America: Starting with the acquisition of MGM.

Chapter 311 309. Nicole Cried
"The Hunger Games is a successful commercial blockbuster, featuring beauties, handsome men, violence, love, oppression, and resistance. It has an exciting killing game as well as deeper political metaphors. It is a qualified entertainment film."

"If you want to see the violent fights advertised in The Hunger Games, then congratulations, you can see it. If you want to see the human nature analysis like in Battle Royale, sorry, not here. The cores of the two movies are completely different."

"If you want to go to the cinema with your friends or lovers to relax, then choosing The Hunger Games is the right choice."

"Crystal Liu gave an amazing performance in The Hunger Games. She even outshined the heroine Gal Gadot. You can find all the characteristics of a boss in the Vanxia Ghost. It is worth watching."

"I thought it was a brainless and enjoyable movie, but I didn't expect it to have some profound connotations. I would give The Hunger Games a score of 3.5."

“It’s bloody, thrilling, and action-packed, but the romance element isn’t portrayed well enough. It’s a mediocre commercial film.”

"The best parts of the movie are played by the supporting characters, Vanxia Ghost and Yun. They will definitely leave a deep impression on you."

As the word-of-mouth ban was lifted, discussions and reviews of "The Hunger Games" also came out, and overall there were more positive reviews.

Although critics complained that the film lacked depth and was too superficial, audiences responded well.

The Rotten Tomatoes score reached 92%, which is considered a very good commercial blockbuster.

Relatively speaking, the imdb score is 7.6, which is not very good, but it is already very good for a movie with a strong commercial atmosphere.

At the same time, word of mouth for "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban" also came out.

The Rotten Tomatoes rating is 91%, and the word-of-mouth rating is also great.

With an imdb score of 8.3, the film not only won recognition from the audience but also received positive reviews from film critics.

It scored 8.8 points on the more pure and professional MTC. Forget about "The Hunger Games", but going to MTC will only make you unhappy.

However, these are data reflected on the Internet. If we conduct face-to-face interviews in offline cinemas.

The flavor of "Prisoner of Azkaban" has changed a bit, because many children and young teenagers do not have access to the Internet and naturally cannot participate in the rating.

But can we ignore their contribution to the box office?
Of course not, they are the main force!

"Hey! Can you spare me a few minutes?"

An entertainment reporter found a family consisting of parents in their thirties with a girl around ten years old.

"no problem."

"Let me guess, you guys are here to see Harry Potter, right?"

The parents looked at the little girl lovingly and said, "What else? Mickey has watched the first two movies and has been clamoring to watch the third one. We can only satisfy her."

"OK, Mickey, what a beautiful name, what's wrong honey? Why don't you look happy?"

The little girl pouted. "This is not the Harry I want to see. I want to see the same beautiful magic as before, and the shiny Hogwarts."

"But none of that is there anymore. The picture is too dark, and the Dementor scared me. I hate that floating monster."

"Have you seen it? It's scary, and Ron's rat, it suddenly turned into a weirdo, it was really scary!"

"So, you didn't like this movie?"

"Yes, I like the old Harry, but I don't like the current Harry."

Finding the dark master Alfonso Cuarón to direct the film really gives Prisoner of Azkaban an extraordinary charm.

Eric himself admitted that this is his favorite version, but this love is from the perspective of an adult or a teenager over fifteen or sixteen years old.

A faster pace, a stronger sense of suspense, a heavier sense of crisis, a dark Gothic style, and even Ms. Watson’s bigger breasts. Who can not love it?
But later Alfonso Cuarón did not continue to direct the sequel, and whether it was "Goblet of Fire", "Order of the Phoenix", "Half-Blood Prince" or "Deathly Hallows", that charming dark flavor disappeared completely.

From this you can tell that this style is really not good! Investors know best.

If it weren't for the blessing of the big IP, "Prisoner of Azkaban" would probably not even reach a box office of $8 million.

With the box office revenue for the first three days of the weekend released, "Prisoner of Azkaban" took in more than 3885 million US dollars in 6700 theaters.

"The Hunger Games" grossed $5860 million, a difference of $800 million, and Warner Bros. won a small victory.

Ranked third is "Shrek 2: The Monsters", which is still in theaters. DreamWorks has made enough money this year.

