Huayu Entertainment: Tianxian really wants to improve

Chapter 338 Twilight City's Crazy Record-Breaking Request: Gu Bei's Request...?
Liu Yifei's first thought was Xia Mengqi.

But her crush on Brad Pitt dates back to when she was a child. Back then, Xia Mengqi was just a little kid, and she and Xia Mengqi didn't get along at all; their relationship wasn't nearly as close as it is now.

After ruling out Xia Mengqi, Liu Yifei thought of Zhang Liangying, but Gu Bei and Zhang Liangying had only met a few times.

Could it be... singing?

Liu Yifei felt that only Shu Chang had this possibility.

After all, Shu Chang is now an artist under Linlang Entertainment. It's possible that she let something slip one day, and it ended up in Gu Bei's ears.

"Listen to my excuses... no, I mean, explain!"

"Haha, just kidding!"

Gu Bei watched Liu Yifei's flustered state, smiled, and shook his head. "Weinstein is Weinstein; Quentin and Brad are separate individuals."

If you want to watch it, we probably can't go to the cinema, but we'll buy a DVD and watch it together.

Gu Bei and Harvey already disliked each other, but Harvey kept sticking to him like a leech, which is why Gu Bei deliberately targeted Harvey.

But the minor conflict between Quentin and Quentin was almost three years ago.

As for Brad Pitt, they didn't even cross paths.
He's not that petty.

"no!"

Liu Yifei, on the contrary, started to compete with him.

She panicked because she knew about men's possessiveness, only to find out that it was all in her head.

Then I'm sorry, I'm going to cause trouble!
She grabbed Gu Bei's hand with dissatisfaction: "How can you not care at all, not jealous at all? Is it true that men don't love each other as much after they've had them for a long time?"

A cute, slightly childish tone.

Coupled with Liu Yifei's seemingly coquettish yet reproachful expression,

She immediately draws everyone's attention to her, making it impossible to look away!

"Row!"

Gu Bei pinched her delicate cheek with his thumb and forefinger.

After kneading it hard...
Looking into her angry eyes, he gently rubbed her cheek again.

Then, Gu Bei said with a smile, "I'm jealous. From now on, you must have eyes only for me and think that I am the most handsome man in the world, surpassing even Brad Pitt!"

"Isn't it now?"

Liu Yifei rubbed her cheek against his palm, her beautiful phoenix eyes full of laughter, her gaze fixed firmly on Gu Bei.

Gu Bei's heart skipped a beat.
When you jokingly make an unbelievable request and discover that the other person genuinely means it, the power of that sense of validation is immense.

Girl, you're really amazing!
Why aren't you kissing yet?

Eric stood by, feeling utterly helpless.
If you want to show off your love, then show off your love.

But at the very last moment, they gave up.
This is so upsetting!

"If you'd been smart enough to leave earlier, there might still be a chance!" Gu Bei rolled his eyes at Eric, annoyed. This guy was such a killjoy.

"Come on!"

Liu Yifei's cheeks were slightly pink.
She gently kissed Gu Bei's cheek.

Neither of them is into showing affection in public, but this level of public displays of affection is acceptable.

The date arrived at August 14th.

It was also the thirty-third week of 2009.
Twilight Saga: The Last Knight has been released in 4188 theaters across North America.
It's still a bit short of Gu Bei's ideal, but it's still second only to the scale of a blockbuster film.

[Twilight Saga: The Last Jedi grossed $2786 million in midnight screenings across 3666 theaters, surpassing Half-Blood Prince to become the highest-grossing midnight screening of all time!]

Are you panicking?

Gu Bei waved the newspaper headline in front of Liu Yifei, "The midnight screening box office record that the Mixed-Race Prince just set in July has been broken by us in exactly one month!"

Liu Yifei saw the results in the newspaper.
She felt her bet was in jeopardy.
But he still stubbornly insisted: "This doesn't count. Prince of Half-Blood only had 3000 theaters offering midnight screenings for pre-sales, while Twilight had over 600 more theaters, so it's only natural that it would have higher box office returns."

"Then let's keep looking at what's behind us!"

Gu Bei said with a smile.

