America: Starting with the acquisition of MGM...

Chapter 325, Section 323: Eric, we want to talk to you.

Thanks to Iron Man's influence, Captain America has also received a lot of attention.

Most viewers who saw it said it was good, as the movie fully showcased Captain America's growth trajectory without wasting time on trivial details.

The long, exhilarating war scenes and explosive action sequences are incredibly satisfying to watch.

While it may lack the depth of Iron Man, it is still an excellent commercial blockbuster.

More importantly, many viewers realized that Marvel seemed to be planning something big.

The film *Iron Man* contains Easter eggs for Captain America, and *Captain America* contains Easter eggs for Thor, constantly introducing the next superhero.

Moreover, it brings them together in one era or even one city, unlike DC's superheroes who each manage their own cities without any overlap.

As is well known, Marvel's superheroes are active in New York City.

God knows why New York City can attract so many villains and heroes, with robberies, murders, violence, and crimes happening every day.

Theoretically speaking, Marvel's New York is the most chaotic city in the world, much darker than DC's Gotham.

When Marvel brings all these superheroes together, it will be enough to build a complete universe and start a much grander story.

Just think about it, it must be a wonderful thing, not only for the fans, but for all the viewers.

As many movie fans predicted, things unfolded exactly as they had anticipated.

With the new week's box office results in, "Captain America" ​​unsurprisingly crushed "Mr. & Mrs. Smith" and "Hitch".

Will Smith?

Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie?

It doesn't work, none of them work!

Moreover, the recent scandal involving Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie caused quite a stir, with various tabloids spreading rumors.

What? Angelina Jolie was a third party who seduced Brad Pitt?

Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston have fallen out and are now separated.

Jennifer Aniston caused a scene on set and clashed with Angelina Jolie.

Keep in mind that Friends had only ended six months ago, and Jennifer Aniston was already starring in the blockbuster film Marley & Me. She was at the height of her popularity and was a goddess and sweetheart in the hearts of many.

As a result, the two became very unpopular, with many people disliking them, and some even launched an online boycott of "Mr. & Mrs. Smith".

If Fox doesn't get involved in this mess and delays the release for another six months, the issue will have been largely ignored by then.

Based on the quality of the film, it shouldn't be a problem to achieve a respectable box office performance.

But who told you to be so clueless and insist on following Mickey Mouse? The audience is already furious, and you're directly competing with Captain America. If you don't die, who will?

As a result, Captain America raked in $1.25 million at the box office in its first week, taking the top spot.

Even in its third week, Iron Man still grossed approximately $6000 million, securing two weeks at number one and one runner-up at the box office.

Will Smith's "Sweetheart" did a slight consolation, grossing $4100 million.

This movie cost $7000 million to make, and if it continues on this trajectory, it should be able to make a small profit.

The fourth place went to "Mr. & Mrs. Smith," which only grossed $22.6 million, a huge flop like "The Chronicles of Narnia."

The fifth-ranked film is Disney's only decent one, "The Incredibles," with a box office of $19.3 million.

Then there's Wanted, which is close to $1660 million.

Interspersed among them are smaller companies such as New Line, Dimen, Peak Entertainment, and New Regency.

Inception and Spider-Man 2 have remained in the top 20 for over a month.

《盗梦空间》以880万美元的票房挂在排行榜第12的位置，《蜘蛛侠2》则只剩下490万美元，勉强居于19位。

As for "Kung Fu Hustle" and "Napoleon the Magnificent," their theatrical release has been reduced due to such fierce competition.

The former has more than 600 left, and the latter is about the same, both concentrated in first- and second-tier cities.

Among them, "Kung Fu Hustle" has grossed more than $5200 million at the North American box office, which is close to "Hero's" $5500 million.

Surpassing the competition shouldn't be a problem, but surpassing "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is definitely out of the question, since "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" grossed $1.2 million.

Unless one scenario occurs, in which case "Kung Fu Hustle" also wins the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, but that's unlikely.

Having won another great victory, there was no more hesitation.

Marvel Studios and MGM jointly issued a statement saying they will launch the Thor and Ant-Man projects as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, the scripts for Iron Man 2 and Captain America 2 will be put on the agenda as soon as possible.

