Chapter 208: Barry's Anxieties

"Then keep thinking about it. What about the lead actress?" Leo gave a sidelong glance at Tobey Maguire, who was snickering nearby, and hurriedly changed the subject.

"For the lead actress, we need someone beautiful, elegant, gentle, and classy, with a touch of British charm. So, I chose Kate Beckinsale."

Hearing this, Leo immediately flashed a knowing, suggestive smile.

He’d heard rumors that Kate Beckinsale had divorced her ex-husband because of Wayne.

"Anyone else? Just one female role?"

"There's another one—she plays the wife of the second male lead, but the character is supposed to be older."

Leo burst out laughing again, prompting Wayne to give him a stern look. He said casually, "The fourth and fifth male roles in this movie are already cast. They’ll be played by Ian McKellen, who starred as Magneto in X-Men, and Liam Neeson, the lead in Taken. As for the third male role, your 'cousin,' I found someone with impressive acting skills."

Leo's laughter stopped abruptly.

If what Wayne said was true, wouldn’t that mean the entire cast was full of acting heavyweights? Apart from the leading lady, wouldn’t his acting skills be the weakest?

"When does filming start?" Leo asked seriously.

"I haven’t decided on a director yet. Plus, we need to finish the pre-production work. The earliest we could start would be in two months," Wayne said after some thought.

Two months—neither too long nor too short.

But Leo, aiming for an Oscar, dared not slack off even for a moment.

"Get me the script as soon as possible. I need to prepare!"

"Okay, I’ll send it to you later."

Wayne gave an OK gesture.

They dropped work-related discussions and spent the rest of the day enjoying deep-sea fishing with Vlada and the others.

The next morning, Wayne had the script delivered to Leo. At the same time, he finally decided on a director and the second male lead for the film.

For the second male lead, Wayne chose Michael Caine. He was concerned that Leo's acting might be overshadowed, so he didn’t pick any of the five potential candidates and instead went with Caine.

This British actor had won two Academy Awards for Best Supporting Actor, in 1986 and 1999.

Next year, he would also be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor, proving that his acting skills were on par with those of Russell Crowe and others. However, Caine didn’t exude the dominant aura of a leading man, making him perfect for a supporting role.

Although Michael Caine had received numerous accolades, he was best known to audiences as Alfred, the loyal butler in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy.

So casting him as Roger, the second male lead who acts as both a mentor and a friend, was far more suitable than Russell Crowe or anyone else.

For the director, Wayne eventually settled on Nolan. Since the original director of The King’s Speech, Tom Hooper, hadn’t debuted yet, Wayne figured Nolan was the best choice.

After all, Nolan’s recent film Oppenheimer had grossed a staggering $949 million globally and earned impressive ratings of 8.5 on IMDb and 8.8 on Douban—higher than many Oscar-winning films.

Most importantly, if Nolan could excel with Oppenheimer, he could definitely handle The King’s Speech.  

"Trust me, Nolan, you’re going to love this script," Wayne said over the phone.

Nolan chuckled helplessly but gladly accepted the offer.

Although he’d only been resting for half a month, the director’s fee Wayne offered was simply too high to refuse.

For this film, Wayne offered Nolan $10 million—a figure rivaled only by world-class directors like James Cameron, George Lucas, or Steven Spielberg.

Considering that Nolan’s only notable works so far were Memento and the recently released Resident Evil, this was an extraordinary opportunity.

Feeling both honored and motivated, Nolan couldn’t help but feel a surge of passion.

Moreover, Wayne promised that the film would not only aim for high box office returns but also help both Nolan and Leo vie for Oscars.

For anyone in the industry, such an opportunity was irresistible.

However, this decision meant that the upgraded version of The King’s Speech would have a combined cost of $80 million just for the director, writer, and lead actors' fees.

Even as a drama with minimal special effects, the film’s total budget wouldn’t fall below $100 million—a rarity for films of its genre at the time.

---

As August arrived:

- On August 1, Heidi and Grandpa wrapped filming. After spending over a month in the Alps, Lily Collins rushed straight to Wayne’s estate upon returning. She even brought Elizabeth Olsen along.

While Elizabeth had been texting Wayne frequently, they weren’t that close in person. However, filming had forged a strong bond between her and Lily, and she decided to tag along.

Unfortunately, with Wayne preparing for the Wanted shoot, he was busy indulging in one last night of revelry. He only greeted the two briefly and asked about their filming experiences before leaving for Roxbury Street.

Disappointed, the two girls sighed in unison.

"If only we could grow up faster," they thought, sharing the same sentiment.

- On August 3, The Ring (American version) premiered with an impressive first-day box office of $10.21 million in North America and $8.75 million overseas, totaling $18.96 million globally.

While not groundbreaking compared to other Hemera Productions films, this was excellent for a horror movie.

Especially considering that Resident Evil and Taken were still dominating theaters, each raking in enormous daily revenues.

By August 3:

- Resident Evil had grossed $172 million in North America and $239 million overseas within seven days, with a global total exceeding $400 million. Its final box office was projected to hit $600 million.

- Taken, after 21 days, had earned $185 million in North America and $262 million overseas, surpassing $447 million globally. Its final earnings were estimated to exceed $500 million.

With these two blockbusters still thriving, The Ring’s opening was deemed a success by both Hemera Productions and Harvey.

- On August 5, the post-production of Wedding Crashers wrapped up after just 22 days.

