hollywood melon man

Chapter 76: Amateurs Do Amateur Things
  The celebration banquet ended successfully, and little Gilbert had a hunch that he would gradually get used to this occasion in the future, and would even not take it seriously.

As June inevitably arrives, "Speed" has finally been released on a large scale in many overseas countries.

In the first weekend of June, "Speed" took in US$4580 million at the overseas box office.

The film's North American box office total has reached 1.25 million US dollars, temporarily ranking first in the North American box office list this year.

Together with the overseas box office, it has temporarily become the global box office champion this year.

A movie like "Speed" that is a hit in North America will usually achieve good box office results overseas.

Warner has made an internal estimate of the overseas box office, and the film will earn an overseas box office of US$2 million to US$2.5 million.

In addition, the North American box office is likely to exceed 1.5 million, which means that the final box office of "Speed" may exceed 4 million.

Each Little Gilbert movie has a higher box office, making both Disney and Warner happy.

Little Gilbert himself is also very happy because the director contract he signed has a share agreement or a stepped share.

If the total North American box office reaches 1.5 million, then he will have % of the total box office share, and the final income will exceed million US dollars.

Including the salary, it has exceeded 2500 million US dollars.

Some people may exclaim, the North American box office is only 1.5 million, and you alone took away 2500 million, what can the film company do?

Do you still remember the North American box office sharing agreement introduced earlier in the 1990s? Little Gilbert took a lot of the share, but the movie company got even more.

Moreover, Gilbert Jr. does not get involved in the overseas box office share, which belongs to the distributor and investment company.

In addition, in the film industry, the proportion of revenue a film earns at the box office is declining over time.

The Hollywood Professional Data Research Company investigated the best-selling commercial movies in the past ten years and found that box office revenue only accounts for about 30% of a film's overall revenue.

This data is not absolute, but it is enough to show that in addition to box office, the profit model of movies is very broad.

This is indeed the case. Before the North American screening ended, Disney sold the North American video rights of "Speed" for US$8 million and the TV rights for US$6 million.

Moreover, this has a limited number of years, and you can continue to sell it after it expires, which is equivalent to a long-term meal ticket.

In addition, the copyright of the film can continue to be sold in many overseas countries.

The sum of hundreds of thousands and millions of dollars is a considerable amount of income, which shows the profitability of peripheral copyrights of a popular movie.

The strong profitability of "Speed" makes both Disney and Warner very excited. With such high profitability, it would be a pity not to have a sequel.

So Disney and Warner approached Gilbert Jr. and asked him if he had any plans to make a sequel movie.

Gilbert Jr. said he was not interested and that if the two companies wanted to develop a sequel, it would be best to find another director to take over.

Without little Gilbert, would "Speed" still be a success? This is a question shared by Disney and Warner.

"Speed ​​2" has not been filmed for the time being, but another project about Little Gilbert has begun to be developed, and that is "The God of Death".

As a thriller and horror movie that has sold 1.26 million worldwide, its profitability has already made everyone at Disney drool.

So after Gilbert Jr. made it clear that he had no interest in making a sequel or participating in investment, subsidiary Touchstone Pictures spent $25 million to directly buy out part of the copyright from Gilbert Jr.

Little Gilbert's bottom line was US$20 million, but of course Sheena Boone would not stick to the bottom line. The lion asked for US$30 million, and finally talked about US$25 million.

The box office share of "Speed" has not yet arrived, but the buyout money will soon arrive.

If you have money, it will be easier to do things.

Just in early June, a big event happened at Apple, where Gilbert Jr. holds a stake. John Sculley, the then CEO, resigned as CEO due to poor performance.

The CEO position was taken over by Michael Spindler, who announced his intention to revive Apple.

But the market had no confidence in Michael Spindler. As soon as the stock market opened, the stock price fell all the way, and the market value fell below two billion US dollars.

This period was the most difficult period for Apple. It almost hit rock bottom and was close to collapse.

However, this is a great opportunity for little Gilbert.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, little Gilbert once again acquired a lot of shares in Apple.

He directly bought all the shares from a small Apple shareholder and obtained a corresponding board seat.

