Chapter 282: The Correct Way to Watch a Bad Movie

In a chain cinema in the Brooklyn area of New York, people are sparsely seated in twos and threes across the dozen rows of seats, unusually quiet, trying not to disturb each other, each preoccupied with their own activities. Only when a flash of light passes across the screen do their listless eyes focus momentarily with a glance.

On the screen, Warner Brothers and DC Comics' superhero blockbuster "Catwoman" is playing.

Below the screen, the audience appears numb, occasionally drooling over Halle Berry's sexy and explosive figure but seemingly forgetting they are watching a movie.

Those with a low tolerance for suffering have chosen to leave early. Before the movie is even halfway through, a fifth of the audience has already left.

Many remain, not because the movie is interesting or out of respect for the creators' hard work – they lack such awareness – but purely to kill time out of boredom.

Christopher's companion has already left to find his girlfriend, leaving Christopher, who is single and with nothing else to do, to stay. Unlike most, his eyes remain bright and attentive.

"Hmm... There are 17 rows of seats, with 32 seats in each row, and a total of 48 lights on the ceiling, oh, wait!" Christopher looks up and counts again, "50 lights!"

Then, he focuses on the big screen, "There's a black dot that keeps appearing on the bottom left corner of the screen, about every 1 minute and 35 seconds."

A Black man sitting in the same row stretches and looks up at the screen, feeling as if the movie restarts every time he wakes up.

"This movie is made for the cinema seats to watch!"

After his remark, he finally can't stand it anymore, stands up, and leaves early.

Then, someone in the front row can't hold back and says, "This movie really sucks!"

Immediately, a man in front turns around, glares at him, and retorts, "Do you have any manners? Can you respect others? What are you saying! Didn't you see everyone is sleeping?"

Beside him, a girl named Lena is sleeping soundly, having suffered from insomnia for several days.

Someone who just woke up looks around bewilderedly, remembering they're in a cinema, and asks their companion, "How's 'Catwoman'?"

The companion blinks, "The popcorn is very crunchy."

"Is that all?" Seeing the empty popcorn bucket, he asks again, "That's it?"

"Ah..." The companion points to someone playing on their phone, whispering, "His latest Nokia phone's unlock code is 789477. Since the movie started, he's sent twelve texts and nearly beat the Pac-Man game!"

Realizing the person didn't watch the movie at all, suddenly there's swearing from the phone user whose battery died, "Damn, the phone's dead, and the movie's still going!"

He wishes he could move the mouse to see how much longer this terrible movie has, but unfortunately, this is a cinema, not his home computer.

Finally, when the movie ends, Morrison is relieved from his ordeal, not from watching the movie but because the guy in front kept looking around, making him boredly follow along. This person has checked his watch every one to two minutes, a total of 72 times – a number he's certain of.

"Morrison, this is the movie you invited us to watch?"

Hearing his two companions' angry questions and seeing the dollar sign on their movie tickets, Morrison is nearly in tears. After inviting two friends to watch this movie, he has to apologize and treat them to a meal. Is there no justice?

"I can't believe it's over!"

Someone drowsy in the back asks, "Why didn't you wake me up?"

Seeing his energetic companion, he says, "You actually watched this trash till the end?"

The companion nods painfully, "Yeah, I watched it."

"Damn, you're hardcore. I respect that!" He pulls out his wallet, hands over $100, "You win. Here's the $100 we bet."

However, the companion doesn't accept it and pushes it back, "Forget it. I don't want it. Just don't tell anyone I watched this movie…"

Christopher walks out of the cinema and meets a Cinema.Score interviewer who offers a Catwoman figurine, "Can we talk about the movie you just watched?"

Looking disdainfully at the figurine, Christopher nods, "Sure. One sentence summary: It sucks! Really sucks! Super sucks!"

When asked for a rating, he unhesitatingly gives it a D.

Before leaving the cinema, Christopher sees a trash can and, without a second thought, throws the black-skinned Catwoman figurine into it.

