The Best Director - Chapter 433

Chapter 433: Chapter 433: The Victor (Please Vote for Recommendation)

“Weekly Box Office Summary: ‘Summer’ Sparks Viewing Frenzy, Magical Yang Drops Another Blockbuster” — Yahoo Entertainment; “Art House Triumphs Over Blockbusters, Heartbreak Healing Film Sweeps Christmas Box Offices Worldwide” — Sina Entertainment; “How Do You Quit You? ‘500 Days of Summer’ Expounds on the True Essence of Love” — Yahoo QiMo; “Critic Consensus: ‘500 Days of Summer’ Is a Journey of Genuine Love” — Rotten Tomatoes; “‘Summer’ Conquers Global Film Critics, Wang Yang Captures the Romance Genre” — MetaCritic; “Post-‘Firefly’ Era’s Biggest Surprise, Magical Yang Easily Claims Christmas Crown”…

2005 was definitely one of the most important years in the history of human cinema, and a glorious year for science fiction movies, with the end of the ‘Star Wars’ prequel series, ‘Firefly’ shocking the world… The countless significant and sensational events will undoubtedly be a dense chapter in future film history.

As of December 30th, the year was coming to a close, and the annual box office and distribution rankings for all types of movies were nearly settled. Except for the champion of the Year-End Week from December 30th to January 5th, 2006, the last North American weekly champion had emerged.

US$113 million! ‘500 Days of Summer’ performed a frenzy and miracle in 3,351 North American cinemas, with an average of $33,769 per theater, creating this month’s best opening and weekly scores, rendering big productions like ‘The Chronicles of Narnia’ (opening week of 81.33 million) and ‘King Kong’ (71.27 million) embarrassing defeats!

“This can’t be called a breakthrough for low-budget indie films or romantic comedies, because only a phenomenon director like Wang Yang can create such a phenomenon. No one on Earth could stop him now.” Yahoo’s weekly box office commentary joked, with exit poll data showing 65% of ‘500 Days’ viewers were aged 18 and over, 59% were female, indicating that the majority were couple viewers, rather than families with kids, and yet ‘500 Days’ is a male-oriented movie.

“Wang Yang is completely unaffected by the lukewarm film market. He can draw audiences into theaters, he’s the one driving the market,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Exhibitor Relations, who stated, “It’s like a concert. No matter what the movie genre, as long as it’s made by Magical Yang, there’s enough reason for the audience to watch, until they walk home disappointed for the first time, but 7 movies in 10 years, and not once. Now it’s his era.”

In the Christmas slot of 2000, ‘Juno’ and ‘Cast Away’ fought a fierce battle, with ‘Juno’ winning the Christmas week crown of December 22-28 by a narrow margin of 969,100, with an opening week box office of 70.6198 million (2,712 theaters); in 2002, ‘The Hangover’ took the week’s crown of December 13-19 with 85.0916 million (2,875 theaters), only to lose to ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers’ in its second week; in 2003, ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ won the week’s crown of December 12-18 with 74.6852 million (3,056 theaters) amid fierce battles with film critics, but lost to ‘The Lord of the Rings 3’ in the following week.

Wang Yang fought in the Christmas slot four times, always taking the opening week crown, but only once before had he won the real Christmas week crown. Now, five years later, the fresh and sunny Magical Yang returned to the set and reclaimed the Christmas week crown with an overwhelming advantage!

The total North American box office this week reached US$365 million, approaching the peak of US$371 million from December 26, 2003, to January 1, 2004, sweeping away the malaise of the post-‘Firefly’ months. “Love Magical Yang to death!” cinema owners couldn’t be more thrilled, and why love Magical Yang? Last week’s total box office was just slightly over 200 million! Imagine if not for this blockbuster, this powerful stimulant, that number would have been an unexciting little over 300 million.

