Three Hundred and Eighty-One - The King of Historical Bad Movies

"The fans who left the theater early at the premiere may not necessarily represent the market prospects of "The Incredible Hulk". Everything has just begun."

In the Universal Pictures office, Brian Grazer raised his wrist and glanced at the time, then suddenly spoke to break the dull atmosphere. "Believe me, a few spectators walking out doesn't mean anything."

As he spoke, he picked up the cold coffee on the table and drank it in one gulp. He turned to look at the film director with a gloomy face and made a mocking voice. "Bill, "The Incredible Hulk" was just a few audience members who walked out. Think about Ed Wood. At least we didn't have the audience burning down the car in anger, right? Ha..."

Bill Beckby's face was originally ugly. After hearing this metaphor, his face turned into the color of pig liver in an instant, and the anger that had been suppressed all day appeared in his eyes. "Shit, you put me and Ed Wood together? Huh? In your eyes, am I just like Ed Wood..."

"Hey, hey! Bill!" Justin frowned and slapped the table hard twice, making two banging sounds. "Brian didn't mean that. Listen, he just wanted you to relax, okay?"

Perhaps the two roars vented some anger. Bill Beckby pursed his lips tightly, leaned on the back of the sofa, and returned to silence.

In most Hollywood productions, the relationship between producers and directors usually has a bit of friction, which is the inevitable result of different divisions of labor, and Bill Beckby and Brian Grazer are no exception.

What's more, Brian Grazer and Universal Pictures executives have been controlling Bill Beckby's shooting direction from the beginning of the film's filming, and various small frictions in the work are even more necessary.

If the film is a success, there will be nothing to say. Of course, hello, me, hello, everyone. Now that the results have just been released and the results have not been released, a joke from the producer unexpectedly triggered the director's accumulated frustration.

Still, that joke is a bit too hurtful. No matter which director is put together with Ed Wood, the director will be angry.

When the king of bad movies, Ed Wood, once premiered, because the movie was so bad, the angry audience simply rushed out of the theater, chased him for three streets, and burned his car to vent their anger. As you can imagine, the movie How bad will it be?

It can be said that this director is also a god among weirdos. He made bad movies all his life, but after his death, he was able to leave a name in film history.

Ed Wood is the king of bad movies most recognized by insiders. He wrote forty-seven scripts, directed eighteen movies, and produced twelve movies in his lifetime. What is rare is that there is not a single one that is not perfect. Losing money made his name well-deserved.

The film that this great director is most recognized by the outside world is "Alien Plan 9". This film later dominated the IMDB list for the lowest-scoring film for nearly half a century, and his strength is evident!

Since the film was always losing money, there was a shortage of funds later. This guy used a fishing line to hang a plate as if it were a flying saucer. The photographer he hired was color-blind, and 90% of the actors were laypeople without relevant training. The effect of the film can be called a movie. A disaster like no other in history!

But what is very surprising is that after his death, this guy actually won a large number of loyal fans by relying on his reputation as the King of Bad Movies. For example, the genius directors Tim Burton and David Lynch regarded him as their idol. And paid tribute to him many times in the film.

What's even more surprising is that Tim Burton and Johnny Depp, good friends, worked together to produce his biopic "Ed Wood" in 1994. After the film was released, it not only became a hit in North America, but also It has achieved very impressive results around the world and won numerous awards...

Facts have proved that even if this director who has made bad movies all his life is already famous in film history, if anyone puts another director with him, he will also arouse the crazy anger of that director, because this is Chi Luoluo insult.

"Clang, clang, clang."

The silent atmosphere in the office was broken by a knock on the door. The secretary held a brown paper file bag and placed it on the table in front of Justin, then closed the door and walked out.

"coming……"

The distribution director of Universal Pictures muttered under his breath, reached around and around the sealing line on the document bag, and pulled out several sheets of printing paper stapled together.

He didn't have the heart to read the various statistics and survey reports on the first two pages, and turned directly to the last page.

"Around $8.75 million."

"call……"

"Well done!"

The other two people heaved a sigh of relief when they heard this figure. Two thousand advance screenings in North America were able to achieve a box office of close to nine million US dollars, which was already beyond everyone's expectations.

Brian Glazer asked: "The exact number won't be very different from this, right?"

Since the Internet has not yet been completely popularized, and we only rely on statistics from survey companies, there will generally be deviations in this number, which is unavoidable.

After the surprise, the producer immediately felt worried about gains and losses, so he couldn't help but ask questions.

