Hollywood Domination Chapter 183: Throne

Indeed, although for some viewers, "Pirates 2" is the most enjoyable movie they have seen this year, but it is undeniable that the structure of the movie still has certain flaws, and several plot lines are difficult to integrate together. From Derek's point of view, the plot of "Pirate 2" is that the screenwriter is pushing the characters, not the characters pushing the plot forward. The protagonists have no sense of urgency about the crisis of life and death. 1. Elizabeth gets along "alone" on the boat, and the design of keeping Will as a hostage at Davy Jones is also designed to promote the development of the plot, but the intention of developing the love line between Elizabeth and Johnny is also very obvious.

Of course he is not so old-fashioned that he does not accept the triangle relationship, but the flirting between Johnny and Elizabeth is obviously an arrangement made by the film crew after seeing Jennifer's popularity, which makes Derek very disgusted ——For some box office considerations to affect the plot of the movie, this is the most taboo situation for film critics. It not only destroys the integrity of the plot, but also affects the internal logic of the characters' behavior, resulting in the collapse of the character. Anyway, he couldn't see why it was necessary for Elizabeth to have an ambiguous love song with Johnny when her fiancé's life and death were uncertain.

But for die-hard fans like Jon and Annie, the scene here has finally entered a stage that both of them are very interested in. Yes, Captain Jack suddenly hooked up with Elizabeth, which surprised them , but it is undeniable that the interaction between her and the captain is more exciting than the emotional drama between Elizabeth and Will. When the eyes of the two met and their lips slowly approached, the hearts of the two female audiences were lifted by the soft soundtrack. Although Elizabeth jokingly swiped her sword away this time, Jack approached, but it was obvious from her flickering eyes that there was indeed such an undeniable spark between the two.

Special effects, martial arts, a little plot, in this cycle, the movie finally ushered in the end: in the wonderful four-person battle on the beach, windmills, jungle battles, beach hand-to-hand battles, and the sea battle that followed, it was a full half. The climactic battle of more than an hour was not perfunctory at all. Whether it was special effects, visual spectacle, or the explanation of many clues in the fight, it was all clean and clear. Norrington stole the heart of David Jones, and Jones summoned the siren. In desperation, Elizabeth tricked Jack with a kiss and locked him on the Black Pearl. It was also at this moment that he showed his true heroic qualities, wielding a long sword, and was swallowed into the giant monster's mouth.

The incident calmed down temporarily, but it was far from over. Davy Jones had found that his death box was empty, and Norrington brought his heart to the ambitious Lord Beckett. For his father Will, who is worried about his fate, still wants to get back the black pearl, and Elizabeth seems to be unable to let go of Jack who was killed by her. Under the instigation of the witch, everyone forms a group to take Jack and the black pearl from the end of the world. Bring it back——With the sound of heavy footsteps, the camera moves from bottom to top, and the face of Captain Barbossa suddenly appears in the center of the screen. He looks around with great momentum and asks with a grin. "Tell me, what happened to my ship?"

Among the magnificent music, "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" came to an end. Some fans laughed lightly, some gave applause, some got up and left in a hurry, The film critics of the screening also stood up, and while leaving the stage, they conceived their own film reviews: "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" is like a wooden barrel, some planks are very long, but some planks are ridiculously short, how should it end? What about the conclusion? They also have to think about it.

"It's really exciting." Charles thought excitedly, "It must be a second fight, or even a third fight. The last part of the fight is dazzling. The only regret is that the fight scene on the windmill was too sensational. Yeah. It's just the windmill rolling, the actors themselves don't have a great performance. It's a pity, but the part where Elizabeth fights the side face - Davy Jones' number two on the beach is very good. Johnny It takes up a lot of shots, and his fight scenes are very boring..."

"It's so beautiful," Jon was also very excited. She pulled Harry and chirped like a bird. "The part where Elizabeth kissed Jack at the end really made people completely sleepy-do you think Elizabeth Why did you agree to join the gang that rescued Jack? Didn't she also fall in love with Jack?"

Harry didn't pay attention to this at all, what he liked was the whole visual effects, "Did you notice those big octopus feet, that part is so clearly done, it actually happened during the day, not to save money Night play!"

