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Chapter 76: An Outsider Doing an Outsider’s Work
🕑 Added 2024-10-04 16:50:04 +0000 UTCThe celebration banquet ended perfectly, and Gilbert had a feeling that he would gradually get used to this kind of event, to the point of not taking it seriously.
June inevitably arrived, and "Speed" was finally released on a large scale in multiple overseas countries.
On the first weekend of June, the film grossed $45.8 million overseas.
The North American box office had accumulated to $125 million, temporarily ranking first in this year's North American box office.
Including overseas box office, it had also temporarily become this year's global box office champion.
A film like "Speed" which exploded in North America, usually also performs well overseas.
Warner Bros. had internally estimated that the film would earn between $200 million and $250 million overseas.
Adding to the North American box office, which was likely to exceed $150 million, the total box office of "Speed" could possibly surpass $400 million.
Gilbert's films were grossing higher and higher with each release, making both Disney and Warner Bros. thrilled.
Gilbert himself was also very pleased because he had signed a director's contract that included a profit-sharing agreement, and it was a tiered sharing system.
If the North American box office reached $150 million, he would get a 15% share of the total box office, and his final income would exceed $20 million.
Including his salary, his earnings would surpass $25 million.
Some might exclaim, "The North American box office is only $150 million, and you alone are taking $25 million. How can the film company survive?"
Remember the North American box office profit-sharing agreements introduced earlier from the 1990s? Gilbert's share was significant, but the film company earned even more.
Moreover, Gilbert didn't take any share of the overseas box office profits; those all went to the distributors and investors.
Additionally, in the film industry, as time goes on, the proportion of revenue a movie earns from the box office is declining.
A professional Hollywood data research company investigated commercially successful films from the past ten years and found that box office revenue accounts for only about 30% of a film's total revenue.
This figure isn't absolute, but it's enough to show that beyond the box office, a film's profitability model is incredibly broad.
And indeed, before the North American run even ended, Disney sold the North American video rights for "Speed" for $8 million and the TV rights for $6 million.
These rights have expiration dates, and once they expire, they can be resold, essentially providing a long-term income source.
Additionally, the film's rights could still be sold in various overseas countries.
The tens of thousands or millions of dollars from each sale added up to a significant income, showing the strong profitability of a blockbuster film's surrounding rights.
The strong profitability of "Speed" intrigued both Disney and Warner Bros. With such high profitability, it would be a shame not to produce a sequel.
So, Disney and Warner Bros. approached Gilbert, asking if he had any plans to make a sequel.
Gilbert expressed no interest, suggesting that if the two companies wanted to develop a sequel, they should find another director to take over.
Without Gilbert, would "Speed 2" still succeed? This was a shared question between Disney and Warner Bros.
For the time being, there was no progress on "Speed 2," but another project related to Gilbert had started – "Final Destination."
With a global gross of $126 million, this horror thriller had long piqued Disney's interest.
After Gilbert clearly expressed no interest in making a sequel or participating in investment, Disney's subsidiary, Touchstone Pictures, spent $25 million to directly buy out some of Gilbert's rights.
Gilbert's bottom line was $20 million, but Sheena Boone certainly didn't stick to the bottom line, initially asking for $30 million before finally settling at $25 million.
The profit-sharing from "Speed" hadn't arrived yet, but this buyout money quickly landed in Gilbert's account.
With money, things got easier.
In early June, something major happened at Apple, in which Gilbert held shares. CEO John Sculley stepped down due to poor performance.
Michael Spindler took over as CEO and announced plans to revitalize Apple.
However, the market had little confidence in Spindler. As soon as trading opened, the stock price plummeted, and Apple's market value fell below $2 billion.
This period was Apple's most difficult, nearly collapsing.
However, this was a great opportunity for Gilbert.
Taking advantage of the situation, Gilbert bought more Apple shares.
He directly purchased all the shares of a small Apple shareholder and gained a corresponding seat on the board of directors.
