Chapter 137 Parents’ Protest
In Los Angeles, the small fan group of Lewis and Salati Merton did not go to the cinema immediately to watch the midnight screening of "The Island" last night.
It's not that they don't want to go into the cinema as soon as possible, it's mainly because movie tickets are not available in slightly more luxurious cinemas, that is, there are still tickets in cinemas in suburban and surrounding towns.
But no one wanted to run that far, so they had to wait until the first session in the morning.
When the theater opened for business, my companion complained: "Lewis, it's all your fault. If you hadn't gotten the tickets, we wouldn't have had to get up early to wait for the theater to open."
Lewis quickly admitted his mistake: "I'm sorry, man, I didn't expect the movie to be so popular. All the tickets for the midnight show were sold out."
"Okay, don't blame Lewis, who put us in Los Angeles!" Salati Merton said a word for Lewis.
This sentence is indeed true. Not being able to buy tickets for the midnight show is just an extreme situation in some cities.
Movie fans in Los Angeles love little Gilbert, a talented director, and support this local director very much.
This small group of movie fans was not the only one who queued up to buy movie tickets in the early morning. Other movie fans who missed the midnight show last night for various reasons gathered in front of major movie theaters in Los Angeles.
The channels for buying movie tickets now are not as developed as they were later. You can directly select seats and buy tickets online.
Nowadays, to buy movie tickets, you need to call the cinema or go directly to the cinema to buy tickets.
Either way, movie fans must remember that they need to buy early, otherwise tickets for popular summer movies will not be easy to buy.
Fortunately, although Friday is included in the three-day weekend, it is still essentially a working day, and it is still morning, so there will not be that many people free.
After waiting for a while, the theater staff opened the door.
The moment he opened the door, he was startled by the overwhelming crowd: "Man, are you all here to watch a movie?"
"Stop talking nonsense, hurry up and get to work, I want to buy a ticket." After a movie fan finished speaking, he rushed into the cinema, fearing that he would not be able to get a ticket soon.
Other fans followed closely behind, and if the theater staff hadn't stepped aside in time, there might have been a stampede.
Similar situations have also occurred in many movie theaters.
Enthusiastic movie fans seemed to flood the theaters. Because they did not expect this scene, some theaters did not even have time to prepare items such as French fries, popcorn, and cola.
At first, some fans expressed dissatisfaction. Without these things, watching the movie would not feel the same.
But after watching "The Island", fans excitedly shook the hands of theater staff and said, "You guys are really farsighted. Fortunately, I wasn't prepared. I was attracted by the movie and couldn't even think of popcorn and Coke." ”
The theater staff was confused. This was the first time he had seen such a situation in so many years of working in the industry.
Is this the new work of a nationally famous talented director? This popularity and appeal are simply unrivaled.
Lewis and Salati Merton, a group of movie fans, came out after watching the movie, still looking after it, and several of their companions were still discussing the plot of the movie enthusiastically.
"I've seen Nicolas Cage's other movies, and to be honest, they're not as charming as in this movie. I suddenly felt like he was a tough guy."
"Roger Moore is so cool. This old man is very agile despite his age. He deserves to be a former agent."
"I love this movie, I love little Gilbert, he always surprises the fans."
When the people around heard this, they nodded in agreement.
The reason why little Gilbert is loved is not because he is handsome...well, many female movie fans like him simply because he is handsome.
But the most important thing is that Gilbert Jr. is very different from other Hollywood directors and can bring fresh experiences to movie fans every time. This is the reason why many movie fans like Gilbert Jr.
In San Francisco, Sullivan and Ball, who had attended the premiere, vividly told their stories about the premiere to their family and friends.
"I saw Tom Cruise and Mr. T-800. He was so cool." Sullivan's face flushed, he was very excited.
"How about the movie?" asked my sister.
"It's so beautiful and exciting. I want to watch it again." Sullivan looked at his father.
Hearing this sentence, the father, as the head of the family, will make a decision: "Then tomorrow weekend, we will not go on an outing and go to the cinema to watch a movie."
