hollywood draw

"Let's see how big the surprise "The Flash" brings us. e on..."

A fax document was handed over by the secretary to Bruce Rosenblum. Before the secretary could walk out of the office, he shrugged at the few people. While muttering in a low voice, he lowered his head and flipped open the fax document.

The face of the Warner Bros. distribution manager, when he saw a certain number, showed a bright smile. The vicissitudes and fat face of a middle-aged old white man, was like a child. If it was in the eyes of an ignorant person, it would definitely be the scene of a horror movie.

But this smile, which was not warm at all, made everyone in the office feel relieved. Everyone waited from night until the early morning, at least the result would definitely not be bad.

At this time, the elegance of Jeff Robinoff was gone, and he asked in a hint of anxious tone: "How many are there? Bruce."

"A great number!" Bruce Rosenblum's voice was a little hoarse, but the volume was very loud. "Detailed statistics sent by Nelson Entertainment, the first day of "The Flash" had a box office of about 31.23 million US dollars..."

Hearing the numbers he said, Jeff Robinoff's hand trembled violently as soon as he picked up the coffee cup. Fortunately, the coffee had already turned cold due to time constraints.

"m***er f**ker!?" However, Warner Bros. ceo obviously didn't care about the coffee dripping from his hands, and looked at Bruce Rosenblum with surprise. Then he threw the coffee cup on the coffee table with a "bang", relaxed all over into the sofa, turned to look at Wayne, and said:

"The box office on the first day actually reached about 31.23 million US dollars. If you add the 7.25 million US dollars in advance, the premiere box office of "The Flash" is......"

"About $38.48 million!" Wayne said immediately.

The three men almost laughed together, and this number was far beyond the predictions made by Warner Bros. Marketing Division on the eve of the release of "The Flash".

Of course, even the most authoritative box office statistics company, Nelson Entertainment, has a deviation in the data that was urgently counted due to time. However, the reason why Warner Bros. asked Nelson Entertainment to take action was because of the company's statistics. Even if there were some minor errors, it never exceeded 100,000 US dollars.

"The game is 7.25 million US dollars ahead of schedule, 31.23 million US dollars on Friday's first day, wow!"

The serious atmosphere in the office that had been maintained all night was instantly broken by the laughter of the three men. Bruce Rosenblum was full of passion, stretched out his hand and patted Wayne on the shoulder twice, turned around and walked towards his desk. "We must have a drink, we must!"

Several people knew in their hearts that with a first-day box office of nearly US$40 million, the remaining movie fan survey reports, box office analysis, etc. have become less important.

You should know that Wayne clearly stated at the earliest that the market goal of this "Flash" is to not lose money. If you can recover investment from the theater market, it will be successful. This shows that as long as Warner Bros. operates offline properly, the film will definitely make a lot of money.

Almost all senior executives of Warner Bros. Film and Television Production Department, Distribution Department, Marketing Department and other departments know why he set such a conservative goal. The reason is simple. The most important significance of the existence of "The Flash" is to attract 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 are listed, a large amount of benefits will be delivered to the door.

This explains why, even though we knew from the beginning that Wayne changed his inherent style on "The Flash", there was no big objection within Warner Bros. Because everyone was looking forward to it, but what we were looking forward to was not "The Flash", but the three justice giants that would inevitably cause a sensation later.

"bite."

Four champagne glasses filled with golden champagne met together. Nina, including the others, all smiled and raised their heads and sniffed the champagne in their glasses.

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

Bruce Rosenblum sat on the sofa, crossed his legs and picked up the fax paper again, then looked up and glanced at the other people, cleared his throat and read: "According to detailed statistics from Nelson Entertainment, "The Flash" started paintings in 3,400 mainstream commercial theaters across North America on Sunday morning. The average attendance rate of movie paintings on the first day exceeded 70%, and the box office of a single museum 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 a super large-scale painting, and the box office of a single museum was more than 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 museum exceeds 10,000 US dollars. Such data is always mentioned in the news, as if it looks ordinary, but the facts are far more than that. Ninety-nine percent of the box office of a single museum that ordinary people think exceeds 10,000 yuan happens to art films and preview films.

