The Best Director

A year ago in the hot summer, Stida Spielberg's 11th summer blockbuster "Happy Terminal" was released, and it received a huge reputation as "This is a disgrace to Spielberg's directorial history..." (Rotten Tomatoes Index 55%/51%/72%), as well as the second time in his directing career that he did not win the weekly box office championship in the summer vacation, and it was the second time in a row. Comedy..." dreams shattered.

"Is Spielberg old?" Although the other party is the super director with the highest box office in film history, a lot of questions and sarcasm still hit his face. At that time, it was reported that Spielberg was very angry, and at the same time he was full of fighting spirit and vowed to break through doubts. He would prove himself again with "War of the Worlds"! A year has passed, and Tom Hanks has become Tom Cruise, together with Dakota Fanning, Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman and other leading actors, it has attracted much attention and attention. In doubt, this sci-fi blockbuster with a production cost of 132 million was released worldwide on June 29th a few days ago. Since the opening of the film, Spielberg spent two days in isolation as usual in "retreat" The day, the new weekend, Friday, July 1st, last week's box office and film evaluation responses have already had results.

Early in the morning, Spielberg took a bus to the headquarters of DreamWorks for a walk. Looking at these familiar scenes, he frowned from time to time. The company had some financial problems. The debts in the past few years have been getting higher and higher. No matter what the performance of "War of the Worlds" is, I may hate that DreamWorks is not an independent film company and even disappeared in the long history of film.

However, what he is most concerned about and most nervous about now is "War of the Worlds". Old friends and children have all appeared earlier one after another. Now the whole world is ""Fireflies". It is really a very lively and exciting summer. Damn... how is that possible? Spielberg thought and smiled lightly: "Hehe!"

The anticipation lists before the opening of the summer vacation have already been reshuffled. Take Yahoo Entertainment's list as an example:

The first "Firefly", the box office hit and high reviews, five stars ★★★ Female (formerly 2); the second "Star Wars Transmission 3" was a blockbuster \u0026 mixed reputation, three stars and a half ★★★ Female ( The original .1); the third place "Batman" was popular and not a blockbuster, two stars ★★★ (original .6); the fourth "Iron Fist Man" was a hit and a blockbuster, two and a half stars ★★★ (original .5); The fifth "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" was not well received, two star girls (originally .8); the sixth "Kingdom of Heaven" was all messed up, half star girl (originally .3); now the original .4 "War of the Worlds" debut .

"Good morning, good morning!" When it was time to work, Spielberg came to the office of the line department... "War of the Worlds" is a production method in which Paramount is the main investment and DreamWorks participates in the shares, and Paramount is in charge of the North American tour. Paramount and Universal Pictures are jointly traveling abroad, but of course DreamWorks will also pay attention to the latest situation: At this time, the employees are not very sad but also not happy. Is it because of "Firefly"? After a few greetings, Spielberg asked nonchalantly: "Is our movie okay?" "

The employees looked at each other for a while, not knowing what to say. Jim Sapp, the line manager, walked to the office with Spielberg with the documents and data.

Talking about the situation: "The reviews from the film critics are very good, but most of the general audience don't seem to like it very much; and in terms of the box office, our release is a bit late..."

"Really?" Spielberg took the file and opened it to read it. His heart sank immediately. The box office was mediocre, and the audience's response was even worse. ImdB only scored 7.5 points, which Rotten Tomatoes liked. 45%... He knows what such a bad word-of-mouth means. The audience is scoffing at the story of the alien invasion of the earth and the movie. If there is no "Firefly", "War of the Worlds" will receive unequal reception More box office, yet with such a behemoth on the market...

The overall evaluation given by the film critics is only acceptable. The freshness of Rotten Tomatoes is 74%/67%. Fortunately, several mainstream daily media are not bad for it. After all, people still read newspapers and magazines to choose who to watch movies. It's not mainstream, at least not for middle-aged people. The box office of "War of the Worlds" shouldn't be too ugly, but the promotion of breaking 100 million is like a joke, and he seems to have lost his status among young people and teenagers. Seems like it's not his time anymore.

Or did you leave long ago? Spielberg let out a long breath silently, is it going to fail to win the championship for the third consecutive opening week? Next year's Saturn Awards, will you lose to old friends and children?

"Spielberg's "War of the Worlds" beats the critics of major media." Yahoo Entertainment reported on this topic, although Paramount had previously asked all film critics who participated in the screening to maintain the mystery of "War of the Worlds" People "shut up first", which aroused the dissatisfaction of film critics including the "New York Times", and even broke out to boycott it. However, after the film was released, it still received full attention and won the appreciation of the mainstream media.

Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times seemed to be possessed, and he gave it a full score: "There is nothing to say, this is the best science fiction movie ever made." The New York Times Scott hit 3/5 points: "Is this a terrorist? When Big Fanning screamed and rushed to Cruise, maybe every American felt emotional. Of course, there are many places that resonate, such as Morgan Freeman's narration is plain and shocking."

Roger-Ebert scored 2/4 rot, and he naturally had nothing good to say in the Chicago Sun-Times: "War of the Worlds is a big, clunky movie with some nice visuals, although it So apt, less enthusiastic energy than Imax, we can guess Spielberg's tricks:"

"Hollywood Reporter" score: a-, "USA Today" score: B, "San Francisco Chronicle" score: a...Those who counted on Spielberg's complete failure hoped to be disappointed, but not completely lost, and the response of good film reviews is Rotten audience word of mouth.

