America gains both fame and fortune

Chapter 457 Losing control
In the morning, Martin finally crawled out of the entanglement between Jolie and Aniston, picked up his mobile phone and turned it on. There were text messages coming one after another, and someone called him continuously.

Fortunately, it wasn't Nicholson, otherwise he would rush to Sunset Boulevard and set fire to the house where Nicholson stored the fireworks, allowing everyone in Los Angeles to watch a daytime fireworks show.

Martin went to wash up first, carefully avoiding the scattered things on the ground.

In addition to the clothes of the three people, there are also several clown statues in different shapes.

All of them were what Jolie and Aniston found from him last night.

When he came out of the bathroom, I picked up my phone and returned the call.

The missed calls were all from his investment manager Flynn. The two had agreed to meet this morning and Flynn was preparing to come over.

When Martin hung up the phone, Julie and Aniston had already woken up. They looked at each other and turned their heads away, not wanting to talk to each other.

"You guys continue to catch up on your beauty sleep." Martin went back to the master bedroom to find formal clothes and reminded, "Please tidy up your room after you wake up."

Aniston was dissatisfied: "You are so mean, aren't you? You played with us and asked us to clean your room?"

Martin said, "Mainly, I have things to do."

Julie stretched out a leg and said, "Is there anything more important than this?"

"Don't mess around in the hair salon in broad daylight. I have something important to do." Martin was very tough at this moment. He pointed at the clown statues scattered on the ground and said, "You two can use these as you like."

Before leaving, he took out a DV and said, "Remember to take some photos so I can enjoy them later."

Aniston grabbed the pink kettle on the bedside table and threw it over.

Martin hurried out, only to hear a bang from behind the door.

After changing into formal clothes and going downstairs, he waited for a while, and a BMW drove into the manor and stopped beside the fountain.

Flynn quickly entered the villa carrying a briefcase.

Bruce welcomed the person in.

Flynn greeted Martin and sat on the sofa next to him. "After this period of operation, the last 500 million US dollars have been gradually converted into Apple stocks."

Martin had recently made up for his lack of knowledge in this area, so he had at least some basic discernment. He carefully read the certificate and said, "I will transfer another $500 million to buy Apple stock, just like before."

Flynn asked, "Do you want to consider other options? In 2006, you first bought Apple stock, and now the stock price has more than quadrupled. In today's environment, Apple..."

Martin thought for a moment and said, "Let's just buy apples for now."

This is what he remembers most clearly.

Martin was not a god. He had a deep memory of what he had come into contact with frequently in his previous life. He thought for a while and asked, "I remember there was a company called Netflix."

“A company in Silicon Valley,” Flynn said.

"Please help me collect some relevant information." Martin has seen a lot of Netflix's works. In the early stages, the quality was guaranteed, but as the number of dramas and films shot and produced increased, a lot of bad dramas and films inevitably emerged.

Flynn agreed immediately: "I'll have someone do it right away."

The sound of high heels hitting the ground was heard at the stairs, and Martin and Flynn stopped talking about stock investment.

Jolie and Aniston came down from upstairs.

When Flynn saw these two Hollywood A-list actresses appear, he was somewhat dazed. He secretly glanced at Martin with envy.

He was quite knowledgeable and could tell at a glance that Jolie and Aniston had just gotten up and put on light makeup.

Gossip media are saying that Martin, Jolie and Aniston often play together as a trio, but no concrete evidence has been found.

Flynn also grew up watching "Friends" and thought Martin was so damn cool.

Julie tilted her head to look at Flynn, and seeing it was a stranger, she said nothing.

Aniston took her to the restaurant.

Flynn didn't stay long. He talked a few more words about Netflix and soon said goodbye and left.

The chef specially hired by Martin has prepared breakfast.

He also went over and had breakfast with them.

Aniston held a knife and fork and looked out the window: "This house gives me a different feeling."

Julie asked, "How long have you lived here?"

Aniston whispered, "Less than a year, and then you ..."

Having said that, she gripped her knife and fork tightly, staring at Julie's raised chest, ready to stab it to see whether it was air or blood that came out.

Julie held up the table knife in her hand: "Jane, you seem to have forgotten that I often shoot action movies and have practiced knife throwing."

Martin said, "Okay, stop making trouble. Remember what we talked about yesterday." Aniston was sure that she didn't need to take risks and would benefit from it, so she said, "Since you have paid hundreds of millions, I will help you."

"You pushed really hard yesterday." Julie's words were strange: "Jane pushed really hard, too, and I agreed."

The matter was settled, and Martin said, "Just wait for the news in the media."

Jolie and Aniston left one after another.

Martin went to Warner Studios, came to the "Dark Knight" studio, and met Nolan.

Nolan is now full of energy and no longer looks like he was under so much pressure.

