Chapter 204 The Advantage Is Very Large (2 in 1 6,000-Word Chapter)

Halloween is coming, and many big cities across the United States will hold Halloween parades, and monsters and ghosts in different costumes have also begun to appear on the streets, such as Jason, Freddy, the skull mask killer, etc., can be seen everywhere.

The masks launched by the "Human Purge" series before Halloween have also become popular products.

Fans wearing masks can be seen at the entrance of many theaters.

Together with other horror characters, these people form the most fanatical and hardcore horror movie audience in the Halloween schedule.

But these people entered the theater and found that this year's Halloween horror movie selection is much smaller than in the past.

Like the "Halloween" series that will be launched every one or two years, this year unexpectedly missed the appointment.

In the theater, a young man took off Jason's mask and asked, "Don't you have a screening of Nickrey, Son of Satan?"

"There is no film schedule for this film." The conductor explained with a smile: "This film is a small-scale trial screening, and our theater has no film schedule."

The man looked up at the show schedule, his brows were furrowed: "No "The King of Vampires" either?"

The conductor was very patient: "The two films you mentioned are B-level films that were previewed on a small scale, and there may be no films scheduled in the entire Los Angeles area." She recommended: "If you like watching horror films, you can try this "" Human Purge 2", a very high-quality horror film."

For many moviegoers, Halloween is as much about horror as it is about Thanksgiving and Christmas for the whole family.

Over the years, it has gradually become a movie-watching tradition.

"Hey, do you want to buy a ticket?" The person waiting behind got impatient and shouted at the conductor, "Give me three tickets for "Human Purge 2"."

The conductor quickly collected the money and issued the ticket.

Jason the masked man looked at the film schedule again. Except for the films released before, there are not many newly opened films in this theater. Basically, they are "Human Purge 2" and "Return to Glory". It's clearly not a horror movie.

Three hours later there will be a "Beautiful Legend of Sicily", which seems to be the only one today.

He had seen the trailer of this movie before, the director and the heroine were very unfamiliar, and it was still an Italian movie, so he would not watch it even if it was boring.

With no other choice, Jason the masked man said, "Give me a ticket for "Human Purge 2"."

The films released in the past few weeks have already passed the hottest stage. The "Stealing and Kidnapping" released last week is a British film, and the response is relatively average. Among the films that started painting this week, "Purge 2" is the only one. Horror films that have been drawn on a large scale are currently the films with the highest screening rate among major theaters.

A high screening rate means more screening screens, and more screens have room to accommodate more audiences.

The biggest competitor of "The Purge 2", a strong traditional horror film, is "Return to Glory", and the audiences of the two sides are not the same.

If calculated according to the standards of a few years later, the cast of "Return to Glory" is definitely a star-studded lineup, with Will Smith, Matt Damon and Charlize Theron as the three main protagonists, but this film about golf The sports inspirational film, but was looked down upon by the theaters. Even if DreamWorks recruited 20th Century Fox as the distributor, there are only 2,000 theaters in North America.

"Human Purge 2" is not only the largest film released in the Halloween schedule, but also the scale of publicity and promotion is second to none.

"For a night of violence, it is natural that there will be various scenes of massacres and massacres. At least in terms of visual effects, it is an essential standard."

"In addition to the comprehensive upgrade of fighting skills and shooting skills, "Human Purge 2" also showed the debut of many powerful weapons. For example, heavy machine guns mounted on trucks, various grenades, etc. All in all, in terms of visual effects, "Human Purge 2 is much more entertaining than the previous one."

The promotion of soft articles is a frequently used means of paper media publicity.

Daylight passed quickly on Friday, and audience numbers in theaters across North America increased dramatically after the sun went down.

Even people who hide at home and watch TV cannot escape the propaganda bombardment of "Human Purge 2".

The time was getting closer to midnight, and Tom Cruise was sitting in the living room of the mansion, not intending to go to sleep at all.

Penelope Cruz was right there, watching TV with him.

"Just an investment of US$1.5 million." Penelope Cruz was a little disapproving: "Is it necessary to pay attention all the time?"

Tom Cruise shook his head: "This is the first time Ronan and I have worked together."

Penelope Cruz: "Is he as good as you say?"

Tom Cruise suddenly laughed: "Who is the most representative commercial producer in Hollywood today?"

