The Best Director

Chapter 308: Chapter 308: He’s Not in the Jianghu, Yet His Legend Remains

As the week of May 7-13 became history, the fresh list for the opening week box office rankings of North America’s 2004 summer season was released. The champion wasn’t the $160 million cost “Van Helsing,” but Fire & Blue Sky’s “Ice Age 2”, a film that could be called an expected dark horse. For its opening week, this animated comedy crazily raked in $75.93 million in 3,053 theaters, surpassing its production budget.

“If you can say Blue Sky Studios has proven anything up to this point, it’s simply that their visual effects have improved; but frankly, in terms of storytelling, there’s nothing there,” “Cute and funny for kids, but they can’t even maintain these bland jokes for 90 minutes,” “I don’t know what happened to the Ice Age team; the first one had some charm, whereas this sequel is rotten,”… However, in the world of film criticism, Richard Roeper, Roger Ebert, Roger Moore, Stephen Hunter, and other well-known critics all bestowed the green splat of Rotten Tomatoes.

These Rotten Tomatoes and some critics’ personal grievances against Wang Yang have nothing to do with each other. They wouldn’t just target Fire & Blue Sky films out of spite. It’s just that compared with Pixar’s CGI animations, Blue Sky’s concept and style have never been to their taste, with a general freshness of 57% and renowned freshness of 59%; audience likability, however, stood at 83%, with an IMDB score of 7.5: “A cute, bustling film.”

If the audience likes it, there will be box office success. Overseas audiences loved these family-friendly squirrels and mammoths even more than those in North America. With this North American opening week’s box office, “Ice Age 2” has accumulated a global total of $295 million, soaring like a rocket. Fire & Blue Sky had already fully recouped their total costs. And this $219 million overseas box office doesn’t even include several big box office countries yet. Bruce Nash, an analyst from the authoritative website TheNumbers, predicted that the final box office for “Ice Age 2” would likely reach over $600 million.

“Overall, although ‘Ice Age 2’ is not popular with the critics, it is a favorite among children. We all know that a movie’s success does not depend on the film itself but on marketing. Fire & Blue Sky have done this very well; they know where the market is and have targeted it through positioning marketing towards children, families, especially female homemakers, informing those willing to spend money on ‘Ice Age 2’ movie tickets about the release,” the spokesperson said.

Bruce Nash spoke highly of the “overseas first, then North America” release strategy for “Ice Age 2,” calling it a key to its huge success: “A very clever approach, they’ve stepped outside the traditional thought box, and it turns out this has had a remarkable effect. People are used to watching North American film news to choose their movies, but now it’s reversed. Being able to see it overseas first has brought a feeling of freshness and also created a sense of eagerness in the North American market, which has a great impact.”

Finally, he added, “Choosing to release before ‘Shrek 2′ was quite smart and safe, creating global influence even earlier was a brilliant move, as the summer will stretch on for several months.”

A production budget of $75 million fetching a box office of $600 million? Bruce Nash, and other authoritative box office sites like BOM, called it “just conservative figures.” … Watching “Ice Age 2” captivate children and adults worldwide, Fox Company could only sigh in resignation. Paramount & DreamWorks, who were about to release “Shrek 2” on the 21st, were feeling anxious, not expecting “Van Helsing” to fall so easily, allowing “Ice Age 2” to gain the upper hand! Various film companies, both large and small, were extremely envious; Fire & Blue Sky films were unstoppable.

Everyone at Fire & Blue Sky were grinning from ear to ear, $500 million, $600 million, $700 million – the higher, the better. But for now, they had enough to “get carried away,” as plans for “Ice Age 3” were set in motion! Inside sources said that the sequel’s budget was expected to increase to $90 million, while Fire & Blue Sky spokesperson Fiona Hasan excitedly expressed, “The Ice Age team has achieved an astonishingly proud result; the new work will continue to be directed by Carlos Saldanha, leading this team forward.”

While there was joy and celebration on one side, there was gloom and frustration on the other. Universal’s high-hopes “Van Helsing” had flopped, with a $160 million cost, widespread promotion… Only garnering $54.36 million in 3,575 theaters its opening week, ranking second in the weekly charts. What was scarier was the critics’ consensus, with a general freshness of 23%, renowned freshness of 16%: “The dumbest movie of the year!” “I don’t want to say much about it anymore, a messy pile of junk.” “Van Helsing is like a howling dog; it needs a brain,”…

No film from FireFlame Cinema “always satisfies the audience,” and now people are not buying into these vampires either, with a 66% liking rate and an IMDb score of 5.6. What about the second and third week box office? Bruce Nash said, “Van Helsing is a purely commercial film that can’t find its market.”

The botched new release, the comedy New York Minute, which cost $30 million, was a total disaster with a mere $4.96 million box office from 3,006 theaters! That’s an average of $1,650 per theater in seven days, not even as good as the third week of Mean Girls at $2,010, let alone compared to Ice Age 2’s $24,870 per theater. Can it get any worse? An IMDb score of 4.0, 56% audience liking rate, 11% and 13% critic freshness rate, Richard Roeper said, “A sickening movie.” and Roger Moore said, “Annoying, juvenile, stupid.”…

Such terrible results are not without reason, besides the film itself being terrible it also involved racism because it included the line “defeat the evil Asians,” which has drawn the dissatisfaction of Asian American organizations and internet protests, not to mention the horrific word-of-mouth so there’s no chance of it turning around in post-sales.

