Chapter 413: Box office fraud and pregnancy

"Haha, Link, congratulations, the movie you invested in is a big hit again. What's the next movie? I want to follow you to invest."

At the "Bridesmaids" global box office party held by Palm Beach Studios, David Ellison put his shoulder and said affectionately.

"Moneyball, didn't you invest in it?"

Link smiled. He was not modest when he heard David attribute the credit of the movie's big hit to himself.

Having a label of "a movie investor with good vision" in Hollywood can not only win the respect of peers, but also facilitate investment in future movies.

"Only this one? Two more, preferably only our two companies will invest."

"At this stage, the investment in various film projects has been in place. The new film project will have to wait until next year. There are no suitable projects for the time being."

"Okay, remember to call me in the next movie. When you make money, I will invite you to pick up girls. They will definitely be very beautiful girls."

David Ellison said with a wink.

Link smiled and agreed. Among the Ellison siblings, David likes to invest in commercial movies, such as Mission: Impossible 4 and the upcoming Jack Reacher, and pays more attention to box office profits, while Megan prefers art films, especially those with strong female protagonists, and focuses on major film awards.

They are all newcomers in the film industry, and it is not bad to work together.

"Hi, Link!"

Stallone and Schwarzenegger also came from the crowd to congratulate him, and also discussed with him about investing in the filming of The Expendables 2.

The Expendables 1 has been released for more than half a year, with a cumulative North American box office of 1.41 US dollars, a cumulative overseas box office of 207 million US dollars, and a global box office of 348 million US dollars, ranking 14th in the North American annual box office rankings and 12th in the global annual rating rankings.

The film cost 86 million to produce, with a revenue ratio of 4:1, which can be considered a hit.

It also allowed the distribution company Lionsgate to earn tens of millions of shares, and also obtained part of the copyright of The Expendables.

The box office performance is good, Stallone proposed to shoot "The Expendables 2" and invited Lionsgate to participate in the investment. The current investment budget is about 100 million, and Lionsgate is invited to cooperate.

After discussion, the production department of Lionsgate believes that the reputation of this project is good and has certain potential. It can participate in the investment and production, and find a way to get the copyright of this movie.

The purpose of Stallone and Schwarzenegger looking for him is not to attract investment, but to hope that he can continue to play in the sequel.

He also said that when writing the script, he will increase his role and temporarily set him as the second male lead. He is still a handsome and skilled mercenary who is proficient in strategy and tactics, and a hexagonal warrior.

The only shortcoming is that he is philandering and lustful. It is planned to arrange a hot girl with good skills in the play to be a fixed CP with him.

If there is a third part, he will be arranged to take over the Expendables and become the protagonist of the movie, and other veteran kung fu superstars will play supporting roles for him.

Link felt good after listening to it and asked about the shooting time. He has three dramas in the second half of the year. If he shoots within the year, he may not have time.

Stallone said that he could adjust according to his schedule, and his attitude was very enthusiastic.

Schwarzenegger also persuaded him to participate, saying that he was good at action scenes and had the hope of becoming the successor of action actors.

Link also understood the reason why the two people kept holding him. After the release of "The Expendables", the praise rate was less than 55%.

Most of the praise was directed at Link.

Movie fans commented that he was the only highlight of the whole movie.

Other veteran action actors were too greasy, and both their style and appearance seemed to have come out of action movies in the 1990s, which did not suit the tastes of the younger generation of moviegoers.

Only Link's performance could attract this group.

According to surveys by professional media such as "The Hollywood Reporter" and "Complete Movies", Link's contribution to the box office of this movie was between 22% and 35%, almost one-third. Although this data is a bit exaggerated, it also partially shows that Link is very important to this movie.

In fact, compared to hard-core action movies like "The Expendables", Link hopes to take on single-handed action movies such as "007 Series", "Bourne Supremacy Series" and "Mission Impossible Series".

It's just that these movies are not short of male protagonists, and the new spy war movie IP is not popular enough and has little potential.

