American fame and fortune

In July of this summer, the most watched movie is undoubtedly DC's super blockbuster "Batman v Superman".

Even today, when two Avengers movies have been released, Superman and Batman still occupy two of the top three most popular superheroes in North America.

On the day of the premiere, a large number of red briefs and black bat hats completely blocked the Avenue of Stars.

When Martin walked the premiere red carpet, there were crowds of people in front of the Dolby Theater, and there were hundreds of reporters in the media area.

A reporter stopped Martin and deliberately asked: "DC does not recognize that the "Joker" you shot is a movie affiliated with DC. What do you think?"

"Joker" needs exposure, and the conflict between the project and DC has long been aroused. Even at the premiere of the DC superhero movie, Martin did not intend to save face for the Warner group: "I don't know what DC thinks. Hamada always has very strange ideas and says some inexplicable things."

The distribution and promotion of this film he directed depended on Warner Pictures, and Daniel, the head of Warner Pictures, had already betrayed the Warner group.

As we all know, the knife stabbed by the traitor is often the most ruthless.

Martin naturally put himself on the side of justice: "Hollywood movies have always been famous for their diversity and inclusiveness. We can always find the one we like. Even Marvel superhero movies have their own different styles. Doesn't DC allow movies of different styles to appear?"

The reporters around took pictures of Martin.

Martin entered the Dolby Theater to meet Daniel and walked with him to the screening hall.

Daniel said as he walked: "I watched the internal preview, and the director's personal style is too strong."

Martin was not surprised: "Zack Snyder, I can understand." He pondered for a moment, and then said: "Zack's picture style is full of highlights, I like it very much."

"The slow motion is overused to the point of being crazy." Daniel shook his head: "The narrative ability is too poor. Do you know how long the edited version Zack submitted to DC is? Four and a half hours!"

He couldn't help but say: "It takes four and a half hours to tell a story clearly. How can Warner Pictures and theaters make movies? How many audiences can patiently watch four and a half hours in the theater."

Martin asked: "So, DC made a move?"

Daniel said: "It was cut to two and a half hours, and the feature film is less than 140 minutes."

The two entered the theater, quickly found seats, and waited for the movie to start.

Not long after, the theater was full of people. Those who came to attend the premiere were basically fans of Batman or Superman.

That is, DC's die-hard supporters.

This group of people is extremely familiar with comics and DC's animated works.

After the screening began, many guests who were not familiar with the comics looked at the confused scene, but they were extremely excited.

Those familiar scenes reminded fans of The Dark Knight Returns, The Death of Superman, Injustice, Red Son, Crisis on Infinite Earths, etc., and they were instantly climaxed.

Slow motion, oil painting style, dark color, destructive aesthetics...

Fans who like Zack Snyder will never be disappointed. These iconic visual styles of Zack Snyder are still displayed to the greatest extent in "Batman v Superman".

Of course, it is really difficult for unfamiliar passers-by to understand the comic stalks.

Because a certain foundation in comic reading is required.

This movie is a super gift package for fans, but it is not very friendly to passers-by.

Therefore, including Martin, many people looked at some basically unprepared plots and looked confused.

Especially when "Martha" appeared, the whole audience was shocked.

DC fans are better, and people who don't read comics just feel confused.

Two people who fought to the death, just because of a word "Martha", instantly turned enemies into friends.

Zack Snyder and DC fans can find a hundred reasons for this, but they can't stop "Martha" from becoming a super meme, which is still the kind that seriously drags down the reputation of the movie.

The fighting scenes in the back are well handled, still with the style of "Man of Steel". Superman, Doomsday and Wonder Woman fight, all of them are like destroying the world.

Inevitably, as a mortal Batman, in the climax part, it becomes a soy sauce.

As for the IQ of the Justice League, it's not to mention that it is basically not reflected in the plot of the film.

The villain Luther is even more inexplicable, and his behavior is puzzling.

Maybe for DC fans, these are not a problem, after all, he is Lex Luthor, Superman's natural enemy.

In the eyes of many passers-by, after watching this film, there is only one feeling, Batman and Superman inexplicably fought, and then inexplicably stopped fighting, and then an inexplicable Kryptonian monster popped up, and Batman and Superman inexplicably joined forces again.

