The summer of 1997 slowly came to an end, this is undoubtedly an atypical summer file, the expected box office explosion did not appear, not only that, several highly anticipated works have suffered a box office Waterloo, which is even more disappointing, the most representative of which is undoubtedly "Batman and Robin", this vigorous work before its release, after officially meeting the audience, suffered criticism from all sides, and almost topped the worst comic book adaptation in film history.

Although the "Men in Black" and "Air Force One" performed well in August and created good results, they were not a little worse than the summer schedule led by "Independence Day" last year. Not to mention the historical record of the music market's "stormy" 40-week streak, which almost stole all the style of the summer file, which made people laugh and cry.

There is a lot of talk about whether the special phenomenon of "Independence Day" was a flash in the pan, and this work relied on Hugo's strong appeal and realistic computer special effects to create a box office miracle, but it is a miracle that is difficult for other works to replicate. Even "Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World" hasn't been able to reach such heights, so what else can continue the strong success of this commercial blockbuster? This is a question that almost everyone in the film industry is wondering.

Perhaps, the answer still needs to be found in Hugo, because on September 19, "Los Angeles Confidential" will be released!

As the most watched top superstar in the world today, Hugo's every move can affect the focus of countless people, since the end of the "Storm" world tour, Hugo has almost entered a long vacation period, even the paparazzi are rarely able to capture his figure, and then "L.A. Confidential" started filming, "Stormy" forty consecutive championships, "Perfect" start-up and other activities, so that people once again deeply felt the strong appeal of this top superstar, It has almost dominated all the focal points of the entire entertainment industry with a sweeping attitude.

In fact, after "Independence Day" set a new record in North American film history, Hugo completely disappeared from the movie screen in the following year, not only did he spend a lot of time on the world tour, but the "Storm" was so eye-catching that it stole almost everyone's style, not to mention the impact of the return of the golden age of rock and roll on everyone. While lamenting the amazing achievements of glory to death, people can't help but start discussing: When will the great actor who can affect the market with every move return?

Warner Bros. has the answer, and on Wednesday, September 17, "L.A. Confidential" will have its world premiere in Los Angeles; On Friday, September 19, "L.A. Confidential" will be released simultaneously in 2,500 theaters in North America!

After this news was announced, the whole of North America was boiling, and the grand occasion of the opening ceremony of "Los Angeles Confidential" is still vivid, and the huge cast makes this work highly anticipated, not to mention that this is the work in which Hugo plays the starring role again after a year, just when people almost thought that Hugo would not be able to see Hugo within this year, Warner Bros. gave everyone a huge surprise.

In addition to the discussions, many people have discovered an important problem: two years ago in September, "Seven Deadly Sins" made a shocking debut, and the outstanding box office performance changed everyone's impression of the autumn file; And now, "L.A. Secrets" will once again challenge the cold schedule in September - of course, people have long noticed that the so-called schedule dilemma has never existed for Hugo, but the question is: can "L.A. Secrets" replicate the miracle of the "Seven Deadly Sins"?

In 1995, "The Seven Deadly Sins" was released on September 22, and the box office data of $34 million in the opening weekend created a great miracle in the history of film, not only breaking the shackles of the autumn season, but also breaking out in the September schedule enough to compete in the summer box office data, and finally accumulated a box office of $195 million, easily taking countless historical records into the arms.

In 1996, the autumn season in September was still shrouded in the strong storm of "Independence Day", and although the "Ex-Wives Club" achieved good results, it was far from reaching the height of the "Seven Deadly Sins" - whether it was the weekend box office or the cumulative box office, which made people blame the glory of the "Seven Deadly Sins" on a flash in the pan.

In 1997, "L.A. Confidential" will once again challenge the loneliness and loneliness of the autumn season, trying to give a hint to the confusion of the entire film industry now: Is the appearance of "Independence Day" an inertia or a special case? Is the box office potential of the autumn stalls real or imaginary? Will a good film survive in the fall, or will the star cast be a shot in the arm, or will only Hugo have the ability?

Can L.A. Confidential be a success? If it succeeds, can it break the record of the "Seven Deadly Sins"? If it fails, does this mean that Hugo's gold magic hand is starting to make mistakes? The most important thing is that compared with Hugo's countless previous glories, "L.A. Confidential" condensed a lot of expectations early before its release, so what kind of height does this work have to reach to meet these expectations? Word of mouth, box office, quality, repercussions...... All of them are indispensable, but they all set high standards. There is no comparison with "Independence Day" or "Death Row Prisoner Walk", but "Los Angeles Confidential" is not comparable to the "Seven Deadly Sins" in terms of theme, core, target audience, type and style, so will this be another "Seven Deadly Sins"?

