America gains both fame and fortune

Chapter 279 Disc Explosion
It was approaching the New Year of 2006, and after nearly two months of release, "Wanted" finally broke the $2 million mark in North American box office thanks to the accumulation of time.

After a brand new weekend, the North American box office has accumulated 2.04 million US dollars and the global box office has exceeded 4.5 million US dollars.

At the same time, it created Martin's highest box office record.

As the North American theater schedule has dropped to less than 200 theaters and attendance is almost negligible, Warner Bros. is preparing to release DVDs after the New Year.

Martin's main job recently is to promote the film's DVD release.

He invested 500 million U.S. dollars in this project, and he will get a share of both the box office and later profits.

Before the New Year, the official website of the Coca-Cola Cult was officially launched.

The homepage of the website is a large poster of the leader Martin. He is holding a Coca-Cola scepter, wearing a red robe and a red crown. He is more imposing than the Pope of the Vatican.

The Internet headquarters of the Coca Cola Cult was also moved from Martin's personal blog to the official website of the Coca Cola Cult.

In just one week, the number of users who registered as members of the Coke Church through the official website exceeded 300 million, and the number is increasing by hundreds of thousands every day.

In addition to promoting the activities of the Coke Cult, the website also has a special section for the leader of the cult for church members to worship online.

It is no exaggeration to say that Martin already has a considerable number of die-hard fans among both movie fans and Coca-Cola cultists.

As the number of registered members of the Coca-Cola Cult skyrocketed, even Coca-Cola's stock experienced a wave of continuous increases around the New Year.

Warren Buffett, the largest shareholder of Coca-Cola, specifically mentioned Martin in a New Year's interview with the Wall Street Journal: "I know Martin Davis, a magical Hollywood star. The movies he starred in are great, and the Coke cult he created is a stroke of genius. Coca-Cola's management did a good job in inviting him to be a spokesperson. If I have the chance, I will talk to him in person."

Once these words were exposed, they also elevated Martin's status.

Not all members of the Coke Cult will watch the movie starring Martin, but as long as one-third of them are willing to buy tickets, it may increase the film's first-week box office by tens of millions of dollars.

After the New Year holiday, after seeing off Blake who came back for vacation, Martin turned into an enthusiastic autograph machine, running around major cities across the United States to sign and sell the DVD of "Wanted".

On the first day of the signing, there was a long line at the Beverly Commercial Center, with hundreds of fans wanting to be the first to get the DVD set signed by Martin.

As a sponsor, Coca-Cola also organized an event with Warner Bros., where anyone who bought the $39.9 commemorative edition DVD set would receive a commemorative Coke from the Coca-Cola Cult.

Martin is well aware that at this stage, the fans who can queue up early in the morning to buy DVDs are the basis of his status and income.

Therefore, even though his status has been significantly improved, he still faces his supporters with the most enthusiastic attitude.

"Thank you for your support." Martin said this every time he signed a card.

Moreover, there will be no distinction between fans who purchase the regular edition and the commemorative edition.

By the time he finished signing for the whole morning, Martin's face was numb from smiling and his hands were sore from exhaustion.

He left the store without accepting interviews from reporters, got into a business car, went to the nearby Four Seasons Hotel to rest, and then rushed to the signing event in the afternoon.

Bruce and Thomas accompanied us throughout the trip.

After arriving at the hotel, the three of them went to the restaurant for dinner. Bruce asked for ice cubes to help Martin apply ice.

Thomas asked with concern, "Will it be stressful? Can we shorten the time in the afternoon?"

"No need." Martin shook his head and said with a smile: "This little bit of pressure is nothing. Compared to my life at the bottom of Atlanta, the pressure of being a star is much greater."

Bruce agreed: "Gangs are rampant, income is extremely low, there is no house, and even the whole family has no money for tomorrow's living expenses after today. What is the pressure of a star?"

Thomas has never experienced such a life: "Maybe the experience in Atlanta has given you a super high ability to withstand pressure."

"Compared to my previous life, now it's like living in heaven." With no one else around, Martin spoke more casually: "Luxury cars, luxury houses, beautiful women, money, if these are considered pressure, I would rather the pressure be bigger than the Himalayas!"

Thomas thought of Jolie and Aniston, and he also wanted to have that kind of pressure.

After lunch, Martin and Bruce went upstairs.

Bruce glanced at his phone and saw a message from the bodyguard in the dark. He whispered, "Aniston is here. She went to your suite."

Martin sighed vigorously.

Bruce patted him on the shoulder and brought up the topic: "You look very stressed?"

Martin said, "It's not a big deal. It's mainly because some academic issues are difficult to study, such as why butterflies on the shore smell like seawater, which methods are most suitable for tunnel detection, and under what circumstances can water be drawn into a thread..."

Bruce couldn't help but ponder these purely academic questions.

