American fame and fortune.

Chapter 880 Money Game
January in North America is the traditional off-season for movies. Films released during this period are often uncompetitive or have low investment scale.

"Shark Tank" was fully released in North America on the last weekend of January.

Compared with the movies starring Martin, which are open in about 4000 theaters, this film he is the director is open in only 3450 theaters.

But compared to traditional horror thrillers, "Shark Tank" also has an advantage. The film does not have too bloody scenes, and it has been rated PG-13 by the MPAA.

Blake Lively's fans on social media are mainly boys and girls.

During the day on Friday, the film's attendance rate was medium, making it the first choice for many people to watch movies during this period when there is a lack of powerful films.

Leonardo and Nicholson, two bastards, also took the time to go to the theater and buy two movie tickets to support Martin.

Most importantly, they wanted to see what kind of film Martin would make.

The film was short and concise. After watching it, Leonardo said: "It's much better than I imagined. At least Martin has shot everything a thriller should have."

Nicholson took off his sunglasses and wiped them, and said: "There is almost no wasted scenes, and the proper atmosphere has been exaggerated."

Leonardo shook his head: "This is a bit unlike the Martin I know."

Nicholson added: "Once a virtuous cycle is formed, Martin will continue to spend money until the Oscar recognizes it." He stated a fact: "In the eyes of the core members of the Academy, Martin is much more popular than you. "

"This is the most worthy movie to watch in theaters since 2015!"

In major media and on the Internet, one can see voices cheering for "The Shallows" everywhere.

One day passed on Friday, and the box office statistics of "Shark Tank" were released. The first-day revenue of 1079 million US dollars was not very high, but it was enough for the film to become the North American box office champion that day.

"Martin Davis unexpectedly delivered a masterpiece. He used clever techniques to present psychological thriller and visual impact with clarity and clarity, surpassing all shark movies in the past two decades."

Nothing reflects the commercial success or failure of a theatrical movie better than the box office.

The figure was also higher than anticipated by Davis Studios and Disney Studios, both of which have ramped up marketing efforts for the film.

Leonardo admits it: "The major shark thrillers that came out after Jaws were terrible."

He didn’t need Leonardo to answer: “It means that the film can recover its investment and may also generate large profits, allowing Martin to use his money-making ability unscrupulously to shoot new films next time, which will form a virtuous circle. "

"Hey, you don't understand what I mean at all." Nicholson simply explained: "Do you know what this means?"

In addition to word-of-mouth marketing, the crew is also working on another aspect.

"Impossible!" Leonardo straightened his back and said, "The film can be made like this because Martin used his money power."

Leonardo looked at the subtitles falling on the screen and said, "I feel like this movie will not be bad at the box office."

Nicholson said: "This movie is at least average. I just thought about it carefully and it is definitely the best shark thriller movie after "Jaws"."

Leonardo understood, pondered a little, and thought more: "The Oscars are essentially a money game."

"I feel like you're going to lose," Nicholson said.

Since it is a movie in which the heroine defeats the great white shark, of course we cannot ignore a few special groups of people.

Word-of-mouth marketing is naturally the highlight.

"With Sharknado having received rave reviews, Martin Davis and Blake Lively team up to give fans a nail-biting aquatic adventure."

"Martin's directorial debut is at least passable," Nicholson said.

As long as they can bring in enough commercial revenue, Hollywood doesn't mind praising these people to the sky.

The famous "Pioneer Woman" magazine published a review column about "Shark Beach".

"The plot and scenes of "Shark Beach" are very simple. It almost tells the story on a beach, a heroine and a big shark; and this movie is not simple. It uses the ultimate experience to tell us that those impressions should be Women can do the tasks done by men and do them better!”

Many people who believe in women's rights bought tickets and entered the theater to watch this female film.

Integrity is nothing compared to business gains.

As a result, this type of promotional soft articles appeared in large numbers on the Internet.

""Shark Beach": The awakening and explosion of women's independent and strong consciousness!"

