Conquer America, Start with a Boxing Champion

Chapter 457 Captain America (10/10)

Only one day later, good news came from China.

In the men's 400m freestyle event, Link defeated Hansen of the US team, Van der Berg of the South African team, Sprengel of the Australian team and other famous swimmers, and once again broke the world record of the event with an amazing result of 3 minutes 28.16 seconds.

On the fifth day of the competition, Link won five gold medals in a row, breaking the world records of four events, and the remaining five events all entered the finals.

After the news came back, the American media rushed to report, and they were all amazed by Link's achievements in the World Swimming Championships, praising him as the "Sea King", "Torpedo", and "Nuclear Submarine".

This also led to many media criticizing Link in the news the day before, saying that he bullied Taylor and was a big scumbag. Only one day later, these media turned to praise him and praised him as the best and most powerful man in the world.

This rapid change is not the result of the conscience of media practitioners, nor is it the result of public relations of Paramount Music and Link, but the public likes to read this kind of news, and reporting this kind of news can gain more recognition.

Because Link is now participating in the competition on behalf of the US team, and the public is happy for his achievements.

If the mainstream media ignores the wishes of the public at this time and still stabs him in the back and scolds him, then it is a wrong position.

Not only ordinary people will not accept it, but also capital will not accept it.

Those congressmen who claim to represent the people cannot accept it either. They will use their personal influence to criticize the media, speak for Link, and win a wave of goodwill in front of the public and some votes.

In this situation, the media can only give up the original critical articles, quickly change their positions, and start to speak well of Link to please the reader group.

"Haha, great, great, Link is such an amazing guy. I've said that having him play Captain America will bring us many surprises.

Look, the newspapers are full of news praising Link, saying that he is Superman, the American captain of the swimming team, and a nuclear-powered submarine.

Haha, all the articles are praising Link, how much publicity money will our company save.

Dear Link is really amazing, it was the right decision to work with him."

At the headquarters of Paramount Pictures, Frank Abrams, president of global distribution and marketing, held a stack of newspapers and talked non-stop to several subordinates at the desk, with a smile on his face that never stopped.

"."

The managers of the distribution department looked at each other and secretly curled their lips.

A few days ago in this office, Abrams cursed Link with a dark face, saying that he was a bastard and a big pit, and also scolded the production company and Marvel Pictures for not knowing how to select actors, and asking Link, such a big trouble, to play Captain America, was asking for trouble.

He also scolded Link for causing Paramount Pictures to go bankrupt.

Only two or three days later, President Abrams also quickly changed his position and praised Link highly. He even shamelessly said that it was his suggestion to choose Link to play Captain America. In the end, he even dared to use the word "dear". It was really shameless.

"Tom, I will allocate another 5 million to your department to continue to hype the news of Link's victory in the World Championships. The more lively the better.

The statement of the American captain of the swimming team is very good. We can focus on hyping it. Our goal is to make Link a real Captain America.

"Captain America" ​​is about to be released. Link is competing outside and cannot attend the premiere ceremony and other publicity. We also need to explain the situation to the fans and let them come to the theater to support Link's movie, which is also to support Link to continue to win gold medals.

Our box office will not disappoint Link, and Link's performance in the competition will not disappoint us."

President Abrams said enthusiastically.

"Okay, Mr. President."

Tom, the head of the publicity department, nodded and continued.

Abrams continued to assign tasks to several other supervisors.

Now the mainstream media are helping to promote Link, which is equivalent to helping them promote the movie. At this time, "Captain America" ​​is equivalent to standing at the forefront of public opinion. If they don't take the opportunity to go with the flow and sail with the wind, it would be stupid.

For these veterans of publicity and hype, they will never make such a low-level mistake.

Under the promotion of Paramount Pictures' publicity and distribution department, more and more media have joined the ranks of promoting and praising Link and "Captain America".

