As a very common entertainment in life, Americans have a very mature mentality of watching movies. They only choose to watch movies based on their personal hobbies and movie reputation. The box office success or failure of a film is always the quality of the film, which has nothing to do with the huge production budget. Films such as "Throat Island" and "Future Water World", although they spent jaw-dropping production budgets, they still suffered disastrous box office failures.
Before "Titanic" was released, although there was no lack of positive reviews, the media's box office prospects were almost overwhelmingly negative, subtly creating a feeling in the public's mind that this is another movie that is as worthless as "Future Water World". One look at the underlying impression of an expensive bad movie.
The $1.56 million opening of the midnight show is only one-third of last month's "Mission Impossible 2", and it is not even as good as Paramount's "Star Trek: First Contact" a week ago. There is no doubt that the tepid pre-screening word-of-mouth and long movie duration prevented most interested viewers from braving the severe winter cold to stay in the midnight movie theater for three hours.
However, on the second day, although there was no shocking reversal in the word of mouth about "Titanic" in the media, audiences who were interested in this movie gradually began to enter the cinema.
Manhattan, New York.
At eight o'clock in the evening, Simon Peck lined up in the box office of the Paris Cinema on 58th Street near Central Park, listening to the crowd who also came to watch the movie whispering about the new movie that was released recently.
Simon Peck is not a movie fan, he doesn't even like watching movies, or rather, he doesn't have the time. As a career elite who just jumped to Lehman Brothers as a financial analyst, he was born in a lower-class family in the United States. In order to get rid of his poor life, he devoted almost all his energy to his studies and work these years. He still has a student loan of more than 30,000 US dollars from the bank.
However, after switching from the original private investment company to a position with an annual salary of 68,000 US dollars at Lehman Brothers, the pressure on him has finally eased over the years. A good girlfriend, named Charlotte Davis, he was pulled over by this girlfriend who likes to watch movies today.
When it was his turn, Simon Peck handed over the change, asked the conductor for the "Titanic" movie ticket, turned and walked towards his girlfriend who was waving.
"Hey, baby, I just heard someone comment that this movie doesn't seem to be very good, and it's too long, it takes three hours," Simon Peck said to Charlotte, who was holding two buckets of popcorn. With the movie ticket in his hand, he said with a hint of persuasion.
Charlotte Davis also doesn't like disaster movies, but who knows that this is a movie that Eric Williams fully supports.
That encounter was the deepest little secret between Charlotte and her best friend Alice, and neither of them told others easily. However, because of that chance encounter that year, the two of them will always subconsciously pay attention to Eric's various trends in Hollywood, and subconsciously support Eric's favorite movies. So far, she has not been disappointed, so, occasionally Disappointed once, it can be considered a good experience.
During the Christmas holiday, Alice returned to Colorado to spend Christmas with her parents, and Charlotte could only watch the movie with her new boyfriend.
At this time, listening to Simon Peck's words, Charlotte rolled her eyes lightly, with a smile on her lips, and asked, "Then, what movie do you think we should watch?"
Simon Peck opened his mouth subconsciously, but didn't say the name of any movie for a while. Charlotte knew that her new boyfriend was almost a movie idiot, so she laughed, ignoring his embarrassment, and moved a The bucket of popcorn was stuffed into his arms, and he said, "Okay, let's go in, it's about to start."
Although it was the prime time, and it was the first day of the release of "Titanic", the auditorium still seemed deserted. In the end, less than half of the auditorium that could accommodate 100 people was seated. Charlotte took her The movie idiot boyfriend chose his seat and sat down, the audience around them were talking softly, and they could hear a middle school student-looking couple in the front row, the girl complaining to her boyfriend that she should not choose this movie, the boy seemed to be A die-hard fan of the "Terminator" series, Jian Jian, who talked with the girl, said that this is just supporting his idol.
Charlotte could imagine that most of the audience in the screening hall at this time was either to support a big director like Cameron, or because of the film's investment of 215 million US dollars, or purely because of the overwhelming publicity of the Firefly Group. Only then did I choose this movie. Perhaps, less than a third of those who are really interested in the movie.
Most movie theaters will have about fifteen minutes of trailers before showing the feature film. But maybe considering the long duration of "Titanic" itself, the trailer this time is only five minutes long, and the animated LOGO of the girl from Firefly Pictures releasing fireflies soon appeared on the screen.
The film begins with treasure hunter Brock Lovett's treasure hunt on the Titanic, and most viewers are immediately aware that the film uses a flashback technique.
Westerners generally have a very strong treasure-hunting complex. Therefore, this plot did not arouse too many people's disgust. Most people in the screening hall watched it with gusto, and almost no one felt that this plot seemed redundant.
