The Best Movie Actor In Hollywood!

Chapter 352

The interview's broadcast had an immediate and widespread effect.

Fueled by the news of Matthew and Charlize's upcoming engagement, the major media outlets seized on their romance, reigniting the story. They dredged up every noteworthy detail from their pasts, plastering it all over the public domain once more.

Matthew's story, in particular, was a truly inspiring one—after all, until he was twenty, he had been a lost and impoverished young man.

Consequently, the tabloids were plastered with headlines like "Matthew Horner: Winning at Life and Set to Marry an Oscar-Winning Actress" and "A Fairy Tale Come True: The Poor Boy Gets His Princess."

While Charlize was a long-established star with a Best Actress Oscar to her name, Matthew's personal fortune now far surpassed hers.

The media frenzy, both in print and online, served to broaden the audience for Mr. & Mrs. Smith, helping to draw more people into theaters.

During a film's theatrical run, any publicity—whether positive or negative—can be considered a good thing, as long as it generates buzz and discussion.

Even scathing bad reviews are a hundred times better than no reviews at all.

Human psychology is a curious thing; when the overwhelming majority of people or media outlets declare a film to be terrible, a certain segment of the population will buy tickets out of sheer curiosity, just to see for themselves how bad it truly is.

Of course, while Mr. & Mrs. Smith was poorly received by critics, it was quite popular with audiences. Its current IMDB score of 7.4 was a respectable rating for a commercial film.On the other side of things, spurred by the announcement of the engagement's date and venue, the gates of Horner Manor in Beverly Hills became a staging ground for paparazzi and entertainment reporters. Hundreds of them flocked to the entrance, creating a blockade of cameras and recording equipment.

An NBC broadcast van parked across the street from the main entrance to Horner Manor on Saturday morning, apparently getting an early start on preparations for covering the engagement ceremony.

Fortunately, Horner Manor was set relatively far apart from other residences, and Matthew had long since hired professional guards from a reputable security firm. Their presence effectively deterred the more audacious journalists from trespassing.

In addition to the security staff, Horner Manor also employed two housekeepers; one had been recommended by Lister Sr., and the other had been found with Helen's help.

Furthermore, Lister Sr. was also entrusted with managing some of the estate's maintenance.

The media attention, in exchange for intense publicity, naturally helped sustain the film's buzz. Ultimately, however, the poor critical reception of Mr. & Mrs. Smith was bound to affect its future box office performance.

Beyond the traditional media blitz, Matthew also turned his attention to the increasingly influential realm of the internet.

...

"Hello, Brian."

Bella stood near a tree-lined clearing in the middle of a small park in Westwood. Spotting the young man walking down the path, she took two steps forward to greet him. "We meet again."

Brian glanced at her reddish-brown hair and began, "Miss..."

"Bella!" she interjected firmly. "Didn't I tell you last time we met? Just call me Bella."

Brian nodded. "What did you want to talk about?"

Bella gestured toward a nearby bench. "Let's have a seat."

Brian walked over and sat, waiting for Bella to do the same before saying, "I have an appointment, so I'd appreciate it if we could keep this brief."

"Alright." Bella got straight to the point. "Right now, critics and certain people with competing interests are trying to tear Matthew down. They're deliberately giving Mr. & Mrs. Smith bad reviews and attacking him and his films all over the internet."

"I've read a lot of the columns," Brian said, a hint of annoyance in his voice. "Those guys must have nothing better to do than write rambling, toxic reviews."

He was sick of those who loved to pontificate, calling commercial films superficial, devoid of substance, and lacking in "humanistic thought."

If their taste was so refined, why were they watching a "mediocre" movie like Mr. & Mrs. Smith in the first place? The very fact that they sat through the entire thing proved it had enough merit to hold an audience's attention. Otherwise, these critics were just masochists who enjoyed their own mental self-flagellation.

The whole point of the movie was the chemistry and rivalry between Matthew and Charlize. If someone couldn't even grasp that, then launching a crusade to find some deep subtext about the social implications of marriage was completely absurd.

The quality of so-called critics these days was pathetic. Their columns were filled with irrelevant, irresponsible, and insulting tirades that, beyond venting the author's own rage, served only to declare that the film was a waste of their precious time. But in reality, if the movie wasted two hours of their life, they then wasted another two writing a furious review about it.

Watching a movie was supposed to be entertainment. For Brian, if a film was visually appealing, that was a point in its favor. But in the eyes of some people, only "content" and "depth" were considered virtues.

A movie is just entertainment—at least, that's how Brian saw it.

And Mr. & Mrs. Smith was a commercial film; it had everything you could ask for, right? A charismatic hero like Matthew paired with a stunning woman like Charlize—one of Hollywood's finest—plus slick action sequences, tense and steamy sex scenes, and more.

What more could critics possibly want from a straightforward entertainment film that was already this good?

Did they want Matthew and Charlize to sit down and discuss the true meaning of life, the significance of their marriage, and the mysteries of the universe?

Brian was certain that if it had been, Mr. & Mrs. Smith would have been an incredibly awful and boring movie.

Bella watched Brian's pensive expression, deliberately waiting a moment before she spoke. "You're a very influential person in Matthew's West Coast fandom."

She knew Brian was one of Matthew's most hardcore fans, and that his father had significant business ties to Matthew. "Mobilize more people," she said. "Be active online, especially on influential movie sites like IMDB."

Brian understood what she was asking and nodded. "No problem."

Bella added, "We can't let these venomous critics drag Matthew through the mud."

"You can count on me," Brian said confidently.

Bella rose to her feet. "Well, I won't keep you from your appointment, then. You have my number, so call if you run into any trouble."

Brian got up as well. "Bye, Bella."

Bella waved, waiting until Brian had disappeared into the trees. Then, she pulled a small recording jammer from her coat pocket and switched it off. Taking out her cell phone, she called a cab and quickly exited the small park, ready to head to Santa Monica for her next meeting.

She had a heavy workload today, with several meetings she had to handle in person.

As far as Bella knew, everyone involved with the film—from the cast, including lead actress Charlize Theron, to the production company, Summit Entertainment, and the distributor, Universal Pictures—was engaged in various forms of word-of-mouth marketing.

It was only after joining the industry that Bella learned the truth about online movie ratings. The supposedly fair and impartial scores, based on direct feedback from countless users, weren't nearly as genuine as they appeared. While the ratings might settle into a more accurate reflection over time, during a film's release window, a multitude of factors were at play, actively interfering with the results.

This year, online word-of-mouth operations and marketing had become increasingly crucial for the major Hollywood studios.

...

Beginning on Saturday afternoon, the number of positive reviews for Mr. & Mrs. Smith began to climb significantly on sites like IMDB.

"A rare action film that's truly brilliant. It starts off a bit unconventional, almost like a series of flashbacks and interludes, but at its heart, it's a romance driven by two perfectly matched, charismatic leads."

Reviews like this, rating the film an 8 or 9 out of 10, began to multiply. By Sunday morning, the IMDB score for Mr. & Mrs. Smith had quietly climbed back up to 7.6.

Meanwhile, Saturday's box office numbers were released.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith's box office performance was impressive, climbing 26% from Friday's take to a total of $25.2 million for the day.

In comparison, Danny the Dog and Kingdom of Heaven remained neck and neck, pulling in $2.9 million and $3.1 million respectively on Saturday.

There was no question: Mr. & Mrs. Smith would be taking the top spot at the North American box office this weekend.