America Tycoon: The Wolf of Showbiz

Chapter 366 Box Office Revenue Sharing

Four Seasons Hotel, Louise followed Martin into the suite, and the floor was littered with wads of waste paper, while the walls were plastered with creepy and eerie drawings that unsettled anyone who looked at them.

In some of the portraits, the main characters were obviously not human and even had tentacles and such.

One of them seemed to be a self-portrait of Martin.

Martin's painting skills were very limited.

He cut out a poster of the Sect Hierarch of the Cola Cult and, using the poster's headshot as a template, sketchily drew a picture.

The painted figure was enshrouded in a chaotic and smoky haze that made onlookers feel dizzy and disoriented.

"No time to clean up," Martin, who had spent the last month immersing himself in studying his role, said in an odd tone of voice, "It's a bit messy, but I find it quite pleasing to the eye."

Hearing that voice and looking at the drawings around her, Louise couldn't help but shiver, feeling a foreboding chill.

She quickly went over to the floor-to-ceiling window and drew back the curtains.

Bright sunlight streamed in but failed to dispel the eerie sensation in Louise's heart.

Turning to look at Martin, she understood where this feeling was coming from, as long as this man was here, his gloomy and lurking madness continually affected those around him.

Louise adjusted her black-rimmed glasses and cautioned, "Be careful not to get too deep into character and not be able to find your way out."

Martin let out a sardonic chuckle, "Not possible, the facade can always be retrieved."

Louise, sensing something off in his words, questioned, "What do you mean?"

Martin rephrased, "The false facade can be discarded at any time."

Louise noticed a thick notebook on the coffee table titled "The Clown Chronicles" and asked, "May I take a look?"

Martin did not mind, "Sure, go ahead."

Opening and flipping through it, Louise found that it contained all of Martin's recorded experiences and thoughts on the role, as well as many chaotic ideas.

For instance, there was the plan of forming an army of beautiful women to march on Washington and attack the White House, pressuring the Great Commander to plant mushrooms on American soil, letting the flames bloom across the North American Continent.

She couldn't help but laugh, "You have such strange ideas."

Martin patted the space beside him on the couch and said, "I'm not fond of comics, and I don't understand the Joker in them. My analyses of the role rely more on the Nolan Brothers' script, combined with my own traits. Many ideas just bubble up unwittingly, so I've noted them down, and who knows, they might be useful one day."

After Louise sat down and leaned against Martin, she joked, "If you want to play with planting mushrooms, you should go be the Great Commander first."

"I could definitely make this country a sight to behold!" Martin laughed, "By then, plenty of people will be out to assassinate me."

Having browsed through the notebook, Louise said, "I thought you were just fooling around in the hotel, but you're actually making preparations."

Martin pinched Louise's chin, "How so? You don't think I'm a dedicated actor?" Before she could respond, he continued, "You dare doubt me? I must punish you!"

In the beginning, Louise had a natural psychological edge over Martin, but by now, that was almost gone.

"Wait, let me call someone else over," Louise said, not out of fear of Martin, but because she sensed the melancholy madness in him today and worried she couldn't handle it alone, "Kelly's bringing the crew to Atlanta for filming and she's in Los Angeles too."

Martin's smirk turned malicious, "Hurry and call Kelly over! And put your phone on speaker so she can listen in on her way here."

Louise dialed Kelly's number, took off her black-rimmed glasses, and put on gold-rimmed ones instead, "You can treat me as Harley Quinn."

Through the phone, the odd voice carried, and Kelly's voice emerged from the speaker, "Fuck, you despicable pair."

Despite her harsh words, she rushed to the Four Seasons Hotel as fast as she could.

While the Joker was battling Harley Quinn and the Atlanta Catwoman, Thomas began tough negotiations with "The Dark Knight" film crew.

From insurance to costume and per diems, Hollywood crews have established mechanisms for such discussions, making things relatively straightforward.

Martin's additional terms weren't many, demanding Bruce join the crew as a weapons prop master, as well as full payment for the salaries of two bodyguards from the crew.

The main disagreement between the parties was over pay.

The crew didn't want to further elevate production budgets and risk, so they offered a base salary plus a share of net profits.

Martin wasn't against such a method of payment, but he demanded a more secure way of distribution for the later profit share.

The next morning, after hearing Martin's perspective, Louise said, "Just like you can't trust the integrity of a Hollywood star, you shouldn't trust the honesty of a Hollywood film company either."

Kelly commented, "A share of the net profit from North American box office revenue?"

Martin replied icily, "North American box office revenue is shared with cinema chains first, the remainder is then cut by the distribution company, taking no less than 25% as distribution fees, subtracting marketing and management expenses, then by the time it gets to the producers, they deduct various outlays to get the net profit. How much could possibly be left?"

