Chapter 228 227. The strongest host of the Oscars

"The Hangover" was undoubtedly a huge success, which can be inferred from the laughter of the audience and the smiles on their faces when they left.

Everyone is happy that the movie is a success.

But if you want to know who the happiest person is, besides Eric who can make a lot of money, it’s probably Adam Sandler.

He took the initiative to reduce his pay to star in "The Hangover" in order to achieve another breakthrough in his career and truly join the ranks of first-line comedians.

Facts have proved that his vision and choice were very correct. With the blessing of "The Hangover", the media and fans no longer have to hide their feelings and can openly put him on par with first-line comedians such as Ben Stiller, Jim Carrey, and Robin Williams.

"Mr. Cooper, I must thank you again for giving me the opportunity to be in The Hangover. It was absolutely the best decision I ever made."

Eric smiled and said, "The success of the film is the result of your joint efforts. My contribution is very small."

"No, if you hadn't approved this project, it wouldn't even have started, so it's all thanks to your good eye for talent."

It turns out that he can talk, and there is nothing wrong with saying it this way, it makes people feel comfortable when listening to it.

As a director, Todd Phillips was grinning from ear to ear. He was also a huge beneficiary. It’s just that directors are not exposed to the front like stars, so the media’s attention will definitely not be on him.

Although Todd Phillips had made several successful films before, the investment amount always fluctuated around tens of millions.

If the box office of "The Hangover" soars this time, major companies' A-level productions will inevitably extend olive branches to him.

A soldier who doesn't want to be a general is not a good soldier, and a director who doesn't want to direct blockbusters is not a good director.

"Todd, I heard that you turned down Warner's 'Police and Hutch' for 'The Hangover'?"

"Well, both scripts were placed in front of me at the time. After reading them, I decisively chose The Hangover. Well, I actually struggled for a while, but the plot of The Hangover attracted me more and was more marketable."

"Don't worry, your choice will never be wrong. 'Police Hutchison Whampoa' will be released on March 5th. Let's wait and see."

He put his arm around a few people's shoulders and said, "Since the audience's response is so good, I should put watching The Hangover 2 on my agenda."

Hearing this, several people's eyes tightened, and a thought popped up in their minds at the same time: is it too early?

After all, it’s just the premiere. Whether the movie is truly successful or just an illusion, we have to wait until the first week’s box office comes out before we can judge.

Many movies open with a bang to great reviews, but then fizzle out.

"Everyone is watching me. Is it because I don't have confidence or do I not want to make a sequel?"

Xiao Jianjian immediately stated: "No problem with me, just contact me after the project is launched."

Seeing this, the others nodded. If you, the big boss, are not worried, then we employees should be even less worried. On the contrary, you have to pay us a high salary.

With Ryan Reynolds' current status, even if it is a friendship price, his salary will not be less than 3 million US dollars. When he filmed the first movie, he only got 700,000 US dollars.

Adam Sandler's pay is even higher. He is lucky to get $7 million. The pay of other people will also increase significantly.

This is why the production cost of a movie sequel increases so much even though it seems like the production level hasn’t improved much, with no special effects or big scenes.

In the following days, investigators from MGM in major cities gave their results, indicating that the attendance was quite good, the laughter was very intense, and the film reviews and word of mouth were also lifted.

The Rotten Tomatoes freshness rating reached 95%, and it has a first-class reputation among the audience, surpassing most comedy movies.

"Hahaha, I highly recommend watching The Hangover. It's the funniest movie I've seen this year, full of all kinds of language jokes. But I don't recommend taking children to watch it because some of the scenes are quite explicit."

"Drinking, taking drugs, streaking, urinating and defecating in public, do these elements make you think that The Hangover is a dark drama? But I want to tell you that it is a pretty explosive comedy. Ryan Reynolds is really handsome, especially the part where he fucks a tiger, OMG!"