As the third week of September approaches, the news media is once again buzzing with the news, this time not about the fact that "The Storm" is still firmly at No. 2 on the Billboard album chart after 40 consecutive weeks, but about the prospects of "The Seven Deadly Sins."

Surprisingly, however, most media outlets are relatively conservative in their box office estimates, even the Los Angeles Times. In fact, the reason is very simple, not because the media is not optimistic about the "Los Angeles Secrets", but because the time node of the "Seven Deadly Sins" to create a miracle is too special: the whole of North America is shrouded in the tide of rebellion against the uncrowned king, and the criticism of profit first, entertainment to death, and social indifference has reached an all-time high.

The fact that "The Seven Deadly Sins" is placed in such a context of the times has stimulated people's expectations and support, which makes the opening weekend explode into such an incredible effect. The right time, place and people are indispensable.

In fact, the box office miracle of "Independence Day" is the same, the timing of the release on July 4, the smooth ascent of Hugo on Oscar night, and the continuous publicity bombardment after the Super Bowl, all created conditions for the release of energy at the box office of the film's premiere, which made history.

However, the release time of "L.A. Confidential" was quite mediocre, and the heat wave of the summer season had just been extinguished -- people were disappointed and unhappy about the film market, and the "Storm" won 40 consecutive championships to steal all the focus -- and the audience's attention to the movie theater plummeted. Of course, Hugo's appeal is still a lethal weapon, not to mention the strong cast of "L.A. Confidential", but "Heavenly Time" has lost its chance, and it is too difficult for "L.A. Confidential" to replicate the miracle of "Seven Deadly Sins".

Therefore, the media's box office estimates are relatively conservative, not because of any negative emotions, but just for seeking truth from facts.

The San Francisco Chronicle's lowest box office prediction for "L.A. Confidential" came to the surprise of many, who thought the film should have grossed around 10 million at the first half, and that it would be too difficult to break the record in the third week of September. This estimate is even lower than the New York Post's forecast of 11 million.

Objectively speaking, the September schedule can get a weekend box office of 10 million US dollars, which can already be regarded as an outstanding performance. However, the "San Francisco Chronicle" eliminated the strong influence of Hugo's box office appeal and gave a "mediocre data under the middle of the mean", which is actually not optimistic about the "Los Angeles Secrets".

Comparatively speaking, the highest box office predictions were not for the Los Angeles Times, which was again unexpected, but for the Chicago Tribune, who said that the Los Angeles Confidential premiere could fetch $30 million. In other words, although they couldn't break the terrible premiere record of "Seven Deadly Sins", they still believed that the film could win the entire market.

The Chicago Tribune's point is also simple: "Fans who have been holding back for fifteen months will not be stingy with the seven dollars in their pockets - at least not with Hugo Lancaster." Although there is some ridicule in this statement, it is true to the fact that Hugo's box office appeal is still not to be underestimated even in the cold of September.

Nicholas McLaan of the Los Angeles Times echoed Hugo's support this time without any surprises, "Lancaster, Spacey, Crowe, plus Theron, this cast is enough to be expected!" What's more, this script will not disappoint: Lancaster's super high requirements and keen touch for the script are well known, "L.A. Confidential" may not be "Seven Deadly Sins", but similar themes still put forward super high requirements for the script, and Lancaster not only nodded and agreed to star, but also served as the producer of the film, which shows his strong confidence. That's all there is to it. ”

However, Nicholas is relatively restrained in his box office predictions, and his $22 million box office performance can also rank among the top in film history, but there is still a huge gap compared to the "Seven Deadly Sins".

It can be seen that no matter which media is very cautious in predicting the box office, because they have deeply understood a truth: "Hugo's production must be a masterpiece", this law has gradually penetrated into the masses and has become the most important rule of the North American film market. It's just a question of whether this masterpiece is a work that is also extremely good at the commercial box office like "The Seven Deadly Sins", or a work that is very popular in the video tape market like "Before Sunrise".

Or is it ...... Another possibility: no more masterpieces, tragedy is coming?