Hollywood Road

As night fell, in a rich community in North Hollywood, Howard Koch finished his walk early and walked into his independent villa. Since his wife was taken by his son to the East Coast for vacation, he was the only one left in the huge villa.

Entering the living room of the villa, Howard Koch turned on the TV and switched directly to Fox News. When he was walking outside just now, he received a call from his old friend Sidney Gannis, and this time he returned home early. It was because the other party said that there was an important piece of news that he should read.

Fox News is somewhat similar to CNN, where the key news is rolled out every day, and every hour is news time.

Sitting on the sofa, Howard Koch waited for a while and saw the news that Sidney Gannis said.

"If Hollywood itself cannot regulate the films produced, then the government and the church can assist! Films, as a widely spread cultural entertainment, must be regulated and restricted..."

On the TV screen, an old man dressed as a senior Catholic priest was talking nonsense there!

Yes, in Howard Koch's ears, the other party is talking nonsense!

"Archbishop Marquez Costello..." Howard Koch stared at the TV screen with sharp eyes, "What do you want to do? Do you want to use this opportunity to let the power of the church restrict Hollywood again?"

As the new rotating chairman of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Howard Koch has a completely different temperament from his predecessor Tom Sherak. If the latter is relatively easy-going, he can be said to be a powder keg that can be fired at any point.

Seeing the end, he couldn't help but slapped the armrest of the sofa hard, making a loud "bang", even the TV remote control placed on it fell off.

Howard Koch stood up, angry all over his face.

"What do these Catholic people want to do?" He saw the end of the news and stopped turning on the TV. "How long has it been since the last time? Here it is again. They want to use the shooting at the Chinese Theater in Hollywood to restore How much influence did Catholicism have over Hollywood?"

After walking back and forth twice, Howard Koch gritted his teeth and said, "Don't even think about it!"

The interview with Archbishop Marquez Costello really stimulated Howard Koch's nerves.

Hollywood's film industry has developed to the current prosperous situation, not to mention church forces, even the federal government can't easily intervene!

As a veteran of Hollywood,

Howard Koch remembers clearly how the censorship system led by the Catholic Church restricted the development of the Hollywood film industry from the 1950s. Not only could it fail to compete with European films, but it almost killed Hollywood.

It was not until Hollywood got rid of the shackles of the church that Hollywood movies ushered in a stage of rapid development from the 1970s to the present, completely defeating the competitor of European movies, and becoming the absolute hegemony in the world movie market!

What would happen to Hollywood if the Church reintroduced censorship? Howard Koch could hardly imagine.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will never allow this to happen again.

Murphy also saw the interview video of Archbishop Marquez Costello. There is no surprise that the archbishop directly pointed the finger at him and "Dark City", but the other party is not a Hollywood insider after all. , It is also difficult to understand the subtle mentality in the Hollywood circle that can only be understood but cannot be expressed. After all, he has expanded the attack area again.

"Maybe he can't see..."

In front of the hospital, Murphy said to Gal Gadot and Margot Robbie when he was about to get off the car, "I think this is a good opportunity for Catholicism to deepen its influence into Hollywood again."

If this is the case, His Excellency Archbishop Marquez Costello's ambition is really not ordinary.

After all, the social situation faced by any church today is completely different from the past.

Afterwards, Murphy took the lead to get off the business car, and under the attention of the reporter's flashing lights and camera lenses, he took Gal Gadot and Margot Robbie into the ward building of the California Medical School.

They came here this time mainly to visit the injured in the shooting at the Chinese Theater in Hollywood.

"I wish you a speedy recovery."

Walking into the ward of the University of California School of Medicine, the three of Murphy visited each injured person with concern, shook hands or greeted each injured person with solemn faces, and did not refuse some people's requests for group photos. Some young movie fans He didn't seem to care about his injuries at all, not only gathered around to take a photo with Murphy and the others, but also posted it on the Internet through Facebook or Twitter immediately.

In addition to flowers, Gal Gadot also presented some small dresses to the injured on behalf of Stanton Studio, but they will not bear the medical expenses of these people, which has nothing to do with money.

Once Stanton Studio or Murphy bear the medical expenses, they will become the direct responsible persons of the case under some media hype with ulterior motives.

