Hollywood Drawing

"Let's see how much surprise "The Flash" has brought us. Eon..."

A fax document was handed over to Bruce Rosenblum by the secretary. Before the secretary left the office, he shrugged at several people. While muttering in a low voice, he lowered his head and opened the fax document.

The face of Warner Bros.'s distribution executive burst into a bright smile the moment he saw a certain number. The vicissitudes of life of a middle-aged old man with a fat face and a child-like smile would definitely be called the scene of a horror movie in the eyes of the uninformed.

But this is not a warm smile at all, which made everyone in the office breathe a sigh of relief. Everyone waited from night to early morning, at least the result was definitely not bad.

At this time, the elegance of Jeff Robinoff was also gone, and he asked with a hint of eagerness: "How many? Bruce."

"A great number!" Bruce Rosenblum's voice was hoarse, but loud. "The detailed statistics from Nielsen Entertainment showed that the box office of "The Flash" on the first day was about 31.23 million US dollars..."

Hearing the number he said, Jeff Robinoff's hand trembled as he lifted the coffee cup, but fortunately the coffee had cooled down due to time.

"m***erf**ker!?" But Warner Bros. CEO obviously ignored the dripping coffee, and looked at Bruce Rosenblum in surprise. Immediately with a "bang", he threw the coffee cup on the coffee table, slumped into the sofa, turned his head to look at Wayne, and said:

"The box office on the first day was about $31.23 million. If you add the $7.25 million in advance tickets, the premiere box office of "The Flash" is..."

"Around $38.48 million!" Wayne said immediately.

The three men almost laughed together, a number that far exceeded the forecast made by Warner Bros.'s marketing department on the eve of "The Flash."

Of course, even Nielsen Entertainment, the most authoritative box-office statistics company, has discrepancies in the urgent statistics due to time constraints. But Warner Bros. hired Nielsen Entertainment because the company's statistics, even with some small errors, never exceeded $100,000.

"$7.25 million in advance, $31.23 million on Friday's first day, wow!"

The serious atmosphere in the office was maintained all night, which was instantly broken by the laughter of the three men. Bruce Rosenblum was full of passion, reached out and patted Wayne on the shoulder twice, and turned to his office. Go to the table. "We must have a drink, we must!"

Several people knew in their hearts that with the first-day box office of nearly 40 million US dollars, the rest of the fan survey report, box office analysis, etc., have become less important.

You know, Wayne clearly stated at the earliest that the bottom line of the market goal of this "The Flash" is not to lose money. If you can recover your investment from the theater market, it will be considered a success, which means that as long as Warner Bros. If the brothers operate properly offline, the film will definitely make a lot of money.

Almost all the senior management of Warner Bros. film and television production department, distribution department, and marketing department know why he set such a conservative goal. The reason is very simple. The most important meaning of this "Flash" is to draw out the next two heavyweights.

There is no need to worry about making money now. As long as Superman Clark Kent and Wonder Woman Diana Prince go public, a large amount of benefits will be sent to the door.

This also explains why, even if Wayne changed his inherent style on "The Flash" from the beginning, there was no major opposition within Warner Bros. Because everyone is looking forward to it, but what they are looking forward to is not "The Flash", but the three giants of justice who will inevitably cause a sensation later.

"Ding."

Four champagne glasses filled with golden champagne came together, and including Nina, all of them smiled, raised their heads and drank the champagne in the glasses.

"Let's see what's next..."

Bruce Rosenblum sat down on the sofa, crossed his legs and picked up the fax paper again, then looked up at the other people, cleared his throat deliberately, and read: "According to detailed statistics from Nielsen Entertainment, "The Flash" On Sunday morning, the film opened in 3,400 mainstream commercial theaters in North America one after another. The average attendance rate of the film on the first day of the film was over 70%, and the box office of the single theater on the first day was about 11,317 US dollars!

hey, hey, hey, Wayne, God! The 3,400 mainstream commercial theaters in North America opened on a large scale, and the box office of a single theater exceeded 11,000 US dollars! f**k, is this an industry myth? Wayne, you are creating new market rules again! "

The box office of a single hall exceeds 10,000 US dollars. Such data is always mentioned in the news, as if it seems ordinary, but the truth is far more than that. Ninety-nine percent of the box-office hits that ordinary people think of in a single venue have occurred in art films and screening films.

