America Tycoon: The Wolf of Showbiz

As the Oscars concluded, "The Martian" was entirely taken off screens across North American cinemas, with its final box office figure settling at $322 million. The film's international screenings had not yet ended. Especially in Japan, a desert market for Hollywood movies, "The Martian" wouldn't be released until March. Currently, the film's global box office has accumulated $776 million. As time moved into March, the box office results of last year's Hollywood releases had mostly settled. In the 2011 North American box office rankings and the global box office rankings, Martin starred in two films, "John Wick: Chapter 2" and "The Martian," both of which ranked in the top ten. "The Martian" ranked third on both lists, only behind "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2" and "Transformers 3." "John Wick: Chapter 2" ranked fourth on both lists, with a North American box office of $261 million and a global box office of $623 million. Additionally, last year, the film sold $255 million worth of DVDs, ranking second in North American DVD sales of the year, just behind "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2." In both films, Martin signed contracts that guaranteed a base salary of $20 million, plus a graduated percentage of up to ten percent of the North American box office. "John Wick: Chapter 2," which was released at the beginning of last summer's movie season, had already settled twice with Disney Studios and Davis Studio. Besides the $20 million base salary, Martin also received $22.57 million from box office revenue sharing and $19.67 million from DVD and television rights revenue sharing. Martin accomplished the feat of earning over $60 million from a single film. Similarly, on "The Martian," just Martin's salary plus box office revenue sharing alone surpassed $50 million. However, the distributor Disney Studios was still collecting payments from various North American cinema chains, and this income wouldn't reach Martin's account until at least the middle of this year. In 2011, Martin's income as an actor exceeded $100 million for the first time. On the latest annual Hollywood celebrity income list published by "People" magazine, Martin ranked first with $115 million! Although most of the income hadn't yet been received, Martin had already planned where it would go, aside from investments, he was ready to buy a yacht. This was something he had previously promised Elizabeth Olsen. However, Elizabeth had changed her mind. "We are both in stages of developing our careers, and the number of times we can go out to sea each year is limited. Buying a yacht would mostly leave it idle, just rusting away at the dock." In the living room, Elizabeth was lying on Martin's lap and looked up, just as Lily, who was resting on Martin's shoulder, let a long strand of her hair dangle down. Elizabeth reached out to play with it and said, "After looking at yacht advertisements these past two months, I think it's not a necessity for us at this stage. It would be better to buy a private plane instead." Lily grabbed Elizabeth's fingers and pressed them onto Martin, declaring, "Liz travels frequently for business, I'm always attending art exhibitions and lectures, and Martin, you have to run around for plenty of engagements every year. A private plane would be more practical." Indeed, at this stage, a private plane was more useful, and Martin heeded the advice: "You two pick out a suitable one and place the order directly." Elizabeth asked, "Do you have any specific requirements?" Lily chuckled, "It would be great if we could play poker in the sky." Martin was more serious, "It must be able to fly international routes... um, and it should have a private space." "Alright," Elizabeth acknowledged, but the thought of enjoying a flight soaring through the sky intrigued her. The three of them discussed which brand to buy next. First-rate brands like Bombardier, Gulfstream, Thales, and Falcon were the top choices. As for Lily's wild suggestion of purchasing a Boeing 737 to modify, Martin wasn't quite that extravagant yet. Mentioning planes, Martin remembered something. It seemed to him that Ukraine had some of the biggest planes in the world, but their exact name escaped him. He wondered if he could acquire one when the global village chief came online. Glancing at the time, Lily got up from Martin, pulled Elizabeth along, and said, "Come on, accompany me to work." Elizabeth inquired, "You practice every day?" "Of course," Lily said as she got her clothes in order. "If I don't practice each day, my skills will become rusty. Sculpting requires long-term dedication. I don't want to be an artist who is purely hyped up by the commercial world. I need to have real skills on my hands." Elizabeth smiled sweetly but the words she uttered were anything but sweet: "How did you train your fingers to be so flexible? That bastard Martin can't last very long." Lily spread her fingers and grasped onto them, "Because I started observing secretly seven or eight years ago, understanding Martin's characteristics. With one grasp, I can pinpoint his weakness." Elizabeth understood the meaning of her words and knew that Lily had an older sister; before coming to Atlanta, one of Lily's major hobbies was peeping. Lily leaned in and asked, "Liz, do you want your fingers to be more flexible?" Elizabeth stuck out her tongue and licked her slightly dry lips, letting the show-off Lily know that in certain aspects, she was way better than her. Lily forcefully dragged someone along, "Let's