Hollywood (我就是好莱坞) Part I

CHAPTER 26 - POTENTIAL CRISIS

Michael Klaus decided to play it like a rascal when he saw that Eric kept shaking his head: "Eric, just give me something, alright ? I've been so busy while helping you with Jurassic Park that my wife started complaining, I even gave you 200,000$ of royalties in advance so that you could make your movie, aren't you a little bit moved ?"

Seeing the stocky middle-aged man in front of him playing the emotional card, Eric couldn't help but have the chills. He thought for a moment, and said: "Well, I do have a science-fiction one in mind, but it's just an idea, no specific outline yet. It's based on George Romero's living dead series, a biotechnology company is studying a virus when it is suddenly leaked, infecting humanity at the same time...."

Eric's story was of course, Resident Evil. Although he had seen the series in his past life, he hadn't really liked it, but thanks to his memory, he remembered it in its entirety.

The past Resident Evil was probably the most profitable game adapted to the screen, the cost of production wasn't high, and the series' total box office had even crossed the 1 billion $ mark. Since Michael wanted him to write something, this would keep him occupied. Plus, he would get to steal from the Japanese, which kind of left him with a sense of accomplishment.

Michael Klaus was somewhat dissatisfied: "Don't you have anything else ? A lot of people do like zombie stories, but the audience is just too small..."

Eric shrugged his shoulders and spread his hands, as if saying 'do what you like', so Michael had no choice but to say: "Alright, then start writing as soon as possible, with your current fame, we shouldn't worry about the sales volumes. By the way, you could add some adults elements, anyway you're of age now, no one will say anything about it..."

Blabbing about his own proposal, Michael suddenly noticed that Eric's face looked unnatural, he subconsciously turned around and found that Aniston was standing behind him, her mouth slightly opened, she was looking at the middle-aged man in a way that screamed: ah, so that's what you're like !

"Cough, Eric, I suddenly remember I have some things to do, so I'll be going now." After instigating her boyfriend to write about that kind of things, Michael was embarrassed as he awkwardly made his way towards the door and left this sentence before running away: "Be sure to start writing as soon as possible !"

After he left, Aniston asked: "Eric, you're not really going to write according to that fellow's suggestion... right ?"

"Of course not, I am now being promoted by Columbia and the Fox as a model for young people in the United States, how could I damage that glorious image for some petty profits."

"Bah ! What model for the youth, you're just a big bad wolf... Ah... No... Don't..."

After a brief struggle, Annie was pushed down on the sofa.

......

After the Home Alone and 17 Again large-scale publicity stunt, it was finally time for another key moment: the reviews.

November 11th, the two films held simultaneous screenings for the press. In this era where Internet didn't exist yet, the viewers relied mostly on newspapers when it came to pick a film, therefore, the movie's reviews were something that one could not avoid. Of course, after the critics who participated in the preview watched the movie, as long as it wasn't completely repulsive, they would generally not make too incisive remarks. After all, the critics' needed movies to survive, but movies didn't actually need them that much.

The day after the screenings, the major newspapers and magazines had finally released the long awaited reviews on Home Alone and 17 Again.