"So, Hugo, what do you think the premiere will be?" Alex asked in a low voice as he drank the coffee in his hand.

"Oh my God." Joseph and Carl wailed at the same time, obviously completely dissatisfied with Alex's proposal, while Hugo shook his head with a smile, "I don't play this kind of game, I'm not one of those boring media." ”

At this time, Hugo and the other five people sat in the café on the third floor of the general cinema in the city center, waiting for the "Yihai Heroic Wind" at half past four in the afternoon.

The projection industry in the United States is controlled by several large theaters, including General Motors, United Arts, AMC, Carmic, Marcus, and so on. At present, there are about 20,000 screens in the United States, and 45% of them are controlled by these theaters, and more than 80% of the box office revenue has been amassed.

Of course, in addition to the large commercial theater chains, the American film industry has always had a number of independent and artistic theater chains, which provide strong support for American universities to offer film studies courses. The number one art theater chain in the United States is now the Landmark (LAARK) theater chain, which was founded in 1965 and has less than 30 theaters in North America, but its support for art films is undeniable.

However, the location of movie theaters in the United States is more special, and it is generally located far away from the city, mainly because the theater will develop around the theater including parking lots, shopping malls and other supporting commercial areas, thus forming a large entertainment facility, and a family only needs to drive to the movie theater to meet the leisure and entertainment of the whole day. So cinemas are rarely arranged in the city center.

The situation in Los Angeles is slightly different, in fact, there is no city center in Los Angeles, the rich people live in the suburbs, the city center is just a place to work or do things, and ordinary old residents will set their residences near the city center, the city center here is only a geographical significance, with the city hall as the center of the radiation of an area.

In fact, Los Angeles is a typical urban agglomeration with the same core, and from a formal point of view, Los Angeles has the establishment of various systems of cities and counties; But in terms of urban form, Los Angeles is a metropolis composed of nearly a hundred cities with the same core. These cities are compactly and orderly arranged on rectangular plots of almost 10,000 square kilometers with sharp contours. The town hall is a central point of dominance and has the mission of the administrative region.

So when Hugo and his party wanted to choose a place to watch a movie, they chose the city center, which is relatively less crowded, where there is a general cinema and the surrounding supporting facilities are also very complete, and it is also the most prosperous area in the old city. Half an hour's drive from Sunset Square, you will arrive at the Universal Cinema in the financial district of the city center, with a view of small Tokyo and Naka not far away. There are obviously more high-rise buildings around the city than in the vicinity of Beverly Hills, but compared to Manhattan in the heart of New York, it seems to be on the top. Hai and Shao. Xing's differences, there is no comparable 'sex' at all.

"Come on, guess, pick a number." Alex is still reluctant to give up, which is the greatest pleasure before the release of the movie.

"Stop scaring him, Alex." Charlize teased with an unscrupulous smile on his face, which immediately made Hugo frown, "When was I scared?" With a smile of disbelief, Hugo said, "I knew the premiere weekend would be a success, and it was to be expected. ”

Hugo has not forgotten to remind Charlize, "Don't forget, the premiere the day before yesterday was well received!" I won't be worried. ”

"Then pick a random number." Alex giggled and slammed into the chase, causing Carl and Richards to sit across from each other and laugh, but Joseph's facial expression was stiff and looked even more nervous than Hugo's.

Hugo looked at Alex's smile and shook his head to show his helplessness, "Okay." Then he thought about it carefully, but when it came to the box office, Hugo really couldn't remember too many details, he remembered that the global box office of "Avatar" was 2.78 billion, but he couldn't remember those specific numbers every weekend, not to mention that the memory of "Yihai Xiongfeng" was originally very vague, so Hugo thought about it, "Ten million, huh?"

Hugo remembered that the Los Angeles Times had predicted twelve million before the movie was released, so he said a more secure number, and then looked at Joseph, who was so nervous, that he couldn't do it, "That's it, right?"

Joseph shrugged, "Maybe, probably not." His expression was not much, and today because of nervousness, the lines of his face became more and more stiff, "If the premiere box office has 10 million, then we have to look at the box office decline later, you know, investing 40 million is not a small amount." ”

"And how much do we need?" Hugo knew that Joseph and Columbia Pictures had a close relationship in the past two days, and he was obviously talking about this.

