Hollywood Drawing

Early on Friday morning, there were continuously packed theaters, not just the one in downtown Los Angeles, but the same drama was playing out in almost all of North America. With the massive growth in the number of theaters in North America since the 1990s, similar hot scenes have not happened for a long time.

Today is not a day off. Strictly speaking, the day the film is released is Friday. Eighty percent of young movie fans need to work, which further reflects the persuasiveness of such a hot scene.

The crew, who had already boarded the plane to catch up on some sleep, had no idea what impact their film had, but in the CEO's office at the Warner Tower in Burbank, the media capital, Jeff Robinoff couldn't hide the smile on his face. Yes, I just hung up the phone.

"How's it going? Is it good news?" Bruce Rosenblum, who was sitting opposite the desk clerk, was also full of excitement and stared at the other person and asked.

"The investigators we sent to various places have all called the company back, and the situation is the same. It's full, full, full!" He shook his fist vigorously, and Jeff Robinov straightened his face and looked serious. The distribution director across the table reminded: "I estimate that before get off work today, the three major theater companies will call you and ask for more movie copies, so be sure to prepare them!"

"Don't worry, everything is ready."

This is Wayne's film. Although the theater alliance, led by the three major theater companies, has opened a large-scale public screening of 3,700 theaters, in the eyes of Warner Brothers, it is obviously not enough. Therefore, the distribution department started A thousand extra copies of the film were developed and prepared in preparation for the film's first weekend breakout.

When he got the box office numbers for last night's advance screening early this morning, Bruce Rosenblum knew that all the preparations he had made would not go to waste.

There are 3,300 North American advance venues, with an average attendance rate of over 75%. This number is terrifying. This is the attendance rate achieved on a weekday night on Thursday!

"The advance box office is over 17.2 million U.S. dollars, and the single-box box office almost exceeds 6,000 U.S. dollars." Bruce Rosenblum's voice could not suppress the excitement. "This is an achievement achieved with only one screening. It can be said that "The Dark Knight" is creating miracles as soon as it is released!"

If this situation continues to develop, both of them know that it is almost certain that the box office of a single theater on Friday will exceed 10,000 yuan. This also means that all the early publicity of Warner Brothers and Wayne is worthwhile, and the market feedback has already It cannot be described as ideal, it is simply a perfect start.

Jeff Robinoff whistled, bent down and opened the desk drawer, reached out and took out two thick cigars, and threw one casually across the table.

When both of them were leaning on their office chairs and enjoying Victory cigars, Bruce Rosenblum said: "Last night's various survey data, as well as box office figures and other statistical data, I have given Wayne this morning The assistant has sent an email, and when they get there, they will probably be shocked by these statistics, haha."

"Yeah, if nothing else, before "Jurassic Park 2" is released." Jeff Robinov turned around from behind his desk, walked to the window and looked out at the media capital, holding a cigar in his mouth He opened his hands and made a gesture of embracing the world. "The entire North American theatrical market will be owned by The Dark Knight, all of it!"

No one dares to underestimate Steven Spielberg. Even when "The Dark Knight" has a perfect start, no one dares to underestimate the good old guy. Even though Wayne has been known as a box office hit since his debut, it has not damaged the strong confidence of insiders in the Jewish old man.

After all, the leader of the Big Three of DreamWorks has used too many box office miracles to prove the profitability of his films in the past few years.

"Who wins and who loses has to compete to know." On the contrary, although Bruce Rosenblum also knows the power of Steven Spielberg, he obviously has more confidence in Wayne. "We will increase the promotion of the film, and I will let Batman's logo hang all over the streets of North America!"

"Go for it."

Last night's advance box office numbers, overwhelming word-of-mouth from fans, and the good news he continued to receive this morning also gave Jeff Robinoff a lot of confidence. He turned around sharply and looked at Warner Bros.'s distribution director loudly. said:

"Let's go ahead and do everything we can to spread the information about "The Dark Knight" to the ears of every potential movie fan! After the first day's box office comes out, I will propose to the board of directors tomorrow to add two additional dates for the film. Ten million dollars in advocacy funding! Go for it, Bruce."

The opening momentum of "The Dark Knight" is really too good, so good that it is unbelievable. The entire Warner Bros. and even the entire Hollywood know that this second Batman movie will definitely have a box office explosion, but I am afraid that no one I didn't expect it to explode so violently from the beginning.

It can be said that early on Friday morning, as soon as the film appeared in the theater market, the theaters showing "The Dark Knight" were full and people lined up to buy tickets. This film completely ignored the impact of working days. , even more ignoring the so-called market rules. Only half a day has passed, and it is already difficult to get a ticket in the cinema.

"Sorry, madam, the latest screening of "The Dark Knight" will not be available until after five o'clock in the afternoon!!"

The numb ticket sales staff said the same words to the girl in front of him countless times.

