America gains both fame and fortune

Chapter 568: Only Look at the Standpoint
There are many strange things in the Hollywood circle. Tom Cruise's cake is actually not as famous as Martin's statue.

Martin himself had not noticed, and Elizabeth had not pointed it out.

There were many guests today, so the premiere was not arranged directly in the screening room. Martin and Elizabeth went into the VIP room together.

Louise called Elizabeth to discuss an advertisement that Pacific Pictures had just accepted.

Martin found Daniel, and the two worked together for several years and had a good relationship.

He asked directly: "I heard that there will be personnel changes at Warner Bros."

"You are well-informed." Daniel said roughly: "A new CEO will take office around the New Year, and before long, Barry Mayer may step down as chairman, and the new CEO may take on both positions."

Martin has worked with Warner for a long time and is very concerned about this: "Who will be the next in line?"

Daniel signaled with his eyes: "He's coming."

Martin spotted an unfamiliar face coming from the front left.

The man looked to be in his fifties, with a lot of white hair mixed in with his black hair, and a typical East Asian face.

After a quick identification, Martin was basically sure that this was a Japanese person, but he had never dealt with him before.

The man stopped more than two meters in front of Martin.

Daniel introduced him at the right time: "This is Kevin Tsujihara from Time Warner. He used to be an executive at Warner Bros."

He then introduced Martin: "This is Martin Davis, our national hero."

Kevin Tsujihara didn't move, but just smiled at Martin.

Martin stepped forward and offered to shake hands: "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Tsujihara."

Kevin Tsujihara said: "I often heard your name in New York, and the real person is better than what I heard."

On the surface, Martin was greeting Kevin Tsujihara, but his mind was searching his memories. Gradually, he had some impression that he seemed to have seen Kevin Tsujihara's name in the Warner Bros. news after 2010 in his previous life.

After chatting for a while, Kevin Tsujihara smiled and said, "I should have known you a few years earlier, but it's not too late now. I am very impressed by the several works you have collaborated with Warner."

Martin was still very polite: "I hope we will have a chance to cooperate in the future."

Kevin Tsujihara nodded and found an excuse to go somewhere else.

After the people walked away, Daniel said, "I'll have my people pass the list of old films to you as soon as possible. While Barry Meyer and Alan Horn are still here, if anyone has any ideas for remakes, hurry up and go through the process."

Martin smelled something strange: "Does the new person have any problem with me?"

"It's hard to tell for now." Daniel reminded, "This personnel change involves a very fierce personnel struggle within the entire Time Warner Group. You often deal with the political circle, so you should understand one thing: some struggles are not based on ability and performance, but only on stance."

This kind of thing is too common. Martin has seen it countless times in his past life and now. He said, "I worked closely with Warner Bros. in the past few years and have a good personal relationship with Barry Meyer, so..."

Daniel said: "You are naturally on the opposite side of Kevin Tsujihara, who has risen to the top after a fierce personnel struggle and must prove his ability to the parent company's board of directors and shareholders and come up with new results."

Martin frowned slightly. "These things are a headache."

Daniel said, "We can't help it. Where there are people, there are conflicts. Our situation is nothing. The internal conflicts in Disney a few years ago were really exciting."

"Hope everything goes well." Martin will pay attention to Kevin Tsujihara, but as it involves the internal struggle of Warner Bros., Daniel cannot be fully trusted.

For things like this, it's best to just sit back and watch.

Martin then paid attention to Kevin Tsujihara, and found nothing else except that he was slightly arrogant.

"Director, come over here, he's right here!" A fifteen or sixteen-year-old girl came out of the crowd and called out to the fat man behind her as she walked, "My teacher is right in front."

Peter Jackson said: "No wonder you performed so well, it turns out you found a good teacher."

Saoirse Ronan smiled and narrowed her eyes: "The teacher taught me a lot."

For example, how to scare wild mandarin ducks, how to make people wet their pants, and how to deal with unfriendly bad guys.

Although there was no verbal teaching, Saoirse felt that she had learned a lot through media reports.

She came to Martin, stood up and bowed slightly: "Teacher."

Martin said, "You are grown up now. You don't have to take the jokes you made when you were little seriously."

Saoirse insisted: "No, you will always be my teacher."

Martin didn't waste time talking to her. He just walked towards the fat man and shook his hand: "Hello, Peter." He said sincerely: "The Lord of the Rings trilogy is my favorite movie series, no doubt about it."

Peter Jackson took the opportunity to say: "You should know that I am going to shoot the "Hobbit" trilogy. How about you play a role?"

Martin deliberately asked, "You don't want me to play an orc, do you?"

"How is that possible!" Peter Jackson said, "Except for the fixed characters in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, you can choose any other character."

