hollywood melon man

It is not surprising in this era that a commercial blockbuster can make over 100 million yuan in its first week. But for most people, it seems a bit scary that a musical can make over 100 million yuan.

The musical, once a popular genre during Hollywood's golden age, has long lost its former glory.

Most of the musicals produced in recent years are just trying to make a splash by taking advantage of the nostalgic attributes of the Oscars and the old men in the Academy.

The last musical that could be called a big hit was "Chicago" directed by Gilbert Jr., which only grossed $3.1 million worldwide.

Now it seems that "La La Land" can easily achieve this goal.

According to the survey conducted by the cinema, the reason why the film received unanimous praise from the audience is that it is good to watch.

A fan told a Fox News reporter: "If Gilbert Jr.'s name wasn't listed as the director, I would never have watched this movie.

But after going in and seeing it, I think it's totally worth the money.

The visuals are beautiful, and the performances by Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Gosling are great.

The choreography at the beginning of the film, the freeway and Casey's Corner, was also very good, I loved the film."

Another person seemed to like dancing: "Oh my god, the dance in it is so beautiful, I want to learn the dance in it."

In fact, after the film was released, some so-called dance experts pointed out the dancing flaws of the two leading actors, but Gilbert Jr. later said in an interview that he did it on purpose.

Because he believes that just as the ending is imperfect, the dance should also be imperfect.

USA Today gave the film a very good review: "The film opens with an ambitious traffic jam + long shot, and then the drivers get out of the car and start dancing happily, setting the overall tone for the film.

The story is divided into five sections, with the periods of "Winter-Spring-Summer-Autumn-Winter". Although the story is just a simple "boy meets girl, they fall in love" routine,

But under the direction of Gilbert Jr., who has great control, the film was integrated with jazz, swing dance, and even surreal elements, which brought new life to the musical, a declining film genre.

The dances performed by the male and female protagonists are all incredibly beautiful, and the director's ability to control the film is truly amazing."

Variety magazine commented: "There is relatively ample room for musicals and dances in La La Land.

The scene opens with a Jacques Demy-style group dance on a traffic-jammed highway. Mia and her roommates walk out of a relatively closed room onto a wide open road. They sing and dance on the top of a mountain as the sun sets. Ryan Gosling strolls on the bridge and invites an old black lady to dance. Behind them is an endless sea glowing with morning light.

The sense of open space corresponds to the seemingly bright emotional tone of the entire film, and also enhances the emotional tension of the characters with each song and dance scene.

This sense of openness is more like Mia and Sebastian's imagination and vision for the future.

Although they are both still working hard to pursue their careers, their relationship has just begun.

But at that moment, they had an infinite vision for the future, which indicated hope and strength.

That’s why the film’s flawed ending is so touching.”

Time magazine rated the dance at the beginning of the film as the most beautiful shot of 2016, and said: "Although the story of the film is relatively old-fashioned.

However, in the presentation of audio-visual language, director Gilbert Jr. used a lot of installation art.

The use of color blocks, geometric shapes, and light and dark distinctions creates clear stylistic features.

The song selection is also unique, using music to tell stories.”

The film received widespread acclaim in North America. Both professional film critics and ordinary audiences gave high praise to this unique musical.

In overseas regions where musicals are not so popular, such as East Asia, "La La Land" has also conquered many audiences.

Li Xiaoqing is one of them. She is an ordinary Tsinghua student. Her life after entering university is colorful. She also went to the cinema to watch a movie with her classmates for the first time.

In the past, she was exposed to movies through discs, DVDs, and other channels such as the CT6 movie channel, and watched many old Hong Kong films.

The first movie she watched in the cinema was "Tiny Times". Although her classmates enjoyed watching it very much, as a rational woman, she thought "Tiny Times" was terrible.

But she was still fascinated by the art of film, so she went to the cinema with her classmates again.
The movie she watched this time was awesome, so awesome that even people in her small place had heard of it, and they also had several discs of this director at home.

The director is Gilbert Jr. and the movie is called "Avengers: Age of Ultron".

Although Li Xiaoqing thought the film's story was just average, the film's excellent screen performance on IMAX still conquered her, a novice movie fan.

So when "La La Land" was released this year, she took her younger brother to watch the movie in one of the few movie theaters in the county.

