American fame and fortune

In the Warner building, the conference room was terribly quiet.

Not to mention that no one of the executives attending the meeting spoke up, even Hamada, Jeff Jones, and McDonald, who were members of the Warner group, did not say a word.

The reason was that the response to "Justice League" was too bad.

The reputation collapsed directly, and the box office was terrible.

Originally, they thought the expectation of $100 million was low enough, but the figure of $66.38 million proved that they were still too optimistic.

Joss Whedon killed "Justice League"!

No, Joss Whedon was just an executor.

The eyes of the executives fell on Hamada and Kevin Tsujihara one after another. These two islanders must be held responsible for this!

Compared with his colleagues, Daniel seemed very calm and did not worry too much.

The promotion of "Justice League" was the work of Warner Pictures. He executed it all according to plan without any excuses or discounts.

But these cannot guarantee their own safety. Once the internal struggle fails, it is not uncommon for the publicity and promotion to take the blame for the production.

"The failure of "Justice League" must have some problems at the company's decision-making level. I apologize to everyone for this." Kevin Tsujihara stood up and bowed at a 90-degree angle.

The executives were waiting for him to take responsibility and make a resignation statement.

But Kevin Tsujihara never mentioned taking responsibility or resigning, and only said a few polite words.

The executives remained silent.

The production cost was $350 million, the publicity cost was $250 million, and the total cost of $600 million on the account was recovered? Who will take the responsibility for the failure?

No one present wanted to take the blame.

A meeting ended in a dull manner, and Hamada followed Kevin Tsujihara into the chairman's office.

On the desk, the newspaper that Kevin Tsujihara read before going to the meeting was spread out. The numbers in the entertainment headlines seemed to make people's hearts pound.

Kevin Tsujihara knew the seriousness of the consequences, but who was willing to just leave?

No matter what, you have to struggle.

Hamada has been waiting for the boss to speak.

Kevin Tsujihara already had some ideas. Sitting in the boss chair, he tapped the armrest lightly and said, "Contact the six leading actors of Justice League and the production team of the crew to release the news that Joss Whedon bullied the actors."

Hamada nodded, knowing that this was a diversion and pushing the responsibility onto Joss Whedon.

These were definitely not enough. He thought of Joss Whedon, who was recommended by himself, and hurriedly said, "Use Joss Whedon..."

Kevin Tsujihara waved his hand: "Didn't Jeff Jones recommend it to you?"

Hamada immediately reacted: "Yes, Jeff Jones recommended it to me, and strongly promoted him to replace Zack Snyder as director."

Kevin Tsujihara nodded: "Arrange it as soon as possible."

Hamada left the office.

Kevin Tsujihara was still thinking that he could lose the position below, as long as he kept his position as CEO and chairman, everything else would be fine.

If Jeff Jones can't handle it, Hamada can be pushed out to handle it.

…………

Warner Pictures, back in the office, Daniel immediately made a phone call.

The person on the other end asked: "How was the meeting? What are they going to do?"

Daniel thought about his own experience at the time and said: "Kevin Tsujihara is of Japanese descent, he will definitely bow to the group and apologize, as for taking responsibility, it doesn't exist."

He suddenly thought of what Martin said, and some things that happened in the island country.

In the past, the islanders promoted their craftsmanship all over the world, but the development in recent years has told the world that the islanders really have a spirit of craftsmanship.

The person on the other end asked, "With such serious business and decision-making problems, doesn't Kevin Tsujihara plan to resign?"

Daniel smiled and said, "Kevin Tsujihara bowed and apologized, how could he resign?"

He stopped laughing and said seriously, "If nothing unexpected happens, he should want to push a few people with enough weight to take the blame."

"The entire Justice League plan has failed." The person on the other end said, "Who else can be responsible except Kevin Tsujihara?"

Daniel suggested, "I suggest holding a board of directors and shareholders' meeting as soon as possible. There are few good opportunities like this. If Kevin Tsujihara survives this, we will be very uncomfortable in the future."

The other side said, "It takes time to go through the procedures. To avoid these, I need a sharp knife."

Daniel promised, "There will be one."

The two hung up the phone quickly.

Daniel thought for a while and dialed a number: "The knife we ​​talked about a few days ago, is it ready?"

Martin on the other side said, "The knife has been sharpened and sharpened."

Daniel said, "Give it to me."

In the office of Davis Studio, Martin opened the file cabinet at the back and took out a homemade saber.

He pulled it out and looked at the blade, then closed it and threw it to Bruce: "Find someone to deliver it to Daniel's office."

Bruce said: "You really gave him a knife."

Martin said: "Where's the other knife?"

"Ivan has sorted everything out, and the video is very clear." Bruce said deliberately: "Charlotte Kirk and Kevin Tsujihara are too deeply entangled. Ivan is afraid of alarming Kevin Tsujihara, so he dare not contact him rashly. He found and bribed Charlotte's best friend Emma, ​​and obtained many key videos and recordings through Emma's secret filming."

Martin nodded and said, "Give it to Jody."

"I'm going to go right away." Bruce left the office.

