I’m in Hollywood - Chapter 829

[Chapter 821: First Weekend Box Office]

As a very common entertainment activity in life, Americans have a very mature movie-watching mentality. They only choose to watch movies based on their personal hobbies and movie reputation.

The key factor in the success or failure of a movie at the box office is always the quality of the movie, which has little to do with whether the production budget is huge. Throat Island”, “Future Water World” and other films, despite spending jaw-dropping production budgets, still suffered from box office fiasco.

Before the release of “Titanic”, although there was no lack of positive comments, the media was almost one-sided about the film’s box office prospects, which subtly created a feeling in the public’s mind that this is another movie as worthless as “Future Water World”. A latent impression of an expensive, crappy movie to watch.

The $1.56 million midnight opening is only one-third the size of last month’s “Mission: Impossible 2” and even less than Paramount’s “Star Trek: First Contact” a week earlier.

There is no doubt that the tepid pre-screening word-of-mouth and the lengthy length of the film have prevented most interested audiences from braving the deep winter cold and staying in a midnight movie theater for three hours.

However, the next day, although there was no dramatic reversal in the media’s reputation for “Titanic”, the audience who were interested in the film gradually began to enter the cinema.

Manhattan, New York.

At eight o’clock in the evening, Simon Peck lined up in the box office of the Paris Cinema on 58th Street near Central Park, listening to the crowd around him who also came to watch the movie whispering about the latest release.

Simon Peck is not a movie fan, he doesn’t even like watching movies very much, or rather, doesn’t have that time.

As a professional elite who just jumped to Lehman Brothers as a financial analyst, he came from a low-level family in the United States. In order to get rid of his poor life, he devoted almost all his energy to his studies and work these years, even at this time, because Colombian businessmen He also has more than 30,000 US dollars in student loans from the bank.

However, after jumping from the original private investment company and taking a position with an annual salary of $68,000 at Lehman Brothers, the pressure on him has finally eased over the years. A few months ago, he was introduced by a friend. A good girlfriend named Charlotte Davis, who was pulled over today by this girlfriend who likes to watch movies.

When it was his turn, Simon Peck handed over the change, asked the conductor for a movie ticket for “Titanic”, turned and walked towards his waving girlfriend.

“Hey baby, I just heard people talk about it, this movie doesn’t seem to be that good, and it’s too long, three hours,” Simon Peck raised to Charlotte, who was holding two buckets of popcorn. With the movie ticket in hand, he said with a bit of exhortation.

Charlotte Davies also doesn’t like disaster movies, but who makes this a movie that Eric Williams strongly supports.

That chance encounter was the deepest little secret in the hearts of Charlotte and her best friend Alice, and neither of the two girls easily told others.

However, because of the chance encounter that year, the two of them will always subconsciously pay attention to Eric’s various trends in Hollywood, and will also subconsciously support the films that Eric values. So far, she has not been disappointed, so, occasionally Disappointment once is a good experience.

Just in time for the Christmas holidays, Alice returns to Colorado to spend Christmas with her parents, and Charlotte can only watch the movie with her new boyfriend.

At this moment, listening to Simon Peck’s words, Charlotte rolled her eyes slightly, with a smile on the corner of her mouth, and asked, “Then, what movie do you think we should watch?”

Simon Peck opened his mouth subconsciously. , but didn’t name any movie for a while. Charlotte knew that her new boyfriend was almost a movie idiot. He laughed, ignoring his embarrassment, and stuffed a bucket of popcorn into his arms. , said: “Okay, let’s go in, it’s about to start.”

Although it was prime time, and it was the first day of the release of “Titanic”, the theater still seemed a little deserted, and it could accommodate a hundred people for the screening. In the end, the hall was only less than half seated. Charlotte took her movie idiot boyfriend to choose a seat and sat down. The surrounding audience were chatting softly. They could also hear a pair of middle school students in the front row. While complaining to his boyfriend that he shouldn’t have chosen this movie, the boy seems to be a die-hard “Terminator” fan, and when talking to the girl, he said that he was just supporting his idol.

Charlotte can imagine that most of the audience in the screening hall at this time was either to support a big director like Cameron, or because of the $215 million investment in the film, or simply because of the overwhelming publicity of the Firefly Group. I just chose this movie. Maybe, the people who are really interested in the movie are not even one-third.

Most movie theaters have a fifteen-minute trailer before showing the feature film.

But it may be because of the long duration of “Titanic” itself, this time the trailer is only five minutes, and the animated logo of the firefly girl releasing fireflies soon appeared on the screen.

The film begins with treasure-hunting explorer Brock Lovett’s scavenger hunt for the Titanic, and most viewers are immediately aware that the film uses flashbacks.

Westerners generally have a very strong treasure hunt complex. Therefore, this plot did not arouse too many people’s disgust. Most people in the screening hall watched it with relish, and almost no one thought this plot was redundant.