He hasn't found a suitable project yet, so he can only continue to experience the "Expendables" series, and accumulate reputation in the action movie circle by the way, become a top action star, and prepare for future action blockbusters.

"Haha, Link, congratulations on the movie's big sales."

After seeing off the two tough guys, Ryan Kavanaugh of Relativity Pictures came over with his new female companion, an olive-colored African-American model with a great figure and young.

"Thank you!"

Seeing Kavanaugh, Link took the initiative to ask about the method of investing in movies with big data models, hoping to learn from him.

Kavanaugh saw that he was interested in this method of investing in movies, and he was also generous with his advice and explained it with great interest.

He told him that before using this method, he needed to collect a lot of movie data and analyze the reasons why movies sold well or failed. The more movie data he collected, the better. He also said that Relativity Pictures collected data on more than 20,000 movies and used these data to build models.

Link listened carefully to the other party's explanation. His purpose was simple. He used this method as a cover to tell the outside world how he invested in movies and why he could always bet on dark horse movies. The reason was that he borrowed Kavanaugh's "big data investment movie technology."

As for why Kavanaugh doesn't keep his secrets to himself, he is happy to talk about his techniques for investing in movies. First, this method is not a secret, and many people on Wall Street use it. Second, the development of Relativity Pictures depends entirely on financing.

If he wants to get more investment, Kavanaugh needs to constantly promote his technology, tell investors that his technology is very useful, and use relatively beautiful box office data to fool those investors and give them confidence.

Link's investment in two successful movies in a row was reported in the news to be due to the producers of Palm Beach Pictures, and had nothing to do with Link.

This gives Kavanaugh room to maneuver.

After he told Link this part of the technology, he could publicize it to the outside world and say that the reason why Link was able to bet on dark horses one after another was because he borrowed his technology. Compared to Link, the student, he, the teacher, had better investment skills, which reassured investors. Give Relativity Pictures your money.

Kavanaugh explained enthusiastically, his voice getting louder and louder, as if he was engaging in a pyramid scheme, which attracted a lot of attention from around him.

Link smiled helplessly. He wanted to use the other party, but the other party was also using him.

After seeing off Kavanaugh who was still unsatisfied, Ivaka came over and held his arm. She was wearing a fashionable LV fishtail skirt that matched well with his casual suit.

"Do you want to learn from Kavanaugh how to invest in movies using big data?"

"With this in mind, we are newcomers to the film industry. We need to learn more investment techniques, which can be used as a reference when investing."

Link shrugged.

Ivaca nodded, stared at him, and said with a smile, "You don't look very interested?"

"Can this also be seen?"

Link smiled softly and shook his head. He was really not in the mood to attend the party.

First, I received a message from Guillaume Canet in the morning that Marion Cotillard entered the delivery room and would give birth to the baby today or tomorrow.

The second thing is that the global box office of "Bridesmaids" is expected to be only 200 million, which is much lower than the 300 million in memory. This also makes him worry about whether there will be errors in the box office of other movies? If the error is too large, subsequent investments need to be more cautious.

"When he was promoting it, he publicly predicted that the movie would be worth 400 to 500 million U.S. dollars. Now he estimates it is only 200 million U.S. dollars. The gap is too far."

Link said.

Ivaca hesitated and told him one thing. This matter was under investigation and had not yet been concluded, so she did not tell him.

"What's up?"

"We suspect that Warner Bros. Distribution Company has falsified the box office data of Bridesmaids."

Ivaca said with a cold face.

"Box office fraud?"

Link was stunned for a moment. This kind of thing is not uncommon in the film industry.

Although after the 'Paramount Act' of 1948, in order to prevent industry monopoly, the film industry implemented the separation of film production companies and theaters, and the relationship between the two will be strictly regulated and reviewed by the MPAA, but to this day, The behavior of major movie companies colluding with theater chains to steal box office still exists.

In order to maintain their share of the film market, the 'Big Six' Hollywood film companies falsify box office data and suppress some small production companies or producers.

