In the corner of the cinema, two figures embraced passionately.
More than ten minutes had passed since the movie started, and the man was still nibbling on the woman.
Feeling the fire inside her burning hotter and hotter, Theron could only struggle and struggle before finally pushing Eric away.
She glanced at the audience in front of them and lightly punched Eric's chest: "Enough, darling, they'll hear us."
"Hehe, everyone's focused on the movie, who would care? Come sit on me."
"You're so annoying. I want to watch the movie properly too. The plot is excellent, after all, it's a Quentin Tarantino film."
Eric forcefully pressed her onto his lap, one hand sliding down her inner thigh.
"Then do you know that Quentin Tarantino guy really loves women's feet? It's said he spent ten thousand dollars to rent a woman's feet for half an hour at a nightclub."
Hearing this, Theron's eyes widened: "That's too exaggerated, isn't it? Everyone knows he has a foot fetish. Some people say he makes women take off their shoes more often in his movies than airport security."
"But that's too much."
"Ugh, just thinking about it makes me a little sick. If someone were like that, I definitely couldn't stand it."
Then she added: "Of course, you're an exception, darling. If you want to lick, I'd be very happy."
Eric immediately bit her earlobe, his tongue gently teasing: "How about we go home right now?"
Theron looked at the big screen: "Wait, the movie is really good. Let's finish it. Besides, don't you need to understand your opponent?"
"Hmph, Quentin Tarantino is not worthy of being my opponent. I admit he is indeed a genius director; both his scriptwriting and filming are uniquely charming."
"He has his own characteristics, his own unique style, and this style has created a group of loyal followers."
"But precisely because he is too distinctive, only making R-rated films, many people can't accept his style. Moreover, comparing R-rated films to PG-13 is almost a pipe dream."
"Just on the rating system alone, transformers has already won by too much. Even after being released for 10 days, it might not lose to him."
Eric dared to make such a conclusion, naturally based on a certain judgment.
He had seen most of Quentin Tarantino's films. The highest-grossing one was Django Unchained, about four or five hundred million, but that was already his commercial career peak, and it was in an era of great prosperity for the global film market.
kill bill is indeed a classic, but trying to compete with transformers would probably be overestimating itself.
Quentin Tarantino's advantage is similar to Jackie Chan and Jet Li; his films sell very well in the disc market, but his box office performance among Hollywood directors can only be ranked as first-tier.
And he will never be able to reach the top level of directors like Chris Columbus, Spielberg, George Lucas, or Nolan.
It's still the same reason: his personal style has already limited him. The ceiling is only that high, no matter how hard you try, you can't break through it.
And it's even more impossible for a director to change their style; the result of a forced change can only be that neither ordinary audiences nor loyal fans are pleased.
"Wow, Uma Thurman can be so cool! Bruce Lee's outfit looks great on her."
HO
Watching the screen suddenly turn black and white, blood sprayed like champagne, severed limbs and heads flew everywhere, and people could even be split in half with one slash.
The entire audience gasped from time to time, and some couldn't help but close their eyes.
Although they knew it was R-rated before entering, this was too extreme.
If the screen hadn't been changed to black and white, these scenes wouldn't even be tolerated in an R-rated film and would certainly be deleted.
"OMG! Although the fighting is beautiful, it's too bloody," Theron said with a frown.
Eric held her even tighter: "You see, this is the problem I was talking about. Even adults find it too bloody, so how high can the box office go?"
Actually, he had more to say. For people accustomed to Chinese wuxia films, the fights in kill bill were too childish, lacking both aesthetic and powerful feeling.
The final battle ended hastily, with the previously arrogant Lucy Liu easily getting her bento.
But its target audience was primarily Japanese chanbara films, like Shurayukihime.
After the movie ended, many people's faces weren't looking too good.
Reporters outside were conducting random interviews, and words like "bloody," "too bloody," and "unsuitable for minors" were heard.
After a night of passion with Theron, many reviews for kill bill had already appeared the next day.
Although many people said it was exhilarating, exciting, and very engaging, praising it as Quentin Tarantino's style,
There were also media and audience criticisms that the film was too extreme, and Quentin Tarantino seemed to be in a state of obsession.
Moreover, at the premiere, Lucy Liu warned the audience that watching this film might make them vomit and that they should be psychologically prepared.
Even Quentin Tarantino himself appealed: "Responsible parents should never take young children to see kill bill; it might leave them traumatized."
