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Chapter 417: Christmas Eve
🕑 Added 2025-08-08 15:17:44 +0000 UTCLet's move the time forward a little, to the evening of December 10th.
Although the moon was already bright and the stars were sparse, there was no sight of magpies flying south in the city of Los Angeles.
Even though it was very late, the Fox Building in Century City was still brightly lit.
In preparation for the upcoming Christmas season, every Fox employee is working hard.
From the company's president Jim Ganopoulos to every grassroots employee, everyone has put all their energy into it.
Regardless of the busy grassroots employees below, a group of bigwigs were gathered in the chairman's office on the top floor of the Fox Building for the final publicity and promotion meeting.
On both sides of the long conference table in the office, Fox executives led by Jim Gianopulos sat on the left, while Ben Stiller and other main creators of "Night at the Museum" sat on the right.
Everyone sat quietly, watching an assistant who was on the phone.
Although everyone present was paying close attention to the result of the call, no one dared to speak out and disturb him.
Finally, the other party hung up the phone.
"The results of the preview of Iron Man are out?"
As the host of the meeting, Jim Ganopoulos asked his assistant.
"Yes, I just got the audience survey feedback statistics for the Iron Man preview."
The other party said slowly.
The Hollywood circle is not big. For industry giants like Fox, there is no information that they cannot find out except the business secrets that are kept strictly confidential by major companies.
What's more, news like the results of preview screenings are not kept confidential by major companies unless the word of mouth collapses to the point where it is out of control.
But at that point, everyone in the circle can probably guess whether the quality of the movie is good or not.
To this assistant, everyone present was his boss, so he immediately told him the statistical results.
"Washimine collected a total of 523 valid questionnaires, of which 493 were rated A or A+."
“What about the bad reviews?”
“Less than 20.”
This answer made everyone look unhappy, and Jim Ganopoulos even pursed his lips.
Everyone's faces were not very happy. Even though most of the audience at the preview were fans, the approval rating was really too high.
You should know that the preview screening of "X-Men 3" released this year received less than 70% positive reviews.
As for the movie "Night at the Museum" they prepared this time, its preview received even lower praise.
Of course, as a happy comedy film targeting the family market, the relationship between word of mouth and box office is as basically unrelated as a woman's bra and stockings.
But even so, it still feels unreliable to let a movie with poor reputation face off against a movie with high praise.
At one point, Jim Ganopoulos even considered postponing the release date of Night at the Museum.
But this idea was abandoned as soon as it flashed through his mind. The movie "Night at the Museum" had been promoted for more than half a year, and Fox had spent tens of millions of dollars on publicity alone.
By this time, Fox had signed the screening contracts with theaters, so even if he wanted to withdraw the film, the theaters would not agree.
Oh, that's not right.
The theaters will still agree, but only if Fox pays the penalty.
And it’s not impossible for Night at the Museum to win.
After all, the main audience of movies are children. This audience group is usually quiet, but has huge potential during the holiday season.
Because during holidays, the audience is mainly family units, and a child can at least buy one more adult's movie ticket.
If the whole family travels, this number may be even higher.
only……
Jim Ganopoulos glanced at the "Iron Man" poster on the table. The gold and red iron armor on it was also very tempting.
With that in mind, Jim Gianopulos asked, “How are we doing with the discrediting of Robert Downey Jr.”
A leading actor with a history of drug abuse, this is something Fox has been constantly emphasizing since the beginning of its publicity war.
Superhero actors are a very special group in Hollywood.
Other movie actors do not have to take responsibility for their roles, and the audience will clearly distinguish between the actors and their roles.
But the role of a superhero is different. Because there are a large number of underage audiences, all characters must behave themselves and set a good public example both on and off the screen.
This is also why you will find that superhero actors participate in various child welfare charity campaigns far more than other actors.
Jim Ganopoulos didn't know what was wrong with Washimine that he would choose a drug addict as the protagonist, but this could be a good attack point for Fox.
As long as people are given the impression that the actors are not good people, parents will naturally stay away from this movie.
"I have tried very hard to promote it, but Washimine has tried even harder to promote the other party's inspirational story of changing his mind."
The assistant's answer was somewhat helpless: "According to our survey, currently 10% of people believe that Robert Downey Jr. has changed his ways, 20% think he is still the drug addict, and the rest are waiting and watching."