"The strength of women comes from a strong heart, which allows women to defeat the great white shark!"

In January, when the film market was relatively quiet, "Shark Tank" brought some changes.

On Saturday, more people entered the theater to watch this thriller, and the box office rose a lot that day, with a revenue of 1389 million US dollars.

But as more people watched the film, its reputation inevitably declined, and its IMDB score dropped to 7.6 points.

Three days into the weekend, "Shark Tank" created the best weekend box office since 2015, with a box office of US$3450 million in 3472 theaters, topping the new round of North American box office rankings.

In just three days, the film's box office revenue exceeded its production costs.

There is no doubt that Sharknado was a commercial success.

The film was a success and followers automatically followed.

The Los Angeles Times published Martin's reporting column on the front page of its new entertainment section.

"Martin Davis is a talented actor and one of the few superstars in Hollywood. His influence and commercial appeal are unquestionable. Just last weekend, he changed the direction of the thriller movie "Shark Tank" that he directed midway through. Released in North America."

"Before the film was released, there were endless doubts, thinking that Martin would only bring a bad movie. There have been too many examples of Hollywood stars turning directors and making bad movies in the past. But after the film was released, both the reputation and the commercial response were quite good. , and even won the North American box office championship last week.”

"From an actor-turned-director's perspective, the quality of Martin's debut film is acceptable. It doesn't look immature as a new director. On the contrary, it is very calm, proving that Martin has a good grasp of the rhythm and the scene design is also very sensible. "

"It is true that Martin is far, far away from great directors such as Spielberg, Nolan and Cameron. After all, there are only a handful of first-class directors in Hollywood. It requires not only hard work, but also talent. Maybe one day, we can watch To Martin Davis to be a part of it.”

In the office of Warner Pictures, Daniel put down the "Los Angeles Times" in his hand, looked at Hamada opposite, and said: "Have you seen the first week box office data of "Shark Tank"? Martin's directorial ability has already been It proves that he is no worse than the candidate you recommended.”

Hamada's face turned dark. The box office figures of "Shark Beach" were beyond his expectations. Previously, he thought it would be good for the film to gross $1800 million at the box office in its first week, but the actual figure was nearly twice as high as expected.

Although the reality is before us, Hamada is still tough: "This film is opportunistic. Rather than saying that the movie is successful, it is better to say that the publicity and marketing are well done."

Daniel smiled and shook his head: "Isn't publicity and marketing part of a movie?" He put away his smile: "What we do is the production and promotion of commodities, and movies are our products. If we can make the movie sell at a high profit, that is success. "

Hamada can't argue because this is the status quo in Hollywood.

He simply changed the track: "Next weekend, your release of "Jupiter Ascending" will be released, directly competing with "Shark Beach"."

Daniel said: "That film is a project left behind by my predecessor Jon Berg. The internal test screenings and several test screenings were very unsatisfactory. Warner Pictures will not invest too many resources in this film." The only goal for "Jupiter Ascending" to enter theaters is to recover as much as possible the damage caused by my predecessor."

When he heard Jon Berg's name, Hamada also felt that it was a trap. That guy has been engraved on the pillar of shame in Hollywood forever.

Daniel continued: "I don't understand why the parent company's review board approved "Jupiter Ascending," the Wachowski brothers... no, siblings..."

"We are sisters now." Hamada reminded.

Daniel nodded: "The Wachowski sisters failed again and again after "The Matrix", causing huge losses to Warner. Why can "Jupiter Ascending", which invested US$1.85 million, pass the review? I suspect there is malfeasance in it! "

He had already clearly stood on the opposite side of Warner Group and directly put pressure on the other party: "I will write a report and hand it directly to the company's board of directors to ask them to thoroughly investigate this project."

Hamada couldn't sit still and found an excuse to go to Kevin Tsujihara to report the relevant situation.

Daniel watched him leave and asked his assistant to prepare a report. He knew that with Kevin Tsujihara serving as CEO and chairman, such a report would be impossible to pass, but it would win him more room to exert power and allow Warner Tian The sound of the group is truly far away from Warner Bros. Pictures.

