Domination in America, Starting from being a Boxing Champion-Chapter 689 - 499: The Expendables Filming

This year, after the continuous success of movies such as "The Hunger Games" and "Buried," the market value of Lionsgate Films was raised to 1.2 billion US dollars by Wall Street investment institution Moodys, and that was just the value of Lionsgate Films, not including the Netflix shares.

This number was almost twice what it was when Taylor took over last year.

And because a few movies had done well at the box office, some investment institutions had proposed financing plans, ready to buy shares in Lionsgate Films.

Taylor had no immediate plans to raise financing. He intended to increase the intrinsic market value of Lionsgate Films to over 2 billion by the next year before financing, selling a part of the shares to get more capital for investment.

It would also allow him to share the risks, protecting him in case the film market slumped in a few years and Lionsgate Films' box office was poor, making the shares difficult to sell. After all, he knew there were only so many good movies available, and he couldn't guarantee the company would be profitable every year.

"How are you feeling today?"

Taylor asked, stroking her rounded belly.

"Great, the little one kicked me a few times just now, it's as if they're eager to come out,"

Ivanka said, looking down at her belly and smiling.

"Yes, anyone would get cranky if they had to stay put in one place for too long without moving,"

Taylor said with a light laugh.

"Ah—Taylor, come quickly, Cynthia is trying to eat my lipstick. If I don't give it to her, she cries,"

Not far away, Selena called out.

"Who let you take out the lipstick? Cosmetics are not safe. Don't you understand to keep them away from the little ones?"

Taylor shook his head, embracing Ivanka as they walked back. Leaving the little ones to Selena's care, it would take less than three minutes for chaos to erupt.

By the time he and Ivanka got there, Cynthia had already been smeared into a painted cat by Selena, and Alexander had not been spared either.

Cynthia didn't know what had happened and was still grinning at him with her little mouth wide open, giggling and stretching out her arms for a hug.

Taylor tapped Selena on the shoulder and took out his camera to take some photos as a keepsake.

----

"The Avengers" on its eighth day of release reached a North American box office of 299 million dollars, becoming the fastest movie to break through the 300 million dollar mark in North America. Taylor and Robert Downey Jr., along with a few other main cast members, rocketed to global fame with this movie.

Taylor was originally the world's most famous singer and boxer, and now he was also the world's most famous movie star. The fame from these three careers combined to set him ablaze in popularity around the globe.

Last week, he officially surpassed 100 million followers on Twitter, becoming the first celebrity in the entire online social media sphere to break the 100 million follower mark.

On Facebook and Weibo, his fan base also surged past fifty million people.

This also led to continued growth in sales for his four albums.

The first album "The Fighter" broke through five million sales in the United States and over twenty-five million worldwide; his second album "Keep On Movin'" reached eight and a half million sales in the United States and surged past thirty million globally.

The third album "The Woman I Love" officially broke through ten million sales in the United States last week, making it his first album to achieve 'Diamond' status in his home country. As the United States strictly controls piracy, album sales data are closely monitored by RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) and the IRS, making it difficult to reach ten million sales.

So far, only a little over ten singers have done this, including Elvis Presley, MJ, Shania Twain, Lionel Richie, Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, The Beatles, and others.

Link also became the fastest male singer to achieve Diamond status.

The third album has sold approximately forty-two million copies globally.

The fourth album currently has sales of nine million and fifty thousand in the United States and is expected to achieve his second Diamond record by August, with global sales also exceeding fifty million and a potential to break one hundred million in ten years.

With royalty shares from these albums, Link can make over one hundred million US dollars a year without doing anything.

By mid-May, after promotional work for "The Avengers" concluded, Link joined the cast of "The Expendables 2" as the second male lead, a handsome, skilled fighter with a penchant for womanizing, and the son of a mercenary.

In this movie, his character gradually matures.

After Barney, played by Stallone, gets injured, he takes command of The Expendables, ventures behind enemy lines, avenges his comrades, and successfully thwarts the enemy's plot to steal weapon materials, once again upholding justice in The Expendables' way.

The movie was co-produced by Lionsgate Films, Millennium Films (affiliated with Stallone), and Wanda Film Industry. The production budget was 120 million US dollars, with Link's salary being twenty-five million US dollars.

Some scenes of the movie were filmed on Hong Kong Island, which also led to the addition of a female Expendable, Alice Lee.

With Jet Li included, there were two Huaxia faces among the main cast.

His official love interest in the movie was Widow Sister Scarlett Johansson, playing Schwarzenegger's daughter, a stunningly beautiful female mercenary with exceptional combat skills, with only two minutes of screen time, primarily due to her high salary.

Jennifer Lawrence was originally prepared to play this role, but given the complex relationship between her and Link in real life, and the possibility that fans might not appreciate them showing affection on screen, the role went to Scarlett.

If "The Expendables 2" performs well and fans are interested in their relationship, it's possible that the two could lead "The Expendables 3".

While filming in Hong Kong, he also found time to visit the villa in Shallow Bay to spend time with Shu Chang and their recently born child. Shu Chang's father named the infant Shu Nan, with the English name Schubert.

During the period in Hong Kong, Chris Liu also came for a vacation. She had filmed three movies and two TV series back to back last year, working nonstop until a break recently following the release of several movies.

Chris Liu said she only had two roles this year and planned to rest during the second half, so she wanted to use this time to have a child.

Link was happy to oblige; with Chris Liu's income even higher than Shu Chang's, she wouldn't have to worry about the child herself.

Besides staying busy with filming and having children, he transferred over four hundred million US dollars from companies in the United States, France, and South Korea. Together with last year's dividends and profits from several Chinese companies and a two-hundred-million-dollar loan, he bought stocks in Maotai, JD, BYD, Ali Investment, and others.

Currently, Jin Beike Investment under Hong Kong Island owns 11.6% of Wanda Film Industry shares, 4.2% of BYD Auto shares, 3.4% of JD Shares, 0.35% of Maotai Shares, and 0.22% of Ali Investment shares, as well as shares of several film and television companies and real estate management firms. It is projected to reach a market value of twenty billion US dollars in ten years.

After finishing filming on Hong Kong Island, the crew moved to Bulgaria, Europe, to continue shooting.

Due to the rainy season there, the shooting did not go smoothly, and midway, an explosion occurred on set due to an error by the Prop Master, causing the death of one stuntman and injuries to two others.

Link, who was less than a hundred meters from the explosion, narrowly escaped being caught up in it.

Because of the incident, the crew had to stop filming for a week. Consequently, Link's scenes, which were supposed to take just over ten days, ended up taking nearly a month to complete.

As a result of the accident, Ivanka would not allow him to take on intense action movies anymore. Taylor also called to tease him about his willingness to risk life for money, calling it particularly vulgar, and insisted that Alexander and Cynthia should never follow in his footsteps.

Chris Liu, Sasaki Nozomi, Taeyeon, and Dadalio also urged him not to take on any more action roles, stating that with his current net worth and fame, he didn't need to push himself so hard.

To ease the minds of Ivanka, Taylor, and others, he reluctantly agreed, promising to do fewer action movies from now on and to use a stunt double if necessary, valuing his life and staying away from danger.

After wrapping up "The Expendables 2," his movie filming schedule for the year was essentially complete, apart from a few cameo roles that wouldn't take many days.

However, he couldn't rest just yet; the WBA Boxing challenge match was approaching, Ivanka was about to give birth, and the Summer Olympics were less than two months away.

He needed to focus on training his swimming technique, aiming to win more gold medals at the Olympics.