Chapter 240

"What else can we do?" The bigwig was also helpless.

"Let it be, whatever happens, happens. We should try to strengthen our cooperation with Xu Can and do our best to get him involved in some co-production projects."

Facing the bigwig's remarks, the deputy smiled on the surface, but was frantically complaining inside:

"You're able to bend and stretch, but you have to see if Xu Can is willing; the initiative is in his hands now."

My lord, the times have changed.

……

At the Chinese premiere of "The Avengers," cinemas across the country were packed, with not a single empty seat!

Not to mention the IMAX halls; even with a ticket price of 120, they were full, and you couldn't even grab a ticket!

These were all real audience members, without a drop of water, completely different from the "ghost soldiers" occupying seats for some future script-killing movie!

As for the other 3D and 2D halls, they were equally overcrowded!

Many quite marginal seats required queuing up early to snag; if you were a bit slow in line, you couldn't even get those!

Indeed, if you waited a day or two, you could get good seats; there was no need to watch the midnight premiere.

But who could resist Xu Can's "The Avengers"?

They couldn't even stand waiting one night, let alone a day or two!

By then, they would probably have been spoiled by everyone around them.

On university campuses or in offices, classmates and colleagues were all heatedly discussing who was stronger, Iron Man or Thor,

discussing Loki's true level, discussing who could control the Hulk when he went on a rampage, and discussing whether the villain in the second film would be Thanos.

If you hadn't seen it, you could only stare blankly like a primitive man while listening to everyone else discuss it.

This was the charm of Xu Can's films!

From the initial "Iron Man" and "Dying to Survive" to the later "Interstellar" and "Pacific Rim,"

Xu Can, far away in Hollywood, had gradually become a top-tier celebrity in China!

He didn't buy traffic, didn't participate in variety shows to build presence, and didn't even have scandalous news exposed;

as long as his movie was released, Xu Can remained the most discussed topic among those around him!

As Xu Can's cousin, Xu Xu Yuling naturally enjoyed supreme treatment.

She had long since become a legendary existence at her school; not everyone could have first-line singers like Xu Song or Su Dalan personally hold a concert for them.

On the day "The Avengers" was released, when tickets for the IMAX hall at the Wanda Cinema next to the school were hard to come by and tickets priced at 120 were being scalped for 240,

Xu Xu Yuling was actually able to pull out 6 tickets for the core 8th row of the golden viewing area, inviting a few good friends to watch the premiere together.

Her classmates had long been stunned by her grand gestures and spent a pleasant two and a half hours in the cinema, grateful to the Princess.

"Wow! Iron Man is so handsome!"

"I like Captain America!"

"Why do I feel like Loki is also handsome! This movie is so good!"

"I wasn't a Marvel fan before, but I've been converted! I'm going to catch up on Iron Man!"

"Does no one like Spider-Man?" Xu Xu Yuling asked curiously.

In her eyes, her older brother Xu Can was the most handsome man in Hollywood, bar none.

"Me, me, me!"

Several of her friends raised their hands at the same time.

"Lingling, can I be your sister-in-law?"

One of the girls, who had the best figure and was recognized as the school beauty, joked half-seriously.

She would never admit that sometimes, when her roommates were asleep, she would look at Xu Can's photos and pose her right hand like Spider-Man.

Before Xu Xu Yuling could speak, the other friends nearby laughed and teased:

"Do you think you can compete with Taylor Swift?"

"What if Lingling's brother likes Eastern natural beauties?"

"Then it still wouldn't be your turn; Liu Liu Tianxian and Gao Gao Yuanyuan are already lining up."

Xu Xu Yuling was torn between laughing and crying; why did all the pretty friends around her want to be her sister-in-law? Was this why they hung out with her?

It was three in the morning when the show ended, and while the girls were giggling and playing, other audience members were heatedly discussing this Marvel hero blockbuster.

Everyone's face was glowing with excitement, and they were discussing it fervently, without a hint of sleepiness.

"Awesome! Xu Can is awesome!"

"Awoo! That was so cool! I can't wait to see the second one!"

"We have to wait another year, how are we going to survive that!"

"By the way, isn't 'Spider-Man 3' coming out soon?"

"Oh, that's right!"

They quickly realized that Xu Can's "Spider-Man 3" was filmed almost simultaneously with "The Avengers,"

and it was said it would be released in early 2010!

Having just finished watching "The Avengers," the audience was already looking forward to the next work while savoring this one!

……

North America, 20th Century Fox headquarters.

78-year-old media mogul Rupert Murdoch sat in charge personally, while a group of Fox executives trembled below.

"How is it? Tell me the situation."

Although he was old and frail, the aura formed by years of holding power still made people tremble with fear.

"It's like this..." the Fox CEO said uneasily:

"The first-day box office for 'The Avengers'..."

He paused, then gritted his teeth and said it.

"110 million..."

The 70-year-old Murdoch nearly gasped for air upon hearing this, trembling as he asked:

"How much?"

"110 million dollars, sir."

Rupert Murdoch, who had been sitting proudly in his chair, slumped significantly.

A month ago, everyone expected "Avatar" to go head-to-head with "The Avengers,"

James Cameron's box office myth, the cross-era masterpiece "Avatar" that took ten years to forge,

if nothing went wrong, surely it could steadily take the box office crown and dominate the market, right?

Even if the single-day box office or opening weekend box office didn't necessarily break 100 million,

at least it could form an absolute dominant position and surpass "Titanic" in total box office, right?

After the internal test screening of the film, the response was generally quite excellent.

Rupert Murdoch, James Cameron, and others were certainly full of confidence, feeling they could compete with Xu Can.

After the opening weekend box office figures came out, "Avatar" had good momentum in its second week, and the confidence of everyone at Fox grew even stronger.

As a result, when "The Avengers" was actually released, everyone was dumbfounded..........

The "Los Angeles Times" urgently added a front-Ellen Page headline on the second day of the premiere, with bold, capitalized letters expressing the shock of this news!

The 65 million dollar first-day box office of "The Dark Knight" had been hailed by the media as a record difficult to break within 10 years,

but just over a year later, "The Avengers" set a new record!

This meant one thing—a piece of news that made Hollywood collectively terrified and collectively crazy!

The opening weekend box office for "The Avengers" would likely break through to an unprecedented height!

With an IMDb score of 8.6, a 91% freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and a 90 on Metacritic,

the film's word-of-mouth was among the best for commercial films, which would naturally drive subsequent box office growth!

Sure enough, throughout the weekend, tickets were hard to come by in nearly ten thousand cinemas across North America! Every screening was packed!

Whether it was teenagers or working adults, watching "The Avengers" became the most popular and coolest thing to do!

A visual effects blockbuster that had been set up for two years and was thrilling from start to finish, with humor where it needed humor and excitement where it needed excitement,

it directly turned this Christmas season, which wasn't originally too hot, into something that surpassed the summer season!

In the past, on Boxing Day after Christmas, North Americans didn't really have any great entertainment activities.