America gains both fame and fortune

Chapter 347 It's Not Easy to Be an Actress
In sunny Los Angeles, Barry Meyer, CEO and Chief Executive Officer of Warner Bros., arrived at the office on time. The coffee prepared by his secretary was on his desk at just the right temperature, and the documents that needed to be processed or read were also placed in a prominent place.

Barry Meyer took a sip of coffee and then looked through the documents, one of which took him a little longer to look at.

Warner Bros.' new film "Limitless" released last weekend was a huge hit at the box office, with the box office in North America exceeding the production cost in the first week alone.

The film was released simultaneously in the United Kingdom, France, Mexico, Australia and other places, and its overseas box office in its first week reached 2756 million US dollars.

After three days of release, the global box office exceeded 6000 million US dollars.

Martin Davis has a strong appeal.

Barry Meyer opened his computer and did some checking. Since The Hills Have Eyes, except for Summer of Jeans, in which he acted as a co-star, all the other movies in which Martin starred had box office of over 100 million in North America.

This is quite an achievement.

As the distributor, Warner Bros. is the one that benefits the most.

Stars are one of the best tools used by film companies to make profits, and those who make the most money should of course be placed in the most prominent positions.

Barry Meyer immediately picked up the phone and called Ari Emanuel of WMA: "Ari, it's me. When are you free? Let's go to the country club and play a round?"

Ali replied: "Did anything happy happen to you?"

Barry Meyer said: "I want to talk to you about deepening the cooperation between our two companies."

Ali knew that it was Martin who brought it, so he said, "You call Alan, and I'll call Thomas, and the four of us will compete."

Barry remembered that Thomas was Martin's agent and responded, "No problem."

Just like Will Smith's agent, he was also his guest of honor.

When Barry Meyer went to the film company to look for Alan Horn, he thought of Will Smith.

Since 96, the movies starring Smith have had more successes than failures. After entering 2000, every movie he made was a big hit, and he was the most popular in Hollywood.

In recent years, in terms of commercial appeal alone, even Tom Cruise and Leonardo DiCaprio have to stand aside in front of Will Smith.

Martin Davis seems to have some of the momentum of Will Smith around 2000.

If they can make a few more successful films, their commercial appeal will be…

Barry Meyer feels that if Martin can have Will Smith's momentum of success, his commercial appeal may be stronger than Will Smith.

The latter is a black man after all.

Barry Meyer met up with Alan Horn, who mentioned one thing: "I'm going to push for a new Terminator movie."

The other party was the CEO of a film company, and he had such power. Barry Meyer said, "Any plans?"

Allen Horn nodded: "After releasing the third film a few years ago, we spent a lot of money to obtain the copyright of the series. The third film has already achieved offline profits. It's time to put the fourth film on the agenda."

Barry Meyer didn't say much. Warner Bros. has a professional review committee and any project must get the green light if it wants to be approved.

…………

This week, the heavy snow in the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada stopped completely. After a brief drop in temperature, the weather gradually warmed up as the dark clouds dispersed and the bright sun hung in the sky.

Martin and all the main creative staff left New York to continue the film's promotional tour.

The crew came to Washington.

After participating in a show, Martin left the TV station and joined Kelly Gray who had arrived last week and went to a club to attend an event.

After getting in Kelly's car, Kelly introduced it to Martin: "It's a high-end political party, with many liberal celebrities in the arts and sports attending."

Martin is well aware of what he did in Atlanta. He said with a smile: "I can be considered a person who has contributed to freedom and democracy."

The car soon arrived at a suburban estate and stopped outside a luxuriously decorated club. Martin followed Kelly inside and waited for a while. He met Julia, the president of the Atlanta Freedom Society, and Councillor Erica, who was holding a pink kettle and shouting for freedom.

Unlike the past when they couldn't speak in front of them, when they saw Martin coming, Julia and Erica shook hands with him and exchanged a few words.

The four of them entered the banquet hall together. When Martin looked around, he first saw Hei Guanhai.

The senator was socializing with his wife.

In addition, Martin also saw Hollywood's most famous left-wing stars such as Meryl Streep and George Clooney.

The two are well-known political activists in Hollywood.

The four of them went over to say hello, and Hei Guanhai shook hands with each of them, saying some very cordial and polite words.

As he shook hands with Martin, he said, "Did you bring any smart drugs? If you had, it would make my trip much easier."

Martin said seriously, "It is under urgent development. I am waiting for the funding from Congress. Congressman, please help."

"No problem." After joking, Hei Guanhai said, "Limitless is a very wonderful movie. Your movie captured many of the dreams I had when I was a teenager."

Martin said: "If this statement gets out, it could add $2000 million to the film's box office."

Hei Guanhai laughed and changed the subject: "I heard about what you did during your time in Atlanta. It was amazing."

