Across America, Starting with the Boxing Champion

Chapter 571 Battle with Valuev

Just as the top executives of the six major film studios and shareholders were considering whether to join forces to restrict Lionsgate Pictures, news came from Wall Street that investors such as Netflix, Amazon Studios, and Wanda Group were currently contacting the top executives of Lionsgate Pictures to prepare Conduct a new round of financing.

There is also news that Lionsgate plans to re-list next year.

After hearing this news, the top executives of the six major film studios felt that the rise of Lionsgate Pictures has become an unstoppable fact. The current market value of Lionsgate Pictures is between 8 billion and 8.5 billion, of which 11.37% of Netflix shares are currently worth 3 billion U.S. dollars.

Based on the current revenue of Lionsgate Pictures, the market value after the listing is very likely to exceed 10 billion, or even 15 billion US dollars. If Lionsgate Pictures is successfully listed, it will surpass Paramount Pictures, Sony's Columbia Pictures industry, becoming one of the top five film companies in the film industry.

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Regarding the rumors that Wall Street is preparing to invest in Lionsgate Pictures, Link said that they are all true. In addition to companies such as Netflix, there are also many Wall Street asset management companies, all waving checks hoping to make a fortune with Lionsgate Pictures.

Among them, Netflix and Wanda Group are preparing to acquire 100% of Lions Gate Pictures or no less than 50% of the shares, with an offer price of about US$8.5 billion.

After careful consideration, the board of directors of Lionsgate Pictures accepted Amazon Pictures' offer. This round of financing will transfer a total of 20% of the shares with a market value of US$10 billion. This is also the second round of financing after accepting Carl Icahn last year.

After two rounds of financing, Lionsgate Pictures has several more members on its board of directors. Link is still the majority shareholder, holding 54.8% of Lionsgate shares, Amazon Pictures ranks second with 20%, and Carl Icahn ranks third. 7.6%, several shareholders of Summit Entertainment hold 5.5%, and the remaining shares held by Ivaca, Jon Felleme and others are less than 5%.

After the deal was reached, Lionsgate's market value reached US$10 billion before going public.

Link transferred 11% of his shares in this round of financing, and then exchanged the US$1.1 billion received for Amazon shares.

Together with some Amazon stocks purchased in the first half of the year, the Amazon shares currently managed by Golden Beike Investment have increased to 1.805%, becoming a small shareholder.

Wangda Group, which did not receive the shares, turned around and invested US$2.8 billion to acquire AMC, the second largest theater chain in the United States, taking over 4,865 screens in its 338 theaters.

Wanda Group is preparing to list its Wanda Cinemas chain next year and is currently preparing for the listing.

Link also plans to relist Lionsgate Pictures in the next two years. After the listing, the company will be handed over to professional managers to take care of it. He and Ivaca will take a back seat and enjoy life.

Like now, I worry about the movie box office every day, and I don’t even have time for vacation.

In addition, the film industry will be in a cold winter in a few years. If Lionsgate Pictures wants to survive this crisis, it needs more help. Netflix and Amazon Pictures are both good partners.

Lionsgate also has two movies coming out in October, "Annabelle" and "Gone Girl."

"Annabelle" is a story adapted from the movie "The Conjuring", also called "The Conjuring Prequel". It tells the story of a horrific incident caused by ragdolls and a cult.

Film director John R. Leonardi is the assistant director of "The Conjuring 1" and "Insidious 2", and director James Wan serves as the producer of this film.

The movie was released on October 3 and earned US$37.13 million at the North American box office over the three-day weekend, and US$61.07 million in the ten days of release.

The overseas box office performance was higher than that in North America, with the box office exceeding 100 million US dollars in two weeks of release, reaching 125 million US dollars.

The global box office is expected to be around US$260 million.

When "Annabelle" was released, Link led the boxing team to fly to Dubai to participate in the match with the Eastern behemoth Valuev, competing with Valuev for the WBC organization ranking.

This game was originally planned to be held in the United States, but the wealthy people in the Middle East heard that he was going to fight Valuev and immediately showed great interest.

Prince Rashid, the richest man in Dubai, offered an appearance fee of US$200 million, hoping that they would host the game in Dubai.

Link and Frank didn't refuse, nor would their opponent Valuev.

The match was held at the Royal Dubai Arena. On the day of the match, thousands of rich people with a piece of cloth on their heads came and more than 20,000 boxing fans flew from all over the world.

Everyone wants to see how Link, the new WBA heavyweight champion, can defeat his much taller opponent Valuev.

Valuev is 213 centimeters tall, has an arm length of 213 centimeters, and weighs 316 pounds, which is about 143 kilograms. Standing in the boxing ring, he looks like a gorilla in the movie King Kong. His body is covered with hair, and his appearance is very similar to that in "The Lord of the Rings." of giants.

Valuev is 41 years old this year. He debuted in 1993 and was undefeated until 2007. His career record reached 47 fights and 47 wins, almost breaking the heavyweight curse of being unable to win more than 49 consecutive games.

In the 48th match in 2007, Valuev suffered his first professional defeat when he was blocked by Uzbek boxing champion Ruslan Chagaev.

So far, he has 54 wins and 2 losses in 56 fights. In addition to losing to Chagaev, he also lost to British boxing champion David Haye in 2009.