When the seven-day box office results came out, the North American result of $1.24 million was very impressive, and "Prisoner of Azkaban" won another victory.

"The Hunger Games" grossed $1.02 million, just breaking the $ million mark, and took second place.

There is no point in comparing overseas box office numbers because the number of countries where the films were released is different and the release dates they get are more or less different.

Box office is king in the film and television industry. Eric heard that Warner was satisfied with the result and Barry Meyer was very happy. He felt proud and awesome.

Student Xiao Liu has been in a very happy mood these days. Although he is a little tired from following the crew around for promotions, he is still very happy.

The media and audiences gave almost unanimous positive reviews. The character of Vanxia Ghost was just as Eric said, extremely popular.

She finally enjoyed the treatment of a star, not just an ordinary small star, but a first-line star.

In the past, when I walked on the street, occasionally a few young people would recognize me. Now, if I dare to go out on the street alone, I will be asked for photos and autographs within ten minutes.

Then, fans came one after another and were stuck in traffic for an hour or two, and everything they wanted to do was ruined.

This popularity is most directly reflected on social media. Liu Yifei's Facebook fans originally had only more than 20, but the number increased tenfold in one week, reaching more than 10 million followers.

The agent has received many script invitations, but he just symbolically asked for Xiao Liu's opinion.

Don't answer?

Okay then, let’s push them all!

Anyway, I, as an agent, am no different from a decoration. Others have their own golden thighs, and I am content to follow behind them and just eat some soup.

The one who was even happier than Xiao Liu was Lao Liu. His daughter was going to ascend to heaven, and his biggest wish in life had come true.

When I expressed my gratitude to Eric in private, I was inevitably scolded again.

Looking at the chains on her limbs and neck, Liu Xiaoli felt extremely excited, but she still kept complaining.

"Why did you bring this thing to me? It's for tying up the dog!"

Eric took two rings out of the box and compared them to her body, selecting a pair of butterfly shapes and nodding with satisfaction.

"If you think it's like tying a dog, I have no problem with that. Come on, take this."

"Hey Eric Cooper, I find you are becoming more and more perverted."

"Silly, this is called fun. Don't you think it's similar to the shape down there?"

"You look like a jerk! Just go ahead and abuse me, you pervert!"

Snapped!
"Hey, what did you do? You hurt me!" "Call Zhou Wenqiong."

"what?"

"I said call her, are you deaf?"

"Why are you calling? What bad intentions do you have?"

"Pretend! Pretend again! If you pretend to be cool, you will be struck by lightning. If you pretend to be pure, you will be raped. Do you understand?"

“I don’t understand. I just don’t understand.”

Looking at her affected demeanor, Eric discovered that the old woman was actually starting to act like a coquettish person.

Big sister, what's wrong with you? You don't really have feelings for me, do you?
This won't do. It's better for us to maintain a purely physical relationship.

Laobangcai does taste delicious when eaten occasionally, especially when it is with the roots of small vegetable sprouts, but it cannot be stored in a cellar at home, or it will rot!

By the second week, the expected situation had indeed occurred.

The box office of "Prisoner of Azkaban" experienced a cliff-like drop, with a drop of as much as 68% (the actual data that year was 63%, not something I made up), far exceeding the drop of general commercial blockbusters.

The box office of more than 4000 million US dollars left Warner puzzled. Damn it, what went wrong?
Does the change in style really have such a big impact? But the problem is that the audience's word of mouth is also very good, and they still don't take children's feelings seriously.

In contrast, the box office of "The Hunger Games" fell by 43% in its second week, which is within the normal range.

Calculated in this way, the total box office in North America for two weeks was 1.6 million US dollars, which made up for the gap in the first week.

However, neither "The Hunger Games" nor "Prisoner of Azkaban" won the weekly box office championship, and the championship was taken away by the newly released "Van Helsing".

This is another classic IP, a big production with an investment of hundreds of millions, and with the participation of Hugh Jackman, "Van Helsing" won a box office of 6100 million US dollars in one week.

Note that it was not the first three days of the weekend, but the entire week, which only grossed $6100 million.

The champion is indeed the champion, but the value is a bit low, with only less than 300 million US dollars more than the second place "The Hunger Games".

Popcorn and MDB both don't give high ratings.

