NOVPUBDecisions as I go, to anywhere I flow
Say I'd go just like that, in the waves of time
Sometimes I believe, at times I'm rational
Sometimes I believe, staying calm is truth
I can fly high, I can go low
I can soar high, or sink deep
Today I got a billion. Tomorrow, I don't know
Today I'm worth billions, tomorrow fate is unknown
...
In early September, Link released a new single "Reality" on Spotify without any promotion, it garnered 3.35 million plays globally on the first day and reached a staggering 52.21 billion plays globally in the first week.
Even without promoting, the single saw 1.31 million paid high-quality downloads in the United States alone, easily hitting number one on the Billboard charts.
It also topped the music charts in 32 countries including Canada, Britain, Belgium, Australia, Japan, and South Korea.
After hearing the song, fans commented on his Twitter and Facebook saying one song wasn't enough and craved more, urging him to release additional tracks.
Among the commenting fans were hundreds of well-known actors and singers, including Lady Gaga, Adele, Britney, Madonna, Lana Del Rey, etc., all proclaiming to be his fans and liking his songs, even rallying others to pay for the song to encourage Link to create more music.
This led to a surge in the second-week play count to 156 million, with one-tenth being premium subscribers.
Link tweeted that his next piece would be pure music, a symphony, currently in production aiming for a release of both audio and MV version before Christmas.
Fans expressed their great anticipation.
After holding the top spot on the singles chart for two consecutive weeks with "Reality," Link called Taylor, sighing that there were no real competitors in the music scene nowadays, claiming that winning the number-one spot on the charts was easier than eating spaghetti.
Taylor scolded him not to get too cocky, promising to write a few songs next time to defeat him.
Link just smiled, reminding her of their previous agreement - a date for each chart-topping single.
Taylor called him a pervert.
Just for fun, Link created a new account on Spotify at the beginning of the year, releasing some songs sung in a new style; initially imitating his songs, he garnered tens of thousands of fans on Spotify.
Starting in August, he began releasing some of his own songs that were not selected for the album, totaling 22 songs.
The most played currently has over 1.2 million plays, which is higher than many third-tier singers' main singles.
Some record label scouts also left messages hoping to sign him and help him release an album.
Some fans mentioned that his voice resembled Link's, suggesting he participate in " The Voice of America" or an impersonation show, as many singers blowing up by imitating Link's style could be a path for him too.
Link, secretly proud, responded in the comments, saying he just wanted to quietly sing songs, not yet wishing to become famous.
Besides singing and recording, he shot some boxing instructional videos during his holidays and posted them on Netflix and Youtube. The teaching took place at West's Boxing Gym, targeted at apprentice boxers, comprising 12 classes, each 45 minutes long.
The first-week play of the initial video reached 12.9 million, becoming the fastest boxing tutorial video to hit ten million views.
He filmed these as a means to promote the sport of boxing; now with his fame, it is easier than before.
"Link, you're amazing. Just posting a video and it hits over ten million views,"
James, in the diving shop, said while watching the video on his phone.
"This isn't just any video; it's a well-designed, high-quality video."
Link responded, lounging in the chair.
The tutorial videos had a dedicated script, coaching teams assisting on-site, and professional teams for filming, editing, set design, and prop management.
The twelve instructional videos cost over 800 thousand US Dollars.
Only because he wasn't short on cash, he didn't set it up as pay-to-watch.
"Link, you're now a global superstar, a billionaire, fuck, I never dreamed I'd ever speak to a billionaire in my life, okay, so I have to ask, how does it feel? To become a superstar and a wealthy tycoon?"
James asked, blinking his small eyes.
"That's obvious, being a billionaire of course feels great, would being rich feel bad?"
Danny laughed.
"That's not necessarily true, magazines say billionaires have their own set of problems, like feeling empty or becoming greedy and corrupt after getting money. Link, do you feel that way?"
James asked.
"No, my current worry is how to properly educate my children and live longer, I don't have other worries for now."
"See, I said Link has his worries too."
James laughed.
Danny shook his head, not arguing further.
Link lay under the canopy, looking out at the deep blue sea, azure sky, white sand beach, a few white seagulls flying past tall palm trees, the air tinged with a faint smell of seawater, feeling pretty good.
While the trio were chatting, several tourists came to rent diving equipment, and seeing Link, they excitedly shouted hoping to get his autograph.
Link didn't refuse, and even took a few photos with everyone.
Hearing that several tourists were planning to go scuba diving, Link also temporarily became a diving instructor and took two professional divers for a round under the sea.
Afterwards, the Miami Herald reported this event, which led many fans to visit baker's small shop for a check-in, unfortunately, Link was no longer there.
Link and Ivanka, along with their three children, lived in Miami for more than a month and returned to Los Angeles in early October.
During the September and October fall season, Lionsgate Films had four films publicly released: "Spring Breakers," "Dallas Buyers Club," "Mother Invasion," and "Insidious: Chapter 2."
"Spring Breakers," directed and written by Harmony Korine, starring James Franco, Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, and others, is a crime-themed film.
Produced by Annapurna Pictures and distributed by Lionsgate Films.
This film performed well at the Venice Film Festival in August and Toronto Film Festival in early September, being nominated for multiple awards.
The film, with a production cost of 5 million US Dollars, earned 14.12 million US Dollars in the North American box office through previews and public screenings, and currently, the overseas box office reached 12.08 million US Dollars.
It is a box-office success.
Annapurna Pictures and Lionsgate will take home tens of millions in profits.