"This is what I should do." Martin said in a serious tone, "I want to make the flowers of freedom and democracy bloom in this stubbornly conservative city."

After chatting for a while, Martin left at the right time and followed Kelly Gray to meet other people.

Kelly said simply, "Next month, Hei Guanhai will officially announce his participation in next year's presidential election." Martin glanced over there and whispered, "Black president."

Kelly said: "This is his disadvantage, but if it is used well, it can also become his unique advantage."

After donating the money, Martin found Meryl.

The latter was not surprised to see him: "I didn't expect that our political stances are the same."

Here, Martin certainly would not deny it and said, "I have seen many of your speeches on political and social issues. You are very good."

Meryl said: "It's behind Jolie and Aniston."

Martin praised: "They are both really outstanding independent women."

"Leading freedom and justice, haha." Meryl laughed.

Martin was also laughing. Although the Metoo movement had been launched, the social environment and the forces behind it were different. Apart from Pete being affected, the movement had not expanded for the time being.

But no one can predict what the future holds.

Meryl suddenly lowered her voice: "Many women working in Hollywood should thank Jolie and Aniston. For some time in the future, the situation they face may be slightly better."

Martin added: "It's not easy for male actors either."

Meryl looked towards Kelly Gray, then thought of Louise Mayer and said, "You are much luckier than most people. At least the person who is willing to help you get promoted is a woman."

In this respect, Martin is indeed a lucky man.

He never used the anorectal doctor's business card given to him by the fat landlord Antonio.

On the contrary, many of Antonio's male actor tenants were employed but failed to make it.

Martin saw Kelly Gray coming over and said, "When we get back to Los Angeles, I'll invite you and Nicholson out to play."

"No problem." Meryl responded first, then asked, "Can't you take me with you three to your activities?"

Martin lowered his voice and said, "Not for ladies."

Meryl went somewhere else before Kelly Gray came over.

Martin accompanied Kelly and continued to socialize in the hall. People in the political circle might interact with each other at any time.

The crew stayed in Washington for two days and then moved to Chicago, where various promotional activities took place one after another.

In order to attract more audiences into the theaters, the creators of the crew tried their best to attract as much attention as possible.

Martin repeats the experience of going from loser to success similar to the protagonist of the movie over and over again.

Aniston never tires of revealing Pitt's past, talking about how she and Jolie fell out and then reconciled.

Even Robert De Niro revealed his decades-long love-hate relationship with Al Pacino.

As for the various behind-the-scenes stories carefully written by the screenwriter, some of them will be revealed every time they arrive in a city, and they are absolutely varied.

For example, for the female lead, the crew revealed that they had once invited Kate Winslet and Julia Roberts, but finally chose the most suitable one, such as Aniston.

During the promotion of the movie, a lot of the news is fabricated, and the crew of Limitless has a team that is specifically responsible for writing interesting tidbits.

In this traditionally off-season for movies, the film maintained a stable box office performance.

As the weather improved in the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada, the enthusiasm of the audience, which had been suppressed, was suddenly released.

In a new weekend, between the newly released "The Conjuring" and "The Mist" and the old movies, more audiences chose "Limitless" which entered its second week of screening.

The film maintained an unusually steady box office performance, and with competitors being mediocre, the second weekend box office dropped just over 30% from the first week, closing at $2682 million.

Including the revenue from four working days, "No End" has grossed 8105 million U.S. dollars in North America ten days after its release.

The North American box office will exceed 100 million soon.

This weekend, the film was released in Latin American markets such as Brazil and Argentina, as well as in East Asia and Southeast Asia, with a cumulative overseas box office of 5114 million US dollars.

At the same time, another film starring Martin, "The Departed", has entered the final stage of screening in North America. The North American box office has accumulated 1.87 million US dollars and the global box office has exceeded 3 million US dollars.

According to the normal screening plan, this film should be removed from North American theaters and enter the DVD and videotape market, taking advantage of its popularity to reap another wave of revenue.

However, the crew would rather give 80% of the subsequent box office revenue to theaters and maintain a certain scale of screening in order to hit the Oscars.

The Departed will not be removed from theaters or released on DVD or video until after the Academy Awards.

If the film can win a major award at the Oscars, DVD and video sales will explode.

This era is not 10 years later, the quality of the best films is guaranteed, and the role of the Oscars in boosting the market is still quite obvious.

In another seven or eight years, not to mention the marketing effect of the Oscars, even the ratings of the awards ceremony itself will become a big problem.

After winning multiple Hollywood guild awards, Martin Scorsese and the film have become the top favorites for this year's Oscars.

As for "Babel," which won the Golden Globe Awards for Best Picture and Best Director, no one expected it to be a surprise.

In early February, the 2007 Oscar selection ushered in an important link. The nominees luncheon to announce the nomination list was officially held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.

(End of this chapter)