Yes, Harry is not the only one who is satisfied. In order to save the cost of special effects, almost all the special effects fighting scenes will be arranged at night, so that with the help of the sky, many details can be passed by, and the audience can only seem to be bright in the night. Faming admired the details of the special effects, but "Pirate 2" is rich and powerful, almost all the fighting scenes are completed during the day, and the special effects are exquisite and realistic, so many male audiences who love such big scenes shouted that it was worth the price. I also started to plan to watch it several times in the cinema: Yes, maybe the plot is not very good, but they don’t care about it. These special effects scenes are not so attractive when they leave the big screen.

"Elizabeth is really beautiful." In front of Derek, several high school girls chattered, "The first shot of her in the rain can make people stop breathing."

"Yeah, did you notice that. At the end where everyone misses Jack, she looks as sad and beautiful as the rain at the beginning, I don't know how to put it, but in those two shots, her The temperament feels different from most of the time."

"Yes, yes, it feels very echoing-this movie is very delicately made, what do you think?"

"Clothes, right? Elizabeth is really pretty in any way, and Will—"

"I like Jack——"

Listening to these obviously layman's comments, discussing the 'delicacy' of the film, Derek shook his head and quickened his pace: he can't say he had a good two hours, you know, Derek is very good at this movie. The expectations of the film were originally high. He missed the trial screening and the premiere because of his family vacation, so he rushed to the midnight show, but the quality of the film made him quite uncomfortable. He can be sure that "Variety Show" is not Would give the movie some good reviews, but Derek would say something nice about Jennifer in the review, the girl wasn't doing badly. ——However, judging from the audience feedback he heard just now, the box office performance of this film may not be too bad, and he is also considering whether to adjust his rating a little bit. After all, reviewing a film still has to be done on a case-by-case basis Yes, for a commercial film, grabbing the box office is the purpose of its birth. Although there are various shortcomings, the advantages are indeed very shining, and now it seems that the audience seems to be careless about the shortcomings. Very popular, so objectively speaking, it may not be as bad as I thought.

"This movie should be worth the money, right?" Kenneth Turan took a pessimistic attitude, "This is simply the most stupid Disney work ever, and the cost is definitely not false. It costs around 200 million US dollars, but the quality of the finished product can only be described as expensive rubbish. The leading actors are not bad actors, but the director destroyed them all, except for the big octopus which is still a bit worth seeing , this movie is nothing. Maybe it will have a good opening day, but then it's definitely a slump ending, Jennifer is completely under the Oscar queen's spell-thinking she's going to be in this big bad movie I have already started to worry about her future once she appeared in it."

Indeed, for this series of sequels, it is often not the quality of the film itself that determines the box office on the first day and the first weekend, but the influence of the previous film and the promotion of this film. What kind of response a film has achieved among the audience depends on the ratings given back by websites such as Rotten Tomatoes and imdb a few days after its release, and the drop in the box office on weekdays after the first weekend. Word of mouth, if word of mouth is good, will play a certain role in driving, and if word of mouth is very bad, it will also suppress some box office, but in the final analysis, what can really affect the motivation of the masses to watch movies is their own demands and the real word of mouth among the people. word of mouth.

For a big production like "Pirates of the Caribbean 2", the worst box office on the first day has its limit. Compared with years ago, the public's enthusiasm for pirates, fantasy, and special effects has not diminished. In addition, the previous work has a good reputation. Affected by the mixed reputation, there is no exaggerated estimate. And even before it was released in North America, in countries with votes in major time zones around the world, numbers continued to return—"Pirates 2" was released simultaneously worldwide, except for mainland China, where the attitude is still relatively cold, in East Asia and Western Europe. , as well as Brazil in South America and Canada in North America, are released at zero o'clock on July 7, so due to the time difference, many regions are even more than ten hours ahead of schedule in North America. Statistics came out.

"Has the box office of the midnight show of "Pirate" not yet been counted?" This time, the person waiting for the box office was replaced by Robert Iger, who got up earlier than his predecessor, Michael Eisner, at 6 o'clock in the morning Duo got up for a morning run, and when he came back from the morning run, he opened his mailbox and glanced at it, frowned, picked up the phone and pressed a few buttons, and when the other party picked up, he said lightly, "It's still yours." Don't have the courage to send this email?"

The staff on the other end of the phone answered a few words in trepidation, and Robert's brows slowly relaxed, "...this number is not bad...is it even higher than the number we expected? What about the box office estimated by those forecasting agencies?"

Willow Bay appeared at the kitchen door at some point. She was holding a mug, sipping coffee, and watching her husband with concern. It would be great, Willow has long been used to the scene where her husband lowers his voice and asks about the box office.

