlies and began playing in the NBA. In his first season, he averaged 11.9 points and 7.4 rebounds per game, quickly becoming the Grizzlies' main player.

The peak of Gasol's career was when he formed the "Black and White" duo with Zach Randolph. He was selected to the All-Star game three times, the All-NBA Team twice, the All-Defensive Team once, and won the Defensive Player of the Year award.

Defensively, Gasol was as good as Tyson Chandler at his best. Both players were elite rim protectors, but Gasol was heavier than Chandler, making him more capable of defending the rim. However, he was at a disadvantage when switching defenses or playing against bigger or smaller players.

But he had solid offensive abilities and could handle the ball, which was something Chandler couldn't do.

Before landing in the NBA, Gasol already had extensive playing experience. He had shone in European leagues, and his obesity wouldn't limit his strength. In fact, he was the strongest player on the Grizzlies, weighing over 250 pounds, much heavier than during the draft.

Therefore, Wang Chong could be confident that even if Gasol entered the league a year earlier than expected, his performance wouldn't be much worse than it was in the 2008-09 season. Even without the offensive and organizational abilities of the "Black and White" duo, as a player, it wouldn't be a problem for the hard-working center to continue Tyson Chandler's role in the paint.

Don't forget, the Bulls currently have Paul Millsap, who is not taken seriously by the outside world, in their current lineup.

Millsap, who is 6'8" and plays power forward, can definitely share playing time with Gasol. When facing an opponent with a relatively strong inside presence, let Gasol play more. If the opponent is weak inside, put Garnett at center and Millsap at power forward.

By then, the interior style would be flexible and adaptable, which would become an important trump card for the Bulls.

The starting lineup for the Bulls in the new season, according to Wang Chong's plan, should be point guard Billups, shooting guard James Jones, small forward Wang Chong, power forward Garnett, and center Gasol.

The sixth man off the bench is Millsap, and the main rotation backup is Ramon Sessions.

Wang Chong's offseason recruitment and reinforcement work was basically completed.

As for the other players, there wasn't much demand. As long as they were players who had reached NBA level, it didn't matter who they were. General Manager John Paxson could take the initiative here, and he and the new head coach of the team, Tom Thibodeau, would study and discuss which role players to sign.

In fact, in early July, Wang Chong had already left Chicago for Los Angeles.

On July 3, the big movie "Transformers," adapted from the animated series of the same name, premiered in the United States. As an investor in the film, Wang Chong naturally attended the premiere.

And Michael Bay was very wise because, during filming, Wang Chong used his time traveler knowledge to provide many suggestions, and simply added Wang Chong's name to the scriptwriter column of the movie.

This way, Wang Chong could be considered one of the successful crossover players from the NBA. Unlike Jordan, O'Neal, Kobe, and others who appeared as guest stars in films or TV shows, Wang Chong appeared as a screenwriter and investor, directly involved in the production.

On the day of the premiere, Wang Chong and his girlfriend Jessica Alba attended, dressed in style.

Wang Chong looked handsome in a black suit, while Jessica was elegant and beautiful in a pink dress.

This famous couple in the entertainment industry had been in a relationship for two years, and many people envied them.

Outside the premiere theater, a journalist stopped Wang Chong for an interview.

"Mr. Wang Chong, as one of the most successful stars in the NBA, why do you invest in movies and also work as a screenwriter?"

"Personal interest." Wang Chong's response was short and clear. "Because I like it, I dabble a bit. It's that simple."

To the outside world, these words sounded very much like a boast.

Earlier, some media outlets reported that the cost of Transformers was about 150 million dollars, which was considered a big production even in Hollywood in 2007.

Wang Chong invested 10 million dollars in the movie during the initial stages. After the special effects production costs exceeded expectations, he added another 5 million dollars, bringing his total investment to 15 million dollars.

Fifteen million might not seem like much, representing just one-tenth of the movie's total investment.

