America achieves both fame and fortune

Chapter 468 We Take Action in California

Despite the slightly chilly December temperatures in Times Square, New York, thousands of movie fans gathered in front of a shopping mall.

Today, the Dark Knight DVD was officially released.

At the edge of the square, there were more than twenty street painters alone, and they were still busy because there were just too many people asking to have their clown makeup done.

Before long, Times Square was filled with clowns.

The mall hadn't opened yet, and Martin was still in the lounge stretching his wrists.

Besides Bruce, Thomas was also in the room.

The agent was a little excited and kept pressing the calculator on his phone.

The Dark Knight has finished its run in North America, and Martin's salary split is now clear.

According to the contract signed by both parties, Martin's base salary is $500 million, and if the North American box office reaches $2.5 million, he will receive 2% of the revenue.

For any portion exceeding $2.5 million, an additional $5000 million in box office revenue will be added, with Martin receiving 1% of that; $1 million will be 2%, and so on, up to a maximum of 6%.

Warner Bros. and DC Comics initially projected around $3 million, but The Dark Knight grossed a whopping $6.16 million in North America!

Thomas looked up at Martin and said, "It looks like you'll get a total of $2696 million in commission."

Upon hearing this number, Martin was deeply moved and quickly asked, "Is it accurate?"

Thomas scratched his head. "I'm not very good at math; I've basically forgotten everything I learned back then." He looked at Bruce. "Bruce, why don't you do the math?"

Bruce quickly shook his head; wasn't this going to embarrass him on the spot?

He said, "Martin excels at these kinds of calculation problems."

Martin, the underachiever, stood up and said, "The mall is open, I'm going to do a book signing."

No matter how you calculate it, the revenue share is definitely over $2000 million. Although it will take a long time to receive it, Warner Bros. will not deny this contract.

In front of the mall, a special area was set up for queuing. The clowns had formed two long lines. Not far from them, a minibus drove up.

The car had its heater on, but the dozen or so girls, dressed in thin clothes, were still shivering from the cold.

Their bodies trembled, but their hearts did not.

Tony, the leader, took off her coat, revealing a custom-made white wedding dress underneath. Her beautiful face gleaming, she said, "Sisters, it's time for us to move out."

Elsa took out a stack of cards and handed them to the corresponding people.

Toni called out, "Make sure to leave the card with Martin so he can contact us."

A girl who wasn't particularly attractive, worried that the prettiest Toni would eat it all by herself, said, "Whoever gets it should share it, right?"

Toni nodded and said, "Sisters united!"

The others shouted in unison, "Sisters united!"

Toni said to the driver, "Open the door."

The minibus doors opened, and led by Toni, a dozen or so beautiful girls in white wedding dresses marched aggressively toward the queue.

Led by Toni, the girls shouted in unison, "I love Martin! I love Martin!"

Countless eyes turned to watch the girls go to line up.

Inspired by the girl's shouts, thousands of clowns joined in, soon chanting together, "I love Martin! I love Martin!"

Toni, Elsa, and others who traveled across North America, from Los Angeles to New York to follow their idols, felt especially fulfilled at that moment.

They became prominent figures once again, and were once again in the spotlight.

Soon, media reporters came to interview them.

Elsa, her face beaming with delight, told the media cameras, "Of course I love Martin! I adore Martin! How much? So much that I want to marry him!"

She showed the wedding dress to the reporter: "Isn't it beautiful?"

The outspoken girl suddenly jumped in front of the camera, stealing the spotlight: "I love Martin, I want to have his baby!"

Suddenly, several people dressed as Batman joined the queue.

Thousands of clowns stopped looking at the wedding dress beauty and all their eyes fell on Batman.

The Batmen were under immense pressure. One of them wiped the cold sweat from his brow and said, "Shall we go to another store?"

The others nodded in agreement and left the place of trouble.

On one side of the center of the square, Big Beard and Victor were watching the queue of people.

The former said, "Fangirls are terrifying; they're all crazy!"

Hearing the shouts of "I love Martin!", Victor agreed with the bearded man: "Everyone says we're crazy, but how are we as crazy as these people?"

The bearded man asked, "If we kill Martin in front of them, will they tear us apart alive?"

Victor was uncertain: "I don't know." He lit a cigarette: "I only know one thing for sure: celebrities are damn busy. This bastard comes all the way from Los Angeles to New York, never stays in one city for more than a day, and goes to at least three places a day. Is that really fun?"

The bearded man suddenly became quite sharp: "Making tens of millions of dollars a year must be fun."

Victor scratched his head: "The boss is already here. That bastard is so busy with work that he keeps changing cities. It's too difficult for us to make a move."

The bearded man's usual style: "Just do it."

