Across America, Starting with the Boxing Champion

Chapter 420: Anger and Jealousy

 “Haha, dear Bob, you did a great job on this, I’m very satisfied.”

 In the afternoon, as soon as Bob Weinstein walked into the company president's office, he was hugged by his brother Harvey who rushed towards him.

 Harvey’s hug was warm and he praised him in words.

It's just that the two big men have big bellies and short arms. When the two hugged each other, their huge bellies pressed against each other, bulging and bulging, which felt very awkward. There was also the sour smell coming from Harvey's breath. He didn't like it very much.

“Harvey, how was your trip to Cannes?”

 After Harvey let go, Bob took a step back and asked.

"It's very good. "The Artist" won the Best Actor Award, and "Avenging My Father" won the Catholic Humanitarian Spirit Award. I also found two good movies at the film festival."

 “How are these two movies? Can they make money?”

Bob asked excitedly.

“Very good, if the publicity is good, it’s not a problem to make millions. Haha, speaking of buying movie rights, that **** Link also bought the distribution rights for two movies at the film festival.”

 “What kind of movie? Can it also make money?”

Bob asked curiously.

 Harvey sat on the office chair, puffing out his belly and laughing.

“At first I heard that Link took the initiative to ask people from Lionsgate to buy the rights to two movies. I was curious like you and thought it was a good movie. I went to watch it and found out that it was two Chinese movies.

One was a thriller movie with a bland plot and lots of loopholes in the setting, which wasted more than ten minutes of my time. The other was a literary movie with good acting by the lead actor, but the subject was too obscure and the language was incomprehensible. There is nothing like this kind of movie in the United States. market.

Originally, I was going to grab it and let Link spend more money, but I was worried that he would let it go because he thought the price was too high, so I didn't intervene, haha, but I'm sure that Link would definitely lose this time. I don't understand movies at all. "

Harvey laughed.

 Bob nodded. Harvey was a professional in this regard. He trusted Harvey's judgment.

“Bob, let’s talk about the Ivaca scandal. You did a good job this time. Is this news true?”

 Harvey pointed to the news in the entertainment section of the "Los Angeles Times" that "Ivaca found a new love, Playboy Link broke up tragically".

“False! I arranged for detectives to follow Eva Kaduo for days, and found that except for going to the company to work, she spent most of her time in the bay villa. Even if she went out every time, she would bring her assistant secretary with her, and she had no friends of the opposite sex.

According to the informant, when Eva was stuck in the company, she would not meet employees of the opposite **** alone, and there were no bad rumors.

 After many days of investigation, I could not find anything worthy of revelation. In the end, I had no choice but to crop the photo of the meeting between Ivaca and Pam Abdi and publish it on the news. "

Bob said helplessly.

“Haha, that’s not bad. Even if it’s fake, it doesn’t matter. Now the newspapers are discussing that Link is eating soft food. Without Evaca and the Tom family, he is nothing.

Link is young and energetic. He will definitely be very angry when he sees these news, and he will feel alienated from Iwaka. As time goes by, the conflict between them will become more and more serious. I can almost see the two of them falling out. scene. "

 Harvey laughed.

“Harvey, I’m afraid it’s not that simple.”

 “Oh, what happened?”

Harvey asked, lighting a cigar.

Bob turned on the TV and flipped through several channels to play a video clip of Ivaca's interview.

In the interview video, Ivaka is dressed in a decent professional woman's attire, fully displaying her tall and graceful figure. With her cold and delicate face and elegant conversation, her whole figure seems to be cast in a dazzling halo. Appear radiant.

 Harvey frowned and looked at it, not caring at first.

Although Evaka’s answers in the interview were clever and reasonable, most netizens are just a mob, and the main purpose of surfing the Internet is to vent their emotions and have a boring pastime.

 Not many people will listen to others' reasoning, and they don't care what the truth is.

 As for the matter between Link and Iwaka, as long as the hype continues, there will definitely be a crack in the relationship between the two.

Just after listening for a while, Harvey suddenly heard a reporter from "The Hollywood Reporter" ask about Warner Pictures stealing box office. He immediately sat up straight and looked at Bob in surprise.

 “Is this news true?”

"It should be true. According to the information I heard, the North American box office of "Bridesmaids" should be more than 120 million in the four weeks since its release. The current figure is 70.5 million, and Warner has taken more than 50 million in the box office."

 “Hiss!”

 Hearing the news, Harvey couldn't help but gasped, and his greasy forehead wrinkled tightly.

 He ​​was not lamenting that Warner stole the box office too hard, but that the real box office of "Bridesmaids" in North America was more than 120 million.

　　“What is the current overseas box office revenue of “Bridesmaids”?”

“$158 million!”

"So much?! Does that mean the global box office of "Bridesmaids" has exceeded 200 million US dollars? A movie with an investment of 30 million has a global box office of more than 200 million or even 300 million?!"

 Harvey shouted angrily.

Bob shrugged his shoulders, expressing resignation.

 The investment in "Bridesmaids" was 32.5 million, and the global box office was more than 200 million US dollars, maybe more than 300 million US dollars.

 This revenue ratio ranks among the top three movies released during the year, if not the first. There is no doubt that Palm Beach Pictures has bet on another dark horse movie, and Link will use this movie to once again make a fortune in the film market.

