America achieves both fame and fortune

Chapter 660 Who Will Take the Blame?

On the second weekend of the summer movie season, "John Wick 2" was released in 3875 theaters across North America, and its explosive popularity finally gave the film market what a summer movie season should look like.

Warner Bros. duds the film on its opening weekend, but it truly ignites the market.

On its opening day, Friday, the film grossed $2924 million in North America, dethroning "Exorcists and Gods," which had just been released the previous week, to top the North American box office charts.

The latter, impacted by the new film and extremely poor reviews, only earned $263 million that day.

At this rate, it will be difficult for "Pharaoh and the Gods" to even reach $5000 million at the North American box office.

In stark contrast, "John Wick 2," which had a production cost of only $7500 million, not only saw a box office explosion on its opening day but also received rave reviews from audiences.

From IMDb to movie forums, from Twitter to Facebook, you can see positive reviews left by movie fans everywhere.

"Martin's action-packed movie was so exhilarating, I enjoyed it immensely from start to finish!"

"Exciting and fun, this is absolutely a groundbreaking work in minimalist action films!"

"After watching this, I don't need to watch any other action movies this year. Stallone and Jason Statham should really come and learn from you; your methods are outdated!"

"Martin has once again proven that he is the best action star in Hollywood, bar none."

Fueled by overwhelmingly positive audience reviews, "John Wick 2" climbed even higher on Saturday, maintaining its top spot at the box office with $3120 million.

"Pharaohs and Gods" earned less than $200 million on its opening day.

After three days over the weekend, "John Wick 2" has taken the top spot at the weekend box office with $7855 million!

The epic blockbuster that opened the previous week plummeted in its second weekend, grossing only $618 million.

Although Warner Bros. had previously botched big-budget projects like "Catwoman," the disastrous quality of "Owls and Gods" set a new record for Warner Bros.' worst performances since the beginning of the new century.

Overseas, "John Wick 2" was released simultaneously in more than 40 countries and regions outside North America, easily grossing $8132 million.

The overseas opening weekend for "Pharaohs and Gods" was slightly better than in North America, but it still only grossed $1221 million.

…………

Inside the Warner Building, in spacious, luxuriously decorated offices.

As the distributor and producer of "John Wick," Daniel Radcliffe has been closely following the sequel's progress, and he obtained firsthand data as soon as the weekend box office figures were released.

It was absolutely no surprise that the second film received rave reviews and was a box office hit!

Most importantly, it also leaves plenty of suspense for the third installment.

Daniel can imagine that the box office for the next film will rise even higher.

As for "Pharaohs and Gods," let's not even mention it.

He sighed inwardly. Warner Bros. shouldn't have given up on working with Martin. If Martin had played the lead role in Moses, things might have turned out differently.

Kevin Tsujihara and the new management team he brought along seem very unreliable.

Daniel checked the time, grabbed his briefcase, left his office, went to the top floor of the building, and entered a small conference room.

Hamada and Jon Berg also arrived one after another.

Not long after, Kevin Tsujihara entered the conference room, and the four-person meeting about the film business began.

The failure of "Pharaohs and Gods" is an unavoidable topic.

Jon Berg, of course, wouldn't let the blame fall on him, saying, "This failure has taught us a very profound lesson. For the right projects, we must choose the right directors and actors. Ridley Scott's style is too conservative, and Christian Bale, recommended by CAA, simply doesn't have the appeal to carry a leading role in a big-budget production."

Daniel, who had already reached an understanding with him, chimed in, "I suggest that the company should stop using Bale as the male lead in future medium and large-scale productions. The actors recommended by CAA should be subject to systematic evaluation."

Poor Bell, he was unfairly blamed by two Warner executives.

Kevin Tsujihara is currently able to handle the pressure from the board and doesn't want to hold his trusted subordinates too accountable. He feels that Bell is the best scapegoat and said, "I will have someone inform all subsidiaries to be cautious about cooperating with Bell in the future."

Daniel opportunely suggested, "Chairman, for some big-budget films, we could totally invite Martin Davis! Even though we're no longer working together on distribution, the casting..."

Kevin Tsujihara, not being a magnanimous person, immediately raised his hand to interrupt Daniel: "Martin Davis isn't the only male actor in Hollywood with box office appeal."

He didn't want to discuss that person anymore and moved on to the next topic: "Hamada, is the entire 'Green Lantern' movie finished yet?"

Hamada said, "The background music and subtitles have all been added, and the merchandise is being rolled out gradually. We expect to have over $3000 million worth of merchandise available across the US by the end of the month."

"That's too little." The project alone cost $200 million to produce and over $100 million to market. Kevin Tsujihara wanted to see a return as soon as possible, and there were previous successful examples of this.

