Chapter 96: The Girl at the End of the Path

In addition to Ben Stiller’s salary exceeding ten million, the production funds Wayne initially prepared were clearly insufficient.

“Should I make another low-budget film and take advantage of the system’s threefold return? Or should I control the filming pace of Resident Evil to ensure that The Bourne Identity is completed before the current funds run out?”

Wayne’s fingers tapped lightly on the railing as he fell into deep thought.

The story of Resident Evil mostly takes place inside the Hive, which doesn't require many locations. According to his original plan, the filming part would take around 40 days to complete.

Post-production would certainly take longer than Accepted and Gifted, but with Christopher Nolan directing, it would probably be wrapped up in a month.

Nolan could even shoot the final battle scene between Alice’s team and the Licker first, then hand it over to the effects team, further shortening the overall production cycle.

So even with back-to-back filming of two movies, it would only take about 60 to 70 days, and everything could be finished by late February or early March next year.

With a budget of $65 million, by that time, around $45 to $50 million would have been spent. The remaining portion would mainly cover post-production costs and unpaid actor salaries.

As for The Bourne Identity, it would wrap up shooting in about ten days and move into post-production.

Wayne had asked Doug Liman, and post-production would take at least a month to complete.

This meant that the threefold return from The Bourne Identity wouldn’t come in until early February next year, and before that, the remaining budget would have to be fully invested.

In simple terms, Resident Evil would need to keep all expenses under $37 million by early February next year.

Otherwise, the production could come to a halt due to a temporary lack of funds.

Of course, Wayne could always take out a bank loan. Given Hemera Pictures’ current scale and growth, securing a loan of several million wouldn’t be difficult.

However, he had originally planned to use that loan for marketing The Bourne Identity and Resident Evil.

After all, following his acquisition of Marvel, Wayne had only about $4 million in cash left.

That wouldn’t be enough to cover marketing for both films, let alone his personal expenses. Hemera Pictures handling the North American distribution would mean it might take several months, or even more than half a year, to see any box office returns from The Bourne Identity and Resident Evil.

“I wonder if Gifted will surpass $75 million at the box office. If it does, I might still get a $3.3 million share.”

“But to be safe, I should probably make another low-budget film and sell it.”

“But with only a month to go from preparation to completion, what should I shoot?”

Wayne immediately thought of Saw, the breakout film of James Wan. However, he quickly dismissed the idea.

While Saw wasn’t expensive to produce, the props and sets would take time. A month wouldn't be enough for both preparation and filming, especially considering how long it would take to design and test those elaborate traps.

Plus, James Wan wasn’t the unknown filmmaker he once was; his salary alone would increase the budget, making it unviable.

Next, Wayne thought of Buried, a $3 million film that takes place almost entirely inside a coffin. It was also the breakout film for Ryan Reynolds, aka “Deadpool.”

That film would be quick to shoot—if everything went well, it wouldn’t even take a week to finish production, let alone a month.

But there were two issues. First, although the film was well-received, it didn’t perform that well at the box office, grossing only $20 million worldwide.

Second, while Ryan Reynolds had already been in the industry for ten years by that point, his acting skills and fame were nothing like they would be in 2010 when he starred in Buried.

If Wayne went ahead with this project, he would need to find a different lead.

“But this movie could work well for a system funds boost, right?”

“If I brought in someone like James Cameron or Steven Spielberg, along with stars like Leonardo DiCaprio or Will Smith, wouldn’t the production cost shoot up to $40 million?”

“And it could be done in about a week, meaning the funds would come in even faster than they did for Accepted and Happy Death Day.”

“But who would buy it afterward?”

“No distributor is stupid. Even with DiCaprio, this movie might not drive ticket sales.”

“So forget ‘profit’; even if I cut the price in half to $20 million, not many buyers would be interested.”

“However, the marketing for this movie would be simple. Just slap ‘James Cameron and DiCaprio teaming up again’ on the campaign, and the buzz would spread quickly. It could be a good test run for Hemera Pictures’ distribution department.”

Wayne quickly realized, though, that with Cameron and DiCaprio’s reputations, they would likely turn down the project.

Offering them 150% of their normal salary wouldn’t be enough to sway them.

“But if I asked Nicolas Cage, he might be interested in a movie like this. But then, who would direct?”

As Wayne pondered the feasibility of an upgraded version of Buried, a figure suddenly appeared in his field of vision.

It was a girl with long, wavy black hair and a delicate face. Under the dim streetlights, she wore simple jeans and a white T-shirt with a black jacket. She was pulling a suitcase with one hand and holding a note in the other as she walked along the path toward the hotel.

“Huh? Isn’t that Martina García?”

When Wayne got a closer look at the girl’s face, he raised an eyebrow.

Martina García, the leading actress from the highly rated suspense-thriller The Hidden Face, was a pretty girl with a delicate yet slightly sexy charm.

In his previous life, after watching The Hidden Face, Wayne had looked up her background and was surprised to find that, despite her youthful appearance, she was already 30 years old.

This unique quality made her name stick in his mind.

“I think she’s Colombian. What’s she doing here?”

“Tourism? Or…”

Wayne couldn’t help but think of a possibility.

He recalled Mia mentioning recently that, unlike the laid-back attitudes of ordinary people in their country, French actors were more serious about opportunities. Even if a crew was relocating to Germany, many of the signed extras would follow along.

They didn’t take opportunities any less seriously than Hollywood actors.

(End of Chapter)