The inauguration of California's new governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger, had a significant impact not only in California but across the entire United States.
Such major news—a screen tough guy leaving the entertainment industry for politics—wouldn't fade quickly.
However, at the company, Charles was focused on another piece of news: Isaac Pamor, Vice President of Commercial Operations at Paramount, spearheaded a film investment fund in partnership with Paramount and Merrill Lynch.
Named the Melrose Fund, it raised over a hundred million dollars to invest in an 18% share of 25 Paramount films over three years.
Paramount would first collect 10% of the box office as a distribution commission for each film, with the remaining profits then distributed to investors.
"Henry, what do you think?" Charles asked Henry Winster, who was sitting next to him.
"According to analyses from many bank sources, the return rate for hedge funds is generally between 10% and 18%, and the major Hollywood film companies also achieve around 15% returns.
Merrill Lynch's fund, investing in multiple films this time, is spreading the risk!"
Charles nodded and smiled, saying, "The announced films include Tom Cruise's mission: impossible 2 and the collaboration between Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise, war of the worlds, which also gave confidence to the fund's private investors and institutions."
"Wall Street has shifted from single-film investment to multi-film risk-sharing investment."
"Charles, do you have an idea?" Henry Winster asked.
"This kind of bundled investment is only suitable for Hollywood's big distributors; as for us..." Charles shook his head.
How many films could he make in a year?
Moreover, at the moment, he had absolute confidence in his films and could simply get bank loans.
Wall Street establishes film funds, attracts capital from private individuals or institutions, and then partners with major Hollywood distributors to invest in multiple films from a slate, with the investment ratio determined by the negotiating power of both parties.
As for the film slate, one party would certainly want mature IP sequels or forward-looking projects, while the other would naturally want to include more projects that are not highly favored.
It's a game of negotiation between the two sides!
Legendary Entertainment and Relativity Media seem poised to enter Hollywood with large sums of money very soon.
"Has the director for wedding crashers been confirmed?"
"David Dobkin, the director of Shanghai Knights, has been given the script!"
"The director of the comedy film starring Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson that's being released this year?" Charles looked at the information, a comedy director.
Shanghai Knights, also known as Shanghai Noon 2: Shanghai Knights, is the sequel to the 2000 comedy action film Shanghai Noon.
"He thinks Owen Wilson is good and could be one of the male leads."
Charles nodded and said, "For the female lead, let's use Scarlett Johansson; she's pretty enough.
For the other actress, let's choose Isla Fisher; the director can call her in for an audition!"
Henry Winster nodded.
For a romantic comedy, a beautiful actress is the top priority; other things aren't that important.
"Charles, what about Universal?"
"Don't worry about them, just proceed with preparations; Universal will understand soon," Charles said, confident that once saw was released, they would no longer doubt his judgment.
Was Vivendi's ongoing acquisition talks with General Electric for Universal Entertainment causing less attention to be paid to Universal Pictures' projects?
After Henry Winster left, Charles called Donna Williams.
"Contact Morgan Stanley's film and entertainment division.
I want to mortgage the rights to brokeback mountain for a $15 million loan!"
Donna Williams nodded.
The economic situation was good now, and the Federal Reserve had been cutting interest rates, making it easy to get bank loans.
brokeback mountain not only had a distribution contract signed by Focus Features but also had a production budget of $15 million.
Capet Pictures also had saw coming out soon, so there was no concern about Capet Pictures being unable to repay the interest or the principal later.
The distribution contract for brokeback mountain alone could secure a $10 million loan, and with subsequent television and DVD revenues from the rights, it could fully serve as loan collateral.
The five major Wall Street investment banks—Lehman Brothers, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Goldman Sachs, and Bear Stearns—all had entertainment investment funds targeting Hollywood.
In addition, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Deutsche Bank, HSBC, Citi, Credit Suisse, Barclays, and many others—no fewer than 40 large international banks—also had entertainment investment departments.
Hollywood has always been inseparable from Wall Street.
saw made quite a splash at the Toronto Film Festival in September, earning significant audience approval.
Capet Pictures also organized a large-scale public charity promotional event called "Blood Drive."
Based on the promotional strategy and scale, saw's publicity was effective.
Whether it was test screenings or sneak previews, the word-of-mouth was good, and it had the backing of a giant like Universal Pictures.
Capet Pictures had already indicated that many theater chains were interested in screening saw.
The eye-catching posters, filled with savagery and gore, promised a Halloween rendezvous.
In October, many low-budget horror thrillers were released.
saw was scheduled for the Friday before Halloween.
On the same day, Dimension Films' Scary Movie 3 was also released.
As Miramax's dedicated B-movie label for horror and thriller distribution, the Scary Movie series and Scream series were its flagship franchises.