Chapter 305 — No Wonder They Went Bankrupt
New York, Manhattan — Dawnlight Pictures headquarters.
Aaron sat in his office chair flipping through several scripts spread across his desk, all projects Dawnlight was preparing to develop.
"Is Michael Bay still revising the script for The Rock?"
Without even looking up, Aaron casually asked the question.
Evelyn Beckett nodded.
"Yes. He's still making revisions."
"But Michael Bay really likes the British actor Sean Connery and hopes to invite him to play the lead role."
Aaron chuckled softly.
"007 himself, huh?"
"Sean Connery definitely has that tough-guy aura. He fits the role perfectly."
"Move the preparations forward as quickly as possible."
He then lifted another action script from the table.
The title read: Broken Arrow.
"This one has more of a dual-protagonist dynamic," Aaron said thoughtfully. "It would actually suit a director like John Woo."
Then he suddenly looked up.
"I heard The Blood and Tears of Chinese Laborers went over budget?"
Since John Woo was one of the producers on the film, Aaron was already aware of the situation.
Evelyn Beckett sighed slightly.
"It did."
"The original maximum budget was supposed to be twelve million dollars."
"But the money has already been exhausted before filming finished."
"Mr. Tom Rothman believes the main issue is the extremely slow production pace."
"The production team managed to persuade the British investors to add another three million dollars."
Originally, the film had been co-financed by Dawn's subsidiary New Moon Pictures alongside British investors.
Now that the British side had injected additional funds, Dawn couldn't simply remain passive.
Aaron waved his hand dismissively.
"Fine. Release the funding."
"Let the film finish properly."
He honestly had no objections.
Director King Hu was famously meticulous about detail, and slow production schedules were practically expected from him.
Evelyn nodded.
"Then… boss, should we officially hand Broken Arrow over to John Woo?"
Although John Woo's previous Hollywood film, Hard Target, hadn't received great reviews, its action scenes had been widely praised and it had still succeeded commercially.
Even Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer had once considered hiring him to direct GoldenEye before ultimately choosing New Zealand director Martin Campbell instead.
Aaron nodded.
"Yes. Let him direct it."
Truthfully, Aaron viewed John Woo and Michael Bay in very similar ways.
Whether it was The Rock or Broken Arrow, either of them could probably handle the films just fine.
"Oh right, boss," Evelyn suddenly added, "do you remember director Roland Emmerich?"
"Of course," Aaron replied immediately. "Didn't Dawn already give him the script for Twister?"
A large-scale disaster effects blockbuster.
Evelyn gave an awkward smile.
"Well… Roland Emmerich did read the script."
"But he has his own ideas."
"He's personally preparing a screenplay about an alien invasion and hopes Dawn will support the project."
As she spoke, she handed a new script over to Aaron.
Aaron froze for a moment before immediately taking the script and opening it.
"Hmm… Independence Day… a future setting, aliens invading Earth, humanity thrown into panic and devastation, the President of the United States…"
His eyes widened slightly.
"This is a large-scale sci-fi disaster film."
"Roland Emmerich wants to make this movie?"
Evelyn Beckett nodded.
"Yes. Another major visual effects blockbuster."
Aaron instantly grew excited.
Originally, he had planned to let Roland Emmerich direct Twister.
But now that Independence Day had appeared, someone else could handle Twister instead.
"I remember Roland Emmerich directed Stargate last year, right?"
"When does it release?"
Evelyn replied,
"At the end of this month."
"It opens the same weekend as New Moon Pictures' Garage Shock."
"The producer is Carolco Pictures, while distribution is being handled by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer."
"But because Carolco massively overspent on Cutthroat Island, they sold off the rights to Stargate and even the currently filming Showgirls."
"They exchanged the rights with MGM and the French broadcaster Canal+ in return for financing."
Aaron raised an eyebrow.
"Carolco already sold the rights to Stargate?"
"Even Paul Verhoeven's Showgirls too?"
Originally, Paul Verhoeven had wanted to team up with Arnold Schwarzenegger for a film titled Crusade.
But Carolco couldn't afford the budget, so instead they moved forward with Showgirls, an erotic drama centered around Las Vegas strippers.
Aaron could understand selling rights for a film still in production like Showgirls.
But even Stargate?
All for the endlessly troubled Cutthroat Island?
He sighed inwardly.
No wonder Carolco ended up going bankrupt.
"This Independence Day concept is excellent."
"If Roland Emmerich wants to make it, Dawnlight should invest."
"And the budget he's requesting isn't outrageous either."
"Seventy-five million dollars is acceptable."
Aaron truly hadn't expected Emmerich to already have the Independence Day script prepared.
This was a guaranteed blockbuster.
---
That evening, Aaron arrived at a nightclub on Greenwich Street where Jack Wells was already waiting for him.
"We've already loaned Ron Meyer ten million dollars through West Pacific United Bank."
Aaron nodded.
"That guy's completely overshadowed by Michael Ovitz at Creative Artists Agency."
"CAA is the biggest agency in Hollywood, and he's still the second-largest shareholder."
"And yet he can't even come up with ten million dollars himself."
Jack laughed.
"He's extremely dissatisfied with Michael Ovitz right now."
"CAA has basically become a one-man dictatorship."
"And profit distribution is ridiculously uneven."
"Still," Jack added with a shrug, "Ron Meyer knows very little about Panasonic selling MCA."
Aaron waved dismissively.
"It doesn't matter."
"He'll definitely repay the ten million eventually."
"His shares in CAA alone are worth more than that."
Taking a sip of alcohol, Aaron continued,
"Anything else from this New York trip?"
"There is," Jack replied with a grin.
"Angel International acquired forty percent of IMG."
"You know, Angel's made quite a bit of money over the past few years."
Angel Security already controlled more than half of Hollywood's celebrity bodyguard business.
On top of that, the company had also become involved in international arms trading.
At this point, Angel Security had grown into a very sizable enterprise.
Aaron shrugged approvingly.
"Not bad."
"You can slowly continue swallowing up IMG over time."
"Eventually, take full control."
"Angel's security operations and IMG's agency business complement each other very well."
"Exactly," Jack replied.
"You mentioned years ago that the sports agency market was enormous."
Jack Wells valued Aaron's judgment tremendously.
Although he rarely interfered with Dawn's operations directly, his own Angel Group had already made him incredibly wealthy thanks to Aaron's influence.
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