Hollywood Director 1992

In the 12th week of the release of "Final Destination," negative news about "Final Destination" and Link, Joaquin Phoenix reached its peak in the media.

Many media outlets accused Link of exploiting the 'River Phoenix accidental death' to hype the movie, calling it shameless.

They also criticized Joaquin for causing River's death and still helping Link make money, branding him as a cold-blooded and ruthless person.

Furthermore, they condemned "Final Destination" as an ominous film.

They claimed that people who watched the movie would be targeted by the Grim Reaper and encounter unfortunate events.

Many media outlets linked recent accidental deaths, claiming that these people had all encountered accidents after watching "Final Destination," alleging that the movie had caused the deaths of 339 people since its release and should be completely banned.

Affected by the negative publicity, the attendance rate of "Final Destination" was greatly impacted.

In response, Guess Who Productions, in conjunction with the UTA talent agency, took a series of countermeasures.

They sued unscrupulous media outlets, demanding apologies and compensation for reputational damage.

Secondly, River Phoenix's father announced the establishment of a charitable foundation organization in River's name, to protect animals and the rainforest that River had bought during his lifetime.

The 'Death Duo' resumed performances and announced that 100% of the concert ticket revenue and 100% of the singer's share of album sales would be donated to the River Phoenix Charitable Foundation, to support the public welfare that River was most passionate about during his lifetime.

Guess Who Productions announced a donation of $1 million to the River Phoenix Charitable Foundation.

River's friends, Keanu Reeves and Johnny Depp, also successively announced donations of $300,000 and $200,000 respectively to the charitable foundation organization.

Nicolas Cage donated $100,000, and Jennifer Connelly announced a donation of $50,000.

Harry Fordson, Brad Pitt, Uma Thurman, and others who had worked with River successively announced donations ranging from $50,000 to $30,000.

After the 'Death Duo' resumed promotion, the reputation of "Final Destination" gradually improved, and the box office performance also slowly recovered.

In the 12th week, it earned $9.05 million, with a cumulative box office of $188 million.

With three weeks left, according to this trend, there is a high probability that "Final Destination" will exceed "Indecent Proposal's" $202 million in North American box office revenue after 15 weeks of release.

"Damn it, damn it! How could this happen, Richard? You tell me how this could happen? We invested so much money, why is there no effect at all?"

Robert Downey Jr. looked at Richard Gere with disheveled hair and bloodshot eyes.

"Robert, don't get excited. There are only 3 weeks left for 'Final Destination.' It's still short of more than 14 million in box office revenue. They may not be able to get so much box office revenue in the next three weeks."

Richard Gere advised.

"How is it possible that they can't get it? Last week's box office was more than nine million. Even if it declines, it won't fall below six million, let alone the Death Duo is still touring around to promote the movie. In the next three weeks, the box office of 'Final Destination' will only get higher and higher. How is it possible that they can't get 14 million in box office revenue!!!"

Robert Downey Jr. roared, spitting saliva on Richard Gere's face.

Richard Gere sighed, "Things have developed to this point, and I have no way to help it. Michael Ovitz has no way to help it either. We have all tried our best. We can only blame Link for being too cunning. Robert, don't be sad. If you lose the bet, you will only lose more than 10 million. Tom and I will lose more than 20 million. It's all Link's fault. He deserves to die."

"It's over! It's completely over!"

Robert Downey Jr. slumped on the sofa, his eyes blank. Richard Gere and Tom Cruise have tens of millions in assets, and losing 20 million at most will hurt their bones, but he will be bankrupt, and even Robert Downey Sr.'s retirement money will be lost by him.

Kiefer Sutherland also pulled his hair with both hands, his expression dull. This time, he also lost nearly ten million and was burdened with millions of dollars in debt. He once again regretted listening to Robert Jr. and Richard Gere's instigation to participate in this bet.

Bang!

"Something happened!"

