Hollywood Drawing

However, among movie fans, there are almost no negative reviews for the film. Now, "The Departed" can only be said to have failed to meet their highest expectations, but it cannot be said to be bad.

"Since entering the 1990s, Wayne has been able to surprise young North American movie fans in almost every film he makes. As long as you observe carefully, you can find that his progress over the years has been great. It can be said that every film is making great strides. , never disappoints us and always brings enough fresh surprises to everyone.

But this "The Departed" didn't surprise people at all. The main reason is that Wayne is already powerful enough, and the substantial progress everyone expected has disappeared. Now that he is a top director, all he can do is pay more attention to the details of the film and avoid the immature approach like in "Happy Death Day".

Therefore, we have reason to believe in Wayne. We believe that after the accumulation of this film, his next film will definitely bring more surprises to everyone. Wayne needs time, and we should go into the theater to support him, so that he can Take better photos. "

When Daisy saw something was wrong with the limelight, she immediately expressed her opinion on IMDB to prevent more fans who had not seen the movie from choosing to give up watching the movie. She would never allow this to happen.

Her response was very timely. The important thing is that she has a relatively high reputation among the movie fans. In the subsequent messages, more and more fans said that they would go to the theater to support Wayne and watch it with their own eyes the next day. Watch his last R-rated film.

However, the film did not meet the expectations of the public movie fans. It depends on who is compared with it. Compared with the popcorn "Ransom" which is more suitable for this period, "The Departed" has always had the upper hand, whether it is in terms of attendance. The discussion among fans and media has always been far ahead.

The relatively mediocre box office of this film is only compared to Wayne's other previous films. After receiving $6.54 million in advance on Thursday, it once again reported a box office of $8.68 million on Friday, based on the North American theater market box office. According to the rules, the box office obtained in the two days is added up, and the North American box office of "The Departed" on its first day totaled US$15.22 million.

This number is high enough to completely guarantee that the film will win the North American box office title on the first day of its release.

On the second day of the film's large-scale release, which was Saturday, the official holiday, the increase was not large compared to Friday. The attendance rate increased, and the box office in a single day was US$15.74 million.

On the last day of the holiday, according to the rules of the theater market, "The Departed" only earned 7.45 million U.S. dollars. Although the film had a relatively good reputation, it showed a lackluster box office performance.

Compared with Wayne's other works in the first few years, the box office performance of this obviously niche film is not as good as Greenberg's, and there is no sign of a big hit. This has become the subject of numerous media reports. Focus.

""The Departed" was released for three days and grossed US$38.41 million at the box office in its first weekend."

At the Disney Headquarters in Burbank, just after work on Monday morning, two childhood friends, Michael Ovitz and Michael Eisner, sat down together and talked about recent work issues.

Disney Emperor Michael Eisner looked at his childhood friend. There was no trace of friendship in his eyes. On the contrary, if you observe carefully, there was some subtle disgust in them. "The box office of the big project "Ransom" that you directed did not meet the company's expectations.

This is Wayne Greenberg's project with the worst start in recent years, and you didn't seize the opportunity. "Ransom" only had a box office of less than 20 million U.S. dollars in its first weekend of 19.47 million U.S. dollars. Now I'm afraid it has several Shareholders are seriously dissatisfied with your ability to work. "

Michael Ovitz remained silent. Faced with the accusations from his childhood friend, he did not have the slightest intention to defend himself. The relationship between them had already cracked, and they were destined to be unable to stand on the same position unless they were willing to do so. The other party's power puppet.

It took about two full minutes before he spoke, breaking the silence in the office. "We still have a chance. The reason why the box office of "The Departed" is so much higher than that of our "Ransom" is largely due to the scale of the screening.

If our film had opened in more than 3,200 theaters in North America, the box office gap would not be as big as it is now. Michael, although the professional reputation of Wayne's film is overwhelming, the reputation among movie fans is obviously polarized. This start also illustrates many problems. It is not that we have no chance to surpass each other. "

What he means is obvious. The opening scale of the two films is hugely different. In addition to Wayne's performance in the past few years, Disney did not try its best to win over people who were truly capable, which is why "Ransom Storm" had a low box office. major factor.

And throughout Walt Disney, the person who could really make the three major theater chains change their minds was Michael Eisner, who was sitting opposite him.

