"Then tell me—what exactly am I worried about?" President Smith asked.
"If I'm not mistaken," Luke replied, "you're concerned that with an insufficient marketing budget, we'll run into problems with theater scheduling and screen allocations, right?"
When a movie is released, three major players are involved: the production company, the distributor, and the theaters.
The distributor covers marketing and handles the overall promotional strategy. For a studio like Universal Pictures, they often take on both production and distribution.
To secure prime release dates and higher screen counts, the distributor has to convince theaters with strong leverage: big-name stars, massive marketing budgets, and sometimes even minimum box office guarantees that are essentially bets against failure.
All of this is done to boost theater confidence.
But Luke had already promised Director Sommers that he would free up nearly $40 million from the marketing budget.
That meant Fast & Furious and Jurassic Park III would both be short on marketing funds.
And in that kind of situation, theaters might refuse to schedule them during the most lucrative summer slots.
No wonder President Smith tried to put a stop to it.
"So, which one of your movies are you planning to sacrifice? Ha! Director Sommers, you already know your box office is going to flop, so you deliberately cut the marketing budget, just so you'd have someone else to blame, right?" Sommers sneered.
He smirked, ready to watch the chaos unfold. With the marketing funds stretched thin, those two films would be forced to fight each other for resources.
Otherwise, theaters would never give them prime summer slots.
"It's fine, Mr. President. We can handle this with joint promotion. I'll draft a baseline plan," Luke said confidently.
"Joint promotion? It's possible, but risky." President Smith was cautious and unconvinced.
"How about this," Luke countered, "if my plan fails to satisfy the theaters, we'll increase the marketing spend until it does."
"More money if the theaters aren't convinced?" President Smith suddenly remembered that Luke was representing Mr. Eisen.
Even though Eisen hadn't directly invested in films for years, his influence in Hollywood was enormous.
Still, theaters were profit-driven—would they really bend the rules just because of Eisen?
But since Luke was willing to guarantee results, Smith had no grounds to refuse.
"Alright then," Smith said. "I'll wait to see the outcome of your negotiations with the theaters."
"Mr. President, trust me. This joint promotion will surprise you."
"Young man," Smith said with a faint smile, "I'll be looking forward to your miracle."
He still didn't believe much in the idea of joint promotion. Bundling two movies together usually saved money but weakened the impact—unless the films had a natural chemistry that could create a synergy greater than the sum of their parts.
Could Fast & Furious and Jurassic Park III actually complement each other that way?
"Alright, the marketing budget is settled. Now let's lock in the release dates," Smith said. "We've got two options: May 4th and June 22nd. How should we divide them?"
"Director Sommers is the lead here, so he should take the spotlight first. We'll ride the wave after him—June 22nd is fine for us," Luke answered.
"No problem."
"I agree," the other directors chimed in.
In the North American box office, summer (May–September) and Christmas are the hottest seasons, accounting for over 70% of annual revenue.
Competition during these periods is cutthroat.
Naturally, May 4th was the stronger date, but Sommers didn't argue—he was satisfied to go first.
"I'm fine with the release dates," Sommers said. "But I have one more suggestion."
"Go ahead," Smith replied, frowning slightly.
"These three films are all big-budget projects. If any of them flop, someone should be held accountable, right? Otherwise, anyone could just throw together some half-baked joint promotion without consequences."
His target was obvious. Even though he'd secured the largest slice of the marketing budget, Sommers wasn't done stirring the pot.
"What are you trying to pull?" Director Cohen snapped, jumping out of his seat. His bald head glistened red with anger.
"It's fine, Director," Luke said calmly, pulling him back down.
"You're not wrong, Sommers," Luke added with a smile, though his eyes were cold. "Adults should take responsibility for their mistakes."
Sommers smirked. "Then let's agree—whoever's movie loses money has to leave Hollywood. Permanently."
He'd been waiting for this. Sommers despised them—Cohen, who used a diverse cast, and Johnston, who dared cast an Asian lead. In his eyes, Hollywood was supposed to be white Hollywood.
They were a stain that needed to be "cleaned out."
And today was the perfect chance—if they took the bait.
Luke stayed silent. He could risk his own life on a stunt, but he had no right to gamble with the careers of two directors.
Even if he was sure they'd win, he couldn't bet other people's futures.
"Luke, we trust you," Director Cohen said firmly.
"Yeah, let's take the bet. What's there to be afraid of? Worst case, I'll retire early!" Director Johnston added.
They were both fed up with Sommers and had been waiting for a chance to put him in his place.
And if they lost? So what. They were both in their fifties—if another two big-budget flops happened, their careers would be finished anyway. Retirement wouldn't be the end of the world.
For them, it was practically a no-risk gamble.
"Fine. Whoever's movie loses money leaves Hollywood," Luke said, this time with conviction.
"I'll add another condition," Sommers sneered. "Even if none of the movies lose money, whichever one makes the least profit still has to go."
That was downright shameless. The Mummy Returns had the biggest budget and the largest marketing share, and he wanted to compare profits?
Even President Smith's expression soured. He'd always been friendly with Sommers, but this behavior was too much. It even made Smith reconsider their relationship.
Smith also carried his own biases—he was no stranger to white-preference thinking. But unlike Sommers, he put profits first. As long as the deal was good, he'd work with anyone.
He wasn't about to self-sabotage out of bigotry.
Luke simply smiled and nodded. "Deal. Make the most of your remaining days in Hollywood."
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