Domination in America, Starting from being a Boxing Champion-Chapter 825 - 597: Lionsgate Golden Globes

By late December, Lionsgate Films had two more movie releases, namely "White House Butler" and "Carol".

"White House Butler" is adapted from a true story.

The movie tells the story of Eugene Allen, an African American who in 1952 became a food service manager and began working at the White House. During his 34 years of service, the White House saw eight different presidents, and Eugene Allen, with his serious and responsible work ethic, became the highly respected chief butler at the White House.

Directed by black director Daniels Lee, starring black Film Emperor Forest Whitaker, Robin Williams, James Marsden and others.

The film had a production cost of 30 million US Dollars and after previewing for a week, it was released in 2,933 North American theaters in the second week, earning 35.25 million US Dollars at the box office, recouping its budget in the first week, with decent results.

After 26 days of release, the North American box office broke 100 million, becoming the thirteenth film for Lionsgate Films in 2015 to cross 100 million at the North American box office.

Due to the film's subject matter, it had average performance overseas, earning over 34 million US Dollars box office in two weeks, with overseas box office projected to be around 60 million US Dollars.

Lionsgate Films' twenty-first film of the year, "Carol", was scheduled for release at the end of December. As an art-house film, it was also previewed in four theaters with moderate box office performance, projected to earn around 18 million US Dollars in the North American market.

The overseas market performed somewhat better, with the distribution starting in May and gradually earning a box office of 27.56 million US Dollars.

This film had a production cost of 25 million US Dollars, just about breaking even.

During the release of "Carol", Christmas arrived, and this year Link, Ivanka, Taylor and the three little ones spent it in the penthouse of the LINK building.

By January, the nominees for the 73rd Film and Television Golden Globes were announced.

Lionsgate Films had 10 films nominated for this year's Golden Globes.

"American Sniper" received 6 nominations, including Best Drama Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, and so on.

"The Revenant" earned 5 nominations, for Best Drama Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Original Score, among others.

"The Martian" with 3 nominations for Best Comedy Picture, Best Actor, Best Director.

"The Fox Hunter" with 3 nominations, for Best Drama Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor.

"Carol" with 5 nominations, for Best Drama Picture, Best Director, Best Actress, etc.

"The Big Short" with 4 nominations, for Best Drama Picture, Best Actor twice, Best Screenplay.

"Wild" received 1 nomination, for Best Drama Actress.

"Remnants of Life" with 1 nomination, for Best Supporting Actor.

"Wickedness by Nature" with 1 nomination, for Best Actor.

"White House Butler" with 1 nomination, for Best Supporting Actress.

A total of 30 award nominations, accounting for half of all nominations, sparked heated discussions in the entertainment industry following the Golden Globes nominations announcement.

This year Lionsgate Films released 20 films, and half of them were nominated for Golden Globes, an exaggerated number.

The Los Angeles Times claimed on the front page headline that Lionsgate Films has dominated Hollywood, not only leading in box office figures but equating to the Big Six Studios + hundreds of independent film companies in terms of film awards.

Many tabloids called out loudly, claiming that Lionsgate Films monopolizes the major film awards, and called on the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) to restrict and sanction Lionsgate Films to ensure the diversity of the North American film market.

As for these tabloids' comments, mainstream media maintained the opposite stance.

Monopolies in the film industry have occurred in the past. Before 1948, Hollywood's eight major film companies were both the Big Eight studios and the Big Eight talent agencies, and they also controlled the cinema chains in North America.

By controlling talent agencies, the Big Eight could restrict their contracted film actors from working, preventing them from starring in films from other studios, and by controlling theaters, they could squeeze out other films from being shown, leading to unfair competition.

This form of competition can be considered industrial monopoly.

In 1948, the United States Justice Department aimed at the film industry's antitrust laws and formulated the "Paramount Act", implementing a separation of the production studios, talent agencies, and cinema chains.

In the film industry, as long as a film company does not control major talent agencies or cinema chains, all other competition is free, and success in the market and with audiences depends entirely on the quality of the film.

This year, Lionsgate Films has released several high-quality films that have captivated the market and the audience and have garnered 30 Golden Globe nominations, which is entirely reasonable.

