blue is the warmest color unexpectedly exploded in popularity.
Currently, it is the most widely and deeply discussed topic in the film industry, on par with the lord of the rings: the return of the king.
Even among arthouse film enthusiasts, blue is the warmest color is more popular than the lord of the rings: the return of the king, with many people saying it made them cry.
Many people, especially the LGBTQ+ community, are shouting that it's the best film of the year and that the Golden Globe Awards and Oscar must include it, or it will be the awards ceremony's loss.
Watching major channels like NBC, ABC, and Fox all broadcasting similar news, Eric couldn't help but laugh.
Such a big event certainly couldn't be ignored, and not ignoring it meant mentioning certain details, which in turn meant free publicity for the film.
"Eric, Mary and my Facebook followers have increased again, now approaching 6 million! This feeling is simply amazing!"
Ashley happily pecked Eric's face repeatedly.
"Hahahaha, now I wake up laughing every night. The decision to go to Boston was absolutely correct."
"Eric, did you see? So many people are shouting, demanding Golden Globe Awards and even Oscar Winner for Ashley and me."
Mary said, equally excited, but once she started talking, it was hard to focus on other things.
The warm environment disappeared, and feeling a hint of coolness, Eric reached out and pressed her down again.
"Mmm-hmm!"
"You're right. It seems we made a very correct decision. Less than two million dollars, but it brought us publicity effects that even twenty million or two hundred million dollars couldn't buy."
"Now the LGBTQ+ community and their supporters are holding you two in high regard, which is very beneficial for awards campaigning."
Pop!
The stick sprang out and slapped Mary's chin. She looked at Eric with wide eyes.
"Now it's up to you. After this event, blue is the warmest color's box office is estimated to exceed 100 million. MGM will make a fortune again, and you need to continue promoting us."
"Heh heh, judges are also human and will consider factors outside of the film. Although using political correctness to campaign for awards is a bit dishonorable..."
"...we just happened to be in the right place at the right time, not deliberately exploiting it. For the Golden Globe Awards and Oscar, I will definitely help you two win at least one."
Ashley giggled as she undid her clothes, and Mary focused even more intently on her task, and the trio began a new round of daytime activities.
Compared to the first week's screening in less than 500 cinemas, the second week was much more exaggerated.
Apart from states with strong religious influence or overly conservative views, cinemas in the remaining regions all came to MGM requesting film sources and keys.
As a result, the number of cinemas screening the film surged by over 600 in the second week, and the screening scale of over 1100 cinemas also allowed blue is the warmest color to break box office records.
It became the LGBTQ+ themed film with the most cinemas and most states screening it.
And this was just for those who came early; another batch of cinemas didn't make it in time to sign contracts and could only wait until the third week to screen it.
By the end of December, blue is the warmest color's second-week box office results were released, showing a strong performance as expected.
Over 1100 cinemas brought in over 35 million dollars, with a significant increase in viewership, undoubtedly a hit, firmly holding its position as the runner-up in weekly box office.
The champion was naturally the lord of the rings: the return of the king, with 87 million dollars, setting a new film record and becoming the second-week box office champion in film history.
Although not many people pay attention to such niche data for the second week, the Middle-earth Knights showed extraordinary box office potential and resilience.
Under the influence of public opinion, transformers even gained a boost. Some viewers who couldn't get tickets for blue is the warmest color chose to rewatch transformers.
Coupled with strong support from the LGBTQ+ community, transformers' North America box office this week reached 14 million dollars, only dropping by 17%, creating a small miracle.
Its overseas box office garnered over 26 million dollars, bringing its global total box office to over 900 million dollars, officially surpassing finding nemo.
With a lead of 19 million dollars, it secured the North America annual box office champion, taking over a month and a half to finally achieve this glorious accomplishment.
Following this trend, it can still be screened for about two more weeks.
However, the hope of breaking 1 billion dollars is slim; exceeding 900 million dollars has already far surpassed Eric's expectations, and he is content.
This achievement, once realized, will at least boost MGM's stock price by another 10% in the near future.
While blue is the warmest color was making great strides, sharknado 2 and monster also premiered.
The former was extremely goofy, the latter extremely dark.
