Across America, Starting with the Boxing Champion Chapter 602

Chapter 602: Captain America is a big hit

His prize money for this game is 250 million U.S. dollars, including 150 million U.S. dollars in appearance fees, and about 100 million U.S. dollars in revenue sharing from PPV, tickets, advertising sponsorships, etc.

 After the game, Link returned to the United States to rest, and in early May he once again led the team to fly to Hamburg, Germany, to participate in the WBC heavyweight title defense match. His opponent in this match was international boxing champion Manuel Char.

Manuel is 32 years old. He was born in Lebanon and later became a German citizen. He once served as a sparring partner for Klitschko and Klitschko.

 Entered professional boxing in 2005, and challenged the then WBC champion Klitschko as a WBC champion challenger in 2012.

 He was defeated by Dake by TKO in the fourth round and suffered serious eye injuries.

At the end of last year, Manuel once again challenged for the WBC heavyweight world boxing title, defeating Denis Bakotov, Alex Majkin, Alexander Ustinov and other international boxers in the qualifying rounds. King, qualified to compete with Link.

 Currently ranked seventh in the WBC heavyweight organization.

 There is an interesting thing about this person. In 2014, Manuel was shot by an extremist organization for making inappropriate remarks on the Internet. He was shot four times in the abdomen but did not die.

Everyone thought that Manuel would give up boxing, but he did not. After recovering from his injury, Manuel continued to train boxing. He won several consecutive games last year and qualified as a challenger for the WBC heavyweight title.

 After the opponent's deeds were reported by the media, his fame increased greatly and he became a very inspirational boxer.

Without Link's appearance, the opponent would still have become the WBA heavyweight champion in 2017.

Manuel's current statistics are: height 192, wingspan 194, weight 252 pounds, professional record of 28 fights and 2 losses, including losses to Klitschko and Alexander Povetkin.

The characteristics of the opponent in boxing are that he has average skills, average punching weight, strong ability to resist punches, and strong willpower in the competition.

He also has a slippery style of play and likes to use hugging tactics.

 Once you gain a clear advantage in the game, you will play passively, drag the game to the end, and win with points.

This WBC boxing championship challenge was held at the People's Park Stadium in Hamburg. Hamburg is the second largest city in Germany after Berlin. On the day of the game, more than 30,000 spectators came to the scene. Some were Link's boxing fans, and some spectators came to support Manchester United. Newer.

 After the game started, Link took the lead in attacking.

 This is a tactic he often used after becoming the boxing champion of the four major organizations.

The main reason is that this style of fighting is more intense and has the best viewing effect. It can increase the PPV ratings during broadcasts. Another reason is that the opponent is generally not strong. After he uses fast punches, he can last for two There are very few people above the round.

This style of play is quick and can avoid accidents.

 Under his fierce attack, his opponent Manuel's defense was quickly beaten to pieces. At 145 seconds of the first round, Manuel fell to the ground for the first time.

In the second round, Link continued to attack fiercely, and the combination of punches was fast and fierce. Manuel could not hold on, so he could only use hugging tactics constantly, and even hit Link's chin with his elbow in violation of regulations.

Link was not polite either. He knocked down Manuel twice at 87 seconds and 108 seconds in the second round. After falling to the ground for the second time, Manuel lay on the ground unable to get up for ten seconds.

Link successfully won the match and successfully defended his WBC gold belt for the second time.

 His income for this game is 220 million U.S. dollars, 100 million U.S. dollars in appearance fees, plus 120 million U.S. dollars in other income shares.

 After the game, Link stayed in Paris for two days to accompany Marion and little Cassel, and then flew back to the United States.

 In May, the summer vacation is coming, and "Captain America: Civil War" is about to be released.

Link didn't have time to rest after the game, so he joined in the promotion of the movie.

This movie continues the plot of "Avengers 2", also known as "Avengers 2.5", which can not only please the fans of Captain America, but also satisfy the needs of the "Avengers" audience.

After a period of publicity, "Captain America 3" was released in 4,226 theaters in North America on Friday, May 6. The North American box office reached 182 million US dollars in the first three days of its premiere. On the fourth day of its release, the North American box office exceeded 200 million US dollars, becoming the fastest to break through in North America this year. 200 million movie.

　　The cumulative box office in North America reached 306 million U.S. dollars in the ten days after its release, making it the fastest movie to reach 300 million U.S. dollars.

　　The box office performance was better in overseas regions, with a box office of 420 million in 164 countries and regions overseas in the 14 days after its release.

 It also made the movie's total box office exceed 700 million US dollars.

 The box office is expected to be around US$1.2 billion.

 Before making the movie, Link signed a box office sharing contract with Disney and is expected to receive a salary of US$65 million.

 Lionsgate Pictures also has a movie released in early May, starring Dwayne Johnson, Jack Black, Daddario and others, "Jumanji: The Jungle Book."