The runner-up was ‘The Chronicles of Narnia,’ which took in 58.54 million in its third week (3,853 theaters, averaging $15,196 per theater), pushing its North American total close to 200 million; third place was ‘King Kong’ with 55.41 million (second week, 3,576 theaters/$15,495), nearing a total of 150 million in North America.

It’s like a dividing line, above are the “three big movies,” and below is the mournful wailing of a host of new films: in fourth place ‘The New Money Heist Couple’ with 27.18 million; fifth ‘Cheaper by the Dozen 2’ with 24.54 million; sixth ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’, expanded to 1,547 theaters (+1,495), with 13.32 million; the seventh place new film ‘The Stone Family’ with 12.16 million; Jennifer Aniston’s ‘Rumor Has It,’ with Rotten Tomatoes scores of 20%/13%/51%, became a flop, earning only 9.07 million in five days of release; The Weinstein Company’s horror film ‘Wolf Creek’ became a flop with 53%/52%/50%, debuting with 5.4 million in box office…

Meanwhile, two other films with limited releases, “The Amityville Horror” collected $9.51 million (532 venues), and “Brokeback Mountain” took in $6.61 million (270 venues), bringing its total box office to $12.58 million.

Destroyed! The $15 million production “500 Days of Summer” not only brutally tormented this week’s competition but also gave a feeling of utter helplessness to the rest of film history’s rivals. With an opening week of $113 million, it jumped to 17th place in the North American Cinemas’ romantic comedy box office rankings (from 1978 to present). There are only six movies above $150 million and just one above $200 million; now the frightening thing is that it reached the $100 million mark in just 7 days! It’s at the 22nd place for the “fastest to $100 million” list. What movies are around it?

In the 19th place is “X-Men 2,” and the 20th place “Jurassic Park 2”; in the 21st place is “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets,” with a production cost of $100 million, taking in $102 million in 6 days and eventually $261 million in North America; 23rd place, “The Day After Tomorrow,” with a production cost of $125 million, 7 days to $100 million, eventually making $186 million in North America; 24th place “Rush Hour 2,” 25th place “Bruce Almighty,” and 26th place “Finding Nemo”…

Now, a delightful indie film stands shoulder to shoulder with these behemoths of production and marketing—a show of formidable strength! Six months before the magical Wang Yang’s new marketing strategy, media fans everywhere had never imagined this scenario! Is it the first time for a romantic comedy to wildly rake in ticket sales in such an astonishing manner—and will it take over the box office champion title for romantic comedies?

With its extremely high critical acclaim and never-lacking “Wang Yang’s persistence,” according to predictions by organizations like Exhibitor Relations and Boxofficemojo, “500 Days of Summer” entering the $200 million club in the North American box office is 99% likely to happen, and is expected to reach around $250 million.

“Miracles are always made by humans, and the person who always creates miracles is named Wang Yang,” said the Yahoo Entertainment report. The opening performance of “500 Days” also marked Wang Yang’s third film to break $100 million in its opening week, with “Firefly” at $236.5 million, “District 9” at $131 million, and then “Summer”; and this year, it reached the fourth-highest opening week, with “Firefly,” the $150 million “Star Wars: Episode III,” the $146 million “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” and then “Summer.”

One can only imagine how huge the effect of “Firefly” is; how extremely HOT Wang Yang is; and just how outstanding “Summer” is itself—it’s an unprecedented spectacle!

However, fans like Blaze C and Lois G, who had predicted this outcome early on, aren’t surprised. Blaze C left a comment on the “Weekly Box Office Summary” discussion board again, saying, “It’s so sad! I’m referring to ‘500 Days of Summer’ and this ranking. These poor films really need some comforting. Why? What did they do wrong? Why did they have to be released at the same time as Wang Yang’s work? Perhaps that’s the biggest mistake.” Lois G said, “The second place was ‘The Chronicles of Narnia,’ which lost only -93%, a very good performance! I thought it would be over -100%.” Elizabeth V said, “I had a friend who earlier said ‘Wang Yang doesn’t know how to make love stories, he’s just acting tough despite being hurt, he’s going to be a fool this time.’ I just called him and said, ‘See, you bitch!’”…

“‘Firefly’ just lacks a normal beautiful woman and the normal elements of love.” — Score: 60, TY Burr, The Boston Globe.