As soon as this decision was made, the children immediately cheered.
However, my mother was still worried: "Is it too hasty to watch this movie? I have seen the trailer, and there are many very violent scenes in it."
The father said there was no need to worry: "I checked the rating and this film is rated PG-13, which means it is suitable for the whole family to watch together."
Now that my father has made this decision, my mother will no longer object.
But it turns out that sometimes ratings can be deceptive.
On the first day of the large-scale release of "The Island" in North America, there were endless reports and comments from various media, but one thing caught the attention of some people.
When CBS TV interviewed the audience who had just left the movie theater, they interviewed an angry father.
The father said angrily: "This film is not suitable for parents to watch with their children at all. The film should be rated R instead of the current PG-13 rating.
Look at my child. He was frightened to tears by the violent content in the movie. The movie official must be held responsible for this..."
The TV station also showed a little boy who looked about 12 or 13 years old. He was wiping away tears and crying in his mother's arms.
This is not an isolated case. Soon many parents in major cities across the United States united to protest against the rating deviation of "The Island", which led them to wrongly choose this movie.
A parent representative quickly accepted an interview with the TV station and said: "The film officials should be responsible for this, and the Film Classification Board should also come out and apologize to our poor children."
Turning off the TV, Martin Bob couldn't help clapping his hands and laughing: "Hahahaha, now, little Gilbert probably won't be able to have another debate with parents like the last time the Hollywood Animal Protection Organization did."
Lovett raised his thumb and complimented: "President, your method is really clever. You use parents to drive public opinion and put "Bravely Entering the Island" in a passive position.
Did you think of this plan as early as when the classification was finalized? "
Martin Bob seemed to have a pearl of wisdom: "Lovett, one thing has two sides. When it brings bad effects to us, it also gives us an opportunity.
This requires vision and insight, as well as the ability to seize opportunities. "
Lovett flattered him: "No wonder, I admire the president more and more. You really taught me a good lesson."
"Hmph," Martin Bob sneered: "This time, I will see how little Gilbert can respond to the siege from the parents."
What response? Little Gilbert's approach was to quickly discuss with the publicity department and find public relations experts to study countermeasures.
No matter what happens behind the scenes, the protection of children in this country is written into the law, and at least it must be done to save face.
Little Gilbert had seen a piece of news in his previous life. A baby in New York was admitted to the ICU due to illness. As a result, the US medical insurance refused to reimburse the ICU expenses because the baby could breathe. At that time, there were still people who boasted about the advancement of the American medical insurance system and lamented that the light of the beacon was still waiting for its people.
As for the exposure of the incident on the island, it has completely torn apart the hypocritical mask of protecting children in this country.
But that was decades later. Now in the 1990s, no one dares to publicly say or publicly do behavior that harms children without facing serious charges.
Since last year, Michael Jackson has been frantically attacked by the media for sexually assaulting children.
Even if the boy himself and the boy's family have come forward and said that Michael Jackson did not do this, it will not help.
Of course, this is just an excuse. The deeper reasons must be traced back to skin color, as well as issues such as stance and interests.
When the entire mainstream white society in the West gathers into a consensus, no one can resist this surging tide except in the East a few decades later.
Fortunately, the matter in "Bravely Entering the Island" is not serious and does not rise to the legal level. And little Gilbert is a white man and a squid, and his situation is much better than that of Michael Jackson.
Protests from parents affected the box office performance of "The Island" to a certain extent, but the film still took in $15.263 million at the box office on its first day.
If it were an R-rated film, the first-day box office would have broken a record, but "The Island" is rated PG-13.
But little Gilbert doesn't care about these false reputations, as long as the box office is enough for him.
Under the advice of public relations, in order to reverse the trend of public opinion, Gilbert Jr. and Nicolas Cage, Roger Moore, and Ed Harris split into two groups.
A team of Roger Moore and Ed Harris went to visit those World War II veterans and thank them for their great contributions to the country and world peace.
Warner Fox and Disney's TV media follow-up reports have created a good image for "The Island".