The movie tells the story of four high school students with different personalities who accidentally traveled into the dangerous game of Brave and transformed into game characters with completely different personalities and appearances. Faced with the attacks of jungle beasts and the pursuit of evil forces, the four must Under the leadership of the adventurer Spencer, you must overcome many crises and win the game before you can return to reality.

　　It is a humorous and funny adventure action movie.

 The production cost is US$90 million, with Lionsgate Pictures serving as the distributor in North America and Paramount responsible for overseas distribution.

The film was released on the second weekend of May. It grossed US$71.91 million in 3,765 theaters in the first three days. On the fifth day of its release, the North American box office exceeded 100 million US dollars. In the two weeks after its release, the North American box office exceeded 200 million US dollars. The North American box office is expected to be 400 million US dollars. above.

In May, the box office results of commercial movies in March and April were released one after another. The movie with the best performance was the R-rated romance movie "Fifty Shades of Grey" starring Jamie Dornan, Dakota Johnson and others.

 The film was released at the end of March. The current box office in North America is 165 million US dollars, and the overseas box office is 425 million US dollars. The total box office is as high as 590 million.

 The production cost of this movie was only US$40 million.

 The revenue ratio is as high as 15 times.

Although it is not as good as "The Hunger Games" in terms of total box office revenue, this movie requires less investment and has greater profit potential.

 The success of "Fifty Shades of Grey" has once again made Lionsgate the envy and hate of its peers.

Originally, after the "Hunger Games" series ended, the media and the top executives of the six major film studios believed that Lionsgate Pictures' total box office performance would be greatly affected, and that it would drop out of the top three from the first place of the year, or return to Lionsgate Pictures' original position. The seventh.

  But with the success of "Fifty Shades of Grey", the top executives of the six major film studios had to accept a reality:

The success of Lionsgate Films is by no means dependent on the success of a certain series of movies, but it has figured out a secret to gain box office by adapting best-selling books. In the next three or four years, Lionsgate Pictures will still be among the "Seven Major Movies" It occupies an important position and becomes a competitor of the six major film industries.

  The impact of the success of "Fifty Shades of Grey" is most directly reflected in the stock market. After the film's North American box office exceeded 100 million, Lionsgate's stock price rose from US$88 per share to around US$95 in less than half a month.

 After the North American box office of "Game of the Brave" exceeded 200 million, it even reached 100 US dollars, bringing Lionsgate Pictures' market value back to around 20 billion.

Among the movies released in March and April, the second highest-grossing film was "Arrival," which was adapted from the short story "The Story of Your Life" by Chinese science fiction writer Jiang Fengnan and directed by "Blade Runner 2" director Denis Villeneuve. .

　　Starring Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker and others.

　　It tells the story of 12 mysterious alien spacecrafts that landed on the earth. The U.S. military found linguist Lewis and physicist Ian, hoping that the two could work together to solve the mystery of the alien language and save the earth.

 At the beginning of January, "Arrival" represented Lionsgate at the Berlin Film Festival, where it was shortlisted for the main competition and nominated for the Golden Bear Award for Best Picture.

 The movie was released in North America in early April, with a box office of US$24.07 million in its first week. It had a relatively mediocre start, but received good reviews at the box office.

"Complete Cinema" said that "before "Arrival", no science fiction movie can make people think as much as this movie. '

 The Los Angeles Times called the film "a smart, eloquent and exciting science fiction film."

The IMDB score is as high as 8.3, the Rotten Tomatoes freshness rating was as high as 100% in the first week, and some film critics concluded that this movie is the best science fiction movie of the year.

 Because the word-of-mouth was so good, the box office did not fall but rose in the second week.

　　After five consecutive weeks of release, the North American box office exceeded 100 million US dollars, reaching 102 million US dollars.

 The box office in overseas regions is similar to that in North America. It has been released for more than a month and the current box office is US$112 million.

 The total box office was US$214 million.

 The production cost of the film was US$47 million, with a revenue ratio of nearly 5:1, making it a blockbuster movie.

 Another movie "Shark Beach" released in mid-April also performed well at the box office.

"Shark Beach" stars Blake Lively. It tells the story of a girl who was attacked by a shark while surfing in the sea. Her thigh was injured. After struggling, the heroine climbed to a rock out of the sea. The shark was Wandering around the rocks, the heroine must overcome her fear and find a way back to shore.

The film is produced by Palm Beach Pictures with a production cost of 17 million US dollars. It has been released for four weeks. The current box office in North America is 55.12 million US dollars and the overseas box office is 63.97 million US dollars. The total box office has reached 119 million US dollars. The box office revenue ratio is as high as 7:1, which is considered a small one. Dark horse.

This week, when the North American box office of "Jumanji" exceeded 200 million, Lionsgate Pictures' total North American box office in the first half of the year exceeded 1 billion US dollars, reaching 1.05 billion.

 Ranked second among the six major film studios, the first being Disney Pictures.