"I am a shit movie, they can bring me different happiness. Recently, there are only blockbusters or award-winning art films, or horror films. I am tired of them. The Hangover brings freshness to me and my friends. This is the comedy movie we want to see."

"It's an incomparable good movie. It's completely different from Jim Carrey's comedies, but it's still addictive and hilarious. Everyone in the cinema was having a blast. These bad guys brought me happiness."

"If you want to laugh, go see The Hangover. If you want to be scared, go see Saw II."

The moment the Rotten Tomatoes score came out, everyone knew that the movie would be a big hit, and MGM had created a new series of movies, a cash cow.

But unlike the good reputation among the audience, the film received mixed reviews from critics.

After all, they are film critics, and some of them are self-righteous. They consider a movie from the perspective of appreciating a work of art.

Not to mention shitty movies like "The Hangover", even "The Lord of the Rings", "Transformers", "Pirates of the Caribbean" and "The Matrix", as long as they have a strong commercial flavor, they will not be accepted by people.

Only art films like "Blue Is the Warmest Color" and "Girl with a Pearl Earring" are the favorites of this type of film critics.

For example, the Chicago Tribune published an article: "The Hangover" contributed a good trailer, but that's all.

The Independent: "The Hangover" is a vulgar, boring and bad-taste movie. You can hardly find any interesting comedy elements in it. The whole movie is full of shit and fart. If you want to laugh, then it's best not to buy its ticket. It will only waste two hours of your life.

Pravda: A cheesy movie with no highlights or originality, "The Hangover" completely wastes Adam Sandler's comedic talent and only brings a bunch of extremely boring and vulgar scraps.

There is nothing in the world that can satisfy everyone, not even money.

However, amid the controversy, MGM's stock price rose again by nearly 3 points, bringing it one step closer to 20th Century Fox.

At the same time, some movie fans on the Internet summarized the film and television dramas produced by MGM in the past year and found that almost all of them were profitable, and not just a small profit, but at least tens of millions of dollars, and there were very few works that lost money.

If "Barbershop", "Red Dragon" and "007" are the high-quality legacy of the previous generation, then starting with "Sharknado", this lion has started running mode.

"Saw", "Get Out", "Don't Breathe", "Happy Death Day", "The Purge", "Transformers". Even an extremely niche art film like "Blue Is the Warmest Color" can gross more than 200 million worldwide, which is really exaggerated.

Coupled with the highly anticipated "The Walking Dead" by countless audiences, it can be said that both movies and TV series are flourishing.

If there are a few movies that didn't make money, they would probably be "Whale Rider" and "Monster", but both of these movies have received very good reviews.

It just didn't make any money at the box office, but the subsequent copyright income will definitely be profitable.

Some fans are already calculating how long it will take for MGM to surpass Disney and become the leader of the seven major companies.

The answer with the highest number of votes is two years.

The premise is that MGM can continue to develop smoothly, and Disney cannot always produce hits. For example, "Finding Nemo" pushed Disney's stock price up by nearly 10%.

Some netizens even offered their own ideas, hoping that MGM would acquire Warner after it becomes stronger, so that many lost copyrights could be recovered.

Eric strongly agreed with the netizen's suggestion. He really wanted the copyright of DC and "Tom and Jerry".

If both DC and Marvel were in his hands, it would not be a dream to have a Justice League battle against the Avengers and defeat Titanic.

With the audience's love for it, "The Hangover" undoubtedly won the box office championship this week.

The film grossed $57 million in 2,555 theaters, topping the list.

February 27, Dolby Theatre, Los Angeles.

Today, the place is packed with people, with big-name stars from all over the world gathering here to attend the 76th Academy Awards ceremony.

Unlike the Golden Globe Awards and the Emmy Awards, the Oscars do not have a round table setting where everyone sits in rows in tuxedos and suits.

To Eric's left is the crew of "Blue Is the Warmest Color", to his right is the crew of "Transformers", and behind him are the crews of "Get Out" and "Monster".

With the opening remarks by veteran actor Sean Connery, the award ceremony entered the tribute session.