The gray-haired old Rose appeared on the treasure hunting ship, recalling the dusty past. When the Titanic appeared in the port of Southampton, England like a giant, everyone let out a faint exclamation. .
Simon Peck, who originally didn't report any expectations and just spent time with his girlfriend, couldn't help but straighten his back at this time, and said in surprise: "Is this true? It's so surprising, I don't know how it was made. "
Charlotte was very satisfied with Simon Peck's reaction, and explained with a smile: "It is said that James Cameron completely restored the model of the Titanic on the film set in a one-to-one ratio."
Looking at the busy scene of Southampton port perfectly restored by James Cameron on the screen, Simon Peck couldn't help shaking his head and sighing: "No wonder it cost 215 million US dollars, which is enough to build a really huge cruise ship gone."
In the next hour, Jack and Rose met, knew each other, and fell in love. From the perspective of the two protagonists, the film showed all aspects of the Titanic in a panoramic manner. Simple, cheerful, humorous, and optimistic, although there are obviously some prejudices, it also caters to the minds of most audiences.
As a senior movie fan, Charlotte can feel that the emotional scene between Jack and Rose is a bit jerky, and many plot dialogues in the first half seem completely unnecessary. However, as Jack and Rose "fly" on the bow of the ship The scene, and the ensuing scene, when the crew on the watchtower shouted 'the iceberg is ahead' after nightfall, the impatience in most people's hearts disappeared again, silently waiting for the disaster to come.
Perhaps, no one has noticed that after the film describes the passengers of all walks of life on the Titanic in detail, their emotions have been unconsciously controlled by this big ship, knowing that silence is inevitable and disaster is bound to happen , Some viewers still subconsciously expect certain impossible miracles to appear.
The miracle did not appear after all.
After hitting the iceberg, the Titanic began to enter the water and entered the countdown to sinking.
The passengers in the first class began to evacuate, and the civilians in the lower class were abandoned. The kindness and tolerance, ugliness and despicableness of human nature were nakedly displayed in front of everyone at the moment of disaster.
If the plot of the sinking of the big ship just touches everyone's hearts, the last ten minutes of the movie will completely turn on the tear gas mode.
Listening to Jack encouraging Rose to live bravely until she closed her eyes and could no longer speak, and finally sank into the abyss quietly, everyone in the auditorium felt a heart-piercing pain Well, even after Rose was rescued, this anxious feeling didn't dissipate a bit.
Charlotte had obviously heard the faint sobs in the auditorium, and she herself felt the tears dripping from the corners of her eyes. She wiped them a few times, but they couldn't dry them off, and subconsciously leaned towards her boyfriend beside her. go.
Simon Peck didn't speak, with red eyes, he stretched out an arm to wrap his girlfriend quietly.
Until the old Rose returned to the year in her dream, and the music sounded at the end of the film, everyone's emotions did not ease up.
After three hours, if it was another movie, perhaps most of the audience’s first reaction was to get up and leave the cinema in a hurry when the ending credits rose, but this time, no one got up, and everyone quietly Sit in your seat and let Celine Dion's weeping voice echo in the auditorium.
Leaving the screening hall, it was already eleven o'clock, and the lobby of the Paris theater was still brightly lit. Charlotte leaned softly on Simon Peck, and the two embraced each other and walked out, looking around inadvertently , and found that there were many couples around them who were embracing like them with red eye circles. For some reason, this situation triggered some of Charlotte's nerves, and she couldn't help laughing, and then, she started again. Worry up.
Originally, she didn't have any expectations for "Titanic", she just wanted to purely support Eric's valued movie, but at this time, she realized that those media who criticized "Titanic" before It's total bullshit, and while there are some flaws, there's no doubt that this is a very good movie, and it definitely doesn't deserve the snub it is getting, never should.
Making up her mind, Simon Peck drove her back to her apartment in Midtown. Although her boyfriend had some expectations in his eyes, Charlotte still rejected his boyfriend's wish to stay tonight, and sent him away with gentle words. Lotte returned to his apartment, picked up the cordless phone and dialed the number of his best friend Alice in his hometown in Colorado, and turned on the computer in the living room.
"Hey, Alice, have you gone to see "Titanic"?" The phone was connected, and while Charlotte was operating the computer mouse, she went straight to the topic and said something, and Charlotte couldn't wait to say: " No, you must watch this movie, definitely, this is definitely a great movie, do you remember the review of "Titanic" in the "New York Times" some time ago, I can tell you with great certainty now, It’s truly a masterpiece comparable to Gone with the Wind.”
The two exchanged and hung up the phone. Charlotte turned her gaze to the computer screen. She had already opened the discussion area on the Yahoo forum dedicated to "Titanic".