"Hmm..." Penelope Cruz thought for a while and said, "Jerry Bruckheimer?"

Tom Cruise said lightly: "I worked with Jerry Bruckheimer on "Top Gun", let alone when he first entered the production industry, even Jerry Bruckheimer during "Top Gun" Not as good as the current Ronan."

Although knowing that Tom Cruise admired Ronan Anderson very much, Penelope Cruz was still very surprised: "Is this too exaggerated?"

Tom Cruise simply explained: "Don Simpson played a key role in Jerry Bruckheimer's ability to get to where he is now. In Jerry Bruckheimer's early filmmaking career, Don Simpson shielded him from the wind. The rain stopped most of the trouble, including project selection, and it was Don Simpson who really made the difference."

He smiled: "Look at Ronan again. No one gives him direction, no one shields him from the wind and rain, and no one chooses projects for him. He has to rely on his own analysis and judgment for all major decisions. The biggest pressure is also himself. With all his efforts, he can have what he is today, not by the help of others, but by himself."

"But he also had failed projects like Kingsman!" Penelope Cruz retorted.

The smile on Tom Cruise's face was even stronger: ""Kingsman" failed? You don't understand..."

He didn't continue to explain. For a woman who doesn't know how to make films, explaining is not necessary at all.

The film was a flop at the box office, but anyone with knowledge of the operations would have guessed that Ronan and company were the project's winners.

If the movie fails, the company that made the movie may not necessarily lose.

These are too complicated things, there is no need to tell a woman in a vase.

Even if she said it, she might not understand it.

A woman like Penelope Cruz, who can only use her body to climb up, will never understand what a successively successful young producer represents.

Not everyone can win his Tom Cruise friendship.

A lion will never be friends with an antelope.

For some reason, Penelope Cruz has a feeling that in the eyes of Tom Cruise, that Ronan Anderson is much more important than her.

Penelope Cruz wondered if the two had some dark secrets.

She suddenly felt that it would be best if "Human Purge 2" failed!

Penelope Cruz has seen the premiere of this film. The film has no artistic content at all, it is bland and vulgar, and the failure is a matter of course.

Shouldn't bad movies hit the box office?

While thinking about it, Penelope Cruz looked at Tom Cruise quietly, and found that Tom Cruise's attention was not on her at all, but watching the report on "Human Purge 2" on the TV .

"As a thriller film, the first film in the film series has a slightly smaller structure, mainly entangled in the motif of good and evil, not limited to a single family, and the extension is only a little psychological motivation of hatred of the rich brought about by the gap between the rich and the poor. "

The comments and reports in this TV program seem to be belittling, but in fact they want to promote before suppressing.

"In "Human Purge 2", in addition to the visual effects full of violent scenes, the humanistic theme of the film also has a great extension. The line of arming the male protagonist mainly emphasizes whether we should use violence to deal with the unintentional harm of others. The theme of violence control. The young couple is a sublimation of abandoning emotional entanglement before the crisis. The most important theme is naturally the main line of the black mother and daughter. rise to the heights of political conspiracy."

Penelope Cruz couldn't help but sneered in her heart. With this kind of film, how dare you say it has a humanistic theme?

"It is conceivable that the creators of the "Human Purge" series don't seem to want to just dominate the genre of horror and thriller films. It obviously has greater ambitions to extend the life of the series as long as possible..."

The TV was still playing, and Tom Cruise's cell phone rang. Penelope Cruise immediately picked up the remote control and turned off the TV sound.

Fittingly, it made her uncomfortable flattering sound go away.

Penelope Cruz went to see Tom Cruise who was on the phone, and glanced at the wall clock on one side. Before he knew it, it was past midnight.

"Well, I see." Tom Cruise was obviously in a good mood, his handsome face almost bursting into laughter: "You keep paying attention to the film, that's all."

Seeing Tom Cruise hang up the phone, Penelope Cruz asked with concern: "What's the matter, honey?"

Tom Cruise put down his phone and said directly: "Today's North American box office statistics are out, "Purge of Humanity 2" won 13.6 million US dollars on its first day of release!"

Penelope Cruz's face was about to collapse in an instant, but she was a veteran actress who had been tried for a long time. No matter what she actually thought, she immediately squeezed out a happy smile, stood up and hugged Tom Cruise: "Tom, you The invested film is a hit, congratulations!"