He said, "I remember that in the first ten days of The Dark Knight, more than $4000 million worth of merchandise was sold in North America. Your plan is too conservative. At least $5000 million worth of merchandise should be distributed in the next two weeks, and the manufacturers should prepare another $3000 million worth of merchandise, which can be shipped to major cities across the United States at any time."

Hamada, who had also reviewed the various data for "The Dark Knight," said, "I'll go back and revise the plan."

Warner Bros. and DC were full of confidence in Green Lantern, believing that the film could be a huge hit like Iron Man, thus launching the entire DC Justice League universe.

Not only that, but all of Warner Bros.' resources will be tilted towards Green Lantern.

Kevin Tsujihara has ambitious plans: if this opening film is successful, they could catch up with Marvel's Avengers cinematic universe in three years.

…………

Century City, CAA.

Bell walked into his agent's office alone, carrying his bag.

The box office failure of "Exodus" was so severe that Warner Bros. halted all subsequent promotional activities, since ceasing investment would prevent further losses.

The thought of this film makes Bale feel uncomfortable all over.

If you really want to count, he has already botched two big-budget productions.

Fortunately, Batman was there to heal them.

The assistant told Bale that his agent had gone to a meeting and asked him to wait a moment.

Bell sat on the sofa and noticed a newspaper on the low table to his left, wondering who had read it and left it there.

The Hollywood Reporter is a well-known newspaper in the industry.

Bored, Bell picked up a newspaper and flipped through it, discovering content related to him.

News headline: "A proper understanding of Christian Bale's appeal."

Although he knew that reading it might make him feel uncomfortable, Bell couldn't help but read the details.

"In recent years, the hottest male stars in Hollywood, besides the two Tom Cruises, Will Smith and Johnny Depp and other traditional forces, have also included emerging forces such as Christian Bale and Martin Davis."

The former, with the huge success of the two Batman movies, especially "The Dark Knight", won the support of many movie fans and showed signs of becoming a superstar. However, to cross the threshold of superstardom, one must rely not on false fame, but on real market achievements.

The two Batman movies seemed to lay a solid foundation for Bale's superstar career, but in reality, this foundation was as hollow as clouds in the sky—it looked beautiful but crumbled at the slightest step.

After leaving the Batman series, Bale starred in two top-tier productions: Terminator Salvation and Exorcists. The former had a production budget of $200 million but only grossed a little over $100 million in North America. The latter had a production budget of $160 million and its North American box office was unlikely to exceed $50 million. These were two veritable box office disasters!

These two films prove one thing: after leaving Batman, Bale's appeal is only so-so. He does not have the ability to carry the leading role in a top-tier production. He has already died before he even touched the threshold of a superstar.

When The Dark Knight was showing in theaters, Bale's fans and Martin Davis's fans had a debate on the internet about who contributed more to the film's box office. The former believed it was Bale, after all, he played the male lead, while Martin Davis was only a supporting actor.

This debate has continued until now, and there is now a clear answer: Martin Davis's appeal is far superior. Not to mention top-tier productions like "Inception" with investments of hundreds of millions, even medium-sized projects like "Gone Girl" and "John Wick" have received far better responses than Bale's two big-budget productions!

My sincere advice is that Bale should avoid working on big-budget productions in the future; that's not his area of ​​expertise...

He really didn't want to read the rest, so Bell closed the newspaper and tossed it aside.

When he took on the role of Moses, he knew that "Odyssey" was originally a project favored by Martin Davis. He also wanted to prove that his blockbuster appeal was no less than that bastard's.

The idea was wonderful, but the result was extremely tragic.

Bale was well aware that the failure of "Owls and Gods" had essentially ended his path to becoming a Hollywood superstar.

It will be difficult for any company or production team to cast him as the male lead in a top-tier production in the future.

The most important point, and the one that Bell finds hardest to accept, is that he is not as good as Martin Davis!

Thinking about this, Bell's mental defenses began to crumble again, so he quickly adjusted his thoughts and stopped thinking about these things.

That bastard Martin has become Bale's nightmare.

The door opened from the outside, and the agent came in. Seeing that Belle's expression was off, he quickly asked, "Should I take you to see a psychologist?"

Bell waved his hand: "No need, no need. As long as I don't see that bastard Martin Davis, I'll recover quickly."

The agent, understanding Bale's psychological issues, said, "Let bygones be bygones."

Bale glanced at the newspaper beside him and asked, "Is there still a chance for me to become a superstar?"

"Yes, but we need to plan carefully." The agent offered reassurance before revealing the truth: "There might be some trouble in the short term, especially with those top-tier projects that offer the highest salaries..."

Bale said, "After filming The Dark Knight Rises, I want to leave Los Angeles, leave North America, and have some peace and quiet for a while."

The agent picked up a document from his desk: "Perfect timing, I have a film project from the East, why don't you go take a look?"

(End of this chapter)