The two have one thing in common, that is, the screening scale is very small. Needless to say, art films are basically impossible to get the opportunity to start painting on a large scale. Preview films are better understood because films that can be published in newspapers are all works that have achieved good box office results in previews on a very small scale.

In fact, among the super-large-scale commercial films, there are indeed many masterpieces with a single-player box office of over 10,000, or even 15,000 or 20,000 US dollars. But note that the statistical method is to calculate the entire weekend, while the single-player $11,000 US dollars in "The Flash" was the first day's box office.

"Far beyond our expectations!"

After sighing, Wayne held a cigar in his finger and knocked on the coffee table one by one. His face was very calm at this moment. The surprise when he just learned the box office numbers on the first day slowly returned to the calmness he always showed.

"This is a good thing, Wayne."

Jeff Robinoff laughed silently as he looked at him, stretched out his hand and patted his arm, with deep admiration in his eyes, sighing:

"Our initial prediction for "The Flash" was to win about 65 million US dollars in the first weekend. As long as this number can be reached, it will basically ensure that this film can recover investment and even make profits in the theater market by relying on box office. But judging from the current momentum, we are still too conservative and underestimate your influence among movie fans!"

Shaking his head gently, Wayne looked at Bruce Rosenblum and said calmly: "What about the reputation of the movie fans? How is the performance?"

"Well......"

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

Among them, there are as many as 5,689 viewers who scored the video A and above, and there are only less than 30 of them. The overall score of the video is A. The audience reputation on the first day of "The Flash" can be described as an explosion."

After briefly reading the important data, Bruce Rosenblum raised his head. In fact, the other detailed analyses were no longer important in front of this score.

He looked at Wayne and Jeff Robinoff and said: "This rating is put together with the first day's box office, and it can be clearly seen that the reputation of fans is perfectly converted into box office numbers. "The Flash is an A-level commercial film and is consistent with the scores of film experts in theater companies," he said.

"That's right."

Jeff Robinoff leaned on the sofa and said with a smile: "If the fan scores can be maintained and the reputation effect is divergent, the box office of "The Flash" will be much more than we expected!"

"But everything depends on the subsequent box office trend!"

No one expected that Wayne would become the one who poured cold water, especially at this moment of enjoying the initial victory. He spit out a large cloud of blue smoke, looked at the two senior executives of Warner Bros., and reminded him with a hint of accent: "Do you think the "others" will quietly watch "The Flash" go all the way higher?"

When it comes to competition on the surface, he is never afraid of it. If he is afraid of fierce competition, he might as well not come to the summer season. But the calmer the more he is, the less he will be able to figure out where the knife will come from. He believes that there are never a great charity in Hollywood. If he makes a big profit, it means that others will lose money during the same period.

When facing hundreds of millions of dollars, it is normal to stab each other directly when they meet, but the main competitor Sony Columbia is silent. Paramount, whose box office in "The Great Collision of Heaven and Earth" is cut off in half, also remained silent, as if both sides completely gave up on the powerful "The Flash". Is this possible?

"After I officially go to work on Monday, I will propose to add funding for the promotion of "The Flash" at a regular high-level meeting."

Compared to Wayne, who is always worried about his enemies in the dark, Jeff Robinoff is much more straightforward. "No matter what Sony Columbia and Paramount want to do, we continue to follow our own publicity rhythm. Wayne, the company and the East have already contacted us. After the screening in North America begins in the next week, you can fly over with confidence."

"Let's just do it for now."

Nodding, Wayne raised his wrist and looked at the time. Seeing that it was almost two o'clock in the morning, he simply stood up and signaled to the two senior executives of the exchange brothers, and was about to go back and rest first.

The first-day box office and reputation of fans have been seen, which at least made him relieved half of his heart, and the other half held his heart is undoubtedly an abnormal competitor, but it would be a good thing if the two companies remained unmoved, and this aspect was not something he could control.

