Domination in America, Starting from being a Boxing Champion

Shortly after "The Wolf of Wall Street" premiered, Lionsgate Films' annual blockbuster "The Hunger Games 2: Catching Fire" was also released simultaneously in 34 countries and regions around the world including North America.

In North America, it opened in 4,136 theaters, grossing $70.95 million on its opening day, and $158 million over the premiere weekend.

The film set a new record for the highest November opening weekend box office in history and is the sixth highest opening of all time, surpassed only by "The Avengers," "Batman: The Dark Knight Rises," and "Twilight: New Moon."

It earned $262 million in its first week.

Overseas box office results were nearly the same, with $258 million in the first week of release in all regions.

Total box office was $520 million.

The film's production budget was $130 million, and marketing costs $100 million US Dollar.

It has now successfully recouped its investment, giving everyone at Lionsgate Films a huge sigh of relief.

In fact, at the end of 2011 when preparations began for shooting "The Hunger Games 2," the production faced many obstacles.

Firstly, Gary Ross, the director of the first film, declined to direct the sequel due to dissatisfaction with the script and compensation.

Therefore, Lionsgate's production department sent out partnership invitations to several top-line directors, including "Gravity" director Alfonso Cuarón, "Desire Express" director David Cronenberg, "Source Code" director Duncan Jones, and "Notting Hill" director Joe Cornish, but under the interference of the Big Six Studios, these directors all declined to collaborate.

Finally, Link recalled Francis Lawrence from his memory.

Lawrence had directed films such as "Hell Detective," "I Am Legend," "Tears of the Elephant," and was also a director in the "The Hunger Games" series. More importantly, he was also a music video director.

He directed five music videos for Link and also shot music videos for Jennifer Lopez, Britney Spears, Shakira, Will Smith, Avril Lavigne, and Black Eyed Peas, earning a big name in the music industry.

He was a successful film director who transitioned from directing music videos.

Choosing such a music video director to helm the hot film "The Hunger Games 2" was viewed skeptically by many people. Even prior to the film's release, many media outlets predicted the film would flop and that it would be the series' last installment under the direction of Francis Lawrence.

Now, with the movie released and seeing a global box office of $520 million in the first week, performing even better than the first part, the total box office is expected to exceed $1 billion, becoming the highest-grossing film of the year.

This data has silenced those skeptics and has made peers green with envy. Originally, Lionsgate's total box office was already high, and now with "The Hunger Games 2" continuing to sell well, it might surge from top three in the industry to second or even first place.

This puts not only Universal, Fox, Paramount, and Sony Pictures under pressure but also industry leaders Disney and Warner Bros. Pictures who invest over two billion US Dollars annually in movies, only to see Lionsgate, which spends six to seven hundred million, earn more.

In the eyes of peers, everyone at Lionsgate is very capable, continually releasing multiple highly successful films.

In the eyes of shareholders of the Big Six Studios, their management seems incompetent, and for this reason, it is said that the management of Universal Pictures, Fox Films, and Sony Pictures are all facing changes, with many high-ranking managers possibly being fired due to inadequate abilities.

Hollywood Reporter claims that the rise of Lionsgate has disrupted the existing Hollywood structure, bringing a great sense of crisis to the Big Six Studios, which also incentivizes movie companies to innovate and produce more high-quality films.

On this point, while accompanying Ivanka to watch movies, Link also noticed some quality films in theaters he hadn't seen before, not sure if they were influenced by his work or just new releases.

For instance, there were several films imitating "Buried" where a beautiful woman is buried in the sand to see how she can escape, and these films achieved decent box office results.

The box office success of "The Hunger Games 2" also reflected in the soaring stock value of Lionsgate, which Wall Street investment firms overvalued at $5.2 to $5.5 billion US Dollar. Some investment companies were willing to provide financing of $600 million for a 10% stake, doubling from last year.

When Link acquired Lionsgate in 2011, Lionsgate's market value was only $800 million. After the acquisition, it dropped to $600 million, and many competitors thought that Lionsgate would go bankrupt within three years.

Three years have passed, and not only did Lionsgate not go bankrupt, but its market value also increased sevenfold, becoming one of the top three in the industry, and the most profitable movie company.

Moreover, peers also felt sorry for Lionsgate's original shareholders. Before Link took over Lionsgate, "The Hunger Games 1" had already been greenlit and was about to enter production. If they had not sold Lionsgate, they could have made over a billion from this series, but now all the money went to Link.

"Damn Link, he's just too lucky."

Harvey, Kunas, Jay-Z, Kanye and others cursed angrily after seeing the reports. After working tirelessly for decades, they couldn't earn a billion, and here Link had easily pocketed billions.

Such people are just annoying.

"Maybe we should reconcile with Link. If we are willing to reconcile, Link would definitely agree. He's not the petty type," Bob Weinstein said, putting down the newspaper.

"Shut up, I will never reconcile with him," Harvey said angrily.

Back in 2011, Link was a nobody in Hollywood. A single phone call from Harvey could make Link come to his parties, cost Link several movie roles, have everyone isolate Link, and make it impossible for Lionsgate to find appropriate actors for their movies.