Chapter 1： 900 million

"In the second half of 1997, Wayne Greenberg, who had just won the Oscar, holding $200 million from Warner Bros., finally gave up the dark style that had made him admired by hundreds of millions of people around the world. Determined to stand on the perspective of all fans and shoot a top-level commercial audio-visual feast.

However, when the film was officially released last weekend, no one expected that this special effects blockbuster, which stood at the apex of the times, would suddenly receive criticism from film critics. It is precisely behind the fact that "The Flash" received the lowest professional score in Wayne Greenberg's career, but quietly gained the firm support of the entire North American movie fans, and even senior movie fans compared "The Flash" to the "Star Wars" of the year. "First.

If you only look at what happened when the movie was released, Wayne Greenberg's "The Flash" is indeed very similar to his friend George Lucas' "Star Wars". As soon as the film was released, it encountered resistance from the entire film critics. It also received an unbelievably low professional rating, but it also won the recognition of countless ordinary fans and achieved great success at the box office.

On the first day of its release last Friday, "The Flash" reported a box office close to $40 million in the North American theater market, and over 95 million in the first weekend. After entering the working day, the popularity of this film has not weakened at all, and it once again won more than 36 million US dollars from Monday to Thursday!

The film officially landed on the North American theater market for a week. Although it was controversial in a short period of time, it still strongly suppressed all the works released in the same period, and achieved a good result of 131.42 million US dollars. "The Flash" is about to have its own second week of screenings, and this week, there are no competitors of the same level at all, which is definitely a good thing for "The Flash" to celebrate..."

"The New Yorker" used a huge amount of space to sing praises to Wayne and "The Flash", as if the column review of "The Flash" was published before, but they were forgotten in just a few days.

Naomi Watts likes this moment. She glanced at the man with a calm expression and lowered her head to deal with scrambled eggs. The power of those film critics is still in the face of the huge box office numbers and the publicity expenses of Warner Bros. regardless of the cost. , the voice gradually became small and pitiful.

Especially this morning, there are basically no reviews from movie critics on mainstream media newspapers. Almost all mainstream media entertainment sections are full of news related to "The Flash".

As this report from The New Yorker said, "The Flash" is as simple as copying the road that George Lucas walked. In a short period of time, with the support of countless ordinary fans slapped all the film critics in the face, is there anything more heartwarming than this?

The Australian actress, who was in a very happy mood, had absolutely no idea of ​​dealing with breakfast on the table. She continued to read the newspaper in front of her, and she picked out a professional film authority newspaper, The Hollywood Reporter, and read it with relish.

"The Flash is just one of the countless superheroes in the DC series, but Wayne Greenberg gave Barry Allen a completely different interpretation from the previous DC movies. Especially after watching "The Flash" After the premiere, the hanging hearts of countless fans were all put down, and Wayne Greenberg once again lived up to everyone's expectations!

He gave "The Flash" a more exciting picture, especially under the huge style change, and did not give fans the illusion of being separated from the DC series. I believe that most people do not realize that the simple and relaxed "The Flash" has no sense of incongruity with the previous work. This is a film master who has the talent to control his own work!

Since the start of filming of the DC series, the great success of each film cannot be separated from the comic masters who created superheroes. Their existence ensures that every superhero's appearance is traceable. But the success of the film is more dependent on Wayne Greenberg's unique directorial talent. He used the camera in his hand to shoot the fantasy in the comic book like a dream.

The director who led the dark trend to wreak havoc around the world seems to be deliberately telling fans around the world that even if he abandons the most advantageous weapon in the past, the films he shoots are equally good-looking and can also gain their worship.

A few years ago, when people's impression of him was still more of a niche director, he shot "The Clown" with unparalleled talent, a niche horror film that instantly touched the ceiling in his hands.

A few years later, with the advent of "The Flash", more and more fans have expressed that the "The Flash" by Wayne Greenberg is the commercial special effects of this era in just one week. The ultimate film.

In the eyes of many film critics, Wayne Greenberg, whose talents have been exhausted, once again proved to them in just a few days that he is still the film master who can either do it or do it. In this sense, all movie fans born in this era are lucky, they are witnessing the progress of a legendary Hollywood director time and time again.