Wayne did not follow the crew and participated in the promotional roadshow in North America because of the tour to the East that was arranged early in the morning. As long as the situation here stabilized, he would fly there to the premiere of "The Flash".

The three of Burbank gained unexpected surprises and each got in the car and went home to rest. Some people, facing the same situation, were obviously impossible to sleep...

"Nearly forty million dollars, close to forty million dollars..."

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

In fact, after watching the premiere of "The Flash", he was mentally prepared. This film with a simple story but full of special effects is destined to gain recognition from a large number of ordinary movie fans, but when the figure of nearly 40 million US dollars appeared in his ears, he still felt incredible.

David Denby leaned against a chair and looked at the dazzling night view of Big Apple City outside the window. For a moment, the entire study fell into silence again.

"Dingling ~Dingling ling!"

A rapid phone ringing rang, instantly breaking the silence in the study.

After shook his head hard, David Denby looked at the phone jumping on the desk and hesitated for a moment. Thinking of the first-day box office results of "The Flash", he still reached out and picked it up.

"Hello, this is David Denby."

"David, I'm Frank."

The owner of the voice on the phone was David Denby's agent Frank Round. After confirming that it was David Denby himself who answered the phone, he said directly without hesitation: "I received a "directorship fund" of 400,000 US dollars."

After saying this, the phone became quiet. Neither party continued to speak, and could only hear each other's breathing.

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

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

"OK."

There are some things that obviously need not be said too much. Both parties understand what each other means. After the phone hangs up, the famous New Yorker film critic took out his own movie book and began to write the film review.

Not only New York, but also well-known film critics distributed in major cities in North America have 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, Roger Albert, a Pulitzer Prize winner who is already suffering from cancer and is "known as" the leader of the All-North American film critic, is also listening to the agent's report.

"Roger, the money has arrived."

"I see."

Regular chemotherapy has made the Pulitzer Prize winner extremely thin. His face, which was not full, now his cheeks are sunken. Especially a pair of small round glasses, which have turned the elegant image of the past into the current funny and pitifulness.

"It's getting late, I'll go back and rest first." Seeing his client's spirit, the agent seemed to have suddenly become excited. He curled his lips in his heart, stood up and said, "Call me at any time, Roger."

Almost all of the whole thing is his contact. Whether it is his tacit understanding with other film critics or contact with some company leaders, he basically has to go through his hands. From the whole thing, his customers can be said to have fully demonstrated greed.

You know, at the beginning, my Pulitzer Prize winner client was the most active one, but when things came to an end, they stopped. Before I saw the number growing in my account, I seemed to have completely forgotten everything I promised.

Roger Albert was in a very good mood at this time. He didn't care about his agent's opinion of him at all, and he was determined to watch tomorrow's lively. You know, when the agent left, he didn't have nothing to do, and even took away a long film review from his special column in the Chicago Sun.

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

The next morning, this terrifying title appeared in the Chicago Sun. Although the influence of film critics becomes optional every time the commercial summer season is full of commercial atmosphere, as a veteran film critic, there are still a large number of followers. Before watching the movie, buy newspapers regularly to read the comments of Pulitzer Prize winners.

"From the point of view, Wayne Greenberg walked out of campus and every work he filmed was full of thought-provoking and warning art. Just when I thought this master of film art would continue to explore higher mountains, he ushered in the Waterloo on his director's road with an extremely disappointing "The Flash"!

I sat in the cinema for a full hundred minutes, and after the end, I was very sure that I didn't know what the movie was about. A story that was as simple as a white water was like a lullaby. I was really sorry, and I couldn't help falling asleep in the middle.

In my opinion, Wayne Greenberg himself doesn't know what he is talking about, and there is no attractive novelty in the whole film. Obviously, his talent has been used up in the past few years before he could make such a lullaby-like work.

