Emma Stone felt as if her ears had gone numb.
Although she had guest-starred as Perkins in John Wick, she had only spent one day filming her scenes. Before tonight, she had never watched the completed movie.
The premiere was her first time seeing it from beginning to end.
At the start of the film, she experienced John Wick's grief with the audience.
His wife was gone.
The dog she left him was gone.
His final fragile connection to a peaceful life had been torn away.
Then came the revenge.
Bang.
Bang.
Thud.
One battle after another followed without giving anyone room to breathe.
The rhythm was tight, the pressure kept rising, and the audience could barely blink. John Wick finally completed his revenge, wiping out the enemy gang that had dragged him back into the darkness.
At the end, he brushed off the dust and blood from his clothes and disappeared into the night.
One man.
One dog.
The sound of his footsteps slowly faded.
Tap.
Tap.
That final view of his back beneath the night sky carried a deep loneliness.
The revenge had been completed, but the person he loved could never return.
Emma leaned back in her seat and sighed softly, still trapped in the emotion of the ending.
Then the entire auditorium erupted.
Clap, clap, clap.
The applause rose like thunder.
Cheers, whistles, and excited shouts burst out one after another, rolling through the theater until even the walls seemed to tremble.
Emma was startled out of her thoughts.
Only then did she truly realize it.
The film had succeeded.
Looking at the audience's passionate reaction, she almost felt as if she had returned to the premiere of Spider-Man.
Although The Twilight Saga starring her would be released a week later and could be considered a rival to John Wick, at this moment, Emma was still sincerely happy for Xu Can.
She turned toward him and shouted, "Baby. You succeeded."
"What?" Xu Can looked over.
The theater was too noisy.
Clap, clap, clap.
Woo.
The cheers swallowed her voice completely.
Facing the enthusiastic audience, Xu Can and the creative team could only stand up and thank everyone present.
The effect of the film was not inferior to the original version. More importantly, Spider-Man was currently extremely popular, and Xu Can's name itself had become a powerful attraction.
'The box office should exceed the original version's eighty-eight million dollars.'
There was no guarantee that John Wick would enter the annual box office rankings, but making a solid profit should not be a problem.
'This wave is stable.'
Soon, the first reviews began appearing online.
Keyboard clicks sounded across countless bedrooms, offices, and dorm rooms.
Tap, tap, tap.
"A thrilling action movie from beginning to end. 9/10."
"This story tells us one thing: never mess with someone else's dog. 9/10."
"A 101-minute revenge story. Besides headshots, there are still more headshots. A model example of a ruthless man who does not waste words. 8.5/10."
"The action scenes are completely different from every gunfight movie before it. Worth watching twice. 8/10."
"Although 2007 has just begun, I can already confirm this is the best action movie of the year. Bar none. 10/10."
"No bathroom-break moments. It is too exciting. After watching it, I wanted to go straight to a shooting range. 8.5/10."
"Action directors, have you learned your lesson? Stop making lazy action films in the future. Look at how Xu Can does it. 9/10."
"I thought Xu Can would be tied to Spider-Man for a long time, but I did not expect him to break free so quickly and challenge a completely different role. Handsome. 10/10."
The next day, IMDb, the largest film review website in North America, received a surge of users rating the newly released John Wick.
Ding.
Ding.
Ding.
New ratings kept appearing.
This movie, which subverted the traditional action genre, received overwhelming praise.
Its opening score reached a shocking 9.4/10.
Of course, the score would definitely drop in the future. For a pure action film, maintaining a rating above nine would be extremely difficult.
However, that did not hide the explosive reputation John Wick had already gained.
Now, the only question left was whether the box office would be strong enough.
According to Hollywood's usual investment logic, a film generally needed to earn around three times its production cost to truly recover its investment after theater splits, marketing, and other expenses.
Galaxy Pictures internally estimated that John Wick could recover its main investment if the box office reached around fifty million dollars.
The expected goal had originally been around eighty million dollars, similar to the original version Xu Can remembered.
If that happened, it would revive Galaxy Entertainment in one move.
