Made in Hollywood

In the first three days of the first weekend, "The Da Vinci Code" sold an eye-catching result of 77.07 million US dollars in North America, occupying the first position in the North American box office chart with an absolute advantage, and "Iron Man", which entered the fourth week of screening, continued Maintaining a stable and healthy downward trend, it grabbed $17.82 million this weekend, ranking second in the North American box office chart.

However, there is a huge difference between the two films in terms of audience reputation. The audience rating of "The Da Vinci Code" is only 77%, and the audience rating is B. Even if "Iron Man" is released for four weeks, the audience's praise rate is still high. As high as 87%, the audience rating is firmly maintained at A+.

Different audience word-of-mouth often represent hugely different follow-up market trends.

Although "Iron Man" has passed the most popular screening stage, its trend has been stable. So far, the North American box office has accumulated a total of 323.2 million US dollars. No matter what happens later, it has become the big winner of this summer season.

After consuming the enthusiasm of fans of the original novel, "The Da Vinci Code" plummeted at the weekday box office on Monday, raking in just over $5 million in a single day, which is definitely not good news for Sony Columbia Pictures.

However, it is not difficult for the film to recover the cost through the box office. Sony Columbia Pictures, which has been sinking for a long time, finally found a new profit point after the "Spider-Man" series.

Of course, Sony Columbia Pictures will not give up this rare project easily. They immediately turned their attention to "Angels and Demons", which is known as the prequel of "The Da Vinci Code", and intend to continue to invite Tom Hanks to star in this series.

Subsequently, there was a news in Hollywood that Tom Hanks' team offered Sony Columbia Pictures an exorbitant price, and Big Tom demanded 40% of all profits from the film.

That's a sky-high contract, counting all the directors, actors, and producers in Hollywood history. There has never been such an astronomical contract, and if Sony Entertainment does sign Tom Hanks, it will undoubtedly open a new page in Hollywood.

But everyone knows that this is just Tom Hanks and Eno Martin's bidding in the sky, but even so, the price that has been shouted shocked everyone's attention.

No matter how Sony Columbia Pictures negotiated with Tom Hanks and CAA's Eno Martin. It will not change the relatively weak performance of the North American box office after the first weekend of "The Da Vinci Code".

The North American box office only broke the $100 million mark when the film was released for a full week. Although it is a result worth celebrating for an ordinary film, it is not for The Da Vinci Code, the best-selling book in the United States. novel, and Sony Entertainment's expectations. Still looks a little bland.

The first week of release is very important for "The Da Vinci Code". "Iron Man" has passed the hottest stage, and there are no major production films released during the same period. These seven days are the time when it can run wild in the market. And next week is about to usher in an important schedule in North America - Memorial Day.

The finale of an already successful superhero franchise is set to hit theaters at this time.

The X-Men series produced and distributed by Twentieth Century Fox ushered in the end of the trilogy.

Of course, for someone like Duke, who is relatively close to Twentieth Century Fox and News Corp., the so-called end is just the end of a phase.

Twentieth Century Fox saw the X-Men's inadequacies, and not only followed up with a separate "Wolverine" movie. There are also plans to reboot the series, replacing older cast members such as Ian McLean with a younger cast.

at the same time. Affected by Marvel's grand plan, they are also preparing to split the important characters of "X-Men" individually and then combine them to fight.

This is definitely not good news for Marvel Comics. It means that for a very long time, they will not even think about taking back the film rights of the "X-Men" series.

Duke is also very clear about this. Although he is the largest shareholder of Marvel Comics, he also knows that not all good things in this world should belong to him for granted.

The superheroes who sold the copyright of Marvel Comics at the beginning, except for characters like the Hulk who are not very flattering on the big screen, others like Spider-Man, X-Men and Fantastic Four, want to take back the film copyright, in the other side. It is basically impossible without voluntary breach of contract.

Especially the X-Men, which is nothing short of a cash cow for Twentieth Century Fox.

Foreshadowing by the first two works, "X-Men 3: The Last Stand" earned $102.75 million in North America in its first weekend. If you count the Memorial Day holiday on Monday, the film received a total of $100 million during the holiday. $22.86 million.

The big sales of "X-Men 3: The Last Stand" also squeezed the living space of other films, especially "The Da Vinci Code". The box office of Sony Columbia Pictures' next weekend fell by 58%. , only made $32.37 million.