Martin suddenly wanted to laugh at Lao Bu, a bastard who always shouted no, but his body was very honest. He could just let Ivan do this kind of work, but he had to do it himself.

why?

At noon, Bruce's car parked in front of the TMZ office building.

Jodi came out, opened the door and got into the passenger seat, saying, "Go to my house."

Bruce took out a USB flash drive and handed it to Jodi: "I'm here to deliver this, I don't have time to mess around with you."

Jody took the USB flash drive and got down to business first: "About Kevin Tsujihara?"

"Kevin Tsujihara and British actor Charlotte Kirk." Bruce prompted: "That's what I told you in detail before."

"Justice League" failed miserably at the box office and in word-of-mouth. Jodi knew that this was a hot news story that could shock the United States, so he immediately put away the USB flash drive.

But her mind was not on that for the time being. Instead, she stared at Bruce and said, "Old Boo, you don't want the news to be unable to be sent out, and the USB flash drive is broken again."

Bruce asked, "What do you want to do?"

Jody said, "Drive to my house, right now!"

Bruce stared at Jody.

Jody pressed the electronic ignition directly.

The car started and Bruce drove towards Jodi's house. On the way, he made a phone call to make an appointment with a masseur in New Chinatown to soothe his injured pelvis.

In the afternoon, Martin met with an interview team from Vanity Fair magazine and accepted an exclusive interview about the "Joker" movie.

The awards season has begun, and he is also going all out on publicity and public relations.

The crew did not apply for the Best Actor award for the film, and the main goal was Best Director.

The interview with "Vanity Fair" was over, and Martin rushed to the next event. There was also a screening party for "Joker" in the evening.

Many directors, including Spielberg, David Fincher, Soderbergh, Ridley Scott, Villeneuve and Nolan, came to participate.

Like the Best Actor and other acting awards, all professional Oscar awards are voted on by members of professional chapters.

As long as Martin can get the first-place vote with 300 votes, he will be sure to win.

Therefore, the crew's main public relations target is the directors.

As for Best Picture, this is the only one of all official awards that is voted on by all Academy members.

If he can get the best, it doesn't matter to Martin if he doesn't.

The commercial income of "Joker" is high enough, and almost all the market potential has been squeezed out. An Oscar for Best Picture statuette has almost no effect.

Leonardo and Nicholson also came to the scene.

After Martin finished socializing, he came to the rest area and sat next to the two of them, taking a breather.

Leonardo pointed to the distance: "You have a girlfriend who can really help you."

Martin glanced over there, where Elizabeth Olsen was engaging in lady diplomacy, mingling with the directors' female companions.

Nicholson looked at Leonardo: "Except for Gisele Bundchen, the other female companions are of no use at all."

Martin returned to the topic and asked: "Have you identified your competitors?"

Leonardo is full of confidence: "As long as you don't apply for the Best Actor award, nothing else is a threat."

He gave examples one by one: "As far as the current situation is concerned, Ryan Gosling in "Manchester by the Sea", Andrew Garfield in "Hacksaw Ridge", Viggo Mortensen in "Captain Fantastic" , it is more likely to be nominated for Best Actor.”

Martin remembers that the former leading actor in "Manchester by the Sea" was Casey Affleck, and he also won the Oscar for Best Actor for this film.

But now Cassie is picking up soap in a state prison with Ben, and her acting career has long been over.

Martin reminded: "Watch out for Manchester By the Sea."

Leonardo kept it in mind and said: "The director of this film, Kenneth Lonergan, wanted to compete for the best director. I worked with him before. He was the screenwriter and assistant of "Gangs of New York" at the time. The director himself has certain abilities.”

Martin nodded: "I have been paying attention to him."

At this time, Nicholson interjected: "The Revenant does not apply for the Oscar for Best Director. Leo, can you handle it?"

Leonardo nodded: "Alejandro Iñárritu has opinions, but it's not important. He won the Oscar for Best Director once. I am the employer. As long as I disagree, he can only endure it."

The Mexican director won the best director award last year for "Birdman," but the best picture went to "Boyhood."

Martin said: "In this case, my main competitors are Kenneth Lonergan who directed "Manchester by the Sea", David Mackenzie who directed "Fire or Fire", Denzel Washington who directed "Fences", And Mel Gibson in "Hacksaw Ridge"..."

After listening to Martin mention six or seven names, Leonardo interrupted him and said: "Except for Mel Gibson, the other directors are not even second-tier."

Martin reminded: "I am also a new director."

"Are you considered a novice? Are you kidding me?" Leonardo said, "You are obviously prepared to win the prize this time."

Nicholson knew more: "I remember Louise mentioned that Martin's studio has been collecting basic information on projects with investment of more than one million yuan in the industry in the past two years. The selection time for winning the prize must have been carefully studied. "

Martin admitted: "Winning an Oscar depends not only on yourself, but also on your opponents. There are only two truly powerful films this year, not counting "Joker", "The Revenant" invested by Leo and "The Revenant" directed by Mel Gibson. "Hacksaw Ridge."

