The Best Director

Chapter 402: Chapter 402 The Passing of Midsummer

The North American box office champion for the week of August 12-18 goes to “Assassin’s Creed,” with a box office decline of 35.7%. It retained the honor with $35.42 million, thanks to an average of $11,226 per theater across 3,155 locations (+50 locations). Its total box office has risen to a satisfying $90.53 million for Firefly Films, and this summer, FF has claimed another crown.

Its easy win owes somewhat to the sluggish performance of other movies in the market. The four new releases this week all fared poorly on Rotten Tomatoes, with the worst being “The Stepford Husbands 2” at only 9%, while “Four Brothers,” the highest at 52%, had a solid performance, securing second place with a total of $30.63 million and an average of over $10,000 per theater. Now in its ninth week, “Firefly” finally dropped out of the ten-million-dollar club, bringing in just $7.16 million this week (1,861 theaters averaging $3,847 per theater, -45.5%, -789 locations).

With a North American total box office of $636.13 million, “Firefly” has been able to surpass the most classic of the “Star Wars” series, “The Empire Strikes Back” (1980). After adjusting for inflation, it rose to the 12th place in North American cinema history, continuing to create some of the best box office records of the century.

“Firefly” is only a little over $5 million in current US dollars away from the 11th spot in cinema history, held by the classic Disney animation “101 Dalmatians” (1961). Based on the normal downward trend, it is unquestionable that the film will add another $5 million before it ends its run, and it’s just a matter of time before it breaks into the 11th spot. However, “Firefly” still has a whopping $63 million gap from the 10th place “the world’s first color sound animated film” “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” (1937), and the media and public know that the 11th spot is the limit for the “space cowboy storm.”

“Such a pity!” said Tea361; “I really hoped to see Yang and ‘Firefly’ enter the top ten of this record,” Jones said; “Why was the money from 1937 so valuable?”…

The comment section of the box office report is filled with voices of regret; it’s indeed a significant disappointment! Simply because more and more channels for watching movies are available, “Firefly” is forced to stay in the 11th spot overall; in the science fiction movie category, it ranks third after “Star Wars” and “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial”. Maybe “Firefly” is Yang’s crowning achievement; and even if not, who knows how long it will take to see him deliver such a crazy performance again, 5 years? 10 years? Will there be another chance? “Firefly” seemed destined to be filled with wonder and sighs.

Meanwhile, in overseas markets, Japan maintained a stable and strong lead, with a 25.8% drop, collecting another $26.48 million (3.071 billion yen, for a total box office of 126.4 billion yen). The more than 30 other regions where it’s still playing can barely sell tickets; it’s mostly the IMAX screens in each region contributing to the sales. After adding the total of $31.14 million from all regions for this week, “Firefly” has reached an overseas total of $1.0588 billion and a global box office of $1.69493 billion, on the verge of breaking $1.7 billion.

After a week of meticulous decoration, Wang Yang and Jessica’s new Palo Alto home has become a pastoral-style cozy nest. However, the couple argued half the day about the design of the baby’s room, as they didn’t want to repeat the country style of the baby’s room in Los Angeles at their new home.

“What I mean is, do we decorate it into a world of blue, pink, light green, or another color? Put up a few trees there, hang some cute cloth dolls,” Jessica pointed to the corner on the left, then walked towards the right with her belly sticking out, her face full of excitement, and said enthusiastically, “We can put the bookcases and cabinets here to store all the children’s books, bedtime storybooks, and toy books so we can read to her.”

Her attitude was still fresh and childlike, but Wang Yang had other ideas. He watched her walk to the opposite corner by the window and heard her voice of satisfaction, “The crib goes here! This way, the baby can be bathed in sunlight and also enjoy the view outside.”

