Six Hundred and Fifty-Three-1 Black President?

Age and experience, when these things are required to watch a movie, it doesn't bode well in a commercial film. That means that if you want to understand this film, there is a viewing threshold!

Who is the mainstream audience for the summer show? Young people, to be more specific, are mainly teenagers and young people in their twenties. They are the main force who buy movie tickets and go to theaters to watch movies, and they are also the ones who are willing to empty their wallets for movies.

As for older audiences, they have never made up a large proportion of the audience for summer movies. This rule applies not only to the 1980s, 1990s, and the beginning of the new millennium, but also to the second decade of the 21st century.

However, Tom Cruise seems to be sure, but in fact, the specific situation still depends on the box office results. Even the most senior distribution guru in Hollywood cannot predict the success or failure of a movie before it is released on a large scale. The unpredictability of audience tastes is always a headache for Hollywood studios.

Sometimes, a movie suddenly becomes popular. As for the specific reason for its popularity, it is just a post-analysis by the so-called "experts". Otherwise, there would not be so many low-cost box office dark horses, and there would not be so many dark horses at the box office. Too many big investments are overturned.

This is the case in "Heaven and Earth". When the clock strikes one o'clock at midnight, the whole of Los Angeles has fallen into a deep sleep. In an office at Paramount Pictures, several film creative staff were laughing very happily.

At the same time as the premiere of "Collision" began, 2,300 advance screenings were simultaneously opened across North America. Just now, everyone who had been waiting finally got the data sent back by the theater company.

"$7.6 million!"

Director Mimi Ryder held a glass of champagne with no concealment of confidence on her face and said to everyone: "This result completely exceeded our previous expectation of about US$5 million! We can achieve such a high box office in advance. The box office on the first day and even the first weekend is definitely guaranteed.”

Unlike those popular movies that often gross over 10 million at the box office in advance, "Collision" is an original movie. It can achieve this result, which is basically considered very good.

Paramount Pictures' initial expectation was to get about US$5 million in advance and a first-week box office of about US$45 million. In this era, as long as it can achieve the expected box office results, it means that "The World" The box office hit of "Crash" in North America will never be less than 100 million US dollars.

"The Beauty of the Sun and the Moon"

As long as it can ensure that the North American box office exceeds the threshold of 100 million US dollars, the overseas distribution scale of this film will not be a problem. This is just the most conservative estimate made by Paramount's marketing department. Judging from tonight's advance box office, it is easy to reach this number.

"I will notify the distribution department and continue to increase the promotion of the film this weekend."

Shirley Lansing also had a smile on her face. She raised her champagne to everyone and continued: "You can go to major cities to promote it. Paramount will not let go of such a good publicity opportunity."

Several creative staff looked at each other with a smile, nodded with peace of mind, drank the celebratory champagne in their hands, and then left the office.

When CEO Shirley Lansing was the only one left in the entire office, the joy on her face disappeared, she shook the champagne in her hand and sat back on the chair behind her desk.

Then she picked up the phone on the table and her voice returned to its usual seriousness.

"Send in the investigation report."

"Okay, boss." The secretary who had been waiting on the other end of the phone responded dully.

Before two minutes had passed, the office door was knocked by the secretary, and a detailed survey and statistical report was placed in front of this powerful female executive.

"Even if there are Elijah Wood and Morgan Freeman, they still can't save the boring plot of this movie..."

"I'm not sure if I've seen this movie, but I just feel that it feels familiar everywhere. Maybe I've watched too many similar movies..."

"The narrative is too long-winded and I don't know how to cut it accurately..."

"There are not enough disasters and more humanity. There are no surprises in "Collision". As an ordinary movie fan, I don't understand why the director arranged it this way. We came here for science fiction and disasters. There is no indiscriminate bombing or bullets." Fei, it’s really disappointing..."

"Damn, why is the president a black man? I admit that Morgan Freeman's charm is great, but I still can't accept a black president. As long as I see this setting, my mind keeps reminding me that in this movie It’s completely impossible for this to happen!”

"This is the worst disaster movie I've ever seen! I didn't see many disaster scenes at all, but it seemed to keep telling the audience that this was a biographical film..."

"Shit, I have no idea what the director was thinking and why he made a disaster movie like this. This is a scam! Chi Luoluo's scam..."

Looking at the entire page of negative reviews from fans, Shirley Lansing's expression became more and more gloomy. Of course, these negative reviews are only part of it, and there are also many good reviews. It is just an early screening of a movie, and it has so many viewers raving about it. It is difficult not to cast a deep shadow on the subsequent screenings.