And a group of people asked Wang Yang on his blog about his views on New York Minute, sparking a piece of tabloid news, all because Wang Yang replied, “I’m just wondering, why would the Olsen sisters appear here? I’m heartbroken, if they want to be funny, I recommend they watch American Pie.”

“Great!” Applause from countless Asian American fans and non-Asian American fans alike, truly worthy of the eloquent and magically sharp-tongued Yang! His biting wit against the critics was once again ruthlessly shown.

Eugene Levy starred in both New York Minute and American Pie, the latter being an R-rated teen sex comedy, naturally satirizing the “pure and cute” image the Olsen sisters ought to start doing sex comedies; it also mocks the New York Minute for throwing in sister scenes 7 minutes apart with “barely covered by a towel” shots, but they botched it, they should see how American Pie does it if they want to shoot a sex comedy.

It seems very ungracious to mock 18-year-old twin sisters, yet they were the executive producers of New York Minute, and it’s also their production company’s film. They have to bear the consequences of how terribly bad the film is and the backlash of racism.

Film critic John J. Puccio sarcastically said, “The twins have ultimately gone down the drain, and perhaps that’s the best place for this movie. New York Minute is a genuinely certified, verifiable mess.” Nell Minow on Yahoo Movies’ Mom channel jested, “Mary Kate Olsen and Ashley Olsen are not actresses, not stars, what are they? A brand.” Stephen Himes mocked, “A family entertainment movie? Why did the Olsen sisters use up 25% nudity?”…

Not long ago, critics and Wang Yang, who had been in constant battle, unexpectedly stood on the same side at this moment. It wasn’t just Wang Yang who was heartbroken; since 1987, the one-year-old Olsen sisters began their screen life with Full House, continuing until the show’s end in 1995. Like The Truman Show, American viewers watched them grow from babies, to toddlers, to children, and now to teenagers; watching them own their own company, record albums, magazines, fashion brands, movies…

Watching their screen debut in New York Minute as well as seeing their once pure and innocent eyes turn to indulgence and defiance. Americans doted on these angelic girls, only to end up raising two hippies – after all, they’re not their own daughters, and the criticisms rained down in an instant. However, the sisters also have a lot of hardcore fans, who shrugged off concerns about quality and racial prejudice, and Wang Yang became one of the targets of their backlash, receiving all sorts of awful curses.

Wang Yang was somewhat surprised that, without posting a new blog entry, just casually replying with a joke on his blog’s comment board could spark a massive amount of media coverage—accusations of a verbal bombshell, lessons taught… With the stress of filming “Firefly” leaving him no time to spare, he didn’t bother with the matter any further.

However, that remark galvanized the Asian communities, who collectively demanded an apology from Warner Brothers, the distributor, and Dualstar Entertainment, the producer, and called for the film’s removal from theaters. In response to the “call to action,” countless passionate fans of the amazing Wang Yang risked being labeled as racists to show their support on platforms like Warner Brothers’ official website.

In the world of cinema, especially in the mature market of North America, it’s not so simple for a couple of TV+ reality show stars to achieve much by just showing some leg, not even if they’re the Olsen twins. And compared to the popularity of the magical BABY, the twins were just not in the same league, neither with the young nor with the adults.

When May 14-20 passed, the second week’s “New York Minute” grossed only a meager 2.67 million at the box office, accumulating just 7.63 million in two weeks. Under social pressure, Warner Brothers’ spokesperson Alan Horn finally said to the media, “Defeating the evil Asians” was a childish mistake, its intention was just for a laugh, but unfortunately, it only brought about distaste—an immature error.” Although Warner made a side-handed apology, they didn’t pull the film early. Eking out another 100 dollars at the box office was still money.

With a net worth of 150 million US Dollars, the chairs of Dualstar Entertainment, the Olsen sisters, did not publicly respond to the incident. Dualstar Entertainment spokesperson Scott Good expressed remorse on behalf of the crew: “It was an unintended joke, we never realized it would have such severe repercussions and hurt others. This is not what we wanted to see, and it’s indeed a very bad and embarrassing situation.”

According to Yahoo Entertainment, friends of the Olsen twins revealed that both were very sad, frustrated, and exhausted by this setback in their big-screen debut. They had lost their passion for the performing arts and were planning to withdraw from Hollywood to focus on their college education and the management of their fashion brand.

The championship title for the second week of the North American summer blockbuster season went to “Troy.” This ambitious historical epic, starring Brad Pitt and with a hefty budget of 175 million, grossed 62.0354 million at 3,411 theaters. It also performed excellently in several overseas markets, with predictions from TheNumbers and BOM indicating it could recoup its investment. However, freshness ratings of 55% and 65% shattered its Oscar dreams, with critic Brian D. Johnson sarcastically remarking, “Troy qualifies for this year’s gym-movie award.”

