America: Starting with the acquisition of MGM...

Chapter 257, Section 256: I'm a scumbag, but a rich scumbag!

In the blink of an eye, half a month has passed, and it's now mid-April.

Lionheart.net continues to live up to expectations, maintaining its strong momentum after achieving excellent results on the first day.

The number of registered members has reached 2430 million. In addition to a surge of 1450 million on the first day of launch, the number of new members has increased by an average of 80 per day since then, which is quite an amazing achievement.

The success is undoubtedly largely due to the contributions of "The Voice" and "House of Cards".

According to Lionheart.com's internal monitoring data, 53% of new users each day choose to watch these two works as their first choice.

This demonstrates just how powerful and appealing a hit TV series can be!

Before the time travel, Netflix's rise to prominence was due to "House of Cards," a single series that brought Netflix over ten million paid subscribers.

Of course, we cannot ignore the contributions of other TV series. No matter how attractive "The Voice" and "House of Cards" are, most people will only watch them twice at most, or they may rewatch a particular episode when they remember a highlight.

Two days is enough for a big viewer to finish watching both works, and then the website's depth will be crucial in retaining users.

This time, MGM has acquired almost all the excellent overseas dramas, securing at least five years of exclusive online streaming rights.

It relies on information asymmetry. Others simply don't understand what exclusive online broadcasting rights are. After learning his idea, most people think they've made a profit.

In their view, Lionheart.net is doomed to fail. Five years of exclusive online broadcasting rights? I'd be impressed if you survived even a year!

Therefore, the prices for acquiring these copyrights were very low, and both parties felt they had made a profit.

The film and television section accounted for the majority of the viewership, with popular movies such as "Transformers," "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers," and "Shrek" all reaching millions of views.

The amounts range from over five million to over three million.

Even weaker IPs like "Final Destination," "A Nightmare on Elm Street," and "007" contributed hundreds of thousands or millions of views.

Following closely behind the film and television section is the Japanese anime section, with titles such as "Dragon Ball," "Slam Dunk," "Bleach," "Naruto," and "Detective Conan" gaining a considerable following, demonstrating the strength of Japanese anime in the American market.

Next are British dramas and other genres. Once the data stabilizes, those low-quality films and TV series with poor viewership should be discarded.

Just like Chinese dramas, a number of high-quality works such as "The Story of a Noble Family", "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils", and "Kangxi Dynasty" have been introduced.

Under the guise of cultural exchange and cultural export, Lao Han casually bought a batch of goods at prices even lower than cabbage.

However, after observing for half a month, the playback data was dismal, and the reason has already been given in the comments section.

The vast majority of viewers complained that it was too long, with at least thirty episodes and some even reaching sixty or seventy. Viewers accustomed to American dramas had their interest extinguished before they even started watching.

It's worth noting that while American sitcoms may have longer seasons, each episode is only 20 minutes long, which is equivalent to just twelve or thirteen episodes of a normal-length drama.

They can watch British dramas and some Japanese dramas because British dramas are more concise and fast-paced, and some Japanese dramas are also not long.

However, Chinese and Korean dramas still have a long way to go before they can capture the interest of audiences.

Eric had advised Lao Han to cut the episodes beforehand, preferably to no more than 20 episodes, or to divide them into several parts.

For example, a 46-episode TV series called "Kangxi Dynasty" could be divided into several parts and edited together, labeled as Season 1, Season 2, and Season 3.

Although it's just a change of name, it immediately feels familiar to American audiences, which will increase their acceptance.

I just don't know what happened over there, but they didn't take his advice.

Supernatural also received good reviews, with an IMDb score of 8.4, which is considered high quality. However, the number of people who rated it was an order of magnitude less than that of House of Cards.

Moreover, compared to House of Cards, which appeals to all ages, Supernatural's data shows that over 77% of its viewers are teenagers, making it a show primarily aimed at young people.

The comments also focused on the simplicity of the production crew and the brotherhood among the cast and crew.

"This show is so poorly made!"

"How does Supernatural show you how to make a TV series on a tight budget?"

"The episode with the little girl in the painting gave me the creeps; the plot was completely unexpected and terrifying!"

"Isn't this supposed to be a supernatural film? Why did the production team have the money to hire two handsome guys but not enough for special effects?"

"Supernatural once again proves just how important the personal charisma of the lead actor is in a great show!"

"MGM must have plenty of money. The costumes and props for 'House of Cards' looked ridiculously expensive, so why is 'Supernatural' so shabby? Are they even from the same company? Is this some kind of differential treatment?"

