America Tycoon: The Wolf of Showbiz

Compared to Johnny Depp's pettiness, Martin was absolutely magnanimous. On the day "Lone Ranger" premiered in North America, he bought two movie tickets, taking Bruce along to support Depp. If Lily and Elizabeth hadn't gone on a business trip to Europe, he said he would have bought four, or even five tickets. After all, he couldn't let Bruce be the only single guy there. Beverly Hills, Floyce Cinema. Dressed in disguise, Martin and Bruce got out of the Chevrolet and entered the cinema at a leisurely pace. Martin wore broad-rimmed glasses and a long wig, along with a fake beard, completely changing his appearance. At the entrance of the cinema, possibly to avoid a series of negative impacts from Johnny Depp, the main poster of "Lone Ranger" had changed from showing only Depp to featuring both Depp and Amy Hammer. Depp's character looked bizarre and eccentric, akin to an Indian version of Captain Jack Sparrow. Originally, Megan Ellison and Jerry Bruckheimer had planned to make "Lone Ranger" into a new "Pirates of the Caribbean" series. Martin hadn't been in touch with these two people recently, and he didn't know if the bigwigs' thoughts had changed after all that had happened with Johnny Depp. Bruce glanced at Depp and said, "This guy's characters are never normal people." Martin replied, "Normal people play roles like mine." The two entered the cinema, Bruce went to buy the tickets. There weren't many people in the ticket hall, and there was no need to queue up to buy "Lone Ranger" tickets. Bruce picked up the tickets and met up with Martin inside the screening room. In a theater capable of seating over two hundred people, it was very sparse with just a handful of viewers. Martin chose the last row where he could get a clear view of the entire theater, and after a quick glance, there seemed to be less than ten people. Bruce said, "The turnout seems to be even worse than Alexandrovich's 'Napoleon the Great'." That comedy had not been shown in more than 1000 theaters in North America at its peak. "Lone Ranger," however, premiered simultaneously in 3945 theaters. Martin recalled, "After the premiere, it seemed like a lot of media and film critics praised the movie." "Probably the same as us," Bruce said, highlighting another aspect, "Depp's reputation has been super bad in the media and on the internet in recent times." Martin was aware too that, apart from the long-standing rumors of alcohol, drugs, diva behavior, tardiness, and absenteeism, some gossip magazines and online sources were starting to circulate rumors of domestic violence by Depp after arguments with Amber Heard. Although Depp had formally refuted these claims, Amber Heard had yet to speak out. Martin knew very well that this was Musk up to his tricks. The lights on the ceiling of the cinema dimmed, the big screen lit up, and "Lone Ranger" began to play. After watching the opening, Bruce specifically paid attention to the audience and whispered after surveying the room, "Including us, it's still less than ten people." Martin pointed at the screen, "Watch the movie." The director of "Lone Ranger" was Gore Verbinski, who had directed the "Pirates of the Caribbean" trilogy, the production team was from the top-notch crew of Jerry Bruckheimer, the lead actor was the famously renowned Johnny Depp, and even the lead character's setup was exceptionally in line with Depp's personal eccentric style. From every angle, the film had all the necessary elements for success. Though Megan Ellison had only been in Hollywood for a few years, she wasn't dumb at all; the fact that she was willing to spend 250 million US Dollars on production was crucial. Of course, all these key factors were delivered by Martin based on some memories from his past life, specially offered up to Megan Ellison. Martin had specifically negotiated copyright permissions with Disney Studios and deliberately caused Davis Studio to compete for Depp's participation while pretending to hire Jerry Bruckheimer as the producer, presenting Megan Ellison with a ripe and seemingly guaranteed successful project. As a result, Megan Ellison didn't hesitate to snatch the project, invest heavily, and copy the homework. Frankly speaking, the film wasn't super terrible, and even among Jerry Bruckheimer's past box-office hits, it wouldn't be considered the lowest standard. It's fair to say that Jerry Bruckheimer maintained the film's baseline quality. But going into this movie with the expectation for something like "Pirates of the Caribbean" was bound to lead to disappointment. A couple sitting a few rows in front of Martin left the theater less than halfway into the movie. Martin persevered a bit longer and repeatedly checked his phone for the time, finally, after nearly an hour and a half, he ran out of patience and said to Bruce, "Let's go." Bruce had been busy scrolling through Twitter, chatting with three people at the same time. Martin noticed, "Old Cloth, you're flirting with Kim, Cohler, and Jody all at the same time. That's just immoral." Bruce gave up completely, "Being a fallen playboy comes with no guilt." Martin left the cinema, got into the car, removed his wig and false beard, and said, "This movie is a flop for sure." Bruce agreed, "I'm an audience with a fairly high tolerance for bad movies, but I was bored to death, not even God could save this film." Before the car started, Martin received