Domination in America, Starting from being a Boxing Champion

"Fuck, damn Lionsgate, damn Link, damn Big Six, fuck!"

Harvey from Weinstein Company couldn't contain his anger after seeing the news about Lionsgate becoming a new member of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA).

Since the year before last, he had heard that Lionsgate was applying to join the MPAA and had been obstructed by the Big Six, resulting in the failure of Lionsgate's plans.

At the time, he was happy, feeling assured that with the Big Six suppressing them, Lionsgate would never join the MPAA.

But unexpectedly, in just over a year, the Big Six Studios had loosened their stance and allowed Lionsgate to join the MPAA, becoming a member of the organization.

This annoyed him immensely.

Although the MPAA is an unofficial organization, it holds significant clout in the film industry. A movie rated as restricted by the MPAA won't attract an all-ages audience upon release, which significantly impacts a film's box office performance.

During the 70s and 80s, when Harvey first started producing films, they often had to cut many scenes under pressure from the MPAA to attract more viewers.

These experiences taught him the importance of power.

Later on, as Miramax Films grew and often reached the eighth rank among its peers, and frequently won Oscars,

he also attempted to apply to join the MPAA, applying four times without success.

After Miramax was acquired by Disney in '93, he managed to gain some advantages through Disney's influence within the MPAA.

But after leaving Disney in 2005 and applying to join the MPAA several more times, he still didn't succeed.

Now that the Big Six Studios had accepted Lionsgate into the MPAA, he felt deeply discriminated against.

He was also discontent with the top executives at Warner and Disney. He had originally agreed to produce a movie in collaboration with Warner Bros. Pictures, hoping to suppress Lionsgate with Warner and potentially bring them down.

However, after seeing the profits from Lionsgate's movies, one after another, the Big Six went to collaborate with Lionsgate and even allowed them to join the MPAA.

If things continued this way, Lionsgate would undoubtedly become even more powerful, and it would be even harder for the Weinstein Company to catch up.

"Stop complaining. Lionsgate has been in the top three for box office sales for two consecutive years, and this year's figures are even better. The Big Six couldn't refuse even if they wanted to; Lionsgate joined the MPAA on merit,"

Bob shook his head.

Harvey snorted unhappily, knowing that Bob was right. With Lionsgate's continuous box office hits over the past two years, a market value exceeding 7 billion dollars, stronger than MGM and DreamWorks even before their bankruptcy, and producing as many films each year as the Big Six,

the MPAA couldn't deny Lionsgate's application according to the rules.

But still, he felt very uncomfortable inside. If he hadn't intervened in Jennifer Lawrence's casting for The Hunger Games, Link wouldn't have impulsively acquired Lionsgate.

Without that acquisition, Lionsgate wouldn't be as powerful as it is now, and Link would still be just a minor actor in Hollywood.

It could be said that Lionsgate's current state and Link's position in Hollywood were largely thanks to him.

"Harvey, the situation now is that Lionsgate has become a Hollywood giant. We don't have the strength to bring them down, nor can we outperform them at the box office. However, we do have one advantage: we are more skilled in Oscars PR. If you want to make Link uncomfortable, there's only one way now—to produce more Oscar-caliber films and beat him with awards,"

Bob said.

Harvey thought for a moment and nodded silently. They couldn't compete with Lionsgate in terms of market value or box office, but he refused to lose in the Oscars PR war. This year, Weinstein Company and Warner Bros. were co-producing several high-quality arthouse films.

He believed that at the next year's Oscars, they would not let Lionsgate take home so many awards.

Seeing Harvey's nod, Bob breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that as long as Harvey focused on filmmaking and stopped fixating on bringing down Lionsgate, with his ability, he would definitely produce some great films and help the company earn a good deal of U.S. dollars.

—

The Neighbor Wars had been released for four weeks, accumulating a North American box office total of 152 million US Dollar, and 124 million US Dollar overseas, ranking in the top eight in the summer box office and becoming the most profitable movie of the summer.

Lionsgate made over a hundred million US Dollar from the film.

In this week, Lionsgate's ninth movie, Step Up: All In, produced by Summit Entertainment, premiered. Since the first installment by Summit Entertainment was a hit in 2006, four sequels were subsequently made, with previous installments performing well—not as explosive as the first but still profitable.

The production cost of the movie was 15 million US Dollar, earning 12.18 million US Dollar at the North American box office in its opening weekend, ranking fifth for the week, with projected box office earnings between 30 and 40 million US Dollar.

In contrast, the overseas box office performed even better, with a 32.61 million US Dollar opening week, and surpassing 50 million US Dollar in 16 days.

During the same period, the best box office performance was from Paramount Pictures' Transformers 4: Age of Extinction. Released in mid-June, it broke 100 million US Dollar in North America over the three-day weekend, breaking 200 million US Dollar in North America after 16 days.

