The Best Director

Chapter 494: Chapter 494: The Battle Begins

November 25 was Thanksgiving, and a month later came Christmas, festive holidays that posed a challenge to the “I Am Legend” crew, as the streets were soon to be adorned with Christmas decorations, lights, Christmas trees, wreaths, and more. But the Darkseekers don’t celebrate Christmas.

Logically, the crew should have hurried to finish all the exterior shots, but everyone needed a break for the holidays; no one wanted to see “Planes, Trains and Automobiles” become a reality. Moreover, Wang Yang was rushing to complete “The Deceased,” and since the shooting locations were not in a studio, the crew had no choice but to continue at a normal pace. Fortuitously, most of “I Am Legend”‘s exterior scenes had been shot. It was expected that they could wrap up the street shots before Christmas decorations became ubiquitous. Otherwise, they would have to wait until after Christmas and New Year’s to remove the decorations before they could continue filming.

Asking the public and businesses not to hang decorations? Even Santa Claus would only get the middle finger. Just the issue of blocking off streets for shooting had already caused growing grievances among New Yorkers, especially the residents of Greenwich Village where most of the scenes were shot. If “I Am Legend” didn’t wrap by the expected mid-January, they were prepared to protest.

For Keke’s first Thanksgiving, she and her family gathered to celebrate the holiday. Naturally, she was the brightest little princess there, but she didn’t wear a princess’s tiara. Instead, she donned a colorful feathered headdress in the style of Indiana.

Keke was experiencing her first turkey feast, although her main diet was still baby formula, vegetables, and other baby foods, she did have several pieces of turkey meat. Everyone was happy, and having a child wiggling their feet while sitting at the dining table was truly a delight. As Wang Yang carved the succulent turkey, he felt especially moved and looked forward to the upcoming Christmas, New Year’s, and Spring Festival. Having many holidays was definitely a good thing! And Jessica, who had been bustling about to host this turkey feast, felt a sense of accomplishment seeing them enjoy the meal, hearing the compliments, and wiping the greasy corners of Keke’s mouth.

“We shot in a real morgue, it was so eerie,” the overall mood was warm and happy, but there had been lots of screaming and shouting. Joshua was talking nonstop at the dinner table about the production of “Dead Eyes Open” and was excited about shooting in a real morgue, but Keke didn’t understand any of it. Jessica responded coldly, “I feel quite eerie right now.” It wasn’t that she wasn’t interested, but just not right now! Yet, Wang Yang nodded and said, “It’s a good publicity gimmick.”

The older folks didn’t find it interesting either, and no one engaged. “Let’s not talk about work!” Jessica was about to continue with Keke’s amusing stories when Joshua interjected calmly, “It’s not work, it’s sharing.” Wang Yang was about to say something when Jessica gave him a look and continued coldly, “It’s not a good topic.” Suddenly, she let out a “HOHO!” as Keke fed Danny a piece of green vegetable. Her little face beamed with sweet smiles, and upon hearing her mom’s voice, she quickly stuffed the remaining piece into her own mouth…

When the week of November 24-30 had passed, “Happy Feet” took the box office crown with a gross of $41.73 million in its second week, a bit of a surprise hit. This was mainly due to Denzel Washington’s new $75 million movie “Time Clues,” which messed up with only a 55% freshness rating, and a weekly box office of $24.98 million. Other films like Fox’s “Dazzling Christmas,” Warner’s “The Fountain,” and New Line’s “Tenacious D: The Pick of Destiny” didn’t perform well either.

Warner Brothers had already botched two deals with Darren Aronofsky,”The Fountain” was neither a box office hit (PD $35 million, 9 days $6.45 million box office), nor did it score well with critics, with only 51%/26% on Rotten Tomatoes. A barrage of mainstream media criticism squashed its hopes for awards season, despite Aronofsky’s previous nomination for a Golden Lion at Venice Film Festival.

As another year-end approached, much like the summer season, this December’s cinema did not offer the same anticipation and buzz as last year’s, lacking big special effects movies like “The Chronicles of Narnia,” “Harry Potter,” or “King Kong,” and controversial films such as “Brokeback Mountain.”

The controversial potential of “The Nativity Story” (PD $35 million), released on December 1, may seize the limelight. New releases for the week included the $40 million production “The Prestige,” the $10 million “Jungle Nightmare,” and “Failing Grades 2.” By December 8, Mel Gibson’s action-adventure “Apocalypto” (PD $40 million), Nancy Meyers’s romantic comedy “The Holiday” (PD $85 million), and Martin Scorsese’s “Blood Diamond” (PD $100 million) would all make their debut.

The fantasy film “Eragon” with a $100 million budget could be considered this Christmas season’s big special effects movie, set for release on the 15th. Paramount had high hopes for the $85 million family comedy remake “Charlotte’s Web,” but whether the adorable pig would perform well could only be revealed on the 15th.

