Conquer America, Start with a Boxing Champion

Los Angeles, the sun was shining brightly. Link got up early and ran along the Santa Monica Bay Road for nearly 20 kilometers, sweating profusely.

When he got home, Evaka had just gotten up, wearing a sports vest and stretch pants, sitting cross-legged on the lawn to practice simple yoga moves.

Link didn't disturb her, and made a simple breakfast in the kitchen. After he finished, he called Evaka to eat, and Evaka came in, her cheeks rosy, her forehead slightly sweaty, and her figure fuller and plumper.

"Do you have anything to do today, dear?"

At the table, Evaka asked while eating a vegetable roll.

"Nothing, except training."

Link thought for a while and said.

Now the game is over, the new album has been released, and "Avengers" will not start shooting until next month. During this period, apart from shooting the MVs of several champion singles of the fourth album, there is no other plan.

"The Help is released today. Do you want to watch a movie together?"

"That's a good idea."

Link nodded and agreed. He practiced in the training room for four hours in the morning and took a nap with Evaka at noon. Evaka was more sleepy than before after her pregnancy. She had to sleep for more than half an hour at noon every day. When she slept, she looked very lazy and charming. Link often hugged her and didn't want to let go.

After waking up at two o'clock after the nap, the two drove to the shopping mall cinema in Santa Monica to watch The Help, which was released today.

The film was exclusively produced by Palm Beach Pictures, with a production cost of 25 million US dollars. The distribution company was Lionsgate Films, and the pre-promotion cost was 8 million US dollars.

The film stars Emma Stone, Viola Davis, Jessica Chastain and others.

It is about Mississippi in the 1960s. A female college student, Just (Emma Stone), cannot stand the unfair treatment of black maids in American society. She is ready to help these maids out of their predicament by writing a book. She encounters a lot of resistance in the process of writing the book. Later, she finishes the book with the help of black maids. The book caused a great response after it was published.

The plot is in line with the main theme of American society and is a very positive feature film.

After watching it, Link and Evaka felt it was pretty good.

"Dear, the media said you are good at guessing the box office. Guess how much the box office of this movie is?"

After the movie, Evaka took his arm and asked.

"I only guessed it once. The one for "Bridesmaids" was not a guess. Why do people say I can guess the box office?"

Link said helplessly.

"Guess, I guess the global box office is over 100 million. How much do you guess?"

"100 million is about the same. Then I guess 101 million."

"You guessed about the same as me. You are cheating."

Evaka rolled her eyes at him.

Link thought she was acting like a spoiled child and found it very interesting. He smiled and said, "This is called a husband and wife being of one mind."

Evaka smiled slightly and held his arms tightly with both hands.

The Help was released on Friday, October 21st. The movies released on the same day included Paramount Pictures' Paranormal Activity 3, Summit Entertainment's The Three Musketeers, Universal Pictures' Johnny English Strikes Again, Kevin Spacey's Ultimatum, and Elizabeth Olsen's art film Martha Marshall.

In addition, the science fiction blockbuster Real Steel and the musical Footloose, which were released last week, and Weinstein Pictures' My Week with Marilyn were also very competitive at the box office.

The Help earned $27.05 million in 2,834 theaters in North America over the three days of the weekend, ranking second in the weekly box office rankings. The champion was Paranormal Activity 3, which earned $47.5 million in 3,341 theaters.

Last week's box office champion "Real Steel" ranked third with 20.24 million US dollars, "The Three Musketeers" ranked fourth with 8.63 million, and "My Week with Marilyn" ranked tenth with 627,000 US dollars.

The box office results of other movies are relatively average.

"The Help" was released for only three days, and the box office results exceeded the production cost. After the data came out, it caused a great sensation in the circle. Many media predicted that the North American box office of this movie would be more than 100 million US dollars.

Although 100 million box office is nothing in the annual box office rankings, 21 movies have broken the 100 million box office in North America this year.

But this movie is the third movie produced by Palm Beach Pictures. The first one made more than 20 times the profit, the second one made 360 ​​million at the global box office, and the third one made back the investment in three days after its release. It is a dark horse of the year, which makes many peers gnashing their teeth with envy.

Since the big hit of "The Gossip Project" last year, many peers have been looking forward to the next movie of Palm Beach Pictures to flop, but when the second movie was released, they found that the box office results were better. Everyone waited for the third one and found that the box office results were still very good.

Everyone waited and waited, but nothing happened. The disappointment can be imagined.

In addition to the box office, The Help also has a good reputation, with a media review of 81 points. 22 newspapers such as the Chicago Tribune, the Washington Post, and the New York Times scored more than 85 points, and 18 other newspapers and magazines such as the Los Angeles Times, Movie Variety, Total Movies, and the Baltimore Sun rated it above 75 points.

Rotten Tomatoes has a freshness of 78%, 32 people support it and 12 people oppose it, and Yahoo audience rating is B+.