Otherwise, Galaxy Pictures was burning money to make films, and Galaxy Music was also burning money to produce Swift's new album.
The company did not have many employees yet, but wages, daily expenses, equipment, office operations, and project preparation all required steady cash flow.
If John Wick made less than sixty million dollars, the company's survival would become difficult.
Most small production companies usually choose to cooperate with large studios, sharing both investment and risk.
Happy had never seen someone gamble like Xu Can.
He had poured almost everything into making an action film that went against tradition.
'This guy is absolutely crazy.'
But when John Wick's first-day box office was released, it was Happy Hogan's turn to go crazy.
Silence fell inside the conference room.
Then came the faint hum of the projector.
Bzzzz.
"…?"
"Um, the exact numbers are on the screen, Mr. Hogan," an employee reminded him awkwardly, pointing toward the large projection screen in the conference room.
According to real-time industry box office data, John Wick had grossed 45.75 million dollars on its opening day.
In North America, it surpassed films such as Night at the Museum, 300, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and Miami Vice.
It temporarily ranked first among North American opening-day box office results in 2007.
Several other major Hollywood productions released around the same period were crushed under its momentum.
Galaxy Pictures, a little-known start-up production company, had turned its debut film into a box office dark horse overnight.
"Yes. Woohoo. Give me five, Xu."
Smack.
Happy jumped up excitedly, his palm already raised.
From the day this project had been approved until now, his nerves had been stretched tight.
Seeing the real results finally come out, he could at last put his hanging heart back into his stomach.
The first day's box office had nearly earned back the production cost. Every day after this would be pure profit.
And the film would stay in theaters for much longer.
Happy was so excited that he wanted to high-five Xu Can, but Xu Can was sitting calmly to the side, playing with his phone like an ordinary person.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
His client did not seem to have any emotional fluctuation at all.
'Is this the calmness of a superior person?'
In fact, Xu Can had already expected this result before filming the movie.
It was a little surprising.
But not too surprising.
"Do not be too happy yet. Twilight comes out next week."
Summit Entertainment's vampire youth romance blockbuster was about to go head-to-head with John Wick.
Lionsgate Pictures had spent nearly half of its investment promoting that work.
In addition, it was adapted from a global best-selling novel, and the early-stage publicity resources were overwhelming.
Even when Xu Can walked three blocks outside, he could see two huge posters of Emma Stone.
It was easy to imagine that once Twilight was released, it would definitely affect John Wick's box office.
"Do you think we should invest more in publicity?" Happy quickly suggested. "It is not too late to push harder now."
Xu Can interrupted him.
"Forget it. There is no point. Without ten or twenty million dollars, it will not work."
Xu Can wore a suit and tie today, making him look somewhat like John Wick in the movie. His expression remained calm as he slowly waved his hand.
The room became quiet again.
Only the projector continued humming.
Bzzzz.
"Instead of burning that money on advertising, we should save it for future films."
Happy paused.
"Is this the new Marvel movie you were talking about?"
"Yes. When the time comes, we will cooperate with Marvel to film and produce it, but we will not seek other partners."
"Are you serious? You want to gamble again?"
"Of course," Xu Can said calmly. "If you are not willing to risk the bait, you cannot catch the wolf."
"…"
Happy's good mood lasted only a few seconds before Xu Can's words left him speechless.
'John Wick has not even finished its box office run, and he already wants to invest again.'
'And it is a Marvel movie.'
"The success of Spider-Man does not mean Marvel itself can succeed," Happy tried to persuade him.
"They have already sold many of their most popular characters. What do they even have left?"
In Happy's eyes, Xu Can was being blindly confident.
Young people often become careless once they have achieved some success.
As an "experienced person," Happy felt he had to persuade him.
It was fine to become Marvel's COO and help them develop movies, but throwing all his wealth into it was another matter.
"Iron Man," Xu Can said without even lifting his head.
"Ah?"
Happy was stunned.
He knew Xu Can wanted to cooperate with Marvel, but what was Iron Man supposed to be?
