Domination in America, Starting from being a Boxing Champion-Chapter 559 - 429: New Movie Project

"Link, what's the situation with you and Harvey? I heard back in March you guys had a fallout, Harvey threatened to blackball you, and in April, the news said you were preparing to use a movie to compete for the box office, creating a lot of tension. How come you're suddenly working together on a film now?"

Under the palm tree, Joaquin didn't sit on a chair but simply leaned against the trunk, stretching out his legs as he asked.

When the others heard Joaquin bring up this topic, they also stopped talking, looking over curiously.

"The fallout is true, if Harvey hadn't meddled in the casting of 'The Hunger Games,' I wouldn't have spent the money to buy Lionsgate."

Link lay on the lounge chair, massaging his fingers as he spoke.

"Link, it's really crazy that you bought Lionsgate Films for Jennifer Lawrence."

James Franco exclaimed in admiration.

"Hey, everyone, please allow me to introduce, this is the world-famous playboy, oh no, I mean the lover, Mr. Link Baker. For his rumored girlfriend, he spent a whopping eight hundred million US dollars to buy Lionsgate Films! He's truly a romantic. We should all learn from him, get a few more girlfriends."

Paul Walker patted Link's shoulder, exclaiming in an exaggerated tone.

Everyone laughed.

Link shook his head and continued to Joaquin, "The collaboration is real. Bob took the initiative to approach me, asking to participate in the investment of 'The Master,' and I didn't object."

At first, he thought it was Harvey and Bob's idea.

Latter, when signing the contract, Bob invested in the name of Empire Pictures, not Weinstein Company, and Harvey was not involved at all.

But it didn't matter.

The Weinstein brothers are one and the same, and when Bob requested a collaboration, everyone in the film circle thought he and Harvey had reconciled.

"Link, it's better for you to collaborate with the Weinstein brothers than to have conflicts. One's a rising star and the other's an established mogul. If you two invest in films together, you're bound to produce many hits that are praised and profitable," Joaquin Phoenix commented.

The others nodded in agreement.

Link was the owner of Lionsgate Films, with a net worth of over two billion, richer than the Weinstein brothers and quite famous.

The Weinstein brothers had authority in the independent film realm, deep connections, and good production and distribution capabilities; they were the best at pushing for Oscars.

If these two parties joined forces, it would definitely be the perfect combination, and there was a great chance they could beat the big six studios in movies.

But Link knew that was impossible.

Let's not even talk about political stances.

He and Harvey were owners of major independent production companies and were in competition. The most important thing was that Harvey had too many issues, and getting too close to him could mean getting caught up in the backlash when the time for accountability came.

Just like Epstein, after he died, everyone he had contact with was treated as an accomplice without exception.

This content is taken from freeweɓnovel.cѳm.

Link didn't mind being labeled a "scumbag" or "playboy," but he didn't want to be a criminal.

"Link, actually you don't need to compete with Harvey. You're over thirty years younger than him. In ten years he'll be retiring, and by then all of Hollywood could be yours," James Franco joked.

"You have a point."

Link laughed lightly.

"Hey, Link!"

While they chatted, Ben Affleck, Casey's brother, walked over from a path through the coconut grove.

Dressed in neat casual attire, standing at 192 cm tall and handsome, he made Casey, who was only 174 cm tall with average looks, appear quite ordinary in comparison.

If it were not for the fact that both of them bore the surname Affleck, it would have been difficult to tell that they were brothers based on their appearance alone.

Following beside him was a tall woman, his wife Jennifer Garner, with whom Link had worked on "Valentine's Day".

After Ben Affleck sat down, he took a few sips of beer and initiated a conversation with Link about movies.

Ben Affleck mentioned that he had a new script in his hands, which was adapted from the Iran hostage crisis.

The script was about the crisis in which six American diplomats and civilians were held hostage for 444 days, and during that time, a CIA operative skilled in disguise, Tony Mendez, pretended to be a film director going to Iran to shoot a movie, successfully extracting the hostages stuck in the Iranian embassy from Iran.

Upon hearing this story, Link recalled that this movie must be "Argo", directed and starred by Ben Affleck himself, which had won the Best Picture at the Oscars.

Ben Affleck asked him if he was interested in the story and hoped they could collaborate.

"Ben, isn't your movie supposed to be in collaboration with Warner Bros. Pictures?"

Joaquin Phoenix asked.

Ben Affleck shrugged his shoulders and turned to Link, asking, "I heard 'Bridesmaids' made around one hundred and forty-five million in North America box office, is that true?"

Others also looked towards Link, curious about such gossip which they had all heard; having finally encountered Link, the involved party, they were not willing to let the opportunity pass easily.

"Almost, I'm not too clear on the specifics."

Link said.

"That's amazing, if the North American box office reached 150 million US dollars, then globally the movie must have made over 300 million, a tenfold profit."

Cassie said enviously.

Ben Affleck nodded his head and continued to explain the preparations for "Argo" to Link.

The movie had a budget of 45 million, and currently, three production companies were involved: George Clooney's Smokehouse Pictures, Graham King Films, and Ben Affleck's own production studio, all three of which had raised 30 million US dollars for production costs.

Initially, he was planning to continue his collaboration with Warner Bros. Pictures; last year's "The Town" had a satisfactory partnership despite average box office performance, but received good reviews.

Nevertheless, Affleck hesitated after issues of box office embezzlement surfaced at Warner Bros. Pictures.

With a production cost of 37 million for "The Town" and a global box office of 121 million US dollars, he had initially thought the figures were decent, but now felt there might be a problem.

Given the film's good reception, the box office numbers should have been higher, perhaps around 200 million US dollars.

The second person Ben Affleck thought of was Harvey.

Regrettably, The Weinstein Company had limited funds; they had recently invested 10 million into "The Master" and had already allocated their remaining resources, rendering them unable to contribute 15 million dollars for investment at this stage.

After seeking Harvey out three times and realizing The Weinstein Company genuinely didn't have the funds, he had no choice but to search for new investors.

Upon seeing Link there, his wife Jennifer Garner suggested he try his luck; since the Weinstein brothers had invested in "The Master" at Palm Beach, it indicated reconciliation, and there was no need to worry about offending Harvey by partnering with Link.

Ben Affleck heeded her advice and approached Link for a chat.

When Accleck approached him for investment, Link neither refused nor immediately agreed.

Next year, Lionsgate Films was set to produce several movies: "The Hunger Games", "Moneyball", "The Expendables 2", "The Vow", along with eight horror film projects including "The Evil Invasion", "Matriarch", and "Texas Chainsaw 3D", totaling a production budget surpassing three hundred million US dollars.

Investing in additional movies would exceed the budget, leading to a potential cash flow issue for the company.

He needed to go back and discuss it with Ivanka and others before deciding.

"Now that we've discussed serious matters, let's go play some volleyball,"

Paul Walker called out.