I am Hollywood

[Chapter 838: Overseas Box Office Explosion]

Strictly speaking, Forbes magazine's valuation of Eric's net worth at $98.7 billion this year was quite accurate.

Eric's assets mainly included Firefly Group and Firefly Investment Company. The Firefly Group, which controlled over twenty subsidiaries in fields like film, television, amusement parks, comics, music, and special effects, boasted fixed assets worth $50 billion. In 1996, the Firefly Group reported a revenue of $31.3 billion, which was almost 1.5 times the combined revenue of Time Warner and Viacom, which had market capitalizations of $24.3 billion and $28.8 billion respectively. Thus, Forbes' $85 billion valuation of Firefly Group was not exaggerated from any perspective.

Eric held a 73.7% stake in Firefly Group, which valued that portion at $62.7 billion. On the other hand, Firefly Investment Company held strong stakes in companies like Cisco, Nokia, and America Online, most of which were publicly listed. Based on various public data, this portion of Eric's assets was valued at around $36 billion. Combined, this brought Eric's total worth right to the $98.7 billion alleged by Forbes.

Most generally revered miracles and celebrated individual heroism. However, when certain miracles far exceeded their understanding, skepticism inevitably arose. Eric's personal worth of $98.7 billion surpassed that of second-place Bill Gates by a staggering $62.3 billion. This discrepancy left many with a strong sense of unreality, making doubt almost unavoidable.

In order to diffuse the potential antitrust investigation risk posed by Forbes depicting the Firefly Group as a "media mogul," Eric cleverly shifted the subsequent media conversations onto himself.

After the latest Forbes article was published, financial journalists and commentators, who initially could only criticize Eric's inflated net worth in lower-circulated trade journals or second-tier papers, found themselves approached by major North American newspapers and magazines. They were asked to express their thoughts on the latest Forbes wealth rankings.

These journalists could not have known that the very motivation driving this piece was Eric himself. Articles published in influential outlets like The Washington Post, New York Post, Wall Street Journal, and Yahoo Finance were the perfect avenue for enhancing his personal influence. They quickly got to work, producing a stream of well-argued articles.

Some among them even sensed that the platforms engaging them had close ties to the Firefly Group or to Eric himself, but as journalists who were at least superficially committed to the pursuit of freedom of expression, they wouldn't easily change their opinions for the sake of an opportunity. When many submitted what they believed to be left-leaning opinion pieces, they were even prepared to argue their points vehemently. To their surprise, these articles were published without obstruction.

In an instant, much of the North American media began to question Forbes' data accuracy, with articles criticizing Eric Williams' net worth being grossly overestimated pouring in.

"$98.7 billion, just a sensationalist number game."

"Yahoo Inc. seriously overvalued."

"The IT industry's general profit margins are low; the $36 billion valuation of Firefly Investment Company is highly inflated."

"Net profit at $1.76 billion? Firefly Group's net profit margin is plummeting."

"..."

Under the sudden and overwhelming media assault, Forbes naturally fought back to maintain its credibility. Consequently, there was a fierce exchange between the two sides across print, television, and even online platforms, focusing most news topics on how much money Eric really had.

Because the opposition to Forbes' data seemed overwhelmingly powerful, by the end, most of the general public unconsciously accepted the opposing view. They began to see Forbes' figures as a sensational joke. With repetitive bombardments of information, the public's common perception of Eric's actual net worth settled around the $60 to $70 billion range. Although this was still considerably above the second-ranked individual, it was far more palatable than the nearly $100 billion figure.

This was precisely the outcome Eric had hoped for.

After a week of noise, the topic naturally began to cool down, and very few media outlets continued to pay attention to Forbes' claim of a "media mogul."

Even though some media professionals sensed the signs of manipulation behind this, they would likely struggle to find direct evidence. After all, Eric's method of steering the narrative was quite clever; he simply amplified voices that already held certain views among the media, stirring the pot for an entire media frenzy. Many in this world don't realize the purpose their opinions could serve.

In the blink of an eye, the next weekend arrived, bringing with it an explosive new story that pushed the last vestiges of media interest in Forbes' rankings into the corner and quickly refocused attention.

It was the new weekly box office figures for Titanic.

...

Since its release, Titanic had been breaking record after record -- miraculous numbers that reshaped many people's views on traditional movie box office figures. News about the film had transcended entertainment discussions, becoming a social topic in itself.

Following a week of reflection and anticipation surrounding the upcoming Oscars the following Monday, North American Titanic fans were eagerly awaiting the film's domestic box office to cross the $500 million mark. Compared to the previous week, Titanic's thirteenth week in North American theaters saw box office numbers fall to $23 million, bringing the cumulative total to $492 million -- just one step away from the $500 million milestone.

However, what captured all the media's attention was not the already jaw-dropping North American box office numbers but the international figures.

After months of strong promotion, Titanic had launched in an additional 17 overseas markets, bringing the total to 46, including three major countries -- France, Germany, and Japan.

Clearly, with Titanic creating a string of miracles in North America both in box office and award nominations, audience expectations in these new markets had peaked.

