America achieves both fame and fortune

Chapter 448 is too unfair!

Outside the Museum of Modern Art, Martin received a call from Lily. After exchanging a few words, he got into the car Bruce had driven: "Go to the east staff entrance."

Bruce drove up in his Cadillac Escalade, and as soon as the car stopped, Lily ran out of the door and got into the back seat.

Martin glanced at her and naturally switched to his Atlanta accent: "You idiot aren't completely stupid. You didn't foolishly run into the exhibition hall. You knew to retreat in advance so he wouldn't have a chance to see you."

Lily was a little unconvinced, but she didn't argue back. Instead, she reminded her, "Hey, you told me before that swearing is bad. I stopped swearing, but you're still doing it."

Seeing that she had indeed grown up, Martin said, "From now on, I won't call you an idiot, I'll just call you a moron."

"I'm not stupid," Lily muttered. "I'm actually quite clever. I sold those practice junk pieces for over a hundred thousand dollars."

Martin turned and looked at her.

Lily thought Martin was after her money, so she quickly said, "The money hasn't reached me yet. The college will deduct taxes and a large amount of operating costs. By the time it reaches me, it might not even be $100,000."

Martin wouldn't stoop so low as to rob Lily, saying, "Stay away from the Affleck brothers from now on."

Although she had a bodyguard secretly following her, Lily still preferred to avoid dealing with those scoundrels.

Lily nodded repeatedly, "I understand."

Martin said to Bruce, who was driving, "Find a place to eat, then take her home." He then said to Lily, "If you'd like to come and clean my new place, I'm happy to."

Lily chimed in, "Old Brooks, I'll treat you and Martin to a big meal!"

Bruce knew what he was doing, so he simply chose a mid-range restaurant.

Getting out of the car, Lily had made another large sum of money. She walked with a swagger, humming a little tune every now and then. Unable to resist showing off, she specifically asked Martin, "Should I call Elena and tell her about this, let her know I've made another big buck?"

Then she had another idea: "No, I'm taking a red-eye flight to Atlanta tonight so I can tell her in person."

Martin never hesitated to strike her: "You'll feel the hardness of Elena's fist."

Lily, who was in a good mood, suddenly became depressed and regretted treating everyone to dinner tonight.

Martin gave a blow followed by a sweet treat, saying, "Because the Joker is so popular, Warner Bros. will start pushing for the widespread release of Joker merchandise this weekend, and will publicly showcase your masterpiece as an outstanding female sculptor."

Upon hearing that there was money to be made, Lily's depression vanished instantly, and she jumped for joy: "I'm going to make money again!"

Martin said, "You're a money-grubber now."

Lily replied, "I'm going to make a lot of money so I can buy a house even bigger than your new home!"

Martin, who was he, said, "It's alright, I'll continue to invite you to clean the two big houses. You'll definitely enjoy it."

Lily suddenly regretted coming to Los Angeles; it was completely different from what she had imagined.

…………

The black Ford Mustang roared as it turned off Santa Monica Avenue and pulled into the neighborhood, stopping on the side of the road.

Casey Affleck got out of the car and entered his home. As soon as he pushed open the main door, he saw six sculptures displayed prominently in the living room. Some were made of plaster, some of stone, and some of wood. They were all works of art that he had bought at high prices.

Originally, the idea was to place it in the living room to invite creators to my home, make them feel valued, and then use that opportunity to control them and gain more.

Cassie now feels that these carvings are nothing but blatant mockery.

He didn't get angry. He calmly left the main house, went into the tool shed, and took out a hammer and an axe.

Carrying an axe in one hand and a hammer in the other, Cassie returned to the main house, went to the plaster sculpture, and swung the hammer, smashing it down with a loud thud.

The plaster crumbled, sending white powder flying and covering Cassie's head.

But Cassie didn't care. He swung his axe again and chopped at the wooden carving. The carving crashed to the floor with a thud, leaving a deep wound on its surface.

He wielded his axe and hammer, and the hardwood carving was quickly reduced to several pieces of broken wood.

Despite his rapid breathing, Cassie remained remarkably calm. He even put down his hammer and axe, went to the refrigerator, took out a can of ice-cold beer, opened it, and drank half of it.

Feeling his breathing return to normal, he picked up his tools, aimed at the next marble sculpture, and smashed it down.

It took Cassie a full hour to completely smash the six sculptures she had bought into pieces.

Everyone probably vents their frustrations differently, but after smashing these broken things, Cassie felt inexplicably much better.

Out of sight, out of mind.

He plopped down on the sofa, picked up the remaining half-can of beer and slowly drank it. He then grabbed the remote control, turned on the television, and WarnerMedia appeared on the screen.

Cassie read a few entertainment news articles, and the reports suddenly switched to "The Dark Knight," which was currently showing in theaters.

