When Xiao Yunhai was being interviewed, he was in a very good mood. He said, "To be honest, I did not expect 'Battle of Red Cliff' to achieve such an impressive result under the sniping of 'Assassin'. I calculated that 'Battle of Red Cliff' earned 2.5 billion USD in Europe and the United States, with a profit of about 1.2 billion USD. "
"Mr. Xiao, what do you think of 'Assassin'?"
Xiao Yunhai smiled and said, "Mr. Hanks is too impulsive. He obviously chose the wrong enemy this time. There's a saying in Hua Xia that 'the right time, the right place, and the right people'. 'Assassin' didn't have any of that. 'Black Humor' was especially popular around the world. It caught 'Assassin' off guard and caused its box office to shrink. Otherwise, I think it would have been more than 3.5 billion USD. "
"Then who do you think will win the battle between 'Battle of Red Cliff' and 'Assassin'?"
Xiao Yunhai said in high spirits, "Needless to say, of course 'Battle of Red Cliff' will win. Including the income from the online video, 'Battle of Red Cliff' earned 4.6 billion USD, and its production cost was only 300 million USD. Compared to 'Assassin,' the profit is much higher. "
At Paramount's headquarters, Hanks was furious after watching Xiao Yunhai's interview video. His face was frighteningly ugly.
'Assassin' was the movie he had high hopes for. Otherwise, he wouldn't have dared to use it to attack 'Battle of Red Cliff'. However, he didn't expect it to fail miserably and only earn 400 million USD in profit. Although he didn't lose money, the profit was far from the one billion he had expected. It didn't even reach half of it.
The culprits were naturally "The Battle of Red Cliffs" and "Black Humor". Coincidentally, these two films were made by two of his enemies. Hanks was about to go crazy with anger.
At the same time, he felt a strong sense of uneasiness. 'Assassin,' which he thought was a sure win, had ended up like this. Would 'Hurricane Operation' and 'Resident Evil' end up like this? '
Seeing Xiao Yunhai's young face and confident appearance, Hanks felt a trace of fear for the first time. This was definitely a terrifying enemy.
After a while, Hanks took a deep breath and forced out the fear in his mind. He picked up the phone and made a call.
"How's the promotion for 'Hurricane Operation' going?"
"Yes, it must be done well."
After the call ended, Hanks opened the trailer for Lord of the Rings. Looking at the vast and charming Middle Earth, a faint sense of uneasiness once again crept into his heart.
'Can I win this time?'
Time flew and in the blink of an eye, it was July 20th. Just as the battle between 'Battle of Red Cliff' and 'Assassin' ended, 'Lord of the Rings' and 'Hurricane Operation' clashed once again.
Hollywood invested more than one billion USD in movies last year and there were no more than ten. Now, two movies were released at the same time and they were fighting to the death. Xiao Yunhai and Hanks' behavior was simply stupid in the eyes of some movie bosses.
They were all overjoyed. If two giant movies with more than one billion USD were released at the same time, it would have a huge impact on them. It would affect their schedule for at least 20 days.
However, now that two movies were released at the same time, it was equivalent to the time of one movie. It was absolutely beneficial to them. Therefore, everyone was happy to sit on the sidelines and watch the tigers fight.
As Xiao Yunhai was no longer a shareholder of the North American cinema chain, 'Lord of the Rings' was arranged to be released at Yanhuang Cinema.
As it was a typical Hollywood movie, there were many best actors and best actresses, unlike 'Battle of Red Cliff' which had no foundation. Therefore, Xiao Yunhai held a grand premiere and invited many Hollywood superstars, film critics, and filmmakers to watch it.
Paramount did the same. When the two sides were promoting, they were already in full swing. Now that the movie was about to be officially released, of course, they could not be weak.
At eight o 'clock in the evening,' Lord of the Rings' and 'Hurricane Operation' premiered at the European and American cinemas at the same time.
Xiao Yunhai had already watched 'Lord of the Rings' once, so he did not focus on the movie. Instead, he focused on the reaction of the fans.
At the beginning of the movie, when the vast and boundless Middle Earth appeared in front of the audience, everyone cried out in surprise.
"It's so cool."
