America Tycoon: The Wolf of Showbiz

"Guys, on this special day, let's raise a toast to Chad," Martin, lifting a glass of champagne in the entertainment hall of Angel's Club, bellowed, "Cheers!"

Chad, Mene, Marcus, Chen Hu, Bradt, Cain, and others, lifted their cups and drank together.

Martin didn't let Chad off the hook, saying, "You're the director and producer, come out and say a few words!"

Marcus egged him on, "You're usually so talkative, don't play dumb now."

Chad stepped forward before everyone and said solemnly, "Guys, we take a two-month break, then we start preparing for the third one. If the third one is shot well, we will earn more money. It's only with money that we can have a good life, and with money come endless beautiful women!"

"Wow!" Mene shouted, "You say that, and I'm instantly motivated!"

Chen Hu called him out, "You've got Celine, show some loyalty and don't compete with us."

Everyone burst into laughter.

Owner Cain, envious, asked Martin, "Could I make a cameo in the next one? I'm not asking for much, just a few shots where I die at the barrel of your gun would be great."

"No problem," Martin wouldn't refuse such a trivial matter, "Go find Chad and Tiger, and have them design a hitman role for you."

Chad heard as well and responded, "Don't worry, you're quite skilled; we'll design a mini-boss character for you. Let your true colors show in a shootout with Martin."

Cain replied, "Great! No matter where your crew is, I'll fly over to join the shoot."

Martin called out, "Quick, quick! Write that down; this is the real behind-the-scenes stuff we can use to promote the third movie."

In that moment, he was like he was possessed by Nolan, "Martin and Chad, longtime friends, for the sake of shooting a single scene, would spare no effort flying across the entire Atlantic or Pacific to the set. After shooting just a few minutes of film, they would fly back to Los Angeles the same day."

Mene commented, "Boss, you've been infected by Director Nolan."

Martin shrugged, "Nolan is quite the master at marketing and promotions."

Apparently inspired by Cain's enthusiasm, Chad's creativity suddenly exploded. He called over Marcus and Chen Hu to discuss Cain's role and the design of action sequences, even having Cain demonstrate some quick-draw shooting right there and then.

Mene kept looking at his watch.

Martin said, "If you've got something to do, go ahead."

Mene scratched his head sheepishly, "Celine has arranged a plane to pick me up. We're going to Las Vegas together to attend her anniversary with Rene."

"Wait a second," Martin was completely confused, "Celine Dion's husband, Rene Angelil?"

Mene nodded, "Yeah."

Martin was surprised, "Rene knows about you and Celine?"

"Celine has taken me to meet Rene," Mene didn't see any issue, "Rene's cancer has relapsed and is in the advanced stages. He has asked me to look after Celine in the future and to not let her down."

Martin patted Mene on the shoulder, "Be careful."

Mene smiled, "Boss, don't worry, I've got this. All of Celine and Rene's wealth—it was mostly made by Celine, and it's mostly in her name."

Martin didn't say anything more, but he had heard of Rene's good deeds. While other men would just coast after marrying a wealthy woman, Rene coached a woman into becoming wealthy and then coasted.

Rene was definitely a master at nurturing; Celine was signed by him at the age of 12, and it was said that they lived together when she was just 14.

Less than 15 minutes later, someone came to tell Mene that the plane to pick him up was about to arrive.

Mene picked up his bag and made his way to the club's large lawn.

Soon, a helicopter landed, and as the cabin door opened, Celine Dion's head appeared, waving at Mene again and again.

Mene quickly boarded the helicopter, waved to his old pals, and left.

Chen Hu said, "This is what a winner in life looks like."

Bradt agreed, "If I ever can't make it anymore, I'll go be Mene's lackey."

Marcus chimed in, "I'll go too; maybe I'll find a wealthy woman as well."

There was no helping it; Mene's success caused a slight shift in everyone's life goals.

As the helicopter flew away, Martin called out, "Guys, to the fighting ring, let's start training."

After a brief two-day holiday, the main creators of "John Wick" switched back to flight mode, promoting the film across the globe.

The North American summer box office was packed, with heavyweight films being released every weekend. On the third weekend of May, Universal Pictures' "Bridesmaids" opened in North America.

This was a new piece by Paul Feig, a famous director from The Rat Pack, and crude, vulgar comedies have always had a market in North America.

With "Bridesmaids" and several other new releases, it essentially signaled the end for "Gods of Egypt," the opening blockbuster of the summer season. On its third weekend, the film's box office plummeted below 3 million US dollars.

However, "John Wick: Chapter 2" continued a strong box office performance. Before the weekend arrived, it had already broken through the 100 million US dollar mark in North America.

