Hollywood Director 1992.

Chapter 411 Sister Xiaoli is also pregnant.
With Julie and the others eagerly anticipating it, Link tasted the dish of gazing at the stars.

It has a strong fishy smell and the taste is so-so, but it's not as bad as I imagined. It's the kind of food I can eat even when I'm hungry.

During the meal, Link and his girlfriends chatted as they ate.

Over the past month, several pieces of good news have come from the United States.

First, in its fifth week of release, Final Destination 2 grossed over $100 million at the North American box office, bringing its total revenue to $1.08 million, making it the third Guess Movies film to surpass $100 million at the North American box office this year.

American media reviews of Guess Game Studios have risen, stating that Guess Game remains the most profitable company in Hollywood and the biggest competitor to the seven major studios.

After the film's box office success, the shareholders of Guess What Film Studios repeatedly called Link to congratulate him and express their admiration for his management skills.

Greg Davis suggested he raise a third round of funding, noting that given the company's current situation, even a $40 billion offer would have attracted some interest.

However, Link did not agree; he had a detailed plan for the company's development.

The second piece of good news is also related to the movie. In late October, Guess What Films' 11th film of the year, Scream, will be released.

This film is a thriller/suspense crime movie about a sudden murder in a small California town where two high school students are brutally killed. The killer is a masked horror movie enthusiast.

Following an investigation, police identified and arrested Billy Loomis, the boyfriend of the female protagonist, Sydney.

But after Bill was arrested, another murder occurred.

The elusive masked killer, like the Grim Reaper, takes one life after another, but no one knows the killer's true face, and the police are at a loss as to how to solve the case.

Later, with the help of her friends, the protagonist, Sydney, discovers that the killers are her boyfriend Billy Loomis and her classmate Stu, who conspired to commit these murders.

After a fierce battle, the female protagonist, Cindy, along with her friends Gale, Dewey, and others, teamed up to defeat Billy and Stu.

Like Final Destination, this film uses suspense and horror elements to whet the audience's appetite. Its main target audience is young people, and the main actors are all handsome men and beautiful women in their twenties, including Neve Campbell, Courteney Cox, Drew Barrymore, Charlize Theron, Joaquin Phoenix, and Michelle Reis.

Scream grossed $1205 million in its opening weekend in 1413 theaters, ranking third at the box office.

With a production cost of $14 million and a box office revenue of over $10 million in its opening week, with a per-theater box office of nearly $10,000, this is undoubtedly good news.

However, the film also faced fierce attacks from its competitors after its release.

The reason is that "Scream" contains many bloody and violent scenes, which are suspected of promoting violence and having a negative impact on young viewers.

Competitors have spoken out through the media, arguing that the film should be rated NC-17, meaning it is an adult film and should be banned for viewers under the age of 17.

Instead of being rated R, viewers under 17 are required to be accompanied by a parent or adult.

Scream targets young people. If it is rated NC-17, the film's release will be limited and its box office will be greatly affected.

Competitors accuse the MPAA of unfair ratings, and some speculate that the film industry is involved in underhanded dealings.

If the film's distributor, Guess What Films, wasn't a member of the MPAA, but rather a small, independent film company, this film would absolutely not have been rated R and released normally.

These voices of discontent also received support from media outlets under the seven major media groups, causing considerable trouble for Guess Movies and Scream.

Following the negative reports, Guess the Movies' public relations department launched a counterattack, stating that Scream's rating was not problematic and that the film, apart from a small amount of violence and gore, also contained many comedic and satirical elements.

The film also promotes themes of unity, friendship, mutual help, and female strength and independence, making it a positive and uplifting movie. Its R rating is quite reasonable.

The public relations department also cited several excellent R-rated movies for comparison, stating that Scream doesn't have more violence and gore than those movies.

Meanwhile, the verdict in the "Final Destination" framing case was announced, with 11 media outlets, including the New York Post, the New York Daily News, and Star Weekly, ordered to pay Guessing Movies between $5 and $100 million in damages for reputational and economic losses.

The New York Post and the New York Daily News appealed the verdict, while eight smaller media outlets declared bankruptcy after receiving compensation.

This case has caused a stir in the media industry, with Guess the Movies' tough stance surprising and alarming the media.

The media industry is also more cautious when reporting negative news about Guess Movies.

Reports of unfair ratings for Scream also decreased rapidly.

As a result of these news reports, Scream saw increased exposure in North America, and its box office revenue steadily increased.
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The third piece of good news came after Monica's pregnancy, when Liu Xiaoli, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Julianne Moore also announced their pregnancies.

The three women were all over 30 years old, and they had priority in the family planning program set up by the family committee. They also actively used this right afterwards.

Besides Liu Xiaoli, the other women in the family are all pregnant for the first time, and their emotions are quite volatile. Every day after filming, Lin Ke would call to ask about their day and give them plenty of comfort to put their minds at ease.

The fourth piece of good news comes from Flash Capital: starting in the second half of the year, influenced by changes in the Federal Reserve's interest rates, the stock market surged, with technology stocks such as Microsoft and Cisco experiencing the fastest growth.

