Chapter 907 ‘Beiyang Trilogy’? A Loss of 2.2 Billion US Dollars?

Chapter 907 ‘Beiyang Trilogy’? Loss of 220 million US dollars?

The director of “Ben-Hur” is Timur Bekmambetov, a Russian director who has directed and written many high-quality blockbusters and has a high status in the epic film system of Hollywood.

The script of this movie is derived from the 1959 version of “Ben-Hur”, and at that time, the film won the Oscar for Best Picture that year, which was extremely popular.

Let’s talk about the male protagonist Depp. He is Captain Spike in “Pirates of the Caribbean” and is as famous as “Harry”, “Iron Man”, “Batman”, “Spider-Man” and so on.

Therefore, no matter from which aspect, “Ben-Hur” has very high elements and conditions for success.

In addition, the failure of “King Arthur: Legend of the Sword” made Megan Ellison accumulate a lot of experience in film promotion and put all of it into “Ben-Hur”.

From this point of view, the probability of success of this movie is extremely high.

In fact, if you look at it from an objective point of view, this movie is quite good, and all the advantages that should be reflected are fully reflected.

The director has already exerted all his level.

However, one thing that cannot be ignored is that it is a remake of the movie, so the audience who come to watch the movie will inevitably have a comparative mentality.

This will lead to any flaws in the movie being infinitely magnified!

Only 1/3 of the viewing process has passed, and Chen Fei has already sentenced the movie to death with a very professional eye.

There were originally few viewers in the theater, and when it was halfway, many young viewers left the scene disappointed and bid farewell to the movie completely.

At 2/3 of the screening, Natasha had already started to browse Twitter out of boredom.

Chen Fei noticed her behavior and stood up and said, "Let's go. We can rest for a while when we go back to the company now. Let's not waste time here any more."

"Okay, I wanted to leave a long time ago."

Natasha was as if she had been pardoned, and hurriedly got up and walked out.

Arriving at the parking lot, Chen Fei took off his hat and mask and sat in the driver's seat.

"This movie is so boring." Natasha was still complaining, her tone filled with all kinds of disgust.

"Haha." Chen Fei shrugged: "Isn't this the result we want to see?"

While speaking, he took out his mobile phone and sent a text message to the person in charge of Netflix, indicating that the other party could start to reduce the online on-demand licensing price of "Ben-Hur".

The car started and drove towards Walton Pictures.

Natasha was still browsing Twitter, and at the same time, she read to Chen Fei the real film reviews that had just appeared on the Internet:

"Bellman from Washington said that this movie is just a remake, but the climax is too simplified, and it is difficult to reproduce the kind of exhilarating viewing pleasure of the 1959 version, and the overly straightforward and stiff lines make the overly exaggerated brotherhood very embarrassing..."

Chen Fei agreed with this evaluation very much, because this is also his idea.

In fact, remakes are like a double-edged sword.

Excellent remakes can stand on the shoulders of giants to add icing on the cake, or have a different flavor, but this remake of "Ben-Hur" did not let the audience feel more exciting scenes, and it was undoubtedly a failed remake.

And the most unacceptable thing is that the film, from the director to the leading actor, seemed to be in a hurry, as if there was no time to show romance and the establishment of faith, so that every shot change was very stiff, and it felt like just reading from the script, without any heart.

The most important thing is that Depp's brain has been damaged by drugs.

No matter how hard he tried, he could not show the effort and hard work of Ben-Hur in revenge, and the bravery in the arena.

He seemed to have been deeply trapped in the image of "weird", and he exuded a different kind of weirdness all over his body.

...

With the full release of "Ben-Hur" in more than 3,000 theaters in North America, the good word-of-mouth score that the film had carefully built before collapsed completely in an instant.

The freshness of Rotten Tomatoes has gone from fresh to rotten, dropping rapidly from 85% to 39%.

On the first night of Friday, on the Internet, the lMDB score dropped from 8.4 to 5.9. From websites to social media, all kinds of negative reviews came like a hurricane.

"Obviously, this is another long and stinky epic farce. I fell asleep in the theater."

"It can be seen that the director has been looking for the epic feeling of the original, but unfortunately, this film does not have such a heavy epic feeling, but only a narrow and messy feeling."

"Friends who have not seen the original version can watch this film. At least the special effects are the only place that exceeds the original; then look at the story structure, which is so ridiculous that it can circle Los Angeles 10 times!"

"This is a magical movie, it tells us: husband You must find a good mother, otherwise you will be betrayed by your own brother after fighting for three years for no reason; you will be innocently made the villain, and then innocently revenged, and then lose the status and glory you have worked so hard for, and have one leg crippled; when you are finally depressed and ready to hate your brother for the rest of your life, you will be forgiven by your brother for no reason, and live a beautiful and happy new life with a beautiful woman in your arms, riding a horse with one leg! "

"This is not Ben-Hur, this is [Les Miserables of Misala], right? I am completely speechless. "

"When I saw Depp, I felt that it was too dramatic. What kind of role was he playing? It was clearly the captain who came to ancient Rome. I couldn't imagine it at all."

