"Although we all know that the biggest news in the global entertainment industry right now is the renewed success of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Part One), and that it may become—no! It will definitely become the highest-grossing film in the global market this year! I believe that, for most people, this news is actually not particularly shocking."
"Because Harry Potter has been winning ever since it was created!"
"After J.K. Rowling changed the global publishing industry with her pen, with each of her new releases selling as many copies as every other book published worldwide that year combined, the Harry Potter films, which respected the source material, were bound to succeed!"
"So, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Part One) is going to surpass one billion dollars at the box office again?"
"In the eyes of many people, that is only natural!"
"But precisely because so many people consider the success of Order of the Phoenix (Part One) inevitable, most of them have overlooked something—something truly terrifying."
"The actress who plays Hermione Granger in Harry Potter, Isabella Haywood, is about to break every record in the entertainment industry and become the first film professional in the world whose career box-office total surpasses ten billion dollars!"
"This is difficult to describe with words, so let us look directly at the numbers—"
"Before the release of the final Harry Potter novel, Deathly Hallows, Warner Bros. built excitement for the book by releasing director's cuts of Philosopher's Stone, Chamber of Secrets, Prisoner of Azkaban, and Goblet of Fire (Parts One and Two). As a result, the final grosses of those films currently stand at $1.031 billion, $957 million, $1.456 billion, and a combined $3.093 billion for the two parts of Goblet of Fire."
"Even without including the currently successful Order of the Phoenix (Part One), the Harry Potter film series has already earned $6.537 billion worldwide. Assuming that Order of the Phoenix (Part One) finishes with $1.5 billion, the franchise's worldwide box office will reach a terrifying eight billion dollars!"
"Once that figure appears, Isabella Haywood could easily approach the ten-billion-dollar record as an actress even if she did nothing else. But—she has also done several other things."
"She starred in the musical film The Voice of the World and the fashion film The Devil Wears Prada. Since those two films earned more than one billion dollars combined, as long as Order of the Phoenix (Part Two) opens on schedule next year, her career box-office total as an actress will surpass ten billion dollars!"
"This is an absolutely terrifying achievement—"
"?"
"Because no one has ever accomplished it before!"
"This is an extremely, extremely terrifying achievement—"
"…"
"Because Isabella Haywood was born on March 19, 1990. Even if Order of the Phoenix (Part Two) does not open until Thanksgiving or Christmas of 2008, she will still be crowned the ten-billion-dollar box-office queen before turning nineteen!"
"This is an extremely, extremely, extremely terrifying achievement—"
"?"
"Because another story like Harry Potter will probably never appear again! Even if another commercial franchise as successful as Harry Potter emerges in the future, no one will likely be able to replicate Isabella Haywood's success! Isabella Haywood is currently creating her own history!"
"Even though she has already made plenty of history before this!"
"And then—"
"Even though Isabella Haywood is creating new history! Even though her achievements in film are unmatched! None of that is particularly important to her anymore!"
"Because Google officially surpassed a market capitalization of two hundred billion dollars last month!"
"That means Isabella Haywood's Google shares are worth twenty billion dollars!"
"And Google stock represents only a portion of the assets she personally owns!"
"In addition to Google shares, she owns an entertainment company, a talent agency, and a record company!"
"Although The Voice television franchise has begun to decline, with the latest North American season reaching a peak audience of only fifteen million viewers, the brand is still worth five billion dollars. Apart from the main program, its two spin-off series are still performing well. Both Hannah Montana and Nashville have reached their third seasons!"
"Her entertainment company also released the animated film God of Cookery this year, while her talent agency and record company control the representation contracts and music rights of numerous famous artists. Combined, those assets must be worth at least ten billion dollars!"
"She also owns an investment company called Robin. Its publicly disclosed assets include Take-Two, a video game company worth more than $2.5 billion. As for what undisclosed assets it owns?"
"We currently do not know."
"But even so, we can still estimate her total wealth! Her net worth may exceed forty billion!"
"Dollars!"
"Yes, yes, yes."
"I am only saying all of this to show that her personal wealth is growing even faster than her box-office achievements!"
"So—"
"Filming Harry Potter may now be the least cost-effective job Isabella Haywood has, because practically anything she does earns her more money than acting—even doing nothing at all."
"Finally, I would like to say that I envy the life Isabella Haywood now has. She debuted as an entertainer and built a fortune worth tens of billions in less than ten years. Wow~ Perhaps this is what people mean when they speak of an angel kissed by God!"
"…"
"…"
The explosive success of Order of the Phoenix (Part One) caused countless media professionals to examine the career achievements of its creative team while preparing their articles.
Uh—
This was actually perfectly normal.
Unless they were reporting on an emerging industry, the media would always examine the history of an established industry whenever discussing its achievements.
