American fame and fortune

Because of Warner Bros., Martin has been paying attention to "Darkland" since its premiere.

When the movie opens in North America, theater attendance is not high.

The market response was average.

In the master bedroom of the villa, Martin got the latest box office data.

Elizabeth Olsen asked: "I looked at the word-of-mouth reviews online and it seems that they are not ideal. How is the box office?"

Martin forwarded the statistics to her and said, "It's worse than I thought. It was only US$2.74 million on the first day in North America."

This is not a small-scale screening but a large-scale screening in more than 3,000 theaters.

"So few?" Elizabeth was somewhat surprised. An idea popped into her head, and she shook her head and asked, "I remember that Warner Bros.' final production budget was as high as 70 million US dollars, right?"

She is also relatively familiar with Gillian Flynn: "The response to "Gone Girl" was so good, but this one is so bad..."

Martin said: "Maybe the director's quality is a little worse than David Fincher."

Elizabeth read the data forwarded by Martin, kicked off her slippers, moved her feet on the sofa, rested her head on Martin's lap, and said: "The key is that you are missing as the leading actor."

Martin touched her bulge and said, "I thought the film might not get a good response, but I never thought it would be so bad."

Elizabeth had just finished eating and didn't want any more. She pressed Martin's hand and looked up at Martin: "I just heard you talking about the box office numbers, and I suddenly thought, wouldn't you deliberately give up this adaptation project to Warner Pictures? Right?"

"Warner Pictures stole this project." Martin moved his hand back and squeezed it deliberately: "I am a good person, how could I do something to frame others."

Elizabeth felt something rise quickly under her head, as hard as an iron rod. She felt helpless: "Don't you want enough?"

Martin said: "Honey, this shows that you are too attracted to me."

Elizabeth felt that she couldn't handle it anymore, and suddenly remembered something.

Lily secretly complained that she was never taken with her when playing games...

Although the two have a good friendship, Elizabeth knows that Lily is difficult to deal with and cannot let her get her wish easily. She must be grateful to her.

Elizabeth turned over, feeling full and able to manage some more.

If she doesn't eat, she'll only get cheap ones from outside.

Martin quickly threw away his phone and paid no attention to the situation in "Darklands".

The old boy and the little witch studied academic topics such as protein loss and replenishment.

…………

Century City, WMA headquarters.

Sitting at his desk, Ali-Emmanuel frowned. With the first-day box office results released, the ending of "Dark Place" is basically certain, and it will definitely be a box office disaster.

But it doesn’t make sense.

Warner Pictures invested heavily in building it, with a production budget of up to US$80 million, and the director's previous upward momentum was also strong.

Best-selling author Gillian Flynn personally adapted the film based on her popular work, and her previous film "Gone Girl" was a box office hit.

The heroine Natalie Portman is the new Oscar-winning actress, the darling of the mainstream media, and a representative of Hollywood's post-80s actresses. She has always had a good reputation.

A film project that had so many success factors failed.

why?

Ali couldn't think about it for a moment, so he got up and went to the floor-to-ceiling window, looking at Beverly Hills and sighing.

It is impossible to stage a reversal in "Dark Place". His plan to make Natalie Portman into a Hollywood star is facing bankruptcy just from the beginning.

Ali thought about the Oscar winner curse again.

But Natalie's former Sandra Bullock was not affected.

The failure of "Dark Place" had serious consequences. It would be difficult for Natalie to receive films and roles of the same quality in the future.

How can this damn Oscar-winning actress curse be lifted?

Ali thought for a while and called Thomas.

Thomas soon came to his office.

Ali asked: "Are you concerned about the situation in "Darkland"?"

"There is concern." Thomas thought he wanted to ask Martin for his opinion, and said: "After the relevant statistics came out, I forwarded them to Martin as soon as possible."

Upon hearing this, Ali asked: "What did Martin say?"

Thomas shook his head slightly: "He didn't say anything."

Ali came back and sat down and asked, "What do you think the problem is?"

Thomas said to himself, I am where I am today just because I followed the right person. You also understand all the keys to the success or failure of a movie.

But he couldn't say that. Suddenly he thought of an article he had just read. It seemed to make some sense, and he said: "In some cases, we may have misjudged it."

Ali heard what he meant: "About Natalie Portman?"

Thomas reminded: "There is a professional analysis article on the cinemascore website, which is based on theater audience ratings. You can take a look."

Ali goes to look at the computer.

Thomas glanced at his watch: "I'm leaving first."

Ali nodded.

Thomas went out and looked back, feeling that the key to the success or failure of "Gone Girl" and "Dark Place" actually lies with Martin and Natalie.

