In August, Sofia Coppola received Bill Murray's acting contract and quickly led the simple crew to Tokyo.
"Boss, the lost in translation crew seems to have only eight people, almost all of them are actors!" Assistant Donna reported.
"The rest will be Japanese; the local preparations are almost done, and there's a company cooperating," Charles responded without even lifting his head, staring at the box office of my big fat greek wedding on his computer!
my big fat greek wedding is now showing in over 2100 theaters; it premiered in early April and it's almost September now.
After nearly five months in theaters, with 241.4 million dollars in North America box office, its momentum has run out, and the number of theaters is now sharply decreasing.
"Have you called Tom Hanks' production company?"
Donna nodded, "I've called several times. They said they are calculating, and the funds will be transferred as soon as they are accounted for!"
"Get ready; we are moving to the new company in Burbank. The recruitment there is also going smoothly," Charles stood up, full of drive.
When Capet Pictures moved, the North America box office share of my big fat greek wedding finally arrived in Charles's account, as he had hoped.
Out of 241.4 million dollars, after deducting 47% for theaters, 127.9 million dollars remained. After deducting a 15% distribution commission, 91.2 million dollars were left. Then, deducting the film's production budget of 5 million dollars and marketing expenses of 7.7 million dollars.
The net profit for the production side was 78.5 million dollars. According to the contract, Charles had a 10% share of the net box office profit, receiving 7.85 million dollars.
The contract also stipulated a 3 million dollar cash bonus check for Charles; he had already received one million, so there was still 2 million dollars left.
He was supposed to receive 9.85 million dollars, but Charles had previously received 4.1 million dollars, so Tom Hanks now paid Capet Pictures 5.75 million dollars.
Tom Hanks directly sold off the overseas distribution rights and the DVD market rights, so Charles could share in the profits from these two markets.
As for cable TV and merchandise, those had little to do with Charles. Even in the DVD market, Charles would not get much, because his DVD revenue share was also very low.
However, given the incredible box office performance of my big fat greek wedding, DVDs are a major source of film revenue now, so even if the share is low, there will still be some.
Films of the type of my big fat greek wedding are not hot sellers in the DVD market, but there will certainly be people who buy the DVD.
From the overseas theatrical release rights, he received 3.5 million dollars, plus the global DVD market, Charles received 4.8 million dollars.
With over 18 million dollars, Charles is now a millionaire, but the real money earners are definitely the distributor IFC Films and Tom Hanks.
Sitting in Capet Pictures' new office, Charles leaned back in his boss's chair, stroking the table in front of him as he began to ponder.
Distribution companies are too important. An independent distribution channel also needs financial support; either build one from scratch or acquire an independent distribution company.
Lionsgate Films, founded in 1997, started by acquiring an independent film distribution company in Canada, and later acquired Samsung, a US video distributor.
The most valuable assets of a distribution company are its film library in its copyright portfolio and its cooperation agreements with theater chains.
Traditional distribution is now firmly in the hands of The Big Six; DreamWorks couldn't even break through. As for the current mid-tier distributors, Miramax is an independent label under Disney; New Line Cinema is a label under Time Warner.
As for Lionsgate Films, Summit Entertainment, etc., they are still not up to par. Lionsgate Films distributes about thirty films a year, and their combined box office is still less than 50 million dollars.
Charles opened the stock market on his computer and found the stock of Netflix, the future streaming giant, which had just listed on the NASDAQ in May this year.
The IPO price was 15 dollars, with a total share capital of 20 million shares, making its market value approximately 300 million dollars. The stock price has been falling ever since, and it's now around 5 dollars per share.
Online DVD rental is clearly no match for Blockbuster's in-store sales, plus bookstores, supermarkets, etc., so Netflix is having a tough time.
Now that Netflix's market value is less than 100 million dollars, isn't it a good time to enter?
"Donna!" Isn't there an economics undergraduate from the University of Memphis?
"Boss, what's wrong?"
"Come take a look, I want to buy some Netflix stock!"
"Netflix?" Donna, of course, knew; a DVD rental company, anyone working in Hollywood would know a little about it.
"Boss, Netflix has been falling for several months after its listing. It's suppressed by the physical store market, and the prospects for online DVD rental are not great. There are also very few members for the monthly subscription service," Donna suggested softly.
Charles pouted and said, "You help me find a stock Agent to acquire Netflix shares. It's enough that I'm optimistic about it."
"No problem. Netflix stock is not selling well on the market right now. It's easy to acquire in the secondary market. How much do you want to acquire, Boss?"
"I want around 10%. Can you handle this?" Charles narrowed his eyes. He has over 18 million dollars; why not spend it?
Donna nodded, "Then we'll start acquiring in the market while also directly acquiring from shareholders; it will be less costly!"
"Okay, I will establish a Cape Fund as the main entity to manage my investment business and capital appreciation," Charles said, then looked at Donna again and smiled,
"Donna, you are the assistant my mother specifically chose for me. Work hard, and in the future, you will also be a big shot in Hollywood, with a net worth of millions, no less."
"Oh, thank you," Donna Williams smiled gratefully.
"I will work hard!"
"Good, get busy. The Cape Fund is a big deal now. There are other people in the company who can also help me for now," Charles said, patting the Lady's shoulder in encouragement.
Including Charles, Capet Pictures now has less than ten people in total: finance, marketing, media, and the production department, plus the front desk.
Presumably, because my big fat greek wedding was so successful, Capet Pictures received more independent script ideas, all of which needed to be organized.
The production department has three people who organize these submitted scripts, prepare them for Charles to choose those with development potential to see if they should be produced.
However, Charles hasn't found any script ideas that would make big money from his memory yet; he still needs to search carefully.