Just when the few people were discouraged and waiting to admit defeat, the media reported another big news. Yesterday, a flight from Chicago to Lourdes, a northern city in Minnesota, crashed on a hillside not far from the runway due to a plane malfunction, resulting in the deaths of all 125 people on board.

Originally, this news had little to do with "Final Destination," but during the interview, three citizens told reporters in an excited tone that they had originally planned to take this flight to Lourdes, but after watching "Final Destination" before boarding, they felt very nervous and temporarily gave up their plan to take the plane and took the train instead.

If it weren't for this movie, the three of them would have died in this plane crash.

Although this is a relatively positive news report, that "Final Destination" saved the lives of three people, after the plane crash, many tabloids took the opportunity to hype that "Final Destination" is an ominous movie. After "Final Destination" was released worldwide, two plane crashes occurred one after another, causing a large number of deaths.

This movie should be banned from continuing to be shown.

In addition, the airline released its performance for the past two months. Compared with before the release of "Final Destination," the occupancy rates of major airlines have obviously declined in the past two months, with the lowest decline of 3% and the highest of 21%. The decline is more obvious in areas with high box office results for "Final Destination."

United Airlines issued news that it would consider talking to Guess Who Productions and suggest ending the release of "Final Destination" early.

The distribution work of "Final Destination" was under great pressure.

However, several large insurance companies in various industries supported the continued release of "Final Destination" and even took the initiative to spend money to help with publicity.

According to data released by Metropolitan Life Insurance Services, the number of customers purchasing personal accident insurance has increased significantly in the past two months, an increase of 4.3% compared with the third quarter and 8.6% compared with the same period. This is a very obvious increase.

It is said that many insurance salesmen will mention the movie "Final Destination" when buying insurance, telling customers that life and death are impermanent and that buying accident insurance is very cost-effective.

There are also insurance companies that cooperate with Guess Who Productions to jointly launch a 'Final Destination' accident insurance package.

Regardless of criticism or support, "Final Destination" continued to be released in a controversial public opinion atmosphere. In the 13th week, "Final Destination" earned $10.36 million, $6.37 million in the 14th week, and $4.13 million in the 15th week.

"Final Destination" has grossed $209 million in North America in 15 weeks of release, $7 million more than "Indecent Proposal."

"Lost!"

There is no mistake in every first letter of every word!

Robert Downey Jr. lay on the floor with a pale face.

The phone kept ringing, and the bank started to urge for debt repayment.

"How could this happen? We have so many people and raised so much money. Why did we lose to Link alone?"

Kiefer Sutherland's expression was bleak.

"Link must have cheated. He won us with despicable means, causing us to lose hundreds of millions of dollars. This kind of person deserves to be shot to death."

Richard Gere said angrily.

A trace of murderous intent flashed across Robert Downey Jr.'s face.

"Can we break the contract? Can we find a way to get the bet back?"

Kiefer Sutherland asked expectantly.

Richard Gere spread his hands, "I asked, we can't. We were worried that Link would regret it if he lost, so we prepared a lot of contracts during the negotiation to block all the retreats.

In the end, whichever movie has a higher North American box office, the notary company will automatically determine which party wins. After one party wins, Citibank must transfer the bet to the winning party's account within 24 hours without any reason for delay."

"Damn it! Link deserves to die!"

Robert Downey Jr. roared with a ferocious expression. He picked up the phone and called his agent, asking him to contact a professional killer to kill Link in New York.

Link successfully won this bet, adding $144 million to his Citibank account in Hong Kong Island and $32.5 million to several Las Vegas gambling company accounts.

This bet won more than $170 million, plus more than $100 million in North American box office revenue from "Final Destination."

In addition, "Final Destination" has grossed $117 million in overseas regions in more than two months of release.

Movie videotape revenue is currently about $23 million, family cable TV copyright, music albums, GG sponsorship and other peripheral revenue is about $18 million.

This movie has currently brought him and the company about $340 million in profits, and may exceed $500 million in the future.

Compared to the $13.5 million production cost and more than $20 million publicity investment, it can be regarded as a very profitable business.