Atlanta, Georgia State University.
This is a higher education institution established nearly a hundred years ago, but since it is a public university, its conditions in all aspects are naturally not as good as private ones, and it does not belong to the Ivy League.
In the morning, John Jr. returned to his dorm, dragging his exhausted body.
He had too much to drink at last night's party, and when he sobered up, he was lying in a trash can.
He shook his roommate, who was still under the covers: "Jon, wake up Jon, it's time for class!"
"Woah!"
Jon's reaction was violent, kicking John Jr. to the ground and startling himself awake.
"What the heck! What are you doing!"
Fortunately, the kick wasn't too strong, and John Jr. rubbed his abdomen before getting back up.
After a moment of daze, Jon looked at his friend and finally reacted.
"Sorry, it was a reflex. I had a nightmare. There were zombies, lots of zombies."
John Jr. looked at him speechlessly: "Brother, 28 Days Later was a movie from last year. Haven't you woken up from your dream yet?"
Jon got dressed and out of bed: "No, it wasn't 28 Days Later, John, it was the walking dead. Last night in the common area, Tina and I were on a date."
"Then the TV screen jumped to HBO. I don't know which son of a b*tch changed the channel, and then it came on."
"This is a new show, a very pure zombie TV series, you understand? A zombie TV series!" Jon emphasized, enunciating each word.
"I've never seen such an exciting TV series. The sense of apocalypse it creates is even stronger than 28 Days Later. It's incredibly thrilling!"
"Tina and I originally wanted to do something, but we were both captivated by the TV. You didn't see the scene last night; the common area has never been so crowded."
"It felt like half the school came. Everyone was even calling others to tell them. Luckily, Tina and I were sitting on the front sofa. Those who came late could only stand on tables to see clearly."
"What! That's too exaggerated!"
John Jr. naturally didn't believe it. He knew about zombies, but a zombie TV series was something he'd heard of for the first time.
"Exaggerated? That's because you didn't see last night's scene. You can check the school forum; I think it's already posted there."
And as the two walked to class, John Jr. was surprised to find that many of the students they met along the way were indeed discussing zombies.
As soon as they entered the classroom, Beatrice stood up and loudly asked: "Jon, they said you recorded it last night? Do you have a tape of the walking dead? Can I borrow it to watch?"
"Me too!"
"Me too!"
"I want to watch it too. Everyone says this show is great, but unfortunately, I didn't catch it last night."
"Me too. By the time I got to the common area, it was already packed."
Jon shook his head: "Who said that? I don't have a tape. I'm looking for one too. I need to rewatch it. Last night was too sudden; this show just popped up, and I missed a lot of details."
"Alright, then I'll just have to post on the forum for help."
Finally, class was over, and it was noon. John Jr. found a computer and entered the school forum.
It was indeed filled with a large number of new posts, almost all discussing the walking dead.
A photo was prominently displayed at the top, showing the crowded scene in the school's common area, with a caption photoshopped onto it: Zombies have come to reality!
"It's just a TV series, is it really that good?"
John Jr.'s curiosity was piqued and grew stronger.
Similar situations were not only happening at Georgia State University but also at various schools across the United States. University students could watch at school, while many middle school students watched at home after school.
As for elementary school students, their parents would send them away and then watch themselves.
Of course, there were also parents who were completely engrossed or didn't care much, directly holding their children and watching together, regardless of whether it would leave a psychological shadow on the children.
Overnight, HBO had only aired the first episode, and the walking dead had already become popular, with online discussions starting and gradually increasing.
MGM Building, Eric came to the office and took a sip of the coffee Chen Xing had brewed, the temperature just right.
Opening his computer, Eric clicked on Google and typed in "the walking dead." Instantly, links popped up one after another.
Looking at the page numbers, there were already over a hundred pages. Although some of them existed before the broadcast, the speed of its spread made Eric's heart tremble.
It should be noted that it was not 2010, when the walking dead aired in the original timeline; the internet was not yet fully widespread, and most families used bulky desktop computers. Most people could not afford easily portable laptops.
