Chapter 208 Regular Season Ends, First in the League
However, the freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes is only 62%, and the ratings of other film review agencies are also declining.

Judging from the data from these film reviews, it means that Blade 3's box office in its second week will drop significantly.

Some organizations even predicted that Blade 3's second week box office would only be around 1500 million US dollars, the total North American box office would only be 5500 million US dollars, and the global box office would only reach 1.5 million.

Their reason is that the market's expectations for Wolverine have been largely consumed, and Blade 3 has nothing good except Wolverine's fighting scenes.

Generally speaking, if the quality of a movie is very poor, its box office in the first week will be half of the total North American box office, or even 70% or 80%. If the box office drops too quickly, the theaters will quickly take the movie offline.

For movies of average quality, the first week box office will account for half of the total North American box office.

Only movies of very high quality will see a slow decline in box office revenue, with the first week’s box office revenue accounting for a smaller proportion of the total box office revenue.

But there are also very positive predictions from professional media and film critics. They believe that Blade 3's North American box office will reach 8000 million US dollars and its global box office will reach 2.5 million US dollars.

But no matter what, New Line Cinema breathed a sigh of relief, because even with the worst result, the global box office could reach 1.5 million, and Blade 3 could be considered a success.

With a box office of $1.5 million, plus future revenue from VCDs and TV broadcasts, Blade 3's total revenue will not be less than $2.3 million. With an investment of $6600 million, it can make at least tens of millions of dollars.

Moreover, in the United States, the data from these film review organizations actually have little impact on the film market. There are many movies with a Rotten Tomatoes index of only 30%, but they still sell well at the box office.

Major cinema chains also made adjustments based on box office sales, with the number of screens dropping by 25%.

A week later, Blade 3's second week box office results came out.

The North American box office was 2813 million U.S. dollars, which was 77% of the first week's box office, and it once again won the weekly box office championship, with a cumulative box office of 6464 million U.S. dollars.

Overseas box office was 3645 million US dollars, accounting for 70.6% of the first week's box office, and the cumulative box office was 8807 million US dollars.

In two weeks, the global box office reached 1.5271 million US dollars, surpassing Blade 1.

The second week data far exceeded some pessimistic predictions, and this is even the second week data for a hit movie.

Simply put, Blade 3's second week data exploded.

Major cinema chains immediately decided not to adjust the screen data for the third week.

New Line Cinema also regretted it. They regretted not investing enough. If they had invested more in special effects and written a better script, Blade 3 would have done better at the box office.

However, the box office in the third week was beyond everyone's expectations.

The North American box office dropped directly from 2813 million US dollars in the second week to 1100 million US dollars, with a cumulative box office of 7564 million US dollars, a drop of 60.9%, which shows that the potential of Blade 3 is almost gone.

However, the global box office continued to be strong. Although the box office in Europe dropped sharply, the film began to be released in Asia and South America, so the box office increased instead of decreasing compared to the second week, reaching 3722 million US dollars, and the cumulative box office was 1.2529 million US dollars.

The box office in Japan was very good, contributing a quarter of the box office.

In three weeks, Blade 3's global box office reached $ million.

As a result, the prediction for Blade 3's box office changed again.

Most professional organizations predict that the North American box office will reach 9000 million US dollars, the overseas box office will reach 2 million, and the global box office will reach 2.9 million US dollars.

Although the overall evaluation of Blade 3 is not high, no matter how the box office will be in the future, Blade 3, which has already earned 1 million yuan, is already very successful. It has not only surpassed Blade 2, but will also surpass Blade .

The investor New Line Cinema’s profits at least doubled, and including various later income, the profits could even reach $1.5 million.

"He Zhongqiu" has achieved certain box office results in Hollywood, and its box office appeal has been verified.

"cheers!"

In Los Angeles, New Line Cinema held a large celebration party, inviting the main creative staff of Blade 3, as well as many Hollywood celebrities and powerful people.

However, as the person who contributed the most to the box office, He Zhongqiu didn't have time to come, and only Ross Lewis attended the party.

In order to thank him for his contribution and for future cooperation, New Line Cinema decided to give him a big red envelope of 4 million US dollars as a box office dividend, which made up his salary of 10 million US dollars.

The presidents of several major Hollywood film companies attended the party. They all envied New Line Cinema's luck for getting the first piece of cake from Wolverine.

With an investment of 6600 million US dollars, if the final box office reaches 1 million, New Line Cinema should be able to earn million US dollars.

At the same time, as the first Marvel movie, the Blade series will also go down in Hollywood history and become New Line Cinema's biggest IP, with countless benefits.

Several companies that did not participate in the investment in Wolverine were very regretful. They made an agreement with Ross Lewis at the party that they must participate in the investment of future Wolverine movies.

Lewis just nodded happily. In Hollywood, everything is decided by the box office. If Wolverine's movie fails at the box office one day, the attitude of these companies will not be the same as it is now.