This small shareholder was eager to run away. At this time, Apple was considered a bad stock in the market, so he sold his shares to Gilbert Jr. at a low price. Including the shares purchased this time, Gilbert Jr.'s Apple shares have reached about 2.5%.

Investment manager David once persuaded Gilbert Jr. not to buy Apple stocks, but Gilbert Jr. insisted on his own way.

This is not because little Gilbert is stubborn, but mainly because stock investment and the film field are completely different things.

In his previous life, he knew that companies such as Apple, Google, and Facebook had high market values, but if you asked him to know specifically which companies in North America in the 1990s would have strong future development, he really didn't understand.

So when investing, little Gilbert always chooses investments with familiar names.

Google is still there, Facebook is nowhere to be found, Yahoo is nowhere to be found, and Amazon is still a year away.

He also knows about Apple, Microsoft, Cisco, and Oracle that have hit rock bottom.

The latter three are popular stocks, and their market values ​​have been rising. Little Gilbert can't buy much of them.

After buying enough shares to join Apple's board of directors, Gilbert Jr. used the remaining money to buy stocks in these three companies. This move was considered by David to be a wise investment.

Apple that has hit rock bottom can be purchased directly in large quantities, and its stock price is cheap. After buying the equity from a small shareholder, Gilbert Jr. was even allowed to successfully join the board of directors.

I don’t know when Steve Jobs will return to Apple, but it seems like it’s not far away.

After returning, Steve Jobs accepted a $1.5 million investment from Bill Gates, making Bill Gates one of Apple's shareholders.

But now, little Gilbert only spent more than 20 million US dollars to become a member of Apple's board of directors like Bill Gates. It seems to be a loss and unwise now, but it will be profitable in the long run.

As I have long said, Apple is a long-term investment. After becoming a board member, you can also influence Apple's decision-making.

Since we know that Apple only got out of the trough after the return of Steve Jobs, should we wait passively?
  As a reborn person, waiting passively is too low!
  He can definitely promote the return of Jobs in advance and put Apple on the right track as soon as possible. This is no better than waiting foolishly.

Moreover, little Gilbert also has a deep-seated reason that has always been hidden in his heart, and that is Pixar Animation Studio.

By supporting Steve Jobs, it is possible to use this relationship to get Pixar Animation Studio from Steve Jobs in the future.

Soon, such an opportunity came.

Because of a new CEO, Apple held a shareholder meeting, and Gilbert Jr. would naturally attend.

His shares even make him one of Apple's third-largest individual shareholders, behind the two co-founders.

During the shareholders' meeting, little Gilbert was very silent and kept listening to the CEO's speech.

What new products will be launched, what new business will be done, etc.

Little Gilbert didn't understand, but in his eyes, those products were all outdated and backward. Although they are popular now, they will be eliminated soon.

So he had no interest and was only thinking about how to get Steve Jobs back to Apple.

As a well-known film director, there are still many shareholders who know Gilbert Jr.'s name.

When the stock price hit rock bottom, Apple disclosed the identity of Gilbert Jr.'s shareholder in the hope of boosting market confidence.

But who would have thought that the Wall Street financial media would soon describe Little Gilbert as a fool who knew nothing about anything but movies.

Investing in Apple is known as the stupidest behavior.

Little Gilbert, who is famous in Hollywood, has become synonymous with fools on Wall Street and Silicon Valley.

It is said that the most popular saying in Silicon Valley now is: Have you become Little Gilbert today?

Even at a Microsoft meeting, Bill Gates publicly mocked Gilbert Jr., saying that he didn't understand the IT and technology industry at all, so he should go back to making movies!
  Bill Gates is right, little Gilbert really doesn’t understand.

If it weren't for the events of his previous life, he wouldn't have continued to buy Apple shares despite others looking at him as a fool.

Little Gilbert never cared about other people's opinions, which would make his life very tiring.

He didn't care what others thought. He only knew that Apple couldn't survive without Steve Jobs.

Therefore, his first sentence at the shareholders' meeting was: "Can you please bring Mr. Jobs back?"

As soon as these words came out, Apple shareholders all went crazy...

(End of this chapter)