Over the next half month, Charles and his mother, Evelyn, continuously looked at houses, inspecting them very carefully since they would be living there themselves.
Charles preferred a modern architectural decorating style, while Evelyn liked mansions with a historical and classical atmosphere.
Ultimately, in the Bel Air community, Evelyn settled on a villa with a building area of over 4,500 square feet, featuring 4 bedrooms and 5 bathrooms. Including the garden, outdoor pool, and other amenities, the total land area exceeded 10,000 square feet. The final agreed-upon price was 6.6 million US dollars.
Charles, on the other hand, found a recently built hilltop mansion in Beverly Hills, occupying 30,000 square feet, with a building area of 15,000 square feet.
It featured 7 bedrooms, 9 bathrooms, a private cinema, a bar, an entertainment room, a study, indoor and outdoor pools, and a large garage, among other amenities.
However, the price was also steep, a hefty 14.5 million US dollars.
Not only that, Charles also spent nearly 4 million US dollars in Santa Monica to purchase a beach villa of approximately 5,000 square feet, which was much better than the one he had rented previously.
Just like that, 25 million US dollars flowed out like water; the feeling of spending money so freely was simply exhilarating.
Soon, Charles moved into the beach villa in Santa Monica. As for the hilltop mansion in Beverly Hills, it still needed some time to be tidied up. That place would be his main residence in the future, to be called Capet Manor.
Evelyn sold her original West Hollywood house for 320,000 US dollars and moved directly into the Bel Air community, part of the platinum triangle.
Burbank, Capet Pictures, morning.
Charles was checking information on a Hong Kong crime film called "infernal affairs" on his computer. It had been released in Hong Kong in December last year, achieving a box office of over 55 million hong kong dollars and was currently being screened in Asia.
"Donna, send a fax to Media Asia Films in Hong Kong. Capet Pictures is interested in purchasing the remake rights for 'infernal affairs,'" Charles quickly made up his mind. It was morning in Los Angeles, and with a 12-hour time difference, it should be dusk in Hong Kong.
Charles, of course, knew about "infernal affairs." In his previous life, Plan B Entertainment, owned by Brad Pitt, had seemingly won the bidding for the script's remake rights, paying 1.75 million US dollars!
However, "infernal affairs" was still being screened in Asia. Hollywood film companies would certainly have noticed it, but not many.
Donna Williams quickly went to handle the task after receiving it.
Currently, Capet Pictures only had 5 million US dollars in liquid assets that could be freely used, which was certainly enough to produce James Wan's horror film.
Now, what Charles needed to do most was to store up good scripts, the more the better. Little did he know that the warehouses of various film companies held a large number of ideas and scripts waiting to be developed.
In the afternoon, Capet Pictures welcomed Mr. Bill Kong, the head of Edko Films, whom he had met last year.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Kong!"
"Good afternoon, Mr. Capet!"
In the reception room, Bill Kong told Charles that he had received a call from Media Asia Films in Hong Kong and was entrusted to discuss the script of "infernal affairs" first.
"'infernal affairs' has a very high reputation, involving many elements such as gangster crime, police, entertainment, and psychology. Hollywood currently doesn't have anything like it," Charles praised with a smile.
"That's right, 'infernal affairs' is hailed as the best police and gangster film in China in the past two decades. Both its reviews and box office are extremely high, and we are also very happy that it can be adapted by Hollywood."
"Capet Pictures has exactly this idea: to develop a Hollywood 'infernal affairs'!"
Bill Kong nodded and smiled, "'Hero' has been nominated for this year's Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, so I came over first to discuss some promotional activities with Miramax. Other members of the 'Hero' crew might arrive on the 20th!"
"That's only three or four days away," Charles himself hadn't paid much attention to the Oscar.
"At that time, Media Asia Films will send someone over to discuss the remake of the 'infernal affairs' script," Bill Kong explained.
"No problem, Capet Pictures is very interested in the 'infernal affairs' script!" Charles smiled. As for competition, he wasn't afraid; other film companies wouldn't spend too much money to buy the remake rights.
After Bill Kong left, Charles was almost certain that Media Asia Films must have already contacted Hollywood film companies in Hong Kong.
Bidding, highest bidder wins!
He casually called his mother and asked about Plan B Entertainment.
"It's an independent film company founded two years ago by Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston, along with their manager Brad Grey. They are currently producing a big epic war film called 'troy,' supported by Warner Bros., with a budget of 175 million US dollars, and Brad Pitt as the male lead."
"So it's an independent production company under Warner Bros."
"Why are you asking about this?"
"I'm interested in a Chinese film and plan to buy the remake rights. Plan B Entertainment seems to be my competitor."
"Is that so? Warner Bros. and Plan B Entertainment have a distribution agreement. Warner Bros. pays Plan B Entertainment about 2 million US dollars in operating fees annually, and films developed by Plan B Entertainment are given priority for distribution by Warner Bros.!"
"By the way, James Wan and Leigh Whannell's script is complete. When will you support them in shooting that movie?"
"After the Oscar, I'll hire an executive producer to assist them with the filming. Let them start casting and other preparations," he said. How difficult could a horror film costing over a million US dollars be?
"Okay!"
After hanging up the phone, Charles suddenly felt like he was going to be short on money again; it was spent too quickly.
The "infernal affairs" script needed money to buy, and the production of the film "saw" also needed money.
On the way back to his Santa Monica villa, he passed through the bustling Santa Monica Boulevard, which showed no signs of calming down due to the US war in Iraq.
Even if the whole world opposed the war, the US could still directly declare war.
After returning home, Charles received a call from Kate Beckinsale. Her filming in Prague had concluded, and she was now back in Los Angeles to shoot some scenes in the studio.
"I just moved into a new place, come over and check it out!"
"Okay, I'll drive over!"
Subsequently, Charles sent the address to the English rose, Kate Beckinsale.
The house was a bit empty, but Charles was only staying there for a while and hadn't prepared many things.
Half an hour later, Kate Beckinsale's car pulled into the driveway of Charles's house.