The presidents of three of Hollywood's most famous talent agencies also attended the party, and they all approached Ross Lewis, hoping to sign He Zhongqiu to their companies.

In his communication with these most powerful people in Hollywood, Ross Lewis expressed his opinion very directly that Wolverine's next starring salary will be 20 million US dollars.

If Blade 3's global box office reaches $10 million, then in addition to the $ million salary, it will be eligible to receive at least % of the global box office dividends.

His words were not objected to because in Hollywood, box office is everything.

With a global box office of 4 million, plus other subsequent income, the total revenue of the film should reach 4.5 to million US dollars. With such high income, Wolverine should join the million US dollar club.

Chenglong called and said, "Wolverine, congratulations, it's already made $200 million in just three weeks. I've been making movies for so many years, and only two movies in the Spike series have made over $200 million."

"No, Brother Cheng, I'm just a supporting role. This is a movie starring other people, it can't be considered my movie." He Zhongqiu said modestly.

Upon hearing this, Chenglong couldn't help but laugh a few times, and then said, "If it weren't for you, I estimate that the global box office of Blade 3 would only be over million.

It's not even 100 million, at most tens of millions of dollars. Now it is very likely to reach 300 million dollars. New Line Cinema will make a fortune.

Wolverine, let me remind you that Blade 3 has consumed the market's expectations of you, which means it has consumed your box office potential and appeal.

So the next movie you are going to shoot must be good, the action design and action difficulty must be better than Blade 3."

"Okay, thank you Brother Cheng for the reminder." He Zhongqiu said hurriedly.

"It's nothing, just a little experience. By the way, I look forward to our cooperation in the myth." Chenglong said.

"Okay, I'll return home after I finish filming The Iron Eagle King," he said.

……

Three weeks after Blade 3 was released, the auditions for Iron Eagle King were completed, with Wu Jing and Zhang Jin each getting a role.

Zhang Jin is a newcomer and was paid $30. This is his first time playing a Hollywood role, so the pay is already very good.

Wu Jing has acted in two Hollywood movies before. This time he has a big role and his salary has increased to 100 million.

His first movie, Spider-Man: Far From Home, earned $30, and his second movie, Spider-Man 2, earned $60. However, this $60 included the cost of the martial arts director and stunts, and the actors' pay was only $40. This time, the $100 million is purely for the actors' pay.

They are both members of the martial arts team and the special effects team. These two jobs each have an income, which is not included in the actors' pay. How much they get is decided by Yuan Baye and Lin Dian.

The second male lead is Dwayne Johnson, the villain in the movie, and his salary is 10 million US dollars.

Johnson's salary for playing the leading role was $1500 million, while supporting roles had smaller roles and lower salaries.

There is a very important reason for choosing him, and that is his height. With some padding, he can reach two meters, so he can act with He Zhongqiu.

The heroine is Charlize Theron, who just won the Oscar for Best Actress for "Monster". Her previous salary was 1000 or million US dollars, and now it has increased to million US dollars.

There is a big reason for choosing Charlize Theron. Her height reaches 177 cm, which can better match He Zhongqiu. The second female lead is Yang Xue, with a salary of 100 million US dollars.

Even if she's the second female lead, this is a very good price for a newcomer.

He Zhongqiu's own salary was 1200 million yuan, which was originally decided, of which 1000 million yuan was considered an investment, and 200 million yuan was cash + 5% of the global box office dividends.

At the end of March, before the playoffs, He Zhongqiu's physical fitness was upgraded to level 3.

On April 4, Iron Eagle King's capital expansion was negotiated, with a total investment of US$9 million.

Zhongqiu Film Company increased its investment by 200 million US dollars, totaling 1200 million, accounting for 15% of the total investment, which means that his entire salary was counted as investment.

The total pay of all directors, actors, and martial arts teams reached 3950 million US dollars, of which He Zhongqiu, Johnson, Charlize Theron, and director Toro accounted for 3500 million US dollars. The total pay accounted for 49.375% of the production cost, which is almost half.

This is also a problem facing Hollywood now. Actors' pay is getting higher and higher, but the money actually spent on film production is getting less and less.

Even some movies starring top superstars, such as Tom Cruise, Arnold, Keanu Reeves, etc., take away more than half of the production costs.

On this day, it was April 4th in China, the release day of Blade 10.

Unfortunately, before that, pirated copies of Blade 3 were already everywhere, and the powerful pirates had already obtained the theatrical version from abroad.

There was no competition on April 4th.

He Zhongqiu practiced the Locust Stone in the villa, starting at around seven in the morning for a full four hours, taking a five-minute break every twenty minutes to avoid over-tiring his shoulders.

The reason why I spent so much time practicing is because my proficiency in using the Locust Stone is about to be upgraded.