The problems with the movie can be seen from the audience's reviews. Simply put, it is too old-fashioned and too deliberate.

It’s still a combination of werewolf, vampire and Frankenstein. These three guys can debut as a group and the name is Shit Cleaner Boys.

The monster designs in it are also a bit scary, which is not very friendly to some viewers with weaker tolerance, although the three vampire brides are very awesome.

The finale is even more ridiculous, the extremely clichéd villain died because he talked too much and was knocked out with one punch. You are One Punch Man, so why did you have to fight so hard in the beginning?
The big boss was dead, and the heroine suddenly appeared to give herself away, but was killed by a werewolf charge from Van Helsing.

The problem is, sister, you were very tough at first, but your death was too contradictory and deliberate.

In short, if this "Van Helsing" were adapted into a stage play, the audience's reaction would definitely be much better than on the big screen.

The blockbuster that Universal had high hopes for was destined to lose a huge amount of money between "The Hunger Games" and "Prisoner of Azkaban".

During this period, Lionheart released two new dramas, "Breaking Bad" and "Hannibal".

Walter White's story is a mixture of the plots of the first and second seasons, with some overly long-winded family matters and relatively tedious plots deleted. A total of 11 episodes were filmed.

The response can only be described as neither good nor bad. Those who liked it thought it was great. This type of drama is something they have never come across before. It's very fresh and the angle is very novel.

Those who don’t like it think the plot is too bland and not the big action scenes they want. They thought it was about the rise of a Mexican drug lord, and then you tell me it’s a high school teacher?

Eric was not surprised by this result. The first few seasons of Breaking Bad were not popular and it was on the verge of being cancelled.

It wasn't until the 4th season that the show started to gain popularity, and the 5th season became a global hit, so it can be considered a late bloomer.

The reason is very simple. The plot development is slow. The combination of Eric's two seasons into one is fast enough, but it obviously still fails to meet the expectations of many viewers.

The reviews for "Hannibal" are much better. With the halo of the novel's author, the overall quality is even higher than the original.

The lines and plot are more compact and interesting, especially the lines that fit Hannibal's character, which must remain elegant while reflecting the brutality and cruelty of the murderer.

Most screenwriters don’t have this level of skill, so Thomas Harris had to polish it himself to add luster to it.

Apart from "House of Cards", "Hannibal" is the best-rated Lionheart Network self-produced drama.

In more than half a month, the TV series of "Daredevil" will be released, which will pave the way for "Iron Man" and "Captain America" ​​early next year.

As time entered November, after the third week's box office figures came out, "Van Helsing" was indeed a complete failure, both at the box office and in terms of reputation.

With a production cost of $1.6 million, Universal is almost in tears. Box office predicts that it will be a success if the global box office can reach $2.5 million.

Of course, it wasn't just Universal that cried, but Paramount as well. To be more precise, Neeko also cried.

After winning the title last year, film offers came one after another and she prepared intensively for several months for the filming of "La Vie en Rose".

We did another film, Eric's Inception, but that was it.

"Inception" was filmed relatively quickly, taking more than two months to complete. Neeko couldn't stay at home every day, as Eric's cock couldn't stand it, so she took on "Against the Law".

Then, it flopped as expected. With a production cost of 9000 million U.S. dollars, the box office revenue in one week was only over 1800 million U.S. dollars, a terrible situation comparable to last year's "The Far Side of the World".

In particular, the film company made her the focus of publicity. It was Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman's first movie after winning the Best Actress award, and the hype was full.

"Wow, wow, wow... honey, I'm now box office poison."

Looking at Nicole who was howling without tears, Eric knew that she was just a little unhappy, but not sad.

He held her in his arms and comforted her, saying, "The media has always been like this. They say that the winner of the Best Actress Award will be unlucky for three years. Who can guarantee that they will never fail?"

"But now I'm box office poison."

"Uh...baby, think about it from another perspective. If your movie fails, it's Paramount that loses money, but it's good for MGM."

"Ah?" Nicole was speechless.

Eric had a flash of inspiration and came up with a solution on the spur of the moment.

"I have a good idea. You all should just go out and take on big productions."

"And then deliberately act badly and ruin the box office. Isn't that great?"

"Go to hell!"

He was greeted with a barrage of punches.

(End of this chapter)