a call from Max. The chubby white guy laughed loudly on the phone, "What the hell is Depp's new movie? Such a crap film, and those critics and media have the nerve to praise it? Even going as far as to call it a Western version of 'Pirates of the Caribbean?' Who gave them the courage to publish such rubbish?" "Of course, it was Franklin," Martin said. "Right," Musk thought it made sense, "Only Franklin could make them lie with their eyes open, but crap is crap, no amount of hype will help, especially when Depp's recent reputation and reviews are super bad." He asked Martin, "When do I launch?" After some thought, Martin said, "Wait until the North American box office for the first week is released. Once the numbers for the first week come out and if they are favorable, investors, producers, and distributors will all abandon Depp. At that time, whatever you do will be much easier." "When it comes to this, you're the teacher, and I'll listen to you," Musk said. ...… As "Lone Ranger" premiered in nearly 4,000 cinemas across North America, the previously well-crafted decent reputation of the film collapsed instantly. Rotten Tomatoes freshness level plummeted from fresh to rotten, dropping from 82% down to 41%. On Friday night, online ratings on IMDB tanked from 8.4 to 6.2, and negative reviews flooded from websites to social media like a constant Pacific sea breeze. "This movie is just a long, stinky farce." "So boring, I left the theater early for the first time this year." "'Lone Ranger' is as bad as Depp himself. A crappy person making a crappy movie, a perfect match!" "I'm at the cinema watching 'Lone Ranger,' and the bad news is that the film has only been on for 30 minutes, but I couldn't help pulling out my phone to scroll through Twitter. The good news is that I've decided to leave early!" "Seeing Depp totally breaks immersion. What kind of character is that? It's clearly just the captain who has come to the American West. I can't get into it at all." "Depp's character is too bad, all contrived, I'm really fed up with him!" The wave of negative reviews for "Lone Ranger" further contributed to the collapse of Depp's personal reputation. "Depp's off-screen persona has fallen apart, I was hoping he could make up for it with his film roles, but turns out the character is as bad as the person." "I've seen 'Transcendence' and 'Lone Ranger.' I can declare that Depp is stuck in his Pirates of the Caribbean role, and what's worse, his messy personal life is only going to drag his acting career further down." "For all the crap Depp has done, the flop of 'Lone Ranger' is the result he deserves!" Although a few of Depp's fan organizations claimed they would support by buying tickets no matter what his real-life situation, these devoted fans alone couldn't support the market of a major production movie. Besides, it's really hard to say how many of them actually bought tickets. Because the attendance rate for "Lone Ranger" was really poor. On Friday night, most of the cinemas showing "Lone Ranger" had only about ten audience members who bought tickets. ...… At the top of the Columbia Tower, Johnny Depp – not needing to participate in "Lone Ranger" promotion – partied with drinking and drugs with his flunkies and pals, as if the financial crisis didn't exist, as if his starring movie had already been a box office hit. Amber Heard stood on the balcony, blowing in the night wind as she looked over the nighttime scenery of Los Angeles, occasionally glancing at the window from which noisy sounds came, almost with disgust written on her face. She checked the watch that sweet Musk had given her, then picked up a "Lone Ranger" poster. The film's online reputation was terrible, and social media like Twitter was full of criticism. If the film's reputation is finished, how good can the box office results be? Amber wanted to see the box office figures before she decided her next move. After waiting a while longer, a text message alert lit up her phone. Her agent had sent her the latest data. Amber quickly opened the message and saw the box office stats for "Lone Ranger." On its first day of release in North America, across nearly 4,000 cinemas, it only made 7.56 million US dollars in box office revenue. Amber breathed a sigh of relief, also breaking off her last lingering thoughts about Depp – the movie was a box office disaster! Her husband Johnny Depp was done for too! This drunkard, drug-addict facing a financial crisis, he was utterly unworthy of a young and beautiful top beauty like her. Amber left the balcony, crossed the long corridor, burst into the banquet hall where Depp was partying, and yanked Depp's arm, dragging him out. "Darling, what are you trying to do? You're in such a hurry today?" Depp said. After dragging him out, Amber slammed the door shut, grabbed a bottle of ice water from the fridge, and threw it to Depp, "Drink some water, sober up. Your movie that's in theaters is a disaster! You're damned ruined!" Depp twisted the cap off, took a sip, "Just one film flopped. I'm not short of film offers." "Get a hold of yourself!" Amber wanted to infuriate Depp, "You useless man, you lost to Martin Davis!" Upon hearing the name Martin, Depp glared angrily, but after looking at Amber for a while, he turned and re-entered the room of revelry. "Spineless man!" Amber was angry, muttering, "He's such a wimp that he doesn't even dare to commit domestic violence!"