NOVEL ONLINE FREE Chapter 538 Cooperation
After picking up the kids, he spent his days training in boxing for a few hours and the rest of the time at home looking after the children.
With their older siblings around, little Margarita was even happier, and sometimes Little Annie, Selena, and Tiffany would come over to play, turning the Half Mountain Villa into a paradise for kids of all ages, bustling from morning to night.
"World War Z" had been in theaters for four weeks, reaching a North American box office of $200 million and a global box office surpassing $500 million, while "Now You See Me," approaching the end of its release, had a North American box office of $120 million and a global box office officially breaking $350 million.
Including the substantial in-movie advertising revenues, Lionsgate Films made a profit of over $150 million on this movie.
It was also this week that another high-quality comedy movie from Lionsgate Films, "The Heat," was released.
Directed by the same director of "Bridesmaids," the movie tells the story of female special agent Sara and hot-tempered policewoman Shannon teaming up to chase a Russian drug trafficking syndicate.
The two main actresses are Sandra Bullock and Melissa McCarthy, both known for their comedic roles.
The film had a production budget of $42 million.
The movie was originally scheduled to release in March, but after a private screening received favorable reviews, the distribution department decided to postpone the release to the summer season, aiming for better box office results.
And "The Heat" did not disappoint the distribution department's special arrangement.
In its opening weekend, it grossed $39.11 million at the box office across 3,181 theaters, and the North American box office surpassed $100 million on the 15th day of release, becoming the fifth Lionsgate Films movie this year to break the $100 million mark in North America.
Last year, out of 807 movies released publicly in North America, only 26 movies had a box office over $100 million, and this year's situation is likely to be similar.
As Hollywood's seventh-largest, Lionsgate Films has already had 5 movies exceeding $100 million in North America just from its releases in the first half of the year.
What's more crucial is that most of these movies are fully financed and distributed by Lionsgate Films, meaning the profits do not need to be shared with other film companies.
Considering Lionsgate Films still has "The Hunger Games 2," "The Wolf of Wall Street," "Insidious: Chapter 2," and other eight movies not yet released, "Complete Movie" magazine predicts that Lionsgate Films will likely have 7 to 8 movies breaking $100 million at the North American box office this year.
If "Complete Movie" magazine's predictions are accurate, Lionsgate Films' movies this year could account for nearly 1/3 to 1/4 of last year's tally.
Given these prospects, Lionsgate Films is very likely to stay in the top five, or even top three, in total box office revenue this year among peers.
Thus, the executives of the Big Six Studios are feeling tremendous pressure, frequently holding internal meetings to discuss how to improve their movies' box office performance and prevent Lionsgate Films from getting too big for its britches.
The conclusion of these discussions is that there's little they can do.
Approximately seven to eight hundred movies are released publicly each year in North America, with total box office earnings just over $10 billion. Less than 1/5 are profitable, and even if the Big Six increase their movie output, there's no guarantee of profitability. In fact, investing in too many movies might lead to even greater losses.
Since there's no way to boost box office earnings, the only other option is to try to limit and suppress Lionsgate Films' movies. Unfortunately for the Big Six, Lionsgate has its independent distribution and marketing channels and doesn't rely on the Big Six's networks, thanks to platforms like Netflix.
This reality makes it hard for the Big Six to find a weakness to exploit in Lionsgate Films.
Just as Warner Bros. Pictures was preparing to join forces with Universal Pictures, Weinstein Company, Legendary Pictures, and others to limit Lionsgate Films, news came that Paramount Pictures and Lionsgate Films had struck a partnership.
Paramount Pictures recently signed a five-year collaboration agreement with Lionsgate Films.
The agreement stipulates that both parties will co-finance and produce 20 film and television projects over the next five years, with Paramount Pictures agreeing to disburse up to $1 billion in production funds to Lionsgate Films in stages.
Lionsgate Films is strong in film production and has a keen sense of the movie market; Paramount, backed by Viacom media conglomerate, possesses formidable global promotional and distribution capabilities.
A strong alliance between the two is certain to achieve impressive box office results.
Following this news, media outlets like the Los Angeles Times and the New York Post covered the story, sparking heated discussions in the film industry.
In the past three years, Lionsgate Films has been aggressive in the movie market, daring to compete with the Big Six while only investing five to six hundred million dollars annually. Miraculously, it topped the second place in total box office last year, and there's a good chance it will remain in the top five this year.
Paramount Pictures, on the other hand, has shown mediocre performance in recent years, often ranking fifth or sixth in annual box office, rarely breaking into the top three.
If this trend continues, Paramount might risk falling behind in the "Big Seven."
Under these circumstances, Paramount's choice to team up with Lionsgate Films seems quite "risky."
To the Big Six Studios, Lionsgate Films is an unwelcome player; the best approach is to limit Lionsgate Films' growth to prevent it from capturing a larger share of the box office that typically belongs to the Big Six.
Yet, by choosing to collaborate with Lionsgate, Paramount could potentially surpass the other members of the Big Six and secure a better ranking if the partnership is successful.
This also means that Lionsgate Films will likely make a lot of money from the collaboration and secure a strong position in the "New Big Seven."