“Not bad, but what’s the difference between that and a pastoral style?” Wang Yang strongly disagreed, Jessica turned her head to look at him, “Of course, there’s a difference, this is modern style.” Wang Yang shook his head without acknowledgment, looking around and pondering something. When it came to parenting, Jessica had absolute confidence and authority, what did he know? The baby needed a safe, quiet, comfortable, and beautiful environment—not those messy ideas at this time! Jessica was a bit annoyed, “Don’t ruin my plan, or I might have to take action.”

“I’m so scared…” Wang Yang responded nonchalantly, then suddenly snapped his fingers with an inspired smile, “Got it, got it! We should go for sci-fi! That genre is called… high-tech style! It’s also modern style, haha!” Confused, Jessica approached, “You mean?” Wang Yang put his arm around her shoulders and explained with a smile, “You know this is the center of Silicon Valley, we should have a high-tech baby room, let the baby know the difference.” Jessica seemed to agree, nodding with blinking eyes, “Then what?”

“First, the ceiling should be like the starry cosmos, let’s just install a skylight! Place a telescope right under the skylight.” Wang Yang, taking Jessica to where she had planned to place the baby crib, gestured the positioning of the telescope and excitedly said, “We should also hang a large spaceship toy in the air that can whoosh back and forth! But for safety’s sake, it can’t run over the baby crib.”

Jessica’s expression finally eased, the plan was back on track. Oblivious, Wang Yang continued, “The baby crib of course has to be sci-fi! A nutrition pod, nutrition tubes don’t sound cool… We could order a custom-made future streamlined convertible-style baby crib! Then the baby can sleep in the driver’s seat.” He looked at her smiling face, glad to have her support, and chuckled on a whim, “I’ve got another cool idea! Let’s buy a holographic projector, install the screen on that wall, we could play some animal or cartoon animations at any time…”

“The baby will be able to see them in 3D while sitting in the convertible?” Jessica couldn’t help interrupting him, like a group of dolphins leaping and playing in the air? That would be really cool indeed. She continued, voicing her doubts, “Is that technology available now?” Wang Yang nodded, then murmured, realizing the flaw in the plan, “But it requires wearing 3D glasses.” Thinking of the baby wearing red and blue glasses all day long, Jessica burst into laughter, seemingly unsteady as she leaned on his shoulder, “Haha! Dear, you are a very special man.”

“Thank you,” Wang Yang kissed her as if accepting a compliment, watching as she giggled uncontrollably and coquettishly, he also couldn’t help but laugh, playfully slapping her perky buttocks, “Alright! Forget the holographic projection, it’s not suitable for the baby yet, but there’s more to high tech…”

Jessica put a stop to it, walking up to him, looking into his eyes, her arms crossed seriously, “How about this? We have another bedroom empty, why don’t you design that into a high-tech baby room, and I’ll make this one Jessica style, and later let the baby choose which one to stay in.” Wang Yang also thought this was a good idea, they had quarreled half the day, the disagreement over the wedding room was not this intense, but he had one question, “How does the baby make a choice before she can talk?”

“Ha!” Jessica couldn’t help reveal her plot prematurely, “Since the baby is a minor, her mother will make the choice for her…” She flashed a toothy grin, “And her mother chooses, the pastoral style!”

Wang Yang scoffed disdainfully and turned to walk out of the room, “I’m sure the baby would love to vacation in ‘future tech world’.” Jessica, watching his retreating figure, asserted with gusto, “She won’t!” Wang Yang turned and shouted, “Let’s wait and see, she will! Everybody loves 3D—” Jessica screamed frantically, “Babies and children shouldn’t watch 3D!!”…

The whole weekend, Wang Yang spent a lot of time on the specifics of his baby room design while Jessica committed herself to properly setting up her baby room. In fact, her due date was in December, still a few months away before the baby would arrive in the world and join the two of them.

After the weekend, amid alternating calls of “ACTION!” and “CUT!”, Wang Yang carried on leading the crew of “500 Days of Summer” in their filming work, while monitoring other matters over the phone, like a high-speed running engine.