The movie ended with Superman's death, leaving enough foreshadowing for the next "Justice League".

When Batman told Wonder Woman that he was ready to find more companions, the subtitles rose.

The scene broke out into extremely warm applause.

The Dolby Theatre can accommodate 3,500 spectators and thousands of reporters. Most of the people sitting here tonight are fans of Zack Snyder or DC.

The latter can naturally understand the various comic book memes in the film, and it feels like drinking a glass of ice cola at noon in summer, which is so refreshing.

The former was once again impressed by Zack Snyder's strong personal style.

Putting aside the plot and the comic book memes that he didn't understand, the action scenes and the image style may be just what Martin likes. He thinks these two parts are quite good.

But forget about the rest.

The applause lasted for a long time, and Zack Snyder and Charles Roven took the main creators of the crew to the stage to take a bow.

The guests began to leave one after another.

Daniel continued to walk with Martin. He whispered, "What do you think of this movie?"

"The action scenes are great." Martin told the truth, "Especially the final battle between the three justice giants and Doomsday. This is the battle between superheroes and gods on earth."

Daniel looked at Martin, "What do you think of the box office?"

Martin reminded, "Don't forget, this is the first time that Batman and Superman have actually appeared in the same live-action movie. The first week box office is not a problem."

Daniel immediately thought of the other side, "It's hard to say what will happen next, right?"

He shook his head directly, "There is a certain threshold to understand this movie, and the threshold is not low. The film company can't require most of the audience to have read DC comics, right? That's unrealistic! The production cost of this movie alone is 250 million US dollars. If the global box office cannot exceed one billion US dollars, DC will not be able to explain to the head office."

Martin thought carefully and didn't remember the exact box office figures of "Batman v Superman". The movie impressed him most, "Martha", followed by Wonder Woman.

But it is basically certain that the global box office did not exceed one billion US dollars.

Daniel received a call after exiting the Dolby Theater side door. After the call, he said to Martin: "Warner Bros. conducted an internal survey, and the average score of the premiere audience was A."

Martin nodded: "This shows that the fans' recognition is high, and the first week box office will not be a problem."

Daniel is the person in charge of the distributor: "But I have no confidence in the subsequent word-of-mouth of passers-by."

Martin sighed: "Zack Snyder's pictures are so good, but it's a pity that he can't tell the story well every time. It really makes people love and hate him."

Daniel reminded Martin: "If the subsequent word-of-mouth of this film collapses and fails to meet Warner's expectations, and your "Joker" has a good performance, pay attention to DC."

Martin saw his car coming and waved: "I know."

When Martin got in the car and left, Daniel also got in the car.

Although he and the Warner group are internal rivals of the company, Daniel is still responsible for the hair work of Warner Bros. The group board of directors is above him, and there is also Time Warner above him.

He wants to go further and cannot leave excuses at work.

The next morning, various word-of-mouth for "Batman v Superman" came out, but the different evaluations in several aspects formed a sharp contrast.

On IMDB, where ordinary movie fans gather, because the audiences of the preview and premiere are basically fan groups, the scores that have just been released are frighteningly high, with an average score of 9.2 points from users!

Under normal circumstances, this would be a super hit commercial movie.

But the reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, a large number of film critics gave bad reviews, and the freshness was only 32%.

If only the critics had bad reputations, it would be fine, after all, professional film critics have long been out of the market.

In the scores of major professional media collected by the MTC website, the average score of the film was only 44 points.

Faced with this situation, DC and Warner Pictures immediately launched public relations and publicity, claiming that the film was just a little polarized in word of mouth, but the audience still liked it.

This statement seems to be confirmed by the box office data. On the first day of its release in North America, the film opened a box office of up to 70.2 million US dollars.

As more people watched it, the audience's word-of-mouth began to collapse.

IMDB dropped sharply to 7.7 points.

The film's box office on the second day in North America dropped by 40%.

In the first three days of the North American opening weekend, the film earned $132 million.

At first glance, it seems good, but the film's production budget alone is as high as $250 million, and DC's lowest expectation for the first week in North America is $180 million.

