Perhaps for some special reason, Leon and James Wan seemed to have endless topics to talk about.
The two chatted from film history to their views on the future film market.
Leon was surprised to find that James Wan was not only accomplished in horror films but also had his own unique insights into other genres of films.
"The era of traditional action blockbusters has passed; the future is the era of superhero movies~"
"Compared to Jackie Chan and Tom Cruise's action movies, today's audience is more willing to appreciate those omnipotent superheroes!"
"The actions that action stars used to break bones to complete cannot shock the audience nearly as much as CG special effects."
Leon agreed deeply with these words.
In the early 21st century, Paramount Pictures was mired in a financial crisis, and Hollywood unanimously believed it would be another giant eliminated by the tide of the times.
Until 2008, when Iron Man burst onto the scene. Just when everyone thought superhero movies had declined in the 90s with the end of the Batman series...
With a strong box office performance of $585 million, it helped Paramount Pictures survive.
Having tasted the sweetness, Paramount non-stop began the production of another superhero comic adaptation movie, Captain America.
The astonishing benefits made industry giants realize the terrifying potential of comic adaptation movies one after another, and they all entered the arena to fight for this big cake.
Including the "industry mafia," The Walt Disney Company.
At the end of 2009, the wealthy Disney acquired Marvel Entertainment, one of the giants of American comics, for $4.24 billion and obtained ownership of the vast majority of its comic characters!
Since Paramount had already distributed the screen images of Iron Man and Captain America, facing the "Marvel Cinematic Universe Plan" that Disney was launching, the two sides had been wrangling over the ownership of screen images.
Speaking of this, it wasn't hard for Leon to notice the light in James Wan's eyes.
He also longed to stand on a big platform and prove himself with a string of splendid box office figures.
Leon said, "Your talent lies not only in horror films; those studio executives are a bunch of blind idiots."
James Wan shook his head and smiled bitterly. "You know how hard it is for a Chinese kid from Australia to get a chance to handle a big production..."
Robbie patted his shoulder and comforted him: "James, you are still young; your era will definitely come..."
At this time, Leon's mind was filled only with dollars.
James Wan's fledgling work Saw created a myth of box office return rate.
Counting promotion and cinema share... the break-even line for a movie in the North American market is about 2.5 times the investment cost.
This work harvested more than $100 million in box office with a total investment of $1.2 million!
Such a return rate is higher than the profit margin of Mexican cartels importing cocaine into the United States.
Leon happened to have more than $3 million in hand. If he planned to enter the film industry in the future, testing the waters with a horror film would be the best choice.
Just as the three were chatting enthusiastically, a wretched laugh came.
An obese, bespectacled Asian man walked over holding a wine glass.
His groping hand naturally landed on Robbie's shoulder. "Lil Barbie~ James, what are you chatting about?"
"Your movie is really not bad, but I have to say it hasn't reached my investment standards yet!"
"There's a lack of adult elements here. Movies without adult elements are for kids!"
Leon looked at this guy in a suit and frowned: Then why the fxxk don't you go watch Brazzers movies directly?
While being harassed by the groping hand, Robbie instinctively showed a disgusted expression.
According to Leon's guess, given her "little chili pepper" temper, she would probably scold this greasy guy fiercely.
But she didn't.
Robbie tried hard to squeeze out an awkward but polite smile and pushed the groping hand away.
"I'm glad to see you, Low."
"This is my boyfriend, Leon."
After hearing Leon's name, Low's smile froze instantly, and his hand movements became disciplined.
Obviously, he had also heard the story of Leon leading a gang of Mexican desperadoes to fire a gun in front of Diddy in the "Record Store Shooting Incident."
Leon whispered in Robbie's ear: "Who is this annoying guy..."
"Jho Low, the biggest investor in the movie The Wolf of Wall Street I'm filming."
He instantly had some impression of this name.
According to Robbie's previous description, Jho Low was a wealthy Malaysian tycoon, and no one knew exactly how much money he had.
He was a close friend of Leonardo DiCaprio. It was said that investing in The Wolf of Wall Street was entirely because he wanted to help Leonardo make up for the regret of not having an Oscar.
At the same time, Jho Low was also a party maniac, keen on hosting orgies, and had been rumored to have ambiguous relationships with numerous female stars.
Jho Low stared at Leon, and after a moment of silence, still made a handshake gesture.
"Hello, Mr. Leon. You probably haven't heard of me, but this is normal..."
