Chapter 121： Dollars and film reviews

"The explosions destroyed New York and Los Angeles like dominoes. The fire spread, vehicles overturned, and buildings dumped. The whole world was shattered in a sea of ​​red fire, especially when the White House and the Empire State Building were exploded into debris from top to bottom. , I feel the whole theater is shaking."

The employees of the Los Angeles branch of the app survey and consulting company are destined to spend a busy weekend. They collect first-hand live feedback after midnight in major theaters.

"When the pilot used a suicide approach to attack an alien spacecraft in order to protect his family, I burst into tears!"

"The majestic alien invasion, the epic and magnificent earth strikes back, an excellent and wonderful science fiction blockbuster!"

"The film did not disappoint. I was shocked when the major cities in the United States were bombarded! It turns out that the work directed by Duke Rosenberg is indeed worth looking forward to!"

"The plot is compact and the scene is grand. The concept of the energy shield is very interesting. Nuclear strikes are ineffective. At this time, the idea of ​​using a computer virus to paralyze an alien spacecraft is really creative!"

Hames, located in a cinema near Beverly Hills, collected almost all good reviews. The audience at the midnight scene gave the film a very high evaluation, especially the explosion scene and the final battle 10⌒, battle, wasted Countless movie fans praised.

Although there are some bad reviews such as ‘the plot is too simple and there are flaws’ and ‘no other highlights except special effects’, the number of people is extremely small, even less than one-twentieth of his random interviews.

Give a gift and take back a questionnaire. Hames got the statistics of the midnight show from the cooperating theater. In the same period, there were 44 movies in this theater that opened the midnight show. The others are direct competitors of Independence Day this weekend. From the perspective of audience distribution, these competitors are obviously not in the market.

Among the audience who walked into this theater to watch the midnight show, 91% chose "Independence Day", and the other three movies could only share the remaining 9% of the audience!

After collecting the questionnaires and materials, Hames walked out of the theater and rushed to the company. The company still has a wider scope and more detailed work to do. After dawn, it will be reported to Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century Fox as soon as possible.

For these employees of the survey and consulting company, there is basically no rest time on the day when the big production North America opens. It is normal to be at work all morning.

In fact, many of the people they interviewed had difficulty falling asleep.

After bidding farewell to Allen and Jones, Kunites returned to his bachelor apartment, took a shower and lay on the bed. But still can't accumulate sleepiness. The collapsed Empire State Building, the flying White House, and the Statue of Liberty on the beach will flash from time to time in my mind. The nerves that were stimulated to extreme excitement in the theater before were quickly awakened, and the body seemed to be in the adrenal gland again. The state of soaring prime.

The evil appearance of aliens and the desire to destroy mankind occasionally make him feel inexplicably horrified. When looking out the window, do you imagine that there will be aliens destroying the earth?

More than that. The film also brings excitement, at a moment when mankind is facing extinction. The United States and his leaders bravely shouldered their due responsibilities and led the world to victory. The heroic soldiers of the US army are simply the world's patron saint.

For a moment, Cunites had the idea of ​​enlisting in the army...

Jim of Chicago, just after watching the midnight show, he ran to the ticket window where the theater was off work and asked to buy tickets for tomorrow. Many people followed his pace, which caused the hospital to temporarily turn on the ticketing system to excite the crowd. Of movie fans work overtime to sell tickets.

Jim, who had bought three tickets, returned home, pulled out his older brother and younger brother who had fallen asleep, and vomited to tell them how "Independence Day" was a great movie...

Dante of Pittsburgh and his friends went straight to the bar after watching the midnight scene. They drank cold beer and discussed the highlights of the movie, which attracted many people's attention. After many people inquired, they were drunk and said they would leave tomorrow. Go into the theater and watch the "Independence Day" where the American president hits aliens!

For many people, this is destined to be a sleepless night, especially for professional film critics who return to the studio to write film reviews after watching the film.

In the studio in the suburbs of Chicago, not only did Roger Albert not sleep, but his agent also rushed over. There seemed to be something extremely important.

"I received two quotations of $500,000."

The agent was sitting across from Roger Albert’s work desk with a very plain tone. It seemed that this kind of thing had happened countless times, "About Independence Day!"

"Oh..." Roger Albert put away his pen, raised his head and held his glasses, "Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century Fox?"

