America achieves both fame and fortune

Chapter 696 Another Box Office Disaster Occurs

Because of his relationship with Warner Bros., Martin Scorsese continued to follow the film after its premiere.

The film opened in North America, but theater attendance was not high.

The market response was lukewarm.

In the master bedroom of the villa, Martin obtained the latest box office statistics.

Elizabeth Olsen asked, "I checked the online reviews, and they don't seem very good. How's the box office?"

Martin forwarded the statistics to her, saying, "It's even worse than I imagined. Only $274 million on the first day in North America."

This is not a limited preview screening but a large-scale release in more than 3000 cinemas.

"So little?" Elizabeth was somewhat surprised. An idea popped into her head, but she shook her head and asked, "I remember Warner Bros.' final production budget was a whopping $7000 million, right?"

She was quite familiar with Gillian Flynn: "Gone Girl was so well-received, but this one is so bad..."

Martin said, "Perhaps his directing skills are far inferior to David Fincher's."

Elizabeth, after seeing the data Martin retweeted, kicked off her slippers, moved her feet onto the sofa, rested her head on Martin's lap, and said, "The key is that we're missing you as the lead actor."

Martin stroked her bulge and said, "I thought the film might not be well-received, but I didn't expect it to be this bad."

Elizabeth had just finished eating and didn't want any more. She pressed down on Martin's hand, looked up at him, and said, "When you mentioned the box office numbers earlier, I suddenly wondered if you deliberately gave this adaptation project to Warner Bros.?"

"Warner Bros. stole this project." Martin moved his hand back and deliberately squeezed it. "I'm a good person, why would I do something to frame someone?"

Elizabeth felt something rapidly rising from below her head, like an iron rod poking her, and said helplessly, "Haven't you had enough yet?"

Martin said, "Honey, that just means you're so attractive to me."

Elizabeth felt she was overwhelmed, when suddenly she remembered something.

Lily had secretly complained that they never included her in games...

Although the two were good friends, Elizabeth knew that Lily was difficult to deal with and that she couldn't let her have her way so easily; she wanted Lily to be grateful to her.

Elizabeth rolled over; she was full but could still manage to eat a little more.

If she doesn't eat it, it will only benefit those outside.

Martin quickly threw away his phone and stopped paying attention to the situation in Darklands.

The old boy and the little witch started researching academic topics such as protein loss and replenishment.

…………

Century City, WMA Headquarters.

Sitting at his desk, Ari Emmanuel looked worried. With the opening day box office results in, the fate of "Darklands" was basically sealed: it would inevitably be a box office disaster.

But that doesn't make sense.

Warner Bros. invested heavily in the production, with a budget of $8000 million, and the director had previously been on a strong upward trajectory.

Bestselling author Gillian Flynn adapted her own hit novel, and her previous film, "Gone Girl," was a box office smash.

The lead actress, Natalie Portman, is a newly crowned Oscar winner, a darling of the mainstream media, and a representative of Hollywood's post-80s actresses, with a consistently excellent reputation.

This film project, which had so many factors that could lead to success, still failed.

Why?

Ali couldn't figure it out for a moment, so he got up, went to the French windows, looked at Beverly Hills, and sighed.

"Dark Lands" is unlikely to stage a dramatic comeback; his plan to make Natalie Portman the leading lady of Hollywood is facing bankruptcy right from the start.

Ali was reminded of the "Oscar-winning actress curse" once again.

But Natalie's predecessor, Sandra Bullock, was not affected.

The failure of "Dark Lands" had serious consequences; it will be difficult for Natalie Portman to get films and roles of the same caliber in the future.

How can this damn Oscar-winning actress curse be broken?

Ali thought for a moment and then made a phone call to Thomas.

Thomas arrived at his office soon after.

Ali asked, "Are you paying attention to the situation with Darklands?"

"I've been paying attention," Thomas said, assuming he wanted to ask Martin's opinion. "I forwarded the relevant statistics to Martin as soon as they came out."

Upon hearing this, Ali asked, "What did Martin say?"

Thomas shook his head slightly: "He didn't say anything."

Ali returned and sat down, asking, "Where do you think the problem lies?"

Thomas thought to himself, "I am where I am today only because I followed the right person. You also understand all the key factors that make a film successful or unsuccessful."

But he couldn't say it out loud. Suddenly, he remembered an article he had just read and felt that it made some sense. He said, "In some situations, we may have made a misjudgment."

Ali understood what he meant: "About Natalie Portman?"

Thomas suggested, "There's a professional analysis article on cinemascore, a website that uses audience ratings as its basis. You can take a look."

Ali went to look at computers.

Thomas glanced at his watch: "I'm leaving now."

Ali nodded.

Thomas went out the door, glanced back, and realized that the key to the success or failure of "Gone Girl" and "Dark Place" actually lay with Martin and Natalie.