“This movie performed the magic that captivated me, sparkling fun, sincere beauty, and a (Wonderfully-Uplifting-and-Brilliantly) brilliant performance.” — Score: 95, TY Burr, The Boston Globe.

Yang haters became Yang fans! Six months ago, TY Burr gave “Firefly” one of the few mediocre reviews, the biggest issue being the director’s handling of female characters. That has long been a criticism in the world of film reviews about Wang Yang, with more than one critic complaining about the lack of passion for chasing girls in his work, even if it came with the so-called label of love elements. In early July, when he announced the new plan for “500 Days of Summer,” Rotten Tomatoes commented, “It seems Wang Yang’s war with the critics is set to continue.”

Now that the “Summer Battle” has started and the results are in, who is the winner?

Seven days after its release, “500 Days of Summer” scored 8.5 on the IMDB-TOP250 list (113,572 votes), finding temporary stability, while on the other side, its audience approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes slipped to 92% (731,926 user ratings). Viewers who dropped low ratings mainly did so because they disliked the film’s overall style, especially the disordered and messy narrative structure. The “sentimental comedy” and “non-Hollywood ending” were also pelted with rotten tomatoes because many people just wanted “to celebrate success simply with a white wedding cake”.

However, the freshness rating from general film critics stands at 92% (171/185), and for well-known critics, it’s 95% (40/42). Who is the winner?

The Northwest Herald’s Jeffrey Westhoff refuses to concede, vowing to be a consistent critic of Wang Yang. He gave 2 out of 4 stars, “All its lofty ambitions feel synthetic, requiring one to bug out their eyes to search for something of interest, utterly perplexing and boring.” Clearly, he found a solid opposition camp, negating the stylistic tone. So what’s the point of the movie and how profound could it be? Its perspective on love isn’t novel.

Naturally, Westhoff’s blog didn’t escape the bombardment and ridicule from Yang’s fans. Valeria commented, “Of course, given your IQ, you’re more suited to movies like ‘The Perfect Score’ and ‘The Perfect Man’.” Logan-G wrote, “Wow! I’ve found a ’40-Year-Old Virgin’ and finally understood why there is a negative population growth.” Delon-L wrote, “My situation might be a bit unique. I went to see it with my family, and my 10-year-old brother said, ‘This style is super cool!’”…

Without a doubt, the miraculous Yang won, “Summer” won, and now it’s time for Yang’s fans to revel! Whatever frustrations they’ve had before are now being vented. More! Even more!

So the other critics who threw rotten tomatoes also received the same treatment: David Edelstein from New York Magazine, Joe Mogenstern from The Wall Street Journal, Liam Lacey from The Globe and Mail, Kimberly Jones from The Austin Chronicle… Some of them are traditional critics of Yang, others are critics of the film, not the person, but unlike the verbal battle over “TDWP,” this time no one stood beside them; instead, more and more people threw piles of dung in their faces.

Hollywood Reporter’s Kirk Honeycutt, At The Movies’ Ben Mankiewicz, Slate’s Dana Stevens, Chicago Tribune’s Michael Philip…

“Watching this movie is a delightful experience. Almost every scene is bursting with fun, and before you know it, the evening has passed. It’s the kind of movie that you never want to end, although you still hope it pauses when you need to visit the restroom.”

Film critic Roger Ebert sang its praises in the Chicago Sun-Times, giving it an A+ grade. His in-depth review still followed the writing pattern of North American film critics: overall assessment, introduction of the director and script, plot recap, appraisal of the actors and production, concluding with relevant background information.

