America: Starting with the acquisition of MGM...

Chapter 333, Section 331: No less than $40 billion

The 77th Academy Awards ceremony has come to a close, with various awards being given out, and MGM emerging as the biggest winner.

"MGM won 11 out of 17 nominations, becoming the brightest winner of the Oscars night. This lion is regaining the glory and power of the last century."

"Oscar host Chris Rock's joke went too far and was immediately slapped in the face by Sean Penn. Jude Law was reportedly very angry."

Jamie Foxx won Best Actor for his role in "Ray," becoming the third Black actor to win the award after Sidney Poitier and Denzel Washington.

"Nicole Kidman surpassed Meryl Streep to become the first actress to win a second Best Actress award, firmly establishing herself as the top female star of our time, with her salary asking for over $1500 million."

"Eric Cooper has made history once again, breaking records continuously since his debut, achieving legendary status at the age of 25!"

"Inception became the most anticipated film at the Oscars, achieving success at both the box office and in awards."

Although some time has passed since the Oscars, the buzz hasn't completely died down, and many people are still discussing it.

What a pity that so-and-so was given the award, this award should have been given to so-and-so, Oscar corruption, MGM bribed the judges.

Anyway, there are both good and bad theories, and ordinary people and netizens can always interpret various conspiracy theories from different angles.

Eric admitted that he did do publicity and public relations, but the question is, which company doesn't?

If everyone does it this way, as long as it's not a despicable tactic like Weinstein's blatant bribery, it's considered fair competition.

As for whether the Academy has given MGM preferential treatment as a result of becoming the new industry leader, Eric himself is not sure.

Anyway, riding this wave, "La Vie en Rose," which was still showing in a limited number of theaters, immediately received many invitations to screen the film.

The screening scale suddenly surged to more than 3300 theaters, and they finally reaped a huge profit from Mane.

It rained all night.

My love overflows like rain.

"Fallen leaves in the yard."

"A thick stack of my longing."

"A few words of gossip."

"Even that can't cool my passion."

"You appear on every page of my poems."

On the set of "Dragon Ball," during lunch break, everyone happily watched Jay Chou sing his new song "Seven Mile Fragrance," which he had just released last year.

Although most people don't understand Chinese, they just listen to the melody. Since they're not professional singers, they don't understand the technical aspects at all.

Jay Chou's scenes have been filmed, and he will be leaving by plane this afternoon.

If no reshoots or re-shoots are needed, we won't see each other again anytime soon, at least until the movie is released, maybe at the end of the year, or maybe next year.

Clap clap clap!

After the song was finished, everyone immediately applauded.

Xiao Liu nodded repeatedly: "It sounds really good, but I can't understand some of the words you're singing."

"Uh," Jay Chou said, scratching his head.

Eric chuckled: "That's Jay Chou's singing style. In the entertainment industry, it's very important to have your own unique style so that the audience can remember you at a glance."

"Hehe! What you said is one reason, but the main reason is that I have a bad memory and often forget the lyrics. If I'm not clear about them, I can easily get away with it."

"Haha, I heard your new album is selling well?"

When asked about album sales, Jay Chou nodded with some pride: "About right. We sold 350 million copies in Asia, barely making it to number one."

"350 million copies! You're pretty impressive, kid. The record industry is getting worse these days, so this sales figure is amazing. How about trying your hand in the Western music scene?"

Just moments ago, Jay Chou was smug, but he immediately shook his head vigorously: "I'm not interested. I had that thought when I was younger, but I haven't had it since."

Why?

"The road ahead is tough, brother. To be honest, Chinese singers are struggling not only in the Western music scene, but also throughout the entire Asian region."

"Back in 2002, I had been in the industry for two years and had released songs like 'Nunchucks' and 'Ninja,' and I was already being called a rising star."

"Hey, King of Heaven, that sounds really cool and awesome, right?"

"Then I organized TheOne concert and took it to the United States, to Las Vegas."

"In my imagination, I really thought the concert would be a complete sell-out, with fans below holding up light sticks and glow sticks and chanting 'Jay, Jay!'"

