Reborn in Hollywood

"...The Lakeview Pictures board has approved the remake of Underworld, with the trilogy to be filmed back-to-back in one go. However, they are only willing to take a maximum of 8000 million, demanding 70% of the profits. You're contributing 1000 million in salary as equity, taking a 20% share of the profits. There's still a shortfall of 2500 million. Should we start a financing plan?"

"Universal, Fox, Disney... none of these companies are interested?"

Li Rui frowned slightly; this was not quite what he had expected.

"Yes, there are, but the conditions are a bit... demanding!"

Ali said after careful consideration.

"Let me guess, take less money, take more away?"

"Absolutely correct!"

"Heh, they're all greedy vampires. This movie seems more suited to them."

"Rafael, if you want to raise funds, I suggest you look to those second-tier firms, such as New Line Cinema, DreamWorks, and MGM."

Ali's voice sounded very serious.

"Tsk tsk... MGM has fallen to the second tier. Things really are unpredictable."

Li Rui remarked with a sigh, then immediately added.

"No need, it's only 2500 million... It just so happens that my company hasn't achieved much since it was established, so I'll cover it."

"RL Productions? Looks like I'll have to talk to Philippe. I just don't know what he thinks about profit sharing. If you include your salary, a 30% cut of a 3500 million investment? Philippe probably won't agree."

"That's none of my business then. Let Philip go and have a battle with Lakeview Pictures!"

Li Rui stretched, too lazy to bother with such trivial matters.

Finally, as if remembering something, he quickly asked again.

"Where's the screenwriter?"

"As per your request, I found a female screenwriter who has published romance novels. She is in her thirties and has written several romance film scripts with a decent reputation."

Ali said, "She looked at your outline and said she was very interested."

Li Rui hummed in agreement.

"There's one more thing."

Ali looked like he was trying not to laugh. "There have been reporters staking out Charlize Theron these past few days. Apparently, she broke up with that gigolo."

Li Rui, who was drowsy, immediately perked up upon hearing this.

"You broke up?"

"right."

Ali glanced at him through the rearview mirror. "It was the day you kissed... Charlize that Stuart Townsend seemed to have run into some trouble."

Li Rui's heart skipped a beat.

"What's the problem?"

Ali shrugged.

"I don't know. Apparently, she's had some health issues and has already gone to the hospital for a checkup. The paparazzi bribed the doctor and nurses, but none of this concerns you."

Li Rui chuckled inwardly. How could it be unrelated to him?

That's very important!

The car drove into Malibu and stopped in front of Jessica's villa.

Li Rui got out of the car and stood at the door.

Ali leaned out of the car window.

"Call me if you need anything."

Li Rui nodded.

Li Rui pushed open the door of the villa.

The room was quiet; Jessica wasn't there.

There was a note on the coffee table.

[I'll be back next week; there's food in the fridge—J]

Li Rui looked at the note and a gentle smile appeared on his face.

This is why he chose to live with Jessica long-term instead of other women; Jessica's gentle and charming nature was simply irresistible to him.

He put the note away and went into the bathroom.

As the hot water cascaded down, Li Rui stretched and vigorously stretched his muscles and bones.

The four-month-long shoot left him feeling physically and mentally exhausted—physically, he was fine, but mentally he was really tired.

After taking a shower, Li Rui lay on the bed and quickly fell into a deep sleep.

The next morning, Li Rui woke up when sunlight streamed through the gaps in the curtains.

He picked up his phone and glanced at it—9:17.

I slept for more than ten hours and felt completely refreshed.

There are several unread text messages on my phone.

Jessica posted a selfie from the set with the caption "Miss you".

Kate sent a question mark.

And there's Lima, Ambrosio, Jennifer...

Obviously, everyone knows he's gone back to Los Angeles.

After replying to each call, Li Rui dialed Philip's number.

"Are you awake?" Philip's voice came from behind him.

"Hmm, are you at the company?"

"Come here, I have something to tell you."

"good!"

Li Rui got up, washed up, ate something quickly, and drove to the company.

Pushing open the door to Philip's office, he saw Philip facing the computer screen, holding a coffee in his hand, his brow slightly furrowed.

"Help yourself to whatever you want to drink."

Li Rui took a bottle of iced cola from the refrigerator next to him, opened it, and chugged it down in one go. He then let out a satisfying burp before collapsing onto the sofa.

Philip walked over, holding a stack of documents.

"Now that you're here, let's sort out the recent accounts."

Li Rui leaned back lazily on the sofa without moving.

"You tell me, I'll just listen."

Philip rolled his eyes, but ultimately held back and opened the first document.

"Let's talk about the company account first. There's 7.1792 million left in the account, you know about this amount."

"uh-huh."

"These are the figures from last month, but now..."

Philip opened another document.

