American fame and fortune

Burbank, Davis Film and Television Studios.

"We have contacted all members of the Academy cast in North America."

Rita, the head of the public relations team, is briefing Martin on the Oscar public relations progress: "Only their votes are counted for the acting awards. I am 100% sure that you can get an Oscar nomination."

Martin nodded slightly.

Thomas asked directly: "What's the probability of winning?"

Rita will not mislead her clients and tells the truth: "The maximum is no more than 60 percent. Martin's performance and role are widely recognized, but the inherent flaws in the film's subject matter cannot be ignored."

Martin said: "Don't stop lobbying and publicizing. After the college ballots are mailed out, we will spend heavily to purchase pages of the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Vanity Fair and The Hollywood Reporter, and continue to publish soft advertising articles."

"I've already been contacted." Rita's team has been in close contact with the media.

Martin added: "We stay in communication."

Rita left the office.

Thomas said at this time: "Cartier has given notice that in a few days, the advertising exterior will be filmed near the old pier in Santa Monica."

He opened the bag and took out a text: "This is the script, it's very simple."

Martin took it and looked through it. In fact, it was nothing special. There were only a dozen scenes in total. If everything went well, it could be shot in one day.

No more than two days at most.

Thomas added: "For the sake of publicity, Cartier has released information related to the shooting to the outside world and launched a wave of advertising first."

This kind of thing is very common in commercial endorsements, and Martin had no problem with it, saying: "Tell them I will be there on time."

Thomas said, "I'll write back to them right away."

Martin looked at the time and called Bruce: "Let's go to Century City Plaza. Warner Bros. will have a Dark Knight disc promotion event today."

Before going out, Martin took a few newspapers and quickly browsed them after getting in the car. In the business and entertainment sections, he saw all the relevant news released by Cartier.

The content was almost the same. They all said that he was going to shoot the latest Cartier men's watch advertisement at the old pier in Santa Monica.

Martin understood that this was to notify the media reporters in Los Angeles in advance, so they could come to shoot and report as soon as possible.

Cartier men's watches spend 10 million US dollars in endorsement fees every year, so they naturally have to use it to the extreme.

Arriving at Century City Shopping Plaza, Martin joined Nolan and continued to cheer for the sale of Dark Knight discs.

For offline DVD sales, Bell and Martin each enjoy a 2% gross profit share.

The North American box office share is a one-time deal and will disappear after the movie is released. Although the DVD share is very low, it is a long-term income.

As long as the DVDs are sold, Martin will continue to receive income.

Even in the era of the rise of streaming media and the decline of DVD more than ten years later, the DVDs of many films can still sell US$60 to 70 million in North American sales.

Of course, it can't be compared to now.

Around 2010, Hollywood was in the era of DVDs. DVD sales of popular films such as Spider-Man 3 and Lord of the Rings 3 could even rival North American box office sales.

Warner Bros. has launched three versions of The Dark Knight DVD, namely the regular version for $19.9, the Blu-ray HD version for $29.9, and the Blu-ray commemorative edition for $64.99.

In addition to the behind-the-scenes disc, buyers can also choose between Joker, Batman and Batmobile models.

When the sales statistics for the first week were released, sales of clown models accounted for nearly 70%.

After The Dark Knight set a series of North American box office records, it also set a series of new North American movie market records as the DVD went on sale.

On the first day of the release of the disc, more than 800,000 copies of the two Blu-ray versions were sold. Counting the regular DVD set, The Dark Knight broke the record of Pirates of the Caribbean 2, with DVD sales of US$66.45 million on the first day of release!

And that’s not counting leasing!

In the first week of its release, The Dark Knight's disc sold US$155 million in North America alone, also setting a North American record.

This is an era when DVDs create sales myths.

During the era that Martin experienced in his previous life, the sales of the Blu-ray disc of "Avatar" in four days exceeded the cumulative sales of The Dark Knight in more than a year and a half.

On the first day that "Avatar" was released on DVD in North America, more than 3.2 million copies of various versions were sold!

Of course, Martin remembered James Cameron's super masterpiece. The Avatar crew asked Thomas to contact them before they openly recruited actors, but James Cameron directly rejected Martin.

James Cameron has never considered using A-list stars. He wants to invest all the expenses into special effects production as much as possible.

Don't even think about bringing capital into the group. Major film production companies are vying to carve up a share of the investment in "Avatar". Where can a star's studio turn?

Without sufficient strength, James Cameron’s projects would not be eligible for investment even if they have money.

