Chapter 54

In the previous life, *John Wick* had Keanu Reeves, and the final global box office was only $88 million.

Now it's surpassed that in three days?

Sure enough, looking at the netizens' comments, most of them came for Spider-Man.

He still has no concept of how popular he is.

Plus, the film subverts the monotonous routines of past action movies,

and whether it's Xu Can's fluid and realistic action or the director's lens language, every battle is crafted with a unique style!

It's unique in Hollywood!

Attracted by the title of "most satisfying action movie of the year," many who aren't Spider-Man fans also came for the reputation and left satisfied.

As for the fans, they are even more frantically recommending it to those around them.

At Caltech, the quartet of Leonard, Sheldon, Howard, and Raj are typical examples.

These days, as long as colleagues talk to them, they can't go three sentences without mentioning *John Wick*.

"Leonard, have you seen my dog? I was just doing an experiment, and the dog ran out of the cage."

"Dog? Seems like I saw it in the garden. By the way, have you seen Xu Can's new movie? There's a dog in it too, and the protagonist kills everyone to avenge it..."

"...Sheldon, could there be a problem with your formula? The experimental data doesn't match."

"Hmm? My formula can't be wrong. Just like John Wick—would you question his aim?"

"Who is John Wick?"

"Hmph, I won't discuss the plot with someone who hasn't seen *John Wick*. Let's talk after you've seen this masterpiece."

"Huh?"

Just like *Spider-Man*, the first batch of audience members leaving the theater frantically recommended it to those around them,

and with the high heat of topics related to *John Wick* on the internet,

GIFs of John Wick are everywhere in Facebook updates,

or clips of the unique gun-fu in the movie.

Two shots to the body and one to the head, fluid and professional magazine changes, close-quarters combat combining gun-fu and no-holds-barred fighting—

many movie fans spontaneously used content from the trailer, paired with cool electronic melodies,

to create excellent secondary creations!

Content related to *John Wick* is spreading rapidly like a virus!

In 2014, the producers hadn't formed advanced internet thinking,

and many shots in the movie could still get hundreds of thousands of likes on short video platforms until 2023.

With such an outstanding work, how could Xu Can bear to let it be buried?

Using advanced thinking from the mobile internet era,

Xu Can guided it from behind the scenes, setting off a wave of dimensionality-reduction strikes in internet marketing in this Internet 2.0 era dominated by PC networks!

Therefore, the box office of *John Wick* far exceeds the level of the previous life,

and is currently moving toward $200 million in North America!

Besides the carnival of ordinary movie fans, *John Wick* also formed a large enough shockwave in the Hollywood industry!

On the day the film was released, hardcore film critic Roger Ebert updated his column overnight:

"Before this, we were already very familiar with Hollywood's individualistic heroic action stories; the assassin's retirement is often the end of the film."

"But this film does the opposite, starting the story from the assassin's retirement, using dazzling action choreography, bold and avant-garde lens design, and Xu Can's unique performance... injecting a powerful stimulant into this anti-hero story!"

"I'll praise Xu Can first, this 24-year-old Chinese actor. He broke my impression of Asian actors; his two films have already shown strength comparable to Jackie Chan."

"As Spider-Man, he is sunny and youthful; here, he becomes numb and cold-blooded... I thought only a 40-year-old veteran actor could successfully shape this, but I didn't expect the 20-something Xu Can to shape it even more perfectly!"

"Regarding the action shots in the film, they have formed an absolute challenge to the industrial assembly-line action movies of the past! They will lead a new trend!"

"This film has formed a unique action aesthetic; yes, this is a work of art! Worth enjoying repeatedly."

"Finally, the worldview hidden behind the story is also worth pondering; there seem to be more unsolved mysteries waiting to be excavated... I hope a sequel can be filmed soon to let John Wick return to the big screen..."

Roger Ebert gave his highest praise of two thumbs up again, which shows how excellent *John Wick* is in the eyes of professional film critics.

*The New York Times*, *Daily Film*, *Los Santos Times*... numerous film media and columns have made evaluations.

This film is not perfect,

and the media also used sharp eyes to pick out quite a few problems.

But even with flaws, even with insufficient plot depth, even without big scenes and big productions, it doesn't prevent this from being a phenomenal movie.

In professional media ratings, everyone gave high praise.

In the latest Rotten Tomatoes rating, professional media gave an 88% positive rating; the tomato is quite fresh!

After *Spider-Man*, Xu Can has successfully created a brand-new IP!

The *John Wick* universe looks like it has great development potential!

Filming *John Wick 2* next only requires maintaining the current level; one can tell it's a sure win without thinking!

Most importantly, *John Wick* is a film fully funded by Xu Can himself; his gambler behavior of going all-in with his net worth has now become a confident genius filmmaker in the eyes of Hollywood!

So much so that just a few days after the film was released, assistant Vanessa's phone was blown up again.

"Boss, someone wants to find you to film again; this is the 8th one today..."

Vanessa made a cameo as the protagonist's wife in the film, and the two had a simple kissing scene.

Now, facing Xu Can, she is still in this business-like, obedient manner.

"Who is it this time?"

"It's a big director, Luc Besson... Also, Kevin Feige has arrived at the company; should I let him come to the office now?"

Good guy, is Kevin Feige already impatient?

Looks like *Iron Man* should be put on the agenda!