Although there are many Depp fans on Twitter who said that no matter how bad a movie he makes, they will fully support it.

But relying on these people alone obviously cannot support a big-budget movie.

What's more, it seems that it is still unknown whether these people are talking about it or whether they are really supporting it.

Because according to media reports, the attendance rate of "Ben-Hur" is simply pitiful!

…

After a night, Amber Heard, who got up early, stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window and was checking the first-day box office results of Depp's new movie.

She prayed to God first, and then nervously opened the website.

However, the next second, the numbers flashing on the screen made her take a breath.

The box office data of "Ben-Hur" were not as optimistic as she expected. The film's box office growth was very slow and fell far short of expectations.

Amber frowned. She knew very well the importance of word-of-mouth for a movie, and "Ben-Hur" received a flood of negative reviews on the Internet, which undoubtedly dealt a heavy blow to the box office!

She closed the phone screen and turned to look at the scenery outside the window, feeling mixed emotions in her heart.

She knew in her heart that she needed to make a final decision now. Should she continue to bet on Depp's future? Or looking for other ways out?

You know, Depp has been on the decline since "The Lone Ranger" starring Depp suffered a huge loss of US$190 million in 2013.

Although he starred in many movies in the future, the box office continued to decline.

And all this seems to indicate that Depp's future is no longer promising, but has officially begun to move towards the endless abyss.

At this moment, Amber suddenly recalled the promise Musk made to her after a crazy night with her a few days ago.

He said he would take care of himself for the rest of his life.

Comparing the elegance and endless wealth of the other party, Depp looks like a ragged beggar, nothing worse.

This rotten person and idiot who is an alcoholic, a drug addict, and his career has begun to decline. He is not worthy of who he is now!

Thinking of this, Amber immediately opened the bedroom door and came to the living room.

At this time, Johnny Depp, who was very drunk, was lying on the carpet, with a wine bottle in his arms. He vomited everywhere, so that the whole living room was filled with a sour smell.

Seeing this scene, Amber suddenly became furious!

She grabbed a bottle of red wine on the coffee table, uncorked it, and poured it over Depp's head.

The dazed Depp was tormented by this operation and opened his eyes. He struggled to support the ground with his hands to avoid the red wine pouring down.

When he saw that it was Amber who disturbed his sleep, he was immediately furious: "Damn it! What are you doing? Why are you disturbing my rest?"

Amber yelled at him: "Depp! Can you wake up? The box office of "Ben-Hur" on the first day was only 4.23 million US dollars. This movie is finished! It is completely ruined!"

"So what?" Depp didn't mind this at all: "Anyway, I have already received the salary. Losing money is the producer's business. What does it have to do with me?"

"Don't you know that when you accumulate a certain number of bad movies, no investors will be willing to pay you high salaries? Can't you cheer up?"

"Don't worry, it won't happen." Depp waved his hand: "Disney has signed a cooperation agreement with me on "Pirates of the Caribbean 5", and I can still enjoy a high share of the box office share."

"Fuck! Get the hell out of here, can you stop being such a jerk?"

Amber didn't know why, but she couldn't get angry at all.

She especially wanted to have a big quarrel with Depp. It would be great if she could get him to "domestic violence" her.

But unfortunately, she couldn't anger Depp at all, so she could only sulk alone.

…

In the blink of an eye, three days passed quietly.

Domestically, the new Magic City International Film Festival has officially kicked off.

Many blockbusters will be released in the second half of the year, such as "Legend of the Gods", "Journey to the West", "The Great Wall", "I'm Not Pan Jinlian", "Billy Lynn's Long Halftime Walk", "Grand Trail", " Movies such as "Ghost Blowing the Lantern: Kunlun Temple" have already begun to promote.

In addition, many films have officially announced their project preparations at the Shanghai Magic City International Film Festival.

"The script for the new film "Xia Yin" written and directed by Jiang Wen has been announced. The story is still based on the Republic of China. It will form the 'Beiyang Trilogy' together with the first two films "Let the Bullets Fly" and "One Step Away"... It is reported that the estimated investment amount for the film is 400 million yuan!”

"Ning Ying officially announced that the casting plan for "Asura", an oriental fantasy special effects masterpiece produced exclusively by his company, will be officially launched from now on.

It is reported that the movie "Asura" is the first in the trilogy of the "Asura" series, with an investment cost of 750 million yuan and a target box office of 2 billion! "

"Bona, together with Anle Pictures and Beijing West Film and Television Culture, announced that they will cooperate to invest in the production of a film project adapted from the story of 'Fengshen'. The specific details will be officially announced after the release of 'Fengshen Legend'."

Looking around, this year's Shanghai Magic City International Film Festival is quite lively, with all kinds of film and television news emerging one after another, it can be said to be exciting!

However, things are not that simple.

Because in a very short time, the team of Da Wan Kuan Mian issued a statement, firmly denying the existence of Xiao G Na, saying that she was completely fabricating facts to attract attention.