"I remember the general forecast, the midnight show is around 7 million, and the first day is about 40 million, right?" Seeing her husband put down the phone, she asked with concern, "How is it, the pirates have arrived? What is your internal forecast?"

Robert opened the refrigerator door, unscrewed a bottle of soda water, drank a few sips, and then answered calmly, "Internal estimates suggest that the midnight show should be around 8 million. After all, it's the weekend, and the promotional efforts, The popularity is completely different from the first one...but we are still a little too cautious."

A look of excitement flashed in his eyes, but his tone was still very reserved, "10.4 million for midnight shows in the United States... 2 million more than our best prediction. It seems that the audience I really have deep feelings for those pirates."

"10.4 million!" Willow exclaimed softly—this is just the midnight show! If you compare it with the first film three years ago, the box office of the first film was only over 10 million yuan. "Will this be the best midnight performance this year?"

"There should be no mistake, this score seems to be better than "Spider-Man 2" in 2004." Robert nodded, "It is likely that it will not be surpassed within this year... There are no noteworthy movies in this summer. .”

His words were not wrong. 2006 was indeed not a year when blockbusters were released. Now half of it has passed. The box office champion in North America is still "Cars" produced by Disney, which was originally regarded as the enemy of "Pirates 2". The "X-Men 3" has a huge reputation, and the box office is not mediocre. It earned 200 million by relying on its own money-but the bad reputation has already alerted Fox, and they probably won't restart this project in the short term. .

"That's good." Willow also breathed a sigh of relief, and she showed a bright smile, "I think, now you will have more confidence in front of the shareholders of the group."

"The key is word of mouth," Robert said absently. "The midnight show, or even the first day, can't explain anything. I hope the attitude of the film critics will be better than I thought..."

This is like an endless game of customs clearance. When the midnight show is not out, I worry that the midnight show will hit the street. After the midnight show comes out, I will start worrying about the first day. After the first day comes out, I will continue to worry about the audience and film critics Word of mouth, until the end of the dvd sales of "Pirates 2", and even after the round of worries about the release of "Pirates 3" is over, Robert will not be able to settle down completely. —— Willow sighed helplessly, but didn't say much, she could still understand her husband.

—Indeed, for the pirate series, the box office at midnight, the first day or even the first week is not enough to fully explain the problem. The most important thing is the audience's word of mouth. Half-shot, your film has a poor reputation, but it may not be a good box office, it may even perform very well, because the audience has feelings for the characters and the series, and they are very tolerant, willing to give another chance. If you are confident that the quality of the next film will be improved, the box office may still be very good, but if the quality of the next film is still mediocre, and the word of mouth is still mediocre, then the angry audience may make the box office figures of this film very ugly , and what's more, would cause irreparable damage to the series.

So, just to be on the safe side, the major film studios are very cautious about this kind of hen that lays golden eggs. For the first part, I’ll change the director for the third part. If it’s the third part, I’ll just let the series rest for a few years before restarting it, so as not to kill the chicken and get the eggs, and ruin the series’ reputation and lose more than a billion yuan. , billions of potential markets.

But for Disney, the second and third parts are produced back to back, they can't change the director, and there is no room for the series to rest, if the second part has a bad reputation, the third part will continue to be a big one If it is bad, even if the box office can make up for this series, it can be regarded as being ruined, and it will take at least five or six years of rest before talking about restarting. And Disney is obviously not happy to see such a situation, and Robert, who insists on back-to-back shooting, is even more reluctant. What he needs most now is a trump card series, one that can continue to devour cash flow for Disney like a gold-absorbing monster, and alleviate the problems caused by mergers and acquisitions. Pixar is coming from a series that is under cash pressure—Warner has Harry Potter, Fox and Sony have comic characters, and Disney's live-action movie series has always been rare, and Robert puts a lot of hope in the pirate series.

Three million in the midnight show in the UK, 1.5 million in the midnight show in Australia... 27 million in the UK on the first day, 10 million in the first day in Australia... Countless torrents of numbers continue to gather back to various countries in North America. Data center, when the day of July 7 came to an end all over the world, the first-day box office of "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" finally settled: 60 million on the first day in North America, 110 million on the first day in the world—— The daily box office exceeded 100 million!

Breaking 100 million!

Breaking 100 million on the first day!