"Locust Stone proficiency accumulated to 3000, level increased to 4."

At 11:45 am, as he expected, the system upgrade arrived as scheduled.

Next, immediately start using the Level 4 Locust Stone technique to practice mid-range shots.

Sure enough, the accuracy has improved a lot and the speed of acquiring proficiency has increased.

But he only gained normal proficiency, without a sudden increase in level, which made him a little confused.

"Congratulations to the host. The bank shot marking area has been expanded to the mid-range shot area, and the bank shot level in the mid-range shot area has been raised to level 90."

But half an hour later, the system prompt finally appeared.

"Haha, it finally worked!"

He threw the ball into the air excitedly.

"Because the marking area for bank shots has been expanded to the mid-range shot area, the mid-range shot offensive ability has been raised from level 65 to level 85."

System prompts came one after another.

"Level 85 mid-range shooting ability?" He Zhongqiu was stunned.

His close shot was level 88 before, but now it is only level 89. His mid-range shot, which was level 85, has directly increased by 20 levels. Is it such a big improvement?
What does this mean?
It means that his threat in the mid-range shooting area is comparable to that within the restricted area and outside the reasonable collision zone, which means that he can absorb more shots.

It means that it is more difficult to defend him, and it means that he can leave the basket open.

If he empties the basket, the defender must follow out, and there will be space to cut into the basket. Whether it is his teammates cutting in or he himself cutting in, the tactics will be more diverse.

"Haha, if I train the Locust Stone to level 5, can I shoot three-pointers?"

When he thought about it, he felt that something was wrong. The throwing distance of the fourth-level locust stone was very far and it had already covered the three-point line. Upgrading it to the fifth level should only improve the accuracy and shooting speed.

However, the marked area for bank shots is only within the three-point line, which means that the 94-level bank shot is not applicable outside the three-point line.

He currently has no idea how to practice three-point shooting.

"Boss, the first day only grossed 656 million RMB, and the estimated box office is at most tens of millions RMB."

During dinner, Ross Lewis called and talked about the first-day box office of Blade 3 in China.

"I see."

He Zhongqiu is not surprising at all. It has been released worldwide for a month and is almost taken down in North America. Piracy has been rampant in China for a long time. It is already quite good to have this box office.

On April 4, the Knicks will face the Cavaliers at home.

This game doesn't mean anything to the Knicks because they have already secured the best record in the league, and they will still be first even if they lose.

But it is very important for the Cavaliers, because as long as the Cavaliers win, they can tie with the Green Team and both have 36 wins. The Cavaliers can rely on their better record in the region to rank eighth in the Eastern Conference and make it to the playoffs.

The No. 1 pick LeBron James is extremely looking forward to making the playoffs in his rookie season, because the Nuggets have already secured a place in the playoffs. Anthony can play in the playoffs, but he can't, which is very unfavorable for him to compete for the best rookie.

In the competition with Anthony, as the No. 1 pick, he is currently at a great disadvantage, because Carmelo Anthony has won the Rookie of the Month award in all months, but he has not won it once.

This made him lose face, so he tried his best in the game, hoping to beat the Knicks and make it to the playoffs.

However, although the Knicks don’t care about winning this game, He Zhongqiu does.

The media has always compared the talents of LeBron James and He Zhongqiu. He Zhongqiu is only a sophomore, not much older than James. Of course he cares about winning or losing against James.

So he is very excited every time he plays against the Cavaliers. For this reason, the Knicks have defeated the Cavaliers three times this season.

In this game, he also played at his best, scoring 32 points and leading the team to a four-game win over the Cavaliers.

After the game, LeBron James, who failed to make the playoffs, was very disappointed. His eyes were red when he greeted He Zhongqiu.

"Young man, don't be discouraged. Your future is full of excitement and it definitely belongs to you," He Zhongqiu comforted.

"I firmly believe this, and I have always believed this. I will never let my talent down." LeBron James nodded heavily.

By defeating the Cavaliers, the Knicks completed all regular season schedules for the 03/04 season.

Before the All-Stars, the team had 41 wins and 13 losses, with a winning rate of 75.9%.

After the All-Stars, the team has 19 wins and 9 losses, with a winning rate of 67.8%.

The regular season team had exactly 60 wins, 60 wins and 22 losses, ranking first in the league and the only team to win 60 games.

The second in the Eastern Conference is the Pistons, with 54 wins and 28 losses.

Third is the Pacers, with 53 wins.

Fourth is the Nets, with 47 wins.

Fifth to eighth are the Heat, Hornets, Bucks, and Celtics.

The Timberwolves are first in the Western Conference with 58 wins and 24 losses.

Second is the Spurs with 57 wins, third is the Lakers with 56 wins, fourth is the Kings with 55 wins, and fifth to eighth are the Mavericks, Grizzlies, Mavericks, and Nuggets.

(End of this chapter)