"What?!" The girl obviously didn't expect it. She raised her wrist and looked at the time. It was just after lunch time. If she waited until after five o'clock in the afternoon, wouldn't it take more than four hours? "God, can you help me? I'm just afraid that I won't be able to buy a ticket to watch it tomorrow, so I asked for leave to watch "The Dark Knight". Come on, don't make me wait so long! Please." "I'm sorry, ma'am, you can Wait for a while in the lobby." The conductor was also helpless. A similar situation had started before lunch, and he took the trouble to explain. "There may be fans who cancel their tickets midway. However, I recommend that you buy the show at 5:15, otherwise you may have to buy the show after 9:00 pm after a while!"

"Okay, give me a ticket for 5:15, thank you." As soon as the girl heard this, she knew that it was unrealistic to wait for someone to refund the ticket midway, because he had already asked before he came in, and the scalpers at the door of the theater didn't have any. ticket.

Holding the movie ticket in her hand, she turned around and considered whether to go home and rest for a while. She accidentally looked at the ticket entrance and her eyes froze.

There were two straight lines lined up there, and moviegoers checked in in an orderly manner under the command of a girl and a black boy wearing a security uniform. This kind of scene was not strange. What shocked her was that these people were all wearing uniform T-shirts and baseball caps.

The pure black T-shirt is very eye-catching, with a huge bat printed on the front and a line of letters on the back: "Wayne Greenberg die-hard movie fan!" The baseball cap is also very distinctive, with two letters on it: DC.

"Excuse me."

The girl who was about to leave paused, turned around and asked the ticket sales staff again: "Did those people also book tickets in advance?"

The staff member tried his best to stretch his head and take a look, with a look of enlightenment on his face. "You're talking about Schroeder and Daisy, right? They are the leaders of the Wayne fan organization. They don't need to buy tickets. They have three movie theaters, which were booked two weeks ago. Pay attention, what they have The movie ticket you use is different from the one in your hand.”

As the staff explained, she realized that it turned out that those movie fans wearing uniform clothes had been watching movies in an orderly manner since the theater opened in the morning. After one scene, the crowd in the same attire will come again. This process has lasted for half a day and will continue until the last movie in the theater ends in the evening.

The same interests and hobbies mean that we have a common language. Organized and unified movie watching, you don’t have to grab those sought-after movie tickets yourself. The most important thing is that these people are wearing the same commemorative T-shirts and the same commemorative baseball caps, looking at the fans who look at them with envy. , but the girl is not the only one, the fans waiting in the lobby lounge area almost all have the same look.

With her heart beating faster than her heartbeat, the girl clutched the movie ticket, walked towards the busy black man with curious eyes, raised her hand and patted him on the back.

"Hello, I'm Noah, Noah Francis." Seeing the black boy turn around, she directly introduced herself, and then pointed to the clothes and hat on the other person's body. "I was attracted by these, you guys are so cool!"

"Uh...thank you." Schroeder looked at the cheerful white girl. He was sure that he did not see common discrimination in her eyes, which made him put on his warm smile. Showing two rows of white teeth. "Noah, what's wrong?"

"You guys are so cool. What do I need to do if I want to join you?" The girl, with an approachable smile, reached out and touched the other person's T-shirt again without any pretense, and said with envy: "If I join you, I can When we watch a movie together, we can also have these goodies that are not available in the market, right?"

"Of course." Schroeder nodded subconsciously, and then reacted and said: "I mean, of course you can have these if you join us. Do you know IMDB? We are all Wayne's die-hard fans, and we all use this online movie I know you from the database, over there."

As he spoke, he pointed at Daisy, who was chatting with the ticket inspector not far away. "It's that girl who started to organize everyone together a few years ago. Because everyone is a die-hard fan of Wayne's movies, we can usually talk to each other. If you want to join, the prerequisite is that you are Wayne's Movie fan?"

"yes!"

The girl waved her arms excitedly, nodding her head like a chicken pecking at rice, and did not forget to show off the movie ticket she had just bought. "I'm a fan of Wayne's movies. I've watched every one of his movies more than once. I also took time off today to watch "The Dark Knight." I want to join you. What do I need to do? When can you give me a set of clothes? And hats? Are there other benefits our organization has? Have you met Wayne in person?"

Facing the enthusiastic and cheerful girl who kept asking questions, Schroeder smiled and raised his hands in a gesture of surrender. "Okay, come with me, I'll take you to see Daisy, and you can ask her the rest."

At the same time, he secretly screamed with joy. Now this fan organization is expanding at a terrifying speed. Even though the threshold for joining the organization has become higher, people are still joining them.

Schroeder believes that if things continue like this, members in Los Angeles alone may have to book two separate theaters next time they wait for Wayne's new movie to be released. He has grown with the fan organization, and every time he joins, , can give him an unparalleled sense of accomplishment.

It is not just this theater, nor just Los Angeles, that is caught up in the movie-watching frenzy that it is hard to get a ticket. This has become a common phenomenon. All of North America seems to have fallen into some kind of fanaticism. This Such emotions shocked the crew members led by Wayne as soon as they got off the plane!