The one thing they have in common is that they are both very small. Needless to say, art films are basically impossible to get the opportunity to open paintings on a large scale, and screening films are better understood, because the films that can be published in newspapers are all screened in a very small range, and they have gained A work with good box office results.

In fact, among the commercial films that have been opened on a large scale, there are indeed many masterpieces with box office exceeding 10,000, or even 150,000 or 20,000 US dollars. It should be noted that the statistical method is based on the entire weekend, and the single hall of "The Flash" is 11,000 US dollars, but it is the first-day box office.

"It's far beyond our expectations!"

After sighing, Wayne put the cigar between his fingers and tapped it on the coffee table. His face was very calm at this time, and the surprise when he just learned about the box office numbers on the first day slowly returned to his usual composure.

"That's a good thing, Wayne."

Jeff Robinoff looked at him and laughed dumbly, stretched out his hand and patted his arm, with deep admiration in his eyes, and sighed:

"Our initial prediction for "The Flash" was to win about $65 million in the first weekend. As long as this figure can be achieved, it is basically guaranteed that the film can recover its investment and even make profits in the theater market by box office. , but looking at the current momentum, we are still too conservative and underestimated your influence among fans!"

Shaking his head gently, Wayne looked at Bruce Rosenblum and said calmly, "What about the fans' reputation? How's the performance?"

"Uh......"

The head of Warner Bros. distribution shrugged, put down the box office data analysis in his hand, and picked up another document sent by the secretary to open it. "We sent some senior investigators ourselves, and together with the investigators sent by third-party investigation companies, 7,047 questionnaires were distributed in a single day, and all the questionnaires were withdrawn.

Among them, 5,689 viewers rated the film A and above, and there were only less than 30 ratings for C and C! The overall rating of the film is A. The audience's word of mouth on the first day of "The Flash" can be completely described as an explosion. "

After a brief reading of the important data, Bruce Rosenblum raised his head. In fact, the other detailed analysis was insignificant in front of this score.

He looked at Wayne and Jeff Robinoff and said: "This score is put together with the box office on the first day. It can be clearly seen that the word of mouth of fans has been perfectly converted into box office numbers. "The Flash" is an A-level commercial film. , which is also consistent with the scores of film viewing experts from theater companies,”

"That's right."

Jeff Robinoff leaned on the sofa and said with a smile: "For an A-level commercial film with a good reputation among fans, if the fans' ratings can be maintained and the word-of-mouth effect spreads, the box office of "The Flash" will be higher than that of The Flash. Much more than we expected!"

"But, everything depends on the follow-up box office trend!"

No one expected that Wayne would be the one to pour cold water, especially at this moment of enjoying the initial victory. I saw him spitting out a large cloud of green smoke, looking at the two executives of Warner Bros., and reminding him if he pointed: "Do you think "other people" will quietly watch "The Flash" go all the way?"

When it comes to competition on the bright side, he has never been afraid of it. If he is afraid of fierce competition, then don't come to the summer camp at all. But the calmer it was, the more uncertain he was about where the knife would come from, and he believed that there was never a good person in Hollywood, and that he made a lot of money, which meant that other people lost the bottom line in the same period.

In the face of hundreds of millions of dollars, it is normal to stab each other with knives, but the main competitor Sony Columbia is silent, and Paramount, which was directly cut off the box office of "Clash of Heaven and Earth", also kept silent, as if Is it possible that both sides completely gave up on the strong "Flash"?

"After I officially go to work on Monday, I will put forward a proposal for additional funding for The Flash at a regular high-level meeting."

Compared to Wayne, who is always worried about secret enemies, Jeff Robinoff is much more straightforward. "No matter what Sony Columbia and Paramount want to do, we will continue according to our own publicity rhythm. Wayne, the company and Dongfang have already contacted. After the next week's screening in North America starts, you can fly over there with confidence."

"That's it for now."

Nodding, Wayne raised his wrist and glanced at the time. Seeing that it was almost two in the morning, he simply got up and signaled to the two senior executives of his brothers, ready to go back to rest first.

The first-day box office of "The Flash" and the word of mouth of fans have already seen it. At least half of his heart is let go, and the other half of his heart is undoubtedly an abnormal competitor, but it will be a good thing if those two keep moving. This aspect is completely out of his control.