The media groups behind the six major Hollywood studios control 70% of the entertainment media and television stations in the United States. Lawyers and politicians also rely on the entertainment industry.

Even if someone discovers it later, no one dares to risk being banned by challenging the authority of the six major groups, and in the end they will have to swallow a bitter pill.

It is said that "Cutthroat Island", which led to the bankruptcy of Carlock Pictures, was largely due to the box office being stolen by the distribution company. Originally, the film had more than a few million dollars at the box office.

There are three common ways to steal box office. One is that theaters conceal the number of moviegoers and count movies with 90% attendance as 80%.

The second method is to change the box office of "Bridesmaids" to the name of another movie released at the same time. The printed movie ticket does not match the name of the movie watched.

Another method is to count the money from selling movie tickets as the money from selling popcorn soda, etc.

Ted Barr, chairman of the American Religious Film and Television Commission, admitted in an interview in 2008 that the six major film distribution companies had engaged in box office fraud and other behaviors. He was immediately criticized by public opinion and was soon forced to resign.

"According to data from the movie box office monitoring company Rentrak, the theater attendance rate of "Bridesmaids" in Canada and Mexico reached 82% during the three-day opening weekend. The box office revenue in these two places should be around 19 million, not 9.5 million. million, and the theater box office results in the sixteen northern states where Warner is responsible for distribution are generally lower than those in the states where Lionsgate is responsible for distribution.”

Ivaca said.

The North American film market mainly includes the United States, Canada, and Mexico. After acquiring Lionsgate, Link regained part of the distribution rights of "Bridesmaids" and still handed over Canada, Mexico, and the sixteen northern states to Warner, which has stronger distribution capabilities. film industry.

"We are currently investigating and collecting evidence. If the data given by Rentrak is true, the box office data of "Bridesmaids" in North America in the first three weeks should be 114 million US dollars, not just 56 million."

Ivaca said.

"So exaggerated?"

It's too arrogant to eat up half of the box office in one go.

"Yes, the legal department is currently collecting evidence. Once conclusive evidence is obtained, it will file a lawsuit with the court and MPAA to try to get Warner Pictures to spit out the box office it has swallowed."

Ivaca said coldly.

Link frowned when he heard this. He originally thought that the two parties had a happy cooperation on the "Scandal Project" project and had a certain basis for cooperation. Warner would not cheat at the box office, but he still underestimated the ugly face of the capitalists.

Thinking of this, he couldn't help but wonder if there would be a problem of ticket fraud in the release of "Scandal Project"?

Because the overseas box office of "Scandal Project" is also higher than that in North America, and according to the theme of "Scandal Project", it is normal that the box office in North America should be higher than that in overseas countries.

Link thought for a while and found Catherine for a small meeting. He couldn't let go of Warner Pictures' box office takeover. Even if he spent 10 million to file a lawsuit, he still had to get back the lost box office.

——

He was originally in a low mood. After hearing that his money had been stolen, his mood became even worse. It was not until later that French media reported that actress Marion Cotillard gave birth to a baby at the hospital affiliated to the University of Paris VI. Boy, his mood gradually improved.

Link called Guillaume Canet to inquire about the situation.

Guillaume had a bad temper on the phone. He scolded him in French, said that the child had nothing to do with him, and asked him not to call again, and then hung up the phone rudely.

Link was confused. Guillaume was in a good mood when he sent the message before, so why did he suddenly become irritable after the child was born?

He suddenly thought of a possibility. Could it be because the child was more like himself? Guillaume loses his temper out of jealousy.

He sent a message telling Guillaume that if the child was him, he would bring the child to the United States to raise him and give him the best living conditions.

Guillaume told him that it was impossible, the child was not his and had nothing to do with him.

Link sent a message asking about Marion, asking if she was awake?

I sent two messages in a row and got no reply.

He sent another message to Monica Bellucci, asking her what she was doing.

Monica replied that she was in the hospital and asked him if he wanted to know the gender of the child and whether it looked like him.

Link said yes.