Many fans leave the cinema extremely dissatisfied with "Catwoman," needing a place to vent. Film and TV websites, especially IMDB, become the perfect platform.

"Halle Berry's portrayal is not Catwoman at all, just pure flesh show."

"Dragging, boring, pretentious."

In just half a day on Friday, "Catwoman's" IMDB rating plummets to 4.1, filled with scathing reviews.

In stark contrast is "Deadpool," next door, with solid reputation and, even after a week of release, outperforming "Catwoman" in attendance and audience numbers.

As Friday ends, "Deadpool" dominates the North American box office champion of the day with an absolute advantage of $17.25 million over "Catwoman's" $5.02 million.

The situation for "Catwoman" is dire.

The most direct response comes from cinemas, as major chains immediately reduce the screening rate of "Catwoman" starting Saturday. As a new release with a production budget of $100 million, its screening rate drops to 30%, while "Deadpool," with its strong reputation and steady box office trend, sees an increase in screening rate to 35%, overtaking "Catwoman."

"Theaters also need to profit..."

In a club in Burbank, Bruce Rosenbloom sits on a sofa, talking to Diego Harris across him, "They can't throw away significant revenue just to maintain a relationship with Warner Brothers."

Diego Harris nods, "Twentieth Century Fox's relationship with theaters isn't bad either."

"Catwoman..." Bruce Rosenbloom sighs, "It's hard to turn around now."

As DC Comics' CEO, Diego Harris doesn't want to see this situation but knows Bruce Rosenbloom's words are true.

DC Comics is definitely taking a big hit with "Catwoman."

"From what I understand," Diego Harris says, "Bruce Berman has been calling executives of three theater companies from last night until this morning, but the effect..."

He hums and shakes his head.

"The advantage of 'Deadpool' is too obvious." Bruce Rosenbloom says pointedly, "Bruce Berman underestimated Murphy Stanton too much."

Diego Harris remains silent, realizing he did the same.

"I think," he says solemnly, "we should find a way to save 'Superman Returns.' If Bruce Berman continues to handle it, this project could become another 'Catwoman.'"

"Catwoman" flopping is one thing, as it's just an adjunct to the "Batman" series, but a flop of "Superman Returns" is unimaginable. Superman isn't just a pillar of DC Comics but also the world's

 most famous superhero, a trump card for DC Comics and Warner Brothers.

"How do we save it?" Bruce Rosenbloom counters, "Diego, you've known Bruce Berman for a long time. You know his working style: autocratic, power-hungry, meddling in everything. He won't let us truly participate in the 'Superman Returns' series."

"What should we do?" Diego Harris's anxiety is apparent, "Do we just watch Superman fail again?"

"Bruce Berman has many supporters among the company and group executives," Bruce Rosenbloom shakes his head, "How can we two fight him? Unless he's no longer the CEO of Warner Brothers."

"That's difficult," Diego Harris regrets supporting Bruce Berman as CEO, who seemed promising but lacked the talent to match his ambition, "His term is still long..."

Bruce Rosenbloom suddenly looks up, "What if he makes consecutive mistakes on two big projects, especially 'Superman Returns'?"

With a production cost over $250 million, a failure would be catastrophic, not something a few executives stepping down could fix.

"But..." Diego Harris has always worked at DC Comics, loving its superheroes, "This could irreversibly damage Superman."

"But his departure could give DC Comics a real chance!" Bruce Rosenbloom stands up, "Initially, none of you took Murphy Stanton seriously, disregarded his ideas and plans, and returned them following Bruce Berman's request without much consideration. But..."

He points to his chest, "I read them! Back then, it was all theory, no proof that Murphy Stanton's plans would succeed. Now, 'Deadpool' has proven his capabilities!"

"Do you think he can save DC movies?" Diego Harris asks eagerly.

Bruce Rosenbloom shakes his head, "Saying he can save them might be an exaggeration, but I believe he can reverse the downturn of the DC series."

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