Chapter 552 The Hunger Games 2

Soon after The Wolf of Wall Street was released, Lionsgate's annual blockbuster The Hunger Games: Catching Fire was released simultaneously in North America and 34 countries and regions around the world.

In North America, it was released simultaneously in 4,136 theaters, with a box office of 70.95 million US dollars on the first day and 158 million US dollars in the three days of its opening weekend.

It set a new record for the opening weekend box office of movies in November in history, and it is also the fourth highest opening box office of all movies in history. The only movies with higher opening results than this movie are The Avengers, The Dark Knight Rises, and The Twilight Saga: New Moon.

The first week box office was 262 million US dollars.

The overseas box office results were similar to those in North America, with a box office of 258 million US dollars in all regions in the first week.

The total box office was 520 million US dollars.

The production cost of the film was 130 million US dollars, and the publicity cost was 100 million US dollars.

It has now successfully recovered its investment, which also made Lionsgate feel relieved.

In fact, when preparing to shoot The Hunger Games 2 at the end of 2011, it encountered a lot of resistance.

First of all, Gary Ross, the director of the first film, refused to continue directing the film because of the salary and dissatisfaction with the script.

For this reason, Lionsgate Films Production Department sent cooperation invitations to many first-line directors, including Alfonso Cuarón, the director of Gravity, David Cronenberg, the director of Desire, Duncan Jones, the director of Source Code, and Joe Cornish, the director of Notting Hill, but under the interference of the six major film studios, these directors all refused to cooperate.

Finally, Link found director Francis Lawrence based on his memory.

The other party has directed films such as Hellblazer, I Am Legend, and Tears for Elephants. He is also the director of the subsequent series of The Hunger Games. At the same time, he is also a MV director.

He has directed five MVs for Link, and has also shot song MVs for singers such as Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears, Shakira, Will Smith, Avril Lavigne, and Black Eyed Peas. He is very famous in the music industry.

He is a film director who has successfully transformed from a MV director.

Many people were not optimistic about choosing such an MV director to direct the popular movie "The Hunger Games 2". Even before the movie was released, many media outlets were pessimistic about the film, believing that the series would be ruined by director Francis Lawrence and the second part would be the final chapter of the series.

Now the movie is released, with a global box office of 520 million US dollars in the first week, which is better than the first one. The total box office is expected to exceed 1 billion US dollars, becoming the best-selling movie of the year.

This data also made those who were pessimistic about the movie shut up collectively, and made their peers jealous and crazy.

Originally, the total box office performance of Lionsgate's movies was already very high. Now "The Hunger Games 2" continues to sell well, and it is possible to rush from the top three in the industry to the second, or even the first.

Now not only Universal, Fox, Paramount, and Sony Pictures feel the pressure, but also the industry leaders Disney and Warner Pictures are under great pressure. They invest more than 2 billion US dollars in movies every year, but in the end they don't make as much as Lionsgate, which invests 600 to 700 million US dollars in movies.

In the eyes of peers, Lionsgate is very powerful from top to bottom, and can continuously launch many hit movies.

In the eyes of the shareholders of the six major film companies, the management of the six major film companies seems incompetent.

For this reason, it is said that the management of Universal Pictures, Fox Films, and Sony Pictures are facing changes, and many former high-ranking managers will be fired due to lack of ability.

The Hollywood Reporter claims that the rise of Lionsgate has broken the original pattern of Hollywood, and has also brought a great sense of crisis to the six major film companies, and has also induced film companies to push for innovation and make more high-quality films.

At this point, when Link accompanied Eva Ka to the movies, he also found that there were good-quality movies in the cinema that he had never seen before. I don’t know if it was a new movie that he had never seen before or was influenced by himself.

For example, there are several movies that imitate "Buried Alive", burying a beautiful woman in the sand to see how she escapes, and the box office results are not bad.

The huge sales of "The Hunger Games 2" also boosted the market value of Lionsgate. The market value was overestimated by Wall Street investment companies to 5.2 billion to 5.5 billion US dollars. An investment company was willing to raise 600 million US dollars to get 10% of the shares, which doubled last year.

When Link acquired Lionsgate in 2011, Lionsgate's market value was only 800 million US dollars. After he acquired it, it fell to 500 million. Many peers believed that Lionsgate would go bankrupt within three years.

Three years later, Lionsgate not only did not go bankrupt, but its market value increased 10 times, and it also ranked among the top three in the industry, becoming the most profitable film company in the entire industry.