Moreover, without the seven years of popularity accumulation from the original comic, it could still achieve this level of discussion overnight, which only goes to show how excellent the show truly is.
Another reason is that the incomplete universal of the internet precisely led to television still being the primary form of home entertainment. People coming home from work, having dinner, and sitting in front of the TV was still the mainstream habit.
Furthermore, excellent, large-scale dramas were not yet in a boom period like they would be a few years later. The audience's tastes had not yet become refined, and the walking dead brought a sense of novelty to viewers.
"We must quickly establish Facebook. Utilizing Facebook's social nature will play an important role in the spread of film and television dramas."
While thinking, Eric clicked on IMDb. As expected, the walking dead's entry page had already appeared, featuring the scene of Rick riding alone on horseback in Atlanta.
Looking at the number of ratings, there were already 5,322 people, with a score of 9.5. The proportion of 10-star ratings was 72%, and 1-star ratings was 3%.
This score, of course, cannot be used as the final standard for evaluating the quality of the walking dead, as the number of people is too small.
As the number of episodes increases, it's impossible for every episode to be as tense, exciting, and full of big scenes as the first.
The increase in the number of raters will also cause the score to continue to drop; these are all normal phenomena.
As of now, the film with the highest number of raters is star wars V: The Empire Strikes Back, with over 600,000 people.
In second place is star wars IV: A New Hope, with over 500,000 people.
This shows the influence of the star wars series worldwide, especially in Europe and America, but the two films have existed for over 20 years, so they have a solid foundation.
In third place is the lord of the rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, with over 500,000 ratings as well, only about 50,000 fewer than star wars: A New Hope.
In fourth place is the matrix, with over 480,000 ratings.
The fifth place is again Middle-earth cavalry, the lord of the rings: the two towers, which had only been released for five months, yet already had over 430,000 ratings, which is quite absurd.
Scrolling down with the mouse, Eric browsed through the comments.
They were almost uniformly positive, with keywords focusing on exciting, realistic, novel, humanity, survival, and morality.
The few criticisms mainly centered on horror, especially the scene of the half-bodied female zombie crawling on the ground, which scared many people.
Knock knock knock
Dad and Bordeaux walked in, the latter carrying a stack of newspapers.
Dad was beaming, his mouth almost reaching his molars: "Eric, look at these reviews, those picky film critic bastards have all given recommendations, hahahaha."
Eric opened the newspaper, and indeed, many of them mentioned the walking dead in the entertainment section.
The Independent Spirit: "Since I learned that MGM was launching this project, I've been following it. We've seen sitcoms, urban romance dramas, crime thrillers, but a zombie TV series is a first."
"Although many zombie movies have appeared on the big screen, this is a groundbreaking first on the small screen, and after I watched the first episode, I knew the walking dead was a success. Congratulations to MGM, congratulations to HBO!"
ABC Entertainment Online: "Frank Darabont is a director I really like. I love his the shawshank redemption, and when I learned he was taking on a zombie TV series, I thought he might be heading for his second failure after The Majestic, but facts prove that The Majestic was just an occasional misstep."
"Frank Darabont, in collaboration with MGM, has brought us an amazing journey to the apocalypse. If subsequent episodes can maintain their quality, I dare say the walking dead will sweep this year's Emmy Awards."
Los Angeles Post: "Last night, I was notified to watch a new HBO series, the walking dead. Frankly, I'm not interested in fantasy creatures like zombies, and the opening of this series is very similar to 28 Days Later, both following the trope of coma, hospital, waking up, and the apocalypse. I thought this was a mediocre imitation."
"But when I saw Morgan and his son grappling with the decision of whether to kill his zombified wife, when I saw the survivor camp arguing over whether to risk rescuing Rick, I discovered something different. The struggle of humanity is the essence a qualified TV series should possess, and in this regard, the walking dead does better than 28 Days Later."
"And when the walking dead doesn't focus too much on the zombies, it will be liked and accepted by more audiences, so I recommend it."
"Eric, MGM didn't pay for this one, and HBO only used normal promotional methods. the walking dead is conquering the market."
