Hollywood Road

"Deadpool topped the North American weekend box office chart domineeringly, breaking the box office record for the April weekend opening of North American film history!"

Sitting in the car, looking at this eye-catching headline on the entertainment page of the newspaper, a young face flashed before the eyes of the CEO of DC Comics, Diego Harris, who had taken the initiative to find DC Comics and Warner Bros. The young director who wants to save Batman Bruce Wayne.

The car left the international airport and gradually approached Burbank. Diego Harris leaned in the car seat, not knowing what he was thinking.

After a long time, he sighed and said to himself, "Perhaps DC Comics and Warner Bros. really missed a good opportunity."

The success of "Deadpool" was completely beyond his expectations. Murphy Stanton brought such a bold but interesting superhero movie, it was incredible.

What makes him unbelievable is not only the film’s unexpected box office numbers, but also the reputation of being lauded by audiences, media and professional critics.

The young director seemed to be holding Harry Potter's magic wand in his hand. With just a single tap, he could always turn decay into magic.

Then, he thought of "Catwoman", a collaboration between DC Comics and Warner Bros., and immediately filled his face with sadness, "Do I really push someone who can save DC Comics hero movies into the arms of surprise?"

No wonder he thinks so. It is really just a few trial screenings of "Catwoman", and the word-of-mouth is too bad. Now the freshness of Rotten Tomatoes after several trial screenings is only 13% as pitiful!

That's fine, after all, film critics are far away from the audience, but the popcorn index on Rotten Tomatoes that the audience wants to see is only over 50%!

This happened before the film was released...

He lowered his head, his eyes rested on the newspaper in his hand.

"The director of "Deadpool" Murphy Stanton is still a relatively unfamiliar name to North American movie audiences. The twenty-four-year-old director Tianzong Wizards has a unique dark style and can be called Kun The first person after Din Tarantino, 20th Century Fox chose him as the director of a mainstream commercial film by a director with an extremely strong personal style, which is quite unexpected."

"Murphy Stanton perfectly blends his own style with the characteristics of "Deadpool". The film has dark scenes such as cyan, violence, and blood, and there is no lack of comics that give Deadpool the playfulness and The cheap and cute character brings a superhero movie with a peculiar style to the Hollywood and North American film markets, which are seriously homogenized."

"Let’s talk about the film’s box office. "Deadpool" landed in some theaters in North America early on Thursday night. It earned $7.52 million that night and performed well. This result is second only to "The Matrix 2: Reloaded" in the R-rated film. The film began to be screened nationwide on Friday, with a revenue of US$20,080,000 on that day. It easily won the single-day championship and broke the R-rated film’s first-day drawing record in April and the single-day box office record on Friday in April."

"On Saturday, the single-day box office rose 16% to US$32 million. The increase was quite excellent among R-rated films. The inevitable decline on Sunday was still US$24.2 million in revenue, which made it the opening weekend. The result reached 83.8 million U.S. dollars and won the weekend championship by an overwhelming advantage."

"The opening results of "Deadpool" greatly exceeded the expected value before the release. Compared with the box office of the first weekend of "X-Men 2" released last year, there was only a gap of 2 million US dollars. With a stronger trend, it may become the highest-grossing "X-Men" series of movies, and considering the excellent reputation of this film, its North American box office is expected to hit 250 million US dollars."

"The movie’s cinema audience score is A+, the popcorn index is as high as 98%, and the audience’s word of mouth is extremely high. The film’s media reviews are also mostly positive, with 8% of the 98 media reviews included on the Rotten Tomatoes website. Sixteen gave this film good reviews, with an average score of 7.8. The authoritative review media MetaCritic included 47 media scores, with an average score of 75, which is the highest of the three existing "X-Men" movies."

"Driven by "Deadpool", the North American market recorded US$180 million this weekend, which is 215% higher than the previous week when "Hellboy" won the championship!"

"Due to the performance of "Deadpool" that exceeded expectations, "Hellboy", which was also adapted from the comics, was severely impacted. This weekend's box office dive rate was as high as 68%..."

Seeing this, the car stopped in front of the Warner Building. Diego Harris put down the newspaper, got out of the car and entered the building, and went straight to Bruce Berman's office.

In the office, Bruce Berman, who was on the phone before, is also waiting for him.

"I suggest to contact Murphy Stanton immediately." This was the first sentence that Diego Harris said after sitting down, "He is very, very capable!"

Bruce Berman looked at him, but said nothing.

