"Definite news from the company's European branch......"

In the living room of Wave Manor, Bill Rossith took the coffee handed by Gal Gadot and continued to Murphy, "Pope Benedict XVI has confirmed his retirement. Pen @ fun @ pavilion wWw. ｂｉｑUｇE。 ｉｎｆｏ”

"Oh?" Murphy became interested, "When, exactly?" ”

Bill Rothes put down his coffee cup and said, "No later than this Wednesday night, the Vatican Holy See will convene a press conference to officially announce the news." ”

Gal Gadot poured Murphy another cup of coffee, placed it on the small coffee table in front of him, and asked Bill Rosith, "Who is the successor to the Pope?" ”

"Cardinal Archbishop Francis." Bill Rossis said.

Murphy scratched his head, apparently not knowing who Cardinal Archbishop Francis was.

"He." Gal Gadot, apparently having heard the name, explained for Murphy, "Argentine, formerly Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Argentina. ”

"And ......," adds Bill Rothes, "if Benedict XVI is the representative of the conservative wing of the Vatican and the Holy See, Francis can be said to be the leading figure of the Liberalism." ”

These Gal Gadot didn't know, and when he heard Bill Rothes say this, he couldn't help frowning, "Is the church going to reform in this regard?" ”

"Even if there are reforms, they are extremely limited." Murphy disagrees with Gal Gadot's statement, "Sitting in the position of the Pope necessarily protects the interests of the whole Holy See." ”

Bill Rothes nodded, "That's right. ”

Just like the rotating president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, no matter what the internal situation is, the interests of the Hollywood film industry must be safeguarded externally, otherwise this position will not sit at all securely.

In Murphy's conjecture, in some ways, the Catholic Holy See actually has something in common with national politics, such as the fact that the people always want political leaders to represent their voices to come to power, but every politician who comes to power first defends the interests of vested interests, and then other ......

So, whoever the new pope is, it will not really change the current situation of the Catholic Church.

Such reforms, which are driven from within, are often more difficult than those driven by external forces.

Bill Rothes took a sip of coffee from his coffee cup and added, "It is said that Francis, who had a great disagreement with Benedict XVI, believed that the Holy See should take more severe measures to correct the problems that arose internally, in the context of the scandal in the Catholic Church. ”

"So he is a little more enlightened than Benedict XVI." Gal Gadot said.

Murphy continued, "The more you hide it, the more you don't let people say it, the more you restrict speech, the more you actually show a weak heart." ”

In the place where he once lived, there was an old saying that "the mouth of the people is better than the defense of the river", perhaps a powerful power can suppress speech that is unfavorable to oneself for a while, and even make many people compromise for it and have to act according to their will, but when these accumulate to a certain extent, it will explode with huge energy and blow everything they maintain to pieces.

The various scandals of Catholicism that have erupted since last year can be described as vigorous, and Murphy and Twentieth Century Fox are actually just the beginning, and the frenzied follow-up of the media and the public is actually a collective explosion of dissatisfaction with Catholicism in the past many years.

This crazy outburst directly led to the resignation of the current pope.

In the following days, in addition to continuing to be busy with the publicity and public relations of "Focus", Murphy took time out to pay attention to the changes in the Vatican and the Holy See.

As he thought, the Vatican Holy See has, to a large extent, much in common with a change of political power in a country.

Many European media suddenly broke the news that Pope Benedict XVI's brother Ratzinger had a serious child sexual assault incident in the choir led by him in 1960, and he did not report the suspicion of covering up.

In addition, the Vienna Junior Choir, which Ratzinger later headed, was also involved in a sexual assault scandal, with two adult former choir members alleging that they had been forced to wash their genitals in front of choir managers between 1985 and 1987......

Anyone with a political sense can perceive that all this points to Pope Benedict XVI himself.

Soon after, the Vatican convened a press conference announcing that Benedict XVI had decided to retire due to health reasons, and that the Holy See would select a suitable successor from among the existing cardinal archbishops.

This news instantly shook the entire Western world.

Anyone with a discerning eye can see that Benedict XVI's retirement due to health reasons is just an excuse, and the series of scandals about Catholicism that have erupted in the last ten months may be the real reason.

Factually, gossip tabloids such as The Sun have been desperate to hype up bomb-blown headlines like "Benedict XVI was ousted by Murphy Stanton and Hollywood movies".

