Honey Mars, as expected, followed Gilbert's ideas completely. Elihu Lyon, on the other hand, brought a pleasant surprise that delighted Gilbert. He had previously limited his thinking, but now his mind was open, and he had even more ideas. Gilbert only regretted not reading more of those transmigration novels ; otherwise, with their guidance, he might have taken off even earlier. It seems if he ever reincarnates again, he must prepare more thoroughly; it took him this long to realize it.
It turned out he didn't necessarily have to wait; some things he could do himself. Of course, in the North American business environment, a fixed salary would clearly not be enough to make these two talents work for him. Gilbert also promised a bunch of conditions, including making them shareholders of the company if it secured funding in the future. With the company becoming partly theirs, how could they not work diligently?
Gilbert had considered keeping the company entirely to himself, given that it was foreseeable to become a giant in the future. However, in this land, eating alone simply doesn't work. If you only think about hogging everything, you'll find yourself surrounded by dogs vying for food. You'd have to constantly guard your food while baring your fangs, trying to scare away the hungry dogs. But you can only defend for a while, not forever. After all, in this capitalist society, naked self-interest is enough to make too many people go to war. Soon, Gilbert would inevitably face suppression from capital groups, and then be completely devoured.
Some might say, "Bullshit, aren't you a capitalist yourself?" Yes, he is, but Gilbert is just Gilbert, with no allies. A single good tiger cannot withstand a pack of wolves, and capital groups are all shrewd individuals. If they see you hogging everything, they'll eliminate you during your growth before you even fully develop. Even that entity across the Pacific, despite being ostracized by the entire Western society, still calls for "cooperation and win-win!" Why? Because they deeply understand that fighting alone doesn't work; you need friends. With more friends, you have fewer enemies, and those enemies who don't want to be friends will consider your friends' reactions before they move against you.
So Gilbert could already foresee the frenzy of capital groups if the company were to go public. And to protect their "food," the capital groups who had become shareholders would spontaneously protect the company. Gilbert wouldn't even have to fight; friendly capital groups would help him keep all hostile capital out. This is called an interest group, and he is the core of that group. If others want to move against him, they'll have to consider the reactions of these capital groups. Of course, everything has its pros and cons; sometimes capital groups can backfire, and Gilbert would need to pay close attention to that in practice.
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After receiving Gilbert's investment, Honey Mars returned to school and, with his roommate, initially set up a website, promoting it within Yale University. Soon, after an initial period of being ignored, Facebook quickly became popular on campus within a few weeks. At this time, personal computer penetration was increasing, and internet users were primarily highly educated individuals with university degrees. After North America proposed its information superhighway construction plan, internet infrastructure in North America also significantly improved, causing the number of Facebook's individual users to continuously rise.
After becoming popular at Yale University, Honey Mars continued to exert effort and quickly launched Facebook at several other universities. Although the web pages were rudimentary and slow to access, this novel way of socializing still greatly appealed to young students. Soon, cheerleaders on campus shared their sexy swimsuit photos on Facebook, which made many boys realize the true purpose of Facebook and its role in pursuing girls. Gilbert later communicated with Honey Mars several times, suggesting features like course schedules, tags, and "likes"—features that weren't difficult to design but were very practical. These small features made Honey Mars admire Gilbert immensely, feeling that Gilbert was wasting his talent making movies. He believed Gilbert should operate the company with him, confident that the company would soon go public. However, Gilbert only wanted to be a hands-off boss and did not want to be directly involved in operating the company; he wouldn't, and he found it too tiring.
Elihu Lyon's search engine progress was slower, mainly due to some technical difficulties. The world's first search engine, Archie, was born in 1990, when the internet itself hadn't even fully emerged. After several years of development, Archie had matured, but it could no longer meet the growing demands of internet search, which gave Elihu Lyon some opportunities. After thoroughly understanding the Archie search engine, Elihu Lyon took Gilbert's one million dollars and established a company in Burbank. Out of a mischievous idea, since there was Apple, and Gilbert himself had a Melon Studio, the new company was simply named Banana.
And so, in an office in Burbank, the world's first mature commercial search engine, Banana, was born. A few months after Banana, in March 1994, Yahoo was founded. It's hard to say who "stole whose luck," as the eventual winner in the search engine and portal war was actually Google. Looking at the newly established companies, Gilbert was full of ambition. In an unnoticed corner, he had founded two giant companies. Of course, that was through his perspective from his previous life. In reality, business operations carry risks, and their future development is still unclear. But Gilbert believed that with his oversight, Banana's development prospects were quite promising.
He had only intended to share some film stills and manuscripts online, and somehow, he ended up creating two startup companies. This was something Gilbert had never expected. He had never thought about supporting someone else's startup before, always feeling that he wasn't capable, not cut out for it. But after trying it, he found it quite good, very addictive, and it felt like playing a养成 (nurturing) and 种田 (farming) game.
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However, commercial investment matters were ultimately less important than filmmaking. Internet promotion was currently out of reach; Real Steel still relied on traditional TV, newspaper, and offline advertising. Of course, Gilbert also remembered the Super Bowl halftime commercials. Speed was the first film to place a movie advertisement during the Super Bowl halftime, bringing immense attention to the film. By the 1994 Super Bowl, the situation was completely different, with many big commercial blockbusters set for summer release placing ads during the Super Bowl. This included James Cameron's new film True Lies and Harrison Ford's Clear and Present Danger.
