America gains both fame and fortune

Chapter 477 Recovery and Discharge
With the help of the wave of public opinion caused by the pier incident, Martin almost swept all the best supporting actor awards, big and small, during the award season.

From the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award, to the People's Choice Award, to the Screen Actors Guild Award, all the Best Supporting Actor trophies fell into Martin's pocket without exception.

Although Martin did not attend the Golden Globe Awards held in mid-January, the trophy for Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture was still won by Thomas, who accepted the award on his behalf.

Martin recorded a video specifically for thanking his fans. In the video, he was doing rehabilitation exercises for his arms and legs. In addition to thanking his supporters for the award, he also reassured his supporters that he would be discharged from the hospital soon.

The film The Dark Knight is most likely to win an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for Martin.

Thanks to the craze created by Martin, DVDs of The Dark Knight continued to sell well, with sales in North America alone exceeding $3 million.

In addition, the film is still showing in overseas markets, with overseas box office exceeding US$5.5 million.

The Dark Knight's global box office has accumulated 11.62 billion US dollars, surpassing the 3 billion US dollars of The Lord of the Rings 11.47, and ranked second in the global box office history list, second only to Titanic.

"Good news!" Thomas came to give Martin the Golden Globe trophy and said as soon as he entered the door: "Martin, there is good news!"

Martin was riding an exercise bike. He got off the bike, took the towel thrown by Bruce, and said, "Did Warner Bros. pay me the North American box office share of The Dark Knight in advance?"

Thomas said: "It will take several months for the box office share to be determined."

He placed the Ballon d'Or trophy on the table and said, "The endorsement fees from Nokia and Coca-Cola have all been deposited into the company's account and will be transferred to you in the next few days."

Martin's endorsement fee from Coca-Cola is only $1000 million a year, but he gets a share of the sales of the Martin commemorative Coke that uses his portrait.

Based on the normal sales trend of the commemorative Coke, his annual share will not be less than the endorsement fee.

Martin picked up the Golden Globe trophy, took a closer look and said, "This is my first major award."

Bruce asked, "Don't you have a Saturn Award?"

Martin said: "The Saturn is still not as important as the Golden Globe."

Thomas interjected, “Indeed, although the Golden Globe Awards are a separate category and not a true bellwether for the Oscars like the Guild Awards, their influence in the media is still far greater than that of the Saturn Awards.”

Martin put down the trophy and said, "Looks like I'm going to have to build a special hall of fame."

"It's necessary." Thomas said, "The Golden Key of Honorary Citizen of Los Angeles. In the future, Los Angeles is likely to establish Martin Davis Day, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Saturn Award, the Golden Globe Award, and the Oscar..."

Martin interrupted him: "The nominations haven't been announced yet, and we're determined not to pop champagne at halftime."

Thomas touched his bald forehead and said, "I made a mistake."

He asked Martin, "When will you be discharged?"

Martin already had a plan: "After the Oscar nomination luncheon is over, we will try to generate another wave of popularity."

The next day, Bradt came to visit him again and brought good news. With the strong promotion of LAPD, the Los Angeles City Council reviewed and passed a resolution to establish "Martin Day" and planned to hold a joint press conference on a selected day after Martin recovered and was discharged from the hospital.

After discussion, Martin and Thomas decided to schedule it for the end of January, when the Oscar voting was the most critical.

Just this weekend, the Oscar nominees luncheon was held at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, announcing the list of this year's Oscar nominees. Unsurprisingly, Martin's name appeared on the list of nominees for Best Supporting Actor.

The competitors are Philip Hoffman, Josh Brolin and Robert Downey Jr.

Faced with the annual decline in Oscar ratings, the Academy made considerable adjustments this year, hiring Hugh Jackman as host of the awards ceremony.

Three days after the Oscar nominations were announced, Martin was preparing to be discharged from the hospital.

Three brand new Cadillacs stopped in front of the ward building. Bruce and Thomas had packed their luggage in advance. Martin and Elizabeth, who was carrying a bag, came out of the ward and shook hands with his attending physician.

"Thank you." Martin said sincerely.

The doctor smiled and said, "This is my job responsibility."

Martin reached out and took the two boxes from Elizabeth and handed them to the doctor: "A little gift."

The doctor discovered that it was a hand-carved version of the Coke Cult clown, which was hard to find on the market at a high price, and he quickly said, "It's too expensive."

Martin pointed at Lily on the other side and said, "She carved it by hand. It only takes a little time."

The doctor took it.

Martin went to the nurses' station again, thanked several nurses who provided services to him, and gave the same gifts to each of them before going downstairs.

“He’s such a nice guy.”

"He never acted like a big star. Even if we did something wrong occasionally, he would never say anything."

“So much better than other Hollywood stars!”

Downstairs, Martin got in the car and asked Bruce to drive out.

As soon as the three Cadillacs drove out of the hospital gate, they were blocked by the influx of reporters and fans.

