Hollywood Director 1992

"Director Link, congratulations on the great success of 'Buried.' It's a real shame we couldn't work with you last time due to a mistake by our distribution department staff."

"Mr. Weinstein, everyone makes mistakes sometimes. No need to worry about it too much."

"Haha, well said, Director Link. Do you still hold the rights to 'Buried'? How about we set up a time to discuss it?"

"Mr. Weinstein, I'm sorry, I've been busy with publicity lately and don't have time to return to Los Angeles."

"That's alright, I can arrange for someone to come see you."

"Okay! I'd be happy to talk with your company."

After the great success of "Buried", Link received calls from many film distribution company bosses,

including executives from the seven major film distribution companies, Harvey Weinstein of Miramax Films, Robert Shaye of New Line Cinema, and Mario Kassar, the head of Carolco Pictures, among others.

Besides apologizing for underestimating the potential of "Buried", they also offered many attractive conditions, hoping to get the distribution rights to "Buried" from him.

After transitioning from a seller's market to a buyer's market, Link was in no rush to sell the film rights.

After listening to the offers from more than a dozen companies, he finally sold the overseas film rights and video distribution rights of "Buried" to 20th Century Fox, one of the seven major film companies, for a price of $2.2 million + 10% of overseas box office revenue.

The North American distribution of "Buried" was still handled by United Theaters.

Although the theater chain couldn't match professional film companies in terms of film distribution capabilities, the current cooperation with United Theaters was quite pleasant, and United Theaters submitted box office data on time every week, with high credibility.

At the same time, United Theaters had already transferred the first box office revenue share into his bank account this weekend.

Temporarily changing partners could easily lead to some unnecessary troubles.

In its third week of release in North America, the number of theaters showing "Buried" expanded from 116 to 487, with the film available in almost every city with a population exceeding 100,000.

Link continued to fly to various cities to promote the film and expand the influence of "Buried".

Because "Buried" had enough buzz, news headlines like '300 Times Box Office Return, Fifth Most Profitable Movie in History', 'Chinese Director Creates the Biggest Dark Horse of the Year', 'The Struggle of a Genius Director', 'Looked Down Upon by All Hollywood Film Companies Before Release, Creates Box Office Miracle After Self-funded Release', were quite attractive.

Link also became a relatively well-known public figure in Hollywood due to the explosive popularity of "Buried".

And with popularity comes controversy, no matter where you are.

After "Buried" surpassed "Chaplin" in weekly box office revenue, a "USA Today" reporter interviewed Robert Downey Jr., the star of "Chaplin", at a film promotion event.

They asked him if he had seen "Buried", how he would evaluate the film, and how he would evaluate Link.

Although "Chaplin" received good reviews after its release, it suffered a box office failure, with a production cost of $12 million and current North American box office revenue of only $8.137 million. North American box office revenue was expected to be less than $10 million, and the production company Carolco Pictures was expected to lose four to five million dollars.

In addition, "Chaplin" and "Buried" were released at the same time, and the production cost of "Chaplin" was hundreds of times that of "Buried", but last week's box office results were heavily trampled on by "Buried".

Many media outlets used the two films as comparisons when reporting, elevating one and suppressing the other to create topics.

The "USA Today" reporter interviewed Robert Downey Jr. to try and get some news from him.

Before attending the event that day, Robert Downey Jr. was either drunk or high on drugs.

After hearing the reporter's question, he publicly trashed "Buried" in front of many media outlets.

He called "Buried" a crudely made, garbage movie that didn't deserve to be compared to a classic film like "Chaplin". He said that the box office success of "Buried" was the result of media hype and was not worthy of its reputation.

He also publicly mentioned Link's red carpet蹭(cèng - to freeload, sponge off) behavior at the premiere of "Chaplin", mocking "Buried" for becoming popular by蹭(cèng - to freeload, sponge off) the popularity of "Chaplin".

And so on.

Robert Downey Jr.'s answer was subsequently reported by many media outlets, causing a considerable sensation in the United States and the entertainment industry.

Robert Downey Jr. was a popular Hollywood star, and publicly criticizing his peers was not only rude but also foolish.

Some media outlets criticized Robert Downey Jr. for being narrow-minded and jealous of "Buried"'s box office performance being higher than "Chaplin"'s, which was why he used these opinions to attack Link and "Buried".