Finally, I want to say that the success of "The Flash" is a good learning object for all Hollywood studios. Hollywood has the most advanced film industry in the world. As long as you make movies from the perspective of fans, even if it is a commercial film with a simple plot, it can still bring fans an unparalleled visual feast! "

Looking at various authoritative entertainment media, and the hype of Wayne from different angles, Naomi Watts found a familiar feeling. This is the real situation that has been repeated over and over in recent years.

Although many of the hymns on the reports made her, the woman who knew Wayne the most, felt numb. Even from the perspective of many praises, Wayne himself does not necessarily think so, but everyone understands that once similar voices appear on a large scale in the media, it means that this "war" has been initially won.

"What's the total box office of "Godzilla"?"

Wayne was full of food and drink, leaned lazily on the chair, lit a cigarette, and looked at the Australian actress who was busy flipping through the newspapers and didn't even bother to eat. "Why didn't you hear about other films?"

"Because it's not on the front page of any newspaper."

Naomi Watts raised her eyebrows, shook off the newspaper in her hand, and replied arrogantly: "Almost all the front pages of the media have news related to you and The Flash, I haven't read it yet. Which media mentions Godzilla?"

"Uh...that's it." As she spoke, she opened the second page of the newspaper in her hand and said, "For four working days and three days on the first weekend, Godzilla won a total of At the $53.25 million box office, Thursday’s single-day box office was down to the mid-$2 million mark.”

As a large project with a production cost and publicity investment of more than 200 million US dollars, this figure is indeed a bit pitiful.

Especially as the reputation of the fans is getting worse and worse, Wayne can be sure by doing a simple calculation that unless this film creates a miracle in the overseas theater market, it is basically impossible to recover the cost from the box office. possible.

There is already a one-day box office with a collapse trend, so this film is destined to be less than 100 million at the box office in North America. Judging from the current situation, even the high probability results cannot catch up with "The Clash of Heaven and Earth".

"Whether it's Paramount Pictures' Clash of Earth, or Sony Columbia's Godzilla."

Putting down the newspaper in her hand, Naomi Watts raised her head and took a sip of milk, muttering, "If you can't create miracles in the next overseas screenings, you should lose a lot of money."

"It's difficult."

Nina, who had been silent all the time, suddenly said, "I mean it's hard to create miracles overseas."

She glanced at her boss, pushed the glasses on her face and continued: "As far as I know, Paramount Pictures originally planned to perform better at the North American box office of "Clash of the Earth" before releasing it overseas. Yes, the plan should be all in vain now.

As for "Godzilla", there is a high probability that only the book can achieve good results. Precisely our "The Flash" will also be released overseas at the same time. Since "Godzilla" has not competed with "The Flash" in North America, it is even more impossible overseas. "

Although he thought the same in his heart, Wayne still said, "You can't let your guard down. Who knows if there will be another accident."

"That's right, Sony Columbia didn't give up on "Godzilla"." The assistant nodded, looked at her boss and said, "Jimmy called this morning, the little reporter is still making a fuss. I will sue you in the near future."

Shaking his head slightly, Wayne doesn't take that little reporter too seriously now, so what if he sues himself? If it can't get the support of public opinion, Sony Columbia will probably not continue to help the other party. If you want to fight this kind of lawsuit, it is normal to fight for a few months, a few years, or even a dozen years.

Maybe it’s nothing to me, some of it is spent with the other party. You know, when the little reporter’s violent accusation was reported, Nina received dozens of self-recommendation emails from lawyers, including many first-hand directors.” Simpson's acquittal lawyers.

"Warner Bros. Finance has sent a notice."

Seeing that Wayne didn't want to continue talking about this topic, Nina simply started talking about work in the restaurant. "The continued success of The Flash seems to have affected a lot of things, and Warner Bros. Finance has notified Colin, and the team of accountants he leads, to check on what's left of Batman: The Dark Knight after work on Monday. The box office is divided into accounts.”

"Ha, exciting news, isn't it?"

Hearing this news, Wayne gave a rare whistle, got up from the chair and walked to the living room with Nina.

"Batman: The Dark Knight" has long been downgraded from overseas, but so far, Wayne has only received a late share of the $400 million North American box office, and the last $20 million base salary of 6.9 million.

The $400 million North American box office is divided into $80 million in the later period, and the basic salary is $20 million. Although a total of $100 million in total horror compensation has been obtained from "Batman: The Dark Knight", this is far from being considered. He made the bulk of his money on this film.