Undoubtedly, after the 'torment' of sharknado, audiences not only didn't dislike the series but were actually looking forward to its arrival.
Many die-hard fans had long been clamoring online to break the limits of intelligence, eager to see what methods the screenwriter would come up with this time to rub the audience's IQ into the ground.
Just like blue is the warmest color, no goofy movie has ever achieved such a large-scale release as sharknado; in a sense, it also broke records.
The premiere of sharknado 2 virtually became an annual goofy carnival.
Media outlets that conducted interviews last year did so again this year, resuming random filming.
An attractive Female Reporter from ABC walked down the street with a microphone: "This is the Connsburg Grand Theater. Last year, we witnessed the frenzy of the first sharknado here."
"I still remember how crazy the young people were then. Let's see if this year's sharknado 2 is still as popular?"
The Female Reporter crossed the street and approached the cinema. Behind her, a group of young people suddenly rushed out, laughing and walking quickly towards the cinema.
The Female Reporter hadn't noticed them at first, but upon seeing the skin tones of this group of young people—white, black, yellow, and brown mixed together—it felt somewhat familiar.
Then, hearing some familiar voices, the scene from last year suddenly came to mind.
"Wait, kids, hold on a moment." The Female Reporter called out in a hurry.
Hearing this, the group of middle school students stopped.
"Hello, kids, I'm a reporter from ABC Entertainment. It's great to meet you. Would you be willing to do an interview?"
The group of middle school students' eyes lit up, then they pointed at the Female Reporter and shouted excitedly.
"It's you! I remember your face! You interviewed us last year, also around Christmas, for sharknado, right?"
The Female Reporter immediately burst into laughter. Her memory hadn't failed her; it really was this group of kids.
"Heh heh, that's right, it was me last year too. After the interview aired, did you become famous?"
"Yeah!"
The group of middle school students immediately cheered.
"My mom tells everyone I was on TV. It's the first time she's been proud of me."
"The girls in class are willing to go on dates with me now. We're a couple."
"What are we interviewing about today? It's not still sharknado, is it?"
The Female Reporter nodded: "That's right, revisiting an old place and meeting old friends. It seems everything is God's arrangement."
"No, it's sharknado's arrangement!"
Xiao Baizi shouted loudly, followed by a group of young people cheering in unison.
"sharknado!"
"sharknado!"
"sharknado!"
Their joyful and excited appearance immediately attracted passersby.
If it were last year, many people would have looked at them strangely, but this year was different. Many showed understanding expressions, as if it was meant to be.
"Alright, alright, kids, stop for a moment. You all know that sharknado 2 is bound to be another terrible movie, so why do you still go to the cinema?"
"Are you kidding? It's simply amazing, just a different kind of amazing than regular movies."
"Everyone at our school is watching sharknado now. If you don't, you'll be out of touch."
"That's right, sharknado is indeed a terrible movie, but it's terrible with style, terrible with depth, uniquely terrible, so terrible that you can't help but look at it with respect."
Xiao Huangzi, wearing glasses, summarized it brilliantly like a top student, and his companions nodded in agreement.
"Alright, time's almost up, the show's about to start!"
The others rushed towards the cinema, while Xiao Heizi, just like last year, spoke to the camera: "Mom, eldest sister, second sister, third sister, fourth brother, little brother, I love you all!"
The Female Reporter nodded, moved: "He's still as devoted to his family and loved ones as he was last year. What a good kid."
"Wait a minute, why does it seem like he has one more younger brother than last year, and why does he still not mention his father?"
"Without a father, how could there be another younger brother?"
Inside the cinema, Eric and Theron sat together.
Watching Ryan Reynolds hit a shark with a baseball bat, sending it flying for a home run, just like in the first film where he stabbed a shark with a pool cue.
Theron was already laughing uncontrollably, just like everyone else around her.
When their family fought sharks on the Empire State Building and at an altitude of ten thousand meters, wielding electrical wires to draw lightning into their bodies, becoming gods among mortals.
Everyone felt that their brains could no longer think, because any attempt to do so would cause them to crash.
Typically, cinema audiences try to remain quiet, but in a sharknado screening, the rowdier, the better.