Compared with these two boxers, Link's arms are shorter, his weight is lighter, and his height is nearly 30 centimeters shorter than Valuev. This gap also adds a lot of highlights to this game.

After the game started, Valuev flexed his muscles and roared loudly, like a crazy giant ape, full of oppression.

The audience in the audience couldn't help but cheer loudly when they saw Valuev's performance.

Link smiled lightly and didn't care. After the referee's announcement, he took the lead in attacking. Using a speed much faster than his opponent, he punched his opponent's abdomen and ribs five times in a row.

When Valuev was attacking, he waved his thick arms and slammed towards him. With a wingspan of 213 centimeters and huge fists, he looked very scary.

It's a pity that his speed is too slow. In the heavyweight field, he is not even comparable to ordinary professional boxers, and his reaction ability is even slower. Every time he swung his fist, Link would avoid it and retreat to a safe area. When Valuev put away his fist, he would approach and attack again, just like using warriors to attack the Titan in the game.

After several consecutive attacks, Valuev only received beatings, but could not hit him. He roared angrily, then waved his sandbag-sized fists and struck at him one after another.

After Link learned about his opponent's strength, he had a clearer understanding of the game and was not worried about his opponent's strong attack.

He stared at the opponent's fist, kept dodging in the ring, and narrowly avoided the opponent's killer moves again and again, as if dancing on a tightrope.

The audience in the audience enjoyed watching it, and applause and cheers came from the audience one after another.

In the first round, Valuev punched 101 times and hit Link 0 times.

Link punched 69 times, hitting his opponent in the abdomen 18 times.

By the end of the round, Valuev was panting and sweating from exhaustion.

Link was very relaxed.

In the second round, Valuev went on the defensive, blocking his ribs and abdomen with his arms, preparing to defend to the death.

Link adopted an offensive tactic in this round, hitting up and down, and hitting down and up. The opponent was 213 centimeters tall and his arm was 194 centimeters long. As long as he got close enough, he could hit the opponent's chin.

At the 56th second of this round, Link first tempted the opponent to punch, and then hit the opponent's left rib with a heavy punch. Valuev bent his back to protect his abdomen in pain, and then hit the opponent's chin with an uppercut.

Valuev was beaten and took three steps back until he hit the ropes.

Link chased after him and punched the opponent's abdomen, arms, and chin more than ten times in a row.

Among them, the punch to the chin was relatively strong. Valuev was staggered by the punch. When he wanted to fight back, he punched him again. Valuev was unprepared, bang! He fell sideways in the ring, overwhelming, like a fallen giant.

There was a burst of exclamation at the scene.

In the third round, Valuev's condition declined seriously. He blocked his abdomen and chin with his fists and did not dare to attack once.

Link continued to use fast punches and knocked down Valuev again at 87 seconds. Valuev struggled for ten seconds, shaking his head, and could barely sit up, but was unable to stand up and continue the game.

The main reason is that Valuev's body is too heavy. Every time he falls in the ring, it will cause physical damage, which is more serious than a punch in the face.

After a few seconds, the referee declared Link the winner.

Qualifying is over.

Link has a professional record of 39 fights, 39 wins and 39 KOs, and is qualified to challenge WBC heavyweight champion Klitschko.

After the game, Link took a flight back to the United States.

His income for this game is 180 million US dollars, Dynasty promotion income is more than 20 million US dollars, and Valuev's appearance fee is only 2 million US dollars.

The organizer, Prince of Dubai, will not lose money. Since Link and Valuev are well-known in the boxing world and are highly topical, more than 4 million copies of the PPV of this game were sold, and the number of people watching the game through the online live broadcast It has also reached tens of millions of people, and the subsequent playback volume has exceeded 1 billion times.

Including peripheral income, the commercial value created by this competition exceeds 600 million US dollars.

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In the four weeks since its release, "Annabelle" has grossed US$85.57 million at the North American box office and US$178 million overseas, bringing the total box office to US$264 million.

In late October, shortly after Link's competition ended, the thriller "Gone Girl" starring him and Rosamund Pike was simultaneously released in many countries and regions around the world.

It grossed US$51.48 million at the box office in 3,014 theaters in North America over the three days over the weekend, and the North American box office exceeded 100 million in ten days of release. It is Lionsgate's sixth film this year to achieve a box office of over 100 million US dollars in North America.

Overseas results are also good. In the first 32 countries and regions where it was released, the film earned a box office of US$182 million in ten days.

The marketing department predicts that the total box office of the movie is expected to be around 450 million.

The reputation of "Gone Girl" is also very positive, with a comprehensive media review score of 82 points, a Rotten Tomatoes freshness score of 87%, and an IMDB score of 8.1/10.

The performances of Link and Pei Chunhua in the film were recognized by professionals.

"The Boston Globe" commented that Link and Rosamund Pike's performances were full of spirituality and tacit understanding. Link vividly displayed an unfaithful and down-and-out literary young man, while Rosamund Pike also performed the image of an elegant and sinister woman with an extraordinary background who tries to conquer all men. It goes deep into the bone marrow and makes people feel that marriage is the double face of heaven and hell, which is horrifying.

"Complete Movie" magazine said that Link has contributed a layered performance in this film and has a high chance of being favored by the Oscar judges and nominated for next year's Best Actor Award.

(End of chapter)