American Fame and Fortune Chapter 449

 Chapter 449 Don't force me to shoot

Manhattan, New York.

Wearing a jacket, Ted turned into a cafe, walked to the corner, and sat across from a black guy.

The black boy smiled at him with two lines of white teeth: "Coke God Forever! Long live the leader!"

Ted replied: "Long live Lord Martin!"

"I know you, you are the leader of a fan group." After confirming that the password was correct, the black boy asked: "You can't get the goods either?"

"There is no way, the North American market is completely out of stock. I have several overseas customers who watched The Dark Knight last weekend. They particularly like the Joker. They want to buy a handmade statue of the Joker but they can't." Ted even sold his own statue for work. The statue was given to the client.

Hei Xiaozi praised: "The clown is too popular, the handmade statues are sold too hot, and it's hard to get the goods."

Ted simply asked directly: "Do you have the goods?"

The black boy looked around, as if he was worried that someone would rush to rob him. He carefully opened his coat, took out a black cloth bag from his armpit, opened it and placed it in front of Ted.

Ted looked at the goods carefully. Inside were limited edition hand-carved clown figures and a CocCola clown statue.

The black boy stared at the people in the cafe warily. Considering the current market situation in North America, these limited edition clown handmade statues and figures are all hard currency that is difficult to buy with extra money.

Ted picked up a statue, and the strange smell made his nose uncomfortable: "Why is there a weird smell?"

Black Boy is not embarrassed either: "Special times, special transportation methods, who do you think would dare to walk on the street with Martin's clown statue now? This is New York, and it can be robbed at any time!"

 He quickly lowered his voice: "Spray more perfume and the problem will be solved."

Ted had no choice but to find the goods, so he asked: "How much does it cost?"

Hei Xiaozi said: "The figure is 2,200 US dollars, and the engraving of the Coke God's version is 5,500 US dollars. It's the same price!"

Ted's eyes widened when he heard this.

The black boy picked up the statue and asked Ted to look at the soles of his feet: "Warner Bros. has released thousands of the Martin and Lily Carter co-branded version, with more than 300 million people in the United States."

Tade thought about the customer's needs and gritted his teeth: "Okay, I request the transaction now."

The black boy received the money and said, "I'll give you a piece of advice. Get your things done before you leave."

Regardless of the strong smell, Ted wrapped it in a black cloth bag, stuffed it into the armpit of his coat, zipped it up, and walked out.

The statue is not only a limited edition, but also a flavored version.

Before he left the street, Ted found a man in an old suit coming face to face with clown paint on his face. He turned and entered the convenience store.

Thinking of the recent frequent clown robberies, he quickly crossed the road and went to the other side of the road, away from the convenience store entrance.

As soon as the clown opened the door of the convenience store, he took out his revolver and pointed it at the boss and cashier, shouting: "Take out the money, take out all the money, I only want money, I don't want to hurt anyone!"

 The boss is not someone who wants money at the risk of his life. He opens the cashier and takes out the money.

Seeing the boss's cooperation, the clown felt a little more relaxed. He glanced around and saw the CocCola clown statue behind the counter, and immediately lost interest in money.

He pointed the gun at the boss in one hand and pointed at the statue with the other hand: "Bring it to me!"

The boss paused and seemed reluctant.

 The clown yelled: "Hurry up, don't make me shoot!"

The boss reluctantly picked up the limited edition handmade clown statue, handed it to the clown with one hand, and quietly touched under the counter with the other hand.

The clown took the statue and was very happy. This thing can currently be sold for several thousand dollars on the black market, which is much more than the money in the cashier.

He also knows how to inspect goods. He turned over the clown and looked at the soles of his feet. One foot was engraved with Martin and the other was engraved with Lily Carter.

That's right, the real thing!

While the clown was distracted while inspecting the goods, the boss took out a pistol from under the counter and shot the clown's target in the largest chest.

 Bang, bang, bang!

In an instant, the pistol magazine was emptied, and the clown fell to the ground covered in blood.

The boss changed the magazine, walked out of the counter with the gun, kicked the clown's revolver aside, and made sure he was not a threat. He called the police first, then picked up his statue, took out a tissue and wiped the blood on it.

He glanced at the clown robber on the ground and said sternly: "You can rob me of my money, but you can't rob my Martin clown statue!"

The clown robber made a strange gurgling sound in his throat, and then stopped moving.

The boss didn't dare to put the statue in the store anymore, so he quickly put it in the safe at the back and waited for the NYPD to come to the door. His store was under surveillance, so he wasn't particularly worried.

New York, Brooklyn Studios.

