Chapter 239: The Medicine God

"The North American box office for 'Dying to Survive' has surpassed $100 million, overtaking 'Life Is Beautiful' to become the second-highest-grossing foreign-language film!"

"Xu Can's new film 'The Medicine God' is now in hot release; North America's three major theater chains, Cinemark, Regal, and AMC, have announced they will increase screening slots."

"Disproving the doubts! 'The Medicine God' achieves a double harvest of reputation and box office! IMDb 9.2! Xu Can is still that Xu Can!"

"A contender for the Oscars! Even if you are not Chinese, you should watch this film!"

"Patient support groups across North America are organizing viewings of 'The Medicine God,' and public protests against the FDA have already begun..."

"The chain reaction triggered by Xu Can's film, specifically the debate over the legality of generic drugs, has become North America's biggest recent issue."

"Novartis protests 'The Medicine God': Accusing it of smearing pharmaceutical companies and stating that genuine drugs are not priced arbitrarily."

"Stock prices for Pfizer, Novartis, AstraZeneca, and many other pharmaceutical companies have fallen..."

In Xu Can's estimation, the main box office for 'Dying to Survive' would be in the homeland of Huaxia.

In his past life, it earned over 3 billion; now, even if the market hasn't been cultivated, securing 700 or 800 million shouldn't be a problem, right?

A production cost of only 50 million RMB, 7 million USD! A bargain price!

With Xu Can's many films earning huge box office returns, plus the blood transfusion of record sales from several signed artists under Galaxy Music, the income from external orders for Galaxy Digital, and the online streaming revenue of Galaxy TV,

the 7 million USD might be earned back in less than a month, not even counting as a single hair.

This film is basically pure profit; Xu Can had not considered the North American box office or influence.

In his view, foreigners might not understand this film at all; it would meet a cold market upon release and become a niche classic after the run.

Only until it receives an Oscar nomination next year would this film generate any topic heat.

Xu Can thought this way, but the actual situation far exceeded his expectations!

He greatly underestimated his influence in North American cinema.

In his past life, even with the reputation controversy surrounding 'Tenet,' Christopher Nolan released a dry biopic, 'Oppenheimer,' which still earned 449 million in box office in the mainland.

It defeated 'No More Bets' on the first day of release to claim the daily champion, 35 million!

Afterward, the screening slots decreased.

Some Huaxia audiences believed 'Oppenheimer' was utterly boring throughout, with even some people leaving halfway through.

This did not affect the film's ability to make money in Huaxia.

The film's quality itself was high enough; while the form was dry, the content was not boring at all, especially the dialogue between Oppenheimer and Einstein at the very end, which brought an impact no less than the nuclear explosion in the middle.

Beyond that, Nolan's previous multiple high-reputation works had allowed him to accumulate quite a few fans in Huaxia.

From this, it can be seen that 'dull and boring' foreign-language films do not affect a film's box office.

Xu Can's situation in North America was the same; 'Dying to Survive' itself was of high enough quality, and combined with the emotion the film evoked, even foreigners could empathize.

Most importantly, the fan effect brought by Xu Can's previous high-quality films such as 'Spider-Man,' 'The Dark Knight,' 'John Wick,' and 'La La Land,'

caused countless North American audiences to buy tickets blindly and enter the theaters,

and then, through high reputation, continuously form a chain reaction upon exiting.

With screening slots for the opening weekend being less than 20%, it actually defeated 'Paul Blart: Mall Cop' to claim the weekly box office champion.

Afterwards, it continuously claimed the daily box office champion, with the film's occupancy rate and screening slots constantly increasing,

and the box office broke $100 million in less than a week!

As for reputation, there is no need to say more; the IMDb opening score is 9.2/10, expected to stabilize around 9 points.

Most North American audiences gave it a 5-star rating.

"It is said to be a story adapted from real events; I have a leukemia patient around me, and the situation is almost identical to the movie. Director Xu Can exposed the bloody reality, 9/10."

"This is not just a movie; the director's filming technique, the actors' performances, and the level of costumes, makeup, and props clearly moved reality onto the screen! 8.8/10."

"After watching, I found that not only does Eastern society have huge problems, but the FDA also has huge problems; we in North America need to reflect as well! 9.5/10."

"A landmark work! Masterpiece! The script, direction, acting, editing, and production are flawless! I actually fell in love with a foreign-language film! 10/10!"

"In past films, everyone praised Xu Can's acting; even so, everyone still underestimated his performance. If he doesn't win Best Actor next time, I doubt the fairness of the Oscars! 9.5/10!"

"With such an outstanding film at the start of the year, what am I supposed to do for the rest of the year? The aftertaste of this incredible Huaxia story is very strong! 10/10!"

Of course, there is no excluding a small minority of low-scoring audiences,

"Can't understand foreign-language films," "Can't keep up with subtitles, what are they saying?", "No big scenes at all," "Perhaps I should study Chinese properly."

Especially many extreme 'rednecks' who are naturally averse to foreign-language films and question them without even watching,

only to be besieged by more film fans online, resulting in a chaotic argument on the Face social platform.

"In this day and age, there are still people slandering Xu Can?"

"Those who can't understand 'The Medicine God,' please go to university first."

"If anyone around you is sick and can't afford medicine, you will feel the power of this film."

"Those who only watch blockbuster movies, really don't come to pick a fight with this film."

"Xu Can is not just a superhero specialist; he is truly the most serious filmmaker in Hollywood. Remember to bring your brain before buying a ticket."

North American netizens supporting Xu Can and 'The Medicine God' still occupy the vast majority.

Due to the controversy on the internet, this film gradually broke out of its circle and attracted even more audiences to go to the cinema.

So much so that a serious foreign-language film has higher screening slots than Hollywood blockbuster comedies, action, and thrillers!

And the occupancy rate for every showing remains above 40%!