After all, without looking at its history, how could anyone determine whether an industry was progressing or declining?
Right?
Then, while looking through the records, everyone discovered that Isabella, who had always brought happiness to the world, might become the unprecedented ten-billion-dollar box-office queen in the very year she reached adulthood, before she even turned twenty.
When this fact emerged—
Almost everyone exclaimed, "Oh my God—"
There was no helping it. The achievement was simply too outrageous.
However, all of the amazement inspired by that madness abruptly disappeared when they began writing their articles!
Because when someone was overwhelmingly successful, including a brief personal biography in any article about them was inevitable.
And Isabella's résumé? Her detailed accomplishments?
They were even more absurd than her film achievements!
So, once everyone realized that Isabella's personal fortune was even more explosive than her box-office results—
Every report related to Order of the Phoenix (Part One) became a personal showcase for Isabella Haywood!
How could the faint glow of a firefly possibly compete with the radiance of the moon?
As for this—
When the entertainment media published these articles, public opinion did not react particularly strongly.
Because everything entertainment reporters could see consisted of Isabella's publicly disclosed holdings.
Since those holdings were public, they had already sent shockwaves through the investment world long ago.
Therefore—
As early as last month, Forbes and Bloomberg had already published articles stating that Isabella's net worth had surpassed forty billion dollars!
She ranked fourth on the global list of the wealthiest people!
Behind only Microsoft founder Bill Gates!
Berkshire Hathaway chairman Warren Buffett!
And Mexican telecommunications magnate Carlos Slim!
Therefore, for the entertainment media to begin praising her now?
They were so late that they could not even get fresh shit!
Or rather, at this point, the public found discussing Isabella's coming-of-age ceremony more interesting than discussing how wealthy she was!
Ahem—
That might sound crude and somewhat exaggerated, but it was the truth.
In the eyes of the general public, Order of the Phoenix (Part One), Isabella's personal achievements, and her many successes might have been the best topics for casual conversation. However, in the eyes of Marvel chairman Isaac Perlmutter, the most important matter at that moment was monitoring the Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix video game.
That's right.
While Order of the Phoenix (Part One) was dominating the box office, the game developed and published by EA, sharing its title with the novel Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, was officially released worldwide. As for its sales and reception—
"Boss, EA's Order of the Phoenix was released in North America on November 9, 2007."
"It was released in the United Kingdom, Europe, Australia, and other regions on November 16, 2007."
"In other words, as of yesterday, EA's Order of the Phoenix has been on sale in North America for exactly four weeks."
"And for three weeks in regions outside North America."
"According to the statistics released by major retailers, over four weeks in North America and three weeks in the rest of the world, Order of the Phoenix sold approximately 4.3 to 4.5 million copies."
"Since its standard retail price was $59.99, Order of the Phoenix generated approximately $257.95 million to $269.95 million in revenue for EA after its release."
"Although that was lower than Microsoft's Halo 3, the figures were still quite terrifying."
"After all, the Harry Potter series could practically be considered an annual franchise in the gaming industry."
"It was never going to bring players or fans much novelty or astonishment."
"Moreover, Order of the Phoenix did not receive particularly high review scores."
"On Xbox 360, it scored only 57."
"On PS3, it scored only 59."
"On Wii, it scored only 62."
"Since EA has not yet released it on PC, there is currently no score for the PC version."
"All of those scores are out of one hundred."
"Finally, based on the current figures, Order of the Phoenix may eventually reach ten million copies sold."
"Reaching that figure will probably take—"
"About a year."
At that point, Isaac Perlmutter's secretary stopped speaking.
He raised his head and shifted his gaze from the report in his hands to the boss sitting before him.
In response to his unspoken question, Isaac Perlmutter nodded with a smile.
"Okay."
"…"
"I understand."
On the surface, Isaac Perlmutter had no reason to be paying such close attention to EA.
After all, the company that could currently affect him was Take-Two.
EA was not Isabella's company!
But—
That might be true on the surface, but the logic did not work that way!
Although EA had nothing to do with Isabella, Isabella was deeply tied to the Harry Potter IP. Therefore, if the sales of a Harry Potter game had little to do with its actual quality and were supported almost entirely by the popularity of the franchise, then the sales of the Order of the Phoenix game could directly shape people's estimate of how much influence Isabella possessed in the gaming industry.
For example:
Strong sales for EA's Order of the Phoenix would mean that Isabella had a relatively large core audience among gamers.
After all, not everyone who read novels played video games;
And not everyone who played video games watched films;
Only those who played the games, watched the films, and read the novels could be considered Isabella's true supporters in the gaming industry.
