America achieves both fame and fortune

Chapter 880 The Money Game

January is traditionally a slow season for movies in North America, and films released during this period are often those that lack competitiveness or have a small budget.

The Shallows opened in North America on the last weekend of January.

Compared to Martin Scorsese's films, which typically open in around 4000 theaters, this film, which he directed, only opened in 3450 theaters.

However, compared to traditional horror thrillers, The Shallows has an advantage: the film doesn't have too much gore, which earned it a PG-13 rating from the MPAA.

Blake Lively's social media fans are primarily teenagers.

On Friday daytime, the film had a moderate attendance rate, making it a top choice for many moviegoers during a period lacking strong films.

Leonardo DiCaprio and Nicholson, those two bastards, even took the time to go to the cinema and buy two tickets to support Martin.

Most importantly, they wanted to see what kind of film Martin had made.

The film is short and concise. After watching it, Leonardo DiCaprio said, "It's much better than I expected. At least Martin Scorsese has everything a thriller should have."

Nicholson took off his sunglasses and wiped them, saying, "There's almost no wasted screen time, and the atmosphere is all there."

Leonardo shook his head: "This isn't like the Martin I know."

Nicholson said, "I feel like you're going to lose."

"Impossible!" Leonardo straightened his back and said, "For a film to turn out like this, Martin used his financial power."

Nicholson, however, said, "This film is at least above average. I just thought about it carefully, and it's definitely the best shark thriller since Jaws."

Leonardo DiCaprio admitted this: "Mainly, the shark thrillers that came out after Jaws were just too bad."

"Hey, you don't understand what I mean at all," Nicholson explained simply. "Do you know what this means?"

He didn't need Leonardo's answer: "It means the film can recoup its investment and potentially generate huge profits, allowing Martin to continue using his financial power to make new films without restraint, thus creating a virtuous cycle."

Leonardo understood, paused for a moment, and then thought of something else: "The Oscars are essentially a money game."

Nicholson added, "Once a virtuous cycle is established, Martin will keep throwing money at it until the Oscars recognize it." He stated a fact: "In the eyes of the Academy's core members, Martin is much more popular than you."

Leonardo DiCaprio, watching the credits roll on the screen, said, "I feel this movie will do well at the box office."

Nicholson said, "Martin's directorial debut is at least passable."

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Nothing reflects the commercial success or failure of a theatrical film better than box office revenue.

Friday has passed, and the box office statistics for "The Shallows" are in. The $1079 million earned on its opening day is not very high, but it is enough to make the film the top-grossing film in North America that day.

This figure also exceeded the expectations of Davis Studios and Disney Studios, both of which increased their promotional and marketing efforts for the film.

Word-of-mouth marketing is naturally a key element of this.

Throughout major media outlets and on the internet, there are countless voices praising "The Shallows".

"Martin Davis has unexpectedly delivered a masterpiece. He skillfully and clearly presents psychological thrills and visual impact, surpassing all shark movies of the last twenty years."

"The Shallows received rave reviews. Martin Davis and Blake Lively teamed up to deliver a nail-biting underwater adventure that will have moviegoers terrified."

"This is the most worthwhile movie to see in theaters since the beginning of 2015!"

In addition to word-of-mouth marketing, the production team also focused on another aspect.

Since it's a movie about a female protagonist defeating a great white shark, we can't ignore a few special groups of people.

As long as they can generate enough commercial revenue, Hollywood doesn't mind promoting them to the skies.

The renowned magazine "Women's Vanguard" published a commentary column about "The Shallows".

"The plot and setting of 'The Shallows' are very simple; the story is almost entirely told through a beach, a female protagonist, and a great white shark. Yet, this film is not simple either. It uses an extreme experience to show us that tasks traditionally considered to be done by men can also be done by women, and even better!"

Many women's rights advocates bought tickets to watch this women's film.

Integrity is worthless in the face of commercial profits.

As a result, a large number of promotional articles of this type appeared online.

"The Shallows: The Awakening and Explosion of Women's Independent and Resilient Consciousness!"

