They Are All Talents!

Thanks to the decent box office performance of Wrong Turn, the reactions from the major Hollywood studios were nothing if not swift.

In just one day, as many as three major companies called to inquire about purchasing the overseas rights to Wrong Turn.

As for hoping to receive a share of the overseas box office, that was completely out of the question.

That was simply the reality; if the North American box office didn't exceed $50 million, the major studios wouldn't even entertain a revenue-sharing agreement for overseas distribution. This was the cruel reality. Of course, Zucker understood this well. If he were in the shoes of a studio executive, he wouldn't offer an overseas revenue share either.

However.

Zucker was not a studio executive!

Therefore, faced with the only option of selling the overseas rights outright, Zucker was quite unhappy. Of course, unhappy or not, the overseas rights still had to be sold.

"Zucker, my old friend, if you don't sell the overseas rights of Wrong Turn to us at Paramount, are you going to sell them to Warner Bros. instead? If you do that, you will truly break my heart!"

Jordan, a representative from Paramount's overseas distribution department, put on a look of profound heartbreak.

"That's enough, Jordan."

Zucker looked at him and laughed, "Jordan, we are old friends, that's true, but I'm also friends with Warner Bros. You are all my friends, and you're all major studios—I can't afford to offend any of you! In this situation, how do you expect me to choose?"

Old fox, putting on such a pitiful act—who is he trying to fool?

Jordan frowned slightly and said, "Zucker, Paramount is determined to get the overseas rights to Wrong Turn. Even if Warner Bros. is competing with us, or even if you add Fox to the mix, we won't give up."

Hearing this, Zucker nodded.

As one of the Big Six in Hollywood, Paramount certainly had the confidence to say that!

"Alright, my old friend, I won't be participating in the specific negotiations. I've left all of that to Victor. You can talk to him in a moment; I have some other matters to attend to, my apologies!" Zucker suddenly said.

An excuse!

A naked, blatant excuse!

But in reality, there were many benefits to this; by letting Victor handle it, no matter the outcome, there was always room for a buffer.

In the first round of negotiations, Paramount offered $7.5 million.

It was rejected by Victor.

When Jordan was leaving, he passed by Zucker's office and said gloomily, "Zucker, $7.5 million is not a low price."

"Oh? I see. But buddy, you have to understand that although I am the boss of the company, I can't make every decision alone. I have to consider Victor's opinion, don't you think?" Zucker feigned helplessness.

Liar!

Damn liar!

You tell the Old Man you can't make the call? Go tell that to the ghosts.

Saying all that, isn't it just because the money isn't enough?

Asshole!

Jordan was smiling on the outside, but cursing up a storm on the inside.

"Zucker, this first round of negotiations didn't work out, but you must hold it for me. Don't sell the rights just because I'm applying for a higher price."

Near noon.

The conference room at Wald Pictures welcomed another wave of guests.

--Sony Columbia!

"Mr. Wald, it is a pleasure to meet you. I am Jiro Sakai from the overseas distribution department of Sony Columbia! I look forward to working with you in the future!"

Jiro Sakai, a Japanese man.

He wasn't tall, only about 1.65 meters, and he appeared very sharp and capable. Of course, the bow he gave upon meeting made Zucker feel quite respected.

"Mr. Sakai, welcome, and welcome to everyone from Columbia." You don't hit a smiling face, especially when they are here to deliver money.

For the subsequent negotiations, Zucker still did not show his face.

He left everything entirely to Victor.

"Mr. Jones, I believe the $8.5 million offer from Sony Columbia is absolutely sincere. And I believe that, based on my knowledge of Paramount's stinginess, their offer definitely won't exceed $8 million."

At this moment, the Japanese man Jiro Sakai no longer appeared as polite as before.

He looked confident and cunning.

Victor nodded and smiled, "I certainly trust Mr. Sakai's judgment, and I appreciate your company's sincerity, but I cannot make a decision too rashly. After all, that would be disrespectful to our partnership, don't you think?"

"Of course, of course." Jiro Sakai didn't seem annoyed.

To be honest, these major studios were ruthless!

According to the situation in the North American and overseas film markets, a movie's overseas box office is typically 1.5 times its North American box office. Analysis indicated that the final North American box office for Wrong Turn was expected to be between $30 million and $32 million. In other words, the overseas box office was expected to be around $45 million.

With an overseas box office of $45 million, after the major studios deducted costs for prints, theater shares, distribution fees, and other expenses, they would still receive about one-third of the box office revenue.

That amounted to roughly $15 million.

Yet, when they approached Wald Pictures to purchase the overseas rights for Wrong Turn, they only offered $8 million to $9 million. They stood to make several million dollars on this deal alone.

Moreover, what they were seeking to purchase were the complete overseas rights to the film, including but not limited to overseas distribution rights, as well as overseas DVD, VHS, and merchandise rights, all of which were included in the package.

The profits from this portion were definitely not low.

At the very least, it could bring in several million dollars in profit for the major studios.

That's right, the lion's share of the profits was being pocketed by the major studios!

It's useless for the Old Man to know all this!

The major studios rely on their comprehensive overseas distribution channels to openly exploit small and medium-sized companies; what can you possibly do about it?

Unless you don't want to make this money and let the film rot in your own hands.

Zucker felt quite helpless.

That afternoon.

Wald Pictures welcomed another wave of guests.

--Time Warner!

The representative was Reed, the assistant to the head of the distribution department.

"Mr. Wald, Mr. Jones, we are going to cooperate again," Reed said.

"I hope we can continue our cooperation."

Zucker and Victor Jones also warmly received Reed and his team.

Reed continued, "Gentlemen, last time our Warner paid a full 2 million dollars to purchase the overseas rights to your company's Hard Candy, and as you both likely know, we at Warner actually suffered a loss."

A loss?

A loss, my foot!

"Yes, if you only look at the overseas box office distribution split, you did lose a few hundred thousand dollars, but regarding the merchandise and DVD market for Hard Candy, haven't you earned over 1 million dollars in these past two months?" Zucker said with a smile.

"Hahaha~!"

The awkward look on Reed's face lasted only a second before he changed the subject, saying, "Let bygones be bygones, gentlemen. Let's talk about the cooperation for Wrong Turn 1 instead."

Three days later.

The overseas rights for Wrong Turn 1 were finally settled with Time Warner!

For this, Time Warner paid a total of 10 million dollars!

It wasn't that Zucker didn't want to continue negotiating, but they were all so cunning that they absolutely refused to increase their bids any further.

Hmm, you might ask why Paramount and Fox, the two film companies that gave up on purchasing the overseas rights, didn't continue to increase their funding?

Yes, logically speaking, even if they had paid a price of 15 million dollars, they wouldn't have lost money.

They could have even made a profit!

However, they would still choose to give up.

Because the number of films produced in North America every year is simply too high~!

For the same price, they could acquire other, better films that could bring them more profit, so it was completely unsurprising that they gave up on the Wrong Turn film.

You have to realize that of the many films produced in Hollywood every year, at least 75% fail to get a theatrical release overseas. Therefore, being able to sell the overseas rights at all is already no small feat.

The second update is delivered.