Huayu: As a child star, I just want to be famous

Chapter 553 Box Office Miracle (6k)

The applause at the end of the film was as loud as ever.

Robert Downey Jr., the guest sitting in the front row, had already stood up and was clapping vigorously.

As a person who had once been fallen, he could still empathize with the Joker.

Some of the guests around may not think so. Due to their identities, they inherently hate characters like the clown.

But the movie was undoubtedly wonderful, so they also stood up and applauded.

The film critics in the middle are still savoring the plot of the movie.

As people who have watched countless movies, their feelings about the movie "Joker" are different from others.

They were amazed by Leonardo's interpretation of Arthur, the director's handling of light and shadow, and the space for multiple interpretations of the plot.

The audience in the back row who were lucky enough to get tickets simply applauded the quality of the film.

"The performance of the clown in the play is so perfect. It makes people feel pity, but also scary. This is the real clown."

“I didn’t expect that Leonardo could play the Joker in such a different way in Chen’s hands.”

"Yeah, these two are just natural partners."

“Nice!” “Shocking!” “I love this movie.” “…”

Cheers came and went.

Chen Linfeng brought the main creators of the crew onto the stage.

As they passed by the front row guests, these fellow filmmakers exclaimed in admiration.

“Chen, you made a great film!”

“A classic masterpiece!”

"Leo, you are the best clown!"

"..."

Compliments continued to be heard, and Chen Linfeng and Leonardo responded one by one with a smile.

Walking onto the stage, Chen Linfeng first thanked all the guests and audience for coming and watching the movie.

Afterwards, under the guidance of the host, the creators needed to answer some questions.

Host: "It's a very exciting film. Can I ask the director how you came up with this story? This shouldn't be the story of the original comic book, right?"

Chen Linfeng: "Yes, the whole movie is based on the comic book story Batman: The Killing Joke."

"In this comic, the Joker mentioned his past, 'I can't remember what happened in the past. If I must have a past, I hope I can have multiple choices.'"

“The movie ‘Joker’ is a story imagined from this.”

The host's questions were relatively routine, and some were questions that had been asked in past interviews.

Chen Linfeng answered each question one by one. In one of his answers, he particularly emphasized:

“The character of the Joker is not a traditional righteous protagonist. From Arthur’s perspective, it seems that everyone has wronged him.

But in fact, if we think about it from another perspective, before he awakened and became the Joker, many people were not as bad as imagined, at least their crimes were not punishable by death.

The clown's behavior is not worth promoting. In the face of oppression, resistance is commendable, but chaotic resistance, or even turning it into a sin itself, is definitely not a good thing..."

Whether it was out of a desire to survive or because he didn't want to really cause simple-minded people to follow suit, he had to say this.

What Chen Linfeng hopes most is that this news can spread to the country.

When people watched "Young and Dangerous", a large group of people would follow suit. He really didn't want "Joker" to cause a group of people to follow suit.

His idea is not just groundless worry, but a full understanding of ethnic diversity.

But don't think too much at this time, just accept the flowers and applause.

The movie premiere ended and the crowd gradually dispersed.

Ivan Ortiz returned home. He had just finished watching a movie and his mind was still filled with the afterglow of the excitement. He lay in bed for a long time but couldn't fall asleep.

So he simply got up and turned on the computer.

Anyway, tomorrow is Saturday, so let’s have an exciting late night.

On the first day of large-scale screenings, there were many reviews of "Joker" on the Internet.

Ivan plans to write one himself.

He is a media person and has a lot of ideas.

“From Chen’s previous works, novelty is his biggest feature, and the same is true for Joker.

He created a new Joker that was beyond anyone's imagination.

This clown is different from the evil image in the past.

He symbolizes the original rebellion, only this rebellion takes the form of chaos.

This is beyond conventional thinking, but very amazing.

In the movie, Arthur gradually awakens to the Joker, his every dance, the shooting in the subway, and finally the headshot on the talk show...

Everything is so amazing.

Well, since I had just watched a movie, I was a bit like a terrorist with all the emotions.

But I believe that after you finish watching this movie, you will have the same thoughts as me.

Looking forward to your viewing.”

A somewhat excited and confused review of the movie was posted on Twitter, and soon someone commented on it.

Ivan has quite a lot of fans.

“Is it really that exciting?”

Someone immediately responded, "Yes, it was even better than I thought. For the first time, Leonardo's acting made me feel that he deserves the Oscar."

