Certain people, secretly hoping to see *The Bourne Identity*'s box office take a nosedive, were furious and insanely jealous.
"F**k!"
"1.21 billion in three days! Did it just break a record?!"
"What's so great about that trash *The Bourne Identity*? How could it possibly make that much money?"
Voices like these often echoed through the mansions of Beverly Hills and West Hollywood during this time, and 99.99% of them came from men.
There were just too many people envious of Wayne.
Meanwhile, actresses and female stars were all extremely jealous of Jessica. After all, she had been an unknown actress who rocketed to A-list stardom just by starring in two movies alongside Wayne. Who wouldn't be envious?
The result was that every day Wayne would receive a file bag from Mike, containing details of newly interested beauties who wanted to meet him—some even included explicit photos.
At first, Hannah didn't know what they were and helped collect the files twice. When she finally realized what they were, she was so mad she nearly shot Mike.
As for Wayne, of course, he forgave Mike.
After all, out of all the men in the world, she only liked to be f**ked by Wayne.
"Come on now, Mike couldn't just ignore these people. After all, there were not only unknown or less famous actresses in the pile, but even some A-list stars," Wayne said, pulling Hannah into his arms and giving her a kiss.
Then they both began flipping through the profiles and photos together.
To be honest, he was just looking.
Lately, he had been so busy with filming that he could barely handle his current relationships, let alone add new ones.
But truth be told, Hollywood was full of beautiful women. Over 90% of the actresses in Mike's files were people Wayne had never heard of in his previous life, yet their quality was impeccable.
Even the least attractive could rival Amanda Hearst, and the most stunning were on par with Jessica and Anne. It was more than he had expected.
However, as beautiful as these women were, they lacked distinctiveness. Most were the typical American bombshells with voluptuous figures.
And when it came to looks, none reached the level of Charlize Theron or Nicole Kidman.
Notably, Wayne spotted Amber Heard in the files, along with a photo of her covering herself with just her arm.
Although she wasn't even sixteen at the time, her figure was already developing well, and her face was a blend of youthful innocence and adult allure—quite pretty.
But knowing her reputation and recalling the story of her doing unspeakable things while cheating on Depp, Wayne felt disgusted and lost all interest in her.
"Who knows if Depp in this world will still fall for her?"
Aside from Amber, Wayne also spotted Rachel McAdams' name. Including *Mean Girls*, this made two movies he had already taken from her.
And with *Wedding Crashers* coming up, it would be three. To be honest, even he was starting to feel a bit guilty.
"F**k, you're not into her, are you?" Hannah asked as she noticed him lingering over Rachel McAdams' photo.
"No, I was just thinking she seems versatile and has potential," Wayne replied absentmindedly.
He really wasn't interested in Rachel McAdams—she didn't fit his taste.
Hannah looked at him suspiciously for a moment, then teased his preferences again.
"I think that b**ch is pretty hot!"
"Alright, just tell me, out of all the actresses in Hollywood, who do you think is the most beautiful?"
"Well," Wayne thought for a moment, "14-year-old Sophie Marceau, 24-year-old Charlize Theron, 34-year-old Nicole Kidman, and Monica Bellucci around the same age. That's about it."
"And what about me?"
"You're not even an actress; why are you joining this conversation?"
Wayne gave her a playful slap on her incredibly firm rear, igniting a playful spark between them.
"Ah! I almost forgot!" said Mia, forcing herself to speak despite her exhaustion.
"The villa at Cypress Gardens and all other sets have been fully built, and all the necessary props and equipment have been delivered in batches. To ensure no delays, I've already arranged for the crew to fly out tonight, and the rest of us will leave on an 8 a.m. flight tomorrow."
"As for *Hotel for Dogs*, all the set construction and prop preparations have been completed. Shooting can officially begin tomorrow."
"Sh**t!" Wayne, who had been lounging lazily, suddenly cursed out loud.
"It's already April 10th, and it took almost a month just to prep everything? Nancy Meyers is really quick, huh?"
"Well, she's the one you hired, right? And one month for pre-production is already pretty fast."
Wayne fell silent.
In normal terms, a $20 million film budget would take at least a month for pre-production, but he had originally hoped it would only take ten days.
"Maybe I should hire a construction crew from overseas next time? It'd be cheaper and way more efficient. Isn't that how a certain 'national leader' made his fortune in real estate and TV shopping?"
Wayne's mind wandered off thinking about that leader, only to be interrupted by Mia again.
"By the way, Sarah wanted me to ask how you plan to handle the company's funds. If you don't spend them soon, we'll be hit with taxes."
After selling *Mean Girls* for $25 million, Hemera Pictures now had a staggering $144 million in cash. Even after setting aside $6 million for operations, there was still $138 million left.