North America's 60 million score on the first day is not so scary under the halo of breaking 100 million on the first day... Although after entering the new millennium, with the progress of statistics and the great development of the Internet, real-time statistics of the global box office are also not so scary. It became a trend, and as a result, a group of films with outstanding global achievements were born, which made the entire Hollywood see the potential of the overseas film market, but the performance of "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" still eclipsed all these films. Whether it is "The Lord of the Rings", "Harry Potter" or "Spider-Man", none of them have achieved a good score of over 100 million on the first day-they are all famous movies on the global box office list!

It broke 100 million on the first day, what number will the world end up with? 700 million? No, "Pirate 1" has already got this number, 800 million? 900 million? Or something even scarier, a billion?

So far, there are only two movies that can break the 1 billion mark in the world, James Cameron's miraculous "Titanic", and Peter Jackson's masterpiece, "Lord of the Rings 3" .

Is "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" qualified to compare with them? Both of these two films are the pinnacle of artistic achievement and commerciality, and it is not an exaggeration to say that they are the first of its kind. "Woolen cloth?

I won’t say much about the professional response of this movie. The audience’s response is not all positive. Many audiences didn’t score high on Rotten Tomatoes. To put it bluntly: it’s a very good summer family carnival work, You can watch it with your children, don't comment too much on the story.

There are even some viewers who are dissatisfied with the plot of "Pirate 2" and left all the *for the next one, which makes people feel lost after watching it, and there is no sense of satisfaction at all-"If it weren't for the special effects/Johnny /Jennifer/Josh, I'm not going to give high marks..." This is obviously a fan-oriented movie, but even the fans are not completely satisfied.

Rotten Tomatoes is 85%. Compared with its score, this score is not high. The freshness of film critics is barely maintained at 60%. I learned Jennifer's talent and used her as a star player."

"The plot is full of loopholes, the characters are vague, and there is almost nothing except for the fighting scenes."

"I don't know what kind of story it's trying to tell, all I know is I wasn't moved at all, joy, sadness, anger - nothing at all, 2 hours and 30 minutes will put your **** to the test, and the movie It can't make you forget your poor buttocks at all."

"Let's be honest: I hate this movie."

Although there are some positive comments, ""Pirates 2" performed its duties well, a very good sequel, with some shortcomings, but the director's strengths have been fully utilized."

"Pirates 2 took me on another trip to the Caribbean, made me laugh so many times, I'll take my kids to watch it again - they're all in elementary school, of course."

But no matter what, "Pirate 2" is a commercial sequel with a low comprehensive evaluation. The film, although not to mention that there are plenty of it in the film library, but there is no shortage of it in the hands of various film studios. It is not a phenomenon-level work that was accidentally obtained by a genius, but a commercial film with many shortcomings. Why—why—how—

Amid the shocking 'aphasia' in the industry, "Pirates of the Caribbean 2" earned US$200 million in its first week in North America, and the global cumulative box office has reached 420 million - the cumulative overseas box office even surpassed North America. If the trend continues... Some bold forecasting agencies have already given the final 400-500 million in North America, 500-700 million in the world, and a cumulative global box office of up to 1.3 billion.

Although this figure is still unable to shake the far-leading 1.8 billion of "Titanic", it seems that it is not so impossible to surpass "Lord of the Rings" and get the second place in the total box office. Numerous new records that are difficult to surpass, one of which belongs to Jennifer Jefferson - except for "Chicago", she starred in five movies, even if the box office of "Pirates 2" only stayed in the first week and did not increase , the cumulative box office of these five films has reached 2.16 billion, with an average box office of 540 million, and only two of them are big productions with an investment of over 100 million. The total investment of these five films is 370 million, and among them , The investment in the Pirates of the Caribbean series is more than 300 million, the box office is currently more than 1.1 billion, and the remaining 1 billion investment is only more than 50 million.

With an investment of 370 million yuan and a return of 2.16 billion yuan, it is an investment of more than 50 million yuan and a return of 1 billion yuan in a small production. And it is the movie star with the highest average box office (excluding inflation) and the highest return on investment in Hollywood in the new century. In the words of "Time" magazine, which published an exclusive interview with Jennifer Jefferson, "This girl seems to have been kissed by God. Her whole body Surrounded by good luck from top to bottom."

How is this possible? How did she do it? Why is this person her?

Although Jennifer Jefferson is in trouble now, under the brilliance of such amazing money, she is still undisputedly the first person in the hearts of major film studios—perhaps the first in history. This time, in Hollywood, the throne with the highest box office appeal no longer belongs to men.

It belongs to Jennifer Jefferson - a woman!