~： 427 - Weekend winner, box office "not ideal"

However, in the group of movie fans, there are almost no bad reviews for the film. Now this "The Departed" can only say that it did not meet their highest expectations, but it can never be said to be bad.

"Since entering the 1990s, almost every step of Wayne's films can bring surprises to young North American movie fans. As long as you carefully observe, you can find that his progress over the years, it can be said that every film is making great strides. , never disappoints us, and always brings enough fresh surprises to everyone.

But this "The Departed" did not give people such a big surprise at all. The main reason is that Wayne is already powerful enough, and the great improvement everyone expected has disappeared. He is now a top-level director, and all he can do is pay more attention to the details of the film and avoid the immature techniques like "Happy Death Day".

Therefore, we have reason to believe in Wayne, and believe that after the accumulation of this film, the next film will definitely bring more surprises to everyone. Wayne needs time, we should go into the theater to support him, so that he can Take better shots. "

Seeing that the limelight was a bit wrong, Daisy immediately expressed her opinion on IMDB, so that more fans who have not seen the film would choose to give up watching the film, which she would never allow.

Her response was very timely. The important thing is that she has a relatively high reputation among movie fans. In the subsequent messages, more and more movie fans said that they would walk into the theater the next day to support Wayne and see it with their own eyes. One more time for his last R-rated film.

However, the film did not meet the expectations of the public. It depends on who it is compared with. Compared with the popcorn "Ransom Storm" that is more suitable for this schedule, "The Departed" has always been the upper hand, regardless of the attendance rate. It is still far ahead in the discussion of fans and the media.

The relatively flat box office of this film is only compared with other films before Wayne. After receiving $6.54 million in advance on Thursday, it was reported to receive $8.68 million at the box office on Friday, calculated according to the box office of the North American theater market. According to the rules, the box office of "The Departed" totaled $15.22 million on its first day in North America.

This figure is high enough to fully guarantee that the film will be the North American box office champion on the first day of its release.

On the second day of the film's large-scale release, that is, on Saturday, the official rest day, the increase was not large compared to Friday, and the attendance rate increased, with a single-day box office of 15.74 million US dollars.

On the last day of the rest day, under the law of the theater market, "The Departed" only reaped $7.45 million. Despite the relatively good reputation of the film, the box office showed a moderate form.

Compared to Wayne's other works in the first few years, the box office trend of this obviously niche film is not as Greenberg, and there is no sign of a big explosion at all, which has become countless media reports for a while. Focus.

"The Departed was released for three days and earned $38.41 million at the box office in its first weekend."

In the Disney headquarters building in Burbank, just after going to work on Monday morning, two childhood friends, Michael Ovitz and Michael Eisner, sat together and talked about work issues in the recent period.

Disney Emperor Michael Eisner looked at his childhood friend, and there was no friendship in his eyes. On the contrary, if you looked closely, there was some subtle disgust in it. "The big project you led, Ransom Storm, didn't meet the company's expectations at the box office.

This is Wayne Greenberg's worst start in recent years, and you didn't take the chance. "Ransom Storm" only grossed $19.47 million in its first weekend of less than $20 million. Shareholders, there is serious dissatisfaction with your ability to work. "

Michael Ovitz remained silent. Facing the accusations of childhood friends, he did not have the slightest intention to defend himself. The relationship between them had already cracked. The opponent's right puppet.

It took about two full minutes before he spoke, breaking the silence in the office. "We still have a chance, and the reason why The Departed's box office is so much higher than our "Ransom Storm" is largely due to the size of the show.

If our film also has the opening scale of more than 3,200 theaters in North America, the box office gap will not be as big as it is now. Michael, Wayne's professional reputation for this film is overwhelming, but the fans' reputation is obviously polarized. This opening also shows a lot of problems. It is not that we have no chance to surpass each other. "

What he means is obvious. The opening scales of the two films are very different. In addition to Wayne's achievements in the past few years, Disney is really capable of winning people who have not tried their best to win, which is the reason for the low box office of "Ransom Storm". major factor.

And through the entire Walt Disney, the person who really changed the minds of the three major theater chains was Michael Eisner, who was sitting opposite him.

