[Chapter 495: Annual Box Office Rankings]
After more than three hours of voting, the winners of the 71st Academy Awards were announced one after another.
In the end, American Beauty won five awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing.
Link won the Best Director Oscar for the first time after five nominations. He became the youngest Best Director in Oscar history, the first director born after 1970 to win, and the only filmmaker to have won Oscars in the categories of Best Director, Best Original Screenplay, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Editing.
As Good as It Gets won Best Actor and Best Actress. Julianne Moore took home the Best Actress Oscar, becoming the fourth member of Link's group of girlfriends to win this award.
Armageddon won the Best Sound Effects award.
A Bug's Life won Best Animated Feature. The Oscar for Best Animated Feature was introduced this year, and A Bug's Life was the first film to receive this honor.
...
After the Oscars ceremony, the media commented that some results were expected while others were surprises.
Expectedly, before the ceremony, the media predicted that American Beauty would be the big winner of the night, as other films released last year were perceived to be somewhat less impressive or impactful.
The surprise was linked to the rumors and controversies surrounding Link last year, including an assassination attempt, his girlfriends having over thirty children with him, and speculations about Harvey's death being connected to him. The media guessed that Oscar voters might shy away from voting for him.
Yet Link won, making history as the youngest director to win the Oscar at just 27 years old.
...
After receiving the Best Director award, more film companies approached Link for movies, offering him higher pay than before.
He didn't refuse. He instructed assistants like Aishwarya to keep collecting scripts and planned to review them after finishing A Beautiful Mind. He intended to accept any blockbuster-quality projects.
"Honey, don't forget about our film, Anna and the King. The crew is ready and just waiting for you to have time to start filming," Jodie Foster said while holding the little one.
"Don't worry, I haven't forgotten," Link replied, hugging the child and bidding farewell to his girlfriends. He then took the lead actress, Jennifer Connelly, back to the New York set to continue shooting A Beautiful Mind.
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By March, the North American box office rankings and Hollywood studio earnings for the previous year were published by The Hollywood Reporter.
According to the report, 371 movies were released in North America last year, 27 more than 1997, representing an 8% increase in volume.
The total box office revenue reached $6.69 billion, an increase of more than $600 million from the previous year.
Sixteen films earned over $100 million domestically, three more than the previous year. Forty-two films grossed over $50 million, four more than last year.
The top North American box office film was the Disney sci-fi film Armageddon, with $325 million domestically and $683 million globally.
Second was Tomorrow Never Dies, which earned $319 million in North America and $806 million worldwide.
Third was American Beauty, with $265 million domestically. During awards season, its box office increased by 20%, with a projected final domestic gross around $300 million.
Fourth was Rush Hour 2, with $237 million domestically and $453 million worldwide.
Fifth was There's Something About Mary, earning $185 million domestically and $396 million globally.
From sixth to sixteenth place were A Bug's Life, The Waterboy, Doctor Dolittle, Deep Impact, Godzilla, As Good as It Gets, Lethal Weapon 4, You've Got Mail, Mulan, Enemy of the State, and Kill Bill.
Among these, Guess Pictures-MGM produced and distributed seven films and participated in ten movies.
The data showed that Guess Pictures-MGM essentially dominated the mainstream North American market, outgrossing all other studios combined.
However, other studios still had opportunities by emulating Disney, Columbia Pictures, and New Line Cinema by strengthening cooperation with Guess Pictures, potentially launching blockbuster hits like Armageddon, Godzilla, or As Good as It Gets.
...
In the ranking of total box office revenue by Hollywood studios, Guess Pictures-MGM released 21 films last year, with total box office income of $2.06 billion -- $400 million more than the previous year.
This accounted for 31% of total North American box office revenue.
Globally, their total box office was $3.513 billion, $500 million more than the year before, representing 24% of the worldwide market.
Second place was Disney Studios, which released 16 films including Armageddon, Mulan, and Enemy of the State, earning $733 million domestically and $1.52 billion worldwide.
However, Disney's two big hits involved Guess Pictures' participation, so after revenue sharing, Disney's net earnings were less than the gross box office suggested.
Third was Columbia Pictures, earning $516 million domestically and about $1.12 billion globally with films like Godzilla, As Good as It Gets, and Urban Legend.
Like Disney, Columbia also had to share revenue with Guess Pictures.
Other studios experienced declining box office earnings compared to previous years, with a noticeable downward trend starting in 1994 and continuing with no clear remedy.
As a result, Barry Diller resigned from 20th Century Fox, and Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation appointed Bill Mechanic as the new president of Fox.
There were also rumors of leadership changes at Universal, Paramount, and Warner Bros., as investors expressed dissatisfaction with the current presidents and hoped new management could improve company performance and profitability.
...
"Link, all the studios have been coming to us with scripts. We've received 12 big projects over $100 million budget and 36 projects over $50 million recently. What should we do? We need your decision," Daniel DeVito and James Schamus called Link on set, saying the front steps of MGM were being worn out by visitors from Warner Bros., Disney, Columbia, Paramount, all bringing projects for collaboration.
Because the budgets were so high, they couldn't decide and left it to Link to make the call.
Link sighed and told them to first review projects with budgets between $50 million and $100 million and select those with distinctive features and market potential for cooperation.
Projects exceeding $100 million would be personally reviewed by him after finishing his current film.
"Link, eight projects might be too many and could interfere with our film production and distribution. Should we reduce cooperation with other studios and gradually increase it later?" Daniel asked hesitantly.
Link had previously decided that starting 1999, Guess Pictures-MGM would produce about 20 films annually on its own, and collaborating eight projects with others.
The board and management were unhappy with this, hoping Link would take a more aggressive approach to dominate the North American market entirely.
But Link convinced them otherwise.
He believed that one company can't carry the film industry alone. A monopoly would shrink the market, reduce film variety, simplify content, and diminish competitiveness.
While profitability could increase in the short term, long term it would harm the industry's health.
Cooperating with other studios would not only enrich the market and diversify films but also bring long-term benefits to his company.
After persuading everyone, the decision was approved.
Other studios, knowing his stance, adopted a more proactive attitude in collaborating.
"Eight projects aren't too many. We can take it slow. If the production department feels overwhelmed, we can reduce the number of our independently produced films and focus on making quality work," Link said.
Daniel agreed to improve coordination in the production department to ensure smooth progress.
Link put down the phone and resumed filming.
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