This kind of publicity is not only in the United States, but also all over the world, including the United Kingdom, France, Japan, Germany and other countries and regions where "Captain America" ​​is released simultaneously.

This also caused many foreign people who didn't know that Link was a swimmer to be confused.

World boxing champion, music superstar, movie star, billionaire, playboy Link is also a swimming athlete?

And won five gold medals at the World Championships?

Really?

——

After a period of intensive publicity, on July 22, the seventh day of the World Championships, Captain America was released in 4,115 theaters in North America, with a weekend box office of $70.82 million and a single-theater box office of nearly $18,000, ranking first in the box office rankings this week.

The $70.82 million premiere result is not as good as the $1.69 of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 released on July 15, nor is it as good as blockbusters such as Batman: The Dark Knight, Transformers 2, Pirates of the Caribbean 2, Spider-Man 3, and Twilight 3.

But it is better than the premiere box office results of several other similar movies this year.

Before Captain America, Thor, which was released in June, had a box office of 65.7 million U.S. dollars in its first week, Green Lantern had a box office of 53.2 million U.S. dollars, and X-Men: First Class had a box office of 55.1 million U.S. dollars in its first weekend.

The cost of Captain America was 140 million, including the 3D version, which was lower than the 150 million U.S. dollars of Thor, 160 million U.S. dollars of X-Men, and 200 million U.S. dollars of Green Lantern.

Judging from these data, Captain America was a box office success.

The word of mouth was also relatively good.

34 American media gave the film an overall score of 71 points, including 9 media such as Total Film, Box Office Magazine, and Chicago Reader, which gave the film a score of more than 80 points.

12 media such as The Hollywood Reporter, Time, and The Washington Post gave a score of more than 70 points.

Relatively demanding media such as Rolling Stone, Variety, The Wall Street Journal, and The Village Voice all gave a score of more than 40 points.

Rotten Tomatoes has a freshness rating of 75%, with 84 people in favor and 28 against; Yahoo has an audience rating of B.

The reputation is much better than the flop Green Lantern, a little better than Thor, and on par with X-Men.

The media is also relatively positive when evaluating the male lead Link.

The Chicago Tribune commented that Captain America is the most stylish superhero blockbuster this year. Link is undoubtedly the most perfect Captain America, and almost no one will be able to surpass him in the future, because Link himself is a living Captain America.

The Washington Post believes that Captain America is undoubtedly a reliable movie.

Not only does it allow superheroes to save the world, but the box office success also saves some face for the increasingly sluggish superhero movies. Link is also a reliable Captain America.

In the ongoing swimming competition of the World Championships in Dahai City, when the main players of the US team, such as Phelps, Hansen, and Vanderkay, failed, Link turned the tide alone, winning six gold medals in six events, breaking four world records, and stabilizing the number of gold medals of the US team in the first place.

Based on this alone, Link, the American captain, is impeccable.

The review of "Village Voice" magazine is quite harsh, saying that it is unnecessary to spend more than two hours watching a contrived and stale movie.

Although Link is the only highlight of the film, the director did not make perfect use of Link's literary face and delicate and gentle performance style like director Woody Allen in "Midnight in Paris".

Nor did he show Link's bravery and strength in "The Fighter" and "The Expendables", and attach importance to family and brotherhood, making Link's performance always in a very exaggerated state.

The charm of Link + Captain America \u003c Link himself, I hope the next one will do better.

——

"Link, come on! Link, come on!"

When "Captain America" ​​was being released in more than 20 countries around the world, the 14th World Swimming Championships was also in full swing.

The World Swimming Championships is the highest-level international swimming event hosted by the International Swimming Federation.

Since 1973, it has been held every two years. In March 2007, Dahai City, China, defeated Doha and successfully won the right to host the 14th World Swimming Championships in 2011. This was also the first time that China hosted the World Swimming Championships.

Including five major events, swimming, diving, synchronized swimming, water polo, and open water, and 68 minor events.

