Chapter 1893: 1893 Destined Showdown

Hugo broke the record, that's not news; Hugo didn't break the record, that's news.

"LA Confidential" regrettably failed to break the September premiere box office performance of "The Seven Deadly Sins" in North American film history by a difference of one million US dollars. This also became the biggest news in the third week of September. It is even more embarrassing when the evaluation of "LA Confidential" completely exceeds that of "The Seven Deadly Sins".

Such a situation really makes people laugh and cry, "Chicago Tribune" said, "People who don't know why think that Hugo's work failed miserably at the box office this time."

Indeed, a $33 million opening weekend in September is great news for any film that would have a stomach ache from laughing, let alone "LA Confidential," which only cost $40 million, and Warner Bros. Brother is ready to start counting the money. But the media is still lamenting that Hugo is only one step away from making history. With such treatment, it is estimated that only this one has no semicolon.

After the news came out, "LA Confidential" once again became the focus of heated discussions. The film's true presentation of Hollywood in the 1950s, the corruption and greed within the bureaucracy, the power of gangsters, the pervasiveness of journalists, the behind-the-scenes rules of third-tier stars, and racial Discriminatory judicial justice... all became the symbols of that era. What is even more ironic is that although these problems have been alleviated to a certain extent after entering the 1990s, they still have not been eradicated, just as Roger Ebert The truth implied by the comment: the bureau of reincarnation, the dark part of the whole society has not disappeared at all, it has only become more hidden.

Although there is no hot topic, "LA Confidential" itself is a topic, and people are discussing it one after another: Under the current social system, the uncrowned kings who are in charge of public opinion supervision have suffered erosion, changed their original intentions, and indulged in interests. Focus on breaking points... Can they still shoulder the important responsibility of supervising society? And is there still injustice behind this society?

The scope of the former question is too great to discuss individually; but the answer to the latter is undeniably yes, from Rodney King's species. Ethnic differences. As the case begins, go to O. J. Simpson's wife killing sensation, and Michael Jackson's slander, it is worth noting that these three parties are all black, twenty-nine years after the death of Martin Luther King, the protection of black rights has been gained Although society has made great progress, the discrimination that goes deep into the judicial system and values ​​still affects people's lives in every aspect.

"LA Confidential" tells the story of an extreme but very common case. The behind-the-scenes culprits include the rich, prosecutors, and police. Tan and other high-level figures, and the first target of their persecution was black people, and even directly killed many lives; then they were blinded by interests, trying to eliminate all obstacles on the way forward-anyone.

From the 1950s to the 1990s, is the judicial system really becoming more and more transparent? Is the Uncrowned King really doing his job? Are the rich and officials really no longer the social power class? Perhaps the "Circle of Reincarnation" is too dark, too hopeless, and too heavy, and society is indeed getting better, but no one can deny that those deep-rooted problems always exist.

Different from the "Seven Deadly Sins", this time "LA Confidential" did not cause too much controversy, and all the people were freely expressing their views and opinions, and confronting politics. The government has put forward higher requirements, except nothing. politics. Except for the government demonstrations, people did not have too many differences. Instead, they got the opportunity to re-examine the whole society and re-examine their own lives.

More importantly, the rich black humor of "LA Confidential" is very entertaining. Compared with the deep-rooted trembling and fear of "Seven Deadly Sins", people can discuss "LA Confidential" while smiling .

But the question is: without contradictions, without sparks, without excitement, can "LA Confidential" really surpass "The Seven Deadly Sins" at the box office? You know, "The Seven Deadly Sins" ended up with a North American box office of 195 million US dollars, and a global box office of 485 million US dollars. Such a result is almost an insurmountable peak for thriller and suspense movies. , not to mention, "LA Confidential" has already fallen behind by half a position at the premiere box office.

In the fourth week of September, all eyes were on "LA Confidential"'s second-week drop.

When people saw the list of new works released this week, everyone became excited in an instant, because this week Hugo will fight against George Clooney!

Strictly speaking, George is not Hugo's opponent at all. The two are not on the same level at all. George has achieved unimaginably high popularity in the field of TV dramas, but he is five brads away from Hugo in the field of movies. Pete Gap. But people still put George on the opposite side of Hugo, the reason is simple: two supersexuals. Absolutely handsome guy who is sexy, destined to become an opponent.

