America: Starting with the acquisition of MGM...

Chapter 213, Section 212: The Most Absurd Case in Hollywood History

The Guardian: The Golden Globe Awards have concluded, with "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" emerging as the biggest winner, taking home all five nominations and winning three major awards: Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor.

NBC Entertainment: A new Golden Globe record has been set. Eric Cooper broke film history again, winning the Best Screenplay award, while the Olsen twins both won Best Actress, becoming the first-ever Golden Globe tie.

Sina's live text and photo coverage: Eric Cooper, president of MGM Studios and honorary chairman of the board of directors of MGM China, won the Best Screenplay award and is expected to compete for an Oscar, aiming for a three-peat.

The New York Times: The 61st Golden Globe Awards were star-studded, with films on LGBTQ+ themes shining brightly, ushering in a boom period for LGBTQ+ films in the market.

The Independent: Sean Penn's performance in *Mystic River* was superb, and it's a pity he didn't win Best Actor, but Elijah Wood's performance also deserved the award. On the contrary, some films win awards based on public opinion and political correctness, which is undeserved!

Los Angeles Post: The biggest surprise of this year's Golden Globes was undoubtedly the Olsen twins, or rather, Ashley and Mary were the most surprising actors of 2003.

Before the public even realized it, the twins had grown up. They completely abandoned their past exaggerated and superficial performances and stepped into a new realm, truly deserving the title of Best Actress.

Of course, all of this is inseparable from Eric Cooper's tutelage. He is absolutely a natural-born genius who can always exceed people's expectations. I am looking forward to his next masterpiece.

BBC News: The most tragic role ever won at the Golden Globes: Charlize Theron went to great lengths to uglify herself and gain weight, transforming herself into an unapproachable murderer, but the Golden Globes still failed to honor her.

Her performance was worthy of being called a queen, but unfortunately, the similar subject matter caused "Monster" to lose to "Blue Is the Warmest Color". This does not mean that Charlize Theron lost to the Olsen twins, it's just that the public prefers a more sunny image. Hopefully, she can bring better performances in the future.

With the Golden Globe Awards concluded, reports from all sides have been released, and the entertainment section's trending topics have been dominated by these reports.

With the help of positive word-of-mouth, "Blue Is the Warmest Color" has indeed gained momentum, and the decline in box office revenue has slowed significantly, dropping by only 19% this week.

The global box office has now officially surpassed $200 million, raising the bar for films with LGBTQ+ themes to a new level.

Although "Monster" received two nominations, it didn't win any awards, so its impact was minimal, and its North American box office barely surpassed $2000 million.

The situation overseas was just as bad, with only around 1100 million in revenue and screenings limited to a thousand theaters, ten times less than "Blue Is the Warmest Color".

The biggest beneficiary is undoubtedly "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," which has grossed $810 million worldwide and still boasts an impressive attendance rate, demonstrating the strong appeal of classic films.

Every year around this time, it's awards season for various awards, both in the film and music industries.

A few days ago, Eric received an invitation to the Golden Globe Awards, and at the same time, he also received an invitation to the 46th Grammy Awards.

I was wondering why they would send me an invitation when I don't play music.

Then Michael told Eric that because "Rolling in the Deep" was nominated for an award, and Eric's name was on the songwriting and composition papers, the Grammys would definitely send him an invitation.

Eric doesn't usually watch the Grammys and wasn't planning to go, but Mike said he had a high chance of winning, so he figured he'd just go for fun.

Eric went after being invited by Michael, since the location was near his home in Los Angeles anyway.

When I got there, I discovered that the Grammy Awards have a really large number of categories, a total of 105, all kinds of different and varied.

There are 30 major categories, such as music video, classical, packaging, children's, jazz, and rap.

The most prestigious category is the comprehensive category, which includes four awards: Production of the Year, Album of the Year, Single of the Year, and Newcomer of the Year.

"Rolling in the Deep" was nominated for two awards: Record of the Year and Single of the Year.

The former is awarded to the performers and production team of a single; anyone involved, such as the producer, recording engineer, and mixing engineer, can go on stage to receive the award.

The latter belongs exclusively to the song's lyricist and composer, Eric and Michael.