"It is reported that clown statues and figurines based on Martin Davis will be available for sale this weekend. All of these products were designed and sculpted by the young and talented sculptor Lily Carter. Limited edition clown statues sculpted by Lily Carter herself will also be available for sale at the same time..."

"Lily Carter, despite being only 19 years old, is exceptionally talented, having won numerous sculpture competitions. Her works are collected by top artists such as Jack Nicholson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Angelina Jolie, Kate Winslet, Jennifer Aniston, and Meryl Streep!"

"Mr. Jones, the deputy director of the Los Angeles Museum of Modern Art and a renowned art auction house appraiser, believes that Lily Carter's works already have collectible value and potential for future appreciation."

Cassie dropped the beer can in her hand with a thud to the ground, glanced at the trash scattered all over the living room, and felt like crying.

He had seen similar art speculations before, and perhaps that Lily Carter work would appreciate in value in the future.

Now, he's smashed everything to pieces!

Cassie leaned back on the sofa, looking like a super sensitive artsy young man, with two lines of tears streaming down her reddened eyes.

That Lily Carter is really bullying people!

Cassie wiped her eyes, and even more tears streamed down her face.

The phone rang, and Cassie quickly wiped away her tears and answered the call.

It was Ben calling: "The exhibition's over, did you get everything sorted out on your end?"

"Not yet, give me some more time." Too embarrassing to tell Ben, Cassie simply asked instead, "Is things going well on your end?"

Ben said, "I've enrolled at Adler School of Performing Arts and taught two acting classes, but I haven't seen Elizabeth Olsen. I asked Judi Dench to find out, and she hasn't been to any acting classes since that bastard Martin Davis came back to Los Angeles from New York."

Cassie immediately grasped the key point: "A little girl whose mind is full of love."

Ben Wallace had more to say: "I think we might have attracted Martin Davis's attention. Casillas, don't do anything rash, play it safe for now."

Cassie looked at the trash scattered on the ground, sighed, and said, "I won't be going to see Lily Carter anytime soon. She... is very unusual."

The two brothers didn't say much and quickly hung up the phone.

…………

As more and more people watch The Dark Knight, the film's popularity has remained strong, becoming a social phenomenon.

Just like the Big Ship and Star Wars back in the day, the Dark Knight is always a topic of conversation among people during their leisure time.

The clown is the focus of the discussion.

Riding the wave of near-hysterical popularity following the release of The Dark Knight in its second weekend, Joker-themed merchandise went on sale across North America.

Long lines formed in front of numerous toy stores across North America that had signed sales agreements with Warner Bros. this weekend, with Joker merchandise that had just hit the shelves being completely sold out, and the film crew's studio receiving a barrage of business calls.

Not to mention the mass-produced Joker merchandise that isn't too expensive, even the hand-carved version co-signed by Lily Carter and Martin, which costs thousands of dollars, is completely sold out.

There have also been instances of price gouging in the market.

Especially the hand-carved version; you can earn hundreds of dollars if you manage to snag one.

The hand-carved clown wearing a red T-shirt from the Cola Cult was originally priced at $2499, but was being sold online for $5000.

After street artists in North America made a fortune from the trend, a new profession has emerged – dealers who resell or snatch clown handmade statues.

In addition, after the diary scandal broke, many movie fans wanted to buy and collect Martin's handwritten "Real Joker Diaries," but Martin refused them all.

Warner Bros. then announced that it would print "The Joker Diaries" to meet the demand of movie fans.

The popularity of Joker merchandise stems from both market hype and Warner Bros.' use of scarcity marketing.

The news of shelves being emptied and the market being short of stock with high prices for resale further boosted the popularity and recognition of The Dark Knight.

In particular, online posts offering thousands of dollars more for limited-edition hand-carved clown figurines have been repeatedly published and reposted by the media, easily attracting more attention.

This weekend, large numbers of viewers still went to the cinemas to watch The Dark Knight.

The film's North American box office performance remained solid, taking in another $8514 million in its second weekend, retaining its position as the North American box office champion, and bringing its total North American box office to $3.38 million!

Echoing its high box office performance, the film has received extremely strong critical acclaim, maintaining a Rotten Tomatoes score of over 95% and an IMDb rating of 9.6, surpassing "The Godfather" and "The Shawshank Redemption" to rank first on IMDb's top movie list.

Also this weekend, The Dark Knight launched in overseas markets including Europe, Australia, Latin America, and East Asia.

Although Batman's influence overseas is far less than that in North America, the Joker's popularity has spread, and it still grossed $1.66 million in its opening weekend overseas.

Even the most conservative market estimates suggest that The Dark Knight will gross over $10 billion worldwide.

(End of this chapter)