On the night of the official release of "The Avengers", Chen Fei and Kevin Feige even went to major theaters to observe the attendance rate in various theaters.

When it comes to "freedom", it has to be the United States of America!

Chen Fei even saw many fans dressed as superheroes in the theater, either wearing steel suits, or holding Thor's hammer and vibranium round shields, supporting their favorite superheroes in various novel ways.

There were also people with bows and arrows similar to Eagle Eyes, but unfortunately they were stopped by security guards at the entrance of the theater.

Most of the people are real people, and if something goes wrong, the theater manager will definitely have to take a big responsibility!

……

In one of New York's more well-known bars, Chen Fei and Kevin Feige sat opposite each other.

Both of them poured their glasses full of the strongest whiskey, as if this was the only way to suppress the tension and anticipation in their hearts.

"Kevin, you're a little too nervous."

After Chen Fei clinked glasses with him, he took the initiative to pick up the wine bottle and fill it for him.

"Fei, I want to be successful so badly!"

Kevin Feige's eyes were full of remembrance.

He has been with Marvel for more than a decade, his first film as a producer was "X-Men", and then he participated in the production of "Spider-Man", "Punisher", "Fantastic Four" and many other Marvel movies.

It's a pity that until he was promoted to the president of Marvel Studios, Marvel has been going downhill.

Many of the films he co-produced or independently produced have all lost money, and the pressure on him is increasing.

It wasn't until Marvel was acquired by Walton Pictures and "Iron Man" came out that this loss was finally successfully stopped.

And the success of movies such as "Captain America" and "Thor" that appeared one after another restored his lost confidence again.

But at this moment, he was nervous again.

As the most important work in the first phase of Marvel's film plan, whether "The Avengers" can succeed is directly related to whether the rest of Marvel's subsequent films can be successfully promoted.

Under such pressure, whisky has become the best tool for him to soothe his mood.

Chen Fei raised his glass and touched him lightly, and said with a smile: "Kevin, don't worry, we will definitely succeed, and we will break the North American box office record again!" ”

"Really?" Kevin Feige couldn't believe it.

"Of course, if you don't believe it, you can wait and see."

All the feedback from all sides is good news, plus Chen Fei is still a rebirth party, he knows better than everyone about the box office situation of the "Avengers" series!

Kevin Feige drank a lot of alcohol and managed to release some of the pressure, and he suddenly shouted, "That's right, I'm going to be a big success!" ”

As soon as the words fell, the mobile phones of the two rang almost at the same time.

Chen Fei took out his mobile phone and took a look, only to see a number marked on it: $20.35 million!

This is the midnight box office result of "The Avengers".

Kevin Feige also saw this number, and immediately shouted excitedly, and even shouted at the waiter to bring two more bottles of whiskey.

He's going to get drunk tonight!

Only a producer who has really borne the pressure of $250 million investment will understand his relaxed feelings at the moment.

Chen Fei's face was also full of smiles at this time, at this stage of his life, he didn't really care much about what he was divided into, what he wanted was box office results!

Kevin Feige filled their glasses with whiskey again, slapped the table hard, and shouted, "Our goal is Avatar." ”

Chen Fei echoed: "We're going to get rid of it!" ”

That night, the two stayed out until dawn, and then they returned to their residences.

……

The next day, "The Avengers" fully landed in 4,500 theaters in North America, and there were queues outside theaters in many commercial areas.

Now it is the hottest year-end file in the North American film market, with high publicity and good effect before the screening, and the word-of-mouth after the screening is even better, which will naturally attract a wide range of attention.

Chen Fei deliberately went to the Rotten Tomatoes website to take a look, and among the 366 comments, "The Avengers" received 92% fresh reviews, the MTC media comprehensive score was as high as 92 points, and the IMDB score was temporarily as high as 9.4......

All of this is blessed together, and it naturally creates a box office myth!

After its North American premiere, "The Avengers" reported $137 million, breaking the North American single-day box office record of $120 million for "Inception" in one fell swoop.

The popularity and success of this film is unstoppable.

More and more superhero costumes are appearing on the streets of cities across North America, and the fans in steel armor are the largest.

Robert Downey Jr. successfully achieved from "Ten Thousand People Despise" to "Ten Thousand People Worship" with the help of the role of "Iron Man".

And on the major film websites and media, there are even more praises for Chen Fei, the director and the film, and I can't count them!

"Fei's films always hit the hearts of the audience, the plot of the film shows heroic heroism, and the fight scenes are extremely spectacular, showing a brilliant visual feast!"

"In terms of the film's narrative, Fei's rendering of emotional details can be described as relaxed, the 3D effect of the film is excellent, and many hearty battle scenes feast the audience's eyes."

"Marvel officially ushered in a new era of superheroes with the film "The Avengers", and the superheroes in the comics fought collectively for the first time to jointly resist the invasion of the Earth by an alien planet, which will be a landmark victory......

