Hollywood Director 1992.

Chapter 452 Titanic Release

With "Saving Private Ryan" currently showing in theaters, Link temporarily put aside his work on set to travel to Los Angeles and New York to participate in promotional activities, share his experiences and feelings about filmmaking, and pass on some experiences from his peers.

With extensive media coverage, "Saving Private Ryan" gained even more popularity and its reputation steadily improved, achieving a 9.9 rating on IMDb.

84 media outlets gave this film a score of 90 or higher, which is higher than the scores of films such as "Forrest Gump" and "The Shawshank Redemption".

Furthermore, after the film's release, many moviegoers, seeing Captain John Miller and others sacrifice themselves in the operation, questioned the film's plot design: Is it worthwhile to exchange the lives of eight soldiers for one soldier in war?

Some people think it's worthwhile, saying that war is not a simple numbers game, but involves more considerations and competition.

The mission undertaken by John Miller and the other eight men was not only to save a soldier's life, but more importantly, it demonstrated the kindness and compassion in humanity, humanistic care, and respect and appreciation for life.

John Miller and eight others demonstrated through their actions that the U.S. military respects life and sympathizes with the weak, a spirit that is especially precious on the chaotic battlefield.

Some people say it's not worth it.

They believe that John Miller and others also had parents, wives, and children, and that the outcome was extremely unfair to their families because they sacrificed their lives while rescuing other people's families.

After the debate arose, media outlets such as The New York Times, The Los Angeles Times, and The Washington Post joined in, comparing the controversy to the famous ethical dilemma of the trolley problem and offering their own reasons.

With the involvement of mainstream media, the controversy erupted across the United States, further increasing the film's popularity in North America.

In its second week of release, "Saving Private Ryan" grossed $7571 million in 3034 theaters across North America, bringing its two-week total to $1.67 million.

“Link, as a movie fan, I am very grateful to you for making such a wonderful film, and as an actor, I am also very grateful to you for letting me participate in this film.”

At the celebration party, Tom Hanks raised a glass of champagne and spoke.

"Tom, no need to thank me. It was your superb performance that made this movie even better. Both I and the fans should thank you."

"Haha, it's my honor."

At the party, Tom Hanks and other cast and crew members took turns coming up to congratulate Link, praising the movie and expressing their hope to work together again in the future. Link did not disappoint them, saying that he would like to continue working together if the opportunity arises.

"Link, I recently saw a new script called *The Talented Mr. Ripley*, adapted from the novel of the same name by Patricia Highsmith. It's about Ripley being hired by a wealthy businessman to travel to Italy to persuade the businessman's son, Dickie, to return to the United States. However, during their interactions, Ripley develops a longing for Dickie's life. Driven by desire, he loses his mind, kills Dickie, and steals Dickie's identity to live in Italy. It's a thriller/crime film. What do you think?"

Matt Damon asked.

"Sounds good. Send me the script when you have time."

"it is good!"

Matt Damon nodded repeatedly.

"Director Link, congratulations on making a great film. I am also honored to have been a part of this movie."

Actor Vin Diesel came over to say hello.

Link smiled and asked Vin Diesel what he'd been up to lately, and whether he was interested in racing movies.

Guess what? Film Studios is developing a racing movie project about underground racing in Los Angeles. The main content includes elements such as high-speed chases, police battles, and urban crime. If he is interested, he can come to the company to take a look.

Vin Diesel immediately expressed interest and hoped for an opportunity to participate.

Link chatted with Vin Diesel about the movie, then went on to greet the other people at the party.

"Link, Saving Private Ryan is so well made. I've watched it three times and I still want to watch it again. The only pity is that there are no female characters in the movie, otherwise I could have played a role."

Nicole Kidman smiled and took his arm.

"Stop praising this movie. I've been hearing people praise it every day these days, and I'm getting confused by all the praise."

"Okay, I won't praise you anymore. Are you busy later? How about coming to my apartment to rest? I'll introduce you to my good friend."

Nicole Kidman blinked, and her smile became charming and captivating.