The crew of the new project "Shutter Island" directed by Martin Scorsese has been officially established. In addition to Leonardo, the second actor Mark Ruffalo also joined the crew in advance to experience life and prepare for the role. Outside the studio, Ruffalo received a call from a friend: "I was on the same crew as Martin, but at that time he was still in Atlanta and was just an extra. He didn't have the habit of giving gifts to the crew, so I don't have a hand-carved clown statue.”

The friend said: "Find a way to get one for me. There are three children in the family, and they are all clamoring for clowns. Now that I have money, I have no way to buy one. I have heard people mention that there are many handmade versions of Lily Carter's clowns on the black market. The statues came from Hollywood crew members who had worked with Martin.”

Hearing this, Ruffalo thought of his partner on this project and said, "I'll give it a try."

 The popularity of clowns was so high that several children in the family liked it so much that the man could only say: "Mark, please."

Ruffalo hung up the phone, entered the studio, and found Leonardo, who was alone in a daze: "Hi, Leo."

 Leonardo nodded at him: "An opposite scene?"

"No." Ruffalo smiled sheepishly: "I need your help with something."

He said directly: "A few friends want Martin's Joker statue, the Joker in The Dark Knight, but they can't buy it on the market. Even if they have money, they can't find a suitable channel..."

Leonardo laughed: "Martin, that bastard, got rich! His little sister got rich too!"

Ruffalo asked curiously: "Do you know Lily Carter?"

"Knowing." Leonardo has collected a lot of art, and he has some appreciation ability: "Her sculpting talent...no, it should be said that her handicraft talent is excellent."

 He was quite generous: “How many do you want?”

Ruffalo has ever known that clown statues are super popular and Leonardo sounds like he has a lot of them? But he knew what he was doing and didn't ask for more: "Do you have four?"

 Three are for friends and one is for myself: "I pay..."

“Don't ask me for money, I have a lot of these little things from Martin.” Leonardo put some in his house in New York: “Well, I'll bring them to you in the afternoon.”

Ruffalo said quickly: "Thank you so much, Leo, you helped me solve a big problem."

"You're welcome." Leonardo said to himself. It seemed that he could exchange a lot of money for the ones he collected, but there was no need, so just keep them.

 After Ruffalo left happily, Leonardo found Martin Scorsese.

He was shocked to find that the old man was holding a piece of cotton cloth and wiping the clown statue given by the **** Martin.

 Leonardo asked: "Do you like clowns too?"

“The character created by Martin is really good and can be called a classic.” Scorsese pointed to the statue: “I didn't look at it carefully before, but now I realize that the carving is really good.”

 Leonardo was helpless: "You have been affected by the media."

“Don't you think Martin and Nolan have achieved the ultimate in publicity and marketing?” Scorsese meant.

 Leonardo had worked with him for many years, but he couldn't understand that he was being disliked.

He said: "There are not many people like Martin in Hollywood! He is thicker-skinned than Jack and I combined."

Scorsese was very motivated when he thought about his marriage career and urged: "Leo, you have to work **** this!"

"Aren't you just going to cause trouble? I'm no worse than Martin." Leonardo decided to stand up for once: "I came to see you because I wanted to ask for leave and prepare to go back to Los Angeles. Warner Brothers is holding a celebration party for the Dark Knight. This time Martin has achieved such good business results, I can't justify not going. "

That's not the point. He added: "Recently, I have been exposed to information about patients in mental hospitals frequently, and I have to experience life on the spot. If I don't go back and relax, in a few months, Martin and Jack will really go to the Presbyterian Hospital to visit me. ”

"Okay, you might as well go back and relax." Scorsese's voice suddenly changed: "When you see Martin, help me ask for the latest clown statue carved by Lily Carter."

 Leonardo was surprised: "Why didn't I see that you were also chasing stars?"

Scorsese coughed: "Everyone has a time when they are young. Although I am old, I am still young at heart."

 Leonardo responded immediately.

In the afternoon, he brought the Joker statue over and gave it to Ruffalo. That night he took a private flight back to Los Angeles so that he could surprise Martin and Jack at the Dark Knight celebration.

When the North American box office of The Dark Knight exceeded US$300 million and the global box office exceeded US$500 million, Legendary Pictures and Warner Bros., as producers and distributors, announced that they would hold a grand celebration party for the film and invited many stars. Celebrities attended.

 In addition to the box office, the film also made an astonishing amount of revenue from peripheral products. The total revenue from various peripheral products has exceeded 70 million US dollars.

 Especially various clown-related products have become the leader in peripheral sales.

 Compared to the box office, the income and profits from this part are terrifyingly high.

  He can earn 20% of the gross profit from all peripheral products that use Martin's image rights. This income alone may reach tens of millions of dollars by the time the settlement is completed at the end of the year.

Of course, this kind of more adult-oriented movie cannot compare with Di Baobao's top children's works. Elsa's skirt once sold hundreds of millions, which was still US dollars.

 (End of this chapter)

Chapter end