"The idea that the Joker is actually a good guy is crazy, but what's even crazier is that I now think this should be the official orthodox setting."

"I just finished watching the movie. I can only say that the original poster is still conservative. Joker will become a classic."

"..."

The premiere just ended not long ago, and the major media have not had time to publish film reviews yet, but now more people who have watched the movie are publishing reviews.

Ivan read a few articles and found them to be all routine flattery. He appreciated them for a while but soon found them boring.

He wanted to see some fancy blowouts.

So Ivan searched for some famous online film critics to see what they said.

I searched the homepages of several film critics, and found that some of them only made fan announcements, saying that reviews of "Joker" would be released in the next two days.

The folder has been created, right?

"How lazy," Ivan complained, "It was Chen's movie, and you didn't even go to see it earlier."

Fortunately, there are still many film critics who are relatively positive.

Ivan found a film review by Simon Abrams that received a lot of likes.

"There are some relatively simple camera language in the movie. For example, every time the Joker is about to appear, Arthur will switch to his left hand, including when he holds a gun and writes a suicide note. Most viewers should be able to see this..."

Ivan nodded, he also noticed this while watching the movie.

"However, what is more noteworthy is that the clock in the psychotherapy room above, which has never changed, is consistent with the clock in the last room of the mental hospital.

There is also the same thin black female psychiatrist, the same lighting arrangement, and the two rooms are so similar in layout.

This reminds me of the movie, The Usual Suspects. ”

Ivan was startled.

"So the Joker killed Murray in the show, was taken to a mental hospital, and told the psychiatrist about his past experiences, but many of these experiences were made up on the spot..."

Can you still think like this?
Ivan was amazed at the film critic's imagination, but after thinking about it, it seemed to make sense.

“The above is one way of interpretation. In addition, I have another idea that maybe Arthur didn’t kill the three drunks on the subway at all.

I noticed that the report in the movie described the man who killed the three drunks as wearing a clown mask, but Arthur was clearly just wearing clown makeup.

When he killed someone, he first held the gun with both hands, and then switched to one hand. His movements were almost identical to the first time he simulated using a gun in the room and even accidentally fired a bullet.

So, is it just that Arthur imagined that he was the one who did the shooting based on reports of the subway shooting, just like his fantasy of his relationship with his female neighbor Sophie, neither of which really happened?

Another piece of evidence to support this idea is that the police did not come to look for Arthur for many days, and only after the Joker was fully awakened and danced solo on the stairs did there occur a chase scene.

In that scene, Arthur ran away first, and then the police chased him. We are not sure whether the police came to question him or to arrest him. Considering that there were only two police officers, the possibility of questioning is more likely..."

Ivan was completely amazed.

There is actually such a way of interpretation.

When he was watching the movie, he didn't pay much attention to whether the gun-holding gestures were consistent twice, but he has already decided to watch it again tomorrow.

I thought "Joker" was an art film, but it turned out to be an anti-traditional and innovative social film.

I thought the film was mainly about criticizing class stratification, but I didn't expect it to also have a suspense element.

It was wonderful!

Many netizens who read this film review also thought so, and many of the comments below were full of "WTF", "Cool" and "Amazing".

At the same time, many people also said that they wanted to watch it again.

With these veteran movie fans, we mainly discuss the leading actor's acting skills and the director's techniques.

After watching the movie, ordinary people can empathize more with the story and Arthur's experience.

They may not have too many ideas to put into words, but they are so excited that it is hard to calm down, so recommending movies to their friends and relatives is the only thing they can do.

"Stephen, I just watched a really great movie."

"Mike, there's a movie you have to see."

"Rachel, don't you like Leonardo? I've seen his new movie and I highly recommend it."

"..."

This kind of word of mouth is more powerful than marketing.

The next day, he and Leonardo and other main creators of the crew started the roadshow and various promotional activities.

The box office data for yesterday’s midnight show has come out. Including the box office from previous previews, the total exceeded 1100 million US dollars.

This is an exaggerated result.

The fans that Chen Linfeng and Leonardo have accumulated in the past have made an indelible contribution.

But after today, it will be the most critical moment.

The entire day was spent in different cinemas and media interviews.

On the way in the afternoon, Sister Mei handed him a stack of newspapers.

These were all news reports about movies from major newspapers that she collected.

Whenever Chen Linfeng's new movie is released, these big media always come to join in the fun. This has become a routine.

What's more, the leading actor Leonardo is also a darling of the media.

