Conquer America, Start with a Boxing Champion

"Link, are there any good movie projects recently? I hope we can work together if we have the opportunity."

Ryan Kavanaugh said, holding a champagne glass at the party.

Link thought for a while and came up with two projects. One was "The Expendables 3" being prepared by Lionsgate Pictures, and the other was the movie "Divergent" adapted from the best-selling book produced by Summit Entertainment.

Due to the relatively high remuneration of him and Scarlett Johansson, the project budget of "The Expendables 3" is as high as 125 million US dollars. The higher the budget, the greater the risk. Similarly, if the box office is a hit, the profit will be higher. This is also like gambling.

To this end, he needs to find more colleagues to cooperate. If he wins, everyone will make money together, and if he loses, they will bear the consequences together.

And "Divergent" is a newly developed film project. It is a science fiction action movie with a production budget of 70 to 80 million. If Kavanaugh is interested, he can also participate in investment.

But Kavanaugh was more interested in low-budget film projects produced by Lionsgate.

This summer, although Lionsgate Pictures ranked third in the total box office of movies released, Disney, which ranked first, suffered a box office bomb "The Lone Ranger" and lost US$200 million. Warner Pictures' "The Hangover 3" also appeared Only Lionsgate movies are losing money.

Lionsgate has also become the most profitable company in the summer "New Seven Films".

Among the several movies released by Lionsgate, except for "Now You See Me", which cost 75 million, the other movies are all below 50 million. "Rust and Bone", which has a global box office of 320 million, cost only 22 million US dollars.

This is one of the reasons why Lionsgate is amazing.

Relativity Pictures' current financial situation is very poor and it cannot afford more money. He hopes to participate in the production of low-cost movies from Lionsgate Pictures.

Upon hearing Kavanaugh's request, Link did not immediately respond, but simply told him that invitations would be sent out if there were suitable projects.

In fact, not all low-cost film projects produced by Lionsgate are guaranteed to be profitable, such as "Her", last year's "The Master", Joaquin's newly submitted "Inherent Evil", Megan Ellison's new The script "Foxcatcher", Brad Pitt's "The Big Short" and so on.

These movies are mainly used to compete for Oscars.

The more Oscars Lionsgate's films win, the better their reputation will be, and they will attract more filmmakers to collaborate. For example, Reese Witherspoon's "Into the Wild" won the award from black director Lee Daniels. Come to "The White House Butler" and so on.

He remembered that the original producer of "The Butler" was Weinstein Pictures, but now director Lee Daniels has taken the initiative to cooperate with Lionsgate. This change is naturally in line with Lionsgate's Oscar awards in recent years. Achievements are closely related.

"Hi, Link!"

Angelina Jolie and Reese Witherspoon walked side by side. They are partners in new projects at Lionsgate and are also the bosses of the film company, so they were also invited by Link and Ivaca.

"Link, "Into the Wild" has been approved. Can I invite you to play a supporting actor role?"

Ms. Witherspoon laughed.

"If there's no scheduling conflict, I think I can live with that."

Link responded politely.

"No problem, we can adjust the shooting plan according to your time."

Ms. Witherspoon laughed.

Link agreed.

"Link, "Maleficent" needs a little girl of three or four years old. Why don't you let Cynthia try it? She is very beautiful, like a little angel, and she is very suitable for that role."

Ms. Julie smiled while holding the wine glass.

Link thought for a while and thought it was not bad. Let the little guy make a movie. He doesn't have to be an actor when he grows up. It can also give him an interesting childhood experience.

But he can't make the decision. You need to ask Taylor what he wants for this kind of thing. If Taylor doesn't agree and he makes the decision without permission, Taylor will definitely blame him if he finds out afterwards.

"Okay, I'll wait for your answer."

Angelina Jolie smiled and mentioned a new script to him. It tells the story of an American soldier who was captured by the Japanese during World War II and suffered inhuman abuse but remained unyielding. It is a movie based on a true story. It's called "Unbreakable."

Julie asked Link if he was interested in investing and playing the male lead, and she was going to be the director herself.

Link didn't reject it immediately. He wanted to read the script first.

After sending away two big stars, Link joined Julia Roberts, Kate Winslet, Meryl Streep, Nicole Kidman, Jessica Alba, Jessica Chastain and others We chatted about new movies and projects.

Lionsgate now produces more than 20 movies every year, which is much more than the six major film studios. Lionsgate's performance in Oscar awards is better than that of the six major film studios. This has also made it difficult for actors and agents to Lionsgate Pictures, which companies valued, has become a hot potato.

However, due to the large age gap, these elder sisters did not express any seductive intentions when chatting. They just kept praising him, almost touting him as the most perfect man in the world.

After chatting with a group of elder sisters, Link chatted with Netflix Chairman and CEO Reed Hastings and Vice President Scott Stuber.

At the end of last year, Lionsgate Pictures signed multiple cooperation plans with Netflix, including TV series, movies, variety shows, etc. Netflix is ​​responsible for financing and distribution, and Lionsgate Pictures mainly provides high-quality content.

In February, the first season of "House of Cards", co-produced by both parties, premiered simultaneously on Netflix's website worldwide, achieving very good results, with rising ratings, becoming a phenomenal hit TV series, attracting millions of members to watch.

At the same time, it also led to an increase in Netflix's stock price, from $26 per share at the end of last year to $197.5 per share.

Netflix's total market value also recovered from $5 billion at the end of last year to more than $10 billion on February 25, with a current market value of $17.93 billion, exceeding the highest level in 11 years.