"According to Fei, chief content executive of Volton Pictures, the second phase of the Marvel movie plan will be launched next, and "Iron Man 3" may meet fans soon.

"Some experts in the industry predict that this film may break the global box office record of "Inception", let's wait and see!"

The acclaim, of course, must be matched with outstanding box office, otherwise all this will be meaningless.

By the time three days passed on the first weekend, "The Avengers" unsurprisingly overtook all Hollywood movies in the same schedule and sat on the top spot of the North American box office list.

And the box office is a staggering number!

"The Avengers" successfully surpassed "Inception's $285 million" with $305 million in its opening weekend, setting a new North American opening weekend box office record.

In the extremely competitive North American film market, "The Avengers" has undoubtedly become the most popular one at the moment!

At the same time, movies such as "Puss in Boots" and "The Adventures of Tintin" were all beheaded.

And after it, the filmmakers of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II", "Sherlock Holmes 2: Shadow Game", "Rat Treasure 3", "Mission Impossible 4, Ghost Protocol" and other films that will be released in North American theaters are all nervous.

How can they win against a terrifying record of $305 million in three days of the opening weekend?

As Marvel's rival in the same period, Warner Bros. naturally won't just watch the box office performance of "The Avengers" rise.

Their "Harry Potter" is coming soon, and if they can't suppress the popularity of "The Avengers" now, the box office results will inevitably be affected.

Therefore, under the various operations of Warner, some bad reviews gradually appeared on the Internet.

Even James Cameron stood up for Warners.

"I hope you get tired of The Avengers as soon as possible, and of course, that's not to say I don't like the movie, it's just that there's no other story to be told in this movie other than a group of men with too many male hormones and no family who spend two hours desperately venturing and destroying the city by the way," he said in front of the media. ”

The implication is that Marvel movies are too fast food and have a single model, and sooner or later they will be eliminated from the market and will be replaced by more potential science fiction movies.

And the Wall Street Journal even promoted: "A much-hyped, highly anticipated movie is essentially an extremely expensive comic book superhero party, and there is nothing to be said about the whole film, I really don't understand what there is to see?" ”

In addition, Warners has also invited many well-known film critics and critics to start attacking "The Avengers" from various angles, and vigorously promote their "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II".

Kevin Feige deliberately found Chen Fei and discussed with him how to deal with these bad comments on the Internet.

However, Chen Fei didn't care about this.

"We are making commercial films, and the selling point is special effects and superheroes, not those literary films that focus on storytelling, and their counterattack is an alternative publicity strategy for us."

“What？”

Kevin Feige was a little confused for a while.

Can malicious bad reviews also be called a propaganda strategy? This is something he never expected.

Seeing that he was a little incomprehensible for a while, Chen Fei simply said bluntly: "You say hello to the public relations department and the distribution department, and let them follow the rhythm of these bad comments on the Internet to carry out publicity."

We don't win with storytelling, we just want to show a 'superhero battle for the planet' and win it with hearty battles and awesome special effects! ”

Kevin Feige seemed to think of something and suddenly said, "Like ...... Avatar?" ”

Chen Fei smiled and nodded, "That's right, it's somewhat similar." ”

Kevin Feige nodded heavily, "I understand what to do." ”

……

……

On December 9, "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II" officially landed in North American theaters.

The box office on the first day of release was reported to be $91.07 million, a full $46 million less than "The Avengers"!

The three-day opening weekend grossed $169 million in North America, $314 million overseas and $483 million worldwide.

If it were placed without "The Avengers", "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II" would definitely be the global box office champion in 2011.

However, when Warner Bros. CEO Barry May Alan Horn, president of Jehovahner Pictures, learned of their rival's current results, he was directly silent.

So far, the North American box office performance of "The Avengers" in the first seven days has exceeded 460 million US dollars, the overseas box office has reached 400 million US dollars, and the global total box office has reached 860 million US dollars!

And from the latest data, it can be known that the slowdown trend of the daily box office of "The Avengers" is very slow, and the global total box office will exceed one billion US dollars is just around the corner!

This also means that the annual box office champion of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II" is likely to fall to his family.

"Why is this happening? Are our methods completely ineffective? Warner Bros. CEO Barry Meyer had a look of confusion on his face.

Warner Pictures President Alan Horn is already scratching his head, and he can't understand it either.

It seems that the more bad reviews about "The Avengers" on the Internet, the stronger its box office performance becomes.

It's embarrassing to step on a horse!

However, at this moment, a person in charge of the public relations department suddenly said: "These bad reviews that we have worked so hard to come up with have actually become a propaganda strategy for the other party." ”

"Why?"

Alan Horn and Barry Meyerzizi turned their heads to look at him.

"Because Marvel President Kevin Feige personally admitted in a media interview that "The Avengers" does not have a story connotation similar to a literary film that is worth pondering, and their main focus is one word - 'cool'!

As long as the fans are happy, then they will naturally spend money to buy tickets to support, it's as simple as that.