The overseas box office surpassed 400 million US Dollar in three weeks.

The movie was projected to earn more than 1 billion US Dollar in total.

However, its production cost was 210 million US Dollar, and marketing costs were over a hundred million US Dollar.

The box office was high, but the profit for the producers wouldn't be too great.

As competition in the North American film market was heating up, American Sniper had finished filming in Southern California and the crew moved to Morocco for further shooting, with Link joining the company there.

—

"Wait a moment!"

On a building in the suburbs of Rabat, Morocco's capital, Link was shouldering an M40A3 sniper rifle, his chin against the gun, eyes focused on the scope, reporting through the radio, "Two hundred yards out, I see a woman and a child walking towards the convoy. The woman's arm isn't swinging; looks like she's hiding something."

Nearby on the street below, a woman clothed in full black garments and a black headscarf stopped, handing a child an anti-tank grenade from inside her robe.

Link reported again through the radio, his tone very calm.

"You're saying a woman and a child?"

The commander asked through the microphone.

"Yes, did you see it, can you confirm?"

Link asked.

"No, as you know according to the rules of engagement, it's all up to you."

The person on the other end of the microphone said.

"Buddy, be careful. If you get it wrong, they'll fire you and kick you back to Leavenworth."

The shooting assistant reminded him from the side.

Link held the sniper rifle and continued to watch the street. After the woman in black gave the anti-tank grenade to the little boy, the boy ran towards the US military tank with the grenade in hand.

Through the scope, Link watched the running boy and then pulled the trigger.

"cut!"

"No Good!"

Director Clint Eastwood took off his headset and came over, saying, "Link, your emotion is still not in place, it doesn't show the calm and decisiveness of a true sniper. Snipers are major killing machines on the battlefield. Even if there's some hesitation, they quickly get in the zone."

"Clint, I understand. I am adjusting."

Link exhaled and said.

Director Clint didn't say anything more, patted his shoulder, and asked the crew to prepare.

Link took a deep breath through his nose, feeling somewhat complicated.

At the beginning of the shooting, everything was going smoothly, whether it was romantic scenes, scenes of friendship, or playing a dad, he was able to nail them just right. But when filming such high-realism war scenes, his performance was a bit stilted.

The main reason was his mindset.

The movie's protagonist, Chris Kyle, was a sharpshooter who killed more than two hundred targets on the Iraqi battlefield, including Iraqi soldiers, civilians, and terrorists, and even women and children.

But Link was a boxer; although he had killed people in the ring, he had never deliberately killed anyone.

When filming such scenes, he needed to immerse himself to show the psychological burden of killing, while also distancing himself to appear calm and decisive. This might seem simple, but to genuinely portray that complex emotion was not easy.

Take the scene just now, for example. The protagonist's target was a five or six-year-old boy.

During the performance, even though it was a simulated kill, pulling the trigger still felt somewhat uncomfortable; he felt like he was really killing someone, a child no less.

Link shook his head and took a deep breath, reminding himself that it's just acting, he was playing Chris Kyle and taking down the target to protect his comrades, not killing innocents indiscriminately.

"Scene 74, Take 4, Take 3, Action!"

The shooting continued. Upon seeing the target, Link reported to the commander, then aimed at the target, and pulled the trigger calmly. One after the other, the boy and the woman in black fell down.

"This evil bitch."

The shooting assistant cursed as he saw the woman fall.

"Good job, Texan, you're really something."

The commander said through the microphone.

"Roger that! You're doing well too."

Link replied.

"Fuck, mate, did you hear that?"

The shooting assistant excitedly slapped his shoulder and laughed.

"Get lost! Stay away from me."

Link said with a cold face.

"Cut!"

This take was approved, but to improve the quality of the shot, director Clint took another take.

It took a whole day to finish the scene.

After shooting, Link continued to read the script, preparing for tomorrow's shooting tasks.

He and the crew had filmed for over twenty days in Morocco before returning to the Santa Clarita area of Southern California for filming.

By mid-July, Link had finished all his parts for the film.

After finishing the movie, his emotions were affected due to the deep immersion in his role, similar to PTSD, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

At Ivanka's suggestion, the family flew to Brazil to watch the World Cup. Since the World Cup venues were quite spread out, he and Ivanka didn't venture too far, only staying in Rio de Janeiro to visit Copacabana Beach and to explore near Corcovado, taking in the beautiful Brazilian sights.

Finally, they watched the World Cup final at Maracana Stadium, with Germany defeating Lionel Messi's Argentina 1-0 to win the championship.

He and the kids placed bets and even won a few hundred U.S. dollars.

By mid-July, when the World Cup ended, Link and Eva took their three still-excited kids back to Los Angeles.