More than half a year after its release, "Rolling in the Deep" is still in the top 100 of the Billboard charts, and it even achieved the remarkable feat of being number one on the charts for nine consecutive weeks at the time of its release.

At the awards ceremony, many people tried to get to know Michael through his connections, but Eric was completely clueless about the rapper.

It's not a metaphor, it's really dark, they're all black.

Aside from Jayz, who was invited by The Voice of China, and Doge, who has a distinctive personality, I don't recognize any of the others.

However, the Black people had a good impression of him and even asked Eric when "Barbershop 2" would be released, saying they would definitely bring their families to support it.

The film stars all Black actors and was a project Eric Schaffner took over at MGM, which made him a fortune.

The creator, Ice Cube, is a rapper and producer who crossed over into the film industry.

Perhaps for this reason, these black people have a pretty good impression of him, just like how "Black Panther" was nominated for an Oscar.

Comparatively speaking, he was more familiar with pop songs, and he saw Avril Lavigne and Lazy, who had been badly wronged.

He also chatted with Celine Dion and Janet Jackson. The recording of "The Voice" is in progress, but Eric has been busy with film-related matters and hasn't had time to check on them yet.

As for that idiot Eminem, he didn't attend the Grammys. His album has been taken off the shelves, so how could he have the face to show up? He was probably also worried that Eric would curse or beat him up on the spot.

Ultimately, "Rolling in the Deep" won both the Record of the Year and Song of the Year awards, becoming the biggest winner of the night.

Eric also found himself on the Grammy stage in a daze, taking home the Golden Gramophone as an outsider.

It has to be said that this scene was quite interesting.

Meanwhile, a new round of box office battles has begun, with the focus now on James Wan, hailed as a rising star director.

Because the two newly released horror films are both works in which he participated: MGM's "Saw II" and Lionsgate's "Dead Silence".

Although he was only the producer of the former film, Leigh Whannell's film was actually completed under his direction, while the latter film was entirely led by him.

Now that the two films are going head-to-head, everyone is waiting to see who can best wield James Wan's sharp sword.

James Wan was juggling promotions, working on both "Saw II" and "Dead Silence".

The kids were in Los Angeles in the morning, then flew to Boston in the afternoon, and had to go to New York to do a show in the evening. They were exhausted.

Lionsgate is confident that Dead Silence is a great film, after all, it cost $3000 million to make.

When Eric and James Wan were chatting privately, he said that the figure was exaggerated but not much, and that $2500 million was actually spent, with many large scenes in the film.

But with the first Saw movie being such a success, Lionsgate was still a little worried.

So they played a little trick: both movies were originally scheduled for release on January 30th.

However, after "Saw 2" announced its release date, "Dead Silence" suddenly moved up its release date, choosing to premiere three days earlier.

The idea of ​​creating a time difference is quite simple: once the word-of-mouth for Dead Silence takes hold, it will be enough to overshadow the later Saw 2.

Judy and Volvo therefore wanted to move up the release date of "Saw 2" as well, but Eric ignored them.

Are you kidding me? What's your grade? You really think a gold plating makes you real gold? You're not even worthy of being called brass!

Beverly Hills, the Cooper family home.

After winning several Golden Globe Awards, Eric chose to host a party at home, partly to celebrate and partly to connect with everyone.

The company's senior management, several close friends, and other good acquaintances were all invited, totaling several dozen people, which was significantly more than last time.

My mom and nanny Lisa were definitely too busy, so they simply hired a Michelin-starred chef to cook at home.

People gathered in small groups to chat and boast. Judy was drinking with Chris Evans, while Warren, heavily pregnant, was having snacks with Ryan Reynolds.

Evangeline Lily and Gadot were laughing hysterically, and it was unclear what they were saying.

James McAvoy is introducing Michael Fassbender and Tom Hardy to the Olsen twins.

Theron has calmed down, but upon hearing that Ashley and Mary will be coming, she has chosen not to participate.

Eric, along with James Wan and Rey Whannell, sat on the sofa watching TV, which was showing Jet Li's "Black Mask".

Gudong!

I took a sip of cold drink to cleanse my palate, but this Michelin-starred chef's skill level was just so-so.

"James, don't you like mango flavor? Want to switch to beer?"

