Chapter 498 A Bucket of Cold Water
2002, May 14, Tuesday.
In one side, Anson, who had just set off a movie-watching craze across North America with "Spider-Man", was making music with a group of friends at home, as if he had entered another world.
At the same time, "Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones" makes its debut. It is undoubtedly the annual event of the North American film market in 2002. No one has forgotten "Star Wars: Episode II: Ghost" three years ago. The grand occasion when "The Threat" was released——
At that time, the movie also debuted in the third week of May, which was also the week before Memorial Day weekend. It grossed 64 million in the three days of its opening weekend. US dollars, and finally swept US$430 million in North America and US$924 million globally. This also made the film climb to the runner-up position in the box office of North American film history and the global box office of film history, both behind "Titanic".
Sixteen years after the end of the "Star Wars" series, the movie has proven through actual performance that it is still the well-deserved number one stream of North American pop culture.
Now, the second episode of the prequel series is released. It can be seen from the trailer that Anakin Skywalker, the predecessor of Darth Vader, who was later feared, is about to appear, and the entire North American market has fallen into a frenzy. , to create momentum for the film’s debut, and no one wants to miss this feast.
Facts have also proved this, the first traffic, well-deserved reputation.
From TV to radio to newspapers and magazines, the pages are being completely washed. Even the "Spider-Man" who is making history must step aside to make way for "Star Wars Episode 2".
The movie premiere even made half of Hollywood go out. On the front foot, people were still lamenting that Brad Pitt and Tom Cruise both appeared at the premiere of "Spider-Man". On the back foot, they saw During the premiere of "Star Wars: Episode II", which was comparable to the Golden Globe Awards ceremony, everyone kept their mouths shut and held their chins throughout.
The mighty momentum swept across the entire North American continent like a hurricane.
For the first time, the major news headlines could no longer contain their excitement——
What about "Star Wars Episode 2" is about to clash with "Spider-Man", what about Titanic style Collision is about to land in North America, and the cosmic showdown of Mars hitting the Earth has ignited movie-watching enthusiasm in the North American box office market.
All kinds, all kinds.
Just the grand occasion of a premiere has already brought the news media to a collective climax.
Amidst the hustle and bustle of attention, the comprehensive media review of "Star Wars Episode II" was released:
Fifty-four points.
Audience:...
Wait, could it be that I saw it wrongly?
However, no.
The comprehensive score from thirty-nine professional media is fifty-four points.
A bucket of cold water was poured down on my head and face.
First of all, there are only 39 media outlets, and the reviews of the 50 media outlets that wrote history for "Spider-Man" are on a completely different level. What's going on?
Didn’t you say that the grand premiere completely crushed “Spider-Man”? Doesn’t it mean that 20th Century Fox has spent all its resources? Didn't it mean that the two movies teamed up to save the family, and all the media treated them equally?
What the hell!
Second, fifty-four points?
......Damn it, fifty-four points!
Of course, things shouldn't be that bad.
Out of thirty-nine media outlets, sixteen gave favorable reviews, and the Chicago Tribune gave it a perfect one hundred percent praise—could it be Robert Ebert?
No, Robert is the "Chicago Sun", sorry to bother you.
But the point is that the average score of sixteen positive reviews is not good enough to offset the strong impact of eighteen neutral reviews and five negative reviews, so that the overall media review completely collapsed.
Among them, Hayden bore the brunt. Even before the movie was released, Anakin Skywalker had attracted too much attention. Every move of the crew could easily trigger widespread discussions. However, the higher the expectations, the greater the disappointment. All the blame and criticism fell on Hayden. body.
The stiff, lifeless and facially paralyzed acting has become a target for audiences and film critics.
Of course, the film’s dilemma goes beyond that. It is lengthy, boring, ineffective in narrative and boring in scheduling, which completely exposes the thinness of the characters and the shallowness of the plot. The film’s length of more than two hours does not help. The plight of the whole work is far from Hayden’s responsibility alone——
But it's always easiest and most efficient to blame the protagonist.
There is also director George Lucas. The vigorous bombs are completely focused on George and Hayden, which contrasts with the hustle and bustle of the premiere.
Amidst the difficulties and disasters, the only thing to be thankful for is that the "Star Wars" series has the most die-hard, tenacious and passionate fans on the North American continent. They will tolerate the badness of the movie endlessly, even if Even a rose can be carved out of a lump, and they will never let down George Lucas.
For reference, three years ago, "Star Wars Episode 1" received even worse reviews from the media, with only 51 points, but this still did not prevent the box office from blowing out.
And now?
Those crazy movie fans are still overjoyed: Look, the second part actually scored three points higher than the first part, a full three points. This is a huge improvement.
Perhaps, 20th Century Fox can still have hope and hope that the effect of "Spider-Man" and the traffic of "Star Wars" will collide -
$100 million in opening weekend box office?
Why not!
You still have to have dreams, what if they come true?
Thursday, May 13th.
"Star Wars 2" took an unusual approach and did not choose to land in theaters on Friday, but on Thursday one day earlier. If some of the box office sales had already occurred in advance on Thursday, the movie would still be released over the three-day weekend. Being able to win 100 million U.S. dollars at the box office will undoubtedly create history from another dimension -
Winning head-to-head, it may be difficult to break the record of 130 million U.S. dollars for "Spider-Man" in three days over the weekend. , 20th Century Fox took a different approach to open up the situation.
In the bustling place, long queues have already occupied the cinema early in the morning. Fans also realize that "Spider-Man" is making history. How can they lose?
Early show, full.
Everything, as the media expected, the collision of the two works "Spider-Man" and "Star Wars Episode 2" is indeed bringing the audience back to the cinema.
Then, avid movie fans who were lining up to buy a movie theater and sharpen their swords to defeat "Spider-Man" noticed a commotion at AMC in Century City -
Wait, wait, that's ...Anson Wood?
No, why did Anson come to the premiere of "Star Wars Episode 2"? Are they here to persuade the audience to buy more tickets to watch "Spider-Man"?
Isn’t he worried about being beaten by a group?
Jesse Herold, Fox TV reporter. Exactly two weeks ago, his live report at Century City AMC kicked off this summer's craze. Now he is back at Century City AMC, ready to push the summer craze to a new level. A whole new level.
Appearing with Jesse is still the honest man Alexander Potter.
Although there are many teams that have signed up voluntarily, Jesse has refused all of them and still partners with Alexander. After sharing adversity, we should share wealth.
In the bustling crowd, Jesse caught the commotion immediately. After finishing an interview, he looked in the direction of the commotion astutely.
It doesn’t matter if you look at it, your eyeballs will almost fall out——
What's going on?
(End of this chapter)