Following Brian O'Donnell's last words, the screen went dark, and before the lights in the auditorium had time to turn on, there was already a buzz of discussion.
The audience who can participate in the premiere are either special guests and media reporters, or loyal fans of the agent movie universe. Everyone recognized it at a glance. The petite girl in the egg was Angela Lindt in "Casino Royale 007" two years ago, the sister of the heroine Vesper Lindt, a geek-like girl A genius girl and the backup angel of Charlie's Detective Agency.
At the end of "Casino Royale 007", Bond gave Angela Linde to the care of the trio, but this character did not appear in "Charlie's Angels 3" which was released in the summer.
Although Angela Lind's role in "Casino Royale 007" has very few roles, it is quite eye-catching. Many loyal fans of the agent movie universe hope that the girl can return, but they did not expect that she will appear in the Easter egg of "Fast and Furious", so they can't help guessing the possible future plot of the film.
Of course, in addition to the role, many people also think of Angela Linde's actor, Christina Aguilera, one of the teenage pop singers that Firefly Records has been promoting, and the other's several singles in the past two years The songs have received a very good response, and it is said that the first album will be released soon.
Amidst the discussions, the lights were turned on, the main creators came on stage again, and there was warm applause in the screening hall.
After a simple curtain call and media interaction, the premiere ended, most of the audience began to leave, and some invited guests also began to transfer to the afterparty held by MGM for the premiere.
Since all the audiences at the premiere were carefully selected, the comments about "Fast and Furious" in the media on the second day were mostly positive reviews, and the expectations of the fans were even higher.
Two days passed quickly. After the last wave of publicity for the premiere, "The Fast and the Furious" was officially released on a large scale in 3,100 theaters across the United States on New Year's Day. Spread out on a large scale.
"...a perfect popcorn movie created by a Hollywood standard three-stage script layout. The film's world view is set very well, and each protagonist has his own past, present and future. What's even more rare is that such a perfect world view layout , but it did not affect the narrative rhythm of the movie at all, and the hot and exciting car chase scene made people immerse themselves in it every second."
“…Hollywood movies have never lacked drag racing scenes, but there are very few films that focus on this subject and can be commercially successful. Many years ago, Tom Cruise’s "Thunderbolt" was more like a literary film , Jane de Bont's "Speed" also has more criminal elements than drag racing. In comparison, "Fast and Furious" undoubtedly created a precedent for the subject. It is conceivable that several consecutive drag racing scenes in the film will definitely become It will be the imitation object of many similar films in the future."
"... The racing scene in "The Fast and the Furious" undoubtedly makes people excited, but at the same time, the film is also excellent in detail. Perhaps many people have not noticed that at the party at Dominique's house, although the loud music and conversations covered up The sound of the TV, but the news of a serious fight in a nightclub playing on the TV screen is undoubtedly the scene of the trio raiding the outlying base of Spectre in the opening scene of "Charlie's Angels 3". And, if my guess is correct, Brian O'Donnell's childhood friend Roman, whom Brian O'Donnell mentions more than once in the film, will definitely appear in the sequel of the film, of course, if there is a sequel, but there does not seem to be any suspense in this matter."
"...After so many years, Rob Cohen has finally come up with a work that breaks through himself. The new actors that MGM hired amidst the controversy also submitted a fairly satisfactory answer sheet."
Although most traditional film critics have never had much favor for pure popcorn movies, "Fast and Furious" still achieved an average media rating of 8 points amidst the applause.
There has never been any movie in the world that can be recognized by everyone. Therefore, although "Fast and Furious" has a good reputation, another group of critics of the movie also followed.
Or, using criticism is not accurate, as a popcorn movie carefully crafted by MGM after years of working in the agent movie universe, there are few things worthy of criticism in all aspects of the film. Therefore, it may be more accurate to say that the media's criticism of "Fast and Furious" is a controversy.
“…The Fast and the Furious is undeniably a very good movie. However, it’s hard to accept that MGM has forced this movie into the Secret Service franchise in order to extract more profit from the Agent Movie Universe brand. The universe is connected. After watching the film, I really can’t think of how much a group of drag racing gangs can be related to the agent movie universe. Does James Bond or Ethan Hunt need a driver? Although MGM has already had many This time it is stated that the "Fast and Furious" series will not have too much intersection with the Agent movie universe, but this statement undoubtedly shows MGM's guilty conscience."
"... The agent movie universe is definitely a very great creation in the history of Hollywood movies, but MGM, which is mercenary, is ruining all of this. Forcibly linking a street racing movie with three series that are enough to be recorded in movie history is simply Disgusting. No doubt we'll see all sorts of 'Agent Movie Universe spin-offs' coming up, and I'm sure there will always be one that completely disappoints audiences with the brand."
Although expected from the beginning, critics' doubts about the linkage between "Fast and Furious" and the agent movie universe are far beyond MGM's expectations. This trend of controversy even quickly spread to the Internet. Moreover, although most netizens are used to watching the excitement, the fans who have spoken out have very clear views on whether "Fast and Furious" can join the agent movie universe. Either strongly support it or firmly oppose it, the two factions quarreled fiercely in major movie community forums on the Internet, and quickly became a hot topic on major news portals.
"Why can't it be linked? Is it because Dominic and the others didn't save the world? If that's the case, the agent movie universe should just be renamed to save the world."
"Although I was also excited by the drag racing drama of the male and female protagonists in the movie theater, when I calmed down afterwards, I had to think about what this has to do with the agent movie universe. It feels abrupt, and I was really looking forward to the return of this character, and now it seems that MGM is forcibly destroying everything."
Hollywood has always had a very general norm.