At this time, the discussion area was also full of enthusiasm. Unlike the unanimous bad-mouthing expressed by the media without even watching the film, most of the Yahoo "Titanic" discussion area was viewers who had watched the film. The reaction of this group of people It is also more realistic and intuitive.
"Oh my god, I actually cried out for such a bloody movie. Oh my god, this shouldn't be true."
"Rose is so beautiful. Why haven't I heard of this actress named Rachel Weisz? Do you know which movies she has acted in?"
"The end credits song is really good, and, did you notice, that song was written by Eric Williams himself."
"I have already bought tickets for tomorrow night, and I have to watch it again."
"The shot of Jack and Rose standing on the bow is so dreamy. I really want to collect such a poster. I don't know if the fireflies will appear around in the future. Well, maybe I can sneak in with the camera next time. Take a picture."
"Take two pictures and send me one."
"Take three pictures and send me one."
"Take four pictures and send me one."
"..."
Charlotte browsed the posts on the page. She was also impressed by the shot of Jack and Rose flying on the bow of the ship. She noticed the theme above, so she clicked on it. Looking at the neat replies below, she couldn't help but Zhu Zhu smiled, looked at the number of replies, and typed a few words on the keyboard jokingly: "Take one hundred and nine, give me one."
Exiting the topic and returning to the main page, Charlotte browsed through the posts on the first few pages. Most of the people praised "Titanic". crusade.
After a little rationalization, Charlotte logged into her Yahoo account, opened the posting page, and began to consider her own feelings about watching movies. Although she did not have the talent to write movie reviews, at this time, she still wanted to let more people know about it. Know, how good this movie is, no one should miss it.
"Before watching this movie, I also had doubts about the three-hour length of the movie. I don't understand why Firefly would let James Cameron make a commercial blockbuster like this."
"However, at this time, I suddenly understood a lot of things. Every minute of this movie is indispensable. Although the shipwreck scene only accounts for one-third of the whole movie, James Cameron did it for us. We created a perfect 'you're there' atmosphere, through more than an hour's panoramic display of the various characters and scenery on the Titanic after it set sail, bringing us back to the epic ship of the year, and Unknowingly immersed in it, so when the disaster strikes, we will also experience the life and death of all the characters in the film more delicately and deeply. This is why many people will be deeply moved after watching the film. "
"The disaster scene in the second half of the film is even more impressive. Jack's simple and sincere farewell made people cry, and Rose's eyes looking at the sky made people feel distressed."
"Great performances from the handsome Leonardo DiCaprio and the beautiful Rachel Weisz, they are both very good actors, especially Rachel Weisz, who is so natural Her aristocratic temperament makes people wonder whether she was originally from a British aristocratic family."
"In the end, that song, "My Heart Will Go On", Celine Dion's singing voice is so mesmerizing, I even think that Eric Williams spared no effort to support James just for this song. Cameron blew the budget and created a perfect, sad dream."
"For this movie, I can't give more praise. I just sincerely hope that everyone can give up the prejudice caused by the media to this movie before, and go into the movie theater. Believe me, you will definitely not be disappointed."
Checked the general, clicked to send the post, Charlotte refreshed it several times, and a series of echoing replies appeared under the topic soon.
At this time, Charlotte is far more than the only one in the United States who was fascinated by watching "Titanic" and couldn't wait to recommend it to others. Similar to Charlotte, who spontaneously wrote "Titanic" There are countless fans who have promoted and recommended it to people around them.
With the large-scale release of "Titanic", a large number of North American media no longer grasped the topic of the film's high budget, but shifted their attention to the quality of the film itself.
While the movie spread word of mouth among fans who had watched it, the word-of-mouth of the movie also began to pick up.
"First of all, I have to admit that I went to this movie with a strong prejudice. I always felt that Hollywood's investment in big-budget movies has gone crazy. Although after watching this movie, I still hold it. This point of view, but I have to say that James Cameron is such a genius. "Titanic" perfectly restores everything about the giant ship back then in almost harsh details, and brings us an affectionate And a tragic love story."
"The so-called tragedy is to break a perfect thing for people to see. James Cameron did this perfectly in three hours, but at the same time, he did not take away all our hopes. In the film , the details of old Rose’s life, those photos, the goldfish in the tank, all show us her deep love for life.”
"..."
Long Island, at Southampton Manor.
Eric ignored the various changes in the outside world's attitude towards "Titanic", and spent the coming Christmas with women and children at ease.
It's just that, on the white writing board in the study, there will be an extra number every day.
No. 19: $1.56 million (midnight show)
No. 20: $8.65 million.
No. 21: $9.67 million.
No. 22: $9.3 million.
In the three days of the first weekend, the cumulative box office of "Titanic" was 29.18 million US dollars. (To be continued.)