Fortune Soars

Since Toy Story premiered, its box office had climbed steadily.

In just three days—the opening weekend—it had grossed a cumulative $68.25 million.

Its reputation and influence gradually grew, much to Zucker's delight. The SpongeBob House chain had taken in more than $1 million over those three days, exceeding its revenue from the previous month.

Zucker was delighted, but the owners of movie merchandise chains in California, Nevada, Arizona, and Utah were starting to get restless.

That was right.

In fact, just one day after Toy Story premiered, many people had approached Zucker seeking merchandise licenses for their respective states. Yet every one of them had been scared off by his asking price.

"Zucker, you damn blackhearted bastard! Asking that much, are you treating us like fish on the chopping block? You bastard!" one merchandise chain owner cursed.

Heh heh!

Zucker cursed right back at him. "Get the hell out of here!"

However.

This very morning.

The owner who had cursed Zucker to his face, along with merchandise chain owners from other states—a total of more than thirty people—had all appeared at Zucker's doorstep.

"Good morning, Mr. Wald!"

"I'd long heard that Mr. Wald was a young man of remarkable talent. Seeing you today, the rumors were indeed true!"

"Little George, aren't you just stating the obvious?"

"Exactly. Before Toy Story was even released, Mr. Wald dared to bet big that it would be a huge hit. How could you, Little George, possibly compare to that kind of courage and vision?"

They truly were businessmen; their skill with words was something else.

Heh heh, flattering someone didn't cost a thing anyway. What was wrong with saying a few nice words?

"All right, gentlemen, I know why you're here today. I won't beat around the bush, then. Let's settle the licensing matter today. After all, everyone deserves to make money together."

Zucker had no time to beat around the bush with them either. Better to settle it quickly!

The sooner the licensing was finalized, the sooner he could make money.

After all, Pixar Animation would be going public soon. Compared with the profits from merchandise licensing, Zucker clearly valued Pixar's IPO more. That was a tenfold return!

Since they were negotiating, Zucker immediately called Candy over.

Candy was highly capable and didn't charge much, so why not use him?

"Mr. Barnett, congratulations on obtaining a five-year license for Toy Story in Nevada." Zucker smiled and pointed at the lawyer beside him.

"Thank you, Mr. Wald."

Barnett owned the largest movie merchandise chain in Nevada, with nineteen stores. He had once looked down on Zucker, but now, for the sake of making money, he could only grit his teeth and accept.

That damn bastard. A five-year license, and he charged me $1.3 million, yet he claimed he was selling it to me cheap. Barnett cursed inwardly.

After cursing in his heart, Barnett gritted his teeth and looked at Candy, who wore an expression of utter sincerity.

That guy's a bastard too.

The two bastards working together were enough to intimidate all the old foxes present.

"Mr. Wald, we must have a proper chat next time we meet and make a fortune together!" said a portly elderly white man.

His name was Billy Jarde, and he owned a movie merchandise chain in Utah.

Although his chain was not the largest in Utah—not even among the top five—with only nine stores, Zucker still sold him the license because he had made the highest offer.

$1.5 million!

"I like people with that kind of boldness, people willing to take a gamble on Toy Story."

It had to be said that Zucker rather liked Old Billy's decisiveness.

For the movie merchandise licenses in Nevada, Arizona, and Utah, Zucker chose one chain per state. But in California, where Los Angeles was located, heh heh, Zucker sold them city by city.

Especially in downtown Los Angeles, Zucker had no intention of selling at all!

"I don't have stores elsewhere, but in Los Angeles, what's wrong with having an exclusive business?" Zucker was simply that practical.

For an entire day, Zucker and Candy haggled with them.

It was not until nine that evening that all the licenses had been sold. Though Zucker and Candy were nearly exhausted, neither could hide their excitement.

$5.65 million!

The results were spectacular!

"Zucker, you've really made a killing this time. In just two months, the $800,000 license you bought has increased sevenfold, and that doesn't even include the merchandise you've sold these past few days!"

After everyone left, Candy began chattering away.

"Stop! Stop! Stop!"

Zucker cut him off. "Listen, buddy, I'll gladly accept all your praise, but... don't even think about asking for more money!"

At that, Candy immediately jumped up and shouted, "You vampire! Do you think I'm that kind of person? You can question my character, but you cannot question my professional integrity."

"Mm, sorry. I apologize!" Zucker said with a sincere expression.

"Uh..." Candy was left speechless, then angrily cursed, "You bastard, you really aren't giving me more money!"

After haggling for quite a while, Zucker, in a very good mood, finally gave him an extra $100, bringing the service fee to $2,100.

After Candy got up and left, Zucker could not help jumping to his feet.

"Yes! I made an absolute killing this time!"

"Just the Toy Story merchandise licensing, along with local merchandise sales in Los Angeles over the next month, should bring in more than $7 million."

"Mm, and I can't miss Pixar's upcoming IPO either."

That night, Zucker thought about many, many things.

What he thought about most was Hollywood.

That was right, Zucker had made up his mind. After making a fortune from Pixar's IPO, he would acquire a small Hollywood film company and make movies for money.

"Although I worked in logistics in my previous life, I still graduated from a directing program. Even if I never properly made a single movie, making a few low-budget films shouldn't be that difficult."

Once he decided to do something, he did it. That had always been Zucker's style.

Run Lola Run was the film Zucker had chosen.

The film told the story of Lola, who had to obtain 100,000 marks within twenty minutes by running in order to save her boyfriend.

Lola and Manni were young lovers in their early twenties. Manni was a good-for-nothing little thug. One day, he got himself into enormous trouble and lost 100,000 marks in smuggled dirty money! Worse, his boss was coming to collect the money in twenty minutes. The cowardly Manni could only turn to Lola for help.

The film contained elements such as time travel, the butterfly effect, and feminism, giving it the potential to become a major hit.

Furthermore, it received a Golden Lion nomination at the 1998 Venice Film Festival, multiple nominations including the BAFTA Awards, and won the grand prize at Sundance in 1999.

"The film has a great reputation, but most importantly, it's cheap to make!"

That was right. The first thing Zucker considered at present was keeping costs low.

"Mm, and there's the animated series SpongeBob SquarePants. Since the system gave me a complete set of materials, I can't let that slip away either. I need to get it done quickly."

"Who knows, I might even earn the title of 'Father of SpongeBob SquarePants' someday. How wonderful."

Zucker smugly declared, "I'm such a clever little genius!"