As expected, "Chicago" won a resounding victory at the 72nd Oscars. In particular, Madonna Ciccone, who subconsciously felt a little outrageous, actually won the Oscar for Best Actress. On the second day after the awards ceremony, The next day it quickly aroused heated discussion in the media.
The most direct feedback is the strong rebound in the box office of "Chicago".
In the box office week from March 24 to March 30, which spans the awards ceremony, the box office of "Chicago" jumped from US $6.71 million the previous week to US $9.32 million, a reverse decline of 39%, and the North American domestic box office successfully broke through. 250 million, reaching US$251.39 million.
According to the box office data of the Oscar week, it is expected that the film will earn at least no less than 20 million in the follow-up, completely confirming that the total box office volume of "Chicago" in North America is approximately 270 million US dollars.
The production cost is 45 million US dollars, the publicity expenditure is 15 million US dollars, and the total investment is 60 million US dollars. Not to mention the overseas markets that have once again triggered a movie-watching craze, just the local box office result of 270 million US dollars has already made Daenerys Make a lot of money. According to box office data feedback from all parties, the total box office volume of the film will reach 500 million globally, which is a full 200 million US dollars more than "Chicago" in the original time and space.
Let’s talk about “Everest” again.
This documentary, which also created a box office miracle in the past year, has ended its theatrical distribution. In North America, the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature did not arouse much public response. However, in China, whether it is the film The Oscar winner for the best documentary feature film, or "Life is like a Summer Flower" landed on the Oscar stage, which triggered widespread public opinion reports at the whole society. Zhang Guoshi, who returned with a great reputation, not only accepted the invitations from the largest domestic media after his return During the interview, after returning to the crew of "Chu and Han", I received a personal visit from the big boss, which was a moment of great glory. Even the "Chu and Han" trilogy project has added another layer of aura, and subsequent filming is expected to go more smoothly.
Striking while the iron was hot, the video tapes, DVDs, VCDs and other audiovisual products of "Everest" were quickly released in the new week after the film won the award. They were launched in multiple markets around the world, including China and the United States, and soon became a hot-selling film in various markets.
But in China, in just one week, the sales of genuine DVDs and VCDs of "Everest" quickly exceeded 270,000 boxes. It is still the retail channel of Jinshu. From simple covers to different collections, the weekly revenue is as high as 10.5 million. RMB, even if it is inevitably hit by piracy, the total revenue from this part is expected to reach at least 50 million. Even if it is not as good as the previous theater box office of 114 million yuan, the income brought by the project exceeds that of China Film and Television, which holds the distribution rights. Book estimates.
For several consecutive years, the success of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", "Heroes", "Everest" and even the TV series "Dragon" not only further confirmed the Chinese authorities' determination to increase support for the film and television industry, but also made the Chinese film and television industry People inside and outside the industry are as high-spirited as chicken blood, and they have started various projects one after another, hoping to sell it to the other side of the ocean to earn US dollars, or, as long as it can be promoted to the Japanese, Korean and Southeast Asian markets, they will also gain both fame and fortune.
Simon didn't care too much about these things.
Time entered April of 2000. Because of some of Oscar's thoughts that afternoon, Simon began to rethink and adjust a series of layouts of the Westeros system.
The result of thinking is still pessimistic.
The most extreme consideration Simon made was to truly become the king of the world and use the capital of the Westeros system to achieve full control of the planet to the greatest extent possible.
As long as this goal is achieved, the Westeros system can lead the development direction of human society and put the world on a more correct, rational and sustainable development path.
However, although the entire Westeros system has actually been expanding towards a certain goal, Simon himself has never thought that this basically ideal pursuit can actually be realized.
Even Simon found that if he wanted to be a destroyer, like Soros, of course he would go one step further and become the ultimate king of destruction, which would be feasible. After all, it is still the same saying, it is easier to destroy than to build. However, unfortunately, the possibility of becoming a leader in the direction of the world is almost zero.
So we can only settle for the next best thing.
