I'm just trying to ride the wave of popularity!

Chapter 267 Zhou Yang Annihilates Hollywood!
After the failure of "Superman 2" in 2003, Warner Bros. realized the potential of female superheroes and unanimously decided to bet on "Catwoman".

However, no one expected that their attempt would only scratch the surface of "female-oriented" appeal, failing to delve into the character's core. Instead, they inadvertently turned Catwoman into a "sex symbol + luxury goods advertisement." This objectification of women did not seem to open up a new market or bring them both critical and commercial success as they had envisioned; instead, it angered the audience...

Their previous ambitions were far too great. On the one hand, they catered to the male gaze with a $30 outfit and the sex symbol of Anne Descartes; on the other hand, they forcibly crammed in the pale slogan of "female awakening," only to insert an embarrassing "love story"...

Ultimately, they want to tell every story and have every kind of audience...

But the story wasn't told well, and the audience wasn't engaged...

A classic case of trying to fill a basket with water but ending up with nothing!

....................................

Early morning on December 9th.

On the projection screen at the headquarters of Tianyu Entertainment in Yanjing.

The North American box office curve for "Catwoman" resembled a snake cut in half, with the box office plummeting to $1000 million the following day, a sight that stung everyone's eyes.

A deathly silence fell over the conference room!

An unbelievable sense of absurdity lingered in everyone's hearts...

Xu Haibo's eyes widened in disbelief!

The secretary, trembling, pulled up the Los Angeles Times website, where the front page featured screenshots from a video of Dessavie's stunt double performing a fight scene.

In the small image at the bottom right, the silhouettes of the audience standing during the midnight screening of "The Black Robe Alliance" stand in stark contrast to the empty theater showing "Catwoman"...

Xu Haibo took a deep breath!

Just three days ago, the press releases that they personally elevated "Catwoman" to legendary status were still on the front page of major websites!
But at this moment, it felt like a series of slaps to the face.

Li Ming of [New City Films] turned on his computer and saw a GIF on the homepage of the external website [Yahoo Movie Forum] showing Pad Piek tearing apart the control device in "The Black Robe Alliance".

The top-rated comment reads: "While Catwoman is choosing lipsticks, the real hero is breaking free from his shackles..."

"Check the real-time search volume!"

The copyright director of Meile Films broke the deathly silence!

Immediately afterwards, the projector switched to displaying Google Trends...

The green lines of "The Black Robe Alliance" pierced through the red curves of "Catwoman," completing a death cross in the early hours of the 22nd.

One is rising...

One of them is falling!

This movie, which everyone had high hopes for, delivered a devastating, even fatal, blow to everyone at the most crucial moment!
This movie has received terrible reviews in North America!
Xu Haibo was about to contact Hollywood, but his raised hand froze instantly.

On his desk appeared a copy of the latest edition of the "China Film News," with a shocking headline on the front page: "[Hollywood Superhero Myth Shattered? 'Catwoman' Suffers Critical Flop in North America]."

The accompanying photo shows a stark contrast between the queues at the AMC theater for "The Black Organization" and the queues at the ticket refund window for "Catwoman"...

He plopped down in the chair!
Damn!

So many resources have been wasted...

Is this the end?
this moment!
He closed his eyes!

He recalled the additional publicity budget he had just signed yesterday, imagining the emotions that would completely crush Zhou Yang. At that moment, his heart trembled.
This time!
Is it...

"Mr. Xu, should we give it one last push, or... hold off for now..."

Just then, a sudden sound came from not far away.

Xu Haibo opened his eyes and saw Liu Jinghua of [Huashang Brothers] looking at him.

Xu Haibo's mind went completely blank!
At this moment, he didn't know what to do!

................................................

9 Month 23 Day!
Carl Wilson stared at the box office figures scrolling in real time on his computer screen.

Somewhat shocked, and...

It's hard to believe!

On the screen, the North American box office statistics for "The League of Black" finally broke the record on its third day of release—it surpassed $700 million in a single day, with a cumulative box office of $1900 million, and the occupancy rate climbed to 92% against the trend!

The total box office of the movie "Human Reboot" has exceeded $2100 million, and the two "anti-superhero movies" have directly brought the total box office to $3000 million!
However, the box office performance of "Catwoman" was cut in half, plummeting from $1350 million on its opening day to $880 million, and its Rotten Tomatoes score dropped to only 21%...

"How can this be?"

Carl muttered to himself, then repeatedly refreshed the page, even suspecting at one point that the system was malfunctioning.

Three days ago, he was still struggling with the final 9000 million shortfall in the performance-based agreement, and even the legal department of [Weiman] had begun drafting the share transfer documents.

But now, the box office of "The Black Robe Alliance" is exploding at an almost absurd speed...

At this very moment, hashtags such as #TDCompanyRealExists# and #AnalysisOfTheBlackRobeAlliance# swept the trending searches on social media, with moviegoers spontaneously watching the film a second or third time to uncover details, and cinemas even adding extra midnight screenings...

Everything seemed to be pointing to one thing, and that was it!

They won! Just then, the phone rang; it was Zhou Yang calling.

"Karl, do you believe me now?" A chuckled voice came through the receiver. "The rules of Hollywood need to be rewritten! They are not invincible!"

Carl opened his mouth, as if to say something, but it seemed as if something blocked his mouth, and he couldn't say anything!

Just then, cheers erupted outside the office. Assistant Kevin rushed in, holding up a tablet and shouting, "AMC and Regal just sent a request to adjust the screening schedule! They're going to double the number of screens for 'The Black Robe Alliance' and replace the screenings for 'Catwoman'! 'The Reboot' movie has also had a lot more screenings added. We won! We won the gamble!"