Kelly continued, "North American box office loss."

Martin asked Louise, "What do you think?"

Under other circumstances, as one of the investors, Louise definitely wouldn't side with Martin.

But at that very moment, Louise's allegiance fell squarely under Martin's control, and she naturally said, "Nolan said it himself, only you can play the Joker."

She caught her breath for a moment, then reminded, "Don't go overboard either, the executives at Warner can get a bit crazy when it comes to DC superheroes."

Martin agreed and asked, "What's Warner's box office expectation?"

Louise, at that point, was like an insider, "The most optimistic estimate from Warner Bros. is a $300 million gross in North America and $750 million globally, especially since the first installment only grossed $370 million worldwide."

During a break, Martin made a call to Thomas, "My bottom line is either a $14 million paycheck or $5 million plus a share of the box office based on a benchmark."

Since Nolan had set his mind on him, the negotiations were unlikely to fall apart easily.

Martin had four movies with over $100 million box office gross in North America as leverage, and he had every right to demand such a price.

Beyond the paycheck, Thomas still needed to negotiate issues such as personal image rights after the film's release and the share of profits from related movie merchandise, which included the copyright of Lily's statue.

This aspect was modeled after Johnny Depp, who, with his portrayal of Jack Sparrow, earned tens of millions of dollars just from the licensing of figurines and toys.

Of course, Depp's renegotiated 45% likeness rights share for the Pirates sequels was something Martin couldn't even dream of at this stage; it was just not possible.

Martin faintly remembered a report from his previous life stating that Johnny Depp netted $300 million from the Pirates series, with a significant portion coming from his share of the image licensing.

This part of the negotiation was equally challenging.

Lily's agent also joined the fray, trying to secure an extra 1 percentage point on top of the normal salary for the newcomer was considered a victory.

While the actor negotiations were still ongoing, Nolan was already eager to meet with Martin privately to discuss the character.

When Martin walked into the café, he found Nolan sizing him up.

Nolan felt that Martin's every gesture resembled the Joker he had envisioned.

Then, he dismissed the thought, because the man opposite was the Joker!

Nolan said, "Apart from the face paint, you're no different from when you auditioned."

Martin's smile was eerie, his tone bizarre, "There's still a difference, at least now I don't have any crazy thoughts."

Nolan knew that some outstanding actors maintained their state constantly once they got into character and immediately brought up the serious matter, "For this role, I don't just want him to become Gotham's nightmare, but a nightmare for everyone."

Martin banged the table and laughed loudly, "I love it! I most enjoy, and am best at causing trouble on a whim…"

"On a whim?" Nolan nodded, "Exactly!"

Martin continued, "Bad guys always need a reason and motive for their deeds, but I don't. I have no purpose, no motive. I don't care about money or power, I just purely enjoy chaos, and want to turn the world into a playground."

Nolan thought for a moment and asked, "You have a unique understanding of the character, which is good! How do you plan to play out the duel with Batman?"

Martin said, "The self-righteous Batman always resorts to violence against others. I'm different. I won't be as vulgar and boring as Batman. I'll reason with people, reason with them properly, and give them a choice…"

This was exactly in line with Nolan's thinking, "Batman maintains order through violence, while the Joker promotes chaos by reasoning!"

"Director, you're a genius." Martin invited, "One day, shall we go set off fireworks at Buckingham Palace?"

Looking at Martin's genuinely evil smile, Nolan's eyelids suddenly twitched and he said, "When the movie is a hit, we can do it together in the square in front of Buckingham Palace."

Martin asked, "Can we invite the old lady to join the fun? By the way, does this world have a 50-year-old crown prince?"

Nolan decisively ended the meeting, "You go back and keep preparing, make sure you're in good form, the crew will soon head to Atlanta to start shooting."

Martin staggered to his feet, "Goodbye, Director."

Nolan was a bit worried, was Martin Davis getting too deep into his role?

Then he thought, this was a good thing after all, a real-life Joker!

As for the actor's mental state, that was less important than his work.

Martin joining the cast was a done deal.

Soon, Thomas negotiated Martin's pay with the crew.

When a star has sufficient status and has performed well in previous films, negotiations with a new crew naturally come with confidence.

The paycheck consisted of a $5 million base salary plus a sliding scale of the North American box office gross.

The base line for the share was $250 million.

If the movie's North American box office reached $250 million but didn't exceed $300 million, Martin would receive 2% of the profits above $200 million.

Similarly, starting from $300 million, for every additional $50 million in the North American box office, the share percentage would increase by 1%, with a cap not exceeding 6%.

The risk was shared with the crew, and the better the film performed commercially, the higher the income for the lead actor.

In addition, Thomas also negotiated a share of the DVD profits offline, the same as Christian Bale, 2% of the DVD profits in North America.