Just now Harvey was still laughing at Link for not understanding movies.

bump!

 Another ashtray was broken.

“Why, why is this happening? Why is Link, a newcomer who doesn’t know anything, successful in investing one after another?”

Harvey yelled with a gloomy face.

“Harvey, don’t be angry. This is the credit of Palm Beach Pictures’ production department and has nothing to do with Link. He is not that powerful.”

Bob consoled him.

 Harvey gritted his teeth viciously and bit off the cigar directly: "Go check and see who is instructing him to invest in movies. This person must not stay at Palm Beach Pictures, and he must not let Link make money anymore."

This is not just a matter of making money, but also a struggle for power and honor.

If the movies invested by Link continue to be successful, not only actors will take the initiative to approach Link, hoping to cooperate with him, but film companies will also be eager to come to ask for cooperation.

 If this situation continues, Link's influence in Hollywood will become greater and greater, and his status will become higher and higher.

 At that time, Link will replace him as the most powerful person in Hollywood and become the object of everyone's pursuit.

Those women would also eagerly squat in front of Link and serve him.

Thinking of this, a strong anger swept through Harvey's heart.

His expression gradually turned ferocious, and the fat on his body was trembling, like a wild Canadian wild boar.

"Harvey, don't worry. It's just luck that Palm Beach Pictures can bet on two movies in a row. It's impossible for all other movies to be successful. No one can do this. Maybe he will lose money on his next movie. "

Seeing his change of expression, Bob quickly spoke out to persuade him.

“No, we can’t take any chances and ask about the films that Palm Beach Pictures has invested in this year, especially the small-budget films. We must find a way to grab them.”

 Harvey shouted, clenching his fists.

"I know this. Palm Beach Pictures invested in four movies in the first half of the year, "Silver Linings Playbook" and "Beasts of the Southern Wild," and the remaining two are artistic movies "The Master" and "Lawless" in cooperation with Annapurna Pictures. "

Bob talked about the situation of "The Master" and "Lawless". The investment in both movies was about 30 million.

 Harvey had read the script of "The Master" and thought it was good. However, the investment was too high and it was difficult to make back the money. After serious consideration, he decided to give up.

Now I heard that Link is going to invest in this movie. The director is Paul Anderson, the starring role is Joaquin Phoenix, the heroine is Amy Adams, who has been nominated for the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress twice, and the supporting role is Oscar-winning actress with "Capote" Philip Seymour Hoffman.

　Judging from the creative lineup, he could vaguely feel the potential for a big hit.

“How is the preparation for this movie going? Is there any chance to grab it?”

"No, preparations for "The Master" began at the beginning of last year, but were temporarily interrupted due to investment issues. Joaquin approached Link with the project. After Link read the script, he decided to invest and brought Megan Ellison with him. Now Casting has ended and filming is scheduled to begin next month.”

Bob said.

Harvey frowned, stood up and walked around the office. After thinking for a while, he gave Bob a task, asking him to talk to Link.

 On the condition of helping with public relations for the Academy Award, we will find a way to get a portion of the investment share of "The Master" and "Beasts of the Southern Wild".

If he dares not to agree, blackmail him with "Silver Linings Playbook" and postpone the release of the movie indefinitely.

 Because Weinstein Pictures is also the producer of the film, he has the right to ask for this.

 “Okay! I’ll make arrangements later.”

Bob readily agreed.

 In fact, he was very happy that Harvey had such a change. Rather than having conflicts and hurting each other with Link, he hoped to make a lot of money by cooperating with Link.

“And don’t stop recommending big productions to Lionsgate. We must find ways to get Lionsgate to invest in big productions, so that we can accelerate the decline of Lionsgate.”

Harvey said.

 Bob nodded, cooperation is one thing, competition is another.

After Link took over Lionsgate Pictures, through people within Lionsgate Pictures, he successively recommended many major productions with an investment of more than 80 million, including "Alien Battlefield", "Battleship", "Return to Earth", Sword of Kings" and so on, I hope Lionsgate Pictures will participate.

Bob didn't know whether these movies would be profitable, but he and Harvey both knew one thing.

 Compared to the "Big Six", independent production companies have insufficient capital chains and poor publicity and distribution capabilities. Once they recklessly enter the field of large-scale production, the final results will be tragic.

For example, the bankrupt Carlock Pictures, New Line Cinema when it was not acquired by Warner Bros., RKO, the former fifth largest film company in Hollywood, United Artists Pictures, the eighth largest film company in Hollywood, and MGM Pictures, the seventh largest film company, etc. With every exception, it falls on big productions.

 Large productions make money quickly and lose money faster.

 As long as Lionsgate executives are obsessed with large-scale production investments, even if the first movie is a hit, there will always be losses later.

It's a pity that Link and Iwaka are both smart people and are not easily fooled.

 The work he has done has not had any effect for the time being.

 Leaving Harvey's office, he arranged for his secretary to contact Link and said that he wanted to talk to Link. Originally, he thought that Link would decline or arrange the meeting between the two to a few days later.

 But the secretary told him that Link would be free at noon tomorrow.

 (End of this chapter)