The main venue of the competition is the Oriental Sports Center in Dahai City.

On the ninth day of the competition, the men's 1500-meter freestyle event was being held in the swimming pool.

In the third track was Link, wearing a blue shark leather jacket.

Compared with the competitors in the eight tracks around him, his speed was obviously much faster.

After the third turn, his speed became faster and faster, leaving the second Canadian player, Corondo, behind by one-third of the track, and even more than other opponents.

"This pervert!"

In the audience area, 'Flying Fish' Phelps clenched his fists and cursed with a distorted expression.

"Don't be jealous! Don't be jealous, Link is not an ordinary person, he is Captain America."

Teammate Ryan Lochte comforted him.

"How can I not be jealous? This pervert is a boxer. He trains his muscles in the training ground every day. How can he swim so fast in the water? And he makes movies and sings and picks up girls every day. He doesn't practice seriously a few times a year. Why is he swimming faster and faster? This is unfair."

Phelps said with envy and jealousy.

Compared with Link's crushing other opponents in the freestyle event, what made him more upset was that Link defeated him in the 400-meter individual medley track for the first time in the medley competition and won the second place, while he was the third.

It turned out that Link was not good at this event. When he participated in the World Swimming Championships in 2009, he was not his opponent.

But in the past two years, Link was able to beat him in this event, rising from the seventh place in the world to the second place in the world, only 1.5 seconds slower than the first place. At this rate of growth, he has a great chance to win the championship in this event in the Olympics next year.

He will also leave him behind even further.

What makes Phelps even more jealous is that Link has only participated in swimming competitions in school sports meetings in the past two years, and has not participated in other major competitions. He usually only trains in the swimming pool at home and rarely goes to the swimming pool.

This way, he can swim faster than himself.

He can't find any other adjective except abnormal.

"Ryan, Link said that boxing training can also improve swimming speed. Should we try it and add boxing training content to our training?"

Phelps touched his chin and pondered.

"This."

Ryan Lochte didn't know how to answer.

From the perspective of sports science, it feels a bit far-fetched. Boxing training is to increase the strength of the upper limbs and the coordination of hands and feet, while swimming is more comprehensive during training and requires the coordination of muscles throughout the body.

The two sports train different muscle groups and have different focuses.

The content of boxing training should not have much effect on improving swimming speed.

But the person who said that boxing training helps improve swimming skills is the swimming god Link. His personal practice plus his competition data also seems very convincing.

"You should ask Coach Bob Bowman about this matter. He should be able to give you better guidance."

Lochte said.

Phelps nodded.

Beep!

A prompt sound came from the swimming pool, and Link on the third track arrived at the finish line first.

"How much time?"

Phelps and other members of the US team stood up together and looked at the display screen of the controller.

When they saw the time displayed was 14 minutes 22 seconds 17', everyone cheered.

The original world record for this event was set by German athlete Biedermann in the 2008 Olympics. His record was 14 minutes 37 seconds and remained for three years.

This time, Link directly improved the record by 15 seconds.

"Too abnormal."

Phelps was speechless.

On the swimming pool track, Link sat on the shore and waited for more than ten seconds before the second Canadian athlete Corondo and the third Tunisian athlete Mailouli swam to the finish line. Their scores were 14 minutes 39 seconds and 14 minutes 41 seconds respectively.

Both looked at Link speechlessly, muttering that it was this abnormal again.

Since Link won six championships in a row, he has become the big devil of this World Championships. As long as the athletes in each event meet him, they can't help but scream that they are going to suffer.

Facing an opponent like Link, everyone has no idea how to deal with it.

"Hello, Mr. Baker, can I interview you?"

When Link left the swimming pool, a CCTV5 reporter came over with a microphone.

"Sure, beautiful reporter, feel free to ask any questions you have."

Link wiped the water stains on his face with a towel and said.

"Mr. Baker, congratulations on winning the 1500m freestyle event and setting a new world record. How are you feeling now?"