According to Wayne's contract with the producer Warner Bros., the director's post-production salary is 20% of the global box office of "Batman: The Dark Knight". This simple and rude sharing agreement just created the myth in the director's salary this time.

The global box office of "Batman: The Dark Knight" is in the early 1.2 billion US dollars. Of course, the calculation method can also be done roughly. After deducting the 400 million US dollars that has already participated in the share, the rest is the 800 million US dollars, which can be divided into his hands. That is 160 million! The total remuneration is summed up before and after, and it has reached a terrifying US$260 million!

Is $260 million a lot? If you look at the top salary in Hollywood now, it is definitely a sky-high figure. Whether it is a director, a producer, or a star with an even more amazing ability to attract money, it is difficult to match this number.

But on the other hand, if this number is placed in front of the total revenue generated by "Batman: The Dark Knight" for Warner Bros., it is not a big number. It's just scary in terms of individual salary. After all, for so many years, no director has received such a salary except Steven Spielberg in the first film of "Jurassic Park".

The situation of "Jurassic Park" is also relatively special. Steven Spielberg's sky-high income is not only the director's later share, but also involves a series of operations such as copyright and peripherals. Therefore, if you only look at the income of a film directed by a director, I am afraid that this figure has not been broken for many years, including Wayne himself.

It's just that the information about the sky-high salary of "Batman: The Dark Knight" has not been known to the outside world, otherwise, it will definitely become the headline of the media hype again.

In fact, Wayne and others are very clear in their hearts that the reason why Warner Bros. notified his accountant team to check the accounts at this point in time and prepared to pay this sky-high remuneration is nothing more than because of the outstanding box office performance of "The Flash". .

The role of the media is to attract public opinion, and then use public opinion to drive more audiences. The audience enters the theater to watch the movie and contributes to the box office. Then, because of its excellent box office performance and audience reputation, Warner Bros. continues to increase investment in public opinion, and finally formed a kind of closed loop.

In this perfect closed loop, the only thing that cannot be bypassed is Wayne, the dominant player, so when the film becomes more and more successful and the box office achievements become bigger and bigger, Warner Bros. will always consider how to He continued to strap to his chariot to avoid unnecessary rifts on both sides.

Choosing to pay the remaining share of "Batman: The Dark Knight" at this time has another meaning, that is, to cover up the Black Catwoman plan that suddenly appeared some time ago, and to make up for the possible gap between the two parties.

There is never right or wrong in the adult world. This is a rule that Hollywood has always followed. As long as the benefits are large enough, even if the two sides are enemies who killed their father, they can still continue to cooperate happily and intimately.

After a full week of screening, "The Flash" officially entered its second week of release. As the negative reviews of the film in the media gradually disappeared, all of them turned into praise for "The Flash" for a while. From Friday night At the beginning, the major mainstream commercial theaters in North America began to stage the first movie viewing frenzy of the year.

With the sudden increase in the number of people, the box office of "The Flash" jumped up a lot, and it earned 15.12 million US dollars on Friday. At the same time, it also created a new record. According to data released by an authoritative third-party statistics company, "The Flash" is the only film in North America in recent years that can bring more than 3 million movie fans into the theater on weekdays.

However, what is even more surprising is that Friday is just the beginning. After the second weekend of the release of "The Flash", more and more passers-by and family movie fans choose to enter the theater this weekend. The entertainment goal is very clear, the most suitable "The Flash" for ordinary fans in the DC series!

With the enrichment of moviegoers of all age groups, the audience of "The Flash" is not limited to young people, and more moviegoers have not lowered the movie's audience reputation. In commercial films, this can be regarded as a miracle, not too small.

Whether it is teenagers, college students or middle-aged and elderly people, almost all of them gave good ratings in the post-viewing survey. After another Monday came, this movie viewing frenzy was briefly subdued.

After the start of this year's summer season, the media has never been short of hot spots to hype, but since "The Flash" began to show a trend of crushing the box office, almost all mainstream entertainment media have reported on this film. The film's performance in the theater market has also once again become a hot topic in all media discussions.

"Since 1993, every DC movie has been excellent, whether it's "Joker", the two "Batman" before and after are all classic chapters. "The Flash" is based on the successful series of previous works, it is even more reduced. The viewing threshold for the general public is one of the best commercial films since the 1990s!"

---"New York Times"

"The best special effects movie ever made. No one. Throughout the 100-minute feature film of "The Flash", there is no shortage of exciting special effects at all times. , to understand the origin of Barry Allen's superpowers, this is another complete interpretation of DC superheroes."

