Chapter 239: Breaking Ten Billion

Hollywood, Universal Studios.

Famous producer Don Murphy, holding a bucket of popcorn, led his girlfriend into the screening hall of Pacific Rim 2.

As the most important driving force behind the birth of the film Transformers, Don Murphy has been monitoring the project status of Pacific Rim 2.

I thought Transformers 2 would be released first this time, but the later-filmed Pacific Rim 2 actually premiered first—really, there's nowhere to vent my frustration!

Moreover, after Pacific Rim 2 premiered, it won the weekly box office crown and received high ratings, which made the personnel related to the Transformers series unable to sit still.

Michael Bay was busy with post-production and really couldn't spare the time, so Don Murphy volunteered to come himself.

Inside the theater, Don Murphy eyed the crowded crowd, instinctively frowned, and muttered, "Damn, there are actually this many people!"

His girlfriend is also from the entertainment industry, an actress with a great figure, but not completely brainless.

He shrugged and said, "Maybe they're taking this for Transformers 2?"

Don Murphy angrily said, "That Emmy bitch is shameless, actually making the Pacific Rim 2 poster look so like Transformers; they should be sued into bankruptcy!"

However, Columbia Company, while conducting the film's promotion, held a premiere ceremony, and major theaters across North America also carried out poster publicity.

The problem is that the film's promotional poster looks too much like Transformers, causing some North American audiences to foolishly be unable to tell which is Transformers and which is Pacific Rim.

Later, experienced viewers shared identification methods online: robot vs. robot is Transformers, monster vs. monster is Pacific Rim.

Someone replied, shouldn't we distinguish them by name?

Then, no one discussed this topic anymore.

This isn't really surprising; perhaps due to the prevalence of "happy education," many Americans severely lack common sense, know nothing about the world outside the U. S., and some even know nothing about their own country.

Indeed, some Americans don't even know which day Independence Day is, which is quite outrageous.

So, it's not a small number of viewers who, in a daze, mistake Pacific Rim 2 for Transformers 2, after all the styles are too similar.

Know this: Shelter Studios relies on knockoff-effects blockbusters, rushing to release first, and has churned out Sharknado, Atlantic Rim, Mechanic, Triassic World, etc., and made a tidy profit—this shows that releasing similar-type films first can really rake in a lot!

Moreover, the alternative English title of Pacific Rim 2 is also quite similar to "Transformers," and it's not solely because of the poster.

Taking all factors into account, Pacific Rim 2's opening weekend three-day gross was $91.35 million, far surpassing the previous $66 million of Inception.

And on the North American market's opening weekend three-day box office chart, Pacific Rim 2's performance trailed behind 2002's Spider-Man ($114 million), 2005's Star Wars Episode III ($108.5 million), Shrek 2 ($108 million), Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire ($102 million), Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban ($93.68 million), etc., yet it remains quite impressive.

When this news came out, more people came to watch the movie, to the extent that Don Murphy couldn't even get a ticket for the latest showings—needless to say, he was quite depressed.

After finally finding a seat, the theater was still noisy, with people constantly coming and going.

Only when the film started playing did it quiet down a bit, because even North American viewers were stunned by the images displayed in the movie.

Everyone widened their eyes and opened their mouths; when they saw Storm Crimson Red descend from the sky and, with one slash, behead the blue-spraying strong-acid monster, the whole venue erupted in cheers.

"Ohyes!"

"This shot is really awesome, Director Jiang Heng is so talented!"

"How are they fighting monsters together? Isn't it supposed to be two groups of robots fighting?"

"Brother, what you're describing is Transformers!"

"Hmm, isn't this Transformers?"

"……"

In the back row, Don Murphy hearing this really wanted to cry; he had said earlier that they needed to be early, needed to be early—if they could have released before Pacific Rim 2, why would they suffer this loss?

Later, he even forgot how he walked out of the theater, his memory of the film's plot not very deep; he just felt that Pacific Rim 2's battle scenes were super shocking, seemingly exceeding the expected effect of the Transformers 2 currently in production.

So after leaving the theater, he rushed to the place where Michael Bay works.

"Hey, buddy, we might have run into big trouble!"

"What happened, is it really that good?" Michael Bay still found it hard to believe.

Don Murphy slightly nodded, "The online and media reviews aren't exaggerated; the truth is, they didn't describe the film's shocking aspects—really, if you don't go see it in person, just reading the reviews you couldn't imagine it."

Michael Bay hearing this, his face instantly turned very ugly, "Oh, damn, we should just ban that Chinese person's film from entering the U. S. market!"

Don Murphy gave a wry smile, "I also hope the old-timers in Congress can come up with a related bill, but we all know that's impossible. For now, let's just think about what to do for the summer."

The film Transformers 2 is currently scheduled for the summer of 06; two big movies with such similar themes, with release dates so close, if the latter's main selling points—effects and battle scenes—get crushed, the box office will really be disastrous.

Michael Bay probed, "What do you think about additional investment?"

"I'm afraid it would be hard to get approved!"

"Then what do you suggest we do?"

Don Murphy spread his hands, "I really don't know what to do, that's why I came to ask you!"

"Fine, then let's not bother thinking about it—let those executives worry about it!"

The two discussed for half a day, still with no good result, and finally decided to kick the ball to the production company.

The many executives from Paramount and DreamWorks also had a headache over this; they had clearly started shooting early in secret, but Jiang Heng beat them to it, and they couldn't do anything about it!

As for now, it's really just watching Pacific Rim 2 storm the North American market, taking the annual box office crown with a staggering $410 million.

And in Japan, South Korea, the UK, France, Germany, and other major box-office countries, Pacific Rim 2 also sparked a viewing frenzy.

Ultimately, the result reflected in the box office is that Pacific Rim 2's global total gross broke through one billion U. S. dollars, reaching $1.039 billion.

The news transmitted back home could be said to have shocked the entire entertainment industry.

Although the industry has been repeatedly shaken over the years, this time is different.

This time, a single film's global box office surpassing one billion dollars, placed in the whole history of Chinese-language cinema, is also something worthy of being written about in great detail.

At this moment, Jiang Heng's fame is unmatched; all kinds of interview invitation calls are blowing up, and everyone hopes to secure an exclusive interview with him first.

(End of chapter)