Three Hundred and Seventy-Seven - the Deception of Appearance

The excitement in front of the Chinese Theater in Hollywood continued. Wayne and Naomi Watts entered the theater to join Nina who was waiting, and walked together to the VIP lounge on the second floor.

Although he was only half the protagonist today, the celebrities and big names who came to the platform mainly wanted to entertain him because of his reputation.

"Hi, Wayne, hi, Nami." As soon as he entered the lounge on the second floor, Nicolas Cage was the first to come up to him and greeted him warmly with his female companion Sofia Coppola.

Wayne let go of the Australian actress's arm and hugged him gently. "Thank you for coming, Nikolai."

"Hey, we are old friends, aren't we? If anything happens, I only need a phone call from you." Nicolas Cage's very recognizable face had a strange smile.

After saying hello and just a few simple greetings, he took his female companion and left on his own initiative, as if everything was just a normal social interaction.

"He has been waiting here early." Nina followed Wayne habitually and explained in a low voice. "I probably want to talk to you about something, and maybe I realized that the situation was not right. I think he will come up to me again at the party after the premiere."

"I see."

Along the way, he kept saying hello to the guests who came to support him. Whether it was Ethan Hawke, whom he had not seen for a long time, or Tim Burton, who had always been close to him, Wayne greeted every guest as if they were just passing by. A few words to avoid leaving anyone out in the cold.

Until Zack Snyder and the crew appeared and began to greet the guests under the leadership of John Gray. He waved to the director, took the assistant lady and the Australian actress, and sat in a corner to rest, waiting for the film to officially start.

"We have almost no film critics here." Within two minutes of sitting down, Bruce Rosenblum sat next to him, looked in the direction of the crew and said in a low voice: "Almost all the well-known film critics came When it comes to the Temple Theater next door, no matter what, the natural influence of "The Incredible Hulk" cannot be matched by us."

Now the Warner Bros. executive finally gets to experience what it was like when his home theater released "Batman Begins" and other films at the same time.

Under the same intensive large-scale publicity, "The Incredible Hulk" can attract more attention from ordinary movie fans and media due to its own influence. Especially coupled with Universal Pictures' investment in promotion regardless of cost, it can be said that Robert - Dr. Bruce Banner's popularity has been maximized.

Wayne didn't feel any nervousness at all, and twitched his lips indifferently. "Bruce, the higher they climb now, the more painful they will be when they fall. Don't worry, in this day and age, no one understands superheroes better than me."

Ever since the reaction after the test screening of "The Incredible Hulk" came out, he had already let go of his slightly hanging heart. Everything was as expected. Universal Pictures really wanted to be on the safe side and forced the Hulk to be dark, depressing and realistic. .

This style cannot be said to be bad. Many of Marvel's heroes actually have dark attributes. But after learning from some people who participated in the test screening that the film was simply a copy, he felt that Universal Pictures might have made a mistake this time.

In fact, he and Warner Bros. have already analyzed that if Universal Pictures executives give the director sufficient freedom and funds and do not dictate all aspects of the film, the film may perform well.

After all, there is only one superhero film this year. As long as the film reaches the level of mainstream summer special effects popcorn, it does not have to exceed the expectations of movie fans. Everything in the film remains satisfactory. With Hulk's natural popularity and other advantages, the box office will not be low.

However, Universal Pictures did not do this. The producers strictly controlled the director's freedom, and the top management of the production company frequently criticized the film because of the huge investment. The resulting film did meet their expectations, but it is not certain whether the fans will pay for it. .

This kind of scene is not too familiar to Wayne. The saucy operation that Universal Pictures is playing now is almost exactly the same as what Warner Brothers played with DC in the previous life. This is an old problem of large studios.

"Yes." Although Bruce Rosenblum was a little worried, thinking of the company's internal analysis some time ago, he still agreed with his point of view. "Those people were dazzled by the huge peripheral revenue of "Batman Begins" and the glory of "Joker".

Comic-book superheroes have always been niche films, and DC's success cannot change this. The dark and serious production style is also an out-and-out niche. Without long-term preparation and testing of the market, it would be too difficult for mainstream movie fans to accept it! "

Why is Universal Pictures the only production company that hastily launched superheroes? They are not the only ones in Hollywood who own copyrights. It is because of market uncertainty that more companies have chosen to wait and see.

