"This is ABC Television. The much-anticipated The Matrix Reloaded has just held its grand premiere.
The film's producer and the director of the previous installment, Gilbert, did not attend the premiere. However, the event was still dazzling with star power."
"It is reported that the action scenes in this film have been fully upgraded. Keanu Reeves underwent six months of training in preparation for the film. In an interview, he stated that his action scenes were much better than in the previous movie."
As the sequel to a highly successful film, The Matrix Reloaded has naturally garnered immense attention. Following the premiere, midnight screenings across major theaters were packed with countless fans.
Since Yuen Woo-ping was no longer serving as the action choreographer for this film, James Gunn retained Yuen's protégé, Tiger Chen.
Tiger Chen had long aspired to work in the U.S. and had a good personal relationship with Keanu Reeves. He immediately chose to part ways with Yuen Woo-ping and establish himself independently.
Although Tiger Chen was trained under Yuen Woo-ping, the action sequences in The Matrix Reloaded abandoned the flashy martial arts of the previous film.
This time, the action style resembled mixed martial arts, incorporating Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai, and Jeet Kune Do.
On screen, this fighting style appeared fast, sharp, and embodied the aesthetics of power that relied on sheer speed. At least, in The Matrix Reloaded, it worked that way.
The reason for this shift in action choreography was straightforward—The Matrix had sparked a trend, making Hollywood eager to follow suit.
At this point, no action movie dared to start production without hiring at least one Hong Kong-based action choreographer or incorporating some form of martial arts sequences.
As a result, the market was soon flooded with countless action films featuring martial arts elements, leading to audience fatigue.
When The Matrix Reloaded was released, it once again revolutionized action choreography, earning admiration from action movie enthusiasts.
During its midnight screenings, the film surpassed The Lord of the Rings' first two installments, raking in $9.15 million.
On its opening day, critics harshly criticized The Matrix Reloaded. Even Gilbert's loyal supporter, Roger Ebert, remarked that the film had completely lost the essence of the first installment.
He claimed it was nothing but fights and explosions, with none of the philosophical depth or religious contemplation of the original.
In reality, it wasn't that these themes were absent—rather, they weren't explored as deeply, as the focus had shifted more toward action and visual effects.
Gilbert had previously warned James Gunn that if he took over The Matrix series, he would likely face criticism. Now, his prediction had come true.
However, James Gunn didn't seem bothered in the slightest, as The Matrix Reloaded grossed $23.325 million on its opening day.
Over the following weekend, it earned $34.278 million on Saturday and $26.876 million on Sunday.
Including its midnight screenings, the film's North American opening weekend totaled an impressive $93.629 million, securing the number-one spot at the box office without contest.
While The Matrix Reloaded dominated theaters, Gilbert celebrated his 31st birthday.
His aunt, Meryl, and her family traveled from Los Angeles to join the celebration at Melon Manor.
For once, all the women in his life were present. Watching a group of famous Hollywood actresses standing before her like nervous daughters-in-law meeting their mother-in-law, Aunt Meryl found the scene somewhat amusing.
After observing for a while, Meryl shook her head helplessly and said to Gilbert, "You're just like your father—a playboy.
But there's one difference: you're much better than he was."
The old man sitting beside them immediately protested, "What do you mean? I was quite something, okay? I dated Marilyn Monroe, and I had dinner with Audrey Hepburn…"
"Pfft," Meryl scoffed. "I heard Marilyn Monroe nearly bit you that night. And you're still bragging about it?"
The old man's face darkened. "Who told you that?"
"It's been an open secret for ages. You think I wouldn't know?"
The women looked at the old man's expression. It seemed to be true, and they couldn't help but cover their mouths, giggling.
Naomi Watts had long become a social expert. She quickly changed the subject to prevent further bickering. "The chef today is someone I specially invited from China.
