Hollywood Director 1992

In a Beverly Hills villa, Link was lying on the sofa reading a newspaper as Liu Xiaoli came in with a plate of fruit.

"Now that you're home, you should rest well and read less news to avoid getting upset,"

Liu Xiaoli said.

"Recently, the newspapers have been full of good news, how could I be upset?"

Link kissed her smooth cheek and was fed a piece of pineapple.

"Too much good news can also be annoying."

"Alright!"

With a beauty by his side, Link temporarily put down the newspaper and enjoyed her service.

"Now that this movie is finished, when are you planning to shoot the next one?"

"I just finished one movie and you're already asking about the next one, do you want to tire your man to death?"

"Don't talk nonsense!"

Liu Xiaoli rolled her beautiful, flirtatious eyes at him, "I'm asking you about your upcoming plans on behalf of everyone.

If the next movie will be filmed later, we can make work arrangements in advance and go to Hawaii for vacation together."

"Go on vacation?"

Link looked at Liu Xiaoli and smiled, "In the past, when vacation was mentioned, you always made excuses and advised me not to be so playful, and to spend more time on work while I'm young.

Why are you taking the initiative to suggest a vacation now?

Liu Xiaoli, you're acting very strange."

Pa ~

Liu Xiaoli slapped his mischievous hand, her cheeks flushed as she said, "I think you've been too tired these past few months and wanted to persuade you to take some time off to rest, it's not for any other reason."

"Really?"

Link smiled softly, suddenly noticing her attire.

Before, she was wearing a serious and proper business suit, but only a moment later, she had changed into a silk slip dress, revealing her sexy and voluptuous figure.

Originally, she was a dancer with a tall figure, a slender waist, long legs, and good flexibility.

The disadvantage was that she wasn't voluptuous enough.

After living with him for a few years, he didn't know what she ate, but she began to develop for the second time, her figure gradually approaching Monica and the others.

Wearing this kind of dress, her figure was rounded and well-proportioned, making her look very tempting.

Seeing her attire and expression, Link instantly understood the beauty's thoughts.

After Monica's appearance underwent subtle changes, everyone looked at him as if he were Tang Sanzang in the eyes of demons, their attitude becoming a hundred times more proactive.

Even the originally indifferent Liu Xiaoli couldn't resist the trend.

Link smiled softly, not minding her ulterior motives.

"Lina, is Link back yet?"

"Link, we're back."

And already has to start being busy and running around.

The next day, the weather was nice, with blue skies, white clouds, and clear skies.

Link still woke up early to exercise and go to work.

After filming "Batman Forever", in addition to being busy with the company's work, he also had to keep an eye on Industrial Light \u0026 Magic's production of the movie's post-production special effects, doing his best to make the special effects part of the movie well.

While he was busy, Guess Pictures' four movies released in the first quarter continued to create good results in the movie market.

"Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls" grossed $23.71 million in its third week in 2,705 theaters in North America, with a cumulative gross of $92.58 million.

The fourth week's box office steadily broke $100 million.

"Rumble in the Bronx" grossed $670,000 in its 9th week, with a cumulative box office of $37.52 million in North America and approximately $23.03 million overseas.

The global box office reached $60.55 million, with a profit ratio of over 8 times.

In addition, this week, "The Man from Earth" continued to be a bestseller in the videotape market, ranking first in the science fiction movie category.

North American sales exceeded 2 million copies, and overseas sales reached 1.5 million copies.

Total sales reached $100 million.

Since the producer of this movie was Guess Pictures, and the videotape distribution company was Artisan Entertainment.

Artisan Entertainment is the third-largest videotape distribution company in North America, second only to Columbia-TriStar and MCA Universal Home Entertainment.

After the company was acquired by Guess Pictures at the end of 1993, it became a subsidiary of Guess Pictures.

That is to say, Guess Pictures is both the videotape producer and the distributor, and can get more than 65% of the videotape profits.

An editor from "Total Film" magazine published an article saying that after "The Man from Earth" and "Rumble in the Bronx" were released at the beginning of the year, many media outlets saw that the box office of the two movies was not good, and took the opportunity to sing down Guess Pictures, saying that it was on a downward slope, mocking Link for forgetting the "box office password", and joking that Sofia Coppola's directorial debut was unfavorable.

Now many people have been slapped in the face by the data.

"The Man from Earth" sold well in the videotape market, "Rumble in the Bronx" global box office exceeded 8 times the cost, and "Ace Ventura 2" became the first movie in North America to break $100 million this year.

These data all indicate that Guess Pictures is still in an upward phase and is still the most profitable movie company in Hollywood.

