บท 91: Chapter 91
The next day, many newspapers in Paris were already reporting about a young Hollywood filmmaker spending 6 million euros for Greece and Latvia winning the European Cup.
There were admirers, sneerers, and those mocking the Americans for not understanding soccer; it all just proved that the New World was full of nouveau riche.
At the Europa Film headquarters, Charles watched a new movie in the screening room, Unleashed, written by Luc Besson and starring Jet Li.
After watching it, Charles shook his head, feeling a bit disappointed by the movie. Last year's Kiss of the Dragon, which was also written by Luc Besson, had intense fights and a certain market.
"How is it? This Unleashed had a production cost of 45 million dollars. Morgan Freeman played a supporting role to Jet Li. The movie has a lot of expressions of love, quite different from Jet's previous films," Luc Besson introduced.
With a production cost of 45 million dollars, the budget was indeed a bit more than Jet Li's previous B-grade films.
However, Unleashed was destined to be a failed movie, and Charles had no interest in distributing it in America.
Moreover, Unleashed had finished filming last year, and there were no plans to release it this year, which clearly indicated that the test screenings didn't go well.
"Why did Jet Li agree to be part of such a movie?" Charles was a bit perplexed.
Luc Besson explained, "When Kiss of the Dragon was released, Jet said he wanted to play some different roles, not just action and fight scenes! So I quickly gave him this script.
By the way, Europa Films hopes to get the French distribution rights for The Da Vinci Code and also participate in the filming in France!"
Seeing that Charles was not interested in Unleashed, Luc Besson brought up another matter.
Charles nodded; such matters definitely needed professional people to discuss them slowly.
Charles had stayed in Paris for a week and made quite a fuss. It was time for him to return.
On the way to the airport, Marion Cotillard came specially to see Charles off.
In the car, Marion Cotillard leaned against Charles and said, "I bought The Da Vinci Code novel and have been reading it. The story is so exciting, truly the work of a suspense master."
Charles nodded and smiled, "The Da Vinci Code is still in preparation. It's estimated to start shooting next year!"
"Okay! Aren't you going to Portugal to watch the European Cup?" Marion Cotillard felt Charles should go and see the game since he had bought lottery tickets worth millions of euros.
"Go for what? To get laughed at?" Charles definitely didn't plan on going. Now, many sports and entertainment newspapers had reported on it, most with an unfavorable tone.
"Also, didn't I also buy 100,000 euros on the Greece team with you? If Greece wins, that's quite a prize," Charles reminded.
Marion Cotillard laughed, "If we win, that's over 8 million euros! I can't even imagine."
Charles shook his head. Marion Cotillard was indeed lucky to meet him. The time for fame and fortune was not far away.
After being away from America for over half a month, Charles finally returned to Los Angeles.
In Beverly Hills, at the Carpe estate, Evelyn looked at Charles sitting on the couch with a helpless expression.
"Impressive, young American tycoon splurges 6 million euros to bet on a dark horse to win!" Evelyn clapped her hands while mocking, as Charles had now become a laughing stock.
"Dear Mr. Charles Carpe, I heard you even asked if 1 million euros could win 200 million euros?" Evelyn said as she sat next to him. "Come on, tell mom, what were you thinking at that time?"
Charles raised his hands, stood up, and explained helplessly, "I've been back for a few days. The games will start in a few days. Maybe..."
Evelyn shook her head and said nothing more, letting her son be willful this time.
"Your movie Mr. & Mrs. Smith halted filming because of Brad Pitt?"
Charles nodded. Brad Pitt, being the male lead, meant the movie couldn't proceed without him.
He then added, "Wedding Crashers is expected to wrap next month. Carpe Films has several projects needing attention. Just invested in Walk the Line, The Da Vinci Code which I'm overseeing, the remake of Infernal Affairs mainly led by Universal, and we are still adapting the script for No Country for Old Men!"
"Alright, I'm heading back now. You've got many projects; take your time. When distributing movies, you always need working capital!" Evelyn was just there to see her son. With nothing important left to discuss, she was leaving.
However, compared to Charles' small news, the big news in America now was that Fahrenheit 9/11 had broken through its ban.
With the brilliance of the Palme d'Or and extensive praise from liberal American media, Lionsgate became the distributor for this controversial documentary.
Fahrenheit 9/11 directly pointed at the current president's connections with terrorists, openly discussing the conspiracy behind 9/11, indeed garnering a large following.
In Europe, Fahrenheit 9/11 was warmly welcomed and within the US, there were also many conspiracy theorists.
The controversy over Fahrenheit 9/11 quickly surpassed the religious controversy of The Passion of the Christ. Now it was just waiting for release.
At Carpe Films, Charles read in the newspaper about the news of the MPAA rating Fahrenheit 9/11 as R, which made director Michael Moore quite unhappy, leading to an appeal.
"The White House pressure is strong. Even though Fahrenheit 9/11 has high attention and many celebrity supporters, Michael Moore's appeal doesn't have a high success rate," Charles smirked. Although Hollywood was largely Democratic, the MPAA was a link between the White House and Hollywood, easily managing such pressure.
"The public release is on June 25th. Today is the 15th. To change the rating, they'll have to speed things up!" Dona added, clearly not optimistic. How could they lower the rating for a movie targeting the current White House resident to be watched by more people?
"By the way, The Passion of the Christ garnered 200 million euros at the overseas box office, and Carpe Films earned a profit of 25 million euros. Including DVD rights and TV rights, the total revenue is 40 million euros, all left in Europe without conversion to dollars and remittance!"
Charles nodded, "Good, let the funds stay in Europe."
Carpe Films' subsidiary, Carpe International Films, based in the Cayman Islands, specialized in overseas marketing of films.
After all, establishing subsidiaries in offshore tax havens to handle taxes was a common practice for many companies.
Charles' current plan was to quickly establish distribution offices in key box office markets in Europe, such as the UK, Germany, and France.
Other small countries could rely on local distribution companies or find distribution agents, but it was better to build their own distribution channels in major markets.
Personnel and capital could only progress slowly!
*****
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