Vol 2 Chapter 598: Thoroughbred

In the first three days of the first weekend, "The Da Vinci Code" scored $77.07 million in North America, occupying the top spot in the North American box office rankings by an absolute advantage, and the screening of "Iron Man" continued in the fourth week. Maintaining a stable and healthy downward trend, this weekend grabbed 17.82 million US dollars, ranking second in the North American box office list.
However, there is a huge difference in the audience reputation of the two films. The audience rating of "The Da Vinci Code" is only 77%, and the audience rating is b, while the audience rating of "Iron Man" is still four weeks after the release As high as 87%, the audience rating is firmly maintained at a+.
The word-of-mouth of different audiences often represents hugely different follow-up market trends.
Although "Iron Man" has passed the hottest screening stage, the trend has been stable. So far, the North American box office has accumulated $323.2 million. Regardless of what follows, it has become the big winner of this summer archive.
After "The Da Vinci Code" consumed the enthusiasm of fans of the original novel, the box office on Monday fell sharply on weekdays, and only collected more than $5 million in a single day. This 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 in trouble 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 the "Angels and Demons" known as the prequel to "The Da Vinci Code" and planned to continue to invite Tom Hanks to appear in this series.
Later, there was a news in Hollywood that Tom Hanks' team offered Sony Columbia Pictures a sky-high remuneration, and Big Tom asked for 40% of the film's profit share.
This can be described as a sky-high price contract. In the history of Hollywood, all directors, actors and producers are included. There has never been such an astronomical contract. If Sony Entertainment really signs with Tom Hanks, it will undoubtedly open a new page in Hollywood.
But everyone knows that this is just Tom Hanks and Inno Martin shouting prices all over the sky, but even so, the price shouted was shocking.
No matter how Sony Columbia Pictures negotiates with Tom Hanks and Caa's Ino Martin. Nor can it change the relatively weak performance of the North American box office after the first weekend of The Da Vinci Code.
When the film was released for a full week, the North American box office only broke through the 100 million U.S. dollar mark. Although for ordinary films, it is a result worth celebrating, but for "The Da Vinci Code", the best-selling American book The novel, as well as the expectations of Sony Entertainment, still seems a little flat.
The first week of the show is very important for "The Da Vinci Code". "Iron Man" has passed the hottest stage, and no major production films were released in the same period. These seven days are when it can ramp up the market, and next week is about to usher in an important schedule in North America-Memorial Day.
The final chapter of an already successful superhero series will be released during this time.
The "X-Men" series produced and released by Fox in the 20th century ushered in the end of the trilogy.
Of course, for people like Duke who are relatively close to Twentieth Century Fox and News Corporation, the so-called end is just the end of a stage.
Twentieth Century Fox saw the shortcomings of "X-Men" and not only prepared to make a separate "Wolverine" movie, but also planned to restart the series. Replace old actors such as Ian McLean with a younger lineup.
At the same time, it was affected by Marvel's big plan. They are also preparing to separate the important roles of "X-Men" and then combine them for combat.
For Marvel Comics, this is definitely not good news, which means that for a very long time, they will not want to take back the film copyright of the "X-Men" series.
Duke also knows this very well, although he is the largest shareholder of Marvel Comics. But it is also clear that not all good things in this world should belong to him for granted.
Marvel Comics originally sold the copyright of the superheroes. Except for the unflattering characters on the big screen like the Hulk, others like Spider-Man, the X-Men and the Fantastic Four wanted to take back the movie copyright. Without voluntarily defaulting. Basically impossible.
Especially the X-Men, this is nothing less than a cash cow for 20th Century Fox.
Based on the first two works, "X-Men 3: Last Stand" earned US$102.75 million in the first weekend in North America. If you count the Memorial Day holiday on Monday, this film earned a total of 100 million during the holiday. USD 22.86 million.
The big sales of "X-Men 3: Last Stand" has also squeezed the living space of other films, especially "The Da Vinci Code". The box office of this masterpiece by Sony Columbia Pictures dropped by 58% this weekend. , Only made 32.37 million US dollars.