Thus, after the new week, Titanic's box office figures soared to a staggering $179 million across the 46 territories.

It was noteworthy that, before this, Titanic had only reached $400 million in foreign markets over 12 weeks, despite uncertain release dates. In just one week, with the help of 17 new box office territories, Titanic's overseas weekly box office approached half of the total figure from the previous 12 weeks. This was undoubtedly a miracle.

Among these new markets, France, Germany, and Japan's performances stood out. France's first-week box office was equivalent to $28 million, Germany's first week reached $26 million, and Japan hit an incredible $49 million. In just one week, these three countries contributed a total of $103 million to Titanic's overall box office figures.

Even though the remaining 43 countries averaged about $1.7 million each, the overall $76 million still far exceeded the average figures from the previous 12 weeks.

Considering that France, Germany, and Japan might follow a similar box office trajectory as North America, and with 22 more countries set to open in the following weeks, many box office analysts boldly predicted that Titanic's overseas weekly box office could likely break the astonishing $200 million mark in the upcoming week with the Oscars and new openings in play.

In this era, 99% of Hollywood films would struggle to achieve a total overseas box office of $200 million, but Titanic could possibly accomplish this feat in just one week.

At this moment, fueled by overseas box office receipts of $179 million, Titanic's global gross had surpassed $1.071 billion. If in the following weeks Titanic could maintain an overseas haul close to $200 million weekly, the possibility of achieving a $2 billion worldwide total was no longer a distant dream.

A global gross of $2 billion would yield $500 million of net profit for Firefly Group. In Hollywood's Big Seven, not only would a single film rarely achieve that kind of profit, but often the combined profits from all films released in a year would not come close to that figure.

Moreover, box office revenue was just the beginning. Because the box office figures were so extraordinary, though later revenues from video rentals, original soundtracks, and other ancillary income would certainly not follow the traditional revenue ratios, it could be envisioned that this secondary revenue would still represent a staggering astronomical sum. Across the entire profit cycle of Titanic, with the operations along the entire industry chain, it wasn't impossible for Firefly Group to recoup profits equivalent to $2 billion along with the box office figures.

Originally, most people expected Titanic to gross a bit over $1 billion worldwide. This sudden leap to the $2 billion range sparked intense excitement among Hollywood studios regarding large-scale projects.

...

This weekend, Eric finally had a chance to relax, albeit only slightly.

However, he couldn't completely let his hair down, especially with the Oscars just around the corner on Monday. He had to attend to support My Heart Will Go On, which was nominated for Best Original Song.

Interestingly enough, from 1988 to now, Eric had produced numerous films but had never received a Best Director nomination. He had, however, been nominated as Best Screenwriter and for Best Original Song, already having taken home the latter's little golden trophy. Without a doubt, he was set to add another one to his collection.

In the living room of his mansion, Eric stretched out his arms as his identical twin sisters helped him into his tuxedo. He playfully asked the girl standing next to him, who was standing beside a customer manager from the Givenchy boutique, "Drew, I've already got the Best Original Screenplay award. It shouldn't be too hard for me to snag a Best Original Song too. So next, will I go on to take home all these other awards, like Best Visual Effects, Best Editing, Best Original Score, and the like? Oh, what's that saying again, a Grand Slam?"

The girl chuckled, "You're definitely not going to get a Grand Slam because you're a man."

"Fine, I mean," Eric remembered that he would never win Best Actor or Best Supporting Actor in his life. He continued, "Those awards are off the table for me."

"You can't get Best Actress or Best Supporting Actress either," the girl smirked, fully aware of Eric's train of thought. She continued her playful 'attacks.'

Everyone laughed lightly.

The Natasha sisters buttoned up the tuxedo on Eric and quietly stepped aside.

Eric had never been particularly interested in trying on clothes. He preferred to buy multiple identical outfits in bulk and wear them consistently. However, this time, his date insisted he find a suit to match hers for walking the red carpet.

Eric couldn't understand what was so necessary about repeatedly trying on variations of the same black tuxedos.

Drew clearly sensed Eric's impatience. She walked over and appraised him, whispering a few words to the stylish female customer manager from Givenchy before saying, "Alright, let's go with this one. Natasha, take that off; the sleeves need a little more adjustment."

After adjusting the tuxedo, Drew personally escorted the Givenchy staff member out. Eric exited the living room feeling at ease as he walked to the glass wall where a chaise lounge lay, stretching comfortably and casually flipping through a nearby magazine.

Drew soon returned and, seeing Eric lounging on the sofa, she cheerfully approached. She leaned over him and said, "Okay, Eric, it's been tried on."

"Mm-hmm," Eric tossed aside the magazine and casually wrapped his arm around the girl's soft waist, lazily squinting his eyes.

The girl blew warm air in Eric's ear before saying, "But there are still shoes; they're on their way."

Smack--

A sharp pop rang through the air.

"Ouch, that hurt," Drew twisted her petite frame slightly and then chuckled, "This time they're custom-made; you just need to see if they fit okay."

At last satisfied, Eric murmured an "mm" in agreement.

*****

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