I heard he's a state banquet chef from over there, and his cooking is excellent. Let's try it…"
It was indeed impressive. This chef was clearly a master of Huaiyang cuisine. Many of the dishes he brought out were ones that Gilbert recognized.
There were crab roe meatballs, braised shredded tofu, Wensi tofu, eight-treasure gourd duck, cherry pork, and more. Among them, the glutinous rice lotus root was a dessert that both Scarlett and Ellie enjoyed.
The birthday banquet was quite private. After asking Gilbert for his preference, Naomi Watts chose not to make it a grand affair, just a simple family dinner.
As a result, close business partners such as Robert Iger, Doug Walter, and other executives from Disney and Warner only sent gifts and didn't intrude on Gilbert's family time.
Steve Jobs also sent a gift—Apple's latest smartphone, set to launch in the fall.
Jobs meant for Gilbert to test it out and provide feedback, given his deep understanding of electronics.
At present, Nokia was still the dominant force in mobile phones, both in strength and sales.
After expanding into the MP3 market, securing Apple's computer business, and preparing for the MP4 market, Jobs now aimed to enter the mobile phone sector.
Because Gilbert had mentioned to him that the future belonged to smartphones, Jobs and his R&D team had already begun preliminary research on smart devices.
Nokia was making similar moves. However, without a clear direction on how to develop smartphones, it remained uncertain whether Nokia would succeed or fail like in the past.
Although Gilbert was Apple's second-largest individual shareholder, he had no control over the company. He had no decision-making power over Apple's operations.
But when it came to Watermelon, Gilbert had a significant say.
Over the years, Watermelon had survived and thrived in the harsh winter of the internet industry, thanks to its search engine and portal businesses.
In May, the company's executives submitted an acquisition proposal to Gilbert. Watermelon planned to acquire a company founded by Andy Rubin.
According to the report, Andy Rubin believed that, just like PC operating systems, mobile operating systems had enormous potential.
So, he assembled a team and founded a company to develop a brand-new smart mobile OS.
However, limited by the current hardware capabilities of mobile phones, the development process had been challenging.
Gilbert readily approved the acquisition, bringing Andy Rubin and his team into Watermelon, where they would focus on developing a mobile OS.
Drawing inspiration from his past life, Gilbert named the project Android.
In fact, the term Android first appeared in French writer Villiers de L'Isle-Adam's 1886 science fiction novel The Future Eve, where he named a human-like robot Android.
Gilbert even took the time to design a logo for Android, drawing inspiration from the male and female restroom signs.
He sketched a simple robot—its body shaped like a tin can, with two antennae on its head.
Andy Rubin loved the logo. After a few discussions with Gilbert, he found his ideas about Android's future applications greatly inspired.
To Andy Rubin, Gilbert now felt like a kindred spirit.
Interestingly, Andy Rubin had once been an engineer at Apple. However, due to internal turmoil at the company, he left and eventually joined Watermelon.
The fact that Watermelon was developing a mobile OS wasn't exactly a secret. Jobs was quite unhappy about it because Apple was working on its own mobile OS as well.
So he quickly approached Gilbert to ask about his intentions.
Gilbert's explanation was simple: "Apple's system and Android don't conflict. Apple's OS is exclusive to its own products and isn't licensed externally.
Android, on the other hand, targets a different market, competing with Nokia and Motorola."
"So, you're saying our companies are allies?" Jobs asked.
"Of course," Gilbert replied enthusiastically. "Steve, we're partners. I wouldn't go after a partner."
"Even so…" Jobs hesitated before saying, "If possible, I'd like to invest in this project."
"Sure," Gilbert said without hesitation. "Trade it for your Pixar shares."
"…" Jobs was speechless for a long time. "You know Disney has been in talks with me to acquire Pixar.
I'd rather become a Disney shareholder."
For someone like Jobs, simply throwing money at him wouldn't work. That's why Robert Iger's strategy was to offer an equivalent stock swap instead.
Because of Pixar's acquisition deal, Disney hadn't gone all-in on acquiring Melon Studios, allowing Warner to stay competitive.
