The Best Director-Chapter 508 - : 508

Chapter 508: 508

“Fun, lively, boisterous, entertaining—it all bursts perfectly onto the silver screen.” —4/5, Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel; “A highly successful example, Americans can see the fun in Chow’s work, those laughs they couldn’t hear before because they weren’t paying attention; Carrey is as whimsically brilliant as ever, and together they are the kings of comedy, a divine duo in ‘The Green Hornet,’ noble entertainment.” —4/4, Richard Corliss, TIME; “Loads of fun, beautiful quips, beautiful action sequences, this film is a big blast.” —3.5/4, Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle;

“Listen, this is an exciting comedy. I should shut up and let you enjoy it on your own, but I still have to say a few words! Its imagination lies not only in the film’s fight choreography, but also in its departure from Hollywood’s hackneyed comedic ways; its energy not only in the splendid special effects but also in its dreamy performances.” —4/4, Andrew OHehir, Salon.com; “A dynamic, humorous piece of global entertainment. ‘The Green Hornet’ is a smart attempt and one of the best action comedies ever.” —4/4, A.O. Scott, The New York Times;

“Viewers will find themselves laughing from start to finish, we need such movies—silly, raucous, absurd, yet always amusing. Chow and Carrey are like a cult bomb exploding, taking over your brain, and there’s never a dull moment.” —4/4, Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times…

The highly anticipated ‘The Green Hornet’ did not disappoint. It captured a 92%/87% freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes (180/195), and a 90% approval rating from audiences (115,840 participating users)! And on IMDb, it also scored a high 7.9. For a commercial comedy, these are nearly perfect critical ratings!

Take a look at the same period’s ‘Premonition’ with a pathetic 8%/16%/55%, and ‘I Think I Love My Wife’ at 19%/28%/45%, highlighting its preciousness even more!

Producer & screenwriter Wang Yang, producer & screenwriter Steve Oedekerk, director & screenwriter & star Stephen Chow, and star Jim Carrey have all received widespread acclaim, with numerous fans eagerly ranking it as a comedic masterpiece, a peak in the careers of both Chow and Carrey.

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Rotten Tomatoes user Idresķ gave it five stars: “I couldn’t stop laughing while watching it; Chow is like if Bruce Lee and Charlie Chaplin had a child, and Carrey has found his vigor again, it’s a genius combination.” Flixsterman also awarded a full score: “Stephen Chow has outdone ‘Kung Fu Hustle’ and ‘Shaolin Soccer’, and Jim Carrey surpasses ‘The Mask’ and ‘Bruce Almighty’, they are just too funny. Worth watching over and over.” Johanna J ticked four and a half stars: “Stephen Chow and Jim Carrey have given ‘The Green Hornet’ a new vitality, it doesn’t taste like comic books, this time it’s great.”

“This movie is the funniest film I have seen in my life to date, I couldn’t catch my breath, and tears blurred my vision throughout the entire movie.” —5 stars, Georgemichael; “Hahaha! I laughed until my stomach hurt, this is that kind of hysterical slapstick comedy that Hollywood has been trying and failing to make, not anymore. Fantastic work of dream and fantasy by Yang!” —5 stars, Gaby L; “Are you kidding me? Is it a superhero movie? Is it a comic book movie? But… what a fantastic comedy!” —5 stars, Marco B…

With such high praise, it’s no wonder ‘The Green Hornet’ took the crown for first-week box office, especially with FF promoting it heavily for so long. Another successful film produced by Wang Yang! The flame’s winning streak continues to grow!

In its first week, it raked in $98.51 million! With an average of $27,671 per theater across 3,560 cinemas, exit polling showed that over 55% of the audience was under 25, making it a hit with young viewers! Among these figures, it also set a new record for the highest March opening weekend with $71.54 million, surpassing ‘300’s recent record of $70.88 million/$96.28 million; meanwhile, ranking second in the superhero-comedy category, only behind the animated film ‘The Incredibles’ with $261 million.

The following week, March 23-29, despite facing six new releases, ‘The Green Hornet’ still held strong with $47.67 million (-51.6%) to retain the weekly crown, surpassing $100 million in just the 8th opening day, and $146 million in 14 days; combined with $162 million in foreign box office, the global total has already soared to $308 million, a formidable momentum indeed!

