Dominating Hollywood: Starting with Scarlett

Chapter 264 Breaking the Record
Reporters outside New York's largest cinema waited for a long time.

When the movie was one hour into the movie, the reporters suddenly saw a man hurriedly walking out of the theater, holding a little boy in his hand. With their keen sense of smell, they immediately smelled news and rushed towards the man.

"Hello, may I ask why you left the theater midway?"

The man was frightened by the aggressive posture of the group of reporters in front of him and was stunned for a moment.

The reporters asked again and again: "Is it because the movie is not good?"

"Do you still think the movie is too boring?"

The reporters all looked expectant after asking these questions, but the man quickly waved his hands and said, "No, no, no, it's not the reasons you mentioned."

"What was that about? Was it because you were angry about the movie? Or did it mention something that was offensive to you?"

As expected of a journalist, he always finds tricky angles to ask questions.

But the man quickly refuted them: "Neither, listen to me, hey!"

The reporters, who had been chattering like sparrows, quieted down and waited for the man's answer.

The man took a deep breath and said quickly: "This movie is great, very good! It is more interesting to me than "Avatar", but the reason I left was because my child had a stomachache. But I will buy a ticket next time and I will watch it again..."

He then looked directly at the camera and said, "Listen, the plot of the movie is great, the special effects are great, I love it, and I can't wait to see the end of it, understand?"

After the man left, the reporters looked at each other, and then said to their own media cameras: "Lucy has received unexpectedly good reviews, and moviegoers say it has surpassed Avatar!"

After finishing the big news with satisfaction, the reporters continued to wait.

The movie ended two hours later.

Reporters came to the cinema lobby and entrance, waiting to interview the audience.

As a result, before they even started the interview, they heard a lot of discussion about "Lucy". All the audience were discussing topics such as "Lucy's fate", "the truth about the earth" and the so-called "inexplicable gaze".

This left the reporters confused.

Often, before they could even hold out their microphones, the audience would rush over and shout into the camera: "This is a great movie, come and watch it!"

"Wow! I'm so excited, the special effects are amazing!"

"Great value for money, especially the battle in the middle, it's so cool!"

"I like cybernetics, I want to dress up like one too!"

"There's a second part! Tang De, hurry up and make the movie!"

These are all sincere feelings and praises from the audience.

The reporters had no chance to perform and could only smile and let the audience grab the microphone and speak their mind.

The audience who had been queuing for admission also hurried into the theater to watch the movie.

When it came to Saturday, the first-day box office data of "Lucy" was also released.

"The North American box office opened at over $8600 million on its first day, surpassing last year's I Am Legend's $7700 million and Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince's $7783 million! It also surpassed Wolverine's $8505 million, making it one of the top three opening day performances in two years."

The top two are Norton Eye's own "Twilight" and "Transformers 2"

This result has exceeded the first-day performance of "Avatar" and is far more than everyone expected.

Of course, the opening performance is nothing, because many movies often only have good opening performance, and then go downhill and decline rapidly.

For example, this is the case with "Twilight".

But "Avatar" had extraordinary staying power, breaking through $1 billion and even $2 billion.

This effect was mainly achieved thanks to the global box office.

The situations of "Lucy" and "Avatar" are similar. Although their opening performance in North America could not catch up with some blockbusters or sequels, but globally, thanks to the good reputation of "Inception" and the title of the best 3D movie after Avatar, the box office on the first day exceeded 1.5 million US dollars.

The box office of "Lucy" reached 2 million US dollars on the first day!
Soon after, through word of mouth from fans and positive media coverage, many passers-by also became interested in the film and joined the army of moviegoers.

In China, at the Wanda Cinema in Shijingshan, a large number of movie fans got up early and lined up to buy tickets. Tickets for the IMAX 3D version were the most popular, and some people were even willing to pay an extra 20 yuan to buy tickets for "Lucy".

"Comparable to the rush for tickets during the Spring Festival travel rush," this is the observation of many media outlets on the release of this movie.

The situation in other countries was similar, with moviegoers flocking to theaters to enjoy the 3D effects of "Lucy".

This also caused many people who watched the 2D version to go back to the cinema and watch the IMAX version of the movie after being recommended by others.

Amid this popularity, the first week box office figures of "Lucy" were quickly released.

"The North American box office has exceeded $3 million, and the global box office has exceeded $8 million." Jimmy looked at Tang De across from him and said excitedly, "11 billion, my God, it has exceeded $ billion in just one week! This is so exciting!"

Sitting next to him was United Artists' largest investor, Paula Wagner. This wealthy woman was now radiant and smiling, because "Lucy" was distributed by United Artists.

"Maybe it can break $20 billion!" Paula Wagner speculated.

"The probability is relatively small." Tang De's estimate of the situation was not as optimistic as theirs. Although "Lucy" has already topped the global box office with various titles, it is not a sequel after all, and it does not have the same reputation as Cameron.

Tang De judged that the potential of this movie was about 1.8 billion US dollars, and estimated that the box office would shrink significantly starting from next week.

But even so, this movie is already famous enough to go down in film history.

Not only did it break his own box office record, it also made everyone realize that Norton's Eye has the ability to continue to produce blockbusters, which will give all investors peace of mind.

As long as he announces that he will produce a movie set in the hypersekian worldview in the next few years, no matter what happens to Norton Eye, even if it suffers a loss, it will no longer affect its stock price.

Because everyone knows that as long as the sequel movie comes out, Norton's Eye will settle everything.

"Come on, cheers, let's hope our movie sells well!" Paula Wagner raised the champagne in her hand, and Jimmy and Don followed suit.

"Ding!" After clinking glasses, everyone drank it all in one gulp.