Monica said to come over if she wanted to know. Marion suffered a lot when she gave birth to a child, and he, the father, didn't even look at her. This was not a scumbag, but a scumbag father.

Link felt ashamed and said he was going to come over tomorrow.

The Cannes Film Festival is here, and "Midnight in Paris" has been invited to be the opening film of this year's Cannes Film Festival. He is the leading actor and needs to attend the opening event. You can also see Marion Cotillard on the way.

Monica texted back and said that this is like a man.

Putting down the phone, he couldn't help but think of another child, the child born to Taylor.

Although he said that he would not arrange for anyone to continue the investigation, it was to protect the children and not cause trouble to Taylor.

But knowing the existence of the child and not even looking at it for more than two months seems a bit excessive.

He thought about it seriously and sent a message to Mrs. Andrea, asking about the child's condition. Isn't it convenient for him to go see the child in the near future? Will go quietly without letting Taylor know.

A few minutes later, Mrs. Andrea wrote back saying 'it's inconvenient'.

After a while, he said that the child had been given away by Taylor, and the adoptive parents lived in a family in Switzerland, Europe. The text message also included an address, saying that if he wanted to see the child, he could go there to see the child.

Link clenched his fists in anger when he saw the news. He originally thought that with Taylor's conditions, he could give the child a good life by just spending one or two million, but she gave the child to others to raise. If she didn't want to raise the child, You can completely raise your children by yourself.

It is too cruel to give your child to someone else to raise.

He held it in for a few seconds, then couldn't hold it back and dialed Taylor's number.

The mobile phone number is still blocked, and other contact information is also blocked.

"Selena, use your phone and call Taylor."

He glanced at the small round face lying on the sofa. The girl was wearing a loose dress, with her bare feet on the sofa. Her toenails painted strawberry red were still moving around. She was holding a fruit machine in her hand. I don't know what I'm looking at. Her big eyes are bright and her round face is flushed, like a home girl.

Seeing that she didn't object, Link reached for the phone and took a look. The screen was full of words, about Anastasia responding enthusiastically to Christian, and about whips and handcuffs.

"ah!!!"

Before he could take a second look, Selena jumped up from the sofa with a difficult move, threw herself on him, and shouted with a red face, "Asshole, give me back your phone."

"Don't worry, just use your cell phone to make a call."

"No! Give me your phone back quickly."

Selina grabbed his neck with both hands and shook it, baring her little tiger teeth as if to bite his ear, it was so cute and cute.

Link shook his head and could only return the phone to her.

Selina took her phone back and swiped it a few times with her fingers before she breathed a sigh of relief and glared at him angrily with her round face.

"Bad guy, who asked you to steal my phone? Don't you know that the phone is personal privacy?"

"I just asked you if you could lend me your phone, and you had no objection."

"But I didn't agree. I'm telling you clearly now, it's impossible! It's never possible."

Selena put her phone in her pocket and took a picture, giving him a cute big eye roll.

"Really? You are reading a dirty novel, do you want me to tell Mandy?"

Link laughed.

When Selina heard what he said, her face suddenly turned red. She looked in the direction of the kitchen, grabbed his shoulders and shouted in a low voice: "I didn't, that's not that kind of novel, you'd better not talk nonsense. "

"Oh, it's not a pornographic novel. Why are you blushing?"

Link hummed.

"It's a best-selling novel and has been on the New York Times list. It's not an unhealthy novel. If you don't believe me, read it."

Selena took out her phone again, opened Google, and searched for information about a novel called "Fifty Shades of Grey".

"Fifty Shades of Grey?"

Seeing a familiar book title, Link wanted to take the phone and take a closer look.

Selena refused, pointing to a few lines of information in the information and told him that this novel was originally serialized on a novel website and was released to the public at the beginning of this month. It is available in bookstores and on the website. It sold more than 100,000 copies in the first week. It is definitely a best-seller. novel.

Rather than some pornographic novel, she asked him not to smear her innocence. She, Selina, is not that kind of person.

