Domination in America, Starting from being a Boxing Champion-Chapter 786 - 568: End of the Summer Blockbuster Season

July and August are the hottest months in Los Angeles, with outdoor temperatures soaring above 35 degrees Celsius.

Due to the arid air, since May, there have been 9 forest fires in the southern region, with over 30,000 residents evacuated. The closest one to Half Mountain Villa was in Angeles National Forest, with thick smoke billowing from San Gabriel to the Santa Monica Mountains.

The weather is too dry, and with no urgent work to complete, Link has been in a state of recuperation since returning from Rio, focusing on his daily essential training and taking care of the three kids the rest of the time.

Under his careful care, according to Taylor, the three kids have become more mischievous and disobedient, sometimes making her feel an irresistible urge to hit someone.

As she couldn't bring herself to strike the little ones, Link became her outlet for frustration, even biting and punching him in bed when she suddenly got mad.

If hit by a man, he would retaliate with his fists and knock out the opponent, but when hit by his woman, he couldn't respond with punches and had to find other ways to retaliate.

Now a heavyweight, weighing over 90 kilograms and more robust and fierce, his attack and damage power are greater than when he was a light heavyweight. Even Taylor, who is very competitive and hates to lose, wouldn't dare to provoke him heedlessly.

The same goes for Ivanka, but she is a gentle woman who chooses to yield when it's wise to do so, turning steel into softness around her finger, making one reluctant to bully her. In contrast, Taylor's spirit would still be fighting even if she were knocked out.

Sometimes Link teases that Taylor should train in boxing, as with her never-say-die attitude, she might even win the Golden Belt.

Taylor scoffs at this, claiming she is a cultured young woman who disdains physical confrontation and mocks him as a beast who only enjoys brawling.

Link argues that a male's nature is to revel in combat; only those who emerge victorious from battles can claim status, food, and mating rights within their group — and everything he owns now has been fought for.

Taylor doesn't agree with his view but doesn't argue either, just snorts, wrinkles her nose, and turns to tell Alexander to behave and not cause trouble.

Alexander, disobedient, sprays water from his toy gun onto her skirt and runs away.

Infuriated, Taylor picks up a bigger toy water gun and chases after him, shouting that she will obliterate this ungrateful son.

Cynthia and little Margarita laugh out loud and scuttle after her to assist, Alexander, sensing trouble, hides behind Link, clutching his little head.

Link sternly tells the little guy to face problems bravely as running away never solves anything, then he lifts Alexander as a shield, blocking the incoming water and counterattacks with Alexander's water gun, forcing the big and two little ones to run about the lawn.

Though winning the water fight, he later receives a severe scolding from Taylor, who then forbids the kids from playing with water guns anymore, fearing they'll grow to fancy real guns, which is too dangerous.

Link feels she's fretting too much as a mother, bordering on anxiety.

After playing with the kids for a few days, Taylor then heads back to the studio to continue producing her new album "1989," set to release in October.

This album includes five songs written by Link, hit tracks that were absent from her previous albums. Taylor initially didn't like them, but the company's producer thought highly of their quality and fit for her, feeling it would be a waste for someone else to sing them.

After considering it, Taylor reluctantly accepted. She initially rejected them not wanting people to think Link's songs were better than hers, but later agreed to prevent songs written for her by Link from being performed by others.

Women's thoughts are really complex.

During his time at home as a stay-at-home dad, Link also visits the recovering Paul Walker.

After half a year of treatment and rest, Paul's health has almost fully recovered, and his skin burns are nearly healed, except his left knee is seriously damaged and still confines him to a wheelchair. As for driving, he now struggles to breathe and turns pale just sitting in a car, an after-effect of his car accident requiring long-term psychological counseling.

Paul's injury also significantly affected the shooting of "Fast & Furious 7." They considered using Paul's brother as a temporary replacement, but the outcome was mediocre, so the crew had to wait for his recovery to reshoot.

"Link, be careful when you drive from now on, especially after drinking or doing drugs, never get behind the wheel."

Paul Walker sat in his wheelchair on the grass, patting his leg as he spoke.

"Okay, although I don't drink heavily or do drugs, I'll take your advice."

Link shrugged.

"You're right, sometimes I really admire you. No matter how much money you have or how famous you are, you never let yourself indulge in excesses, well, except when it comes to women."

"If you hadn't added that last bit, I would gladly accept your praise."

Link shook his head.

——

By early August, Link left home to join the cast of "The Expendables 3," shooting his last film of the year.

The third installment of The Expendables centers on veteran mercenaries Stallone and Schwarzenegger retiring, while Link and Scarlett Johansson's new team of Expendables face unprecedented challenges. Their adversaries this time are their former comrades-in-arms, old mercenaries, and arms dealers, led by Stone Banks.

The opposing side also boasted an elite mercenary force numbering in the hundreds, well-equipped with an array of high-tech weapons, and fiercely combative in strength.

Under the guidance of Stallone and Schwarzenegger, Link and Scarlett recruited newer and stronger high-tech combatants, swapped for advanced technology gear, and engaged the rival mercenary team in a life-and-death battle, eventually capturing the arch-villain Stone Banks.

Link also earned the recognition of his team members during the battle, becoming the true leader of The Expendables.

