By the end of September, Final Destination had already grossed $52.746 million at the North American box office, surpassing the performance of Gilbert.'s The Shallows. Most importantly, the film was still in theaters and continued to rake in money.
Meanwhile, Disney began its overseas rollout for the film in early September. By the end of the month, it had already brought in $38.529 million internationally, bringing the film's global total to $91.275 million. It was a sure bet that the film would cross the $100 million mark worldwide. Gilbert. had once again achieved something truly remarkable, and his name echoed through Hollywood.
When Tom Cruise's new movie hits $100 million globally, he might throw a party to celebrate. So, with two consecutive films poised to gross over $100 million, Gilbert. was definitely due for a grand celebration. Touchstone Pictures had already arranged a celebratory banquet at the Hilton Hotel to commemorate the film's outstanding success.
However, before that, the film first received its initial box office revenue share.
Disney and the theater chains had signed a standard declining revenue-sharing agreement. Taking Final Destination as an example, Disney would receive 80% of the revenue in the first week. Anyone familiar with film market in the past might be surprised by this split, thinking, "How is that even possible?" In the market, producers and distributors typically only get around 40%, and sometimes even less. But in 1990s Hollywood, this kind of revenue sharing between theaters and distributors was quite common. At that time, movie theaters primarily profited from concessions like popcorn and soda.
In the second week, Disney's share would drop to 70%. In the third week, other film companies might get 45% to 60%, but Disney would still receive 65%. After the fourth week, film companies usually received 25% to 45%. Disney's share wouldn't drop below 40% until after the fifth week, when it would align with other film companies' standards.
Why was Disney so special? This was largely due to the strong leadership of Michael Eisner, their chairman. Under his direction, Disney signed numerous "take-it-or-leave-it" clauses with theater companies. Because Disney's animated films consistently generated substantial merchandise profits, theater companies had to reluctantly accept these revenue-sharing terms.
Thanks to this high revenue-sharing percentage, Disney received a little over $37 million from the first North American box office distribution. But hold on a second! Final Destination was set up as a separate studio, meaning Disney could also take a distribution fee as the distributor. This is one of those sneaky Hollywood tricks: even when the investor and distributor are the same entity, they'll still go through the motions of transferring money from one pocket to the other, artificially inflating the accounting. If you didn't have a reliable accountant keeping an eye on things, the complicated books could easily confuse other investors. In the end, a film that clearly made a profit could appear to be losing money on paper. At that point, neither God nor Buddha could help you; your share would simply be "lost."
However, even if you took them to court, it would be difficult for the court to rule in your favor. Lawsuits over revenue sharing typically drag on for five or six years, and only the parties involved know the true cost in terms of money, time, and effort. Of course, this tactic only works on outsiders who don't understand the business but hope to strike it rich through movies. They wouldn't dare do this to Hollywood insiders, especially directors and stars. That would be pushing valuable talent to other film companies. If their reputation soured over time, who would want to work with them?
Luckily, Gilbert. was one of those people they couldn't cheat. While the payment of his share would definitely be delayed for a while, Disney would absolutely not stiff him.
Understanding all of this, we can now calculate how much Disney and Gilbert. would each receive from the initial revenue share.
Ignoring the small change, Disney first deducted a 15% North American distribution fee, which amounted to approximately $5.55 million. After taking the distribution fee, Disney also had to deduct the film's marketing and publicity expenses. This included print and copy costs, test screenings and public relations, storage and transportation, hiring research firms, and other promotional expenses. Additionally, they had to pay the remaining one-third of the crew's salaries. These costs combined were substantial, totaling $9.5 million. Aside from the $9.5 million advanced for marketing and publicity, the $5.55 million distribution fee was pure profit for Disney as the distributor, and it wasn't shared with anyone.
The remaining $21.95 million (plus a bit more) was then split between Gilbert. and Disney's subsidiary, Touchstone Pictures. According to their contract, Gilbert.'s combined salary as director, screenwriter, and producer was $1 million, representing one-tenth of the film's investment. The contract also stipulated that if the film's North American box office exceeded $50 million, a 5% profit share would automatically be triggered. However, this profit-sharing portion wasn't urgent yet, as the film was still in theaters, and the final share would be determined after the final box office numbers came in.
Even so, Gilbert. received a share of $2.195 million from this initial distribution. Of course, his agent, Sheena Boone, and Kevin, the accountant from PricewaterhouseCoopers, would also take a cut from this income. The amount wasn't huge, around $220,000 combined, but this was just the first payment, with more revenue shares to come in the future. To ensure people do good work for you, you can't be stingy with money. Talking about ideals or the future simply doesn't work; real, hard cash is what truly earns loyalty. So, Gilbert. didn't delay and promptly allowed Sheena Boone and Kevin the accountant to deduct their respective shares. This revenue share was significantly higher than the straightforward $1 million salary.
But it wasn't over yet. The film would also generate revenue from overseas distribution, as well as income from video sales and TV broadcasting rights. Accountant Kevin estimated that Gilbert. could earn between $4 million and $5 million from the Final Destination project. This was a very substantial income, considered quite high in the 1990s. No wonder those Wall Street "vampires" kept getting burned by unscrupulous Hollywood companies yet remained stubbornly devoted; it seemed far more profitable than stocks.
Speaking of stocks, as soon as the money from the first distribution hit his account, Gilbert. immediately bought Apple stock. At that time, Apple was considered a "junk stock" in the market. When he instructed his manager, David, to purchase the shares, David looked at him with an expression that said, "You're crazy." Gilbert. didn't bother to explain. After all, Steve Jobs had been ousted from Apple and was busy with Pixar Animation; he hadn't returned to Apple yet.
However, any reborn person who paid even a little attention to the IT industry knew how massive Apple would become in the future, the first tech company globally to exceed a market capitalization of two trillion or even three trillion dollars. Gilbert. wasn't adept at or knowledgeable about the internet or the IT industry itself. But he knew which companies would get rich in the future, so investing was all he needed to do. Gilbert. decided to continue accumulating Apple stock, as there was no way he could lose.
At the same time, Gilbert. also bought a small amount of Microsoft stock. Unfortunately, unlike Apple, Microsoft was a hot stock, so he couldn't buy much, and he didn't have enough money. But there would be many more investment opportunities ahead, as the internet and IT industry were about to boom. As long as Gilbert. seized these opportunities, he would make a huge profit.