"It's been a long time, Orlando."
Matthew opened his arms and gave Orlando Bloom a light hug. "You're still as handsome as ever."
Orlando Bloom seemed particularly happy to see Matthew and said, "I owe you another favor. I really don't know how to thank you."
"Thank me for what?" Matthew said casually, "Do you still need to be so polite with me?"
"Really, I really have to thank you." Orlando Bloom said very seriously, "I already signed with the 'Kingdom of Heaven' crew last month. The call you made to director Ridley Scott must have helped me."
Matthew had never called Ridley Scott, but seeing Orlando Bloom say this, he couldn't deny it. He waved his hand and said, "It's just a small matter, don't take it to heart."
Orlando Bloom said again, "Matthew, if you ever need my help, just ask."
Matthew lightly patted his arm, "I won't be polite with you."
Rachel Weisz finished exchanging pleasantries with Stephen Sommers and called Matthew to go to the screening room together. Matthew didn't linger and walked with her towards the door. As they passed, they happened to walk past the lead actress Kate Beckinsale, but Matthew wasn't familiar with her and had no intention of stopping to say hello.
He and Rachel Weisz left the VIP lounge and, along with others who were coming out, entered the screening room. Their seats weren't together, but Matthew found Edward Norton and swapped seats with him so he could sit next to Rachel Weisz.
"You don't know Kate Beckinsale?" Matthew asked.
"I do," Rachel Weisz said directly, "I just don't want to talk to her."
Matthew wasn't stupid. Hearing Rachel Weisz's words, his mind went through a quick thought process and he roughly understood. There were only a few famous British Roses in Hollywood, and most of their acting range wasn't wide, basically limited to the scope of British Roses. It was easy to imagine that there must be fierce competition between them.
The main creative staff of the crew entered the screening room, and "Van Helsing" was about to begin. Matthew and Rachel Weisz stopped talking.
As the screen lit up and the Universal Pictures logo appeared, this super production, with a publicly stated budget of $160 million, finally unveiled its mysterious curtain.
It was an era where darkness and evil gradually took human form.
Monsters ran rampant to an extreme and thorough degree. In this chilling yet captivating terrifying world, the righteous hero Van Helsing would simultaneously battle Universal Pictures' well-known demons: vampires, werewolves, and Frankenstein's monster.
On the screen, under a cold, eerie sky, dark clouds rolled and a chilling wind blew. A flash of lightning streaked across the night sky as demons and monsters attacked the ancient town of "Transylvania." The story takes place in the late 19th century, where many terrifying monsters appeared in the mysterious ancient town of Transylvania, Romania. They rampaged through the city, and people constantly lost their lives to their demonic claws.
Among these monsters was Dracula, a noble elder of the vampire family, who had long occupied the ancient town of Transylvania, draining the blood of countless humans.
Under the evil shadow of Dracula's vampire family, Frankenstein's monster was also summoned. He was a monster created by the scientist Frankenstein, with both human muscles and metal, and was terrifying when killing.
Also wreaking havoc in the ancient city of Transylvania were the hot-tempered werewolves and Dracula's three vampire brides.
To eradicate the evil forces in Transylvania, the Catholic Church invited monster hunter Dr. Van Helsing to deal with the vampires, Frankenstein's monster, and werewolves. Van Helsing then armed himself with his deadly weapons and rushed to the ancient city of Transylvania with his assistant Carl.
On the way, Van Helsing rescued Anna Valerious, another female vampire hunter, who became his lover and capable assistant.
What Van Helsing didn't expect was that the people of Transylvania didn't seem to trust him much.
In their eyes, Van Helsing was also a brutal monster, definitely not the hero they longed for to save them. The enemies were also far more rampant and terrifying than he imagined, and he himself almost died several times under the monsters' fangs... Of course, in Matthew's opinion, this film could be entirely viewed from Count Dracula's perspective.
This is a story about the poor vampire Dracula, who was murdered by Van Helsing when he was alive, and after he died and became a vampire, he was still hunted down. He finally managed to hide in a cold ancient castle to have children, but ended up with infertility; he finally found a cure and had a bunch of children, but they were all killed by Van Helsing, and none of his children survived.
Poor vampire Dracula, he had no pursuits left. Hiding in his ancient castle to produce offspring ultimately didn't end well.
When the film ended, Matthew recalled carefully. The main plot was roughly the same as he remembered. As for the details, who could remember the details of such a film after so many years?