The atmosphere on set was buoyant and rhythmically delightful; though fast-paced, a high level of efficiency burst forth. Everyone was filled with enthusiasm and their work was exceptional. As each day passed, it meant another shot, another scene had been declared complete.

“Flame aims at the Korean film ‘Oldboy,’ seeking to remake it as a Hollywood version,” “‘Firefly’ global box office breaks through 1.7 billion,” “Amanda Seyfried joins ‘Mamma Mia!’ and receives magical praise from Yang,” “Warner Brothers reveals upcoming multiple collaboration agreements with Flame Films,” “Yang graces the cover of TIME magazine’s American edition again, the title praising him for changing the world,” “Yang spotted out with friends,” “On Set Express: Yang and Natalie Portman in intimate conversation,” “Celebrity Street Snaps: Yang and Jessica Alba grocery shopping,” “Due to the failure of ‘Batman Begins,’ Warner Brothers vice-president of production Dan Lin resigns,” “Rumors surface that Lin Yibin will sign on to direct ‘The Dark Knight’,” “Father of ‘Saw’ to direct American version of ‘Oldboy’?” “Flame acquires rights to ‘Marley & Me,’ adaptation scheduled to premiere Christmas 2007,”…

Time rushed by, bringing endless fresh news every day. As August 19-25 passed, the penultimate North American box office champion of the summer was born. The critically acclaimed R-rated comedy ‘The 40-Year-Old Virgin’ took the crown with $32.29 million, while another thriller, ‘Red Eye,’ took second place with $22.27 million. In its third week, ‘Assassin’s Creed’ ranked third with $15.79 million (down 54.4%), bringing the total box office to a stunning $106.3 million. As it joined the hundred million dollar club, it also shattered the stigma of John Woo and Halle Berry as box office poison. n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

With an additional $4.2 million in North American box office and $18.65 million internationally, ‘Firefly,’ ending its tenth week, saw its global box office climb to $1.7177 billion US Dollars, continuing to astonish the world in its own way.

However, a sudden disaster drew the attention of media and the public across America and the world. On August 23, the National Hurricane Center announced that Tropical Depression Twelve had formed over the southeastern waters of the Bahamas. By the morning of the 24th, it had intensified into Tropical Storm Katrina. On the 25th, it continued to strengthen into The Hurricane and made landfall in the evening in Florida. After crossing southern Florida, it entered the Gulf of Mexico. By the 29th, it reached Category 5 and passed through Louisiana State, leaving New Orleans utterly paralyzed and destroyed. Death, tears, evacuation, relief efforts, chaos, destruction, state of emergency, economic losses, stock and crude oil futures markets crash, crisis…

Faraway California was naturally not directly affected. Each state in America has its own regional and cultural differences, with varying social atmospheres and facades in coastal areas, New England, California, the South, and the Midwest. The scenes now showcased by the lawless New Orleans left the world staring in shock.

Work and life did not halt, but discussions about The Hurricane Katrina echoed on the set of ‘500 Days of Summer,’ with expressions of sympathy, blessings, pain, sighs, or outrage. There were those outraged at the Bush administration’s ineffective disaster prevention and relief efforts, and of course, at the chaos and despair in the severely hit New Orleans, where looters committed murder, robbery, rape, and other heinous acts, critically injured people dying like flies, the entire city a veritable hell on earth…

“I really think you’re spot on; it is a wonderful world we live in,” Yang said to Natalie and Joseph during a break in shooting as they discussed the disaster. Natalie explained sentimentally, “I don’t mean The Hurricane; I mean people should learn to cherish the beauty around them. I can’t afford to wish for anything more.” Everyone nodded in agreement, believing that many people would feel this sentiment now, seeing the various tragic states of the disaster, inevitably feeling that “it was good before.”

