The Best Movie Actor In Hollywood!

Chapter 634

Matthew noticed someone emerging from the studio doors across from them. He glanced over, saw a girl with a distinctly youthful face, and then looked away, resuming his conversation with Charlize about the film shoot.

"If this keeps up..." Matthew suggested, "you should just take legal action."

Charlize shook her head. "We're halfway through filming. If we start that process now, all our work so far will have been for nothing."

Matthew spread his hands. "Then shelve this project for now and focus on something else."

He had barely finished speaking when he took a sharp step to the side.

"Ah-!"

The girl who had left the studio moments before suddenly stumbled, collapsing right where Matthew had been standing.

Fortunately, his reflexes were quick enough to avoid her, but she still ended up tumbling to the floor.

"Ow!"

The girl looked up at Matthew and Charlize, her expression showing this wasn't how she'd planned it at all. Her staged fall had turned into a genuine one.Rubbing her knee, she pushed herself up into a sitting position on the ground.

Charlize, finally getting a good look at the girl, frowned slightly but still asked, "Jenny, are you all right?"

She walked around Matthew, extended a hand, and helped the girl to her feet.

"Sorry..." the girl said with a slightly sheepish smile, brushing the dust from her dress.

"It's fine," Charlize replied casually.

"And..." the girl suddenly turned to Matthew. "I'm so sorry, I almost ran right into you. I'm really sorry."

"Don't worry about it," Matthew said nonchalantly.

Looking at her, he was suddenly reminded of "The Hunger Games" and shot Charlize a knowing glance.

"This is Jennifer Lawrence, she's also in the cast," Charlize introduced them briefly. "Jenny, this is my friend, Matthew."

Jennifer quickly extended her right hand. "Hi, Matthew."

Matthew shook it lightly. "Hello, Miss Lawrence."

"You can call me Jenny," Jennifer replied, her voice filled with excitement. "I really love your movies. I'm a huge fan. I even saw 'I Am Legend' in theaters last year."

"Thanks for the support," Matthew responded politely.

After exchanging a few more words with Matthew and Charlize, Jennifer took her leave.

"She has a wonderful personality," Charlize remarked, watching her go.

"Everyone on the crew likes her."

Matthew, however, just chuckled to himself.

The entrance to the studio was perfectly level, and he had noticed that Jennifer was wearing a pair of flat shoes. How could anyone just suddenly trip and fall in a place like that?

As he walked with Charlize toward the studio entrance, he mused on the state of Hollywood over the past couple of years. The actresses who had come up in the 70s were beginning to fade from the limelight, the 80s generation was just hitting its stride, and those born in the 90s were already poised to steal the show.

There's an old saying about needing to get famous before it's too late, and it was especially true for actresses.

---

In the following weeks, Matthew was swept up in a whirlwind schedule. He diligently managed his filming commitments for "Twilight" and "Fast & Furious 4" while simultaneously conferring with Helen about his latest job negotiations.

On top of that, Marvel was gearing up for "Iron Man 2," and he had to keep a close watch on its progress to ensure he wouldn't be sidelined without realizing it.

While Hollywood studios generally adhered to their contracts when dealing with peers, it wasn't unheard of for subtle maneuvers to happen behind the scenes.

And, of course, there was his collaboration with Warner Bros. to promote the upcoming release of "Hancock."

By early June, a month after its release, "Iron Man" had already soared past the $300 million mark at the North American box office and surpassed $500 million worldwide, with its sights set on even greater heights.

This was, without a doubt, excellent news for Matthew.

At the same time, more good news arrived from Helen. After nearly two months of tense, back-and-forth negotiations, she had officially reached an agreement with Warner Bros. on Matthew's behalf. His next role would be the male lead in Christopher Nolan's new film, "Inception."

The majority of the time spent in negotiations had been dedicated to hammering out the details of Matthew's compensation.

Both sides had quickly agreed on a base salary of $20 million, but every percentage point in the subsequent discussions could take an eternity to resolve.

Matthew and Helen's strategy was to secure a direct share of the film's gross box office revenue—a share that wasn't limited to North America but was calculated from the worldwide total.

Warner Bros. was never going to agree to that immediately. Christopher Nolan already had a director's cut of the box office gross, and if Matthew took another substantial piece, the studio's profits could dwindle to almost nothing.

Therefore, Warner Bros. pushed for Matthew's team to accept a profit-sharing arrangement instead.

The negotiations dragged on until June, when they finally reached a consensus.

The final agreement stipulated that Matthew's share would be limited to the film's North American box office, but it would be a percentage of the gross, not the net profit.

The percentage was structured in tiers. Starting from a $100 million domestic gross, he would receive one percent of the box office. Once the film hit $150 million, his share would increase to two percent, and so on. For every additional $50 million in North American box office revenue, his share would increase by another one percent, capped at a maximum of ten percent.

Having successfully convinced Matthew's team to limit his share to the domestic box office, Warner Bros. made corresponding concessions in other areas.

The most significant of these was in royalties from new media and DVDs. In addition to the mandatory percentage set by the Screen Actors Guild, Matthew was entitled to a personal ten-percent share of the film's future revenue from these sources.

In this day and age, Hollywood films were generating an ever-increasing amount of revenue from new online media. While the DVD market had passed its peak, sales for major blockbusters remained outstanding.

To this day, DVDs constituted a massive portion of the revenue for major Hollywood production and distribution companies. It would be an understatement to say Hollywood was still running on DVD sales. The phenomenon of a hit film earning $100 million in its first week on DVD was no longer common, but with rare exceptions, most films that landed in the annual top ten at the North American box office would eventually cross the $100 million mark in DVD sales.

Moreover, the production cost of a DVD was far lower than that of the once-popular VHS tapes, amounting to no more than one to three percent of the wholesale price. Even after factoring in marketing and other expenses, the profit margin was staggering.

Matthew had specifically studied the North American DVD markets for "Fast & Furious 4" and "Twilight."

Typically, a hit film could generate five to eight million dollars for the studio from a single rental distributor, and that was just for rentals; the sales figures were a much larger piece of the pie.

This meant that a single blockbuster could earn Hollywood tens, or even hundreds, of millions of dollars from DVDs alone—revenue that was almost entirely pure profit.

Once the lead for "Inception" was locked in, Matthew received a more detailed project outline. Filming wouldn't begin until the following year, with the remainder of the current year dedicated to pre-production and casting the other roles.

After reviewing the script again, Matthew called James McAvoy and Michael Fassbender and recommended them to Christopher Nolan.

Just as he finalized the contract with Warner Bros., another piece of good news landed on his desk. Paramount Pictures and Stephen Sommers had finally delivered the latest script for "G.I. Joe," rewritten to feature Duke as the undisputed lead character.

After much deliberation, Hasbro had finally decided to yield. As Stephen Sommers explained to Matthew over the phone, all the effort Hasbro and Paramount Pictures had poured into the project would be for nothing if the very first "G.I. Joe" film failed to take off.

Neither Paramount nor Hasbro intended to make just one movie. Once the first film was a success, certain ideas could be explored in the sequels.

While Matthew was busy with promotional duties for "Hancock," Helen began negotiations with Hasbro and Paramount on his behalf.