From Flower Vase to Film Emperor in Hollywood

May 3rd, Friday.

"Spider-Man" officially premiered nationwide, kicking off the summer blockbuster season of 2002.

The movie was released in 3,615 theaters, making it the second-largest wide release in North American film market history, second only to last year's summer hit "Shrek." Without a doubt, this represents the peak level of distribution resources for Hollywood film companies.

It demonstrates Sony Columbia's all-in conviction.

Meanwhile, the entire Hollywood machine was running at full speed.

Early in the morning, Jess Herold was still struggling with his morning grumpiness, coupled with the absurd and ridiculous assignment, putting him in a low mood. He stormed out of his boss's office, and immediately saw Alexander Port, looking just as pitiful, standing in front with a camera in hand.

Jess was stunned. "Where are the others?"

Alexander gave an awkward smile, raised his right hand to show off his bicep, striking a Popeye pose. "I'm the whole team."

Jess: … …

Because it was so absurd, Jess couldn't help but laugh out loud. The anger had already reached his chest, but he swallowed it down in the end.

At this moment, they were at the Fox TV morning news department —

Note, morning news, not entertainment news, but the department responsible for delivering all news every morning, focusing on serious news such as politics, society, economics, and crime; of course, occasionally including entertainment news.

The morning news competition is fierce, with NBC's "Today Show" and ABC's "Good Morning America" fighting each other for decades, with one dominating the other in turns; a series of morning talk shows have formed their own faction, with a stable viewership for many years.

In this, Fox TV survives by finding a niche, gradually exploring a path of creating more explosive, gossipy, and eye-catching news.

If it causes controversy?

That's even better! They couldn't ask for more!

Because of this, Fox TV often reports news in an unconventional way, not only boldly, but sometimes even thrillingly.

Today is no exception—

Fox TV sensed something. They believed that this year's summer season might be earth-shattering, just like the release of "Titanic."

"Spider-Man" would either detonate the box office completely, or be a catastrophic flop. Whether it was the former or the latter, they shouldn't miss the opportunity to be in the front row to witness history. Having missed witnessing the moment when "Titanic" created history, they shouldn't easily miss it again.

So, in a moment of inspiration, they came up with an idea:

Go to the movie theaters and interview the audiences who bought tickets to enter the theater first thing on Friday.

This was a terrible idea. Just look at the deserted atmosphere where no one was willing to take on the task, otherwise it wouldn't have fallen on the head of Jess, this unlucky guy.

Jess knew that it must be because he broke into Arnold Schwarzenegger's election office last time, closely questioning the Hollywood action superstar about some policies he was preparing to run for Governor of California, and ended up cornering Arnold into an embarrassing situation, which was not conducive to his election image.

Although the TV station didn't say it, they still had to give Arnold an explanation.

Thus—

Discard the grindstone after the donkey is dead!

The TV station obviously liked the news, but couldn't publicly admit it, and had to make him the scapegoat. Jess really just laughed.

Jess certainly knew Fox TV's consistent approach of trying to stand out, but the idea of interviewing moviegoers on Friday morning was really too stupid.

Not targeting "Spider-Man" in particular, Jess was also looking forward to the movie doing well. He had seen all the heated discussions sparked by the media reviews in the past twenty-four hours, which really made people full of expectations for the box office prospects.

The real focus was:

Interviewing the premiere was understandable, but Friday morning showings were just awkward—

Not the midnight sneak previews on Thursday night, nor the prime time slots on Friday or Saturday night, an awkward time with no reference value.

Even with a summer box office bomb, no one would rush to the movie theater on Friday morning. Since they had waited so long, they might as well wait a little longer and find a more suitable time.

Jess strongly suspected that when they arrived at the movie theater, there might only be a few people there, and then it would be a real train wreck.

Otherwise, how could those vampires in the TV station who swarmed at the slightest hint of news avoid it? Not to mention interviewing reporters, even the filming team avoided it, and in the end, only two unlucky guys were left to take the blame.

Damn it!

Jess secretly told himself that completing a bad task also meant that he could choose topics according to his own wishes next time. Everything was a deal.

Jess also had a headache. His temples began to throb violently. Going to any movie theater at this time would probably be about the same. He let out a long breath. "AMC Century City, maybe."

At least, there was more traffic there, and it was conveniently located near UCLA and USC. If young people who didn't need to work on Friday wanted to go to the movie theater early in the morning, that would be an option.

Hurriedly, Jess set off with Alexander.

… …

Take a deep breath, take another deep breath.

However!

Blair still couldn't control her excitement. Just imagining it in her mind, her wildly beating heart seemed to be about to jump out of her chest.

Finally, she had finally waited. Although it was only less than forty-eight hours, this wait seemed like it had lasted for centuries.

Turning her head, Blair saw Karen. The eyes of both of them were shining. Karen let out a startling scream without warning.

Ah, ah, ah!

Blair was stunned. Following Karen's gaze, she couldn't control the scream that she had been trying to hold back, and screamed along with Karen—

Life-size standee.

One-to-one size, perfectly replicating Anson's slender figure and perfect proportions, with Spider-Man on the left and Peter Parker with a backpack on the right.

How could they not be excited?

Not only Blair and Karen, but a small line had already formed in front of the standee, all girls, waiting to take photos.

Even just a standee was full of charm, and definitely not to be missed.

Karen looked at Blair, "I told you, I told you, we should have stayed! Ah, ah, ah!"

Originally, after the premiere, they should have returned to New York to continue their studies. Anyway, the movie would also be released in New York, and watching it there would be more immersive, since the movie was set in New York; but Karen was reluctant to leave, thinking that since they had already come to Los Angeles, it would be a pity to leave after just attending the premiere, so they might as well stay here for a few more days to travel.

After all, they had already come all the way here.

Blair agreed.

Sure enough, this was a surprise, an absolute surprise. They didn't even need to wait to enter the movie theater to see the movie. Happiness had already begun to bubble in their minds.