Simon's goal after reorganizing it is to first expand the Westeros system's control over the world to the greatest extent possible, but it only needs to be the greatest degree of implicit control.
In the future world, there will be no need to pay attention to all kinds of petty fights. However, once there is a key node that truly affects the fate of all mankind, Simon's goal is that the Westeros system can force some people to the negotiating table to avoid the worst outcome.
If someone insists on his own way, the Westeros system must also have the ability to make the other party lose the ability to do so before the other party insists on his own way. The means include but are not limited to direct humane destruction.
Compared to directly leading human society to a more correct and rational destination, the second best solution is undoubtedly quite feasible.
The key point is people.
Just people.
It's very simple. Arrange enough and loyal Westerosians to get into the top ranks of the world's mainstream countries as much as possible.
In addition, it is to directly establish personal connections with the top leaders of various countries. For example, using the shell of the Tasmanian Club with the properties of the 'Doomsday Ark', if it is operated properly, the goal can be achieved.
Of course, it will take a long time to realize these things, and Simon also knows that there must be too many unpredictable variables, but in any case, it is also the most feasible plan.
Fortunately, as long as history does not change much, Simon has at least 20 years to carefully lay out.
This is enough.
In addition to this aspect, the other is to do our best to pursue cutting-edge technology and improve the productivity of human society.
This matter is even simpler, it is still a 3G plan.
Australia.
The time is Tuesday, April 11th.
It was late summer in the southern hemisphere and it was still hot. Simon and Janet came to a small town called Woomera in the south-central part of South Australia. They got off the off-road vehicle. It was around one o'clock in the afternoon when the sun was at its strongest, and the surrounding air seemed to The red Gobi Desert, all distorted by the heat, can be seen as far as the eye can see.
The Woomera launch site is about 1,000 kilometers away from Melbourne in the southeast. It is one of the most famous rocket or missile test launch sites in the world, but it should be added with a 'once'.
From the 1840s after World War II to the 1970s before its decline, for more than 20 years, this large-scale launch site covering an area of 120,000 square kilometers with the small town of Wumera as its core has carried out more than 4,000 launches. launch operation.
The ups and downs of the past are all in the past, and it is useless to say more. Just recently, through the operation of the Westeros system, the Australian government officially signed an agreement with the Australian branch of SpaceX, a subsidiary of the Westeros system, to launch Wu Myra The entire site was transferred to the Westeros system to serve as SpaceX's rocket launch site in the southern hemisphere.
Before Simon arrived in Australia, the mercenary troops of the Perth Military Consulting and Security Company (PMCS) established in Australia by the Westeros system had already stationed in the town of Womera, along with the first batch of 1,000 engineering teams. , plans to renovate the launch site, expand the town, and also build a rocket factory and research center here. It is expected that all will be completed. The small town of Wumaila, which could only accommodate up to 400 people before, will be expanded to at least 3,000 people. The size of the permanent population.
To put it simply, this will be a higher-level Westeros system space exploration program base than the one in North America.
Again, this is an adjustment Simon has made recently.
Most of the space exploration industry in the 3G plan will be transferred to Australia where the Westeros system can control it to a greater extent.
Simon's consideration is also very simple, the sky is high and the emperor is far away.
In North America, after all, there are still all kinds of constraints. In comparison, here in Australia, you can be much more relaxed.
The area around the small town of Woomera was too big and vast. Led by Bruce Mendelson, the head of the base and the president of SpaceX Australia branch, Simon and his wife walked around and occasionally took a bus, which took them three full days. It took many hours to move Wumaila and its surroundings aside.
Finally, back in the town, there was another two-hour meeting with the management headed by Mendelson to discuss various details of the base construction.
When it's all over, twilight has fallen, even during the long summer days in the Southern Hemisphere.
Simon had no intention of staying here overnight. At around seven o'clock, he said goodbye to the base's management team and took Janet in the car to return to Augusta, a city more than 100 kilometers away by the sea in the south. He would take a private jet back there. Melbourne.