In an era where production costs can easily reach hundreds of millions, ‘The Green Hornet’s budget of $120 million is not considered high, and it has already easily recouped its costs. Faced with such good results and the anticipation and clamor of fans worldwide, Flame must consider the plans for ‘The Green Hornet 2.’ The biggest issue for a sequel is undoubtedly the return of the cast, as The Green Hornet and Kato are irreplaceable, and it’s hard to imagine anyone with more charm than those two old guys.

Negotiations take time, but the prospects seem very bright.

Jim Carrey was really in good spirits. Back in the day, he played The Riddler in “Batman Forever” (1995). While his performance was impressive and the box office was strong, the reviews were mixed. A few years later, “Batman 4” bombed terribly, and thankfully, he wasn’t in it. Now, “The Green Hornet” is both a box office hit and a critical success, setting a new record for his personal opening weekend box office (previously $67.95 million for “Bruce Almighty”). It was a stunning comeback in the comedy genre, and he seemed to have no reason to turn down the sequel.

So the real problem was actually with Stephen Chow, who could be a bit of a loner and tyrant on set. If it weren’t for Odecock’s mediation and Wang Yang’s authoritative decision-making, he might have already fallen out with Jim Carrey. But that didn’t mean he was enthusiastic about “The Green Hornet 2,” especially if he didn’t want to direct it. Regardless, things were still moving along pleasantly, and this was indeed thanks to Flame Film’s status and Bruce Lee’s significance to “The Green Hornet” series.

In Flame Films’ initial plans, Steve Odecock would take over the entirety of “The Green Hornet 2” after wrapping up “Kung Fu Panda 2,” including directing the sequel; “Kung Fu Panda 3” would then bring in someone new as director.

With Wang Yang there was box office, with Stephen Chow there was box office. The premiere of “The Green Hornet” on the Chinese mainland couldn’t have been more fitting. Just by printing “Produced by Wang Yang, Starring Stephen Chow” on the posters, audiences would surely flood the theaters in waves. In fact, China Film Group Corporation had long been salivating over it and had confirmed the introduction of the movie. With all the heated media promotion, fans and audiences were ready to turn out in massive numbers!

However, the film wasn’t released simultaneously. If not for the delayed release date risking the impact of high-definition pirated versions on the box office, both China Film and Flame had hoped to release it in May. It was now scheduled two weeks later for Saturday, March 31, and the pent-up energy was at a tipping point of either explosion or deflation!

When the week of March 30 to April 5 had passed, the sports comedy “Blades of Glory” took over as the North American box office champion with $45.38 million, but its Rotten Tomatoes score was an unremarkable 70%/68%/66%. “The Green Hornet” in its third week took in another $24.45 million (-48.7%), accruing a North American total of $170 million. Over in China, it was nothing but good news and nonstop laughter, its momentum almost rivaling that of “Firefly” two years before. The Chinese film market had indeed grown significantly.

Seeing the strength of “The Green Hornet,” and with Wang Yang’s first foray into superhero films being an outright success, the Warner Bros executives breathed a sigh of relief, with confidence in “The Dark Knight” soaring.

Who now dares to question Wang Yang’s decisions anymore? That he’s not good enough? That he hasn’t proven himself? His weaknesses?…

Yang fans scoff at such notions, and even Yang critics find them ludicrous. One excellent film after another has shown the world that this wunderkind is practically a god in the film industry. It’s his era now, and as “Variety” said, decades from now, he will undoubtedly be called “Hollywood’s Best Director of the 2010s.” And he’s only 27 years old, soon to be dubbed “The Kid of Cinema.”

Wang Yang’s 11th directorial film “The Deceased” had just ended its run, after 15 weeks ultimately accumulating $206 million in North American box office, $264 million overseas, totaling $470 million globally, ranking fifth among his personal directorial works.