If the Big Seven movie studios want to defeat Guess Pictures and regain their position as the rulers of Hollywood, they need more movie works with box office competitiveness.

Affected by these three movies, Guess Pictures' second round of financing became very popular.

Wall Street entertainment capital waved checks and rushed to find Guess Pictures to submit financing applications.

Because the competition was too fierce, Goldman Sachs Investment and Deutsche Bank took the lead, obtaining 6% and 5% of Guess Pictures' shares with $135 million and $110 million respectively, directly pushing the company's market value to $2.2 billion.

This is $200 million more than the $1.8 billion - $2 billion proposed by Link.

The addition of the two major investment companies also ignited the enthusiasm of the capital world.

Many investment companies that were watching from the sidelines put down their pretense and quickly joined the competition to bid for shares.

In order to grab shares, many companies continued to raise the market value of Guess Pictures.

In the pursuit of capital, Guess Pictures became more and more valuable.

"These damn capitalists."

After reading "The Wall Street Journal", Michael Ovitz slammed it angrily on his desk.

Goldman Sachs Investment and Deutsche Bank rank in the top ten among all investment companies on Wall Street.

They are not inferior to Vanguard Capital and Morgan Investment, and are also shareholders of the parent companies behind the Big Seven movie studios.

As shareholders of the Big Seven, they are now publicly investing in rival companies, which undoubtedly expresses an attitude - Guess Pictures has unlimited potential and looks more promising than the Big Seven movie studios.

Money comes quickly to invest.

Other investment institutions saw that the shareholders behind the Big Seven movie studios also had so much confidence in Guess Pictures, and their desire to invest became stronger.

This is also the reason why Michael Ovitz scolded the capital.

Currently, he and the senior executives of the Big Seven movie studios are secretly planning a layout to snipe Guess Pictures during the summer season and regain the market share that originally belonged to the Big Seven movie studios.

At this time, the shareholders behind them ran to cheer for Link.

This approach is not only mindless, short-sighted, and weak, but also does not distinguish between friends and enemies.

When the Big Seven movie studios join forces to suppress Guess Pictures in the future, they probably will not go all out.

Michael Ovitz gritted his teeth and called the senior executives of the Big Seven movie studios.

Asked them whether they really wanted to suppress Guess Pictures?

If they were willing to give up the position of ruler of the film industry, he wouldn't mind putting aside his conflict with Link and working together to make Guess Pictures the true hegemon of Hollywood.

The presidents and chairmen of the Big Seven movie studios successively stated that suppressing Guess Pictures was the company's long-term policy and would not change in the next five years.

In the past two years, Guess Entertainment has performed too well. Its total box office revenue has surpassed that of three companies combined, taking away too much of the market share, leading to a significant decline in the annual profits of several major film companies, a reduction in funds invested in film production, and a decrease in the number of films produced.

If Guess Entertainment is allowed to swallow up the North American box office, the seven major film companies will face the threat of bankruptcy in another ten years.

This is a battle for survival, and there's no room for carelessness.

Michael Ovitz, hearing them say this, said with dissatisfaction, "Since you know that Guess Entertainment will threaten the survival of the Big Seven, why did Goldman Sachs Investment and Deutsche Bank also invest in Guess Entertainment? This is helping the enemy."

Universal President Ron Meyer told him that this statement was inaccurate.

Whether it's Goldman Sachs Investment or Vanguard Capital, their purpose in investing in Guess Entertainment is the same as theirs: to control Guess Entertainment through this means.

When the management rights of this company are transferred to Wall Street, Guess Entertainment and the Big Seven film companies will all become tools for capital to make money, and there will be no essential difference. At that time, they won't have to painstakingly try to defeat this company.

Michael Ovitz's mood gradually improved upon hearing this explanation.

They are using market and publicity methods to deal with Guess Entertainment, while Wall Street is using capital methods. They both lead to the same goal.

If the two sides cooperate well, it may have a miraculous effect in seizing control of Guess Entertainment in the future.

"Okay, Guess Entertainment has four films in this year's summer season. This time, we must unite and severely suppress their box office. If Guess Entertainment's films sell well again this summer, Guess Entertainment's position in Hollywood will be solidified, and it will be extremely difficult to suppress them in the future."

"I understand. This year, we have Tom Hanks' 'Apollo 13,' Bruce Willis' 'Die Hard with a Vengeance,' Kevin Costner's 'Waterworld,' Disney's animated blockbuster 'Pocahontas,' Clint Eastwood's 'The Bridges of Madison County,' and other high-level commercial productions.

With these blockbusters joining forces to strike, Guess Entertainment's films shouldn't even think about getting good results in the summer season."

"Hopefully, it will achieve the expected results."