Nicholson continued: "Leo is a producer and investor and can control award submissions. Mel Gibson? You all know the matter. Although he publicly apologized and expressed his sincere regret, it would be good to get a nomination. Won an award? Daydream didn’t do that. As for Denzel Washington, there was such a big disturbance in the last black film, and it was impossible for a black person to win the four major awards.”

He chuckled: "Unless each of the other directors spends tens of millions of dollars, how can they compete with this bastard Martin? Not to mention whether they can afford it financially, the production company behind them is not willing to spend such a large amount of money. The price is a bonus and you can’t even get your investment back.”

Leonardo looked at Martin: "No wonder you keep saying you won the award upright..."

Martin asked in return: "Just tell me, is this an upright approach?"

Leonardo couldn't deny it, because in order to win the prize this time, he also learned Martin's method and eliminated his biggest competitor in advance - Martin himself.

Sure enough, before I met Martin, I always failed to win prizes, not because I didn’t have public relations, but because I focused too much on myself and ignored my competitors.

As long as your competitors are not strong enough, you can easily win!

…………

Also on this night, several offices in the TMZ headquarters office building were brightly lit.

The two teams directly under Jodi are working overtime urgently.

A piece of entertainment news that can shock the United States is about to land on the homepage of TMZ.

At 8:30 in the evening, Jody opened the editor's backend, reviewed and approved the news that had just been edited, and mentioned the headline on the homepage of the website, which was made black and bold.

The news is several videos and recordings, all related to current Warner Bros. CEO Kevin Tsujihara.

Some of them are videos and recordings of Kevin Tsujihara secretly getting along with actress Charlotte Kirk, and some of them are evidence of the appearance of the latter's best friend Emma.

The news text content is not much, but it is scary enough.

"Hollywood is re-enacting the Harvey Weinstein-type incident. Warner CEO Kevin Tsujihara cheated on his wife during marriage and engaged in power and sex deals with British actress Charlotte Kirk and others, using sexual services to help him get roles!"

There are also some text message contents, which are also secretly collected by Charlotte's best friend.

This part of the content is carefully reserved by Charlotte. Before the first transaction between the two parties, Kevin Tsujihara promised Charlotte in the form of a text message that she could trade sex in exchange for performance opportunities.

That night, news about Kevin Tsujihara hit the Internet.

This breaking news spread as quickly as possible.

Countless people inside and outside the circle are waiting to see the show.

In the past few years, under the leadership of Kevin Tsujihara, Warner Bros. has fallen from the top of Hollywood's performance list. All kinds of stupid tricks have emerged one after another, and the one-handed king has been beaten to a pulp.

In the mansion in Malibu, Kevin Tsujihara got the news immediately.

Both he and his wife were relatively calm.

The latter knew Hollywood well and expected this kind of thing. He was not surprised at all. He just said quietly: "A work problem?"

Kevin Tsujihara said: "Yes, there was a problem at work."

"Let's solve it as soon as possible." The wife entered the bedroom alone.

Kevin Tsujihara picked up the phone and dialed Charlotte's number: "I want to see you, right away."

Half an hour later, the two met in a Burbank hotel room to discuss a unified story.

But the next morning, without waiting for Kevin Tsujihara to clarify, he received a call from Time Warner.

"Kevin, the situation is very complicated now. You have an unshirkable responsibility for the recent events at Warner Bros." The person on the other side said directly: "Save some face for yourself and the group company, and handle the work at hand as soon as possible. Take the initiative to resign."

Kevin Tsujihara was stunned for a moment and sighed secretly: "Is this the only way to go?"

"The board of directors and shareholders' meeting will be held in advance next month, so don't make it impossible to end."

"I see."

Kevin Tsujihara hung up the phone and took the newspaper aside.

His news was on the front page of almost every newspaper.

Media across the United States are frantically reprinting the relevant news, and this has become the hottest event in the United States.

TMZ also dubbed it the "cheating scandal."

In the past, this kind of thing was nothing, but the Harvey Weinstein incident has made this kind of thing quite sensitive.

The most critical thing is that both Time Warner and Warner Bros. have great opinions on Kevin Tsujihara and his management team.

The failure of the entire "Justice League" plan left Warners facing huge losses.

The fight within the group started again, and the person who supported Kevin Tsujihara last time chose to give up.

Shortly after entering December, Warner Bros. held a press conference. Kevin Tsujihara bowed and apologized again, announcing that he would voluntarily resign as CEO and chairman of Warner Bros.

Also resigning with him were DC co-chairman Hamada and vice president Jeff Jones.

Warner's group has basically said goodbye to Warner Bros., and their era is over.

Daniel Love, president of Warner Pictures, became the winner of this internal struggle. After Warner's shareholders' meeting, he will officially take over the positions of CEO and chairman.

British actress Charlotte Kirk was blacklisted by Hollywood production companies, and her acting career has ended.

After Daniel took office, he immediately found Zack Snyder and invited him to make the director's cut version of "Justice League".

The performance of this film in theaters was terrible. After Christmas, the theater's daily revenue fell below one million US dollars. The North American box office accumulated 182 million US dollars, and there was no hope of breaking through 200 million US dollars.