微软比年初增长达18%，市值突破800亿美元大关；思科市值增长超过45%，年初市值约320亿美元，在11月份只是最高点突破500亿美元。

Flash Capital owns 4.05% of Microsoft and 3.22% of Cisco, with a total value of $50 billion.

Link's net worth is expected to double by next year, placing him among the top ten richest people in the world.

The fifth piece of good news came from Steve Jobs.

Since the beginning of the year, Flash Capital has been gradually selling its Netscape shares and buying a large number of Apple shares. Currently, Flash Capital, along with Kingsoft Capital, Rose Garden Capital, and Horizon Angel Investment, collectively own 35.2% of Apple's shares. Meanwhile, after selling Pixar Animation Studios last year, Steve Jobs received $3 million and, taking advantage of the significant drop in Apple's market value, gradually bought 15.5% of Apple's shares.

Link and Jobs owned more than 50% of Apple's shares and had decision-making power in the company.

Link originally planned to bring Jobs back to Apple as soon as possible to clean up the mess.

Jobs remained calm, indicating that the time was not yet right.

Steve Jobs was a genius, but he also had the flaws of a genius: he was confident and stubborn, and he was not easily accepting of the opinions of others.

Link didn't force him and let Jobs take the lead in this matter.

The sixth piece of good news is that Quentin Tarantino, after agonizing for two or three months, began preparing to film "Kill Bill" last week. The film is a joint production of Guess the Movies and Quentin's Outlaws Studios, with a budget of $3000 million.

"Link, I heard that Milla Jovovich failed her audition for the lead role in Kill Bill again and is very unhappy now. Do you want to help her get Quentin to give her the lead role?"

"Jennifer Connelly said, sipping her juice."

Link shook his head. "Quentin and Uma Thurman are old partners. He won't agree to replace Mila with her. Let's just leave it at that and let him direct. There's no need for Mila to rush. The company has a new project that's perfect for her. If she performs well, this project could be turned into a series of movies."

Currently, the film rights to the Resident Evil games have been acquired by Guess Movies. Link plans to start writing the script after he finishes his current work. There are eight Resident Evil movies, and Milla Jovovich will not lack roles for the next twenty years.

"Link, I need some characters too. Can you find me a few?"

Julie Delpy, her pale arm propped on the table, a cigarette between her fingers, spoke in a sweet, coquettish voice.

"Stop being so frivolous! Link is so busy, he doesn't have time to find you a role."

Catherine Zeta-Jones said, "I'm still missing a supporting actress for my next movie, would you like to give it a try?"

"No! Unless you give me the lead role."

Julie Delpy laughed.

"Dream on!" Catherine rolled her eyes at her. "I worked my way up to leading lady in Hollywood for years, while you've only acted in a few movies, aren't very famous, and don't have much box office appeal. If we give you the lead role, the movie won't break even."

"Years of hard work in Hollywood?"

Julie Delpy blinked and laughed, "You mean you? Oh, I see. Struggling under Link counts as struggling. Link is like a beast, being his girlfriend must be really tough."

"Hey! What nonsense are you talking about?"

Catherine grabbed Julie's arm and tried to pull off her clothes.

The two were playfully bickering and almost knocked over the dining table.

"Alright, alright, stop fooling around. If you want to fool around, do it after you finish eating."

Yu Feihong and Kate Beckinsale pulled the two apart from the side.

Link smiled. Among the women in his family, some were calm and mature, some were feisty and cheerful, some were refined and elegant, some were lively and cute, and some were gentle and intellectual.

Some women are aloof and dignified in public, but unrestrained and charming in private. Others are elegant and intellectual like goddesses before becoming his girlfriends, but become carefree and easygoing after getting to know him.

Catherine Zeta-Jones is like that; she's a goddess on the outside, but becomes more down-to-earth at home and rarely puts on airs.

Link didn't care about this. He was very loving and open-minded, and could accept women of all kinds of personalities.

“Julie, you’re pursuing an artistic acting career. Guess what? The film company doesn’t have any suitable roles for you this year. However, Rose of Passion Films has quite a few projects. Sophie is pregnant and doesn’t have time to make movies, so you can go and take a look. We can invest in any scripts or roles that catch your eye.”

Link said, sipping his red wine.

Rose of Passion is a film company he and Sophie Marceau founded at last year's Venice Film Festival. Located in Paris, it mainly invests in art-house films and French commercial films, and has currently invested in two low-budget French films.

“I know, Sophie told me about this. I have three roles right now, two of them leading ladies. I was joking with Catherine, but she took it seriously. How petty.”

Julie Delpy said.

Catherine Zeta-Jones glared at her. "You'd better watch out tonight. Even if Link doesn't kill you, I will."

Julie laughed, not intimidated by her words at all. Instead, she looked at Link with a fierce gaze and said, "Link, would you really kill me?"

"Link, beat her to death. She's so slutty, she needs you to beat her up."

"If you weren't sexy, how could you have so many tricks up your sleeve?"

Julie chuckled.

Catherine Zeta-Jones was so angry she wanted to hit someone.

Link shook his head, put down his wine glass, and carried one child in each arm out of the restaurant.

(End of this chapter)