"There won't be a big difference, this is just a conservative statistic." A smile appeared on Justin's face at this time, and his affirmative answer also restored the normal atmosphere in the office that had just been like stagnant water.

"What about The Matrix?"

After the surprise, Bill Beckby immediately thought of his opponent. “How much is the advance box office of ‘The Matrix’?”

"Don't worry, Bill." Justin relaxed his upper body and leaned back on the chair, tapping the files on the table gently with one finger. “‘The Matrix’ only cost about 5.75 million US dollars, and our ‘Hulk’ completely beat the opponent!”

Continuous good news came one after another, and the three people no longer felt any burden and smiled at the same time.

Brian Glazer picked up the file on the table, confirmed the numbers again, and started to read back from the first page. As his fingers flipped through the file, the smile on his face slowly disappeared little by little.

"Why is this happening?" He threw the document back on the table, muttering full of doubts. "What's wrong?" Bill Baker was ready to go back and rest early. After all, he had to catch a flight tomorrow morning to start a national promotional tour. Seeing the producer's abnormal behavior at this time, he reached out and picked up the file.

“Audiences’ opinions are polarized?!”

Looking at the statistical report above, he understood why the producer behaved abnormally. Including premiere screenings and advance screenings, investigators from the survey company and Universal Pictures distributed a total of 4,000 questionnaires and received more than 3,900 questionnaires.

According to the statistical report collected, 53% of the audience gave the film "The Incredible Hulk" a score of B or below, 22% of the fans chose B or B, and only 2% Thirteen fans chose a rating of A or above, while the remaining 2% did not give a rating.

To say that the audience's reputation is polarized is definitely putting it mildly. If we only look at the results of the questionnaire, "The Incredible Hulk" has just started to be released, and the audience's reputation has shown a trend of collapse.

"Calm down." Justin took the statistical report and looked at the two of them calmly. "None of these are as important as box office figures. Statistical reports can only be used as a reference. Every summer, there are films that have a poor reputation among audiences but have a rising box office."

"That's right." Brian Glazer glanced at Bill Beckby and said, "This is not uncommon. "The Incredible Hulk" is a summer popcorn movie, and word-of-mouth won't have much impact on us. , don't forget Wayne Greenberg's "The Return of the Clown," wasn't it a box-office hit amid controversy?!"

Justin nodded, looked at the producer, and said, "Bill, go back and rest first, don't delay your flight tomorrow morning. The early box office of "The Incredible Hulk" has already given us a lead. "

"Okay, if anything happens, call me."

Nodding, Bill Beckby greeted the two of them and walked out of the office with complicated emotions.

The news tonight is mixed. If we only look at the advance box office that exceeded expectations, the opening weekend results of "The Incredible Hulk" will not be bad, and may even exceed the US$45 million expected by Universal Pictures.

But the signal of a widespread collapse in the reputation of movie fans planted a seed of uneasiness in Bill Beckby's heart.

When there were only two people left in the office, Justin put away his optimism and suddenly spoke while thinking. "Don't forget that "The Matrix" is an R-rated film, and its natural audience is much smaller than that of "The Incredible Hulk." The early box office does not explain everything..."

Brian Grazer certainly understands the difference, but no matter what, there is no way to deny that "The Incredible Hulk" is indeed one position ahead. Thinking of what he had prepared before, he suddenly raised his head and looked at the other party.

"What about us?"

"This is Hollywood." Justin's mouth twitched, and he suddenly sneered: "Competition is always everywhere, isn't it? Warner Bros. can pour dirty water on "The Incredible Hulk" in advance, saying that it is just a poor movie. Of course, we can’t sit still and wait for imitations.”

The two films will officially open on a large scale tomorrow. We still don’t know how much impact Wayne’s words in the interview will have on fans’ movie-watching choices. Of course, Universal Pictures will not wait.

It has been determined that there will be an impact. Since it is irreversible, let's just let everyone suffer together and smear each other. This is the traditional method used by major Hollywood companies when their films are released.

In this highly competitive time, it’s you or me. As long as you can save your competitors from taking one bite, it means that you are likely to take one more bite. No one can’t understand this truth.

"Okay, I'll call the public relations department now." Brian Glazer nodded and reached for the phone on his desk.

"Inform them."

Since they are competitors, in Justin's eyes this is just a conventional method. As long as it does not touch the bottom line of competition, there is nothing that cannot be done. Besides, Warner Brothers made the first move this time, right?