The film's creators actually advised audiences to be cautious about going to the cinema, undermining their own production.
This behavior immediately drew dissatisfaction from the Weinstein Brothers, and it was rumored that even Disney, Miramax's parent company, was very displeased.
However, their displeasure was not about the same thing.
Although Disney acquired Miramax, it always gave the latter full freedom, never interfering with operations, as long as it made money.
Therefore, Disney did not participate in the creation, filming, internal screenings, or other aspects of Miramax's films. They believed the Weinstein Brothers knew who was boss.
And kill bill completely went against Disney's consistent style of being suitable for all ages.
It's okay if your box office fails; Dad can forgive you because movies inherently carry risks.
But if your philosophy and ideas are not consistent with Dad's, then that cannot be tolerated; such behavior is very dangerous.
It must be corrected, and corrected with a heavy hand!
The time came to November 28th, and on Friday, transformers took in nearly $15 million at the box office, with data still impressive.
kill bill, on the other hand, garnered $16 million from over 2,400 cinemas, slightly winning.
Although transformers had an advantage in the number of cinemas it was showing in, kill bill had the advantage in release time.
And winning the first day's box office against the twelfth day's box office, it seemed like a win, but it was actually a loss.
By the time Saturday's box office figures were released, facing criticism from the media and audience, the negative impact indeed began to appear.
kill bill only took in over $9 million at the box office, with a drop of over 40%, surprising many.
transformers, on the other hand, earned $12 million at the box office, only one day behind, and then quickly surpassed its opponent again.
Entering December, Sunday's box office was announced.
kill bill continued to plummet, with only $5 million left, bringing its opening weekend total to $30 million.
transformers maintained its old tradition, dropping but with a small decline, still within 20%, earning $10 million at the box office.
Its second weekend's three-day total reached $37 million, and the number of middle-aged people with their families in the audience significantly increased.
Yahoo Entertainment, New York Times, chicago Post, and other media immediately published news in their entertainment sections.
kill bill lost, and lost badly. The talk of cutting off transformers' head with a samurai sword now seemed particularly comical.
However, some media praised it from other angles, for example, kill bill's budget was only $30 million, and given the current trend, Miramax was certainly going to make a huge profit.
Moreover, its $30 million box office had already set a new three-day opening weekend record for the company and had also broken Quentin Tarantino's own record.
His previous best was Pulp Fiction's $9.31 million.
So, losing to others but winning against himself meant he hadn't lost.
At this point, the so-called box office battle was declared over prematurely.
transformers took in $97 million at the box office in its second week, raking in $850 million in North America in half a month.
Overseas box office also soared, after grossing $730 million in the first week, it took in $95 million this week, with a smaller drop than in North America.
Currently, transformers' global box office total is $5.3 billion.
It's going crazy, absolutely crazy!
This figure temporarily ranks fourth in the 2003 film box office chart.
Ahead of it are finding nemo with $710 million globally, the matrix reloaded with $390 million, and pirates of the caribbean: The Curse of the black pearl with $540 million.
Two belong to Disney, and one belongs to Warner Bros.
And according to predictions by major institutions, even if Warner Bros.' blockbuster the last samurai hits theaters this Friday,
Quentin Tarantino has already proven with kill bill that katana culture is no match for Cybertron technology.
Even if Tom Cruise himself is in it, no one expects him to stop the Autobots and Decepticons from continuing their charge.
Therefore, after this week, transformers' global box office will definitely surpass pirates of the caribbean, rising to third place.
It's uncertain if the matrix reloaded can hold on until the fourth or fifth week, but it's definitely going to be defeated.
No one dared to ignore Eric's previous bold statements anymore; many media outlets dug up that old report.
"Mr. Cooper, what do you predict transformers' box office will be?"
"I think it will exceed $700 million."
The interview from a year ago was still vivid, and as many people who mocked him then are now eating their words.
Die-hard fans repeatedly used this topic to mock others, praising Eric higher and higher, and urging him to work overtime to release the second installment before the end of next year.
With the joy of the box office explosion, with the blessings of fans, and after spending a day each with Theron, Nicole, and the Olsen Sisters, Eric and Gadot boarded a flight to Asia.
This global promotion was mainly split into two lines; the two of them were responsible for Asia and Australia.
Little Mercenary and Chris Evans were responsible for South America and then Europe.
The rest continued to stay in North America for promotion.