Martin entered the suite and began to study profound issues with Aniston with a rigorous academic attitude.

Only learning can make people progress.

In the afternoon, despite being a little tired, Martin still showed up at a chain store near California Polytechnic University in Pasanadi and continued to sign DVDs with good professionalism and enthusiasm.

At the end of the day, he signed nearly 2000 Wanted DVDs. Julie, who went to the East Coast, was also very popular and the signing scene was very popular.

After having dinner outside, Martin returned to the Coti community.

When they arrived at the door of their house, Gillian Flynn waved to Escalade from across the road.

Martin rolled down the window and asked, "What's up?"

Gillian smiled and said, "I want to talk to you for a while and get some exclusive information."

The project of "Limitless" originated from Gillian's introduction to Alan Green. Martin saw that there were few people around, so he got out of the car and stood on the side of the road: "Just ask any questions you have."

Gillian worked for Entertainment Weekly, which was also a stylish entertainment media. She did not ask about gossip, but instead asked about movies: "I heard that during the filming of The Departed, you, Leonardo, and Nicholson formed an organization?"

Martin scratched his face and smiled shyly: "It's just a small team that eats, drinks and has fun."

Gillian was very interested: "What's it called? It's not called the Rascal Gang, right? There's already one in Hollywood."

This matter can be disclosed to the public. Martin said: "Let's call it a trio. Nicholson is the boss, then Leo, and I am at the end."

He also did not forget to pass on the blame: "What the trio does is basically decided by Nicholson and Leonardo, and I can only follow behind them and cheer for them."

Gillian had no doubt at all, because in terms of seniority, status and age, Martin was indeed the lowest one.

She added, "We just conducted an exclusive interview with Director Scorsese, and he said that the three of you were competing with each other in acting during the filming, and you were all in amazing shape, which added a lot of highlights to the film. Is that true?"

Martin is quite confident about this: "Yes! I can say responsibly that the audience will see a brand new Leonardo, Nicholson and Martin Davis in The Departed! Don't define us by our previous roles, because we have made new breakthroughs."

Gillian wrote down everything Martin said with a pen and a notebook.

Being neighbors with a popular star in the industry does bring many exclusive benefits, but Gillian also knows when to stop and not to annoy Martin all at once.

She would also put in Martin's good words in the press: "Wanted just came out on DVD, right? I'll write you a column about that."

Martin nodded and asked casually, "Have you created any new works recently? Or do you have any good novels to recommend?"

Hearing this, Gillian thought of "Limitless". She obviously knew Martin first, and Martin bought the adaptation rights of Alan Green's work.

This stimulated Gillian, who said: "I am planning a novel, which may take two years to complete."

Martin said something nice: "It must be a masterpiece."

"If I'm done, please help me take a look." Gillian knew that if the novel wanted to become popular, it would have to be adapted into a film or TV series. She said a little bit appropriately: "I plan to use Agatha Christie as the prototype."

Martin asked, "Mystery?"

Gillian didn’t say much: “Noir suspense.”

Martin said: "I look forward to reading your work soon."

The two shook hands and soon went back home.

Gillian first sorted out Martin's interview records, and then consulted the information, focusing on the famous Agatha Christie disappearance case in the 1920s, planning to replace the background to modern times.

Similarly, as a failed marriage victim, Jillian sneers at the concepts of family and marriage promoted by mainstream American society, and believes that the essence of marriage is mutual torture between men and women.

Just across the road, Martin finally gave himself a day off. He didn't have to work hard tonight and hand over several hundred million.

He and Bruce went into the rec room, sat down in front of two computers, and played a few games of CS.

In reality, Old Bull is a better shooter than Martin.

During the game, he was beaten badly by Martin.

It was almost ten o'clock, and Martin wanted to go to bed early, but Leonardo called and said, "The Face Gang is having an event tonight, are you coming?"

As a core member of the Face Gang, Martin certainly cannot miss gang activities. Besides, washing face is also a form of relaxation and entertainment.

The three bastards, plus Craven and Ajia, appeared at the Night Club together.

The only pity is that the Foot Gang seemed to have changed its base of activity. Since that night, the Face Gang and the Foot Gang have never met in group activities.

The next morning, Martin was in high spirits and flew from Los Angeles to San Francisco to continue signing DVDs.

"Wanted" has grossed over $2 million at the North American box office, with a warm market response. The theater screening window is short, the male and female protagonists are highly talked about and have high fan support, and the autograph session is active, so the DVD sold well after it was released.

Various versions of the DVD set sold $3760 million in just one week!
Warner Bros. estimates that the annual sales of Wanted DVDs will exceed 8000 million US dollars in the North American market alone!
DVDs alone are enough to support this era of crazy investment in Hollywood.

(The DVDs of Reality Wanted seem to have sold around $7000 million a year.)
(End of this chapter)