After the car left the Wumera launch site, Simon continued to flip through a copy of the underground fortification expansion plan information in his hand, and glanced at Janet, who was leaning against him softly: "How do you feel?"
Janet was resting with her eyes squinted. She was still very tired after walking around in such a bad environment all afternoon. After listening to the man talking to herself, she opened her eyes and glanced sideways: "Since the election in Russia, I feel that you It’s very urgent.”
Simon did not deny it and nodded: "We don't have much time to begin with."
In fact, the two have talked about many things these days, and Simon has frankly revealed many of his thoughts to the woman. Therefore, Janet knew very well that what the man said about not having a lot of time was probably true.
Up to 20 years.
After a pause, Janet said: "Actually, there is another chance for change, Bush's side, this year's presidential election."
This is also something the two are open and honest about.
Regarding supporting George W. Bush, Simon's goal is still very clear: to push Bush to power, launch a war, and consume the United States' foundation.
However, Simon's original idea was to push the United States toward Latin America, which would be more conducive to the survival of oligarchic capital like the Westeros system. However, after careful consideration, Simon felt that it would be good for the United States to move toward Latin Americanization smoothly, but what if it didn't go smoothly? Moreover, once the world lacks a leader, it is difficult to say what will happen.
For example, during this series of changes, if things like the October Revolution in Tsarist Russia happened again, wouldn't it be super capitalists like him who would be the most unlucky
After thinking about it this way, Simon probably understood why McCarthyism appeared in the United States back then, and, to some extent, why all Western countries still did not give up their pursuit of Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
The shadow is too dark.
You know, if the Soviet camp had won back then, the entire West, especially the elite class at the top of the pyramid, would feel a little sad just thinking about it.
After thinking too much, even Simon himself was inevitably a little shaken.
Or is it time to extinguish any potential resurgence
After weighing it, I still gave up.
inside the carriage.
Simon was not surprised to hear Janet say this, but said: "Do you think that if I give up letting George W. Bush come to power and switch to the Democratic Party, the trend of hollowing out the federal entity industry will be reversed?"
Janet shook her head: "No."
It is obvious that when the Democratic Party comes to power, high-end service industries such as Wall Street and the Internet will only receive further support. As for low-end real industries, the tendency to relocate abroad will only become more serious. In comparison, the Republican Party is more inclined to protect various traditional industries in the United States.
Of course, these are not the main reasons.
The key is that Simon hopes that a certain super economy that has driven the entire world forward for 20 years in the original time and space can develop as smoothly as it once did.
This is definitely not just because of a soul from the East in Simon's body, but because of the interests of human society itself.
The simple truth is that China on the other side of the ocean is suppressed, its productivity cannot be released, and its huge market cannot be developed. The declining productivity of existing mainstream Western countries and capitalism will inevitably continue to move toward wealth concentration. Under the influence of social injustice, it may not take 20 years. Years later, the world will once again decline, and even, like the early 20th century, there will be two consecutive world wars that bring huge disasters to human society.
Taking history as a guide, this is definitely not an unfounded worry.
However, no matter how fat a sheep is, it is impossible to keep it. The United States can use its exchange rate advantage to buy cheap goods and then use the issuance of U.S. bonds to siphon off the wealth accumulated on the other side of the ocean to achieve true ' A win-win situation, but everything will eventually have its limit.
Probably only 20 years.
What Simon can definitely do is to ensure that this time, space and world are given another 20 years.
Then, Simon wasn't sure.
Therefore, the Wumera launch site we saw today is purely for our own sake.
Twenty years may allow a country that has been weak for centuries to become the second largest country in the world. However, for space exploration, just 20 years is really too little.
Simon had to hurry.
At least, and at most twenty years, the planned first 10,000-ton space city must be completely completed. At the same time, the latest generation of space shuttles and other supporting facilities must be complete, so that in the most extreme circumstances, at least it can The goal is to give the Westeros family an extraterrestrial refuge.
For other things, as the same saying goes, manpower is limited and we can’t control too much.