--- "Premier"

"The Flash is very likely to be the great work that best represents the Hollywood film industry in the 1990s. Wayne Greenberg spent 7 years bringing niche noir films to the mainstream, and the emergence of "The Flash" , does it mean that he is going to open the era of extreme audio-visual special effects again?!"

---"Washington post"

"The Flash under the lens of Wayne Greenberg is a very simple story, but the movie is not just composed of a good story. The visual shock that the whole film brings to the audience is unparalleled, especially the big scenes and Appropriate soundtrack. Barry Allen has a wonderful journey of growth, explaining to all audiences the responsibility that comes with ability!"

--- "Los Angeles Times"

"..."

Almost all of the praises from the media came from the next weekend box office of "The Flash". Following the more than 3 million viewers on Friday night, the box office performance on Saturday surged again on this basis, and it was reported in the North American theater market on the same day. The box office is 27.64 million US dollars, accounting for 64.6% of the box office in the entire theater chain!

The performance on Sunday was also very good, with another $19.27 million at the box office that day. The Flash's three-day trip over the next weekend is over, with a total of $62.03 million in the North American theatrical market!

The box office in the next three days exceeded 60 million US dollars! It was a score that other films aspired to be unattainable, and also surpassed the opening weekend scores of 90 percent of the films.

What is even more unbelievable is that compared to the more than 95 million US dollars in the box office of "The Flash" in the first weekend of its official release, the decline in the next weekend will only be one-third! This box-office trend is absolutely solid in the field of large-scale commercial films.

The film has just been officially released for ten days, and even before the overseas screening tour has started, it has already collected 190 million US dollars in North America! In a way, "The Flash" is creating box office myths again.

Many people know in their hearts that "The Flash" is different from "Batman: The Dark Knight" and "Titanic". This kind of special commercial film that relies on extreme audio-visual special effects to attract audiences cannot continue to be so strong at the subsequent box office.

However, even a number of authoritative third-party forecasting companies have issued forecast reports of more than 300 million US dollars in North America and more than 700 million US dollars in the world for the box office of "The Flash".

Even the gambling company in Las Vegas had already closed the betting channel for "The Flash" that reached 300 million at the North American box office early before Monday's arrival. No one has a sharper sense of smell than a gaming company, and as long as they close the betting channel, there is basically no chance of another accident.

In fact, even Warner Bros. knows that with the majority of moviegoers who have the habit of watching movies, the subsequent box office trend of "The Flash" is destined to slow down. This film is so different from "Batman: The Dark Knight" that it is almost impossible to expect a large number of fans to watch the film repeatedly.

So the distribution department notified the creative team in Boston early to fly to Europe before this weekend to warm up for the premiere in the UK on Saturday. At the same time, also on this Sunday, Wayne will also take a luxury charter flight from Warner Bros. to the East to start his second trip to the East.

After the "Flash" screening entered the second week of the working day its mythical box office results, the impact will continue. First of all, many stars have been interviewed by the media, publicly accusing Vitaly Seduk of harassment in a prank guise, especially the new Oscar winner Helen Hunt, who burst into tears when interviewed by the media, telling the story. own experience of being harassed.

As a Hollywood star, the instinct to get hot has long been deeply embedded in their blood. Even if you don't realize that you are rubbing the media page, the agent team behind you will remind you. It's just that everyone is smart, and when everything is about to settle down, they all stand up one after another.

The box office performance of "The Flash" after entering the working day also began to slow down as everyone expected. On Monday, it suddenly dropped from $19.27 million on Sunday to $5.71 million. Day by day, the box office numbers are still slowly falling.

Wayne knows that this is a common problem with such films, whether it is "Iron Man" 1 or 2 in his head, or other works in the later stage of Marvel, making a lot of money in the early stage of the film, and then actively reducing it. It is the most normal practice for distribution companies to operate offline channels with greater profits as soon as possible during the screening cycle.

However, just this Saturday, the day before he was going to board the special plane to the East, and also the day when "The Flash" officially landed in the overseas cinema market, two explosive news reported by many well-known media in North America instantly re-emphasized "The Flash". The Flash", pushed Wayne into a public opinion craze.

At the same time, because of these two consecutive news, all competitors gave up their resistance and put away all their unnecessary struggles!

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