Turning over the first page of the survey report, detailed statistics are given at the back. "Heaven and Earth Collision" distributed 4,000 questionnaires and received 4,000 questionnaires. Fans who rated the film A or above accounted for less than 500 of them. The only good news is that there were not a large number of ratings below B.

According to the questionnaire, the overall score of the film is about A-, and about 76% of movie fans gave the film a score of B or above. The overall reputation is pretty good, at least it has not suffered a large-scale collapse.

But Shirley Lansing knows very well that tonight's survey can only represent the opinions of some movie fans. What's more important is the reputation on the first day and even the first week, which means whether the film can maintain its popularity in theaters. The screening scale goes down.

Just looking at those representative fan comments, it is difficult not to worry about the lack of stamina of the film, especially since their time is actually less than two weeks, and on the 19th, there will be strong competitors immediately.

What worries her even more is the tacit understanding with Sony Columbia. "Collision" is billed as a science fiction film, and "Godzilla" is billed as a monster film. In fact, the two companies The person in charge knows better than anyone else that they are actually dealing with the same type of audience, lovers of big scene disaster movies.

Once the results of "Collision" fail to meet expectations, the tacit understanding with Sony Columbia will become a joke. Shirley Lansing will not work in vain. In the end, all the benefits will be taken away by "Godzilla".

That night, the lights in the Paramount CEO's office stayed on until nearly dawn before going out. However, the development of things did not happen as she was worried about.

On the Friday when "Collision" was officially released on a large scale, it grossed a strong North American box office of US$19.6 million. If you add in the unexpected US$7.6 million in early screenings, the first-day box office reached US$27.2 million!

Although the reputation among movie fans does not seem to be very good, and various debates about the film continue, the box office figures are there, covering up all the discordant voices.

The outstanding performance at the box office on the first day seems to have also led to subsequent results. After the complete first weekend, "Collision", a science fiction disaster film, undoubtedly won the first weekend box office championship of the summer season. .

"The annual hot summer season is here again, and Hollywood movie giant Paramount Pictures was the first to make an effort. "Collision" was released on a large scale in North America last weekend. The North American box office grossed 52.35 million US dollars in its first weekend, a strong harvest. Winning the weekend box office championship..."

A new working week has arrived. In the office of Warner Bros.'s distribution chief, Bruce Rosenblum frowned and threw the half-read copy of the Los Angeles Times on his desk. Then he looked up at Wayne, who was sitting across from him, and said in a low voice: "Man, it seems that the bet on Shirley Lansing's cousin name is going to win."

"Don't worry, Paramount still has a week, hopefully they can keep it going."

Box office updates like the Los Angeles Times filled all the newspapers this morning, and Wayne had read them early in the morning. However, he was not in a hurry and came to Warner Bros. to discuss the premiere of "The Flash" very calmly.

Bruce Rosenblum nodded slightly when he thought of the complaints from fans that accompanied the movie's box office of more than 50 million US dollars. Even so, he still said with some emotion: "Even if the reputation among movie fans begins to collapse from now on, it shouldn't be a problem for this film to exceed 100 million in the North American box office."

"Then they have to hurry up."

Tilting his head and lighting a cigarette, Wayne deliberately lowered his voice and warned. "I don't know if you've noticed, Bruce, that a large number of movie fans have expressed strong dissatisfaction with the appearance of a black president in "Collision."

"yes......"

Having worked in film distribution for half his life, Bruce Rosenblum's eyes lit up when he heard the prompt. Looking at Wayne's eyes is like seeing a soulmate in life. "I understand, you just have to wait and see how it works."

The two men had a tacit understanding and smiled like foxes at the same time. Some things didn't need to be said at all. This was a life-and-death summer vacation.

Nowadays, it is not wrong to have a black actor as the president, but more mainstream audiences are still white people with old-fashioned ideas. As long as someone desperately emphasizes one point, it will easily arouse the disgust of many viewers. A feeling of disgust that cannot be expressed.

It is precisely this method that costs very little for media groups like Warner Bros., which owns media, but can often yield very gratifying results.

Not to mention that there is a certain degree of competition between the two parties. Normally, even if there is no competition between the two parties and it can add obstacles to the other six major companies, Warner Brothers will not mind doing whatever they want. This is how everyone plays anyway. No one should watch. Who did it?