"A movie with an investment of only 60 million U.S. dollars," Diego Harris really wants to revive a DC comic movie. "In just one weekend, the North American box office exceeded the production cost, and the word-of-mouth evaluation is high. Inside, it's rare."

"Suitable for surprises," Bruce Berman said coldly, "not necessarily suitable for DC."

"Bruce!" Diego Harris didn't expect him to say that, his eyes widened. "A second-line non-mainstream hero movie that can be made by Murphy Stanton as it is now, can't it explain the problem? I think the plan he submitted at the time is feasible."

"The Batman who was knocked down? Maybe there is a Superman who was knocked down..." Bruce Berman's face was a little gloomy, "Don't be kidding, this is not the superhero movie DC and Warner Bros want."

He denied Murphy Stanton at the beginning, and now he invites him back. Isn't this drawing his own face? Where is the dignity of his CEO?

"Catwoman is already like this..." Diego Harris was heartbroken. "Now thinking about Murphy Stanton, I think "Superman Returns" also has problems. Bruce, we have to face the problem, not avoid the possibility. Existing problems."

"Possible problem?" Bruce Berman stood up suddenly, "How many years was "Superman Returns" shelved before? It's me!"

He pointed to his fat chest, "It was me who put "Superman Returns" on the right track! He also found the best superhero film director for it, and these can't be changed!"

Bruce Berman said categorically, there is no room for negotiation, "You don't have to worry about "Superman Returns", I will take full responsibility. As for "Catwoman", I will also think of ways to promote and market."

"But..." Diego Harris still wanted to fight, "Murphy Stanton..."

Hearing this name that might affect his reputation, Bruce Berman went up and down and couldn't help raising his voice, interrupting Diego Harris, "Enough! I am the CEO of this company! "

Looking at Bruce Berman, whose bruises seemed to be jumping out of his face, Diego Harris closed his mouth, nodded, and walked out of the office.

Domineering, not hearing any opinions, not knowing how to correct mistakes, paying too much attention to personal grievances...

A series of negative comments flashed through Diego Harris's mind. He had a subconscious feeling that the DC Comics Hero movie might be really hopeless.

I hurried over from New York and got such a result. Diego Harris was somewhat unhappy, especially Bruce Berman insisted on using Halle Berry in "Catwoman", for which he did not hesitate to offer 2000. Ten thousand dollars in compensation and having the screenwriter adjust the role to a black man really made him very angry.

This is not what "Catwoman" originally planned.

Originally, Bruce Berman strongly supported Warner Bros. to restart the DC Comics hero movie. He thought it was the moment when DC Comics turned over in Hollywood, and he stood beside Bruce Berman from time to time as his best ally.

It now appears that the wrong decision was made and the wrong person was selected.

Thinking of this, Diego Harris went down to the lobby, ready to leave, and went back to the hotel to rest.

"Hi, Diego." Suddenly someone called him, "Wait."

Diego Harris looked back, and Bruce Rosenblum, who had just been promoted to director from the deputy director of the TV department, walked over from the elevator.

"Hi, Bruce." He greeted with a smile.

Although the two are not friends, they can be considered familiar.

"Is there time?" Bruce Rosenblum pointed to the cafe on the side of the lobby. "I have something to talk to you."

After thinking for a moment, Diego Harris nodded and followed Bruce Rosenblum into the cafe.

"Diego, you are the most experienced person in the management of DC Comics, and you are also recognized as the person who has the most affection for DC Comics." After a few chattering words, Bruce Rosenblum entered the topic, "Catwoman" With such a poor reputation in the trial screenings, the production cost of "Superman Returns" exceeded $250 million. If it fails..."

He glanced at Diego Harris, who was thoughtful.

When Bruce Rosenblum was able to find him, he naturally had a targeted understanding. "Did DC think about the serious consequences?"

Diego Harris gave a wry smile, "DC comics movies will not be able to turn over for many years to come."

"The risks of these two projects are already very high." Bruce Rosenblum asked again, "Do you have a plan in case of failure?"

If it was before, Diego Harris would think that this is nonsense, but now? Some things are already imminent.

The two men started a long conversation in the coffee shop. In the office upstairs, Bruce Berman first called the person in charge of the company’s publicity department, and asked him to step up to supervise and approve “Catwoman”. Propaganda, and feel that this is still not at ease.

He likes to do some things by himself, so that he can experience the feeling of power in his hands.

He also hung up a phone call between Halle Berry and his agent, and the three parties also finalized a very targeted publicity strategy.