Reborn Action Star: Starting in Hollywood

Chapter 357: The First Public Opinion War
Time flies, years pass.

Two months passed in a blink of an eye, and it was soon October 2003, 10.

At 12 o'clock tonight, "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" will officially enter major theaters, kicking off a new round of box office wars.

Lin Yuan was driving with Betty to the South Shore Theater on the Hudson River in New York.

They are going to watch the premiere tonight.

Watching the premiere of his own movie has become an old habit for Lin Yuan.

If he was in Los Angeles when the movie was released, he would often choose the unknown small theater where he met a white couple and witnessed their love blossom.

In New York, he would choose the South Shore Theatre, a long-established cinema.

The last time "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl" was released, he came here and met an interesting pair of strong men.

Later, they were invited to shoot a male-male version of Taylor Swift's music video "You belong with me".

Tonight, Betty went to watch the premiere of the movie with Lin Yuan.

Over the past two months, the two met frequently, discussed plans to attack the stock prices of MGM and Columbia Pictures, and completed short-selling reports together. They have become quite familiar friends.

Lin Yuan also gave Betty a lot of guidance on swordsmanship. She was growing very fast and was likely to get a good ranking in next year's kendo tournament.

The vehicle drove into the cinema parking lot, but the two men did not get out immediately.

There's still some time until the movie starts.

Although Lin Yuan has gone through layers of disguise, it is better to avoid appearing in public if possible to reduce the risk of exposure.

"You are so popular and public opinion is on your side. Columbia Pictures is going to be in big trouble this time." Betty took out a newspaper from her bag and handed it to Lin Yuan.

The New York Times' second edition had a large headline on the front page: "Lin Yuan's Revenge! Do You Support It?"

This title immediately caught Lin Yuan's attention, and it was a bit provocative, which was interesting.

Lin Yuan began to read the report:

"When 'The King' was released, MGM and Columbia Pictures took advantage of him. At one point, they squeezed 'The King's King's' screenings down to 27%."

"For Lin Yuan's newly established film company, this is a battle of life and death..."

"Luckily, Lin Yuan won, and 'King of Spy' achieved unprecedented success, becoming the best-selling film in history..."

"Now Lin Yuan is back with his new film, 'Pirates of the Caribbean 2.' He wants revenge on Columbia Pictures and will completely crush their rival's highly anticipated blockbuster, 'Anger Management.'"

"Who do you choose to support, dear audience friends?"

……

The whole report starts with the feud between Lin Yuan and Columbia Pictures and tells the story.

It tells the story of the feud between Lin Yuan, MGM, and Columbia Pictures at the beginning of the year, as well as the current confrontation.

At the end of the article, it subtly encourages the audience to take sides. Isn't this just provoking a fight?
Who do you think the audience will choose after reading the newspaper?
Isn't this obvious?
In May, many viewers were unable to buy movie tickets for "The King of Spy Wars" because there were too few screenings, and had to buy high-priced tickets from scalpers.

At that time, many audiences were furious and vowed to boycott films produced by Columbia Pictures and MGM.

More than five months later, the New York Times brought this up again, a stark reminder for them not to forget their anger. "Did you hire someone to write this report?" Lin Yuan asked with a smile.

"Of course, there are many more besides this one." Betty proudly took out several more newspapers from her backpack.

"Times have changed. It's better to step down and let others take over than to sit there and do nothing." - The Washington Post.

"Quality is king, and we have the right to choose better movies" - Chicago Times.

"Taking advantage of seniority and bullying the weak, evil deeds will eventually be punished" - "The Wall Street Journal".

Obviously, the report in The Wall Street Journal was the most incisive, directly criticizing the two film companies.

Almost all mainstream media in North America sided with Lin Yuan.

Only the Los Angeles Times, a local Hollywood media outlet, published a report that seemed slightly biased towards the other side, due to its long-standing relationship with the two film companies:

"Don't be swayed by emotions, a good movie is always worth watching."

However, this report was quickly criticized by countless fans on the Internet:

"What's a good movie? Good and bad are determined by comparison. With Lin Yuan's movies out there, can Columbia Pictures' 'Anger Management' also be called a good movie?"

"Why can't I vent my emotions? I have to scold you if I'm not happy with you! This is my freedom!"

"The only way to be rational and not be swayed by emotions is to pay money and go to the cinema to watch your bad movie."

"Hahahaha, you're crazy about money, right? You want to brainwash me? Why don't you just take money out of my pocket?"

The public unanimously expressed their anger towards Columbia Pictures, so the Los Angeles Times wisely chose to shut up and say no more.

In fact, objectively speaking, the movie "Anger Management" is not bad, it can even be considered a good masterpiece.

In history, "Anger Management" and "Bad Boys for Life" are the two most successful films of Columbia Pictures in 2, both of which achieved very good results.

But in this life, "Bad Boys for Life" was used by Columbia Pictures to compete with "King of Spy", and suffered heavy losses in May, with the box office far below expectations.

"Anger Management" was also attacked by "Pirates of the Caribbean 2", and its future is also worrying.

The two films were released at the same time. "Pirates of the Caribbean 2", as the sequel to last year's box office champion, took up 55% of the screenings thanks to Disney's huge marketing expenses.

"Anger Management" only received 23% of the screenings, far lower than the historical rate of 40%.

But even with such a low screening rate, the attendance rate is still not high after being boycotted by the audience.

It can be said that the failure of "Anger Management" has already become apparent.

If "Anger Management" and "Bad Boys for Life," the two ace movies, both fail, Columbia Pictures' performance this year will definitely be ugly.

Coupled with the losses from the box office bet on "The King's Avatar" in May this year, Columbia Pictures' stock price would have plummeted even without Morgan Stanley issuing a short report.

Now to make matters worse, he was hit and kicked hard, it was really hard for him to survive.

Facing the public opinion war launched by Betty, Lin Yuan said with a smile: "With this move, you are pushing the other party to death."

Betty smiled, but her tone was chilling: "Either don't do it, or do it thoroughly."

(End of this chapter)