This society should indeed be full of caring, but caring needs to be treated on a case-by-case basis, and besides caring, there are still many people in this country who are waiting for the opportunity to continue to step on Murphy.

Murphy personally went to the ward to visit everyone who was injured in the shooting incident. If the injury was not serious, he would chat with the other person.

After nearly a morning, the activity of visiting the wounded was declared over. Murphy, Gal Gadot, and Margot Robbie had just walked out of the University of California School of Medicine when they were surrounded by countless reporters at the door.

"Murphy, what do you think of the shooting at the Chinese Theater in Hollywood?"

Several days have passed since the shooting happened, and media reporters finally blocked him, which can be described as turbulent.

"The murderer is said to be an imitation of the magician in your film, is that true?"

"Don't you feel that the scale of "Dark City" you shot is too large, and you have to bear some responsibility?"

"Are you here, do you feel guilty because your movie hurt others?"

Some reporters and paparazzi asked quite bluntly, "Are you here this time, are you doing PR for Stanton Studios, 20th Century Fox, and your film "Dark City"?"

Facing so many questions, it was impossible for Murphy to answer them one by one. After thinking for a while, he said briefly, "This time, I am only representing myself, not any company or film. I also hope that no one will maliciously speculate that this is A PR campaign for the film."

The reporters were still arguing. Murphy made a downward gesture and continued in a sad tone, "Words can no longer express the shock I feel. I think we may not be able to truly understand the pain of the victims and their families. It hurts, but my heart will be with them."

CAA had already prepared a public statement for Murphy, and Murphy didn't say anything, got into the car directly, and left the California Medical School.

When the police confirmed that the shooting was related to "Dark City", neither Murphy nor Twentieth Century Fox could continue to remain silent.

In the afternoon, Twentieth Century Fox was the first to issue a public statement saying, "After learning of this shocking and tragic event, Twentieth Century Fox Film Company is deeply saddened. Our condolences to the victims and victims of the tragedy My sincerest condolences to the family.”

Twentieth Century Fox also announced that it will cancel all subsequent on-site promotional activities related to "Dark City" to prevent accidents from happening again.

Anyway, there are not many on-site promotional activities in North America after the film, and the negative impact of the cancellation is also very small.

Murphy posted a public statement crafted by CAA and Bill Rossis via his blog, Twitter and Facebook.

"The shooting was a disaster and my condolences go out to the innocent spectators who were victims of the incident."

"I believe that movies are a great art form in America, and watching stories on the big screen and sharing the experience with others is an important and enjoyable form of entertainment. Movie theaters are my home, and seeing people like this The brutal way of vandalizing and committing crimes in front of a movie theater is a disaster for me. No words can adequately express our grief for the innocent victims of this shooting, I just want to say that we Our hearts are with them and their families."

The shooting incident at the Chinese Grand Theater in Hollywood has caused great repercussions at the social level. Even Ao Heitan, who is far away in the White House in Washington, has also expressed his concern. .

At the latest White House regular press conference, he expressed "shock and grief" for the incident and expressed condolences to the victims of the shooting.

Regal Entertainment and AMC, the two largest theater companies in North America, issued a statement saying that they would prohibit moviegoers from entering theaters wearing "costumes" that would make other viewers feel uncomfortable, wearing masks, and carrying fake weapons.

The incident is rapidly fermenting, whether it is subjective or objective, it is impossible for "Dark City" to escape from this incident.

Not only these, the incident also affected the stock market. Affected by the shooting, the stocks of the national exhibition industry all fell in varying degrees. The stock price of IMAX fell by nearly 6%, and the stock prices of AMG and Emperor Entertainment fell by more than 10%. Nine percent.

Many countries have improved the security measures of movie theaters. In the UK and Germany, many movie theaters prohibit audiences from wearing costumes of characters in the movie, and additional security guards are deployed in the movie theater lobby to monitor all movements in the lobby without any blind spots to ensure that the audience personal safety.

It is no exaggeration to say that the shooting at the Chinese Theater in Hollywood has changed the entire film exhibition industry.

As for Murphy, he is very clear that just a public statement on the social network is not enough. He is still waiting for the latest news from the police, and then accepts an exclusive interview with the media according to the specific situation.