In a luxurious suite at the Beverly Hills Hilton in Los Angeles, Natalie Portman stood by the window, still thinking about the John Carter premiere a few days ago.
The sun was blazing outside, but inside, her heart was ice cold.
This coldness came from the disastrous opening weekend of John Carter.
Although she had been mentally prepared for a failure due to the poor preview responses and terrible pre-sales, she hadn't expected the movie to flop this badly.
So badly, in fact, that she was certain she'd never be part of another mainstream big-budget production as a lead actress again.
As for Brad Pitt, she couldn't even imagine how bad things would be for him. The collapse of Plan B Productions and his own personal bankruptcy seemed inevitable.
"Sigh..."
Natalie Portman let out a long sigh, recalling the box office report she had just seen: John Carter grossed $20.6 million during its first weekend in North America.
At first glance, the number seemed decent. Excluding the Star Wars prequels, which had the IMAX appeal, it was the highest opening weekend for a film she had starred in.
In fact, this amount could easily surpass the total box office of 90% of Hollywood films.
But the problem was, John Carter had a production cost of $250 million. Yes, $250 million! Not $25 million...
The gap between the production cost and the box office revenue meant that everyone involved in the film—from producers to directors to actors, and even the investors—would suffer a devastating blow.
They were all destined to crash and burn together. If there was any consolation, it was that she wasn't going down alone—there would be plenty of company on the way to rock bottom.
Making a movie was one thing, but how it was marketed was another.
In Natalie Portman's view, poor promotion was another factor behind the movie's failure.
Being a rational person, no matter how many reasons she could find, she knew it wouldn't change the current situation—especially since all the major industry experts were predicting John Carter's demise.
CinemaScore, which measures audience reactions, had given the film a "B-," and it was projected that the final North American box office would struggle to surpass $50 million.
Although CinemaScore rarely evaluates international box office performance, Natalie, using past data, made her own estimates.
How much would John Carter gross worldwide? If luck wasn't on their side, probably only about $100 million. Even with a miracle, it would be hard to pass $150 million.
Brad Pitt was really in for it—his situation was a hundred times worse than hers!
After deducting Disney's distribution fees and marketing costs, how much would Plan B make? And as for merchandising, how could a box-office bomb sell any valuable rights afterward?
Cloud Atlas had failed, and now John Carter was a disaster as well...
Suddenly, a strange thought popped into Natalie's head: she had helped Brad Pitt secure both films, and both had turned out to be massive failures, ruining not just him but herself as well!
Though she wasn't facing certain bankruptcy like Brad Pitt, she certainly wasn't happy about the situation.
Why was this happening? Why had two seemingly high-potential films turned out to be huge pitfalls?
No matter how hard she thought about it, Natalie couldn't figure it out.
Was it... Matthew Horner's doing? The idea suddenly occurred to her, but she immediately dismissed it. As the lead actress and producer of both films, she had been closely involved and knew Matthew hadn't pulled any strings behind the scenes. Plus, Disney wouldn't have allowed it.
Sighing again, she left the window and sat down on the couch in the suite's living room, contemplating her next steps.
With John Carter's failure, the door to mainstream commercial films had closed for her. The only path left was to return to independent art films, which would be a tough road, especially as someone returning after a failure.
Fortunately, she still had one backup plan—Black Swan.
The film had received excellent reviews at its test screenings, and with the Venice Film Festival in September, Black Swan would first head to Venice for critical acclaim before moving to Toronto. After building enough buzz and reputation, the film would return to Hollywood for awards season, with the ultimate goal of winning the Oscar for Best Actress.
She had planned it all meticulously, fighting hard to secure the project.
But realizing it? Natalie knew how difficult that would be. Even though she was Jewish, and had carefully crafted her public image for the past 15 years, she still had only a certain chance of winning.
No one could guarantee an Oscar victory, not even Harvey Weinstein.
Natalie was fully aware of this, so her goal was to increase her chances and stack the odds in her favor as much as possible.
At that moment, the idea she had during the John Carter premiere became even clearer.
She had hesitated before, but now she had no choice. Even an Oscar nomination for Best Actress could revive her rapidly declining career.