The next day, Martin canceled another public event for "The Dark Knight" and went to Paramount Studios. The "Benjamin" crew had several scenes that needed to be recorded and filmed again with motion capture.

After working for a long time, the work was successfully completed and Martin found David Fincher.

The two went to the resting area of ​​the studio together.

Martin handed the partial manuscript of "Gone Girl" to David Fincher: "This is the novel about love and marriage that I told you about last time. I originally wanted to bring it to you last time. The author Gillian informed me that another part of the content was about to be completed, and I waited for her for a while."

"I'll take a look first, you can do whatever you want." David Fincher flipped through the manuscript, ignored Martin, and started reading carefully.

Within a few minutes, he was immersed in the plot of the novel.

The suspenseful and neurotic plot, and the very dark themes are really to David Fincher's liking.

Among Hollywood's top directors, David Fincher's style is undoubtedly the darkest.

Martin asked for a cup of tea and waited patiently.

After a long time, David Fincher couldn't help but laugh when he saw the heroine appear in the middle of the film. It was exactly the same as Martin's reaction when he saw this part.

After laughing for a while, David Fincher said: "This novel is so interesting, with dark suspense mixed with black humor."

Martin put down the teacup and said, "Have you seen the heroine officially debut?"

David Fincher nodded slightly: "Yes, the heroine has appeared. This novel is a masterpiece."

He knew why Martin brought him here and said directly: "Can you wait for me for a while? After I complete all the post-production of "Benjamin", I can concentrate on how to adapt it and whether it is suitable for me to direct it."

Martin didn't hesitate: "No problem, David, I can wait for you for a year."

It may not take a year to complete the novel and publish it, so he has plenty of time to wait for David Fincher.

David Fincher was very particular and returned the manuscript to Martin and said, "I will call you when I have free time."

Martin nodded: "Okay."

…………

At the Santa Monica Commerce Plaza, on a temporary stage set up by the crew of The Dark Knight, Bale and Nolan were answering questions from fans.

A large number of movie fans gathered around, and Boris, who had shaved off his beard, was not conspicuous at all.

He sat on a bench and waited all afternoon, but did not wait for the target person to appear.

Victor came from the sidewalk, sat next to him, and said, "Boss, he probably won't come."

Boris asked: "What's going on?"

Victor whispered: "Just now I asked the bearded man to dress up as a clown and asked the entertainment reporter. Martin Davis temporarily canceled the event."

Boris stood up and said: "Notify everyone to withdraw."

The layout and planning took so long, and even the escape route was planned, but no one came...

Back in the car, the bearded man was very angry and said: "These Hollywood stars have no professional ethics at all, they are always lazy, they are a bunch of superficial bastards!"

Boris glanced over, and the bearded man quickly closed his mouth.

Victor drove back to the independent house he rented in Santa Monica.

Not long after, two other cars parked near the back door of the house, and the bodyguard and five people quietly slipped into the house.

The bags carried by several people contained long guns, and Boris asked them to put them away.

The blond man said: "Boss, these old and beautiful firearms are not easy to get hold of. It is best to get a few AK series."

Boris said: "This is the United States, not Russia. Use whatever guns you can get!"

Victor answered: "It's very easy to get started with the AR series. You can get familiar with it later."

The Russian underground forces in Los Angeles have been intensively raided by the LAPD since the Burbank High School incident. Boris and Victor could not find any of their own, so they could only rely on the introduction of an intermediary to purchase firearms from the black market. However, Black market merchants are only willing to sell them high-priced AR series.

Playing away from home, there are many things you have to adapt to.

For example, there were originally a dozen people coming over one after another, but six people were blocked from the customs due to bad records and had to go back the same way.

"We can't wait any longer." The closer the distance, the more Boris wants to kill his enemy: "It must be resolved as soon as possible. I don't want to stay in this damn country for another day."

Victor had been reading the newspaper and then said: "Boss, in two days, Martin Davis will be filming a men's watch advertisement for Cartier at the Santa Monica Pier!"

"Are you sure?" Boris asked: "It won't be like today again?"

Victor said: "The news announced by Cartier has been confirmed by Martin Davis's agent and is correct."

The bearded man took the map from the side, laid it flat on the table, and pointed to the seaside: "The old dock is here."

Boris glanced at it and asked Victor: "Can you retreat from the sea to the safe house?"

Victor said: "I'll go over and take a look later. It shouldn't be difficult to prepare the speedboat and car in advance."

Boris took the Coke in the glass bottle, opened it, took a big sip, and said: "Priority is to capture him alive. You can hurt him, but you can't kill him. I will use these glass bottles to smash his head one by one!"