Chapter 384 Summer Vacation is Coming

In late May, when the summer vacation arrived, film companies seized almost all media resources in order to promote their films. Newspapers and television were full of movie notices, interviews with crew directors and actors, and many scandals involving male and female actors.

The first blockbuster of this summer vacation is "Batman Forever" released by Warner Bros. Pictures. The film is directed by Link and stars Ben Affleck, Jim Carrey, Gary Oldman, Nicole Kidman and others.

It was released in 2,614 theaters in North America on May 10 and grossed $65.1 million in its first week. Although it failed to break the first-week box office record of "The Sixth Sense," it was also a very good start.

After the first week's box office results came out, Miguel Goss, Richard Fox, Michael Ovitz and others called to congratulate him on another big hit.

The film also received very positive reviews.

The New York Times commented that this was a successful commercial film with high artistic quality, praising Link's superb technical skills in directing the film. Originally, when Warner Bros. Pictures was preparing for the sequel, no one was willing to direct this film.

The reason is that the first two "Batman" films were greatly influenced by director Tim Burton and have a strong dark Gothic style. It is difficult for other directors to make a qualified sequel based on this.

After Link accepted the role, he was questioned by many people. No one thought he had the ability to play such a superhero role well, especially after the two previous films "Batman" and "Batman Returns". The probability of this movie being a success was very small.

But after the movie was released, this doubt was cleanly broken. "Batman Forever" was not affected by the dark style of the first two films at all. Link filmed a "Batman" in his own style, which was remarkable.

The Los Angeles Times also published a lengthy film review praising Jim Carrey's performance as the Riddler, saying that he was irreplaceable in this role;

Ben Affleck's Batman was praised as being most consistent with the original work, handsome, tall, strong and highly skilled, and his performance deserved 80 points; and Gary Oldman's Two-Face was no less impressive than Jack Nicholson's 'Joker', equally crazy and terrifying.

Nicole Kidman's character, Dr. Chase, was praised as 'charming' and 'extremely beautiful'.

etc.

After the release of "Batman Forever", 38 media outlets gave it a score of 85 or above.

It surpassed 1992's "Batman Returns" and was second only to the 88 points of the first "Batman".

The second-highest box office this week was "The Witch Game" released by Columbia Pictures, with a box office of 9.25 million US dollars in its first week.

In third place was Fox Film's romantic comedy "The Call of Duty," which grossed $6.76 million this week.

"Dangerous Game" from Guess What Film ranked fourth. In its fourth week of release, the North American box office has accumulated 61.35 million US dollars, and the North American box office is expected to be no less than 80 million US dollars.

Although this movie did well at the box office, it performed worse than "Ace Ventura 2" in the same period last year. As of May, Guess What Pictures released six movies, but none of them made over 100 million at the North American box office. This situation also made the seven major film studios breathe a sigh of relief.

Based on the box office performance of the six films released by Guess What Pictures, as well as information on several films that are about to be released, Complete Cinema magazine believes that it will be difficult for Guess What Pictures to retain the box office championship this year, and the Big Seven studios can take this opportunity to overtake Guess What Pictures and grab back some market share.

In its second week of release, "Batman Forever" earned $57.21 million in 2,834 theaters in North America. Since the number of theaters showing the film was more than 200 more than in the first week, the box office this week fell by less than $8 million.

The cumulative box office in two weeks reached 122 million US dollars, once again winning the weekly box office championship.

It is estimated that the film will gross no less than $300 million in North America, becoming the best-performing film in the Batman series.

Warner Bros. Pictures is expected to make a killing.

Link will also make a fortune. According to the profit-sharing agreement he signed with Warner Bros. Pictures, if the film's North American box office exceeds $300 million, Link will automatically obtain 10% of the global box office share, plus a basic salary of $10 million, the income will be no less than $60 million.

When the media was hyping the box office of "Batman Forever", they were also hyping the contract signed between Link and Warner Bros. Pictures, praising Link as a money printing machine who made money at an astonishing speed.

After the huge success of "Batman Forever", the attitude of Major Seven Pictures towards Link became more positive. In the past, they only asked him to take a look at the script, but now Major Seven Pictures has continuously sent people to contact him, inviting him to be the director of big movies, and the remuneration offered is also very generous.

After receiving numerous invitations, Link selected two films with great potential, Disney's sci-fi disaster film "Collision Impossible" and Universal Pictures' "The Mummy". Both film projects are blockbusters with budgets of more than 100 million US dollars.

