"Batman Begins" screenings are being held in cinemas in major cities such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York.
Starring Christian Bale and the creative cast started traveling around to promote the film, but Zhang Hao did not follow him. If he had gone, he would have been asked all kinds of tricky questions by the North American media that had nothing to do with the movie.
After discussions with Warner Pictures, "Batman Begins" will hold its premiere in mainland China, and Zhang Hao will be the main promotion force at that time.
With the spread of word-of-mouth screenings, the film began to accumulate a good reputation.
Films based on realism such as "Batman Begins" are undoubtedly more appealing to the media and self-proclaimed high-end movie fans.
Coupled with Warner Pictures' continuous public relations, once the screening starts, you can see the praise of "Batman Begins" from most mainstream media in the United States, and even Western media.
"Good script, good performances, and good production. This is a surprisingly powerful production that is definitely worth the price of admission." - The Hollywood Reporter reported that Zhang Hao was not mentioned.
"A bold and outstanding superhero movie, the best of the Batman movies. The film uses a bold, dark and realistic style to outline a dark operatic style.
The film raises superhero movies to unprecedented heights, and its rich dark realism style also makes people frightened and shocked!" - "Premiere" magazine.
Zhang Hao was also not mentioned, as if Zhang Hao was too embarrassed to speak the word.
By this time, after Warner Pictures' public relations had been launched, Disney no longer pursued it, but focused on promoting its own films.
Therefore, in terms of media, almost all reviews are positive. Those who don’t want to give positive reviews will basically not be given page coverage. Anyway, the summer release is not just a Batman movie.
Of course, the film is not without controversy, mainly among movie fans.
Audiences who are accustomed to watching Marvel-style superhero blockbusters suddenly felt their eyes brightened when they saw the very different style of "Batman Begins."
This is not to say that Marvel-style superhero blockbusters are outdated. It will take a long time for Marvel to become obsolete, but this "Batman Begins" does bring a unique superhero blockbuster experience.
The controversial point among some viewers is that the realistic style of the film makes it difficult for many viewers to adapt.
As I said before, summer blockbusters have always been about popcorn and that's it. Marvel is adhering to this concept when making movies.
But "Batman Begins" is different. Its plot is highly concentrated and its themes are complex and profound. Although it does not lack hot and exciting scenes, the film is still a bit too heavy compared to Marvel movies.
In the post-screening survey, many people wrote this in the feedback survey.
"I was very surprised when I saw "Batman Begins" because it is quite different from Marvel's style. This is definitely not a typical popcorn superhero blockbuster. The depressing and dark atmosphere in the film is a bit uncomfortable."
"The scenes in the first half of the film that describe Bruce Wayne's inner transformation are too long and boring. Reality and memories are intertwined, and there are flashbacks and interludes. It jumps around so much that it makes people dizzy.
And compared to Marvel's superhero blockbusters, I think "Batman Begins" is more detailed and serious than entertaining."
These investigation reports are naturally collected by theaters, which in turn affects their judgment.
"This is not a successful superhero blockbuster. We should be cautious when releasing it in theaters."
"Yes, if the show goes well after its release, we will arrange to expand the screening scale."
This is a discussion within the theater company. Compared with the highly anticipated "Iron Man 3", "Batman Begins" has made the theaters more doubtful.
In North America, theater chains and film production companies are separate, so theater chains are entirely focused on profit and do not consider the ideas of film production companies at all.
This system of separation of production and broadcasting allows films with box office potential to be supported by profit-oriented North American theater chains and stay in theaters for a long time.
In the Mainland, many theater chains and film production companies are one.
Also because of one company, theaters often have many things to consider. Sometimes theaters even release big, bad movies that claim to have invested hundreds of millions, and it’s hard to tell that there aren’t some shoddy things mixed in behind the scenes.
For example, if you claim to invest 500 million, but the actual investment is 50 million, then 450 million appears out of thin air and it turns out to be nothing.
This kind of thing happens all the time in China, but it's just that people do it very secretively, and it's hard to tell what's true and what's false, so it's hard for the public to find conclusive evidence.
On May 1st, "Iron Man 3" was officially released in mainland China. This is also the first Marvel movie to have its premiere in mainland China. Once the film was released, it caused a great response.
As the superhero movie that opened the Marvel MCU universe, "Iron Man 3" ushered in the final chapter of his solo movie career.
Marvel will definitely not let this popular superhero retire so early, but it is hard to say whether there will be a solo movie in the future. It is estimated that it will only appear in the "Avengers" series.
Zhang Hao, who came from a previous life, certainly knows the future development of Iron Man. There will be plenty of opportunities to see Iron Man in the future, so fans don’t have to worry.
In North America, "Batman Begins" beats "Iron Man 3" and is the winner.
But in the mainland, the situation is reversed.
No matter how popular Tony Stark is, he is still not as popular as Zhang Hao, who is known as a powerful idol director.
So Disney and Marvel collided with Zhang Hao, attracting a large number of mainland movie fans to go to the cinema to watch.