So, she needed a baby. She needed to walk the red carpet at the Oscars pregnant.
Society as a whole sympathized with pregnant women, even in a place like Hollywood. If she showed up during awards season with a noticeable baby bump, she would undoubtedly receive special treatment.
Of course, it couldn't be a child born out of wedlock—the father had to be known, and they had to be engaged.
Otherwise, it wouldn't be an advantage; it would be a scandal.
It was now June, and there were six months until the next awards season in December. That was just enough time—six months for a pregnancy to show prominently.
"Everyone shows special treatment to pregnant women," Natalie muttered with a hint of disdain. "How hard is it to just lie down and spread your legs?"
A baby was a must! As for the father? It would, of course, be her current boyfriend, Darren Aronofsky.
With that, she pulled out her phone and made a call. "Darren, where are you? Why aren't you here yet?"
Fifteen minutes later, Darren Aronofsky entered the suite, and Natalie, like a predator, immediately pinned him down.
"Wait, I didn't bring any—"
Before Darren could finish, Natalie cut him off. "No need. I'm in a safe period."
She wasn't. She had carefully calculated everything—today was far from a safe day.
As she moved frantically, her mind was already calculating the potential gains.
Having a child with Darren Aronofsky could bring her at least two major benefits.
First, walking into awards season with a prominent pregnancy would boost her chances of winning. Second, it would tie Darren Aronofsky to her, ensuring that he would focus on her career for the next few years.
A talented young director like him was rare to find.
As for her former partner, Brad Pitt, she couldn't care less about his fate.
Brad Pitt had been devastated since the moment the early box office numbers for John Carter came in. He knew then that he was probably finished, and seeing the opening weekend numbers confirmed it.
Even if God himself intervened, there was no saving John Carter's box office.
The numbers he received weren't just from North America but from overseas as well. In over 70 countries and regions, the film had grossed only about $22 million.
John Carter might have survived Mars, but he wasn't going to make it on Earth.
With the loans for Cloud Atlas still unpaid, Brad Pitt had been hoping for John Carter to be a box-office smash, allowing him to cover the losses. Instead, it only added more debt.
The formal investors weren't the problem—if he went down, they would lose out too.
The real issue was the loans.
The two projects had involved various loans and collateral, with total debts including interest amounting to over $180 million—a sum Brad Pitt couldn't possibly cover.
Plan B Productions couldn't be saved. The company could file for bankruptcy—it was, after all, just a company. Let the bank have it.
But the loans weren't enough. He had personally borrowed and collateralized nearly $100 million as well. Was he really about to go bankrupt?
The thought of bankruptcy, and of ending up like Nicolas Cage, hounded by debt collectors, made Brad Pitt tremble.
If it all happened, he would be in an even worse position than Cage.
Nicolas Cage had proven himself in the commercial market and still had many fans. Brad, on the other hand, had mostly worked on indie films, and though his name was well-known, his commercial value was limited. After failing three major projects—Troy, Cloud Atlas, and John Carter—who would want to work with him, other than for some low-budget B-movie?
"This can't happen," Brad Pitt muttered to himself. "I can't let this happen."
He had clawed his way up from the bottom of Hollywood and knew how painful life was without money, fame, and status.
Who could save him? Who could pull him out of this mess? Brad looked toward the small bar in the living room, where Angelina Jolie was sitting, drinking.
"Jolie." Brad walked over, grabbed a glass, and placed it in front of her. "Pour me a drink."
Angelina Jolie glanced at him and poured him half a glass of vodka. Brad downed it in one gulp, the burning alcohol not only stinging his throat but also giving him the courage he desperately needed.
"I'm in trouble," Brad admitted, knowing that Angelina had at least tens of millions in assets. "Jolie, can you help me out?"
Angelina Jolie suddenly burst into laughter. How
could she not know about Brad's situation? He had dug his own grave—did he really expect her to join him?
If she lost her money, who would take care of all her children?
Being with such an irresponsible man had been a mistake from the start.
"Jolie!" Brad pleaded again.
Angelina raised her hand, signaling him to stop. She picked up her glass, drank the rest of her drink, and made her final decision.
"Let's break up," she said calmly.
Only after breaking up can you find happiness.
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