"Really? Was this novel originally a fanfic of "The Twilight Saga"? It tells the story of a female college student who falls in love with a domineering president, falls in love with him, and lives a life without shame? "

"Have you seen it too?"

The little round face widened its eyes in surprise.

"Now do you dare to say that this novel is healthy?"

Link laughed.

With a small round face and a small mouth, he hummed softly: "You also read it. If you dare to report me, I will report you too."

"I am a boy and a scumbag. What impact does reading this kind of novel have on me?"

Link chuckled.

Selina blinked her eyes, as if that was indeed the case.

This bad guy has so many girlfriends and has done more outrageous things than what is written in the novel. He is like a man covered in black mud and is not afraid of being accused of reading such novels.

Thinking of this, Selina felt powerless. It didn't matter that Link had done so many bad things. It was really unfair that she was just reading relatively strong novels and had to secretly read them.

"Don't you have a mobile phone? What do you need my mobile phone for?"

"Call Taylor, I have something to ask her."

Link stretched out his hand.

"No, Taylor said she won't answer your calls. If you use my mobile phone to call her, she will definitely blame me."

Selina put her phone behind her back, blinked her big eyes and said.

"Then you send her a message saying that I want to chat with her and ask her to release my mobile phone number first."

Link said helplessly.

"All right!"

Selena sent a message, put down her phone and looked at him with strange eyes.

"Why do you read a novel like "Fifty Shades of Grey"? This is a novel with the female protagonist's vision and is only suitable for us girls. As a grown man, don't you think it's awkward to read it?"

"Of course not. I brought in the male protagonist. I want to learn from the novel how to fall in love with girls. I am a bit lacking in this aspect."

Link shrugged.

"Lack of it? In the novel, Christian only has one girlfriend. Your girlfriends are all over the world. He should be the one to learn from you, okay? You're a big scumbag."

Selena rolled her eyes, suddenly feeling that Link was not only more philandering than the hero, but also more valuable, countless times more famous, and more handsome than the hero. She blinked and moved closer to Link. He asked curiously, "Do you usually play like Christian with your girlfriends?"

"Don't ask questions that shouldn't be asked."

Link said as he pushed her round face away.

"Hmph! I can guess that on the surface you are very decent, but in fact you are more over-the-top and perverted than Christian."

Selina clenched her little fist and hit him.

Ding dong!

The phone rang. Selena looked at the message with a small face, suddenly smiled brightly, and shook the phone at him, "Taylor said he didn't want to talk to you, and didn't want to hear your name. She also said that if you dare to force me, Taylor I’ll never talk to you again.”

Link frowned, "Ask her if she still remembers the bet she made last year. Now that she lost, ask her when she will cash it in."

"Bet? What are you betting with Taylor?"

Selena asked curiously.

"Don't ask random questions that shouldn't be asked. Send a message."

Link said pushing her forehead away.

Selena pursed her lips vigorously, hummed slightly, and threw the phone to him, asking him to send the message himself.

Link took his cell phone to edit a text message and asked Taylor if he still remembered the bet last year and when would it be cashed in?

Last year, the two made a bet on the sales of their third album. If he lost, he would continue to release albums and could not quit the music scene. If Taylor lost, he would do whatever he wanted.

This bet was brought up by Taylor on his own initiative. He didn't know Taylor was pregnant at the time, so he agreed.

Now his third album "The Woman I Love" has sold a total of 5.35 million copies in North America.

After last year's MTV, American Music Awards, and this year's Grammy Awards, with the popularity and publicity of several awards, the album sold an additional 7.8 million copies in North America.

More than three million more copies have been sold globally. Now global sales have reached a total of 28 million copies. It is only a matter of time before it exceeds 30 million copies.

Taylor's "Last Kiss" has just exceeded 4 million sales in North America. Thanks to several awards and the popularity of the North American tour, it has only sold 15 million overseas.

"A bet? Tell him I don't know."

Taylor replied to the message.

"Haha, Taylor said he didn't know."

Selina lay on his shoulder and said crisply.