Under such circumstances, when "Iron Man 3" was released on May 1, the film grossed 116 million at the box office, becoming the single-day box office champion.
Among the other films released, the one that is slightly more competitive is "To Our Fading Youth," which is Xiao Yanzi's first directorial debut.
This youth movie, which was later viewed as tacky and tacky, was released on April 26 and grossed 145 million at the box office in its first three days.
On April 28th and April 29th, the box office revenue exceeded 70 million for two consecutive days.
Xiaoyanzi's reputation skyrocketed, and for a time it became an industry model for actors to switch careers and become directors, and was wildly praised by the media.
The huge sales of this film once again proved the power of youth films featuring handsome men and beautiful women. For a time, domestic film companies stepped up their schedules to launch various youth films.
Similarly, the fact that a film that did not seem to be of good quality later could actually succeed is enough to prove that the mainland film market is in a stage of rapid explosion.
Now it is not a question of whether the film quality is good or not, but that the films released cannot satisfy the hungry mainland audiences.
"Iron Man 3" was released just in time for this situation. It was during the May Day holiday and the beginning of the summer season, and "To Youth" led to a movie-watching craze.
On May 2, the film once again grossed 147 million in a single day in the mainland market. On May 3, there was a slight decline, with a box office of 91 million.
Before "Iron Man 3" was released in North America, it had already made a box office of 354 million in the Chinese mainland market in three days, which is equivalent to more than 50 million U.S. dollars.
Such outstanding results have made many Hollywood companies jealous.
You must know that the box office share of imported Hollywood films is not the same as in the past, when it was more than 10%. Now, Hollywood films take the lion's share, while China Film is responsible for importing and taking the small part.
Therefore, Disney’s internal conservative estimate is that Disney and Marvel can get a box office share of 20 million to 30 million US dollars in the mainland market.
This branch box office has surpassed the small days, surpassing the United Kingdom, Germany and other places, and has become the largest single market outside of North America.
Therefore, it is not difficult to understand why Hollywood film companies are paying more and more attention to the mainland market.
They are all profit-driven companies that everyone values.
"Iron Man 3" continues to receive good news from the mainland, and the film will be officially released in North America on May 3rd, local time.
"Iron Man 3" opened in 4,253 theaters in North America, making it the largest theater opening for a Marvel movie. The film also delivered a satisfactory answer.
On its first day of release, the film grossed US$68.558 million at the box office, making it a good start for the summer season.
On the 4th and 5th, the film made a box office of US$62.273 million and US$43.012 million respectively. It grossed US$173 million at the box office in the first weekend, and there is no doubt that it will win the box office championship next week.
The film is still being released in theaters, and even when the creators of "Iron Man 3" were on their way back to North America from China, Disney had already started holding a celebration party.
With the film's outstanding performance, executives at Disney and Marvel have become convinced that "Batman Begins," which premieres this weekend, is no match.
Perhaps "Iron Man 3" can compete to become the global box office champion this year.
In the celebration banquet hall, everyone drank and toasted together to celebrate this wonderful moment. After Robert Egger finished his speech, it entered the communication session of a normal Hollywood banquet.
As a summer competitor, Warner Pictures actually sent people to attend the celebration banquet. The attendees were none other than Zhang Hao, the director of "Batman Begins" and producer Charles Rowan.
"Charles, I didn't expect Warner Pictures to be here too. Is this the Chinese director?" Kevin Feige found Charles Rowan, but his eyes were sizing up Zhang Hao.
Charles Rowan introduced: "Kevin, this is Chris Zhang. Zhang, this is the CEO of Marvel Studios and the producer of "Iron Man 3", Kevin Feige."
"Hello, Mr. Feige..." Zhang Hao shook hands with Kevin Feige politely.
Although the two have been quarreling over the Internet in North America for more than ten days, this is the first time the two have met. In such a public occasion, Kevin Feige appears to be a very gentleman.
"Our film selection experts have seen it and the Batman movie you directed is outstanding." Kevin Feige praised, whether he was sincere or polite.
Zhang Hao said politely: "Thank you for your praise."
"But it's a pity that you have found the wrong opponent. You are against Tony Stark. If Bruce Wayne is not good enough, call Superman and Wonder Woman." Kevin Feige was indeed polite. He changed the subject and looked arrogant.
Zhang Hao still had that warm smile on his face: "Mr. Feige, do you believe it? The Batman series will be the ceiling for superhero movies."
"Oh?" Kevin Feige raised his brows and said in a joking tone: "Then I'm... really looking forward to seeing how you make a super-British movie."
"Believe me, you will see it. Don't be surprised when the time comes." Zhang Hao's determined tone and confident smile made Kevin Feige feel a little powerless.
Zhang Hao is such a shameless person who loves to brag and firmly believes that he is the best. There are really no words that can hurt him.
Kevin Feige couldn't get any advantage in words, so he could only secretly curse Zhang Hao's film for not being released on the market.
But whether it’s a big deal or not, we’ll have to decide this weekend.
How did Zhang Hao, the star of the superhero movie, say it out loud? Kevin Feige was really curious.