Though Jobs wasn't pleased, Android's development continued. Whether it could replicate its past success remained to be seen.
During the birthday banquet, Gilbert asked Ellie, "Ellie, what do you want to do? I'll arrange it for you."
"Thanks, cousin." Ellie frowned in thought for a long moment before saying, "I want to be a famous female director like Sofia."
"Oh, that's not easy, Ellie."
Gilbert swatted away Scarlett's playful hand and continued speaking to Ellie. "I remember you went to Stanford for business administration. That's got nothing to do with filmmaking."
Stanford was a world-class university, but as a private institution, Ellie's high school grades hadn't met the standard for admission.
But that wasn't a problem for Gilbert. After a meal with a few Stanford board members, Ellie was smoothly admitted as a student.
By next summer, she would graduate from Stanford.
Ellie tilted her head in thought before acting coy. "Come on, cousin. Your good friend James Cameron used to be a truck driver, and he became a director. Why can't I?"
"James Cameron is a super genius. Can you compare yourself to him?"
"That's why I have you! With your support, I believe I can do it." Ellie hugged Gilbert's arm and playfully shook it.
Her aunt Meryl couldn't take it anymore. "Ellie, stop fooling around. Do you think directing is easy? Look at how exhausted your cousin is. Just be a regular office worker—it's a good job."
"Exactly," Cameron Diaz blinked. "I've always dreamed of becoming an office worker. Lately, I've been taking MBA courses at Harvard."
Ellie wasn't convinced. "Office work is so boring. Directors get to travel the world—for free!"
"Oh, so you want to be a director just for free travel?"
"Of course not. I want to be the first woman to win an Oscar for Best Director." Ellie boasted without a hint of embarrassment.
"Wow, big talk." Gilbert chuckled. "Alright, since you've decided, I'll let you try. You'll start as an assistant director."
Ellie's eyes lit up. "With you?"
"No," Gilbert shook his head. "You'll go to Chris. You'll learn a lot from him."
Although she wouldn't be working directly with Gilbert, Ellie was still happy to get a foot in the door.
Aunt Meryl complained, "Everything was planned out, and now you're just spoiling her."
"It's fine." Gilbert gave her a reassuring look and whispered, "She'll figure out whether she's suited for it after trying it for a while."
Hearing that, Meryl felt more at ease.
After the birthday banquet, the old man flew to China for a vacation. But only he and Gilbert knew the real reason—he was avoiding certain people.
His timing was perfect because Marvell's investigators had dug up quite a bit on him.
Back in his younger years, the old man was hot-tempered, reckless, and unrestrained, leading to a fair share of troubles. That alone wasn't an issue—plenty of Hollywood figures were just as wild.
However, some top industry figures had self-control and a strong moral code.
So, the old man ended up putting green hats on several high-ranking figures. A green hat—whether in the East or the West—is something no normal man can tolerate.
Of course, if someone is psychologically twisted and has a fetish for such things, that's a different story.
And as it happens, Hollywood has quite a few people with such fetishes. Cases of spouses cheating on each other are common.
The old man's mistake was that he seduced other people's wives, but those men were not into that kind of thing. This earned him the intense resentment of several powerful figures.
However, if that were the only reason, while he would certainly have faced retaliation, it wouldn't have forced him out of Hollywood.
The real issue was that the projects he was in charge of at the time all flopped, yet he made a substantial profit himself. This enraged the investors, making them want to tear him apart.
With both old and new grudges stacked against him, the old man had no choice but to bow to immense pressure and announce his withdrawal from Hollywood.
That was the story he told Gilbert about his past—it sounded almost surreal.
But there was one question: If it was just these incidents, how could they use decades-old matters to threaten him now? There had to be something he was still hiding or deliberately avoiding mentioning.
None of that really mattered, though. What mattered was that Gilbert knew these people couldn't touch him directly—so now they were targeting his family instead.
....
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