There is no doubt that "X-Men 3: Last Stand" and "The Da Vinci Code" occupy the top two box office charts in North America, and the third place belongs to "Iron Man".
According to outside estimates, the box office of "Iron Man" that came to the fifth weekend will inevitably fall by the $10 million mark in three days, but the film's good audience reputation played a role, and finally it continued to advance steadily with $10.51 million.
At the end of the hot May schedule, "Iron Man" was the biggest winner so far. The North American box office earned a total of 347.55 million U.S. dollars, and the global box office successfully exceeded 500 million U.S. 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. "Three Hundred Warriors of Spartan" directed by Zach Schneider was held in Los Angeles. Premiere.
Duke’s former assistant has passed the test of the two sequels of "The Matrix". If "Spartan Three Hundred Warriors" can be a big success, he will undoubtedly become a part of Hollywood's first-line director.
This brightly styled film did not use a single location lens. It was shot in front of the green screen in the studio. 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 three hundred red-trousers bring is definitely a shocking audio-visual journey.
On the day of the premiere, a huge poster of "Leolida at Hot Spring Pass" was hung on the front of Chandler Hall. Unlike the famous painting in the Louvre Museum, the poster gave people a murderous look. With a turbulent feeling, the Spartan King Leonidas starred by Gerald Butler, the muscular appearance alone can attract the attention of many people.
"Zach is an excellent director and will be a great director."
In the interview area, facing the camera lens of the reporter, Duke praised the director of the film without reservation. "The last two episodes of "The Matrix" have proved this. I believe "Spartan Three Hundred Warriors" "Will lead to a new epic style."
Today's protagonist is someone else, Duke only said a few words, and walked to the waiting area in front of the theater.
"Hi, Zach."
Finding their old friend, the two gave a light hug, and Duke said, "I've seen the film, man, what you did was unexpected."
"Can I consider this to be a compliment?" Zach Schneider said deliberately, "It's not easy to make you feel surprised."
However, the style of the film is really different. The strong colors like oil paintings can easily form a huge visual impact, especially the use of Zach Schneider in high-speed slow motion, which can be said to be perfect.
Because Duke was still holding the position of producer, and after standing with the crew for a photo, he walked into Chandler Hall with Zach Schneider.
The two chatted quietly about the recent situation as they walked.
"So Warner Bros. and the people from DC Comics have found you?" Duke asked quietly.
Zach Schneider nodded, "They want me to be the director of the new Superman."
"What do you mean?" Duke knew that this kind of thing couldn't be forced.
"I am still very interested in "Superman"."
Speaking of this, Zach Schneider suddenly changed the subject, "But I am more interested in another dc comic."
Without waiting for Duke to ask questions, he proactively said, "I want to direct "Watchmen" first. I don't know if DC Comics and Warner Bros. are willing to give one of their signatures to me."
The reputation of "Watchmen" in the dc system, although not as loud as the three justice giants of Superman, Batman and Wonder Woman, has a great influence on society. Warner Bros. and dc comics have thought about this several times. The comics were put on the big screen, especially when Duke was just collaborating with Warner Bros. in the early and mid-1990s, the adaptation was almost officially approved.
At the time, news broke from Warner that Robin Williams would star in Rorschach, Jamie Lee Curtis as the ghost, Gary Bussey as the comedian, and Richard Gere and Kevin Costner. However, after many rewrites of the script, Warner Bros. eventually shelved the filming plan.
It is said that Michael Bay had also been interested in the film but was rejected by Warner Bros. because of his personal style.
The content of this comic is too complicated, in fact, it has exceeded the scope of comics and comic movies.
Duke knows very well that as long as "Spartan Three Hundred Warriors" succeeds, it should not be difficult for Zach Schneider to get the right to adapt "Watchmen."
Every director has his own ideals, and Zach Schneider is no exception. Of course, Duke will not be stupid enough to make a choice for Zach Schneider.
Duke just said, "Zach, I personally support you very much. You just need to understand the purpose and style of our film."
"I understand." Zach Schneider said solemnly, "this must be a commercial film." (To be continued...)
ps: Ask for monthly and recommended tickets!