---

As expected, Wayne’s work phone was blowing up again.

This time, however, with the excuse of filming a movie, he finally didn’t have to attend every party and waste his time.

“How’s the box office for Jurassic Park III?”

During lunch, Wayne asked Hannah while enjoying the blueberry tiramisu cake Monica Bellucci had specially made for him early in the morning.

“It’s a disaster!” Hannah said, laughing openly. “Jurassic Park III premiered in North America on July 18 and overseas on July 20. So far, after 18 days in North America, it has grossed $90.76 million, and after 16 days overseas, it’s at $74.14 million. The estimated final gross is only $200 million, even though I heard Universal initially expected $500 million!”

Wayne raised an eyebrow at the mention of that number.

“$500 million? They were really dreaming. The reviews and ratings for this movie must be terrible, right?”

“Exactly!” Hannah nodded vigorously, her eyes gleaming. “The word of mouth is awful, and it’s got a 4.9 rating on IMDb, officially putting it in the ‘bad movie’ category! Some reviews even said if it weren’t for the Jurassic Park name, this kind of trash wouldn’t even gross $30 million!”

“That’s true. That’s the power of an IP,” Wayne replied casually, already calculating in his mind.

Without a doubt, under his “triple lightning strike,” the box office and reception of Jurassic Park III were even worse than in his previous life.

Relying on the strength of a big-name sequel, the previous-life version of Jurassic Park III—despite equally abysmal reviews and ratings—still managed to gross $368 million globally, with a 5.9 IMDb score.

Now, not only had the score dropped a full point, but the box office was nearly halved, making it truly unbearable to look at.

Moreover, the film’s production cost was a staggering $93 million, with an additional $20 million or so spent on marketing. Recouping the costs through box office earnings alone was impossible.

However, with the subsequent revenue from DVD sales, it might still make a modest profit of $10–20 million overall.

You had to admit, major IPs held a significant advantage.

But this outcome was already more than enough for Wayne.

Jurassic Park III had been taken down.

Next on the list was Universal’s other hopeful, The Ugly Truth 2.  

To avoid a double hit from Resident Evil 1 and The Ring (American Version), as well as Disney’s The Princess Diaries, which was set to release on the 11th, the original August 10 release of The Ugly Truth 2 was pushed back to August 20.

That meant it would now clash directly with Wedding Crashers.  

Conveniently, both The Ugly Truth 2 and Wedding Crashers were comedies, with a significant overlap in audiences.

One was a sequel to a big IP; the other was backed by superstar appeal. If these two went head-to-head, it would undoubtedly have a substantial impact on both.

Wayne wasn’t worried about losses—he was the boss, after all, and had more ambitious goals.

Universal, on the other hand, couldn’t afford to lose.

If The Ugly Truth 2 experienced the same box-office plunge as Jurassic Park III, Universal’s CEO, Barry Diller, might find himself out of a job!

Thus, unlike the other major studios, Barry Diller was particularly anxious.

“Sorry, Mr. Diller, I just wrapped up filming today.”

When Barry Diller called for the third time, Hannah, following Wayne’s prior instructions, finally handed him the phone.

“No problem. I’ve heard about your famous work ethic, Mr. Wayne. It’s precisely because of your dedication that your films are such consistent box-office and critical successes,” Barry said with a laugh, lowering his tone.

What Wayne said was true—Diller had already verified through his channels that Wayne had indeed been busy filming, so there was no room for dissatisfaction.

Besides, Diller needed Wayne’s help.

After some polite small talk, Barry Diller got straight to the point.

“It’s like this, Mr. Wayne. Universal Pictures is very eager to establish more collaborations with Hemera Pictures. To that end, we’re offering $220 million to acquire Wedding Crashers.”

On the other side, Wayne, already prepared, couldn’t help but be slightly surprised.

$220 million was $35 million higher than the record set by Resident Evil 1.  

Even Wayne himself thought this was an impressive offer.

Considering the marketing costs, the film would need to gross at least $480 million at the box office just to break even.

However, Wayne quickly composed himself and, in a sincere tone, apologetically replied, “I can sense your and Universal’s sincerity, Mr. Diller. I’m personally very satisfied with this offer.”

“But Warner previously sold me the rights to most of the DC characters, including Batman and Superman, and I owe them for that.”

“Then there’s Sony, which recently agreed to share the Spider-Man rights with Marvel, a subsidiary of my company. Those are favors I can’t ignore either.”

Barry Diller frowned at Wayne’s words.

As Universal Pictures’ president, he wasn’t foolish and immediately understood Wayne’s underlying message.

“So this was intentional!”

Diller belatedly realized the situation but could do nothing about it.

This was all part of normal business competition—being targeted was simply a result of their movies not being good enough to compete.

What’s more, all distribution companies were scrambling to buy films from Hemera Pictures. Nobody would turn down a chance to make money.

If Diller dared to pit Universal against Hemera, they’d only be isolated and kicked out of the game.

At that point, Wayne could just use another major studio to target Universal, much like how Resident Evil 1 crushed Jurassic Park III. Universal would be the one to suffer.

“So, Mr. Wayne, which Universal IP are you interested in?”

After considering the stakes, Barry Diller took a deep breath and asked calmly.

“I have my eyes on your company’s Fast & Furious, which premiered this year,” Wayne said, starting with Fast & Furious instead of directly mentioning Jurassic Park III.  

(To be continued...)