Domination in America, Starting from being a Boxing Champion

"How's the business in the shop recently?"

After chatting with Taylor, Link had a video call with the chubby James in Miami.

James was still so fat, wearing a loose shirt with auburn hair, holding a little one who was just born not long ago in his arms, his second child. His eldest is also a daughter, now over two years old, and the second is a son, less than three months old.

At the moment, James was in a diving shop in Miami Beach.

Every summer is the peak season for diving, and Miami is also a tourist resort city. The business in the diving shop is very good from June to September, and 'Baker Diving Shop' being an internet-famous shop, the business is even better.

Because of that, James didn't give up on the diving shop business; he stays by the seaside during the peak season and returns to the downtown area to manage a café with his wife Lillian during the off-season.

His annual income is over two to three hundred thousand US Dollars, which is higher than that of an average white-collar worker.

"It's not great. Summer vacation is almost over, and business is getting worse every day. Link, I'll show you something fun."

Chubby James laughed with a hehe, pulled out a thick notebook, and flipped through the pages for him to see, all filled with names and contact information.

"What's this? You're flipping too quickly."

Link asked.

"This is the diving reservation logbook. Do you remember you once said you'd come back as a diving instructor when you have time? Since 2008, people have been coming every day to make reservations. Although you later didn't have time to return as an instructor, people still keep making reservations. Guess how many names are on this logbook now?"

James chuckled.

"How many?"

"31,831. After your fame rocketed in 2009, sometimes hundreds of fans would come in a day to sign it, even making wishes on the logbook, hoping to go diving with you someday."

"You know I really don't have the time to come back as a diving instructor now, right?"

Link said.

"I know, and so do the customers who made reservations. Everyone just sees it as a kind of fun ritual. After customers come, they tend to sign their names out of habit. Now, this logbook is also the treasure of our shop. Maybe one day it will be collected by a museum."

James laughed.

Link thought it was quite likely, similar to how after MJ's death, many of his personal items were auctioned or sent to art museums. His own fame and influence weren't much less than MJ's, so items like the logbook that record his growing journey could very likely be collected by museums or private collectors.

"Hey, Daniel, I'm chatting with Link, wanna come say hi?"

James shouted towards the outside.

"Hey, Link, how come you haven't gained a bit of weight?"

After a while, Daniel from the hot dog shop appeared in the video. Daniel had gained a circle of weight since he got married in 2009, round with a beer belly, slowly approaching James in physique. James joked that it was because he ate too much ice cream and hot dogs.

In 2009, Daniel also left Miami Beach for a while to open a barbecue shop with his wife, Lina, in the downtown area but later found that the barbecue business was hard and the income not as good as the small shops on the beach.

To earn money, he and his wife continue to sell hot dogs, ice cream, and barbecue on the beach every summer.

The situation was similar to James, and because of his good relationship with Link, his hot dog shop also became an internet-famous shop.

Apart from James and Daniel, Michael from the surfboard shop, after mixing in New York and other cities for two or three years, also came back to Miami last year, working in a recording studio as an audio engineer and part-time talent scout.

After Michael left, Link had contacted him to see if he could help, but Michael did not accept, wanting to strive on his own.

He's still doing okay now. James teases that Michael changes girlfriends every day, really decadent, and says thankfully he didn't go out; otherwise, he would've ended up as undisciplined as Michael.

——

After chatting with James and Daniel for a while, agreeing to visit Miami Beach for a vacation when he had time, Link then talked to Chris Liu, Jennifer Shu, and the kids.

Watching the two adorable little ones grow up day by day, while he was rarely with them, Link felt that he would inevitably be teased by his children as an incompetent dad in the future.

To make up for this regret, he decided to retire from the filmmaking industry in two or three years, reduce public appearances, and spend more time with his family, freeing up at least one month a year to accompany little Shu Nan, Liu Jianni, and a few other little ones like Kokoro Sasaki.

With a private plane now, it's very convenient to travel.

Closing his laptop, Link stretched and walked out of the villa. Outside, the sun was nice, the garden lush with green grass, and Ivanka, dressed in a light blue knee-length skirt, strolled across the lawn with three little ones in tow, followed by seven or eight kittens and puppies.

