Chapter 442: The Asylum Pictures

In the banquet hall on the fourth floor of the Beverly Hills Hilton Hotel, Chairman Ryan Kavanaugh of Relativity Media sat on the couch with Charles Capet.

"Well, congratulations to Capet again. Even a movie like Twilight managed to outperform the famous Quantum of Solace in the North American market," said Ryan Kavanaugh. For Relativity Media, movies like Twilight were exactly what they needed.

Charles smiled slightly, "Ryan, Relativity Media has also been making some big moves recently. This year's global stock market crash prompted many investment banks and funds to sell shares in Hollywood's portfolio investment funds at a discount. Relativity Media and Legendary Entertainment both bought back a lot of shares from the portfolio investment funds this time!"

The financial crisis forced numerous Wall Street funds to sell off their shares in movie portfolio investments at 30-70% of their value to recover capital. Relativity Media and Legendary Entertainment used this opportunity to reclaim many of these fund shares.

Charles knew Relativity Media and Legendary Entertainment were looking to transition. They didn't want to just invest in movies; they wanted to produce and distribute them themselves.

"Charles, movie investment is also about data analysis. Relativity Media's current strategy has gained a lot of recognition," said Ryan Kavanaugh casually. Although they were still working with Universal and Sony, Relativity Media hadn't stopped collaborating with independent film companies either.

"Whether it's indie companies like Lionsgate and The Weinstein Company, or major studios like Sony and Universal, Relativity Media provides financing channels for all of them!"

Ryan Kavanaugh talked about these things but couldn't hide his desire to collaborate with Capet Pictures the most.

Charles looked at the portly man in front of him. To Charles, Ryan Kavanaugh was a clown who should have exaggerated wigs, funny costumes, eye-catching makeup, and of course, a big red round nose; standing in the center of the banquet hall, dancing like a clown to entertain guests is what he should be doing!

"By the way, Ryan, did you hear about 20th Century Fox suing a small film company for copyright infringement recently?" Charles changed the subject. Who were the investors behind Capet Entertainment? Giants like Vanguard, Fidelity Investments, and State Street.

Small hedge funds were just a channel for Capet Pictures to finance individual films autonomously. A company like Relativity had no appeal to Capet.

Capet Entertainment never lacked investment institutions!

Ryan Kavanaugh shook his head when Charles mentioned 20th Century Fox. Of course, he had no idea who 20th Century Fox was suing.

"20th Century Fox sued The Asylum Pictures because they thought that their movie Robots Invade Earth plagiarized the upcoming 20th Century Fox movie The Day the Earth Stood Still," Charles explained.

"The Asylum Pictures! Interesting," Ryan Kavanaugh looked at Charles, "You're paying attention to this knock-off company?"

Charles laughed, "Since 2005, The Asylum Pictures hasn't lost money!"

Hollywood's The Asylum Pictures was founded in 1997 by director David Latt and former executives from New Line and Miramax David Rimawi and Sherri Strain. Initially, the company's goal was to produce low-budget horror TV movies and sell them on DVD. But with competitors like Lionsgate, New Line, and Miramax being too powerful, Asylum struggled in this market.

Until 2005, when The Asylum Pictures released their knock-off The War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells just before the premiere of Paramount's blockbuster War of the Worlds directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Tom Cruise. Riding on the wave of interest, the $500,000-cost movie received an order for 100,000 DVDs from Blockbuster.

This move directly launched The Asylum Pictures down a path of creating knock-offs of big releases, with Capet Pictures' films being their primary focus.

Before The Da Vinci Code hit theaters, Asylum released The Da Vinci Treasure;

Before Transformers came out, Asylum released Transmorphers;

Pirates of the Caribbean had Asylum 's Pirates of Treasure Island...

Asylum Pictures made most of their knock-off films before the original movies were released and distributed them ahead of time. This was not because they had spies in major companies but because they used the film titles, posters, genres, and synopses revealed during promotional periods to creatively brainstorm their storylines.

Charles hadn't paid attention to this company until this year when he watched a spoof comedy by 20th Century Fox called Meet the Spartans, which parodied Capet's 300.

Then Charles thought about Hollywood's knock-off film companies, and sure enough, Asylum Pictures was already on this path. Imagine in the future releasing six films in the Sharknado series, the Atlantic Rim series to compete with the Pacific Rim series, and American Warships to counter Battleship!

Asylum's movie production costs were between $200,000 and $500,000, and they had to be released within half a month.

Nowadays, while major Hollywood studios focus on "big budget, big production, big marketing, big market" high-concept films, Asylum's method also presented a viable path.

"Alright, Ryan, enjoy yourself," Charles said, standing and patting the portly Ryan Kavanaugh on the shoulder.

Ryan Kavanaugh smiled and nodded, "Next time, let's go play golf together!"

After parting ways with Ryan Kavanaugh, Charles surprisingly ran into Charlize Theron.

"Dear Charlize, long time no see!" Charles warmly hugged Charlize Theron.

The stunning Charlize Theron smiled brightly, "I saw you earlier, but you were chatting with Ryan Kavanaugh!"

Charles glanced at the distant Ryan Kavanaugh, shaking his head with a smile. "A rich, well-connected, fun-loving young man suddenly bursts onto the Hollywood scene, aiming to change traditional movie industry practices, upend the Hollywood system, and become a leader of the new era in Hollywood's film industry. Hmm, a dreamer!"

Charlize Theron stared at Charles for a moment before bursting into laughter, "Charles, he's in his thirties. Being a movie company boss in your thirties is still considered young in Hollywood, isn't it?" Charles said, patting Charlize on the arm.

"Come on, let's go grab a drink over there!"

"Really? I thought you were going to take me home to sample your treasured wine!" Charlize teased.

"Charlize, tonight I have other delicacies for you to taste too," Charles joked.

"So, what are we waiting for?"

"Right, let's get out of here!"

*****

https://www.patreon.com/Sayonara816.