Chen Linfeng spread it out to look at it, and Leonardo came over to take a look too, so he simply put it in the middle so that everyone could see it together.

"Leonardo's performance is thrilling and poetic, and he redefines the depth of the villain..."

"…The movie Joker is a sharp indictment of capitalism. This unique perspective of the Chinese people has important warning significance for contemporary Emily Ken."

The New York Times published two film reviews in total, and the one praising Leonardo's acting skills was placed on the entertainment front page.

The article praising Chen Linfeng was placed on the social news page.

If it weren't for Sister Mei's careful reminder, he would have probably skipped it.

"… Chen reconstructs the superhero genre with a dark language, which is of great significance in Hollywood, where comic book adaptations are constantly happening and superheroes are everywhere. The visual impact of the solo dance on the stairs and the subway shooting in his film is unique and amazing.

Although it’s only the beginning of the year, I can conclude that Joker will definitely be an important role in next year’s Oscars…”

The Hollywood Reporter has a more professional perspective, but because of this, they have more praise for Chen Linfeng.

Directly help him loan out next year's Oscar statuette.

Including Leonardo, the report also predicted that "he has already locked in the Oscar for Best Actor."

After reading the two reports, both Chen Linfeng and Leonardo were in a good mood.

Immediately afterwards, Variety reported that Simon Abrams’ film review was cited.

Chen Linfeng was somewhat surprised at the film critic's sharpness.

Of course, many of the plots and scenes in the movie were not designed out of thin air.

This carefully designed content was pointed out sharply by someone, which made him feel like he had met a sturdy rival.

Next, the tendency of film reviews is different from the previous ones.

The Wall Street Journal criticized the film for "using violent spectacles to cover up poor ideas" and believed that its social criticism was superficial.

This is so understandable.

The movie targets the top elites. It would be strange if people on Wall Street weren't annoying.

National Review accused the film of "advocating left-wing populism" and said that blaming the Joker's crimes on social injustice was "dangerous political correctness."

This is a conservative media outlet, so it's understandable.

In addition, the Chicago Tribune, the Washington Post, the Atlantic Monthly, Rolling Stone, and the United States Today have all commented on it.

These media outlets hold different views, some praising, some criticizing, and some worry that they may inspire extremists to follow suit or exacerbate social prejudice.

But no matter what your opinion is, no one can ignore this movie.

Chen Linfeng felt somewhat relieved.

Even if the time and space are changed, the power of this movie is still very strong.

Of course, Emily's current inflation and income disparity are not as serious as they were in 19.

But that's a good thing.

As a foreigner, he will inevitably provoke various opinions from American people because of his identity.

If the situation wasn't so bad, they would be relatively calm.

Just like confident people are more receptive to criticism.

If he made this film in 19, people in North America would say that his "voice is too sharp."

The current level is just right.

The time came to Saturday.

The first day box office data of "Joker" is released.

US$5200 million (including advance screenings), leading the entire North American market.

Mei said excitedly, "This is a record-breaking result. In the past, few movies in April have achieved such a high box office."

"Nice!" Chen Linfeng punched hard.

What he is most worried about is that the change in time will affect the movie's box office.

Now it seems that releasing the film in April is a good idea.

In my previous life, the movie was mainly intended to win awards. It participated in the Venice Film Festival in September and was released directly in October.

October is not a good period, far worse than April today.

Even so, Chen Linfeng remembered that in his previous life, "Joker" set various box office records for October movies, and the total box office of 10 billion US dollars also shocked the world.

It seems that this is not its limit.

Meanwhile, Mei continued in an excited tone, "Not only that, our result also broke the record for R-rated movies!

All prior forecasts by forecasting agencies have been overturned and are no longer valid.

Now, the industry no longer dares to make predictions easily. Xiaofeng, we have created a miracle!"

"Haha, it's not that exaggerated." Chen Linfeng waved his hand.

"No, Chen, this is indeed an amazing result." Leonardo looked excited.

He didn't pay much attention to the box office at the beginning. For an art film, the main purpose is to win awards, and he just wanted to get as much box office as possible.

But he really never thought that the box office would be so high.

"Can we go for another billion?" He thought of an almost impossible number in his mind.

By now, he was even a little worried.

The box office won’t affect his winning of the award, right?

You know, the judges don't like high-grossing movies.

At this time, the outside media were already stunned.

Although the early marketing of "Joker" and "Iron Man 3" portrayed them as evenly matched rivals.