Seeing that James Wan wasn't eating or drinking much, Eric asked.

Reiwonar began, "I don't think James has much of an appetite right now. The reviews for 'Dead Silence' are already out."

"As Saw 2's rival, I hope it fails, but as your friend, I hope you succeed."

James Wan gave a wry smile. Three days after its release, the film's reviews had been released, but they were far from meeting his and Lionsgate's expectations.

The imagined scenario should have been enthusiastic audience support, but the reality was quite the opposite.

Viewers and critics who saw it scoffed at it; he dreamt about those negative reviews.

"Dead Silence is the worst movie I've ever seen. The plot is ridiculous, and who came up with the idea of ​​puppet shows? It's so boring."

"Today I went to see Dead Silence with my girlfriend. It's James Wan's new film. I like his Saw, and my girlfriend likes his Get Out."

"We thought Dead Silence would be a thrilling and excellent horror film, but it turned out to be a failure. The only highlight was the scene where the protagonist's father was hollowed out, but that was it."

The Chicago Herald: "It seems that 'Saw' and 'Get Out' have worn down James Wan's talent, leading him to make a terrible film like 'Dead Silence.' Is this rising star of directing just a fleeting meteor?"

Fox Entertainment: "The poor performance of Dead Silence shows that James Wan did not take this project seriously. The film lacks the wow factor of Saw and Get Out. You can guess the ending after watching the beginning. This is not the level he should be at."

With negative reviews constantly echoing in his mind, James Wan sighed, "I messed up. $25 million, seven times that of Saw and five times that of Get Out, but I really messed up."

"Through this filming, I realized that I still have a lot of shortcomings in controlling large-scale scenes, and horror films are not necessarily better the bigger the scene. The audience taught me a lesson."

Seeing the distressed look on James Wan's face, Eric was secretly pleased. Only by going out and venturing out on his own would the boy realize how tough it is to navigate society.

Only after experiencing the cruelty of the outside world will one cherish the warmth of home even more.

Moreover, the previous two times were huge successes, but this time it was a huge failure, which must have been a significant blow to him.

He patted James Wan on the shoulder and comforted him, saying, "James, it's already great that you can recognize your shortcomings."

"Come back, come back to MGM and make me a movie. There's a place for you here."

"I believe you will become more mature after this failure."

Upon hearing this, James Wan felt a surge of emotion. The failure of "Dead Silence" had made Lionsgate doubt him, and the planned next film was never released.

"Eric, are you planning to let me direct Saw 3?"

"No, Ray will lead the Saw series. I'm planning to start a new series for you. Have you heard of the Warrens, the exorcists from the last century?"

Wen Ziren shook his head.

"It's okay if you haven't heard of it. You can buy a novel called 'The Devil Master' to read. I've already finished the script outline, you can add to and improve it."

"Once you're almost ready, filming can begin."

The Warrens and Master of Demons are actually the prototype for the horror film Conjuring, and Eric plans to make this most lucrative horror film series in film history.

Calling it a series is an understatement; it should be called the Conjuring Universe, because it spawned the Annabelle and Nun series.

However, after Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema made a lot of money, they were embroiled in a lawsuit because The Conjuring was based on the Warrens' story.

But the Warrens had actually sold their story long ago, and the buyer used it to write the novel "Master of Demons".

The author subsequently sued Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema for copyright infringement, demanding over $9 million in damages.

Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema were naturally furious. They came up with an excuse, saying that they were not adapting your novel, but based on the true story of the Warrens, and that they had never even glanced at your lousy novel.

The awkward thing is that, because it was claimed to be based on a true story, Warner Bros. and New Line Cinema were asked to prove that there was a ghost and that Annabelle could kill people.

You chose him, my idol!

Warner and New Line were dumbfounded; what the hell was this supposed to prove?

Ultimately, this most absurd case in Hollywood history ended with the two major companies backing down to the individuals involved.

It's impossible to pay 9 million, but rumors say they paid tens of millions of dollars, which is a huge loss.

To avoid becoming a defendant himself, Eric instructed Billy early on to buy out the novel's copyright, which cost a mere $50.

After all, he was just a relatively unknown author, and he was ecstatic when he saw the 50 views. Eric was also ecstatic when he got the copyright.

(End of this chapter)