Domination in America, Starting from being a Boxing Champion

After more than a month of shooting with the "Avengers" crew, Link's scenes were essentially wrapped up, with the remaining voiceover work scheduled to commence next year.

During the filming of the Avengers, in mid-November, Link was invited to perform at Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, singing three songs and receiving a $2 million appearance fee. At the end of the month, he also made a trip to Huaxia to attend the premiere of "The Flowers of War" in Capital City.

"The Flowers of War" achieved a first-day box office of 28.75 million RMB, with the first week's box office reaching 180 million, with more than 58,000 screenings nationwide and an audience of over 3.6 million. This was much better than "Flying Swords of Dragon Gate" released in the same period, but the film was somewhat inferior in terms of reputation, mainly due to many flaws in the plot, which attracted a lot of criticism from the media.

The film had a production budget of approximately $100 million, which translates to over 600 million RMB, making it the most expensive movie in Huaxia to date. Based on the local box office revenue share, global box office needs to exceed 1 billion to break even. From the current data, the outlook isn't promising.

This caused the film's producers to pay great attention to the North American box office, hoping to leverage Link's strong appeal in the North American region to recover some costs through ticket sales.

But Link wasn't very optimistic about this.

The film had only made $310,000 at the U.S. box office and was listed among the top ten box office disasters for Chinese language films overseas. With the failed example of "Snow Flower and the Secret Fan" before him, he was unsure if he could drive ticket sales for this 'blockbuster'.

Lionsgate Films, after acquiring the distribution rights, had already commenced arranging for "The Flowers of War" to screen. It was projected to have limited screenings in the United States in January, with box office performance dependent on these showings.

After wrapping up "Avengers", Link looked forward to a lengthy vacation. After requesting time off from Ivanka, he first flew to Nashville to spend a few days with Alexander and Cynthia. He successfully taught the two young ones to call him Daddy and also helped Taylor with some physiological and psychological issues.

By mid-December, Link and Ivanka traveled to Hawaii Island for a vacation, for which he had purchased a beachfront villa on the main island of Hawaii in advance.

While the couple was vacationing, Lionsgate Films' work did not cease. By December, "The Help" had been in theaters for over a month, accumulating a North American box office of $140 million, with an overseas box office of over $45 million. It was projected to earn more than $200 million in box office, becoming one of the year's top-grossing movies.

On December 2nd, Lionsgate Films, which had invested in "Penalty Kick Into Gold", released it in North America, earning $19.6 million from 2993 cinemas over the weekend, achieving second place in weekly box office earnings.

Compared to its $50 million budget, the performance was generally average, with expectations it would neither lose money nor be a blockbuster hit.

However, with good critical acclaim, there was the potential for success at the Golden Globes and the Oscars, expected to add several million to its box office.

Investing in such movies was also a good promotion for Lionsgate Films.

On December 9th, Lionsgate Films' end-of-year flagship movie, "Silver Linings Playbook," began limited screenings in 6 North American theaters. Its premiere box office was $443,000, with an impressive average gross of $18,000 per theater, making it the most successful art-house film of the period.

The film also received high praise, with a media comprehensive score of 8.3 and a Rotten Tomatoes freshness rating of 79%, better than "The Help".

In its second week, the number of theaters screening the film expanded to 2449, with a first-week box office of $38.63 million and a cumulative box office of $39.07 million, resulting in a very impressive performance.

The media estimated the box office to exceed $100 million, making the film unquestionably a blockbuster, especially considering its $22 million production cost.

Moreover, this film was the fourth production by Palm Beach Films.

Since last year, Palm Beach Films had had four consecutive blockbuster hits, sparking much discussion in the film industry and establishing Palm Beach Films as the undisputed star enterprise of this year.

The success of the films led to Leon Cavano of Relativity Media frequently mentioning in various settings that he was learning the 'big data investment theory' from Link.

Harvey Weinstein, the CEO of the Weinstein Company, told everyone in multiple public appearances, with a very angry tone, that the film was initially produced exclusively by the Weinstein Company and that Link had obtained half of the investment shares through nearly fraudulent means. He insisted that he never wanted to collaborate with Link, not in the slightest.

When asked why the film's distributor was Lionsgate Films and not the Weinstein Company, Harvey turned red with anger and responded with even more fury, calling Link a very cunning and unworthy partner.

After this story broke, reporters asked Catherine for her opinion on Harvey's comments and whether Link indeed used fraudulent means to acquire the film's investment shares, as Harvey claimed.

Catherine promptly denied the allegations, stating that director and screenwriter David O. Russell had previously collaborated with Link on "Fighter" in 2009, and was prepared to collaborate again, but since Link was not available, he decided to invest in this movie project and recommended actress Jennifer Lawrence from Palm Beach Talent Agency for the female lead.

In terms of timing, Palm Beach Films was involved in the movie even before the Weinstein Company.

Catherine also mentioned that Palm Beach Films reserved the right to sue the Weinstein Company for defamation and slander and advised Harvey to be careful with his public statements.

After the interview was published by the Hollywood Reporter, it sparked a lot of discussion within the circle.

