System in Hollywood

If it's prioritized box office revenue, this situation wouldn't happen. His share would take precedence over the publicity expenses, and after the box office split, his portion would be paid first. 

For example, in Christopher Nolan's 2017 film "Dunkirk" in the previous life, he received a base salary of $20 million and a 20% prioritized box office share. As a result, "Dunkirk" grossed $527 million globally, and Nolan ended up with a total income of $70 million, making him the highest-earning director of that year. 

Excluding endorsement income, this was even several million higher than the highest-earning star of that year. 

This also shows that Warner Bros. and Soderbergh weren't treating him like those gullible outsider investors; they simply wanted to use the male third lead and the female lead to get Wayne to make some concessions on profits. 

"But if we calculate based on the $450 million global box office in the previous life, a 15% share is more than $30 million." 

"A return rate of around 120% in a year isn't considered low either." 

"Moreover, this investment could use the system funds, which is like making more than $30 million for free." 

After some thought, Wayne made his counteroffer: "18% prioritized box office share, plus global online rights. Also, I want to decide the female lead, and the payments for both me and the female lead need to be made upfront." 

"Deal!" Soderbergh agreed readily after a brief consideration. 

Clearly, Wayne's conditions did not exceed the bottom line for him and Warner Bros. 

In fact, as long as Wayne didn't want a share of subsequent DVD sales, they would have agreed even if the prioritized box office share was raised to 20%. 

After all, for a good movie, the revenue from DVD sales after the film is no longer in theaters is not inferior to box office earnings. 

For example, the DVD sales of Jackie Chan's "Rush Hour" trilogy amounted to $74.41 million, $59.21 million, and $83.1 million. After deducting costs, the profits were not much less than those from the box office share. 

Jet Li's "Kiss of the Dragon" even sold an astonishing $110 million in the DVD market, while its global box office was only $64.4 million. 

So both parties were very satisfied with this deal. 

"Now that the business is settled, I should go enjoy this party." 

Without staying any longer, after finalizing the cooperation, Soderbergh walked away contentedly. 

Meanwhile, upon learning that Harvey had already settled things with Jennifer Connelly and the other two, Wayne also left the party. After all, he had three opponents tonight. 

Of course, this time he didn't leave as high-profile as he did last time, hugging them openly. After all, he was a good guy and didn't want to break up anyone's family. 

"Knock, knock, knock—" 

About five minutes later, the car window was knocked on from the outside. After confirming there were no paparazzi around, Catherine Zeta-Jones and the other two opened the car door and climbed in. 

At this moment, Wayne felt fortunate he listened to Meda's advice today and chose the Silver Spirit for his outing. Otherwise, the back seat space wouldn't have been wide enough for four people, which would have been quite awkward. 

Half an hour later, the car arrived at another villa rented with system funds during the filming of "The Dark Side." 

As soon as they entered, the four of them were eager to get started. 

Looking at the three of them lying on the bed as if they were going to sleep all day, Wayne negotiated several billion-dollar deals with each of them. By the time it was almost noon, he got up feeling refreshed, took a shower, changed his clothes, and left the villa. 

He had no choice; he had an appointment today for a solo audition with Sarah Michelle Gellar. 

As for the audition location, it was in another villa he rented. 

Ever since he bought that Silver Spirit with system funds, he had completely given in. Since the system allowed it, he didn't have any qualms about milking it for all it was worth. 

But just as he arrived at the villa with enough takeout for five people and was about to call Sarah to inform her about his agreement with Soderbergh while eating lunch, his phone rang first. 

"Hmm? Nicole Kidman? Isn't she busy filming 'Panic Room'? Why is she calling me all of a sudden?" 

Wayne answered the call, puzzled. Before he could say anything, Nicole Kidman on the other end said directly, "I'm divorced!" 

He nearly spat out his hamburger in surprise. 

But he quickly realized that a divorce isn't like a pregnancy, and Nicole Kidman was indeed going to divorce Tom Cruise. 

In fact, in the previous life, some entertainment news even captured Nicole Kidman excitedly pumping her fist right after signing the divorce papers with Tom Cruise, not caring about the cameras. 

So this had nothing to do with him. 

With this in mind, Wayne quickly composed himself and said with a smile, "Well, congratulations!" 

"Thank you. Where are you? Come have a drink with me to celebrate," Nicole Kidman invited directly. 

To be honest, after not seeing her for so long, he did miss this Australian beauty. Compared to Catherine Zeta-Jones and the others last night, Nicole Kidman undoubtedly had the upper hand in both figure and looks. 

But he had an appointment and couldn't break his promise to a woman. 

So, after hesitating for a moment, he chuckled bitterly and said, "Sorry, I have plans this afternoon. How about I come to see you tonight instead?" 

From Wayne's perspective, an afternoon was only a few hours—a bath and a nap, and it would be over. 

But what he didn't expect was that Nicole Kidman couldn't even wait that long. 

"Who are you planning to sleep with this time?" 

"A third-tier star. You probably wouldn't know even if I told you." 

"Then give me the address, I'll come too." 

"Are you sure?" 

"Absolutely!" 

"..." 

Wayne couldn't help but marvel again at how unpredictable a divorced woman could be, and then he gladly gave her the address. 

(End of Chapter)