Speaking of the movie, the protagonist Barry Allen is really too thin. A new actor plays this thin character, which is simply a story that is extremely simple, bringing greater disaster! This is especially true for the villain, let alone the supporting roles like Facebook.

I have to say that since I was in my first grade, I haven't watched such a great "animated fairy tale" again in many years. "The Flash" helped me relive the feeling of my childhood. From this point of view, Wayne Greenberg was indeed successful.

The film is not only young and brainless, but also has big problems with the overall editing rhythm. There are more than a dozen loopholes in the front and back. The most important point is the abuse of special effects scenes. It seems that the 200 million US dollars given to him by Warner Brothers have been tossed with special effects, but these abusive special effects do not play a role in making the film look better!

The movie characters are not chosen to match, the editing rhythm is chaotic, the story is as simple as white water, and the special effects scenes are abused, this "Flash" is nothing to watch! Wayne Greenberg spent 200 million dollars to create the worst film in his directorial career..."

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

However, the Chicago Sun and Roger Albert were not the most special Saturday morning. When it was published in newspapers published by major media in North America early in the morning, it could only be said that the language was sharp.

Early on Saturday morning, the media's comments on "The Flash" were completely different from the calm Friday. Almost all the well-known film critics' columns showed comments on "The Flash". The content of the film reviews was almost all negative reviews, and even some explicit film critics directly behind their columns, calling on their supporters not to waste money and suffer from torture in the theater.

"Wayne Greenberg probably didn't understand what "The Flash" is going to be filmed, let alone the audience sitting in the screening room! This film was too touted before, and it was simply not worthy of its name in my opinion. Even the only special effects that are still impressive are not as good as "Godzilla" released at the same time.

Among the large-scale films released in theaters, this "Flash" is undoubtedly the most anticipated by the audience, the most expensive to produce, and the worst one. The story is not as good as the humanistic sentiment of "The Great Collision of Heaven and Earth", and the visual enjoyment is not as good as the collapse of Godzilla. It is a bad movie that the director talks to himself!”

---New York Times A.O Scott.

"Maybe after Oscar Little Golden Man, Wayne Greenberg left all his talents to "Batman: The Dark Knight". I had the honor of rushing to Los Angeles to attend the premiere of this "Flash", but from the moment the movie began, I began to regret making this long journey.

Not to mention that compared with films like "Batman: The Dark Knight" and "The 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 pure commercial perspective that he has never tried. Unfortunately, doing so not only loses his strong personal style, but also fails to achieve the results he wants.

If I had to give this "The Flash" an adjective, I would use "advertising film" to describe it. The whole movie is piled up with special effects, as gorgeous as a perfume commercial. But Wayne Greenberg should understand that shooting advertisements and making movies are completely different. Perhaps he taught his talents to Zach Schneider, but he learned how to make advertising films from the other party?"

--- "The New Yorker" David Denby.

"A commercial film like shit, please forgive me for evaluating it like this, but there is really no other adjective, which is more suitable for "The Flash" than shit." --- "Los Angeles Daily News" Austin Collins.

"The work that is destined to disappoint everyone seems to have a reason for Warner Bros. to choose not to hold a preview before the release of "The Flash". They should be afraid that movie fans will find out too early that this is a bad movie." ---Peter Terence, "Movie Review".

Overnight, it seemed that all the media related to the movie were expressing their accusations and ridicule of "The Flash". The famous film critics and film critics from all walks of life were surprisingly consistent, and they wanted to step on "The Flash" into the ground.

When these things appear on the breakfast table of ordinary people together, it is difficult to say how many people's entertainment choices this weekend have affected. There is a truth that has always been applicable in the East and West. One person says it is bad, perhaps because of the different perspectives. When everyone says it is bad, most people who don't know the truth would rather believe that it is really bad.

However, the negative comments from various media about "The Flash" are just the beginning, and this Saturday is destined not to be so plain. The broadcast of ABC's ace ratings program "Good Morning America" ​​instantly ignited public opinion in North America and successfully pushed Wayne to the forefront in just ten minutes!