"Twelve million, and the box office drop in the second week can't be more than 20 percent." "If fifteen million had passed, it might have been easier," Joseph said worriedly. ”

"Fifteen million?" Carl is an industry insider, he couldn't help but pout when he heard this number, after entering September, there are only three movies with a premiere box office of more than 10 million 'door' threshold, namely "Hidden Dragon", "Vampire Zombie Horror ......400 Years" and "Home Alone 2" The full fourteen-week schedule, only three movies exceeded 10 million at the box office at the time of the premiere, and it is definitely a difficult and abnormal task for a drama film with no action, no explosion, and no special effects like "Yihai Xiongfeng" to achieve this result.

"Fifteen million to him, I made my own prediction." Alex triumphantly said, "Three thousand one hundred and twenty-six thousand eight hundred and eighty-three dollars......

It's actually a dollar, which is unexpected, "How did you get it?" Joseph looked at him in surprise.

"That's a dollar more than the 'Home Alone 2' premiere box office." Alex immediately laughed, "Yihai Xiongfeng will be the premiere box office champion of the autumn and holiday seasons!"

"Are you serious?" Hugo was amused by Alex's words, "Home Alone 2, but a sequel, the first part was a big hit, and this time it relied on the mass base to rush to this box office figure." I think Columbia Pictures' 15 million is a bit more reliable. ”

This is a fact, two years ago, the "Home Alone" that swept the $280 million box office in the United States only had a 17 million opening weekend, and this time "Home Alone 2" had the advantage of a sequel to win more than 30 million premiere box office, which is naturally not comparable to "Yihai Xiongfeng".

"Don't think about anything beyond Kevin, it's better to aim for 12 million dollars." Kevin, here is the name of the actor in "Home Alone", Joseph said this, he just doesn't want to continue to exert box office pressure, for Hugo, for his own.

The box office is not a movie, the movie can be controlled by the producer and director, but the box office is in the hands of the audience, and it is simply uncontrollable. Many times, the film company confidently launches a work, and the result is smashed, who could have predicted that?

"I guess whatever your predictions are, it's time for us to find out." Charlize pointed to the clock on the wall, "At least all five of us contributed to the box office, didn't we?"

"It's a fact, seeing five people sitting in the cinema is obviously much more reassuring, at least not without one person." Hugo nodded seriously and said that he directly angered Charlize, and he was about to give Hugo a crutch when he raised his foot, but after getting along for more than half a year, Hugo had already learned to be smart, and he avoided the conditional 'shooting'.

Charlize looked at Hugo with a smile on his face, grinding his teeth, stood up and chased after him, Hugo ran with a quick 'leg', and the two of them ran in the direction of the entrance of the cinema. Looking at the two people who were making trouble, the remaining three shrugged their shoulders at the same time, and Carl didn't forget to say, "Children are always naughty......"

After the five of them walked into the cinema, Hugo began to look around, and then whispered to Joseph, "That's a good sign that there are so many people coming to the cinema today, isn't it?" At this moment, the cinema is full of people, and the screening hall that Hugo and others have entered is basically full, and there are still five minutes before the movie starts, which shows that no one is late, and the attendance rate is very high, this news is really beautiful.

Joseph nodded, "I still asked Rick to buy tickets, because I heard that several large theaters have started queuing up to buy tickets." Originally, Joseph thought it was Rick and Rosen's joke, but now after seeing it with his own eyes, his heart suddenly became much more steady.

"I just saw that all the 'door' tickets for this one at half past four were sold out." Charlize patted Hugo's arm and said in a low voice.

Although Hugo had been pretending to be calm just now, the nervousness in his heart was known only to him, and after witnessing more than 90 percent attendance at this moment, the boiling emotions finally settled down. But Hugo still couldn't help wiping his sweat, it turned out that box office pressure was such a thing, he couldn't see it or 'touch' it, but it was as heavy as a thousand people who couldn't breathe.

In the past, I used to feel that the scenery was infinite when I watched an actor become a movie star, but now I finally realize the hardships behind it, the actors who can't become the leading actors have their sadness, and the actors who play the starring roles also have their own troubles.

Hugo tugged at Charlize, "I hope this situation isn't deliberately created because they know I'm coming to this theater." "Hugo remembered that in the past, in China, the leaders inspected the countryside, and the local government Fu in order to create a prosperous scene, specially convened and took care of the beautiful side for the leaders to visit. That's why Hugo has such a joke.

As a result, Charlize rolled his eyes, "If you feel like there's too much money and no place to 'spend', I don't mind helping." ”

"Me too." Alex's voice suddenly came from Richards' left hand side, and it was accompanied by a big smile, which made Hugo's smile directly stuck in the corner of his mouth.