"It has nothing to do with the producers and distributors." The agent did not let Albert wait, and said directly, "From two different PR companies, they hope you can make some criticisms in the film reviews of "Independence Day" ."

Although the agent's statement is very cryptic, why would Roger Albert not understand that the other party wanted him to discredit "Independence Day", thereby affecting the reputation of the film and further affecting the film's box office.

This situation has been too common in the past ten years, and he has done it many times, but as a leader in the industry, in order to take into account his image and reputation, he will not overly discredit those professionally popular films.

Of course, certain films that have a strong commercial atmosphere and are not liked by professionals are definitely not among his concerns.

"Who are they exactly?" Roger Albert asked.

"It should be a star under Caa." The agent thought for a while and said, "If you guessed correctly, one is Sean Connery, and the other is also a top star of Caa."

"In fact, we don't need to think about these." The agent shook his head. "Every director or star will always violate the interests of many people in the process of rising. Some people hope that Duke Rosenberg can succeed in order to gain from it. Yes, some people naturally miss him and trample him down."

"What about your opinion?" Roger Albert did not directly agree.

The agent understands the psychology of his patrons, and is extremely tempted by one million dollars, but he has to make a high profile and let himself persuade him.

"Film reviews have a guiding role in the entire film industry, and can avoid excessive commercialization of films, leading to lack of artistic and humanistic care. "Independence Day", a commercial production that integrates the vulgar elements of summer files, should be the object of criticism from the entire film critic circle! Roger, you are a leader in film critics, and you have the responsibility and obligation to remind Hollywood!"

These remarks were so righteous and seem to be considering for the entire film industry.

"What about Warner Bros. and Twentieth Century Fox?" This is the focus of Roger Albert's concern.

"They did not invite film critics as usual, and they have broken the tacit understanding between the two industries." The agent doesn't seem to care about these two Hollywood giants. "Independence Day is definitely not a movie that the film critics like. Why do we Don’t tell the truth? Other film critics will make the same choice."

Roger Albert nodded slightly. Since there is no public relations, with his understanding of peers, I am afraid not many people will sing praises for "Independence Day."

"Roger, the film review program you hosted belongs to the Disney TV station, and there is the Chicago Sun behind it. With their support, why worry about Warner and Fox?"

The agent stood up, and he could see that Roger Albert did not want to let a million dollars slip through his fingers, "If Warner and Fox are really fainted to ban you from the theater, it will be the critics’ A huge honor, you can even use this to hit the Pulitzer Prize again!"

The pen that had just been put away returned to Roger Albert's hand. He tapped his chin slightly, and the agent showed a clear look, turned and walked out of the studio, and under the starlight of the dark night sky, he made two calls. The number in Los Angeles has a satisfied smile on his lips.

Although he doesn't have the reputation of an entertainment agent, he has a lot of income. He knows the ability of the studio to attract money and the greed that hides under his reputation!

One million dollars, which is more than the normal income of his customers for a year. It is strange to not be tempted. Moreover, this kind of thing is not once or twice.

As the night sky of Chicago was covered, the skyline of New York was slightly white, and David Denby sat in the study of the Upper East Side apartment, and a film review was nearing the end.

He is not in a very good mood. Today, he was surrounded by a bunch of fans and attacked with words. The name of the film critic was not good at all. If he hadn't taken the initiative to offend "Independence Day" and apologize to fans who like Independence Day, it would be extremely difficult. Get away, and the grievances and neglected anger accumulated in it naturally fall on the film critics.

This is not just the result of the theater. Just when he returned to the apartment, David Denby received a call, a call that made him feel better, and $250,000 was not a thing for him. Small numbers, besides, he planned to attack the bad movie "Independence Day"!

As for other things, David Denby doesn't care at all. The film reviews of "The New Yorker" have always been known for being acrimonious. Since the publisher and producer have not paid public relations fees, what else does he care about?

Unlike Roger Albert, the industry’s top vampire, he not only earns income from TV shows, he also always gets some old movie reviews to fool those fans who like nostalgia to cheat money. The bulk of his income comes from columns. This $250,000 is indeed very, very tempting.

Professional ethics? Taking money to do things is the most basic professional ethics in the film review industry.

Just as David Denn was thinking like this, Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times, Todd McCarthy of the Hollywood Reporter and other top professional film critics in North America are all considering the dollar and film critics. story. (To be continued...)

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