Over the three-day weekend, the movie earned another 37.85 million US dollars, surpassing the 26.24 million US dollars of the newly released "Bridesmaids," and remained the champion of the North American box office chart.

In addition, "John Wick: Chapter 2" continued to exert force overseas, appearing in 15 new countries and regional markets that week.

The film's global box office total reached $275 million US Dollars.

At the same time, cinemas, shopping malls, and various chain stores in North America and Europe began to widely feature a range of merchandise related to the film.

Disney's merchandise distribution channels were not inferior to Warner Bros.', and they even had the trump card of Disney Town.

"John Wick: Chapter 2" merchandise also appeared in Disney Town.

In just ten days, all kinds of merchandise sold nearly $30 million US Dollars. Although it couldn't compare with Batman, Inception, and Pirates of the Caribbean, for an R-rated film, this was an astonishing achievement.

In related sales statistics, merchandise related to Martin's character Jonathan sold the best, followed by Winston, portrayed by Mene, with the main buyers being the relatively rational middle-aged and older women.

Agent Munir, Mene's agent, had joined WMA, and all the offers and contracts for supporting roles he received could pile up three feet high on his desk.

......

Atlanta, Gray Film and Television Production Center.

Kelly Gray, though now focusing on politics, still made time to visit each week.

Today, as her BMW pulled up at the entrance of the studio area, before she could switch to an electric car, she heard a heated argument erupting from the open-air set closest to the gate.

Kelly looked over curiously and saw a familiar-looking middle-aged director near the camera rail track, arguing loudly with five or six other people, who were also arguing among themselves. Your next journey awaits at My Virtual Library Empire

All the cast and crew were watching the drama, waiting for the argument to end before getting back to work.

Kelly asked, "What's going on?"

Andrew, an old acquaintance of Martin's who had now been promoted to head of the production center, hurried over and said, "This is the 'Jack the Giant Slayer' crew from Warner Bros. The crew had been filming quietly until last week when Warner suddenly sent over a new group of producers and production managers to supervise the director's work."

Kelly was surprised, "A group?"

Andrew replied, "It seems there were six people. Ever since they arrived, the crew has been in chaos. The six of them all want to interfere with the filming and daily operations, arguing with director Bryan Singer every day, and then they argue amongst themselves…"

Kelly, with a background in film and television production, couldn't help frowning, "What's Warner Bros. thinking? Can they really make a good film this way?"

Andrew shook his head, "I've never seen anything like it, Warner Bros. really opened my eyes!"

In the open-air set, Bryan Singer was so stressed it was like having smoke come out of his throat, no longer wanting to continue arguing with the six people in front of him.

These were representatives of the financiers; however they wanted to film, he would just do as they said.

Bryan Singer said, "I'm giving up the shots of the giants eating people."

McDonald said, "Good, that's a wise decision."

Yet another person shouted, "We can avoid direct shots, but adding bone effects here would be better."

McDonald argued, "This is a PG or PG-13 movie, these kinds of scenes..."

Before he could finish, a bald man interrupted, "No skulls."

Another middle-aged man with black hair questioned, "Without skulls, how do we show that the skeletons are human?"

"The pelvis; the skeleton can prove it!" someone else interjected, "Aren't you too ignorant to realize that?"

The six producers and production managers got into a clanging argument, like keyboard warriors with different views online, none able to persuade the other, nearly coming to blows.

Bryan Singer silently left the director's chair and moved away from this contentious place, finding a quiet spot to sit down without saying a word.

Having directed his first work in the early 1990s, he had been a director for nearly twenty years and had never encountered such a fucked-up situation.

Bryan Singer had not been without protests, even making several calls to Warner Bros.'s president Jon Berg, but the latter insisted on keeping things this way, believing it beneficial for the production.

If it weren't for the fact that more than half of the film had already been shot and quitting now would be too costly, he would have resigned.

Unable to reach an agreement, the whole crew waited.

Bryan Singer swore that even if he was out of work and penniless, he would never work with Warner Bros. again.

What director could endure such a mess?

After another fifteen minutes of arguing, a compromise was finally reached. Bryan Singer, no longer wanting to argue, followed the agreed-upon suggestions and continued filming the relevant scenes.

Initially, he had been full of ambition.

Now, Bryan Singer had lost all confidence.

A $200 million US Dollar big-budget production had turned into a complete nightmare!

After the brief global promotional tour ended, Martin returned to Los Angeles. Thomas notified him that the Samsung representatives had already prepared everything with David Fincher for the shooting of the commercial; they were just waiting for him, the lead actor, to come back and shoot.

Samsung, willing to compete with Apple in the smartphone market, had invested a considerable amount of money and resources.

Of course, there were also many people involved.