"You haven't had any major expenses these past few months. Your Pirates of the Caribbean salary was deposited directly into your personal account in a one-time payment of 300 million. The Dior perfume payment was also deposited into your personal account in a one-time payment of 500 million. We haven't signed the Underworld contract yet, so the money in the company's account has basically remained untouched."

Philip paused at this point.

"You asked me to help those two Brazilian models find endorsements. The channel cost me a little money, about 500,000 yuan, which has already been deducted."

Li Rui hummed in agreement; he couldn't even be bothered to ask about such a small amount of money.

"What about charitable foundations?"

Philip gave him a different document.

"The Amazon stock held by the charitable foundation has now—" Philip glanced at the numbers again, confirming once more, "—reached $8600 million!"

Li Rui whistled.

"8600 million?"

Philip looked at his "stock market guru" brother with an indescribable gaze.

「现在亚马逊股价1.10美元，你2001年9月买入的1500万，2002年2月买入的2000万，加起来一共值这幺多。」

Li Rui couldn't help but whistle again.

"not bad."

"Just 'not bad'?"

Philip glared at him. "Do you know how much the S&P 500 rose during the same period? Less than 10%! Yours has almost doubled."

Li Rui shrugged—he felt that this gesture perfectly represented his current mood.

"I was also very lucky."

Philip, too lazy to argue with him, opened another document.

"And those three stocks you had Goldman Sachs help you buy last September—Monster Beverage, Apple, and Nvidia—are now worth a total of $31.6 million and have remained untouched under the company's name."

Li Rui nodded.

"What about Marvel?"

"As usual, thanks to the Mexicans I hired for the renovation, I went to New York three times last month, and the renovation is now completely finished. You can go and take a look when you have time."

Philip closed the file. "Speaking of Marvel, the delisting issue is almost finalized."

Li Rui immediately became interested.

"So fast?"

"You already held more than 90% of the shares when you acquired it."

Philip opened another document, "Stan Lee and his co-founders held less than 5%, and even less was circulating in the market, only about 3.8%."

He paused.

"Based on Marvel's current market value, the total market value is about 3.5 million. Those 3.8% of the outstanding shares can be bought back for just over 1300 million."

Li Rui nodded.

"We need to hurry, otherwise my big plan will never be announced to the public."

"The delisting process will be completed in a week at most, and then Marvel will be yours alone as a big toy."

After saying that, Philip put the documents away and took out a calculator to press a few keys.

"So your total assets now are...excluding the $927 million in your personal account, it's roughly: $7.1792 million in company cash, $8600 million in the charitable foundation's stock account, $3160 million in the company's stock account, and $4.8 million in Marvel stock, totaling $13.16 billion."

Li Rui leaned back on the sofa and began to imagine what would happen after the Marvel saga unfolded, but he quickly came to his senses.

There's something even more important I haven't asked yet!

"What about the house?"

Philip opened another document—he felt he had opened more documents today than in the past month.

"I've looked at a few places, all in Los Angeles, that meet your requirements: big enough, secluded enough, and under $50 million."

Li Rui immediately became very interested.

Tell me about it.

Philip simply handed the documents over.

"The first one is in Beverly Hills, nothing special, it's two acres, the main building has three floors, seven bedrooms, ten bathrooms, a swimming pool, tennis court, and a home theater, and it's priced at $4800 million."

Li Rui flipped through the photos.

"Not bad, next stop?"

"The second place is in Malibu, just three kilometers north of your current Jessica's house, on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It's three acres, with a two-story main house, five bedrooms, eight bathrooms, an infinity pool, a private beach access, and a helipad. The asking price is $5300 million."

Li Rui looked at the photos and was somewhat tempted.

The main thing is that this place only needs some renovations to completely replicate Iron Man's seaside cliff mansion.

"This place is nice."

Philip nodded.

"I also think this place is good. It's very private, and there's only one way in and out, so paparazzi can't get in."

Li Rui continued flipping through the pages.

"And the third one?"

"The third property is in Santa Monica, and it's the largest one in the area, covering five acres. The main building is in the Spanish colonial style, with eight bedrooms, twelve bathrooms, a horse farm, and a private forest. The asking price is 5000 million."

Li Rui thought about it.

"Keep them all, I'll go see them myself."

Philip nodded.

"Okay, I'll schedule a time with the agent then."

He put the documents away, his expression serious and his tone earnest.

"There's one last thing."

"What is it?"

A slight smile appeared on Philip's face.

"You're endorsing something again."

Li Rui was immediately puzzled. Wasn't it said that high-end luxury brands rarely hire Hollywood stars as spokespeople?

Why are they all jumping on him?

"What endorsement?"

"TAG Heuer".

Philippe explained, "It's a Swiss luxury watch brand, with a global brand ambassadorship. The offer is 15 million for two years, plus a 5 million signing bonus."

Li Rui felt a little smug, but he didn't show it, mainly because he felt no sense of satisfaction in front of Philip.

But he also had some doubts.

"TAG Heuer? I don't think we've ever dealt with them before."