As the weather grew hotter, July arrived. After a month in theaters, Titanic's domestic box office finally reached 1.33 billion.
Coupled with the markets opened by King Agency and Director Cameron, Titanic also earned over 100 million in overseas box office in two weeks.
All in all, the Titanic movie's box office reached the 1.5 billion threshold.
This once again astonished many industry insiders.
It should be noted that the highest box office in the previous film market was only around 500 million, but Titanic directly tripled that record.
It also allowed many industry insiders to witness the huge potential of the film industry.
As for the ordinary people outside, their after-dinner conversations from June to July were almost entirely dominated by Titanic, and it had a good reputation.
At this point, the big movie invested in by Mike could be considered a success in both fame and fortune.
Under these circumstances, Mike also timely invited various people to hold a grand celebration banquet in the lobby on the first floor of King's Building.
When the large cake, marked with 1.5 billion in box office, was brought out, the enthusiastic applause and various cheers brought the atmosphere of the celebration banquet to a peak.
Then, amidst the champagne and streamers symbolizing victory, Mike smiled and took a commemorative group photo with the main cast and crew in front of the large cake.
"Mr. Mike, the Titanic movie project is nearing its end. Are you interested in discussing our next collaboration with me?" As soon as the celebration ceremony ended, Director Cameron, beaming, approached Mike.
This big movie also pushed Director Cameron's career to its peak, and since this collaboration was very pleasant, Director Cameron was willing to continue working with Mike, an investor who was not short of money.
"Tell me your thoughts?" Mike asked with a smile.
With Titanic's box office, plus the movie merchandise King Investment Group was preparing to pre-sell, it was conservatively estimated that this big movie could bring Mike at least 2 billion in economic income.
Of course, that was secondary; the main thing was the popularity.
The success of the Titanic movie brought the name of Mike, this legendary investor, into the sight of ordinary people.
Now, he could lie down and collect a massive amount of faith points every day.
Mike naturally didn't mind doing this kind of profitable business multiple times.
Moreover, Mike was very optimistic about Director Cameron's skill. As long as his future collaboration plans were not too outrageous, he was willing to continue investing in him.
"It's like this: as long as you're willing to continue trusting me, I can guarantee a good movie every two years..." For this big movie, Director Cameron received a one percent share, with an income reaching tens of millions.
After a pleasant cooperation experience, Director Cameron naturally wanted to rely on Mike, this big tree, so he showed a desire for long-term cooperation.
A big movie every two years?
For a big director of Cameron's caliber, this efficiency was not slow at all.
"As long as the quality of your future movies isn't too bad, I'm willing to continue investing in you." Mike also expressed his willingness to cooperate.
This was a mutual commitment.
"Of course, you can rest assured about the movie quality; I don't want to ruin my own reputation either." Saying that, Director Cameron was the first to raise the champagne in his hand.
With a light clink of glasses, Mike and Cameron reached a preliminary verbal agreement.
"Alright, I, an old man, won't take up your precious time." After sipping some champagne, Director Cameron looked at the many beautiful women around Mike, who were eyeing him covetously, and made a rare joke.
With Mike's current wealth and fame, coupled with his unique handsome appearance, as long as he wanted, the beauties of Hollywood and Broadway could be his for the taking.
And naturally, many beautiful women came to this movie celebration banquet, including many stunning female stars.
As Director Cameron vacated his spot, these beautiful women quickly surrounded Mike with eager eyes.
After some meaningless small talk, Mike only remembered that they felt good, were very fair, and were quite substantial.
...
When Chris found Mike with the phone, the latter, surrounded by many beautiful women, seemed to have drunk too much, leaning completely against the waves of people.
"Mike, Caroline seems to have something urgent for you. Since your phone couldn't be reached, she called me..." Chris squeezed into the crowd, apologized to the surrounding beautiful women, and then helped Mike, whose face, neck, and clothes were covered in lipstick, to a quiet corner.
Since the Titanic movie merchandise was managed by Chris, he also attended this celebration banquet.
"Did Caroline say what it was about?" In the corner, Mike was no longer as muddled as before. After pulling away from Chris's support, he was wiping the lipstick marks from his face with a handkerchief.
It must be said that Mike's Level 4 performance skill was truly convincing.
His acting was better than that of an average Best Actor.
"So you weren't drunk?" Chris, who had experienced Mike's acting skills up close, had a surprised look on his face.
"How could champagne get someone drunk?" Mike asked back, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"Then you just..." Because he was too surprised, Chris's mind hadn't reacted yet.
"Of course I was pretending. Haven't you heard: 'If a man doesn't get drunk, a woman has no chance'." Mike explained with a laugh, then became a little more serious: "Alright, enough of that. What's the situation with Caroline?"
Caroline was originally qualified to live in King's Building, but due to her tsundere personality, her relationship with Mike, this playboy, had been a bit on-again, off-again recently.
Mike also had many guesses about Channing Family's situation.
If circumstances allowed, Mike would naturally help Caroline.
"I heard that Channing Enterprise has declared bankruptcy, and the situation is very grim now. Caroline's call might be related to this..." There were no outsiders here, so Chris naturally didn't need to hide anything: "Forget it, you should talk to Caroline yourself."
As an insider, Chris naturally knew about the ambiguous relationship between his boss and the eldest daughter of Channing Family.
So he simply handed the phone to Mike.
"Hello, Caroline, are you still there? It's Mike." Mike put the phone to his ear.
"Mike... Wahh... My father was taken away by them... Channing Enterprise is also finished..." Caroline's sorrowful cries came from the phone; she couldn't even speak a complete sentence.
"Stop crying for now. Tell me where you're, and I'll come find you." Mike already had a rough idea of what had happened.
Just as he had guessed before, the head of Channing Family, who needed to fill the hole of the real estate bubble, had taken a risk with pyramid schemes and illegal fundraising, and now problems had finally arisen.
Don't let the recent good performance of King Agency's new movies and albums deceive you; it gives the impression of peace and prosperity.
But outside, due to the banks' overly lenient mortgage policies, people had developed a habit of spending in advance.
Now, with the bursting of the real estate economic bubble, who knows how many people will be dragged down by mortgages.
It is foreseeable that with the bankruptcy of Channing Family, a trillion-dollar enterprise, as the trigger, the era of economic depression is about to arrive.
"I'm in this villa in the suburbs. They said that because my dad still owes a lot of money outside, this villa will be confiscated..." Speaking of the sad part, Caroline couldn't help but cry again.
"Alright, calm down first. Don't conflict with public officials. I'll be there very soon—" Mike comforted the girl's emotions, then hung up the phone.
Looking at the lively scene in his building.
Who would have thought that the overall economy was about to collapse?
It has to be said, this is very America, and very surreal.
After retracting his gaze, Mike looked at Chris in front of him and instructed: "From today onwards, King Investment Group will reduce its investment proportion in luxury goods and increase investment in areas related to people's livelihoods..."
"Forget it, this isn't the place to discuss these things. Just keep it in mind for now, and we'll talk in detail when I get back."
With that, Mike turned and walked out of the building, calling out to Needy, the cold-faced female bodyguard, at the entrance.
The two drove together towards Caroline's villa in the suburbs.