If one were simply to accuse Lionsgate Films of monopolistic practices because it received a number of nominations, it is not just something that Lionsgate Films would not acknowledge, but the Big Six Studios and the Motion Picture Association of America would also not accept such an accusation and would not interfere with Lionsgate's operations on this basis.

The New York Times argues that companies like Lionsgate Films that value the art of cinema should be encouraged to continue producing high-quality films rather than limiting their development. It's the proliferation of shoddily produced commercial films that truly need to be restricted as they are damaging the film market and harming everyone's interests.

The New York Times further suggests that the Big Six Studios should learn from Lionsgate Films to value the development of new film content, focus on investing in niche art films, rather than merely producing popcorn movies and endless sequels, as the overabundance of these types of films are what truly affect the development of the film industry.

Aside from the New York Times and Los Angeles Times, many mainstream media outlets have voiced their support for Lionsgate Films.

Through this incident, Lionsgate Films has not only remained unaffected but has also received a lot of praise, which has been a pleasant surprise for them.

On January 10th, the 73rd Golden Globe Award Ceremony was held at the Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, where Link received a nomination for Best Actor and was also invited to attend the ceremony. Selena, who played the lead supporting actress in "The Big Short," also came with the crew.

The majority of the crews and actors attending the ceremony today are familiar faces, over half of whom have collaborated with Lionsgate Films.

When Link arrived at the venue, he was continuously greeted by people, leaving him hardly any time to rest.

Selena, sitting next to him, teased him for being like Vito Corleone from "The Godfather," with everyone coming up to him to curry favor.

After more than two hours of voting, Lionsgate Films' movies ended up winning 8 awards.

"American Sniper" won Best Drama Picture, "The Martian" won Best Musical/Comedy Picture and Best Actor in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for Matt Damon, "The Revenant" won Best Director and Best Actor in a Drama for Leonardo.

"Carol" won Best Actress in a Drama for Cate Blanchett, "Trainwreck" won Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for Amy Schumer, and "Creed" won Best Supporting Actor for Stallone.

All of these awards are highly prestigious.

The remaining six awards were divided among other films, with "Steve Jobs" taking 2 awards for Best Supporting Actress – Kate Winslet and Best Screenplay – Aaron Sorkin.

"The Hateful Eight" won one for Best Original Score by Ennio Morricone, "Spectre" won Best Original Song by Sam Smith, "Inside Out" won Best Animated Feature, and "Son of Saul" won Best Foreign Language Film.

This time at the Golden Globes, Lionsgate Films swept eight of the most prestigious awards, and subsequently, it became a hot topic of discussion in the media.

Many media outlets put out headlines the next day such as "Lionsgate Closes the Golden Globes with Success," indicating Lionsgate Films' tremendous success at this year's Golden Globes.

There were also media that jested with headlines like "Link Loses at the Golden Globes Again," teasing his continuous misses at securing the Best Actor award at the Golden Globes.

Link didn't mind this as, in January, he routinely flew to Huaxia to spend time with Shunan and Liu Jianni for the New Year. Since last year, Chris Liu and Shuchang often took the two kids to live in Hawaii, where Link bought two villas for them, one each, not far from the beach, with an excellent view.

Sometimes Link would also go there to accompany them and the kids, so upon seeing them again, the little ones wouldn't find him too unfamiliar, merely seeing him as a father who works a lot.

After celebrating the Spring Festival in Huaxia, Link flew to Seoul and Tokyo for short stays.

Last year, Jun Ji-hyun gave birth to a son for him. As usual, Link bought her a detached villa in Gangnam District as a gift.

Taeyeon, seeing Jun Ji-hyun have a child, wanted one too, but as she was the leader of a popular girl group with a busy schedule, she didn't have time for children yet.

Link agreed with her that after the group disbanded in the future, if she still wanted kids, he would fulfill her wish.

Taeyeon agreed to that.

Nozomi Sasaki-chan continued with her lingerie business and with Link's aid, her company reached a market value of 15 million US dollars, which is quite decent.

Yui-chan planned to leave the entertainment industry to start a business but wasn't sure what to do yet.

Link advised her to think it over and stated he would support whatever she chose to do.

After circling around Asia, Link returned to the United States to continue training in boxing, enquire about the company's New Year arrangements, and sometimes help his father-in-law campaign and gather votes.