America Tycoon: The Wolf of Showbiz

Just as the first light was revealing itself outside the window, Charlize Theron awoke from her sleep with a start. She glanced at Martin, still deep in slumber, and thought of the movie premiere from the night before. Suddenly, sleep was the last thing on her mind. After quickly freshening up in the bathroom, she headed to the adjacent room to turn on her computer.

"Critical acclaim! Critical acclaim!" she seemed to be praying, "That damn critical acclaim!"

Charlize knew all too well that if this film flopped, she'd be relegated to supporting roles from then on.

She first opened the Rotten Tomatoes website and clicked on the "Gone Girl" section. Seeing the percentage associated with the red tomato, she breathed a sigh of relief—freshness 96%!

Acclaim from film critics was outstanding.

"David Fincher has brought us another masterpiece. This film dazzles in every aspect, bewitching and bewildering. Martin Davis and Charlize Theron are like a godsend, portraying with utmost intensity the struggle between an adulterous, weak-willed literary scum and a beautiful, elegant woman with a dark side, making one deeply feel the duality of marriage as heaven and hell!"

Upon seeing this top review, Charlize's heart settled back into place, and then she switched to IMDB.

The rating there was a temporary high of 9.2!

"A superb masterpiece, in my opinion, the best film of the year, it's a pity about the release timing, it should have premiered around Valentine's Day!"

"Especially recommended for couples to watch together, this film is great for strengthening relationships!"

Charlize almost laughed, then suddenly turned her head toward the next room. An absurd thought popped into her head—Martin seemed to have pitched a tent. If she took a wallpaper knife and made a cut under the tent...

At this thought, she quickly shook her head, discarding the crazy idea. She hadn't had her fill of enjoyment just yet.

Charlize then switched to MTC, a film website that specializes in collecting media scores. The movie had an average score of 85.

From audiences to film critics to professional media, the reviews were stellar.

All that was left was the box office.

It was only the premiere so far, not yet widely released. Charlize could only check the audience scores on CinemaScore, which, as expected, was an A!

All this indicated that the film was set to explode with critical acclaim and was headed for a box office hit.

Charlize put her heart back into her stomach, wrapped in her pajamas, she returned to the next room. She entered to see Martin's tent pitched high.

The bastard was still fast asleep, not yet time for his early morning exercise.

Charlize decided to wake him, to get started on the morning workout.

She pulled back the tent flap and crawled in, kissing Martin awake.

An hour of exercise, not wasting a single drop.

At breakfast, Martin ate a lot but Charlize didn't touch her food, feeling quite sated already.

The two left on time, arriving at Los Angeles International Airport to join the rest of the crew, beginning their North American promotional tour.

The over twenty-day North American promotional tour for "Gone Girl" had just begun.

In every city, the crew would go all out to capture the attention of the media and the public, letting people know that "Gone Girl" would be fully released in North America soon.

By the next weekend, the film officially debuted across North America in 3,621 theaters.

Due to the R-rated restriction, many teenagers couldn't enter the cinemas.

But the occupancy rate in the theaters showing the film remained very high.

......

Atlanta, Peachtree Street.

Robert, his hair neatly slicked back, was in his office meticulously wiping down an old wooden desk decorated with an expired 2003 Coca-Cola bottle.

This was newly placed there, a prayer for Martin's new film to be a big hit. Enjoy new chapters from My Virtual Library Empire

Robert carefully cleaned the desk until it was spotless.

He had now resigned from his position as an art director at the entertainment agency and was fully committed to his role as the High Priest of the Cola Cult, managing all related sacrificial matters.

At that moment, someone knocked on the office door. An assistant came in and said, "Miss Carter has arrived; they're in the reception room."

Putting on his suit jacket, Robert went to the reception room, and upon seeing Elena and Lily, he addressed the former, "Holy maiden, good morning."

On Elena's left ring finger was still the chastity ring from back then, "Martin sent over a new Cadillac; I had Lily drive it here."

Lily handed the keys to Robert, saying, "The latest flagship sedan."

Robert took the keys.

Elena glanced at the time, "You're busy, we'll get going."

Robert asked, "In such a hurry?"

Lily replied, "We're going to see Martin's new movie."

The two went downstairs to the nearby cinema. They had arrived just in time and had barely sat down when the movie began to play.

Not long into the film, Lily started to murmur, "It's practically a true representation of him; there's no need to act at all. Just standing there, he's the epitome of a scumbag."

But Elena retorted, "Martin could never be as weak as Nick Dunne."

Upon reflection, Lily agreed, "Right, he isn't simply playing himself."

Elena stopped speaking and focused on the film, which conveyed a truly despairing view of marriage.

Thinking of her own parents, and Martin's father, marriage indeed seemed terrifying!