First, the conflict between Link and Harvey Weinstein erupted again, seen as a war between the 'new king' and the 'old king' of the independent film industry. Considering this year's box office results, Link's Lionsgate Films and Palm Beach Films came out ahead, but in terms of influence and connections, Harvey had many more advantages than Link.

Who will prevail between them will be determined by box office performances in the coming years.

Second was the issue of Harvey publicly accusing Link of using inappropriate means to obtain the investment shares and distribution rights to "Silver Linings Playbook".

Most people believed Catherine's version of events.

First, Link and director David O. Russell had indeed worked together before, so there was a foundation for another collaboration.

Furthermore, without Link's investment, Jennifer Lawrence wouldn't have been able to play the leading role in the movie produced by Weinstein Company.

David O. Russell also affirmed Catherine's statements in an interview.

Moreover, when Harvey accused Link of fraud, he only did so verbally without evidence, which made him seem emotional and rendered his accusations less credible.

In the end, everyone concluded that Harvey's accusations were driven by jealousy of the continuous success of the movies Link invested in, rather than by factual evidence.

"Bullshit! Silver Linings Playbook was mine to begin with. It was Link who blackmailed me with some dirt he had on me and snatched away half of my investment share. I'm not jealous of him. These damn fools know nothing, just making wild guesses. A bunch of damn fools, just like Link should be damned,"

Reading the discussions in the newspaper, Harvey's neck and large belly swelled up with anger, resembling an incensed frog.

"Harvey, it's already in the past, let it go. Silver Linings Playbook is doing well in theaters, and spreading this negative news isn't good for the movie's promotion,"

Bob tried to persuade him.

"Just let it go?!"

Harvey glared at Bob furiously, his short, thick neck bulging as he shouted, "Do you know what you're talking about? Do you know what Link has done to us? If it weren't for Link's lies and blackmail, this film would have been solely funded by us. All of the box office revenue, more than a hundred million, should have been ours.

Now, because of Link's despicable methods, we have lost half of the box office revenue, which amounts to tens of millions. Considering the global box office, it could be over two hundred million. Link has stolen over a hundred million US dollars from us. That's a hundred million dollars we're talking about. How can you say to let it go?"

The North American box office for the movie was expected to break a hundred million, while overseas it was only shown in a few countries like Britain, France, and Australia, and although the current revenue wasn't much, the attendance rates were high, and word of mouth was excellent. The media predicted that the overseas box office could also exceed a hundred million.

Based on these calculations, Weinstein Company, as the producer and distributor, originally had the chance to enjoy all these earnings on its own.

Because of Link's assertive interference, a large portion of the profits was devoured by the two companies under Link, amounting to seventy to eighty million US dollars.

The very thought of the seventy to eighty million dollars that rightfully belonged to him being snatched away by his rival Link made Harvey's eyes turn red with rage. If he had a gun and Link was in front of him at that moment, he wouldn't have hesitated to pull the trigger.

"But if we don't let go of this matter, what else can we do? Do you have any good ideas on how to deal with Link?"

Bob asked, spreading his hands.

Hearing this question, Harvey couldn't help but calm down.

Since the beginning of the year, he had been trying to find ways to deal with Link, disparaging his movies, hyping up negative news about him, using female stars to seduce him... But none of it worked; Link was still the number one idol in the entertainment industry, a world-class superstar, worth three to four billion.

How do you deal with such a person?

Harvey thought hard but couldn't find a way to take down Link, which drove him even crazier.

"Harvey, let's not feud with Link anymore. He's doing well in movies; isn't it good for us to cooperate with him and make big money together?"

Bob continued to persuade.

Harvey suddenly glared at Bob, furiously saying, "That bastard blackmailed us out of over a hundred million on the Silver Linings Playbook project, and you're saying to let it slide? Tell me, have you been bought over by Link? Why do you always speak for him?"

"Harvey, I'm considering what's best for Weinstein Company, not speaking for Link. Also, on the Silver Linings Playbook project, our plan is to trip him up in the Oscars PR campaign. I heard that the PR department at Lionsgate Films is actively working for the movie. If you want to target Link, you can suppress him on this front, and make all his efforts go in vain,"

Bob said.

Hearing Bob mention the 'Oscars,' Harvey's eyes lit up— he became too angry these past few days and almost forgot their earlier plans. As long as they played some tricks while Lionsgate Films was doing PR for the Oscars, making Link and Lionsgate Films squander their money, it would serve as a release for his pent-up vengeance.

Seeing Harvey's expression, Bob guessed his thoughts and quickly added, "Harvey, we also invested in Silver Linings Playbook. If the movie gets an Oscar nomination or wins, it's good for the box office, and we could make more money in the future.

What I mean is, you can target the other films under Palm Beach and Lionsgate Films, like The Lincoln Lawyer, The Help, Bridesmaids, Gold, Mr. Tree, and Midnight in Paris starring Link. Targeting these other films will have the least impact on us compared to Silver Linings Playbook."

"Ha, don't worry, he won't be getting an Oscar award as long as I'm around,"

Harvey laughed heartily.

Bob nodded, knowing that with Harvey's connections and clout, achieving this wouldn't be difficult.