But you must understand that Wang Chong was an individual, not a major movie investor like the professional film companies Paramount or DreamWorks. Moreover, it was a cross-border investment. This one-tenth share was already quite high.

This also meant that if the movie earned profits in the future, Wang Chong could receive about one-tenth of the profits proportionally.

Of course, this was only if the movie made money.

At least for now, the outside world was not very optimistic about this movie, which was adapted from a toy-selling cartoon. It was generally believed that if the worldwide box office reached between 200 and 300 million dollars, the 150 million-dollar investment would be sufficient to break even.

As we all know, including various advertising and distribution costs, if the box office doesn't exceed three times the investment, it wouldn't be profitable.

Therefore, the 150 million-dollar investment in Transformers would need at least 450 million dollars in global box office to recover the investment and generate a profit.

Of course, Wang Chong knew this, which is why he enthusiastically invested in the movie. And the final global box office of Transformers reached 709 million dollars!

This didn't even include the sales of other peripheral products like video tapes and DVDs.

Even after accounting for costs, just in terms of net profit distribution, Wang Chong's 15 million-dollar investment, representing one-tenth of the total, would generate at least 15 to 20 million dollars in earnings.

This was much more profitable than playing golf!

After the official release of Transformers, Wang Chong was not disappointed.

The movie made 27.8 million dollars at the box office on its opening day, setting a new box office record for a Hollywood movie released on a Thursday. The first-week box office reached 155 million dollars, far exceeding the expectations of the movie's producer, Paramount.

The success of Transformers was inevitable. Although this kind of popcorn movie didn't have much artistic value, the passionate robot fights, the beautiful car forms, and various large-scale explosion scenes kept the young audience's hormones in overdrive. At the same time, as the standard "vase" in the film and the beauty link in the stunning car, the sexy style of the female lead played by Jessica Alba, especially the classic water snake waist pose when lifting the car hood, was truly unforgettable!

Jessica Alba, already known as America's sweetheart, became a national sensation once again, even worldwide, thanks to this iconic scene that made its mark in film history.

Fashion magazines ranked Jessica Alba as the sexiest woman in the world.

Film magazines commented that, although Jessica had no acting skills in the movie and played a simple "vase" role, the beauty of this vase was enough to make people forget about everything else. We love looking at vases!

And the audience, who knew that Jessica and NBA star Wang Chong were in love, nearly envied Wang Chong to death.

Why could he pursue the sexiest woman in the world?

But when these people who didn't pay much attention to the NBA learned about Wang Chong's status in the NBA, they couldn't help but feel that the two were really a perfect match.

The youngest regular-season MVP in NBA history and the strongest scorer after Jordan had just signed a four-year, 62-million-dollar contract with the team.

In the NBA, Wang Chong was almost a major superstar, both in terms of status and net worth. Moreover, the films he had invested heavily in had also achieved success, leading to a successful crossover.

In contrast, Jessica Alba, although very sexy and beautiful, didn't have many well-known works in Hollywood. Aside from Sin City, Fantastic Four, and now Transformers, she didn't have many major roles.

As a star, Jessica was widely known, but as an actress, her salary and achievements could only be considered those of a second-tier actor.

It was rumored that Jessica got to appear in Transformers because Wang Chong was a movie investor.

Therefore, when the two fell in love, Wang Chong favored Jessica more.

Of course, this was just the perspective of an outsider.

Neither Wang Chong nor Jessica had

 such a comparative mindset, especially Jessica, who was a very pure and innocent woman. This was evident from the fact that she was originally America's sweetheart but was willing to marry the unknown assistant director, give birth to children, and then gradually focus on her family, as seen when she moved away from Hollywood.

Of course, by this time, Jessica had already fallen in love with Wang Chong before meeting Fantastic Four assistant director Cash Warren, and her life's trajectory had changed completely.

Jessica, who was pregnant in 2007, got married in 2008 and gradually faded from Hollywood. She remained active in Hollywood due to her relationship with Wang Chong and became popular across the United States with her role as the heroine in Transformers.

