Zucker's Anger Had Reached Its Limit

"Hey, Zucker! Sorry I'm late, hahaha!"

You could tell who it was by the voice.

Shaye, the boss of New Line Cinema, had arrived!

Zucker complained, "Come on, we agreed on ten this morning. But look at the time—it's almost noon!"

"Blame me, blame me."

Shaye hurriedly made an apologetic gesture, then said, "I was discussing something with people from Lemires first thing this morning. I thought we'd be done in two hours, but I didn't expect them to be so inefficient."

When he finished, Zucker frowned slightly. "Lemires—the European distributor that specializes in art-house films?"

"That's right."

Shaye nodded without hesitation.

Zucker suddenly understood. "When we launched The Chronicles of Narnia, we signed an agreement to co-produce and co-distribute it. You took the North American distribution rights, and I got the overseas rights. But the rights for the United Kingdom were an exception. Those belonged to you."

"I was wondering about that... After all, New Line Cinema didn't have any overseas distribution channels."

"Now I see you'd planned this all along. I underestimated you!"

Indeed!

Shaye's ambitions had grown enormously. He didn't just want to break free of Warner Bros.' control; he also wanted to build New Line Cinema's own overseas distribution network.

Shaye's expression turned solemn, and he nodded firmly. "I knew I couldn't keep it from you. The United Kingdom is our first stop, the first real step New Line Cinema's taking beyond North America."

Halfway through, his tone turned envious. "After all, who wouldn't want a complete, truly independent global distribution network?!"

Why had Shaye repeatedly slandered and cursed Zucker behind his back?

When you got right down to it... he was jealous of Zucker. Intensely jealous.

More precisely, he'd dreamed about it time and again: he wanted New Line Cinema's distribution network to reach every