There was even a new slogan shouted over there, if you want to be 'cool', go watch "The Avengers", and all the conjectures in your mind can be satisfied in this movie......"

Hearing this, both of them fell silent for a moment.

Isn't this the essence of commercial films?

Their suppression strategy is to obfuscate the public and gain popularity and attendance for "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II".

But I never expected that the reaction over there would be so fast, and it didn't touch their trap at all.

Thanks to their investment in this area, it is not too much, even if the plan fails, it is not too distressing.

Warner Bros. CEO Barry Meyer shook his head helplessly: "Forget it, go all out to promote the promotion of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II", this is Harry Potter's last masterpiece, even if it can't win the global annual box office, but it must work hard to promote the box office to more than $1 billion!" ”

In the conference room, everyone nodded in unison.

But at this moment, Alan Horn, president of Warner Pictures, suddenly said: "Marvel is a big success, so can our DC also replicate its glory?"

The success of the "Batman" series has already indicated that the potential of DC Comics is not weaker than that of Marvel, and we can vigorously promote the DC film reform plan as a substitute for the end of the Harry Potter series. ”

As soon as these words came out, many people at the scene immediately lit up.

Marvel's success is so clearly in front of you, who can not be hot when you see it?

As a DC comic with the same name as Marvel Anime, it may also be able to follow the development route of Marvel Studios.

"Comprehensively promote the DC film reform?"

Warner Bros. CEO Barry Meyer pondered for a moment, recalling the success of several Marvel movies, and finally nodded slowly: "This matter can be put on the agenda." ”

……

Time came to the afternoon of the 12th in a blink of an eye, Chen Fei returned to Walton Pictures and began to wait for Matthew McConaughey, who came to audition.

During this period, he once again logged on to the domestic film and television information network to check the situation of the Chinese New Year file of Chinese films.

"The Legend of the Hongmen Banquet", which is known as a "good start", has completely wilted by this time.

Chen Fei checked its specific box office situation.

The box office on the first day was 21 million yuan, and the next day it plummeted by 4 million yuan, falling to 17 million.

As for the comprehensive box office in the first week, it was only 78 million, and the daily box office has fallen to 5 million!

Obviously, failure has become inevitable!

A large number of bad reviews and ridicule filled the official Weibo of "Hongmen Banquet", which directly completely collapsed the comment area.

Chen Fei saw a particularly high praise.

"As long as you don't treat "Hongmen Banquet" as a historical blockbuster, and then completely change the names of the characters in the play, this film can still be watched."

Unfortunately, this comment is completely whimsical.

In addition, there is another comment that has also received a high number of likes.

"Everyone, let me summarize this movie for you, and the overall view is: 'The film is full of emotion, and Zhang Liangfan is sympathetic!' ”

This comment directly amused Chen Fei.

He continued to scroll down and look at the comments, and then found that Li Rengang, as the director, has become the object of criticism from many fans!

Someone even ran to his personal Weibo and left a message: "Director Li, we beg you, can you not harm historical movies?" ”

Counting Li Rengang's past works, it can be seen that there are not a few historical films he has made.

"Romance of the Three Kingdoms: Seeing the Dragon Unloading the Armor", "Jinyiwei", plus this "Legend of the Hongmen Banquet".

Without exception, all of them are a mess!

You must know that the investment in this "Hongmen Banquet" is 200 million, and if you want to return to your capital, the box office must break at least 500 million.

According to the current trend of the daily box office, it is unknown whether the total box office can reach 200 million......

In addition, Chen Fei also saw a movie called "Happy Magic".

The investment cost is 70 million, and the box office on the first day is 1.1 million.

This pedal horse can no longer be described as a loss, even if the bottoms are pulled out and sold, it is estimated that it is not enough to lose!

He silently mourned for Huayi and Tianyu for three seconds.

At the same time, he also saw a piece of news.

According to media reports, Wang Zhonglei made a big statement at the premiere of "Happy Magic", saying that the total box office of this film will inevitably exceed 150 million!

"The box office on the first day is 1.1 million? Want to get a total box office of 150 million? Want to eat fart, right? ”

Chen Fei pursed his lips and directly gave Wang Zhonglei a "brain-dead" evaluation.

Compared with the dismal results in the first half of the Lunar New Year, "Thirty-three Days of Broken Love" and "Cold War 2", which were released in November, have achieved good box office results.

The total box office of the former reached 386 million, and it was successfully painted with extremely excellent results.

As for the latter, the total box office has soared to 695 million, and there are still three days before the official painting.

As long as the box office of 5 million is replenished within three days, the total box office can successfully exceed 700 million.

Don't think about it, Feng Xiaogang and "The Great Earthquake" will inevitably be dug up again and whipped a wave of corpses!

The 690 million box office of "The Great Earthquake" will inevitably become a "curse" that Feng Dacang can't get rid of in his life.

……

(ps: the second shift, ask for a monthly pass!! )

(End of chapter)