It ranked first in the “Cop-Dirty” category, way ahead of “Training Day” which was second with $76.63 million; first in the “Crime Time” category as well, with “Pulp Fiction” second at $107 million; still first in the “Irish” category, followed by “Road to Perdition” at $104 million; leading the “Remake-Asian” category, with the Japanese remake “Godzilla” trailing at $136 million; and continuing to top the “Remake-Foreign Thriller” category, with the French-inspired “True Lies” in second at $146 million…

“The Deceased” demonstrated a sweeping strength and performance among its peers, and the PG-rated “Night at the Museum,” climbing the ladder late in the game, still played in 414 North American cinemas and 14 overseas markets after raking in $247 million in North America and $559 million globally.

In just 15 weeks, “The Deceased” was undoubtedly the Oscar-winning film with the shortest run and the fastest to exit the $200 million club, but there was no helping it—the ticket revenue could no longer cover the cinema expenses. Audiences ready to watch it on DVD would never set foot in a theater, and cinemas, finding no profit in it, naturally pulled it from their screens. This shows just how eagerly people consumed Wang Yang’s amazing films, quickly exhausting all box office potential, with even a little golden man proving to be of no use.

“The Prestige” also ended its run recently, with a final tally of $93.71 million in North American box office and $172 million globally, a success considering its $40 million production cost. However, compared to “The Illusionist,” which wrapped up with $95.54 million/$175 million and cost $16.5 million to make, “The Prestige” falls slightly short. This fact undoubtedly dealt a blow to the Nolan brothers and fueled them to bring extra passion to creating “The Dark Knight.”

“Little Miss Sunshine” continues to show, having secured a box office fate of $105 million/$186 million—a true dark horse! Now it’s all about scavenging in a few hundred North American theaters and small untouched foreign markets to see if it can break $200 million—luck will tell. The same could be said for “Best Director.” Wang Yang has proven his huge commercial capability from another angle, boasting a proud global box office of $116 million/$254 million so far.

It’s fair to say that every movie studio dreams of collaborating with Wang Yang, which would mean striking gold! They’ve tried every trick in the book, but Wang Yang has only linked up for “The Dark Knight” and “Iron Man” with Warner Bros and New Line, respectively. Of course, Lionsgate, as a strategic partner, is far luckier—”Paranormal Activity 5″ hit big screens on April 6!

Also debuting were the comedy “Baby’s Day Out 2” and “Firehouse Dog,” the horror “The Punishment Room” and “Reaping,” and Universal’s high-hopes newcomer “Dead Silence” with a $20 million production budget.

After the week of April 6-12, the victor, unsurprisingly, was “Paranormal Activity 5” (budget $6 million), even with a Rotten Tomatoes score of 35%/29%/52%—a slight descent from last year’s “Paranormal Activity 4.” Regardless, it grossed a hefty $38.62 million in its first week, leaving Lionsgate’s troops overjoyed.

A fumble! “The Punishment Room” (budget $67 million) by Weinstein/Dimension flopped, with Rodriguez and Tarantino’s latest earning a meager $10.26 million in its first week with not even a tarnished penny to show for it; Warner Bros’ “Reaping”threw in the towel with Hilary Swank’s new film wrapping up 8 days with a box office of $10.19 million; Universal’s “Dead Silence” (budget $25 million) stumbled in its week one, pulling in $15.67 million across 2,606 theaters for an average of $6,013 per venue.

Things changed so quickly that Universal was caught off guard! The ambitious new film by the fathers of the “Saw” trilogy, James Wan and Leigh Whannell, couldn’t sell tickets, ending up with a face full of rotten tomatoes.

“The film asks us to suspend our disbelief, but ‘Dead Silence’ demands that we remain oblivious to its development. A horror film that has failed to properly work on metaphor, simplistic in plot perspective and deliberately obfuscated.”—1/5, Ed Gonzalez, Los Angeles Times; “Scared by ventriloquist dummies? Enjoy being scared? Then you’ll be silent as the dead. A dissatisfying dumb show.”—Grade C, Scott Brown, Entertainment Weekly; “‘Dead Silence’ has no attempts at humor, but its greatest sin is the lack of panic.”—1.5/4, Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle…

A dismal Rotten Tomatoes score of 25%/36%/57%, too unfortunate!