But as expected, my brother was very disgusted with this musical and thought that this movie was not as good as last year's "Avengers 2: Age of Ultron".

But Li Xiaoqing feels that this movie is much better than "Avengers: Age of Ultron".

However, the audience for musicals is limited after all, even if the director's name is Gilbert Jr., so in the first week in the Chinese market, the film took a mediocre box office of 1638 million US dollars.

On the Internet, most fans who have watched this film have given it very good reviews, believing that it is one of the best Hollywood films in recent years.

Some people said that Gilbert Jr. has become a commercial pawn and will never make an art film again.

As soon as this movie "La La Land" came out, movie fans immediately felt proud.

Who says Gilbert Jr. will never make an art film again? Isn't this "La La Land" art enough?

In addition to the Chinese market, the film also performed well at the box office in Japan and South Korea, with the combined first-week box office in the two regions reaching approximately US$1132 million.

The UK and Australian markets are also audiences for traditional musicals, with box office revenues of $1037 million and $1006 million respectively.

The performance in other markets can only be described as so-so, certainly not as good as commercial blockbusters, but the results are enough to satisfy Disney.

Therefore, the film earned 8623 million US dollars in its first week overseas. Together with the North American box office, the global box office reached 1 million US dollars, which is a very exaggerated result.

French newspaper Ferloga said that this was Guibert's best film since Chicago. Although French movie fans may not agree, the French film industry agrees.
Hans, a reporter from the German newspaper Berliner Zeitung, said that if the director's name was not Gilbert Jr., the film would not have achieved such outstanding box office results.

What he said does make sense. The name of Little Gilbert attracted too many fans who were not interested in musicals.

But the film is really excellent. Even if you are not interested, many fans feel that the film is worth the price after watching it.
At a high-level meeting on Monday, Ovid Reyes, head of distribution, was all smiles: "The most important thing is the record. The soundtrack album of "La La Land" released by Disney topped the Billboard sales chart on the first day.

The digital version sold 1800 million copies in North America and 2200 million copies overseas. The physical version sold 350 million copies in North America and 410 million copies overseas. "

Musical soundtracks have always been the focus of profit, especially those that sell well. Now that the record industry is in decline, it is difficult for records to sell as well as before.

But the cooperation with Apple Music and Xigua Music still made Disney Records earn a lot of money on the soundtrack album. Not to mention the subsequent copyright income is also a big part, which can bring a steady stream of income to the film.

Currently, the musical tour of "La La Land" is also being prepared. The film's leading actors Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Gosling will participate in the first tour of the musical in Los Angeles.

The executives were naturally delighted and admired Gilbert.
This is only possible for him, otherwise how could anyone else achieve such results?
It is unimaginable in this era that a musical film can be a global hit.

Robert Iger also arranged the next work: "We need to do a good job with the theaters and try our best to ensure the scheduling of films.

The public relations department cooperates with the crew at all times, and we strive to win Gilbert Jr.'s fourth Oscar for Best Director.

Oh, and Miss Johnson’s movie queen.”

As for Ryan Gosling, he has to figure it out on his own. It’s great to get a nomination for Best Actor, but getting more may depend on luck.

Everyone knows that Gilbert Jr. made this musical just for the Oscars.

All the actresses aspiring to win an Oscar next year are starting to panic because Scarlett Johansson performed quite well in "La La Land".

With Gilbert Jr.'s support, Scarlett Johansson's chances of winning an Oscar next year are quite high.

Scarlett Johansson has also been doing public relations work for the Oscars. She has also learned from the advanced experience of her predecessors, and several actresses from Cantaloupe Manor have also taught her a lot of experience in winning awards.

Of course, competitors are also not idle.

The great success of "La La Land" in both box office and word of mouth quickly changed the direction of Hollywood's awards season.

In the second week after the film was released, the North American box office fell by only 32%, and it remained at the top of the box office chart with a score of 7421 million US dollars. The overseas market was also strong, with the box office reaching 1.12 million US dollars in the second week, and the global cumulative box office reached 3 million US dollars.

Such achievements have greatly boosted the confidence of Disney executives. Robert Iger even made a direct decision at an internal meeting: "Go all out to win the Oscars!"

Disney's public relations team acted quickly and began to promote "La La Land".

