[Chapter 808: Just Not Selling]
Around noon, reviews for Titanic began arriving from North America in Venice.
Compared to Europe, Eric and the upper management at Firefly Group placed a greater emphasis on how the North American media would rate the film. After all, Titanic was typically slated for a North American premiere before any overseas releases, and its box office performance in that market significantly affected its international success.
However, the news from North America regarding Titanic was similarly pessimistic. While various newspapers, such as USA Today, The New York Times, and The Hollywood Reporter, praised the film, The New York Times even declared it "a masterpiece on par with Gone with the Wind," other outlets like the Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post were unreservedly critical, calling the film a mediocre story with a lengthy runtime. The Los Angeles Times even openly questioned whether the film was truly worth its $215 million budget.
Eric only remembered the immense acclaim Titanic received after its release in his previous life; he had little understanding of the hurdles it faced before its debut, aside from the creative struggles director James Cameron endured, which were reported by the media. As for the pre-release buzz surrounding Titanic, Eric was not well-informed.
Thus, witnessing the film's split reception in Europe and North America made him feel anxious.
Eric recalled many movies that had similarly polarized reviews, which shared a common trait: they were fan-driven films adapted from novels or comic books. Typically, such films enjoyed a strong opening weekend due to aggressive marketing, even if they struggled to maintain momentum afterward. However, Titanic certainly did not belong to that category. Given the current polarizing reviews, its future became even more uncertain.
Fan films could still leverage their source material's existing popularity to rake in significant box office revenue during their opening weeks, even if their legs were weak. But Titanic lacked that advantage; it couldn't score fan-like high earnings in the weeks preceding its release. If reviews remained divided post-release, its total box office earnings would likely be far worse than a traditional fan film, given its lower potential for strong late-period performance.
The following day, Peter Rich presented Eric with the survey results from dozens of average moviegoers who attended a screening. The majority provided positive feedback on Titanic, though a few complained about its lengthy runtime and excessive setup.
...
On July 29, in the afternoon, Eric prepared to board a flight to London at 7 PM. This would be the Titanic crew's final meeting. The film was definitively set for a Christmas release on December 20, with public promotion already announcing the date, leaving no room for further changes. At that moment, Eric sat in his suite's living room at the Lido Island Hotel alongside Jeffrey Katzenberg, James Cameron, and other mid-level executives from Firefly Group.
"The situation is certainly not great right now," Eric addressed the executives, "but I want you to follow the established marketing strategy, focusing on young audiences." After glancing at Katzenberg and a few other senior executives, he recalled some details from his previous life and added, "One more thing -- regardless of what others say about Titanic, I don't want any undermining comments from within Firefly. If I find out any executive is carelessly expressing opinions to the media, they should prepare to pack their bags. That's all I have to say -- anyone else?"
"Mr. Williams, it's like this," spoke one executive from the distribution department. "I received a call yesterday from an executive at Toho International in Japan. They want to buy the Japanese distribution rights to Titanic, covering theater distribution as well as video and DVD rights."
Eric raised an eyebrow. That executive seemed to assume he was unaware of Toho International and continued, "Toho International is one of the major distributors in Japan."
"I'm aware of that," Eric nodded. Although he felt uneasy, he had no intention of selling the rights off early like Fox did in his previous life. Still, his curiosity led him to ask, "What did they offer?"
"3 billion yen," the executive glanced down at his memo, "which is about $25 million."
Upon hearing the bid, Katzenberg quickly calculated in his mind. Due to the Terminator franchise, Cameron was very popular in Japan, which likely explained Toho's early interest in Titanic. Moreover, the film's astronomical budget and its current mixed reviews were significant factors compelling the Japanese company to make a move. They were clearly looking to take a gamble, believing Firefly would probably accept this "bet."
$25 million was surely just the opening offer; the Japanese likely aimed for around $30 million. Being a complete buyout of the Japanese distribution rights, they'd probably expect a domestic box office of about $60 million to recoup their investment and turn a profit.
While $60 million might not reach the heights of Jurassic Park's $120 million, it would still surpass the average box office for a Hollywood blockbuster in Japan. For Hollywood distributors, owing to the 35% overseas split, recouping $30 million in Japan would require about $100 million in box office receipts. Of course, this calculation didn't account for the revenue from VHS and other mediums, but such overseas rights and their operational timelines could often prove longer than those in the US. Selling the entire Japanese distribution rights could still be very lucrative.
After some quick thinking, Katzenberg said, "Eric, I think it might be worth considering. I believe we could negotiate a price close to $30 million."
"No," Eric shook his head after a brief silence. "We're not selling. If anyone else approaches us wanting to buy the distribution rights to Titanic, just turn them down."
Seeing the puzzled looks from the attendees, Eric spread his hands and plainly stated, "That's how it is. You might want to explain it, but I can't find a suitable explanation other than 'we're not selling.' Now that we've reached this stage, let's go all in, regardless of the outcome."
The other executives were somewhat stunned by Eric's response. Cameron, who had been quiet, appeared a bit more animated, while Katzenberg could only shake his head in bemused disbelief, witnessing this childlike stubbornness from Eric. He was still a young man, after all.