This statement was like a heavy hammer, which instantly destroyed Xiao G Na's credibility, and netizens began to doubt her authenticity.

But at this moment, the plot turned again!

Waves of girls from all over the world stood up, claiming that they had also had intimate relationships with Da Wan Kuan Mian, and posted various bed photos, audios, photos and other evidence.

These evidences are like sharp swords, pointing directly at the moral bottom line of Da Wan Kuan Mian, making his image fall to the bottom in an instant!

However, what many people in the industry did not expect was that in the face of so much evidence, Da Wan Kuan Mian's fans began to engage in "technical flow" operations.

A large number of female fans of Da Wan Kuan Mian began to use technical means to carefully analyze these audios frame by frame...

After some efforts, they finally concluded that these audios were carefully synthesized based on the interview content of Da Wan Kuan Mian, and they also swore to list a lot of variety show clips, such as "Day Day Up" and "Happy Camp".

Immediately afterwards, the team of Da Wan Kuan Mian issued a statement again, confirming the fans' analysis with great certainty.

Their agent said that these audios were indeed synthesized maliciously, and their sources involved dialogues from many well-known film and television works.

At the same time, they also stated that they would take legal measures to hold the rumor makers accountable.

As the person involved, Da Wan Kuan Mian pretended to be bullied in front of the media from time to time, which successfully attracted the comfort of a lot of mother fans and sister fans.

"Hey? Sleeping with a fan, and actually sleeping a wave of traffic for yourself?"

Chen Fei looked at the various entertainment gossip news on the Internet, as well as the operations of many water army to clean up the ground, and felt quite eye-opening.

He could see that there seemed to be a big force behind this person to clean up his reputation, but he didn't know who it was.

Turning his eyes back to Hollywood, Chen Fei laughed out loud when he saw the first weekend box office of "Ben-Hur".

Three whole days had passed, and the first weekend box office was only 12.09 million US dollars. Compared with the investment of more than 200 million US dollars, the gap was so big that it was difficult to measure!

You know, in today's North American film market, a film that was released on a large scale and failed at the beginning, if it wants to turn around, it not only needs a bursting reputation, but also super good luck.

And the difficulty of "Ben-Hur" turning around is undoubtedly as difficult as climbing to the sky!

This film is actually very similar to Johnny Depp in some ways. It has a certain appeal under certain circumstances, such as starring in "Pirates of the Caribbean", but once it is out of a specific environment, it can only be described as "bad".

With the failure of the box office in the first three days of the weekend, Depp encountered the biggest public opinion attack since his debut.

Many media outlets directly attributed all the reasons for the box office failure to him, and they couldn't wait to nail him to the pillar of shame, and even clear him out of Hollywood.

Domestic entertainment and Hollywood are actually very similar. The principle that when a whale falls, everything will come to life can also be applied to Hollywood.

As long as Depp falls, many second-tier Hollywood male stars will definitely be able to eat their fill!

Under the premise of everyone pushing the wall down, some media even dragged out River Phoenix, who died in Depp's bar in 1993, saying that it was the bar owner Depp who gave River Phoenix too many drugs, which led to the tragedy.

At this moment, looking at the online comments and actions against Depp, Chen Fei suddenly thought of a sentence Huang Bo once said in an interview with the media.

When an actor can continuously create huge commercial value, then those around him must be all good people.

Just like when Depp was popular before, even drug abuse and alcoholism could be touted by the media as a tenacious struggle against alcohol and drug addiction.

But now, as he began to fall to the bottom, a lot of opponents suddenly appeared around him!

At this point, even if Depp just spitted on the street, the media could infinitely magnify it into endangering the environmental safety of Los Angeles, and the local government would sue him.

Although there are still many fans supporting Depp, his own inaction and inaction directly made it very difficult for his fans to counterattack.

And when all these formed a chemical reaction, the one who was unlucky in the end was "Ben-Hur".

On the fourth day of its release, with the end of the first weekend, the single-day box office of the movie dropped significantly, earning only 1.69 million US dollars.

At this point, unless God personally came to canvass for Depp and "Ben-Hur", there is no possibility that this movie will recover at all.

The box office results created by "Ben-Hur" also shocked the entire Hollywood!

Especially Disney, they seemed to have seen the box office tragedy that happened when "The Lone Ranger" was released again.

At that time, even under the operation of Disney, "The Lone Ranger" suffered a loss of 190 million US dollars. Now that "Ben-Hur" has fallen into the hands of Annapurna Pictures, it is likely to lose even more!

On the fifth day, under the "high attention of the public", the Cinemascore website announced the audience's word-of-mouth rating of the film in the theater.

Like "King Arthur: Legend of the Sword" produced by Annapurna Pictures before, the Cinemascore word-of-mouth rating of "Ben-Hur" is also the lowest "C" grade.

Some experts even predicted that the North American box office of this movie might not exceed 30 million US dollars.

However, its production cost was as high as 200 million US dollars, and the publicity and promotion cost another 50 million US dollars.

Want to make a profit?

It won’t make a profit at all!

…

(ps: Second update, please give me a monthly ticket!!!)