Most of that came from the $110 million deposited a few days ago. The rest was unspent marketing money for *The Bourne Identity*.
Wayne had no plans to spend any more on promoting *The Bourne Identity* because there was simply no need.
He wasn't about to throw away his own money unnecessarily.
But figuring out how to spend such a large amount of cash, while avoiding taxes, was proving to be a headache.
Luckily, Wayne already had a solution in mind.
He planned to use the money to expand Hemera Pictures' library—not by buying physical rights, but by acquiring the online rights to blockbuster movies.
At this point, America already had streaming services, but due to hardware and software limitations, video quality was terrible, and a two-hour movie could take four or five hours to download. This made digital rights dirt cheap—cheaper than dirt.
Even mega-hits like *Titanic* and *Star Wars: Episode I* only cost $2 million for online rights, with room for negotiation. Lesser films were even cheaper.
Just imagine how much revenue *Titanic* would generate from streaming over the next twenty years. The potential returns were staggering.
Even sports event footage was affordable, except for the Super Bowl.
For example, the 1998 NBA Finals Game 5 between the Bulls and the Jazz, which set a TV viewership record of 30.6 million, was only priced at $100,000. If that's not a steal, what is?
In another decade or so, that footage could serve as a flagship draw for a sports streaming platform, bringing in countless viewers.
At that point, licensing the footage alone could generate millions, with a return on investment exceeding a hundredfold.
Not even robbing a bank could make money this fast.
"I've already had Meida compile a list of films and TV shows, as well as a list of sports events, and I'll send them to Sera shortly. As for the company's funds, apart from leaving enough for daily operations, use the rest to acquire the online rights to the content on the list. The faster and more discreet the action, the better," Wayne said, lowering his voice as he glanced at Amanda and Lydia, who had fallen asleep from exhaustion.
Mia, seeing that Wayne had made up his mind, didn't say much more. She yawned, nestled into his arms, found a comfortable position, and quickly fell into a deep sleep.
The night passed quickly.
Early the next morning, Wayne downed ten bowls of emperor crab soup dumplings made by the newly hired Chinese chefs before contentedly joining Mia and the others in a car headed for the airport. They boarded a flight to Charleston.
Charleston is a coastal city located at the confluence of the Cooper and Ashley Rivers and is also the fourth-largest international container port in the U.S., though it has a population of less than 20,000. Apart from the small downtown area, the surrounding landscape is dominated by lakes and forests, offering beautiful scenery.
Being closer to the equator than Los Angeles, the city is warmer, making it an ideal travel destination, even in April.
However, as soon as they landed, Mia insisted they head straight to the film set in a car sent by the production crew.
This timing was perfect for shooting the scene of a young Noah and Allie rowing a boat on the lake, as well as their emotional reconciliation in the rain, leading to their heartfelt kiss.
Of course, Wayne firmly canceled any intimate scenes that appeared later in the movie. Back when he was merely a viewer, those scenes might have been enjoyable, but now that his girlfriend was playing the lead role, it was a different story.
In fact, under Wayne's influence, the current version of *The Notebook* hardly had any kissing scenes at all, let alone more intimate ones. Even the few romantic moments between Hammond and Allie were completely removed, making it a true pure-love film.
This even had Nicholas Sparks considering handing over his title of "King of Pure Love" to Wayne.
The advantage of these changes was that they no longer had to worry about ratings. With such a clean romance film, it would likely receive a G rating, or at the very least a PG rating, which would significantly expand the potential audience.
By April 17, the North American box office of *The Bourne Identity* had already reached an astonishing $266 million.
However, based on the current box office trend, the film's North American potential was nearly exhausted, and even in two more weeks, it was unlikely to break $300 million.
On the other hand, the overseas box office, bolstered by a strong opening, crossed the $200 million mark in just 10 days, and daily ticket sales continued to exceed $10 million.
As a result, *The Bourne Identity* had a good chance of surpassing its North American box office with international sales and breaking $300 million overseas, which delighted Sony Columbia executives, including Howard Stringer.
If the film's box office exceeded $300 million, the studio could potentially earn $20 to $30 million in profit from ticket sales alone. With the addition of DVD sales, total profits could exceed $150 million, possibly reaching $200 million or more.
To put it in perspective, apart from *Men in Black*, Sony Columbia had only managed to turn a profit once in the past three years. Even the *Spider-Man* series hadn't yet hit theaters. This success greatly strengthened Howard Stringer's desire to deepen collaboration with Wayne and Hemerra Pictures.
After testing the waters with a phone call and discovering that Wayne was not in need of financing, Stringer immediately shifted strategies. He doubled the number of planned Britney Spears concerts from 24 to 60, expanding the tour from North America to Europe.
At first, this had nothing to do with Wayne, but that same day, Avril called him, saying she was invited to perform as a special guest at all 60 shows."