The quality of "Darkland" itself is indeed poor, but Natalie Portman's lack of appeal is also the key.

In the office, Ali logged into the cinemascore website and clicked on the "Dark Place" section. The audience's on-site score was only B, which was slightly better than "Green Lantern".

But due to the latter, Warner Bros. had to cancel the entire Justice League cinematic universe plan.

Ali found the analytical article Thomas was talking about.

This is a column by Ed Mintz, founder of the cinemascore website.

Ed Mintz is known for his keen market vision, accurate predictions and thorough analysis.

Ali discovered that this column analysis article was aimed at his number one female client Natalie Portman.

He glanced at the first few paragraphs and quickly found the core point of the article.

"In the past few years, Natalie Portman has been far more popular in the mainstream media than among movie fans. It is no exaggeration to say that Natalie Portman is the most popular post-80s actress in the mainstream media. "

"The carefully crafted persona of being highly educated, not caring about fame and wealth, going to Jerusalem specifically for further studies, etc., have supported Natalie Portman's high style and made her a representative of the Mesozoic actresses in Hollywood."

"Natalie Portman's indomitable presence in the mainstream media has created the illusion that she is very popular with movie fans! Although this has also won the support of a group of people and has become a typical example of Hollywood's high-style and exquisite actresses, it is not enough Support a larger-scale production."

"Looking at Natalie Portman's resume, apart from her famous works "Leon" and the "Star Wars Prequels" trilogy, it is difficult for ordinary movie fans to think of her other works. "Leon" was It has been criticized in North America and is not popular with the mainstream. Even Natalie Portman herself has publicly criticized this work. The success of the "Star Wars Prequel" trilogy has basically nothing to do with Natalie Portman herself. "

"Perhaps among highly educated people, there is a market for exquisite actresses like Natalie Portman, but the lack of recognition from the broadest general audience and movie fans is Natalie Portman's fatal flaw, which makes her unable to Support the market for larger-scale films."

"The production of "Darkland" itself is not good enough, and the casting issues cannot be ignored..."

Seeing this, Ali couldn't help but look up from behind the computer and carefully thought about Natalie Portman's situation.

Natalie Portman joined WMA later. Her personality and style were the same before she entered WMA.

It used to feel normal.

But now that Ali thinks about it, Ed Mintz's analysis seems to make sense.

This kind of character of Natalie Portman is not lovable at all among ordinary viewers.

Ali doesn't want to give up his number one female client, and is wondering how to get Natalie to break the Oscar-winning actress' curse.

Three days have passed over the weekend. Although the reputation of "Darkland" is much better than that of "Pharaohs and Gods" and "Green Lantern" last year, the box office is still lagging behind.

During its opening weekend in North America, the film only grossed $7.21 million at the box office.

Many market professional institutions predict that the final box office in North America will be difficult to exceed US$15 million.

Compared with the production cost of 70 million US dollars, bleak is not enough to describe it.

In the most spacious office in the Warner Building, Kevin Tsujihara looked across at Jon Berg, his brother-in-law.

He asked: "What's going on with this one?"

Jon Berg said: "I trusted Gillian Flynn too much and let her participate in post-production. The final edit of the film respected her opinions, and the result..."

Kevin Tsujihara nodded slowly.

Jon Berg continued: "'Gone Girl' was so successful, and I think Gillian Flynn will bring that success experience into the new film."

Kevin Tsujihara said: "Women are too emotional in this regard. Don't make this mistake again."

In fact, there are very few female producers in Hollywood who have final cut control.

Jon Berg said: "I have adjusted the editing plan of several other films so that I will not make the same mistakes again."

Every medium and large-scale production company in Hollywood will have failed projects every year. Kevin Tsujihara did not pursue it too closely and quickly let Jon Berg leave.

Back in his office, Jon Berg did not hesitate to put Gillian Flynn and Natalie Portman on Warner Pictures' blacklist.

He is frowning because next month he will submit his first work report to the group's board of directors after taking office.

Jon Berg quickly thought of a way. In the report, he focused on this year's successful movies such as "Harry Potter 9" and "The Hangover 2", and tried to shirk responsibility for the failures.

For the failure of "Darkland", producer and screenwriter Gillian Flynn is the best candidate to take the blame.

Jon Berg sighed. In fact, he didn't want to use the sequel left by his predecessor to save the situation. Isn't there no way?

Pass this level first before talking about anything else.

Jon Berg suddenly thought of something. This film, like "Pharaohs and Gods", is also related to Martin Davis.

"Pharaohs and Gods" was a project that Daniel intercepted that Martin wanted to cooperate with Warner, while "Darkland" was a project that his trusted assistant took the initiative to steal from Martin.

Is there any connection between the two?