The reporter asked.

"Great! I like to compete here. I'm talking about Dahai City. This is my second time here this year. I feel like I'm at home. Yes, I'm in a good mood."

Link smiled at the camera lens with a towel on his face.

"Mr. Baker, what do you think of the strength of the opponents in this competition?"

The reporter continued to ask.

"Are you asking about Corondo and Mailuli? They are all good, but it's a pity that they met me. I'm a little better than them."

"Do you know Sun Yang from Huaxia? What do you think of his strength?"

The reporter asked.

"Sun Yang? He doesn't seem to be participating in the 1500m event."

Link looked at the direction of the swimming lane. Only one Chinese player, Zhang Lin, was ranked seventh, and there was still some distance from the third place.

"Yes, Sun Yang participated in the butterfly and breaststroke events. He defeated Phelps in yesterday's competition and won the 200m butterfly championship."

The reporter said.

"Yes, I watched yesterday's competition. Sun Yang was able to beat Phelps in this event. His strength is very good. I think he is one of the most dazzling stars in this World Championships. If he is willing, I would like to ask him for butterfly stroke techniques."

Not far away, Sun Yang was about to come over to greet Link, but suddenly heard him say that he wanted to learn butterfly stroke techniques, so he hurriedly left around the pillar.

Everyone knows that Link's performance in freestyle events is abnormal.

His performance in butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and other technically strong events is average, but he also has the strength of the top ten in the world. If he learns the techniques, there will be an extra strong opponent in the future competition.

This kind of thing that helps the enemy should not be done.

"Mr. Baker, thank you for accepting the interview. I wish you to create more records in this World Championships."

"Thank you, I will."

Link waved at the camera, put on headphones and left the scene.

"Link! Link!"

When Link left the stage, many fans in the audience cheered for him, including Lilith Zhao and Yang Daming.

Link waved, signed autographs for fans in the front row, and took photos with several fans who surrounded him.

"Sister Mi, the boss is too awesome. He is a world boxing champion, a top singer, a billionaire, and a seven-time world championship swimming champion. Is he a superman?"

In the audience, Lilith Zhao stared at Link in the field with big eyes, her small round face full of admiration and love.

"That's right, don't you look at whose boss you are."

Yang Daming smiled proudly, patted Lilith Zhao on the shoulder, and asked her to welcome the boss off work.

——

On July 31, the 14th World Swimming Championships closed successfully at the Oriental Sports Center in Dahai City.

Link signed up for ten events and finally won 7 gold, 2 silver and 1 bronze medals, becoming the person with the most gold medals and medals in this world championship.

The gold medal events include 50-meter, 100-meter, 200-meter, 400-meter, 1500-meter freestyle events, men’s 4×100-meter freestyle relay, and men’s 4×200-meter freestyle relay.

The two silver medals came from the 400m individual medley and the men's 4x100m medley relay.

The bronze medal came from the 200m individual medley event.

At the same time, Link and the U.S. swimming team also set new world records in six events, and Link personally received Olympic tickets for ten events.

"Link, how about I train boxing with you too?"

On the plane back to the United States, Phelps approached Link and asked.

"No problem, I train at Muscle Beach Club in Los Angeles. If you are interested in boxing, come see me anytime."

Link said while wearing an earphone and flipping through American newspapers.

"I'm not interested in boxing. What I'm interested in is your training methods. How do you train? Why do you swim faster and faster?"

Phelps asked, frowning as he looked at him.

Link smiled softly, folded the Los Angeles Times in his hand, and said, "Because I train harder, I train more than fifty hours a week, and my physical fitness has been greatly improved."

"More than fifty hours a week?"

Phelps thought for a moment and shook his head. No one can do this. Practicing for so long every day is too much for the body, and all the practice is in vain.

"Link, do you want to learn breaststroke, butterfly, backstroke, I can teach you."