This year, like last, cinema owners had a common reassurance that theaters wouldn’t be empty, because there was Magic Yang, and not just one, but two films! During the week of December 15-21, the much-anticipated biography drama “The Amazing Director” (PD $50 million) directed by David Fincher was set to release on the 20th! With a widely acclaimed trailer and sizzling presale tickets, nobody doubted its box office appeal, nor the popularity of the idol director. Everyone just wondered how much it would gross? $100 million? $150 million?

Then, in the new week of December 22, Wang Yang’s latest directorial venture, “The Deceased,” would hit the big screen! Everyone understood what that meant. In this day and age, every release of a Magic movie was a festive celebration.

Since everyone was targeting the Christmas period, a head-on collision was inevitable, and “The Deceased” was no comedy. Therefore, the family adventure comedy “Night at the Museum,” with a budget of 120 million, proudly set its release date for the 22nd. In addition, there was Sylvester Stallone’s “Rocky 6: The Eternal Champion” (20th, PD 24 million), “We Are Marshall,” and the suspense drama directed by Robert De Niro, “The Shepherd” (22nd, PD 85 million).

If “Infernal Affairs” had any competition, it would most suitably be Universal Studios’ film of the same genre, “The Spy Game” (The-Good-Shepherd, literally translated as The Shepherd), which was definitely in direct conflict!

“The Shepherd” brought the story of one of the founders of the Central Intelligence Agency, Edward Wilson, to the big screen, attempting to present a real, three-dimensional hero to the audience. This was De Niro’s second directorial effort; his last film, “A Bronx Tale,” was released on October 1, 1993, earning a box office of $17.28 million at the time. Currently, it has a Rotten Tomatoes score of 96%/100%/88%, and a Metacritic score of 80. “The Shepherd” starred Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie, both major drawcards, which enhanced its stellar cast. Moreover, with Universal’s powerful marketing, what kind of battle would that be?

Looking towards the New Year’s week of December 29 to January 4, there was no noteworthy new release. The R-rated horror film “Deadly Christmas Night” on Christmas Day was not looked upon favorably; Alfonso Cuaron’s new science fiction work “Children of Men,” although it had a high production budget of $76 million, performed poorly in the overseas market. Since its release on September 22, it had only earned a box office of $26.85 million. Back in North America, Universal only dared to arrange a limited release in 16 theaters during the first week.

Actually, the overseas reception of “Children of Men” was quite favorable, with media and fans applauding its success, so why was its box office so dismal? This was the disadvantage of not having a star-studded cast. Although Alfonso Cuaron directed “Harry Potter 3,” who knows the directors of “Harry Potter 1,” “Harry Potter 2,” and “Harry Potter 4”? Moreover, “Harry Potter 3” was the lowest-grossing installment of the series, so it would be better to call him “the director of ‘Y Tu Mamá También.’” Starring Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine… their acting skills were great, but among the three veterans, which one had box office appeal?

Keep in mind that the science fiction nature of “Children of Men” differed from that of small-budget independent films like “Little Miss Sunshine.” The audience’s impression and reception were entirely different. What’s more deadly was Universal’s blunder in planning for an initial overseas release before taking on North America. Unexpectedly, it gained no fame overseas, and the North American release was delayed as well.

Still, this winter was destined to be brilliant with stars. Just speaking of actors: Hugh Jackman, Christian Bale, Jude Law, Jack Black, Leonardo DiCaprio, “Heath” Ledger, Michael Pitt, Jack Nicholson, Ben Stiller, Sylvester Stallone, Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Julia Roberts, Dakota Fanning, Keira Knightley, Natalie Portman, Angelina Jolie…

Who would smile triumphantly in the box office rankings and at major award ceremonies? The Christmas battle of 2006 was gradually unfolding.

The low-budget film “The Illusionist” performed remarkably well, becoming a model for independent cinema; now it was time for the medium-budgeted “The Prestige” to land in 2,879 North American Cinemas.

Learning from the lack of success in distribution by Buena Vista, Wang Yang instructed the distribution department to emphasize the magic selling point of “The Prestige” (literally Prestige). The success of “The Illusionist” (literally Magician) was inseparable from its title. If it weren’t for being adapted from the well-known fantasy novel, Flame would have certainly changed the title of The-Prestige. In other respects, whether it was the poster or trailer, Flame focused on promoting the magic and the unique timeline atmosphere, and of course, did not forget to loudly proclaim “suspense” as the biggest draw. @@novelbin@@

The content and narrative structure of “The Prestige” meant it was not a mainstream movie. To make the box office look good, the key was to fully exploit its potential and attract as many interested viewers as possible into theaters, just like the distribution of “Memento” and “The Illusionist.”

What kind of performance would this film have? What result would Christopher Nolan, the projected director of “The Dark Knight” and highly endorsed by Wang Yang, receive? After suffering a devastating defeat with “Black Dahlia,” could Scarlett Johansson achieve a major turnaround in her 2006 performance? Would Flame Films continue to maintain an unbeatable box office miracle? Warner Brothers, other studios, media, fans, stakeholders… everyone was paying attention.

On this day, audiences who loved mystery films flocked to the theaters, “The Prestige” was released! (