Rotten Tomatoes fan critic Drake-T hit three stars saying: "The audience must immediately admit that this is not an alien invasion movie, this is a drama, a dysfunctional family. Even so, you'd be hard-pressed to find any I can like elements, or find any chemistry between the actors, which makes me extremely disgusted." Aidan-h, who gave half a star, said: "Basically Tom Cruise is running away in, boring .”…

Regarding the duel of "Firefly" Vs "War of the Worlds", the opinions of movie fans and audiences in news comments, blogs, etc. are much clearer. If you haven't enjoyed a feast like "Firefly" recently, maybe it's okay, but now... ... They couldn't eat the overcooked meal at the table, and the big Fanning who kept screaming for his father was not as cute as the little Fanning who played the spinning top and asked questions.

In the past week of the night (June 24-), "Firefly" won the North American weekly chart without any suspense. Its box office trend remained -36.1%, and it received a staggering 151.1 million in seven days, 65 theaters The average US dollar per store; overseas narrowed the decline to 7.9%... 245.1 million in seven days and countless weekly championship titles, two weeks after its release... "Firefly" has a total box office of 387.6 million in North America, a total of 5.2 billion overseas, and a global total of The box office has reached 1.8 billion US dollars, and it is only one weekend away from entering the 100 million box office club.

It continues its journey of refreshing various records: the fastest box office reached 350 million US dollars (day), beating "Shrek 2" which took 26 days, "Spiderman" which took 31 days...

"War of the Worlds", which was released for two days, ranked second with a box office of 160,000. The average of 8 theaters was 7,717 US dollars each. , "A Fairy Wife" and other vulnerable films are much better.

What changes will happen to the North American battlefield next? July 1-3 is the weekend, and July 4 is the national holiday of Independence Day. These 4 days are the beginning of the third week of "Firefly" and the first weekend of "War of the Worlds"; It proved how crazy I am to save the market, and the other is the one that was hoped for before. Who wins? Can "Firefly" still win the championship for the third week in a row? Will Spielberg miss the Summer Week title for the third time in a row?

Paul Degarabe, director of the box office department of the authoritative box office statistical analysis agency ns, expressed his expectations: "This will be a big box office war, and "Firefly" is even more powerful. It is far more popular than people imagined. Flame Company The hype for it continues; while War of the Worlds is not to be underestimated, Tom Cruise has clearly done enough that he even has his own fiancée on the show."

The "jumping sand" who expressed his love in the interview of "Oprah Talk Show" last month is not as cool as Wang Yang's stupid lying on the street, and more importantly, the "divorced 42-year-old man" does not have youthful frivolity and fairy tales The color, even ridiculed by the media, was uploaded to uTuBe and became popular on the Internet, and whoever was caught kissing at the film screening a few days ago, regardless of fiancee Katie Holmes or Steven Spielberg, Tom Cruise did a lot.

Rotten Tomatoes of the Orlando Sentinel's Roger Scholl said: "Tom Cruise's series of actions in the promotion of "War of the Worlds" has been horrific, but it is clear that "War of the Worlds" is better than him. Even scarier."

Not only that, Cruise also talked about his belief in Scientology on the talk show before, and was satirized and bombarded by the mainstream media, for fear that he would not become a salted fish; Speaking of postponement, the public felt that this guy was using his feelings to hype up the new film. But Paul de Galabe believes that this is a successful trick. The decisive factor for a movie's box office lies in the strength of the early publicity and the effect of the later advertising. In his opinion, "War of the Worlds" has done a very good job in this regard, and there are The key point is the weight of Spielberg himself.

"Almost everyone is interested in going to the cinema to watch Wang Yang's new film. They also have the same interest in Spielberg, especially when his previous film "The End of Happiness" did not perform well. Everyone tends to believe that he will Bringing surprises is also one of the reasons why Wang Yang's "Firefly" is so popular." Paul said.

So no matter what the audience reputation of "War of the Worlds" is, there are Spielberg and Tom Cruise, there are mainstream media, especially the three major daily newspapers "Washington Post", "New York Times", "Los Angeles Times" With the praise of The Times, the audience can find a reason to watch, "Maybe this is what I like to watch?" Moreover, the film market has been prospered by "Firefly", and the public's enthusiasm for watching movies can be said to be at its peak .

The opponent of "Firefly" is different this time. Before, this is a blockbuster film with good reviews, cast and publicity!

The media, movie fans and fans are all excited, Miracle Yang Vs Spielberg! New and old legendary directors collide! No. 2 in North America's total box office Vs No. 1 in North America's total box office! After Ghost Story Vs Saving Private Ryan, The Hangover Vs Getaway, T-21-Team Vs Getaway (genre), The Devil Wears Prada Vs Happy Ending After "Station" (type), a head-to-head duel of the same type is coming! The real box office battle of the summer is here!

When the box office was released on Friday, July 1st, movie fans shouted, "Firefly" in 3 theaters received 70,000 yuan with an average of 5,661 US dollars per theater; , with an average of $9 for a single hall, in the first round, "Firefly" narrowly won!