America Tycoon: The Wolf of Showbiz

Hollywood is a strange place, where Tom Cruise's cakes are actually not as famous as Martin's statues.

Martin himself never paid attention to this, and Elizabeth never pointed it out either.

Today's guests were numerous, so the premiere arrangement didn't directly lead to the screening hall, Martin and Elizabeth entered the VIP room together.

Louise called Elizabeth over to talk about an advertisement Pacific Pictures had just taken on.

Martin found Daniel, the two had collaborated for years and had a good relationship.

He directly asked, "I heard there's going to be personnel changes at Warner Bros.?"

"You're well informed," Daniel roughly said, "Around New Year's, there will be a new CEO taking office. Before long, Barry Meyer might resign as chairman, and the new CEO could also assume both positions."

Martin, who had a long-standing collaboration with Warner, was very concerned, "Who is about to take office?"

Daniel signaled with his eyes, "Here he comes."

Martin noticed a strange face approaching from the front left.

The man looked to be in his fifties, with black hair flecked with a lot of white, a typical East Asian face.

Martin distinguished slightly and could essentially confirm that this person was of Japanese descent, but he had never dealt with him before.

The newcomer stopped more than two meters in front of Martin.

Daniel introduced in time, "This is Kevin Tsujihara from Time Warner, who previously served as an executive at Warner Bros."

He also introduced Martin, "This is Martin Davis, our national hero." Your journey continues with My Virtual Library Empire

Kevin Tsujihara didn't move, just smiled at Martin.

Martin stepped forward to extend his hand, "Very pleased to meet you, Mr. Tsujihara."

Kevin Tsujihara said, "I often hear about you in New York, and you are even more outstanding in person than what I've heard."

On the surface, Martin was exchanging pleasantries with Kevin Tsujihara, but his mind was searching through his memories, gradually recalling that he had seen Kevin Tsujihara's name in Warner Bros. news after 2010 in his previous life.

After a few words, Kevin Tsujihara said with a smile, "We could have met a few years earlier, but now is not too late. I am very impressed by the works you've collaborated with Warner on."

Martin was still very polite, "I hope we have the opportunity to work together in the future."

Kevin Tsujihara nodded and excused himself to go somewhere else.

Once he was far away, Daniel said, "I'm going to have my people send over the list of old film archives we've sorted to you quickly. While Barry Meyer and Ellen Horn are still around, if you have any you want to remake, hurry up with the procedure."

Martin smelled something unusual, "Does the new person in charge have an issue with me?"

"It's not apparent at the moment," Daniel reminded, "This personnel change is involved in an intense internal struggle within the entire Time Warner Group. You often deal with the political circle, you should understand one thing, some struggles don't look at ability or performance, only at where you stand."

This occurrence was all too common, no matter the past life or the present, Martin had seen it countless times. He said, "I've worked closely with Warner Bros. over the past few years and have a good personal relationship with Barry Meyer, so..."

Daniel said, "You naturally stand on the opposite side of Kevin Tsujihara. Having ascended to his position through intense personnel strife, he must prove his capabilities to the board of directors and shareholders of the parent company and bring forward new achievements."

Martin slightly frowned, "These matters are headache-inducing."

Daniel said, "It can't be helped, where there are people, there is struggle. Our situation is nothing, the internal fights at Disney a few years ago were even more heated."

"I hope all goes well." Martin would be mindful of Kevin Tsujihara, but when it came to the internal struggle at Warner Bros., Daniel couldn't be fully trusted either.

For these matters, it was best to initially sit back and watch.

Martin then paid attention to Kevin Tsujihara for a while; apart from being slightly arrogant, he didn't notice anything else for the time being.

"Director, come over here, he's over here!" A teenage girl emerged from the crowd, calling back to a plump figure behind her, "My teacher is just ahead."

Peter Jackson said, "No wonder your performance is so good, it turns out you found a good teacher."

Silsa Ronan smiled with squinting eyes, "Teacher taught me a lot of things."

Like how to scare wild mandarin ducks, how to make people wet their pants, and how to deal with unfriendly bullies.

Although there was no personal teaching, through media reports, Silsa felt she had learned a lot.

She came to Martin's side, stood in position, and bowed slightly, "Teacher."

Martin said, "You've grown up; don't take the jokes we made when you were a child too seriously."

Silsa insisted, "No, you'll always be my teacher."

Martin didn't waste words with her and greeted the approaching plump man, shaking hands, "Hello, Peter." He sincerely said, "'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy is one of my favorite movie series, without exception."

Peter Jackson took the chance to say, "You should know, I'm preparing to shoot 'The Hobbit' trilogy. How would you like to play a role?"

Martin asked deliberately, "You're not thinking of casting me as an Orc, are you?"