Aside from him, probably few people would believe that Twilight could achieve the same North American box office success as Half-Blood Prince.

No one doubted Twilight's earning power, but no one could have imagined it would be this strong.

He glanced through the film critics' comments.
Roger Ebert gave the film two and a half stars (out of four): "It's a fun fantasy film that provides enough space for those who are already able to watch it but are young enough to scream at the immortal handsome men to escape reality."

Roger's comment was a veiled criticism; after adding a bunch of age-related limitations, the final positive assessment was simply that it offered a space for escaping reality.

Other film critics' reviews were largely similar.
The reviews were mostly positive but somewhat dull.

The freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes remains at 66%, slightly higher than the first film.
However, it will likely continue to decline in popularity, and overall, it will maintain a mediocre reputation, similar to its predecessor.

This is already good news for Gu Bei!
The original Twilight series was ruined by the melodramatic plot of the second movie.

It began to face a situation of explosive box office returns but plummeting critical reception.

The film's reputation has now stabilized at a moderate level, which is very beneficial for the next three films in the series.

The second part was a success.

The third book is based on an even better source material.
Gu Bei didn't need to worry; he could earn the money just by standing up!
That evening, the CinemaScore rating was released, and unsurprisingly, it received an A grade, which reflects audience satisfaction with the film.

Twilight 2 has officially begun its sweeping success.

The opening day box office results are in! The film grossed $7933 million, including midnight screenings, making it the highest-grossing opening film in North America and the highest single-day box office in history!

The person who previously set this record

These are $6717 million from last year's North American box office champion, The Dark Knight.
Compared to Spider-Man 3's $5984 million, which topped the North American box office two years ago,
Judging from the opening day box office, Twilight Saga has a greater potential to become the box office champion than Transformers 2, after all, it raised the record by a full $12 million.

For a time, all of Hollywood's attention was focused on Twilight 2.

Last year, Twilight's box office of $2.4 million in North America, ranking fourth that year, was already enough to surprise Hollywood insiders.

Judging from the current first-day box office figures...
Twilight 2 will likely gross significantly more than its predecessor.

It even has the potential to go toe-to-toe with Transformers 2!

……

Weinstein Co.

“Mike, I know Twilight is great, but think about its Saturday night slump last year. How much attendance will it have left next week?”

Harvey Weinstein personally negotiated with theater managers.
After all, this shameless bastard failed, and he's really going to go bankrupt!
He earnestly assured him, "Trust me, trust Quentin, trust Brad Pitt!"

The other party remained silent and returned Harvey a busy signal.

“F*ck!”

After Harvey put down the landline microphone,

He clenched his fists, roared at the air, venting his pent-up frustration.

"Mr. Weinstein!" The secretary rushed in, looking at Harvey with alarm, afraid of being blamed for being a step too slow. "Phew!"

Harvey took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.

Then, unusually, he looked tired and asked, "Have the results for Twilight's first weekend come out yet?"

His only hope now is that Twilight will have a big drop in box office revenue on Saturday and Sunday. If Twilight performs even slightly better, then theater managers certainly won't give him screen time so easily.

"It's already there! According to media estimates, the opening weekend box office will reach $1.6 million, making it the highest-grossing opening weekend in North American history!"

The secretary spoke cautiously, afraid that Harvey would lose his temper again.

However, she waited for a long time, but Harvey's anger did not come.

Looking up,
They found Harvey leaning back in the boss's chair.

His usually fierce face was now staring at the ceiling, and he remained silent for a long time.

……

Rose Films.

"Cheers!"

Liu Yifei raised her wine glass.
He toasted everyone from Rose Pictures and Summit Entertainment present, "Congratulations everyone, Twilight has broken six records in just three days!"

The highest-grossing midnight screening in North America's history.

The highest opening day and first-day box office in North American history.

The fastest time in history to surpass $100 million in box office revenue.

Fastest ever to surpass $1.5 million at the box office and highest opening weekend ever!

Let's drink to your success and hard work!

"Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu"

The crowd erupted in cheers.

This result is absolutely terrifying.

