Chapter 292: Everyone is watching and expecting

Fan Bingbing was still washing up and hadn't come out. Cao Yang checked the time. It had been more than half an hour. Women are really inefficient in this regard.

Men are much faster in this regard.

They wouldn't use so many messy cosmetics, and sometimes even shampoo foam is used directly as body wash. Those who are particular might use a little body wash or soap separately.

"Not done yet?"

Cao Yang shouted, then quickly took off his clothes and walked toward the washroom.

"Almost... oh my, why are you coming in?"

"To do it!"

Cao Yang laughed and walked in, taking the opportunity to squeeze some body wash on his hand.

"Don't be anxious, let me help you apply some body wash first."

Fan Bingbing dodged back, pretending to be shy and hugging her chest with both hands. "No, I've already used body wash. You go out first, I'm going to get dressed."

"Used it?"

"Mm-hmm."

"I don't believe it, come, let me check."

"You have to keep your word. After checking, let me go out."

"That's for sure, I'll let you go out after checking."

After a while, Fan Bingbing screamed, "You can't check there."

Vaguely, Cao Yang's voice came out, "If I don't check, how can I know if you applied it here..."

Then there were screams, noises, and a little bit of water splashing.

After a while, Cao Yang's voice came: "Alright, checked, you did use body wash. I keep my word, you can go out."

However, there was no sound of the door opening, but Fan Bingbing said: "You, you finished checking, now it's my turn to check you."

Then there were noises again, but this time there was no sound of water splashing, and strange swallowing sounds and muffled sounds came out, not knowing what had happened.

After a while, the bathroom heard the sound of water splashing again, accompanied by high-pitched and loud singing.

On July 3rd, Monday, the results for the first weekend of *Superman* were out.

Regardless of how much this superhero film, which was restarted after twenty years, actually invested, there is no doubt that DC Comics' Superman has always been one of the most popular superheroes in the United States.

Moreover, Superman is also the first American comic book superhero, leading American comics into the Golden Age.

Although Superman's popularity in the United States might not be as good as Batman, it is about the same. In the era when Marvel live-action films have not yet completely risen, Superman's popularity base is still very stable.

From June 30th to July 2nd, the first place on the North American weekend box office chart was Warner Bros.' super blockbuster *Superman Returns*.

The box office was over 52 million.

The first weekend box office was over 52 million, plus the box office for the premiere day on Wednesday and Thursday, the cumulative total for five days was 84 million US dollars.

At first glance, this result is quite good. If there are no accidents, the total North American box office can still reach about 200 million.

However, you have to know that this is a super-super-super blockbuster with an investment of 270 million. If this is a real investment, a 200 million box office in North America? It flopped to the grandmother's house.

Even if the real investment is 150 million, this box office is not good, it is considered qualified.

Of course, if the real investment is only about 100 million, this box office is quite good.

In any case, judging from the results of these five days of *Superman Returns*, it is definitely impossible to explode again. The high-level executives of Columbia and the several leads of *Inception* all breathed a sigh of relief.

No matter how confident they are in *Inception*, if *Superman Returns* explodes, it will squeeze the box office of *Inception* and have a great impact.

Cao Yang also paid attention to the North American weekend box office chart. Except for *Superman Returns*, which had loud thunder and small raindrops, there were no films on the list that could threaten *Inception*.

Ranked second was still Cao Yang's old acquaintance, the comedy film *The Devil Wears Prada* starring Anne Hathaway, released on the 30th, with a first-weekend box office of 27.5 million.

According to the investment of this film, it is a good result. It just depends on whether it can stabilize. If the drop in the second week is normal, the North American box office should be able to break 100 million.

It is worth mentioning that the other lead actress of this film, Meryl Streep, also known as Auntie Mei, is quite awesome!

Just counting from the current point in time, as of 2006, Meryl Streep has already brushed 16 nominations for Best Actress at the Golden Globe Awards and has won the Golden Globe Best Actress three times.

There is also the Oscar, which has a wide influence all over the world. She has also brushed 10 nominations for Oscar Best Actress. It is a bit regrettable that she only won 1 Oscar Best Actress out of 10 nominations.

Other various awards are countless.

This is an award-brushing monster!

For Meryl Streep, life is endless, and award-brushing is endless!

Cao Yang remembered that there seemed to be a Guinness record in later generations. As of 2018, Meryl Streep had brushed a total of 21 nominations for Oscar Best Actress (including Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress)!

In addition, she also accumulated 9 Golden Globe Best Actress awards!

It's outrageous!