However, given the circumstances, relying on advance sales of distribution rights to recover costs had become utterly impractical; it would only attract opportunists looking to take advantage of the situation, further feeding negative media sentiment.
Therefore, no matter the outcome, they might as well go all in. After all, Firefly Group was more than capable of handling this failure. This setback could be used to revise their somewhat aggressive production strategies, during which Eric likely wouldn't object.
...
Following the afternoon meeting, Eric flew to London, while Katzenberg headed to Paris. Cameron, along with the Titanic crew and Firefly's distribution team, would return to Los Angeles the next day to begin preparing for the film's official promotional campaign.
At 7 PM, the private jet took off from Venice, landing at London's Heathrow Airport two hours later. Eric disembarked with his final group of attendants, immediately feeling the cold.
While Venice was still warm like spring, London in late August and early September had temperatures around 10 degrees Celsius at night. Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson, producers of the James Bond series, came to greet him, and after some small talk, they all drove toward Pinewood Studios, which wasn't far from Heathrow.
Speaking of the 007 series, it was impossible to ignore the Broccoli family, who created this legendary franchise, as well as Pinewood Studios, located just northwest of London.
Since the release of Dr. No in 1963, most interior scenes for Bond sequels had been filmed at Pinewood Studios. The 007 series had become a primary financial driver for Pinewood, allowing it to survive the decline of the European film industry amidst the rise of television. Due to the significance of the 007 series, Pinewood boasts several structures named after elements of Bond, with key roads in the studio park named "Broccoli Avenue," "007 Avenue," and "Goldfinger Avenue."
...
That night, the crew settled in the nearby town, and the next morning, the Broccoli siblings escorted Eric into the studio grounds. There were no filming plans that day, so Eric's purpose was to familiarize himself with the shooting locations for the next two months.
Walking through the roughly 30-hectare premises, they checked a few sets that had been arranged for Casino Royale. Barbara Broccoli mentioned, "The temperature in London will keep dropping over the next two months, so we scheduled the underwater scene between Bond and Vesper for three days from now. Eric, let's go check out the water tank."
Pinewood Studios had Europe's largest underwater filming facilities, capable of holding 1,200 tons of water, created specifically for the Bond series.
Eric retained the original scene in which Bond and Vesper share a fateful underwater goodbye after their building in Venice collapses, but this scene could not be filmed in Venice; it would instead be shifted to Pinewood's underwater facility.
Nodding, Eric followed the Broccolis into a soundstage.
At first glance, the soundstage resembled a huge swimming pool, but it was much more complex. Any studio around the world could construct a simple indoor pool. However, Pinewood's underwater filming facility boasted a full array of specialized underwater filming equipment and methods.
Veterans in the film industry understood that whether shooting above or below water, the complexity of filming increased dramatically. Just look at James Cameron's The Abyss or Kevin Costner's Waterworld, and even Titanic's exhaustive resources were allocated due to the filming with water.
While the crew was resting that day, several Casino Royale staff members were busy in the underwater set. Eric spotted his trusted cinematographer, Nicole Frank, standing wet beside the pool while discussing something with another diver.
As Eric and the Broccolis arrived, everyone greeted them, and Nicole approached with another person, saying, "Eric, this is David Rees, the underwater cameraman from Pinewood."
"Hello, Mr. Rees. I may need your help over the next few days," Eric smiled and shook hands. Over the years, Nicole had become one of Hollywood's top cinematographers, but due to inexperience with underwater shoots, they would largely depend on Pinewood's specialty underwater cinematographers.
David Rees smiled as he shook Eric's hand. "Mr. Williams, it's an honor to work with you."
Eric approached the pool's edge and tested the water temperature, asking, "What's the temperature like now?"
"About 20 degrees Celsius, roughly room temperature," David explained. "But during filming, we can activate the warm water circulation system to regulate the temperature to a more suitable level."
Squinting as he looked into the depths, Eric couldn't see the bottom and asked, "How deep is it?"
"This area is the deep water section, six meters deep," David replied. "That metal cage is over two meters. To avoid any visibility issues, the underwater sets for Casino Royale are primarily in this section."
After chatting for a few minutes, Nicole asked, "Eric, we've set up the underwater scenery. Do you want to see it?"
Eric nodded. David took Eric to the changing room, and after donning a wetsuit, Nicole and David further explained a few details. The three of them slowly descended into the water.
The cold enveloped him, but Eric's robust physique quickly acclimated.
Though the water's surface appeared mysterious and deep from above, descending revealed the surroundings, illuminated by some lights.
The decor mimicked the wreckage of the building in Venice, with remarkably realistic pieces strewn about, giving the impression that a structure had just sunk beneath the water.
After swimming around the set for a few minutes with Nicole and David, they resurfaced to discuss more details. As Eric prepared to have David fetch an underwater camera to test the filming effects, his assistant, Peter Rich, approached from a distance, waving a phone at him.
"Everyone hold on, I need to take a call," Eric said, moving up the ladder to exit the pool. He took a large towel handed to him by a crew member, wiped off some water, then walked over to Peter Rich.
*****
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