As a casual comic reader rather than a serious comic fan, Happy knew names like Spider-Man, Captain America, Thor, Superman, Batman, and The Flash.
Even now, he still could not clearly tell the difference between Aquaman and Namor.
As for the X-Men and the major events of the Avengers, he knew even less.
Most ordinary movie fans in North America were similar to Happy. They were not deeply familiar with American comics.
In the eyes of passersby, Iron Man was basically a third-tier character.
He usually appeared in big events, made some noise, and then stepped aside.
Was his personal story really interesting enough for a movie?
"Is it really worth it?" Happy asked carefully.
Happy tried his best to persuade him, but Xu Can raised his hand and interrupted him.
"Okay, Happy. I know you mean well, but I have a plan."
Xu Can no longer looked at his phone.
Click.
He placed it on the table.
His eyes were sharp, almost like John Wick's in the movie.
"So trust me, okay?"
Happy felt a faint chill in his heart for no reason and nodded quickly.
"Okay. No problem. No problem."
He stopped trying to persuade him.
After all, this company had been founded by Xu Can using his Spider-Man salary.
Xu Can had absolute say.
Happy might hold the title of president of Galaxy Pictures, but in essence, he was still an employee.
As Xu Can's agent, he was even less likely to disobey the person who funded everything.
And the look in Xu Can's eyes just now had genuinely made him feel a little numb.
Xu Can himself was also stunned for a moment.
He had not meant to pressure Happy.
This agent had followed him when he was down and out. Now he handled both big and small problems inside the company with real dedication.
He was truly reliable.
Xu Can understood that he might have been influenced by his character fusion. Sometimes, the aura of a role would accidentally leak into his daily behavior.
Fortunately, such situations rarely happened and did not affect normal life too much, so Xu Can did not worry about it.
'It seems I have to play some positive roles in the future to balance it out. I am carrying both a killer and a clown in my head. If this continues, I really doubt what my mental state will become later.'
Xu Can smiled self-deprecatingly.
John Wick succeeded on its first day and naturally topped the North American box office during its first weekend.
Then the weekend numbers came out.
Ding.
A new report arrived.
"John Wick earned 120 million dollars in its first weekend. Second only to last year's powerful fantasy blockbuster, Pirates of the Caribbean 2."
"What the hell?"
Even Xu Can was surprised by this result.
In his previous life, John Wick, starring Keanu Reeves, had only earned around eighty-eight million dollars worldwide.
Now, in this world, it had surpassed that in just over three days.
Sure enough, when he looked through the online comments, most of them were connected to Spider-Man.
Xu Can still had not fully realized how popular he had become.
In addition, John Wick had subverted the routine of past action films.
Whether it was Xu Can's smooth and realistic movements or the director's sharp camera language, every battle carried a unique style.
Unique in Hollywood.
With the title of "the most exciting action movie of the year," many people who were not Spider-Man fans came to watch the film and left with great enjoyment.
As for Xu Can's fans, they became even more eager to recommend it to everyone around them.
At Caltech, the quartet of Leonard, Sheldon, Howard, and Raj became a typical example.
These days, as long as a colleague spoke to them, they could barely go three sentences without bringing up John Wick.
"Leonard, have you seen my dog? He ran out of the cage during an experiment."
"Dog? I think it appeared in the garden. By the way, have you seen Xu Can's new movie? There is also a dog in it. The protagonist kills his way through everyone to avenge him…"
"…Sheldon, is there something wrong with your formula? The experimental data does not match."
"Huh? There is no way my formula is wrong. Just like John Wick, if you question him, does that mean his gun is inaccurate?"
"Who is John Wick?"
"Huh. I will not discuss the plot with people who have not seen John Wick. I will wait until you watch this masterpiece."
"Ah?"
Just like when Spider-Man was released, the first audiences who walked out of the theater looked around frantically for people to recommend it to.
Combined with the fact that John Wick remained a hot topic on the Internet, animated images of John Wick quickly appeared everywhere in Facebook feeds.
Scroll.
Click.
Share.
The unique gunfighting scenes spread even faster.
