From Flower Vase to Film Emperor in Hollywood

Twentieth Century Fox was in a bit of a panic, a flurry of frantic activity —

What to do?

To this, Adam Scott said: Now you know the panic and embarrassment I felt when I saw Anson recording the 'Tonight Show,' right?

Now it's someone else's turn to taste the sharpness of Anson's unconventional approach, haha!

Honestly, Twentieth Century Fox was caught completely off guard:

Such a situation had truly never occurred before.

However.

Before 'Star Wars: Episode II' could respond, the second wave of actions from the 'Spider-Man' crew arrived, intensifying the firepower.

On one side, audiences saw James and his Rotten Bunch companions collectively heading to the cinema to watch 'Star Wars: Episode II'.

On the other side, audiences saw Kristen and a group of her girlfriends taking photos in front of the poster with 'Star Wars: Episode II' ticket stubs.

Subsequently, on Saturday morning, Anson issued a positive call to action during a phone interview with NBC's flagship morning program, 'Today'.

"Please everyone, go to the cinema."

"We have 'Spider-Man', we have 'Star Wars', we also have 'Unfaithful', and a large batch of excellent films about to enter theaters, Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise's collaboration 'Minority Report' is also about to be released."

"Hey, this summer, trust me, the cinema is absolutely worth visiting."

Generous and composed, engaging in witty conversation —

Even promoting upcoming films, not just those currently showing.

Here, there is a detail: 'Minority Report' is a work produced and distributed by Twentieth Century Fox.

In other words, Anson has already actively promoted two of Twentieth Century Fox's works, and if Twentieth Century Fox remains indifferent, then it really wouldn't make sense.

Immediately after, someone finally took action —

Also on Saturday, Anson's fans were the first to respond to their idol's call.

This matter is common in the social network era, people are used to sharing fragments of their lives, but it was not common in 2002.

Gloria and Blair coincidentally showed off their ticket stubs in the Yahoo community, including 'Spider-Man' and 'Star Wars: Episode II', proving they joined the summer blockbuster craze in this way, and a brand new trend spread vigorously among young people.

Fashionable, trendy.

This wave of showing off ticket stubs became the most fashionable activity in the summer of 2002, sweeping across the entire North American continent.

Vast and mighty, vigorous and dramatic.

However, the 'Star Wars: Episode II' crew… still took no action.

Slow. Sluggish. Lagging. Clumsy.

This cannot be blamed on Twentieth Century Fox, after all, such a thing had never happened before, even breaking market rules, facing a completely new situation without warning, especially since it also involved the 'Star Wars' crew, they were also a bit panicked, it wasn't that they didn't want to respond, but they didn't know how to respond —

Or to be more precise, unable to respond according to plan.

Twentieth Century Fox understood all those principles, they realized immediately that they should respond positively, the most direct approach would be to call on the 'Star Wars: Episode II' crew to also show off their ticket stubs, demonstrating a dignified and fair competitive attitude, and dancing a duet with the 'Spider-Man' crew.

However.

George Lucas refused, "pandering to the public," he disdained and was unwilling to cooperate with such vulgar and ridiculous promotional activities.

Natalie and Ewan expressed concern, if they also showed off their ticket stubs, would it mean they were being led by the nose by the 'Spider-Man' crew, and redirecting the 'Star Wars' audience to 'Spider-Man'?

But the real reason was still concern that the actors' personal image might become vulgar.

Twentieth Century Fox:…

Hayden was willing to cooperate, but relying solely on one Hayden obviously couldn't match the intensity and popularity of the 'Spider-Man' crew.

So, for a while, the crew didn't keep up with the rhythm, and Twentieth Century Fox was unusually silent —

This also made them the target of talk show jokes, all saying that the 'Star Wars' crew, as the number one IP in North America, not only lacked a sense of humor, but also had a narrow mind and short-sighted vision.

Pressure, layer upon layer, bore down.

In such a situation, the ardent fans of the 'Star Wars' series were the first to take action: to return the favor.

Since Anson took the lead in buying tickets to support 'Star Wars: Episode II', extending an olive branch, they didn't mind buying a movie ticket to reciprocate Anson's promotion.

After all, 'Star Wars: Episode I' is second on the North American and global box office charts, they had such confidence and such a broad mind to welcome any challenge.

Undoubtedly, this was an unprecedented first in the North American film market, even professionals couldn't determine what consequences Anson's move would bring, and what subsequent impact it would have on the box office performance of the two films.

Putting aside everything else, at least in the eyes of Hollywood insiders and irrelevant onlookers, Anson greatly increased his score:

Truly demonstrating the magnanimity and demeanor of a superstar, in a situation where 'Spider-Man' had continuously created box office history records and had the potential to continue breaking more records, he didn't suppress his opponent for his own selfish gains, but instead advocated fair competition and mutual win-win, this quality was truly admirable.

It's still unknown how 'Star Wars' fanatics view Anson, but what is certain is that the goodwill of passersby is soaring.

The so-called going mainstream, the real power has only just begun.

Previously, 'Spider-Man' being able to write records in the box office had a series of reasons, but in essence, the target audience was still the group that loved "lone hero-style Hollywood action movies", especially triggering widespread resonance among teenagers, the scope of radiation was not able to further expand.

Now, it's different.

Those groups who are not interested in hero movies, action movies, campus movies, etc., began to turn their attention to the cinema because of this wave of heated discussions, and began to pay attention to 'Spider-Man' and 'Star Wars: Episode II'.

This is a very large group, even if only 1% of the people are mobilized to actually buy tickets and enter the cinema, the box office can usher in a wave of explosion —

Just like 'Titanic' back then.

Hot topic. Focus. Attention.

For a time, the topic on the streets revolved around 'Star Wars: Episode II', which landed in major theaters this week, but in the end, it miraculously returned to 'Spider-Man'!

This scene was definitely something people hadn't anticipated, the summer blockbuster season of 2002 was escalating and dazzling, the film market had truly returned!

Friday, Saturday, Sunday, time slipped away in the blink of an eye, Twentieth Century Fox hadn't had time to respond to the sudden actions of the 'Spider-Man' crew, and the opening weekend had already ended, tens of millions of eyes gathered for the first time, closely watching this week's North American film box office chart —

The degree of attention, strongly breaking the charts, reaching an unbelievable height.