"A woman's strength comes from a strong heart; it can enable a woman to defeat a great white shark!"

In January, a relatively quiet month for the film market, The Shallows brought some unusual activity.

On Saturday, even more people went to the theaters to watch the thriller, and the box office surged that day, grossing $1389 million.

However, as more people watched the film, its reputation inevitably declined, and its IMDb rating dropped to 7.6.

After three days over the weekend, The Shallows achieved its best weekend box office performance since the beginning of 2015, grossing $3472 million in 3450 theaters and topping the North American box office charts.

In just three days, the film's box office revenue exceeded its production costs.

There is no doubt that The Shallows was a commercial success.

The film was a success, and the pursuers automatically followed.

The Los Angeles Times featured Martin's column on the front page of its latest entertainment section.

"Martin Davis, a talented actor and one of Hollywood's top superstars, whose influence and commercial appeal are beyond question, directed the thriller 'The Shallows', which he changed course midway through his career, and it was released in North America last weekend."

"Before the film's release, there were many doubts, with some believing that Martin Scorsese would only deliver a bad movie. There are too many examples of Hollywood stars who have turned to directing and made bad movies. However, after the film's release, both its reputation and commercial response were quite good, and it even took the top spot at the North American box office last week."

"From the perspective of an actor turned director, Martin Scorsese's directorial debut is of decent quality. It shows no signs of a novice director's inexperience; on the contrary, it's very steady, proving that Scorsese has a good grasp of pacing and the scene design is also very well done."

"Admittedly, Martin Davis is far, far away from directors like Spielberg, Nolan, and Cameron. After all, there are only a handful of top-tier directors in Hollywood. It takes not only hard work but also talent. Perhaps one day we will see Martin Davis become one of them."

In the Warner Bros. office, Daniel put down the Los Angeles Times, looked at Hamada across from him, and said, "Did you see the opening weekend box office figures for The Shallows? Martin's ability as a director has already been proven; he's no worse than the person you recommended."

Hamada's face darkened; the box office results for "The Shallows" had exceeded his expectations.

Previously, he thought the film would be lucky to gross $1800 million in its opening weekend, but the actual figure was almost double what he expected.

Despite the harsh reality, Hamada remained defiant: "This film is opportunistic; rather than being a successful film, it's more accurate to say that its marketing and publicity were excellent."

Daniel smiled and shook his head: "Isn't publicity and marketing part of a movie?" He stopped smiling: "We produce and promote products, and movies are our products. If we can make a movie sell at a high profit, that's success."

Hamada was unable to refute this because it was the current state of Hollywood.

He simply changed the subject: "Next weekend, your film 'Jupiter Ascending' will be released, directly competing with 'The Shallows'."

Daniel said, "That film was a project left over from my predecessor Jon Berg. The internal screenings and several test screenings received very poor reviews. Warner Bros. will not invest too many resources in this film. The only goal for 'Jupiter Ascending' to be released in theaters is to make up for the losses caused by my predecessor as much as possible."

Upon hearing Jon Berg's name, Hamada also felt it was a trap; that guy was forever etched on Hollywood's pillar of shame.

Daniel continued, "I don't understand why the head office's review committee approved 'Jupiter Ascending,' the Wachowski brothers... no, the siblings..."

"They're sisters now," Hamada reminded her.

Daniel nodded: "The Wachowski sisters have failed time and time again since *The Matrix*, causing huge losses for Warner Bros. So why did *Jupiter Ascending*, with an investment of $1.85 million, pass censorship? I suspect there's some kind of dereliction of duty involved!"

He had long ago clearly positioned himself against Warner Bros., putting direct pressure on them: "I will write a report and submit it directly to the company's board of directors, asking them to thoroughly investigate this project."

Hamada couldn't sit still any longer, so he made up an excuse and went to report the situation to Kevin Tsujihara.

Daniel watched him leave and instructed his assistant to prepare a report. He knew that with Kevin Tsujihara as CEO and chairman, such a report was unlikely to pass, but it could give him more room to wield power and truly silence the voice of the Warner Bros. team at Warner Bros.

