From Flower Vase to Film Emperor in Hollywood

All along, movie companies weren't uninterested in superhero movies, but rather lacked special interest—

Superhero movies, like other types of films, weren't particularly emphasized nor particularly ignored. They overlapped somewhat with science fiction, action, and adventure movies, but never highlighted their own unique value.

In fact, movie companies don't care about genres or subject matter; the only thing they care about is profit:

They make whatever movies can earn money, and favor whatever genres are popular.

Therefore, in film history, Westerns and musicals both had golden ages, with the number and quality of works exploding, before peaking and declining, never to regain their former glory.

Superhero movies are the same.

Because of the box office failure of "Batman \u0026 Robin" in 1997, Warner Bros. shelved the adaptation rights to DC Comics. Movie companies also didn't see the advantages of superhero movies compared to other genres, and naturally, they no longer favored this type of film.

Other superhero movies couldn't get investment, so they turned to low-budget B-movies, unexpectedly carving out a niche for themselves.

Now, because of the box office success of "Spider-Man," other movie companies are eager to try, turning their attention back to the superhero movie genre. After all, it's a treasure trove of copyrights, with an inexhaustible source of adaptation material—

Who knows, maybe the next "Spider-Man" is lying in their drawer?

The market has always been like this.

"Spider-Man," even though Sony Columbia didn't launch a large-scale promotion and clearly lacked confidence in overseas markets, with the leading team headed by Anson not even going to major markets such as the UK, France, and Germany to promote it; even though the market influence of the original comic books was far from comparable to DC's three pillars, the film still performed exceptionally well in overseas markets, bringing countless good news.

After topping the weekend box office charts in over fifty countries and regions consecutively and showing incredible box office staying power, "Spider-Man's" overseas box office was fixed at over $670 million, mirroring the North American market and strongly breaking through the $600 million mark, bringing another surprise.

In comparison, "Spider-Man's" overseas box office performance wasn't as amazing, but that's only relatively speaking. Sony Columbia was already very satisfied—

$600 million in North America, $670 million overseas.

"Spider-Man's" final global box office reached a staggering $1.27 billion, becoming the fifth film in global film history to break the $1 billion mark, joining "Titanic," "Jurassic Park," "Star Wars: Episode I," and "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone."

Currently, it's temporarily behind "Titanic," occupying the second position in film history.

In other words, the second-highest-grossing film in North American film history and the second-highest-grossing film in global film history, "Spider-Man" has climbed to a new height, which was definitely a situation that Sony Columbia hadn't anticipated.

Amazing, shocking, explosive.

From the moment "Spider-Man" landed in theaters, the global film market was swept into a storm, and the bustling discussions never stopped.

Thinking carefully, the biggest contributors to the success of "Jurassic Park" were the dinosaurs, the contributors to "Star Wars: Episode I" were the series' trilogy, the contributor to "Harry Potter" was the magical world, and the contributors to "Titanic" were Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.

So, what about "Spider-Man"?

Anson Wood.

After repeated consideration, the final answer was the same, consistent with "Titanic," falling on the male lead.

Now thinking about it, "Spider-Man" and "Titanic" are vastly different works, but the success behind the two works has surprising similarities, and the present situation is the same, with the fully ignited craze falling entirely on the male lead.

Thus, like Leonardo, Anson became everyone's darling.

"Anson, an overnight global sensation."

"New Dream Lover: Anson Wood."

"The First Love of Countless Girls: Anson."

"From the rock band lead singer in 'The Princess Diaries' to the teenage superhero in 'Spider-Man,' Anson is becoming a new generation idol."

"Behind the superhero suit, a teenager not yet nineteen years old."

"Who can resist Anson Wood?"

"Instant Fame! Hollywood Opens Its Doors to Anson."

Anson, Anson, and more Anson—

Everywhere, in every corner, all were Anson's name and face.

In Hollywood, there's never a shortage of legendary stories of overnight success. Not to mention, this summer's "Star Wars: Episode II"'s Hayden and "Spider-Man"'s Anson jointly dominated the charts, igniting the summer.

Although the reviews and box office of "Star Wars: Episode II" were lower than expected, as mentioned earlier, any actor who can star in the "Star Wars" series will stand in the spotlight.

Hayden is the same. This handsome Canadian young actor also conquered the hearts of countless girls. His face appeared on countless magazines, newspapers, television programs, and website pages.

However, compared to Anson, it's like a small wizard meeting a great one.

Anson's reference object should be Leonardo after "Titanic," so popular that everyone knows him in the streets and alleys.

"American Weekly's" headline isn't exaggerated at all:

"Everyone Craves a Role for Anson."

However, the interesting thing is:

Every now and then, you can hear rumors of Hayden being recognized by passersby in the streets, gas stations, supermarkets, and coffee shops, even encountering street blockades.

But not Anson.

Anson is like… disappearing from the North American continent, or hiding in the remote areas of Alaska. Clearly, his face is everywhere, but no one can run into him on the street, which is indeed puzzling.

Thinking back, after "Spider-Man" was released, Anson even went to Century City AMC with Sam to watch the movie. From last year's "New York Times" to "Vogue" magazine, he always rejected mystery and emphasized authenticity, but now that he's exploded in popularity, he suddenly disappeared. What's going on?

Could it be that he's saying one thing and doing another?

This… doesn't seem surprising.

Hollywood, the Vanity Fair, everything is packaging, everything is an illusion, everything is a carefully calculated setting, like a perfect product, presenting the appearance that consumers want to see and willingly paying for.

Who knows, maybe Anson used to think he should share his authenticity, but after truly succeeding, he realized what it meant, couldn't help but regret it, and quickly retreated into his turtle shell, refusing to show any of his true self.

Such things are really too normal in Hollywood.

It doesn't matter, precisely because of this, the Vanity Fair needs such a profession—

Paparazzi.

In an instant, all the paparazzi in Los Angeles took action, mobilizing resources and launching informants, trying to dig out Anson's whereabouts.

However, all indications prove that Anson hasn't left Los Angeles at all, which means that Anson has been hiding under their noses!

Is this possible?