This year's host is Billy Crystal, who comes from a Hollywood acting family. He is an all-rounder who is a screenwriter, director and more. His hosting skills are even better than many professional hosts and talk show hosts.

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This year, since "The Lord of the Rings" is likely to make history and its importance is self-evident, ABC specially invited him.

He was invited here instead of competing for the position because this guy has such a rich resume.

He started hosting the Oscars in 1990, and due to the good results, the subsequent Oscars almost became his personal show.

1991, 1992, 1993, 1997, 1998, and 2000. 1998 was the year when "Titanic" swept the theaters, and it was Crystal who was in charge, so it was no surprise that ABC invited him.

Eric still remembers that at the 82nd Academy Awards, the original host Eddie Murphy resigned at the last minute, so this guy had to be brought in to save the day. He is so trustworthy.

In the short film, Crystal was eating popcorn in a cinema, and he found a golden ring in his food. After he put it on, he was instantly sucked into the big screen, with his clothes exposed and he was squatting on the ground, just like in "Terminator".

He then sailed on the sea with Captain Jack, took over the sword of the King from the Elf King, raced horses with Tobey Maguire in the last century, swam in the ocean with Nemo, and contributed a famous Hollywood meme.

Crystal transformed into Gollum and talked to himself in the lake.

“I can’t host this one.”

"No, you must go. They are counting on you."

"I haven't hosted the Oscars since the evil wizard took over."

"You mean orcs?"

“No, it’s the Weinstein brothers!”

Hahahaha The short film reached this point, and the whole audience instantly laughed, and many people were really laughing.

Everyone knows that Peter Jackson deliberately created an orc commander based on Harvey Weinstein in "The Lord of the Rings 3" in order to mock him.

Harvey Weinstein's use of various despicable means to attack his opponents and win major awards has made many people despise him.

Seeing this scene, everyone naturally felt secretly happy.

Even Harvey Weinstein, who was sitting at the scene, could only smile and applaud. He had to act magnanimous, but he must have hated the screenwriter and director in his heart.

Finally, under the guidance of Jack Nicholson, who was disguised as Gandalf, Crystal walked onto the awards ceremony stage.

"Dear guests, let us welcome our host, Billy Crystal!"

Amid thunderous applause, Crystal greeted the audience with a smile.

“We have a lot of trophies to give out tonight, and quite a few of them are first-time nominees.”

“A reminder to all first-time nominees: if you win, remember to tip the host.”

"First-time nominee Charlize Theron!"

The camera turned to Theron, who was wearing a beautiful white evening dress today and immediately showed a shy smile.

But in my heart I was screaming, "Little golden man, little golden man, I must get the little golden man! Give it to me!"

"Theron, you look stunning tonight, but you scare the shit out of people in the movies."

"And Ashley and Mary, this is your first time here too, so good luck to you."

For such provocative shots, the audience naturally gave applause to those who watched the fun.

The two sisters were both wearing red and blue evening gowns, waving and smiling at the camera.

They were also screaming in their hearts: "Fuck it, if you don't give us the Best Actress award, everyone should die!"

"There's an interesting movie this year called Lost in Translation, whose director Sofia Coppola is the first woman nominated for Best Director."

"Sophia said that being shortlisted was great and she had no hope of winning, but I don't think that's the case."

"Because early this morning, many judges said they found a horse head next to their pillow."

Hahahaha Sofia Coppola is the daughter of Francis Coppola, and the horse head is a very famous scene in Francis' classic work "The Godfather".

This was followed by a medley of operatic arias, which fully demonstrated Cristo’s talent.

Tens of millions of viewers watching this scene in front of the TV had to admit that he was indeed the strongest. Even the most popular talk show hosts, Allen, Conan, and Jimmy, all had to admit defeat.

After a big show, Crystal announced loudly: "Let us welcome the first award presenter, last year's Oscar winner for Best Supporting Actress, Catherine Ze Jones!"

(End of this chapter)