If a movie has a bad reputation and low topicality, it is doomed to fail. If the word-of-mouth is good and the topic is low, then its box office will only be quite satisfactory. If the word-of-mouth is overwhelming and the popularity of the topic is also overwhelming, then this movie will undoubtedly be a big hit at the box office.
Although it has aroused strong controversy, the "Fast and Furious" series is undoubtedly in its last state.
Amidst the heated media discussions, "Fast and Furious" had a box office of 57.33 million U.S. dollars in the first three days of its opening weekend, and the seven-day box office in the first week easily broke the 80 million mark, reaching 81.21 million U.S. dollars.
Although it did not reach the box office of "Teddy Bear" in the Thanksgiving schedule of more than 87 million US dollars in the first week, the box office exceeded 80 million US dollars in the first week, which is also far beyond MGM's expectations. After all, "Teddy Bear" has a very wide reputation and popularity base, and the subversion of the image of the teddy bear in that movie is even more amazing, so the super high box office in the first week is also reasonable.
In comparison, "Fast and Furious" has inherent shortcomings even though it has the name of a peripheral derivative series of the Agent movie universe. That is, in the Western world where vehicles are very common, people have never been very interested in drag racing movies, just like you are used to eating bread every day, and seeing others eat the same food, even if the other party’s bread is more delicious, is not very interesting. There will be too much envy. Many ordinary people even hate drag racing gangs.
Moreover, although there is no shortage of drag racing and other movies in Hollywood, this genre has always been a niche, and there has never been a fixed foundation for movie viewing popularity.
Therefore, MGM's box office expectation for the first week of "Fast and Furious" was originally only 60 million US dollars, and the total North American box office is expected to be between 120 million and 150 million US dollars. The company only hopes to lay a foundation of popularity through the first film, and although the budget cost is 60 million US dollars, because of car company sponsorship and advertising placement, MGM actually invested only 40 million US dollars in production funds, including another 30 million US dollars. The total investment is only 70 million U.S. dollars for the publicity fee in U.S. dollars. As long as the film's North American box office exceeds 120 million US dollars, the film will basically cover its cost, and overseas distribution and future peripherals will directly bring huge profits to MGM.
The current situation is far beyond Firefly's expectations, but this is not over yet.
Due to the increase in word-of-mouth and topicality of the film, many passer-by viewers who were not interested in drag racing movies have gradually joined the movie-watching crowd.
Moreover, after the new year, there is no longer an empty market for heavyweight movies to be released, which undoubtedly gives "Fast and Furious" more room to play.
Therefore, after the first week of 81.21 million US dollars, according to the usual box office curve of commercial films, the box office drop of "Fast and Furious" should have been about 50% in the second week, but in fact, the box office drop of the film in the second week was only 38%, and it received another 5035. In just two weeks, the total North American box office of "Fast and Furious" reached 131.56 million US dollars, which has exceeded MGM's expectations for the entire North American box office of this film. All costs have been recovered and profitability has been achieved.
It was $80 million in the first week and $50 million in the second week, and the drop was kept within 40%. It is conceivable that according to this box office trend, "Fast and Furious" will undoubtedly become the first North American box office movie in 1999 to break through $200 million. .
The outstanding performance of the North American box office will also greatly stimulate the attention of "Fast and Furious" in overseas markets. Even though there has always been controversy over whether "Fast and Furious" can join the MGM Agent movie universe, there is no doubt that this series has been a hit. Even if MGM really cancels the linkage between this series and the Agent movie universe in the future, It will not affect the film's future box office prospects in the slightest.
With the success of the "Fast and Furious" series, several rookie actors in the film have also become Hollywood's quasi-first-line celebrities in an instant.
In the original time and space, after the success of the first part of the "Fast and Furious" series, Vin Diesel broke up with Universal Pictures directly because of the salary issue, and did not return until the third part. But after a series of salary disputes during the development of the agent movie universe, MGM will naturally not make the same mistake this time.
Before the filming started, MGM had already signed a strict full-series contract with Vin Diesel and Paul Walker, and even broke the Hollywood tradition of only signing contracts for three films in advance.
Eric only hoped to sign a three-film contract with the two at the beginning, but under the operation of Yatou and Amy and others, this contract directly became six films, "Spider-Man" signed with Stuart Lankel and Firefly. "The movie is about the same.
However, Stewart's contract is only three main stories plus three crossover episodes, and Firefly also generously gave Stewart a certain amount of bargaining power. But as rookies, Paul Walker and Vin Diesel naturally don't get these preferential treatment.
It can be said that this time, Vin Diesel and Paul Walker are directly and firmly tied to this series, unless MGM allows, or the other party pays a high liquidated damages that is basically impossible to bear, otherwise , Vin Diesel and Paul Walker can't even star in other movies until they complete their "Fast and Furious" contracts.
With the success of the "Fast and Furious" series, although all parties have signed a non-disclosure contract, such a binding contract similar to a contract of sale was quickly discovered by the powerful media. In connection with the current powerful power of the Firefly system in Hollywood, some media even began to exclaim that the era of Hollywood studios has returned again, and Hollywood stars will once again become contracted actors of major studios.
This very marketable argument spread quickly.
In recent years, the strength of the Firefly system in Hollywood is well known.
Especially after the acquisition of Columbia Pictures last year, the Firefly system has already occupied four of the seven major Hollywood film companies, which is equivalent to controlling most of Hollywood. Due to the strong performance in the film and television business for several consecutive years, the Firefly system The actual impact on Hollywood is even greater. Therefore, almost no one doubts that the Firefly system already has the power to change the rules of Hollywood once again.
Naturally, with the media talking about the return of the "big studio era", and under the deliberate promotion of some people, some media also began to discuss whether the federal government should take action to restrict the increasingly powerful Firefly system.