Doused with this cold water, James Wan and Leigh Whannell suddenly sobered up, recalling too late that Wang Yang’s opinions and suggestions had been spot on all along—about the ventriloquist doll theme, its handling, tone, pace… They had not taken it seriously enough, and until the moment the first day’s box office and reviews were in, they were still intoxicated with a delusional fervor, thinking that as long as they were pleased, the audience would surely be too…

Reality slapped them across the face, and it was a pity that the situation was now irreversible, with absolutely no way out. In the new week of April 13-19, there was a massive release of films such as “Rear Window,” “Strangers,” “Pathfinder,” “Fast Track,” “The Adventures of the Drink Cup,” and “Slow Burn.” These six new releases drowned out those doomed-to-fail box office bombs. The movie market in April can sometimes be even more brutal than the summer blockbuster season.

If James Wan and Leigh Whannell were a stock, then it had just plummeted from a blue-chip stock to a penny stock in just a couple of weeks. Perhaps after the subsequent sales, “Dead Silence” might not lose too much, but who knows how much revenue was actually earned by leveraging the “Saw” trilogy? They wouldn’t have such luck next time. Anyway, Universal, which had previously prized them like treasure, showed no further interest in investing, so maybe next time! Lionsgate, on the other hand, seemed somewhat interested.

“Bring your butts back to Firehouse Films!” Wang Yang, while showing concern for both of them, also firmly invited them back, offering to finance any new ideas they had for films! He said fiercely, “I’m telling you, James, Leigh, if you don’t come back, you’re done for! I’ll personally turn ‘Saw VI’ into a children’s movie! Just imagine the jigsaw peacefully changing diapers in the baby room!”

It seemed a bit lackluster to run back to Firehouse after a failure, but how could they refuse such a heartfelt invitation from the miraculous Yang? Choosing Universal for “Dead Silence” had somewhat betrayed Firehouse, taking into account that their relationship was more than just about film business.

There wasn’t much to say; James Wan and Leigh Whannell’s next film would return to Firehouse, although they really needed some time to rest, reflect, and adjust. However, they already had ideas for new themes – a baby room, a crying infant, ghosts, haunted houses… “Infant Room.” In fact, this idea originally stemmed from a long time ago when they visited Wang Yang’s house, where Keke was just a newborn baby, and then they remembered “Paranormal Activity”…

Firehouse Films took it on, of course. Now, “Infant Room” was just an intention; there was no script yet, no project established, and the release was still a far-off thought. But it was certain that whether it would be distributed as FF or FM would depend on the film’s quality.

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For the disappointing performance of “Dead Silence”; for the quick news that James Wan, Leigh Whannell, and Firehouse Films had new contact, which the parties involved acknowledged; for this ending, fans and moviegoers were filled with mixed emotions!

“Welcome back!” Fans from the official Firehouse website, including fans of SAW and Firehouse, were quite excited and welcoming. They believed that the failure would bring significant growth to the two creators, and with the support of the amazing Yang back at Firehouse, the fathers of “Saw” would certainly prove themselves again! They also looked forward to seeing more classic horror films!

It was worth mentioning that this week, Lionsgate had arranged a limited release of “Dead Eyes Open” in 11 theaters, bringing in a decent $165,700 (averaging about $15,070 per theater). If it could maintain this performance for two or three weeks, it would qualify for expansion to around 500 theaters nationwide. Regardless, Joshua had already set his next goal: to produce a film that Firehouse would appreciate and distribute under the FF brand!

“OK…” On the set of “Saw 5,” looking at all the properly arranged set pieces and props, everyone, including the ready Tobin Bell and the special visitors Wang Yang and Jessica, with him giving a thumbs up and her silently fluttering her hands, both faces beaming with smiles. Nancy took a deep breath, unable to stop the flurry of emotions, her dream was about to come true! The once wanderer from Park City, today’s… Director! She picked up the microphone and shouted, “Action!”

With the female director’s command, the clapperboard was struck, cameras began whirring at high speed, and the entire set sprung into action. “Saw 5” had officially started filming! (To be continued. If you enjoy this work, we welcome you to vote for it and give it monthly tickets on qidian.com. Your support is my greatest motivation.)