At night, Century City is lit up with neon lights that shine brighter than the stars, and as one of the most bustling business districts in Los Angeles, it's a veritable city that never sleeps.

Century City Plaza, Ronan parked the car, pulled Jessica Felton into the elevator room, took the elevator directly to the top floor of the commercial plaza, took the booked movie ticket, entered the theater, and came to the back seat to sit.

This is the screening theater for "Pharaohs and Kings".

Thanks to the fame of director Ridley Scott, and the production cost of up to $130 million in first-line commercial productions, plus it was still Friday night, the audience in the theater was not small, Ronan took a general look, there were always about a dozen people.

Ronan placed the paper tube in his hand between the two and asked, "Do you eat popcorn?"

Jessica Filton glanced at the cream and syrup wrapped on it, and shook her head without hesitation: "This is a woman's natural enemy." ”

Ronan was not reluctant, stuffed her with a bottle of water, and said, "You can indulge once in a while." ”

Flipping the cap, Jessica Filton took a sip and asked, "Isn't this a Twentieth Century Fox movie?" I remember the company didn't have a very good relationship with Twentieth Century Fox, how did you remember to sponsor them at the box office?"

Ronan threw a popcorn into his mouth, the sweetness of the syrup went straight to his throat, he coughed lightly, and said: "You may not know, this project adapted from "The Prince of Egypt", "10,000 Years Before History" released by Twentieth Century Fox next, and "Robin Hood" later, were originally intended projects of Shahai Entertainment. ”

Due to the extremely high secrecy of this matter, only a few parties knew about it, and Jessica Filton didn't know about it at all, and looked at Ronan with a little surprise: "How did it get into the hands of Twentieth Century Fox?"

She understands the style of Ronan and the Relativity Entertainment management, and it is impossible for someone else to snatch the meat from the bowl.

Ronan shrugged: "The news leaked, Twentieth Century Fox moved quickly. ”

Jessica Felton knew Ronan, and subconsciously felt that something was wrong, and asked, "Someone dug the foot of the wall?"

"What do you want?" Ronan grabbed Jessica Felton by the arm and said, "Don't tell anyone about this, remember to keep it a secret." ”

"I see. Seeing that Ronan didn't say anything, Jessica Felton didn't ask, but moved on to the upcoming movie: "The attendance of this film is average." ”

Ronan nodded slightly: "It's the prime time of Friday night, and there are only a dozen spectators, so it's not too optimistic." ”

Jessica Felton saw the classic opening credits of Twentieth Century Fox lit up on the screen and said, "Watch the movie." ”

As a person in the industry, she is watching movies very seriously.

Ronan also looked at it very seriously, but he couldn't understand it a little, is Colin Farrell so popular in a big Hollywood company?

After "Alexander the Great", Colin Farrell once again became the main actor in the first-line epic blockbuster, this time not playing the male lead Moses, but Moses' brother Ramses.

That big bald head is really the same as the Colin Farrell kind of video that is circulating on the Internet.

The actor is very unfamiliar, an actor Ronan has never seen before.

Ronan still can't figure out how Hollywood directors and producers like Colin Farrell so much?

Since his emergence in Hollywood, Colin Farrell's resources have been absolutely first-class, but the tragedy of hitting the streets after the movie is released is also first-class.

Do those directors and producers especially appreciate Colin Farrell's appearance?

Ronan vaguely remembers that most of the movies Colin Farrell starred in were messed up, and then he was able to get good projects and roles.

Seeing Colin Farrell's bald head, coupled with the genre of costume epics, Ronan was basically relieved about "Pharaohs and the Gods".

These two combined, and they can't mess up a movie, that's hell.

Frankly speaking, as a veteran director with considerable qualifications and abilities, Ridley Scott's film is not bad.

Especially the special effects and big scenes, which are very epic.

Ridley Scott's ability in this regard is unquestionable, and it could even be said that he shows a magnificent ancient dynasty through the lens, retelling a well-known biblical story in a whole new way.

The beginning and end of this film are quite exciting, and they are also in line with Ridley Scott's usual standard.

But the rhythm of the middle part is really a bit sluggish, and Ronan can roughly see that Ridley Scott wants to downplay the mythological color as much as possible and shoot it as a human story, but how can this story ignore the existence of gods?

In particular, the process of Moses from rejecting religion to being a religious believer was not only incomprehensible to Ronan as a bystander, but it is estimated that Moses himself would be confused when he saw it.

Jessica Felton is very professional and has been watching intently since the beginning of the movie, and has not even spoken to Ronan in the middle.

When the subtitles fell, she looked at Ronan and said embarrassedly, "Sorry......"