Link was helpless and texted back, "Link said that he knew you liked to cheat and often kept your promises, so he didn't want you to honor your bet. He just wanted to meet and chat with you. How about it?"

"No! We have nothing to talk about (give the phone back to Selena, if you secretly use Selena's phone again, I will block this number)"

Taylor said.

"Give me back my phone."

Selena reached out and snatched the phone, and sent a text message to Taylor, complaining that Link bullied him and used force to snatch her phone. She couldn't beat him at all, so angry.

"Is Taylor in Los Angeles?"

Link asked.

"I won't tell you, Taylor wants me to stay away from you."

Selena put away the phone, made a face at him, and walked upstairs in slippers.

"It's time to eat, what are you doing upstairs?"

Katherine came out with a plate of fruit, and Evaka also came out of the kitchen with an apron wrapped around her waist.

"Charge, the phone is out of power."

Selena responded crisply.

Link smiled lightly, remembering that the novel "Fifty Shades of Grey" was later adapted into a movie, and three movies were shot before and after, with a total global box office of more than 1 billion US dollars. It is a very promising project.

He talked about this with Evaka and asked her to arrange someone to go to the publishing house to check the copyright of the novel. This novel has just been published, and the copyright should still be in the hands of the author.

Find a way to buy it. This novel has a big market among young women. If it is made into a movie, it should have good box office results.

Evaka said that she saw this novel in Tiffany's room. She felt very bored after reading a few pages. The literary quality is very poor, and the wording and sentence structure are not very literary.

"Will it be good if it is made into a movie?"

"It should be. Tiffany and Selena are reading it, which shows that the novel has a market among young women."

The heroine of this novel is a Cinderella-like college student, and Evaka is a princess. It is natural that there is no sense of substitution when reading such a novel.

This novel was originally just a heavy-taste fan fiction of "Twilight". The author of the novel is not a professional writer, and the writing is indeed very poor.

After it was publicly released, it was ridiculed by many professional writers. From the plot to the writing, it was sprayed into a mess, similar to online literature, but the novel was very popular. It sold more than 150 million copies worldwide, sold 35 million copies in the United States, and set the fastest sales record for paperbacks in the UK, becoming another phenomenal novel after "Twilight".

"Before buying the copyright, you can also do a market survey to see what female readers think."

"That's fine."

Evaka smiled slightly, rolled up her hair, and went back to the kitchen to work.

Catherine glanced at Evaka, turned back and asked Link softly when he was going to get married. It's not easy to meet a girl like Evaka.

Link said helplessly that he would get married as soon as possible.

Catherine smiled and left with satisfaction.

Ding Dong!

The phone received a message from Chris Liu, asking him if it was convenient for him to answer the phone now?

Link got up and went to the terrace and called Chris Liu.

As soon as the call was connected, Chris Liu excitedly told him that Shu Chang didn't have her period this month. They just tested it and there were two bars on the pregnancy test stick. Shu Chang was pregnant. It is very likely that she got pregnant during those days in Singapore.

Link was stunned for a moment and had a headache.

Just through Monica Bellucci, he confirmed that Marion's child seemed to be his, Amy Adams's child was suspected to be his, and Taylor's child was given away. Now Jennifer Shu is pregnant again, with several children at once.

"Link, you... don't you like children?"

Chris Liu asked in a low voice.

"No, I like children very much, I'm just too happy."

"As long as you like children, don't worry, I will take good care of Shushu."

Chris Liu said.

Link smiled lightly and asked her if she had her period.

Chris Liu said in a depressed mood that she was not pregnant, and asked him when he would come to Beijing, saying that she also wanted to get pregnant with his baby.

Link thought for a while and said that he would go there next month to participate in the WBA light heavyweight competition.

Chris Liu agreed and asked him to come earlier.

Link talked to Jennifer for a while and asked her to be careful and not go out to work recently to protect the fetus.

Jennifer Shu agreed obediently.

After hanging up the phone, Link looked up at the distance, the blue sea and blue sky, and the bright sunshine.