"Have we gotten the viewership data?" Eric asked with some anticipation.
Dad was silent for a moment: "The prime-time data is 6.2 million concurrent subscribers watching, which may be a bit short of everyone's expectations."
Hearing this, Eric frowned. While 6.2 million would be a strong number in 2010, in 2003, it seemed a bit low for the walking dead's production cost.
Just as he was pondering what went wrong, Dad suddenly shouted: "But the 11 o'clock rerun reached 9.5 million subscribers, second only to band of brothers' 10 million! We did it!"
"Yes!"
Eric immediately stood up and threw a left hook into the air. This is the power of a good work; as long as it's not too ahead of its time like Waterworld, even if it's released ten years earlier, it will still be loved by the audience.
It's important to note here that 9.5 million refers to HBO's subscribers, not the actual number of people. One subscriber might represent a household, and a household usually has more than one viewer, so the actual number of people is often two to three times higher.
"Eric, the viewership data for the rerun truly shows the potential of the walking dead. Even if it's currently half a step behind band of brothers, I believe the walking dead will definitely surpass band of brothers, perhaps as early as next week," Dad said confidently.
"No need to comfort me, Dad. The director of band of brothers is Spielberg. Its budget and promotion are more than three times that of the walking dead. I'd be happy if we surpass it, but I won't be disappointed if we don't."
"It's best if you think that way. That Zack Thomas guy, now I have confidence I can kick his butt!"
Dad said, throwing a left front kick into the air, laughing loudly as he walked out of the office.
After Dad left, Bordeaux handed over a report containing information about the happy death day crew. This project was already preparing to start.
Since the cost was not high, only 5 million US dollars, Eric handed it over to Volvo for overall operation after it was approved, and he hadn't paid much attention to it.
The preparations were almost complete, so a report was all that was needed.
The quality of a film is most closely related to the director, screenwriter, and lead actors; other aspects have an impact but are secondary factors.
In terms of screenwriting, in addition to Eric, the other person was Christopher Smith, a newcomer from the guild who had only been in the industry for a few years.
However, in a few years, his career would take a turn because he would write and direct a famous movie, Triangle, which shows that this person is capable.
Given Smith's potential, MGM signed a three-film screenwriting contract with him.
The director column listed Anthony Russo and Joe Russo, yes, the famous Russo Brothers.
In the future, the Russo Brothers will co-direct films such as Community, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Captain America: Civil War, Avengers: Infinity War, and Avengers: Endgame.
It can be said that the Russo Brothers have directed half of the highly-rated Marvel series films.
However, it is currently 2003, and the rise of the Russo Brothers is still a long way off. At present, they are still minor figures who have only directed two or three unsuccessful films.
Eric was very satisfied with this choice, because the older brother, Anthony Russo, is skilled at temporal montage techniques. He believed that having them direct happy death day would be a very good choice.
MGM also gave the Russo Brothers a five-film directing contract.
Five films could take seven or eight years. A famous director would certainly not sign such a contract, but the Russo Brothers now were just happy to have work, so they wouldn't be picky.
The male lead was confirmed to be Benjamin McKenzie, a newcomer who debuted last year. In the future, he would play James Gordon, the one-man army in Gotham.
The female lead column was blank, a position left for Eric to decide.
He picked up a pen and wrote Gal Gadot in the blank space.
According to his plan, after Gadot finished filming transformers, MGM would start shooting the hunger games after a period of rest, and she would continue to be the female lead. The two large investments would be enough to propel her directly from an unknown to a first-tier actress.
However, so much has happened since then, and MGM is currently under greater financial pressure. the hunger games might have to wait until next year to start filming.
So Eric kept a backup plan: if transformers could be filmed before happy death day, he would let Gadot play the female lead.
If not, Hollywood wasn't short of young women like her, so he could let Dad use it as a favor.
And now that transformers had been filmed, good projects naturally went to their own people.
If all goes well, this film will be released before transformers, serving to build up some popularity in advance and also helping the box office for the Autobots.