Domination in America, Starting from being a Boxing Champion-Chapter 941 - 658: In the Blink of an Eye, a Year Has Passed_2

The film wrapped up production at the end of last year, and after four months of post-production, it was selected as the opening film for the Cannes Film Festival in May. It was also shortlisted for the main competition and ultimately won the Jury President’s Prize, which is second only to the Palme d’Or.

During the screening of the film, Link’s performance unexpectedly received praise from numerous film critics.

In French media outlets, many reviews described Link’s performance in the film as more impressive than veteran actors Zhou Runfa and Gong Li. Some critics even claimed that the scenes where Link, Gong Li, and Zhou Runfa acted opposite each other raised the quality of the film to an exceptionally high level.

As a result, Link received a nomination for Best Actor, but narrowly lost to the four lead actors of the French film "Days of Glory" during the selection process.

"Curse of the Golden Flower" premiered on Friday, June 9, and generated 143 million yuan in domestic box office revenue during its opening week, setting a new record for domestic films.

The film’s reputation was relatively positive overall—it outpaced both the box office performance and audience reviews of Huayi’s "The Banquet" released in May. It received a score of 8.2 on Douban, with 23,144 ratings. Over 30 media outlets, including "Southern Weekend" and "Capital City Times," gave ratings of three stars or higher.

Among the reviews, Link garnered the most acclaim. Many fans expressed surprise and delight at Link’s performance in the film. As a newcomer, he managed to hold his own while acting alongside Gong Li and Zhou Runfa, both icons of the film industry, and some even thought he outshone them—a truly rare achievement.

Additionally, his bathing scene in the film, where he showcased a muscular and formidable physique, elicited gasps from many female audience members in the cinema.

Many fans called him a "god among men" and "the most masculine man in the entertainment industry," stating that he was perfect for period dramas and hoped he would continue to take on more roles in the future.

In response to these comments, Link stated in a press interview that his exceptional performance was thanks to Director Zhang’s guidance and the influence of the two veteran actors. He modestly claimed that his acting skills were average and said his continuation in film would depend on his schedule and whether the roles were suitable.

"Curse of the Golden Flower" remained in domestic theaters for 23 days and ultimately amassed a box office total of 300 million yuan.

Additionally, starting in June, the film was gradually released in countries such as France, the United States, Britain, Canada, Japan, and South Korea, and eventually garnered $64.26 million in overseas box office revenue.

This brought the global box office total for the film to 750 million yuan, with the production company announcing that they had broken even and secured profits of about 100 million yuan.

During the release of "Curse of the Golden Flower," Link’s single "Chrysanthemum Platform" also became a massive hit domestically. Taking advantage of this momentum, Song Ke and Zhang Yadong encouraged Link to release his third Mandarin-language album, highlighting "Chrysanthemum Platform" along with some newly written tracks.

His third Mandarin-language album sold over 4 million copies domestically, surpassing Jay Chou’s seventh studio album, "Still Fantasy," in sales.

In July, the film "Crazy Stone," produced by Fairyland Films, was released domestically. The film’s production budget was only 3.5 million yuan, but it earned 16.4 million yuan during its first week in Mainland theaters and 32.2 million yuan in its first month, becoming the biggest dark horse in the domestic film market in 2006.

Fairyland Films, as the producer, also caught the attention of the entertainment industry’s insiders.

This year, besides "Crazy Stone," Fairyland Films invested in three other films: Wang Xiaoshuai’s "In Love We Trust," Ning Hao’s new movie "Crazy Racer," and Jia Zhangke’s "Still Life," all of which are low-budget productions under 10 million yuan.

Link also received several screenplay invitations, including offers from major productions such as "The Warlords," "Assembly," and "Protégé." Among them, the production team of "The Warlords" offered him 30 million yuan to play the role of the third brother in the film.

After careful consideration, Link declined the offer, citing two reasons: first, he did not like the third brother’s character design and felt the role would not be satisfying to perform; second, he neither lacked money nor fame at the moment, and there was no need to spend two to three months on a film he wasn’t passionate about.

By August, Link joined Huaxia’s track and field team in Athens, Greece, to participate in the 10th World Cup Athletics Championships held there.

Over the course of the eight-day competition, Link won six gold medals in shot put, javelin, 1500m, 3000m, 5000m, and 10,000m events, as well as two bronze medals in the 100m and 200m events. freewēbnoveℓ.com

In September, Link defeated De La Hoya in Macau and later announced that he was relinquishing his middleweight Golden Belt from the four major organizations to challenge WBC super middleweight champion Marcus Beyer.

Marcus Beyer, a German boxer, had a record of 34 wins, 2 losses, and 1 draw—a formidable opponent.

With Bob Arum’s arrangements, Link bypassed the standard title challenge process and went straight to competing against Marcus Beyer.

The match lasted three rounds. In the first round, Link threw 132 punches and knocked down his opponent twice. By the second round, Marcus Beyer focused entirely on defensive tactics and avoided direct confrontation.

Using his exceptional technique and combination punches, Link broke through Beyer’s defenses and knocked him down once more in the second round.

In the third round, Beyer’s consecutive knockdowns significantly weakened his stamina. At the 46-second mark of the third round, Link landed a straight punch to Beyer’s forehead, causing him to collapse and remain down for 10 seconds, unable to get up.

Link successfully won the WBC super middleweight Golden Belt.

For this match, Link earned $18.5 million, slightly more than his previous matches, while his opponent earned $8 million.

After Link secured the WBC super middleweight Golden Belt, his top promotion team declared challenges to the two other reigning champions in the super middleweight division—WBA champion Mikkel Kessler, WBO-IBF super middleweight titleholder Joe Calzaghe, and super middleweight boxing superstar Roy Jones Jr.

Following the declarations, Bob Arum began contacting the representatives of the three champions, aiming to organize a series of consecutive matches.

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