"But reality hit me hard: there were no stadiums, no venues that could hold 10,000 people, or even just a few thousand."

"But even in a venue that can hold a thousand people, it is still not full. Most of the people you see are familiar faces, all of them are overseas Chinese."

"Among the few foreigners, some were brought over by their Chinese friends."

Eric nodded silently: "So you've come to terms with reality?"

"It's about accepting reality. There are too many interfering factors. First of all, there's the language barrier. Not being able to understand the lyrics is an insurmountable obstacle."

"You can't expect fans to learn a language just to understand it, there are too few of them."

Eric recalled his conversations with Michael, Ivy, and others: "But I heard from professionals that lyrics aren't the most important thing; the melody is."

"Yes, that's the second reason I want to mention. The Chinese music scene generally doesn't value arrangement, which is the exact opposite of the Western music scene."

"The arrangement is relatively simple and similar, but it is catchy and has a high acceptance among fans."

"However, this has also led to singers becoming immersed in this style. For example, the songs I sing are already considered unconventional and very avant-garde."

"Even my songs rarely use more trendy things like electronic music, while the Western music scene is paying more and more attention to electronic dance music."

"You're not on the same wavelength at all, so how can others accept you? To be precise, you can't fit into their environment."

Eric remarked with some emotion, "The road is built step by step. At the very least, you should have the courage. Look at Jackie Chan and Jet Li; after conquering Asia, they embarked on the road to conquering Hollywood."

"And they've done a great job, and have already gained recognition from the mainstream Hollywood market."

Jay Chou continued to shake his head: "It's too difficult. The problem is, who has the courage? No one is willing to sacrifice themselves to pave a bloody path for their peers."

"And given that even with sacrifices, success is not guaranteed, wouldn't it be better to comfortably enjoy the present? I certainly can't do that."

"But the Chinese music market is too small. If you want to make big money and gain fame, you still have to go global."

"There's an old Chinese saying: 'A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.' What you have in your hand is the best. Besides, I've earned quite a bit now, more than I can spend in a lifetime."

"Anyway, I don't plan to expand beyond Asia for the time being. I hope someone can achieve this goal in the future."

Eric couldn't help but laugh to himself. Even you, a leading figure and a flag bearer in the Chinese music scene, have such a hedonistic attitude. How can you expect anything from others?

It will only get worse and worse in the future, falling further behind the Western music scene.

After seeing Jay Chou off in the afternoon, I finished a busy day.

It's clear that both Xiao Liu and Daddario have expressions of longing and anticipation, wanting to ask him out for a nap.

However, the last major battle had taken a heavy toll on his energy, and he had been recuperating these past few days, so he reluctantly declined.

During that time, I also felt that this couldn't go on, and I didn't want to die in bed at such a young age.

After asking my dad, he recommended an Indian yoga master, saying that many people study with him and the results should be good.

But Eric didn't like Indians, so he contacted Lao Han again, asking him if he knew any great Chinese medicine masters, preferably those who had mastered aphrodisiac techniques.

When Lao Han heard that he was now living in the same room with six women, he was also shocked.

Even when you're young, you can't keep messing around like this. If you keep doing this, you won't be able to make up for it even if you drink health tonics like water.

But there is a way. This wine was passed down from an old Chinese medicine doctor. Eric can come over when he has time and have it treated in person.

The post-production of "The Meg" is almost finished, so I'll go over there and check on the progress of the factory expansion.

Time flies, and it's already late March. "La Vie en Rose" was taken off the screens after two weeks of wide release.

It ultimately grossed $8500 million at the North American box office, which is quite an impressive result for an art film without intense conflicts.

It hasn't been released in some other countries, but it's done very well in Europe, especially in France, where it broke into the top ten at the box office.

It's expected to gross nearly $200 million at the box office, which would be a huge profit.

Apart from that, MGM had no movies on the big screen, giving up its two-month run to its smaller competitors.

Because there were too many films backlogged last year, the competition is still very fierce.

Disney and Warner Bros. didn't participate much in this period either, only releasing a few low-budget films, seemingly holding back their efforts to compete with MGM again.