The grey-haired old Rose appeared on the treasure hunt boat and recalled the long-cherished past. When the Titanic appeared in the port of Southampton, England, everyone let out a faint exclamation. .

Simon Peck, who didn’t expect any expectations and was just spending time with his girlfriend, could not help straightening his back at this time, and said in surprise: “Is this true, it’s too surprising, I don’t know how it was made. Charlotte

was

very satisfied with Simon Peck’s response, and explained with a smile: “It is said that James Cameron completely restored the Titanic model on the movie set in a one-to-one ratio.”

Looking at the busy scene of Southampton port perfectly restored by James Cameron on the screen, Simon Peck couldn’t help shaking his head and sighing: “No wonder it will cost 215 million US dollars, this money is enough to build a real giant cruise ship In

the

next hour, Jack and Rose met, knew, and fell in love with each other. From the perspective of the two protagonists, the film panorama showed all aspects of the Titanic, the luxury, arrogance, ignorance, and hypocrisy of the first-class aristocrats. The simplicity, cheerfulness, humor, and optimism of the low-level civilians, although there are obviously some prejudices, also caters well to the minds of most audiences.

As a veteran movie fan, Charlotte can feel that the emotional scene between Jack and Rose is a little jerky, and many of the plot dialogues in the first half seem to be completely unnecessary. However, with Jack and Rose ‘flying’ on the bow, it is beautiful The scene, and what followed, after the night fell, the crew member on the watchtower shouted ‘Iceberg is ahead’, and the impatience in most people’s hearts disappeared again, silently waiting for the disaster to come.

Perhaps, no one has noticed that after the film’s meticulous and detailed description of the passengers of all classes on the Titanic, their emotions have been unknowingly controlled by this big ship, knowing that silence is inevitable and disasters are bound to happen. , some audiences are still subconsciously looking forward to some impossible miracles.

The miracle never happened.

After hitting the iceberg, the Titanic began to flood and entered a countdown to sinking.

The passengers in the first class began to evacuate, and the civilians in the lower class were abandoned. The kindness and tolerance, the ugliness and despicability of human nature, at the moment when the disaster came, they were displayed in front of everyone.

If the plot of the sinking of the big ship only affects everyone’s hearts, the last ten minutes of the movie will completely turn on the tear-jerking mode.

Listening to Jack’s words of encouragement to Rose to live bravely, until she closed her eyes and could no longer speak, and finally sank into the abyss quietly, everyone in the auditorium felt a piercing pain in their hearts. , even after Rose was rescued, this feeling of worry did not dissipate.

Charlotte had obviously heard the faint sobbing in the screening room, and she herself could not help but feel tears streaming from the corners of her eyes. She wiped it a few times, but she couldn’t wipe it off. She also subconsciously leaned against her boyfriend beside her. go.

Simon Peck did not speak, with red eyes, stretched out an arm and quietly wrapped his arms around his girlfriend.

Until the old Rose returned to the year in the dream, the music at the end of the film sounded, and everyone’s emotions did not ease.

After three hours, if it was another film, perhaps most of the audience’s first reaction was to get up and leave the cinema in a hurry when the end credits were raised, but this time, no one got up, everyone was silent. Sit in your seat and let Celine Dion’s sobbing voice reverberate in the theater.

It was already eleven o’clock after leaving the screening hall. The hall of the Paris cinema was still brightly lit. Charlotte leaned softly on Simon Peck. , and found that there were actually a lot of couples who were huddled together with red eyes like them. For some reason, this situation triggered some nerves in Charlotte, which made her laugh a little, and then she started again. worry.

Originally, she had no expectations for “Titanic”, and just wanted to purely support the movies that Eric values. However, at this time, she realized that the previous media criticized “Titanic”. It’s just nonsense, and while there are some flaws, there is no doubt that this is a very good movie, and it definitely shouldn’t be given the snub now, by no means.

She made up her mind, and Simon Peck drove her back to the apartment in Midtown. Although her boyfriend had some expectations in his eyes, Charlotte rejected her boyfriend’s wish to stay tonight, and sent her away with a gentle word. Lot went back to his apartment, picked up the cordless phone and dialed Alice’s best friend in Colorado, and turned on the computer in the living room.

“Hey, Alice, did you go to see “Titanic”?” The call was connected, Charlotte was operating the computer mouse, and went straight to the subject. She said a few words over there, and Charlotte couldn’t wait to say: ” No, you have to watch this movie, it’s definitely a great movie, do you remember what the New York Times said about Titanic some time ago, I can tell you now with great certainty, This is indeed a masterpiece comparable to “Gone with the Wind”.” The

two exchanged and hung up the phone, and Charlotte turned her eyes to the computer screen. She had already opened a Yahoo forum dedicated to “Titanic”. forum.

