Opening a Movie Merchandise Chain

That evening.

The presidential suite at the New York Hilton Hotel.

Having become rich overnight, Zucker indulged himself extravagantly. He not only enjoyed fine food and wine, but also service fit for an emperor.

"The presidential suite really is great. It's amazing. Absolutely first-rate!"

"In my previous life, I was at least in the entertainment business. I always watched those stars staying in presidential suites, but this is actually my first time. Heh heh..."

Although Zucker had been a mid-level manager at a small entertainment company in his previous life, he had damn well worked in logistics and rarely came into contact with those stars.

Their incomes had been worlds apart, and even unspoken casting rules had never been his turn.

"Speaking of beautiful Hollywood actresses, people say the rich get to taste them while the poor can only admire their faces. In this life, I, Zucker, will have a taste too!"

The tree-lined path you imagined had long since become packed with traffic.

—Shakespeare.

Even if countless people had left their marks in that place, we still yearned for it.

—Guo Moruo.

When you could enter with ease, you should understand that it was not because you were impressive, but because the other party could tolerate your insignificance.

—Pavel Korchagin.

"Heh... Anyway, I have money now!"

Thinking of the jokes from his previous life, Zucker could not help shuddering. Forget it, forget those public buses. Better to be more restrained.

For the next while, all Zucker could think about was how to use his first pot of gold. As a transmigrator, if he did not think about making money, was he supposed to just enjoy himself now? That was far too lacking in ambition. He had to keep making money—make big money!

"Keep investing in the stock market?"

That was the first thought that popped into Zucker's head.

After all, his current two million-plus dollars had all come from the stock market, from Netscape's IPO.

"It's not impossible, but I only know the general idea."

"Although I know that investing in stocks like Microsoft, Apple, and Amazon absolutely won't lose money—they'll all become future giants with market caps of 1.3 trillion dollars—but right now, it's just too..."

Not to mention anything else, Amazon in 1995 was not a giant. It was a little newbie that had been established less than a month ago—it was founded in July—and had not even gone public yet! As for buying its original shares, that was pure wishful thinking.

Jeff Bezos was far too shrewd.

He was shrewder than a monkey with fur. Trying to get original shares from him now? Forget Zucker—even Goldman Sachs and Morgan could not do it.

The stock market could make money, and make a lot of money. Zucker, a transmigrator, knew that.

He understood it very clearly!

But not now. In the next few years, especially after 1998, internet tech stocks would soar like crazy. It would not be too late to enter once he had enough capital.

"Then what should I do?"

"Forget it. No matter how I look at it, I should stick to my old trade!"

Film and television entertainment!

That had been Zucker's field in his previous life. Even if he had worked in logistics, he was still somewhat familiar with it.

"My home in this life is in Hollywood, so I'll enter Hollywood!"

"Find a Hollywood company and become an employee? It's possible, but that would be too beneath the status of a transmigrator like me."

"Start a movie company directly?"

"Even worse. The waters run too deep there. I could easily get screwed over."

"A movie merchandise store—especially opening several and turning them into a chain?"

"That seems like a pretty good approach!"

It was not that Zucker did not want to charge directly into Hollywood and start a movie company. As half an industry insider, he simply knew too well how deep the entertainment industry's waters were and how exclusionary it could be.

Just look at Barry Meyer, Robert Iger, Sherry Lansing, and the other leaders of the Big Six Hollywood Studios. Which one of them had not risen from the bottom? Look at Hollywood stars like Julia Roberts and Angelina Jolie. Which one had not started out as a bit player?

There were simply too many examples like that.

Even the son and daughter of Larry Ellison, Oracle's owner and a Forbes regular, had entered Hollywood with $200 million and blazing ambitions. And what happened?

They made several terrible movies!

Flyboys alone had cost them nearly a hundred million dollars in tuition.

Had they not still wasted several years?

In the end, they only successfully integrated into Hollywood because of the 2008 financial crisis, when the American economy declined and major Hollywood companies were short of cash, right?

"I need to lie low... no, I need to be more steady!"

Zucker rubbed his forehead.

Hollywood's exclusionary nature was one factor. The most crucial issue was Hollywood accounting!