"Of course not!" Peter Jackson said, "Apart from the fixed characters in 'The Lord of the Rings' trilogy, you can choose any other role you like."

Martin smiled, "A cameo would be fine, but let's forget about playing a major role, it's hard to adjust schedules."

Peter Jackson didn't insist and left after a brief chat.

Silsa stayed behind and said, "I want to settle in Los Angeles."

How could Martin be expected to make such a decision for someone else? He straightforwardly said, "You should ask your dad and mom. If they agree, wouldn't everything be OK?"

Silsa was a clever girl, "But you're my teacher."

Martin couldn't help but laugh, "I haven't taught you anything."

"You've taught me a lot." Silsa blinked her eyes. "You taught me how to survive in the industry, how to manipulate people."

When Martin saw Elizabeth return, he said, "We'll talk another day, I have other things to handle."

While working on the set of "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," Silsa got to know Elizabeth, who also played Daisy, quite well, grabbing Elizabeth's hand and starting a chat.

Soon, producer Kathleen Kennedy invited everyone to enter the cinema together.

Martin and the crew waited until last.

The cinema, with a capacity of over a thousand people, was packed. When David Fincher and Catherine Kennedy walked in with Martin and the other main creators, thunderous applause erupted from the audience.

Following some routine media events, the premiere screening was about to start.

Martin's seat was right next to David Fincher's.

After taking their seats, the latter spoke softly, "Don't forget to attend the upcoming screenings."

Last year, Martin had just won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. Unless the role and social environment were explosive this year, it would be difficult to win another acting award.

Martin said, "I still have to strive for a nomination, I'll definitely attend."

He knew that with this role that used a large amount of CGI technology, there was no chance for Best Actor, so he might as well do a favor, "I've discussed it with Kathleen, the crew resources will mainly support your Best Director campaign."

David Fincher lacked confidence, "Winning an award will be difficult."

Martin spoke agreeably, "We'll strive for the best outcome possible."

In fact, he also felt that David Fincher's chances of winning were slim, and part of the issue lay with himself.

In July of this year, "The Hurt Locker" was released in North America, directed by James Cameron's ex-wife, Catherinen Bigelow.

If Martin remembered correctly, she was the first female Best Director in the history of the Oscars.

The situation for other directors now was even more severe than in Martin's past life.

This was because the Me Too movement was in full swing this year.

The Harvey Weinstein scandal had led to the booming development of the women's movement, as one actress and female luminary after another became supporters of Me Too.

Leaders of the Me Too movement like Jolie and Aniston were planning an event, calling on supporters to wear the Me Too fist symbol at this year's Oscar ceremony!

Many people had responded, such as the Face Gang led by Martin, Leonardo, and Nicholson.

Under such a major trend, "The Hurt Locker" being of high quality and politically correct, Catherinen Bigelow was definitely the top favorite for awards.

It seemed David Fincher saw the current situation as well.

As is well known, the Oscars, similar to the Nobel Prize, not only consider achievements but also allegiances.

The big screen lit up, and Martin and David Fincher stopped talking to watch the premiere.

This film had been shown at multiple screenings at the Cannes Film Festival, and Martin had already won the Cannes Best Actor Award for it, with critical acclaim released earlier in the year.

At present, the IMDB rating was as high as 8.6, with a Rotten Tomatoes freshness of 88%, and an MTC composite score of 78 points.

The acclaim was excellent.

David Fincher's last movie "Black Dahlia" performed poorly at the box office, and his current market draw can only be considered average.

Luckily, Martin was in a similar phase to Will Smith a few years earlier.

Even though the genre of the film impacted the box office, his star power added a significant boost to the market.

"Benjamin" grossed $17.85 million at the North American box office on its opening day, surpassing last week's "The Weakness" to claim the daily North American box office champion.

With a positive word of mouth, the film had a stable performance and, after the weekend was over, had taken in $46.68 million at the box office.

Martin's starring movie had once again won a North American box office champion.

But this lasted only for a week; too many blockbuster films were concentrated in this holiday season.

"Avatar" by James Cameron was released!

This epic masterpiece, being an original film, had a moderate first-week box office of $77.02 million.

Even someone as strong as James Cameron could not break the curse of original, non-sequel movies failing to surpass $100 million at the North American weekend box office.

Hollywood, driven by commercial profits, naturally does not favor original movies as much.

Although "Avatar" was powerful enough, "Benjamin" had a different audience, maintaining a healthy trend and earning $26.85 million at the North American box office the next weekend.

The North American box office totaled $94.25 million.

Meanwhile, in over 50 countries and regions where it was also released, it netted nearly $60 million.

The global box office for the film easily exceeded $150 million.