The spacious office was silent, Brad Pitt and Natalie Portman sat opposite each other, and on the desk between the two of them was a freshly printed report, their eyes occasionally swept over the numbers of the report, and their brows, which were already twisted together, tightened.

The two men were silent, and the air seemed to freeze.

All hopes, all good expectations, came to naught this morning.

Brad Pitt didn't know what to say, and his eyes once again fell on the box office statistics of the first day of "Cloud Atlas", including the box office in advance, "Cloud Atlas" only got $3.67 million on the first day of release!

$3.67 million! That's not even a fraction of the box office of "Fast and Furious 4" on the first day!

The good reputation in the test screening and the high media evaluation after the premiere gave Brad Pitt too much confidence, and the box office data on the first day was not only dismal, it was a disaster.

The film has been reinvested several times, and the final production cost reached a whopping $120 million.

Now, how much can the $120 million be recovered?

Brad Pitt couldn't think that even though nearly half of the production cost of "Cloud Atlas" ended up with external financing, more than half of it came from Plan B Studios and his personal funding.

It's all his money, and how much can he get back in the end?

Suddenly, Brad Pitt felt a sense of vertigo.

Word-of-mouth can't be translated into box office, so what's the use of word-of-mouth no matter how good it is? "Cloud Atlas" is a $120 million commercial production, not an experimental film.

Natalie Portman lowered her eyes and didn't look at Brad Pitt across from her and the statistical report on her desk, feeling unusually depressed.

Why is it so hard to prove appeal?

Since the "Star Wars Prequel" series, she has a huge fame, but there is no film that can make people shine at the box office, just looking at her popularity, everyone thinks that her single film salary will cost seven or eight million dollars or more, who would have thought that two or three million dollars is already her ceiling?

Who doesn't want to earn a little more?

Natalie Portman bit her lip lightly, if "Cloud Atlas" is a complete failure at the box office, she will take on the film again, and the salary will definitely be further compressed by the producer.

It is even unknown whether there will be any producers who invite her to star in mainstream commercial films.

A knock on the door suddenly broke the silence in the office, and Brad Pitt said hoarsely, "Come in." ”

A secretary pushed the door in, placed another report on his desk, and said, "Boss, this is the Cinema Score stats you want." ”

"Hmm. Brad Pitt nodded slightly.

The secretary turned to leave, and when he went out, he closed the office door.

Natalie Portman's originally dark eyes regained some brilliance at this time, stood up and quickly looked at the data on the report, only glanced at it, and sat back in her chair.

"It's over......" was the only word left in her head.

Brad Pitt picked up the report, looked at it, and his hand suddenly trembled, this Cinema Score's on-the-spot survey statistics on "Cloud Atlas" showed that the theater audience scored "D" on the spot, and Cinema Score made an estimate based on the theater audience score, the North American box office of "Cloud Atlas" will be around $9 million in the first weekend, and the final box office in North America must be below $30 million.

Cinema Score is recognized for its high predictive accuracy.

The North American box office will not exceed $30 million, how much money will be allocated to Plan B, and the distributor will have to deduct the distribution fee and publicity advances......

There is no need to think about using "Cloud Atlas" to turn over, this film may further decline his status in the industry.

But Brad Pitt didn't despair, put down the statistical report, and whispered, "And overseas." ”

Natalie Portman looked at Brad Pitt and asked, "What are we going to do?"

Brad Pitt shook his head and said, "It's okay! Nat, we can afford to fail." He looked up, his gaze becoming more determined, "We still have Alien Battlefield." ”

He didn't seem to be saying this to Natalie Portman, but to himself, "Yes, we also have Alien Battlefield, which is the top commercial production, and as long as it can be successful, this loss of Cloud Atlas is nothing." ”

The more he spoke, the more confident he became, "Andrew Stanton has never failed in the past, and the Alien Battlefield series will be as successful as the Lord of the Rings series!"

Hearing these words, Natalie Portman's dead mood improved a little, looked at Brad Pitt, and suddenly regretted a little, instead of helping Brad Pitt in the first place, she chose to work with Matthew Horner, will "Cloud Atlas" be successful?

Thinking of this, she subconsciously felt that something was wrong, but she couldn't figure out what was wrong.

But Natalie Portman feels that she can't tie up with Brad Pitt anymore, what if "Alien Battlefield" also fails?

