King of Hollywood

Chapter 308: Chapter 35 A Good Idea Chapter 308: Chapter 35 A Good Idea October 1994 arrived, and Adrian’s life had entered a cycle again, involving post-production work on “Forrest Gump” in the studio, understanding and dealing with other matters in the office while pestering Charlize, and dating different women.

The post-production of “Forrest Gump” was essentially coming to an end. Although Adrian had only seen the roughest cut, he was clear that there wouldn’t be too many surprises, and the promotion could start at the end of the month.

As for the other movies, the aftermath of the summer releases was still echoing. Whether it was “True Lies,” “Twisters,” or “Bad Boys,” they were all still screening in theaters, even if it was only in a little over a hundred. “True Lies” had scraped nearly $150 million at the North American box office, “Twisters” even more—by about a hundred million more—and although “Bad Boys” had just $70 million, it was already a remarkable achievement, especially since this didn’t include the international box office.

The momentum of “The Mask,” released late in the summer, was also good. Although the number of screening theaters had dropped below 1000, the North American box office had long surpassed $100 million. “Interview with the Vampire” didn’t have quite enough staying power; although the North American box office had also broken $100 million long ago, only over two hundred theaters were still showing it after two months. Vampire movies, after all, had their limitations. Of course, international box offices hadn’t been taken into account yet.

No matter how you looked at it, it was a huge harvest. Bossworth Film Company had naturally awarded plenty of bonuses. New Line and Miramax were green with envy and had become even more invested in the movies they were currently preparing. Being under the same company banner, they knew that Bossworth Film Company had three to four more films slated for release at the end of the year.

Apart from “Forrest Gump,” the post-production of “Speed” and “Sleepy Hollow” were almost at an end as well. Adrian had already seen the rough cuts; Cate Blanchett’s performance in “Speed” was notable, embodying the typical forward-looking caution of a woman whilst also displaying the same typically feminine resilience—not to mention, a starkly different image from Sandra Bullock’s. Adrian believed Blanchett was definitely going to outshine Bullock.

However, Liv in “Sleepy Hollow” was far less impressive than Christina Ricci, mainly due to her lack of acting experience. But Liv had the advantage of being many times more beautiful than Ricci. She sat there like a sculpture carved out of jade, with a slightly naive and sorrowful temperament. Tim Burton had a good grip on this, greatly expanding this advantage during shooting. Every shot of her was exquisite, and even in the rough cut, it felt breathtaking.

It was just that “Sleepy Hollow” required too many special effects, and it wasn’t five or six years later yet, so according to Burton’s estimate, it would take at least until Thanksgiving to be fully completed, meaning it probably would not catch the Christmas period.

Adrian was non-committal about this; when the time came, the specifics could be determined. If they really couldn’t make it in time for the promotion, postponing to the next year was also an option, as Bossworth Film Company had already released too many blockbusters this year.

However, “Little Women,” facing a similar situation, couldn’t do this because of various reasons, like the need for accurate background and costumes, and since Adrian wasn’t directing, some delays were inevitable. Maybe it could be released before the end of ’94, but promotions would likely be compromised.