Martin smiled and said, "It's fine to make a cameo appearance, but forget about playing a major role. It's hard to adjust your schedule."

Peter Jackson didn't force it, just chatted for a few words and left.

Saoirse stayed and said, "I want to settle down in Los Angeles."

How could Martin make a decision for someone else in this matter? He said directly: "You should ask your father and mother. If they agree, won't everything be OK?"

Saoirse was a smart girl: "But you are my teacher." Martin couldn't help laughing: "I didn't teach you anything."

"You taught me a lot." Saoirse blinked: "Teach me how to survive in the circle and teach me how to mess with people."

When Martin saw Elizabeth coming back, he said, "Let's talk another day, I have something else to do."

When Saoirse was working on the set of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button", she became familiar with Elizabeth, who also played Daisy. She went over to her, took Elizabeth's hand and started chatting with her.

Soon, producer Kathleen Kennedy invited everyone to enter the theater.

Martin and the crew waited at the end.

The theater, which can accommodate thousands of people, was packed. When David Fincher and Kathleen Kennedy entered with Martin and other main creative staff, thunderous applause broke out.

After some routine media activities, the premiere screening is about to begin.

Martin and David Fincher sat next to each other.

After they were seated, the latter said softly, "There will be several film screenings coming up, don't forget to attend."

Martin just won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor last year. It will be difficult for him to win another acting award this year unless the role and the social environment explode.

Martin said: "I am still trying to get a nomination, I will definitely go."

He knew that with this role that used a lot of CGI technology, he had no chance of winning the Best Actor award, so he simply did a favor: "I have discussed with Catherine, and the crew's resources will be mainly used for your Best Director award."

David Fincher is not very confident: "It's difficult to win an award."

Martin put it nicely: "We're trying our best."

In fact, he also felt that David Fincher had little chance of winning the award, and part of the problem was his own fault.

In July this year, "The Hurt Locker" was released in North America. The director was James Cameron's ex-wife Kathryn Bigelow.

If Martin remembers correctly, this was the first time a woman won the Best Director Oscar in history.

The situation faced by other directors now is more severe than Martin's previous life.

Because MiTu is very popular this year.

The Harvey Weinstein incident has led to the flourishing of the women's movement, and one after another female stars and celebrities have become supporters of MeToo.

Jolie, Aniston and other Meet the Bunny leaders are planning an event to call on Meet the Bunny supporters to wear the Meet the Bunny fist logo at this year's Oscars!

It has received a lot of responses, such as the Face Gang led by Martin, Leonardo and Nicholson.

Under such circumstances, "The Hurt Locker" is of high quality and politically correct, and Kathryn Bigelow is definitely the most popular choice.

I guess David Fincher also sees the current situation.

As we all know, the Oscars are similar to the Nobel Prize. The awards are not only based on achievements, but also on one's butt.

The big screen lit up, and Martin and David Fincher stopped talking and watched the premiere.

The film was screened many times at the Cannes Film Festival, and Martin also won the Cannes Best Actor Award for it. Word of mouth had already been released in the first half of the year.

As of now, the IMDB score is as high as 8.6 points, the Rotten Tomatoes freshness is 88%, and the MTC comprehensive score is 78 points.

Excellent reputation.

David Fincher's previous film, "The Black Dahlia," performed very poorly at the box office, and its current market appeal can only be described as average.

Fortunately, Martin is in a similar stage to Will Smith a few years ago.

Although the type of film has an impact on the box office, his appeal also has a huge impact on the market.

On the first day of its release in North America, "Benjamin" earned $1785 million, surpassing "The Blind Side" which was released in North America last week and becoming the single-day champion of the North American box office chart.

Thanks to its good reputation, the film's box office performance was relatively stable, and after this weekend, it earned 4668 million US dollars.

The movie starring Martin once again won the North American box office championship.

But this only lasted for a week, as too many blockbuster films were concentrated in this holiday season.

James Cameron's "Avatar" is released!

This epic blockbuster, because it is an original movie, did not have a very explosive box office in its first week, earning only 7702 million US dollars.

Even someone as talented as James Cameron cannot break the curse that original non-sequel movies cannot gross over 100 million in North America over the weekend.

Hollywood, which emphasizes commercial profits, naturally doesn't like original movies that much.

Although "Avatar" is strong enough, the audience of "Benjamin" is different from it. The latter maintained a healthy trend and earned 2685 million US dollars in North America in the second weekend.

The North American box office totaled 9425 million US dollars.

At the same time, the film also earned nearly 50 million US dollars in more than 6000 countries and regions where it was released overseas.

The film's global box office easily exceeded $1.5 million.

(End of this chapter)