The movie ended, and the two returned to the car.

Lily was silent for a while before asking, "Is marriage really like this?"

Elena replied, "The marriages I've seen are even more terrifying."

Lily thought of Scott and Emma, shrugged her shoulders and said, "After watching this film, I don't want to get married at all."

Her words fell on Elena's ears, and she turned her head to stare at Lily, "What have you done with Martin?"

"Nothing, absolutely nothing," Lily retorted loudly, then murmured softly, "I would like to, but he's as timid as a mouse..."

Before she could finish her sentence, a white fist appeared before her eyes. Lily instinctively tried to dodge, but the fist landed accurately on her, just like countless times before.

With a muffled thud, the sisterly affection landed on Lily's head.

Elena said, "Drive."

Lily didn't dare to say any more nonsense and hurriedly started the car to leave.

When they arrived home and came to the community gate, they saw their father Scott.

Lily stopped the car.

Elena got out of the passenger seat and asked, "What are you doing here?"

Scott, with his legs astride, approached his daughter with an odd gait and pulled out a card, "I went to see the Braves game. Holle was injured. There's some money in here..."

Elena didn't accept it, "Keep it. Holle's injury is nothing serious, he will recover soon, and the Atlanta Braves will cover the medical expenses."

Scott nodded, "Glad to hear that." He took the card back, then suddenly asked, "Has Emma contacted you recently?"

"No." Elena had long given up on Emma-Carter, "The last we heard, she was mixed up with those drug-dealing blacks in South City."

Lily joined them now, "What do you want with Emma? Do you want to ruin our lives completely?"

Scott laughed awkwardly, his response unexpected, "I want to divorce her, the kind of divorce that's done officially."

Elena had an uneasy association, "What are you planning to do?"

A nearby Hummer opened up, and Sophia climbed down. Her bulging muscles stretched her loose tracksuit into a tight fit, and her fat-less face was full of horizontal wrinkles, resembling a female version of King Kong.

She smiled at Lily and Elena as if thunder had sounded in the sky, "I'm planning to marry Scott."

Elena felt thunderstruck, "Don't you have a husband?"

Scott said, "He passed away long ago."

Sophia added, "I proposed to Scott, and he accepted. But to proceed, we need him to officially divorce your mother first."

Elena didn't say anything else, "We don't know where Emma is."

Sophia could tell she was not lying, "I'll have someone look for her."

Lily, not wanting to see Emma and knowing her character, realized that if Sophia actually found her, they would have even more troubles with their four siblings.

Even more, Emma could completely disrupt the stable life of the four of them.

Lily's mind raced, and she asked, "Sophia, you have investments with Martin, right? His new movie 'Gone Girl' has just been released. Don't you want to go see it?"

Sophia had been too busy lately to pay attention to this film. She asked, "Has it already been released?"

Lily pointed to the car, "Elena and I just came back from watching it."

Sophia looked at Scott, "Let's go. We can search for her slowly. Let's go watch a movie."

Scott walked with a limp, following Sophia into the car.

The two quickly entered a theater and bought two tickets for 'Gone Girl,' eager to watch Martin's new film.

At the beginning of the screening, Sophia occasionally spoke to Scott.

Half an hour later, neither of them spoke.

The movie made it so that even couples with a very special relationship like Sophia and Scott had nothing to say to each other.

In contrast, the film was extremely captivating and enjoyable to watch. However, afterwards, it somewhat left a lingering aftereffect.

After watching the movie and coming out of the theater, Sophia got into the Hummer and fell deep into thought.

Scott sat beside her, shifting his buttocks from time to time, seeming also to be affected and impacted.

After a good while, the flesh on Sophia's face twitched a few times before she broke the silence, "We can't find Emma now, and you can't go through the normal divorce procedures on your side. Let's put off our marriage for now."

Scott also felt it was best to wait, saying, "There's no rush to get married. Maybe one day Emma will show up on her own. Searching among the blacks in South City is not easy."

"Then let's leave it at that," Sophia no longer mentioned getting married, starting the car to go back to the House of Beast Club.

Scott turned his head, looking outside the window. On the giant outdoor billboard, Martin stood in front of an advert seeking Amy, his smile incredibly sleazy, looking every bit the ultimate scumbag.

Why doesn't God take this bastard to heaven?

Entering November, the traditional holiday season in North America had begun. Even though there were no public holidays in mid-November, 'Gone Girl' still drew in crowds to theaters thanks to Martin and David Fincher's appeal plus the accumulated fans of the book.

As Friday's ticket sales ended and Saturday at midnight just began, the latest box office stats were released.

'Gone Girl' grossed 20.75 million US dollars, knocking 'Despicable Me' from the previous weekend off the top of the North American box office chart.