Ronan didn't understand Jessica Felton, shook his head and smiled, "It's okay. He asked instead, "How do you feel?"

Jessica Filton said from what she does best: "There's clearly something wrong with the editing. Twentieth Century Fox had long heard that Fox had given the final editing rights to Ridley Scott to avoid a "Dynasty of Heaven"-style mistake, and it now seems that it was not very successful. ”

Ronan didn't hide it with her, and said: "Ridley Scott's edited version of "Kingdom of Heaven", if it is released in theaters, the result will not be much better, it is too long and the pace is too slow. ”

Sitting in the theater and sitting at home leisurely watching a movie is definitely not a feeling, and the latter tends to be more tolerant.

Perhaps there is such a possibility, the media and fans touted the director's cut version of "Heavenly Dynasty" too hard, which affected Ridley Scott to a certain extent, causing Ridley Scott to edit "Pharaoh and the Gods" more or less affected, making the pace of the film as slow as "Heavenly Dynasty".

Jessica Felton thought for a moment and said, "It's not bad overall, it's a little better than the epic productions of previous years." ”

Ronan nodded slightly: "Actually, I think Ridley Scott is very interesting." ”

Downplaying the mythological color and filming it as a human story may cause dissatisfaction among many people.

But for someone like Ronan who has never read the Bible, it's interesting.

Ridley-Scott deals with the ambiguity of whether God is real, or is it a fantasy of Moses? For example, the "Ten Plagues" are said to be God's punishments, but except for the final "death of the firstborn", the remaining nine plagues are more like a chain reaction, which can be explained at least from the perspective of modern science.

It's hard to say whether people who grew up reading the Bible will be able to accept it.

"Let's go. Ronan pulled Jessica Filton out of the theater with him: "Go back." ”

Jessica Filton followed Ronan into the elevator and asked, "Go to me?"

Ronan said, "Go to me." ”

The two got on the elevator and came downstairs, where there were already bodyguards driving the car over.

Jessica Felton is used to the sudden rush into the bodyguard in the two-person world when dating, and she can see that Ronan is a person who attaches great importance to safety, and has never said anything more.

She is a mature adult who knows that Ronan's identity is not ordinary, and she represents too much.

After getting into the car, Jessica Filton lowered her voice and said to Ronan, "I'm going to go back first and get my clothes." ”

Ronan smiled: "No need, I have a lot for you over there." ”

Jessica Filton asked, "Are you sure it's right for me?"

"Of course. Ronan nodded slightly: "I have actually measured your measurements, and I can't make mistakes." ”

Jessica Felton was speechless, and it was, she had been field-measured by Ronan from head to toe too many times.

Ronan leaned into her ear and said, "I'll measure it again tonight to avoid making mistakes in my previous calculations." ”

In the early hours of the same day, the box office of "Pharaohs and the Gods" on the first day of its release in North America was released, and only $6.86 million was received on Friday.

For a first-line commercial blockbuster with a production cost of up to $130 million, this box office performance is not only not ideal, but also really bad.

By Saturday, "Pharaoh and the Gods" had not improved at the box office, earning $7.24 million in a single day.

At this time, it was already clear inside and outside the industry that this epic masterpiece of Twentieth Century Fox hit the streets tragically.

Indeed, the film hit the streets quite badly, grossing only $18.11 million in three days of its North American opening weekend.

According to the most conservative estimates, the total cost of "Pharaohs and the Gods" is very likely to reach $200 million, including the cost of production and distribution.

This film is destined to be lost.

Although Ronan didn't help Twentieth Century Fox collect all seven Dragon Balls in the end, the first Dragon Ball was so hot that even the Twentieth Century Fox family would feel pain in their flesh.

And in the past two years, in addition to the "X-Men" series, other first-line commercial productions invested and filmed by Twentieth Century Fox have not received a very satisfactory market response.

But most people in the industry don't find it strange that filmmaking is like this, with successes and failures.

No one can guarantee that a film will be 100% successful.

James Murdoch, who came to Los Angeles from London, didn't say much when he saw the first-week box office data of "Pharaoh and the Gods".

Glancing at Jim Prologis who was cautious in front of him, James Murdoch said magnanimously: "It's just a failure of a movie, and Twentieth Century Fox can't afford it, don't take it too seriously, sum up the lessons learned, shoot a few films in the production later, and avoid failure as much as possible." ”

Jim Pross hurriedly said, "I'm already doing it." ”

James Murdoch turned his head, looked through the huge window, saw the Relativity Building not far away, and said, "I remember that there was a premiere of Relativity Entertainment next week, and I wanted an invitation to the premiere." ”