The celebration banquet concluded successfully. Gilbert Jr. had a hunch that he would gradually get used to such occasions, perhaps even take them for granted in the future.
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June inevitably arrived, and Speed finally had its large-scale international release in several countries. In the first weekend of June, Speed raked in $45.8 million overseas. The film's North American box office accumulated to $125 million, temporarily ranking first on this year's North American box office chart. Including overseas box office, it also temporarily became this year's global box office champion.
A film that exploded in North America like Speed usually achieves impressive box office results overseas as well. Warner Bros. internally estimated that the film would bring in between $200 million and $250 million from overseas. Combined with the North American box office likely surpassing $150 million, this meant that Speed's final box office could potentially exceed $400 million. Gilbert Jr.'s films continued to climb higher in box office numbers, making both Disney and Warner Bros. extremely happy.
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Gilbert Jr. himself was also delighted because his director's contract included a tiered profit-sharing agreement. If the total North American box office reached $150 million, he would receive 15% of the total box office, with his final income exceeding $20 million. Including his salary, this would total over $25 million.
Some might exclaim, "The North American box office is only $150 million, and you alone take $25 million? What would the film company do then?" Do you remember the North American box office profit-sharing agreement from the nineties that we discussed earlier? While Gilbert Jr. received a large share, the film company received even more. Furthermore, Gilbert Jr. did not claim any share of the overseas box office; that belonged entirely to the distributors and investment companies.
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In the film industry, the proportion of revenue a film generates from box office receipts tends to decrease over time. A professional data analytics company in Hollywood surveyed successful commercial films from the past decade, and the results showed that box office revenue accounted for only about 30% of a film's total income. This figure isn't absolute, but it clearly demonstrates that beyond box office, a film's profitability models are incredibly vast.
This is indeed true. Even before the North American screenings had ended, Disney had already sold the North American video rights for Speed for $8 million and the television rights for $6 million. Moreover, these rights were time-limited and could be resold upon expiry, essentially acting as a long-term revenue stream. In addition, the film's rights could continue to be sold in various countries overseas. Hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars added together amount to a substantial income, showcasing the robust ancillary rights profitability of a blockbuster film.
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Speed's strong profitability excited both Disney and Warner Bros. With such high profitability, it would be a shame not to make a sequel. So, Disney and Warner approached Gilbert Jr. to ask if he had any plans to produce a sequel. Gilbert Jr. expressed disinterest, stating that if both companies wished to develop a sequel, they should find another director to take over. Without Gilbert Jr., would Speed still be successful? This was a common question for both Disney and Warner.
Speed 2 was temporarily on hold, but another project related to Gilbert Jr. began development: Final Destination. As a horror film that grossed $126 million worldwide, its profitability had already made everyone at Disney salivate. So, after Gilbert Jr. explicitly stated he had no interest in making a sequel and no intention of participating in the investment, Touchstone Pictures, a subsidiary, spent $25 million to directly buy out the partial rights Gilbert Jr. held. Gilbert Jr.'s bottom line was $20 million, but Sheena Boon certainly wouldn't stick to that. She started with an outrageous demand of $30 million, finally negotiating down to $25 million.
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While Speed's box office profits hadn't yet arrived, the money from this buyout quickly landed in his account. With money, things get easier.
In early June, a major event occurred at Apple, where Gilbert Jr. held shares: John Sculley, the then-CEO, resigned due to poor performance. Michael Spindler took over as CEO and announced his intention to revitalize Apple. However, the market had no confidence in Michael Spindler; as soon as the stock market opened, the share price plummeted, and the market value fell below $2 billion. This period was Apple's most difficult, almost reaching rock bottom, on the verge of collapse.
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However, for Gilbert Jr., this was a golden opportunity. Seizing this chance, Gilbert Jr. once again acquired a significant number of Apple shares. He directly purchased all the shares from a small Apple shareholder and secured a corresponding board seat. This small shareholder was eager to bail out, and at this time, Apple was considered a "junk stock" in the market, so he sold his shares to Gilbert Jr at a low price. Including this latest purchase, Gilbert Jr.'s Apple shares now stood at approximately 2.5%.
