Chapter 88

Xu Can couldn't help but sigh.

Come to think of it, the cause of the whole thing was his speech at the *Iron Man* premiere.

After the musical *La La Land*, the upcoming *Spider-Man 2*, and the subsequent Marvel *Avengers* plan...

These were enough to detonate current Hollywood, and even the entire North American internet.

Xu Can had attracted all the spotlights with his own strength; he had become the most prominent figure in Hollywood.

Disney, Paramount, Fox, Universal, and other film giants spent hundreds of millions of dollars to build hype for their movies.

Yet Xu Can’s one sentence made them all look like clowns.

Next, Emma Stone would be partnering with Xu Can for two consecutive films.

No wonder Taylor was anxious, fearing he and Stone would fall in love on set and end up together for real.

The two were already the most famous CP in North America; by then, wouldn't they have kids already?

Fortunately, Xu Can was now "in the bag," officially becoming her boyfriend.

But... did Xu Can really have no feelings for Stone?

Amidst her excitement, Taylor also harbored a trace of unease.

As for Xu Can, his phone kept lighting up with acquaintances reporting good news to him.

Including Happy and Kevin Feige.

"Xu! We must have made it! The opening day box office is 55 million, second only to *Spider-Man*!"

"Great, Xu! Based on theater bookings, the first weekend in the North American market should hit 140 million!"

*Iron Man* was reporting success after success!

According to the opening results, which were slightly inferior to *Spider-Man*, *Iron Man*’s global box office should be able to attempt to hit 1 billion, at least exceeding 800 million.

After he acquired Marvel, the first shot had been fired successfully!

Marvel was now on the right track, and Xu Can could shift his focus to other works.

Kevin Feige was enough to oversee the Marvel Cinematic Universe, while he would be responsible for the final gatekeeping and guidance.

After dinner, returning to the Beverly Hills mansion, Xu Can didn't say a word and hoisted Taylor onto his shoulder.

"Hey... wait! I haven't taken off my high heels yet!"

"Just as I intended."

"Eh? Wait a minute... Oh my lord..."

In Beverly Hills, Taylor’s melodious and graceful singing voice rang out once again.

Two days later, the North American opening weekend box office for *Iron Man* was indeed as the analysts predicted: 146 million USD!

Disney’s *National Treasure 2* and *Cloverfield*;

Fox’s *27 Dresses*;

Columbia’s *Stomp the Yard*;

Warner Bros.’ *The Bucket List*;

In the same period, the films from all the major Hollywood studios mentioned above were crushed by Xu Can.

The second-ranked *Cloverfield* had only 40.03 million;

even the third-ranked *The Dark Knight*, which had been out for a month, still had 36 million in box office.

Xu Can occupied two spots on the list; his dominance left other Hollywood filmmakers dumbfounded!

Just as director James Cameron said in a recent interview,

"I thought I could use *Avatar* to stir up a wave, but I didn't expect this young Chinese man to have already done it."

"The films he brings are indeed excellent. Relatively speaking, I'm afraid by 2009, everyone won't think much of *Avatar*..."

"Xu Can has posed a problem for Hollywood. If we don't reform and improve our own strength..."

"At least in the field of commercial films, no one can compete with him!"

"I once said I was the king of the world; now I dare say, Xu Can is at least the king of commercial films..."

Xu Can’s box office earning power was terrifying; the four films he directly participated in had already created 3 billion in box office within two years.

For a time, everyone in Hollywood felt threatened.

In other international markets, *Iron Man* was also a crushing presence.

France, England, Italy, Spain, Northern Europe, Southeast Asia...

In these markets, *Iron Man* took the box office championship with dominant advantages, with box office numbers several times higher than other films.

Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the Mainland were the same.

In the Hong Kong market, *Iron Man* crushed *Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem*, *National Treasure 2*, and *The Warlords* with 12 million in box office.

In the Mainland market, the two major films from the beginning of the year, *The Warlords* and *Assembly*, were locked in a stalemate,

only to be completely disrupted by *Iron Man*, which secured the weekly box office championship with 63 million yuan in its opening weekend.

However, although the film was popular, news reports about Xu Can were basically handled in a low-key manner.

Galaxy Entertainment’s PR team wasn't in the country, making it hard to form sufficient public opinion influence.

Perhaps only when he reached a major award, like winning an Oscar,

would the domestic media be willing to break the shackles and report on the glorious moments of a Chinese person.

There was still more than a month until the Oscars, and the Oscar nominations would be announced in two days.

Xu Can wasn't paying attention to this; his crew had already been assembled, and his new film, *La La Land*, was about to start filming!

Compared to *Spider-Man 2*, this film felt more like Xu Can’s original intention.

After playing comic book characters for so long, it was time for some grounded acting.

Before filming began, Happy was reporting to Xu Can on the recent progress in various areas of the company.

Galaxy Pictures’ film was about to start;

on the Galaxy Music side, Taylor still had some concert performances, including serving as a guest at her best friend Selena Gomez’s concert.

The music label had signed three new singers according to Xu Can’s suggestions.

Known in the industry as: Adele, Carly Rae Jepsen, and Lana Del Rey.

The three of them hadn't signed with any company yet, nor had they released albums.

Even the head of music, the veteran Doug Morris, couldn't understand why Xu Can was so set on these three.

Xu Can couldn't explain for the time being, only telling the old man:

"Their songs combined will likely dominate half of the Western music scene in the future."

"What?"

Xu Can just smiled mysteriously.

The music division was initially just to make Taylor his own;

now that the goal was achieved, Xu Can didn't prioritize this area, leaving it entirely to them to manage.

"The three female singers should be able to come to Los Santos before March. Xu, do you have any arrangements for them?"

Happy asked.

"Leave it all to the old man to arrange; he has full authority over the music side."

"Alright, let me report to you one last time on the progress of online streaming."

Happy continued to introduce it meticulously.

Galaxy Entertainment’s online streaming service was tentatively named "GalaxyTV+"; the company had been established, and the team had been assembled.

Next was the development of the web-based video site and the client software.

To ensure the streaming platform had enough content, a resource library was needed first.

Sony was willing to contribute their TV series resources,

and Marvel also had some animation copyrights in hand, which could all be put in.

The most critical thing was to create a TV series that would become popular across the US, making more people users who would watch the series.

For example, the previously conceived *The Big Bang Theory*—a sitcom with low cost and high return—was a good investment project.

"Have Chuck from the production department be responsible for recruiting the crew. I will provide you with the names of the director and actors; audition them according to this standard."

Novel book-finding group: 674022413

"Strive to get it running quickly and complete the pilot episode before the first quarter."