"Those who can squeeze into my social circle are generally only those celebrities known to every household in America."
"Hhahaha~"
Leon remained calm on the surface, but inside he was already very disgusted with Jho Low.
Even those bottom-tier rappers who got rich overnight didn't have half his arrogance.
Jho Low pushed up his glasses and raised his eyebrows, saying, "I am the boss of a company. There are nearly 30 million employees in my company..."
Hearing this, Leon's first reaction was: Is this guy high?
The global retail giant Walmart only had 2 million employees. 30 million people was the volume of a medium-sized country!
Under the questioning gazes of Leon and James Wan, Jho Low smiled and said, "30 million people in Malaysia work for me..."
Everyone was dumbfounded, unanimously agreeing that this guy was definitely high.
Robbie had said before that Jho Low was a junkie who could eat ice (meth) like toffee.
"Hahaha, I'm joking, guys! We are a democratic country!"
No one appreciated Jho Low's sense of humor, and the atmosphere suddenly became awkward.
Just then, he suddenly shouted in one direction: "Miranda, Miranda, come here quickly! Robbie and her boyfriend are here!"
Following the sound, a slender and fair figure appeared impressively.
She was wearing a red fluffy long dress. Her angelic face extremely fit the Oriental aesthetic, exquisite and elegant.
Highlighted by high heels, her height of over 1.85 meters made her exceptionally outstanding in the crowd. Leon recognized her at a glance as the hot supermodel Miranda Kerr.
In this situation, Miranda still ran over in high heels, ignoring Jho Low's gesture for a hug, and hugged Robbie.
"Miranda! Darling!"
"Sorry Robbie~ My flight was delayed!"
Miranda released Robbie and turned to hug James Wan.
The two standing together looked extremely like Snow White and a dwarf walking into reality.
"I'm very sorry, James... blame the damn weather in Florida, I missed a genius movie!"
"It doesn't matter, Miranda~ Remember to book a screening for me after the release~"
"No problem!"
Jho Low smiled and took Miranda's hand. "Booking one screening isn't enough! Let's book ten!"
"Shxt, I can book all the cinemas in Los Angeles if Miranda wants!"
Jho Low was truly a mood killer; his nouveau riche remarks silenced everyone again.
Leon whispered with Robbie holding a wine glass.
"WTF?! Miss Miranda dated that ugly guy?!"
Although it's a routine operation in Hollywood for goddesses to be kept by money, seeing the sharp contrast of the two standing together was still extremely visually impactful.
Miranda and Jho Low together looked like Gollum raping the Elf Queen Galadriel in The Lord of the Rings.
Looking at Miranda's angelic face, Leon couldn't help but admire; worthy of a woman from the supermodel circle.
Even though she had married Orlando Bloom last year, and media constantly broke news of her pregnancy...
This woman still managed to create a relationship crisis every now and then.
Fishing for Leonardo with her left hand, fishing for sugar daddies with her right hand.
Rich suckers and handsome guys, grabbing both with both hands, both hands very hard.
Robbie spread her hands and said, "Although that guy Low is annoying, he is really too rich... In the studio, even extras, as long as they are young girls, he won't let them go."
"He pursued Kerr for a month before and gave jewelry worth 10 million dollars."
"It is said that when he celebrated Christmas, he burned US dollars in the fireplace."
One thing men dislike most is their girlfriend constantly harping on about other men's wealth, and Leon was no exception.
He curled his lips and said, "Indeed... I'm just a poor boy from Brownsville."
Robbie seemed to see through Leon's thoughts, stood on tiptoe, and planted a heavy kiss on his cheek.
"You don't need to prove anything to anyone anymore. Look, you shocked the music world in just a few months."
"Besides, you have an advantage that Low can't buy no matter how much money he spends..."
Looking at Robbie's wicked smile, Leon asked puzzledly, "What advantage?"
The next second he almost screamed: "Shxt!"
Robbie quietly grabbed his danger zone in public. "Of course it's this~"
"Stop it immediately, Robbie!"
Leon looked around in panic. Except for Miranda Kerr, no one seemed to notice this scene.
She blinked her big eyes and threw a wink at Leon; no one knew what the intention was.
The cocktail party after the premiere lasted for more than two hours. Leon, who was always very restrained with drinking, also drank 500ml of whiskey this time, plus various champagnes and drinks.