Two days, $1.27 million; three days, $1.61 million.
The entire Hollywood was in disbelief, and newspapers and television were abuzz with this incredible record.
Thanks to the relatively moderate reputation of Twilight 2, at least for now, Twilight hasn't attracted widespread ridicule, and everything is moving in the best direction.

"Thank you, Eric!"

Gu Bei looked at Liu Yifei on the stage, toasting everyone.
He also toasted Eric next to him, saying, "You got 85% of the box office revenue from the theaters this time. That 5% can bring us at least ten million dollars in revenue."

Eric's abilities are quite formidable, forcing theaters to treat Twilight as a blockbuster.

According to the current progress,
Twilight's opening weekend box office is estimated to easily surpass $200 million.

With 85% of the box office revenue going to Rose Pictures and Summit Entertainment, they would take away $170 million of the $200 million, while the 4188 theaters would only receive $30 million, averaging just $7000 per theater.

Gu Bei felt a little embarrassed accepting the money.

Hollywood has far too much power over cinemas.

Luckily, I'm from Hollywood!
Eric, his face flushed, toasted Gu Bei and said, "You're the one we should thank. If it weren't for you producing this movie, we wouldn't have been able to achieve such high box office numbers!"

Although Eric had already drunk quite a bit of alcohol

But his mind was still very clear. The reason why Summit Entertainment's North American distribution was able to proceed so smoothly was because it was tied to Rose Pictures' creative machine.

Last year, Summit Entertainment's total North American box office revenue was $300 million, of which $240 million came from Rose Pictures' Twilight, accounting for more than 60%.

And this year is estimated to be about the same.
Twilight 2, including the Star Trek arc, may account for up to 70% of the story.
This is still under the current circumstances where they share the profits of Rose Pictures films equally with Sony Classics.

So even though some people within Peak Entertainment were greedy and criticized Rose Pictures for charging too low a percentage of distribution fees, Eric was still determined to cling to Gu Bei and Liu Yifei.

"What are you talking about?"

Liu Yifei walked over and asked curiously.

Gu Bei said with a smile, "It's just mutual flattery!"

Upon hearing this, Eric smiled and stepped aside to let the two young couple spend some time together.

Gu Bei smiled at Liu Yifei and asked with a smile, "President Liu, are you happy?"

"happy!"

Liu Yifei stretched.

She's happy being the boss of Rose Pictures. She doesn't have to manage things normally, and she can enjoy the celebration banquet with everyone.

"How about we cancel this year's vacation so you can enjoy yourself a little longer?" Gu Bei asked with a smile.

"no, I'm fine!"

Liu Yifei quickly shook her head.

She had been looking forward to her vacation for a long time this year.
Not only could she spend their birthdays together with Gu Bei, but it was also in Europe, a place she loved very much.

After a pause,

She looked around.
After finding no one in her line of sight, she moved closer to Gu Bei and said, "I give up!"

Based on Twilight 2's opening weekend gross of $1.6 million,

Breaking the $300 million mark is almost a certainty.

Half-Blood Prince has only accumulated $280 million in box office revenue in 33 days. Even if it manages to surpass $300 million, it will certainly not reach the box office of Twilight 2.

According to the bet they made at the MTV Movie Awards, Liu Yifei has lost!
She looked at Gu Bei pitifully: "If I admit defeat, can I lose half of the bet?"

Gu Bei replied with a smile, "I still prefer your previous unruly self!"

"I give up!" Liu Yifei immediately put on an act. "There's no way I'd give up!"

"Hahaha!"

Gu Bei smiled.
Then he shook his head: "Unfortunately, my bet requires that it cannot be split in two."

"Why not?"

Liu Yifei showed a hint of curiosity. She grabbed Gu Bei's hand and shook it. "I've already admitted defeat. Can you tell me the terms of the bet now?"

"The condition of my bet is... you can't refuse the birthday present I'm giving you this year!"

Gu Bei paused for a moment.
He smiled and recited all the terms of the bet.

"what?"

Liu Yifei was slightly stunned when she heard this.

Then she asked curiously, "What birthday present did you prepare for me?"

"you guess!"

Gu Bei maintained his smug smile.

Liu Yifei gritted her teeth in anger. How could this person be so annoying?

(End of this chapter)