Tom Cruise patted her on the back lightly, calmly: "Success as expected."

The production cost of this film was 6 million U.S. dollars, and the opening day in North America alone earned 13.6 million U.S. dollars. How about overseas regions? Is it possible to recover the investment on the first day?

Ronan is really amazing!

He picked up his cell phone and dialed Ronan's number. This guy has been busy with work recently, so he probably doesn't have a female companion to accompany him to exercise.

Penelope Cruz's face suddenly became hot when he heard what Tom Cruise said on the phone that the production cost was 6 million US dollars.

A movie that cost $6 million to shoot and produce, got $13.6 million at the box office on the first day of its release. Isn't that too exaggerated?

How much will the final box office be? Ten times the production cost or more?

Penelope Cruz finally understands why Tom Cruise values ​​a measly $1.5 million investment.

Early on Saturday morning, when Ronan just arrived at the office, his assistant Connie put the first-hand information about "Plan for Human Purge 2" collected from various aspects on his desk.

The box office grossed US$13.6 million on the first day of its release, unsurprisingly overwhelming all the films screened in the same period, and won the single-day box office champion.

Moreover, "Human Purge 2" has a very big advantage. The second-ranked "Return to Glory" only had a box office of 3.85 million US dollars on its opening day.

Ronan knew very well that if nothing else happened, the box office of "Return to Glory" would not reach $13.6 million over the weekend.

For a typical commercial movie like this, if the box office results are excellent, the number of films scheduled for the corresponding theaters will increase or remain unchanged. less.

The biggest test of the box office in the first week is the film's early publicity and marketing and the popularity of public opinion.

Like a sequel movie, the influence of the previous movie can also be carried over.

Ronan has the first-line market data obtained by the survey company he hired. A sample survey at the theater shows that nearly 75% of the audience who went to watch "Human Purge 2" yesterday have watched the first film. The proportion of male audience is as high as 67%, and the audience under the age of 25 accounts for 59%.

In other words, the promotion of "Purge 2" has played a role, and young men under the age of twenty-five constitute the main audience group of this film.

The commercial strength of the sequel movies is also evident.

Another statistic includes word-of-mouth statistics after the first day of the film.

The website Rotten Tomatoes currently collects 37 professional film critics’ reviews, and nearly half of them are negative reviews. Fifty-eight percent, with an average score of 5.4 from film critics.

Compared with professional film critics who always treat commercial films with a harsh eye, ordinary audiences judge movies based on their most intuitive preferences. On the IMDB website, there have been more than 1,500 users who have rated them, with an average score of 7.2.

In addition, MetaCritic included 35 media reviews, with an average media score of 6.3.

Most of the media gave favorable comments.

"The Purge 2 effectively exploits the setting in the first film, and it brings us even more visceral excitement than the first."

-- "Hollywood Reporter"

"With The Purge 2, director James Wong doubles, and sometimes triples, the story's dominant themes of social power, and the ferocity and transparency of these ideas resonates."

--"New York Times"

"The film's creators tried to give this action thriller a plot heaviness, even though it made us addicted to violence. But the film still uses high-strength weapons, armored vehicles, vigilantes and predators in clown masks. We are alert to the violence and brutality of government organisations."

-- "Los Angeles Times"

In a country full of violence like the United States, anti-violence themes like "Human Purge Project" seem to be very popular.

As for film critics, many commercial films can ignore them.

After reading the statistics, Ronan called the embassy film industry and asked the embassy film industry to continue to promote the promotion, and gradually use the remaining 2 million US dollars in the publicity budget as planned.

There is no suspense for this film in North America, and it is bound to be a success.

Ronan is more concerned about the overseas market, what will happen to the overseas situation?

Near noon, data from overseas markets came back one after another. As a foreign film, in many countries and regions, "Human Purge 2" is not the largest-scale release film, and some countries will also promote their own horror films during the Halloween schedule. piece.

The United Kingdom, Germany, Brazil, Mexico, Australia and other places have faxed relevant information. According to the sampling survey statistics of the local offices, the attendance rate of "Human Purge 2" is generally not bad, but the specific box office data will be later. It takes a few days to figure it out.

Of course, it is impossible for Hollywood movies to be as convenient in overseas markets as they are in North America.

Moreover, North America is the largest and most mature film market in the world from law to system to commercialization.