Only three months ago, "Batman and Robin" was released with great vigor. Although George did not directly provoke Hugo, many people could feel that George was not worried about the duel with Hugo at all, and even faintly eager to fight. attitude. Under the fuel of "People" magazine, and with the help of Uma Thurman, Arnold Schwarzenegger and others, George was pushed to the hostile position of Hugo. Many people thought that George Will replace Brad and become the best candidate to hit Hugo and Tom Cruise, two top idols.

It's a pity that "Batman and Robin" failed miserably in Waterloo. The bad reputation, bad box office, and bad memories made the mighty George suffer a heavy blow.

Now, George comes to the autumn file with "Peacemaker", which happens to be his most handy schedule-because "ER Story" returns at this point, with excellent premiere ratings and fans. George is at home.

Moreover, in "Peacemaker", George's partners are Nicole Kidman and Mimi Leder (Mimi. Leder), the former needless to say, is currently one of the most promising Mesozoic actresses; The latter is the director of "The Story of the Emergency Room", and he cooperates with George tacitly. As a TV director, Mimi's style is sharp and tough, which is quite exciting.

"Peacemaker" was invested and produced by Universal Pictures, costing 50 million U.S. dollars. It is still at the level of predators in the autumn, and the scale of 2,500 theaters shows no sign of weakness. Obviously, this week's The weekend box office champion is bound to be won.

No one will deny George's charm, and potential. The fiasco of "Batman and Robin" is bound to have an impact on George's future commercial film prospects, but as Doctor Doug Ross in "Emergency Room Stories", he is still a high-profile Mesozoic actor. The age of six is ​​also the starting point of an actor's golden age.

At present, in the United States, only Brad, George and Tom can beat Hugo in terms of "sexy charm". In addition, being nominated for the Emmy Award for Best Actor in a Drama Series for two consecutive years proves that George's solid acting skills are more developable. He has the ability to make a career out of it on the big screen.

From any point of view, George's potential is greater than that of Brad - not talking about the future in Hollywood, but the possibility of challenging Hugo, or even surpassing Hugo.

What George lacks now is just an opportunity to truly prove himself on the big screen, just like "Twelve Monkeys" to Brad, what George needs is such an excellent work as a platform for him to complete Transition from small screen to big screen.

"Batman & Robin" is clearly not the platform, so maybe "Peacemaker" is?

For George, luck and misfortune. Fortunately, the "Peacemaker" won the chance to confront Hugo, and the confrontation that the media has been hyping for a long time finally appeared. , the "Peacemaker" met Hugo, met the "LA Confidential" led by Hugo, it is definitely not an easy task to defeat such a powerful opponent, and even considered by many people to be an impossible task .

It is a challenge and an opportunity. If you succeed, you will become famous in one fell swoop; if you fail, you will be hit hard. Especially after the fiasco of "Batman and Robin", if "Peacemaker" becomes a dud again, then even if this work "only" has an investment of 50 million, the loss will not be too huge, but then For a long time to come, George's big screen dreams will be stranded.

This is Hollywood, so realistic, so cruel, so cold. For actors like George who have moved from the small screen to the big screen, their opportunities are not many, and once they miss it, it will become extremely difficult. Jennifer Aniston has enjoyed great fame in the past few years with "Friends", but repeated setbacks on the big screen still make it impossible for her career to further develop.

So did George.

Therefore, the "San Francisco Chronicle" called this duel a "competition with no retreat", and George deeply agreed. If he misses a chance, even George himself will not forgive himself if he misses a second chance, because he deeply knows how powerful Hugo is, and he needs to prove himself—to prove that he has the ability to compete with Hugo. Competitive qualifications and abilities.

The timing of this matchup is perfect for George, who will prove himself with a victory for "Peacemaker" and will bring down even the history-making "LA Confidential" in the first week . What's more, with the blessings of Nicole and Mimi this time, he believes that he has a chance, and the chance is not small.

"Tracey Jacobs", how many people in Hollywood still remember this name? There are only a handful of them. George is one of them.