"I feel that MGM deliberately made the show this way to highlight the personal charm of the main characters, rather than big scenes and scary scenes."

"Who plays the female lead? She's so beautiful, especially in that white wedding dress, it really stole my heart. Crystal Liu?"

"Crystal Liu is great. Her action scenes are really beautiful, better than Sam and Dean. I think I see the shadows of Lucy Liu and Michelle Yeoh in her, and she is also very beautiful."

"I also think Gem Liu is very pretty, but that denim outfit is more comfortable and makes her look more like a ghost hunter. Is she Japanese? Korean? Filipino?"

"Do you all have vision problems? The cast list shows Crystal Liu's nationality; she's American, a Chinese American."

"I think I've fallen for Crystal Liu. Does she have any other works? Does anyone know what movies or TV dramas she's acted in?"

"Upstairs, Lionheart.com has a Chinese TV series starring her. Crystal Liu wears ancient Chinese costumes in it. You will definitely be captivated by her. She is also in Gal Gadot's new movie 'The Hunger Games.' Wait for it to be released."

The most acclaimed characters in Supernatural are undoubtedly the Wen family brothers, but Liu Yifei also garnered a lot of attention.

In particular, she made up for the lack of action scenes in the Wen family's duo, wielding a whip and a crossbow as weapons, and her appearance was quite cool.

Liu Yifei's presence made the plot more exciting and engaging, earning widespread praise.

Moreover, the word "beautiful" is inseparable from discussions about her, which shows that Westerners also know what a good-looking Chinese person looks like.

The squinty eyes are utter nonsense; it's pure prejudice and vilification. It's a deliberate attempt by capital to disgust Chinese audiences and demonstrate their superiority.

Of MGM's four original series, only "Peppa Pig" has yet to gain widespread popularity, but Eric is convinced it will become a global phenomenon like "Shark Dance".

Double Star Entertainment has already produced a large number of Peppa Pig merchandise items ahead of time, as requested by Eric. The sales of Peppa Pig merchandise are far superior to those of adult dramas.

After beating out a host of competitors, "The Passion of the Christ" finally relinquished its box office champion position, which was taken over by DreamWorks' "Shark Tale," which was released earlier than expected.

The Passion of the Christ has grossed $2.9 million at the North American box office.

It also caused a huge stir overseas, but the box office was just as good as in North America, grossing $1.91 million.

With a global box office of $4.81 million, it officially dethroned "The Hangover" at $4.6 million and took the throne as the highest-grossing film worldwide in 2004.

Furthermore, the box office momentum is still strong, with BOX predicting it could surpass $6.5 million.

Suddenly, MGM took the top two spots on the year-end list, dominating the competition for a time.

Although The Passion of the Christ grossed more than The Hangover, MGM ultimately received far less of the revenue share. After all, the film was fully funded by Mel Gibson's company, and MGM only earned the distribution fee.

On the social front, after the dispute lasted for more than a month, the heat finally subsided, the demonstrations in major cities came to an end, and the level of discussion also decreased significantly.

The battle between Judaism and Protestantism has not yielded a clear winner. These two deeply rooted camps have been fighting for thousands of years, and neither has been able to completely eliminate the other.

However, the ban on Mel Gibson remains in effect, and now everyone's attention is focused on MGM, the Big Six, and various television networks, anticipating the outcome of this battle.

"Bang!" Nicole threw a card at Eric.

"Missed!" Eric drew a card from his hand and played it.

"Trying to hit me? Not so easy!"

Nicole looked at Theron: "Theron, hurry up and hit him, he only has one card left, it's definitely not beer."

Theron smiled, then drew a card and pointed it at Neeko: "Bang!"

Nico was completely bewildered: "Why would you shoot me? You've got it wrong, we're all criminals, Eric is our target!"

Nico reassured him, "But you only have one point of health left. If someone kills you, they'll draw three cards. Why don't you let me draw three? That way, I'll have a better chance of taking down Eric!"

Her explanation made sense. Nico thought for a moment, then didn't play the missed card she was holding.

Her character was successfully eliminated, and Theron picked up three cards from the deck.

Then she burst into maniacal laughter: "Hahahaha! I got the Volcano Pistol! Equipped with the Volcano Pistol, you're all going to die! Nobody will survive!"

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

Theron played cards in quick succession, taking down Neil, Bell, and Ken Watanabe, before turning his attention to Eric.

"Two drops of blood and one card, you're done for! Bang!"

