Chapter 219: Revisit to a Familiar Place

Chapter 219: Chapter 219: Revisit to a Familiar Place

Yet this creation, born of exhaustive effort, was ultimately destined to face the cold splash of market reality.

Irene sighed softly as she looked at the box office forecasts and industry analysis in the report.

She remembered clearly that this blockbuster, with a cost as high as $150 million, eventually stalled at around $130 million at the North American box office.

Although its opening weekend of $62.6 million set a June record for the time, its subsequent performance was weak, and the global box office barely reached $245 million.

The reason for this lay in the disconnect between Ang Lee’s literary narrative pace and the audience’s high expectations for a superhero flick’s ’thrill factor.’ This led to polarized reviews.

The Rotten Tomatoes Popcorn score was a mere 29%. Fans praised its Eastern sense of space and desolation, while dissatisfied audiences complained that aside from the Hulk smashing things, there was nothing worth watching.

This failure almost ruined the reputation Ang Lee had built in Hollywood over many years in one fell swoop. As the halo from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon faded, the industry began to question his ability to handle commercial blockbusters.

But Irene knew better than anyone that this persistent Chinese director would not be crushed by this failure.

When the time came, he would fight his way back into the public eye with Brokeback Mountain, sweeping the Oscar awards for Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay, becoming the first Chinese person in film history to win the Oscar for Best Director.

At this moment, Irene felt as if she had been struck hard by something. Her father’s words from last night and Ang Lee’s experience overlapped in her mind.

She suddenly understood completely: Ang Lee’s literary narrative was ill-suited for Hulk, but in Brokeback Mountain, it would be a weapon that struck directly at the heart.

As for herself, she excelled at the grand fantasy of Pirates of the Caribbean and the tough edge of Million Dollar Baby, rather than the restrained tenderness of Brokeback Mountain.

Ultimately, a person must exert their strength in the lane they are best at. Without a clear understanding of oneself, no matter how much heart and soul is poured in, one might just be ’striving in the wrong direction’ and end up wasting their effort.

Irene closed the email and looked back at the two scripts on the desk.

She picked up a pen and wrote in the blank space of her notebook:

"Determine project priorities:

1. Complete post-production for Pirates of the Caribbean; 𝘧𝓇ℯℴ𝓂

2. Attend the premiere of My Big Fat Greek Wedding;

3. Start preparations for Million Dollar Baby;

4. Contact Ang Lee’s team to visit the set of Hulk."

The post-production for Pirates of the Caribbean was proceeding step-by-step. The visual effects team at Industrial Light & Magic was polishing the wave-breaking effects of the pirate ships and the details of the magical scenes frame by frame. A visual effects blockbuster of this magnitude could not be rushed. Slow work produces fine results.

Ranked second was My Big Fat Greek Wedding, with its premiere next week. This low-budget romantic comedy was the cheapest film Irene had ever directed.

It had no top-tier cast and no dazzling special effects, yet relying on the reputation Irene had built in Hollywood over the years and the operations of Tom Hanks’s production side, it managed to secure an opening scale of 1,200 theaters during the box office off-season.

One must know that in its previous life, this film originally started with a small-scale limited release and only slowly staged a comeback through word of mouth. Its current presentation was worlds apart.

Preparations for the film’s premiere had started a month ago, with the first step being the acquisition of theater resources. Late spring and early summer were typically the off-season for the box office.

Big productions avoided this window, leaving small and medium-budget films to compete in clusters. Securing a decent opening scale was not easy.

To secure the 1,200-theater opening, the team made precise strategic tilts: they gave up prime theaters in core business districts of first-tier cities, instead focusing on community cinemas, art house theaters, and suburban multiplexes in second and third-tier cities.

The screening costs for these theaters were lower, and the target audience highly matched the film’s positioning as a warm, family comedy.

Shelly even specifically bundled the priority screening rights for Irene’s future Oscar-contending films as additional leverage. This finally got the distributor to relent, increasing the planned 800 theaters to 1,200, setting an opening record for low-budget independent films of the same period.

Inside the cinema lobby, Irene specifically requested a warm style. There were no expensive flowers or light boxes. Instead, they purchased a large number of Greek-style blue and white striped tablecloths and hand-woven tapestries, paired with retro film posters and small olive branch ornaments to recreate the Greek family atmosphere from the film.

A simple Greek food corner was set up at the entrance, allowing guests to immerse themselves in the film’s cultural core before watching.

These snacks were provided in collaboration with local Greek restaurants in Los Angeles, reducing costs through ’film promotion exchange’ and driving cross-promotion for the restaurants.

On the night of the premiere, the evening breeze in Los Angeles carried a faint scent of palm as Irene drove alone toward the independent cinema near Century City.

As dusk fell and the neon lights along the street lit up one by one, she looked at the familiar cinema signs and streetscapes while driving into the neighborhood, a light sense of nostalgia inevitably rising in her heart.

The last time she had set foot in this area was for the premiere of Legally Blonde. At that time, she had just made her mark in Hollywood, carrying the sharp edge of a newborn calf.

In the blink of an eye, several years had passed, and she had already grown from a cutting-edge director into a backbone of the industry, holding heavyweight projects and enjoying widespread recognition.

The car came to a steady stop. Irene pushed the door open, stepped out, and walked slowly toward the cinema entrance. Unlike the grand spectacle of The Italian Job premiere with its red carpets and star-studded crowd, this premiere had no red carpet and no swarming fans. The atmosphere was exceptionally relaxed and simple.

After all, in the entire film, the most well-known figures were producer Tom Hanks and director Irene Coppola. Among the rest of the main cast and crew, only the male lead had some degree of fame.

The remaining supporting actors were ’nobodies’ whom even veteran entertainment reporters who had been working for years might not be able to name on the spot.

As soon as Irene walked into the cinema lobby, she heard the lowered voices of several reporters discussing things in a corner. Their lenses swept casually over the blue and white decorated walls, their faces full of dismissal.

"Has Fox gone completely mad after changing CEOs?" Reporter A put away his camera, tapping the body of the device with his fingertip while shaking his head, his tone full of mockery.

"They really think Irene Coppola is a lifesaver? An atypical family comedy with no stars, no special effects, and not even intense dramatic conflict, and they actually went through the trouble of a premiere. Did this movie even cost ten million to invest in?"

Reporter B beside him was flipping through the film’s information card. Hearing this, he looked up with a hint of uncertainty in his tone:

"It really didn’t reach ten million. According to an insider from the distributor, the total cost was only about 5 million. It’s the low-budget of low-budgets. To be honest, if it weren’t for Irene Coppola’s name being attached, this film wouldn’t even be qualified to enter our sight."