Hollywood Director 1992

The reason why "Sugar-Coated Trap's" box office didn't drop but instead increased was because the theaters attributed the box office revenue of other movies to it.

This included "Peeping Tom," "Coneheads," "Indecent Proposal," "The Lion King," and "Jurassic Park."

These movies should have had more box office revenue this week, but it was transferred to "Sugar-Coated Trap" to boost its numbers and help Tom Cruise win the bet against Link.

The San Francisco Chronicle's exposé caused a sensation in the entertainment industry.

There were two reasons for this: first, "Sugar-Coated Trap" had high visibility, and any negative news about it would attract significant attention; second, the report involved the year's biggest blockbuster, "Jurassic Park," as well as the popular movie star Tom Cruise and the newly minted billionaire Link.

This also led many media outlets to reprint the report. Even though the CAA talent agency successfully lobbied the media outlets under the seven major media conglomerates, they couldn't cover every angle and prevent all media from reporting the news.

Besides some American media outlets not belonging to the seven major media conglomerates, many foreign media outlets also reprinted the story.

After the news broke, Paramount Pictures spokesman Andrew Cripps responded in an interview, saying that the San Francisco Chronicle's report was seriously untrue and that they would file a lawsuit with the court, demanding an apology and compensation from the San Francisco Chronicle.

After Paramount Pictures spoke out, the San Francisco Chronicle published box office data from several movies in its latest report to prove that "Sugar-Coated Trap" stealing box office revenue was a fact.

At the same time, The Hollywood Reporter published an article stating that some viewers had reported that they watched other movies, but the movie theater gave them tickets for "Sugar-Coated Trap."

This kind of case had happened many times in major theaters across the country in the past two weeks.

Some reporters also discovered after investigation that many theaters were selling "Sugar-Coated Trap" movie tickets at a reduced price, only $4 per ticket, less than half of the initial release price.

Some theaters even had promotions where they gave away "Sugar-Coated Trap" movie tickets when people watched other movies. Afterwards, the theaters attributed the ticket sales data to "Sugar-Coated Trap," turning it into watching "Sugar-Coated Trap" and giving away tickets to other movies.

After this news was reported, it caused heated discussions in the entertainment industry.

Many insiders could guess that there was a problem with the movie's box office revenue after seeing the changes in the box office data for "Sugar-Coated Trap."

However, the film's distributor, Paramount Pictures, resolutely denied that "Sugar-Coated Trap" was stealing box office revenue and threatened to sue the media that slandered Paramount Pictures.

After seeing the news, Sherry Lansing, the head of Paramount Pictures, called Michael Ovitz of CAA, "Michael, it's time to stop. Many media outlets are now following up and reporting on the abnormal box office of 'Sugar-Coated Trap,' claiming that we are faking the box office, which is very bad for the company. The board of directors has called to ask me about the situation, and I can no longer pretend that nothing is happening."

"Sherry, don't worry. Just hold on for three weeks. We only need three weeks to get 'Sugar-Coated Trap' to $200 million at the box office, and I guarantee that the rest won't bother you again. Moreover, 'Sugar-Coated Trap' being a big hit is also very beneficial to Paramount Pictures," Michael Ovitz said.

Sherry Lansing said, "Michael, given the current situation, it won't be difficult for 'Sugar-Coated Trap' to break $200 million in another ten weeks. Isn't $200 million enough for you to win against Link's new movie?"

"For other people, $200 million is enough, but we can't be careless when it comes to Link. The box office results of his first three movies were extremely impressive, nearly $80 million for the first, over $600 million for the second, and over $300 million for the third. The fourth is his first big-budget production. The movie hasn't been released yet, and no one can guess how much box office it will ultimately get, so 'Sugar-Coated Trap' needs more box office revenue to ensure that we don't lose the bet," Michael Ovitz said.

Sherry Lansing said, "Since you know that Link's new movie has a lot of potential at the box office, why did you bet against him?"

"It's a little game, a game between men. I want to play with Link, but I just don't want to lose," Michael Ovitz said.

"A men's game? Then it has nothing to do with me. Now that Link has obtained evidence of the inflated box office of 'Sugar-Coated Trap,' Paramount cannot pretend that nothing has happened. You must resolve those news stories in the media within this week, otherwise we will end this cooperation next week and let the box office of 'Sugar-Coated Trap' return to normal levels," Sherry Lansing hung up the phone.

Hearing the buzzing in the receiver, Michael Ovitz put down the phone and said to Ron Meyer and Jay Moloney across from him, "This woman is really hard to deal with."

Heh heh!

Jay Moloney laughed in agreement.

Ron Meyer said, "Link exposed the box office fraud of 'Sugar-Coated Trap' through the media, and Paramount is under pressure. It will be very difficult to continue operating the box office next, and the cost will also increase. What's your plan?"

Michael Ovitz said, "First contact the media and continue to suppress this kind of news, don't let them make too much noise, and also reduce some pressure on Paramount."

"It's very difficult to do that. I heard that Link spent millions of dollars to hype this news. If we want to suppress these valuable news stories, we need to pay several times the amount of money. If we lose the bet, then we will lose not only the $30 million bet, but also the tens of millions of dollars used for public relations and box office fraud. If we win, we won't even earn a few cents. It's very uneconomical," Ron Meyer said.

Michael Ovitz frowned, also feeling that this matter was relatively tricky.

Continuing public relations and inflating the box office of "Sugar-Coated Trap" would require more investment.

Winning would barely break even.

Losing would lose even more.

And not continuing to inflate the numbers meant there was no way to guarantee a win against Link, which made him feel very uneasy.

This put him in a dilemma.

Jay Moloney looked at the two and said, "According to the current situation, 'Sugar-Coated Trap' has a very high chance of breaking $200 million at the box office and becoming the second highest-grossing movie of the year. And the test screening effect of Link's new movie is average. Even if the box office is good, it won't reach $200 million."

Ovitz said, "It's hard to say. When 'Paranormal Activity' was screened, Fred Olen Ray and others also thought it was a bad movie, and no one would watch it after it was released, but this movie grossed over $600 million worldwide."

Jay Moloney said, "Maybe we can wait until Link's new movie is released and then find a way to prevent the media from reporting on his movie. Even if they do, they'll only expose negative news to make his movie a big flop. As long as we operate properly, it will be difficult for his movie to be a hit."

Ovitz nodded. He would do this even without Jay Moloney saying so, but that wasn't enough.

"This time, we're not the only ones betting against Link. Richard Gere, Robert Downey Jr., and Tom Cruise are also betting. If they lose, they will also lose a lot of money, and if they want to guarantee a win against Link, they should also contribute some public relations expenses."

Ron Meyer nodded.

Ovitz called Richard Gere and the others, asking them to raise $10 million to hype the box office of "Sugar-Coated Trap" and guarantee that they would win this bet.