Murphy ignored this hype, but the news from the Vatican interested him.

Although the Vatican has not yet been officially announced, according to the information available to the CAA, it is a foregone conclusion that Francis will take over as the new pope, who seems to be more suitable for this highly information-based society than his predecessor.

In response to the various criticisms that the Holy See has recently received for "Focus", the Vatican has begun crisis public relations.

The new spokesman for the Holy See said at a regular press conference that Focus, which recounts the Catholic sexual assault scandal, faithfully portrays how Catholics try to defend themselves in the face of "brutal truths", but are not so anti-Catholic.

Immediately afterwards, some articles on washing the floor appeared in many European mainstream media.

The Roma Observer observed: "Sexual predators are not necessarily clergy, and pedophilia does not necessarily come from vows of chastity and abstinence. But it is now clear that too many in the Catholic Church care more about their image in the Church than the gravity of the act. ”

According to the Italian newspaper La Presse: "As an agent of God, no one who abuses his power to abuse innocent people can justify this extremely grave sin on these grounds: this is clearly expressed in the film." ”

They also argued: "The descriptive power of the film 'Spotlight' is persuasive in itself, and it is not an anti-Catholic film." ”

Subsequently, as expected, Francis became the new pope of the Vatican.

At his inauguration, he declared that "the public still trusts the Catholic Church and the Pope, and I am continuing to push the Catholic Church to initiate reforms."

Francis announced the creation of a Ethics Review Commission in the Holy See, which will severely punish any priest involved in child molestation......

After seeing Francis become the new pope, Murphy doesn't pay much attention to the information about Catholicism, let alone stupidly fight with Catholicism again, "Focus" has been released with the attention of countless people, and there is no need to do some more things like adding snakes.

As for the tabloid hype about him and his film that brought Benedict XVI to a disgraceful ouster, even those who are simple-minded will believe that these are just giving the church an opportunity to make trouble for those who are different from Benedict XVI, although I don't know how much power Francis represents behind it, but Murphy knows very well that without this power, Archbishop Márquez-Costello would be enough to carry this black cauldron.

A fortress as strong as Catholicism can only be broken by internal forces.

According to the speculation of the CAA and Bill Rosius, Francis's choice of this time period to launch is somewhat related to "Spotlight", and it is not a good PR to put on a lower posture before "Spotlight" expands its screening.

However, this is also good for Spotlight itself.

After all, on the surface, the film has a direct impact on the level of papal change......

A movie that is being released has enough topicality, has a good reputation, and has various ways to widely spread its fame, coupled with the excellent director's brand effect, it is not difficult to guess what kind of box office results will be achieved after expanding the scale of screening.

Twentieth Century Fox and Carla Firth adjusted their distribution strategy to the current social situation, expanding the film's North American theater count from 10 to more than 1,800 in the second weekend.

In just one week, from contacting the theater chain to preparing the copy, Twentieth Century Fox did all the work almost perfectly, fully demonstrating the super strength of the six major Hollywood companies.

The performance of "Spotlight" did not disappoint Murphy and Twentieth Century Fox either.

The subject matter and genre of this film do not meet the mainstream appreciation taste of the market, but the scandal about Catholicism has been shaking in North America for ten months, creating countless concerned people and creating a good market environment for "Focus".

Anyone who knows a little about the film market knows how much the social environment affects a film.

On Friday, the first day after the expanded screening, "Spotlight" earned $9.8 million from North American theaters; On Saturday, the film continued to rally at the box office, earning $12.3 million on the day.

Combined with the $9.2 million earned on Sunday, "Spotlight" earned $31.3 million in its second weekend, easily topping the North American box office charts that week.

There is also the box office of $1.1 million obtained from previous screenings, and the cumulative box office in North America has reached $32.4 million, which will soon exceed the production cost line.

Complementing the box office is the film's word-of-mouth, and with the expansion of the scale of screenings, the word-of-mouth of "Spotlight" has not slipped at all, whether it is Internet ratings and media ratings, or professional reviews and fan opinions, all of which have been maintained at the previous level.

This is very rare for a film that has been rapidly expanded from on-demand screenings.

The excellent box office and explosive word-of-mouth all indicate that the film will go straight to the Academy Awards next year!