In the past, Link would joke about how the couple Scott Stuber and his wife made a grand exit when they left home, but now his own family was doing the same.

Over the weekend, Link and Ivanka hosted a party at their villa, inviting employees and film industry professionals to celebrate the successful wrap-up of this year's summer season and to prepare for the upcoming fall and winter seasons.

This summer, Lionsgate Films released six movies, with four films breaking the hundred million mark at the North American box office: "Identity Thief" $162 million, "Rust and Bone" $121 million, "Now You See Me" $132 million, "The Heat" $159 million.

Only "Black Madwoman 3" and "Her" performed slightly less well, but they still did not lose money.

The six films had a total North American box office gross of $682 million US Dollars.

This summer, a total of 212 movies were released in North America, selling about 583 million tickets, with a total box office of $4.76 billion US Dollars. This is not only an 11% increase over last year but also the highest-grossing summer in history.

Among the 212 movies, 20 made over one hundred million at the North American box office. Disney led with 5 films, followed by Lionsgate and Warner with 4, Universal and Fox 2 each, and Sony 1.

Disney, with a total box office of $823 million, ranked first among the 'Big Seven', represented by works like "Iron Man 3" and "Monsters University".

Warner Bros. Pictures, with "Man of Steel," "Pacific Rim," "The Hangover Part 3," and "The Great Gatsby," achieved $695 million in North America, ranking second.

Lionsgate Films ranked third with $682 million, taking a 14.5% share of the total box office.

Universal Pictures, Fox, Paramount, and Sony ranked fourth to seventh.

Continuing to hold a top-three position this summer season, Lionsgate's achievement put great pressure on its competitors and inspired the senior management and employees within the company. With the films selling well, everyone could expect a larger year-end bonus – a prospect that pleased everyone.

However, due to Lionsgate's good performance over the past two years, competitors started to poach from Lionsgate. Since April, eight senior executives above director level were snatched away by rival movie companies, and five producers from the production department were also poached, along with more than ten ordinary employees switching companies.

Of these, six were taken by Weinstein Company.

But this did not greatly impact Lionsgate, as the secret to Lionsgate Films' success lay in Link's hands, not those executives.

With or without them, the films would sell well, and their departure even brought benefits to the company.

It allowed the company to attract a stronger management team and producers, implement a process of natural selection within the company, and ensure the efficient operation of all departments.

"Hey, Link, congratulations. Lionsgate's results are impressive. Link, you are now the person I admire the most in my heart."

Ryan Cavano from Relativity Media commented with a complicated expression.

"Thank you! I just found a group of very capable partners," Link replied modestly with a smile.

"No, no, regardless of what others think, I believe you are the key to Lionsgate's success in selling films. Before you took over Lionsgate, it was doing okay but was just a small film company with a market value of seven or eight hundred million US Dollars. In less than three years under your leadership, Lionsgate's market value quadrupled, annual box office results increased year by year, and you even managed to suppress the Big Six Studios, ranking in the top three, which is very, very impressive," Ryan Cavano exclaimed with admiration.

In 2011, when Link took over Lionsgate, he, like everyone else, thought that Link's acquisition of Lionsgate was a very unwise move.

The future for Lionsgate was nothing but bankruptcy.

But the reality slapped everyone in the face. Under Link's lead, Lionsgate not only avoided bankruptcy but became one of Hollywood's 'new Big Seven'.

If Lionsgate hadn't been established so recently, with foundational depth, funding, and channels that couldn't compare to the Big Six, Lionsgate would have had a great chance to surpass Disney and Warner and become the industry leader in these two years.

Towards a genius like Link, his emotions were a mix of envy, jealousy, and admiration.

Compared to Lionsgate, Relativity Media's situation was getting worse year by year.

Before August, the company released five movies, only two of which surpassed 50 million in North American box office: "Safe Harbor" $73.14 million, and the animated "Free Birds" $55.75 million, with "Free Birds" having a production budget of $55 million US Dollars.

In the first half of the year, Relativity Media did not make any profit but instead suffered a loss of $180 million US Dollars.

Including the uncleared debts from the past, the company's situation now made him see stars.

He couldn't understand why Link, an outsider in Hollywood, made big money while he, someone who'd struggled in the industry for over a decade, was losing money.

This was just too unfair.