This was mainly because he wanted to get closer to James Wan and strive for an opportunity to invest in the other party's next movie.
To quickly close the relationship with a stranger, there is no more efficient weapon than alcohol.
After being forced to drink three glasses of whiskey, James Wan fell on the sofa completely unconscious. The little alcoholic Robbie had also long fallen asleep nestled in Leon's arms.
On the entire booth, besides Leon, Miranda was the only one with open eyes.
This woman hadn't touched a drop of alcohol.
Her performance throughout the party was seen by Leon. This woman's "green tea" level was shockingly high.
No matter what means Jho Low used to try to take advantage, she could always easily resolve it.
High-level green tea bitches are like this; they will whet men's appetites and then slowly exploit their value.
Once they really give themselves up, men's interest in them will be greatly discounted.
Leon even suspected whether Jho Low had successfully scored a home run after spending 10 million dollars on Miranda.
He patted Robbie, who was sleeping soundly on his lap. "Wake up, baby, we should go home."
Robbie had no intention of opening her eyes, just muttering in her sleep: "Go away, bitches... stay away from my boyfriend..."
Awkwardly, these words were heard clearly by Miranda.
She shook the red high heels on her feet, staring at Leon with a wicked smile.
Leon spread his hands to express helplessness and carried Robbie away by her arm.
That night, because Robbie was drunk, the two unprecedentedly didn't have a "Jiu-Jitsu" sparring session.
Early the next morning, Leon suddenly felt energetic, every cell full of vitality.
Eight hours later, his figure returned to New York again.
Inside Roc Nation, Lenny threw a thick stack of printed papers in front of Leon. "This is your tour promotion plan for the next month."
"What..." Just looking at the densely packed city names on the list, Leon felt a headache.
In the next month, his footprints would cover more than twenty cities, almost covering all first-tier cities in the US.
Lenny explained with a smile: "The company has high hopes for your debut album. Jay-Z has set a sales target of 1 million copies within half a year for this album. If you can achieve it, you will get a large signing fee when renewing your contract next year!"
Leon snorted coldly in his heart. In today's increasingly shrinking physical record market, how could a sales volume of 1 million copies be an easily achievable goal?
Phil jeered from the side: "Cheer up, kid. For your competitor Adele, Sony Columbia has offered a sky-high signing fee of 20 million dollars to get her full contract..."
"Think about it carefully. Just moving your fingers can get so much money!"
"Jay-Z won't be stingy with you either!"
Lenny echoed: "That's right, the premise is that you have to prove you are worth so much money... Everything will be revealed when Demons is released."
"Looking forward to you being the company's biggest lottery ticket this year."
Leon dealt with it with a smile on the surface, but what he thought in his heart was that when the one-year contract expired, whether to renew or not was another matter.
Judging from Jay-Z's current short-sightedness, he definitely wouldn't be willing to renew.
Two days later, the debut album Demons officially launched on streaming platforms. Before this, Roc Nation had warmed up in advance, using all kinds of promotional means.
Renting the most prominent large screen in Times Square;
Looping Demons on big-name radio stations like Z100 and KLOS.
Even TV stations known for being serious, like CNN and FOX, inserted commercials for the album sale.
Plus Leon's own community radio network playing it non-stop.
The promotional energy covered every class from Manhattan elites to the bottom layer of Brownsville.
Long queues formed at major record stores in New York City.
And at this time, Leon's figure had appeared in Detroit, thousands of miles away. This was the first stop of his promotion tour.
The "Motor City," once the industrial pearl of America, had long been decayed.
In the case of industrial withering, the people of this city took a different approach, breaking traditional thinking to layout "New Retail"—the number of "zero-dollar shopping" cases here ranked first in the US.
The streets were full of zombie-like homeless people and drug addicts...
Unlike other big cities where homeless people were also everywhere, this place was full of despair.
There are many reasons for becoming homeless in New York, such as divorce, alcoholism, drug abuse...
But as long as one is willing to pull themselves together, one can always find a way to survive.
But Detroit is completely different. This city has rotted from top to bottom. The former industrial pearl has become the biggest rust spot on the Rust Belt.
Drug addicts injecting themselves on the street as if no one was around;
Sex workers no longer stayed in dark corners but copulated openly in front of passersby.
There were even homeless people performing "brotherly love" on the street.
Even Leon, who was used to the shameless life of the bottom-layer community, couldn't help but marvel when seeing these magical scenes:
"This is too fxxking free..."