It had nothing but muscles and handsome men, lacking emotional resonance, depth, and significance. Now, Warner Brothers, which had been full of confidence, had to consider whether they should print “Best Picture,” “Best Director,” and “Best Actor” on “Troy’s” promotional posters as an Oscar marketing ploy for the latter half of the year, or should they even spend the money on such promotional efforts? The conclusion is 99% the correct answer: “NO.”

“What is Brad Pitt thinking now?” Seizing this golden opportunity, some of Wang Yang’s fans joked back at Pitt’s fans who had previously said “We don’t fancy a blue glove, we have ‘Troy’,” with Jimmy C commenting in the news titled “Pitt’s performance criticized as stiff in poorly received ‘Troy’,” “Tom Welling is more likely to win the Oscar for Best Actor, right?” Tom Welling played Troy in “High School Musical”; of course, Pitt’s role in “Troy” was Achilles.

With the Oscar dream shattered, after over a year of filming and producing, pouring in countless efforts and time, it is understandable that anyone’s morale would be low. As for whether Brad Pitt regretted declining the invitation to “Firefly,” that remains unknown.

“Ice Age 2” continued its strong momentum, seizing this week’s runner-up spot with $55.27 million, bringing its North American total to $131.2 million; after another frenzied week overseas raking in $86.97 million, with its international haul reaching $305.9 million, its global box office triumphantly soared to $437.2 million. Surpassing “Ice Age’s” $476 million, it’s only a matter of time before the “Flame & Blue Sky” express train joins the animated film’s $500 million global box office club.

In third place, “Van Helsing,” as predicted by the media, saw a 65% plunge in box office performance, grossing only $19.02 million, with losses already inevitable. In fourth position, “Shrek 2,” which debuted in 3,737 theaters for two days, amassed a total of $18.94 million. The overwhelming promotion and dual 89% critic ‘freshness’ rating have predetermined its blockbuster destiny, despite an audience approval of only 69%. In fifth and sixth place were “Mean Girls,” “Fire and Rescue”…

Eighth place belonged to “13 Going on 30,” which racked up a weekly $5.152 million, bringing its total to $49.56 million. Jennifer Garner plays the 13-year-old Jenna, filled with longing and aspirations for the adult world. Unexpectedly, her dream comes true when she wakes up one day as a 30-year-old woman, and everything is different. This light-hearted comedy features The New Yorker, a magazine publishing house, beautiful clothes, handbags, and fashion, along with breezy humor, and also contemplates the balance between work, feelings, and personal life…

Although shot before “The Devil Wears Prada” was released, it couldn’t escape being labeled as “following the trend.” Facing the behemoth “TDWP,” with a box office of $558 million, the distributor Sony Pictures Entertainment didn’t mind drawing associations between the two, even meticulously targeting “TDWP” audiences in its advertising, resorting to Flame movies, paying for ads on women-centric websites like iVillage owned by Flame.

This strategy clearly benefited “13 Going on 30,” which has only been released in North America and has made $76.82 million in four weeks. With a production budget of $37 million, it has already safely reached shore. Of course, compared to “TDWP,” it seems so pitiful, but is it surprising? It lacks the “real fashion industry” as a selling point, Meryl Streep, Jessica Alba, nor the wondrous Wang Yang.

Now looking at the explosive energy it released in its opening week of $45.18 million, it immediately faced film critics’ freshness ratings of 65% and 60%. Fashion-averse Roger Ebert once again gave two thumbs down. Larry Carroll from commented, “Many fans might find it adorable and funny, but I did not.” Coupled with a 60% audience approval rating and an IMDb score of 6.1, its second-week box office took a sharp decline because the market demand for female fashion was still in a state of mere subsistence.

Rotten Tomatoes’ user comments were a mixed bag. Jennifer X, who gave it two and a half stars, wrote: “It’s okay for passing the time, but why is the freshness rating of ’13 Going on 30′ higher than the fashion comedy king ‘The Devil Wears Prada’? This is far more comical than the content of the two films themselves. Have they started to miss the wondrous Wang Yang?” Kate I, who rated it two stars, said, “It’s a natural comparison with ‘TDWP,’ ’13 Going on 30′ is like a flea market item whereas ‘TDWP’ is boutique quality.”…

Market stall goods they may be, but seeing its unexpected box office numbers, the executives at Sony Pictures Entertainment also had a good laugh; and other movie companies tightened their pace to follow the trend.

Bruce Nash, an analyst at TheNumbers, once commented on “13 Going on 30,” saying, “The most significant market impact of ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ is that it opened everyone’s eyes to the increasing spending power and explosive potential of the female audience in film and entertainment. It broke the tradition of women’s commercial films being inseparable from men, where men can appear intermittently, narrating stories about women for women.”

Where is the illustrious Wang Yang!? Countless fans and moviegoers miss this guy who is currently shooting a film in Vancouver, but missing him does no good; all that remains is to look forward to “Furious Cars” and “The Hangover 2,” set to release on June 11 and June 25, respectively. Also premiering on June 11 is Warner Brothers’ Las Vegas blackjack movie “Lucky Card Player.” (