Michael Ovitz already knew the arrangements of the Big Seven film companies and had confidence in these films.

However, in the past few competitions with Guess Entertainment, Link often won with unexpected moves, using various methods to make the films sell well.

To avoid this from happening again, he called his informants and asked them to keep an eye on Link and Guess Entertainment. If a similar 'O.J. Simpson murder case' event occurs again, they should call as soon as possible, and Link must not be allowed to take the opportunity to cause trouble again.

"Okay, see you this afternoon!"

In the office, Link also put down the phone.

Chen Long just called and said that the film celebration party would start at 2:00 PM, and he said with a smile that more than a dozen Hong Kong actresses wanted to meet him, their idol, and hoped that he would give them a chance.

Link said he would come.

"Link, you guessed right! Our film really did achieve good results in the video market. You're amazing!"

Sophia said happily.

"It's not a guess, it's the result of the marketing department's investigation through a lot of information and data. However, the sales of this film are much higher than the marketing department's predictions. The original prediction was only more than one million copies, but now it has sold two million copies in North America alone, far exceeding expectations."

Link said, flipping through a magazine.

In fact, the current sales of "The Man from Earth" have also exceeded his expectations.

Originally, this film's video tape had been released for more than ten years, and its global sales only reached $350 million.

Now, the sales of this film's video tape have reached $100 million in the three months since it was released, and it has a chance to break $200 million within the year, and at least $400 million in ten years.

The sales are higher than the original, mainly because the novel 'Interstellar' is more famous and has many fans around the world. The film's main creative team is more luxurious, the film production is more refined, the artistic level is higher, and Guess Entertainment is more willing to invest in the video tape promotion and distribution.

These factors combined have made this film's video tape a bestseller.

"Sophia, how do you feel about the film's success?"

Liu Xiaoli handed her a glass of juice.

"Of course, it's great! When the film's box office failed at the beginning of the year, many media ridiculed me, saying that I ruined a classic science fiction novel. Now that the film is a hit, those who laughed at me are also slapping themselves in the face."

Sophia leaned on the sofa, shaking her white feet excitedly.

"You're right. Next, the company will arrange for the media to find the original articles that criticized you and Link, so that everyone can see how they originally ridiculed you. Now that the film is a hit, let's see what they have to say.

If you have time, you can accept interviews with several media outlets, talk about your feelings when the film suffered a box office failure, and also talk about your feelings about the film's unexpected success in the video tape market, so that everyone who criticized you will start to envy you."

Liu Xiaoli smiled mischievously.

"That's a good idea, I agree."

Sophia shouted, waving her white arms.

Link shook his head, "Sophia, 'The Man from Earth' has been released. You should also consider your next film. Continuously filming movies can make you a skilled director."

"I know. I've been reading novels and scripts recently. After I find a suitable script, you can help me take a look."

Sophia said, leaning on his shoulder.

"Okay."

Link was preparing to continue working on his work, but Sophia was harassing him beside him, seemingly unwilling to let go of this opportunity.

Liu Xiaoli turned a blind eye to this.

However, before the two could start fooling around, Joe Feller, the vice president in charge of the company's development planning, came to the office to report on his work.

At the beginning of the year, in order to cope with the suppression of the Big Seven film companies, Link arranged several acquisition tasks for Joe, asking him to acquire several poorly managed film companies with strong production and distribution capabilities, as well as two animation studios, Blue Sky Studios and Pixar Animation Studios.

After receiving the task, Joe Feller and others immediately began to take action, looking for suitable targets, including Castle Rock Entertainment, which was almost bankrupt, Touchstone Pictures, which was poorly managed, and United Artists, which MGM intended to sell again.

However, the Big Seven film companies were worried that Guess Entertainment's production and distribution capabilities would become stronger after acquiring other companies.

When Guess Entertainment made a move, they took action against several companies first.

In the end, Warner Bros. acquired Castle Rock, Disney acquired Touchstone, and MGM was persuaded by the Big Seven to temporarily abandon the sale of United Artists.

When acquiring animation studios, 21st Century Fox acquired Blue Sky Studios in advance, a few years earlier than originally planned, and Jobs refused to sell Pixar.

These actions by the Big Seven film companies have hindered Guess Entertainment's current acquisition plan.

However, Link was unwilling to give up. He wanted Joe Feller to continue to lobby Jobs, constantly increasing the offer for Pixar Animation, from the initial $300 million to the current $500 million and 5% of Guess Entertainment's shares.

As the offer continued to increase, Jobs' attitude softened. After hearing that Link had returned to Los Angeles, he sent a message through Joe Feller, wanting to talk to Link in person.

Link accepted the invitation and set the time for Saturday.