"Hahahahaha, I'm laughing so hard I'm almost crying. How can Ryan Reynolds be so funny with such a straight face?"
"I absolutely cannot equate the character on screen with the second male lead in transformers. The disconnect is too strong."
"Good actors are inherently versatile. Once you see the hangover, which he starred in, you'll know this guy can not only be handsome but also effortlessly handle crude humor."
Theron wiped tears from the corners of her eyes: "Who are the screenwriter and director? Why are their imaginations so wild!"
"The directors are the Wayans brothers. I don't know the screenwriter either; Allen found some third-rate screenwriter from who knows where."
"Hahaha, is this really a disaster movie? Darling, I'm sorry I haven't seen the first one, but how about we catch up tonight?"
"No problem. Actually, if you think about it from a different perspective, from a human perspective, sharknado is indeed a disaster movie."
"But if you look at it from the sharks' perspective, this is final destination, with sharks dying in various inventive ways."
"With this kind of movie, if you think for even one second, it's a lack of trust in the screenwriter and irresponsibility towards the director."
"It's a great waste of your prefrontal cortex, and extreme disrespect for the special effects level of the print shop owner."
"Brother, you said it perfectly!"
In front, an older guy turned around and gave a thumbs up.
And in the very same cinema, in the adjacent screening room, Theron's monster was playing.
In stark contrast to the uproarious laughter from the sharknado screening, the audience here wore solemn expressions, and apart from an occasional cough, no one made any noise.
Under MGM's operation, monster's plot was even darker than the original.
Incest, pedophilia, drug use, alcoholism, abuse, lesbianism, violence, robbery, murder.
Theron's character, Aileen, was born with max-level debuffs, as if she embodied the darkest elements of the human world.
There wasn't a single minor in this screening room because it was so dark, profound, and disturbing that it was strictly rated NC17.
Most viewers couldn't connect the tough woman with no eyebrows and a foul mouth on the big screen with the sexy and beautiful Charlize Theron.
The contrast was much greater than in Ryan Reynolds' two films, at least Little Mercenary's face hadn't changed.
And also involving same-sex relationships, monster was very lucky, catching the tailwind created by blue is the warmest color.
Now the market demand for this genre is strong, and it opened in over 800 cinemas in its first week.
If it were released by a small company, without this special period, two hundred cinemas would be a blessing.
However, Eric didn't have high hopes for monster's box office, due to the same factor: it was too dark, profound, and disturbing.
Currently, it's a celebratory and joyful period for the LGBTQ+ community; people want to see sincere love, preferably in a comedy.
Although blue is the warmest color ended tragically, at least the process was sunny and fresh, giving a warm feeling.
monster, on the other hand, was the exact opposite; the movie title itself gave a bad feeling.
Late at night, after watching the movie, Eric and Theron returned to their apartment.
After watching the first sharknado, the two lay in bed being intimate.
"Darling, do you think I can win an award for monster?"
"Why not? Your performance is excellent—gaining weight and becoming ugly. Oscar loves actresses who make themselves look unattractive."
"And given the situation this year, there haven't been too many outstanding female-perspective films so far."
"Commercial films are excluded first. Perhaps Naomi Watts in 21 Grams is good, and Diane Keaton's performance in something's gotta give is also commendable."
"Although lost in translation is a good film, Scarlett Johansson's performance clearly doesn't reach master-level, so the threat isn't strong."
"Overall, next year's Best Actress competition is far less intense than this year's. Baby, your chances of winning are very high."
Theron bit his chest: "Are you pretending to be foolish? Why would you omit blue is the warmest color? The Olsen Sisters are very popular right now."
"Many people say that the two of them will definitely win the Best Actress award, and it was all directed by you."
"Are you jealous?" Eric lifted her chin.
"No, that's your work, and the Olsen Sisters' performance was truly excellent, I can see that."
"It's just that it's very difficult to get such a good role again. I'm afraid this is the only chance, and later I won't even be eligible for nomination."
Eric chuckled and held her tight: "Baby, I'll try to prioritize resources for you, because you're the one I love most. We'll do our best to win Best Actress."
"Do you mean it?"
"No."
"Hmph!"