He continued, “The scene that stays with me most is when the male lead, Tom, triumphantly walks out of the apartment after first sleeping with Summer, singing and dancing down the street. It was simply magical. Close your eyes and imagine yourself running through a sunny field, with no annoying birds following you, with fragrant flowers and a gentle breeze. Let your imagination run wild, everything is so beautiful. It was great to see that sunny young man return.”

“The film’s plot may not be complex or novel, but it builds a freshness through many sincere details. I won’t mention too much about those things related to people born in the 80s; I don’t think ‘Knight Rider’ is the best TV show. As a romantic comedy about love, it does enough and does it well. In love, we only believe what we want to believe, and that’s the appealing factor of the movie—its truthfulness, respect for the audience, and naturalness.”

Ebert seemed to be in high spirits as he wrote, “Wang Yang has delivered another grand performance. ‘Firefly’ made him seem like a knight, ‘500 Days of Summer’ like a poet. Who says he can’t direct romance? That guy really should be sentenced. I hope those people will next time say ‘he can’t direct war movies’, because I’ve had enough of those ridiculous ‘epics’. The miraculous poet Yang dissected love, have you ever seen an anatomical chart of the human body? That’s what he did, so when you watch this movie, you might feel disgusted by love, but also sentimental.”

Later, when introducing the plot, the old man lively discussed several favorite classic scenes and praised the performance of the actors. He said, “When Natalie Portman joined with Wang Yang, she’s like someone who smoked too much marijuana or a kid who got their favorite toy, bursting with energy, but that’s not a good habit. From another perspective, her performances in other movies are just for laughs.” He also lavished praise on the fine production and unique style.

In conclusion, he commented, “If you understand that before the filming of this movie, Wang Yang nearly died; during the filming, he could only use one hand and had to endure the torment of severe concussion sequelae… It took half a year from preparation to release, you realize it has a thousand reasons to fail, but now it has a thousand reasons to be praised. Before I sent this article to press, I checked and the UK media are all praising it, the American media too, talking about frozen fruit sorbets, ice cream, slushies, cold dessert shop menus, someone even said it’s the ‘Annie Hall’.”

“28 years ago, I saw the premiere of ‘Annie Hall’, and three years ago, when I watched it again, I was surprised to find that every scene had an instant feeling of familiarity; it turns out I had never forgotten it. I believe I’ll feel the same when I watch ‘500 Days of Summer’ 25 years later, if I’m still alive, that is.”

Roger Ebert’s review won enthusiastic support from the vast number of Yang fans. More than one fan agreed that Wang Yang’s new nickname should be “the miraculous poet”, and in fact, it can be traced back to the ancient Tang poetry of the final scene of ‘Firefly’. Many more fans rushed to Wang Yang’s blog to leave comments: “You can’t direct comedy,” “You can’t direct sports movies,” “You can’t direct horror movies”… The miraculous BABY is like a living wishing tree, but to make a wish come true, you have to use reverse psychology.

Although this is not a head-banging decision movie like ‘I Am Legend’, ‘The Dark Knight’, ‘Oldboy’, ‘Iron Man’, etc., Yang fans’ first wave of reckoning has arrived, and they’re slam dunking it! Not only did Yang-hating film critics and internet trolls suffer bombardment and destruction, but those who had taken up the gauntlet in life also became the latest joke in social circles. Who can blame them when talking about the miraculous Yang is an essential topic and talking about Yang is also necessary?

“Hahaha—” People like Eve, Alice, and others called their Yang-hating friends, achieving a round of joyful laughter, non-stop until the other party surrendered, admitting: “Okay, he can direct romance, I was wrong! But that doesn’t mean his other decisions are correct!”

Correct? Incorrect? Flame Film’s North American box office total for 2005 reached an astonishing degree! Completing the grand feat that was not completed last year: Breaking 1 billion US dollars? That was already achieved! And who else broke through 1 billion this year?

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PS: A new week starts tomorrow—please vote for recommendations!! Please raise your hand and give it a try on Tuesday to hit the weekly recommendation list! Thank you!! (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets at Qidian (), your support is my greatest motivation.)