This month, Lionheart released four titles at once: Daredevil, Rick and Morty, Wilderness, and Family Q&A, all of which received positive reviews.

Daredevil's visceral fighting style, realistic art style, and depiction of the dark atmosphere of Hell's Kitchen have greatly satisfied comic book readers.

Although the portrayal of superpowers is somewhat weak, Daredevil is, after all, a street hero, not like the protagonist of "Smallville".

Do you know how painful it was for everyone to watch the prequel to Superman?

Everyone knows he can fly, yet he hasn't been able to take off for four whole years. Please, that's Superman, the Superman who can reverse time when he goes crazy.

In comparison, Daredevil is simply awesome!

The Ben Affleck film version was also compared to it, and it was heavily criticized at the time. Two years later, it was brought up again and criticized, with many YouTubers comparing it to the film while simultaneously criticizing it.

Meanwhile, Daredevil also featured cameos from Jessica Jones, Iron Fist, and Luke Cage in one episode.

With such a positive audience response, Marvel and MGM announced the launch of individual series for each of the three characters.

Rick and Morty was even more popular than Daredevil.

The two main characters' designs are clearly modeled after the male protagonist and the doctor from "Back to the Future," which makes them feel very familiar and endearing.

The story is incredibly imaginative, incorporating elements of warmth, perversion, gore, ethics, and action.

It also pays homage to many classic movies, including Alien, Sesame Street, Star Wars, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Animal Farm, Jurassic Park, Star Trek, Pokémon, and Ghostbusters.

There is no limit to imagination; there is always something more imaginative.

Its groundbreaking innovation and abundant creativity ignited the young audience as soon as it was released, attracting many viewers who didn't normally watch animation.

It has only been online for less than a month, and there are already many opinions suggesting that Rick and Morty is a masterpiece that can be compared to works such as The Simpsons and South Park.

In just one season, a solid fan base of tens of millions has been built, and they are all clamoring for the production team to work overtime to produce the next season.

What viewers don't know is that Rick and Morty is actually the most difficult of all of Lionheart's self-produced series.

After Eric presented the conceptual framework, it took more than a year for the screenwriters to expand from 3 to 6, then from 6 to 8, and finally from 8 to 11.

The number of screenwriters alone was several times that of other dramas, yet only 15 episodes were produced in the end.

If this were in China, hundreds of episodes would have already been written.

Of course, the first production was also due to inexperience. The efficiency of the second season will be much higher, but the writing team still cannot be reduced.

Not only should we not reduce their size, but we should also protect them carefully to prevent them from being poached by those with ulterior motives.

The original timeline was taken over by Marvel, and the highly acclaimed "Loki" was written by the same screenwriter as "Rick and Morty".

With such high costs, the economic benefits generated naturally far exceeded those of ordinary shows. The merchandise for "Rick and Morty" sold very well, once again becoming a money-making machine for DoubleStar Entertainment and Hasbro.

"Living Alone in the Wild" is also very popular due to its novel variety show format, while "Family Q&A" is more of an entertainment and comedy show, hosted by Steve Harvey.

He was experienced and often made witty remarks, which made everyone laugh.

Why did Lionheart release so many new works at once?

The answer, of course, is to increase the company's valuation. Paramount, Fox, Sony, and Universal are all urging Eric to sell his shares to them as soon as possible.

Before selling, they naturally want to increase the value as much as possible, at least to earn several hundred million dollars more.

When mid-April arrived, Hollywood was suddenly struck by a bombshell.

Lionheart.com, Paramount, Fox, Sony, and Universal issued a joint statement announcing that four of them have officially joined the family.

All the movies, TV series, and variety shows from the four companies that are available in their film libraries are uploaded to Lionheart.com, causing the latter's film and television resources to increase several times over instantly.

It absolutely deserves to be called the world's number one.

The market then understood why the two sides suddenly stopped and made peace; the reasons were all there.

The exact amount spent by the four companies has not been disclosed to the public.

But rumors are flying everywhere, and one of them is the most credible.

Each company was worth at least $8 million, making the deal cost at least $40 billion.

(End of this chapter)