Disney Pictures has performed very strongly at the box office this year. Before June, three movies had a North American box office of more than 300 million.

 The first one was "Zootopia", which was released in March, with a box office of 340 million in North America and a box office of 1.02 billion globally.

 The second film is "The Jungle Book" released in April, adapted from the 1967 Disney classic animation "The Jungle Book". The current box office in North America is 360 million, and the global box office is 960 million.

 The third film is "Captain America 3", which is expected to have a box office of more than 400 million in North America.

Disney will also have an animated film "Finding Nemo: Where's Dory" next month. Based on the box office performance of the first film, the North American box office is expected to be over 300 million.

Compared with Disney, the advantage of Lionsgate's movies is that it has a large number of movies and low production costs. This year, Lionsgate has cooperated with Disney, Paramount, Warner, Palm Beach Pictures, Ampapuna Pictures, There are 24 movies jointly produced by Netflix and Amazon Studios.

 Disney Pictures plans to release 18 movies, more than half of which are blockbusters with a production cost of hundreds of millions.

 Lionsgate may be able to compete with Disney in total box office by relying on the number of movies it releases.

 “Boss, what do you think of the script of “War of Gods”?”

In the Lionsgate office, Link was looking at the first quarter financial statements when Ms. Stacey Schneider, the vice president in charge of production, came in and asked.

 “War of Gods?”

Link flipped through his desk and found a script called "War of Gods: Eye of Power", which was brought over by Summit Entertainment. It tells the story of a mortal thief named Baker who was favored by the gods and later helped the Egyptian **** Horu. The story of Si completing his revenge and counterattacking to become a wise king.

The production department believes that movies with historical and mythological themes have performed well at the box office in recent years, such as "Maleficent", "Snow White and the Huntsman", and "The Hobbit", so they plan to adapt this script.

 The production cost budget is as high as 140 million US dollars.

After Link read the script, he remembered that there was a movie that suffered a huge box office loss, causing Lionsgate's stock price to drop an estimated 20%, and it seemed that it was "Eye of Power."

After knowing this, he will naturally not fall into this pit again.

“The production cost of War of Gods is too high, and movies with such historical mythological themes are relatively risky. My opinion is to reduce the cost to less than 100 million US dollars, or give up this project.”

Link said.

Ms. Stacey Schneider had no objection after hearing this, because Link is the boss of the company and has a lot of influence in Lions Gate Pictures. In addition, in the past, all movie projects with his participation in review have done well at the box office, while the results without his participation have been average. .

As this happened more often, Link's authority in the company increased, and Lionsgate executives learned to obey his opinions instead of going against him.

"There is no need to follow the example of "Divergent 3" and "The Twilight Saga" by dividing it into two parts. The box office results of this series of movies are already very average. If the ending is shot separately, the box office results will be even worse."

Link took out the "Divergent 3" script and said.

Seeing that "Divergent 2" has done well at the box office, the production department plans to follow the successful model of "The Hunger Games 3 and 4" and split it into two parts.

But they have forgotten that the reason why the "Twilight" and "The Hunger Games" series can be successfully remade is that the original works are relatively popular and have a deep fan base, and the movies are of good quality and well-produced.

 Because the movie is good and fans are more patient with these movies, the ending was split into two parts so that fans can tolerate it.

Since the first part of the "Divergent" series, the results have been mediocre. At the end, it was split into two parts. If you want to use this method to make more money, you may annoy the moviegoers and lead to box office losses.

He remembered that the third part of the "Divergent" series was so poor at the box office that Lionsgate had to announce that the fourth part would be turned into a TV movie and broadcast on TV to reduce publicity and distribution costs.

 “Okay, I'll notify the production department later.”

Stacey Schneider said.

Link chatted with her about several movies being produced, including "The Voice," "Get Out," "The Shape of Water," "Phantom Tailor," "Wonder Boys" and "Bohemian Rhapsody" "wait.

 In some of these film projects, the screenwriter or director of the film took the initiative to find Lionsgate Pictures to cooperate. For example, Jordan Peele, the director and screenwriter of "Get Out", is also one of the male protagonists of the comedy TV series "Key and Peele".

Some are good projects that Link picked out from many scripts, such as "The Shape of Water" and "Bohemian Rhapsody", and a few are scripts recommended by Lionsgate Productions, such as "The Voice" "Wonder Boy".

As well as Palm Beach Pictures, there are also two good film projects this year, "Lady Bird" and "Three Billboards", both of which are female-themed movies. Influenced by the 'metoo' movement, these female-themed movies have good prospects.

Link and Lionsgate Productions also regard female-themed films as a focus in the next few years.

 After sending Ms. Stacey away, Link put down the script, stretched his waist, walked to the counter and poured a glass of ice water.

 “Husband, it's time to get off work.”

Ivaca knocked on the door and walked in with a smile. She had blond hair and was wearing a white women's business skirt. She had a plump figure and looked very good.

 (End of this chapter)

Chapter end