Martin also saw several live broadcast cameras set up on the opposite side.

The flash lights in the hands of the reporters made it almost impossible for Bruce to open his eyes while driving.

Many fans holding flowers shouted, "Martin! Martin!"

He hasn't appeared in public for too long, and fans want to know his actual situation.

Young people wearing red T-shirts completely blocked the road to the main entrance of the medical center.

Martin knew that not showing up would not work, but getting out of the car might cause bigger problems.

Fortunately, they were prepared. Martin patted the front seat and Bruce opened the sunroof of the Escalade.

The fans' shouts came in all at once, deafening.

Martin climbed out of the skylight and waved in all directions.

Then he pulled out an electronic megaphone and shouted, "Hi everyone, I'm Martin, I'm fully recovered."

At this point, he bent his arms to show his muscles: "There is nothing wrong with my arms and legs. Thank you for your concern. I will be able to return to work soon!"

The fans shouted even more crazily: "Martin! Martin..."

Another group of people shouted at the top of their lungs: "Martin, the eternal god of Coke!"

"Thank you! Thank you for your kindness!" Martin raised the megaphone again: "I haven't been home for a long time. Can you let me go home first? I'm worried that my relatives are homeless on the streets. If any relatives are homeless on the streets, I will notify you and you must come to help me..."

A burst of laughter broke out at the hospital entrance. Led by some fans, the crowd began to split into two sides, gradually making way for vehicles.

The reporters stuck in traffic were also slightly driven away by hospital security.

A reporter asked loudly: "Martin, when can you be interviewed?"

Martin yelled, "There's going to be a press conference soon!"

LAPD arrived at the scene in time and maintained order. Bruce drove the Cadillac through the crowd at a snail's pace.

When I came to the outermost part of the crowd, a dozen girls in white wedding dresses suddenly jumped out from the front, holding light signs in their hands with the words "I love Martin" written on them.

Led by Toni and Aisha, the girls blocked the way of the vehicles again, twisting their hips and dancing while shouting, "I love Martin! I love Martin!"

Martin had no choice but to get out of the skylight again: "I love you, too!"

"yeah!"

Toni and the others blew kisses to Martin and then made way.

Martin got back in the car and asked Bruce to close the sunroof.

Elizabeth next to him said, "I just realized that being a star is really tiring!"

"It's OK." Martin said with a smile, "Compared to my original job, this is too easy now."

No matter how tired I am, it is not as tired as when I was at the bottom of society. Back then it was hard, tiring and I earned little.

The three Cadillacs went further and further away.

"Martin loves me!" Toni felt her heart was about to be drunk, and asked, "But why didn't he call me? Last time in New York, I waited for him for a while."

Aisha said: "I didn't call him either."

Toni asked the others: "Did you get a call from Martin? We agreed to never betray our sisters!"

"no!"

"I do not have either."

The other girls said that they had never received a call from Martin.

"Waiting passively is not a solution. We still have to take the initiative." Toni looked at Elsa and asked, "Martin has moved to the North Side of Sunset Boulevard in Beverly Hills. I remember your uncle works in the community over there. Can you let us in?"

Elsa looked at the sisters and shook her head quickly: "There's nothing we can do. There are too many of us."

When the other sisters gradually walked away, Aisha lowered her voice and said to Toni, "There are so many people, and we are a big target. It's easy to attract attention."

Toni understood: "What about just the two of us?"

"It's still difficult." Elsa asked her uncle about the situation there: "The community is full of stars, celebrities and wealthy people. The management is very strict. If a stranger enters, he will be discovered quickly."

Toni scratched her blonde hair anxiously, "What should I do?"

Aisha spread her hands: "I haven't thought of it yet."

Toni was able to become the leader of this gang, so she had some brains. She quickly thought of an idea and said, "What if the two of us become employees working in that community?"

Elsa was stunned for a moment, then said, "That's a good idea! I'll ask my uncle if they're hiring. He'll be in charge of some of the personnel work."

Toni said, "Go back and ask immediately, don't tell anyone else."

Elsa nodded repeatedly: "I know."

The eldest and second oldest members of the sister group were the first to betray their sisters.

On this day, the news that Martin was discharged from the hospital and returned home once again dominated the entertainment sections of major media outlets and became a hot headline.

It topped Google's trending search list that day.

TMZ's live broadcast car even followed Martin to the entrance of the North Side of Sunset Boulevard.

The next morning, major media outlets received news that Los Angeles City Hall would hold a press conference in conjunction with Martin to announce a major news.

Robert Downey Jr. and Philip Hoffman, who were also nominated for Best Supporting Actor, both swore in their respective homes.

It’s not that I haven’t seen public relations marketing before. After all, Harvey Weinstein has brought Oscar public relations marketing to the ground, but I have never seen such high-end means of cheating.

(End of this chapter)