And Wayne didn't follow the crew and participated in the North American publicity roadshow because of the trip to the East that was arranged early in the morning. As long as the situation here stabilized, he would fly there for the premiere of "The Flash".

The three people in Burbank got an unexpected and surprising result. They each got into the car and went home to rest. Some people, facing the same situation, obviously couldn't fall asleep......

"Close to $40 million, close to $40 million..."

David Denby, who had just returned to New York, sat in his study, put down the phone in his hand, and grunted with a frown. Obviously, someone had just passed him the box office data of "The Flash" on the first day.

In fact, after watching the premiere of "The Flash", he was already mentally prepared. This film with a simple story but full of special effects is destined to be recognized by a large number of ordinary movie fans, but when the figure of nearly 40 million US dollars appeared in his ears, it still made him feel incredible.

David Denby leaned back on the chair and looked at the bright night view of the Big Apple outside the window. For a time, the entire study fell into silence again.

"Jingle bell~ Jingle bell!"

A rush of phone rang, instantly breaking the silence in the study.

Shaking his head vigorously, David Denby looked at the beating phone on his desk, hesitated for a moment, and reached out his hand to pick it up after thinking of the box office results of "The Flash" on the first day.

"Hello, this is David Denby."

"David, I'm Frank."

The owner of the voice on the phone was David Denby's agent, Frank Lund. After confirming that it was David Denby himself, he said without any hesitation, "I have received a message here. Zhang's $400,000 "directing fund."

After saying these words, the phone became quiet, and neither party continued to speak, only the sound of each other's breathing could be heard.

"Reply to the other party, I understand what to do."

After nearly two minutes, David Denby spoke into the microphone.

"OK."

Some things obviously don't need to be said too much, both sides understand each other's meaning. After hanging up the phone, the famous film critic of "The New Yorker" took out his movie viewing notebook and began to bury his head in writing film reviews.

Not only New York, but well-known film critics in major cities in North America, almost all received more or less "directing funds", and also learned about the first-day box office performance of "The Flash" through their personal relationships.

In a villa far away in the suburbs of Chicago, the Pulitzer Prize winner Roger Albert, who is already suffering from cancer, is also listening to his agent's report.

"Roger, the money has arrived."

"I understand."

Regular chemotherapy has made the Pulitzer Prize winner extremely thin. The face that was not full before, but now the cheeks are even more sunken. In particular, a pair of small round glasses turned the elegant image of the past into the funny and pitiful image of today.

"It's getting late, I'll go back to rest first." Seeing his client's spirit, the agent seemed to suddenly become excited, he pouted inwardly, stood up and said, "Call me anytime, Roger."

He was in contact with the whole thing. Whether it was tacit understanding with other film critics or contact with the person in charge of some companies, basically everything had to go through his hands. From the whole thing, his clients could say Greed manifested most vividly.

You know, at the very beginning, my Pulitzer Prize-winning client was the most positive one, but when things came to an end, it died down. Before seeing the growing number on his account, he seemed to have completely forgotten everything he promised.

At this time, Roger Albert was in a very good mood. He didn't care what his agent thought of him at all, and he was all about watching the excitement of tomorrow. You know, the agent did not leave empty-handed, and took with him a long film review for tomorrow's special column in the Chicago Sun-Times.

"The Flash, Wayne Greenberg's biggest failure since his debut!"

Early the next morning, this appalling title appeared on the Chicago Sun. Although the influence of film critics became dispensable every summer with a strong commercial atmosphere, as a veteran film critic People, there will still be a large number of followers, regularly buy newspapers before watching the movie to read the comments of the Pulitzer Prize winners.

"From a fair point of view, Wayne Greenberg walked out of the campus and shot every work full of thought-provoking and alarming art, just when I thought this master of film art would continue to When exploring higher mountains, he ushered in Waterloo on his director's road with a disappointing "The Flash"!

I sat in the movie theater for a full 100 minutes, and when it was over, I was pretty sure that I didn't know what the movie was about. A story as simple as white water, like a lullaby, I'm really sorry, I couldn't help falling asleep in the middle.

In my opinion, Wayne Greenberg himself doesn't know what he's talking about, there is nothing interesting in the whole film, obviously his talent has been used up in the previous years, and it will be made like this A work like a lullaby.

