The sun had just climbed the sky of last century city, and the bright light through the huge windows set into the Fox Building, illuminating James Murdoch's office.

"Boss, because of the poor performance of "Robin Hood", many institutions that provide loans are urging repayment. The assistant stood not far from his desk, reporting the latest developments: "They're already united. ”

James Murdoch appeared calm and unfazed, and the failure of "Robin Hood" was expected, and it was not surprising that banks and other institutions were urging repayment.

Most of these people have provided loans for projects such as "Pharaohs and the Gods" by Twentieth Century Fox, "10,000 Years Before History," "Robin Hood" and "Superstorm," and it is normal for projects to be unexpected.

The assistant's words continued: "Their agent made it clear that if Twentieth Century Fox couldn't give an answer soon, they would take out the loan in advance for projects such as "Super Storm", "Dragon Ball", "Wolverine" and "Terminator 4". ”

James Murdoch knew that he couldn't continue to ignore it, thought for a while, and said: "The return of the three projects of "Pharaoh and the Gods", "10,000 Years Before History", and "Robin Hood", and then transfer part of the working capital of the group company, repay one-fifth first, and the remaining part is temporarily delayed. ”

The assistant wrote it down, and if he could repay part of it, it would not be a problem to delay it for a while, after all, it would be no good for anyone to draw a loan and completely get into a stalemate.

James Murdoch instead asked, "What's the current state of funding on Wall Street?"

"Lehman Brothers is not in a good situation. The assistant hurriedly said: "It can't finance us again in a short time." ”

No one would have thought about what would happen to Lehman Brothers in the future, after all, this is one of the big four investment banks, and James Murdoch is no exception, he didn't pay much attention to it, saying: "Keep an eye on Lehman Brothers appropriately." ”

The assistant subconsciously glanced at the office door, saw that the door was closed, lowered his voice slightly, and said: "One more thing, the latest equipment has been put in place, but no useful information has been obtained, and most of the calls are some miscellaneous matters." ”

James Murdoch understood what he was talking about and asked, "Office phones and cell phones?"

The assistant said: "The other party is using an encrypted device. ”

This is not surprising, after all, it is not an ordinary person, James Murdoch said: "Stay on the lookout, let me know as soon as there is news." ”

"Understood. ”

The assistant was just about to leave, but James Murdoch stopped him again: "Avatar has been shown at midnight, right?

News Corp.'s plan to acquire Time Warner is not going well, James Murdoch is already preparing for a new plan, and if "Avatar" staged a box office disaster, the subsequent problems may be simpler.

After sitting as co-chairman of Twentieth Century Fox, James Murdoch rarely paid too much attention to the box office of a film, except for a blockbuster like "Avatar."

Because standing behind this film is a man named Ronan Anderson, a legend in Hollywood.

In just ten years, a small company that shoots videotape B-grade films can grow to this point, and James Murdoch also has the self-knowledge that he would never be able to do it.

The assistant immediately said: "There are statistics, 3,850 theaters, 4.75 million US dollars!"

When James Murdoch heard this number, he inexplicably became better because of the not-so-good mood caused by matters such as loans.

The midnight show grossed $4.75 million!

This is the sum of the midnight box office of "Avatar" in 3,850 theaters in North America, which is not easy for a science fiction movie with no prequel, no original book, no big star starring, and the story lacks audience recognition.

But for this "most expensive movie in history", this figure is not very good.

James Murdoch's lips hung with an almost imperceptible smile of ease.

The start of "Avatar" is not very ideal.

On the first day of its release in North America, that is, on Friday, "Avatar" earned $29.25 million in 4,215 theaters.

This figure also indicates that the box office of "Avatar" in the North American opening weekend is basically not expected to exceed 100 million US dollars.

However, some objective reasons for the existence of "Avatar" cannot be ignored.

The whole film lasts nearly 3 hours, and the longer the time, the fewer screenings in the same theater in a day, which is directly related to ticket revenue.

Also, unlike adaptations or sequels like Twilight: Crescent or Iron Man, which have a sizable fan base, Avatar is a veritable original movie.

To this day, no non-sequel original film in the North American film market has grossed more than $100 million in its opening weekend.

Frankly speaking, in today's infinitely weak original films, few people or companies dare to come up with such a huge amount of money and take risks on an original film project.