Bang.
Bang.
Bang.
Two shots to the body and one to the head.
Click-clack.
Smooth and professional magazine changes.
Thud.
Close combat blended with gunfighting.
Many fans spontaneously cut clips from the trailer and paired them with cool electronic music.
A series of excellent fan-made edits appeared.
On Facebook, YouTube, major forums, and video communities, content related to John Wick spread rapidly like a viral chain reaction.
In Xu Can's previous life, when the original film crew released John Wick in 2014, they had not fully developed advanced Internet marketing thinking.
Many scenes from the movie would not receive hundreds of thousands of likes on short-video platforms until years later.
How could Xu Can bear to let such an outstanding work remain buried?
Using the advanced thinking of the mobile Internet era, Xu Can quietly guided the promotion behind the scenes, launching a wave of online marketing that felt like a dimensional strike in this Internet 2.0 era still dominated by PC networks.
Because of this, John Wick's box office far exceeded its previous level.
Now, it was moving toward 200 million dollars in North America.
Aside from ordinary movie fans celebrating, John Wick also caused a strong shockwave throughout Hollywood.
On the day the film was released, well-known film critic Roger Ebert updated his column overnight.
"Before this, we were already very familiar with Hollywood action stories built around personal heroism. The retirement of a killer is often the end of the film."
"But this film goes in the opposite direction. It begins after the killer retires, using dazzling action choreography, bold and avant-garde lens design, and Xu Can's unique performance to inject this anti-hero story with powerful excitement."
"Let me first praise Xu Can, a twenty-four-year-old actor. He has broken my impression of Asian actors. So far, his performances in two films have shown strength comparable to Jackie Chan."
"Spider-Man is sunny and youthful, but here, he becomes numb, restrained, and cold-blooded. I thought only a forty-year-old actor could successfully portray such a role, but I did not expect Xu Can, who is still in his twenties, to portray him even more perfectly."
"As for the action scenes in the movie, they have formed a direct challenge to previous assembly-line industrial action films. They may lead a new trend."
"This movie has formed a unique action aesthetic. Yes, it is a work of art. It is worth enjoying again and again."
"Finally, the hidden world behind the story is also worth careful consideration. It seems there are still many mysteries waiting to be discovered. I hope a sequel can be filmed as soon as possible. John Wick II should not be far away."
Roger Ebert once again gave the film his highest praise, which was enough to prove John Wick's excellence in the eyes of professional film critics.
The New York Times, Daily Movie, Los Santos Times, and many other film review media and columns also commented on it.
This film was not perfect.
The media also pointed out many issues with sharp eyes.
The plot lacked depth. There were no huge set pieces. There was no large-scale production spectacle.
But even with those flaws, it did not stop John Wick from becoming a phenomenal film.
In professional media ratings, almost everyone gave it high praise.
On Rotten Tomatoes, professional media gave it 88% positive reviews.
The tomatoes were fresh.
After Spider-Man, Xu Can had successfully created a brand-new IP.
The John Wick universe seemed to have great potential.
Next, when filming John Wick 2, as long as the current level was maintained, making a profit would be almost guaranteed.
The most important thing was that John Wick had been filmed entirely with Xu Can's own money.
His early behavior had once looked like a gambler throwing money around, but now, in the eyes of Hollywood, that image had quietly changed.
He was no longer a reckless gambler.
He was a confident genius.
So much so that, only a few days after the film was released, assistant Vanessa's phone began buzzing again and again.
Buzz.
Buzz…
"Boss, someone wants to make a movie with you again. This is already the eighth time today."
Vanessa had guest-starred as the protagonist's wife in the movie, and the two of them had shared a simple kissing scene.
Now, facing Xu Can, she still looked as calm, obedient, and businesslike as ever.
Xu Can asked, "Who is it this time?"
"It is a great director, Luc Besson. Also, Kevin Feige has already arrived at the company. Do you want him to come to the office now?"
'Boy, Kevin really cannot wait.'
Xu Can put down his phone.
Tap.
It seemed Iron Man had to be placed on the agenda.
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