On Saturday, "Human Purge 2" still maintained an independent situation in North American theaters, and it received another 14.2 million US dollars that day, becoming the biggest winner of the Halloween schedule without any suspense.

Ronan's road to series movies has also taken solid steps.

Looking at today's world film industry, the sequel of a blockbuster film is undoubtedly the commercial film with the least risk.

"Ronan, "Reaper 2" is also on the agenda as soon as possible."

George Clint, who has just returned from Europe, is very concerned about the progress of serialized movies: "Compared with original movies, sequel movies are too easy to succeed."

Ronan was very calm and said, "I'm already looking for a suitable director."

James Huang signed a contract with Revolutionary Film Studio, a subsidiary of Sony Entertainment, and it is impossible to come back in the short term. Ronan will not wait for him forever. Without James Huang, other suitable directors can always be found.

"Don't worry." Ronan said again: "We have plenty of time."

George Clint nodded and said, "I think "Reaper 2" should be given priority, and "Underworld" should be postponed temporarily."

Ronan laughed: "George, without a successful first film, how do we make a sequel?"

"That's right." George Clint said, "I've been so busy these two days."

Ronan asked, "What's going on in Bourne?"

George Clint replied: "Paul Greengrass has transferred to post-production and is in the process of editing shots. You can rest assured that it will be completed according to plan."

Ronan thought for a while and said, "Take some time to contact Roland Emmerich's assistant, Len Wiseman, and see if he wants to direct the movie alone."

George Clint took note of the incident: "Okay, I'll get back to him as soon as possible."

After not staying for long, George Clint left. Connie entered the office at this time and sent Ronan's itinerary for this period of time for Ronan to finalize.

"Fatal Turn" has already started filming, and Ronan must go to Louisiana to check the situation. Due to several revisions, "Twilight" was delayed until November to be officially published. Random House also needs to discuss with him. Let's talk about the follow-up matters.

"Underworld" is also ready to start preparations...

In addition, Robert Lee's negotiations in New York were not very smooth, and the other side of the negotiations wanted to meet Ronan in person.

This matter is related to future plans, and Ronan must go to New York next month.

Now that the stock market is plummeting, triggering an economic crisis, and many companies are in trouble, it is the best time.

When these companies recover, it will be ten times more difficult to win some of the film copyrights in their hands.

Ronan is also looking forward to this trip to New York.

After thinking for a while, he made a phone call to the Mountain Foundation in India and communicated with Roshan's uncle and nephew. "Underworld" needs investors.

Roshan's uncle and nephew will come to Los Angeles some time later to discuss the situation of reinvestment.

There is also the matter of offline channels, and information from Netflix is ​​constantly being passed on. The collapse of Internet stocks has made Netflix even more bleak, but it has not yet reached the point of desperation.

According to the first-hand information that Ronan has, you can wait.

The weekend before Halloween in 2000, the film market belonged to "Purge 2", but compared to previous years, the market was dominated by one market, which also indicated that this was the most deserted Thanksgiving schedule in the film market in recent years.

A movie, in the case of other movies showing poorly, is thriving and always attracts the attention of many people.

Steven Spielberg called Jeff Katzenberg to his office Monday morning in Glendale, Los Angeles.

The Big Three of DreamWorks have split, but the general direction and interests are always the same.

It's a pity that David Geffen has decided to fade out of DreamWorks, and the Big Three has gradually become a situation of two giants.

"Did you see the box office statistics last weekend?" Spielberg asked.

Jeff Katzenberg shook his head: "I didn't have time to watch it, but I came to your place for work." He asked, "I remember Dreamworks has a live-action movie that premiered last weekend, right?"

Spielberg pushed back his disc glasses and said, "Yeah. 'Back to Glory' starring Matt Damon and Will Smith."

Hearing these two names, Katzenberg naturally asked: "Won the box office champion?"

"No." Spielberg's old face was not very good-looking: "I didn't win the box office championship, but only ranked second in the box office list."

At this stage recently, Katzenberg has been staying in the DreamWorks Animation Studio to study the latest computer animation technology, and has not paid much attention to the situation outside of DreamWorks. Does it? Starring Matt Damon and Will Smith, it’s not going to lose out to those B-grade horror movies, right?”

Spielberg's face was dull, and he could only say: "It did lose to a low-budget horror film."