The overall evaluation is very good.

The New York Times commented that Palm Beach Studios has made another high-quality movie, "It is not only a classic that exposes the ugliness of the times, but also should be called a stunning, warm and sweet song of hope." There is reason to rate it as one of the must-see movies of the year.

"The Washington Post" commented that the three female characters in the movie are portrayed as extremely plump. In a sense, these roles made the movie possible. The performances of actors such as Emma Stone are also very exciting and unique, adding a lot to the movie. Highlights: Several leading actors are also strong contenders for this year's Oscar Actor Awards.

Total Film magazine reviews Palm Beach Pictures.

"The Help" is Palm Beach Pictures' third film after "Scandal Project" and "Bridesmaids." Although these three films have different themes, they have one thing in common: they all focus on female characters.

The first film is about the discrimination and prejudice that women encounter in the group, the second film is about the difficulties that women encounter in daily life, and the third film incorporates the discussion of racial issues, and the theme is more profound than the first two films.

"Complete Movies" believes that Palm Beach Pictures has been at the forefront of its peers in exploring female themes and is worth learning from.

In the second week after "The Help" was released, the number of theaters opened increased to 3,141. The box office did not fall but rose. It earned 42.17 million U.S. dollars in North America, surpassing "Record 3" and becoming the weekly box office champion.

The production cost of this film was 25 million US dollars, and the publicity and distribution cost was 12 million US dollars. The North American box office was 69.22 million US dollars in the ten days after its release. The media's North American box office forecast for the film was raised to more than 150 million US dollars.

Without a doubt, another blockbuster movie.

The success of "The Help" also put Palm Beach Pictures in the limelight again.

More film companies are waving checks in the hope of cooperating with Palm Beach Pictures. Some film companies have even proposed that Palm Beach Pictures be responsible for preparing and producing the film, and they will invest and give Palm Beach Pictures no less than 20 yuan afterwards. % box office share.

Catherine said that she now receives hundreds of phone invitations every day, including from film companies, directors and screenwriters who specialize in female themes, and many actresses who also want to cooperate with Palm Beach Pictures.

Link also received a lot of calls here.

There are colleagues in the industry, such as Leon Cavanaugh of Relativity Pictures, who invited him to a party and said they wanted to talk about film cooperation. There are also actresses, both familiar and unknown, who are trying to show their favor to him in various ways. .

If Link were a casual guy, he could wake up next to a different woman every day.

In comparison, it was Emma Stone who benefited the most from the film's success.

Starting from last year's "Scandal Project", Emma has starred in several subsequent movies that all have a box office of over 100 million. "Bridesmaids" has a global box office of 360 million. "Crazy, Stupid Love" was released in July with a global box office of 140 million. This "The Help" North America The box office forecast is 150 million.

Four consecutive blockbusters have made Emma Stone one of the brightest young actresses.

Although she is not as famous as Kristen Stewart for the time being, her acting skills in the movie have been recognized by many people and she is considered a powerful actress. She is also the first among the new generation of actresses to win an Oscar. .

For this reason, Emma Stone even made a special call to ask if there was a chance to win the Oscar.

Link said yes, and the company would do public relations, but she was still young and shouldn't expect too much.

Emma Stone happily said that she would be satisfied as long as she could get the nomination.

Link smiled softly and asked her to remember this sentence.

In October, director Zhang Damou called and said that the post-production of "The Thirteen Hairpins" was completed and he wanted to discuss the issue of North American distribution with Lionsgate Pictures.

Link arranged for Jamie Jones, the head of the international business department, to take a team to China to see how the movie was and how much commercial value it had, and to try to win the North American distribution rights of the movie at the lowest price possible.

After Jamie Jones led the team to China, he said that the team's evaluation of the film was B-.

The advantage is that this movie has a high artistic level, and Link's participation gives this movie a certain box office guarantee.

The disadvantage is that Chinese anti-Japanese films have little prospect in the North American market, and war films focus on a group of prostitutes. Due to cultural differences, not many North American audiences can understand them.

The overall evaluation is that you can give it a try, but the box office won't be too high.

When acquiring the North American distribution rights of the film, Jamie Jones proposed two options to the producer, one was a copyright fee of US$3 million, and the other was a 25% share of the North American box office.

After careful consideration, the producers of "The Thirteen Hairpins" chose the second one, and they also wanted to give it a try.

But he was worried about being cheated at the box office by the United States. Director Zhang Da called Link many times to reminisce about old times, asking him when he would come to China, and wanted to treat him to a drink. He also mentioned that the movie was expected to be released in China in mid-November. Ask him to go over and do publicity.

Link didn't refuse, he just wanted Director Zhang to rest assured that when cooperating with Lionsgate Pictures, he didn't have to worry about box office sharing. How much box office he got would be how much he would be given in the end.