"Sophia and Brooke said they would have a barbecue at the villa this afternoon."

"It's okay to skip one barbecue. My best friend is a great beauty and she really likes you. She wants to meet you."

"You can bring your friends to the villa for a barbecue."

Link put his arm around her waist and pinched her ample breasts.

Nicole Kidman blushed and snuggled into his arms. Before the party was over, she dragged him to the bathroom to relive their past romance, asking him to treat the toilet like the first time.

Link wasn't that perverted; he just held her and leaned against the wall to relax once.

After the party ended, seeing that it was still early, Nicole Kidman took her to her apartment to rest and introduced her to her good friend Cate Blanchett, who was also there.

The four of them were chatting properly on the sofa, but Nicole Kidman started causing trouble in the middle, and soon the living room became a mess, with clothes scattered everywhere.

However, Link didn't stay overnight at her place. After Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett, and Naomi Watts fell asleep, he drove back to his hilltop villa to attend a barbecue party hosted by his girlfriends.

After finishing the film's promotion, Link returned to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to continue filming the remainder of "Armageddon".

"Scene 91, 3 shots, 1 take, begin!"

After the space shuttle launch, Harry's drilling team successfully reached the meteorite. However, the meteorite's surface was very solid, and the drilling team only drilled 50 feet deep after ruining two drill bits, still far from the target of 800 feet.

After receiving the message, the White House president ordered the military to detonate a nuclear bomb on the meteorite surface remotely.

The countdown to the nuclear warheads has begun.

Harry strongly opposed this, arguing that detonating a nuclear bomb on the meteorite's surface would not only fail to destroy the meteorite but would also kill everyone.

Harry had an argument with Colonel Willie Sharp, the head of the space team.

"Give us time, Sharp! Turn off the nuclear bomb now."

Bruce Willis shouted, wearing a spacesuit.

"This was not my decision."

Colonel Sharp said.

"So who makes the decision?"

"It can only be the president's decision."

“But the president isn’t here,” Harry shouted.

"The nuclear bomb will explode in 3 minutes."

"My assistant, Chick, reminded me."

“Sharp, I said give me more time. I need you to shut down the nuclear missiles immediately.”

Harry shouted.

"I told you, this was not my decision."

"In that case, may I give you the order now?"

Harry turned around and picked up a large pair of pliers from the control panel, preparing to force Colonel Sharp to shut down the nuclear missile.

Colonel Sharp pulled out a pistol and pointed it at Harry.

"cut!"

Link reviewed the footage and felt that the argument between the two sides was not intense enough. He asked the actors to speak faster and to make the lighting effects on set stronger. He suggested using strong contrasting light during filming to enhance the characters' emotions and the intensity of the conflict.

The second take went very well, and Link asked the crew to continue filming.

After a fierce confrontation, Harry persuaded Colonel Sharp, who, along with his assistant, dismantled the nuclear bomb's automatic detonation device.

The countdown to the nuclear bomb was stopped just before it was about to explode.

Harry and his drilling team continued working, determined to drill an 800-foot crater into the meteorite.

While Link was focused on filming on set in Florida, "Saving Private Ryan" continued its box office success, earning $5641 million in its third week in North America, bringing its total North American box office to $2.24 million, making it the fastest film to surpass $2 million at the North American box office this year.

Total Film magazine predicts that the film will easily gross over $4 million at the North American box office.

This week, Guess What Film Studios is releasing another new movie, the biographical film "Evita," starring Madonna. The film is set against the backdrop of the historical development of Argentine society before and after World War II, and tells the legendary life story of Eva Braun, the former First Lady of Argentina.

The film grossed $460,000 in its opening week in two theaters, a very good result. However, since Madonna is a superstar, most of the early viewers were her fans, so this result cannot be used as a reference for the film's box office performance.

In its second week of release, "Evita" grossed $1599 million in 704 theaters, a respectable result that gives it a chance to recoup its costs.

However, in the second week of the release of "Evita," 20th Century Fox's "Titanic" was also released at the end of the year. The film grossed $5296 million in its opening week in 2674 theaters in the United States, which was a pretty good result.