The small shareholder was eager to leave. At the time, Apple was considered a junk stock, so they sold the shares to Gilbert at a low price.
With this purchase, Gilbert's holdings in Apple rose to around 2.5%.
Investment manager David had previously advised Gilbert not to buy Apple stock, but Gilbert persisted.
This wasn't because Gilbert was stubborn; it was because stock investment and the film industry were two entirely different matters.
In his previous life, he knew that companies like Apple, Google, and Facebook had high market values, but if you asked him to understand which North American companies in the 1990s would be strong in the future, he truly didn't know.
So, when investing, Gilbert would pick companies with names he was familiar with.
At the moment, Google hadn't appeared yet, Facebook wasn't even in the picture, Yahoo was nowhere to be found, and Amazon was still a year away.
Among the companies he knew, only Apple, Microsoft, Cisco, and Oracle were left.
The latter three were hot stocks with continuously rising market values, and Gilbert couldn't buy much of them.
After acquiring enough shares to enter Apple's board of directors, Gilbert spent the rest of his money on stocks in these three companies. David considered this a wise investment move.
Apple, having hit rock bottom, allowed for large-scale purchasing at a cheap price. After buying the small shareholder's equity, Gilbert successfully entered the board of directors.
It wasn't clear when Steve Jobs would return to Apple, but it seemed like it wouldn't be long.
After Jobs returned, he accepted Bill Gates' $150 million investment, making Gates one of Apple's shareholders.
But now, Gilbert had spent only a little over $20 million to become a board member of Apple, just like Gates. It might seem like a loss and unwise now, but in the long run, it was a win.
As I've said before, Apple is a long-term investment. Becoming a board member also allows for influencing Apple's decisions.
Since he knew that Apple wouldn't pull out of its slump until Steve Jobs returned, why wait passively?
As a reborn person, waiting passively would be too low-level!
He could definitely facilitate Jobs' return ahead of time, bringing Apple back on track sooner. That would be much better than waiting idly.
Plus, Gilbert had another deep-seated reason he kept hidden in his heart – Pixar Animation Studios.
Supporting Jobs might lead to the chance to acquire Pixar Animation Studios from him in the future.
Soon, an opportunity arose.
Because of the change in CEO, Apple held a shareholders' meeting, and Gilbert naturally attended.
The shares he held made him one of Apple's top three individual shareholders, second only to the two co-founders.
At the shareholders' meeting, Gilbert remained silent, listening to the CEO's speech.
The CEO talked about what new products would be launched, what new businesses would be undertaken, and so on.
Gilbert didn't understand much, but those products seemed outdated to him. They might be popular now, but they'd soon be obsolete.
So, he had little interest, focusing instead on how to bring Steve Jobs back to Apple.
As a well-known film director, many shareholders knew Gilbert's name.
When Apple's stock price hit rock bottom, the company had publicly revealed Gilbert's status as a shareholder, hoping to boost market confidence.
But unexpectedly, Wall Street's financial media quickly portrayed Gilbert as a fool who knew nothing outside of filmmaking.
Investing in Apple was called the stupidest move.
The once-renowned Gilbert in Hollywood had become synonymous with foolishness on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley.
It was said that the most popular phrase in Silicon Valley at the time was, "Are you acting like Gilbert today?"
Even during a Microsoft meeting, Bill Gates publicly mocked Gilbert, saying he knew nothing about IT and the tech industry and should stick to making movies.
Gates wasn't wrong; Gilbert indeed didn't understand.
If it weren't for knowing the events of his past life, he wouldn't have continued buying Apple stock under the gaze of people who thought he was a fool.
Gilbert never cared about others' opinions; it would make life too exhausting.
He didn't care what others thought. He only knew that Apple couldn't survive without Steve Jobs.
So, the first words he spoke at the shareholders' meeting were, "Can we invite Mr. Jobs back?"
As soon as he said this, the entire room of Apple shareholders erupted...
............
Just head's up Gilbert going to travel to China in next two or three chapters
