China Entertainment started from Nortel 2002

Chapter 791 Saving DC
Friday, December 2018, 12, the eve of the Christmas holiday.

This time point is not only the peak of traditional North American holidays, but also the time when many popular films gather and debut.

Can "Aquaman" be like a shining meteor, crossing the sky of DC comics history in the vast world of superhero movies and winning the top of the DC box office? The battle begins today.

"Aquaman" is the sixth film in the DCEU series. The performance of the previous five DCEU films was also uneven. There was no billion-dollar blockbuster like the Marvel Universe. At the time of "Justice League", this series was once described by many media reports as having a uncertain future.

Whether the emergence of "Aquaman" can break this deadlock is obviously a matter of great concern to several major film and television companies in North America.

On the 21st, a total of 13 movies were released, led by "Aquaman" and "Bumblebee". Of course, several comedy films in the schedule should not be underestimated.

It’s just that Li Mu is still promoting the film in New York with the main creators.

These days were destined to be a difficult time for him.

"Please, I hope all the fans are holding tickets for Aquaman." Jason Momoa prayed silently with his eyes closed.

Not only that, Emilia Clarke also placed her hands on her chest, as if she was praying.

Li Mu couldn't help but laugh when he saw this, but since this was a human custom, Li Mu didn't say much.

Several people were preparing to go to the cinema for an event, and now it was almost evening, which was also the beginning of the Christmas holiday.

The theater must be packed at this time, but which movie the people in the crowd hold tickets for will largely determine the probability that other theaters will be packed with people, which means the direction of the box office that day. This is why the leading actors prayed.

"Okay, let's go. The fans may not be able to wait any longer." Li Mu said with a smile when he saw that several people had finished praying.

"Lee, aren't you worried at all?" Jason Momoa was somewhat nervous at the moment. After all, this was his first superhero movie as a leading actor, and the production cost was as high as about 2 million US dollars.

The success or failure of this movie almost determines the direction of his future career, and Emilia Clarke is no exception.

This is also her first time participating in such a large-scale film production.

Although I know that the word of mouth is quite good and fans like it very much, I still can't help but feel worried.

The main reason is that the pressure from the media is too great. Just open an entertainment media website:

"Aquaman, the redemption of DC movies!"

"DC's Jedi strikes back, Aquaman goes head-to-head with Bumblebee, can a miracle happen?"

"DC's last stand?"

"."

Reports like these provide enough traffic but also inevitably create enough pressure. If the final data of the movie is not good, then a different scene will be faced.

"There's no point in you and me worrying, so relax, man."

Li Mu patted Jason Momoa on the shoulder, then pushed open the door and prepared to go to the event venue.

"What a good attitude!" Jason Momoa shrugged, looked at Emilia Clarke, and then followed Li Mu.

Fortunately, what reassured everyone was that in the cinema, fans were holding up their movie tickets and waving at them. It was obvious that "Aquaman" was more popular than they had imagined.

Promotion was very energy-consuming. After returning that night, Li Mu simply tidied up and went to sleep. As for the box office, he would have time to check it after he woke up.

At the same time, netizens in China also seemed to be celebrating a holiday, because a piece of news on Christmas Eve had everyone talking about it.

“Thank you for your continued love and support for Jiaxing Media’s artists Hawick Lau and Yang Mi.

After careful consideration by both parties, we have decided to inform all friends through our company that the two have signed an agreement this year to peacefully separate and end their marriage.

The number of comments under this Weibo post has increased rapidly, visibly.

"That's what I said. How could they not be divorced? They must have divorced a long time ago."

"Divorce by agreement. As expected, they have divorced a long time ago. I'm afraid they had prepared it when they wrote the Night Light Script!"

"."

The news was so popular at that time that even Li Mu, who was in North America, received an APP push notification about this matter after waking up.

But he had no interest in this. After all, if it happened a few decades ago, marriage and divorce might have spread throughout the village, but nowadays, it was commonplace.

However, there are quite a lot of people looking for him, besides Liu Yifei, there are Warner and Jason Momoa.

Li Mu didn't even need to open it to know it must be the box office data.

As expected, Jason Momoa informed Li Mu early in the morning that the box office on the 21st was as high as 3100 million US dollars, while the box office in the same period was only 850 million US dollars, a huge gap.

"That's really good news." Li Mu typed in response.

At the same time, Jeff Bueckers, who was on vacation at Warner, was also ecstatic. Obviously, the data exceeded his expectations. After all, Paramount's "Transformers" series also has many fans, and "Bumblebee" is one of the fans' favorites.

I just didn’t expect that the box office on the first day wouldn’t even break 10 million.

Unlike Jeff Bueckers' joy, Paramount even exaggerated the data because the box office data was too unreal.

"Fuck, it must be a miscalculation." Paramount's new CEO Brian Robbins found it hard to accept this fact.

You have to know that he has just taken over as CEO of Paramount not long ago. If even the "Transformers" series is about to be eliminated by the market, then he may not be able to serve as CEO for long.