These two film projects, together with the "Primal Fear" and "Saving Private Ryan" that are currently in preparation, as well as MGM's "007" sequel "Tomorrow Never Dies" and the "Pirates of the Caribbean" series that is currently being conceived.

In the next two years, Link will not have to worry about not having blockbusters to shoot.

"Link, Big Seven Pictures is a rival of Guess What Pictures. Does it count as aiding the enemy if you make a movie for them?"

In the office, Sam Haskell laughed.

"Not really. I'm the chairman of Guess What Pictures and also a freelance director. The film project submitted by the Big Seven Pictures is good and the pay they offer is very sincere. I have no reason not to agree."

Link shrugged.

"After the release of Batman Forever, many media outlets believe that this movie has the potential to become the annual box office champion, and Warner Bros. Pictures' performance this year will also increase significantly. By then, Warner Bros. will surpass you in total box office. Guess what, you will also lose your position as the champion of the annual total box office list. Isn't that a pity?"

"It doesn't matter. Hollywood belongs to everyone. Guess What Movies has no plans to dominate Hollywood, nor does it have plans to eat up all the North American box office. If all Hollywood film companies can make money, it will also be good for Guess What Movies."

Link said that this was also the truth he had figured out recently.

The big pie of Hollywood has been slowly grown by all the film companies since the 1920s. Without any one of the film companies, Hollywood would not be as prosperous as it is today.

If Hollywood wants to maintain its current prosperity and ensure that the film market will continue to prosper in the future, the more film companies like the Big Seven the better.

If the Guess What movie industry dominates Hollywood, the seven major studios and independent film companies will either go bankrupt or decline.

In the short term, Guess Pictures can make a lot of money.

But in the long run, this approach has huge disadvantages.

A single tree cannot make a forest. If Guess Pictures dominates the film market, other film companies will have no money to make films, North American films will become monotonous, the film market will lose its vitality and competitiveness, the quality of works will decline, and finally the number of moviegoers will decrease, and films will become niche.

Besides, his purpose of being a director is to make movies and become powerful through movie awards. Making money is secondary. After his net worth reaches billions, money becomes less important to him.

Therefore, when making movies, he will also consider the overall environment and try his best to maintain the internal balance and sustainable development of the film industry.

"That's true. The more Hollywood film companies there are, the more capital will flow into the film industry. The industry will be more prosperous, and both film companies and talent agencies will be able to make money."

Sam Haskell nodded.

Boom boom boom!

There was a knock on the door. Lewinsky opened the door and let in a tall blonde beauty, Charlize Theron.

The girl was wearing a sleeveless dress, her golden curly hair was curled into small curls and draped over her shoulders. She was tall, had a pair of long legs, and had an outstanding appearance.

The only drawback is that the curves of the three measurements are not prominent enough and appear a bit flat.

"Sally, how was the audition?"

Sam Haskell asked.

"not bad."

Charlize Theron glanced at Link carefully as she spoke, her cheeks flushed.

"Why are you looking at me? Our crew's auditions are fair and we never give people backdoors."

Link joked.

"I didn't ask for your help. I did well in the audition and my chances of success are very high. I don't need your help."

Charlize Theron pursed her red lips, looking arrogant.

Link smiled softly and wished her a successful audition.

The movie that Charlize Theron is auditioning for today is "The Devil's Advocate". This character is a sexy and beautiful wife. After her lawyer husband turned evil, she suffered from mental illness and eventually committed suicide, which also dealt a huge blow to the male protagonist.

Sam Haskell and Charlize Theron sat in the office for a while and left. Link called to ask about the audition of "The Devil's Advocate". Hearing that Charlize Theron performed well, he didn't ask about it anymore.

During this period, in addition to participating in the promotion of "Batman Forever", he was also writing a new script for "Pirates of the Caribbean" in his spare time, and regarded this series of films as a key project for the company's future development.

Ding-a-ling!

"Nicole, what's wrong?"

Link asked as he picked up the phone.

"Link, Julie and I will be with you in the master bedroom tonight. When will you be back?"

"I'm writing the director's script, it will probably be around five."

"Okay, Monica and Sofia said they want to watch my performance tonight. Should I agree to that?"

There was some excitement and trepidation in Nicole Kidman's voice.

Link raised his eyebrows and smiled, "It's your freedom. If you mind, just refuse them. They are just joining in the fun and won't blame you."

"I don't mind!"

Nicole Kidman said in a seductive voice.

"Well, get ready. It might be a tough night."

Link smiled and continued with his work.

(End of this chapter)