But we are just hyping, are you serious?

“It’s an incredible miracle.”

The headline of the New York Times clearly showed their surprise.

Of course, this is just the beginning.

Saturday, 4100 million.

Sunday, 3900 million.

In the first three days of the weekend, the box office of 1.32 million US dollars shocked everyone.

The media has gone completely crazy.

Is this the kind of data that an art film should have?
This is a pretty good number for the global box office.

Even with Director Chen and Leonardo's fans, the popularity should have just exploded on the first day. The trend shouldn't have been like this, right?

The box office prediction agencies are feeling lucky because they suspended their predictions when they saw that things were not going right on the first day.

Otherwise you will get slapped in the face.

The key is that "Joker" is still an R-rated movie.

Now no one mentions the art film attributes of "Joker" anymore, even though it won the Berlin Golden Bear.

But considering only R-rated movies, this box office is far beyond records and expectations.

"Chen + Leonardo, a new box office guarantee has emerged."

“They worked a miracle.”

"Chen and Leonardo, how much does the world love them?"

"..."

All media outlets gave shocking headlines, and many reports were full of confusion.

I don't understand why this movie got such a high box office.

In fact, this problem can be seen from various rating websites.

On imdb, many netizens rated "Joker", currently giving it a score of 8.8.

Along with it are movies like "Forrest Gump" and "The Lord of the Rings".

Of course, it is not ruled out that it will fall further in the later period.

But it is enough to show the public's recognition.

Netizens online also had a lot of discussions about the box office performance of "Joker".

"$1.3 million in the first weekend is a bit exaggerated, but I understand that the movie can achieve this figure."

“Yes, Hollywood has always been filming those heroic stories, but few people focus on the real grassroots.

They would rather care about homosexuals than the real poor, and when describing the lower-class black people, they focus on their race but not their class.

"I recently read the book by that guy from Huaguo, and I think Chen might have drawn inspiration from it."

"When watching the movie, I just hoped that Arthur could live a better life and escape his fate as a low-class man, but in the end the director arranged for him to become a clown. I think this ending is also good. It is better to resist than to die in mediocrity."

"The direction of the topic is a bit strange. Aren't we discussing the box office? Is there a hope that "Joker" will exceed 10 billion?"

"It's a bit strange indeed. I think there should be hope. It's nothing more than another Inception, with Chen + Leonardo, the main creators are the same."

"I really hope that movies like this can get high box office. Hollywood should pay more attention to the poor."

"..."

The shock from the media and the heated discussions online further boosted the movie’s box office.

The miracles continue.

In the following four days, the box office revenue was reported to be 4 million, with an average of nearly 4300 million per day, which exceeded most movies.

By the weekend, the box office was back on track.

A total of 6500 million in three days, a total of 2.4 million US dollars.

In fact, up to this point, the entire movie is heading towards a record of film history.

The media and the industry have noticed it.

Professionals in the industry are increasingly confused as to how a movie like this can have such a high box office!
Disney is going crazy with jealousy.

This should have been mine, my money!

A movie with a budget of 10 billion, and its cost is much lower than that of "Inception".

Thinking about the money Warner is going to make, they feel worse than if they lost money.

Warner has the exact opposite feeling.

From the moment he first learned about the first day box office of "Joker", Barry Meier walked with a lightness and smiled at everyone.

At the beginning of this film, they just wanted to make friends with Chen.

Just look at how they suppress the DC department and prevent them from influencing Chen Linfeng's creation.

This guy can do whatever he wants, it's just an art film anyway, and the DC universe will just exclude the movie when the time comes.

Who would have thought that a hopeless movie would become a golden egg.

Fortunately, Warner paid attention to it in a timely manner. As soon as the box office figures came out on the first day, they felt something was wrong and temporarily added a lot of promotional resources.

The box office performance is so good, and Warner’s support is also indispensable.

At this time, Chen Linfeng had already returned to the London crew.

He only followed the roadshow for three days, and after that all the important tasks were handed over to Leonardo.

The May Day holiday is approaching, and Leonardo will go to China for promotion.

At this time, "Joker" was a big seller in China and in North America.

Various world-class media have already widely disseminated the news in the country, with both praise and shock.

As the film that helped Chen Linfeng win the Golden Bear and complete the Grand Slam, domestic audiences and movie fans are also very interested in it.

Can the box office miracle of art films also work in the country?

(End of this chapter)