go quickly, accompany me to work! We agreed, no one can cheat." The two of them went to the studio, Martin had things to take care of too, and soon left the house to meet the lawyer Hamlin in Burbank. The latter was in charge of Martin's lawsuit against Warner Bros. One month had passed since the lawyer's letter was sent, and Warner Bros. still showed no intention of paying the 2011 annual profits to dozens of people, including Martin and Nolan. A few days ago, Warner Bros.' attorney met with several lawyers for the first external negotiation, where Warner Bros. suggested a plan to postpone the payment to July, at which point, in addition to the original sum, Warner would also pay interest at the bank rate. As expected, the negotiations broke down. Martin's demand was simple and the same as the others, "Apart from interest, there also must be penalties for breach of contract and late fees, all in accordance with what's stipulated in the contract." Hamlin said, "I understand, leave it to me." He didn't stay long and soon took his leave. Afterward, Martin went to the Disney Studio, where the studio for the new project "Prince of Thieves" had already been established, and Graham and Louise were there preparing for the film. Louise, who was in the studio, saw Martin and said, "The director you recommended, Denis Villeneuve, is not bad. After Graham and I interviewed him, he said he would shoot a few minutes of footage according to the script to prove he's fit to direct this project." Martin asked, "How long will it take?" "At most a week," Louise said simply. "Of all the directors we interviewed, I personally feel he is the most suitable. He has studied the script thoroughly, and taking into account your base compensation of 20 million US dollars, the film can be completed with 50 to 60 million US dollars." Martin nodded, "Our budget is sufficient, funding is not an issue." Davis Studio, Pacific Pictures, and GK Films were jointly producing the movie, with additional investment from Martin's side and from South Korea's Wu Maoting. Louise said, "If the footage Villeneuve produces passes our evaluation, Graham will directly negotiate the contract with his agent, and this project can be fully underway in ten days." She paused slightly, "My main focus is still on 'La La Land', where we also need to choose a director. Disney Studios has extensive experience producing musical films and recommended several director candidates, whom I will meet with one by one next week." Martin sighed, "Musicals are truly a hassle to prepare." "Mainly because musical films are a niche within a niche," Louise adjusted her black-rimmed glasses upwards. "There are not many professionals left in this field." She reminded Martin, "After the choreography is in place, you need to start professional training, and you also need to start practicing the piano." Martin had privately been learning piano with Sebastian, but he was only just beyond the basics, "Sebastian will also be my piano teacher." Whether it was dance or piano, both were quite a hassle. But Martin was sufficiently dedicated, refusing to use a body double, and would personally take the stage when the time came. His work as an actor was essentially set, he would star in "Interstellar," "John Wick: Chapter 3," "La La Land," and "Prince of Thieves." The shooting schedule was easy to adjust. Besides Nolan's "Interstellar," the other three films were all financed and produced by Davis Studio, and the film crews could completely coordinate with Martin's availability. The two of them discussed some matters related to Warner Bros. Louise, having worked with Warner Bros. for many years, had particularly good Intel, "The several new films from last year, due to lackluster box office and reception, have indeed slowed down Warner's repayment pace, but there shouldn't be this issue with old films, Warner is stalling on your profits, because Jon Berg has misappropriated the money." Martin speculated, "Jon Berg wouldn't have misappropriated the money for new film production, would he?" "He allotted additional funds to 'Jack the Giant Slayer,'" Louise explained. "Didn't he create a unique post-editing mode? Every cut of editing, assembling expert review teams, all of these require substantial funding, and the original budget was not enough, necessitating additional funding." Martin asked, "If this blockbuster fails, will Jon Berg be the primary person responsible?" "Yes," Louise stated. "In case of failure, even if Jon Berg is Kevin Tsujihara's brother-in-law, he cannot escape accountability. Kevin Tsujihara might be able to quell dissent within the Warner Bros. board, but there's still Time Warner Group to consider." Martin nodded and asked, "I remember 'Jack the Giant Slayer' is set to premiere at the start of the summer season?" After thinking for a moment, Louise replied, "Mid-May, and there seems to be no other blockbuster of the same scale either the week before or after." Martin didn't hide his feelings, saying bluntly, "I hope he fails." The "La La Land" crew had hired a piano teacher specifically for Martin, and once the choreography was ready, he would also need to come to the set regularly for dance practice. Taking advantage of the buzz created by the Oscars, Disney Studios officially started promoting "The Martian" for DVD release. In Ridley Scott's absence due to his busy schedule with "Prometheus," Martin was involved in the promotion of the DVD. After all, the DVD sales not only affected Davis Studio's income but were also closely linked to his back-end profits.