The announcement delighted many fans, confirming their suspicions that a grand cinematic universe was being built.

Perhaps one day in the future, they will actually see the Avengers brought to the big screen.

..........................................

Before we knew it, it was February.

The four-person group went to Huaxia to participate in this year's Spring Festival Gala, where they performed a medley of songs in 5 minutes, gaining a lot of popularity.

When many Chinese viewers learned that Taylor Swift was only 16 years old, they couldn't help but sigh that Westerners develop too quickly.

The sixteen-year-old girl looked like she was eighteen or nineteen.

However, this varies from person to person. Elizabeth Olsen is the same age as Taylor Swift, and she is still petite. Even though Eric has been cultivating her for so long, she still hasn't fully blossomed.

During this time, Eric was busy attending various events while also filming Dragon Ball.

In other words, China took a week off for the Spring Festival because we wanted to give Xiao Liu a break, and everyone else benefited from it.

Film crews usually want to keep filming non-stop, because stopping for even a day means wasting a day's worth of money.

This includes venue fees, equipment fees, maintenance fees, prop fees, and so on.

However, these expenses were no problem for the Dragon Ball production team.

Everything belongs to MGM. Eric can move it when he wants, stop it when he wants, as long as he's happy.

During this period, they attended this year's Golden Globe Awards ceremony, where MGM was nominated for several awards.

"Million Dollar Baby" won five awards, including Best Original Score, Best Supporting Actor, Best Actress, Best Motion Picture – Drama, and Best Director.

Frozen won the Best Original Song award.

You ask why there isn't a Best Animated Feature Film?

Because the Golden Globe Awards don't even have this award, otherwise Frozen would definitely have won it.

The Hunger Games also won the Best Original Song award.

Inception won six awards, including Best Original Score, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Director, and Best Motion Picture – Drama.

"La Vie en Rose" also won three awards: Best Actress, Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy, and Best Director.

That's just in the film category. The Golden Globes also include the television drama category, where MGM and HBO are once again neck and neck in the drama category.

With so many nominations, the result is that you can always see the MGM logo, always see Eric Cooper's image, and every now and then you can hear acceptance speeches thanking Eric and Mr. Cooper.

Ultimately, Nicole Kidman won the Best Actress award for her outstanding performance in "La Vie en Rose," while her strongest competitor, Hilary Swank, was defeated.

In fact, both actresses have reached the peak of their acting skills, so it would be normal to choose either of them as the Best Actress.

But with "La Vie en Rose" currently showing in theaters, many judges have already forgotten about "Million Dollar Baby."

With Eric spending a fortune on promotion, it would be difficult for Nicole not to win the Best Actress award.

However, perhaps to make up for it, Fuyuki won Best Director, even though Ron Howard was also an excellent director.

It's a pity for Martin Scorsese; he received a nomination but was once again a runner-up, and his prospects for the upcoming Oscars are expected to be bleak.

Eric, on the other hand, won the Best Screenplay award for Inception for what seems like the umpteenth time, but he's done too much of that stuff already, so there's nothing new about it.

Fortunately, it won Best Picture. Although it lost the Best Director award, it was still a compliment to the entire crew.

Kevin Spacey and Robin Wright won Emmys again, this time for Best Actress and Best Actor, leaving shows like "The Sopranos" and "Six Feet Under" speechless.

MGM dominated a significant portion of the Golden Globe Awards ceremony.

If the work wasn't of truly high quality, it would definitely be investigated for bribing the judges.

After winning Best Actress at the Golden Globe Awards, "La Vie en Rose," which had previously only been shown in a few hundred theaters, began to gain momentum, with the number of theaters showing the film suddenly increasing to more than 1300, continuing to build hype.

On the contrary, films like Inception and Wanted have completely exhausted their potential within two months.

Iron Man is also nearing the end, and its position has been pushed to the back by new movies.

Ultimately, Inception grossed $2.27 million in North America and $7.05 million worldwide.

The results were somewhat different from what Eric had envisioned. He had thought that with such great effort and even after five years, he could achieve the same level of success as the original $8 million, but unfortunately, he did not.