The judges of the Film Critics Association Awards, Golden Globe Awards, Screen Actors Guild Awards, Directors Guild Awards, etc. have received movie gift packages carefully prepared by Disney.

It includes the film's Blu-ray disc, the soundtrack vinyl record, behind-the-scenes special features, and even a thank-you letter signed by Gilbert Jr. and Scarlett Johansson.

At the same time, Scarlett Johansson's journey to becoming a film actress officially began.

Her performance in La La Land was described by critics as "the best of her career", especially the solo segment in which Mia held back tears after failing the audition, which was called "a performance moment that will go down in film history" by The Hollywood Reporter.

"Scarlett Johansson's performance is full of delicate emotional layers, and her transformation from a young dreamer at first to a mature artist at last is convincing." - Richard Brody, film critic for The New Yorker.

However, not everyone is optimistic about her Oscar prospects.

While "La La Land" is sweeping the box office, other award season favorites are also starting to gain momentum.

"The First Lady," produced by Fox Searchlight, stars Natalie Portman as Jacqueline Kennedy, accurately capturing the elegance and tenacity of this legendary woman.

After the film premiered at the Venice Film Festival, Natalie Portman's performance was praised as a "textbook-level biographical performance", and some even predicted that she would win the Best Actress award again after "Black Swan".

"Scarlett Johansson's performance is outstanding, but Natalie Portman's "The First Lady" is more 'Oscar-worthy'." - Mark Maloney, a senior reporter for Variety magazine, analyzed.

In addition, Amy Adams' performance in Arrival was also highly praised.

This science fiction drama is adapted from the novel by Chinese-American writer Ted Chiang. The calmness and fragility of the linguist played by Amy Adams when facing alien civilizations made film critics call it "shocking."

"If Oscar voters are more inclined towards serious themes, Arrival may become the biggest threat to La La Land." - IndieWire predicts.

Faced with these strong competitors, Disney's public relations strategy has become more aggressive.

Gilbert Jr. is no stranger to the Oscars. He has won the Best Director award three times for "Chicago", "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" and "Gravity".

He also helped Naomi Watts and Anne Hathaway win the Best Actress award, and Tom Cruise also won the only Best Actor trophy by relying on him.

This time, his goal is not to win the award himself, but to make Scarlett Johansson the best actress.

"Scarlett deserves an Oscar."

He was blunt in an interview with the Los Angeles Times.

"She has given so much to this film, even working in a restaurant to get experience for the role. This kind of dedication is rare in Hollywood."

His remarks immediately sparked heated discussions, with supporters believing that Scarlett really deserves the Best Actress award.

Opponents questioned: "Isn't Gilbert too biased? Ryan Gosling's performance is also excellent, why doesn't he support him so much?"

In fact, Ryan Gosling's road to becoming a best actor was not smooth.

Although Ryan Gosling's performance in "La La Land" was impeccable, especially the scene where he played the piano himself amazed the audience, the Oscar judges seemed to prefer performances of "bitterness and hatred".

This year, "Manchester by the Sea" has already started to be screened. Matt Damon did not give the opportunity to Casey Affleck this time.

He plays a decadent repairman in the film and his performance has been described as "soul-level sadness," virtually securing a Best Actor nomination.

In addition, Denzel Washington's theatrical performance in "Fences" was also highly praised.

"Ryan Gosling's performance was perfect, but the Oscars prefer actors who 'torture themselves'." - Deadline joked.

Faced with this situation, Gilbert Jr. even personally called several Academy judges, hoping that they would consider Ryan Gosling's performance.

"The role of Sebastian is no easier than Mia. Ryan's piano playing, dancing and emotional expression are impeccable. He deserves a nomination," Gilbert Jr. said over the phone.

However, the rules of the Oscar game cannot be easily changed by personal will.

Anyone who knows a little about the Oscars knows that it is a public relations stage, and the success of Weinstein Company is enough to prove this.

For the sake of public relations, film companies often spend a lot of money, some even up to tens of millions.

But Disney is wealthy, and "La La Land" has already made huge profits at the box office. Robert Iger waved his hand and directly took out 20 million US dollars for public relations expenses.

This is what he said to Gilbert Jr. on the phone: "Even if we have to use money to hit them, we will beat them to death until all the awards belong to La La Land." (End of this chapter)