The chairman of Disney frowned and did not continue to talk about this topic. Now there are various struggles against him within the company. In fact, he didn't take "Ransom Storm" to heart at all. The failure of the film was considered to be what he wanted. ending, which would give him an excuse to tell his childhood friend to get out of here.

"Someone needs to be responsible for the failure of the project." Michael Eisner said unceremoniously without any tact: "Listen, if the subsequent box office of "Ransom Storm" still fails to meet the company's expectations, once the film incurs a huge loss, I won’t help you explain anything to the board!”

Michael Ovitz chuckled lightly, nodded and didn't say anything else. He stood up and left the chairman's office. He didn't know what to do next, but he had to do something, otherwise he would be in the hands of this giant. I'm afraid the countdown to my term of office has really begun.

At the same time, inside the Fox Tower in Century City, Los Angeles, the subject of another conversation was also surrounding the box office of "The Departed."

"The box office of US$38.41 million in the first weekend in North America may be a rare success for other directors, but for Wayne Greenberg, this number is obviously not enough."

Terry, who was already one of the important directors of the distribution department, held a copy of "Premier" magazine in his hand and said to Townsend Rothman who was sitting across the desk: "The opening weekend box office of less than 40 million US dollars is a record This is Wayne Greenberg's worst opening performance in recent years. Judging from the polarizing audience reputation of "The Departed", there should be no big hits in the future."

Seeing that his old boss was smoking a cigar and remained silent, Terry continued without hesitation: "Many media outlets this morning are speculating whether Wayne Greenberg has left his creative peak and begun to enter... Your own lowest point, you know, the credibility of this statement is quite high, even the greatest director will go through such a process."

"Let the media, who think they are smart, be farting!"

Townsend Rothman shook his head and showed an obviously sarcastic smile. No matter how fierce the outside world was about this box office figure, he did not believe that the young man would enter the so-called trough.

Terry was obviously stalled in what he wanted to say. After thinking about it, he continued: "I think it is best to be more cautious about our cooperation with Wayne Greenberg. Zack Snyder has rejected all Olive branch, preparations for the second part of "The Matrix" will start soon, and everything seems to be back to square one..."

Townsend-Rossman pondered for a moment and said: "Terry, unless Wayne fails more than twice in a row with superheroes, he is the most suitable producer for "X-Men" in Hollywood. This is undisputed. .”

Regardless of the reason, the media started to speculate on the box office of Wayne's movie on a large scale starting early on Monday morning, but he knew very well that "The Departed", which appeared only for the Oscars, would definitely not If you lose money, you may even make a fortune.

When the media and insiders discussed the opening weekend box office of "The Departed," they all ignored a very important point, and that was the cost of the film.

Warner Bros. has never deliberately promoted this, but it has not concealed it. The production cost of "The Departed" is only about 40 million U.S. dollars. Even if the publicity investment is included, the maximum will not exceed 70 million U.S. dollars. If based on this opening weekend Judging from the box office, this film will not only not cause any losses, but also make a lot of money.

Yes, the commercial nature of this film is indeed not that strong, and the gimmicks are not as sufficient as Wayne's previous works. But for such a film that is competing for the Olympics, the current start cannot be said to be a failure. In the eyes of Townsend Rothman It couldn't be better.

The reason why 20th Century Fox has not signed an agreement with the other party is that before the summer release, it was waiting for the performance of Universal Pictures' "The Incredible Hulk". There was no surprise at all. Now this film continues to be released except in remote areas. , has long since disappeared from mainstream theaters.

Later, due to the unexpected explosion of the box office of "The Matrix", they wanted to win over Zack Snyder. Now the director, who is said to have learned from Wayne's successful experience, also rejected all the olive branches extended by the outside world and decided to stay at Warner Bros. Within the brother's system.

Therefore, negotiations with Wayne's producers have once again been put on the agenda by 20th Century Fox. The board of directors and senior management have made a preliminary decision to start negotiations with agent Jimmy again in an effort to reach an agreement as soon as possible to avoid other uncontrollable surprises. .

At this time, the media began to massively hype various speculations about Wayne's poor box office performance. Even Townsend Rothman is not sure whether this will shake the hearts of some shareholders.