"The boss wants to capture Martin alive, like Martin did to the boss's grandson, and blow his head off with a Coke bottle." Victor exhaled a puff of smoke. "We're here for revenge, not to die. We not only need to track his movements, but also plan ahead so we can get away after we succeed. With Martin running around everywhere, we can't make a move."

The bearded man shook his head: "You're overthinking it."

Victor asked, "Do you want to die in America?"

"I don't want to die here." The bearded man had a strong sense of nostalgia: "Only the Siberian snowstorm can bury me."

Victor's phone rang. He took it out, glanced at it, and said, "Boss, he's in New York doing events. According to the media reports, he'll be returning to California after finishing two events today."

After a few words were exchanged, Victor replied, "We only looked at the publicly reported schedules in the media. We didn't specifically follow him, nor did we ask anyone. We definitely didn't disturb him."

These two are reliable. Martin is a public figure, and they have been keeping track of his whereabouts through the media.

Victor replied, "Okay, we'll head back to California right away and make our move there."

His eldest grandson died in California.

The other end of the phone hung up.

Victor put away his phone and poked his beard: "Let's go buy plane tickets and go back to the West Coast."

Inside the music store in the mall, Martin's wrist moved swiftly as he signed each DVD.

For each document he signed, he would say, "Thank you for your support."

Martin doesn't mind if fans take pictures with their cameras, as long as they don't use flash.

Suddenly, a commotion broke out inside the store.

Martin glanced at it too, slightly stunned. What was going on?

A dozen or so girls in wedding dresses came in and kept waving at Martin.

Martin, after all, was worldly-wise and unfazed by such things.

He took a DVD from a fan, continued signing autographs, and smiled, saying, "Thank you for your support."

The male fan dressed as a clown lowered his voice and said, "Martin, they were just outside clamoring to marry you."

Martin nodded slightly and smiled. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." The clown left satisfied.

Soon, Toni came over with the commemorative edition disc.

Martin glanced at the pretty girl, took the disc, and thanked her with a smile.

"Can I take a picture with you?" Tony's hands trembled with excitement.

Martin said in a low voice, "The organizers won't allow me to take photos."

Tony didn't insist. Instead, she said, "I understand! I understand! Once you agree to take a photo with someone, they'll definitely ask for photos with you later."

Martin quickly signed his name, adding casually, "Long live understanding."

Toni thought Martin was an exceptionally good person, and the fact that he even explained things to her made her feel even more strongly about him.

As she took the disc, she shoved the card she was clutching in her hand into Martin's face, her voice trembling slightly: "You can call anytime."

Toni took the opportunity to turn around and make a heart shape with her hands.

Elsa quickly took a picture.

Tony achieved her goal and ran off with her wedding dress in hand.

Elsa passed the camera to the back, and while Martin was signing, she made a gesture of kissing him from afar so her companion could take a picture.

Martin was helpless, but there was nothing he could do to stop it; the other party did not disturb him from signing his autograph normally.

Then he received another small card.

Before Toni even left the store, she heard one of her companions behind her ask, "Martin, can I marry you?"

The scene erupted in uproar.

Toni turned her head to look, and there was that bitch who talked the fastest!

She made a decision: to kick this bitch out of the girl group.

Although Martin declined all the requests to take photos with the girls in wedding dresses, people behind him still took photos of him with the girls and received more than a dozen cards with his name and phone number on them.

Some of the owners of these photos had ulterior motives, even writing down measurements like body size on them.

Following suit, some of the female clowns left notes that Martin had hastily torn up, with their phone numbers written on them in lip gloss or media print.

Some of the male clowns even left cards or notes.

Martin watched as a male clown awkwardly ran away, and felt an urge to throw down his pen and refuse to sign.

However, he maintained excellent professionalism and ended the book signing without changing his expression.

The music store quieted down. Bruce tidied up Martin's things and asked, "Shall I keep these notes and cards for you?"

Martin said, "Keep it safe."

Bruce's eyes widened: "You're that kind of person?"

Martin casually remarked, "Put them in the back and shred them. I'm worried they might end up in the wrong place and someone might use my name to scam people."

Bruce thought about it and realized it was indeed possible, saying, "You've considered everything thoroughly."

His tone suddenly changed: "However, those female fans in wedding dresses who were leading the group are really beautiful. Don't you want to consider them?"

"I don't do things like sleeping with fans." Martin started off confidently, but his tone softened as he thought of Blake Lively.

Bruce carefully collected all the cards and notes, and then checked the signing table again to make sure nothing was missing.

Martin called out to him, "Let's go."

The two arrived at the office area, met up with Thomas, and borrowed the mall's shredder to shred all the paper strips and cards.

There's another book signing in Long Island this afternoon. After that, Martin will return to Los Angeles. In a few days, he'll be shooting a GG photoshoot for Cartier men's watches.

(End of this chapter)