In addition, peers also felt sorry for several original shareholders of Lionsgate.

Before Link took over Lionsgate, "The Hunger Games 1" had already been approved and was about to enter the shooting period. If Lionsgate had not been sold, they could have made more than 1 billion from this series, but now all the money has been made by Link.

"Damn Link, he's so lucky."

Harvey, Kunas Jr., Jay-z, Kanye and others were so angry when they saw the report that they worked so hard for decades but couldn't make 1 billion, but Link got away with it and made billions easily.

Such people are so annoying.

"Why don't we reconcile with Link? As long as we are willing to reconcile, Link will definitely agree. He is not a stingy person."

Bob Weinstein put down the newspaper and said.

"Shut up, I will never reconcile with him."

Harvey said angrily.

In 2011, Link was just a small figure in Hollywood. With just one phone call, he could get Link to come to a party, make Link lose several movie roles, and also make everyone isolate Link and let Lionsgate film The movie also couldn't find the right actors.

At that time, if he just used a little more strength, he could get Link out of Hollywood.

But now Link is a big shot in Hollywood, and Lionsgate is worth twenty times the Weinstein Pictures.

Because of the bad relationship with Link, the Weinstein Films began to be isolated. This made Harvey very angry. He regretted that after the conflict with Link, he did not use all his strength to deal with Link and give Link room to grow. .

If he had started earlier, suppressed Link and Lionsgate at all costs, and nipped the threat in the cradle, Link would not have been so successful, Weinstein Pictures would not have been in this state, and he, the king of Hollywood, would not have lost his grip. of power.

All this is a tragedy caused by too much carelessness.

Harvey regretted it beyond measure.

"Link's influence in the entertainment industry is growing. These are exactly what the politicians need. I heard that the members of the Donkey Party and the Elephant Party are wooing him recently. Without the support of the Donkey Party, we are in Hollywood. The company’s influence will continue to decline, and if the conflict with Link continues, the company’s situation will be even worse.”

Bob said.

Because the brothers have deep connections in the entertainment industry and know many actors, over the past two decades, the Clintons and Obama actively courted Harvey when they were in office, and Harvey received a lot of benefits.

Now that they cannot give the Donkey Party the benefits they want, they will naturally be abandoned.

Bob wanted Harvey to see this clearly.

"Will the Donkey Party win over Link?"

Harvey frowned.

"Of course, Link is worth tens of billions, is an Olympic champion, has strong connections in the music and film industries, and has countless fans. If you win over him, you can get the support of many people and get a lot of votes. People from the Donkey Party have no reason to do that. Let him go.

As for his father-in-law, the influence is not great. Link is a businessman and he values ​​interests. As long as he is given enough benefits, he will choose the favorable side. "

Bob said.

Harvey held the cigar and frowned fiercely. He felt very bad about being abandoned. He thought for a while, picked up the phone and called a close Donkey Party politician, hoping that there was still a chance to recover the loss.

——

On Link's side, he and Ivaca did receive invitations from many politicians, both from the Donkey Party and the Elephant Party. Some invited him to parties, and some invited him to play golf.

Link didn't know how to deal with this kind of thing, so he called his old father-in-law to ask him for advice.

The old father-in-law said that as long as he has time, he should participate in as many such activities as possible. Regardless of whether he is a donkey party or an elephant party, for a person of his status, he does not need to establish his own position, he only needs to see the benefits and which side provides the benefits. If there are more, whichever side you support.

Link asked him if he was a member of the Elephant Party. Is it appropriate for him to support the Donkey Party?

The old father-in-law laughed and said that he was just a new member of the Elephant Party. If the Donkey Party was willing to give him enough support, he could also consider joining the Donkey Party.

Link understood what his old father-in-law meant. He was a standard opportunist and wanted to join the Xiang Party. He had little confidence in running for election and winning, and he didn't know what kind of person he would become in the future, so Remain indifferent to his choice.

Link advised his old father-in-law that since he has chosen this path, he should go all out and actively prepare for that goal, and he will fully support him.

The old father-in-law was very moved and praised him repeatedly. He also told Ivaca on the phone that he should do more work so that Link could have more time for rest and entertainment. He also asked her not to talk to Lin Ke about trivial matters. Ke was conflicted, saying that Link was the head of the family and she should do her best to support him and be a good wife.

"knew."

Ivaca gave Link a charming look, hung up the phone, pursed her red lips and hummed, "Dad now treats you as his own son and me as an outsider."

"We are all a family, no insiders or outsiders."

Link held her soft waist and kissed her red lips.

