321. From Here On, I Will Keep Reaching the Summit
Lu Ban's interview caused a huge uproar in China.
After all, he had contributed many famous quotes in his previous interviews. In this interview, when faced with the fact that the box office was lower than that of "Speed of Death 11" on the first day, he actually thought in reverse and called it a way to show the value of the victory, which left people speechless and contributed another set of holy words.
The box office battle surrounding these two films quickly intensified.
On social media and in the media, those who support and those who oppose Lu Ban hold their own opinions.
[Lu Ban is amazing! This is the kind of wildness a young director should have! Those timid, submissive types from before are just too much!!!]
[Just a casual observer, I've seen both movies, and in terms of the ending, Speed of Death 11 was definitely more exciting.]
To be honest, I watched * Speed of Death 11 * first, then * Demon Tide *. I'm actually glad I did it in that order. Otherwise, seeing the special effects in * Demon Tide * and then watching the explosions in Speed of Death 11 would have been incredibly awkward—it was a complete blowout!
It's said that real cars were used in the explosions during the filming of "Speed of Death 11." With such extensive real-life filming, what's a little special effects compared to that?
To be honest, I've almost gone from being a fan of Lu Ban to just a casual observer. If you lose, you should just admit it, not make excuses. And now they want to achieve thirty days at the top of the box office within a month? No other movie can do that, right?
[Does the person upstairs have any common sense? The record for consecutive daily box office earnings in China is still "Avada" from ten years ago. It was released for ten weeks and held the top spot at the box office for ten weeks, and it hasn't been broken since.]
[But does Lu Ban's single-day championship refer to a global title? That seems even more difficult!]
[Since it's all just bragging anyway, I might as well brag about becoming the highest-grossing single day box office in the universe!]
[But honestly, after watching "The Demon Tide," I watched other special effects movies, and they all felt very fake. Lu Ban is a sinner; he's spoiled my tastes. Movies that I used to enjoy now just seem unreal.]
[Your arguing here is pointless. Just look at the box office; Lu Ban might flop next day.]
Lu Ban's words also spread overseas. For foreigners who are direct and open, Lu Ban's words were a bit too arrogant, which attracted a lot of attention.
The New York Times published a special report titled "Lu Ban: A Young Director Who Started with Horror Films," which carefully investigated Lu Ban's past experiences and provided some reconstruction of his growth and rise to fame. However, due to the information gap between the two sides, their investigation was not complete.
For example, the reporter mistakenly believed that Lu Ban had a relationship with Jiangcheng Industries, thinking that Lu Ban entered the film and television industry because of Jiangcheng Industries's sponsorship. The reporter also dug into the women around Lu Ban and claimed that he had an unusual relationship with more than one woman.
On social media platforms such as Twitter, "The Demon Tide" quickly reached the top of the trending list. More than the movie itself, many people were curious about Lu Ban, the handsome young director with arrogant remarks.
However, most people think that Lu Ban is just arrogant and that his claim that he can win the box office championship until the end of the film is just bragging.
Many people believe that Lu Ban's box office performance on the second day will plummet at lightning speed.
However, when the box office statistics for the second day were finalized, everyone was stunned.
"Speed of Death 11" saw its box office drop to less than 500 million on its second day, a drop of more than half. This is actually normal, as the film's estimated global box office is around 8 billion. Considering the previous performance of the series, this drop is actually quite good.
However, what's surprising is "Demon Tide".
On Sunday, the day after Christmas, "The Demon Tide" grossed one billion dollars worldwide, almost matching the single-day box office record set by a big-budget Lunar New Year film during the previous Spring Festival.
Naturally, at this point in time, "The Demon Tide" was the undisputed global box office champion.
Moreover, with the combined box office figures from the two days, "The Demon Tide" is like the Rangers in the movie who manage to survive desperate situations, achieving a comeback and surpassing the box office of "Speed of Death 11".
On the giant screen in Times Square, New York, several guests engaged in a discussion with the female host.
"Unprecedented. I have never seen this type of movie have such strong staying power. Its box office on the second day even exceeded that on the first day. Now it seems that the reason why ' Speed of Death 11 ' was able to reach $130 million on the first day is because it could reach that number, while the reason why ' The Demon Tide ' was able to reach $50 million is because its screenings were only enough for $50 million!"
"I watched both movies yesterday, and I think that ' The Demon Tide ' is good enough to compete with our film industry, and even surpasses it in many ways. I find it hard to believe that one day Hollywood will not be able to make the special effects in other countries' movies, but that has really happened."
"The world depicted in the film is incredibly wonderful and immersive. After watching it, I couldn't help but imagine how those people lived, their daily lives, what the other Demon Tide were like, and what the purpose of this world was. I only had a similar feeling when I first encountered the Dungeons & Dragons board game in my cousin's basement when I was a child Lu Ban, this young director, has created a world."
As for the female host who had previously raved about "Speed of Death 11" and even delivered a lengthy speech, she gave an awkward but polite smile.
"Thank you very much for the comments from our guests. Whether ' Speed of Death 11 ' can turn the tide and whether ' Demon Tide ' is truly unstoppable, we hope you will continue to follow our reports."
When the live stream went black and then came back on, it was already showing an advertisement for "Demon Tide".
Without a doubt, "Demon Tide" has broken out of its niche.
Whether it's the gimmick of a clash between Chinese and foreign films, Lu Ban's arrogant remarks, or even the box office failure on the first day, all these elements combine to create a story that is captivating enough.
What the internet loves most these days is stories.
Will the powerful Hollywood films continue to suppress and extinguish the offensive of domestic films, or will a confident and arrogant young director single-handedly pull domestic films to the same level as the world's best? Whether "The Demon Tide" can make a comeback is interesting enough to entertain even those who don't usually watch movies.
As people watch, those who don't usually go to the movies will become curious and run into the cinema to find out what's going on.
Lu Ban's goal was thus achieved.
In fact, the major cinemas are not stupid. After seeing the amazing first-day sales of "The Demon Tide", they began to increase the number of screenings of "The Demon Tide" starting from the second day. By the third day, the number of screenings of "The Demon Tide" in North America had surpassed that of "Speed of Death 11".
A week later, just as Lu Ban had predicted, "The Demon Tide" held the top spot at the global box office for a full week.
At this moment, even the most distrustful hater couldn't help but have some doubts.
Is it really as Lu Ban said, that "The Demon Tide" will remain number one until it leaves theaters?
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