"Dallas Buyers Club," directed by Jean-Marc Vallée, stars Matthew McConaughey, Jennifer Garner, Jared Leto, Rami Malek, and others.
The film tells the story of a homophobic Texas electrician named Ron Woodroof who was diagnosed with AIDS in 1986 in Dallas, USA. With the help of his friends, he established an underground organization called 'Dallas Buyers Club,' which provided more affordable medication and "unconventional treatments" for AIDS patients, and fought against the disease and the FDA (US Food and Drug Administration).
Similar to Huaxia's "Dying to Survive."
The film had a production cost of 5.5 million US Dollars.
Started with limited screenings in late September, in its first week in 9 theaters, it garnered a box office of 354,000 US Dollars, a relatively high level performance.
However, it received excellent reviews, with a media composite score of 92, 36 media outlets giving a score above 90, making it the best-reviewed film produced by Lionsgate this year.
A Rotten Tomatoes freshness rating of 95%, also the highest-rated film released this year.
Particularly, the performance of lead actor Matthew McConaughey received five-star praise from many critics.
He is also considered one of the most likely candidates to win next year's Oscars for Best Actor.
"Lionsgate Films is too strong this year, stronger than last year, and looking at this trend, next year's Oscars for Best Actor and Actress may be monopolized by films from Lionsgate."
Bob Weinstein commented while flipping through the newspaper.
Across from him, Harvey was silent and not talking; he had been busy producing a new film and barely followed the industry news. However, when he finally took a break and read the newspaper, the papers were still filled with good news about Link.
In the past, media had reported on Link's scandals, criticizing him as a scoundrel, but now such news was almost nonexistent in the newspapers.
Link seemed to have become a flawless public figure.
Regarding this situation, Harvey could only express helplessness; before last year, he and Link were on equal footing in Hollywood, but now Link had grown into a figure he too had to look up to.
Harvey gasped harshly, "Don't worry, Lionsgate Films has been too aggressive, severely impacting the Big Six's interests. They will not just watch Lionsgate swallowing the box office without doing anything. Once the Big Six take action, Lionsgate Films will definitely suffer a huge loss."
"Will the Big Six Studios take action? Paramount has already signed a cooperation agreement with Lionsgate Films, and Link is a shareholder of Fox Films' parent company, News Corporation. For Warner Disney and Universal Sony, it won't be easy to deal with Lionsgate Films."
Bob frowned.
Harvey clenched his fists, "No need to say more, this is the capital market. If the shareholders behind the Big Six Studios want to make money, they will definitely not continue to watch Link and Lionsgate Films swagger around. They will definitely take action, definitely, if not this year, then next year. I know their style."
"I hope you're right, if Lionsgate Films' movies continue to sell big, our company will suffer too."
Originally, the North American film industry was composed of the Big Six Studios and countless small production companies, with the Big Six acting like six big sharks, consuming nearly sixty percent of the box office share each year, leaving the smaller movie companies to feed on 'small fish and shrimp'.
The Weinstein Company is a leader in the independent filmmaking field, earning five to six hundred million in box office every year.
However, since the rise of Lionsgate Films, the 'New Big Seven' almost consumes seventy percent of the movie box office, squeezing companies like The Weinstein Company, Relativity Media, Legendary Pictures, and New Regency Productions, with their box office figures cut in half.
Not just the small movie companies, but the film box office of the Big Six Studios is also greatly affected.
Disney and Warner Bros. Pictures believe that during the summer season, if not for competing against Lionsgate Films' movies like "Now You See Me", "Identity Thief", "The Heat", "The Lone Ranger", "The Hangover", "After Earth", "Jack the Giant Slayer", "The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones", their box office results would have been much better.
Lionsgate Films' success could be said to be built upon trampling over their competitors' remains.
Based on his understanding of the industry, Bob was confident that the Big Six Studios would not stand idly by, but he was unsure when the Big Six would take action against Link, and how many would be willing to act.
He just hoped it would happen soon.
Affected by Lionsgate Films' movies, The Weinstein Company's box office performance this year was disastrous, with the North American box office of last year's end release "Django Unchained" making over a hundred million, while other films did not surpass sixty million.
The company also has nearly two hundred million in loans, with interest of tens of millions annually, and if continued delays occur, the company might go bankrupt in a couple of years.
The thought of the company going bankrupt and not being able to make money caused Bob great pain.
"Don't worry, Lionsgate Films won't be able to gloat for too long, definitely not."
Harvey kept repeating.
—
Bob and Harvey were right; their competitors indeed would not sit back and watch the rise of Lionsgate Films without doing anything, it did not suit the style of the capitalists on Wall Street.
Therefore, during the hot screening of "Dallas Buyers Club", numerous articles criticizing Lionsgate Films appeared in the media.
It was claimed that Lionsgate Films, originally a leader in the independent filmmaking domain, had gradually moved away from the independent film company route after becoming part of the 'New Big Seven', producing many low-quality movies, like "The Heat", "Identity Thief", and the "Crazy Black Woman" series among others.
The renowned film critic, David Bordwell, said that Lionsgate Films' movies were of two types: those catering to the audience, which were of poor quality, and those catering to the Oscar jury, made specifically for the judges to win awards.
While both types of films were not bad, they lacked the traits of independent films and were gradually moving away from the category of independent films.
Finally, David Bordwell summarized his review with one sentence: Lionsgate Films was turning from a 'Dragon Slayer' into an 'Evil Dragon'.