Wang Chong was about to turn 23, while Jessica, two years older, was only 25. Naturally, she wasn't in a hurry to get married and have children.

She also had a series of plans to build a film queen career, hoping to help Jessica become the most attractive and valuable female star in Hollywood.

His reasoning was very simple. He had the most beautiful girlfriend in the world, so how could he hide her? He wished he could show her off every day for the whole world to see and envy.

And speaking of that, Wang Chong was lucky to have met Jessica. Otherwise, he wouldn't have thought about anything other than the NBA, wouldn't have known about the future blockbuster films, and wouldn't have made money investing in them.

Originally, Wang Chong planned to invest in a series of Marvel films after making money from his investment in Transformers. No matter how many films Marvel produced in the future, the first, second, and third phases were definitely the most profitable film studios in Hollywood. Their accumulated box office was approaching 30 billion dollars, almost all the movies made.

At the very least, if Wang Chong could invest and acquire some shares in Marvel before Disney acquired Marvel, he would spend the rest of his life counting money.

Before that, Wang Chong could only make as much money as possible, because if it were too little, it would be impossible to negotiate an acquisition.

After all, the total cost of Disney acquiring Marvel in 2009 was 4.24 billion dollars.

Wang Chong's current total net worth, including dividends from Transformers, was less than 40 million dollars, and he couldn't even buy 1% of the shares.

Fortunately, he had a new major project to make money from, which he had just remembered was a movie that would make waves worldwide: Avatar.

Avatar, directed by the renowned director James Cameron, began filming in 2005. After shooting was completed in April 2007, the special effects production began. It took two full years to finally finish production, and it was released in December 2009.

The world's first 3D movie eventually earned 2.7 billion dollars at the global box office, becoming the highest-grossing movie in history.

This record was only surpassed by Marvel's Avengers 4 10 years later. Moreover, Avengers 4 had to extend its release period to achieve this, so it barely surpassed Avatar by a small margin in total box office.

There was a ten-year gap between the two, and the popularity of cinemas was not on the same level. Avengers 4 had to extend its release period to catch up with Avatar, which was obviously a weak victory.

When the producers of Avatar saw that the other party didn't care about martial arts ethics, they decided to see who could compete with whom. In 2021, they launched a massive global re-release wave. In 2023, after being re-released in several countries, its box office reached 2.9 billion dollars, reclaiming the top spot in the history of global cinema.

Compared to Avatar, Transformers, in which Wang Chong had previously invested, was like a toy, and the three films combined didn't even make as much as Avatar's box office.

At the same time, Wang Chong knew that during the production of Avatar, Cameron fell into his old habit of creating all kinds of important scenes, leading to significant cost overruns. At one point, producer Fox pulled back halfway and wanted to abandon the project.

As a result, the production of Avatar had very little money at this stage, so they naturally accepted all investors.

Considering Avatar's exaggerated global box office earnings of 2.7 billion dollars in 2009, Wang Chong had no intention of holding back and was willing to invest all his wealth into it.

The dividends from Transformers wouldn't be paid until about six months after its release, meaning around 2008. By then, financing for Avatar was not an issue, but Fox, which had decided to keep investing, still had doubts.

Just as Transformers wasn't the first superhero movie of its kind, Avatar, as the world's first 3D movie, wasn't favored by many in the industry for its success.

In this case, someone was willing to take a risk for them—not a competitor from other film companies, but an individual investor like Wang Chong, so there was no reason to refuse.

The production cost of Avatar was about 300 million dollars. If Wang Chong could invest 50 million dollars, he could represent 16.6% of the production cost. Of course, as an individual investor, he definitely wouldn't represent this proportion, but even if it were only 10%, based on the total box office of 2.7 billion, the dividend would be at least 200 million dollars!

It's like selecting a pick in the NBA draft. You'll get rich!

End of this chapter

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