That afternoon.
Kyle was furious.
"That damned Meladande, one day... I will make you pay!" Kyle was enraged.
Looking back at Kyle's experiences since transmigrating these past few years, there had been disappointment, confusion, and many setbacks;
He had been targeted by Warner regarding film distribution matters;
He had been deliberately made things difficult for by the Film Review Committee regarding film ratings;
On projects like run lola run and the purge, Paramount Pictures had also bled him dry... but never before had he been played like a monkey as he was this time.
"Meladande, you are the first person I truly resent. You won't have it easy from now on, I guarantee it!" Kyle clenched his fist.
It wasn't that Kyle was petty!
Anyone who is played for a fool would not feel good. Especially a super-rich person like Kyle, worth tens of billions of U.S. dollars; as this incident spread, he would inevitably become a joke and topic of conversation among many media outlets and the public.
In fact, Kyle guessed correctly!
That evening, several media newspapers' evening editions disclosed this fact.
"Wow~~"
"Is this the time when even the lucky Kyle Page chokes on cold water and suffers bad luck?"
"Heh heh, this really is a joke."
"It's obvious. Although Meladande was swept out the door by 20th Century Fox, he was still the founder of the Fox Animation Department and once created a hit animated series like The Simpsons, which swept across the U.S. He is a famous figure in Hollywood animation, so it makes sense that he would look down on Kyle Page."
"It is said that Kyle Page even prepared the funds to pursue Meladande and his team, but... others used his name and then immediately sold him out. Tsk tsk tsk~"
For every person who admired Kyle in the U.S., there was another who disliked, hated, or envied him!
In 1999,
Kyle's companies successively produced several popular films, including my big fat greek wedding, 300, the blair witch project, and Finding Nemo; his other subsidiaries also put in effort, such as the explosive popularity of bratz dolls... all of this truly made many people green with envy. They had cursed Kyle countless times in private.
Now, seeing Kyle suffer a setback, these guys couldn't be happier.
They were thrilled enough to take flight!
"Rare, truly rare!"
Harvey Weinstein, President of Miramax, was laughing heartily at this moment.
Although he didn't interact much with Kyle and had no major conflicts, as the saying goes, competitors are enemies. His envy of Kyle's wealth was certainly not new.
"Just seeing that bastard Kyle being played and suffering a setback makes me feel completely refreshed. Hey, hey, hey, why do I feel like laughing as I talk about this? I can't help it, I need to open a bottle of champagne to celebrate."
...Paramount Pictures.
Jordan, Kyle's old friend, couldn't help but joke after reading several newspapers, "Huo~, it's really not easy to see Kyle suffer a setback. No, I have to call him later and give him a good teasing."
Halfway through speaking, Jordan started chuckling himself.
Since Kyle founded Page Pictures, the rights to his first film, run lola run, in the overseas market were first negotiated between Jordan and Kyle, for which Paramount made a hefty profit.
Subsequently, Kyle continued his offensive, successively acquiring UPN Television Network, WB Television Network, Golden Dawn Publishing, Golden Dawn Music, and so on.
It can be said that Jordan watched Kyle grow step by step into a rising Hollywood film tycoon, media mogul, and billionaire!
Even though the two had a good relationship, everyone has jealousy, and Jordan was no exception...
Pixar Animation Studios.
"It seems that after Finding Nemo became a massive hit, Kyle really wants to make a big splash in the animation field. He felt that having one Waterworld Animation Company wasn't enough, so he set his sights on Meladande, but who knew he'd be played for a fool," John Lasseter said wistfully.
"This was to be expected."
Andrew Stanton, also one of the pixar five tigers, said solemnly, "Meladande is a god in the animation field and our senior, but I have never agreed with his character; that guy is arrogant. I had a premonition that he wouldn't look favorably upon Kyle. However, I never expected him to turn around and kick Kyle to the curb."
On this day, there were many, many people laughing at Kyle.
Kyle could even imagine that whenever he attended certain events in the future, some antagonistic idiots would certainly jump out and bring up this incident to mock him.
All his anger eventually morphed into a single sentence.
"Meladande, you will regret this!"
Face is sometimes extremely important. Even a guy like Kyle, whose face is as thick as a city wall, couldn't completely ignore the ridicule whispered behind his back...
Late September.
Kyle came to Waterworld Animation Company and called a meeting of the executives.
As of now, the animated film Finding Nemo has been released for nearly two months, achieving $240 million at the North America box office and steadily moving toward $300 million; although it has only been released for just over a month in the overseas market, it has landed in 65 countries and regions, earning over $500 million in cumulative box office revenue.
Total global box office revenue has exceeded $740 million!
This figure shocked, yet simultaneously filled Hollywood's major film companies with envy, jealousy, and hatred.
Box office splits, merchandising licenses, television platform broadcasts, DVD, and video cassette markets... all these various revenues made countless people envious.
In the next two years alone, Finding Nemo is conservatively estimated to generate nearly $1 billion in revenue for Waterworld Animation.
The performance blinded everyone.
"IPO!"
"The main task right now is to list Waterworld Animation Company on the U.S. stock market!"
"Don't forget, everyone, our goal has always been Pixar Animation and DreamWorks Animation. The title of the World's number one animation company sounds pretty good!"
Kyle had long since recovered from the anger of being played by Meladande; making his own company stronger was the most crucial task now.
Stephen Sollenberg, David Messer, and the rest of the executives all clapped in agreement.
Although Kyle himself would still receive the bulk of the profits from Waterworld Animation's listing on the U.S. stock market, those who successfully received shares were now clearly company shareholders, and their interests were tied together with Kyle's.
The two animated films, kung fu panda and up, were immediately thrown out by Kyle.
In 2008, the animated film kung fu panda, produced by DreamWorks Animation and distributed by Paramount, earned a massive $631 million globally on a production budget of $130 million.
At the same time, the second and third animated films in the series also wildly harvested box office revenue worldwide;
In 2009, the animated film up, produced by Pixar Animation and distributed by Disney, not only received stellar reviews but also won multiple awards at the Oscar, Golden Globe, and Academy Awards, and its box office performance was incredibly dazzling.
Its global box office score of $735 million was enough to make it a classic animation beloved by countless movie fans.
"With the two animated films, kung fu panda and up, launching them at the appropriate time will not only drive further box office growth for Finding Nemo but will also make Waterworld Animation's journey to IPO more recognized and anticipated by the market," David Messer said, smiling.
Stephen Sollenberg also beamed, lamenting, "If we hadn't been played by Meladande, we could start production now, and we wouldn't be short-handed."
Producing two animated feature films simultaneously is undoubtedly a huge test for Waterworld Animation.
Kyle stated on the spot: "If we lack people, then we hire people."
Furthermore, Kyle came up with a dirty trick.
Poaching people!
Poaching people from Meladande's team!
Kyle even wanted to go a step further and directly intercept Despicable Me and minions.
Kyle 'Petty' Page is definitely not a magnanimous person; on the contrary, he is extremely vindictive!