Undoubtedly, X-Men: The Last Stand and The Da Vinci Code occupy the top two spots in the North American box office charts, with Iron Man in third place.

According to outside estimates, the three-day box office of "Iron Man" in its fifth weekend will inevitably drop to the $10 million mark, but the film's good audience reputation has played a role, and it will eventually continue to make steady progress with $10.51 million.

At the end of the hot May schedule, "Iron Man" is the biggest winner so far. The North American box office has accumulated a total of 347.55 million US dollars, and the global box office has successfully exceeded 500 million US dollars. It is definitely a phenomenal film.

"Iron Man" has just passed. At the beginning of June, another film jointly produced by Warner Bros. and Duke Studios was officially released. The "Spartan Three Hundred Warriors" directed by Zach Snyder held a huge event in Los Angeles. Premiere.

Duke's former assistant, who has been tested by the two sequels of "The Matrix", will undoubtedly become a part of Hollywood's first-line directors if "Spartan 300" can be a great success.

This distinctive style film did not use a single location shot. It was all shot in front of the green screen in the studio, and it only took 60 days to shoot. However, the complicated post-production special effects made the film completely completed at the beginning of this year. .

And what these 300 Red Trousers bring is definitely a shocking audio-visual journey.

On the day of the premiere, a huge poster of 'Lee Olida in Hot Springs' hung on the front of Chandler Hall. Unlike the famous painting in the Louvre, the poster gave people a murderous aura. Teng Teng, the Spartan King Leonidas played by Gerard Butler, can attract a lot of people's attention just by the shape of the muscles.

"Zach is a great director and will be a great director."

In the interview area, facing the camera footage of reporters, Duke unreservedly praised the director of the film, "The last two parts of "The Matrix" have proved this, I believe "Three Hundred Spartans" will usher in a new epic style.”

Today's protagonist is someone else, Duke just said a few words and walked to the waiting area in front of the theater.

"Hi, Zach."

Finding their old friend, the two hugged gently, and Duke said, "I've seen the movie already, man, what you've done is so unexpected."

"Can I take that as a compliment?" Zach Snyder said deliberately. "It's not easy to surprise you."

However, the style of the film is really different, the kind of strong color like oil painting, can easily form a huge visual impact, especially Zach?

Since Duke was still a producer, he and Zach Snyder walked into Chandler Hall after standing with the crew for a photo.

The two chatted quietly about the recent situation as they walked.

"So people from Warner Bros. and DC Comics have approached you?" Duke asked in a low voice.

Zach Snyder nodded. "They want me to be the director of the new Superman."

"What do you mean?" Duke knew that this kind of thing should not be forced.

"I'm still very interested in Superman."

Speaking of which, Zach Snyder suddenly changed his words, "But I'm more interested in another DC comic."

Without waiting for Duke to ask, he took the initiative to say, "I want to direct 'Watchmen' first. I wonder if DC Comics and Warner Bros. are willing to give me one of their signatures."

Although the reputation of "Watchmen" in the DC system is not as loud as Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, the three giants of justice, it has a great influence on society. Warner Bros. and DC Comics have thought about this several times. When the comics were brought to the big screen, especially in the early and mid-1990s when Duke was just working with Warner Bros., the adaptation was almost officially approved.

At that time, news came out from Warners that Robin Williams would play Rorschach, Jamie Lee Curtis as Ghost, Gary Busey as comedian, and Richard Gere and Kevin Costner as well. , but the script was rewritten several times, and Warner Bros. finally shelved the filming plan.

It is said that Michael Bay also had an interest in the film, but was rejected by Warner Bros. because of his personal style.

What this manga wants to express is also too complicated, and it has actually exceeded the scope of manga and manga-modified movies.

Duke is very clear that as long as "Three Hundred Spartans" is successful, it should not be difficult for Zach Snyder to get the adaptation rights of "Watchmen".

Every director has his own ideals, and Zack Snyder is no exception. Duke is certainly not stupid enough to choose instead of Zack Snyder.

Duke just said, "Zach, I personally support you, you just need to understand that the purpose and style of the film we make is enough."

"I understand." Zach Snyder said solemnly, "This must be a commercial film." (To be continued ~^~)

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