Ivaca also hugged his neck and responded to him enthusiastically.

"Dad! Dad! Play with me."

Little Margarita ran over dragging a stuffed giraffe.

The little guy had a cute apple head, wearing overalls, a pink T-shirt, and a very delicate pink face. When he came to the living room, he saw the two of them kissing and didn't care. He grabbed his trouser legs and climbed onto the sofa.

Link smiled softly, picked up the little one and lifted her up high, then carried her to the playground in the villa to ride the train.

"Christmas is coming soon. I'm going to call and invite Taylor to bring Alexander and Cynthia to my house. What do you think?"

Ivaca came over and asked.

"Sounds good, but Taylor probably won't agree."

"I'll try."

Ivaca shaved the little guy's face, returned to the living room, called Taylor, and invited her and the two children to spend Christmas at home.

Taylor said she wanted to make a bet with Link. If Link's pure music song "Victory" could reach the top ten in terms of weekly downloads on the Billboard singles chart, she would bring her two children over. If not, Link and Evaka would So I took little Margarita to her house for Christmas.

Iwaka agreed with a smile and told Link about it.

Link was helpless, Taylor was still so strong.

——

In the second week of the release of "The Hunger Games 2", the North American box office has accumulated 369 million US dollars, the overseas box office has reached 414 million US dollars, and the total box office has reached an astonishing 780 million. It is temporarily ranked third in the North American annual box office rankings and fifth in the global total box office.

This is only the result of two weeks of release. According to the current situation, "The Hunger Games 2" has a great chance to win the annual box office champion in North America.

Jennifer Lawrence has also become the hottest actress in the European and American film industry with this movie.

At the same time, more female stars are actively approaching Link, hoping to become the next Jennifer Lawrence, or Emma Stone, Daddario, and Jessica Chastain.

But Link now has to accompany the beautiful Eva Ka every day, and has to make time every week to help Taylor solve physiological problems. He also has to accompany Jennifer Lawrence, Daddario, and occasionally Emma Roberts, Emma Watson, Beyonce, or Marion Cotillard, Nozomi Sasaki, Jun Ji-hyun, and Taeyeon who come to the United States to work. There is no extra fertilizer to irrigate the fields of outsiders.

In the second week of the release of "The Hunger Games 2", the North American box office of "The Wolf of Wall Street" slowly reached 135 million US dollars, and the overseas box office reached 320 million. From this point of view, the North American box office was greatly affected by negative public opinion.

However, the total box office of 445 million can also make Lionsgate earn more than 100 million US dollars, which Link feels is not bad.

In mid-December, Link's carefully crafted symphony "Victory" was released on multiple platforms such as Spotify, iTunes Music Store, Amazon Digital Music Store, and Pandora Music Box.

Originally, he only planned to release it on Spotify, but after hearing this pure music, people from iTunes, Amazon Digital, and Pandora platforms took the initiative to come to him and proposed many favorable terms to increase his share, just hoping to participate in the release of this pure music.

This is a good deal, and Link did not refuse.

"Victory" was performed by Link and the New York Philharmonic Orchestra.

The New York Philharmonic Orchestra is the earliest symphony orchestra in the United States. Founded in 1842, it is also the longest-established orchestra in the United States and one of the five most famous symphony orchestras in the United States.

Link is mainly responsible for the piano part in this symphony, and Lady Gaga is responsible for the female singing behind.

The song is 6 minutes and 32 seconds long.

It is magnificent and soul-stirring.

On the first day of the release of "Victory", the total number of plays on all channels reached 132.7 million times, and the number of paid downloads of the high-definition lossless version reached 3.196 million times. The sales on the first day easily topped the major charts.

"USA Today" said in an exaggerated tone that on that day, all Americans had heard this song at least once.

"Rolling Stone", "Billboard", "New York Times", "Village Voice" and other media have used a lot of space to analyze this song, and used a lot of flattering words to praise Link, calling him a "talented" musician, an incredible musician.

The media's comprehensive evaluation was as high as 92 points, and 34 media gave 99 points and 100 points.

In the first week of its release, "Victory" was downloaded 6.635 million times in the United States, easily topping the Billboard singles chart. It is also the first instrumental music to top the singles chart since Nielsen Data Company began collecting singles chart data in 1991.

In overseas regions, this instrumental music was downloaded 8.046 million times in the first week, topping the singles charts in 44 countries and regions including the United Kingdom, France, Germany, New Zealand, Belgium, Japan, South Korea, and Spain.