"It's been a pleasure working with you, Mr. DiCaprio!"
"It's a pleasure to work with you, Mr. Page!"
Two days later, one morning, Leonardo DiCaprio finally signed his name on the contract. From that day on, he will officially become one of the image spokespersons for the SpongeBob SquarePants peripheral chain store for a period of 5 years.
"Mr. DiCaprio, oh no, I'd rather call you Leonardo, you don't mind, do you?" Kyle said.
"Of course I don't mind."
Leonardo DiCaprio smiled brightly, but the haze behind the smile lingered.
It's all because of the Titanic!
You have to know that he devoted himself to making this film for more than three years! Since the release of "Romeo and Juliet" in early 1995, he has not had any films released in theatres.
For Leo, who became famous at a young age after the early 1990s film "Growing Pains", reducing his salary to participate in "Titanic" for a mere salary of 300,000 US dollars is definitely a big gamble, betting that "Titanic" will help him move forward!
However...
The cruel truth is that Titanic was not a hit!
After the film earned $28.63 million on its first day, it only earned a little over $10 million for two consecutive days. Compared with its production cost of $200 million, it was a terrible sight.
Paramount and 20th Century Fox almost vomited blood when they saw the plummeting box office results!
And yesterday, Murdoch, the owner of 20th Century Fox and the world-renowned media tycoon, was attending a charity dinner organised by the Governor of California. He was surrounded by a group of reporters and asked about his opinion on the movie "Titanic".
View?!
"You ask me about that big ship?"
Murdoch bluntly said: "Can I say that Cameron is a bastard?!"
Well, even Murdoch, who is worth hundreds of billions of dollars, is furious.
At this moment, Kyle looked at Leo and said, "Leonardo, the box office of Titanic is indeed not very good now, but who can be sure that it can't rise again? Buddy, be confident. You are Jack, the man who shouted that he was the king of the world at the bow of the Titanic!"
Leo laughed on the spot.
The haze he had before was completely swept away!
Because he suddenly thought that although he was miserable, Kyle was even more miserable.
You have to know that before the movie was released, when others were avoiding it, Kyle took the initiative and rushed to invest tens of millions of dollars.
Now, it's probably all in vain!
This is how people are. When you see others who are worse off than you, you will feel much better.
1.5 million US dollars!
That's right, Leonardo DiCaprio signed a 5-year endorsement contract with a total price of 1.5 million US dollars, which is equivalent to 300,000 US dollars per year!
This price is in line with market trends and Leo's current net worth, and is even slightly higher. After all, aside from "Titanic," he hasn't released a new film in years. Of course, if the deal had been signed after "Titanic" became a global sensation, the price would have been several times higher.
And at that time, Leonardo DiCaprio might not have been interested in being the image spokesperson for SpongeBob SquarePants.
As a time traveller, Kyle certainly knows this!
In February 1998, the movie "Titanic" had become a global hit. German Mercedes-Benz and General Motors' Chevrolet almost fought each other to win Leonardo DiCaprio's endorsement.
In the end, General Motors was even richer and paid $7.5 million to sign Leonardo DiCaprio for three years, which is $2.5 million per year!
General Motors' annual endorsement fee for Leonardo DiCaprio alone is far higher than the five-year, $1.5 million contract that Kyle has signed with Leonardo DiCaprio!
Patek Philippe watches, Coca-Cola, Tiffany, Givenchy, West Coast Insurance...
A total of 17 contracts.
That's right, in 1998, Leonardo DiCaprio signed nearly 20 endorsement contracts, with the lowest price being $700,000 a year and the total price being as high as more than $80 million (contracts for several years).
It can be seen how popular Leo was at the time because of his stunning looks!
"Oh my god, I'm such a clever man!"
Compared to making tens of billions of dollars in the stock market, Kyle feels more accomplished and interested inteinterestedthis kind of bargain hunting.
"Being the richest man in the world is not my goal."
"My goal is to be like Larry Ellison of Oracle. I don't want to be as rich as him, because I will definitely be richer than him in the future. I want to emulate his attitude towards life. A luxurious villa, a luxury car, surrounded by beautiful women, and live a life that others envy!"
"That's the case with Amazon's Baldy. He spent the first half of his life being stingy and reluctant to spend money, constantly busy with work. However, since 2015, his personality has changed drastically. He's started enjoying life, is dating, and has girlfriends. His level of luxury has even surpassed Larry Ellison."
For a moment, Kyle had wild thoughts.
Um?
"Now that we've already got Leo, why not get Kate Winslet? Wouldn't it be wonderful to have Jack and Rose, the bittersweet couple, become the faces of SpongeBob SquarePants?"
....
Just two days later.
At the initiative of Taro Hashimoto, the new CEO of the SpongeBob SquarePants peripheral chain, Kate Winslet, who was still an unknown at the time, signed the endorsement contract very excitedly.
The total price is US$1.2 million, and the contract is for 8 years.
In fact, Kyle originally planned to sign a long-term endorsement contract with Leonardo DiCaprio for 8 to 15 years, but the shrewd Leonardo DiCaprio did not agree.
The next best option is to sign a 5-year contract.
In other words, from this moment on, Kyle's SpongeBob SquarePants peripheral store chain has a total of three image spokespersons, namely Jack, Rose, and Charlize Theron!
Recently, when shooting a new set of SpongeBob SquarePants House promotional posters, Charlize Theron expressed her desire to re-sign an endorsement contract with Kyle.
Since they were all good friends, Kyle of course... rejected her unceremoniously!
"Friends are friends, business is business!"
This is a basic social rule that is prevalent in America.
Kyle wasn't afraid of Theron's emotions. If she couldn't even accept that, then she didn't deserve to be friends.
For example: Kyle and James Sean are good brothers, but he will not be included in the option dividends granted in the next year.
Why?
Because James did not make any particularly great contribution!
At the same time, he was not irreplaceable in the various companies under Kyle's control, so he had nothing to do with options and dividends.
....
At the end of December, just after Christmas, Zack Snyder took the initiative to come to see Kyle.
"Boss, can 300 be launched now? I've been looking forward to this day for a long time."
Hearing what Zack said, Kyle immediately laughed.
What can I do?
Of course I a, gre d to it, after all, Kyle had made the promise a long time ago!
"You can be stingy, but you can never lose your integrity."
This is a phrase that Kyle often says.
....
Time passes slowly.
It's already mid-January, and Hollywood is still as calm as usual.
But!
However, "Titanic", which had long been sentenced to death by the media and major film critics, has once again attracted the attention of the public.
"Oh my God, the box office of "Titanic" has exceeded 100 million in North America?!" a theatheatreresentative exclaimed.
At the same time, major media, major film and television companies, film critics, and moviegoers suddenly discovered the strange performance of "Titanic"!