As of last summer, the only IPs left for Paramount that still had some market appeal were Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible series and Transformers.

However, Paramount and other major media outlets were still a bit confused when they wrote articles about these box office data. "DC's Aquaman grossed over $3000 million on its first day and is expected to be close to $ million in its first week. The spring of the DC Alliance has arrived."

"Bumblebee is not as good as Aquaman, Li Mu saved DC"

“It may be too early to say whether Aquaman can become the biggest winner of the Christmas War”

"."

The news of Aquaman's huge success on its first day in North America naturally spread back to China.

Compared with the reactions of media netizens in North America, domestic netizens are much more normal.

"That's normal. It's not like I haven't seen it before. It's been out for two weeks!"

"Fuck, this movie deserves the box office!"

"I don't feel anything anymore. If I were Li Mu, I would shout in front of the North American media: There is no one who can fight."

"."

Of course, it’s not all peaceful in North America either, as there are also people who criticize Li Mu.

Because the villain in "Aquaman" is black.

There has been an unspoken rule in Hollywood over the years, which is that "black people cannot be bad guys and cannot die." Although not 100% of film and television rules are followed, more than 80% will have some concerns.

Of course Li Mu didn’t let the villain die. After all, there is no death in the setting of "Aquaman".

So this also became a point of criticism, but Warner was obviously not a pushover and its public relations was very timely.

"What troublesome guys." Jeff Bueckers even called Li Mu to explain and complain.

"Don't worry, these comments won't affect us. Maybe they were sent by Paramount or Disney!"

"I can rest assured that."

Li Mu responded with a faint smile. He didn't care about these things. After all, they probably wouldn't have much cooperation in the future. Moreover, this was obviously an intentional smear campaign, because the original "Black Manta" was also an African American, and he didn't use the name intentionally.

With the results from the two days over the weekend coming out, the first week box office figures for the first batch of Christmas movies are out.

Everyone thought there would be a fierce battle in the crowded Christmas season, but in the end, "Aquaman" dominated the market and firmly topped the box office charts that week with over 8500 million in its first week.

Most of the competitors that competed head-on with "Aquaman" around the world either flopped or fell short of expectations. For example, Paramount's "Bumblebee" only grossed 2100 million in its first week, which was a major defeat. The film can only hope to recover from the global box office, otherwise Paramount will suffer heavy losses.

“The most profitable movie in DC history is born.”

"Li Mu, a superhero who saves DC!"

"."

The moment success comes, it is always accompanied by flowers and applause. Look, in the hearts of DC fans, Li Mu has saved the long-depressed DC superheroes at this moment.

This time I finally got rid of my anger.

As of now, it is unlikely that Disney, which has been laughing for a whole year, will have the last laugh. Paramount has even failed, and Sony, which wanted to rise again by relying on the "Spider-Man" IP, has also been brought down.

Although Spider-Man was released a week earlier than Aquaman, its box office in the first week was only over 3500 million. By the time Aquaman came out this week, a lot of box office revenue was forcibly robbed from it, and it only took in 1600 million in the second weekend, a drop of more than 50%.

In the global market, "Aquaman" is far ahead, with box office revenue exceeding 17 billion RMB in the Chinese market and global box office (excluding North America) exceeding 4 million USD. Apart from China, this is just the beginning.

Although Spider-Man, which was released in mainland China just two days ago, had better box office than other domestic films, it was still very weak, with only 1.6 million in three days, and it couldn't even break million, which was far from Aquaman.

Warner even hosted banquets for Li Mu and the main creators for several consecutive days.

"Li, don't you really want to consider it? If we join forces again, perhaps we can reach a new peak." Jeff Bueckers raised his glass and said boldly.

In recent years, he has been under a lot of pressure in the superhero field. On the one hand, the Marvel Universe is pressing forward, and on the other hand, the DC Universe is dull and he has failed many times.

"Cheer!" Li Mu smiled faintly and touched He Qi without saying anything more.

Jeff Bueckers obviously understood that Li Mu really had no interest in this and stopped pestering him.

Jason Momoa, Emilia Clarke, Nicole Kidman and others raised the trophy to thank Li Mu.

"Thank you, Li!"

Nicole Kidman said sincerely that she was well aware that it was difficult for an older actress like her to find good roles in large-scale commercial films in Hollywood, and there were even fewer who could stand out, and they were not sure to achieve success.

Li Mu's "Aquaman" can be said to have made her another success in her career.

"You deserve this, no need to say thank you."

Li Mu felt that Nicole Kidman performed well in the movie.

"I sincerely hope that we will have the opportunity to work together again, Cheer!"

"."

"Aquaman" officially entered its second week after its first week, but because the audience was still fascinated by its unique charm, the box office only dropped by 23%, which is quite amazing.

The Christmas special film "Mary Poppins Returns" also failed to make a splash at the box office. For a time, the entire Christmas season became an exclusive show for "Aquaman".

At this time, Li Mu had already boarded a plane to China.
(End of this chapter)