Early in the morning, in the suite of the Hilton Garden Inn.
Charles got out of bed, walked to the window, felt the warm sunlight on his body, then looked back at Kate Beckinsale, who was still sound asleep, and just smiled, shook his head, and went to the bathroom to shower.
"Charles, you're awake?" Kate Beckinsale, wearing a bathrobe, pushed open the bathroom door; Charles was showering under the spray!
"Hmm, aren't you going back to sleep?"
Kate Beckinsale shook her head, "I'm meeting Catherine Zeta-Jones for shopping today."
Her lazy and sexy appearance seemed to make Charles feel a bit… inflated early in the morning, and he walked directly to Kate Beckinsale and hugged her.
"You two really have a good relationship; it seems you've still met frequently these past two years!"
"Charles, you're all wet," Kate Beckinsale was a bit exasperated, her chest grasped, and she felt a surge of… something.
She turned her head and kissed Charles for a while, then said, "Aren't you going to shower?"
"Let's shower together!" Charles said, pulling the Lady under the spray with him.
In the morning, the two spent almost an hour showering.
Charles still had to go back to the company; the rental and sales of saw VHS tapes and DVDs had been ongoing for two weeks.
The total sales from rentals and sales of VHS tapes and DVDs amounted to 42 million US dollars, a very impressive situation.
However, Capet Pictures did not yet have its own home entertainment company; it had entrusted Netflix to find manufacturers for production, and Netflix also handled online rental and sales.
After deducting various fees for production, transportation, distribution, etc., 40% still belonged to Capet Pictures. However, Charles was also preparing to establish his own home entertainment company to manage businesses including DVDs, TV operators, and online on-demand services.
Everything had to wait until Capet Pictures' distribution channels were well-established; otherwise, Charles would be annoyed by Netflix earning a price difference.
At the same time, Netflix's main business was rentals, and sales still relied on Blockbuster and supermarkets like Walmart, where the profits were also greater.
Sitting in the chair, with the report tossed aside, Charles's current concern was the passion of the christ; after almost ten weeks of screening, its box office potential had peaked.
"North America 370 million US dollars, and the overseas market is still ongoing, currently around 200 million US dollars," Donna reported the results.
"570 million US dollars!" Charles could only say it was impressive.
The North American box office profit was 160 million US dollars, and Capet Pictures had half the revenue, 80 million US dollars. Capet Pictures had invested 15 million US dollars in production and then another 5 million US dollars for marketing, meaning a net profit of almost 60 million US dollars!
Of course, there were also expenses like taxes, so the final amount was roughly 50 million US dollars.
However, Charles wasn't concerned about that now; all 80 million US dollars were useful. In four or five months, the passion of the christ would release DVDs, and then it would enter paid TV platforms; the major income was still to come!
As for bank loan interest, company expenses, and crew bonuses, those were small amounts!
By the time he went to Cannes, Charles would have a cash flow of almost 150 million US dollars. Charles's previous 35 million US dollars had been used to buy a villa in Malibu for 5 million, hadn't it?
Although he still owed Morgan Stanley 100 million US dollars in loans, there was no need to worry at all. This time, Charles was going to the Cannes Film Festival to see if there were any good films.
At the same time, new projects were to be launched. He looked at Donna Williams and instructed, "Register a Cape Television production company as a subsidiary of Capet Pictures. We also need to try to venture into the television industry now!"
"Okay," Donna Williams nodded; expanding the business scope with funds was normal.
"Warner Bros. has rebooted batman again!" Charles sighed. Where was Marvel Entertainment now?
After going bankrupt and reorganizing in '96, it began selling various Marvel adaptation rights. Spider-Man was sold to Sony Entertainment for 9 million; x-men and the Mutants system, as well as the fantastic four system, all belonged to 20th Century Fox.
"Boss, you want to make superhero movies? But Daredevil and hulk both ended in failure. Spider-Man and x-men are popular characters from Marvel Comics! Lionsgate's the punisher, released this year, was also a failure, and the other film, Human Torch, has been rescheduled for next year!"
Charles was helpless. He had always wanted to acquire Marvel Comics directly, so he couldn't answer Donna's reminder.
Artisan Entertainment reached an agreement with Marvel Comics in 2000 for 15 movie characters. the punisher, Human Torch, Black Widow, and captain america were all in this agreement.
When Lionsgate Films acquired Artisan, it naturally inherited these character contracts, but they were all five-year movie character contracts. Except for the already developed the punisher and Human Torch, the remaining characters would automatically revert to Marvel Comics if not developed by next year.
"Is Lionsgate preparing Black Widow?"
Donna nodded, "It seems so, but the specific situation is unknown; it should still be in the script stage!"
iron man is currently with New Line Cinema. He was bought by Universal in the 90s, then passed to 20th Century Fox, who didn't think highly of him, and finally passed to New Line Cinema.
From the looks of it, New Line Cinema doesn't seem to have plans to develop him either, as his return date is next year.
Charles tapped the table, looking at the calendar. The European Championship was being held in Portugal. It was starting, and he had to go to France in late May?
Damn, gambling, betting on Greece, winning hundreds of millions of US dollars back, would the betting companies go bankrupt?
Charles narrowed his eyes. Even if he couldn't get Marvel Comics, he couldn't let other companies have an easy time.
"Donna, tell Henry that Capet Pictures wants the adaptation rights for Marvel's iron man, Thor, and captain america. Besides captain america, who has some popularity, the other two are second-tier characters, so it shouldn't be difficult!"
Anyway, Lionsgate Films and New Line Cinema aren't planning to develop the characters, so it would be great if Capet Pictures took over.
Marvel Comics would independently produce movies after DC's reboot of batman begins was released next year, and they even lobbied Merrill Lynch on Wall Street for over 500 million US dollars in credit for filming loans.
Without these three characters, I wonder if you, Marvel, can still rise from the ashes?
In for a penny, in for a pound. If I can't get it, I must stop its rise. Otherwise, if Marvel really makes iron man and then gets acquired by Disney, what's the point of me playing anymore?
"iron man, Thor, captain america, characters from the avengers?" Donna asked.
"That's right, 10 million US dollars. For characters from the avengers, we want as many movie adaptation rights as possible," Charles knew that Marvel Comics currently signed 5-year character adaptation rights, and Marvel wanted 5% of movie revenue.
As for the profits from character merchandise, that, of course, belonged to Marvel Entertainment itself, as their main business now was selling toys and comics.