As for how Isaac Perlmutter knew that the sales of the Harry Potter games had nothing to do with their quality, or how he knew that the people buying them were all Harry Potter fans—
The answer was simple—
Before the release of Order of the Phoenix, none of the other Harry Potter games had been outstanding masterpieces.
Or rather, without the Harry Potter name wrapped around them, some of those games could even have been called complete garbage.
And after the release of Order of the Phoenix—
A highest score of only 62 across three platforms hardly made it look like a good game, did it?
When even the people who bought and played the game did not consider Order of the Phoenix a good game, yet its sales were still expected to reach ten million copies, did that not prove that many people were buying it purely out of love for the franchise?
And when the sales of Harry Potter games were largely driven by fans buying them out of love, those buyers were naturally the franchise's die-hard supporters. And were the die-hard supporters of Harry Potter not also Isabella's core audience?
Once the logic was laid out like that, Isaac Perlmutter's behavior became easy to understand, right?
After Isaac Perlmutter learned that Isabella had millions, perhaps even more than ten million, fans in the gaming industry—
"Mm."
A look of amazement immediately appeared on his face.
"Tell me—"
"How can someone like Isabella Haywood exist in this world?"
"She has die-hard supporters in every industry?"
"This is simply—"
"This is simply—"
"This is simply—"
"Wow."
"…"
"It's fortunate that she wasn't born an American on American soil."
"Otherwise, she might have become the first female president of the United States."
Perhaps the secretary could not determine his boss's current mood.
Or perhaps he knew that his boss's emotions were unpredictable.
Whatever the reason, Isaac Perlmutter's remark received no response.
However, none of that was particularly important to him at the moment.
After realizing that Isabella might never have intended to destroy him in the first place, Isaac Perlmutter had immediately changed his approach. He was now calm enough to remain still and respond only when circumstances changed.
So—
"Have you gathered all the information about the VGA?"
After a moment of thought, Isaac Perlmutter changed the subject.
"Yes."
"…"
His secretary could answer that question, so he immediately nodded. "Take-Two's BioShock has been nominated for Game of the Year at this year's VGA, and it has a very high chance of winning. Therefore, they will definitely attend this year's ceremony."
"Will they reveal a new game at the VGA?" Isaac Perlmutter continued.
"No related information has leaked so far, but the VGA accepts advertising placements from participating companies every year," the secretary said. "And according to information from the VGA, Take-Two has already purchased advertising space from them."
"So—unless something unexpected happens—"
"Take-Two may reveal a new product at the VGA."
"Okay. In that case, continue gathering information."
Isaac Perlmutter looked at his secretary. "And regardless of whether anything is confirmed, remind me to watch the VGA."
"Understood, Boss."
"…"
The secretary nodded decisively.
Since Isaac Perlmutter and his advisers now unanimously believed that Isabella would release a game connected to God of Cookery before 2008, watching the market for its announcement was only natural.
Remaining unchanged in the face of countless changes meant adapting when circumstances demanded it.
It did not mean sitting still until someone's fist had already struck you in the face before thinking of a response.
Based on Isaac Perlmutter and his advisers' calculations, if they had correctly predicted all of Isabella's actions, she would most likely reveal the new game at this year's VGA.
As for what the VGA was—
Before the creation of the TGA, or The Game Awards, it was the largest awards ceremony in the global video game industry. Its full name was the Video Game Awards, and it was known as the Oscars of gaming.
Of course, any humanities-based award that did not involve objective scientific measurements would inevitably face disputes over its credibility.
In the future, the TGA would repeatedly destroy its own reputation.
After it continued awarding Game of the Year to titles such as The Last of Us Part II and Astro Bot, genuine players in the gaming community could no longer suppress their anger and repeatedly cursed the organizers for being idiots.
And Geoff Keighley, the founder of the TGA, was also the founder of the VGA.
Anyone familiar with the history of the video game industry knew that Geoff Keighley did not abandon the VGA to create the TGA because, as he claimed, the VGA had become completely controlled by corporate interests. He had simply accepted too much advertising money and ruined the VGA's reputation himself.
At his most outrageous, the man had dared to insert thirty minutes of advertising into an awards ceremony that lasted only 120 minutes.
He had treated the players like complete fools.
Nevertheless, even though the VGA's reputation was already mediocre, it remained the only major awards ceremony of its kind in the global gaming industry, and tens of millions of players still sat in front of their televisions to watch it every year.
That's right.
The VGA ceremony was broadcast live on traditional television.
The organizer and broadcaster was Spike TV.
Yes, this was the same Paramount-owned Spike TV that had more than ninety million subscribers, nearly one hundred million.
And because the VGA ceremony could be broadcast around the world by satellite—
On the evening of December 8, 2007—
Isaac Perlmutter sat down in front of his television.