At this time, the discussion area was also hot. Unlike the unanimous criticism expressed by the media who had not even seen the film, most of the Yahoo “Titanic” discussion areas were viewers who had seen the film. The reaction of this group of people Also more realistic and intuitive.

“Oh my god, I actually cried for such a bloody movie. Oh my god, this shouldn’t be true.”

“Rose is so beautiful, why haven’t I heard of this actress named Rachel Weisz, does anyone know which movies she has acted in?”

“The ending song is really good, and, everyone, pay attention Is it there? Eric Williams wrote that song himself.”

“Bought tickets for tomorrow night, and I’m going to watch it again.”

“That shot of Jack and Rose standing on the bow is amazing. Dreamy, I really want to collect such a poster, I wonder if fireflies will come out like this in the future, um, maybe I can sneak in with my camera next time and take a picture.”

“Take two and send me one .

.”

“Take three and give me one.”

“Take four and give me one.”

“…”

Charlotte browsed the posts on the page, she was equally impressed with Jack and Rose flying in the bow Impressed by the camera, I noticed the above theme, so I tapped in, looked at the neat and uniform replies below, couldn’t help smiling, looked at the number of replies, and typed out a few words on the keyboard with fun: “Shoot” One hundred and nine, send me one.”

Exiting the topic and returning to the main page, Charlotte browsed through the posts on the previous pages. Most people praised “Titanic” and criticized some. The post of this film has aroused a one-sided crusade from fans.

After a little reasoning, Charlotte logged into her Yahoo account, opened the post page, and began to consider her own movie viewing experience. Although she did not have the talent to write movie reviews, at this time, she still wanted more people. You know, how good this movie is, no one should miss it.

“Before watching this film, I also had doubts about the three-hour length of the film, and did not understand why Firefly would let James Cameron make a commercial blockbuster like this.”

“However, at this time, I suddenly understood a lot of things. Every minute of this film is indispensable. Although the shipwreck scene only accounts for one-third of the entire film, James Cameron is very good at it. We created a perfect ‘you’re there’ atmosphere, taking us back to the epic ship of the year through an hour-long panoramic view of the various characters and scenery on board after the Titanic. Unconsciously immersed in it, so when disaster strikes, we will also more delicately and deeply experience the life and death of all the characters in the film, the joys and sorrows, which is why many people are deeply moved after watching the film.”

“The disaster scene in the second half of the film is even more impressive. Jack’s simple and sincere farewell is tear-jerking, and Rose’s gaze at the sky is even more distressing.”

“The handsome Leonardo DiCapri Ao and the beautiful Rachel Weisz have brought us very wonderful performances. They are all very good actors, especially the natural aristocratic temperament of Rachel Weisz, which makes people wonder if she was originally He came from an aristocratic British family.”

“Finally, that song, ‘My Heart Will Go On’, Celine Dion’s celestial voice is so intoxicating, I even think that Eric Williams is just for this song. , and spared no effort to support James Cameron’s lavish budget, creating a perfect, sad dream.”

“For this film, I can’t give more praise, I just sincerely hope that everyone can give up the media before. The prejudice caused to this movie, walk into the movie theater, trust me, you will never be disappointed.”

Checked the general, clicked to send the post, Charlotte refreshed it several times, and soon a series of echoing replies appeared under the subject. .

At this time, the entire United States was deeply fascinated by “Titanic” after watching it and couldn’t wait to recommend it to her. There are not many fans who have promoted it and recommended it to those around them.

With the large-scale release of “Titanic”, a large number of North American media no longer grasped the topic of the film’s high budget, but turned their attention to the quality of the film itself.

While the film spread by word of mouth among fans who have watched it, the film’s reputation has also begun to pick up.

“First of all, I have to admit that I went to see this movie with a strong prejudice. I always felt that Hollywood has gone too far in investing in big-budget movies. Although after watching this movie, I still insist on This point of view, but I have to say, James Cameron is really a genius, “Titanic” is almost harsh in detail and perfectly restores everything about this huge ship back then, and brings us a soulful And a tragic love story.”

“The so-called tragedy is to smash the perfect thing for people to see. James Cameron did it perfectly in three hours, but at the same time, He didn’t take all our hopes away. In the film, the elderly Rose’s life details, those photos, the tank of goldfish, are all showing us her deep love for life.”

“…”

Long Island, at Southampton Manor.

Eric ignored the various changes in the attitude of the outside world towards “Titanic”, and spent the coming Christmas with the women and children at ease.

It’s just that on the white writing board in the study, one more number appears every day.

No. 19: $1.56 million (midnight show)

No. 20: $8.65 million.

No. 21: $9.67 million.

No. 22: $9.3 million.

In the first three days of the first weekend, “Titanic” accumulated a total of 29.18 million US dollars at the box office.

(To be continued.)

[End of this Chapter]