The next day, while promoting the film, Cao Yang talked with Bellman, who is responsible for his agency and legal affairs.

According to Bellman, the negotiations with both Warner Bros. and Disney have reached a stalemate, and the differences are still quite large.

The main disagreement is still on the film's box office share.

Simply put, both *Batman* and *Pirates of the Caribbean* are unwilling to give a global box office share, only willing to give a profit share, which is something Cao Yang cannot accept.

Just like Warner Bros., there are many disgraceful criminal records.

Let alone *Harry Potter*, such a big golden egg-laying chicken could be turned into a box office loss, which is also amazing.

There is also *Superman Returns*. As far as Cao Yang knows, the director of this film, Bryan Singer, is the director of *X-Men 1* and *X-Men 2*.

Warner Bros. felt that he had the experience of directing comic book films, so they wanted him to direct the restarted *Superman Returns*.

But at that time, 20th Century Fox happened to be shooting *X-Men: The Last Stand*, and the first choice was definitely Bryan Singer.

In order to let Bryan Singer "jump ship" to direct *Superman Returns*, Warner Bros. promised him a box office profit share and was much more generous than 20th Century Fox.

Bryan Singer heard this, and there is such a good thing?

So he gave up continuing to direct *X-Men: The Last Stand* and chose *Superman Returns*, which he thought could get more benefits.

Well, box office profit share, 270 million production cost, Bryan Singer was also pitted quite badly by Warner Bros.

So much so that in the eight or nine years that followed, he only cooperated with 20th Century Fox and shot n *X-Men* series.

During this period, he was moved by Warner Bros.' "sincerity" again and decided to give Warner Bros. another chance, shooting *Jack the Giant Slayer* with a production cost of 200 million...

In recent years, rumors have been circulating among directors and actors in Hollywood that Warner Bros. executives have major illnesses. The thing they like to do most is to suddenly change directors and actors while shooting a film.

Therefore, cooperating with Warner Bros. carries great risks. The risks here refer not only to the uncertainty of the box office of new films, but also to the risk of being replaced and not getting a box office share.

If Warner Bros. only gives a box office profit share, no matter how high it is, Cao Yang will not consider it.

Compared to the stalemate of *Batman*, Disney is easier to talk about. After all, the first *Pirates of the Caribbean* flopped, and they have already temporarily sealed it. If they want to restart in a short time, they can only find a big director.

As for *Gravity*, which Warner Bros. wants to adapt, because the copyright is in Cao Yang's hands, Warner Bros.' sincerity is more sufficient.

Currently, the condition they gave is 10% of the global box office and subsequent shares, which is lower than the 13% of *Inception*, so it is still deadlocked for the time being.

Cao Yang knows that the reason why the negotiations are deadlocked is that *Inception* is about to be released.

Everyone is waiting, wanting to see the performance of his first super blockbuster with an investment of over 100 million US dollars.

However, according to Bellman, Warner Bros. is quite interesting. They feel that the investment in *Gravity* is too small, and they want to invest more than 150 million, not the 100 million US dollars budgeted by Cao Yang.

In their words, what can 100 million US dollars do? For this kind of film that is mostly in the void, if you want to shoot it realistically, you have to spend money and special effects.

Of course, Warner Bros. is not a sucker who only invests money. Their requirements are also very simple: *Gravity* must use the special effects company they designate.

Alright, combined with the 270 million *Superman Returns*, Cao Yang can roughly guess Warner Bros.' thoughts.

From July 7th to July 9th, the first weekend of the weekend, because there were no new films released, the top of the North American weekend box office chart was still *Superman Returns*, but the box office for the three days of the weekend was only 22 million.

Adding the box office of the working days, so far, *Superman Returns* has achieved a box office of 142 million US dollars.

With the box office of *Superman Returns* for the three days of the weekend, when *Inception* is released next week, it will almost not have much impact.

Cao Yang has participated in quite a lot of promotions in North America, and there are no blockbusters that threaten him next week, so Cao Yang took Fan Bingbing, Wu Qihua, and Leonardo DiCaprio back to the country.

He intends to spend a week promoting *Inception* again in the country.

Depp, Mark Ruffalo, and Tom Hardy are enough in North America. Cao Yang knows Leonardo DiCaprio's popularity in the country, which is not comparable to other Hollywood stars, so he brought him along.

On July 13th, *Inception*, the largest co-production film in the country's history, held a grand premiere at the CPPCC Auditorium amid everyone's expectations.

For a time, stars gathered, and several big directors in the country almost all came, wanting to see in advance what this film, which cost 1.5 billion yuan, was like.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 293 =====

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