"Wanted" grossed $1.21 million in North America and $2.37 million worldwide, a difference of more than $100 million compared to the original.

Iron Man surpassed the original's $5.8 million, grossing a staggering $8.3 million worldwide, with North America accounting for 44% of the total, demonstrating the phenomenal success of its marketing.

At MGM headquarters, in his office, Eric looked at the latest analysis report that had been handed to him.

"Eric, this combines data from various analysis agencies, box office figures, and our internal market research data."

"We have conducted a comprehensive review and summary of the past year. We lost at least $1 billion in box office revenue."

"This is a terrifying number. Although the money is divided and not all of it ends up in our pockets, it is still a terrifying number."

Snapped!

Eric slammed the report on the table and looked at Judy: "What about the Big Six? I lost $10 billion; they're not doing too well either."

"Yes, this is a game with no winners; the more you invest, the more you lose."

"Companies like Paramount, which follow suit and cheer, are worth five or six hundred million dollars."

"Universal, Sony, and Fox have lost at least seven or eight hundred million dollars."

"Disney and Warner Bros. were the most active in targeting us, and we suffered the greatest losses, which are already approaching 10 billion."

"The most direct reflection is the total box office for the year. Last year, North America's box office was $115.6 billion, and this year it is $123.8 billion."

"However, the number of films released was 25 fewer than last year, as DreamWorks, Lionsgate and other companies withdrew from the release schedule on a large scale."

"Given the release of so many big-budget films, the gap shouldn't be just $8 million."

"This figure should be at least $30 billion, but it's not. Where did the lost box office revenue go? We all know the answer."

Upon hearing this, Eric crossed his legs and said, "It does sound terrifying, but I don't care."

"Anyway, Lionheart.com has already made back the money it lost; it's not just enough, it's quite wealthy."

"But Lionheart.com is your personal asset, while MGM is a publicly traded company, which represents the assets of countless people. What you're doing is tantamount to harming others for your own benefit."

"So what do you want me to do? Give up?"

"Of course not, am I that kind of person? I'm showing you this report so you understand that everyone is suffering."

dong dong dong.

Carol pushed open the door and came in, a look of joy on her face.

"What's wrong? You look like something good has happened."

"Boss, Nasdaq just opened, and our market capitalization has officially surpassed Disney, making us the number one film company in Hollywood."

"Oh? Really?" Judy asked in surprise.

"Seriously, we've already surpassed Disney by a significant margin, leading them by over $20 billion."

"That's great! Wait... could someone be playing a trick on us?"

Eric stood up; he wasn't surprised by the result.

If it weren't for the six major studios joining forces to target us this year, this goal might have been achieved six months ago, when the summer movie season came to a close.

The film industry is about storytelling, and MGM tells its stories beautifully.

This major counterattack during the Christmas season, in particular, has shown the market the lion's fangs and claws.

With my futuristic cheat code, how could I possibly lose to you guys?

"There was no sabotage involved; this was bound to happen."

He suddenly laughed and said, "Carol, issue an internal announcement: all MGM employees will receive an extra $1 bonus this month."

"This is an encouragement to everyone. We were able to regain our position thanks to everyone's joint efforts."

"Yeah! Thank you, boss! You're getting more and more handsome!"

"We can wait until there are more people to flatter them. We'll also draft another announcement and release it publicly, focusing on this matter. We absolutely have to get back at those old fogies!"

"Understood, will be carried out immediately!"

As soon as Carol left, Judy suddenly pounced on him and slammed him onto the table.

"Ouch, what are you doing! Luckily, I've been working out my hip flexor muscles all along."

Boo!

"Um?"

Hmm.

After a passionate kiss, her mouth full of Judy's saliva, she suddenly pushed Eric away, said "I got a little excited," and turned to leave.

"Damn it, what kind of crazy nonsense is this!"

Bah Bah!

It's all wet.

bell!!!

Eric's private phone rang; the caller ID showed a number that was both familiar and unfamiliar.

He felt familiar with the person because he knew them, but unfamiliar because they hadn't been in direct contact for a year.

"What's up, Gray? It's rare for you to call."

There was a moment of silence on the other end: "Eric, we'd like to talk to you."

(End of this chapter)