This film had a production budget of a whopping 120 million US Dollars, with production companies such as Lionsgate Films, Millennium Films, and Wanda Film Industry involved. In addition to Link and Scarlett Johansson, the cast included Jason Statham, Jet Li, Dolph Lundgren, Antonio Banderas, Harrison Ford, Alice Lee, Suzy Bae, and the villainous big boss was portrayed by Oscar Best Actor Mel Gibson.

The film was primarily shot in the United States, Egypt, and Bulgaria, with Link having no choice but to follow the crew all over the place.

"First scene, first take, action!"

Filming began, with Link donning a cool-looking mercenary outfit, brandishing a Heckler & Koch G36 assault rifle, and leading a dozen team members to wreak havoc on set.

During shooting, Lionsgate's tenth movie "John Wick" and the eleventh movie "Black Crazy Woman 4" were successively released.

"John Wick" is an action movie starring Keanu Reeves, telling the story of a top assassin who, after retirement, is troubled by a group of mobs who break into his home, steal his vintage Ford car, and incidentally kill his deceased wife's dog.

To avenge his beloved pet, he makes his way to New York and kills the gang of thugs, only to find out that the gang leader's father is a ruthless Russian mobster. To take revenge for his son, the Russian mob boss hires the protagonist's former teammates to assassinate him, but in the end, his teammates betray the boss and help the protagonist kill the mob boss.

The protagonist successfully avenges his dog and reclaims his vintage car. freeweɓnovēl.coɱ

After release, many moviegoers humorously referred to it as 'a massacre caused by a dog'; in the movie, the protagonist kills over a hundred people for the sake of avenging his dog.

However, this film was adapted from real news reports; in `09, former Navy SEAL Mark Luttrell was robbed by several men who also killed his dog DASY. To avenge his dog, Luttrell took up arms, pursued the men by car, and ended up sending them to prison on his own.

The film was released in mid-July, earning an opening weekend box office of 19.53 million US Dollars, with a North American box office total of 44.93 million US Dollars after a month. International earnings were not far behind, with a collection of 45.3 million US Dollars in over 60 countries and regions within the first month.

With a production cost of 20 million US Dollars, the movie enjoyed a 4:1 profit margin and was Keanu Reeves' highest-grossing film since "The Matrix" series. This film also temporarily freed Keanu Reeves from being labeled a box office poison.

The eleventh movie "Black Crazy Woman 4" continued the vulgar and comedic style of black humor from the previous three installments, with average film quality but a good market among black moviegoers.

The film premiered in mid-August, debuting with an opening weekend box office of 21.47 million US Dollars and ranking third in weekly box office earnings.

The weekly box office champion was the concurrently released "Guardians of the Galaxy" by Disney, with an opening weekend box office of 134 million US Dollars. In second place was "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Age of Extinction," which had been released the previous week and earned 38.74 million US Dollars this week, totaling 128 million US Dollars.

During the release of "Black Crazy Woman 4," Lionsgate's eighth and ninth movie box office results were also announced.

"The Neighbor" had been out for over two months, garnering 158 million US Dollars in the North American box office and 134 million internationally, totaling 292 million US Dollars. Compared to a production budget of 18 million, this was a result far beyond expectations and was Lionsgate's highest-grossing film to date, after "Divergent" and "The Millers."

The ninth movie, "Step Up: All In," after a month and a half of release, earned 28.12 million US Dollars in the North American box office and 78.5 million internationally, achieving a total of 105 million US Dollars.

Relative to a production cost of 15 million, the earning ratio reached 6:1, deeming it a highly successful film.

Three weeks after the release of "Black Crazy Woman 4," the North American box office reached 52.21 million US Dollars, with international earnings of 8.74 million. With a production cost of 16 million, the film remained profitable and became one of Lionsgate's most vital film series.

By September, the summer box office closure, entertainment media began summarizing this year's summer box office situation, as well as the performance of major film companies.

This summer season, Lionsgate released six films: "Ender's Game," "Divergent: Insurgent," "The Neighbor," "Step Up: All In," "John Wick," and "Black Crazy Woman 4."

Altogether, they amassed 510 million US Dollars in North American ticket sales.

Including the five movies released before May - "Snowpiercer," "Escape From Planet Earth," "Fatal Call," "The Millers," and "The Grand Budapest Hotel" - the total North American box office was 450 million.

Before September, Lionsgate released 11 films, with four surpassing the hundred million marks in North American box office earnings, nine exceeding 50 million, totaling 960 million US Dollars in North America, with a global total of about 2.3 billion US Dollars.

This ranked them second among the new Big Six Studios.

First place was taken by Disney Pictures, which to date had released 9 films, including "Guardians of the Galaxy," "Captain America: The Winter Soldier," "Planes: Fire & Rescue," with total North American earnings of 1.02 billion US Dollars.

Lionsgate was just slightly behind Disney.

However, given that Lionsgate's highly anticipated "The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1" had yet to be released, along with Link's "Gone Girl" and last year's delayed "American Hustle."

The Hollywood Reporter believes there is a strong chance Lionsgate could surpass Disney and ascend to the throne of 2014's highest total box office revenue, as for the first time in history, one of the Big Six Studios would be outdone in annual box office earnings by another film company, especially one that has been established for less than 20 years.

The Los Angeles Times also praised Lionsgate for being a film company bursting with creative vigor, continuously producing excellent films, and for being a weathervane of the Hollywood film industry.

These laudatory reports were partly driven by spontaneous media coverage and partly crafted by Lionsgate's public relations, aiming to bolster Lionsgate's influence and appeal in the film industry and solidify its position among the 'new Big Seven.'