Eric lost a drop of health: "Wait, Theron, give me a break, how about I give you ten more minutes of screen time?"

"Is this bribing the opponent?"

"Yes, blatant bribery, accept it, ma'am," Eric said shamelessly.

"But if we add more scenes for me, won't the movie's runtime go too far over?"

"That's the director's problem. At worst, we can just cut ten minutes of Watanabe's scenes."

"Nani!"

Ken Watanabe's expression changed drastically. His role wasn't much to begin with, and he was already in a half-dead state. If they cut another ten minutes, there would be nothing left!

Theron squinted, pretending to think, then suddenly sneered, "I don't believe you, bang!"

"what!"

Eric let out a scream and fell backward, landing right on Nico, who was crouching behind him secretly watching the cards. The two were forced to roll together and almost kissed.

"Hahaha. I won! I won! I'm the first one. Hmm?"

Seeing this, Theron, who had been shouting for victory, suddenly became like a duck with its neck choked, unable to utter a sound.

The two quickly separated, and Nicole pretended to be speechless as she looked at her, steer the conversation back to the game: "You fooled me; I thought you were a criminal."

"Yeah, I also thought Theron was a villain, but I never expected her to be a traitor!" Neil also chimed in with great insight.

Bell and Watanabe Ken slowly got up and backed away, probably sensing that the atmosphere was a bit heavy and strange and they didn't want to get involved.

Fortunately, Theron didn't seem to mind too much, raising an eyebrow and boasting, "The newly crowned Oscar winner, her acting skills are truly top-notch! Right, veteran actress!"

Nicole's lips twitched. She naturally liked the title of Best Actress, but the addition of the word "old" made her feel very awkward.

However, considering their own and Eric's behavior just now, they didn't have the heart to argue.

"Bring some drinks and fruit over, we've finished eating."

Eric called out, and the staff hurriedly brought over supplies. Everyone laughed it off, as if no one took it to heart, and resumed eating and chatting.

That's right. During a break on set, a group of big-name celebrities and tycoons were gathered together playing a board game brought by Eric. The game was called "Bang".

Or perhaps we could use a name more familiar to the Chinese people – "Three Kingdoms Kill"!

It's that game, affectionately known by players as "Dog Card" or "Dog Planner," which claims its game is thriving but was immediately pushed to the top of the worst-review list upon its release on Steam.

In this game, "bang" corresponds to "kill", "missed" corresponds to "dodge", "gangster" is equivalent to "rebel", "traitor" is equivalent to "traitor", and "volcano pistol" is equivalent to "Zhuge crossbow". Killing the gangster allows you to draw three cards, and the traitor wins when the last person is killed.

Without a doubt, "Sanguosha" is a complete rip-off of "Bang!". From the rules to the identities, from the identities to the characters, from the characters to the skills, from the skills to the equipment, and from the equipment to the various strategy cards, "Sanguosha" is probably only missing the fact that the Three Kingdoms background is Chinese.

Eric originally intended to make money by creating this board game, but upon checking, he found that it already existed on the market and had been created by Italians in 2002, so he had to give up.

Since the goal of making money was no longer achievable, I figured using it for entertainment would be just as good.

He had been looking for a way to get the women to accept each other, so he simply brought them to the set to play around, hoping to increase the friendship between Neeko and Theron.

The result was pretty good; everyone had a lot of fun, except for the last scene that just happened.

"The board game looks very promising; we can try promoting it."

"If board games don't work, try cards; if cards don't work, try mahjong. If only I could conquer them with mahjong."

"Will we see heartwarming scenes unfolding in the villa in the future?"

"Theron, Nicole, Liu Xiaoli, and Zhou Wenqiong will have one table, while Ashley, Mary, Liu Yifei, and Elizabeth will have another table."

"No, wouldn't that make it three against one from the Olsen family? We should bring that woman Elena in too, so the Olsen family can have their own table."

"Liu Yifei can't do it alone. Including Gadot, we should at least find her two more mahjong partners."

"Carol is a nice lady, and her booming drum kit is truly amazing."

"Taylor Swift might be okay, but no, no, she's too stubborn and always likes to write about her ex-boyfriends in her songs; she's too restless."

"That little slut Paris Hilton is always trying to seduce me, but she has a bad temper too."

"Lazyny is pretty and virtuous, and her submissive personality is quite good. I even helped her ruin Justin, so she should thank me. But doesn't this mean she jumped from one scumbag pit to another?"

"I may be a piece of trash, but I'm rich!"

(End of this chapter)