Hollywood Director 1992.

Chapter 24: Million Share
"Director Link, congratulations on the huge success of Buried. It's a pity that I couldn't work with you last time because of the mistake made by the distribution staff."

"Mr. Weinstein, everyone makes mistakes sometimes, so don't take it too seriously."

"Haha, well said. Director Link, do you still have the copyright of Buried? How about we make an appointment to talk about it?"

"Mr. Weinstein, I'm sorry, I'm busy with publicity recently and don't have time to return to Los Angeles."

"It's okay, I can arrange for someone to find you."

"Okay! I'd be happy to talk to your company."

After Buried became a big hit, Link received many calls from the owners of film distribution companies.
Including the heads of the seven major film distribution companies, Harvey Weinstein of Miramax Films, Robert Shea of New Line, and Mario Casar, president of Carlock Pictures.

In addition to apologizing to him and saying that he had underestimated the potential of "Buried", he also offered many tempting conditions, hoping to obtain the distribution rights of "Buried" from him.

After Link's market changed from a seller's market to a buyer's market, he was not in a hurry to sell the film rights.

After hearing offers from more than a dozen companies, the company finally sold the overseas film copyright and video distribution rights of "Buried" to 220th Century Fox, one of the seven major film studios, for US$10 million + % of the overseas box office share.

The North American distribution of "Buried" is still entrusted to United Cinemas.

Although cinema chains cannot compare with professional film companies in terms of film distribution capabilities, the current cooperation with United Cinemas is quite pleasant. United Cinemas submits box office information on time every week, and the box office data is highly credible.

At the same time, this weekend, United Cinemas transferred the first share of box office revenue into his bank account.

Temporary change of partners may easily lead to unnecessary trouble.

In its third week of release in North America, the number of theaters showing "Buried" has expanded from 116 to 487, and the film can be seen in almost all cities with a population of over 10.

Link continued to fly to various cities to promote the film and expand the influence of "Buried Alive".

Because "Buried" is so popular, news headlines such as "300 times box office revenue ratio, fifth most profitable movie in history", "Chinese director creates the biggest dark horse of the year", "The struggle of a genius director", "Disdained by all Hollywood film companies before release, created a box office myth after self-funded release" are quite attractive.

Link also became famous because of the hit movie "Buried" and became a relatively well-known public figure in Hollywood.

When you are famous, you are prone to gossip, no matter where you are.

After "Buried" surpassed "Chaplin" in weekly box office, a USA Today reporter interviewed "Chaplin" star Robert Downey Jr. at a movie promotion event.

Ask him if he has seen "Buried", what he thinks of the movie, and what he thinks of Link?

Although "Chaplin" received good reviews after its release, it suffered a box office failure. The production cost was 1200 million US dollars, and the current North American box office is only 813.7 million US dollars. The North American box office is expected to be less than 1000 million. The production company Carlock Pictures expects to lose four to five million US dollars.

In addition, "Chaplin" and "Buried" were released at the same time. The production cost of "Chaplin" was hundreds of times that of "Buried", but its box office performance last week was severely crushed by "Buried".

Many media outlets compared the two movies in their reports, praising one and criticizing the other to create topics.

The reporter from USA Today interviewed Robert Downey Jr. to try and see if he could make some news from him.

Before attending the event that day, it was not known whether Robert Downey Jr. drank too much or took drugs.

After hearing the reporter's question, he criticized "Buried Alive" in front of many media outlets.

"Buried" was called a shoddy and rubbish movie, not worthy of being compared with classic movies like "Chaplin". The box office success of "Buried" was the result of media hype and it did not live up to its reputation.

He also publicly mentioned Link's behavior of sneaking onto the red carpet at the premiere of "Chaplin", and mocked "Buried" for relying on the popularity of "Chaplin" to become popular.

and many more.

Robert Downey Jr.'s answer was subsequently reported by many media outlets, causing quite a stir in the United States and the entertainment industry.

Robert Downey Jr. is a popular Hollywood star. Publicly criticizing his peers is not only disrespectful but also unwise.

Some media criticized Robert Downey Jr. for being narrow-minded and jealous that "Buried" had higher box office performance than "Chaplin", which is why he used these opinions to attack Link and "Buried".