Lionsgate's 11.37% Netflix shares have a market value of more than $2 billion, and Kim Baker Investment's 8.62% shares have also reached $1.54 billion.

Link's net worth has also skyrocketed.

In the future, the two companies will cooperate to produce more film and television dramas, as well as Link's "100 online drama plan" and "10,000 micro-film plan". As long as the cooperation goes smoothly, Netflix's market value will be higher.

——

After chatting and meeting all the guests, Link finally relaxed. At the suggestion of Lady Gaga, he sat down at the piano and played a new song "Victory" with the accompaniment of the band. It was a magnificent piece of pure music.

"Link is too perfect. He is handsome, a musician, a boxing champion, a billionaire, and has almost no shortcomings. It's a pity that there is only one perfect man like him in the world."

Jessica Chastain exclaimed in the crowd.

"You should praise him in person. This guy likes others to praise him."

Emma Stone said with a curled mouth.

"I can't say it to my face."

Chastain laughed.

Emma Stone looked at her, hesitated for a moment, pulled Chastain's arm, and whispered: "Jessica, let me ask you something, a private matter, I hope you won't be angry."

"What?"

"That is, you and Link"

"We definitely didn't sleep together, and we don't have any other relationship."

Before she finished, Chastain explained in advance, because after she won the Oscar for Best Actress, this question was asked more than once by friends and family, and was looked at with strange eyes by others.

At first she was a little awkward, but later she gradually got used to it. In fact, having a scandal with a big man like Link is not a bad thing in the entertainment industry, and it is very cool.

She wouldn't hate it psychologically.

It's just that nothing really happened between her and Link, and it's not easy to lie when asked.

"Really? Don't get me wrong, I don't mean anything else, I just want to know some things."

Emma Stone said with a wink.

Chastain shook his head and looked at her strangely, "I have heard about the scandal between you and Link since 2010. You and Link are the first two artists under Palm Bay Agency. Logically, you and Link have a closer relationship. Why don't you ask him?"

"I asked him and he said no."

"There was no such thing. You are just imagining it."

Chastain said helplessly.

"Really?"

Emma Stone was a little confused. She had known Link since 2010. Because Link was not arrogant, the two had always maintained a good personal relationship.

But there was one thing that always confused her. In recent years, Link has successively pushed Jennifer Lawrence and Jessica Chastain to the throne of Oscar-winning actress. She believed that her acting skills were not worse than Jennifer and Chastain.

But Link has no plan to help her publicize the Oscar-winning actress. Every time he asked him, he said there was no rush and he would help her win three in the future.

She was not sure whether Link was serious or perfunctory.

So she wanted to ask Chastain if she had slept with Link.

If she had done it, it meant that she had not done her job well. She could consider letting Link take advantage of her. They were all acquaintances, so it was nothing to have sex.

If she had not done it, she would make other plans.

She had worked with Chastain several times and knew that she would not lie. So the reason why Link supported Chastain as the best actress was entirely because she had good acting skills and the movies she acted in were also good, not because he decided whether to support her based on the degree of intimacy.

After learning this, she breathed a sigh of relief, but also a little disappointed. Link could have used this to take advantage of countless actresses, but he chose not to do so. He was not a professional scumbag.

"I think to win an Oscar, you still need to look at the work and acting skills. It is impossible to do it by relying solely on public relations. Otherwise, why didn't Link publicize a Best Actor award for himself?"

Chastain laughed.

Emma Stone nodded and thought so. There are many women in Hollywood who have a close relationship with Link, such as Daddario and Emma Watson. They have not even been nominated for an Oscar, which also shows that Link pays more attention to the work when publicizing the Oscar.

Bang bang bang!

After Link finished playing a song, there was a burst of warm applause and cheers.

Emma Stone also clapped her hands and shouted for another song.

Link naturally had no intention of playing another song. He played the piano at the party out of courtesy, not to give a concert to everyone. He handed the scene to the band and continued to chat with everyone and talk about work.

"Link, is this a new song you wrote?"

Lady Gaga asked.

"Yes, it's still in the process of being created, and it's not finished yet."

Link said.

"It's amazing. You don't write songs now, but play instrumental music. You are really an incredible guy."

Lady Gaga exclaimed.

"There is a female voice humming in this song, do you want to try it?"

"Yes! Of course, I can't ask for it."

lady Gaga said quickly.

——

After the party, Link and Iwaka took a little vacation to themselves.

The two took the three little ones back to their garden villa in Miami for vacation. They spent a relatively leisurely time, taking the three little ones to pile sand at the beach every day, or go fishing on the sea on a yacht, and visit James's cafe as a guest. , went to the boxing gym to visit Coach West.

During this period, his old father-in-law also returned to Miami for vacation and continued to teach him how to play golf and introduced him to Florida officials and congressmen.

My old father-in-law mentioned that he was planning to run for office again. He failed last time and hoped that he could successfully move to Washington this time.

Link expressed support for this, and also helped his old father-in-law come up with a loud slogan and gave a lot of reliable suggestions.

Because of this, his old father-in-law became closer to him, which even made Ivaca feel jealous.

"Husband, what have you done to dad? Now when he opens his mouth, he calls me dear Link, smart Link, and wants me to learn from you. I feel like you are my biological father and son."

By the villa swimming pool, Ivaca was lying under the pergola in a bikini, flipping through a magazine and saying.

"We are like-minded and have a lot in common. It's normal for my father-in-law to like me."

Link poured some sunscreen onto her smooth back and spread it evenly with the palm of his hand.

"That's good."

Ivaca smiled and turned back to kiss him.

Link smiled softly, took off the restraints on her body, and gave her a full body spa.