They truly walked the edge of the law. Within what the law permitted, they played every possible trick with the books, taking it to the extreme and bleeding outside investors dry!

Never, ever believe that big corporations had any integrity!

For example, Spielberg's DreamWorks had scammed several hundred million dollars from places like India and the Arab world.

They did not just scam outsiders. They showed absolutely no mercy when scamming industry insiders, either.

Their hands were black as hell!

The Harry Potter series was enormously famous.

It brought Time Warner Group tremendous prestige. At the box office alone, it raked in nearly ten billion dollars worldwide, not to mention merchandise licensing, DVD and videotape sales, clothing licenses, alcohol licenses, and so on. That was a market worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

But would you believe that the company's books showed a loss?

That's right, a loss!

And a goddamn massive loss at that!

The movie's production company and distribution company both belonged to Time Warner Group, but the two subsidiaries kept separate accounts and calculated independently. Aside from theater revenue, most of the profits that should have belonged to the production company went to the distribution company instead.

As a result, the production company naturally showed a loss on its books.

Heh heh...

"Big companies really are shady. If the books show a loss, they can pay less corporate tax and avoid paying the main actors their box-office profit shares. Why wouldn't they do it?"

Several lead actors from the Harry Potter series had once taken Warner Bros. to court over box-office profit sharing.

But what was the result?

Did they think the traps written into the contracts by Warner Bros.' team of lawyers were a joke?

They could play you to death!

Even if a big company lost under special circumstances, it could still drag things out for years, drain your energy, and make sure you suffered!

After all, an arm could not twist a thigh.

If you wanted to survive in this industry, you had to follow the rules they made. Otherwise, you were an outlier, challenging the collective interests of Hollywood's major companies, and they would eventually drive you out of Hollywood alive.

Michael Jackson was one such example!

He held the copyrights to countless songs, did not understand compromise, and violated too many unspoken rules and interests in the entertainment industry. Wasn't that why his reputation was destroyed? (Child molestation accusations, skin color issues.) Even after his death, many people still used those things against him.

The Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson had also sued New Line Cinema over pay, and the lawsuit had dragged on for a full six years.

"Hollywood loves reckless fools with more money than sense. I'd better be careful."

Zucker could not help sighing.

"Otherwise, there won't even be bones left of me in the end!"

"There are too many bad people and petty villains in this world."

As half an industry insider, Zucker understood the issue of accounting far too well.

A movie could clearly be profitable, yet they could still make it show a loss on the books. Take filming equipment, for example. It might clearly cost $200,000, but they could list it as $1 million. Other expenses unrelated to the movie could also be charged to the investor's accounts. The waters here ran incredibly deep. Even industry insiders had to stay on guard, let alone outsiders.

"I'll open a movie merchandise chain!"

"Safe and reliable!"

"Not to mention Toy Story is about to be released. That will be North America's box-office champion of 1995!"

"As long as I secure the rights, even if it's only in Los Angeles, selling Sheriff Woody and Buzz Lightyear toys alone will make me a fortune. Not only can it make money, it'll also be an excellent stepping stone into Hollywood."

Once he made up his mind, he acted.

Zucker booked a plane ticket that very night.

Early the next morning, he boarded a flight to Los Angeles.

After returning to his home in Los Angeles and setting down his luggage, he immediately contacted several real estate agencies and finally selected one with good terms and a solid reputation.

"My requirements aren't many. Beverly Center, South Coast Plaza, Hollywood and Highland Center, and Montana Avenue—there must be locations in those places!"

Zucker repeatedly pointed out the locations on the map to the middle-aged Black man in front of him.

Every place he selected was a famous, high-traffic area in Los Angeles.

"Certainly, please rest assured. Our professionalism will definitely satisfy you," the middle-aged Black man said solemnly.

Zucker nodded. "Good. Professionalism is exactly what I want. How soon can you take me to see them?"

"Three days!"

The Black man confidently held up three fingers.

After seeing off the agent, Zucker sat alone in the room and thought, Once I settle the store locations, I'll immediately go to Pixar Animation—and pay Jobs a visit while I'm at it.