"Is this the Middle Earth in 'Lord of the Rings' novel? Amazing. "
"What a beautiful place. If I could live here, how great would that be? "
A five-star film critic wrote in his book, "The interior of the film is beautiful and the production is excellent."
Next, elves, humans, dwarves, hobbits, and other major races appeared around a ring, giving the fans a feast for their eyes.
At Paramount Cinemas, 'Hurricane Operation' was also in the middle of screening. Hanks sat in an ordinary theater, wanting to see the reaction of the audience.
Unfortunately, he was destined to be disappointed tonight, because the fans did not seem to be buying 'Hurricane Operation'.
"Oh my god, I knew I shouldn't have come to watch 'Hurricane Operation'. It's always handsome guys and beautiful girls, and it's always a boring fight. Can it not be so boring?"
"A typical Hollywood popcorn movie, I almost fell asleep watching it."
"1.2 billion USD, what is Paramount doing?"
"Nothing special, other than the sex scene between the male and female leads that made my blood boil, I'm really not interested in anything else."
The voices of the fans were like needles in Hanks's ears. The anger in his chest was like a volcano, ready to erupt at any time.
His face was ashen, and his hands unconsciously clenched together, his knuckles turning white.
In fact, 'Hurricane Operation' should be considered a wonderful and exciting movie, but the problem was that it did not bring much surprise to the fans. It was far from the expectations of the fans.
In the entertainment industry, excessive promotion of a movie was not a good thing, because it would raise the expectations of the audience. Once there was a deviation, the fans would feel that they were cheated, and the original 7 points of the movie would be reduced to 6 points in anger.
"How can this be? Don't they understand movies? Such a popular action movie, even planes, tanks, and warships are used, and they say it's not good. "
Hanks was furious, but he suddenly felt a trace of exhaustion. He felt that his understanding of movies was far from the fans', and this filled him with helplessness … and panic.
This was because he thought of 'Resident Evil'. If the movie that he thought was good was not good in the eyes of the fans, then wouldn't the 20 billion USD be lost to Xiao Yunhai?
Thinking of the serious consequences, Hanks's back was drenched in cold sweat.
It did not matter if Xiao Yunhai lost, because it was his own money, and he did not have to answer to anyone. But Hanks was different, if he lost, then he would be in trouble. Even if he was David Steer's illegitimate son, he would still be punished severely.
The loss of 17 billion USD last time had already caused the other shareholders to be extremely dissatisfied. If they were to lose another 20 billion USD this time, then the result would be … Hanks shuddered just thinking about it. At the same time, he felt a deep sense of regret. He regretted that he should not have made Xiao Yunhai his enemy.
After an hour of the movie, Hanks quietly left the theater. He could not stand the insults of the fans.
Luckily, there weren't too many movie fans in the premiere theater. Otherwise, the director and actors would have run away at the last minute.
At ten o 'clock in the evening, the two movies ended at almost the same time.
Inside the Paramount Cinema, when the director and actors of "Hurricane Operation" lined up in a row and bowed to everyone, there was a round of applause, but it was obvious that everyone was just being polite and perfunctory.
This made the director and actors feel very awkward. They hurriedly said a few words of thanks and left.
On the contrary, in the Yanhuang Theater, the moment "The Lord of the Rings" ended, thunderous applause and cheers erupted.
"Awesome. This movie is perfect. "
"Bikven is indeed a great director of Magic City. I thought I had entered another world."
A film magazine's editor-in-chief said, "With the help of Xiao's Magic Visual Effects, Bikven is really like a fish in water. It's the best movie he's ever made, bar none. "
"I heard that Bikven has already left the 21st Century Fox Film Company and joined Xiao's Marvel Comics. Now it seems that he has made a very good decision. "
"I'm looking forward to the second part of" The Lord of the Rings "."
After sending everyone away, Xiao Yunhai smiled and said to Bikven, "It seems that our movie is a success."
Bikven nodded and said gratefully to Xiao Yunhai, "Xiao, thank you. Without your full support in funding and special effects, I would never have been able to make this movie. "
Xiao Yunhai laughed and said, "Don't be so polite. You are making money for me. It's getting late. Let's go to Hua Xia as soon as possible. I hope we can make it in time for the premiere in Beijing. "
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