Some media outlets also exposed that Robert Downey Jr. was drunk and on drugs before attending the event, leading to inappropriate behavior.

Similarly, some media outlets also exposed photos of Link attending the premiere of "Buried" at The Grove shopping center.

There were photos of Link standing in front of the giant "Chaplin" poster giving a speech, as well as comparison photos of the "Buried" poster and the "Chaplin" poster.

It seemed like they wanted to confirm the rumors that "Buried"蹭(cèng - to freeload, sponge off) the popularity of "Chaplin".

Some tabloids also exposed Link's background, saying that Link was an orphan, used to be a thief, a homeless person, had no money to eat, had low education, and was uncultured.

These news stories had some negative impact on Link's public image, but they also confirmed the rumors that the release of "Buried" was full of hardships.

This added some buzz to "Buried".

Some media outlets also interviewed Link about these matters at film promotion events, asking him for his views on Robert Downey Jr. and "Chaplin".

In his response, Link did not mention Robert Downey Jr., but only expressed his appreciation for "Chaplin", saying that he liked the comedy master Charlie Chaplin very much and was very happy to see his biographical film released.

The "American Forum Newspaper" praised Link as a 'refined and rational person'.

In its third week of release, "Buried" grossed $4.268 million in 487 theaters, soaring to second place in the weekly film box office chart, only behind the classic erotic film "Basic Instinct".

This also brought the cumulative North American box office revenue of "Buried" to $10.38 million, with a box office return ratio of 519:1, making it the film with the highest box office return ratio after "Eraserhead" and "Rocky".

As the release time of "Buried" increased, the popularity was also slowly declining, and the film's occupancy rate and daily average box office revenue also declined simultaneously, falling below the passing line.

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To ensure profitability, the theater chain began to reduce the number of screenings and the scale of theaters in already released areas.

By the fourth week, the number of theaters showing "Buried" had dropped to 218, grossing $1.39 million.

In the next few weeks, the theater chain would gradually reduce the number of theaters showing the film until the box office potential of "Buried" was completely exhausted, with North American box office revenue expected to be around $15 million.

By the fifth week of "Buried"'s release, Link had also received his share of the box office revenue for the first four weeks, $4.15 million.

Including the overseas rights fees and video rights fees for "Buried", Link had earned more than $6.5 million from this film.

Due to the relatively high individual income tax rate in California, Link registered a film company called 'Guess' on Hollywood Boulevard during the release of "Buried" and cooperated with the theater chain in the name of the company.

The subsequent part of the box office revenue was transferred to the company's account, which was expected to reduce tax payments by more than one million dollars.

At the same time, the news that Link had earned millions of dollars from a $20,000 investment was also reported by many media outlets, and then acquaintances knew that he had become a millionaire.

"A few weeks ago, Link flew from Los Angeles to New York to sell me a script in order to self-fund the release of his film. In the blink of an eye, he became a millionaire.

If I had known that 'Buried' would be so profitable, I would have bought out the distribution rights for a high price at the Sundance Film Festival at the beginning of the year, buying it for $50,000 and selling it for $5 million. That would have been so cool. Unfortunately, I didn't see it at the time."

Quentin Tarantino lamented to his wine glass at Covell, a bar on Hollywood Boulevard.

"I think the most frustrated people at this time are not you, but those film companies that rejected 'Buried'. The news said that Link went to more than 30 film companies to promote this film before its release, but none of them were willing to cooperate. Now that 'Buried' is a big hit, they have essentially pushed away millions of dollars that were handed to them. Maybe some of the company executives will lose their jobs because of this."

Lawrence Bender said.

"It is indeed very surprising that the movie 'Buried' can be a big hit. After watching it, I think the level of this movie is good, but the box office will not be too high. The result is much higher than I expected."

Director Steven Soderbergh next to him said.

"It seems that we don't understand the audience's preferences as deeply as Link does. When Link comes later, we will ask him more questions. Hey, Link, over here!"

Quentin Tarantino waved towards the aisle.

Link walked into the bar wearing a loose T-shirt and blue jeans, bringing a ray of sunshine with him.

Compared to a few weeks ago, Link was thinner and darker, but he looked more energetic and handsome, and his temperament was even more outstanding.

"Becoming rich can really change a person's temperament."

Quentin said enviously.

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