While the quality of "Darklands" itself was indeed somewhat lacking, Natalie Portman's insufficient star power was also a key factor.

In the office, Ali logged onto the cinemascore website and clicked on the Darklands section. The audience's live score was only B, slightly better than Green Lantern.

However, the latter resulted in Warner Bros. losing so much money that they had to cancel the entire Justice League cinematic universe project.

Ali found the analysis article that Thomas mentioned.

This is a column by Ed Mintz, founder of the cinemascore website.

Ed Mintz is known for his keen market insight, accurate forecasting, and thorough analysis.

Alibaba discovered that this column analysis article was targeting his top female client, Natalie Portman.

He skimmed through the first few paragraphs and quickly found the core of the article.

"Over the years, Natalie Portman has been far more popular in the mainstream media than among movie fans. It is no exaggeration to say that Natalie Portman is the most popular actress born in the 80s in the mainstream media."

"A carefully crafted persona of high academic qualifications, indifference to fame and fortune, and a special trip to Jerusalem for further studies have all contributed to Natalie Portman's high-class image, making her a representative of Hollywood's middle-aged actresses."

"Natalie Portman's overwhelming success in the mainstream media has created the illusion that she is very popular with movie fans! While this has won her a group of supporters and made her a typical example of a high-class, sophisticated Hollywood actress, it is not enough to support a large-scale production."

"Looking at Natalie Portman's resume, apart from her breakout role in 'Léon: The Professional' and the 'Star Wars' prequel trilogy, it's hard for the average moviegoer to recall any other works she has done. 'Léon: The Professional' was heavily criticized in North America and not well-received by the mainstream; even Natalie Portman herself publicly criticized the film. The success of the 'Star Wars' prequel trilogy had virtually nothing to do with Natalie Portman herself."

"Natalie Portman may have a market among highly educated people, but the lack of recognition from the broadest general audience and movie fans is her fatal flaw, which prevents her from supporting the market of films with a slightly larger production scale."

"The production quality of Darklands itself is not good enough, and the casting issues cannot be ignored..."

Upon seeing this, Ali couldn't help but look up from behind the computer and carefully recall Natalie Portman's situation.

Natalie Portman joined the WMA later, and her persona and personal style were already established before she joined the WMA.

I used to think it was normal.

But now that Ali thinks about it, Ed Mintz's analysis seems to make some sense.

Natalie Portman's persona is not appealing to the average viewer.

Ali didn't want to give up his number one female customer and was thinking about how to help Natalie break the Oscar curse.

Three days have passed over the weekend, and although the reviews for "Dark Lands" are much better than those for last year's "Owls and Gods" and "Green Lantern," the box office results are just as disappointing.

The film only grossed $721 million at the North American box office during its opening weekend.

Many market professionals predict that the final box office in North America will be difficult to exceed $1500 million.

Compared to the $7000 million production cost, "dismal" is an understatement.

In the most spacious office in the Warner building, Kevin Tsujihara looked at Jon Berg, his brother-in-law, across from him.

He asked, "What's the situation with this one?"

Jon Berger said, "I trusted Gillian Flynn too much and had her involved in post-production. The final cut respected her opinions, and the result was..."

Kevin Tsujihara nodded slowly.

Jon Berg continued, "Gone Girl was such a success that I think Gillian Flynn will bring that success to her new film."

Kevin Tsujihara said, "Women are too emotional in this regard; don't make that mistake again."

In fact, very few female producers in Hollywood have the final cut.

Jon Berger said, "I've adjusted the editing of several other films to avoid making the same mistake again."

Every mid-to-large Hollywood production company has its share of failures every year. Kevin Tsujihara didn't pursue the matter too much and quickly let Jon Berg leave.

Back in his office, Jon Berg did not hesitate to blacklist Gillian Flynn and Natalie Portman from Warner Bros.

He looked worried because next month he would have to submit his first performance report since taking office to the group's board of directors.

Jon Berg quickly came up with a solution: in his performance review, he highlighted this year's successful films such as "Harry Potter 9" and "The Hangover Part II," while trying to deflect blame for the failures.

Gillian Flynn, who served as producer and screenwriter of "Darklands," is the perfect scapegoat for the failure of the series.

Jon Berg sighed. Actually, he didn't want to use a sequel left by his predecessor to save the day, but he had no other choice.

Let's get through this hurdle first before talking about anything else.

Jon Berg suddenly realized that this film, like "Owls and Gods," was also related to Martin Davis.

"Owls and Gods" was a project that Daniel Radcliffe intercepted from Martin's original project, which Martin wanted to collaborate with Warner Bros., while "Darklands" was a project that his trusted assistant actively snatched from Martin.

Is there any connection between the two?

(End of this chapter)