The first stop was Japan. Although Eric had no good feelings for the Japanese, Japan was a major box office, so he still had to go for the money.
They stayed there for two days. On the first day, he had an interview with Hayao Miyazaki.
Eric maintained respect for this director, who had made vivid anti-war films like Grave of the Fireflies and Porco Rosso.
Moreover, he also urged Abe, who was openly chest-thumping, to apologize and reflect on Japan's history of aggression in World War II, making him an artist with a conscience.
On the second day, they appeared on the popular Japanese national variety show SMAP × SMAP, interacting with Takuya Kimura and the other four hosts.
As for why the 'other four people' were mentioned, it's because Eric and Gadot couldn't remember their names.
Eric was too lazy to remember, and Gadot genuinely couldn't remember.
During this time, they also met with company heads from Shonen Jump, Shogakukan, and Shueisha to briefly discuss the path of adapting their anime IPs into live-action films.
For example, Death Note, Dragon Ball, one piece, Naruto, Fullmetal Alchemist, Ghost in the Shell, Yu-Gi-Oh!, and so on.
These high-quality manga are all gold mines, and it would be best to secure the copyrights before they become hugely popular.
The companies naturally had many ideas about this, especially after seeing transformers dominate, winning the Japanese box office championship for two consecutive weeks, and sweeping everything globally; who wouldn't be envious?
This meeting was considered to have reached a cooperation intention, with specific details to be discussed after Eric finished his busy period.
Of course, what was discussed here were the live-action adaptation rights. As for manga distribution rights, those were handled by Japanese companies' subsidiaries established in the United States.
Eric had also completed his control over Marvel, which meant he possessed manga creation and distribution capabilities. However, he still needed to find a way to get a share of the Japanese manga market.
After leaving Japan, the two flew to South Korea. Although the Korean box office potential was not as good as Japan's, it was still among the top in Asia.
So, even though Eric had no good feelings for them, he still had to make an appearance for the sake of the box office.
The two stayed there for another day, giving an exclusive interview to South Korea's KBS television, and Eric was also invited to dine by the head of CJ Entertainment.
Although the other party was a first-class film and television company in South Korea, in Hollywood, it was no different from small fish and shrimp.
The dinner invitation was naturally to seek cooperation, hoping to obtain some investment shares or the agency rights for MGM films in South Korea in the future, and so on.
After dinner, they wanted to invite Eric to experience some special services, but because Gadot was right beside him, he felt uncomfortable accepting.
Returning to the hotel, he couldn't help but feel some regret. Why did he have to be paired with Gadot? If he had been with Ryan Reynolds, wouldn't it have been a blast!
Unfortunately, it was too late to say anything now.
Around ten in the morning on December 5th, a plane landed at Yanjing International Airport.
As the two walked through the hall, Gadot's stunning appearance immediately attracted many gazes.
Soon, a young man wearing glasses approached, asking in fairly fluent English: "Excuse me, are you the female lead of transformers?"
It was their first time in China, and Gadot had thought no one would recognize her, so neither of them had any disguise on their faces.
She flashed a sunny smile: "Yes, I am Gal Gadot."
The young man immediately waved to someone not far away and shouted: "It's her, come quickly!"
Whoosh!
Suddenly, more than a dozen people ran over, all of them wearing small transformers-related items.
"I found your itinerary on MGM's official website. We've been waiting for over an hour."
Gadot looked at the young men and women in front of her, who were about her age or even a few years older, with some surprise.
"Really? I'm so sorry the flight was delayed and kept you waiting for so long. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you? Would autographs or photos be okay?"
The young people immediately nodded and cheered.
At this time in China, Hong Kong entertainment was popular, and the Korean Wave had already invaded. Stardom had become increasingly common and increasingly fanatical.
But relatively, celebrities were becoming more aloof and harder to meet.
They had never encountered a celebrity as approachable as Gadot, and a Hollywood superstar at that, whose status was far higher than the Korean Wave stars.
Then it was a round of autographs and photos. Some people even pulled out unopened, genuine transformers toys from their bags, wanting them signed on the box.
This situation quickly attracted the attention of those around them. With the mindset of getting an autograph to show off, whether they recognized her or not, others gradually gathered.
Seeing that further delay would be endless, Eric could only call Susan.
Finally, after being surrounded in the hall for over half an hour and signing hundreds of autographs, they were finally rescued by Susan and her team.
Waving to the somewhat disappointed fans, they quickly got into the car and left.