However, even more impressive than its box office success was the film's critical reception, which was almost unanimously positive.

Many media outlets had just finished praising "Saving Private Ryan" as the best movie of 97, and then turned around and praised "Titanic" as the best movie of the year, an exciting movie, an epic love story, and so on.

The more media outlets praised "Saving Private Ryan," the more they praised the film.

Total Cinema magazine excitedly declared that '97 was one of the most exciting years in film history. This year not only featured the epic war film Saving Private Ryan, but also James Cameron's epic romance Titanic. Both films are well worth watching, and audiences around the world will be amazed and delighted by them.'

The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and other publications also praised Titanic with enthusiastic articles, and for a time Titanic firmly surpassed Saving Private Ryan in popularity.

"Yes! That's great! Titanic's box office is booming, let's see how Link will make money now."

Harvey clenched his fist and shouted excitedly.

Over the past few weeks, he has been very unhappy every time he sees news about "Saving Private Ryan". The movie he co-produced with Guess Movies lost money, but the movie produced by Guess Movies alone made a fortune and received rave reviews.

This situation is worse than killing him.

This has also led to Harvey falling into a deep depression over the past five weeks.

Now that The Big Ship is showing, it has successfully surpassed Saving Private Ryan in terms of popularity and weekly box office, preventing Link's film from recklessly dominating the box office like it had in previous weeks. This is excellent news for him.

In addition, in terms of film reviews, "Saving Private Ryan" originally had a very good reputation and was almost hailed by the media as the best film in history. However, after the release of "Titanic", the reputation of "Saving Private Ryan" was gradually overshadowed by "Titanic", and its popularity was also inferior to that of "Titanic".

Furthermore, many media outlets believe that "Titanic" and director James Cameron also have a chance at next year's Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director. If this is true, Link's chances of winning an award next year will decrease significantly.

Without the Oscar for Best Director, Link is still not considered one of Hollywood's top directors.

"Harvey, the huge success of Titanic is not a good thing for us."

Bob Weinstein cautioned.

"You mean our movie's box office will be suppressed? That's okay. Compared to the losses that Guess the Film Studio suffered at the box office, our losses are nothing."

Harvey smiled, touching his large double chin.

Originally, Saving Private Ryan grossed over $40 million in its first week, but after Titanic was released, its first week's box office dropped to over $20 million.

The subsequent drop in box office revenue will be even greater.

Without Titanic, guess how many tens of millions of dollars the film studio would have earned, or how much more they would have lost.

“Harvey, that’s not what I meant. I meant that the huge box office success of Titanic is also good news for Guessing Pictures. Don’t forget that Guessing Pictures is also a producer of this movie and owns the overseas distribution rights for Titanic. If the ship is a big hit in North America, it will definitely do well at the overseas box office as well. Then Guessing Pictures will make a fortune.”

Upon hearing Bob's words, Harvey paused for a moment, then suddenly remembered that two years ago, when Titanic was being filmed, the funding chain broke down, and director James Cameron had to abandon the crew and go to Fox Studios to ask for money.

However, Fox Studios, seeing that "Waterworld" and "Cutthroat Island" had both lost money at the box office, worried that they would not be able to recoup their costs and refused to allocate funds.

This decision almost caused the entire film project to fail.

Later, James Cameron approached Link and secured $1 million in production funding from Guess the Movies, allowing Titanic to continue filming.

Guess what? Films was willing to invest $1 million in "Titanic" on the condition that the film's overseas distribution rights be granted.

So Bob is right. If the big ship does well in North America, it will definitely do well at the overseas box office as well. As the distributor, Guess the Movies will probably make a lot of money.

"Damn it! That bastard Link got away with it again."

"Barry Diller is a real idiot. Why didn't he stick to investing in such a good movie as Titanic? If he hadn't abandoned the investment halfway through, I guess the film company wouldn't have had the chance to get such a great deal."

Harvey shouted angrily.

Bob Weinstein shrugged and guessed that the film company was indeed very lucky and would probably make a lot of money this year, which was enviable.

(End of this chapter)