"puff--"
Shiki turned his head and burst out laughing.
"If you dare to say that you have thought of something happy, I will hang you at the door of the women's bathroom for three days and three nights."
Ori threatened viciously.
"No way, I'm very honest." Shiki Matsuno grinned, "I'm just laughing at you————!"
Shiki's feet were hit hard by Ori.
"You two, don't fight while you're eating."
Iioka came over with a plate in his hand and warned the two of them.
Ori stuck out his tongue mischievously, and he stuffed the bread in his hand into his mouth in two bites.
"I've already finished my breakfast."
Ori spoke incoherently while chewing hard.
Iioka shook his head and sat down next to the two men.
Shiki asked the other party, "Iioka, you haven't come out yet?"
Iioka shook his head. "No, the statistics company called and it seems that there is a problem with some data. It may take a while for the data to arrive."
"The box office for the midnight show of "Inferno" hasn't come out yet?" Ori asked curiously.
"Yeah." Iioka said helplessly, "The boss is still urging us."
After hearing what Iioka said, Ori's eyes turned and he looked at Shiki Matsuno who was drinking coffee.
"Shiki, can I know what your box office expectations are for the midnight show?"
Of course Shiki knew that it was Ori who was criticizing her because of what she had just said.
He put down his coffee cup and replied, "I still stick to what I said, it won't be very high. But..."
Shiki Matsuno changed his tone slightly, "It shouldn't be worse than the first half. I expect it to be $17.5 million."
"What about the first weekend?"
"One hundred and forty million dollars."
Four Seasons replied.
"It's less than the upper half." Ori was not satisfied with the data.
"Of course." Shiki answered affirmatively, "Once the tragic ending spreads, it will definitely affect the box office performance."
Ori curled his lips and said, "You are too conservative! You don't understand how popular the movies of your predecessors are among young people! They are the main force of moviegoers."
Shiki Matsuno snorted impatiently: "Okay, okay, I know you are Nanaya's half... his left and right arm, I mean left and right arm."
Ori's extremely terrifying and gloomy expression abruptly changed the words that were about to come out of Shiki's mouth.
"Okay, both of you stop arguing. The results are out."
The sharp-eyed Iioka saw a Washimine staff member jogging towards this side.
The familiar figure immediately made him realize that the box office results were out.
This Washimine staff member obviously didn't expect that Iioka was with the other two big guys.
The other party looked very reserved. He hurriedly handed the fax in his hand to Iioka and then ran away quickly.
"The statistics have arrived."
Shiki Matsuno raised an eyebrow.
"Iioka, how many are there?" Ori asked curiously.
"It seems that Four Seasons is indeed a bit conservative."
Iioka adjusted his glasses and said, "21.6 million dollars! A new record without a doubt."
"Yes! That's great!"
Ori waved his fist vigorously and looked at Shiki provocatively.
"Fortunately, someone didn't place the bet. Otherwise, he would be penniless and would have to sell himself to pay off his debts."
"Tsk."
Shiki Matsuno was a little unhappy about Ori's provocation, but "Purgatory Flame" was his work after all.
Naturally, he was very happy to achieve such results.
"Okay, someone will eat slowly."
After taking revenge on Shiki, Ori stood up directly.
He picked up his shoulder bag from the other side and said, "I'm going to work first. You guys take your time eating."
"Mr. Ryougi, what are you going to do?" Iioka asked.
Ori turned around and said, "Let's go pick up the senior first, and then we will do the movie promotion together."
As the figure in black kimono disappeared, the dining table returned to silence.
The only sound was that of Iioka and Shiki Matsuno chewing their food slowly.
Iioka didn't speak until breakfast was over and Shiki was about to leave.
"Congratulations, Mr. Matsuno," Iioka said to Shiki, "your movie is a big hit again."
Shiki Matsuno shook his head: "I think you should talk to Nanaya about this. This is his work."
Although Nanaya has always emphasized that there are two directors of FZ, Shiki Matsuno himself is still very clear about it.
The entire FZ project, from concept to team formation, was completed by Nanaya himself.
If there is anyone who will gain the greatest glory in FZ, that person must be Nanaya.
Even on the list of directors, his own name, Matsuno Shiki, was listed alongside Kiryu Nanaya.
But Shiki Matsuno believed that his name would only be hidden under the glory of the Nanaya, as dull as mottled gold paint.
Although Shiki never cared about the box office of his movies, he cared very much about honor.
In fact, the reason why Shiki was reluctant to mention the loss-making movie was because he felt ashamed of himself.
After the success of the first half of FZ, Shiki Matsuno wanted to try to make a movie that was completely his own.
He didn't think about how successful the movie would be, nor did he give much thought to the box office.
After all, comparing with Nanaya in terms of box office is as meaningless as an art student taking the normal college entrance examination.