However, these are just the beginning of the disaster.

In the subsequent screenings, the reputation of "Batman v Superman" collapsed rapidly.

By the second weekend, the score on IMDB dropped to 6.2 points, and the freshness of Rotten Tomatoes was only 28%.

As time goes by, the reputation of the film continues to decline, instead of rising as fans claim.

As for the various analyses of the film posted by fans on the Internet, ordinary audiences are not interested at all. Most passers-by will not go to see the so-called analysis just to watch a recreational movie.

Moreover, the so-called analysis is not reliable.

The producers of "Man of Steel" are the Nolan couple, and Nolan and Emma Thomas are in charge. Although the reputation of this Superman movie is also polarized, it is still good overall.

Because of a series of messes caused by DC and Warner Bros., Nolan later withdrew from the Justice League movie universe, and even declined Martin's invitation to direct "Joker", but instead focused on preparing for an Oscar.

Without the Nolans, Zack Snyder, who has average narrative skills, and the interference of Warner Bros., the result of "Batman v Superman" can be imagined.

Without Charles Roven, a senior producer, the film would only be worse.

Many media believe that "Batman v Superman" will be the top favorite for the Golden Raspberry Awards next year.

The most critical thing is that the box office is not strong enough.

The second weekend in North America dropped by 70% compared to the first weekend, earning only 39.05 million US dollars.

This set a new record for the decline in the second weekend of DC superhero movies.

The decline of "Batman \u0026 Robin" and "Catwoman" in those years was not to this extent.

On the other hand, Cinemascore, which has remained silent, also released the latest statistics. The film's comprehensive score of the live audience is "B", and the North American box office is around 260 million US dollars.

Considering the overseas gains and offline operations, Batman v Superman should not lose money and may even generate a certain profit, but the audience's reputation for the film has collapsed!

"Correction, this movie is called a flop, not a polarized reputation!"

"It's too unfriendly to people who haven't read the comics. It feels like Zack Snyder made it specifically for comic fans."

"Martha is too much. If I get robbed in the future, will the other party automatically lay down their weapons if I say Martha?"

Although most people have figured out that "Martha" is the mother of the two after watching the film, they still can't help but complain crazily.

Because there are too many complaints about Martha.

…………

In the Disney Studios, the Joker studio.

During the lunch break, Martin looked at the latest statistics of Batman v Superman and put down the newspaper.

Across from her, Saoirse Ronan went to the newspaper and read it carefully. After a while, she said, "The box office of this movie seems to be good, and it will definitely make commercial profits. Why are all the voices cursing DC?"

Martin simply said, "Because it is not an independent movie, it bears the burden of developing the entire DC movie universe. The subtitle "Dawn of Justice" reflects this point. The collapse of the film's reputation will have a serious impact on the "Justice League" in preparation, and even make DC completely lose the opportunity to catch up with Marvel in more than a decade."

Saoirse Ronan asked, "Will our movie be affected?"

Martin said, "You forgot that a month ago, DC executives publicly cut ties with us. And it's very high-profile.

Saoirse remembered: "They said "Joker" is not a DC movie."

Martin was prepared for this. He picked up his phone and called Jessica, saying directly: "Create some momentum in the media and on the Internet, and promote "Joker".

The studio has already made a plan, and Jessica replied: "I'll start now."

Martin looked at the time and said to Saoirse: "The break is over, and we will continue to dub in the recording studio."

Saoirse's supporting actress will have different voices in some sections of the film, and it is difficult to do it on-site. Martin simply asked Saoirse to use a voice changer to speak the lines in post-production and replace some of the original sound on site.

These tasks were not difficult for Saoirse, and they were completed that afternoon.

The next morning, some new news about "Batman v Superman" appeared on the Internet.

"DC messed up Green Lantern and this one, not to mention messing up the Justice League plan, but also attacking Martin Davis' Joker for not meeting DC's requirements. What does this mean? Joker has no interference from DC and has a high chance of success!"

Some analysts even said: "In recent years, the most successful DC movie is The Dark Knight, and the most successful DC character is the Joker! It is very obvious that the pigs in DC management don't understand DC movie adaptations at all! Nolan and Martin are the ones who really understand DC!"