Carl suddenly stood up, feeling a buzzing in his ears. Then, due to excessive excitement, everything went black!
He managed to steady himself on the edge of the table...

He suddenly burst into crazy laughter, and the laughter grew louder and louder, even turning into a roar at one point!

The pressure of the bet over the past four years, the doubts within Marvel Comics, and the encirclement by Hollywood giants—everything felt like knives stabbing into his heart!
And this moment!
She clenched her fist tightly!

"Now, immediately, schedule screenings for all of Mr. Zhou Yang's upcoming films, 'The Haunted Village' and the 'Martial Soul Series,' and also schedule screenings for 'Sun Wukong vs. Superman 2'!"

..............................

On September 23, Buster stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window at the headquarters of DV Films.

The coffee in my hand had long since gone cold.

Outside the window, the ever-burning neon lights of Hollywood shone, but his face was darker than any cloud.

The data on the projector resembled a series of slow, agonizing punishments from China…

According to various data, "Catwoman" is going to flop, and not only that, it's about to become a stepping stone for "The Black Robe Alliance"!
"AMC just pulled 15% of our screenings and gave them to that damned Chinese guy's 'The Revenge of the Fallen' and 'The Black Robe Alliance,' as well as that 'Saw' movie..."

The secretary's hurried voice made Buster tremble slightly!
His face gradually turned deathly pale, and at this moment, he could no longer make a sound!
Catwoman's failure this time is even more terrible than Superman 2!
Although "Superman II" didn't perform as well as expected at the box office, at least it didn't lose money and even made a profit. But this "Catwoman"...

Buster's hand holding the pen was trembling violently, and his whole body was chillingly cold!
“Mr. Buster, and…”

"Say!"

"I just received news that Carl from Marvel Comics, in order to fulfill his bet, has shamelessly scheduled all of Zhou Yang's upcoming old films for release!"

"what!"

Buster took the documents from his secretary, and his pupils constricted sharply!
this moment!
He suddenly realized an extremely absurd, even devastating, possibility!
No way!
They failed to strangle this damned Chinese man in "Catwoman," and instead, they were strangled by this Chinese man, weren't they?

In fact...

The days that followed were indeed like a nightmare!
A strangulation attack originating from China is gradually entering the Hollywood film market!
On the 24th, "The Black Robe Alliance" defied the trend and surged to $900 million at the North American box office, "The Reboot" surpassed $450 million, "Saw" remained at $550 million, while "Catwoman" saw its screenings and occupancy rates begin to decline...

On the 26th, [Weiman] took advantage of the situation and brought Zhou Yang's "The Haunted Village" to midnight screenings in North America!

After the film's release, longtime Saw fans, drawn by its familiar scent, flocked to theaters. Despite a mere $80 opening weekend, it surprisingly garnered a 7.2 rating on IMDb, with critics jokingly remarking that "Eastern horror is more visceral than Catwoman's silk suit." Clearly, this film still has box office potential…

On the 28th, an even more absurd scene unfolded!
On this day, "Monkey King vs. Superman 2" was hastily released in North America!

Despite its crude special effects and absurd plot, the film only received a 12% fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes after its premiere and was pulled from theaters worldwide the following day, yet it successfully squeezed out 3% of the screenings of "Catwoman"!
Buster angrily denounced the move as "shameless"!
But there was nothing they could do!

What drove him even more to despair was that these shameless guys, after "Monkey King vs. Superman 2," went on to schedule two more children's movies to fill the vacant screenings...

On October 1st, "The Spirit of Guan Yu" and "The Spirit of Zhao Zilong" were released simultaneously.

Despite their low production costs, both films grossed $200 million at the box office on their opening day, with audiences responding enthusiastically to the violent aesthetics of the "Chinese-style superheroes."

AMC Theatres subsequently adjusted its schedule, replacing the midnight screenings of "Catwoman" with these two films...

At this point, the screening rate of "Catwoman" has been squeezed to less than 8% by China Film Group!

10 Month 3 Day!
From the explosive growth of "The Lost Tomb: Reboot" to the box office comeback of "Black Robe Alliance," and then to the continued success of the "Haunted Village" and "Wu Hun" series...

Even three major flops—"Sun Wukong vs. Superman 2," Shen Long's version of "The Mine," and "Love Rollercoaster"—joined the fray in the competition for screen time against "Catwoman"...

It was pulled from theaters after only one day of release due to negative reviews?
It doesn't matter!
As long as we can rake in tens of thousands of dollars at the box office and take over "Catwoman," even just 1% of the screenings is fine!
10 Month 5 Day!
Under the combined pressure of the Zhou Yang film series and the collapse of Catwoman's own reputation, this "market-saving film," which was once bet $2 million by DV Pictures and Warner Bros., was abruptly pulled from theaters after only 17 days, ultimately suffering a box office failure of $8000 million, becoming one of the most shameful cases of sabotage in Hollywood history!
........................

"Zhou Yang, you fucking wiped out the Hollywood movie 'Catwoman,' damn it!"

"What about our side of China?"

"The box office for 'Catwoman' seems to be..."

"Like what?"

"Looks like we're going to lose too! We're going to lose in a head-on confrontation!"

"..."

10 month 6 day.

The overseas box office results sent shockwaves through the Chinese film industry!

Countless people are watching the box office figures coming from overseas!
Catwoman's total North American box office has settled at $8000 million, while The League of Black has already raked in an astonishing $7500 million at the North American box office!

What shocked countless netizens even more was!
Despite the full support of China's five major film studios and the 10% discount on screenings from three major cinema chains, "Catwoman" is locked in a fierce battle with "The Black Robe Alliance" in the Chinese film market...

Actually...

Lost too!
(End of this chapter)