His investment manager, David, had advised Gilbert Jr. not to buy Apple stock, but Gilbert Jr. insisted. It wasn't that Gilbert Jr. was stubborn; it was mainly because stock investment and the film industry were two completely different matters. In his previous life, he only knew that companies like Apple, Google, and Facebook had high market values, but if you asked him to specifically identify which North American companies would have strong future development in the 1990s, he honestly didn't know. So, when investing, Gilbert Jr. chose to invest in companies with familiar names.
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At this time, Google was nowhere in sight, Facebook's whereabouts were unknown, Yahoo couldn't be found, and Amazon was still a year away. Only Apple, which had hit rock bottom, along with Microsoft, Cisco, and Oracle, were familiar to him. The latter three were hot stocks with continually rising market values, so Gilbert Jr. couldn't buy much of them. After acquiring enough shares to enter Apple's board of directors, Gilbert Jr. used the remaining money to buy shares in these three companies, a move David considered a wise investment.
Apple, which had fallen to rock bottom, could be bought in large quantities, and its stock price was cheap. After buying shares from a small shareholder, Gilbert Jr. even successfully entered the board of directors. Steve Jobs' return to Apple was coming, and from his impression, it wasn't far off. After his return, Steve Jobs accepted a $150 million investment from Bill Gates, making Bill Gates one of Apple's shareholders. But now, Gilbert Jr. spent just over $20 million to become a member of Apple's board of directors, just like Bill Gates. While this might seem like a loss and unwise in the short term, it would be profitable in the long run.
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As mentioned before, investing in Apple was a long-term endeavor. Becoming a board member would also allow him to influence Apple's decisions. Since he knew Apple would only emerge from its slump after Steve Jobs' return, should he just passively wait? As a reborn individual, passively waiting would be too "low." He could completely facilitate Jobs' return earlier, bringing Apple back on track sooner, which was much better than foolishly waiting.
Furthermore, Gilbert Jr. had a deeper reason, hidden in his heart: Pixar Animation Studios. By supporting Jobs, he might, in the future, be able to acquire Pixar Animation Studios from Jobs through this connection.
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Soon, such an opportunity arose. Because of the change in CEO, Apple held a shareholders' meeting, and Gilbert Jr. naturally attended. His shareholding even made him one of Apple's third-largest individual shareholders, trailing only the two co-founders.
During the shareholders' meeting, Gilbert Jr. remained mostly silent, listening to the CEO's speech. The CEO talked about new products to be launched, new businesses to undertake, and so on. Gilbert Jr. didn't understand, but in his eyes, those products were outdated and backward, and although popular now, they would soon be eliminated. So he was uninterested, focusing instead on how to bring Steve Jobs back to Apple.
As a well-known film director, many shareholders knew Gilbert Jr. by name. When the stock price fell to rock bottom, Apple publicly revealed Gilbert Jr.'s shareholder status, hoping to boost market confidence. But who would have thought that Wall Street financial media would quickly describe Gilbert Jr. as a fool who knew nothing outside of movies? Investing in Apple was called the most foolish act. Gilbert Jr., widely acclaimed in Hollywood, became synonymous with "idiot" on Wall Street and in Silicon Valley.
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It was said that the most popular saying in Silicon Valley now was: "Did you play Gilbert Jr. today?" Even at a Microsoft meeting, Bill Gates publicly mocked Gilbert Jr., saying he knew nothing about the IT and technology industries and should just go back to making movies! Bill Gates was right; Gilbert Jr. really didn't understand. If it weren't for what he knew from his previous life, he wouldn't have continuously bought Apple stock despite being seen as an idiot by others.
Gilbert Jr. never cared about what others thought; it would make his life too exhausting. He didn't care what others thought. He only knew that Apple truly couldn't do without Steve Jobs. So, his first words at the shareholders' meeting were: "Could Mr. Jobs be invited back?"
With that statement, the Apple shareholders erupted...
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