Incidentally, The Mask, starring Jim Carrey and Cameron Diaz, also planned to run a trailer during the Super Bowl. But New Line Cinema was deterred by the high advertising costs of the Super Bowl and had to opt for conventional promotional methods. Cameron Diaz mentioned this to Gilbert, and she was very concerned about the fate of The Mask. Gilbert hugged Cameron Diaz's voluptuous body and comforted her, "Don't worry, Michelle, this movie will be a big hit. You have to trust my judgment."
Cameron Diaz playfully rolled her eyes at Gilbert: "It better be, or I'll make you compensate me."
"Oh, really? What compensation do you want?" Gilbert asked.
Cameron Diaz pondered for a long time, stroking her chin, then said, "How about the female lead in your next movie?"
"Haha, my next movie might not have many female roles, maybe not even a female lead," Gilbert replied.
"Then what about the movie after that?" Cameron Diaz asked again.
"None either, they're all male-centric films," Gilbert laughed, asking, "Do you want to turn into a man to participate?"
"You're annoying," Cameron Diaz threw a pillow at Gilbert, then got up and went to shower in her nightgown. She had sweated a lot during their "exercise" just now and needed a shower. Who would've thought Gilbert felt the intensity of the "exercise" wasn't enough, trailing Cameron Diaz into the bathroom? And so, amidst Cameron Diaz's half-scolding, half-playful sounds, the two completed their second "workout" of the night.
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Initially, Gilbert had considered directing The Shawshank Redemption or Forrest Gump, but ultimately did not choose these two films. Primarily, by the time he had the means to acquire the novel rights for these two films, their rights had already fallen into the hands of other film companies. Moreover, Gilbert was more interested in The Lord of the Rings series, so he prioritized The Lord of the Rings.
There was another less significant reason, mainly related to his age. These two films required a certain level of life experience to be produced effectively. Of course, this wasn't Gilbert thinking he lacked life experience. After all, he had experienced reincarnation; no one had richer life experience than him. But the outside world didn't see it that way; they would only perceive Gilbert as young and doubt whether he could properly direct such profoundly humanistic films. Directing The Shallows or Final Destination was fine; young people have many ideas. Speed and Real Steel were also fine, given that a genius director has a rich imagination. But making films like Forrest Gump would feel somewhat startling.
Mainly, he couldn't get the rights, so thinking too much was useless. Otherwise, enduring the strange looks of others, Gilbert would absolutely have filmed them. There were plenty of opportunities, and he still intended to make a run for the Oscars. To that end, Gilbert had specially prepared a series of projects, two consecutive male-centric films. After Real Steel, Gilbert set his sights on The Rock, preparing to snatch Michael Bay's project. Anyway, Michael Bay first rose to prominence with Bad Boys, so it might as well let him have The Rock. After The Rock, he would aim for the Oscars, heading towards Saving Private Ryan. Steven Spielberg had already acknowledged him as his student, so if a student had a dream, shouldn't the teacher help? So, the Saving Private Ryan project would be reluctantly completed by him!
He wondered if Michael Bay and Steven Spielberg would, upon learning that Gilbert had snatched their original projects, immediately execute an "American Iaido" (a sudden, decisive strike) and send Gilbert to meet God. However, it was still too early to talk about these things, as Real Steel hadn't even been released yet.
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Before Christmas, the Saturn Awards and the second MTV Movie Awards successively announced their nominations. For the Saturn Awards, Speed was nominated for Best Actor and Actress, and Gilbert also received his first career nomination for Best Director. In addition, Speed was also nominated for Best Action/Thriller/Adventure Film. Although it wasn't the Oscars, being nominated for Best Director at the Saturn Awards still made Gilbert excitedly pump his fist.
The MTV Movie Awards had rather peculiar nominations. Speed received nominations for Best Movie and Best Action Sequence. The film's stars Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock were nominated for Most Desirable Male and Female, Best Kiss, Best On-Screen Duo, and other awards. Dennis Hopper, who played the villain, was nominated for Best Villain, signifying a big win for the film in terms of nominations. However, compared to serious awards like the Oscars, the Saturn Awards and MTV Movie Awards had a stronger entertainment atmosphere and didn't need to be taken as seriously. At the same time, this was an excellent promotional platform, perfect for advertising new films.
So, Gilbert accepted the organizers' invitation and decided to attend both award ceremonies. It seemed like he would be busy this summer. Of course, attending such events naturally required a female companion. He had taken Naomi Watts to the Oscars, and Cameron Diaz had sulked with Gilbert for a long time. Cameron Diaz was jealous that Naomi Watts always seemed to get Gilbert's attention, but when Gilbert decided to take her to the Saturn Awards and MTV Movie Awards, Cameron Diaz's mood brightened. She even bragged to Naomi Watts: "I get to go twice, you only once." Naomi Watts just smiled and didn't bother to argue with Cameron Diaz. After all, she was four years older than Cameron Diaz. Cameron Diaz could act spoiled and cling to Gilbert, but she couldn't.
The petite woman understood how to leverage her advantages to attract Gilbert's attention. Men are like children; they all need care. Perhaps Cameron Diaz, being the type that needs care, greatly satisfied Gilbert's protective instincts. But Naomi Watts felt that Gilbert also wanted to be cared for. Indeed, taking a completely different approach from Cameron Diaz resulted in Naomi Watts receiving more attention.
Women are not always harmonious. When both she and Cameron Diaz relied on Gilbert as their "dock," whoever could win more of Gilbert's heart would receive more care. However, Naomi Watts felt that she and Cameron Diaz wouldn't be the last two women; other women would join in the future. At that point, how to adjust her mindset—whether to leave or continue to stay by Gilbert's side—would require careful consideration.