“This is Fox, and right behind us is the home of Henry Carr, a decorated World War II veteran.
Roger Moore and Ed Harris, the stars of "The Island", brought gifts to visit this outstanding veteran and sent their cordial greetings..."
And little Gilbert and Nicolas Cage formed a team to visit the children in the orphanage and do volunteer work. Little Gilbert even cooked for the children himself.
"This is ABC TV, and I'm reporter Martha.
Today, "The Island" director Gilbert Jr. and star Nicolas Cage came to the orphanage to play games and have cordial interactions with the children.
Nicolas Cage gave many comic books to the children, and little Gilbert made dinner for the children. "
Then there is the interview scene of little Gilbert, in which little Gilbert is holding two children, one is a black girl and the other is a white boy, which is quite correct.
"I have always cared about our children. I think the future belongs to the children, and we adults are just taking care of it for the time being.
As a Hollywood director, I most hope that children will retain their innocent fantasies, stay innocent, and grow up healthily. "
I have never eaten pork, but I have always seen pigs running away.
Little Gilbert spoke these clichés without any barriers, just like a congressman working in Washington.
These tactics are still very effective and have eliminated the public's bad feeling to a certain extent.
However, the impact of the protests is not easy to eliminate, and the film's box office has still been affected to a certain extent.
Martin Bob has been paying close attention to the progress of this matter. Little Gilbert's response made him sigh that little Gilbert's ability to get out was not as simple as luck.
Seeing him interact with the black children without changing his expression, Martin Bob admired little Gilbert's determination.
If nothing else, Martin Bob, who at least hates black people, cannot be as cheeky as little Gilbert.
During the preparation of "Bad Boys", Martin Bob didn't even want to hold Will Smith's hand because he felt it would dirty him up.
Wouldn’t it be disgusting for little Gilbert to interact with a black child?
Not only that, with the public relations of Warner Disney, the Los Angeles City Government awarded Little Gilbert the title of Children’s Charity Ambassador.
Gilbert Jr. also announced that he would donate $1 million to welfare homes across Los Angeles.
He has more money, so he can donate more, not to mention that the money is not even from him.
Thanks to a series of positive public relations, "The Island" continued to produce impressive results, with the film taking in US$20.516 million in a single day on Saturday.
More importantly, the film was very well-received by the audience.
Although many film critics and media have given high praise before, it was just a public relations method before the release.
The most important thing for summer movies is to look at market performance and audience reputation.
Touchstone Pictures, Robert Iger got the latest audience survey data.
Assistant Report: “Among the 10,233 viewers surveyed, 73% scored A+, and 81% rated A+.
However, the same number is below C, reaching 9%. "
Robert Egger was very satisfied with this data. He said: "This shows that the audience still likes this film very much. It is not surprising that there are so many negative reviews. After all, there are still parents who are protesting."
Needless to say, most of the bad reviews are given by parents, and even many of the intermediate ratings are given by parents.
It may be that this movie is really not suitable for children to watch, but parents really like this movie, so they gave it a good or bad rating.
After listening to the assistant's report, Robert Iger was very satisfied with the performance of "The Island", but he was a little unhappy when he remembered Disney's recent internal disputes.
At the beginning of the year, Michael Ovitz officially took office as the president of Disney, fulfilling his dream of becoming the president of a movie company giant.
CAA is nothing, only giant companies are at the top of Hollywood.
Becoming the president of a giant company means becoming the most powerful person in Hollywood, which is much more glamorous than the president of CAA.
But Michael Ovitz's dream was shattered before long.
After becoming the president of Disney, Michael Ovitz found that the instructions he issued could not leave his president's office, and the entire Disney was still under the control of Michael Eisner.
This friend of the same age did not delegate power at all, making Michael Ovitz the polished commander.
Only then did Michael Ovitz realize that his friend who had chosen him to be the president of Disney in the same year did not value his abilities at all, but regarded him as a puppet.
But after finally becoming the president of a giant company, Michael Ovitz was of course unwilling to accept his fate, so he began to move around among Disney's top executives and plan some activities.
(End of chapter)