The chairman of Disney frowned and did not continue to talk about this topic. Now there are various struggles against him within the company. In fact, he did not take this "Ransom Storm" at all. , which would give him an excuse to get his childhood friend out of the way.

"Someone needs to be responsible for the failure of the project." Michael Eisner said without any euphemism, "Listen, if the follow-up box office of "Ransom Storm" still fails to meet the company's expectations, once the film generates huge losses, I won't help you explain anything to the board!"

Michael Ovitz chuckled, nodded and didn't say anything else. He stood up and left the chairman's office. He didn't know what to do next, but he had to do something, otherwise he would be in the company of this giant. The time of appointment, I am afraid, has really entered the countdown.

Meanwhile, at the Fox Tower in Century City, Los Angeles, another conversation was also underway around the box office of The Departed.

"The North American opening weekend of $38.41 million may be a rare success for other directors, but for Wayne Greenberg, this number is obviously not enough."

Terry, already one of the key directors of the distribution department, held a copy of "Premier" magazine in his hand and said to Townsend Rothman, who was sitting across the desk: "The opening weekend box office of less than $40 million was a record. Given Wayne Greenberg's worst opening score in recent years, judging from the polarized audience reputation of The Departed, there shouldn't be a big explosion in the follow-up."

Seeing his old boss smoking a cigar in silence, Terry did not hesitate and continued: "Many media this morning are speculating whether Wayne Greenberg has left the peak of his creation and is starting to enter the Your own low point, you know, the credibility of this statement is quite high, even the great director will go through such a process."

[To tell the truth, recently I have been using Mimi to read and read books to keep up with updates, switch sources, and read aloud tones, which can be used by Android and Apple. 】

"When the media who think they're smart are farting!"

Townsend-Rothman shook his head, and at the same time showed a smile with obvious ridicule. Even if the outside world was arguing about this box office number, he did not believe that the young man would enter the so-called low period.

Terry's words were obviously stagnant, and after thinking about it, he continued: "I think it's better to be a little more cautious about our cooperation with Wayne Greenberg. On Zach Snyder's side, he has rejected all Olive Branch, preparations for the second installment of The Matrix will start soon, and everything seems to be back to square one..."

Townsend-Rothman pondered for a moment and said: "Terry, unless Wayne misses more than two consecutive superheroes, he is the most suitable producer in Hollywood for 'X-Men', there is no doubt that ."

No matter what the reason, the media hyped up all kinds of speculations about Wayne's film box office early in the morning on Monday, but he is very clear that this "The Departed", which appeared for the Oscars, will definitely not In the case of losing money may even make a lot of money.

When the media and insiders discussed the box office of "The Departed" in the first weekend, they all ignored a very important point, which is the cost of the film.

Warner Bros. has never deliberately promoted this, but it has never concealed it. The production cost of "The Departed" is only about 40 million US dollars. Even if the publicity investment is added, the maximum will not exceed 70 million US dollars. According to this first weekend From the box office point of view, this film will not only generate no losses, but also make a lot of money.

That's right, the commercial nature of this film is indeed not so strong, and the gimmicks are not as strong as Wayne's previous works, but for such an Olympic-oriented film, the current opening must not be called a failure. In the eyes of Townsend Rothman It couldn't be better.

The reason why 20th Century Fox has not signed an agreement with the other party for a long time is that it was waiting for the performance of Universal Pictures' "Hulk" before the summer season, and there was no accident at all. Now this film is still being released except in remote areas. , the mainstream theaters have long disappeared.

Later, because the box office of "The Matrix" broke out unexpectedly, they wanted to win Zach Snyder. Now the director, who is said to have learned from Wayne's successful experience, also rejected all the olive branches from the outside world and decided to stay at Warner. within the system of brothers.

Therefore, the negotiation with Wayne's producer has been put on the agenda again by 20th Century Fox. The board of directors and the top management have made a preliminary decision to start the negotiation with the agent Jimmy again, and strive to reach an agreement as soon as possible to avoid other uncontrollable accidents. .

At this time, the media began to speculate on Wayne's unsatisfactory box office on a large scale. Whether this will shake the hearts of some shareholders, even Townsend-Rothman is not sure now.