However, if the partnership fails, Paramount might struggle to recover and fall significantly behind the other major film companies.
Hollywood Reporter called Paramount's bet on Lionsgate Films an 'astonishing decision,' suggesting that no matter how the collaboration pans out, competition in the film industry will intensify in the coming years, potentially even leading to the bankruptcy of major film companies. And it all started with 'the rise of Lionsgate Films,' or more specifically, when Link acquired Lionsgate Films.
"Ha-ha, Link, congratulations on your collaboration with Paramount; it will make film production together even more convenient," said David Ellison, raising his glass at the "World War Z" box office success party.
Link nodded. This collaboration was first brought up by Brad Grey, the Chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures. David Ellison, who worked in Paramount's production department, also played a major role in facilitating it, and it received backing from Sumner Redstone, the chairman of Paramount's parent company, Viacom.
After several rounds of negotiations, the two parties signed a cooperation agreement, temporarily becoming allies.
This proposal offers more benefits to Lionsgate Films.
First, an additional one billion in project funds means Lionsgate can make more movies in the future, and secondly, with the support of Paramount Pictures, Lionsgate's promotional and distribution capabilities are enhanced, which would lead to better box office returns.
Furthermore, after establishing the partnership, Lionsgate also gets the first chance to invest in movies under Paramount, such as potential box office hits like "World War Z." As long as Lionsgate is confident, they can invest first, without being excluded.
Another important point is that by collaborating with Paramount Pictures, they could break the tacit agreement among the 'Big Six' studios, preventing them from ganging up against Lionsgate.
These benefits were also the reasons why Link agreed to cooperate.
"Got any good projects recently? I mean big investments over a hundred million, I like big projects."
David Ellison asked.
"There aren't many blockbusters at Lionsgate at the moment, but besides 'The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1', there's 'The Expendables 3'. Are you interested?"
Link thought for a moment and replied.
"I've seen the promo for 'The Expendables 3'. Will you be the lead in it?"
"Yes, the absolute lead."
"Okay, I'm in."
David Ellison said without hesitation.
"You're in without even seeing the script?"
"Ha, of course, so far, no movie you've starred in has lost money, and I don't believe this one will either. Even if it does, I'm willing to accept it."
David Ellison squinted and chuckled.
Link shook his head, not daring to guarantee that 'The Expendables 3' wouldn't lose money because the script was completely new, an unprecedented movie; he couldn't be sure whether it would make a profit when it was released.
To reduce risks, he didn't mind bringing in more film companies for a joint production.
"Hey, Link, David."
Brad Pitt, the lead actor of "World War Z" walked over with his wife, Angelina Jolie. Pitt's Plan B was also an investor in the movie, which was the second collaboration between Lionsgate and Plan B after "Moneyball", and both projects were successful.
This time Brad Pitt approached him with a new project proposal, a movie adapted from a non-fiction novel.
It tells the story during the global financial crisis of 2008 when several Wall Street investment savants saw through the subprime mortgage crisis early on, benefitting greatly by shorting subprime CDS, thus becoming among the few who profited immensely from the financial disaster.
Upon hearing the creative concept for the script, Link thought of a similar movie, "The Big Short," whose box office was unknown, but it was nominated for an Oscar for Best Picture, so it should be quite good.
When Brad Pitt asked if he was interested, Link said he would recommend the project to the production department, and the specific cooperation would depend on the project plan.
"Link, I heard you're now a stay-at-home dad, do you really like kids?"
Angelina Jolie, with her brown curly hair loose, dressed in a red dress, stood next to Brad Pitt, looking at him with a beaming smile.
The woman was stunningly beautiful, with a rather sexy appearance, and when she looked at people, her eyes beamed in such a way that it always gave off a 'she wants to get in bed with me' vibe.
Link wasn't sure if it was his imagination, nor did he want to delve into it, laughing, "Yes, Ivanka and Taylor are very busy, and I'm relatively free, so I spend most of my time at home taking care of the kids."
"Ha, that's funny, someone as big a star as you, home taking care of the kids every day, Brad, you should learn from Link."
Angelina Jolie patted Brad Pitt on the shoulder.
"Yes, being a stay-at-home dad is a very interesting experience, and when I'm done with my current work, I also plan to stay at home with the kids."
Brad Pitt shrugged his shoulders and smiled.
"Link, I have a really nice project, it's like a 'Sleeping Beauty' fairy tale story, with witches, and a cute little princess, really interesting. Are you interested in seeing the script?"
Angelina Jolie said with a smile.
"Sounds good, I'd be glad to see the script you're talking about."
"Great, we'll get in touch later."
Angelina Jolie pursed her full red lips, raising her champagne glass for a toast with him.
After a few more exchanges, the Jolie-Pitt couple left hand in hand.
Other main actors, the director, the producer from the "World War Z" crew, as well as the Chairman Brad Grey and Vice Chairman Rob Moore from Paramount Pictures came up to him to say hello in succession.
Originally, Link had only planned to show his face and leave, but he was too popular. It took him over an hour to make his rounds at the cocktail party before he could finally break away.