"Are you kidding me? Can a drug addict turn back?"
Jim Ganopoulos sneered and asked several senior paparazzi from Fox Publicity Department, "Did you get any explosive news about Donny?"
The so-called explosive news, of course, is about Downey's relapse into drug addiction. It would be even better if photos could be taken.
If the right path can be found, then those who are waiting and watching will become anti-Tang faction.
By then, both Washimine and Marvel will become rats crossing the street that everyone will shout and beat.
"No."
The leading paparazzi said in embarrassment: "This guy seems to know that we are following him. He now appears in public places most of the day. Except for going to the toilet and sleeping, he has no private space."
"And you didn't find any evidence?"
"We found nothing. We even searched the trash cans. The only thing left is to dig out the sewers and search his house."
The paparazzi are about to cry.
"Waste."
Jim Ganopoulos cursed, but he was also wondering in his heart.
[Strange, could it be that the poisonous ghost has really reformed? ]
"Should we?"
The paparazzi made a secret gesture, and everyone knew what it meant.
Anyway, it’s not the first time that these fearless guys have done this kind of thing.
Always wanting to make big news or something is simply underestimating them. These lawless guys are really always making big news.
This idea is very tempting. Just throw mud into Robert Downey Jr.'s crotch. Given his criminal record, who would believe him if he said it wasn't shit?
But Jim Ganopoulos ultimately shook his head.
"Forget it. Since Washimine dared to push him to the front, he must have been prepared. If he didn't take the initiative to touch those things, forget about setting a trap."
If it were an ordinary actor, Jim Gianopulos might have actually done this.
It is impossible for a celebrity to achieve anything on his own. Even the superstar Michael Jackson was buried by a simple trap, right?
As the president of an entertainment company, Jim Ganopoulos has long lost his bottom line.
But now Robert Downey Jr. has the Washimine Group behind him. Actors with backing and actors without backing are two completely different concepts.
In other words, as long as Robert Downey Jr. does not fall into depravity on his own initiative, Washimine must have prepared plans for all other possible problems.
If you act rashly, you might end up getting into trouble.
Since it is impossible to attack the opponent, the only thing we can do is to strengthen our own strength.
Jim Ganopoulos looked at the somewhat unprepossessing man sitting opposite him.
"Ben, the other party's movie lacks a big star, you are our trump card."
"Don't worry, I will do my best to cooperate with the publicity."
Ben Stiller nodded in agreement.
Ever since the "Meet the Fockers" series became popular, Ben Stiller's appeal in the comedy market has skyrocketed, and he has become a popular comedian.
Although no one knows what is so outstanding about this plain-looking man who can only tell shit, piss and fart jokes, there are always people who buy into the movies he makes.
Sometimes, movies are really a magical thing.
Ben Stiller himself also attaches great importance to "Night at the Museum". Unlike his previous third-rate comedies, this movie is an orthodox family movie.
If this movie is successful, it means that he has the capital to become a first-line actor.
Therefore, Ben Stiller will try his best to meet Fox's requirements because it concerns his future.
After that, Fox’s senior executives discussed it for a long time and finally finalized the film’s promotion plan.
In short, the film's biggest selling point is the starring actor Ben Stiller, and it focuses on the family movie box office market, in an effort to lure as many children as possible into the cinema.
However, compared to Fox, which was struggling with how to promote the movie, Washimine did not have such a problem.
Because Washimine has a bug named Kiryu Nanaya.
This guy set the tone for Iron Man right from the start.
I am Iron Man.
I am Iron Man.
The Marvel Decade began and ended here.
As someone who has personally experienced Marvel's most glorious moments, how could Nanaya not use the character of Tony Stark as the biggest selling point of the movie?
Since the second half of this year, Washimine has been promoting the role of Iron Man like crazy through various channels.
Even in Wii Sports, the first game for Washimine's new Wii console in November, a fitness trainer skin for Iron Man was specially added.
So after entering December, the two movies "Iron Man" and "Night at the Museum" began to appear intensively in major media.
The media and film critics who attended the previews of the two films cheered and launched the final publicity campaign before the films were released.
The 2006 North American Christmas season opened in such a tense atmosphere.