Nolan trusted Martin a lot in publicity and hype, so he asked, "I have something to ask for your opinion."

Martin nodded: "Go ahead."

"As the screening time of The Dark Knight increases and more people watch it, word of mouth will inevitably decline." Nolan wants to push the box office higher: "The Rotten Tomatoes rating has dropped to 93%. I have an idea. Now many film critics who are qualified to give Rotten Tomatoes a thumbs-up have privately set prices. Should we take action?"

Martin asked, "How much is a positive movie review?"

"Fifty dollars." The number Nolan said was not high.

"Is it so low?" Martin scratched his head. "I thought it would be at least $100."

Nolan said: "There are too many critics in Los Angeles and New York to count. Rotten Tomatoes has been around for a few years and now it has become a business of a certain scale. In fact, it is also common to pay for ratings on IMDB."

Martin thought for a moment and said, "Maybe other films need it, but I don't think The Dark Knight needs it. The film has already brought in a large number of crazy fans. With proper guidance, they will make even more noise on the Internet."

Nolan knew that Martin had a lot of ideas, so he asked, "Have you come up with another idea?"

"There is a TOP 250 list of the best movies on IMDB. Right now, The Godfather and The Dark Knight are ranked first and second, and their positions often switch..." Martin roughly described what happened and said, "Currently, fans of both sides on IMDB are voting crazily, and there is already a trend of opposition."

Nolan immediately picked up the phone next to him and dialed the number. After waiting for a few minutes, someone immediately called back.

He said: "You are right. The trend in this regard is very obvious. Fans of the two films are on IMDB, frantically giving their own films good reviews and high scores. The momentum is getting stronger and stronger. Even if we don't participate, it will cause a big stir."

Martin said honestly: "I can't decide whether this incident is good or bad for the film."

Nolan said: "It will definitely attract more people, but it will also lose some viewers."

He is one of the real leaders of The Dark Knight and now has a huge say. After just a little consideration, he said: "No movie, even The Godfather, Star Wars and Titanic, can please all audiences. There are gains and losses."

Martin did not interrupt.

Nolan continued, "The North American box office is going strong and will definitely exceed $5.5 million. The overseas response is a little worse. If we can make more noise here, it can also attract more attention overseas. Whether the film can exceed $10 billion in global box office, the overseas market is very important."

Compared to Spider-Man 3, The Dark Knight's overseas box office share is relatively low.

The former is 3.36 million in North America and 5.58 million overseas.

Martin asked, "I heard that the crew is going to go overseas to launch a publicity campaign?"

Nolan nodded: "It's mainly Europe and Latin America, which are also the markets with the greatest potential for the Dark Knight overseas. Emma will take Bale, Michael Caine and others to Europe, and the two of us will go to Latin America together."

This was a job stipulated in the contract, and Martin did not refuse at all: "No problem on my part."

On the afternoon of the day when Martin met with Nolan, many enthusiastic Dark Knight "fans" posted on many movie websites, including IMDB, proposing that they go to IMDB together to give their favorite Dark Knight high scores, so that the Dark Knight can squeeze out the Godfather and occupy the top spot on the TOP250 list.

Once people like something to a certain extent, they tend to become very impulsive and emotional.

A large number of fans flocked to IMDB and frantically gave The Dark Knight high scores, allowing The Dark Knight to once again surpass The Godfather and top the TOP250.

The Godfather's fans followed suit and were not willing to be left behind, so they also launched similar initiatives to try to regain the top spot.

Public opinion on the Internet has too many participants and can easily get out of control.

Inevitably, the newly formed Dark Knight fan club and the Godfather fan club started arguing with each other, with both sides not only giving high scores to their respective supported films, but also giving low scores and bad reviews to the other side.

This trend quickly spread from IMDB to other websites and even attracted the attention of traditional media.

The Dark Knight is once again at the center of controversy.

When Martin was about to leave Los Angeles to start his overseas promotional tour, the two sides not only attacked each other, but also dragged the third-ranked "Shawshank Redemption" into the battlefield.

Before leaving, Martin found Nicholson again.

"Jennifer has been staying at Franco's acting school and has been able to keep up to date with specific progress." Nicholson has been having a lot of fun recently: "After Ben and James Franco talked that night, there was an unexpected initial collaboration. The situation on Cassie's side has accelerated the speed of cooperation."

He said roughly: "Cassie's lawyer had the first formal meeting with the victim's lawyer. All the evidence is extremely unfavorable to Cassie. If he can't reach a settlement, he will most likely go to jail. But Cassie, as you said, has no money."

Martin nodded. "So, Ben Affleck is going to work with James Franco?"

Nicholson smiled, just like The Shining back then: "It's pointless for you to stay in Los Angeles, just go to Latin America safely, I have the overall situation under control!"

(End of this chapter)