Hollywood Director 1992

After attending the company's celebration party, Link temporarily put aside his work and took Monica, Jennifer, and Liu Xiaoli to Hawaii for vacation, enjoying the sunshine, beaches, and beautiful women.

In September, the summer movie season also came to an end.

The magazine *Complete Cinema* announced the scorecards of major film companies during this year's summer season.

This year's summer season started in May and ended at the end of August, with a total of 69 films released. Currently, six films have grossed over $100 million at the North American box office, and 13 films have grossed over $50 million. The number of films exceeding $50 million in box office revenue is three more than last year's summer season.

Among them, Guess Pictures, Paramount Pictures, and Disney Pictures performed well during the summer season.

Guess Pictures released three films during the summer, *Speed* and *Seven* both grossed over $100 million at the North American box office, with $122 million and $205 million respectively. The third film was Ang Lee's *Eat Drink Man Woman*, released in early August, which currently has a box office of $6.37 million. Although it wasn't a huge hit, it was still a profitable film compared to its production cost of $2.2 million.

Paramount Pictures released 6 films, with *Forrest Gump* currently exceeding $218 million at the North American box office, and *Clear and Present Danger* is expected to break $100 million.

Disney Pictures released a total of 8 films, with *The Lion King* exceeding $250 million at the North American box office, and *When a Man Loves a Woman* and *The Shadow* reaching $50 million.

The performance of other film companies was generally average.

This year's most loss-making film in the summer season was Warner Bros. Pictures' Western action film *Wyatt Earp*.

Starring Kevin Costner, the film had a production cost of $63 million and currently has a box office of $15.41 million, with estimated losses of over $50 million.

The second film was Disney Pictures' *Color of Night*, with estimated losses of over $30 million.

The third film was Paramount Pictures' *Beverly Hills Cop III*, with a production cost of $50 million and a current box office of $36.48 million, resulting in a loss of approximately $40 million. Including the additional promotional costs that Paramount Pictures added to suppress *Speed*, the losses exceeded $50 million.

The fourth film was Columbia Pictures' *North*, released in July, with a production cost of $40 million and a current box office of less than $6 million, with estimated losses of over $30 million.

The other three of the Big Seven film studios also had several films with obvious box office losses, with MGM incurring losses of up to $200 million.

From this perspective, Guess Pictures is undoubtedly the biggest winner of this year's summer season.

After the film company scorecards were released, Guess Pictures' performance in the summer season attracted a lot of attention.

In particular, under the suppression of the Big Seven film studios, *Speed* and *Seven* of Guess Pictures were big hits one after another. One sold more than 100 million box office, and one broke the 200 million mark in North America, with a total box office revenue of more than 300 million US dollars, and the box office revenue was the first among its peers.

This achievement is too dazzling, and the Big Seven film studios are dwarfed in comparison.

Aaron Kouchi, the deputy editor of *The Hollywood Reporter*, commented in a joking tone that the Big Seven film studios did not actually suppress Guess Pictures, but helped Guess Pictures distribute films.

For example, when *Speed* was released, the Big Seven film studios were worried that the box office of this film was not high enough, so they deliberately arranged several bad films to compete with *Speed*. With the selfless help of the Big Seven film studios, *Speed* easily won.

After *Seven* was released, the Big Seven film studios were worried that this film was not famous enough, so they raised millions of dollars to publish negative reviews of *Seven* in the media, so that more people paid attention to *Seven*. At the same time, they also forced those movie fans who liked *Seven* to stand up and support the film and speak out for the film. With the selfless assistance of the Big Seven film studios, *Seven* once again became a big hit.

Therefore, Guess Pictures should thank the Big Seven film studios, and the Big Seven film studios have also made great contributions to the big sales of Guess Pictures' films.

*The Los Angeles Times*, in its commentary on the summer season scorecard, took a relatively objective and neutral attitude. The newspaper believes that the big sales of Guess Pictures' films are due to a combination of strength and luck. The first is strength. The quality of the two films released by Guess Pictures during the summer season is good.

*Speed* is a qualified popcorn movie, with car chases, gun battles, handsome men and beautiful women, and the plot arrangement is closely related to blood, and the cool points are constant. It has the strength to be a big seller.

*Seven* is of higher quality. In this film, Link uses extremely high plot control to integrate the elements of art films and commercial films together, making this film not only have a deeper artistic connotation, but also have the selling points of commercial films. Coupled with the blessing of the Palme d'Or, the big sales of this film are also due to its strength.

At the same time, the big sales of the two films are also inseparable from the factor of luck. When *Speed* was released, the level of several films in the same period was lower than expected, which freed up a lot of box office for this film. When *Seven* was released, it encountered the 'Simpson Villa Case'. This case is related to the plot of the movie, bringing extremely high heat and attention to the movie.

*The Los Angeles Times* believes that the big sales of *Speed* and *Seven* are indispensable for both strength and luck.

Some media also commented on the news that Guess Pictures has become the biggest winner of the summer season in a less objective tone.

*The Chicago Tribune* said in its commentary that Link once said in an interview program that he would no longer use social news to hype movies when promoting movies in the future, but he did not do it. After the 'Simpson Villa Case' occurred, Link and Guess Pictures were obviously using this case to hype it up, and Link broke his promise.

Soon, some media refuted *The Chicago Tribune*'s point of view for Link.

*The San Francisco Observer* believes that this accusation is unfounded. The first is that the 'Simpson case' involves *Seven*. It is not that *Seven* took the initiative to use this case to hype it up, nor is it that Guess Pictures created the case to hype up the movie.

Secondly, after the 'Simpson case' broke out, many media splashed dirty water on Link, falsely accusing him of being a murderer. If an innocent person is falsely accused and does not refute it, then he is a fool. Link and Guess Pictures' response to this matter is very reasonable.

Finally, *Seven* is a classic movie that should be seen by more people. No amount of hype for this kind of movie is too much.

At the same time, the newspaper suggested that Link can use the greatest efforts to hype it up if he shoots a good movie like *Seven* in the future, and movie fans are happy to support it. If it is a movie like *The Blair Witch Project*, then there is no need.

Some media also paid attention to Guess Pictures' performance in the first three quarters. As of September, Guess Pictures has released five films, and three of them have grossed over 100 million US dollars at the North American box office, including *Dumb and Dumber*, *Speed*, and *Seven*, of which *Seven* has exceeded 200 million US dollars at the North American box office.

It is also currently the only Hollywood company that simultaneously has three films with over 100 million US dollars at the North American box office. According to the current box office revenue situation, Guess Pictures is expected to be among the top three in the industry.

This summer season scorecard also made colleagues in the film industry envious.