Loud applause erupted in the theater, and he stood up with everyone else to clap.
Frankly, the film didn't seem as bad as he had imagined. Matthew knew that his ability to judge the quality of a film was insufficient, and predicting future market reactions was even more impossible. He could only go by his own senses.
The special effects in "Van Helsing" were undeniably top-notch for its era. The Hollywood assembly-line storytelling was also well-executed, but the pacing seemed a bit slow, far less compact than the two "Mummy" films where Sean Daniel controlled the post-editing. This made the film feel a bit dragged out and overly long.
Matthew also thought of another issue. Previously, Stephen Sommers did not have post-editing rights; he was more of a general director of filming. The huge box office success of the two "Mummy" films allowed him to not only serve as screenwriter and director on the "Van Helsing" project, but also as the first producer.
In other words, Stephen Sommers had almost all the power over this film, including post-editing rights.
In Hollywood, most of the time, a director having final cut rights is not necessarily a good thing. Although there are examples of films failing because producers oppressed directors during post-editing, the consistent implementation of the producer-centric system in Hollywood for so many years also has a certain inevitability.
Independent art films are one thing, but for large-investment commercial entertainment films, neither investors nor distributors will allow directors to shoot and edit as they please. Most directors are active, even jump, in their thinking, possessing rich imagination and creativity. For assembly-line commercial films, these traits are often quite detrimental.
There's an even more crucial point: most producers are often more concerned with the film market than directors, and naturally understand the market better than they do.
Matthew collaborated with Sean Daniel on three films, and "Dawn of the Dead" was still playing in fewer than a hundred theaters. He naturally had a deep understanding of this first-tier producer. Judging from the final cuts of the two "Mummy" films and "Dawn of the Dead," if "Van Helsing" had still been primarily edited by him, the film's runtime should not have exceeded 110 minutes.
This would make the film much more compact and the pace quicker.
It's just unknown whether moviegoers will appreciate such a slightly slow pace and a film that throws all sorts of monsters into one pot.
He couldn't predict such things; everything would have to wait until tomorrow to be revealed.
However, from this film, one can also see Universal Pictures' ambitious desire to re-create its glorious monster stars.
Investing $160 million to bring the three classic monsters—vampires, Frankenstein's monster, and werewolves—to the same screen, Universal Pictures clearly wanted these long-established monsters to dominate the box office.
The protagonist Van Helsing's background and the reason for his amnesia were not introduced in detail in the first film. Matthew speculated that this was probably left as a hook for the second film.
In fact, looking back, this film laid many groundwork, and Universal Pictures and Stephen Sommers clearly planned for sequels.
Whether the sequel to "Van Helsing" will materialize depends on the market's reaction.
As long as the box office is high enough, even if the critical reception is poor, the sequel won't be canceled.
But Matthew still felt it was somewhat unreliable, partly because of past memories, and partly because he recalled a somewhat similar flop of a movie.
"Van Helsing" wasn't the first action-adventure film to blend famous literary characters. "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen," which was released around the same time as "Pirates of the Caribbean" last year, was largely similar to "Van Helsing."
However, "The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen" flopped so badly that Sean Connery directly retired from the film industry.
The applause in the cinema gradually subsided. Matthew followed the other guests towards the front row. There were two acquaintances from the crew, Stephen Sommers and Orlando Bloom, so even out of basic courtesy, he had to congratulate them before leaving.
"Stephen, what a wonderful movie!"
Matthew approached Stephen Sommers, shook his hand, and said, "The style of this film is so impressive!"
Stephen Sommers seemed to be in a good mood and said, "Thank you!" He smiled and looked at Matthew, "If there's an opportunity, we can collaborate on another project."
Matthew made a phone gesture, "You can call me anytime."
After speaking with Stephen Sommers, Matthew found Orlando Bloom. "A truly exquisite performance! Orlando, I regret not taking up this role."
"It's too late to regret now!" Orlando Bloom's face seemed to light up with a smile. "Two years, it's finally released!" He was mentally mocking Matthew for overestimating himself. He absolutely believed that for this role Matthew was not his competition, so he was totally enjoying humouring him.
Matthew nodded, "Yes, two years! 'Van Helsing' is finally released."
Just from the time spent on preparation, filming, and post-production, it was clear that Stephen Sommers and Universal Pictures had put in a lot of work.