Chapter 551 - Summer Blockbuster Season is Here

As May gradually approaches, the atmosphere in Hollywood becomes increasingly tense. The reason? The annual summer blockbuster showdown is about to begin!

While there are other popular release periods like Valentine's Day, Christmas, and Halloween, the summer blockbuster season remains the most fiercely contested. The first two periods usually feature heartwarming films for families or couples to enjoy.

As for the Halloween period, ever since Laila unearthed this slot with movies like "The Blair Witch" and "SAW," no one has been able to beat the horror films produced by Phoenix Pictures during this time. It's safe to say that this period belongs exclusively to Phoenix Pictures.

Other film production companies may have their eyes on it, but no matter what horror films they make, they can't surpass Phoenix Pictures. They've firmly held onto this slot with sequels like "Saw" or "Final Destination" every year.

This year's summer blockbuster season attracted the attention of numerous media and the public early on. The seventh work of the genius director, "Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone," will collide head-on with Joseph's "Catwoman" on the last weekend of June, like a comet crashing into Earth.

If it were just two movies releasing at the same time, it might not be a big deal, but there are some connections between them. For example, Joseph left Laila's company and held a press conference to publicly criticize them for making bad movies. And Laila, thrust into a challenging situation, accepted the task of directing a film described as "a bad movie for kids" and intentionally set the release date on the same day as "Catwoman."

It seems like it's been a long time since we've seen such a fierce collision. Film companies competing have always avoided releasing their major films at the same time to prevent ticket sales from being divided too much. Who would want to compete over box office earnings nowadays? Placing similar big-budget special effects films together would only result in both of them suffering.

In theory, no one wants to lose at the box office, but who could have predicted that Laila, a wealthy and stubborn heiress, would show up? She wants to go head-to-head, wants her movie to overshadow her opponent's, and is willing to make her competitor cry, even if it means earning slightly less at the box office. Who can say she's wrong? After all, it was Joseph who fired the first shot. If you want to terminate the contract, just terminate it. But he also had to hold a press conference to publicly criticize Laila's company and badmouth the movies they made. He not only wanted to harm her professionally but also to tarnish her films. He's not just attacking her; he's attacking her reputation, too. If you're going to fight, at least fight fair. Don't engage in annoying behavior and then act surprised when your opponent strikes back.

But Joseph doesn't think he'll lose. He has ample funding and doesn't need to meticulously budget his film. He also has a loyal audience: Catwoman comic fans and the general public interested in Catwoman. Most importantly, he has the sexiest woman in the film, and as long as Halle Berry appears on the big screen, a group of men will go crazy for her.

What does the other side have? A group of children, some washed-up British actors, and a novel. Even if the novel has some fans, they're mostly children. How much can they boost box office sales?

Joseph has seen the script and knows that such a thin plot, even if filmed, won't attract many viewers. So when he was offered a deal and promised a bigger budget for the movie, he readily betrayed his previous commitment.

Even after learning that Laila had taken on the role of director, he didn't panic. In his view, it was a job nobody else was willing to take, a last resort. How much stronger could she be? Joseph believed that this movie would shatter her invincibility, end her streak of good luck, and make her understand the cruelty of Hollywood!

So, on the first Sunday of May, he released the trailer for "Catwoman."

Whether his version was better than the original version from a past life, Laila wasn't sure. But one thing she was certain of was that Joseph had at least made an exciting trailer. In just over a minute, Halle Berry transformed from an unremarkable woman into a sexy Catwoman, with her skin-tight black leather suit that looked like it might burst open at any moment grabbing everyone's attention.

Fiery red lips, thrilling action sequences, and a captivating physique filled with fantasy – after watching the trailer, comic book fans enthusiastically shouted that this was the Catwoman they wanted to see.

"Why is the 'Catwoman' trailer out, but there's no news about 'Harry Potter' from Laila's side?"

Many fans went to Laila's Facebook page to ask. They were eager to find out who would win this box office battle, Laila or the audacious Joseph, who had betrayed her.

Laila would certainly meet the fans' demands, and the reason for not releasing the trailer had nothing to do with being too busy, as she wouldn't admit. In reality, she did forget. After finishing "Harry Potter," she went to the set of "Chicago," and after that, she started preparing for "Iron Man." She was also responsible for coordinating editing, post-production, special effects, and many other aspects, so it wasn't surprising that she forgot about the trailer.

Her subordinates believed that she was a master planner, so they assumed that not releasing the trailer was part of her marketing strategy, and they didn't want to remind her. They thought it might be her way of creating anticipation and mystery. As a result, they were bombarded by fans demanding that she release the trailer.

Creating a trailer might sound simple, but it can be quite challenging. In just a few minutes, you need to showcase the excitement of the movie to attract the audience without revealing too much and spoiling the experience. Some have said that if you watch trailers, every movie seems incredibly exciting and thrilling, but when you watch them, you realize that the trailer showed all the best parts. Sometimes, what seemed exciting in the trailer doesn't fit well with the rest of the movie and other times, the trailer showcases the most exciting parts, leaving the rest of the film unimpressive.

Take "Catwoman," for example. Since the script was produced by DC Comics, Laila guessed that it probably didn't differ much from the original version of her past life. From the scenes in the trailer, it appeared that the special effects were well done, the characters' costumes weren't too flashy, and it had the qualities of a blockbuster. This was evident from the excitement of comic book fans who were eagerly anticipating the film.

While the opposition emphasized "sexy," Laila's trailer focused on novelty, incorporating many elements from Harry Potter's life at school, like moving staircases, a massive cafeteria, flying brooms, and the magical teachers' magic, in just over a minute of the trailer.