Shiki only hopes that this movie can win more awards than FZ, which would at least prove the excellence of the movie.
Although Shiki Matsuno was very reluctant to admit it, he did have a hint of competition towards Nanaya.
Then, of course.
Shiki, who was mentally unbalanced, failed.
Looking back, Shiki himself felt that it would have been a miracle if he hadn't failed.
How can a movie be good if you make it with negative emotions?
That's why Shiki returned to Nanaya and stayed in the crew of his friend.
Not for anything else, just to cultivate my own mentality.
Shiki Matsuno believed that when he could treat Nanaya with a normal mind, he would be able to reach a higher level.
Originally, Shiki thought that his negative emotions would burst out when he heard the midnight show box office of 21.6 million US dollars.
But I didn't expect that I would be so calm.
[Maybe, I can try to prepare a new movie? ]
When leaving the restaurant, Shiki Matsuno thought happily.
Although having a good friend like Nanaya around me, I feel a lot of pressure.
But there is motivation only when there is pressure, right?
The world of movies is vast, and without a guide you might get lost.
"I don't care about the box office." Shiki whispered to himself, "I just hope to be more than just a tool to win awards."
————————————————
AMC Atlantic Times Square 14 is one of the cinema chains under AMC. It is located on Atlantic Avenue in Monterey Park, Los Angeles, and is a side hall of Atlantic Times Square, a very famous shopping mall in Los Angeles.
It is a super large shopping mall that ranks among the top five in terms of passenger flow in the entire city of Los Angeles.
Naturally, this cinema adjacent to a shopping mall has a considerable flow of customers.
Chen Gong works in this cinema, in charge of the merchandise counter.
He is a second-generation immigrant from China, and has integrated into this Western society in terms of both language and living habits.
Apart from skin color and appearance, the only thing that can represent his ancestral identity is probably his name, which is the same as that of a strategist during the Three Kingdoms period.
As usual when he went to work, Chen Gong parked his car outside the building and walked into the cinema through the employee-only passage.
However, unlike usual times when customers would only arrive after the official opening, Chen Gong found someone waiting outside the door.
You know, the cinema is not open for business yet.
What's even more exaggerated is that many people in the team are wearing all kinds of strange costumes.
Some wore black windbreakers, some wore blue long skirts, and some wore golden armor made of paper...
"Another popular movie is coming out. I hope the sales performance will be better today."
Although this situation is not common, it can still be seen several times each year.
Chen Gong, who has worked in the cinema for a long time, is no longer surprised by this.
Chen Gong even complained about some people's equipment.
"I didn't expect someone to wear a black windbreaker again. Could it be a remake of Neo's outfit from The Matrix a few years ago?"
Chen Gong shook his head, turned around and walked into the warehouse to carry out boxes of goods.
Then before the cinema opens, the items inside are opened and placed on the shelves of the display cabinets in the theater.
These are all peripheral products of the currently released movies, including costumes, props, toy dolls, authorized key chains, and tattoo stickers that are absolutely indispensable when the Fate movie is released.
"Chen, come over here and help!"
Chen Gong's colleague shouted at him.
"Why is there this?!"
Chen Gong was shocked when he saw what his colleague pushed out of the warehouse.
It was a silver-white motorcycle. Although it looked very cool, it didn't look like something that would be sold in a movie studio's convenience store.
Chen Gong helped his colleague push the motorcycle to the most conspicuous position in the store.
He carefully looked at this crazy and cool thing, and asked curiously: "Roberts, when will our peripherals be sold as motorcycles? Can we sell them?"
"Who knows?"
The colleague shrugged, but he still explained.
"This is a sample, just an empty shelf. If customers need it, we can accept pre-orders. When the time comes, the manufacturer will send it directly to the customer."
"Isn't this thing cheap?"
Looking at the Rolls-Royce logo on the car, Chen Gong's heart trembled.
As a working-class man, this was probably the closest he would ever get to a Rolls-Royce.
"Haha." The colleague sneered, "Even if you don't eat or drink for ten years, your salary won't be enough."
"Then why do you still want to sell it?"
"This is just an advertisement, telling the audience that this motorcycle will be released."
My colleague casually replied, "People who really want to buy a motorcycle probably won't come to our store to buy it. They will probably go directly to the Rolls-Royce 4S store."
"It's a pity that it's just a sample. It would be great if it was real. I could secretly ride it around the square."
Although he had no particular liking for motorcycles, Chen Gong couldn't help but want to try it when he saw such a cool vehicle.
"It's because of people like you that there's no way they can keep genuine products in the store."
At this time, the store manager appeared and tapped Chen Gong on the head. "Hurry up and get back to work. Inferno is coming out. Today is a good day to make money."
Chen Gong stuck out his tongue and quickly walked away.