Looking at the crew members moving and setting up the photography equipment, Yang recalled the fainting incident from not long ago. Though the dreamscapes of Los Angeles and New Orleans were two different apocalyptic cityscapes, aside from loneliness, that sense of bewildered pain and fear was probably not too different. He shook his head and sighed, “I despise disasters, all of them! That end-of-the-world, imminent death feeling is just too awful, especially when you have your own family.” He looked at the others; he was the only one with a family, and the more he thought about it, the angrier he became: “Thinking of my parents, I would do anything to protect my family. Don’t those scum have families? Damn it!”

These past few days, everyone had already decried and cursed until they were tired, yet what could it do? The only help within reach was the usual disaster relief donations.

Natalie nodded, then suddenly asked, “What are your plans for ‘I Am Legend’?” With the whole world’s attention on the disaster area, the focus on movies and entertainment had naturally diminished greatly, but for fans and the public outside the disaster area who were living normally, it was inevitable to link Yang to the rumors of him shooting ‘I Am Legend’. Even if it wasn’t an apocalyptic theme coinciding with such a severe disaster, what were his thoughts?

“No specific plans, everything will go on as usual.” In such sensitive times, Wang Yang said nothing more in public than blessings and prayers, fully aware of his daughter’s immense influence.

“I Am Legend” isn’t releasing tomorrow, so there won’t be any impact. Should a disaster coincide with the release, that would be unfortunate, but let’s hope nothing happens. While deep in thought, Wang Yang said, “As you know, like I said earlier, disasters not only bring pain but also teach us to cherish life and reflect on certain things more deeply. Ideally, these insights and reflections could be provoked by apocalyptic disaster movies, and the audience would leave the cinema happy. That’s the magic of movies, which I’ve always believed in.”

“That’s right,” Natalie, Joseph, and a few others silently agreed. Wang Yang stood up from the director’s chair and walked towards the camera, “Take the time to read the script and work hard!”

Thinking of disaster movies, he couldn’t help but feel that disasters seemed more frequent in recent years. Last October, The Hurricane “Jenny” hit Haiti, causing over three thousand deaths, and the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami at the end of December claimed nearly three hundred thousand lives. News reports seemed filled with droughts, floods, earthquakes, hurricanes around the world. What was happening to the planet? The original story of “I Am Legend” was set in San Francisco in the year 2000, but now the third draft had been moved to 2012, which seemed like a very fitting year…

From August 26 to September 1, overshadowed by Hurricane Katrina, “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” held the North American box office championship for another week with $23.05 million. The new $88 million fantasy film “The Brothers Grimm,” which took two years to produce and had several release date changes, suffered a crushing defeat.

Despite being starred by the recently very popular “Blue Glove” Heath Ledger and Matt Damon, it garnered only 37%/29%/47% Rotten Tomatoes scores and $19.69 million in its opening week (an average of $6,382 per theater in 3,087 cinemas). Many fans said it was “a disgrace to ‘Firefly'”; independent producers and distributors like Empire Entertainment, Summit Entertainment, and Miramax Films could only beat their chests and sigh, lacking that magical halo after all!

In its eleventh week, “Firefly” took in another $2.25 million in North American box office and $12.98 million overseas, officially surpassing “101 Dalmatians” to rise to the 11th spot in North American box office history (after adjusting for inflation), with a global box office reaching $1.733 billion US dollars.

Meanwhile, the situation with Hurricane Katrina grew increasingly grave, with more heinous acts being committed and the government authorizing the use of force to shoot looters on sight…

“Let’s go out and enjoy the sun,” Wang Yang said, weighed down by the live news and tragic images on the TV screen. Picking up the remote, he turned off the television. With tears in her eyes, Jessica didn’t want to watch any longer. She frowned and sighed, “Yang, when you were unconscious last month… I was really scared! A disaster can destroy everything in an instant, it’s terrifying… I don’t want to think about it.” Wang Yang tightly embraced her, “That’s why we must enjoy every day.” Smiling at each other, they got up and walked outside the house, chatting as they went.

With the arrival of the new weekend on September 2-4, the lively summer season of 2005 also came to a close. (