When it comes to movies, the protagonist of Barry Allen is really too thin. A rookie actor plays this thin character, which is simply a story that is very simple and brings even greater disasters! The villain is even more so, not to mention the supporting roles like Facebook.

I have to say, I haven't seen such a great "animated fairy tale" in years since I was in first grade, and The Flash has helped me relive my childhood, and in that regard, Wayne Green Berg was indeed successful.

The film is not only young and brainless, but the overall editing rhythm is also very problematic. There are dozens of loopholes in the front and back. The most important point is the abuse of special effects scenes. It seems that the $200 million that Warner Bros. gave him has been tossed into special effects, but these abused special effects have not played a role in making the film better!

The choice of movie characters does not match, the editing rhythm is chaotic, the story is as simple as white water, and the special effects scenes are abused. This "The Flash" is nothing to watch! Wayne Greenberg spent $200 million to make the worst film of his directorial career..."

The entire film review is acerbic, criticizing "The Flash" from all aspects. Although it seems to be a review of the movie, in some places, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is a personal attack.

However, the "Chicago Sun" and Roger Albert are not the most special on Saturday morning. When they were put on the newspapers issued by major media in North America in the morning, it can only be said that the language is relatively sharp.

Early Saturday morning, the media's comments on "The Flash" were not at all like the calm on Friday. Almost every well-known film critic's column had comments on "The Flash". The content of film reviews, almost all negative reviews, and even some explicit film critics, directly behind their columns, called on their supporters not to waste money and go to the theater to be tortured.

"I'm afraid Wayne Greenberg doesn't understand what the Flash is going to shoot, let alone the audience sitting in the auditorium! This film has been touted too much before, in my view It doesn't live up to its name at all. Even the only eye-catching special effects are completely inferior to the "Godzilla" that was released at the same time.

Among the films that are being released on a large scale in theaters, there is no doubt that this "Flash" is the most anticipated, the most expensive, and the worst. The story is not as good as the humanistic feelings of "The Great Clash of Heaven and Earth", and the visual enjoyment is not as good as "Godzilla". "

--- A.O Scott, The New York Times.

"Perhaps Wayne Greenberg has left all his talents to "Batman: The Dark Knight" after the Oscar statuette. I was fortunate enough to go to Los Angeles to attend the premiere of this "Flash", but it can be used as a movie From the moment I started, I started to regret the decision to make this trip.

Not to mention that compared with films like "Batman: The Dark Knight" and "Joker", even Wayne Greenberg's graduation work "Happy Death Day" is far better than "The Flash". It can be seen that he wants to pursue a purely commercial perspective that he has never tried. Unfortunately, doing so not only loses his strong personal style, but also does not achieve the results he wants.

If I had to give this "The Flash" an adjective, I would use "commercial film" to describe it. The whole movie is piled up with special effects, as gorgeous as a perfume commercial. UU reading www.uukanshu. com But Wayne Greenberg should understand that making commercials and making movies are two completely different things. Maybe he taught Zack Snyder his talents, but learned how to make commercials from the other side? "

--- "The New Yorker" David Denby.

"A **** commercial, excuse me for calling it that, but there's really no other adjective that fits The Flash better than shit." --Austin Collins, Los Angeles Daily News.

"A work destined to disappoint everyone. It seems that Warner Bros. chose not to hold a preview before the release of "The Flash" for a reason. They should be afraid that fans will find out that this is a bad movie too soon."-- - "Film Review" Pete Terence.

Overnight, it seems that all the media related to the movie are expressing accusations and ridicules against "The Flash". Well-known film critics and film critics from all walks of life are also surprisingly consistent. Stomp hard into the ground.

It's hard to tell how many people's entertainment choices this weekend were affected when these things came together on the average person's breakfast table. There is a truth that has always been applied in the East and the West. When one person says it is not good, it may be from a different perspective. When everyone says it is not good, most people who do not know the truth would rather believe that it is really bad.

However, the negative evaluation of "The Flash" by various media is only the beginning, and this Saturday is not destined to be so peaceful. The broadcast of ABC's ace program "Good Morning America" ​​instantly ignited public opinion in North America, and successfully pushed Wayne to the forefront in just ten minutes! Click to download this site APP, massive novels, free to read!