Some media also revealed that Robert Downey Jr. drank and took drugs before attending some events, which led to inappropriate behavior.

There are also photos of Link attending the premiere of "Buried" at the Grove Shopping Center. There are photos of Link giving a speech in front of a giant poster of "Chaplin", and there are also photos comparing the posters of "Buried" and "Chaplin".

It seems like they want to confirm the rumor that "Buried" is riding on the popularity of "Chaplin".

Some tabloids also exposed Link's life experience, saying that Link was an orphan, had been a thief and a vagrant, had no food to eat, had a low level of education, and was uneducated.

This news had some negative impact on Link's public image, but it also confirmed the rumors that "Buried" had a bumpy road to release.

It adds some heat to "Buried Alive".

Some media also used these stories to interview Link at the film promotion activities, asking him about his views on Robert Downey Jr. and "Chaplin".

In his answer, Link did not mention Robert Downey Jr., but only expressed his appreciation for "Chaplin", saying that he liked the comedy master Chaplin very much and was very happy to see his biographical film released.

The American Tribune described Link as a 'gentle and sensible man'.

In its third week of release, "Buried" earned $487 million in 426.8 theaters, ranking second on this week's movie box office list, only behind the classic erotic film "Basic Instinct".

This also allowed "Buried" to have a cumulative North American box office of 1038 million US dollars, with a box office revenue ratio of 519:1, making it the film with the highest box office revenue ratio after "Eraserhead" and "Rocky".

As the release time of "Buried" increases, the popularity is slowly declining, and the movie attendance and average daily box office are also declining simultaneously, falling below the passing line.

In order to ensure profitability, cinema chains have begun to reduce the number and scale of screenings in theaters in regions where the film has already been released.

By its fourth week, the number of theaters showing "Buried" had dropped to 218, with a box office of $139 million.

In the coming weeks, theaters will gradually reduce the number of theaters showing the film until the box office potential of "Buried" is fully exhausted. The North American box office is expected to be around 1500 million US dollars.

In the fifth week of Buried's release, Link also received a share of the box office revenue of the first four weeks of Buried, which was $415 million.

Including the overseas copyright fees and video copyright fees for "Buried", Link earned more than 650 million US dollars from this movie.

Due to the relatively high personal income tax in California, Link registered a film company called "Guess" on Hollywood Boulevard during the release of "Buried", and cooperated with theaters in the name of the company.

Part of the subsequent box office revenue was transferred to the company's account, and it is estimated that the tax can be saved by more than one million US dollars.

At the same time, the news that Link made millions of dollars by investing 2 yuan was reported by many media, and then everyone he knew knew that he had become a millionaire.

“A few weeks ago, Link flew from Los Angeles to New York to pitch me the script in order to self-distribute the film, and suddenly he became a millionaire.

If I had known that Buried would make so much money, I would have spent a lot of money to buy out the distribution rights of this film at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. I bought it for $5 and sold it for $500 million. It was so cool. It’s a pity that I didn’t see it at the time.”

On Hollywood Boulevard, in Covell's bar, Quentin Tarantino expressed his feelings into his glass.

"I think the most upset person right now isn't you, but the film companies that rejected Buried. The news said that before Buried was released, Link went to more than 30 film companies to promote the film, but none of them were willing to cooperate. Now that Buried is a big hit, they are effectively throwing away millions of dollars that were handed to them. Maybe a few executives of these companies will lose their jobs because of this."

Lawrence Bender said.

"It was unexpected that the movie Buried was a big hit. After I saw it, I thought that although the quality of the movie was good, the box office would not be too high. The result was much higher than I expected."

Director Steven Soderbergh said next to him.

"It seems that we don't understand the audience's preferences as well as Link does. When Link comes, we'll ask him more. Hey, Link, here!"

Quentin Tarantino waved down the aisle.

Link walked into the bar wearing a loose T-shirt and blue jeans, looking sunny.

Compared to a few weeks ago, Link was thinner and darker, but he looked more energetic and handsome, and his temperament was more outstanding.

"Suddenly becoming rich can really change a person's temperament."

Quentin said enviously.

　Abin’s performance in this book is not very ideal, please continue reading it!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)