"Oh, why are you willing to teach me now?"

In the past, he planned to go to Boston to learn these three techniques from Phelps, but Phelps always said he didn't have time and only sent him some video materials without teaching him any core techniques.

"Don't ask so many questions. I'm currently training at the Canadian University Swimming Pool. Remember to come find me when you have time and we can train together."

Phelps said.

"OK!"

Link nodded in agreement and continued to read the newspaper in his hand, mainly movie news.

"Captain America" ​​has been in theaters for seven days. The North American box office has reached a total of 118 million U.S. dollars, and the overseas box office has reached 102 million U.S. dollars. The total box office in the first week has paid back, which looks very good, much better than the results of similar movies this year.

There is also a movie starring Link in the top ten at the box office. "Midnight in Paris" was released on June 10 and ranked in the top 13 at the box office for seven consecutive weeks.

Affected by "Captain America" ​​this week, the box office increased slightly.

Ranked tenth with US$1.89 million, the cumulative box office in North America reached US$60.69 million, the overseas box office is currently about US$11,400, and the global box office is expected to be around 180 million US dollars.

And the delayed release of "Bridesmaids" ranked 14th on the weekly box office list with US$1.28 million.

The cumulative box office in North America is 137 million U.S. dollars, and the overseas box office is 208 million U.S. dollars. After nearly three months of screening, the box office potential has been exhausted. The global box office is expected to be about 350 million U.S. dollars.

Based on the global box office of 350 million, Palm Beach Pictures, as one of the producers, has an income of about 75 million, and Lionsgate has a distribution income of about 21 million. Counting Warner Pictures’ box office compensation, it is about 12 million.

The total revenue is about 108 million. After excluding the investment cost of 20 million and the publicity cost of about 7.5 million, the net income is almost 80 million US dollars.

It took more than two years to earn 80 million. From an investment perspective, it is considered a high-return investment.

To Link personally, it was unremarkable.

Link flipped through other newspapers, hoping to see how many news articles were criticizing him, but he couldn't find a single negative report.

At most, film critics commented that his performance in "Captain America" ​​was slightly lower than "Midnight in Paris".

On the contrary, there are many complimentary news.

"USA Today" praised him for continuing his magical performance at the World Championships. He first won five gold medals in individual events, and then helped the US team win two gold medals in the relay race. He is a competent Captain America.

"Variety Magazine" commented that he performed well in "Captain America" ​​and was the best Captain America. He was one of the few highlights in this boring movie and contributed more than 45% to the movie's box office.

Link flipped through it and found that he did not see any negative news criticizing himself, nor any news criticizing Taylor.

What happened to him and Taylor some time ago didn't seem to have happened.

Link smiled softly and breathed a sigh of relief. This incident was finally over. The next time he went to see the child, he could look at it confidently without fear of Taylor's face.

Buzz!

Arriving in Los Angeles, the plane landed gently at Los Angeles International Airport.

Link and the swim team members were treated like VIPs as they exited the airport.

Hundreds of media reporters and thousands of fans met at the airport. The reporters rushed to interview Link. The fans excitedly shouted Link's name and asked him for an autograph and a photo.

Link was completely satisfied and waited in front of the airport for half an hour before bidding farewell to his teammates and getting in the car.

"It's finally quiet."

Link sighed as he closed the car door.

"Welcome home, darling."

Hearing the sound, he turned his head and looked behind him, and saw Ivaca holding a bouquet of flowers and handing it over with a smile.

She wore her blond hair loose and wore a women's suit skirt she wore at work. On her cold and dignified cheeks, her red lips were slightly raised, with a gentle smile that suddenly lit up the entire carriage, and the air was filled with peaches. Similar fragrance.

Link smiled softly and couldn't help but reach out to hug her. He lowered his head and kissed her rose-colored lips. Ivaca responded to him tenderly.

Ms. Anna smiled and turned to look at the sparkling sea outside the window.