Even 20th Century Fox, which owns many superhero copyrights, has not easily tested the market. Like several other production companies, they are not sure whether the success of DC superheroes is because fans actively accepted this genre. Or because of Wayne.

After the success of the DC Comics adaptation, countless people analyzed the main factors, and most results showed that the biggest reason may be Wayne. He tested the market through black movies one after another, cultivated the acceptance of movie fans, and slowly established The branding of Greenbergian quality films.

Then, due to the long-term foreshadowing and so on, ordinary movie fans ignored factors such as black movies and comic book niches, and subconsciously placed the films he produced into the mainstream outside the rules.

This statement is the mainstream in the market. Everyone is waiting for a comic book adaptation style that is different from Greenberg's to appear, and only after a method that is easier to copy appears and is successful will they be able to consider such a huge investment project. . "It's almost time, we should go down."

While Wayne and Bruce Rosenblum were chatting, Nina raised her wrist to look at the time and whispered a reminder.

"ok."

Several people stood up and walked to the huge screening room downstairs. They could find that the lucky movie fans had already started queuing up to enter. The movie would start on time at seven o'clock, which was a full hour later than next door. If it starts from In this respect, "The Incredible Hulk" is indeed one position ahead of "The Matrix".

The environment was a little noisy. Although most movie fans chatted in low voices, when hundreds of people were placed in the same space, it was still full of all kinds of noise.

In the middle are the invited media reporters, as well as the scattered celebrity guests who came to the stage. The group of film critics that should have been indispensable is pitifully small today.

Having few film critics does not mean low quality. The moment he went downstairs, he discovered his old friend Todd McCarthy. The other party also looked over at the same time, and they both smiled and nodded very friendly.

He didn't go over to say hello, and took the two women to the first row of seats where the crew was.

We are all decent people, at least in public. Wearing a classic Chanel little black dress, Naomi Watts raised her head slightly and held one of Wayne's arms, maintaining an elegant look throughout. Smile like a proud black swan.

When passing by Jennifer Connelly and Charlize Theron, not only did he not show any other expressions, he also smiled and nodded to the two women.

However, when the three women turned their heads, they put away their warm smiles at the same time, and almost silently uttered a curse word starting with "b".

Wayne acted as if he didn't see the woman. He walked to the seat reserved for him in the middle and sat down. Most of the crew also sat down, and people nodded to him from time to time.

Zack Snyder was sitting one seat away from him, and you could tell that for the first time his work appeared on the big screen, his whole person was in a state of anxiety, anticipation and uneasiness.

"There's news next door." Bruce Rosenblum sat down next to him. After taking the call, he became particularly relaxed and the corners of his mouth couldn't stop raising. "Aha, I just got the news that less than an hour after the screening of "The Incredible Hulk", more than 30 fans voluntarily left the show..."

Hearing the news, Wayne shook his head speechlessly. He had already thought that the movie would be a mess, but what he didn't expect was that at the premiere, some viewers took the initiative to leave the show regardless of movie-viewing etiquette.

Now he is a little curious, what kind of movie is it that would cause such a strange situation.

"That's good news."

He grinned. He really didn't know how to comment. The two of them looked at each other, and at the same time, they found a suspicion in each other's eyes. Is he looking too high on his neighbor? Many ways of attacking each other have not yet been fermented. Well, is the other party going to collapse?

Zack Snyder on the side happened to hear the conversation between the two of them. This news was more useful than any consolation. The anxiety on his face immediately disappeared. With a popular monster like "The Incredible Hulk" as a competitor, give him The pressure has never been small.

The chatter in the theater became less and less, and everyone who came in sat down in their seats. The gradually quiet environment meant that the official screening of the film was about to begin.

At exactly seven o'clock in the evening, the lights on the ceiling began to go out one by one. From the back of the crowd, a colorful light suddenly shot out, reflecting on the wide curtain at the front.

The first thing that appeared was the familiar Warner Bros. title. The sound of the piano, accompanied by the picture of the old studio studio, flowed into the two huge letters "WB", representing the long history of this studio.

"It's about to start..." Daisy, who was sitting in the back, suppressed her excitement. Even though she had participated in two test screenings and was extremely familiar with the content of the film, she still couldn't hold back her excitement.

This film is too special in her eyes, and there are too many answers she wants to find.