Then Youfei pushed the door open and came to Tang De's ear and whispered a few words. "Sorry, I have something to deal with." Tang De nodded to the two of them and turned to walk into the private meeting room.

Inside, sat Parent and Director Sally.

"Congratulations, Don." Sally stood up and congratulated him.

"This is Sally Torrev, the big director of MGM," Parent introduced Donald.

Tang De deliberately pretended to be flattered: "Welcome, you actually came in person."

He knew that this person was the acting director of Pacific Capital Fund, MGM's current largest shareholder.

Sally laughed and said, "Because I really like your movie, Lucy. It's really cool."

In order to understand the Eye of Norton, he even went to the cinema to watch the movie. He had to admit that the movie was very well made. He already understood why Tang De had the confidence to ask for a 10% stake.

If every movie he makes in the future is like this, then soon the title of Hollywood's highest-earning director will be on his head.

"Thank you so much." Tang De was very graceful and had a lively conversation with Sally and Parent.

Until they talked about the subject of interest.

"Don, MGM needs you." Sally made no secret of his optimism for Tang De: "We need a genius like you to help MGM get out of the quagmire again."

"As for your previous request, after discussion, we have basically agreed to your request, except for the shares." Salibi made a seven gesture: "This is the maximum authority I can do. Many shareholders disagree, but I think you are worth it."

Tang De knocked on the table, knowing that MGM really couldn't afford to give out too many shares.

So he could agree to the shares, but MGM would have to make some concessions on other terms.

Two hours later, Sally and Parent walked out of the conference room.

Parent, who was walking behind Sally, even had sweat on his forehead, because the terms that Donde mentioned during the meeting did hit MGM's bottom line, such as the film source and IP.

Several people negotiated about this for a long time, and finally the matter was settled after Sally gave in.

This way MGM should be able to get out of the quagmire.

Parent thought so, and he didn't care whether Donde's terms harmed MGM's interests.

If he was the only one at the meeting today, he would have wanted to agree to all the terms.

After all, once the board of directors chooses Telescope Entertainment, he will also leave this position.

The next day, MGM and Norton Eye quickly signed the terms.

It was announced to the public a week later.

"MGM will merge with a subsidiary of Norton Eye in the near future to form a new MGM Entertainment company, and Don will lead the company forward."

As soon as the news came out, the investment market immediately became optimistic about MGM, and even banks took the initiative to find MGM and said that they could postpone the repayment of part of the debt.

The reason for this is that "Lucy" has officially broken through the 1.5 billion US dollar mark in the past half month and is sprinting towards the goal of 2 billion US dollars.

On the Internet, various analyses of "Lucy" have sprung up like mushrooms after rain, and there are simply too many of them to count. A large number of video bloggers and bloggers have expressed their views on the film.

Film critics also have positive reviews on the film, believing that it continues Tang De's narrative ambitions, tells a story of a completely new possibility, and is a rare science fiction blockbuster that also incorporates artistic exploration.

In contrast, this is Victor’s previous pessimism.

Although he himself has been put in prison by the police for many problems including taking bribes and deliberate smearing.

But the articles he left behind have officially become a must-visit Internet site for fans of "Lucy". After watching "Lucy", everyone will come to his blog, curse him and then leave.

And amidst all the noise, there are still some people whose focus is not on the movie’s box office but on the movie’s ending.

"Why did Lucy at the end of the movie say that humans have always been watched? Was it because she saw the monster that devoured the planet in the flashback? Could it be that the monster has always been lurking outside the Earth?"

"And Officer Peel was also infected with CPH4 during the battle, albeit only a little. But what will happen to him? Will he also face evolution?"

"Also, Lucy first turned into a super biological computer, and then turned into a pile of loose sand and a USB flash drive. What exactly is in this USB flash drive? Can she enter the online world through the USB flash drive device?"

Vincenzo listed these problems in his video and tried to solve them one by one, but unfortunately he did not get a very definite answer.

Just when many viewers were confused, Norton Eye suddenly teamed up with Warrior Comics to announce that the first volume of "Lucy" comics would be released soon.

The comics will complete the settings of CPH4 and explain Lucy's entire life experience. The first volume will cover the ending of the movie. Screenwriter Tang De also left an easter egg in the ending of the comics, which can help fans understand the world view of "Lucy".

As soon as the news came out, the industry was in an uproar, and Vincenzo immediately became excited.

“Oh my god, it’s now a comic book!”

Generally speaking, the comics come out first, and the movies are adapted from the comics.

Unexpectedly, "Lucy" did the opposite, releasing the movie first and then the comics.

Because of the popularity of the movie, there is no need to worry about the sales of comics.

However, most people cannot learn this kind of operation. After all, not everyone is so confident in their work. If "Lucy" fails, all the money invested in the comics will be wasted.

After all, comics are different from movies in terms of medium and are also larger in scale than movies.

If you want to conquer comic fans, you have to come up with exciting or novel stories and create a huge worldview.

So when it was learned that Norton's Eye was going to launch the "Lucy" comics, an industry insider immediately commented: "Although Tang De's movie is great and has a lot of style, I am not optimistic about his entry into the field of superpower comics, because the two leading companies, Marvel and DC, have already monopolized more than 80% of the market."

"This means that comic fans will compare Warriors Comics with these two. Whether it is the hero setting, world view or ability, these are what comic fans value most. And I don't think that Warriors Comics can tell a grand world view well and continue to launch comic heroes that exceed expectations."

This is also an objective reality. After all, good cartoonists all aspire to work for Marvel or DC. There are not many big names in other comic companies, and there is indeed a gap in strength compared to the two giants.

But Warrior Comics is full of confidence because they have confidence in the Super Saiyan worldview. At least when the Earth Truth chapter is released, they will bring a real shock to the audience.

(End of this chapter)