From Flower Vase to Film Emperor in Hollywood

Then—

Amidst the surging crowds and waves of heat, the North American weekend box office rankings for the second week of August were freshly released.

First place: "American Pie 2," $45 million.

Second place: "Rush Hour 2," $33 million.

Third place: "The Princess Diaries," $28 million.

Silence.

A sense of astonishment.

Simply reading this set of data makes it difficult to understand the media's shock and admiration; a little analysis is enough to understand the true reaction of the market.

"American Pie," with an outstanding opening weekend of $45 million, although the production cost of the sequel tripled, rising directly to $30 million, the sequel's box office did not disappoint, once again presenting eye-catching data, undoubtedly ranking in the first tier of this year's summer season.

A flying start!

"Rush Hour 2," as expected, saw a box office bloodbath in its second weekend; not only did the media give overwhelmingly negative reviews, but the general public's reaction to the film was also generally lower than expected, which directly led to a 50.9% plunge in the film's second weekend box office, a severe loss compared to the opening weekend, falling short of expectations.

Generally speaking, when the opening weekend box office breaks the $50 million threshold, the second week's box office decline often needs to be controlled within 40% to be considered a healthy box office trend; if it can be controlled below 30%, it means that audience word-of-mouth is excellent, and the film has the potential for long-term box office success.

However, "Rush Hour 2" directly lost more than half of its blood, and the prospects are not optimistic.

Originally, "Rush Hour 2" delivered the highest performance of this year's summer season in its opening weekend, which also meant that the film took the lead in the competition for the summer season champion and even the year-end box office champion; a North American box office of $300 million was not impossible; but now, all plans have been disrupted.

It's not to say it's a failure, but New Line Cinema needs to adjust expectations.

In fact, "Rush Hour 2" is far from being a "failure."

Although the three-day box office decline in the second weekend was severe, the box office numbers from Monday to Thursday were still impressive; in just two weeks of release, the cumulative box office has easily reached $133 million, and $200 million in North America is still the ultimate goal.

However.

"Rush Hour 2" had a production cost as high as $90 million, coupled with huge publicity investments, the box office bloodbath in the second week did make New Line Cinema worried.

And what about "The Princess Diaries?"

The second week's box office decline was controlled at an unbelievable 19.6%, and a horizontal comparison with "Rush Hour 2" immediately reveals a clear difference.

Even making "Rush Hour 2" and "American Pie 2" pale in comparison.

So, here comes the question—

Can Garry Marshall replicate the miracle of "Pretty Woman"?

Back then, "Pretty Woman" was really too hot, with a final North American box office of $170 million; $170 million in 1990 was second only to "Ghost" in the annual North American box office rankings; and it won Julia Roberts the first Best Actress Oscar nomination of her career.

As for "The Princess Diaries," let's not talk about Oscar nominations for the time being; can the final North American box office of this work replicate the miracle of "Pretty Woman"?

At least for now, there is still hope—

Those audiences who walked into the cinema because of "The New York Times" and because of Anson gave positive feedback, undoubtedly sparking heated discussions again.

From Nicholas's writing, Anson's edges and colors are particularly distinct; obviously, this is a young actor with an unusually rich and profound spiritual world; but in the movie, the role limits his development.

"The Princess Diaries" does not focus on him; however, Anson still endows the character with a soul in his own way, and expands the possibilities—

Other scenes, for the time being, are generally considered to be the credit of the director or editor, but the scene of wearing a mask left a deep impression.

From the eyes to the actions to the temperament, it was an instant stunner, not only making Michael complete, but also making the interaction arc between Michael and Mia fuller, and more importantly, making the character of Mia even richer, which made the audience recall the interview in "The New York Times."

Anson is searching and exploring, trying to explore the space between appearance and role, injecting soul into the performance with his own colors.

So, in "The Princess Diaries," the most touching moment is actually when Anson covers his cheeks, giving the film more room for interpretation.

From reality to film, from film to reality, this is undoubtedly a pleasure.

Of course, it's not all one-sided praise, and it's not everyone who likes it; after all, "The Princess Diaries" has a particularly clear market positioning and is not suitable for everyone; but the current level of discussion is enough.

Following the premiere and "The New York Times," the third wave of heated discussion is coming again, which also makes "The Princess Diaries" always stand at the forefront.

Then, Disney is taking action—

They made an unbelievable move, launching a brand new trailer, this time a music video version, and the protagonist is none other than Anson.

Or rather, Michael played by Anson.

The trailer features Michael's band as the protagonist, editing their rehearsal footage as a video, producing a music video of "She's So Lovely," showing the quirky footage of Michael, Mia, Lily and other characters, matching the lyrics of "She's So Lovely," alternatively interpreting the adjective lovely.

Moreover, the most special thing is that Disney is not promoting in the way of promoting the movie, but is promoting with the debut single of the new punk band Hawaiian Pizza, including MTV channels and other comprehensive promotion.

Anson said he was completely unaware of this—

How could he not know that he debuted as a singer?

The magical thing is that the song "She's So Lovely" unexpectedly received widespread love, and unbelievably received countless on-demand requests in major cinemas, and for a while, it was unclear whether it was actually happening or whether Disney was manipulating it themselves.

But.

Perhaps what Disney themselves did not expect was that "She's So Lovely" unbelievably broke into the Billboard charts, although the ranking is not high, temporarily ranked ninety-sixth on the singles chart, barely making it into the top 100 hot songs; but Disney also has a confusion, should they release the movie soundtrack?

This is not in the plan.

It is a routine for Disney movies to release soundtracks, which is not surprising, but this time "The Princess Diaries" did not arrange it; but this matter is not in a hurry to discuss for the time being, at least Disney took the first step:

Increase the number of theaters showing the film.