Only by sitting in this position and carefully examining what Jon Berg did in the past few years, Daniel can realize that the Warner team is definitely a group of god-like teammates.

He, an ordinary person in this world, cannot stand the torment of his divine teammates.

Although Jon Berg was removed, he left Daniel a lot of legacy, such as sinkhole projects like "Jupiter Ascending".

Daniel picked up the phone, dialed Martin's number, and said with a smile: "Congratulations, Martin, your directorial debut is a box office hit."

Martin still said the same old words: "Thank you, it's just good luck and the help of my assistants."

Daniel didn't care about this. The success of the film was a success. He seemed not to know and sincerely suggested: "I haven't found a suitable director for "Joker". I think you can try it yourself."

Martin was unequivocal: "I've been thinking about it recently."

Daniel, like most people in the industry, believes that successful people are more likely to succeed. He said: "Don't worry about Warner Pictures, I will fully support you."

"I'll try to plan the shoot," Martin replied.

Daniel quickly hung up the phone, thinking that maybe Warner Pictures should strengthen its cooperation with Martin in terms of directors.

Disney Pictures also has the same idea.

In the reception room of Disney Studios, Alan Horn had been chatting with Martin for more than half an hour, mainly talking about director cooperation.

He wanted Martin to sign three exclusive directing contracts with Disney Studios.

Martin never expressed his attitude.

Because of this kind of cooperation, Disney Pictures is completely in control. If a film fails, Disney Pictures can just drag on the contract, which will limit Martin's own choices.

Martin said directly: "Alan, you know something. My next project is the superhero movie "Joker" adapted from DC Comics. This is a Warner Bros. project. In addition to me being the leading actor, the project is up to now. , I still haven’t found the right director, and if it continues after the Oscars, I can only try to direct and star myself.”

Allen Horn knew something about it and said: "After "Joker", if you want to direct other projects, Disney Pictures can always cooperate with you."

"I don't have an idea for the next project yet. Let's discuss it once we have an idea." When Martin decided to direct "Shark Beach", except for Louise's Pacific Pictures, other Hollywood companies basically remained silent.

Now that "Shark Tank" is a hit at the North American box office, those good people are all coming together to tell Martin how good they are.

Martin has become accustomed to it over the years.

This week, the crew will leave North America and travel to Europe, East Asia, and Southeast Asia to promote "Shark Tank."

However, compared to movies with medium and high-scale investment, the promotion budget of "Shark Tank" is a bit small, and the crew only has two main creative staff who went overseas for promotion-Martin and Blake Lively.

During this solo journey, Blake Lively was particularly hard-working. As the absolute protagonist and the core figure of publicity and promotion, he had to deal with various problems from the media during the day, and he also had to maintain his best condition to face the fans.

At night, Martin, who was extremely strong and had extremely strong needs, always kept her alive.

As soon as she left London and arrived in Paris, the second stop of her European tour, Blake Lively called for support. Taylor Swift, who happened to be holding a fan meeting on the banks of the Seine, and her best friend Cara Delevingne in Europe , joined Martin's game together.

Cara Delevingne also called her sister Poppy Delevingne.

The latter is an actor who is not generally interested in Martin. He successfully passed Martin's test and joined Taylor's best friend group.

Meanwhile, "Sharknado" celebrated its second weekend of screenings in North America.

This week is the traditional Super Bowl weekend in North America, and most of the public's attention is focused on the Super Bowl.

The newly released "Jupiter Ascending" is placed in this schedule, and it looks like it was abandoned by Warner Pictures.

The box office also proved that this film was indeed not very successful.

During its opening weekend in North America, "Jupiter Ascending" only took in $1521 million at the box office.

The film's disclosed production budget is as high as $1.85 million.

The Wachowski became a box office disaster machine.

"Shark Tank" continued to top the North American box office chart with its solid box office performance.

The film took in another US$1856 million the following weekend, bringing its North American box office total to US$7288 million.

(End of this chapter)