Only by sitting in this position and carefully examining what Jon Berger did in the past few years could Daniel discover that the Warner Bros. team was absolutely a group of god-like teammates.

He's just an ordinary person, and he can't withstand the torment of having such amazing teammates.

Although Jon Berg was removed from the project, he left Daniel with a lot of legacy, such as the "Jupiter Ascending" project.

Daniel picked up the phone, dialed Martin's number, and said with a smile, "Congratulations, Martin, your directorial debut is a box office hit."

Martin gave the same old response: "Thanks, it was just good luck, and my assistants were very helpful."

Daniel didn't care about any of that; the film's success was success. As if unaware of this, he sincerely suggested, "Joker has never found a suitable director. I think you could give it a try yourself."

Martin was equally forthcoming: "I've been thinking about this recently too."

Like most people in the industry, Daniel believes that successful people are more likely to succeed, and said, "Don't worry about Warner Bros., I will fully support you."

"I'll try to develop a shooting plan," Martin replied.

Daniel quickly hung up the phone, thinking that Warner Bros. should perhaps strengthen its cooperation with Martin in terms of directing.

Disney Studios shares the same idea.

In the Disney Studios waiting room, Alan Horn had been talking with Martin for over half an hour, mainly about their collaboration as directors.

He wanted Martin to sign three exclusive directing contracts with Disney.

Martin has never expressed his opinion.

Because of this collaboration, Disney Studios is in complete control. If a film fails, Disney Studios can simply drag out the contract, which would actually limit Martin's own choices.

Martin stated directly, "Allen, you know some things. My next project is the DC Comics superhero movie 'Joker,' which is a Warner Bros. project. Apart from me being the lead actor, the project has yet to find a suitable director. If it remains so after the Oscars, I'll have to try directing and starring in it myself."

Alan Horn, who was somewhat aware of the situation, said, "After Joker, if you want to direct other projects, Disney is always ready to work with you."

"I don't have any ideas for the next project yet. Shall we talk about it when we have some ideas?" When Martin decided to direct The Shallows, apart from Louise Pacific Films, other Hollywood companies remained mostly silent.

Now that The Shallows is a box office hit in North America, all those good people have come together to tell Martin how great they are.

Martin has gotten used to it over the years.

This week, the crew will leave North America for Europe, East Asia, and Southeast Asia to promote "The Shallows".

However, compared to films with medium to high-budget investments, The Shallows had a relatively small marketing budget, and only two key members of the production team went overseas for promotional purposes—Martin and Blake Lively.

This solo trip was particularly tough for Blake Lively. As the absolute protagonist and the key figure in promotion, she had to deal with various media questions during the day and maintain her best condition in front of fans.

At night, Martin, who was incredibly strong and had an extremely high sex drive, would always make her feel like she was dying and coming back to life.

Having just left London for Paris, the second stop of her European tour, Blake Lively called for backup. Taylor Swift, who happened to be holding a fan meeting on the banks of the Seine, and her European best friend Cara Delevingne joined Martin's game.

Cara Delevingne also called her sister, Bobby Delevingne.

The latter is an actress who is very interested in Martin. She successfully passes Martin's test and joins Taylor's group of girlfriends.

Meanwhile, The Shallows was showing for the second weekend in North America.

This week is the traditional Super Bowl weekend in North America, and the public's attention is largely focused on the Super Bowl.

The newly released "Jupiter Ascending" is placed in this time slot, which clearly indicates that it has been abandoned by Warner Bros.

The box office results also proved that this film was indeed not very good.

During its North American opening weekend, "Jupiter Ascending" only grossed $1521 million.

The film's publicly disclosed production budget is a staggering $1.85 million.

The Wachowskis became a box office disaster generator.

Thanks to its steady box office performance, The Shallows has remained the number one film at the North American box office for two consecutive years.

The film took in another $1856 million in its second weekend, bringing its North American box office total to $7288 million.

(End of this chapter)