In the former "Avatar", most of the investment was financed, and nearly ten institutions and companies participated in the investment, and the investment of Twentieth Century Fox even accounted for less than one-third.

Also, James Cameron is indeed hugely famous and has a certain appeal, but there is a fact that cannot be ignored, ten years have passed since his last feature film was released, and no one can expect much of a traction from the forgetful fans and the market.

This first-day box office result, in today's North America, can't even rank in the top ten, compared to the $500 million cost of the film's external promotion, it is really not enough to watch.

In addition, the harsh external environment also had a certain impact on the box office of the film.

A number of southern states in the United States were hit by storms, causing some people who wanted to watch the movie to stay at home, which affected the box office revenue of "Avatar".

"Avatar is the Waterloo of Ronan Anderson and James Cameron?"

As expected, "Avatar" did not show the strong momentum of the supermasterpiece on the first day, which immediately attracted a lot of media doubts, and even some long-awaited and ill-intentioned groups began to attack and sing the film down.

"The most expensive film in history = the biggest box office tragedy in history!"

The day after "Avatar" officially landed in North America, some unlucky people and media who wished for Relativity Entertainment couldn't wait to shout such a slogan.

"Since the establishment of Relativity Entertainment, the special effects and large investment industrialization model advocated by Ronan Anderson have brought too much visual garbage, "Avatar" can be described as a work that has played both to the extreme, it will only cause the audience's aesthetic fatigue, if you don't want to watch the film after the ear ringing and eyes are tired and tearful, it is better not to watch this film, it is simply overdrawing human eyesight and hearing!"

The rise of a new company and new forces will always touch the interests of many people, because Relativity Entertainment is strong enough, and perhaps no one can easily start a war head-on, but when they see that Relativity Entertainment is not developing well, it is also a matter of convenience to quietly go up and step on a few feet.

However, under the promotion of Relativity Entertainment's crazy money, in the face of the absolutely excellent quality of "Avatar", these are not problems at all.

After the first day of screening, the word-of-mouth of "Avatar" in the audience group exploded directly, and various websites, forums and communities, as well as Netflix shares and other social media, were almost all voices recommending the film.

"Avatar is the most beautiful film I've seen in recent years!"

"Whether you choose 3D or normal mode, the shock and awe that Avatar brings is worth watching. ”

"It's actually a film we've seen before, but like we've never seen before, it's Star Wars of our time!"

On the second day of its release in North America, "Avatar" maintained a steady trend, still looking tepid, and the box office of $29.35 million was not too bright.

But by Sunday, everyone had realized that something was not right.

Generally speaking, a new movie, especially an original film, is a good trend for Friday to be smaller than Saturday than Sunday.

Because Monday is a weekday, the crucial evening prime time, Sunday attendance tends to be low, which is the main reason why Sunday's box office is generally lower than Saturday.

Normally, a movie's Sunday box office tends to drop by more than 20 percent compared to Saturday.

But "Avatar" not only did not fall, but also continued to move steadily, collecting another $29.41 million on Sunday!

Such a smooth trend has reminded some people of James Cameron's last official feature film - "Titanic"!

The movie called Big Ship also had a mediocre start, and it didn't even make $30 million at the box office in its first weekend in North America, but in the end?

What's more, the opening box office of "Avatar" just didn't have a super hit like "The Dark Knight", "Twilight: New Moon" and "Iron Man 2".

In the three days of the opening weekend in North America, in 4,215 theaters, "Avatar" earned $88.01 million!

This set a new record for the opening of an original film in the North American film market!

The film was also filmed in more than 30 countries and regions in the international market, and the overseas response was far stronger than that of the North American market, with $123.56 million in the first weekend.

Within three days of its release, "Avatar" exceeded $200 million at the global box office.

At the start of the new week, the film showed a terrible stability at the box office.

On a weekday on Monday, any film will face a huge box office drop in North America, and "Avatar" is no exception, but the drop is jaw-dropping.

On the first working day, "Avatar" earned $24.17 million at the North American box office in a single day!

"No one doubts the potential of Avatar anymore, and James Cameron has achieved an undefeated myth that has turned the historically-based Titanic into a completely fictional planet on the planet Pandora!"

Since the start of the new week, "Avatar" has not only rampaged the world's film markets with an unstoppable momentum, but also made headlines in many media outlets, and no one doubts that this will be an epoch-making film.