Whether it is "Cloud Atlas" or "Alien Battlefield", she did not pay a single dollar for production, but as the heroine, the failure of two consecutive starring major productions is a fatal blow to Xingtu.

The phone rang on the desk, and as Brad Pitt picked it up, Natalie Portman's thoughts became clearer.

Now it's time to prepare for another hand!

She thought of the script she had seen in Rachel Weisz's hands, the black swan role that Darren Aronofsky had prepared specifically for Rachel Weisz.

Darren Aronofsky wants to use this film to let his fiancée hit the Oscars.

Natalie Portman made up her mind instantly, and when she turned around, she called Rachel Weisz and asked Rachel Weisz to meet Darren Aronofsky for her under the pretext that she wanted to play a supporting actress and ask for advice.

You can have Rachel Weisz on the scene, test Darren Aronofsky first, and get his contact information first, if possible.

A supporting actress? How can she look down on a supporting actress.

Natalie Portman sat here without saying a word, no longer thinking about "Cloud Atlas", but instead concentrating on what to do with Rachel Weisz and Darren Aronofsky next.

Since there is a setback in business, you can change the course a little and hit the Oscars first.

As for Brad Pitt on the other side, isn't this kind of so-called partner just to be used?

If "Alien Battlefield" can succeed, Brad Pitt is still valuable, if it fails......

Having been thinking, Natalie Portman also didn't pay attention to what Brad Pitt's phone was saying, and it wasn't until Brad Pitt hung up the phone and made a slight noise that she came to her senses.

Natalie Portman found that Brad Pitt's face was even more ugly.

"What's wrong?" she asked with concern.

Now that "Alien Battlefield" has not been released, Brad Pitt is still valuable to her.

"A bunch of bastards with no business reputation!"

Brad Pitt's face was not very good-looking, and he said slowly, "Just now Disney called, and more than 20 overseas distributors who were originally negotiating with Bowei International and wanted to introduce "Cloud Atlas" all unilaterally terminated the negotiations. ”

Natalie Portman immediately realized the crux of the matter, "What about the overseas box office of "Cloud Atlas"?"

"It doesn't matter. Brad Pitt waved his hand, "These are distributors in East Asia, the Middle East and Africa, not the traditional overseas box office for Hollywood films." ”

He let out a long sigh, "The overseas box office has not met expectations. ”

Natalie Portman didn't answer because it was the obvious thing, and North America was seriously below expectations, let alone overseas.

Why did the two dozen overseas distributors unilaterally terminate the negotiations?

Not just Natalie Portman and Brad Pitt, few in Hollywood could have imagined that the Wachowski twins' new work would be so bleak.

The production cost is 120 million US dollars, the director is the Wachowski sisters and brothers who have had the glory of the "Matrix" trilogy, and the male and female protagonists are the famous Brad Pitt and Natalie Portman.

But the box office didn't even reach $4 million on the first day.

The figure of $3.67 million, not to mention compared with last week's North American box office champion "The Hangover", even "Fast and Furious 4", which entered its fifth screening weekend, steadily overtook "Cloud Atlas" with a single-day box office of $4.52 million.

As soon as the box office came out on the first day, everyone knew very well that what was waiting for "Cloud Atlas" could only be a box office tragedy.

What made more people unexpect was that after the premiere of "Cloud Atlas" on Friday, the box office on Saturday not only did not rise because of the rest day, but fell sharply.

On Saturday, the film earned less than $3 million in a single day.

After two consecutive days of release, as the number of people who saw the movie gradually increased, the industry also had a clearer understanding of the fiasco of "Cloud Atlas", perhaps this is really one of the most ambitious movies in Hollywood history as Roger Albert said, but it can't stand that most audiences can't understand it, or it takes a lot of effort to understand it.

A movie, even if it has a genius-like setting, a subversive frame structure, and any line and a shot that can reflect profound philosophical thinking, can't resist the audience's incomprehension.

Maybe such a movie will become a classic in the future, but it will be difficult to sell well at the moment.

If "Cloud Atlas" was an independent small production, the situation would be much better, but the commercial film with an investment of hundreds of millions of dollars is never to be recognized again in the future.

Three days after the opening weekend, "Cloud Atlas" only won $9.2 million in North America, and the box office failure was a foregone conclusion.

As for peripheral income, isn't it a fool's dream that a film with such a dismal box office wants to sell at a high price in terms of discs, online broadcasts, and TV rights?