Chapter 454: Competitors Coming One After Another

“Hey Daniel, it’s crazy how popular Inception is right now.

“This year’s global film market is so enthusiastic!”

Rickon, the head of Universal Distribution, said to Wu Yuan with a sigh.

At this time, they were sitting in the nanny car heading to the TV station.

The global film market has been really hot recently.

"Inception" opened and performed well. As of August 6, the North American box office has exceeded US$200 million, and the global box office has exceeded US$500 million.

Although "Avatar" has boosted the global box office, after "Avatar", the global box office exceeded US$500 million, which is still a figure that is not easy to achieve.

At least Nolan has surpassed himself.

DiCaprio has also achieved success again. His handsome face is no longer as handsome as it was ten years ago, but with his superb acting skills and excellent movie stories, he still conquers audiences around the world.

Known as possibly the most complex film in the history of cinema, "Inception" still performed extremely well at the box office. It can be seen that despite its complexity, movie fans highly respect it.

And this is a rare original science fiction film.

Although this movie has nothing to do with Universal, the success of "Inception" has also given Universal a lot of confidence.

Nolan is inferior to Wu Yuan in terms of fame and status. His original science fiction movies have all been successful. There is no reason that "Interstellar", which uses more advanced technology than "Inception" and has an equally complex story, will fail!

This shot in the arm has greatly boosted Universal and Paramount.

"Now outside forecasting agencies have all raised their box office forecasts for "Interstellar."

"As an original science fiction film with the same theme, after seeing the success of "Inception", many outside media generally believe that the global box office of "Interstellar" may exceed one billion US dollars, becoming another one of your movies. "Masterpiece."

"After all, the global box office forecast for "Inception" has now been raised to US$800 million. There is no reason why you would be worse than Nolan."

"Well, but the male protagonist of "Inception" is Leonardo, who is popular all over the world. We are indeed inferior in this aspect, and there are still risks."

Well, Mads Mikkelsen is being disliked again.

Fortunately, he was in the car behind, otherwise he would have become even more autistic after hearing this.

Liu Yifei, who was sitting next to Wu Yuan, covered her mouth and chuckled.

"Hey, Rickon, I don't allow you to say that about my actors." Wu Yuan laughed and scolded: "Mads is a good actor, not much worse than Leonardo. He just lacks a chance to be seen by a global audience. That’s all.”

"Believe me, after this "Interstellar", he will be remembered by audiences around the world."

Listening to them complaining about Mads's low reputation every day, Wu Yuan would get a little emotional if he heard it too much. After all, this is the actor he appointed. If he kept talking about Mads, wasn't he just saying that he didn't choose the role well?

"Of course, we have full confidence in you." Rickon said quickly: "Your casting vision is absolutely right. In fact, Mads's performance in the finished film is indeed impeccable."

"Oh, the TV station is here, it's time for us to get to work."

Although "Interstellar" won't premiere for another half month, related advance promotion has already begun.

Starting today, the crew of "Interstellar" will frequently appear on TV shows in North America and Europe to promote the show in the next half month.

And just when Wu Yuan was busy promoting, the North American film market was also surging.

"Inception" has taken the global film market by storm and conquered overseas territories. However, the popularity of its release in North America has gradually begun to die out, and the market has begun to enter a period of depression.

On July 23, "Shot" starring Angelina Jolie, known as the "Hollywood Sex Goddess" and rated as the sexiest female star in film history, was officially released on a large scale in North America.

Columbia's much-anticipated blockbuster with a female lead only grossed $36.5 million at the box office in its first weekend, falling to second place behind last week's winner "Inception."

Although Columbia stated that the result was very close to the expected value of US$40 million, it was obviously not ideal.

"Shot" earned Angelina Jolie a salary of $20 million, but this film had the lowest opening weekend box office among all the films she has appeared in in recent years.

Prior to this, her starring roles in "Wanted" and "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" both grossed $50 million at the box office in their first weekends.

Another new film, "Ramona and Sisters," although it was billed as a favorite genre film among teenagers during the summer, ended up with less than 10 million in box office revenue.

If you put aside the movie "Inception", this summer season in North America can be described as extremely depressed.

Even with the addition of "Inception", the top 12 box office movies this week continued to decline due to the lack of fresh blood. They continued to shrink by 8.5% compared with last week, and finally closed at US$157 million.

The good box office brought by "Inception" cannot support the overall summer market.

Obviously, this year's summer season is still waiting for a movie that can really save this depressed period.

According to media predictions, this movie is of course "Interstellar" directed by Wu Yuan.

As for "The Expendables" with Jet Li joining the cast and boasting the toughest team of tough guys in history?

The media generally gave only 30 million US dollars for the first week box office of this movie, which is not as high as the first week box office of "Inception".

Obviously, the media is not optimistic about this Stallone remake.

However, with the aftereffects of "Inception" still there and "Salt" released, "Interstellar", which will be fully released next week, is also under great pressure.

At this time when the pressure is again and the whole country is looking forward to it, the premiere of "Interstellar" held in North America has touched the hearts of thousands of fans and industry insiders who pay attention to the movie.

On August 9, a sunny and cloudless day, the premiere of "Interstellar" in Los Angeles officially kicked off.

Relying on the connections of Universal and Paramount, plus Wu Yuan's own circle of Hollywood friends, the premiere of "Interstellar" attracted almost half of the famous actors and producers in Hollywood to attend.

Everyone is full of curiosity and expectations for this movie, which is said to be the second real IMAX 3D movie.

Can the miracle created by Cameron be replicated?

Can IMAX 3D movies really become a code for wealth?

Does the content of "Interstellar" live up to the title of "this year's most powerful science fiction movie" and "original science fiction blockbuster" that it hyped during its promotion period?

Can Wu Yuan, a Chinese director who works in Hollywood, continue his success?

All of this may be answered at today's premiere. (End of this chapter)